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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Planning Board Awaits ‘Groundhog Day’ Meeting on Cushing Village

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Photo: Groundhog Day, the movie.

Some may find it ironic that the developer of Cushing Village, the troubled retail/residential/parking project at the corner of Common Street and Trapelo Road, will be before the Planning Board on Groundhog Day, Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Wry laughter reverberated through the Board of Selectmen’s room when the Planning Board’s Karl Haglund mentioned the confluence at the board’s Tuesday, Jan. 19 meeting. It was not lost on most people the long-stalled development reminds many of the classic 1993 film of the same name in which Bill Murray finds himself repeating the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over again.

Only here, it is the board and residents who had been reliving the same issues and promises from Cushing Village’s developer, Chris Starr of Smith Legacy Partner Series, since July 2013 when the Planning Board approved a special permit and design and site plan review to allow construction to start on the 164,000 sq.-ft., three building project.

All that is missing is hearing Sonny and Cher sing, “I’ve Got You, Babe” that starts each new/same day in the film.

Cushing Village and its future were part of the Planning Board’s agenda this week as the body received a written update from Starr’s development team, a board request made earlier in the month after Smith Legacy failed to meet a series of “hard” deadlines it had committed to meet in December.

This second update, dated Jan. 19, was revealing for its lack of specifics and the acknowledgment that Starr is using the two abandoned buildings on the site as his main collateral to secure construction financing. It also avoided mentioning Starr purchasing the municipal parking lot adjacent to Trapelo Road, which is a key to moving the project forward.

“I’m surprised that we still haven’t heard the target date about the closing (on the parking lot) given that we heard many times that the date was close, and all but one document was needed the last time they were here in December,” said Planning Board member Barbara Fiacco.

“I was expecting this update to address the closing date issue,” said Fiacco.

Even the supposed good news of finding potential tenants for the troubled project, there is a concern the news is not as bright as it appears. 

For the second time in as many weeks, Starr said his search for a “small-format food store anchor tenant” is “progressing” yet could not confirm that a lease was close to being signed. 

“We are in discussions with a financially strong, experienced, market[-]leader that prides itself on providing fresh, high-quality prepared food and other necessities in a small format store,” wrote Starr, saying the store will take up 15,000 sq.-ft. 

While announcing the signing of two leases – a store and a restaurant – to fill the 38,000 sq.-ft. retail space, Starr refused to detail the who, what, and how long of the potential occupants.

The restaurant, dubbed “Arigna”, is only described as taking 5,000 sq.-ft. Starr does not name the owner or the type of establishment, although there is some indication that it would be in the Irish pub category as Arigna is the name of a small coal mining town in Ireland. The only other establishment with that name is in Pawtucket, RI.

And while heralding the signing of a “major national tenant,” Starr claims “confidentiality.” While noting the national brand coming to the site, it will likely be a small outlet. Saying the three retail operators will take up 22,400 sq.-ft. and the restaurant and market using 20,000 sq.-ft., the national tenant would be in the 2,400 sq.-ft. range. Some popular commercial uses for that space requirement includes reduced-sized bank branches or a 7-11 convenience store. 

Even if Starr can close on three leases, the retail component will only be 60 percent of capacity, with 15,000 sq.-ft. remaining “vacant.” In comparison, two under-construction commercial buildings in nearby Watertown have sold out their retail space which is in the 25,000 sq.-ft. range. Starr has stated that “construction financing has hinged in the past on our retail pre-leading activity.” 

But it was Starr’s explanation why demolition has not yet begun that raised the eyebrows of some board members and those in the audience. He revealed the two abandoned and dilapidated buildings on the site, the former S.S. Pierce & Co. and the First National/CVS, is the development company’s “current bank collateral for our mortgage.” 

“While our current bank [Wells Fargo] bank might allow us to perform selective small-scale demolition, we don’t think doing a portion of he demolition destruction will help move [along] the project,” said Starr. 

“I was surprised that they are only revealing now that the existing, mostly vacant buildings are the collateral for their existing mortgage because part of the agreement they made was to do the demolition on an early timetable,” said Haglund. “Maybe he was optimistic moving on to the closing.” 

