Breaking: Property Owner Eyes Building 225 Apartments At Purecoat Site On Hittinger St.

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Photo: The Purecoat North site which the owner the Tosi family hopes to build 225 apartment units on the three acre site adjacent Hittinger Street and Brighton Avenue.

The property owner of the Purecoat North Plating manufacturing site on Hittinger Street and a dog daycare business facing Brighton Street in east Belmont has presented to the town a preliminary design to redevelop the 126,726 square foot parcel into a 225 unit apartment complex with four floors of residential units above street level retail stores.

“I think we have a bonifide offer to proceed with a very major investment in Purecoat by the owner of Purecoat,” said Select Board member Roy Epstein. Under this redevelopment “scheme”, the property tax on the site will increase “by a factor of 10.”

While details – revealed at Monday’s Select Board meeting – remain vague, the Tosi family from Belmont who own the property approached Town officials in June with its plans to transform the three acre location into the largest mixed use development in Belmont’s history. In comparison, the Bradford complex in Cushing Square that opened in 2019 has half the number of units as what being proposed on Hittinger and Brighton streets.

One detail that has emerged is for two thirds of the complex, or 150 units, to be two-bedroom suites with the remaining units single bedrooms and studios.

More details are expected when the Planning Board meets on Tuesday, July 23.

The sites, currently occupied by Purecoat and the dog daycare business Crate Escape, are located adjacent the driveway to Belmont Middle and High School and across Hittinger from a residential neighborhood. The site also fronts Brighton Street at the corner with Flanders Road and runs along the commuter rail tracks.

The Tosi’s have told Epstein the project is conditional on being a by-right development, which means that the town’s planning staff or the Planning Board cannot deny the project as long as the proposal meets the criteria of the the Zoning Bylaw. While a by-right project means the project will require no waivers, special permits, or any other approvals, it’s still required to go through the normal development processes including Site Plan Review and the regular building permitting approvals.

The parcels are zoned as “General Business” which allow developer much greater leeway to build the complex they envision, a proposition that promoted Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne to say that the Tosi family “has the town over a barrel.” Dionne criticised the proposal as a long-term money loser for the town as it will increase the cost of town services, a jump in traffic, and an unknown increase in student enrollment in the public school district.

“No, we make money, this is cash-flow positive,” said Epstein.

It took Town Administrator Patrice Garvin to end the verbal tit for tat by saying the town is currently working with the Tosi family “to run some numbers” on the project’s revenue and expenses.

“We want to get the information to the Planning Board to really see what this project means,” said Garvin.

If the town or the Planning Board pushes back on the Tosi demands, the family is said to have made an old chestnut of a threat. “If it [isn’t] by-right, he’s making money [as a plating manufactor] and they’ll just leave it and nothing will happen,” said Epstein.

The parcels possible development is a blow to a number of town officials and residents who sees the location as a hub for commercial development. In fact, during its recent review of maps during the MBTA Communities Act discussion to determine areas to change zoning requirements to permit greater opportunities to develop multiunit housing, the Planning Board removed the Purecoat site for consideration for residential projects, replacing it with an area along Belmont Street near the Cambridge city line.

That decision by the Planning Board is being seen as one reason the Select Board in a 2-1 decision not to reappoint Planning Board Chair Jeffrey Birenbaum, to his role leading the five-member group, a move that surprised many in town.

In the past decade and a half, the town had been interested in the property for various projects. The Tosi family rejected a $6 million offer in 2011 to allow the construction of a Belmont Light substation. The station would eventually end up on Flanders Road. In 2019, a 60-day negotiation period between the town and the Tosi family failed to secure the ownership of the property or create an easement to allow the community bike path to run along the south side of the tracks. The path is now proceeding along the northside of the commuter line.

Dionne Takes On Role Leading Belmont’s Select Board

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Photo: Elizabeth Dionne, new chair of the Belmont Select Board

You’ll never have to ask Elizabeth Dionne her position on an issue. The Select Board’s new leader will tell you exactly where she stands, and sometimes she acknowledges, it done standing on someone’s toes.

During her 15 months on the board, colleagues, town officials, and committee heads have been on the receiving end of one of Dionne’s frank assessments on how they are performing their job (or lack thereof) or if they appear to be impeding forward progress in what she believes is Belmont’s future.

“What I ran [for the Select Board in 2023] I was trying to put the town on a secure financial footing so that we can provide excellent services and world class schools. And that’s going to be uncomfortable, because it’s going to require some major change,” she said.

While eager to express her opinion, Dionne isn’t seeking to initiate a dust-up.

“I don’t love making people uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable when I make others uncomfortable,” she said Monday. “That’s not fun, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.”

Since July 1, Dionne has been the third woman to chair Belmont’s three-member elected executive board, following Ann Taubes Warner (1994) and Ann Marie Mahoney (2004).

“I have really big shoes to fill,” said Dionne. “Ann Paulson [who served from 1986-1992] and Ann Marie Mahoney are both remarkable women and leaders, and I’ve learned a lot from both of them.”

