Special Town Meeting Approves $2.8 Million Belmont Center Project

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Photo: Selectmen Chair Andy Rojas presenting the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project to the Special Town Meeting, Monday, Nov. 17.

In the end, Belmont’s Special Town Meeting decided a renovated Belmont Center was worth the $2.8 million price tag, no matter the funding scheme.

After more than three hours of presentation, analysis and debate, the Town Meeting members voted 140 to 63 to approve the project set to improve sidewalks, crosswalks, pavement repairs, allow for the installation of a new parking system and add new lighting in the town’s main business hub.

“It’s time that [the project] was approved,” said Belmont Selectmen Chair Andy Rojas who, with his fellow members, Mark Paolillo and Sami Baghdady, pushed for the vote this fall after nearly five years of studies and reports.

An initial timeline calls for construction to begin in late winter of next year with expected completion on Oct. 31, 2015.

The majority of the approximately 200 members who attended – about 70 percent of the representative members braved the elements on Monday, Nov. 17 to reach the Chenery Middle School – agreed with town’s elected official and staff who sought to finance the project with a one-time $1.3 million lump sum payment from the town’s “free cash” account and paying for a $1.5 million municipal bond out of the same “free cash” line item over the 15-year life of the debt.

Town officials convinced members the project’s financing options were similar to Goldilocks’ choices: at $2.8 million, the project’s financing was “too small” for a typical debt exclusion requiring a town-wide vote, yet was “too big” for the town’s capital budget to take on singlehandedly.

The funding source deemed “just right” was the town’s savings account which has reached historic levels.

“It’s not small but not terribly large,” said Belmont’s Treasurer Floyd Carman.

Free cash is unspent money remaining at the end of the fiscal year including from budget line-items and any greater than expected tax or fee receipts.

Officials turned to free cash that has been increasing steadily over the past five years, from $2.3 million in fiscal 2010 to $7.5 million in the coming fiscal 2016. This year, due to favorable fiscal conditions and other factors, the town received a large one-time injection into free cash of $1.3 million.

Carman said using free cash would not burden the town with new debt when at least $150 million of necessary projects – a new high school, a police station and a new Department of Public Works Yard – are looming down the road a few years.

“This is a balanced approach as we have one-time funds available,” said Carman.

Yet James Williams, Precinct 1, of Glenn Road submitted an amendment to the article requiring to town to finance the entire amount from a traditional sale of a 15-year municipal bond with its funding coming from general funds.

“Since this is a long-term project, it should be paid with long-term funds; I can’t understand doing it any other way,” said Williams, who voice the concerns of several members who felt queasy dipping into an account that previous town administrators and elected officials have been reluctant to use.

Williams said the funds could be better used “repairing the inaction of the past” in areas such as unfunded pension and retirement obligations leaving the town on shaky financial footings.

But town officials pushed back against the claims, calling the use of pension in the debate “a red herring.”

In addition, Carman said by going Williams’ route, the annual cost to the town would be $321,000 as opposed to $169,000 under the town’s proposal.

“Under Mr. Williams’ plan, we would need to either cut services or use free cash” to make up the difference, said Carman.

While several residents expressed support for the amendment, it was soundly defeated 153 to 49.

When the article with the town’s payment plan was brought up for debate, the discussion was a lively one, including how the project will not help in solving the traffic congestion that occurs during the morning and afternoon commutes.

Johanna Swift Hart, Precinct 4, Hull Street, said she “takes no pleasure” voting against the article. “[Belmont Center] is not a blighted neighborhood,” she said, noting the town has so many needs that officials should seek alternative sources to fund the project.

Belmont Center business owner Jeanne Widmer, Precinct 5, Gilbert Road, echoed others who contend that an upgraded Belmont Center will be a boom to the town’s economic future. She said surrounding towns such as Winchester, Lexington, Reading and Arlington have all made improvements to their downtowns to great acclaim.

“This is a modest plan,” said Widmer.

 

Town Meeting Amendment Challenges Belmont Center Project Financing Plan

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Special Town Meeting just got a whole lot more interesting.

