Final Chance for Health Department-Sponsored Flu Shot Wednesday, Oct. 21

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Photo: Get your flu shot Wednesday evening.

The final date for residents to receive a flu shot sponsored by the town’s Health Department will be Wednesday, Oct. 21 between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Temple Beth El auditorium, 2 Concord Ave.

Residents as young as five years old can receive the flu shot.

There is a limited amount of vaccine, and the clinics will be run on a first come, first served basis.
Bring your health insurance card, as the town, can be reimbursed at no cost to you. Remember to wear a short sleeved shirt.
Call the Belmont Health Department at 617-993-2720 with any questions.

More Paving! Concord Avenue Work Begins Wednesday morning

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Photo: Paving on Concord Avenue. 

Just as paving begins for ten days on Trapelo Road, the town’s Office of Community Development announced the second – albeit much shorter in duration – major paving project on the main thoroughfare happen this week.

Starting at 6 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21, and continuing for the remainder of the week, the E.H. Perkins Construction will begin the final paving of Concord Avenue (east and westbound) from the US Post Office near the commuter rail bridge to Cottage Street.

Also, the entire length of Cottage Street, from Concord Avenue to School Street, will also be rehabbed.

According to Belmont Police, Concord Avenue will be open for traffic. However, motorist, residents, and tenants are advised that all vehicles will be traveling on one side of the roadway or the other during the working hours as delineated by the traffic cones.

On-street parking on both sides of Concord Avenue will not be allowed from Goden Street to Common Street and on Cottage Street, affecting several sporting events being held at Harris Field.

Finally, Cottage Street may not be available at brief times during the placement of the asphalt.

The Town’s contractor and the Town will make every effort to reduce any inconveniences as possible.

For any questions or concerns about the project, contact Robert Bosselman, resident engineer in the Office of Community Development, at 617-993-2650.

 

Paolillo: ‘Seriously Leaning Towards’ Selectman Re-election Run

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Photo: Mark Paolillo.

Belmont Selectman Mark Paolillo said he “is seriously leaning towards” running to retain his seat on the Board of Selectmen as his term will expire in April 2016.

“At some point, I will need to make a definite decision but as of now, I’m heading in that direction,” said the Pilgrim Road resident. 

Paolillo said he was not ready to commit fully to the race due to “changes in the circumstances of my family.” Paolillo’s father, former Cambridge Police Chief Anthony Paolillo, died this summer, and he is assisting his mother after her husband’s death. 

“I just want to wait to see how things are in the next month,” he said.

Paolillo pointed to several unfinished issues facing the town, such as a number of major building projects – a new High School, police station and Department of Public Works facility – as well as the implementation of a community path, that he would like to see either decided or “directed towards completion” as reasons for seeking re-election. 

Paolillo said if he does win a third election, “it will be my final term. There needs to be new blood coming on the board.” 

Paolillo, a financial executive, won his first term in April 2010 by handily defeating incumbent Daniel LeClerc and fellow challenger Anne Mahon. He ran unopposed in 2013. 

Seven Projects Make Initial Cut for $1M in Community Preservation Funding

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Photo: Clay Pit Pond

Repairing another of town’s tennis courts, installing a walking path and revitalizing a well-known park are some of the seven projects that past muster with the Community Preservation Committee after it announced which applications were approved in the preliminary round of assessments.

The seven applications moving forward in the CPC process are:

Accepted:

  • $75,000 Town Hall Exterior Railings Improvements (Gerald R. Boyle, Town of Belmont – Facilities Dept.)
  • $50,000 Conservation Fund (Mary Trudeau, Agent, Belmont Conservation Commission
  • $250,000 Construction of Intergenerational Walking Path at Clay Pit Pond, (Mary Trudeau, Agent Belmont Conservation Commission)
  • $150,000 PQ Park Revitalization (Julie Crockett, Friends of PQ Park)
  • $325,000 Winn Brook Tennis Courts (Jay Marcotte, Town of Belmont – DPW)
  • $100,000 Preserving Belmont’s Original Vital Records (Ellen Cushman, Town of Belmont – Town Clerk)
  • $60,000 Digitizing Belmont’s Town Meeting Records (Ellen Cushman, Town of Belmont – Town Clerk)

The only project that did not make the initial cut was the largest request this year: $1 million to renovate Hittinger Field – which is adjacent to Belmont High School – from a request from Belmont Youth Baseball and Softball Association, which is adjacent to Belmont High School, by replacing the grass field with a Turf surface. The rejection came after it was determined artificial turf is prohibited under Massachusetts General Law from receiving Community Preservation Act funds.

