Bidding Opens For New Skating Rink, Decision On Winning Offer In May

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Photo: A new rink will replace the five decade old “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink.

In the same week the Belmont’s Skip Viglirolo Skating Rink was forced to shut down due to “unseasonably warm” temperatures – in January(!)– the town and schools OKed opening the bidding process to build a next-generation private/public partnership skating facility on school property west of Harris Field.

“This is actually a big moment in the development of this project,” said Jeffery Wheller, Belmont’s senior planner before a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee as each group voted unanimously to approve the release of the final version of the request for proposal on Jan. 15.

“Hopefully after tonight’s presentation we’ll get some exciting responses to the project,” he said.

The town’s Community Development Office also released a seven-month timeline of important milestones the RFP will undergo before a deal is struck.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 15: RFP is released to the public.
  • Wednesday, Jan. 29: Site visit and preliminary meeting with interested parties.
  • Tuesday, Feb. 25: Select Board/School Committee discuss review process.
  • Friday, March 20: Proposals are due.
  • Tuesday, April 7: School Committee/Select Board review top proposals.
  • Tuesday, April 28: School Committee/Select Board interview best proposals.
  • Tuesday, May 12: School Committee/Select Board selects the winning proposal.
  • Monday, June 1: On the second night of the 2020 annual Town Meeting, a Special Town Meeting will be convened to vote: 1). To lease school property to a private developer(s) and 2). amend the definition in the town’s zoning bylaw on municipal recreational uses.
  • Tuesday, June 9: School Committee awards a contract to the winning proposal.
  • Between June 10 to July 8: School Committee negotiates a long-term lease with the selected developer(s).

The town is predicting the design and site plan review process managed by the Planning Board will take between six to nine months. Only when that is completed can the developer seek a building permit.

The existing rink – known as “The Skip” – will remain in operation until the new facility is up and running and will be taken down by the town unless the area that the rink currently occupies will is needed to fulfill the town’s programmatic needs.

The RFP is fairly similar to earlier drafts, although a proposed tennis complex has been removed from the proposal.

The main features of the RFP include:

  • The facility – which may be expanded to be a year round operation – will need to share the land west of the existing rink and Harris Field with three athletic fields, a pair of throwing circles and 110 parking spaces (90 reserved for students on school days) that will be built at town expense.
  • The facility – with a maximum height of two-and-a-half stories – can contain a full-size and one half-size sheet of ice. The building will have at least 300 seats for spectators, public restrooms, a skate shop and food concessions.
  • The building will have a minimum of four locker rooms with two containing 35 lockers for boys’ and girls’ varsity and the other two with 45 lockers for the junior varsity teams. Each room will have a coaches room, showers and storage. The facility will also have a refs room, an athletic trainers room and wet area.
  • Two locker rooms will also be used by high school fall and spring sports, one each for the home and visiting teams. The restrooms will also have outdoor accessibility.
  • The town would “prefer” a zero-net energy facility i.e. avoiding fossil fuels to power the site.
  • The high school’s ice hockey teams will have four consecutive hours of ice time Monday to Saturday, during the 15-week season. Games will be played over two hours. Belmont Youth Hockey will have hours and times that meet its growing needs as will programs linked to the town’s Recreation Department.
  • The hours of operation will be negotiated with the winning bidder and the town.

Each candidate will be evaluated and ranked based on a matrix in which the town will grade the four comparative evaluation criteria the town has selected.

For example, those bidders that can show experience designing and building a significant number of similar rinks that have been successful and with similar goals as Belmont is seeking will receive a “very advantageous” ranking; those who have built only “some” facilities will be seen as being “advantageous” while those with no experience constructing rinks will be deemed “non-advantageous.”

They’re Off: Incumbents Dash To Secure Nomination Papers For Town-Wide Offices

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Photo: Mike Widmer would be seeking his 13th term as Town Moderator.

The 2020 Belmont Town Election is still 98 days away on April 7, 2020 but it appears this edition will be few if any open seats among the 11 town-wide positions up for grabs when Belmont voters go to the polls.

Incumbents in eight of the 11 possible races have quickly snagged nomination papers from the Town Clerk’s Office in preparation for re-election campaigns.

