Belmont Citizens Forum

January/February 2024 Newsletter

January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032024

Read the January / February 2024 BCF Newsletter In this issue: Community Path Could Have Bridge, Box The Pare Corporation-Toole Design team proposed two audacious Phase 2 design choices: a new bridge over the Fitchburg Line and a potential “box-over” of Waverley Station, which would create space for a pocket park. Read more. What’s in a Name? Walking and Biking Real estate agents—who are paid to market properties effectively and knowledgeable about what works—consistently mention paths when they are nearby. Read more. Japanese Culture Center Comes to Belmont Hill Drive up Concord Avenue from Belmont Center this winter, glance [READ MORE]

Bike Cameras Could Make Riding Safer

Bicycles and bike paths, Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

By Sumner Brown Bicycling is not perfectly safe. Belmont’s approach to handling bicycles on roads is evolving, and some bicycle riders could improve their habits. But there is another problem that I have been thinking about after I spent three weeks in hospitals recovering from a hit-and-run bike incident: bicycle cameras. While I was confined to Spauldingz Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, I concluded that my mistake was that I did not have a camera on my bicycle that could have recorded what happened and the license plate of my attacker. (Incidentally, you can tell you were attacked during road rage [READ MORE]

Waltham Field Station Update

Environment, Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

Waltham Field Station Update By John Dieckmann The Waltham Fields Community Farm (WFCF) has been attempting to negotiate a lease for the continued use of the acreage at the former U Mass Field Station on Beaver Street. The Waltham City Council approved the lease on June 26. However, the conditions in the lease would have left the WCFC in a financially unsustainable condition, so WFCF is attempting to negotiate better terms. Unfortunately, there has been no movement from the city in response, leaving matters in limbo. Meanwhile, WFCF has been operating its programs at a reduced scale. Stacey Daley, the [READ MORE]

How to Make Decisions About Heat Pumps

Air Quality, Climate Change, Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

By Will Brownsberger Edited and reprinted with permission from Brownsberger’s blog, willbrownsberger.com/heat-pumps. Many people are seeking to shrink their personal carbon footprint. Many also seek to participate constructively in the energy systems transitions necessary to achieve net zero carbon emissions. There is a broad consensus among climate planners in Massachusetts that we need to electrify heating in buildings. However, each building raises unique challenges. This article attempts to summarize the environmental and consumer considerations for people seeking to electrify home heating. Many of these issues are explored in more depth in this heat pump outline. Several good heat pump applications [READ MORE]

Residents Restore Royal Road Woods Ecosystem

Environment, Newsletter, November/December 2023, Plants Comments Off

Nov 012023

Residents Restore Royal Road Woods Ecosystem

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. and Pamela Andrews Belmont Conservation Volunteers (BCV) formed earlier this year to work on “restoring our natural spaces for everyone to enjoy.” Volunteer efforts have focused on reining in the extensive and expanding invasive species displacing native plants which support local insects, birds, and mammals. The BCV emerged from pioneering volunteer work by Leonard Katz on Lone Tree Hill. (See “Spare a Thought for Lone Tree Hill”, BCF Newsletter, September 2022.) To expand that work to town-owned land, Katz and Sustainable Belmont leader Dean Hickman obtained permission from both the Select Board and, because many of [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Joe Rancatore

Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

By Elissa Ely “Ranc’s chocolate ice cream can comfort the distressed, alleviate pain, and stand in for antidepressants if you have lousy medical insurance.” (Yelp) Somewhere in the labyrinth of Facebook, where even unwinding a string won’t help you find your way out, there is a photo of Joe Rancatore sitting on a straight chair in front of a freezer of pre-packed ice cream pints in his Belmont store. He is listening seriously to a little girl in a princess gown and accessories, and she is speaking to him with the same intensity. It’s the perfect communion between a business [READ MORE]

Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?

Newsletter, November/December 2023, Open Space Comments Off

Nov 012023

Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?

