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Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan

Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Construction and Housing, Environment, January 2020, Newsletter, Parking Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sue Bass Litigation was not the plan when we considered forming what became the Belmont Citizens Forum. McLean Hospital blindsided us by filing for a Massachusetts Land Court declaratory judgment that the rezoning of its land was not “illegal contract zoning.” The initial BCF board members—none of whom were lawyers—had never heard of contract zoning, much less that it might be illegal. It turned out that Belmont’s deal met the textbook definition of contract zoning. The courts agreed but the Appeals Court ruled in November 2002 that Belmont’s contract was not illegal. Meanwhile, in June 2001, 20 Belmont residents [READ MORE]

20 Years of Belmont Water Trouble

Environment, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sumner Brown Belmont has two types of water trouble. One is flooding during heavy rains. The other trouble comes from leaking sewer pipes. Flooding Today, as I write this, there is no flooding in Belmont. Floods are rare enough that we do not make ourselves perpetually anxious about them, but parts of Belmont are vulnerable. In both Belmont and Arlington, people live in what were swamps, and there seem to be 100-year storms every 10 years. Climate change may have something to do with this. The Belmont Citizens Forum advocates for rain gardens and other measures to slow the [READ MORE]

20 Years of Belmont Traffic

Bicycles and bike paths, January 2020, Newsletter, Parking, Traffic, Transit Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sumner Brown Belmont has turned a corner about how we think of traffic. Twenty years ago, our hope was to find ways to make it easier for cars and trucks to pass through Belmont. Now our objective is to protect residential streets from rush-hour traffic and make life easier for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Belmont Citizens Forum has played a part in our traffic turnaround. In 2002, the Belmont Citizens Forum’s Planning and Zoning Committee brainstormed about Trapelo Road. They thought about bike lanes and lots of trees. The committee engaged graduate student classes at MIT and the Boston [READ MORE]

The Community Path Through 20+ Years

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By John Dieckmann A detailed design of Belmont Community Path Phase 1, the segment from Brighton Street to Clark Street, including the pedestrian underpass, is currently underway. It has taken more than 20 years to get here. The following is a brief summary of the events that got this started and eventually, got us to this point. First, by way of history, the right of way that is the basis for the Belmont Community Path and the overall Mass Central Rail Trail exists because beginning in 1870, a group of entrepreneurs built the Mass Central Railroad, later renamed the Central [READ MORE]

Five Editors, 20 Years

January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Evanthia Malliris At the end of 1999, when the Belmont Citizens Forum was taking shape in response to the McLean land development, Sharon Vanderslice said to the board of directors, “What this group needs is a newsletter.” Those words launched 20 years of a bimonthly newsletter—121 issues to date—that examines in-depth topics critical to BCF’s mission. Transforming words into action, Sharon became newsletter editor, establishing the newsletter’s standards and substance that continue today. Volume 1, number 1, published in January 2000, included an analysis of legal action seeking to overturn the McLean property rezoning; a review of plans to [READ MORE]

The BCF’s Origin

January 2020, McLean, Newsletter, Sewers, Traffic, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sue Bass This is the 20th anniversary of the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter; the organization was founded a little over 20 years ago. How did that happen, and why? In 1995, McLean Hospital began exploring publicly how to turn part of its 238-acre campus into cash. Psychiatric drugs had revolutionized mental health care; instead of long walks and fresh country air, medicine could prescribe quicker-acting treatment. McLean no longer needed a bucolic campus, and families relying on health insurance could no longer pay for it. The hospital was $40 million or more in debt. This was not the first [READ MORE]

20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Environment, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Sewers, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

By Jim Graves As a founding board member of the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), who has been inactive in recent years, I am honored to share these thoughts on why the BCF has been so valuable and to applaud the individuals and supporters who have sustained the BCF for 20 years. Prior to starting the BCF, the founders worked to first improve, then oppose, and nearly defeat the development and zoning changes proposed for 238 acres of open space owned by Partners Healthcare and its subsidiary, McLean Hospital. Legal challenges by the BCF and supporters slowed implementation, and notably, [READ MORE]

Libby Atkins Remembered

Environment, History, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space Comments Off

Nov 062019

By Roger Wrubel Many of us lost a dear friend, inspiration, and role model for aging gracefully when Elizabeth “Libby” Atkins, long-time Juniper Road resident, died at the age of 94 on August 19. I first met Libby when I interviewed to become the next director of Mass Audubon’s Habitat Sanctuary in 2000. She and her husband Elisha, who had grown up on the estate that became Habitat, let me know how much the sanctuary meant to them both, and I never forgot it. Elizabeth Potter married Elisha Atkins when he returned from the Pacific theater of World War II [READ MORE]

November/December 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter & PDF

Newsletter, November 2019 Comments Off

Nov 042019

The November/December 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter is now available as a PDF. Read individual articles below. Belmont’s Underground Pollution Problem By Anne-Marie Lambert If only the 504 gallons of household wastewater which had been pouring into Wellington Brook and Winn’s Brook through underground culverts every day had been more visible, perhaps we as a town would have addressed the necessary repairs more urgently. With our leaking sewage, however, we have deliberately spaced out the painstaking detective work needed to find the sources of household wastewater silently polluting our brooks over several years. Read more. Clay Pit Pond Progresses from [READ MORE]

Belmont Journal Programs

Newsletter, November 2019 Comments Off

Nov 042019

These Belmont Journal stories focusing on Belmont’s environment appeared on the Belmont Media Center (BMC). See a complete list of programs at the Belmont Journal Environmental News YouTube channel, bit.ly/belmont-journal-youtube. —Roger Colton Rock Meadow provides a diverse microclimate in Belmont. The Belmont Journal covers the master plan being developed by the town’s Conservation Commission to ensure Rock Meadow’s preservation. bit.ly/BJour-RockMeadow After many years of fits and starts, progress is now being made on the remediation and preservation of the McLean barn. BMC explores the progress with The Belmontonian editor and publisher Franklin Tucker. bit.ly/BJour-McLeanBarn Belmont’s 2019 PorchFest provided a bike [READ MORE]

