BREAKING: State Approves School District’s Plan to Renovate Belmont High School

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The MSBA voting to invite Belmont to begin the process to renovate Belmont High School.

A decade of applications and waiting ended at 10:44 a.m. Wednesday morning, Jan. 27 in a crowded board room at 40 Broad St. in Boston as the Massachusetts State Building Authority voted to invite the Belmont School District to begin the process that Belmont officials anticipate will result in the complete renovation of Belmont High School and the construct of a new science wing at the Concord Avenue campus.

Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who heads the MSBA, made the announcement before nearly 100 school administrators and staff, politicians and local elected officials, including Belmont Superintendent John Phelan, Belmont High Principal Dan Richards and Belmont School Committee Chair Laurie Slap. 

“This is great news for the town of Belmont,” said Slap after the vote. 

See a video of the Belmont delegation responding to the vote: (from left: Superintendent John Phelan, School Committee Chair Laurie Slap and Belmont High Principal Dan Richards. 

Belmont High was the only high school to be selected, joining seven elementary schools from Harvard, Lexington. Ludlow, Manchester Essex, Marlborough, Tisbury and Triton Regional districts to make the final cut.

A total of 26 building projects were vying for approval this year, including Arlington High School and the Maria Hastings Elementary School in Lexington. 

With the MSBA vote, the clock begins running as the district enters a 270-day “eligibility period” in which the district is required to complete preliminary steps including forming a school building committee, hiring a building manager and conducting a feasibility study which establishes a process for the district to be reimbursed for eligible expenses. This is the first of eight “modules” the district and town will need to complete to receive the state grant. 

(The process of creating a building committee is already underway as the special town meeting on Feb. 8 will include a vote to create a high school building committee.)

“During those 270 days, we’ll work all that information through and then meet with the community,” said Phelan.

For the Belmont delegation, the next few weeks will be educating themselves on what the state expects from the district.

“That’s what we going to find out in the next meeting, it’s the details,” said Richards.

IMG_2723

The project price tag, based on an updated 2008 estimation, was calculated at $79.6 million. With eight years of inflation added to the 2008 figure, the total cost is now closer to $100 million.

With a third of the eligible costs reimbursed by the MSBA, Belmont taxpayers will be responsible for $66 to $70 million of the total cost.

“This [project] has been on everyone’s minds for years and years,” said Slap. “Everyone understands the need for a renovated school so our job is to make sure that we plan this as carefully and thoughtfully as we can. We are always very respectful of taxpayer’s dollars but this is a critical project that has to be done.” 

“We are going to have lots of time to educate the community and lots of community involvement. Stay tuned, there is lots to come,” said Slap. 

Under the 2008 revision of the 2004 Belmont High School master plan:
  • Construction at the school will take place in four phases over four years so students will remain on the existing campus,
  • All construction will be within the 257,000 sq.-ft. footprint of the current building, and
  • A 34,000 sq.-ft. Science wing will be built in the parking lot adjacent the Wenner Field House and the Higginbottom Pool.

The renovation of the five-decade-old school building is critical as it is currently “structurally unsound” and “jeopardize the health and safety of the school children,” according to Belmont’s 2014 SOI submitted to the MSBA.

The new science center will add 13.5 percent more classroom and lab space to the school, with the hope of “eliminat[ing] the existing severe overcrowding” at the school. The district is predicting an additional 254 students at the high school by fiscal 2024.

BREAKING: MBTA Rejects New Belmont Commuter Rail Station, But Waverley’s Future Still Up in the Air

By 1 Comment

Photo: The future of the Waverley Station remains up in the air. 

The MBTA has rejected plans to construct a modern commuter rail station along South Pleasant Street to replace the century-old stop in Waverley Square, State Sen. Will Brownsberger told the Belmontonian this afternoon, Friday, Jan. 22. 

“They heard the concerns from commuters and residents and have abandoned the idea,” said Brownsberger.

In a subsequent note on his web page, Brownsberger said the “MBTA was able to report today that they have concluded categorically that they will not pursue a new station located between Waverley and Belmont Center.” 

The decision comes after residents and town officials at a Nov. 16 public meeting with MBTA officials  voice considerable opposition to the plan initially presented to Belmont in September to construct a $20 million state near the North America Central School Bus depot at 1000 Pleasant St., a few hundred feet from Star Market.

