By David Kane, Stephen Pinkerton, and Margaret Velie
The Community Preservation Act (CPA) is a state law that helps towns keep their character and quality of life by providing funds to preserve open space and historic sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational facilities (see Table 1). Belmont adopted the CPA in 2010.
Community preservation money is raised locally through a 1.5 percent surcharge (3 percent is the maximum) on property taxes, which is then partially matched by the state. In the last few years, Belmont has generated about $1.1 million per year locally and has received about $200,000 per year from the state.
Table 1. Guidelines for Community Preservation Act funding
The town’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) is charged with recommending projects for funding to Town Meeting. The yearly application process begins with preliminary applications in late September. Final applications are due around the first of December. Each year the committee holds a public meeting in mid-September to explain the CPA process and another in November where applicants present their projects to the public. May’s annual Town Meeting will be the seventh to consider CPA projects. To date Town Meeting has appropriated about $7 million to 40 projects. You may have noticed work done last year on a few projects: Pequossette Park playground was renovated in the summer and fall, the tennis courts at Grove Street Park were renovated, the cupola at the 1853 William Flagg Homer house is being restored, and at Clay Pit Pond Park, two projects are continuing—renovating the walking path and restoring the Veterans Memorial. The Veterans Memorial is also being enlarged and enhanced with private funds.
This year the CPC received eight applications, and all eight are being recommended to Town Meeting for appropriation of CPA funds. There were no Community Housing applications this year, so 10 percent of Belmont’s CPA revenues for the year will be reserved for future Community Housing projects.
Open Space
Rock Meadow Habitat Preservation
Rock Meadow is 70 acres of permanently protected conservation land open to the general public. Belmont has owned Rock Meadow since 1968, with the Conservation Commission managing the meadowland for the town. The land was farmed by McLean Hospital until World War II and is now the home of Belmont’s Victory Gardens.
The Conservation Commission would like to complete $25,400 worth of non-native and noxious weed control to protect and preserve native plant and animal habitats at Rock Meadow. Th
noxious weed control to protect and preserve native plant and animal habitats at Rock Meadow. The program targets three invasive plant species: black swallowwort, which is harmful to Monarch butterflies; buckthorn; and Japanese knotweed, all of which threaten to overcome meadow grasslands. The three years of proposed work are a component of the Rock Meadow Conservation Master Plan and will be implemented by a professional land manager.
Outdoor Recreation
Clay Pit Pond Landscape Restoration
The Belmont Conservation Commission has applied for $20,000 to restore and preserve the historic landscape surrounding Clay Pit Pond. The project calls for removing invasive and non-native plants from the vegetative buffer around the pond to foster restoration of vegetation consistent with the original Loring Underwood parkland design. Bittersweet vine compromises the health of the native plant community and obscures the view of the pond. Buckthorn, euonymus, and catbrier infest the pond’s bank. The eradication proposal includes two years of follow-up work to ensure effective elimination of unwanted plants and regeneration of native species. Restoration of the Clay Pit Pond landscape is an important complement to construction of the Intergenerational Walking Path currently underway.
Landscape restoration at Clay Pit Pond is being considered for CPA funding this year. Construction is currently underway for the Intergenerational Walking Path at the pond, thanks in part to past CPA funding. (Sara McCabe photo)
Community Path Phase 1b (Brighton Street to Clark Street Bridge) Design
The town is seeking $1 million to design Phase 1b of the Belmont Community Path. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Project Review Committee has determined that Phases 1a and 1b of the Community Path are eligible for state and federal construction funds if the town can secure a design consultant by July 2020 (two years from the date of eligibility, July 26, 2018). Town Meeting has already approved a CPA project for design funds for Phase 1a (Alexander Avenue underpass).
The Community Path will function as a linear park for pedestrians and bicycles connecting Belmont Center and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path at Brighton Street. The entire Community Path in Belmont consists of three phases: Phase 1a (Alexander Avenue underpass); Phase 1b
(Brighton Street to Clark Street Bridge); and Phase 2 connecting Belmont Center to Waverley Square and Waltham.
Payson Park Music Festival Bandstand
The Payson Park Music Festival organizer has requested $50,000 for the construction of a bandstand at Payson Park. The popular summer concert series has been a staple in the community for the last 27 years, and the bandstand will allow the “show to go on” in the event of inclement weather. There is also the potential to explore other uses for the bandstand in the future.
Town Field Playground Restoration
The Friends of Town Field Playground are requesting $700,000 out of a total project cost of $737,600. The cost will be divided over two fiscal years with $60,000 for final construction drawings and bid documents in FY2020, and the remaining $640,000 for construction in FY2021.
Last year Town Meeting approved $25,000 for design drawings for the playground. Since that time and after discussions with the Department of Public Works (DPW), it was determined that the tennis court and basketball court on-site are also in need of restoration and have been added to the design.
The current Town Field playground (Friends of the Belmont Town Field Playground photo)
The proposed design by Waterfield Design Group
Historic Resources
Belmont Police Station Rehabilitation and Restoration
Jointly, the DPW/Belmont Police Department Temporary Building Committee and the Belmont Historic District Commission are seeking $787,575 to rehabilitate the historic façade of the Georgian Revival police station at the Town Hall complex. The building was designed by H. Thaxter Underwood in 1930. The project will augment the proposed additions and improvements to the police station that Town Meeting approved in May 2018.
Preliminary work, to determine the necessary rehabilitation work (including a conditions assessment study, design of the restoration, cost estimate, and construction documents), has been completed and was funded using CPA Administrative funds ($21,000).
Town Hall Complex Slate Roofs Restoration
The Belmont Facilities Department is seeking $100,000 to rehabilitate and restore the slate roofs and associated internal water damage at Town Hall and the Homer and School Administration Buildings. The budget includes $25,000 for replacement of missing and damaged slate tiles, copper flashing, rubber boots, and other water runoff components on all three roofs. The remaining $75,000 is slated for restoration of accumulated water damage to interior ceilings and walls of Town Hall and the school building. Comprehensive drone photo surveys and spot inspections via lift bucket were used to assess roof damage and repair costs. The repairs are considered essential for preservation of Belmont’s historically significant municipal core.
Restoration of the Tower Clock at the First Church in Belmont
The First Church is requesting $66,250 to restore the non-working clock at the top of the bell tower and to provide safer access to its working gear. In 1889, Town Meeting appropriated $500 to “place” a clock in the new bell tower being constructed for the church and has since awarded a small annual stipend for maintaining the clock and winding the drive weights. The clock has faces on all four sides of the tower and is prominently located near the Town Hall complex, the train station, Wellington Station, and the post office. The clock operated for 120 years until it stopped running reliably within the last decade.
The purchase of the clock in the tower of the First Church in Belmont was funded by action of Town Meeting in 1889. Each week the church custodian spent half an hour winding the half-ton clock. Some time in the past decade, the clock stopped working. This year, the restorative work to the movement of the tower clock is one of the projects recommended for funding by the CPC. (Shea Bradley-Hurley photo)
For more information, see the complete applications on the CPC web page at belmont-ma.gov/community-preservation-committee. For information on the CPA, see the Community Preservation Coalition’s website at communitypreservation.org/.
David Kane, Stephen Pinkerton, and Margaret Velie are members of the Community Preservation Committee.
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