Rabies in Pair of Animals Has Health Department Issue Warning

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Photo: Fox.

The Belmont Health Department has issued a warning to residents of an outbreak of rabies after a second non-domesticated animal tested positive for the illness in the past month.

A fox captured by Belmont Animal Control Officer John Maguranis on Monday, July 13 and a skunk on June 21 were infected by the very serious viral disease found in animals that can spread from an infected animal to a person.

Rabies is disperse through the saliva of an animal and can be transmitted from a bite, or when the animal’s saliva comes in contact with a person’s mouth, eyes or an open sore, according to the Health Department. 

The department and Belmont Police Department are urging residents to protect their families and pets by taking the following steps: 

  • Make sure your dogs and cats (including inside only cats), are up to date on their rabies vaccinations. 
  • Keep your children, loved ones, and pets from approaching, touching, or feeding wild or stray animals. 
  • Garbage should be contained in garbage cans that are closed and secured to avoid attracting wildlife. 
  • Do not feed or water your pets outdoors. Empty bowls will attract wild and stray animals. 
  • Do not let your cats and dogs roam freely. 
  • Keep your chimney capped and repair holes in attics, cellars, garages and porches to help keep wild animals like bats and raccoons out of your home. 
  • Report any animal that behaves oddly, looks sick, injured or orphaned to the Animal Control Officer or the Health Department at: Belmont Animal Control 617-993-2724. Belmont Health Department 617-993-2720. 
  • If the Animal Control Officer or Heath Department cannot be reached, notify the Belmont Police at 617-484-1212. 

If a bite or other significant exposure to rabies does occur, quick action can prevent progression to rabies disease.

• If a person has been bitten or scratched by an unfamiliar animal or an animal suspected of having rabies, immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and then seek medical attention. If you find a bite or wound on your dog or cat that cannot be explained, take your animal to a veterinarian. 

Belmont Selectmen OK Special Town Meeting Date

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Photo: Belmont Center reconstruction underway.

It’s official: the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved a Special Town Meeting for Thursday, Aug. 6, location to be determined (although strong hints have been dropped that it will likely be held in the air conditioned comfort of the Chenery Middle School.)

The votes, held at an early morning meeting at Town Hall on Thursday, July 16, was a foregone conclusion as the petitioners submitted more than 200 certified signatures from registered voters.

“We had no choice but to certify the warrant,” said Mark Paolillo, who along with Chair Sami Baghdady, voted to open and close the warrant, and to approve the language of the motion.

(Selectman Jim Williams is currently on vacation and could not cast a vote).

“It’s unfortunate that we as a community should be celebrating the revitalization of Belmont Center … it just seems that this is now an issue that has divided our town,” said Paolillo. 

The article calls for the selectmen to reverse its vote on May 28 approving significant changes to the design of the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project, the $2.8 million plan to improve traffic flow and upgrade the town’s main business district.

While construction on the site had begun, the Selectmen voted unanimously to approve changes submitted in a separate citizen’s petition by Lydia Ogilby of Washington Street who called for trees to be protected (they had been removed weeks before) and to restore parking and a cut through from Concord Avenue from Moore Street adjacent to the Belmont Savings Bank. 

The petitioners who called the Special Town Meeting said the Selectmen’s overstep its authority since the town’s legislative body approved a financial plan for the project at another Special Town Meeting last November with the original design blueprint – which included removing angled parking and the bypass which creating a larger town “Green” at the location. 

According to Town Clerk Ellen Cushman, under the town’s bylaws, amendments to the motion can be submitted to her office at least three business days before the Special meeting, which will be Monday, Aug. 3, at 4 p.m. 

A quorum of 101 Town Meeting members will need to show up for the up or down majority vote to take place. The vote is non-binding as Town Counsel George Hall considers the motion as “instructional,” in which Town Meeting is giving their opinion to the Selectmen, said Cushman.   