The current office holders who have taken the first steps for a return to town government are:

  • Town Moderator (1 year): Michael Widmer
  • Town Treasurer (3 years) : Floyd Carman
  • School Committee (Two 3-year terms): Catherine Bowen, Michael Crowley
  • Board of Assessors (3 years): Robert P. Reardon
  • Beard of Health (3 year term): Donna David
  • Board of Library Trustees (Two 3 year terms): Kathleen Keohane, Gail Mann

Of those who have yet to take out papers, the most notable absentee is the Select Board’s Adam Dash, who was first elected in 2017 winning 63 percent of the vote.

But speaking to the Belmontonian in the past week, Dash gave every indication of seeking a second term to the Board, saying he would “decide” on a possible run shortly after the holidays “when people are thinking about the election.”

Only Alexander E. Corbett III of the Cemetery Commission and Donna Brescia, the chair of the Housing Authority, are incumbents who have yet to obtain papers.

It remains to be seen if the lack of “open” seats will deter newcomers from seeking to throw “their hats into the ring.” Incumbents have built-in advantages when they run: name recognition, for many three years of accomplishments, and past supporters they can return to. As Guy Molyneux puts it in The American Prospect, “elections are fundamentally a referendum on the incumbent.”

“Only if [the electorate] decide to ‘fire’ the incumbent do they begin to evaluate whether each of the challengers is an acceptable alternative.”

For those who are determined to run for town-wide office, stop by the Town Clerk’s office at Town Hall to pick up nomination papers; then submit the signed forms to the Clerk’s by the deadline, Feb. 18, 2020, at 5 p.m.  

The Town Clerk’s web pages contain quite a bit of information to help make a decision to seek office at https://www.belmont-ma.gov/town-clerk then select Elections: Running for Elected Office and Town Meeting; feel free to call us at 617-993-2600, or email at townclerk@belmont-ma.gov

As FY ’21 Tax Rate Falls, Average Tax Bill Jumps 11% As High School Debt Exclusion Kicks In

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Photo: The Assessors before the Select Board (from left) Martin Millane, Robert Reardon and Charles Laverty III

Belmont homeowners knew the day of reckoning was coming.

And that day will be July 1, 2020 when the dual impact of the successful vote on the $213 million debt exclusion to build the new Middle and High School and continued skyrocketing property values will result in one of the largest annual property tax increases in recent memory, according to Robert Reardon, the long-time chair of the Belmont Board of Assessors.

“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but maybe the amount will,” said Reardon.

The red hot Belmont property market contributed in pushing up the “average” single family home value (made up of the sum of all home values divided by the number of homes) to $1,285,000 with property values on single family homes increased a whopping 18 percent in the past 12 months outpacing all other categories such as condos (6 percent) and multi-families (10 percent), Reardon told a special meeting of the Select Board held Wednesday, Dec. 18.

“[Belmont] remains a desireable place to live and it has a good school system. And while it’s very close to Boston, you can still get a good yard and a garage while in Cambridge for the same price you’ll likely get off street parking,” said Reardon whose day job is as director of Cambridge’s Assessing Department.

The total annual taxes on that “average” house comes to $14,135, an 11 percent increase from the $12,720 set the previous fiscal year, with half of the $1,415 increase attributed to the debt exclusion passed by voters in November, 2018, said Reardon, who attended the meeting with his fellow board members Charles Laverty, III and Martin Millane.

Fiscal
Year		Tax
Rate		Avg.
Assess		Avg.
Taxes		Avg.
Taxes %
Increase		Median
Assess		Median
Taxes
201612.90$928,000$11,6566.56$848,000$10,560
201712.69$942,000$11,9542.56$856,000$10,863
201812.15$1,003,750$12,1962.02$910,000$11,057
201911.67$1,090,000$12,7204.30$997,000$11,635
202011.00$1,285,000$14,13511.12$1,179,000$12,969

The rest of the increase consists of the annual two-and-a-half percent ceiling on total property taxes the town can levy and new growth which came in at $1.1 million.

Reardon also noted this year’s debt exclusion only covers the first half of the construction funding with a second, equally large increase coming in fiscal 2021.

Reardon came before the board to reveal the town’s property tax rate for the coming fiscal year – which begins on July 1, 2020 – at $11 per $1,000 assessed value, a reduction of two-thirds of a buck from the fiscal ’19 rate of $11.67.

The total assessed value of property in Belmont shot up to $9.210 billion from $7.947 billion in fiscal ’19.

