Citizens’ Petition To Create Elected Planning Board Filed With Town Clerk [VIDEO]

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Photo: The residents behind the citizens’ petition to create an elected board (from left): Anne Mahon, Paul Roberts, and Wayne Mesard. Town Clerk Ellen Cushman is collecting the petitions.

Three residents filed a citizens’ petition with Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman to transform the appointed Planning Board into an elected body on Tuesday morning, Oct. 10. 

Town Meeting Members Paul Roberts (Pct. 8), Anne Mahon (Pct. 4) and Wayne Mesard (Pct. 3) are seeking to have the measure approved as an article by the Special Town Meeting when it meets on Monday, Nov. 13.

“The Planning Board is an incredibly important body of the town of Belmont,” said Roberts, who handed in the petition to Cushman with 162 signatures, much more than the 100 required by the town’s bylaws. 

“It has jurisdiction over the physical shape of our community,” Roberts said about the board which is charged under the town’s bylaws to “protect and preserve the character and the quality of life that defines Belmont.” 

But as it stands today, the appointed board is not accountable to the voters, but only to the selectmen, said Roberts. As an elected body, the petitioners believe the professionalism of the board will increase with a larger pool of interested people who will run. 

Mahon said too many times in the past outstanding candidates were passed over with little explanation. Under an elected form, those seeking a seat at the table will be able to demonstrate their skills and ideas to the town electorate rather than the three selectmen.

“This isn’t an advisory board. This is an administrative board, an operational part of the government,” said Mesard, which Roberts noted is similar to the selectmen, school committee and the library board of trustees. 

The five-member board – which includes an associate member – drafts zoning proposals, studies land-use patterns, reviews traffic concerns and evaluates specific development projects such as the Cushing Village project and recently the Belmont Day School’s classroom/gym development and roadway.

For more than a decade, the Planning Board and its members have come under fire by critics. Complaints of being unfriendly to business surfaced with the Cushing Village site and design review which took 18 months to conclude or in overstepping its jurisdiction with the proposal to move the town’s public library to Waverley Square as part of a redevelopment of the business center without reaching out to the Board of Library Trustees beforehand.

Roberts pointed out that Belmont’s board, whose members are appointed by the Board of Selectmen, is an anomaly when compared to neighboring towns. Communities such as Newton, Weston, Watertown, Lexington, and Winchester are just a few municipalities that elect their planning boards.

The petition will first be certified by the Town Clerk – due to technology issues Cushman was unable to make that call as of 3:45 p.m. Tuesday – before proceeding to the Bylaw Review Committee which reviews proposals for General Bylaw changes to make sure that they do not conflict with existing bylaws.

Girls’ Soccer: Merrily They Roll Along; Boys’ Find Its Scoring Touch

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Photo: Courtney Gray scoring for Belmont.

For Belmont High Girls’ Soccer, the past week saw the undefeated/untied Marauders secure a playoff spot with half the season still to come while the Boys’ regained its scoring punch after a mid-season stumble

Girls’ Achieve Playoffs, Await Home and Home vs. One Loss Woburn

The Broadway composer and lyrist Stephen Sondheim titled one of his lesser-known musicals “Merrily We Roll Along.” While that book is about three friends over the years, one could steal the title and use it to describe the Belmont High Girls soccer team this season as they happily run the table. After a 4-0 victory at Wakefield on a rainy Columbus Day, the team had secured a perfect record at 10-0-0 as well as a playoff place in the Division 2 North Sectionals. 

Just before he left for an annual trip to an employers conference in Chicago, longtime Belmont Head Coach Paul Graham said he would not discount making the tournament this early in the season.

“It was one of our goals, so it’s important to recognize it. Sometimes you don’t make it so you should celebrate it,” he said after defeating an undermanned Watertown team, 7-0, before capping the week at Wakefield where junior forward Ella Gagnon tucked in a brace, each goal assisted by senior forward and co-captain Carey Allard who scored three times against Watertown.

After three consecutive shutouts where Belmont dominated play, the Marauders will have its hands full at the end of the week as they meet one-loss Woburn High School in a rare home and home matchup. The opener will be played on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m. in Woburn and the return fixture is on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 14, at 5 p.m. at Harris Field. 