Dionne’s ascendency to the top rung of town governance—which is preordained as board members rotate into the post during their second year—presents the opportunity to highlight an agenda that heavily focuses on reconfiguring the town’s fiscal base.

“Finances, finances, finances … that’s the foundation on which everything else rests,” she said. And while the town administration has effected meaningful efficiencies through policy changes including those recommended in the Collins Report, “at a certain point you need more bodies. We need more asphalt. We need more concrete.”

Those changes included revamping the zoning bylaws to promote a “friendlier” environment for businesses and developers by promoting commercial investment and attracting retail to Belmont’s business centers.

“We can’t say ‘no’ to new business and ‘no’ to new taxes and have good schools. You’d have two or three, but not all three. So if we want to try to moderate the rate of tax increases, we’ve have to have commercial and business development because everybody wants good schools. Nobody wants to say, ‘oh let’s have poor schools that we keep our taxes low.’ That’s not where Belmont is.”

To achieve this overriding goal, Dionne is committing to a far-reaching strategic approach. She accepts that for many years, the select board and town officials had to be reactive due to the pandemic, various overrides, and continual budget cuts. But past excuses are now seen as self-imposed barriers to the required change.

“I’m really tired of being reactionary and really tired of constantly chasing the next override,” she said.

“I think we’re all really trying to look at a future vision and to ask questions to which we may not have the answers, but at least asking those questions will guide the decisions that we make and where we try to lead the town. And it’s always a balance. I have ideas and I want to lead on those.”

Some of those include partnering with the Planning Board to create a retail vacancy bylaw, protect open space, and develop a traffic-controlling plan. In the long term, Dionne points to rewriting bylaws to promote hotel construction and overhaul the zoning map in West Belmont.

In some areas, change has already arrived. She notes zoning bylaw reform in the past year including restaurant zoning and restaurant parking, removal of specific special permits on business improvements, and the ongoing MBTA Communities Act plan that will come before a Special Town Meeting in November.

“Change can’t simply come from the Select Board’s initiatives; it will require a commitment and agreement from all stakeholders in town,” said Dionne. One of her first initiatives as chair will be meeting with committee chairs, and “both tell them what [the board] wants to prioritize but also hear from them so that it’s a two-way communication.”

“There is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach to financial challenges. It must be a multifaceted effort,” she said. She will continue to seek town committees to find solutions or write the changes, as she did utilizing the Vision 21 Implementation Committee and Economic Development Committee on the new restaurant bylaws.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m very wide but not very deep because I can’t do both. So I really try to identify people who I know are going deep into a topic who I trust to give me accurate information and have the integrity to be honest. Because if I can trust information from those sources, then I can start to strategically put the pieces together for a larger vision for the town,” she said.

During her year at the board’s helm, Dionne said she is eager for residents and business owners to see her as a listening post with their concerns or suggestions.

“What I bring to the position is maybe a certain humility in terms of a willingness to listen and learn from others, and also a certain sensitivity as to people who feel maybe left out or not heard,” Dionne said.

sugar coating her views

“I don’t love making people uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable when I make others uncomfortable,” she said Monday. “That’s not fun, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.”

In a generational moment, Dionne becomes just the third woman to chair Belmont’s three member elected executive board, following Anne Warner (1994) and Ann Marie Mahoney (2004) in that post.

“I have really big shoes to fill. Ann Paulson and Ann Marie Mahoney are both remarkable women, and leaders, and I’ve learned a lot from both of them.”

Dionne’s ascendency to the top rung was preordained since board members rotate into the post during the second year of their tenure. She will direct

“What I bring to the position is maybe a certain humility in terms of a willingness to listen and learn from others, and also a certain sensitivity as to people who feel maybe left out or not heard,” Dionne said. One of her first one initiatives as chair is to start meeting with committee chairs, and both tell them what [the board] wants to prioritize but also hear from them so that it’s a two-way communication.

1:12
like that. Absolutely. That’s very important too. I will do my best to be at as many of them as I can. It’s honestly a lot of what my job is is talking to people.

Various people have have different strengths.

My strength is a strategic view. So sometimes I feel like I’m very wide but not very deep because I can’t do both. So I really try to identify people who I know are going deep into a topic who I trust to give me accurate information and have the integrity to be honest. Because if I can trust information from those sources, then I can start to strategically put the pieces together for a larger vision for the town.

1:54
If anybody has been following the Select Board, they know that you’re somebody who is willing to speak your mind and speak it very clearly and very strong. How are you going to be leading the board? Is it going to be an activist board or is it going to be more of a let’s do something board you know,

2:13
well aren’t an activist outlet do something kind of the same? How would you distinguish them?

2:18

The board has had to be reactive, the pandemic, the various overrides, having to continually cut budgets. So there have been a lot of really challenging situations. I think both when Mark Pula was still on the board when I first joined a nail with Matt Taylor, we have become a much more strategic active board. I think we’re all really trying to look at a future vision and to ask questions to which we may not have the answers, but at least asking those questions will guide the decisions that we make and where we try to lead the town. And it’s always a balance. I have ideas I want to lead on those. So

3:14
what are some of those goals?