As in past years, the assessors recommended, and the selectmen agreed to, a single tax classification and no real estate exemptions. Reardon said Belmont does not have anywhere near the amount of commercial and industrial space (at must be least a minimum of 20 percent, said Reardon) to creating separate tax rates for residential and commercial properties. Belmont’s commercial base is 3.9 percent of the total real estate.

“There’s always this misconception that if you have a split rate it’s going to be beneficial for homeowners but that’s not the case,” said Reardon.

A Room Of Stars Came To Send Belmont Police Chief McLaughlin Into Retirement

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Photo: A galaxy of police chiefs came to honor Belmont Chief Richard McLaughlin on his retirement after 39 years in public safety.

Former Belmont Town Administrator David Kale said after looking around the Select Board Room in Town Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, “this is the safest place to be in America.”

Inside the space were more than a dozen chiefs of police – each with stars blazing from their collars and shoulders – from across Middlesex county along with many officers, current and past, of the Belmont Police Department.

It was a mighty impressive group of leaders from across the region who came out on a wintery morning to fete one of their own.

For the past dozen years, Richard McLaughlin has led the Belmont Police Department and is just a few weeks from retiring after nearly five decades of service to the country and the towns of Arlington and Belmont.

“When I saw the weather forecast yesterday I told (his wife) Sharon ‘you know, we may be here by ourselves’,” said McLaughlin to the crowd that filled the room.

“I can’t believe how many people came. Thank you again. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” said an emotional McLaughlin.

Town officials – many of who are his friends – a slew of former Selectmen, town employees, residents (including Middlesex DA Marion Ryan) and past members of the Belmont Police force joined McLaughlin and his law enforcement brethren for a final celebration of his long tenure.

Will Brownsberger and Dave Rodgers, Belmont’s elected officials on Beacon Hill, presented a joint proclamation from the Massachusetts House and Senate, the Select Board’s Adam Dash delivered the town’s own decree and Kale returned to Town Hall to present a plaque to the chief for his years on the beat.

A Navy veteran and graduate of both Northeastern and Anna Maria College, McLaughlin joined the Arlington police in 1980, raising to the rank of captain before being named in 2007 Chief of Police in Belmont.

McLaughlin also took leadership roles in several police organizations such as the president of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, treasurer of the Middlesex County Chiefs of Police Association and member of the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council.

“You used public safety to reflect who you are and that was to help people,” said Kale. “You leave a legacy of touching many lives over your career in a very positive way.”

“I truly believe that we have a great department with a lot of good people doing a lot of good things including a lot of stuff that’s not seen by the public every day. But they’re out there doing it. And that makes me so proud.

“It’s an honor for me to have been your police chief and I thank you for that,” he said.

Arizona Business Express Interest In Opening Pot Shop On Pleasant Street

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Photo: An image of Mint’s retail pot operation on Pleasant Street.

An Arizona-based firm described as “an industry leader in the blossoming cannabis industry” has sent a notice of intent to Belmont town officials to open a “world class adult-use“ retail marijuana dispensary on Pleasant Street where a service station is currently located.

Mint Retail Facilities LLC which runs a pair of retail shops in the Phoenix suburbs of Guadalupe and Mesa hopes to open its first Massachusetts operation at 768 Pleasant St. “no later than Dec. 31, 2020” if all goes to plan.

The one-story building will be constructed where Lenny’s Service Center is currently operating, adjacent to My Other Kitchen and Auto Engineering Body Work and Cityside Subaru.

Shops near Tempe.

The firm, owned by Eiavan Sahara, is concurrently seeking state cultivation and manufacturing licenses in Palmer and Beverly.

Mint joins Winchester couple Kelly and Stephen Tomasello who have expressed interest in turning a commercial storage site at 1010 Pleasant St. into Cal Verde Naturals, 3,600 square foot single story “retail wellness shop.”

While both ventures will need to commit to discussions on host community agreements, no time line has been established with either group, said Patrice Garvin, Belmont’s town administrator, to the Select Board on Monday, Dec. 16.

The town is currently drafting guidelines with the help of Town Counsel George Hall for applicants to follow during the licensing process.

Once the business receives a provisional license from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission – following the signing of a host community agreement with the town and the issuance of a special permit from the Planning Board – it will begin construction and open its operation within 180 days.

According to a business plan sent to town officials, the firm will seek to operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The building will have limited access areas for security and operational reasons with “buzz-in” electronic/mechanical entry systems. The firm’s letter to the town details other areas of the operation including odor controls, waste disposal, storage, inventory and transportation of weed.