The MBTA advanced the new station plan as a solution to a decision by the state’s Architectural Access Board that earlier ordered the transportation authority to improve access to the Waverley Square commuter rail station in the near future which would allow handicap citizens to take public transportation.

But today’s decision does not assure the future operation of a Waverley Square station, which is currently in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act access requirements.

With the estimated cost of a Waverley Station upgrade – which lies several dozen feet below the street grade and would require – at $35 million, and with less than 120 passengers using the station on weekdays, closing the station remains a possibility.

However, said Brownsberger, “they are still working on defining the options for Waverley station itself given the requirements of the AAB.”

“The MBTA is going over its capital budget and we will know within a month,” said Brownsberger. 

“The MBTA has been devoting considerable attention to internal conversations about how to resolve the questions created by the AAB’s ruling related to Waverley,” said Brownsberger on his web page.

Waltham Hotel Owner Proposing Boutique Inn at Pleasant and Brighton

By 7 Comments

Photo: A rendering of the proposed Belmont Inn Suites at the corner of Pleasant and Brighton streets.

A Waltham entrepreneur has pulled permits with the Office of Community Development to renovate the former Mini-Mart Market at the corner of Pleasant and Brighton streets into a “luxury boutique hotel” similar to ones he both ran and is proposing in Waltham.

Mike Colomba is seeking to create a two-story “The Belmont Inn Suites” at 334 Pleasant St. consisting of 18 guest rooms, a cafe for guests, a fitness room, a business center and management offices on the 14,400 sq.-ft. site, according to documents at Town Hall.

Colomba is scheduled to come before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday, Feb. 2 to present the proposal. If the ZBA approves four special permits – on various setbacks and height variances – the hotel will be the first in Belmont in decades.

This month, the ZBA narrowly denied special permits to transform the abandoned service station across Brighton Street into a Dunkin’ Donuts after hearing from neighbors who complained about possible increase traffic and noise issues.

The project will not be new construction but a “complete exterior renovation” to create a building that is “a veritable gem” in what Colomba calls an “up and coming commercial area” in Belmont.

The hotel will have 19 parking spaces and “lush” landscaping.

IMG_2672

The view from Pleasant Street of the proposed Belmont Inn Suites.

Brighton-based Rojas Design, Inc. created the designs. The architectural and landscape firm is owned by former Belmont Selectman Andy Rojas.

Colomba, who owns the restaurant Brelundi on Felton Street in Waltham and recently sold the Crescent Suite Hotel in the same town. He is currently proposing to build a 45-room hotel on the 200 block of Moody Street in Waltham.

A Youtube presentation by Waltham News Watch with Colomba describing Crescent Suite Hotel is below:

Colomba could not speak when reached on Tuesday, Jan. 19 but will be giving interviews on the concept later in the week.

In his permit documentation, Colomba said: “[T]he transformation (of the site) will improve the property values for the entire neighborhood.” His past hotel projects generated room, meals and sales taxes for the hosting community while noting that a lodging project “will not overload school and generates less traffic” than other uses at the location.

“My hotels are quiet and respectful” of the surrounding neighborhoods, said Colomba.

On Sunday, Pizzi Starts Her Adventure of a Lifetime … All In One Week

By 1 Comment

Photo: Becca Pizzi with Belmont Saving’s CEO Bob Mahoney.

Just reading about Becca Pizzi’s typical day for the past year is exhausting.

The 35-year-old lifelong Belmont resident gets up before the sun comes up to run more miles in one morning than most people do in a week, gets her daughter ready for school, manages a child-care business, then heads over to run Moozy’s Ice Cream shop on Trapelo Road, be back for her daughter, goes back to complete work, before heading off for a quick hour of CrossFit or some other exhausting hardcore exercise program. Then back home for some down time with her daughter before popping off to bed.

It would not stretch one’s imagination to know the 1996 Belmont High grad is seen at the starting line of the Boston Marathon (3 hours, 25 minute PR) and other road races, running in the top ten percent of not just the women’s field but among men in the races.

But the challenge facing her in the next week is one that is more daunting than any other athletic accomplishment on her resume. It begins today, Sunday, Jan. 17 with a long-distance flight to Chile where Pizzi joins 11 men and three women traveling 32,000 miles in 70 hours and running 183 miles in a week participating in the second World Marathon Challenge.

Pizzi is attempting to be the first American woman to complete the around-the-world course. “This by far the toughest test I’ve ever put myself through,” said Pizzi at a public send-off at the Belmont Savings Bank’s headquarters in Belmont Center.