While voting to approve the meeting, Paolillo said “it is really unfortunate that [a Special Town Meeting] is taking place. It’s just a waste of money” – the Aug. 6 gathering will cost the town $5,000 – and it was a shame that a compromise plan could not have been agreed to by all sides of the issue.

But Baghdady noted that the May 28 vote itself was a compromise in which the board voted to approve design changes to assist elderly residents and ease traffic congestion.

“How do you compromise a compromise?” said Baghdady. 

Paolillo said the one point that bothers him is the process question, “but as far as changing the plan, I’m not accommodating that.” 

Baghdady said notice of the May 28 meeting was sent to Town Meeting members and the public via social media and email. 

“What more process could we have done?” he said.

Next week, the board will discuss and then vote whether to seek “favorable action” on the article.

Zoning Board Denies Special Permit for New Pizzeria on the ‘Hill’

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Photo: George Rozopoulos before the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Wilmington businessman George Rozopoulos could only shake his head minutes after the Belmont Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-1 to deny the applicant of three Rizzo’s Roast Beef & Pizza outlets the opportunity to open his fourth on Belmont Hill.

“Very disappointed,” he told the Belmontonian after the meeting held in the uncomfortable confines of the un-air conditioned Belmont Gallery of Art in the Homer Building at the Board’s meeting on Monday, July 13,

Despite being “grandfathered” in the town’s zoning book as a commercial site, a majority of the board followed the lead of several nearby homeowners who spoke on a laundry list of concerns the 18-seat restaurant would present to the residential nature of the neighborhood.

“If this were a convenience store … I would have no problem because it would be grandfather … but restaurants bring new issues” on the area, said ZBA Chair Eric Smith.

Rozopoulos can appeal the decision in court or wait a year before resubmitting an application.

The building at 92 Park Ave. – the location until the early 1990s of Sage’s Market and two recently unsuccessful retail operations, Belmont Market and Olive Deli – is located adjacent to the intersection of the access road off of and on to Route 2 a stone’s throw from Arlington. It shares the lot with Fresh Start Contracting.

The town designated nine parking spaces on either side of Park Avenue to the site.

Many of the residents concerns were based on their personal observations that the pizzeria would create parking issues in the surrounding residential neighborhoods and along Park, which experiences morning and evening congestion.

“Do nine spaces exist? I would say ‘yes’ but on a practical basis, I’d say no,” said Janet Coleman of Knox Street, one of the leaders opposing the pizzeria. “It’s not a place for a restaurant,” she added.

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Stating that he “nothing against the restaurant,” Rutledge Road’s Fred Haggerty commented that current traffic is backed up into Belmont Center during the afternoon rush hours, “so there is no good access to parking,” made only worse since there was no plan for employee parking at the site. The result will be cars lining the nearby residential roads.

Other concerns included rats and mice seeking to feast on meat in the trash, wild animals, the smell of grease and having an “entertainment” center that would include customers watching baseball games on televisions in the restaurant.

Referring to Rozopoulos’ statement to the town he hoped the “location would be cool” place for kids and parents could come and enjoy a meal, “you may want to make this a hip place but not on Belmont Hill,” said Knox Street’s Jean Harrington.

After the vote, Rozopoulos said he felt the residents had misdirected their ire onto him rather than the true culprit.

“[Parking and traffic] has nothing to do with me. It’s there now, it was there before, and it will continue to be there,” said Rozopoulos. “I felt [those in opposition] concentrated more on existing parking issues and that’s a town responsibility. It didn’t have anything to do with the restaurant.”

“Any type of business that goes there is going to be traffic there is nothing you can do,”
said Lisa Haslam of Keller Williams Realty, the location’s real estate agent.

“More and more people are coming with convenience stores, but they always fail. We’ve had a very difficult time to find someone who is well established, who can come in and know what they are doing. [Rozopoulos] has shown he knows how to run a business,” Haslam told the Belmontonian.

“This is another business not coming to Belmont,” she said.