By Max Colice Over the past 10 years, the Belmont Country Club has received tax breaks totaling more than $4 million on its property tax bills thanks to a state law called Chapter 61B. Chapter 61B allows country clubs and other private nonprofit organizations to get a 75% discount on property taxes for recreational land, including golf courses. Belmont taxpayers pay for this enormous tax benefit. That’s because when one taxpayer’s bill goes down, everyone else’s bill goes up to offset that reduction. In other words, every taxpayer in Belmont has been subsidizing the Belmont Country Club’s property taxes for [READ MORE]

Opinion: Belmont Needs Business-Friendly Zoning

Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November/December 2023, Parking Comments Off

Nov 012023

Opinion: Belmont Needs Business-Friendly Zoning

By Taylor Yates and Paul Joy Belmont has zoned itself into a financial corner. Fiscally healthy towns balance their tax bases between commercial and residential real estate, Belmont does not. Belmont receives only 5% of its property tax revenue from commercial real estate, whereas fiscally strong towns receive 20% or more. We receive so little revenue from commercial real estate because the few areas in town where it is allowed suffer from overly burdensome regulation. The Economic Development Committee and Vision 21 Implementation Committee were charged by the Select Board to review Belmont’s zoning bylaws and to look for ways [READ MORE]

November/December BCF Newsletter

Newsletter, November/December 2023 Comments Off

Nov 012023

Read the November December 2023 Newsletter PDF In this issue: Vision for a Better Belmont: Elizabeth Dionne This is the first of a new series of interviews with Belmont stakeholders about their vision for Belmont’s future. Read more. Opinion: Belmont Needs Business-Friendly Zoning Belmont has zoned itself into a financial corner. Fiscally healthy towns balance their tax bases between commercial and residential real estate, Belmont does not. Read more. Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break? Over the past 10 years, the Belmont Country Club has received tax breaks totaling more than $4 million [READ MORE]

Vision for a Better Belmont: Elizabeth Dionne

Board of Selectmen, Construction and Housing, History, Newsletter, November/December 2023, Select Board, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Nov 012023

Vision for a Better Belmont: Elizabeth Dionne

This is the first of a new series of interviews with Belmont stakeholders about their vision for Belmont’s future. This interview was conducted by Jeffrey North. It has been edited for length and clarity. – Ed. BCF: Congratulations on your election to the Select Board earlier this year. What have you learned about how Belmont works—either well or not so well? Overall, having served in an official capacity in Belmont for the past seven-and-a-half years (Town Meeting, Warrant Committee, Community Preservation Committee), I am pleasantly surprised that there are not many surprises. While municipal governance can be daunting and sometimes [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Bike Safety

Bicycles and bike paths, Newsletter, September/October 2023, Traffic Comments Off

Sep 012023

My home is in Waltham, and my dentist’s office is in Arlington. I have occasion to ride my bicycle through Belmont on the way there and back. Today (May 22, 2023) I was waiting for the red light at Cross and Brighton Streets when a car approaching in the opposite direction got a green light, but the light remained red for me. I had to run the red light to get through the intersection and I had no way to know when the red light for the cross traffic would turn green. The same thing happened a second time on [READ MORE]

Stewards Keep Ogilby Farm Traditions

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Newsletter, Plants, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Sep 012023

By Judith Feinleib Henry Ogilby thinks of himself, his siblings, and Mike and Hermik Chase as stewards of the last remaining farmland in Belmont, part of the Richardson Farm Historical District. They are stewards in the classical sense of the term—people whose code of ethics requires them to engage in responsible planning and management of resources. In this case, these resources are the land and houses that have been in the Ogilby family since the 17th century. For the last 11 years, the Chases have cultivated the land of Belmont Acres Farm where they grow and sell vegetables and keep [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Goes Native with Plantings

Environment, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Sep 012023

Lone Tree Hill Goes Native with Plantings

By Jeffrey North On Earth Day 2023 (April 22), the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day. (See “Volunteers Plant, Clean Up Lone Tree Hill,” BCF Newsletter, May/June 2023, for more information). Several dozen volunteers rolled up their sleeves, and gardening trowels in hand, planted 350 plugs of young native plants in the Great Meadow and reclaimed meadow areas of Belmont’s Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land in addition to planting 40 white pine saplings to replace the mature pines gradually lost to age and weather. The [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Scott Ferson