Belmont Roots November 2019

Arts & Culture, BCF Events, Newsletter, November 2019 Comments Off

Nov 042019

By Meg Muckenhoupt For everything, there is a season, and late fall is the season for cleaning up. Take down the tomato stakes, put away the lawn chairs, and move all the clutter away from your windows and doors so you can feel if there are any drafts coming in. Air leaks make your home colder, and make you waste money and pollute the air with more greenhouse gases in a Sisyphean attempt to heat the great outdoors. Areas around pipes, electrical outlets, baseboards, vents, and pull-down attic stairs are also common sources of air leaks, which can usually be [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Bicycling on Residential Streets

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Newsletter, November 2019 Comments Off

Nov 042019

To the Editor: I read the article about traffic in the September/October BCF Newsletter with interest. I frequently ride through Belmont on my bicycle and sometimes drive through. I strongly support the rail trail, the underpass at Alexander Avenue, and the connection to Concord Avenue. But also, I am hoping that Belmont will take more advantage of its dense network of residential streets to provide improved bicycling through routes. The barrier across Claflin Street between Farnham Street and Alexander Avenue offers a good example of such a treatment, though it could be revised to be more bicycle friendly. Clearly its [READ MORE]

Belmont Can Support Business Better

Newsletter, November 2019, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Nov 042019

By Katherine Venzke Around town there is constant talk about the state of business in Belmont. How is Belmont Center faring with the new-ish parking meter system? What’s with all the new development in Waverley Square? And how will the Bradford development affect commerce in Cushing Square? These discussions happen on the sidewalks, in cafes, at Town Hall, and in the local media. They also happen, often, at my shop. This “talk” found some direction and mission last year with the formation of the Belmont Business Study Committee (BBSC). The town pulled together business owners from each of the Belmont [READ MORE]

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Nov 042019

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

By Mary Bradley The Belmont Historical Society hosted two events in September and October celebrating Belmont’s rich cultural and environmental history. Tracking the Wellington Hill Station through Time The Belmont Historical Society hosted an open house on September 15, 2019, to celebrate the completion of a series of repairs and restorations to the many-purposed Wellington Hill Station building the previous month. The station received a new cedar shingle roof and repairs to the decking and gingerbread trim, the interior plaster walls, and the lower wood sections. The roof was funded with Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and donations from the [READ MORE]

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Nov 042019

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

By Michael Chesson Clay Pit Pond on Concord Avenue was once the site of Belmont’s largest industrial enterprise, a brickyard run by John H. and Robert A. Parry. The brothers bought 20¾ acres of land in 1888 on Concord Avenue and Underwood Street, with its valuable blue clay that turned an attractive reddish color when fired, and their yard produced 200,000 bricks a week. Just as the oil, steel, and railroad industries consolidated, the Parry brothers’ business in 1900 merged with the New England Brick Company, which owned three dozen other brickyards in the region. The firm installed new dryers, [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Underground Pollution Problem

Environment, Newsletter, November 2019, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Nov 042019

By Anne-Marie Lambert If only the 504 gallons of household wastewater which had been pouring into Wellington Brook and Winn’s Brook through underground culverts every day had been more visible, perhaps we as a town would have addressed the necessary repairs more urgently. That’s what Belmont did when a student noticed an oil spill leaking into Clay Pit Pond during a freeze on December 12, 2003. A ruptured return line to the underground storage tank at Mary Lee Burbank Elementary school travelled through the town’s storm drain system carrying 1,000 gallons of oil to Clay Pit Pond. Alerted to the [READ MORE]

September/October 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter & PDF

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Environment, Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2019 Comments Off

Sep 162019

View or download the September/October 2019 issue as a color PDF here, or read single articles below. Articles in this issue: How to Fix Belmont’s Traffic By Jessie Bennett Traffic in greater Boston has gone from an annoyance to a crisis. The recent Congestion in the Commonwealth study produced by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), outlines how increasing congestion is affecting travel times and access to jobs. Two key trouble areas are Fresh Pond Parkway and the Route 2 approach to Alewife. Read more. Community Path Progress in Belmont and Beyond By John Dieckmann Recently, there [READ MORE]

Belmont Roots September/October 2019

Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2019 Comments Off

Sep 162019

Now comes the fall. Summer vacation is over, and it’s time to get back to work. If that thought does not fill you with glee, perhaps it’s time to consider a new career that will help preserve, protect, and promote our planet at the Massachusetts Green Careers Conference. If a wholesale career change isn’t in your future, you can still take some time to consider how to help people interact with the natural world in a way that helps both nature and humans—by building trails, using space wisely, or simply taking a mindful walk in the woods. 11th Massachusetts Green [READ MORE]

Ground Source Heat Pumps Make Heating Easy

Jan/Feb 2019 Comments Off

Sep 162019

Ground Source Heat Pumps Make Heating Easy

By James Booth One of the best options for home heating that doesn’t burn oil or natural gas is a heat pump. Heat pumps reduce the amount of energy you need to heat or cool indoor air. If you use fossil fuels to heat, a heat pump will let you use less fuel, which means fewer climate-changing greenhouse gases and less local and indoor air pollution. Heat pumps work by using electricity to move heat between the inside and outside of a house, allowing efficient heating or cooling. There are two ways to do this: air-source heat pumps and ground [READ MORE]

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