Rather than the option of simply accepting or rejecting the financing plan for the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction Project, the 290 Town Meeting Members now have an alternative to the town-created “free cash” proposal.

Read the project’s highlights here

James Williams of Glenn Road and Precinct 1 submitted an amendment to the Belmont Center warrant article that will be brought before the Special Town Meeting on Monday, Nov. 17 to bond the entire $2.8 million project using a traditional sale of a bond to be paid out of the general fund.

Under the plan submitted in the article, the town proposes to finance the project in two steps; an initial downpayment from the town’s free cash account – sometimes referred to as the town’s “savings account” – of $1.3 million and then issuing a $1.5 million, 15-year bond which will be paid for over the term of the debt from free cash.

Read about the unique way the town will pay for project here.

“Free cash” is typically actual town receipts in excess of revenue estimates and unspent amounts in departmental budget line-items at the end of the fiscal year, plus the unexpended free cash from the previous year.

Last week, the state’s Department of Revenue certified Belmont’s free cash amount at $7,465,000, an increase of $1.3 million from the previous fiscal year.

For Williams and others who both support and are opposed to the project, using the town’s “savings” to finance a capital project that will benefit the residents over many years is not the proper use of the funds.

“Belmont is arguably in serious financial difficulty due in large part to actions taken or not taken by previous and current administrations,” said Williams in an email to the Belmontonian.
Pointing to areas of financial concern such as the millions owed in health care obligations to retired town employees and the lack of financing standard town amenities such as sidewalks and road, “[basically], we are living beyond our means and we are making commitments we can’t keep,” said Williams.
For Williams and others, using “free” cash would be just another example of fiscal irresponsibility by town officials.
“[T]he only responsible thing to do is to issue debt for the entire amount so the so-called “free cash” can be used for existing obligations and the center can be funded by new money,” said Williams.
“Since the Center is not a ‘must have’ project, it should be voted up or down on this point,” said Williams, who will “stand against” the project unless it was fully funded.

At a warrant briefing earlier this month which reviewed the articles on the Special Town Meeting, town officials said the current plan “strike a balance” in using town’s savings so it can bond a smaller portion of the project.

Belmont Town Administrator David Kale said if the entire project is bonded, the town would pay $320,000 in the first year, as opposed to the $168,000 in the first year under the current proposal.

Duty, Honor, Country: Schools Salute Vets in Remembrance Observances

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The Chenery Middle School Wind Band played patriotic music, the chorus sang the “National Anthem” and several students made speeches and recited poems to their classmates and the two dozen men – many slowed with age – sitting on chairs on the side of the stage.

They were an array of armed forces veterans from Belmont and surrounding communities, coming to the school as the living embodiment of the commitment and sacrifice they gave to the country.

The school-wide assembly, held on Monday, Nov. 10 in the Chenery auditorium, is an annual commemoration of the service of all veterans and those currently in uniform.

“I want to thank all of you for showing up today because twice a year, we feel like rock stars,” said Kip Gaudet, commander of Belmont’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Trapelo Road.

“We come here to represent those who can’t be here, who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we enjoy today,” said Gaudet, who was awarded a bronze star for “heroic or meritorious achievement or service” as a radio man in Vietnam.

Chenery’s Principal Kristen St. George advised students to take a moment on the holiday to personally reach out and thank a veteran “for their contribution … for fighting for things that are important to us and our country.”

St. George read the names of veterans with a connection to the “Chenery community” and for the student to simply “listen and to reflect.” Included in the names were of Chenery teacher Ryan Schmitt and Army Spc. Jonathan Curtis, an alumni who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Gaudet read the names of the veterans who stood to receive the applause from the auditorium, including Frank Morrissey, a 96-year-old vet from the US Navy.

“Hopefully these events reminds the students of freedom’s cost,” said Gaudet after the service, before leaving with his fellow veterans for visits at the Butler and Winn Brook elementary schools before a lunch at the VFW post.

“The veterans get appreciated for their service and the kids learn something, so this morning is like a two-way street,” he said.