3:16
Well, you heard them to lead it’s what I ran on.

What I ran on was trying to put the County town on a secure financial footing so that we can provide excellent services and world class schools. That’s going to be uncomfortable, because it’s going to require some change. We can’t We can’t say no to new business, and no two new taxes and have good schools. You’d have two or three but not all three. So if we want to try to moderate the rate of tax increases, we’ve got to have commercial and business development because everybody wants good schools. Nobody wants to say oh, let’s have poor schools that we keep our taxes low. That’s not where Belmont is.

you’re willing to put a red line

4:12
on commercial, right, because I promised I promised that to the voters. That’s what I said I

4:37

Thanks, Watertown: Belmont Fills Top IT Post; DPW Welcomes Familiar Faces To New Jobs

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Photo: Apple Macintosh 128k computer, January 1984, by Bernard Gotfryd (credit: Library of Congress)

Belmont didn’t need to physically go far to fill its new top IT post.

Watertown’s Chief Information Officer Christopher McClure will be moving just 2 1/2 miles as he becomes Belmont’s new IT Director. His starting date is Aug. 12.

For the past 23 years, McClure has been working in the information technology and services industry with a background in Computer Forensics, IT Strategy, Web Design, Spiceworks, and Management.

“What Chris is really good at doing is building IT departments,” Patrice Garvin, Belmont town adminstrator, told the Select Board. “He’s done it in multiple communities. And we’re really excited to have him come on and start to build the IT department here.”

McClure received his Bachelor’s Degree from UMass Lowell. Before arriving in Watertown in 2020, McClure was the Information Technology Director in North Andover and IT Director in Hopkinton, Westford, and Norfolk.

The town’s IT Department has had significant departures this year. In the spring, the department was down to one full-time and a half-time position. The short staffing nearly derailed the town’s conducting of a fully remote Special Town Meeting in late June. 

The town’s Information Technology Department has been a subject of growing interest by town officials regarding the protection of data it holds and the system from computer crime. The most frequent of these criminal activities facing municipalities is ransomware, which WIRE Magazine called “the defining cybercrime of the past decade, with criminals targeting a wide range of victims, including hospitals, schools, and governments.”

The criminal gangs – many from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia – will encrypt critical data, “bringing the victim’s operation to a grinding halt and then extorting them with the threat of releasing sensitive information,” according to WIRE.

In other hiring news, the town didn’t have to leave Town Hall to fill an important post. The Department of Public Works ended 2023 having lost three critical positions due to retirements including the business manager. That job has been filled by the town’s Budget Analyst Matt Haskell.

“We’re very excited about [Haskell taking the position],” said Garvin. “He’s very much in tune with the budget. And I’ve already heard he’s doing a lot of innovative changes within the DPW. So it’s a seamless transition.”

A second internal promotion was annouced as Mark Mancuso, currently the Water Operations Division Manager, will now move into the Assistant DPW director position.

Special Town Meeting Approves Revised Traffic Plan, Sets Stage For Development of McLean Parcels

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Photo: A screen shot of the final vote

The annual Town Meeting came to an end on Wednesday, June 26, when members overwhelmingly approved a Special Town Meeting article to alter a quarter-century traffic management agreement between the town and McLean Hospital that was stalling the financing of a pair of developments on two parcels of land.

The 192-25-5 result easily passed the two-thirds margin required to modify the existing plan, dubbed the Traffic Management and Mitigation Plan (TMMP). Before the final vote, members defeated an amendment by abutters that sought to delay implementing the changes sought by McLean and supported by the town.

With the new agreement in place, developer Northland Development can proceed with construction of 150 units of residential housing in Zone 3—accessed from Olmsted Drive off of Pleasant Street—as well as create a building to house two schools run by the hospital while setting aside 60,000 square feet for a future research and development facility in Zone 4.

Presenting for the town, Town Engineer Glenn Clancy took a detailed dive into the history of the traffic plan and the proposed development in Zone 3. The TMMA was meant to address how the property’s owner and residents will comport with the traffic limitations identified in 1999, which included a sizeable 486-unit assistant living facility. Violating the volume ceiling would require fines and removing parking and access to the site, which financing firms reportedly pointed to as an impediment to the project’s funding.

Clancy noted the mitigation plan is no longer relevant for the latest residential plan for a smaller all-residential project, so “I think you can begin to understand why someone investing in a development like that would be troubled by something like this.” Roy Epstein, chair of the Select Board, told the meeting that a “no” vote on the article would kill the current residential plan and allow Northland to construct a project without improvements to affordable housing and other amenities the town had negotiated with Northland.

In an effort to resolve the funding impediment, the town agreed to remove the 1999 traffic limits and penalties in Zone 3 and 4 while receiving improvements to traffic signals at Olmsted and Pleasant and upgrading the signal at the intersection of McLean Drive and Mill Street through its negotiations. 

The principal critics of the revamped agreement said the town was losing an important deterrent to traffic sprawl in both Zones which would impact the surrounding neighborhoods.