“This by far the toughest test I’ve ever put myself through,” said Pizzi at a public send-off at the Belmont Savings Bank’s headquarters in Belmont Center on Thursday, Jan. 14.

“But I’m looking forward to this test of endurance and strength and representing [Belmont],” she said

At the celebration which included ice cream (from Moozy’s, of course) and autograph posters of Pizzi, who spoke to half a dozen media outlets and a steady stream of admirers and family who came to wish her well. 

“It was just seemed like an amazing confluence of events,” said Robert Mahoney, CEO and president of Belmont Savings Bank. “We have a customer who is a mom and a neighbor who is going to run for a while, for seven days. Oh, and did I mention the seven continents and run 26 miles each day.”

“And that struck me as an extraordinary event that we should somehow celebrate and make it an even better event,” said Mahoney, presenting Pizzi a $1,000 check made out to the Belmont Food Pantry, the local anti-hunger non-profit Pizzi asked to receive the funds.

When Pizzi returns, the bank will sponsor a welcome home celebration and a student/parent lecture by Pizzi on the importance of goals and endurance. 

IMG_6423 IMG_6435 IMG_6437 IMG_6446

On Jan. 23, 2016, Pizzi will be in Union Glacier, Antarctica, to run the first of seven marathons on consecutive days. After running with spikes on her shoes in zero degree temperatures (that’s if it’s a “nice day” said Pizzi), she’ll be on her way to:

  • Punta Arenas, Chile;
  • Miami;
  • Madrid;
  • Marrakech, Morocco;
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and finally
  • Sydney.

“The best way to describe it as ‘eat, sleep, run, fly, repeat’,” she said.

You can follow Pizzi’s trek around the world by going to the Belmont Savings Bank web page.

Daughter of Susan and Fred Pizzi (the long-time owner of Lawndale Realty that recently merged with Century 21) heard of the challenge just over a year ago before the inaugural race took place. 

“The moment I heard about it, I knew I wanted to do this, I had to do this,” said Pizzi. 

The first concern was finding sponsors to foot the $39,000 entry fee that includes all air flights, lodging, supplies and a support staff to help the runners. Her three major sponsors are the Lyon-Waush Auto Group, Dr. Cool and Ultima Replenisher while LuluLemon and Swift Socks are apparel suppliers. 

But this is no cake walk even for someone as physically strong as Pizzi. Even the event’s website warned participants of “marathon fatigue, jet lag, and sleep deprivation as the event progress.” In addition, there will be changeable environments from brutally cold in Antarctica to the desert heat of Dubai. 

Pizzi has been putting herself through the extended training regiment “because I know I’m going to be running on tired legs and I just have to get used to it.” She is aiming to finish each marathon in approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes.

Pizzi said she’ll have the company of the three women competitors, who all happen to be mothers. The other women have an advantage in the event’s first race as each has participated and two have won marathons held on Antarctica or the North Pole.

The worst part? Being away from her daughter, who she will Skype each day. 

So why put yourself through all this? 

“I’m doing this to inspire the world that you can do anything that you put your mind to,” she said.

Smokey Flue Fire in Former Fire Station Halts Traffic Through Center [VIDEO]

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Fire at il Casale in Belmont Center.

A smokey fire in an exhaust flue sent Belmont and Arlington fire departments to the building housing upscale il Casale restaurant, clogging Belmont Center with fire equipment during Thursday evening rush hour, Jan. 7. 

Firefighters were seen on the building’s roof searching for flames inbetween walls and the ceiling. 

According to il Casale’s General Manager Joanne Hastings, the fire was discovered by staff in one of the exhaust hoods in the restaurant’s kitchen at 4:10 p.m. There were no customers in the restaurant located at 50 Leonard St.

None of the dozen or so employees were injured, many who relocated to Starbucks across the street. 

“There will have to be some repair work, obviously, more to repair the water damage. So we will be closed for a couple of days,” said Hastings, who has been with the eatery for the past seven months. 

The structure, which consists of two buildings and once was the town’s main fire station built in the 19th century, is owned by Brian Burke. Above the restaurant, which opened in 2009, is the popular Every Body Pilates studio.

“Its a little ironic that it happened in the original fire station,” said one witness. 

The second building in the rear of the restaurant consists of ten individual offices, including two executive offices. 

Traffic was diverted from Leonard Street for more than two hours.