The store will sell flowers, concentrates and extracts, infused edibles, accessories and branded merchandise with produces coming from its own manufacturing plants as well as other suppliers including providing “priority consideration to product cultivated in Belmont by independent cultivators.”

One area Mint hopes to cultivate is a delivery service which would go counter to one of the two town restrictions placed in the marijuana bylaw; the other being a 25 year old age restriction on the purchase of pot.

In a profile by the Spanish-language press association EFE News, its Arizona operations – located near the Arizona State University – are “visited daily by some 1,000 customers” selling everything imaginable related to the weed “from infusions to cannabis-themed T-shirts and souvenirs.” Mint’s website promotes store proportionals like a “Toasted Tuesday Sale” when customers can purchase “one gram of flower wrapped in Shatter, then submerged in Kief” for “ONLY $25.”

Mint’s most innovative offering is a first-of-its-kind medical marijuana kitchen serving up “blueberry muffins, salad, pizza, and macaroni and cheese with a dash of cannabis.”

Crunching the numbers, the firm expects to spend $1.5 million in capital costs and working capital to open the Belmont store. By its second year, the firm predicts the store will gross $9.5 million with net income of $700,000.

In addition, Mint forecasts Belmont receiving $276,000 in combined local marijuana and community impact taxes in the first year increasing to $660,000 by the fourth year. The firm said it will create 20 new jobs and pay half a million dollars in salaries and benefits.

Mint, which is also seeking to enter the Michigan market in 2020, is seeking to ride the rapidly growing cannabis retail market with forecasts of the total economic output of legal retail pot will skyrocket 150 percent from $16 billion in 2017 to $40 billion by 2021, according to BDS Analytics.

A Detroit native, Sahara started his first business at 19 with a low price auto glass repair operation before heading to Phoenix to start up a number of discount businesses. Sahara is owner of a glass repair operation for the past 11 years achieving $1 million in profits in 2018.

Select Board Pegs McIsaac To Be Next Belmont Police Chief (VIDEO)

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Photo: Belmont Assistant Police Chief James MacIsaac

Assistant Police Chief James MacIsaac could soon be leading his hometown police department as the Belmont Select Board unanimously selected the life long resident to succeed Richard McLaughlin as Belmont’s next police chief.

“I hope to continue to serve the Town of Belmont [in] the capacity of Police Chief,” MacIsaac told the board after an hour-long presentation during a public meeting at Town Hall on Monday, Dec. 9.

MacIsaac and Belmont Lt. Chris Donahue – who addressed the board and a handful of residents on Monday – were the finalists from an original group of five selected by the Police Chief Screening Committee chaired by former Selectman Mark Paolillo.

While saying that the town “seems to have an embarrassment of riches” with two outstanding candidates for the job, Select Board’s Adam Dash believed “while Chris Donahue sounded like a great cop, I think James MacIsaac sounds like a great leader.”

MacIsaac will take command of the 108 member (with 49 sworn officers) department – pending contract negotiations with the town – from McLaughlin who is retiring on Dec. 31.

Once a contract is squared away, MacIsaac will be Belmont’s 12th full-time chief since David Chenery, Jr. was named Superintendent of Highways and Police Chief in 1877, according to the late town historian, Richard Betts.

In their presentations, Donahue and MacIsaac agreed on the need for additional support on traffic – 42 percent of all calls to Belmont Police involve traffic related incidents – assisting the elderly and strong school/police relations. Each pointed to strategies to protect victims of domestic violence which make up 90 percent of the assault and battery calls to police.

Belmont Police Lt. Chris Donahue.

They also agreed that civil service, which provides preference to residents in entry-level officer positions, has hurt Belmont’s ability to attract an increased diverse pool of candidates.

In his presentation, MacIsaac said that “attempting to maintain the status quo within the department is not an option.” He noted that his philosophy is that all organizations are “always growing even if you’ve reached that top pinnacle.”

“So we are going to build on success that Chief McLaughlin has created,” said MacIsaac.

Among the first acts under MacIsaac’s watch will be filling the vacancies of assistant chief and captain, create strong lines of communication with an emphasis on collaborative partnership between Command staff and officers as well as be cognitive of the fiscal limitations placed on the police budget.

McIsaac will also commit to a six month evaluation of 21 specific areas of policing including staff levels, whether there is too many supervisory positions, reviewing the IT function including the possibility of adding a software specialist to the force and if the department should continue a K-9 unit.