Jolanta Eckert of Precinct 3, who authored the amendment, said rather than bring an article before the Town Meeting, the Select Board could simply sign a formal commitment with Northland declaring that it would not enforce the current management and mitigation plan in Zone 3, which would be sufficient to allow the necessary financing to be obtained. By retaining the TMMA, the town would hold a strong hand when McLean comes before the Planning Board with its plans in Zone 4, including a 90,000 sq.ft. She said that the educational building could house up to 2,000 students.

“[While] I strongly support the Northland Zone 3 proposal and and plan to vote to ensure its success, at the same time, I don’t want the town to unilaterally cede a key negotiating chip in the upcoming negotiations with McLean concerning Zone 4,” said Vince Stanton, precinct 2.

Yet it did not appear Eckert’s amendment had garnered support as the town and officials had countered the claims via email messages prior to Wednesday’s meeting. Belmont Counsel George Hall refuted Eckert’s claim a Select Board’s promise on not impose penalities or sanctions would meet the needs of financiers who required a change in the agreement that only the Town Meeting could impose. 

As for Zone 4, Clancy said the project will come before the Planning Board which will the final say on parking and traffic. In addition, several Town Meeting members pointed out some failings in Eckert’s argument pointing out that the Arlington School’s enrollment is currently 35 students, with the likelihood of a 2,000-student capacity “nonsensical.”

A majority of members voiced their support for the change in the agreement as it would keep the present Zone 3 housing plan which is seen as advantageous for Belmont. Rachel Heller, who is a member of the Housing Trust which led the Zone 3 negotiations for the town, said it would be hard to duplicate the concessions they received from Northland in 2019.

“Today, a 25-year-old traffic mitigation agreement created for a different development that was never built stands in the way of delivering on housing that will add revenue for Belmont affordability for residents downsizing options for seniors, and preserve Belmont’s ability to make development decisions in accordance with the state’s affordable housing law chapter 40B,” said Heller.

“We asked a lot from Northland,” said Heller, including 25 percent affordability throughout the development, the inclusion of rental units, no restrictions on household types purchasing or renting units as well as a commitment to all-electric dwellings.

“So I urge you to vote yes. Let’s give the green light to the homes that we need,” said Heller.

After nearly an hour of debate, the questioned was called and the amendment was soundly defeated. The vote on the article was a foregone conclusion.

The next Town Meeting will take place is mid-November as the town will seek to ratify Belmont’s MBTA Communities map.

‘What A Day! Supporters Gather To Break Ground On Town’s New Library [Photos]

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Photo: Groundbreaking for the new Belmont Public Library

“What a day!” proclaimed Clair Colburn, chair of the Library Building Committee,speaking before several dozen residents, volunteers, town and elected officials who gathered in a gravel bed where, by (give-or-take) Thanksgiving 2025, a 40,460 sf.-ft., two-story zero-net energy structure will open its door and become the new home of the Belmont Public Library.

Under a warm and sunny Wednesday morning, June 13, the building’s future transformed from blueprints and perspectives to heavy machinery and construction workers as library and town officials turned over soil during the official groundbreaking ceremony for the $39.5 million structure, with $5 million offset from 991 individual donor contributions.

“We are so happy to be celebrating the groundbreaking of this momentous project with all of you. There is not enough time to thank everybody who has helped bring this project to fruition,” said Colburn.

For Kathy Keohane, chair of the Board of Library Trustees, it’s been nearly a quarter century of quiet determination as she was involved with three earlier library proposals that fell to the wayside. On Wednesday, Keohane brought her toy “olympic” flame symbolizing three important aspects of the project: the journey, individual performances, and teamwork.

“We are on a journey. We’re at this milestone,” she said. “Most of all, this has been a labor of love and effort by many, many teams, individuals working together to make this happen.” She noted the work of Town Moderator Mike Weidmer in creating a building committee “that helped us get the right individuals with the right talent on the team,” and from the library’s leadership of Director Peter Struzziero and his staff “for all they do to make the library such a valuable, engaging place.”

Kathy Keohane, chair of the Board of Library Trustees, and Library Director Peter Struzziero

Finally, Keohane thanked “the residents and the patrons of the library. You have made us the 10 best circulating library in the state of Massachusetts. We are the little train that could behind giants of Newton and others but it’s because of your love for the library and what it means to you.”

State Sen. Will Brownsberger noted that “this generation of volunteer leaders, partnering with our wonderful professional staff, has driven a program of capital upgrade and improvement or replacement that was just very fundamentally necessary to being the community we want to be.”

Speaking for the Select Board, Vice Chair Elizabeth Dionne said the library will be more than a repository of media and books. “Perhaps its most important service will be to foster an ongoing sense of community as town demographics change, and we seek means a greater connection and belonging. And the new library will allow this to happen.”

Clair Colburn, chair of the Library Building Committee

“It will also serve as a visible signal of Belmonts commitment to community, whether that is supporting young children in their early development, parents needing support raising those children organization seeking space in which to meet or adults of any age who simply need to see a friendly face,” Dionne said.