IMG_2597 IMG_5846 IMG_5849 IMG_5851 IMG_5855 IMG_5856 IMG_5857 IMG_5860 IMG_5862 IMG_5863

Cushing Village Sets Latest Deadline While Similar Watertown Project Set to Open

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Similiar in many ways to Cushing The Residence Inn by Marriott nearing completion in Watertown.

The developer of the long-troubled Cushing Village project – the 164,000 sq.-ft. three-building development approved in July 2013 – told the Planning Board Tuesday night, Jan. 5 that he is really, really close to getting all his ducks lined up to begin construction on the $63 million project.

Next month.

Hopefully.

Now 30 months behind the initial timeline provided by Chris Starr, head of the development team Smith Legacy Partners, the latest “update” – requested by the Planning Board after Starr’s team missed a “drop dead milestone” of Dec. 18 to purchase the town’s municipal parking lot for $850,000 to begin construction of the first of the three buildings – has Starr asking the town to “stand still” until the board’s next scheduled meeting on Feb. 2 when his team “hopes to inform the board of a loan closing at that meeting.”

In a letter to the board – which was received a few hours before Monday night’s meeting, Jan. 5 – Starr painted yet another rosy picture of the development’s status, similar in tone and optimism made to the town in August 2013, September 2014, and in May, August and December of last year.

Reading the correspondence’s highlights, Board Chair Liz Allison said that while the team didn’t come close to meeting its earlier promises for Dec. 18, “the Cushing Village Development team has achieved significant lender-based milestones and is committed to proceed(ing) expeditiously with a loan closing in the month of January.”

Starr attempted to reassure the board that the project’s major lenders – including lead bank Wells Fargo – are still involved in closing the deal for the municipal lot, telling the board member they can contact the banks to validate his effort to purchase the lot.

Starr also noted that real estate veteran Rod Loring, who has three decades of experience in the residential and commercial sides, has been added to the day-to-day leadership team to work closely with Starr.

It is unknown if this move was an internal change or one suggested by the lenders and other potential partners.

Starr concluded by revealing that the biggest impediment to the closing, a lease modification with a “national” company to join the project, was difficult to do during the holidays.

While Starr would not say whether the firm was a retail operation or a parking lot management firm, he expects to sign up the company “shortly.”

Starr concluded by stating how he wants to work closely with the board as he “remains committed to Cushing Village. The development team is … confident that significant progress will be made over the next month.” He also is requesting an “internal” working group be established with the board – whose meetings will not be advertised to the public – and a weekly “call” to update the town of any progress to these new goals.

While saying the lost Dec. 18 deadline was a “disappointment,” Allison said attempting to close a land deal during the holiday season was, in hindsight, difficult to accomplish.

Yet members were not in such a forgiving mood. While encouraged to hear the developer wants to increase communications with the board and the staff in the Office of Community Development, “action will speak louder than words,” said Raffi Manjikian.

“I’m disappointed that it took until … we arrived at this meeting to see this letter,” said Barbara Fiacco.

“They took a significant amount of time and made a number of promises when they were here asking for an extension. I found that a little frustrating. The residents deserve more transparency,” she said.

The board’s irritation with the continuous delays in the Belmont project since one needs only to look to neighboring Watertown to witness a development that is fast on its way of cutting the opening-day ribbon.

The Residence Inn by Marriott on Arsenal Street across from the Arsenal Mall is similar in design and function to Cushing Village. The six-story extended-stay hotel has 150 rooms with kitchen area and work space, 115 underground parking spaces and first-floor retail space.

The significant difference with Cushing Village is that the Residence Inn is nearing completion. Despite receiving the OK from Watertown to commence development in late 2014, the project – developed by the experienced team at Boylston Properties – is expected to open to the public in the late spring/summer, generating tax revenue and hotel fees to Watertown.

State Places $100 Million Belmont High Renovation in Final Funding Review

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont High School

Ten consecutive times the state agency created to assist Massachusetts communities in financing new school projects rejected the Belmont School District’s request to renovate the increasingly threadbare high school building on Concord Avenue.

That dubious streak may finally come to an end in 2016 as the Massachusetts School Building Authority selected the nearly $100 million renovation of the 45-year-old Belmont High School and the construction of a new science wing as one of 26 projects across the state the authority has chosen for a final funding review.

“This is great news for the town of Belmont as it represents a unique opportunity for our community as we have submitted an application for this project annually for over ten years,” said Belmont District Superintendent John Phelan. 