Starr said he expects to close on the parking lot on or before Feb. 2. 

 

Town Seeking Election Workers to Help During ‘Busy’ 2016

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Photo:

It will be a busy 2016 for voters in Belmont with four planned elections. And the Belmont Board of Registrars and Town Clerk are committed to administering fair, open and efficient elections. 

To do this the Town Clerk’s office rely on the dedicated services of the more than 100 election workers and we’re always looking for more top-notch Belmont voters to join this group. Election workers play a vital role in the democratic process. To properly staff polling locations, we need to add to our pool of election workers for the upcoming 2016 elections:

  • Tuesday, March 1: Presidential Primary Election
  • Tuesday, April 5: Annual Town Election
  • Thursday, Sept. 8: State Primary Election
  • Tuesday, Nov. 8: Presidential General Election.

Applicants must be registered to vote in Belmont. Training is provided before each election. You’ll learn how elections actually work while earning $10 an hour. 

There are typically two shifts on Election Day:  6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to approximately 9 p.m.  Workers are not required to work every election; you let the Clerk’s office know which dates and shifts you are available.

“It’s a great way to meet new  people, and learn about elections from the inside,” said Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

Interested? Visit the election workers page on the Town Clerk’s site or email to townclerk@belmont-ma.gov

Preservation Committee Approves $818K in Grants; Next Stop, Town Meeting

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Photo: PQ Playground.

The Community Preservation Committee will recommend to the annual Town Meeting in May spending a little more than $800,000 on six projects set to preserve the town’s historical records, enhance the open space around a landmark and provide recreation to town residents.

The committee voted on Wednesday, Jan. 13 to approved six out of the seven final applications totaling $818,350. A $50,000 request to the Conservation Commission to create a fund to purchase land was withdrawn by the commission before the vote. 

The list of approved projects include:

• Construction of an Intergenerational Walking Path at Clay Pit Pond. Sponsor: Mary Trudeau, agent, Belmont Conservation Commission. $228,350.

• Preserving Belmont’s Original Vital Records. Sponsor: Ellen Cushman, Belmont Town Clerk. $80,000.

• Digitizing Belmont’s Town Meeting Records, Sponsor: Ellen Cushman, $85,000.

• Town Hall Exterior Railings Improvements. Sponsor: Gerald R. Boyle, Facilities Dept, $75,000.

• Pequossette Playground Revitalization study. Sponsor: Julie Crockett, Friends of PQ Park, $25,000.

• Reconstruction of Winn Brook tennis courts, Sponsor: Jay Marcotte, Belmont DPW, $325,000

The projects sponsors and the CPA committee are scheduled to meet with the Warrant Committee on March 2, said CPC member Floyd Carman while meetings with the Board of Selectmen and Capital Budget Committee are being arranged. 

Adopted by Belmont voters in 2010, the Community Preservation Act fund is financed by a 1.5 percent property tax surcharges  and annual distributions received from the state’s “Massachusetts Community Preservation Trust Fund.”

Closed to Business: Zoning Board Nix Permits for Dunkin’ Donuts, Airbnb

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Photo: Brighton Street’s Russell Mann at the ZBA meeting Jan. 11. 

Belmont’s reputation as a hard nut for businesses to crack was put in the spotlight Monday night, Jan. 11, as the Zoning Board of Appeals voted down applications for permits from two entrepreneurs.

In a pair of 3-2 votes, the board denied a special permit to the owner of 20 Dunkin’ Donut franchisees from opening his first shop in Belmont due to traffic and parking concerns.

Earlier, a request by a homeowner that would allow her to rent rooms to short-term visitors through the website Airbnb was rebuffed for allegations of safety and quality of life issues, concerns that two ZBA member dismissed as “red herrings.” 

After the Airbnb vote, a ZBA member who voted to issue the permit suggested the homeowner just skirt the town’s bylaw until the town creates new guidelines for this modern disruptive rental scheme. 