After Stumble, Boys Re-establish Scoring Touch 

After scoring one of the program’s most significant victories in recent years by defeating Winchester 2-0 back in September, the Boys’ Soccer team suddenly couldn’t find its way to the back of its opponent’s net. 

A 2-1 shock home loss to then-winless Reading matched with a 1-0 heartbreaker to top-ranked Arlington coupled with an uninspiring 1-1 tie against Melrose left the Marauders dog paddling with a 4-3-2 record.

But “with a few adjustments to our lineup” by Belmont Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane, the Marauders have reestablished its attacking. 

Senior captain Jake Carson, who is now playing as a true center forward, scored the lone goal in the final minutes to give the Marauders a much needed 1-0 victory over hosts Watertown on Friday, Oct. 6. Then braces by Carson and junior Seamus Dullaghan along with a solo goal from junior Jorge Mejia saw Belmont break out for a comfortable 5-0 victory over Wakefield to up its record to 6-3-2, putting it on the verge of a return to the postseason. 

“We are playing some of our stronger players for long stretches, and that has worked well. The last couple of games we have started to gain momentum, and we are about to play the teams we have already played before (in the Liberty division of the Middlesex League),” said Bisceglia-Kane.

After a home game against Woburn at the end of the week, Belmont will be on the road for the next three games against two teams above them in the league standings, leaders Arlington and Winchester. 

“We feel confident that we’ll be in every game that they play in. We have to score earlier, so the other team doesn’t feel that they are competitive despite us outplaying them,” he said. 

New High School Building Project Seeking Seniors Opinion Friday

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Photo: The Belmont High School Building Committee’s logo.

The Belmont High School Building Committee is holding its next community engagement meeting with the town’s senior community in mind at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St. on Friday afternoon, Oct. 13 at 1:15 p.m.

The afternoon’s agenda includes:

  • High School Building Project updates
  • District enrollment update and grade configuration discussion,
  • Results of recent Education Visioning workshops,
  • Guiding principles of the project,
  • Conditions and space summary, and
  • Questions and comments,

Online Survey

The Belmont High School Building Committee wants to hear from the residents of Belmont. Our new online survey is available at www.belmonthighschoolproject.org. The committee invites residents to share your ideas, opinions, and thoughts on the Belmont High School Building Project.

Upcoming Community Meetings include:

  • Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. at Belmont High School with optional facility tours starting at 9:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, December 12 at 7 p.m. at Belmont High School with optional facility tours starting at 6:30 p.m.

To sign up for email updates and to learn more about the Belmont High School Building Project, including project timelines, videos, meeting schedules, presentations, and more, visit www.belmonthighschoolproject.org.

Questions on the project can be sent via email to: BHS-BC@belmont-ma.gov.

Volleyball: Belmont Puts A Scare Into Melrose In Five Set Thriller

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Photo: Action with Belmont High Volleyball.

On Monday, Columbus Day, Belmont High Volleyball traveled to Watertown and beat the Raiders three sets to zero (25-17, 25-9, 25-23) to up its record to 5-6, exceeding the number of victories last years campaign.

But Belmont Head Coach Jen Couture would instead talk about a lose from last week. In a thrilling home match held at Wenner Field House, Belmont was upended in a five-set marathon, 22-25, 25-11, 23-25, 25-18, 15-8, to perennial Middlesex League Freedom champs Melrose on Thursday, Oct. 5.

Melrose is once again cruising through its regular season, at 13-0, and had not been extended to five sets since the previous year. That was until they met the Marauders.

“It was an amazing match,” said Couture. “Melrose has just historically been so dominant that we usually go into the match with hopes of taking a set and when we took the first set it was little surreal.”
 
Sophia Estok broke the one-game record for digs with 43 (besting the 40 successful serves received she set vs. Lexington) having done a great job reading the Raiders hitters. “She’s a very smart player who learns from every kill and adjusts to prevent another.” Leah Babroudi and Mindee Lai were next in digs with 21 and 17 respectively.
 
Jane Mahon and Lai led the offense with 10 and 7 kills, and Jen Tan chipped in 7 service aces.
Couture pointed to Lai’s overall contribution to the team’s effort on the court.
 
“The match … highlighted Lai’s athleticism as she also recorded three blocks and a couple of pancake [saves],” said Couture. “Lai is on the court 100 percent of the time, through many four and five set matches, chasing down every shanked ball and making great plays. It’s no wonder her teammates refer to her as ‘the Machine’.”
After winning the fourth set by seven points, Belmont was entering into well-worn territory.
 
