Seven Projects Make First Cut for Community Preservation Funding

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Seven of eight projects passed the first test that could ultimately see them funded through the Community Preservation Committee.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, the committee announced applications that were approved in the preliminary round of assessments.

The only project that did not make the initial cut was $170,000 to make the Press Box at Harris Field compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The committee decided the request did not fall under one of the four categories that CPA funds can be directed: historic preservation, open space, community housing and outdoor recreation. The press box – which is located on the top level of the main stands – has been closed since 2013 when it was determined those with mobile disabilities could not reach the area.

The seven applications that will be moving forward in the CPC process are:

  • Belmont Veterans Memorial Project: $150,000
  • Wellington Station exterior restoration and rehabilitation: $26,300
  • Electrical upgrade at units owned by the Belmont Housing Authority: $522,500
  • Winn Brook Tennis Courts: $295,000
  • Pequossette Tennis Courts: $250,000
  • Digitization of historic Belmont newspapers from 1890 to 1983: $25,000
  • Rehabilitation and restoration of the 1853 Homer House: $100,000.

Applicants are now required to submit more detailed proposals to the committee. A final committee recommendation on funding any of the remaining projects will take place early in 2015. The annual Town Meeting will have the final say on allocating CPA funds.

The Community Preservation Act was adopted by Belmont voters in 2010. The fund is financed by property tax surcharges and annual distributions received from the State “Massachusetts Community Preservation Trust Fund.”

Belmont’s New Yard Sale Bylaw Begins This Weekend

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Belmont residents considering holding a yard sale this weekend will now need an advanced permit as the Belmont Town Clerk’s Office has the town’s online permitting site up and running.

As most Belmontians will recall, Town Meeting members adopted this spring a new General Bylaw setting limits and requirements for those holding private sales – including garage sales, tag sales, moving sales and other related private sales.

And the Massachusetts Attorney General approved the bylaw last month, becoming effective on Sept. 25.

“If you intend to hold a Private Sale as defined in the bylaw, you must first register and receive a free permit issued by the Town Clerk’s office,” said Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

Residents can file for the Private Sale permit by going to the Town Clerk’s webpage on the town’s website and select Yard Sale Permit. Below is how the page appears:

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Registering for the free permit takes less than two minutes as the resident fills in  an online form with the date, time, address of the sale and contact information about the sponsor; the free permit will be emailed automatically; residents who do not have access to email may call or visit the Town Clerk’s office and the staff will be happy to help.

The Town Clerk’s office is reached at 617-993-2600 or townclerk@belmont-ma.gov .

As a side benefit of the new bylaw, yard sale enthusiasts may use the web page to view a map of registered Belmont yard sales or print a list or registered yard sales for the upcoming two weeks.

Open Space? Solar Farm? Marijuana Grove? What to Do With Belmont’s Former Incinerator Site Meeting Nov. 3

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New recreational playing fields.

A new home for the Department of Public Works.

A solar photovoltaic farm.

Open space.

A grove for growing medical marijuana.

Those are just a few of the suggestions citizens and town officials put forward for the future use of the former town incinerator located off Concord Avenue near the Lexington town line with Belmont.

With the state prepared to sell the nearly 16 acre parcel to the town, the Belmont Board of Selectmen will be updating Town Meeting members and the public on possible uses for the former incinerator at a presentation and discussion set for Monday, Nov. 3 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School auditorium.

The public and Town Meeting members are encouraged to provide their ideas for the best use for the land, according to a press release for the board.

The town is moving forward on a new use after Gov. Deval Patrick in January signed legislation pushed by State Rep. Dave Rogers that authorizes the sale to the town of the state-owned land. The law allows Belmont to purchase the land after an appraisal determines the fair market value of the property. In addition, the town will be responsible for the site’s costly remediation of environmentally hazardous material.

An important provision of the law is the land is limited to recreational or municipal use; it can not be sold or leased for commercial or business operations.

Constructed in 1959, the incinerator operated until 1975, when it became the town’s transfer station for two decades. It is currently used by the Belmont DPW for equipment storage, leaf composting and placement of debris.