 

Let’s Eat: Trio of Eateries before Zoning Board of Appeals

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Photo: The location where a businessman hopes to open a pizzeria on Park Avenue. 

Three restaurants will come seeking special permits before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday, July 13, and while two – near neighbors on Trapelo Road – appear to face perfunctory review for approval, one already has neighbors opposing its location at the intersection of Belmont Hill and Route 2. 

The ZBA meeting is taking place at 7 p.m. in the Homer Building.

George Rozopoulos, a well-known Wilmington pizzeria owner who comes from the family which established the Pizza Lover’s chain on the North Shore, is seeking to lease the former Belmont Market at 92 Park Ave. adjacent the overpass and the access road onto Route 2 and bordering Arlington, and open Rizzo’s Roast Beef & Pizza.

“Belmont is a beautiful town,” said Rozopoulos in his statement of interest, a place where “parents can walk … and kids ride bikes to grab a bite.”

“This location will be cool and hip inside and the walls will be covered with memorabilia,” said Rozopoulos, which recently was the home of Olive Market and Deli. 

Rozopoulos will serve essentially the same menu as he does at this Wilmington, Peabody and Salem locations, such as pizzas, calzones, hot and cold sandwiches, rice bowls and subs. 

The shop will have 18 seats, using the existing nine parking spaces in the area. Rozopoulos hopes to have up to 20 outdoor seasonal seating.

Yet some neighbors are rather bothered that a pizza place will be located at the edge of the residential neighborhoods. Two couples have objected to the special permit request, citing traffic – Park Avenue is rather congested for about an hour in the morning and evening rush – parking and health concerns as there is reportedly past encounters with “mice and rats” from the past businesses.

• • •

Adjacent to the newly-opened Studio Cinema, a Foxboro-based soup restaurant is seeking to occupy the former home of Cafe Burrito.

As reported in the Belmontonian this spring, owner Jose Rios wants to bring his concept of 8 to 12 daily soups as he does at his shop Spoodles Soup Factory at 374 Trapelo Rd. The restaurant, open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., will serve fresh salads, wraps and sandwiches along with a variety of soups from the staples such as chicken noodle to the adventurous chipotle sweat potato or chicken enchilada. 

The 768 square-foot location will have 13 seats and employ five workers.

• • •

Number One Taste, the Chinese take-out at 382 Trapelo Rd., will be changing owners with Jack Sy seeking to take over the business from the current owners. He will keep the same menu and name as well as same hours; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday to Thursday; and open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. 

“This will be a family business. We want to have this business because cooking is a passion and we take pride in what we serve,” said the resident from Boston’s South End.

Special Town Meeting Set for Thursday, August 6

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Photo: Belmont Center under construction. 

The Special Town Meeting called by residents seeking to reverse last-minute changes to the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction Project will take place on Thursday, Aug. 6, according to a notice released on Monday, July 13.

On Thursday, July 16 at 8 a.m., the Belmont Board of Selectmen will meet at Town Hall to vote to open and close the warrant before voting on the date. 

Still up in the air is the meeting’s location. Town Meetings are held in the auditoriums of either Belmont High School or the Chenery Middle School. Last week, Town Clerk Ellen Cushman said she would seek to hold the assembly at the Chenery as it has air conditioning.

Town Meeting’s traditional start time is 7 p.m.

The Special Town Meeting was called after a group of residents presented a citizen’s petition calling for the return of the project’s original design which included a prominent Town “Green” and removal of the cut through between Moore Street and Concord Avenue after the Selectmen voted on May 28 to keep the bypath and locate four parallel parking spot in front of the Belmont Savings Bank.  

The Selectmen will take the non-binding vote “under advisement” and decide at a public meeting whether to follow Town Meeting’s “instruction” or set it aside.

Town Clerk Declares Summer Special Town Meeting ‘Will Be Held’

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Photo: Ellen Cushman, Belmont Town Clerk. 