This year, nearly 100 Statement of Interests from nearly the same number of school districts were submitted to the MSBA, Authority spokesperson Matt Donovan told the Belmontonian two weeks ago. 

The Authority will make its decision on which projects it will approve for eventually financing at its monthly meeting on Jan. 27, 2016. Last year, the MSBA selected 16 projects from a group of 28. 

If picked, Belmont will enter a 270-day “eligibility period” in which the district and town will shape the building plan to meet state requirements.
 
Joining Belmont in the final group include neighboring Arlington which is seeking to renovate its 101-year-old high school, and Framingham’s Fuller Middle School. (Arlington has been requesting funding for only two years)

While being passed over by the MSBA for a decade, it did not come as a complete surprise that Belmont’s “time” for a final review was close at hand. In October 2014, a team of architects and engineers associated with the School Building Authority conducted a “senior study” of the 45-year-old brick and concrete structure, asking a lot of questions of school and town officials while poking around the building. 

Proposed projects that receive a “senior study” are seen as having a high level of being recommended to “move forward with an invitation” of being in the final group. 

If current trends continue, Belmont should be reimbursed by the MSBA for approximately a third of the total construction costs. 

The renovation price tag based on an updated 2008 estimation of the 2004 masterplan which would include using a single general contractor over four years was $79.6 million. With eight years of inflation added to the 2008 figure, the total cost is now close to $100 million.

With a third coming from the MSBA, the total cost to Belmont taxpayers is likely to be in the $66 to $70 million range.

A MSBA-financed project similar to Belmont is taking place in Winchester where a new high school that includes three new buildings is currently one-third finished. The $131.9 million project received 34 percent state reimbursement, requiring Winchester to pass a $90 million debt exclusion. 

Under the 2004 Belmont High School master plan revised in 2008:
  • Construction at the school will take place in four phases over four years so students will remain on the existing campus,
  • All construction will be held within the current 257,000 sq.-ft. footprint of the current building, and 
  • A 34,000 sq.ft. modern science wing will be built in the proximity of the parking lot adjacent the Wenner Field House and the Higginbottom Pool.

The renovation of the five-decade-old school building is critical as it is currently “structurally unsound” and “jeopardize the health and safety of the school children,” according to Belmont’s 2014 SOI submitted to the MSBA.

With the building of a science center, which will add 13.5 percent more classroom and lab space to the school, “it will eliminate the existing severe overcrowding” at the school. The district is also predicting an additional 254 students at the high school by fiscal 2024. 

The SOI notes that Belmont High School is in danger of losing its regional accreditation due to the “negative impact on students … to achieve a 21st Century learning experience” in a building where critical infrastructure are now “beyond its normal life span.” This year, more than a million dollars was directed to rebuild the school’s fire alarm system which is so dated there is a lack of parts to repair the mechanism. 

This year, more than a million dollars was directed to rebuild the school’s fire alarm system which is so dated there is a lack of parts to repair the mechanism. Without the change, the Belmont Fire Department warned the building could be closed for safety. 

 

Graham Resigns from School Committee; Three Seats Up in April Town Election

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Laurie Graham at the Friends of Belmont Education Spelling Bee in Nov. 2015. 

Long-time Belmont School Committee member Laurie Graham has resigned after serving nearly eight years on the board, three of those as chair leading the committee during some of the most financially challenging times in recent history. 

Graham’s resignation, announced at last week’s school committee meeting, is effective Jan. 20, 2016.

“I hope that I have added in some measure to a more cordial and respectful working relationship with other committees but one that is not only less tense but which also produces positive results and outcomes for our students,” Graham told the Belmontonian. 

Her departure will likely result in three seats being filled at the 2016 Town Election on Tuesday, April 5. While traditionally, the seat of someone who resigns is occupied by a nominee selected by a joint meeting of the School Committee and Board of Selectmen, with the resignation coming within four months of Town Election, it is likely the two bodies will allow the one-year position to be picked by the voters. 

The other two seats are three-year appointments currently held by incumbents Laurie Slap, the current committee chair, and Elyse Shuster. Both have told the Belmontonian they would wait until the New Year before announcing if they will run for re-election. 

Graham, who won three town-wide elections starting in 2008 while, topped the school committee ticket in 2014 with 3,640 votes.