The remaining applicants are now required to submit more detailed proposals to the committee. A final committee recommendation on funding any of the remaining projects will take place early in 2015. The 2016 annual Town Meeting will have the final say on allocating CPA funds.

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

Ten Days of Paving On Trapelo Road Begins Monday, Oct. 19

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Photo: Road work on Trapelo Road will last one week. 

It’s official; the town administrator’s office has released the schedule for the night time work on Trapelo Road as part of the $17.1 million state-financed Trapelo Road/Belmont Street Reconstruction Project.

Beginning Monday night, Oct. 19, Newport Construction will be paving the main thoroughfare.  Weather permitting, work is expected to be completed by Wednesday, Oct. 28 and will occur between 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The paving will occur from Mill Street to Cushing Square. 

Access to driveways along the work area may be restricted so residents should park on side streets away from Trapelo Road if you need access to your vehicle overnight.

Residents with questions should contact the office of Community Development at 617-993-2665.

Be Well Belmont Holding Health and Activity Dialogue Sunday

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Photo: Be Well Belmont logo.

Residents and families are invited on Sunday, Oct. 18, to attend a community-wide dialogue on healthy eating and staying active sponsored by Be Well Belmont.

The free event, which is open to everyone in town, will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Beech Street Center.

The event will provide the public an opportunity to share their thoughts on making Belmont a healthier community.

Be Well Belmont’s overriding goal – which is a project of the Belmont Food Collaborative – is to promote healthy eating and being active in Belmont through education, programming and improving access to opportunities for the whole community. The group collaborates with town government, schools and community groups.

Early successes include:

  • A screening of the documentary “Fed Up” in March.
  • Funding the crossing flag pilot program started by Safe Routes to Schools.
  • A successful series of cooking classes are focusing on healthy recipes with locally produced food.
  • Collaborating on a National Food Day initiative.

A community needs survey is underway:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/bewellbelmont

For more information about Be Well Belmont, visit its website.

Trash Talk: Belmont’s Heading For a New Way on Take Out The Garbage

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Photo:

Belmont has a standing appointment each week with a town service it can not do without. 

And it’s not the Board of Selectmen. 

Town trash collection impacts every visitor, resident, business, and school in Belmont, and is as essential as water and electricity. The prospect of dealing with one’s garbage as some communities require – bagging, storing and hauling to a waste station – is a non-starter for many modern suburbanites.

So the early morning cacophony of squealing brakes and large compactors crushing tons of garbage arrives as sweet music to the ears of Belmontians.

According to town officials, residents and businesses are happy with the service – as long as the containers don’t fly off on blustery Spring days.

But this familiar service is likely to change, possibly significantly, as Belmont’s current trash and recycling collection contract with Somerville-based F W Russell and Son expires in June 2016.

In a presentation to the board by Department of Public Works Director John Marcotte and the town’s recycling coordinator, Mary Beth Calnan, the board – which will approve the subsequent contract – will need to be cognizant of changes in the trash collection industry while encouraging the public to embrace the new features.

“We want to do this in a way that people feel educated and that it’s not rushed,” said Belmont Town Administrator David Kale who with Marcotte is leading the town’s effort on crafting a new contract. 

“If you tell people ‘You’re going to pay money for … an extra container or there [are] no more bulky items, I think that’s a change that you have to let people know about, so it’s not as painful [if it happens,]” said Kale. 

The Selectmen appear willing to take an extended and deliberate approach before signing a new contract.

“Any changes will be a big deal for folks,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo. 

“The radical changes that could take place years from now in terms of automated waste collection where the industry is going, I get it,” said Paolillo.

“Getting input today we could somehow inform our next contractor we may want to change it a little bit,” said Paolillo.