“You need to be willing to try new things. As long as it doesn’t endanger somebody or endangers civilians or cost a lot of money, I’m willing to try just about anything … to improve the organization,” he said.

The Select Board were more supportive of MacIsaac’s approach and specifics to issues. While there were many similarities to the finalists approach to the job, “the principle difference is the fact that MacIsaac’s has been assistant chief for some time and I think he is more attune to the issues on the management side of things,” said Roy Epstein.

And Board Chair Tom Caputo said while the town would benefit with either candidate in the job, “I was engaged and excited to see the depth in which he seems to understands the issues … and the manner in which he was able to provide specific examples to almost take it to a strategic level.”

“While we have two very good candidates, the nod for me is to Jamie,” said Caputo.

Tennis, Anyone? Proposed Rink Delayed As Schools Seek Site For Varsity Courts [Video]

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Photo: Belmont HS Juniors Brett Stievater and Phoebe Gray of the tennis teams seeking to bring back tennis courts to the new school campus.

After being delayed by more than six months due to concerns that the oversight process was too compressed, the anticipated solicitation of proposals for a new Belmont skating rink has again been put on hold as a last-minute appeal from supporters of Belmont High tennis has forced the School Committee to include five courts in the proposal.

The release of the request of proposal (RFP) for the new skating rink on school property west of Harris Field is now scheduled for Jan. 15, 2020 with the deadline for bidders to submit responses by Friday, March 20.

Additionally, the critical Town Meeting vote to approve the project and the transfer of the land for a public/private operation has been kicked from the first Town Meeting session in late April to the second night of the second session on June 1.

“There’s been an increasing call for the RFP to contain a programmatic need of tennis courts on the site and it finally came to a head,” said Jeffrey Wheeler, the town’s senior planner who is managing the RFP process.

The delay comes as the result of a last-minute push by a coalition of members of the high school tennis squads and racquet-loving residents who contend tennis was slighted in the design of the Belmont Middle and High School, the new 425,000 sq.-ft., $295 million school building that will house grades 7th to 12th.

While detailed plans for the new building and the land has been approved earlier in the year, the initial protest occurred when an army of supporters squeezed into the Chenery Middle School’s small conference room as if it was the Wimbledon grandstand before a championship final.

But the crowd of students, parents, and friends that came to the Belmont School Committee’s Nov. 12 meeting to express the collective unhappiness of their sport being ignored in the new school’s sports community.

“This is a simple question of equity,” said Katherine Stievater, a resident, parent of two varsity tennis players and boys’ tennis liaison to the Belmont Boosters Club.

“Members of the tennis team were disappointed and shocked when we learned that we’re the only varsity sport at Belmont High School that will not have its playing facilities rebuilt on the new campus,” said Belmont High Junior Brett Stievater who played varsity doubles last season.

The existing high school once had 10 courts near its east wing adjacent to the student parking lot, more than enough – five are required – to hold both the regular season and tournament matches.

But when the new school project was designed, it was discovered early on the building – which has a greater footprint than the existing building and roadways and parking – would put a squeeze on the playing fields surrounding the school. The solution was

Stievater noted that all other varsity teams will practice or play on the new campus

While the teams can use municipal courts to practice, that option will push residents off of playing surfaces that they have been using ,” said Donna Ruvolo, co-chairman of the Friends of Grove Street Park who was representing the municipal courts at the Grove Street Playground, adjacent to PQ Park and the Winn Brook Elementary School.

The campaigner’s support is wide and growing; petitions with several hundred signatures along with the support from the captains of each sports at the high school.

“It has been amazing to see other Belmont students support the tennis team being on campus. All varsity sports deserve to be represented on the new campus,” said Belmont High Girls’ Tennis representative Phoebe Gray.

“I think they know that it could have been them being sent off-campus,” said Gray.

While it appears movement has been made to restore the courts on school property, including those courts will likely force the schools to lose a playing field for other sports which it will be hard to replace, said Wheeler.

Wheeler noted the School Committee is planning to conduct a Community Impact Analysis which will determine the effect moving playing fields off-site will have for the students and other organizations such as Second Soccer. That analysis will. be completed by Jan. 7.

One longer-term hoped-for solution would occur with the construction of a pedestrian tunnel under the commuter rail tracks from Alexander Avenue to the high school campus, allowing for easier access for teams to the Winn Brook playing fields.