“This was our fourth five-set match [of the season]” – recently defeating Wayland and Lexington in five – “but it was the first one where you could really notice the fatigue, due to the many long rallies throughout the match.  Melrose setter came out serving strong, going on a nine-point run to push its lead to 0-9. 
“I was afraid that we had given up, assuming Melrose was going to win because we had never known anything else. The set continued 2-10, 4-12, and at 5-14 before Lai came back to serve. 
Despite match point, “Lai served aggressively and consistently making it difficult for Melrose to set up a kill bringing the team to 8-14 when ultimately during a long rally Melrose setter put the ball away,” said Couture. 
“The run came just a little too late. But for those four points, something changed, and we all started to believe anything was possible. The biggest take away from the game was if we play our smart and consistently aggressive game, we can compete with any team in our league,” she said.
With a playoff berth within reach, Couture suggests a change in her line up with an eye on the future.
“Some Junior Varsity hitters have been dressing and participating in varsity matches, and I think we will be seeing some of them in more matches, to give our starters little rest so they can continue to play at their highest level until the very last point,” she said.

Sold In Belmont: Two Family Breaks Bank Selling For $1.22 Million

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Photo: A two-family that sold for nearly one and a quarter million dollars? 

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

A pair of two-families on corner lots built in the same year, but way different sale prices. 

• 92-94 Creeley Rd., Two family (1922). Sold: $1,220,000. Listed at $1,220,000. Living area: 3,089 sq.-ft. 15 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 54 days. Last sold: Dec. 2008, $595,000.

• 717 Belmont St., Second-floor condo (1922). Sold: $445,000. Listed at $449,998. Living area: 1,380 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 90 days. Last sold: Condo master deed filed Aug. 2007.

They must have discovered gold in the basement of 92-94 Creeley Rd. Surely that would explain how a C+ rated, 95-year-old two family would sell for nearly one and a quarter million dollars. OK, I give you the opportunity of a first-floor rental, there’s some renovation – the last permitted work was completed in 2015 with the deck and renovated bathroom costing $27,400 – and it’s a corner lot at the intersection of Gilbert. But do those amenities require a $337,000 premium above the town assessed value (2017) of $883,000? It’s a good-sized house at more than 3,000 square-feet but that space fills 15 rooms, and the images of the interior don’t give you the sense of wide-open spaces. The seller did add a second floor – it’s the attic – to the owner’s unit, just don’t be too tall when standing due to the slant of the roof. All this and an unfinished basement – which will likely stay in its present state for storage now that the attic has become living space – and a road out front that must be high on Glenn Clancy’s pavement condition index of streets to be repaired.

So is 92-94 Creeley Rd. the harbinger of a new pricing reality in two family sales in Belmont or a Casandra of a real estate bubble? 

Nearly 800 Runners Set Record For Scharfman Race

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Photo: Elsa Kimberly winning the 2K race at the Dan Scharfman Memorial Run.

A bright cool fall Sunday morning; just the right combination for a road race in New England.

And 784 runners took the opportunity to help Belmont school to best use technol0gy as a record number of entries took part in the fifth annual Dan Scharfman Memorial Run 5K/2K Road Races held Sunday, Oct. 1. 

While the amount was still coming in mid-week, between $25,000 to $30,000 will be raised to fund the Dan Scharfman Education Innovative Fund which supports professional development for teachers and supply technology to all students.

“We were so excited that the 5th annual race had the most pre-registered runners for the 5K,” said Jamie Shea, the chair of The Foundation for Belmont Education which hosted the race that started and finished at Harris Field.

“This was a very very good day for runners and the [foundation],” she said.

Merle Kummer, Dan Scharfman’s wife, spoke to the runners before the race how her husband lived by the phrase; “If not me, who? If not now, when.”

“After Dan died [as a member of the School Committee], it was overwhelming to think about filling his size 13 running shoes. Today, we’ve matched him and raising him thirteen hundred running shoes!” she said.

Race sponsors included Cityside Subaru which also sponsored a pace car for the race, Belmont Savings Bank, Belmont Orthodontics, and Didriks and Local Root, which will be opening stores in Belmont Center in the next few months.