One approach the Selectmen is gravitating towards is extending the current contract with Russell – one of the largest residential trash collector in Massachusetts – by a year or 18 months to allow “our public process” to be completed, said Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady. 

The current $1.07 million contract calls for weekly collection of an unlimited number of barrels or bulk items – you take it to the curb, they’ll take it away – Monday through Thursday from just about 10,000 locations around Belmont. While Russell will take just about everything, appliances ($20) and anything with a CRT monitor ($15) cost extra, said Marcotte.

According to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, Belmont is not such a trashy locale; at three-quarters of a ton of trash produced per household annually, the “Town of Homes” is well below the state’s goal of one ton of garbage annually from each pickup point.

Belmont compares nicely to neighboring towns such as Lexington with a five bag/barrel limit producing .74 tons of trash per household, Bedford with a single, 48-gallon barrel limit generating just under .9 tons. Only Arlington, with its three, 32-gallon barrel restriction, produces less at .63 tons.

On the recycling end, Belmont uses a biweekly dual stream recycling system separating paper and containers, at a yearly cost of $376,285. The material is sold in the commodity market with Belmont’s “cut” already calculated in the contract, said Marcotte.

Belmont’s yard waste is collected biweekly curbside 36 weeks. When the leaves begin falling, it is collected weekly.

While Belmont’s current garbage and recycling collection agreement has worked well, significant changes occurring in the removal industry will bring changes in collecting trash, according to Marcotte.

The first is automated collection in which a truck with a side arm picks up barrels and dumps the contents into a hopper. Firms like this mechanism as it reduces the number of employees and their associated costs.

But there is a large investment upfront for the town in purchasing the “carts” each household and business will be required to use.

Also, using carts will end resident’s unlimited trash collection and the free removal of “bulky” items that would require a traditional garbage truck.

The second is single-stream recycling in which a single container holds all materials. The upside is that it makes recycling much easier and in turn Belmont’s low recycling rate will increase.

The downside, according to communities using this system, is that many residents will put regular trash into the recycling bins, reducing net recycling percentages. And costs will jump as processors charge a “tip” fee based on what it takes in.

According to Marcotte, Belmont’s current dual stream system is “cleaner” (especially with paper products) which is more valuable to processors as it can be sold as commodities to large-scale recyclers in locations as far away as China.

Marcotte said the town will need to begin the process in the next month “because [the expiration date of the old contract] will be before us before you know it.”

Yet Baghdady said “the community needs to participate in the process of making a big change in the way trash is disposed [of].”  

Final Nighttime Paving Schedule Set from Waverley to Cushing Sq

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Photo: Nighttime paving from Waverley to Cushing squares begins Oct. 19.

The western half of the $17.1 million Trapelo Road/Belmont Street Reconstruction Project is scheduled to be completed just before Halloween, according to town officials, nearly two years to the day since Massachusetts Department of Transportation-financed construction began in 2013.

After work crews tear up and place an intermediate surface in Cushing Square, the final pavement will by laid overnight beginning on Oct. 19.

The night work will begin at 8 p.m. and conclude at 5 a.m., according to town officials. Residents along Trapelo Road will be informed of the construction schedule.

The time line for the work is:

  • Tuesday, Oct 13: Start milling the remaining section of Trapelo and Common Street at Cushing Square.
  • Thursday, Oct. 15: Paving intermediate course on Trapelo at Cushing Square.
  • Monday, Oct. 19: Night paving begins at Mill Street continuing throughout the week to complete final paving at the east side of Cushing Square
  • Monday, Oct. 26: Final pavement markings to begin.

Work continues along the eastern/Belmont Street portion of the two-mile project, with a spring 2016 completion date.

Light Board Approves New Solar Power Policy; Tariffs Run Until 2017

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Photo: The Working Group shaking hands with the Light Board after turning in their recommendations. 

On a dank and rainy day in which solar panels wouldn’t have a chance to work, the Belmont Light Board – made up of the members of the Belmont Board of Selectmen – approved unanimously a new solar power policy for homeowners and small commercial businesses on Sept. 30. 

The policy and tariff, set forth in a series of recommendations by the Temporary Net Metering Working Group, was filed with the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs the next day, Oct. 1.