The highlight of the ceremony was the reading and a musical rendition of the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae who wrote the poem on May 3, 1915, moments after presiding over the funeral of his friend, Alexis Helmer.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.”

Curtain Raises on Performing Arts Company’s ‘Twelfth Night’ Tonight

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The curtain goes up tonight, Thursday, Nov. 6 on the Performing Arts Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” a comedy about a cross-dressing, ship-wreck surviving, poetry-loving girl who finds herself at the center of a not-so-average love triangle.

The production, produced and directed by Ezra Flam, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium.

The play will also be staged on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8, at 7 p.m. 

Tickets are adults: $12 in advance/$15 at the door; students: $10.

Tickets are available online and at Champions Sports in Belmont Center.

Chenery 8th Grade Students: reserve a free ticket when you order online using coupon code: CMS8. Belmont Schools Staff: reserve a free ticket online with coupon code BPSSTAFF or by e-mailing tickets@bhs-pac.org 

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Benefit Provides A Shoe Box Full of Hope for Gerry

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Anne Marie Picone came straight from her second job to Conley’s Pub and Grille on the Watertown side of Belmont Street.

The Belmont resident wasn’t there to watch Monday Night Football or grab a beer.

She came for Gerry.

“My first job ever was working at CVS (in Belmont Center) so I always cut through Champions. I’d always see Gerry and he was absolutely fantastic,” said Picone, describing Gerry Dickhaut, the long-time owner of Champions Sports Goods on Leonard Street.

So when she heard on Facebook Monday that Dickhaut had lost his house to an electrical fire last week, she immediately decided to stop by a benefit Dickhaut’s friends quickly assembled at Conley’s.

“I wanted to make sure I got to donate. Gerry’s a great guy,” she said.

Picone was just one of hundreds of residents, fellow business owners and people who Dickhaut got to know over the years who stopped by to place a donation into an athletic shoe box near the pub’s entry.

Tim Graham, who along with Andrew McLaughlin organized the benefit, opened the box to show it  jam-packed with gift cards, checks, packages and cash, all for a man that many are calling a community asset.

“The turn out was absolutely amazing. It’s a Monday night and the place was packed all evening. The generosity was stunning,” said Graham.

According to residents, the money will go to help Dickhaut replace household and personal items destroyed in the fire as well as help pay for living arrangements for the next five months while the house is being restored.

Graham, who like so many other young people worked for Dickhaut while he was at Belmont High School and after college, said he heard a few days ago of Dickhaut’s misfortune “and Gerry is an amazing man who has done so much in the community that we just wanted to do something, anything for him.”

Graham said he couldn’t even make a “guest-imate” of the total contributed, “but I have seen some of the amounts that people have donated and it really is overwhelming.”

“I’m sure Gerry will be blown away. While he’s a very generous person, he’s also quite private so he might feel a bit awkward accepting this. But he’ll be amazed that so many people are thinking of him,” said Graham.

Former Macy’s Landlord Reveals A Peek at the Site’s Future

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Don’t expect big changes to the outside of the former Macy’s/Filene’s Belmont Center location over the next year; the excitement will be left for what will go inside, according to the landlord of the property who revealed just a bit of the site’s future Thursday night.

Locatelli Properties’s Kevin Foley and his colleague, Len Simons, held a public meeting on Oct. 30, at Belmont Town Hall to preview their presentation to the Belmont Zoning Board of Appeals as they seek three special permits to allow “minor” alterations to the building.

If everything goes to plan, retailers and restaurants at new site – without a name for now – will open for business by the spring of 2016.

The presentation before the ZBA will be held on Monday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Belmont Gallery of Art, on the third floor of the Homer Building in the Belmont Town Hall complex.

After the renovation work is completed, the site – located at the corner of Alexander and Leonard streets  –  will have approximately 48,000 sq.-ft. of commercial space available to lease, said Foley.

Since the late 60s, the building has “not been touched so it needs to be updated to bring back ‘zip’ to the Center,” Simons said of the commercial space leased to Filene’s from May 1941 to September 2006 when Macy’s bought Filene’s. Macy’s closed in January 2013.