History, Newsletter, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Sep 012023

By Elissa Ely The start of the pandemic elongated time in lonely and frightening ways. People craved the consolation of community but were prohibited from human contact. Screens were a brilliant technologic substitute, yet just as lonely in their way. Sometime around then, Scott Ferson drew a hopscotch board on the sidewalk in front of his School Street house, and an inspirational message above it. Solitary pedestrians—who were all of us—found it hard to pass without noticing, and maybe without a small involuntary skip between squares. It was a bright bit of humor we could share without knowing one [READ MORE]

Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Newsletter, September/October 2023, Transit Comments Off

Sep 012023

Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. How should the Belmont Community Path get from the Clark Street Bridge to Waverley Square? How might it cross Waverley Square? How should it connect to residential neighborhoods? These and related questions have been under study for Phase 2 of the Belmont Community Path. In December 2022, Belmont hired Pare Corporation and Toole Design Group to design Phase 2, which extends from the Clark Street Bridge to Waverley Square. Amy Archer and Kathleen Fasser, the project leaders of the Pare-Toole team, led the 2016–2017 Belmont Community Path feasibility study, and more recently designed the Waltham segment [READ MORE]

Why Belmont Needs the Specialized Energy Code

Climate Change, Newsletter Comments Off

Aug 312023

Why Belmont Needs the Specialized Energy Code

By Roger Wrubel Massachusetts adopted An Act Creating A Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy (Roadmap) in 2021. The act directed the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) to update the existing energy building codes and to create a new Opt-In Specialized Energy Code to encourage the construction of all-electric buildings. The state needs to update energy building codes because the policy requires reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The policy set greenhouse gas emissions limits of at least 50% below the 1990 baseline by 2030, at least 75% below the baseline by 2040, and required net-zero emissions by 2050. By 2050, emissions [READ MORE]

Belmont Embraces MBTA Zoning Challenge

Construction and Housing, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Aug 312023

By Rachel Heller and Thayer Donham Belmont residents have yet another great opportunity to shape the future of our community. Under a new state law, Belmont will be creating districts where multifamily housing can be built. The multifamily zoning requirement for MBTA Communities, also known as Section 3A of the Massachusetts Zoning Act, requires municipalities with good access to transit to have zoning in place that allows for up to 15 apartments or condominiums per acre. The Multifamily Zoning Districts must be approved by Town Meeting by December, 31, 2024, and meet the following requirements: Comprise a minimum land area [READ MORE]

September/October 2023 BCF Newsletter

Newsletter, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Aug 312023

Read the September/October 2023 Newsletter In this issue: Belmont School Traffic Needs Attention The figures still catch my breath. A 2018–2019 pre-HS/MS construction study documented nearly 2,000 cars traveling down Concord Avenue. Read more. Belmont Embraces MBTA Zoning Challenge Belmont residents have yet another great opportunity to shape the future of our community. Read more. Why Belmont Needs the Specialized Energy Code To achieve the emission reduction goals set by the Roadmap, the Massachusetts energy economy must transition to close to 100% electric power. Read more. Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape How should the Belmont Community Path get from [READ MORE]

Belmont School Traffic Needs Attention

Bicycles and bike paths, Parking, September/October 2023, Traffic Comments Off

Aug 312023

By Larry Link The figures still catch my breath. A 2018–2019 pre-HS/MS construction study documented nearly 2,000 cars traveling down Concord Avenue from the snarl at the underpass (by most experienced hands, “unsolvable”) in Belmont Center to the High School-Middle School site opposite Goden Street, in just the morning 7 to 9 AM rush. Of all vehicles clocked in that special Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) study using automated license plate reader information, 75% entered and left Belmont within 15 to 20 minutes but were registered/garaged in other towns! While we don’t have a new count yet, many Goden Street [READ MORE]

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