Worst Kept Secret Revealed: Donahue, MacIsaac Finalists To Be Next Police Chief

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Photo: Belmont Police Chief search is down to two.

It must have been the worst kept secret around town for the past month.

But today, Thursday, Nov. 21, it can be revealed that Belmont Police’s Lt. Christopher Donahue and Assistant Chief James MacIsaac are the two finalists selected by the Police Chief Screening Committee and will be interviewed by the Belmont Select Board on Monday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m.

Both candidates are currently employees of the Belmont Police Department. The interviews will be televised by the Belmont Media Center.

Copies of Donahue and MacIsaac’s application materials, inclusive of their respective plans for their first year on the job are available at www.belmont-ma.gov

Housing Trust Applaud Increase In Affordable Units At ‘Final’ McLean Parcel

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Photo: Northland Residential President and CEO John Dawley

You know you are doing something “right” when the same group that jeered you earlier is now cheering.

That’s what occurred at the Select Board’s meeting Monday, Nov. 18 after Northland Residential President and CEO John Dawley presented a revised residential development proposal at one of largest parcels remaining in Belmont’s McLean Hospital.

After coming under fire for a proposal critics called a “cut and paste” of its three existing developments at McLean, Northland’s revised blueprint for its fourth development in Zone 3 boosting the number of affordable units as well as provide housing to a broader spectrum of both income and population.

“I’m here tonight to try and be responsive to the voices that spoke at various meetings back in March on a project that appears to be responsive to the concerns that were articulated,” said Dawley Monday night.

The announcement brought praise from the representatives of the Belmont Housing Trust which has been a driving force in expanding economical living units in town.

“I’m really excited about this proposal and this is, indeed, a big win for Belmont,” said Trust Co-Chair Rachel Heller.

In January, Dawley’s firm presented to the town plans to build a “senior directed, independent living residential community” on nearly 13 acres of land set aside for housing when Town Meeting approved a mixed-use development program with McLean two decades ago in July 1999.

Similar to the Northland’s Woodlands development on the site, the project consisted of 34 large 2-to-3 bedroom townhouses with a sales price of upwards of $1.5 million along with 91 “flat” 1-to-2 bedroom apartments located in four-story buildings.

That first proposal was widely panned by affordable housing advocates and in March was quickly shelved by the Belmont Planning Board as it deemed the project was unlikely to pass Town Meeting’s two-thirds muster to alter six zoning bylaws required by the town.

“It was the belief, mistaken as it may have been, that replicating what I did on those parcels would be appropriate for Zone 3,” he said “I left on March 13, wounded but not dead.”

Fast forward nearly eight months and Dawley came before the Select Board after meeting with the town and housing advocates who asked Northland to take its plan “and think of it in a different way.” He spoke to his McLean partners telling them “I think I can make this work.”

The new proposal will be of the same scale and massing as presented in March but the project’s programming has been changed resulting in a broader income and age component, said Dawley:

  • The original 125 units has been increased to 144 total units with 40 townhouses and 104 apartments located in a pair of structures.
  • The garden style units will all be rentals, smaller than originally designed as condominiums. There will be no age restriction on the units A quarter of the apartments, 26, will be under the town’s exclusionary housing allocation.
  • The townhouses – which will be senior directed – will have reduced square-footage to lower the initial price with five or six units set aside as affordable.
  • The project will commit to LEED Certifiable Design Standard while focusing on “electrification.”
  • Traffic in and out of the new residential with a traffic light at Olmsted and Pleasant across from Star Market. There will also be shuttle bus from the area to a transportation hub such as Waverley Square and/or Alewife T station.

While Dawley cautioned the proposal is in its genesis and will undergo changes and “times where I’ll have to say ‘no’ to requests’,” the response from housing campaigners and the Select Board was enthusiastic and positive, as those in attendance gave Dawley a round of applause at the end of his presentation.

“I really appreciate that rather than walk away, they chose to engage with us and work with us,” said the Select Board’s Adam Dash.

“Northland’s proposed development at McLean will expand opportunities for seniors and families to have an affordable place to call home here in Belmont,” said Heller, whose day job is running the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, which encourage the production and preservation of housing that is affordable to low- and moderate-income families.

“Providing more affordable homeownership and rental opportunities is key to meeting the needs of people who live, work, or go to school here as well as ensuring that Belmont is a welcoming and inclusive community,” she added.