Belmont-based Locatelli will seek ZBA permission on Monday, Nov. 3, to build a new vestibule off the parking-lot side of the building where the stairs to the women’s department was located, the installation of accessibility ramps and an elevator at the rear of the building, a renovated entryway and a new roof system on the Leonard Street side. In addition, windows will be installed and new entry ways created along Leonard Street.

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“We need to include an elevator as we are required to make all floors accessible to the law,” said Simons.

In addition to accessibility features, a new office space of about 600 sq.-ft will be constructed on the top floor.

Simons said the renovations will have no effect on the number of parking spaces in the Locatelli parking lot or in vehicle traffic patterns.

“We believe the improvements for access purposes will support our efforts to bring a mix of quality retailers to the Leonard Street area,” said a written press release handed out at the meeting.

“Once Locatelli has obtained the necessary permits, we will be able to pursue potential tenants and regenerate retail activity in Belmont Center,” said the statement.

“We anticipate two large tenants and four to five smaller ones, like those down [Leonard] street,” said Foley, who doesn’t expect one retailer to take both floors “because that’s a challenge for a retailer.”

The tenants will work with Locatelli on dividing up the interior to best utilize the space.

While Foley appeared hesitant to add another bank branch in the Center, he said just about any business would be considered.

“As long as they are high quality,” said Foley, including national retailers, existing businesses and restaurants.

“I think a mix of restaurants and retail would be the best for [foot] traffic in the day and the evening,” said Foley.

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Town Proposes Using Free Cash Twice to Pay for Belmont Center Project

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Town Meeting members will be asked next month to dip twice into the town’s “savings” account to pay for the long-awaited facelift of Belmont Center’s traffic and parking design.

Under a proposal derived by town officials and Belmont’s Treasurer Floyd Carman who presented the plan to the Belmont Board of Selectmen Wednesday, Oct. 29, the now $2.8 million construction project set to reshape the roadways and parking in and around Belmont Center will be paid for using the town’s “free cash” as both a downpayment and then dipping into the account over 15 years to pay for the remaining debt, said David Kale, Belmont’s town administrator.

Free cash is unspent money remaining at the end of the fiscal year including from budget line-items and any greater than expected tax or fee receipts.

If approved by a majority of members of the Special Town Meeting on Nov. 17, $1.3 million will be taken from free cash as a one-time lump sum payment. The remaining $1,475,000 will be raised by selling 15-year bonds,

But rather then ask voters to approve a debt exclusion as has happened in the past with large capital expenditures, Belmont will take the unprecedented step of using free cash make the bond repayment over the life of the bond.

While the state’s Department of Revenue has not certified the amount Belmont has for free cash, Carman said free cash came in at $6.2 million in fiscal 2015.

Carman said the town will take approximately $169,000 from the free cash account in fiscal 2017 to pay both the interest and principal of the note. The payments will then decrease in subsequent years until there is a final payment of just under $100,000 in fiscal 2032.

Andy Rojas, Selectmen chair, told members of the Warrant and Capital Budget committees that the town hopes to have the project out to bid in January and have work completed by October. He also said the Special Town Meeting will only take up the project’s expenditure plan, “we are not opening up the project’s design for discussion.”

“[Town Meeting] is about funding, not to discuss every crosswalk or bump out,” Rojas reiterated.

While Kale is known for reminding residents, town officials and Town Meeting members that “free cash is not free” – any reduction in the account must be restored in the next year’s budget – both he and Carman believe free cash is strong enough position to sustain payments over the next decade and a half.

“We’re looking at a healthy free cash and the opportunity is there to utilize the low-interest rates,” said Carman.

Saying that he has heard some residents being critical of the town not utilizing the millions in the account, Carman told the Belmontonian “here’s an opportunity to use the savings constructively.”

Using the town’s savings account will also lessen the burden on the town’s debt service now hovering just over $5.1 million in fiscal 2015.
“Rather than burden taxpayers of 2015 to pay for this debt, we are spreading out the obligation to residents over the 15 years of the bond,” said Carman.

Carman also noted the town in the next few years will likely be asked to fund a new Belmont High School for between $60 to $100 million.

