Belmont – Page 5 – Belmont Citizens Forum

How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Carl Solander How can Belmont use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. The McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital following the 1999 agreement that created the conservation land now known as Lone Tree Hill. The barn has been unused since that time, patiently awaiting the next chapter in its long life. In 1892, as the central [READ MORE]

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

Bicycles and bike paths, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Apr 302023

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

An unauthorized bike route off the Hillside Trail on the Lone Tree Hill, Belmont Conservation Land (LTH) property was reported on April 21, 2023. The route goes down a hill, over a rock ledge and lands below on a very steep hillside. The builders of the route cut down trees, broke branches, removed rocks and vegetation (trees and native perennial trout lily) from the hillside and excavated dirt by digging and leaving dangerous pits. There has been earlier unauthorized bike activity at Lone Tree Hill, but this is the most dangerous and damaging. At the ninth annual LTH volunteer day [READ MORE]

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

Construction and Housing, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

By the Belmont Housing Authority Board of Commissioners In 2018, Belmont Housing Authority (BHA) was awarded Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding by the town of Belmont to embark on an ambitious project: planning for the modernization of its Sherman Gardens apartment community. Situated between Sycamore Street and Thayer Road in Waverley Square, the 80-unit state-funded public housing community has provided critical shelter for seniors and persons with disabilities since 1971. After more than 50 years without a major renovation, the apartments are now expensive, difficult to maintain, and energy inefficient. Designed 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was [READ MORE]

If You Just Sit Still

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By David Morris When I was young, I had an uncle who was attuned to nature. He was an artist, a hunter, a forager, and truly fascinating to an eight-year-old. Recently, after a frustrating morning trying to see some wildlife, I remembered his words. He’d said, “You need to remember that you are part of nature, too. You need to find a nice spot and just sit still. Don’t wait for when it’s time to move, but just enjoy the looking, the listening, and the sitting still. After a while, once you start to seem like one of them, the [READ MORE]

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

By Radha Iyengar The Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 22, an overcast and cool day. Volunteers included Girl Scouts Troop 82027, employees of Cityside Subaru, M&T Bank,and the Sai Group, and residents of Belmont and the surrounding communities. Many hands made light work. At the Pine Allee, efficient volunteers planted forty white pine saplings. The new plants replaced the Allee’s missing trees and some of the dead saplings from previous volunteer day plantings. At the adjacent meadow the volunteers planted slender [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Anne Paulsen

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Elissa Ely If you walk past Anne Paulsen’s house on certain days, you will notice sheets hanging in the backyard, like neighbors gathering in a friendly kind of way. If a wind is blowing, some drying towel may point its direction. It’s environmental, but also practically driven: Anne has never bought a dryer. Her parents were not conservationists or even drawn to the great outdoors, but when Anne was five and growing up in West Roxbury, her father sold the family car to support the war effort. Afterwards, they walked almost everywhere (“It was a long trip to Dorchester,” [READ MORE]

EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup

Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Kristin Anderson and David White We are at an important point in the history of the Alewife Brook. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville are preparing a new long-term sewage control plan for the Alewife Brook/Upper Mystic River Watershed. Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. During some storms, the Alewife Brook floods into the houses, parks, and yards of area residents in environmental justice communities. Because of [READ MORE]

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

By Rachelle Reinhart with contributions from Myron Kassaraba Airplane noise over Belmont increased after major changes were made to air traffic control at Logan Airport in 2001, when the United States Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control under a program called NextGen. NextGen moved air traffic control from a radar-based system to a GPS-based area navigation system (RNAV). RNAV allows aircraft to travel using a computer programmed with precise waypoints—designated flight path transitions—and GPS coordinates to control the plane’s flight path. Before RNAV, air traffic control instructed pilots to make turns and altitude adjustments [READ MORE]

Claflin Street Culvert Project

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Spot repairs of the trough of the old Claflin Street culvert took place in February 2023. The project includes the removal of the old grate system and replacement by a newly engineered grate with a larger mouth. The new grate is similar to the one behind the library and is designed to accommodate debris and greater precipitation. The new culvert will contain and direct higher water levels without limiting the flow. – Editor

Profiles in Belmont: Jean Devine

Environment, March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

By Elissa Ely There were woods behind Jean Devine’s house growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire. As a child, she liked pressing leaves and hated wearing socks; her mother would send her outside on ‘safaris’ with apple slices, the family dog trailing behind. She was always late to school. Jean was unafraid of bugs and fascinated by Daddy Longlegs. Woods and spiders did not turn her into the environmental educator, native-plant coach, and landscaper she eventually became, but they were her introduction to nature. Her mother belonged to the Garden Club in an era when plots were visually beautiful, organized [READ MORE]

Opinion: Belmont Zoning Laws Penalize GR District

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Opinion: Belmont Zoning Laws Penalize GR District

by Chris Arthur The last article I wrote about zoning (“Belmont’s Zoning Needs Rethinking,” BCF Newsletter, January/February 2023) focused on changing the use of “nonconforming” properties so that all properties would have to abide by the same rules, and owners could build to the allowable requirements of the code. I also mentioned changing the code to create a smaller allowable footprint. This article focuses on the unfairness of the existing code to an entire zoning district. Belmont’s zoning map can be found on the town’s website. There are several residential districts. For example, SR-C (Single Residence “C”) and GR [READ MORE]

Join New Belmont Group Protecting Raptors

Environment, March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Join New Belmont Group Protecting Raptors