Belmont will have a summer Special Town Meeting before the third week in August after Town Clerk Ellen Cushman certified a citizen’s petition submitted by residents who seek to reverse a last-minute change to the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction Project.

“The train is on the tracks,” said Cushman, referring to the process the town will undertake to schedule the meeting during the middle of summer. 

The meeting will cost taxpayers approximately $5,000 to hire a court reporter, have materials ready and to pay overtime for town employees.  

Cushman said her office certified 284 of the 302 signatures submitted Wednesday, July 8, by residents seeking a non-binding vote by the 300 members of the town’s legislative branch.

The latest the Special Town Meeting can take place was 45 days from Wednesday, on Aug. 21.

It is now up to the Board of Selectmen – the group which prompted the special meeting after approving major changes to the project’s design at a May 28 public meeting which resulted in a counter petition and later a near free-for-all at a subsequent Selectmen’s meeting – to pick a meeting date and sign the warrant. The board will also vote on whether to recommend or reject the article. 

The meeting will be held 14 days or longer once the warrant is signed.

The article’s language Town Meeting will be voting on is the same used on the petition delivered to the town. (see below) Amendments to the article can be submitted up to three days before the meeting. A quorum of 100 members will be needed to call the meeting.

Cushman said the vote – which seeks to return the project to its original design with a prominent Town “Green” and removal of the cut through between Moore Street and Concord Avenue – is, in fact, non-binding. The Selectmen will take the vote “under advisement” and decide at a public meeting whether to follow Town Meeting’s “instruction” or set it aside. 

If there were any thoughts from either camp withdrawing from the anticipated fight on the floor of either the Chenery Middle or Belmont High schools auditorium, the time to do so was before the petition arrived at Town Hall Wednesday.

“This Special Town Meeting will be held,” Cushman told the Belmontonian. 

The petition reads: 

We, the undersigned registered voters of the Town of Belmont, Massachusetts, request that the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Belmont place an article on the Warrant for a Special Town Meeting to read:

“In proceeding with the Belmont Center restoration project, as approved and funded by Town Meeting on November 17, 2014, shall the Board of Selectmen and other Town officials be directed to adhere to the plan represented in the Belmont Center Improvements design documents put out to bid by the Town in January 2015, said documents based on the conceptual plan presented to Town Meeting in the November 2014 Special Town Meeting. These documents shall be used in place of the Board of Selectmen’s revised Belmont Center restoration conceptual plan, adopted unilaterally at a meeting held on May 28, 2015.”

Special Town Meeting Petition on Belmont Center Delivered to Town Clerk

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Photo: Town Clerk Ellen Cushman counting signatures.

It appears Town Meeting members will have to forego one summer night on the shore or lounging in the back yard after a group seeking to reverse a last-second change to the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project has delivered what they believe is the necessary number of signatures to Belmont’s Town Clerk  this afternoon, Tuesday, July 7, to call a “special.”

Bonnie Friedman of Hay Road presented 302 signatures on a petition to Town Clerk Ellen Cushman who will begin certifying the names. At least 200 signatures from registered voters must be certified for the process to begin. 

Under Massachusetts General Law (MGL 39 §10), a special town meeting must take place by the 45th day after the date of petition is submitted. According to Cushman, with the petition was received by her on July 7, the latest a Special Meeting could take place would be Aug. 21.

The petition was created by Cross Street’s Paul Roberts after the Board of Selectmen made two major changes to the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction Project some time after major construction began. 

In May, the Board called a public meeting outside its regular schedule to hear from 96-year-old Lydia Ogilby of Washington Street who submitted her own petition that would protect a crop of trees in the center (which had already been chopped down) as well as keep a cut through from Moore Street to Concord Avenue adjacent Belmont Savings Bank. 

The board approved keeping the byway and adding four parallel parking spots next to the bank. The changes left a much heralded “Town Green” located in front of the bank to be reduced to an island surrounded by roadway.

