Belmont Timeline

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Parking, Sewers, Traffic, Water Quality  Comments Off on Belmont Timeline
Jan 062020
 
Belmont Timeline

Belmont Timeline Featuring events significant to the Belmont’s history and Belmont Citizens Forum issues. 1654 The John Chenery house, 52 Washington Street, is built. The Chenery house is the oldest surviving house in Belmont. 1760 The Thomas Clark House is built on what is now Common Street. “Local tradition maintains that the Clark family witnessed the beginning of America’s War for Independence from the hill behind this house, seeing smoke and hearing the sounds of war breaking out on April 19, 1775.” —Joseph Cornish, BCF Newsletter,  January 2011. It was moved in 2012, and finally demolished in 2014. 1805 “Ice [READ MORE]

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The BCF’s Next 20 Years

 January 2020, Newsletter  Comments Off on The BCF’s Next 20 Years
Jan 062020
 
The BCF's Next 20 Years

By Grant Monahon The goal of protecting Belmont’s small town environment has taken many forms for the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF) during the last 20 years, and it will undoubtedly take many more directions over the next 20 years. Belmont’s efforts to preserve its natural and historical resources, limit traffic growth, and enhance pedestrian safety will only become more challenging, not less, and we will continue to pursue issues identified as important to our supporters. As a board, we are mindful that we will need new and younger leadership. We are not going away, but new perspectives would add great [READ MORE]

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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 on Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan
Jan 062020
 
Litigation Was Not in the 20 Year Plan

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]

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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 on 20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum
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]

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