Questions and ideas can be submitted prior to the meeting at selectmen@belmont-ma.gov . More information on the meeting can be found by contacting the Board of Selectmen/Town Administrator’s office at 617-993-2610.

Belmont OKs Commuter Pass Program, Price Hikes for Town Lots

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Straphangers using Belmont Center to catch buses or the commuter rail to work will soon lose most of their free parking options as the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved a plan Monday, Sept. 29 requiring commuters to purchase of a monthly pass to park along streets and town lots near the transportation hub.

The recommendations from a committee of the Financial Task Force is predicting the commuter pass along with an increase in the fees at the three municipal parking lots will generate an additional $40,000 a year for the town, according to Floyd Carman, the town’s treasurer who is a member of the Task Force’s Other Revenue Committee.

The selectmen decided to defer from expanding the commuter plan to the “turn around” road across from Cottage Street and the Underwood Pool that is used for parking for residents and visitors attending events or using the school playing fields or the ‘Skip’ Viglirolo Skating Rink.

The new parking regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Residents and out-of-towners who use the three town-owned lots in Belmont Center (on Claflin Street), Cushing Square and Waverley Square will be paying 40 cents more an hour and $2 a day to park, which will cover the costs to maintain the lots and operate the parking program, said Carman.

The parking fees will become $1 per hour and $5 for an all day ticket on Jan. 1. Parking passes will jump from $60 to $90.

The big change will be the new commuter parking plan, an idea proposed in the past but never implemented, said Carman. Currently, about 65 percent of the vehicles parked adjacent the Belmont commuter rail station are from out-of-town, said Carman.

“Sometimes, it’s 100 percent. There are no places for residents to park,” he told selectmen.

Under the recommendations, ten spaces in the three municipal lots as well as 13 spaces along Royal Road in front of the Belmont Lions Club will be reserved for commuters who purchase passes for $90 a month. The pass will allow commuters to use the spaces from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The ten commuter spots in the Belmont Center lot will be located near the former Macy’s location as its unlikely the site will be leased “until next year,” said Carman.

“So for the short term we can develop a revenue stream,” said Carman.

He also said there is some risk to the plan as the Belmont Center lot is used by the town’s Farmers Market five months during the summer and fall while the Lions Club sells Christmas trees in December.

Carman told Selectmen that businesses whose employees have been using lots and the street could begin a shuttle service from other locations.

The approved recommendations come as the November Town Meeting will discuss approving the $2.6 million reconstruction of Belmont Center’s roads that will include the introduction of a parking plan that calls for meters along Leonard Street. Selectman Sami Baghdady said he wanted to promote the commuter lot in a way “to encourage turnover along Leonard Street” to promote shopping and not all-day parking along the town’s “High Street.”

Selectman Mark Paolillo brought up the running concern of workers using on-street parking spaces by suggesting employee designated parking spaces in the three municipal lots with the remaining spaces limited to four hours or less.

“Let’s start thinking about this now before the Macy’s site opens,” said Paolillo.

 

 

Belmont’s DPW Chief Peter Castanino Stepping Down

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Peter Castanino, the long-serving director of the Belmont Department of Public Works, is retiring after 33 years of service, according to Town Administrator David Kale at Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Sept. 29.

“Too bad we can’t lock his door and keep him here,” quipped Selectman Mark Paolillo who said Castanino’s departure is “a significant loss” to the town and that replacing him “will be very difficult.”

Kale, who said Castanino will be leaving his position before the end of the year, said the director of the approximate 65 employee department with a budget of $21 million is “irreplaceable” due to his significant institutional knowledge of the town.

Every resident have had some direct involvement with Castanino and his department which maintains streets and sidewalks, plows the roads after snowstorms, oversees garbage and recycling collection, takes care of Belmont’s playing fields and parks and runs the Recreation Department. One of the most significant responsibilities under the DPW’s wing is water and sewer maintenance and construction.

In addition, Castanino has helped shepherd town projects and proposals – the two most recent being the new Underwood Pool and the restoration of the turf field and running track at Harris Field – through the planning and construction process.