“It will be a lynchpin of the town’s completely renovated, academic and recreational center,” said Dionne, joining the Underwood Pool, a new skating rink set to open in 2025 and the middle and high school.

With shovels in hand and ready for photographs, Colburn was prepared to “look forward to an incredible future. Thank you again for your support over the many years and onwards,” said Colburn.

Belmont Invited (With Proper Footwear) To The Groundbreaking For The New Public Library Wednesday, June 12

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Photo: Poster for the groundbreaking for the new Belmont Public Library

With the proposed Municipal Skating Rink receiving the bulk of the news since February, residents’ attention finally crosses Concord Avenue in what’s being called an “exciting week” for Belmont’s new library.

At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12, the Belmont Public Library Building Committee will host the official groundbreaking for the new library at 336 Concord Ave. Being built on the site of the former facility, the 41,500 square foot, two-story structure is expected to be completed by the fall of 2025.

The celebration is open to the public, but there is one requirement for attending: please wear closed-toe shoes. It is a construction site!

One day before the groundbreaking on Tuesday, June 11, the building committee is anticipating some “additional exciting news” it will be able to share.

Thanks, Wall Street: Town Cobbles Together $2.25M Finance Package To Fill Rink’s Shortfall

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Photo:

Facing the task of closing a $2.1 million gap facing the proposed Municipal Skating Rink, Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin was staring at a quandry.

Two weeks before the Special Town Meeting when a rescue package would be presented to the members, Garvin had two sources to make up the deficit, a $750,000 state earmark thanks to State Sen. Will Brownsberger, and a town account created from a fire insurance settlement when the Kendal Arts Center burned to the ground more than two decades ago.

But the possibility using a huge chunk of the Kendal’s $2.5 million would be problematic, according to Garvin. While the rink qualifies to use the account as a captial project, several town committees and members note the Kendall School Insurance Fund is an important element in supporting future major town developments as it will help finance the project’s planning and design stage.

“It really hurt coming up with the budget,” said Garvin. “[An answer] didn’t occur to me until we were really trying not to raid the Kendal [Fund].”

And the solution came from Wall Street. Garvin reviewed the town’s financials and saw the town’s investment income account had an impressive showing. As recently as the posted third-quarter results on the Finance Department website, investment income stood at $1.5 million with an expected $200,000 monthly increase over the final three months, according to the town’s Financial Director Jennifer Hewitt. What better time to benefit from the revenue windfall attributable to the bonds the town issued last fall to save the rink and not drain the Kendal fund.

“As soon as I thought about it, I said, ‘Why didn’t I think of that before,” said Garvin. “Sometimes you just need to look at it differently,” she said, as the town firmed up the supplemental budget package it will present at Monday’s Special Town Meeting, June 10.

The $2.25 million supplement funds package will be comprised of:

  • $950,000 allocated from the Kendal Fund,
  • $750,000 state earmark shepherd by State Sen. Will Brownsberger to pay for a state-of-the-art
    CO2 refrigeration system, and,
  • $550,000 from the town’s 2024 Investment income account.

Best of all, according to Select Board Chair Roy Epstein, the package will not increase residential property taxes as did the $29.9 million 2023 debt exclusion, while the Kendal Fund will have $1.15 million remaining in its account.

Epstein noted the package will fill the entire shortfall while adding a small $150,000 contingency “to give a small safety margin for the project.”

The reason for the warrant article in the first place was to respond to the request by the Municipal
Skating Rink Building Committee for an additional $2.1 million for the project. The rink’s $29.9 million pricetag approved by voters in April 2023, ballooned to $35.2 million by February 2024 due to cost inflation and . After completing a round of value engineering, the rink remained in arrears by $2.1 million, requiring the building community to approach the Select Board and town to find a solution.

Monday’s meeting will include segments explaining the cause of the shortfall and the finance package.

A potential fly in the ointment facing the rink Monday is the stripping of solar panel arrays that is expected to raise the hackles from the town’s Energy Committee and a large number of “green” Town Meeeting supporters.

While “recogniz[ing] the disappointment that PV panels are not in the current scope,” Epstein noted the “building will be fully PV ready and we are actively pursuing other avenues to fund this last piece.”

State ‘Very Likely’ To Provide $750K Rink Earmark As Special Town Meeting To Determine Project’s Fate

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Photo: The Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee at the public forum held Wednesday, May 22. Town Moderator Mike Widmer (center) led the event

With a critical Town Meeting vote on the future of the proposed Municipal Skating Rink two weeks away, some much-needed good news for the beleaguered rink project came in the form of a $750,000 state budget appropriation shepherded to the town by State Sen. Will Brownsberger.

The announcement of the last-minute state budget earmark came the same day as a community forum held by the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee on Wednesday, May 22, at Town Hall. It was also just two days after the Belmont Select Board approved a Special Town Meeting to vote to close a $2.1 million expense overage in the project’s original $29.9 million price tag.