In a packed Belmont Gallery of Arts, more than 75 residents assembled to oppose many of the applications before the board in a meeting that took four hours to place a damper on 

The application that sparked the most interest came from the Leo Family which sought to build a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in a three-store strip mall at 344 Pleasant St. The Leos – son Nicholas and father Vincent – purchased the service station/former gas station for $1 million in 2014 with the intention to run “an excellent business” like his existing stores nearby in Fresh Pond and Massachusetts Avenue, said Nicholas Leo. 

Anticipating questions about traffic to and from the site, the Leo’s traffic consultant David Giangrande, president of the transportation and civil engineering/land surveying firm Design Consultants, Inc., of Somerville, conducted a trip study analysis showing that a donut shop would generate 24 percent fewer trips than a service station over an hour during the morning rush, or about 75 customers.

But those assumptions were challenged by several members pointing out much of the data was gleaned through “industry standards” for businesses of that size, which did not take into effect traffic needing to cut across the street to enter the operation. 

Supporters of the Leo’s plan such as Timothy McCarthy of Simmons Avenue said the proposal would be “a great use” as he and his neighbors are “tired of the vacant and abandoned” service station. 

But many at the meeting opposed what they viewed as a high volume, fast food establishment that will attract vehicular traffic to an already congested intersection.

Russell Mann, an immediate abutter on Brighton Street, worried that the increase in traffic would create bigger traffic delays as vehicles heading towards Belmont Center on Pleasant Street attempted to take a left-hand turn into the strip mall that, with 21 parking spaces, is not enough for the activity the store hopes to bring in. 

“This is not a referendum on development of the property, or on the Leos … who run a good business. It’s about this special permit for use of fast food is appropriate for this location,” he said. 

Others noted that several parking spaces will be occupied by monitoring equipment as the location is under a government order to remediate the soil of dangerous levels of contaminants while some pointed to early-morning deliveries and assumptions that employees would park on neighborhood streets.

In the end, ZBA Chairman Eric Smith and Tino Lichauco who were not comfortable with the assumptions made in the traffic study and possible issues with parking which Smith felt was limiting. 

A dejected Leo, who stayed the four hours waiting for the decision, would not comment on whether he would appeal the vote nor would speculate on the future of the site. The location is zone “as right” for a retail operation such as a convenience store. 

The outcome of Anne Levy’s request to allow her to rent a room legally for less than a week in her Taylor split-level through the rental website Airbnb.

With the Planning Board deciding to push off reviewing the town’s lodging bylaws concerning this new way of boarding visitors, it was unlikely that the ZBA members would change their vote when they denied a special permit last month for an Airbnb host. (Currently, homeowner can rent a room for more than a week “as right”; yet most Airbnb rentals are for between two-to-four days.)

As with the first Airbnb case, some neighbors worried their quiet street would soon resemble a bustling tourist-lodging location with strangers in “Uber cars” coming at all hours of the night. 

While accepting member Jim Zarkadas’ no vote on the principle that the Planning Board needs to set the regulations, Lichauco and member Craig White, who along with Smith voted to approve the application, criticized the objections raised that an Airbnb rental is inherently unsafe and un-neighborly as fearmongering.

After the vote, Lichauco made the suggestion to the estimated 65 residents who rent via Airbnb: Simply make the customers sign a one-week lease and “reimburse” them for the days they don’t need the room all in the same transaction. 

“If they wish to do so, it is up to them. However, I am not going to advise them to do so,” said Ara Yogurtian, assistant director of community development. 

Special Town Meeting on Minuteman, HS Building Committee Proposed for Feb. 8

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Photo: Minuteman Regional HS

Belmont officials s selected a tentative date for Town Meeting to vote to approve or reject a new regional agreement for the Minuteman Career and Technical High School.

The Board of Selectmen will discuss and vote for a Special Town Meeting on Monday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School’s auditorium at its Monday, Jan. 11 meeting.

That same night members will also decide to create a building committee to oversee a major renovation of Belmont High School. But this article comes with a big “if.” 

Along with accepting the date, Selectmen will open and close the Special Town Meeting warrant – at which time items can be put on Town Meetings agenda – during the discussion.

Town Meeting members will be asked to approve a series of fundamental changes to the existing agreement with the 15 other towns and cities in the Minuteman. 