The project design had taken four years to develop under the tutelage of the Traffic Advisory Committee who held a number of public meetings to discuss the project. 

Opposition to the Selectmen’s changes revolved around the vanishing “Green”, increased traffic and a view that the Board had overstepped its authority to make changes to a project which an earlier special town meeting in November 2014 approved the financing based on the finished blueprint. 

An attempt by proponents of the original design to discuss the matter before the Selectmen resulted in a shout-filled brouhaha in which a police officer was called to oversee the meeting.  The next day Roberts began seeking signatures.

The petition reads: 

We, the undersigned registered voters of the Town of Belmont, Massachusetts, request that the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Belmont place an article on the Warrant for a Special Town Meeting to read:

“In proceeding with the Belmont Center restoration project, as approved and funded by Town Meeting on November 17, 2014, shall the Board of Selectmen and other Town officials be directed to adhere to the plan represented in the Belmont Center Improvements design documents put out to bid by the Town in January 2015, said documents based on the conceptual plan presented to Town Meeting in the November 2014 Special Town Meeting. These documents shall be used in place of the Board of Selectmen’s revised Belmont Center restoration conceptual plan, adopted unilaterally at a meeting held on May 28, 2015.”

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Net Metering Working Group Seeking ‘Good Enough’ Solar Incentives

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Photo: (from left) Stephen Klionsky, Jake Jacoby and Tony Barnes of the working group and residents Mark Davis, Klaus Becker and Travis Franck.

How much are you willing to pay for your neighbor to use solar power? 

It’s that question likely at the heart of the main recommendation coming from the Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group after the newly-formed committee held its inaugural meeting at Town Hall on Monday, July 6.

With a dozen solar power advocates in attendance, the five-member committee (three voting members and two alternates) set its accelerated agenda – with an additional meeting this week and three the next – with a goal of presenting a comprehensive report and recommendation in early to mid-August to the Belmont Light Board made up of the Board of Selectmen. 

“I thought one of our major goals was to convince the community particularly the solar community that we are credible and we have their interests at heart as well as the rest of the town,” Roy Epstein, the committee’s chair, told the Belmontonian at the conclusion of the first assembly. 

The committee was formed by the Light Board last month to make progress on finalizing a solar policy at Belmont Light, according to Board Chair Sami Baghdady 

Epstein said the committee’s ultimate goal is to create a fairly long-term rate policy – a tariff  for solar energy in Belmont – “as expeditiously as we can.” 

The meeting opened with Epstein being elected chair, which caused a stir among many solar advocates as they directly questioned Epstein selection to the committee as he had written a widely-read commentary this year viewed as hostile to advancing their cause.

Epstein – an economist and long-time member of the town’s Warrant Committee – sought to claim skeptics by saying no one could question “the goodwill of the people on this committee (which include fellow voting members Henry “Jake” Jacoby and Stephen Klionsky and associate members Tony Barnes and Robert Gallant) their openness, their receptiveness … and personal integrity so it would be not less than unfair to doubt any of that.” 

Epstein added that the issue of solar power pricing – which has become the most contentious topic in Belmont for the past year – “needs to be defused a little bit” and that would occur through the next two weeks as the committee will seek to effectively deconstruct and reassemble the solar power issue facing Belmont and its municipal electrical utility, Belmont Light. 

To prevent the meetings turning into a debating society, Epstein placed a ban on public discussion until the final 15 minutes of each meeting, a rare show of restraining the populous in Belmont.

Klionsky, a current member of the Municipal Light Advisory Board which has been seen by some as the chief barrier to a progressive solar policy, noted that “it really is unfortunate” the emotion and negative comments over the past year set back progress on the issue. 

The committee appears ready not simply to look at net metering – the billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they send to Belmont Light – which Klionsky called “not the most important topic in terms of climate change” – but also the long-term goals of reducing the town’s overall carbon foot print. 