For the past six years, Graham worked out of her home as a contractor with a group of independent publishers reps and that has given her the flexibility to attend day-time sub-committee meetings as well as participate as a school committee liaison or appointed to other committees in town for both day and evening meetings.

That changed when she started a new job, as an office manager in a tax office, in downtown Boston. It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election. 

“It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election,” she said.

Selectmen OKs Feasibility Study for Proposed Community Path

By 6 Comments

Photo: Russell Leino (center), chair of the Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee with Heather Ivestor (left) and Brian Burke.

The Belmont Board of Selectmen took a significant step in moving the idea of a town community path towards reality when it approved the hiring an engineering consultant to create a feasibility study of a dozen proposed routes from the Waltham line to the Alewife bike path off of Brighton Street.

“Once [the Selectmen] makes a decision, we can make this happen,” said Russell Leino, chair of the Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee, which is overseeing the process for the town.

“Let’s get going with a [request for proposal] and move forward,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo, after hearing from the Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee at its meeting Monday, Dec. 15 at Town Hall.

Bowing to residents along Channing Road whose south-lying properties abut a favorite proposed path, the selectmen approved a suggestion by Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady to have an additional route, traveling along a portion of Concord Avenue, added to the list of reviewed paths.

In his presentation, Leino said the guiding principle of the five-member group is not to “reinvent the wheel” instead build on the work of its predecessor, the Community Path Advisory Committee, which did the heavy lifting of carving out the possible routes through town.

The five-member Implementation Advisory Committee (Leino, Vincent Stanton, Heather Ivestor, Michael Cicalese and Brian Burke) was created a year ago to develop recommended strategies for the design, construction and implementation of community path route options selected by the Selectmen, “diving deep” into the routes recommended by CPAC, focusing on any choke points including rough terrain or intersections on busy roadways.

In addition to the pathway, the committee looked into an underpass from Alexander Avenue to the south side of the commuter rail tracks that would allow residents and students transverse from the Winn Brook neighborhood to Belmont High School safely. 

After spending a great deal of time adhering to the mandate, “we are now at the stage to put pen to paper” by moving to a feasibility study,” said Leino.

During the initial process, the study will help determine “what things did we missed? What are things that CPAC missed? Are there alternatives that we should be thinking of?” said Leino. 

With the Selectmen’s approval in hand, a draft request for proposal (RFP) will be put out to bid in early January. Leino expects to hire a firm in late spring and have a completed feasibility study by the end of 2016. A group will decide on a final recommended route that will be sent to the Selectmen in the Spring of 2017.

The $100,000 to hire the engineering consultancy comes from a grant from the Community Preservation Committee that was approved by the 2015 Town Meeting.

In addition to the CPC funds, the Massachusetts legislature approved a $100,000 earmark that would pay for a study. If Gov. Baker releases the funding – no small feat in this time of fiscal restraint – the state money could replace or, supplement the town’s funds.

According to Leino, once the final route has been selected, the committee can then focus on funding a project, which could be the least difficult portion of the project. A Belmont community path is in line for both national and federal grants that would pay for nearly 90 percent of the total cost of approximately $10 million for the 2.2-mile route. 

Leino said because Belmont is a significant link to an extensive bike path from Somerville to Berlin, Mass and will lie close to other popular community routes nearby in Cambridge, Watertown, and Arlington, “we’d be right up there in priority for funding.”

The federal and state money would be available once the town invests about $1 million into the trail as they “want us to have some skin in the game,” said Leino.

Despite that the feasibility study is more than a year away, there is pushback from residents in two neighborhoods – Channing Road and homes on Clark Lane adjacent to Clark Road – to the path’s proximity to the property lines and the chance that homeowners on Clark Lane and the Boston Housing Authority could lose a portion of their land to the path.

Baghdady’s request for the feasibility study to look into using Concord Avenue and School Department land at Belmont High School came after some Channing Road residents felt the Community Path Advisory Committee did not give that proposal enough consideration.

Leino said that the Advisory Committee found the Concord Avenue route was “impractical” for several reasons including busy intersections, traffic, active driveways and other impediments. Also, a Concord Avenue route would effectively end financing plans for an underpass at Alexander Avenue, said Paolillo. 

But Baghdady did not see an additional route as overburdening the feasibility study.

“The objective is to have a community path and to me, the more options we have before us, the better decision we can make,” said Baghdady, winning the argument. 