“We got some good news related to the state budget,” Rink Building Committee member Tom Caputo told the two dozen residents at the meeting. While a final state budget won’t be approved by July, “if the town approves the natural refrigerants for the rink [at the Special Town Meeting], the town can count on receiving $750,000 from the state to cover the expenditure.”

The new rink will be equipped with a $650,000 CO2 refrigerant system. Popular in Canada, the carbon dioxide technology, while nearly twice as expensive as the standard Freon gas-based system, is considered environmentally superior. Due to its impact on global warming, Freon is expected to face strict limits or outright bans in the next decade.

If funds are left over after the CO2 system is paid for, it’s possible the rest can be carried to “cover other environmental compliance costs,” said Caputo, adding that Brownsberger will come before the Special Town Meeting “to share this in person.”

It is still unclear what percentage of the state funding can be used to reduce the rink’s shortfall. After Wednesday’s meeting, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin said her office and the Select Board – which has the ultimate authority on how much town funds will be requested in the article – are creating a plan that will allocate the greatest amount to the project.

When answering a question on Wednesday by Town Meeting member Jack Weis (Precinct 1) if receiving the state funding will reduce the deficit from $2.1 to $1.4 million, Caputo said, “[i]t’s safe to say a significant portion of it will be used to reduce the ‘ask’ of town’s funds.”

Wednesday’s funding announcement is the first bit of positive news for the building committee, which has been scrabbling for the past three months to drain the $5.1 million in red ink.

Cost drivers skyrocketed

At the Monday, May 20 Select Board meeting, Building Committee Chair Mark Haley and members Caputo and Dante Muzzioli reiterated how the building project is facing a shortfall. According to Haley, the rink project was affected by unprecedented increases in material and labor costs, unforeseen toxic waste discoveries, site complications, and schedule delays.

The most significant impact of the escalating expenses in the past year resulted from a cost explosion in materials, labor, and services between September 2023 and February 2024, which saw the cost skyrocket to $35.1 million. According to Haley, the rink’s top four cost drivers include:

  • $740,000 in General Requirements, including general contractor Skanska’s labor,
  • $700,000 for site work,
  • $550,000 in additional costs for concrete and
  • $450,000 for masonry work.

When you add a few more line items that saw double-digit increases, the project experienced a rise of $3.4 million to the bottom line “in just trade costs and labor,” Haley said.

Faced with a need to cut costs quickly, the building committee began a value engineering process. But unlike most construction projects, an athletic facility doesn’t have much excess to cut: Haley said the building is “basically a box” with a few rooms and mechanical areas.

Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee members Anne Marie Mahoney and Chair Mark Haley.

After the revision, the committee approved two significant changes: the main lobby will be removed, reducing the structure by about 2,500 sq. ft., and the proposed solar array that would supply power to the facility will not be installed, saving $1.2 million.

On the plus side, Option A will have all the programming supporters promised in the original design: four locker rooms to replace those lost in the razing of the White Field House, recreational storage, bathrooms that can be used when the rink is not in use, a skate rental/sharpening shop, a concession stand, and four dressing rooms.

Having value-engineered a total of $3.3 million in savings, the building committee discussed with town officials helping to foot the remaining shortfall. Garvin advised the Select Board an inactive town account named after the insurance settlement from a fire at the former Kendall School is available as a source. The $2.1 million account was created to meet future capital needs, which is seen as an appropriate use for the rink.

If the Special Town Meeting rejects the June 10 article, Haley said it’s now clear to observers that a barebones facility will not attract the support of the committee or the community to move forward.

“There is no Option B. It’s either the rink we promised or nothing,” said Haley after Wednesday’s meeting.

Opening Night Of 2024 Town Meeting: Cleanup Of Bylaws Foretells Major Zoning Changes; Members Show Restaurants Parking Love

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Photo: Belmont Town Meeting, 2024

One member described the opening night of the 2024 edition of Belmont’s annual Town Meeting on Monday, April 29, as “a bit of a snooze.” 

That observation was pretty close as the three articles were like reading the small print on the back of a life insurance statement: important, no doubt, but unlikely to raise passions as articles have done in previous years.

However, for those leading the reformation of the town’s Zoning Bylaws, this first night was not a series of housekeeping tasks in copy editing and revamping the town’s zoning code. Rather, Monday was akin to a musical overture, hinting at major themes and motifs that future assemblies of the town’s legislative body will take on for the next decade.

Select Board, Town Administration, Town Moderator and Town Clerks

“This meeting is critically important because Town Meeting has to be part of the process of change,” said Select Board’s Elizabeth Dionne, who initiated and is leading the overhaul of the code. “And we do it through these incremental changes while we prepare to do the big overhaul,” said Dionne, who declared Belmont’s current zoning bylaws “a hot mess.” 

“It’s going to take many, many votes over the next several Town Meetings to get ourselves into the place where we have thriving commercial districts and places where everybody can [prosper],” said Rachel Heller, Precinct 3, who was co-chair of the MBTA Communities Task Force, which recently handed its recommendations to the Planning Board that will come before a Special Town Meeting for a vote in November.