In coming to a new solar policy, Epstein said they will not follow past initiatives such as the proposed “Phase II” tariff program approved by the Light Board in December but then ditched by the board in April at the insistence of solar power advocates.

“We’re free to propose anything we want” in developing solar policy, said Epstein, seeking to shake off past blueprints “that turned into shouting matches between MLAB and some of the residents,” noted Klionsky.

In one aspect, Epstein agrees with the newest member of the Light Board, Jim Williams, who is the solar proponents staunchest ally, that there is a “board middle” between the two competing sides to establish a new policy.

But just how generous a tariff, or subsidy, should be provided to solar users from Belmont Light and the vast majority of its customers – only 23 residential consumers of 11,000 have active solar panels – who will pay the tariff? 

Solar advocates claim a progressive tariff – calculated by Belmont Light at $25,000 over 20 years under pure net metering without any cost to help with the utilities fix costs – is the best and most efficient approach to promote solar power use in Belmont as up front costs can reach $20,000 to $30,000. 

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The Working Group: (from left) Roy Epstein, Robert Gallant, Stephen Klionsky, Henry “Jake” Jacoby and Tony Barnes.

In Epstein’s view, the committee’s aim is “to inducing some solar without excessive compensation.” 

“The goal for the public is to encourage the use of solar but by the most efficient means possible,” he said, something that is “good enough” for solar proponents. 

While Epstein said he did not want to use the term “cross subsidy” – the practice of charging higher prices to one group  of consumers in order to subsidize lower prices for another group – as it has become a “loaded term,” Jacoby – the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, Emeritus at MIT Sloan School and a leading expert on national climate policies – said “you can call it a banana” but the facts are that a “transfer [of costs] is there.”

Yet reaching a “good enough” level that will satisfy solar advocates remains an open question. While the Working Group is preparing to marshal on with data, many pro-solar advocates view the issues in a social benefit context. 

One solar proponent was upfront with his call for major subsidies for residents who wish to go solar. 

“I find the existence of this group very cynical,” said Selwyn Road’s Mark Robbins, saying that solar renewable energy credits (SREC) – a Massachusetts initiative in which large utilities such as National Grid and Eversource purchase the credits from consumers using solar panels – is the preferred method of encouraging solar usage and not via net metering.

“And what are SREC’s? They’re really cross subsidies from the rest of Massachusetts which cares about climate change to a town that doesn’t,” he said. “These things depend on subsidies. We’re suppose to be subsidizing these things.” 

A nuisance view of the committee’s work from the solar perspectives came from Travis Franck, who said while it is important to have an efficient and reasonable policy, “luckily the working group has a mandate to consider the town’s broader picture not just Belmont Light’s bottom line.”

“There are ways to structure this that will be reasonable for the solar panel owners and good for the average rate payer and could meet the town’s climate change goals,” said Franck, program director for DC-based Climate Interactive.

Epstein said after the meeting from an economic point of view, “the goal is to [incentivize] behavior but only as much as necessary and no more.” 

“I want to present a proposed framework where people are able to tell whether that that incentive exists or not.” 

 

Net Metering Working Group Begins Under Solar Supporters’ Glare

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Photo: Henry “Jake” Jacoby.

After more than 18 months of fits and starts, failed proposals and increasing acrimony, a newly-appointed working group made up of heavyweight experts created by the Board of Selectmen to craft a new solar power policy for Belmont, will kickoff its efforts Monday.

Yet even before the Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group is gaveled into existence tonight, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, solar power advocates have called into question the group’s make up and preserved views, even hinting to the Selectmen (which also makes up the Light Board that will vote on any new subsidies) to set aside any new policy in favor of its own tariffs.

“Once the Working Advisory Group delivers its recommendation, there is no reason to believe that it puts an end to the discussion,” Vera Iskandarian of Waverley Street commented to an article in the Belmontonian.

Yet Sami Baghdady, chair of the Selectmen and Light Board, said last month the group members were “independent” and “balance” and would provide much needed guidance to the Board and public on examining technical aspects to create a right-sized pricing schedule for residential solar panel electricity production.

