Belmont Will Create New Comprehensive Plan

By Chris Ryan and Taylor Yates

A common concern we hear from Belmontonians is that town government seems to be reacting to events, rather than planning ahead. That may or may not be true, but what is absolutely true is that Belmont lacks an important tool to let it do much more: a 10-year comprehensive plan.

A comprehensive plan is a common tool that communities across the country use to establish a vision for the future and set goals and establish action items to achieve that vision. Like a corporate strategy document, it ties together the functions of government and our myriad priorities into a 10-year road map. That road map gives us the foundation we need to take the big, multiyear steps necessary to solve our hardest problems. It is the baseline that enables us to deal with unexpected events, like pandemics and new state laws, without derailing our own priorities.

That road map gives us the foundation we need to take the big, multiyear steps necessary to solve our hardest problems.

Belmont is getting ready to kick off the development of a new comprehensive plan this spring once a committee is formed by the Select Board and sworn in. This is the first plan developed by Belmont since the 2010 Master Plan effort and could be the first comprehensive plan that Belmont actually adopts and implements since 1963.

The 1963 plan was focused on land use, transportation, and community facilities. Some key features of the 1963 plan were relocating Town Hall and the town center fire station, improving business districts, introducing various kinds of apartment development, and protecting single-family zoning districts.

The 2010 plan was the most recent modern comprehensive planning process. It involved a Plan Committee, a Technical Committee, and an extensive working group, both advised by professional planning consultants. It included six key topic areas of concentration:

• Commercial development
• Housing
• Historic preservation
• Open space and greenbelt connections
• Transportation and energy
• Public facilities and finance

That plan used a sustainability approach that considered the social, economic, and environmental legs of sustainability and their intersection. It was not adopted by Town Meeting, despite the fact that it was robust and detailed.

The new plan will be developed by the consulting firm VHB and include a committee and a group of engagement envoys to assist in conducting community outreach to maximize diverse and deep public participation. This plan will be composed of nine critical domains.

• Land use and urban design
• Transportation and mobility
• Housing
• Economic development
• Community facilities and services
• Arts and culture
• Community cohesion and interaction
• Physical environment and climate, and
• Open space and recreation

The plan encourages authentic public engagement and participation, accountable implementation, consistent content, and coordination and connectivity among the nine domains.

The plan will include a set of guiding principles and processes to ensure that best practices are followed. They include:

• Livable built environment
• Harmony with nature
• Strong and resilient economy
• Interwoven equity
• Healthy community
• Responsible regionalism
• Sustainability and climate resiliency, and
• Transparency

The planning process began in January 2025, when the consultants began developing a community profile, and will span 17 months. In February, the project formally kicked off with a Plan Committee meeting, interviews with key stakeholders, a testing of future scenarios for the town, the development of the community engagement plan, and the creation of a branding and marketing strategy.

The planning process from start to finish will include three public meetings, the first tentatively scheduled for March 2025, and also include a number of committee meetings, roundtables, pop-up meetings, and listening sessions. The process is expected to conclude in May 2026 with a final plan for adoption.

We want to emphasize that the public is encouraged to follow the process and participate in one of many ways, including responding to a survey, attending public meetings, and engaging in the various sessions noted above. The project’s progress can be followed by visiting the project website at bit.ly/BCF-Plan

The Planning Board anticipates that a number of zoning recommendations will emanate from the plan including the possibility of a complete zoning bylaw revision to bring Belmont’s land use regulations up to date and facilitate strategic development goals. The plan will include a new open space and recreation plan, a requirement for nearly all Massachusetts cities and towns.

Citizen participation will be crucial to the development of a robust and forward-thinking plan that is as inclusive as possible. If you have any questions, you are encouraged to reach out to Chris Ryan, comprehensive plan project manager, at cryan@belmont-ma.gov.

Chris Ryan is the town planner and director of the Office of Planning and Building.

Taylor Yates is chair of the Planning Board, chair of the Vision 21 Implementation Committee, and a Precinct 2 Town Meeting member.