Belmont High senior Zack Tseng powered home to an impressive 16:43 to win the race with Joe Shaw second and Tseng’s teammate James Kitch in third. On the women’s side, Cambridge’s Rachel Henke – who is married to Jonathan Henke, the owner of Didriks and Local Root – won the 5K in 19:34 followed by Heidi Kimberly and Becca Pizzi. Chenery 5th grader Elsa Kimberly won the 2K for women in 8:57 while 15-year-old HaiYaing Peng won the men’s division in 7:30. 

Helping Refugees And The Hungry Part Of 9th Annual Belmont Serves

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Photo:

The 9th annual Belmont Serves Day of Community Service will be held on Monday, Oct. 9,  the Columbus Day holiday. Individuals and families will be able to select a project at the start of the day, complete the entire project in one morning of work, and then come together for some pizza and Rancatore’s ice cream to celebrate a job well done.

The headquarters for Belmont Serves is First Church Unitarian Universalist, 404 Concord Ave., 

Belmont Serves is a family-friendly event, where all members of the Belmont community are invited to work together for one morning to make our town a better place for all. You can help make a real difference in our town, have some fun, and meet others who share a willingness to serve the community.

This year’s schedule of events:

8:30 a.m.   All volunteers sign-in at First Church UU
9 a.m.   Service projects begin
Noon   Service projects end
Noon   Pizza and ice cream celebration at First Church UU

This year, service projects include:

  • Door-to-door food drive for the Belmont Food Pantry
  • Conservation projects at Lone Tree Hill (former McLean Hospital property)
  • Clay Pit Pond clean-up and improvements
  • Sorting clothes at Plymouth Church to be donated to refugees.

Door-to-door collection for the Belmont Food Pantry— Teams of volunteers will be assigned to specific routes, collecting bags of groceries left at doorsteps for delivery to the Belmont Food Pantry. These grocery bags are distributed door-to-door throughout the town during the week before Belmont Serves day. Last year, we filled the food pantry with over 1,800 bags of groceries. This year we hope to do even better!

Conservation projects at Lone Tree Hill — You can help with pruning, parking lot maintenance and invasive vegetation removal at Lone Tree Hill (former McLean Property) conservation lands. Wear long shelves and long pants to avoid poison ivy. We will supply the tools, or bring clippers or loppers.

Clay Pit Pond clean-up: Volunteers will work on pruning existing shrubs, cutting/removing invasives, and picking up trash and debris.

Sorting donated clothes for refugees: Please help us sort the donated winter clothing at Plymouth Congregational Church. The clothing will be distributed to recently arrived refugees in the New England area. New donations will NOT be accepted on the day of Belmont Serves. If you would like to donate new or gently worn winter clothes for adults and children, you can bring them to Plymouth Church (582 Pleasant St.) Friday, Oct. 6 – Sunday, Oct. 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Burbank School grounds: Help with gardening and distributing wood chips in garden areas. If you can bring shovels and gardening tools, that would be helpful. Be sure to put your name on your tools.

For all projects (including advance distribution of grocery bags), please use the online registration form to register and select your preferred project.

Middle school and High school students will earn Community Service hours.

Six Projects Clear First Hurdle Towards Securing CPC Funding

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Photo: The Belmont Veterans Memorial project.

More fields being restored, a “re-do” and a saving a Belmont barn have submitted preliminary applications for funding by the town’s Community Preservation Committee, according to information released by the CPC on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

A total of six applications were received by the committee by its Sept.29 deadline,  according to Michael Trainor, who this week stepped down from the CPC Admin Coordinator position after five years of working for the CPC.

While five of the six have specific dollar amounts, one – the second request for an inter-generational walking path at the Grove Street Playground – was submitted without a price tag attached.

But in the preliminary application stage, “it’s not entirely necessary since the CPC is just looking at whether or not the project would be eligible to receive funding under Mass General Law and Belmont’s specific list of criteria,” said Trainor.

With the amount for the Grove Street project to come, the total dollars requested is $748,000. While the CPC will select the projects to obtain grants, Town Meeting will have the final say which receives funding.