Under its current guidelines, the working group has a mid-August deadline to present recommendations to the Light Board.

The working group’s three voting members include:

  • Henry “Jake” Jacoby, the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, Emeritus at MIT Sloan School, a leading expert on national climate policies and the structure of the international climate regime who Baghdady called “a big policy person and someone with a big-picture view” on the subject.
  • Stephen Klionsky, an attorney with Northeast Utilities, and an alternate member of the Municipal Light Board Advisory Committee. Klionsky has a law degree from New York University and a Masters in Planning and Public Policy from Harvard.
  • Roy Epstein, a long-serving member of the town’s Warrant Committee who is an economic consultant (PhD from Yale) and an adjunct professor of Finance at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management .
  • Attending the meetings as associate members will be Tony Barnes and Robert Gallant.

The group will attempt to develop a policy which will “promote solar” in a “responsible” way, according to Baghdady.

But solar advocates have criticizes the working group’s members for appearing in past writings to lean towards a less progressive price structure for solar owners. 

Many advocates are pushing a proposal they said was evaluated by a research firm for its fairness to non-solar ratepayers. Further delays will only promote further uncertainty among solar panel installers who have effectually abandoned the town.

Approximately 20 Belmont households and a pair of commercial sites have solar panels supplying electrical power for their homes and businesses and gives excess energy back to Belmont Light.

Solar power advocates believe recently proposed tariffs which required a higher level of payment from solar owners for infrastructure upkeep while providing lower overall payment for energy they produce has stifled the growth of solar in Belmont compared to the level of activity in neighboring communities. 

Those calling for a less progressive tariff believe solar needs to pay its way without relying on excessive subsidies. 

Lots of Openings on Town Committees and Groups; Are You Interested?

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Photo: The seal of Belmont.

If you have some time on your hand and wish to contribute your talents to help run the town you live in, the Belmont Board of Selectmen has begun its annual committee appointment process.

Beginning in July, 2015, the Selectmen will be making appointments to fill terms set to expire this year and those that have been left vacant by resignations. Although an uncompensated position, the Selectmen places a high value on committee contributions, and recognizes the critical role that committees play in shaping Belmont’s future.

The Board is looking for Belmont residents with a variety of talents and backgrounds who are willing to make the commitment to serving on a committee. Residents with no past committee service, past committee members and current committee members interested in re-appointment are all encouraged to apply.

The list of Committees that have vacancies or members with terms expiring in 2015 include:

  • Cable Television Advisory Committee
  • Community Preservation Committee
  • Conservation Commission
  • Council on Aging
  • Cultural Council
  • Disability Access Commission
  • Economic Development Advisory Committee
  • Education Scholarship Committee
  • Energy Committee
  • Historic District Commission
  • Housing Trust
  • Human Rights Commission
  • Municipal Light Advisory Board
  • Permanent Audit Committee
  • Planning Board
  • Property and Casualty Insurance Advisory Committee
  • Recreation Commission
  • Registrars Of Voters
  • Shade Tree Committee
  • Traffic Advisory Committee
  • Vision 21 Implementation Committee
  • Water Advisory Board
  • Zoning Board of Appeals

The number of appointments to be made, time commitment needed, and preferred qualifications varies from committee to committee. To be considered for appointment to any committees appointed by the Board of Selectmen, please fill out a Community Volunteer Interest Form that may be obtained from the Selectmen’s Office or on the town website.

Submit completed interest forms along with any other supporting documentation to the Office of the Board of Selectmen located in Town Hall, or via e-mail to selectmen@belmont-ma.gov

Completed interest forms will be kept on file for a year. Note that applying to be a committee member is not a guarantee of appointment. The Board of Selectmen will make all appointments in public meetings this summer.

Questions about committees or this appointment process may be addressed to Public Information Specialist Bob Reardon Jr. in the Office of the Board of Selectmen.