Those alterations include the ability of members communities to withdrawal from the agreement (a number of towns with a handful of students have indicated they wished to depart the group) and requires out-of-district communities such as Watertown, Waltham and Medford which send nearly 40 percent of the new students to the school, to help pay a proportional share of capital costs of a new $144 million building.

In a last minute addition to the warrant, members will be asked to approve the creation of a Belmont High School Building Committee, which will direct the estimated $100 million renovations of the existing building and the construction of a science wing. 

The article was suggested by Pat Brusch of the Capital Budget Committee and former vice-chair of the Wellington Building Committees, who said the creation of a committee will give the group a several month head start on working with the state on the multi-year project and begin building public consensus for the project.

The town will likely vote in 2017 on a $65-$70 million debt exclusion to fund the project. 

The article’s big “if” is that its existence depends on the approval of the School District’s Statement of Interest by the Massachusetts School Building Authority which will fund close to a third of the renovation and construction costs.

The MSBA will select approximately half of the 25 projects currently on its “short” list at its Jan. 28 meeting.

With Full Slate, Planning Punts Possible Airbnb Regs to Summer Review

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Photo: The Airbnb web page for Belmont.

With so much currently on its plate and with little data to move forward on, Belmont’s Planning Board decided to “punt” for now on a review of the town’s bylaws in respect to residents who rent rooms through Airbnb, the popular website for people to list, find and rent lodging.

“We are not scrapping for items to take up,” said Liz Allison, Planning Board chair at the board’s Tuesday, Dec. 5 public meeting, as its members decided it would take up a comprehensive review of the town’s bylaws this summer of this new way of casual lodging for people in the market for “something between hotels and couch-surfing.”

Since starting in 2008, the private company, now valued at more than $20 billion, has more than 1,500,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Approximately 1 million rooms worldwide were rented using the website for the New Year’s Eve/Day celebration.

While close to Boston and Cambridge, which have hundreds of Airbnb hosts renting thousands of spaces, Belmont is like many suburban communities, with just over two dozen hosts currently lending room(s) from between $49 a night for a double bed off Belmont Street to $333 a night for a room and bath on Belmont Hill. The average per night rental in Belmont is $132.

Under existing Belmont zoning code, residents who rent rooms through Airbnb are viewed as a bed and breakfast. Those residents living in the general residential area can “by right” to rent up to three bedrooms as long as it is for a week or longer.

Those seeking to provide rooms for fewer than seven days requires a Special Permit, which are granted or rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeals. 

Since most Airbnb rentals are two to four nights, it’s likely many hosts will be impacted by a negative ZBA vote.

Last month, the ZBA voted 3-2 to approve the first Special Permit for an Airbnb “host” on Betts Road but since a “Special” requires a “super majority,” the application was rejected. 

Several ZBA members, including one who voted against the request, said they wanted to seek guidance from the Planning Board for a more precise definition of the town’s lodging bylaws.

Residents opposed to the new web-based rental said last month they view Airbnb as a quality of life issue, projecting strangers with rolling suitcases roaming town streets, being brought to residences by “Uber cars” at all hours of the day and night.

There have been attempts by municipalities to place restrictions on the business model, mostly by large cities protecting hotel tax revenue. San Francisco required Airbnb to charge a 14 percent hotel tax yet failed to limit rooms being rented out for more than 75 days consecutively annually. Boston is contemplating regulations while Somerville attempted to impose a six percent tax but had no way of collecting the fee. 

Allison noted currently none of the surrounding towns comparable to Belmont – such as Arlington, Winchester, Bedford, Lexington to name four – “have as yet any zoning regulation” for Airbnb rentals.

“This is clearly a new area” and while there is a discussion on the subject, “there are no models within comparable communities,” said Allison, adding that it would be advantageous for the Planning Board to learn from the experience of other towns before imposing its regulations.

Since there are approximately 30 Airbnb hosts in town, the board unanimously decided to make a review of existing bylaws “a summer project” after the Planning Board clears its plate of current projects including work on imposing height and size restrictions on new construction, in general residential zone district. 

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

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Photo: Belmont High School

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Selectmen OKs Feasibility Study for Proposed Community Path

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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