The projects, the amount requested and the applicants are:

  • Town Field Playground restoration $180,000 (Courtney Eldridge, Friends of Town Field Playground)
  • Payson Park Music Festival shed/hatch $50,000 (Tomi Olson, Payson Park Music Festival)
  • McLean Barn conditions study and stabilization $165,000 (Ellen O’Brien, Lauren Meier, Glenn Clancy) 
  • Belmont Veterans Memorial restoration and enhancement $103,000 (Angelo Firenze, Belmont Veterans Memorial Committee)
  • Funds set aside for the Housing Trust $250,000 (Judith Feins, Belmont Housing Trust)
  • Construction of a Grove Street Park Intergenerational Walking Path TBD (Donna Ruvolo, Friends of Grove Street Park)

The Town Field project follows other park restoration projects including this year’s PQ Park renovation and the Grove Street Park path is similar in aim and name as the one approved for Clay Pit Pond. Tomi Olson’s hatch shell project was submitted last year but rejected after Olson could not produce the written support of abutters the committee had requested. Belmont received the abandoned dairy barn, located just south of the Rock Meadow Conservation Land off Mill Street, in 2005 from McLean Hospital. And the Belmont Veterans Memorial has been raising private funds to help pay for the renovation and construction on Clay Pit Pond.

Important dates for the applicants include:

  • Nov. 8, 2017: a public meeting to discuss the applications.
  • Dec. 4, 2017: Final applications are due
  • Jan. 12, 2018: The CPC selects projects
  • March 2, 2018: Project Summary Reports Due 
  • Late April 2018: League of Women Voters Meeting
  • Early May 2018: Town Meeting

Unbeaten Belmont Field Hockey Readies For Watertown Clash Thursday

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Photo: Belmont High’s Alexa Sabatino scoring against Melrose

Belmont High Field Hockey had an eventful past week: the team tied up one of the leading squads in New England (and Watertown slayer) Winchester, 1-1, on the Sachems’ home turf, knocked off Reading 2-0 at home and earned an excellent 1-0 away victory at Arlington.

And on Tuesday, Oct. 3, the team showed off its good form beating Melrose, 5-1, under the lights of Harris Field.

And the team’s reward for being 7-0-1 with six shutouts? Being excluded from the Boston Globe Top 20 rankings and having to take on 8-1-0 Watertown away at Victory Field for the second year running.

I ask you; where’s the love?

For Jessie Smith, Belmont’s long-serving head coach, the past four games have been preparing for the battle with the Raiders, the six-time Div 2 State champion who had its record unbeaten streak ended by Winchester in September.

“I’ve been pleased with how we have been playing. Our passing has been outstanding, and we’ve been scoring when we needed to,” Smith said.

In her best match of the bunch, Belmont hung tough against Winchester behind senior goaltender Christine McLeod who stopped 14 of 15 hard shots thrown at her, including making a spectacular diving save early in the second half. Smith pointed to the defensive back line of Emma Donahue, Johnna Crowley, Hanna Power and sub Meaghan Noone breaking up a number of Winchester’s attacks.

While Winchester did break through with 12 minutes to play as Shannon Crowe scored from a penalty corner, Belmont’s senior captain Alexa Sabatino beat Winchester goalie Brooke Ross with the equalizer five minutes later off of the Marauders’ first penalty corner of the game.

“After they scored, we really stepped it up. You could see they hadn’t given up and wanted to get that goal back,” said Smith.

After a solid 2-0 win over Reading, Belmont traveled to Spy Pond country where they encountered an improving Arlington squad.

With Arlington deploying a defense consisting of its entire team stationed between the ball and the goal when Belmont was on the attack, it took the Marauders a good 50 minutes to solve the labyrinth  of sticks and players as junior right attack Morgan Chase lifted the ball into net from eight meters out with nine minutes remaining in the game.

“Their defense was really strong which made it difficult to make our passes,” said Chase who is one of team’s leading scorers.

Tuesday’s game against visiting Melrose allowed Smith to clear the bench and use her entire team leading up to the Watertown match. Junior Mia Kaldenbaugh punched in a pair with Sabatino and sophomore midfield Katie Guden both scoring.

The final goal was by the future of Belmont Field Hockey as sophomore Cleo Theodoropulos grabbing the late tally, her first of the season.

Belmont will take on the one-loss Watertown team on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 3:30 p.m. at Victory Field

After losing to Winchester in a one-sided contest, Watertown has been on a tear, winning six consecutive games all by shutouts while scoring six goals four times.

For Smith, the game will be won by the team that controls the midfield.

“We have to keep our feet moving on defense and really push forward when we have the chance,” said Smith.