The Meeting

After a dower presentation from Mark Haley of the Municipal Rink Building Committee and the presentation of the results of a poll on adopting hybrid participation for future Town Meetings, the meeting proceeded to essentially two articles, number 5 and 6, that allowed a scrubbing of portions of the zoning code. 

Members were asked to accept changes to the bylaws to clarify language, change word placement for better readability, and correct ” scrivener errors in citations.” It wasn’t surprising that the Planning Board’s Jeffrey Birenbaum sarcastically noted that the articles were to be “very exciting” for members. 

While seemingly voting for members was fairly routine, Bob McGaw, Precinct 1, who has taken the unofficial role of the Town Meeting’s copy editor, presented amendments to correct the articles’ words and phrasing.

“Tedious wording, so bare with me,” said McGaw, to laughter. However, his work is important as he amends the articles to clarify and remove future unattended consequences that could be costly, such as repairing confusing language or even possible litigation.

Bob McGaw, Precinct 1

“I just want to make [the article] clear in its intent,” said McGaw. “People have to know that we are making laws. This isn’t voting for flowers on Mother’s Day. It’s important.”

Each article passed by a margin of better than 225 votes of nearly 240 cast.

Parking Love

The final article of the evening likely brought most members to the High School auditorium, which would grant restaurants – both current and whoever is coming down the road – a more significant number of seating by allowing the eateries to count four times the number of parking spaces in the licensing process.

The article reduces restaurant parking requirements from one space per two-person seating capacity to one space per four-person seating capacity. Restaurants can use current or planned on-site parking, on-street parking within 1,000 feet of the restaurant, and potential leased off-street spaces. Even If a combination of these three sources does not add to the new required number, the applicant may seek relief via a special permit application with the Zoning Board of Appeal.

The restaurant article has been discussed for the past year. According to Dionne, it is the “low-hanging fruit” that the Town Meeting could pass to begin changing the anti-business perception of the town’s zoning code. 

An amendment by Jack Weis (Precinct 2) sought to decrease the yardage from 1,000 to 600 feet, which the restaurant could claim for the parking requirements. Weis said one or more eateries could claim the same spaces in their applications, which has the potential of having too many vehicles for the same spots, leading to possible overparking and spillover onto side streets.

“Let’s walk before we run,” said Weis.

But Town Meeting would not slowwalk the bylaw changes being proposed.

“I say we run as fast as we can given how important it is to attract more businesses and to become more restaurant friendly,” said Mark Kagan, Precinct 8.

The article passed 217-12-0.

For Angus Abercrombie (Precinct 8), who was one of the article’s chief campaigners, the margin of the vote “shows what we are looking at in terms of the level of support and level of understanding in this body of just how dire the situation is right now.”

“Many communities see parking requirements reform as radical. What I see is radical is asking our residents to choose between an almost a 10 percent year-over-year tax increase, or millions of dollars in lost services,” he said.

“To know that we’re going to have to ask that question again in just a few years if we aren’t able to turn around our ship on business development. Frankly, this isn’t radical policy. The radical question is the one we settled on April 2,” said Abercrombie, noting the passing of a $8.4 million Prop. 2 1/2 override.

“I think there was a huge mandate. Not just to this level of parking reform but beyond these levels of zoning reforms. And that’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said

With the successful passage of the restaurant parking, Town Meeting will next take up zoning changes to making Belmont a hotel friendly community.

“Hotels are a fabulous business opportunity. They provide room tax, meals, and alcohol tax, plus the underlying value is high. So it’s a quadruple win for us. Not to mention the fact that people want it so their families can stay here,” said Dionne, who predicts a hotel article will come before the 2025 annual Town Meeting.

Skating Rink Heading To Town Meeting To Fill $4.3 Million Budget Shortfall

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Photo: Mark Haley, chair of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee, at Wednesday’s meeting

In a stunning admission, the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee revealed on Wednesday, April 24, that the proposed skating rink/community center located on Concord Avenue is approximately $4.3 million over its $30 million budget, according to committee members, jeopardizing the project’s future.

The news comes just over a year after voters passed a $29.9 million debt exclusion to build a replacement for the dilapidated ‘Skip’ Viglirolo Skating Rink that stood for nearly 50 years at the same site as the new rink.

While the committee, construction contractor Skanska USA, and the owner’s project manager CHA are scrambling to make significant cuts to the project in an attempt to siphon off the red ink threatening the new rink, it appears the committee will come before the annual Town Meeting in late May seeking an infusion of dollars to bridge the shortfall.

“The long and short of it is we have to make some drastic cuts and get that number as close to $30 million as we can,” said Mark Haley, chair of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee.

The day before Wednesday’s meeting, Haley and representatives from Stanska and CHA met with town officials, including Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, Select Board Chair Roy Epstein, and Town Moderator Mike Widmer, on the rink’s future. While most of what was discussed remains under wraps, Haley revealed that Epstein – whose board would submit an article before Town Meeting – told him he would not bring a request before members greater than $2 million.