“We don’t want to add anymore debt to the books with that looming,” he said.

Paying the interest and principal of the $1,450,000 (the actual amount could be less once the engineering blueprints are completed, said Rojas) would be the second specific expense that will be paid by free cash. Last year, Town Meeting approved spending approximately $240,000 annually in other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, payments to a nearly $180 million unfunded obligation.

In recent years, the town has transferred approximately $2 million from free cash at the beginning of the budget cycle to pay for town and school expenses, filling a shortfall in local aid from the state legislature.

The town will also create a Capital Project Debt Stabilization Fund to pay down existing obligations.

The new stabilization account – to be approved by Town Meeting – will be funded with one-time payments to the town. Kale said this would include the sale of town-owned property such as the long-awaited purchase for $850,000 of the municipal parking lot at Cushing Square as part of the delayed Cushing Village project and the increasingly doubtful Woodfall Road luxury housing development.

Which of the current debt obligations could be reduced by the stabilization fund “will be part of a group discussion,” said Rojas.

When asked why this project is being given priority over six large capital projects – including a new police station and refurbishing the Viglirolo Skating rink – Rojas said the others have not begun the detailed process of design and planning.

“Why we are doing this is because it’s ready,” said Rojas, adding the reconstruction will increase business and economic development to the business center of town.

Judge Lifts Silver Maple Injunction as Work Resumes at Belmont Uplands

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Less than 24 hours after initially granting an injunction halting the developer of the proposed 299-unit “Residences at Acorn Park” apartment complex from clearing land in Belmont’s Uplands, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Rosalind Miller vacated the stay on O’Neill Properties’ work in removing vegatation and trees in preparation of possible construction.

Miller’s ruling, on Tuesday Oct. 21, allowed work crews utilizing heavy equipment and chainsaws to resume the process of clearing the eight-acre site that began last week at the Silver Maple Forest parcel off Frontage Road on the Cambridge town line.

In her ruling, provided by the Superior Court, Miller wrote the plaintiffs – 14 Belmont members of the Coalition to Preserve Belmont Uplands who filed a request for the injunction on Oct. 13 – failed to show “irreparable harm” to their cause “in absence of an injunction.” In addition, Miller said the plaintiffs had “failed to disclose the seven year history of unsuccessful litigation regarding this development of an affordable housing project.” 

The rulings came after a week of civil disobediance in which 13 protesters have been arrest by Belmont Police at the site.

Miller’s complete judgement is below:

After review and hearing on 10/16/14, the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction is DENIED. To obtain the extraordinary relief of an injunction, the plaintiffs must prove: (1) without the relief sought, plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm; (2) there is a likelihood of success on the merits of this case; and (3) any harm to the plaintiffs would outweigh the harm which the injunctive relief would inflict on the defendants. John T. Callahan & Sons, Inc. v. City of Malden, 430 Mass. 124 (1999). Plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of this case and a substantial risk of irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction. The court declines to impose sanctions on the plaintiffs for their failure to disclose the seven year history of unsuccessful litigation regarding this development of an affordable housing project. The previous temporary restraining order issued on 10/20/14, is hereby vacated. SO ORDERED. (Rosalind H. Miller, Justice, Dated: 10/21/14)

 

Judge’s Injunction Halts Uplands Tree Clearing After Morning of Arrests

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Someone was listening to the Lorax … for now.

Hours after four protesters were arrested Monday morning, Oct. 20, at the proposed site of a 299-unit residential complex on the Cambridge line, a Middlesex Superior Court judge filed an emergency restraining order to halt pre-construction clearing of a portion of the Silver Maple Forest in Belmont until she can rule on a complaint from 14 Belmont residents who are members of the Coalition to Preserve Belmont Uplands.

Justice Rosalind Miller’s single-page injunction temporarily halts trees being cut and removed from the 15 acre forest  located off Acorn Park Road, which is connected to Belmont via Frontage Road adjacent to Route 2. The judgement is directed at O’Neill Properties, the Philadelphia-based real estate firm behind the development dubbed the Residences at Acorn Park.