The recommendation’s acceptance ends years of contentious debate – including a bitter debate at the annual Town Meeting in May – between solar advocates who sought a progressive tariff to promote its use in Belmont and those who questioned subsidizing homeowners who installed solar power panels which they decried as an inefficient and a costly method to reduce carbon usage.

Holding 17 public meetings in a little less than two months, the Working Group – made up of economist and Warrant Committee member Roy Epstein who served as chair, attorney Stephen Klionsky and  “Jake” Jacoby, the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, emeritus at MIT’s Sloan School – worked meticulously creating the policy and setting the tariff, hearing from those who advocated for a highly progressive subsidy but always following its own scholarly course, rejecting the political rancour that fueled much of the previous debate.

“[The recommendations] are a triumph of economics,” said Epstein two weeks ago when the group presented to the Light Board a draft of the recommendations.

“What I’ve seen and what I’ve heard, you’ve helped unite people on this issue,” said Light Board Chair Sami Baghdady, of the Working Group which the board appointed in June.

The establishment of a stable tariff is expected to lead to more solar arrays on Belmont rooftops as it will provide solar companies “a level of financial certainty” as they provide their service in town.

In addition, the town will start an aggressive public information push promoting solar power to residents. 

The recommendations to Belmont Light included:

• Creating a tariff which will only apply to solar arrays with a capacity of 250 kilowatts (kW) or less, which encompasses residential and most commercial sites.  Potential industrial scale solar is not included.

• Each solar user will pay the same rate for the electricity it receives from Belmont Light as any other rate payer.

• When a solar user generates more electricity than it uses, it will be paid a “buyback” price of 11 cents per kWh by Belmont Light. That rate will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2017 when the price will be adjusted once a year using a formula created by the Working Group.

“It’s fairly automatic,” said Epstein.

• The amount due to the solar household for the electricity it delivered back to Belmont Light each month will be credited to the household’s bill. If the amount of the bill is negative, the household will not make a payment to the utility and the “negative” amount becomes a credit used towards the customers next bill.

• The policy has a limit of one megawatt on the aggregate solar capacity in Belmont. The Working Group said that would equal about 280 residential homes. Once that level is reached, the Light Board will assess if there are any problems and can then bump the benchmark upwards.

• The group also recommends that Belmont immediately capitalize on a 30 percent federal tax credit that is likely to expire at the end of 2016 by organizing a “Solarize Belmont” campaign, involving residents, citizens groups as well as the utility’s energy consultant, Sagewell, to encourage residents to “go solar.” 

The Group was split on addressing possible compensation for moving away from retail net metering.   The majority recommends a potential one-time credit to about six households who were the earliest adopters while the minority would allow retail net metering to continue for all current solar households for the next three years.  The Light Board will decide on a compensation policy at a later date. 

“[The Working Group’s] charge had two pieces to it; be fair and don’t discourage solar … and I think we did that,” said Jacoby. 

Major Water Main Break Closed Common Street Sunday

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Photo: Teens will be teens.

A section of a major water main that runs along Common Street ruptured Sunday afternoon, Oct. 4, closing a portion of the main thoroughfare from Cushing Square to Belmont Center for most of the night.

The 12-inch pipe – the largest main used by the town – blew out at approximately 4:10 p.m. A witness said a sudden geyser of water erupted from the corner of Warwick Road and Common where the break took place under the pavement.

Department of Public Works crews arrived after police closed Common Street from Raleigh to Chester roads at 4:30 p.m. to begin the process of turning off the water main before repairs could take place.

Michael Santoro, director of the DPW’s Highway Division, told the Belmontonian Monday, Oct. 5, the main – laid in 1934 – had a 10-foot split running down the middle of the pipe.

Santoro suspected the split was caused “because of age. You can tell as it cracked bell to bell,” said Santoro. 

Water service was interrupted for homes on the east side of Common Street after the DPW shut off the main while a resident said his house on Bay State Road was suffering from low pressure.

Due to nearby gas and electrical lines, crews had to proceed slowly with its work, finally securing a new section at approximately 4 a.m. Monday morning, said Santoro.