Castanino’s departure will end his family’s long tenure of service to Belmont. Castanino’s father, James, was Belmont’s highway superintendent – when the public works and highway departments were separate divisions – until he retired in 1988, working for the department for a total of 42 years.

Underwood Pool Fundraiser Hits $300K, But Still a Ways to Go

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There is a saying that goes: It’s not how you start, but how you finish.

That’s how Ellen Schreiber views the fundraising effort she is heading for the Underwood Pool Building Committee to secure $200,000 from residents and businesses in just under five weeks that will allow construction to begin on a new Underwood Pool.

In just over a fortnight, the campaign – which began after the low bidding construction company set to build the $4.16 million project backed out at the last minute leaving the town nearly $400,000 short of the new low bid of $4.55 million – has raised nearly three-quarters of the goal, in large part to a $200,000 matching grant from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation to go along with nearly $100,000 in contributions large and small, Schreiber told the Belmontonian.

But Schreiber, a veteran campaigner who co-led the major town-wide undertaking to build a new Joey’s Park adjacent to the Winn Brook Elementary School, is far from complacent. In a question and answer with the Belmontonian, Schreiber said she is gearing up for a sustained final push to secure the needed funding to replace the existing 102-year-old structure and secure a summer swimming season in 2015.

 

Belmontonian: You wrote in an recent email that in the first week of the fundraising effort for the new Underwood Pool fundraising raised $93,000, just under half of what needs to be raised to meet the $400,000 goal. Were you expecting such as hopeful response to building the new pool complex?

Schreiber: I am very excited by the response of the Belmont community to the fundraising effort for the New Underwood Pool. I have never seen donations come in so quickly for a fundraising project of this size. I think it shows how much Belmont residents care about the pool. At this point, including the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation matching grant, we’ve crossed the $300,000 threshold, but there is still a lot of money to raise.

Belmontonian: Could you break down in percentage between large – $1,000 and greater – and the smaller donations? What is the total number of donators? How many businesses have donated?

Schreiber: We have received pledges and checks from more than 250 Belmont residents. From my fundraising experience, the donation amounts seem to be higher than typical. I think people understand the fundraising goal and short timeframe and have responded by doing everything they can to help meet the goal. You couldn’t raise this amount of money without some large donations plus many smaller donations, and we’ve gotten a lot of both.

Belmontonian: There has been a great initial response from residents and businesses. How do you keep up the enthusiasm so the goal can be reached by the Oct. 30 deadline?

Schreiber: Communication! It is very important to keep people in the loop. The closer we get, the more enthusiasm we all have. So far, the response has been incredible, but we’re not done yet. We want to begin building the pool while we still have great weather. So for people who are considering a donation, sooner is better.

Belmontonian: How will you be reaching out to the community for funds?

Schreiber: We are trying every way we can to reach Belmont residents and let them know about the fundraising campaign. This really is a viral campaign – some people are sending emails to their friends, some are sending letters, some are talking it up. And of course, we’re trying to get the word out through the press. It seems to me that the word is out, based on the response we’ve been getting.

Belmontonian: Is it more efficient to court businesses and high-income individuals to raise the remaining funds or can you meet the goal with smaller contributions?

Schreiber: I think it is important to give everyone the opportunity to make a difference. You can’t raise money for a project like this if there is not widespread community support, and that is clearly demonstrated by the response – both in numbers of donors and size of donations. This pool belongs to everyone in Belmont; we all have a crucial role to play.

It’s great to have the opportunity to help our community replace a treasured Belmont gathering place. Clearly, there is broad support for the pool, including young families and empty nesters, homeowners who are new to Belmont and those who grew up here, residents who use the pool and those who don’t.

The pool means so much to me – I’ve watched my kids grow up there. And I spoke with a donor yesterday whose parents first met at the Underwood Pool and his now grown children spent lots of time there. The pool brings us together and builds community for kids and adults, and it helps make Belmont the town we love.

One more thing; please visit www.UnderwoodPool.com to donate online or to follow instructions for donating by check.