By Jeffrey North Eagles, owls, and hawks are dying. Of the 161 Massachusetts raptors tested at Tufts Wildlife Clinic in a study between 2006 and 2010, 86% had poison residues in their liver tissue. And according to the EPA, more than 10,000 kids are poisoned by toxic chemicals left around residences, restaurants, or public parks to poison rats. Take action Proven tactics to address the problem with minimal or no rodenticide use include Integrated Pest Management plans, engaging housing authorities, affecting retail and construction site practices, and a rat poison bylaw. And please support legislation currently before the House (HD [READ MORE]

Opinion: Staffing Shortages Imperil Belmont

March/April 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012023

Opinion: Staffing Shortages Imperil Belmont

By Paul Joy In the last few months, Belmont’s trajectory toward the fiscal cliff has accelerated with alarming speed. The School Committee has already been asked by the Select Board to find ways to plug a $2.1 million funding gap in its proposed FY2024 budget. These budget shortages, projected to continue in FY2025 and beyond, would require untenable cuts to our schools and first responders. Are we capable as a town of changing our trajectory? Of investing in growth and renewal? In my opinion, as the co-chair of the Economic Development Committee (EDC), we must change. We must act now [READ MORE]

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Elizabeth Harmer Dionne provided answers. She was limited to 1,000 words. BCF: During the time you have lived in Belmont, in what ways has Belmont improved as a place to live, learn, work, and connect? In what ways has the town “lost ground” as a place to live, learn, work, and connect? Dionne: In the 12 years since my family and I moved to Belmont, I’ve seen— and contributed to—a series of heartening improvements to the town. I have seen real infrastructure [READ MORE]

Opinion: Belmont needs to get serious about climate goals

March/April 2023 Comments Off

Mar 012023

Opinion: Belmont needs to get serious about climate goals

By Brian Iler While providing $290,633 to BMHS Building Committee to complete the full solar array is an encouraging development from both a fiscal and environmental perspective, this observer is discouraged by the fact that the Select Board’s deliberations never included a mention of the climate-positive effect of the scheme. Instead, it was a 100% fiscal argument that carried the day. There are obvious reasons for this. Everyone can agree with a proposal that saves the town money. It’s a political no-brainer. What’s not clear is whether the town shares a sense of its moral responsibility to decrease its contribution [READ MORE]

Belmont Needs School Roof Solar Panels

March/April 2023, Newsletter, Solar Power Comments Off

Mar 012023

By Brian Iler Photovoltaic solar panels (PVs) have been planned for the new Belmont Middle and High School (BMHS) since early designs for the project were presented in 2017. PV is integral to achieving this building’s Zero Net Energy goal. And to many in Belmont, Zero Net Energy was a big factor when deciding whether to vote for a hefty tax increase to fund this colossal project in 2018. Since this vote, the funds reserved for PVs have been on the chopping block three times to offset project cost overruns. Public outcry—with advocates crowding into Belmont Middle and High School [READ MORE]

‘Chickadee Tree’ Sings on Lone Tree Hill

Arts & Culture, January/February 2023 Comments Off

Jan 042023

‘Chickadee Tree’ Sings on Lone Tree Hill

The Belmont Citizens Forum and the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC) would like to remind readers that the installation of objects, decorations, signs or messaging of any kind on conservation or public land is prohibited without prior written permission of the LMC, Conservation Commission, or other Town authority having jurisdiction. By Yuval Gur Environmental degradation and climate-changing behaviors have been part of our lives for many years. Yet, we are still in crisis, whether from microplastics in our oceans, rising sea levels, air pollution, or diminishing living habitats. What if nature could signal us with flashing lights [READ MORE]

BHS Students Create Environmental Club

Environment, January/February 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032023

By Claire Hlotyak If you were to ask current high school students what issues they care about, chances are they would say climate change. From science labs to social studies discussions, I have seen that Belmont High School (BHS) students show a real passion and drive to end climate destruction. This keen interest doesn’t just end in the classroom, though. Belmont High has student-run clubs focused on learning, raising awareness, and educating our community and surrounding areas about the impact of climate change. One new BHS club is Project: Environment, run by Jessica Rui and Christina Xi. Rui and Xi [READ MORE]

Could Town Buildings Generate Solar Power?

Climate Change, Environment, January/February 2023, Newsletter, Solar Power Comments Off

Jan 032023

Could Town Buildings Generate Solar Power?

By Aditya Jain and Vincent Stanton, Jr. Imagine a project that would produce a new recurring revenue stream for Belmont without any upfront cost, utilizing only town-owned land and buildings, while lowering electricity costs and helping the town achieve its green energy goals. That could be the payoff for installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on town properties. Suitable town-owned sites include non-historic buildings with large flat rooftops, parking lots, and open ground including the former incinerator site along Concord Avenue. Adding PV arrays on privately owned rooftops and parking lots could significantly expand the network of arrays and improve the economics. [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Restoration Hit 2022 Milestones

Environment, January/February 2023, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jan 032023

Lone Tree Hill Restoration Hit 2022 Milestones

By Jeffrey North In 2020, the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC) and the Judy Record Conservation Fund began a multi-year campaign to restore native plant communities in prioritized areas of the Lone Tree Hill conservation land. Step one in the restoration was to bring the invasive plant species under control. Planting natives would be a wasted effort and expense if they cannot compete with the pernicious plants that have come to occupy large swaths of our conservation lands and private yards. The work began with a broad brush, property-wide restoration survey conducted by ecological design professionals in [READ MORE]

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