“If we need more money, we have to do it quickly,” said Haley, as the Select Board will need a final number in early May to have a Town Meeting vote later that month. “If we stay at the [current cost], we’re being told there is no project.”

At the end of the first night of value engineering, the committee reduced the deficit to $33.0 million, but only after major reductions to the building’s interior and exterior. This immediately sounded alarms that a reduced building is not what voters – specifically supporters – cast their ballots for.

Location of the proposed municipal skating rink off Concord Avenue

But when the members reconvened on Thursday morning, April 25, the building team was in better spirits. They believed a compromise solution that secured more reductions without challenging the programming was doable despite giving themselves only four working days before revealing a major budget rewrite on Wednesday, May 1.

The story behind the more than 10 percent cost acceleration in the past year is familiar to any construction project. Haley revealed that due to shortages and supply chain delays, nearly every construction cost has spiked since voters approved the project. Examples included concrete costs up by more than half a million dollars, masonry $400,000, the site package $704,000, and plumbing $306,000. Add inflation to other costs, and the total price tag is currently pegged at $34.3 million.

When Haley asked if there were any questions after revealing the deficit, the Select Board Room turned eerily silent as those in the room – many hearing the amount for the first time – took in the enormity of the shortfall.

When the shock wore off, the brutal reality came into focus. If you want a rink, cutting your way to that goal will be ugly, from fairly insignificant expenses facing the chopping block to ripping out the front lobby and possibly reducing the number of locker rooms from the site.

“I was a big proponent of many of these items and not cutting them, and I’d hate to see some of them go,” said Dante Muzzioli of the Building Committee. “But if it comes down to having a project or not having a project, I’m here to make some tough decisions” during the value engineering process.

Value engineering analyzes building features, systems, equipment, and material selections to achieve essential functions and enhance results while reducing costs.

While Building Committee member Ann Marie Mahoney voiced harsh skepticism of the process -“how you can value engineer $5 million out of $35 million … without so destroying the project that it’ll makes it meaningless.” – Patricia Brusch of the Permanent Building Committee told the room value engineering is not necessarily “a really bad thing. It can make a project much better … and force you to make decisions that gets what you want.”

With 40 years of experience overseeing the construction/redesign of nearly every school in town, as well as the renovation of Town Hall and the building of the Beech Street Senior Center, Brusch said the building committee needs to be diligent in designating what in the project is a “need” (a required element), a “want” (nearly a need that is something that you’d like), or a “nice to have.”

“Everything goes on the table that can go on the table,” she said. “Everybody’s idea is an OK idea to throw on the table, no matter if it’s a sacred cow.”

“It might not be black,” stated Brusch of what the committee was about to start, saying there might be “a little gray” when working with creative people. Listen to what they say and collaborate so the committee can “still salvage what you want. In the end, you’ll have a fabulous sheet of ice in a building that the town is dying to use.”

The meeting of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee on Wednesday afternoon

Intending to reduce the project by $4 million, the committee, architect Ted Galante, and reps from the contractor and project manager spent nearly two hours Wednesday reviewing about two dozen budget items to determine how removing them would impact the project and it bottom line. While many of the reductions were in the five figures, the most significant cut was deferring the installation of the PV solar panels to a future date, thus reducing expenses by $1,305,000. One item surviving the process was a series of large windows along the east and west walls.

However, as the total reductions remained far removed from the $4 million target, the suggested reductions became more consequential, such as removing the building’s lobby, thus radically altering the building’s appearance to where it will represent a “gray aluminum box.” Some discussions were advanced to just order the pre-engineered building and “plop” it on the site, only to be rejected.

“There is no design, there is no aesthetic, and there is nothing that the community voted for here except the ice,” said Mahoney. Committee member Tom Caputo reiterated Mahoney’s observation, saying the cuts could be so drastic that they reduce or eliminate programs – such as using the building for summer recreation or the expected locker rooms for high school sports teams – alienating rink supporters.

When a proposal to reduce the three-season locker rooms from four to two was presented, Muzzioli said, “[t]hat is not what we promised the school department or anyone else. We took the White Field House down and said we would provide locker space.”

Committee member Anthony Ferrante said the package should be presented to the public once the recommended reductions are finalized.

“We have to go back to the town and say, ‘This is what we’re planning.’ ‘This is how we got here,” Ferrante said.

When the meeting reconvened on Thursday morning, overnight alterations by Skanska’s designers, including lowering the roof element, revisioning the lobby and building front, and repositioning the rink closer to Concord Avenue to reduce the building’s footprint and volume, gave the group added momentum on finding the right combination of cuts and alterations.

“I do think a few ideas have been tossed out [Thursday] that don’t compromise the program and in some way represent cost savings that preserve or bring back [elements] that last night we were talking about disappearing,” said Caputo.

Given their marching orders, the committee will meet on Wednesday, May 1, at 7:30 a.m., with a complete list of cuts and their savings. Haley said he and Mahoney would meet early next week with town officials “to discuss finding more money.” One possible funding source a member threw out during the meeting is the town account created from the Kendall School fire settlement funds.