A Contrite Developer Promises Action on Long-Delayed Cushing Village

By 1 Comment

Photo: Developer Chris Starr (photo 2012)

Apologetic and contrite, Chris Starr stood before the Belmont Planning Board and said he was sorry.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much each of these delays really impacts me,” said Starr.

“I’ve seen the frustration of people in Cushing Square, and I’ve seen the residents and the business owners … and I certainly empathize with what they are going through right now. And I share that frustration,” said Starr. 

Starr, who in 2010 sued each member of the Belmont Board of Selectmen and threatened in 2012 to develop a 40B housing development if the Planning Board would not move on the development, was penitent at the Dec. 3 meeting as he sought for the third time in the past four months either an extension or modifications to the proposed project that was approved nearly 30 months before.

“I want first to start off by apologizing for having to come back for yet another request. We are deeply sorry to do this … the simple fact is that there were some lender requirements that needed to address.

The Planning Board approved Thursday night the three “modifications” to a one-year extension to the special permit granted in July 2013 passing Starr’s Smith Legacy Partners to obtain the town permits to construct the residential/commercial/parking complex running from Belmont and Common streets onto Trapelo to Winston roads. 

The two-and-a-half year delay in construction was due in large part in the difficulty in securing a primary lender who would assume the risk in a project led by an inexperienced developer. 

Starr also announced Thursday that he is now to meet three agreed to “milestones” with the town to begin the initial construction phase of the project. 

“So we are really committed to making a change in Cushing Square and getting Cushing Village done,” said Starr.

The three strict milestones with deadlines as part of the agreement:

  • The developers must close on the deed for the municipal parking lot at a cost of $850,000 by Friday, Dec. 11,
  • Begin initial demolition on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, and
  • Seek a building foundation permit from the town by Monday, Feb. 1, 2016. 

One of the modifications deals directly with the very first milestone, delaying the Dec. 11 closing of the sale of the municipal parking lot adjacent Trapelo Road by a week.  

Starr said he and his family is “committed to closing on the 18th” ending by thanking the Planning Board for “your understanding, your patience and I’m sure it won’t go unrewarded.” 

Mark Donahue, the Smith Legacy attorney, outlined the modifications that he noted was being required by Wells Fargo, the developer’s lead lender who will commit $15 million at the start of the project.

The first is a “force majeure” provision that allows the three milestones will be extended in the event of an extraordinary incident; relating to acts of God and not mere neglect or if the developer seeks a better deal.  

The second is what Donahue called “the lender saving provision” where the milestone dates are set aside if the lender exercises its rights of taking control of the property if it is determined the developer fails to meet his obligation to the bank. The lender, Wells Fargo, will then have the ability to negotiate a sale or a new deal with the town within the one-year extension, preventing the project from falling into “a black hole.”

The benefit of the second alteration is it “reassures the town” the project will be ultimately completed, with or without Starr at the helm, said Donahue.

“This is not to suggest in any fashion that the developer is walking away from these milestones,” said Donahue.

The third is the delay by a week of the first milestone. 

“We have frankly lost time as we … were communicating with the lenders,” said Donahue. 

The new additions, said Belmont Selectman Chair Sami Baghdady, will be beneficial to Belmont as it will allow the development to move forward whoever is in control of the project.

Saying that “we’re all frustrated to be here again” Baghdady said when looking at the development “in the bigger picture, we have to say to ourselves, ‘OK, what’s best for Belmont?'” 

None of the proposed language affects the one-year extension “and it’s still ticking,” said Baghdady. If the developer misses any of the milestone conditions, “we don’t want the special permit to terminate. We do want the lender to have the opportunity to come in, secure the project, take it over, finish the construction, cure, remedy and proceed.” 

“We don’t want a hole in the ground … and if this developer can’t make it continue, it is good for Belmont to have some else move in and move this project forward,” he said.

Cushing Village, at 164,000 sq.-ft. encompassing three buildings and two town blocks, would be the largest development in Belmont in recent memory. When completed in 18 months, the $63 million project will include 115 residential units, 38,000 sq.-ft. of retail spaces and underground parking that includes 50 municipal spaces.

After the closing, the public will see heavy equipment come to the municipal parking lot, the first building site, a few days later as the lot will be closed for the final time on Christmas week, according to Tony Papantonis, president and founder of Needham-based Nauset Construction.

Demolition of the S.S. Pierce building (at the corner of Common and Trapelo) and the former CVS building at Common and Belmont would then begin as well as prep work on the municipal lot within two weeks, in the first weeks of January 2016.