Lougee, Fiore Set to Run for Re-election to Belmont School Committee

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Incumbents Anne Lougee and Lisa Fiore indicated that they are preparing to defend their seats on the Belmont School Committee at Town Election in April 2015.

“I don’t see why not,” Lougee told the Belmontonian after the Belmont School Committee meeting last night, Tuesday, Sept. 23. Fiore also said she expects to run to return to the six-member board.

Both Lougee and Fiore will be seeking full three-year terms to the board.

Lougee, a Warwick Road resident whose daughter is a Belmont High School graduate, was appointed to the Committee in October 2011 to fill the reminder of the term formerly held by Karen Parmett who resigned. She won a full term in the Town Election in April 2012.

Like Lougee, Fiore – a Lesley University faculty dean with children in district schools – was appointed to the committee, in September 2013, to serve the term of Pascha Griffiths who also resigned. In the 2014 Town Election, Fiore was elected to fill the one year remaining on Griffiths’ term.

Voter Registration Until 8 PM Today at Belmont Town Hall

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To celebrate National Voter Registration Day, the Belmont Town Clerk’s office will remain open until 8 p.m. today, Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Residents of Belmont who are citizens of the United States and will be age 18 or older on the day of the State election, Nov. 4, may register to vote at the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave. Registrants should be certain to have identification that complies with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Belmont Raises Age for Tobacco, E-Cig Sales to 21 in 2015

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Joining surrounding towns and large municipalities like New York City, Belmont will prohibit the sale of all tobacco products and nicotine delivery devices such as e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 21 beginning on Jan. 1, 2015.

The move approved unanimously by the Belmont Board of Health at an afternoon meeting on Wednesday; Sept. 17, also impose guidelines on the sale of flavored cigar wrappers and associated products favored by younger buyers to make smoking more enjoyable.

Anti-smoking advocates believe the new regulations will place a damper on older teens and young adults from experimenting with smoking when they are vulnerable to becoming addicted to tobacco.

“Needham has had a 21 [limit] for a decade and the smoking rates for kids there has gone down,” said Stephen Shestakofsky   of Edwards Street who has long been an anti-smoking advocate.

“We know that if you become addicted to tobacco at a younger age, it is much, much harder to quit. So this will make it harder for teens to ‘cheat’,” said Shestakofsky.

Belmont becomes the 30th Massachusetts town or city to adopt the 21 year old sales prohibition.

“We are not going to be an [island] … where kids say ‘well, I’m not going to you I can go [out of town],” said Dr. David Alper, vice chair of the Board of Health, noting that nearby Arlington, Newton, Winchester and Brookline have existing 21 year old sales restrictions while Waltham and Watertown are currently looking to raise their age limits.

The town also placed nicotine delivery vehicles such as e-cigarettes (which heats nicotine and water into a vapor without the cancerous byproducts from cigarettes) since there has not been long-term studies to show they are either safe while also being seen as a “gateway” to tobacco addiction. 

What’s important to note is that the regs are aimed at keeping young adults away from the products. This wouldn’t prevent adults from using it but it will teens,” said Shestakofsky.

Town Clerk Holding ‘Late’ Night Voter Registration Sept. 23

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To celebrate National Voter Registration Day, the Belmont Town Clerk’s office will remain open until 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Residents of Belmont who are citizens of the United States and will be age 18 or older on the day of the State election, Nov. 4, may register to vote at the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave. Registrants should be certain to have identification that complies with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

A voter registration day will be held for Belmont High School students and staff on Wednesday, Oct. 8 from 10:40 a.m., to 12:40 p.m. outside the cafeteria at the high school. Staff and students who are U.S. citizens and will turn 18 on or before Nov. 4 can register to vote.

Just remember, the final day to register to vote or make any changes to your party, address or name, to qualify for the State Election is Oct. 15.

The Town Clerk’s office at Town Hall, 455 Concord Avenue will remain open until 8 p.m. on Oct. 15  to accept voter registrations and changes that evening; mailed registration form .

To learn more about registering to vote, HAVA, and upcoming elections, or to print registration forms, please visit the Town Clerk’s website or telephone the Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600.