The complaint contends the site developer, Cambridge Partners II, is pushing aside regulations required by the Clean Water Act and the Belmont Stormwater Bylaw.

The ruling, while temporary, is a victory for environmental groups and Chilton Street resident Anne-Marie Lambert who has advocated that the residential development will increase the likelihood of serious flooding in surrounding communities such as northeastern Belmont, Cambridge’s Alewife and east Arlington due to the developer’s use of outdated climate reports in addition to destroying a nature sanctuary.

(Lambert will give a talk this Sunday on the history of the Uplands hosted by the Belmont Historical Society.)

Miller’s ruling came after a third round of arrests took place at the site as a quartet of protesters, including Lesley University Biology Professor Amy Mertl, who made a presentation to the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 14, on the economic impact on Belmont town finances if the development is constructed.

Belmont Police report that 13 people have been taken into custody since the first arrests on Monday, Oct. 13. They were charged with trespassing.

Monday’s protest occurred along Acorn Park Road adjacent to crews using chain saws and large earth-moving equipment to clear vegetation and remove trees.

“Oh!” several of the 60 protesters loudly moaned when a 50-foot Silver Maple fell to the ground as a young man read passages from Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax” – which several people repeated – and a graduate student argued loudly with the private security guards.

Quinton Zondervan, president of Green Cambridge, said the week-long direct action by various groups was occurring “since the developer doesn’t have a building permit, but they have already started cutting trees.”

Ellen Mass, founder of Friends of the Alewife Reservation who was arrested last week, said “this awful crime we are witnessing is quite beyond the pale because they did most of their cutting of these trees just as the Coalition [to Preserve Belmont Uplands] filed the injunction. They did this on purpose during the weekend before the judge had an opportunity to rule.”

For others, the protest was an opportunity to show solidarity to what they view is an important piece of the local environment.

“We want to save the forest,” said Leyli Lopez, who came with her mother, Nicole Weber, who works at Leslie University.

“I’ve gotten to know about this issue through my colleagues Amy [Mertl]. I use this area, and I didn’t even know this was happening,” said Weber.

While the possible environmental repercussions on surrounding communities has been well noted by development opponents, the impact of 300 units of housing on both Belmont’s general government and school budgets “is significant and worrying,” said Belmont Selectman Mark Paolillo at Tuesday’s meeting.

Included in the Coalition’s complaint is the Belmont Office of Community Development, which would issue the critical building permit to O’Neill which will be located on eight acres of the site.

Last week, Community Development Director Glenn Clancy said he could not comment on the complaint filed last Monday.

Town, Schools Set Nov. 12 Application Deadline for School Committee Vacancy

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Interested residents will have just about a month to submit applications for a place on the Belmont School Committee.

But the person selected by the Selectmen and the School Committee will have to keep their running shoes on because they’ll need to win their seat all over again five months later.

In a joint letter released today, Friday, Oct. 17, the chairs of the Belmont School Committee and Board of Selectmen announced the deadline for applications to fill the vacancy left when Kevin Cunningham resigned earlier this month will be Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.

The School Committee’s Laurie Slap and Andy Rojas of the Selectmen said the two boards will meet five days later, on Monday, Nov. 17, in a joint committee to hear from and interview candidates before voting to appoint a new member to fill the vacancy left when Kevin Cunningham resigned earlier this month.

The selected appointee will be sworn in by the Town Clerk Ellen Cushman before the School Committee’s meeting on Nov. 18.

Under state law, the appointee’s term only lasts until the next Town Election; in Belmont that occurs in April, 2015. The person elected for that committee seat will serve a two year term, which is the remainder of Cunningham’s tenure.

Those interested in seeking appointment should write a letter of interest that will include:

  • The reasons for seeking the appointment,
  • Expertise, skills and perspectives they will bring to the committee, and
  • Identify the most pressing issues facing the committee, both through the April election and beyond.

Letters should be sent to:

Cathy Grant

Belmont Public Schools

644 Pleasant St.

Belmont, MA 02478

or via email at:

cgrant@belmont.k12.ma.us