Mid-Summer Special Town Meeting Set: Vote On Rink’s Name Will Be Non-Binding, Select Board Adds Alcohol (Licenses) To The Night

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Gail Harrington

No one wanted the mid-summer Special Town Meeting.

Not the supporters of a citizens’ petition to affirm a 1998 Town Meeting vote naming the Belmont municipal rink after James “Skip” Viglirolo onto the new $32 million replacement. Gail Harrington, Viglirolo’s youngest child and petiton sponsor, said the supporters wanted the question to be included in the warrant for the fall Special Town Meeting taking place in mid-October when they believed it would receive a wider audience and, they believe, a favorible outcome.

And certainly not the Select Board which was “surpised” by the petition and was left scrambling to set the July 23 get together.

“You are likely asking why on earth the Select Board scheduled a Special Town Meeting for July 23? The short answer is that we received a duly certified Citizen Petition, so we had to,” said Board Member Elizabeth Dionne in an email to Town Meeting members.

And not town officials, the Town Moderator, nor members who will (hopefully) attend a remote meeting to vote on the article that, in a judgement by Belmont’s Town Consel, has been rendered toothless as it will be a non-binding referendum.

Maybe that’s why the town decided to bring alcohol to the coming assembly.

But holding the Special in the middle of July was not anyone’s choice but a requirement in the judgement of Town Counsel Mina Makarious of Anderson & Kreiger. It turned out that the family and friends of the late Viglirolo – who died in June – were too successful in securing signatures for their petition. Once the campaigners obtained and submitted more than 200 signatures from registered voters, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Citizen’s Guide to Town Meetings requires towns to hold a special within 45 days after the petition has been certified by the Town Clerk on June 18.

Makarious concurred with the state regs “that we have no choice but to hold the meeting” within the 45 days, said Dionne.

“The Town Counsel did not give us the answer we were necessarily hoping for,” said newly installed Board Chair Matt Taylor. “It seems like a prudent thing to do … and it sounds like it wasn’t the answer the petitioners wanted either.”

As the July 23 date for the special town meeting was set, it was revealed the vote on transfering the Viglirolo name to the future building will only be an advisory opinion of the members rather than being a requirement to the town after Makarious determined the petitioners argument was based on

“The new rink has no association to the old one, they are two seperate structures,” said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, boiling down the argument the town had advocated. The town can now follow the newly-created naming policy of town assets – the school committee and the library trustees have their own guidelines – approved by the Select Board at the July 7 meeting.

As the Select Board opened the warrant for July 23, Garvin presented two citizens’ petitions: the aforementioned rink naming article and a request to submit Home Rule legislation to increase the number of alcohol licenses and expand the number of establishments which can obtain them.

“We got an email earlier today saying that the [alcohol licensing] petitioners preferred July 23 if we were going to be having a special town meeting.” said Matt Taylor.

The town’s reasoning for placing the alcohol petition on the July 23 warrant is “to potentially relieve some of the agenda for October [Special Town Meeting], which is already incredibly full,” said Taylor. The article count for the fall Special has passed a dozen which is likely a high water mark for the autominal meeting.

The Select Board and Town Moderator Mike Crowley declared the meeting will be held remotely as “there’s an issue of public convenience and wanting to maximize participation, which I think we could most effectively do with a remote meeting.”

“Difficult to do this as a hybrid as well. I don’t know who would be available to show up in person,” said Crowley. “A full remote meeting, rather than hybrid, which is easier on staff, time and resources. And summer is not an ideal time.”

What The Mid-Summer Special Town Meeting Will Be Voting On In The Hands Of Town Counsel

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Mina Makarious of Anderson & Kreiger, Belmont’s new town counsel

A date has been set, and the question will be asked to Special Town Meeting members: Will the assembly vote to support a citizens’ petition to force the town to transfer the name of the demolished skating rink onto the replacement facility?

Petition campaigners seek to retain the former name, “James P “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink,” onto the new $30 million facility that’s ready to open in the late fall. They stated more than 35 years of tradition and one family’s wishes are paramount over existing town policy and the potential of what the Select Board believes could be a monetary windfall.

It’s still unclear what the Special will be voting on in three weeks as part of an all-hybrid meeting. While that vote will most likely take place virtually on July 23 – the Select Board will vote to open and close the Special’s warrant on Monday, July 7 – just what the members will be voting on now appears to be in the hands of the new Town Counsel, Mina Makarious of Anderson & Kreiger.

As with the citizens’ petition that attempted to halt changes at the town’s senior center that was brought before at the annual Town Meeting in May, Makarious will advise the Select Board and Town Moderator Mike Crowley in June whether there is any relevant town bylaw, general state law, or case law that will either prohibit Town Meeting from proceeding with the move, resulting in the vote being a nonbinding resolution.

“This is the biggest question that we’re asking [Makarious] to suss out: Is this just advisory, or is it binding?” said previous Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne.

There is also the real possibility that deciding who gets to name the new rink will remain an open question to be resolved at Town Meeting. “This was some uncharted territory,” said Dionne.

“There are a lot of questions that still have to be answered,” she said, beginning with the rink named in 1998 by a vote of the Board of Selectmen. But there is scant evidence of town or Town Meeting involvement in the process that took place nearly 40 years ago, with no record of the supposed Selectmen vote in the town archieves.

“We’re trying to figure out how it was named in the first place,” said Dionne, noting the board doesn’t know if a monetary gift was attached to that naming. What is known is that the rink was transferred from the School Committee, but not to what town entity took responsibile for its ownership.

“It’s a little tricky who ultimately has jurisdiction over the rink, and we’re tracking that down, whether it’s the Recreation Commission or the Select Board. There’s a lot that’s unknown,” she said.

While Makarious has yet to make his attempt to cut this Gordian knot, Dionne said a preliminary opinion by former town counsel George Hall contends that anything associated with the old building is not bound to the new building.

“There is a distinction between the old building and the $30 million new building,” said Dionne as the new building is a new asset built with a debt exclusion and with Select Board and Town Meeting involvement.

Possibly throwing a wrench into the process is the expectation the Select Board will approve a new town-wide naming policy at its July 7 meeting, beefing up the existing one-page policy written by then Select Board member Adam Dash in 2018. A four-page draft of the new policy presented at the board’s June 23 those seeking to name a town asset after a specific person would require passing over a set of high hurdles of presenting a proposed honoree’s notable achievements. It’s likely Makarious will be asked to determine whether the petition falls under the perview of the current or new naming policy.

Which ever way Makarious decides, a change in the naming policy town-wide is much needed, said Taylor Yates, the Board’s vice chair.

“We needed a better naming policy than what we have, and we put a lot of work into making, what to me, looks like a really good one,” said Yates. “We’re basically two weeks away from adopting it, and I don’t feel great about what feels like [the citizens’ petition is] jumping the gun.”

Once the new policy is adopted, “then we can say, our policy … says this, and this is how we’ve interpreted this case,” said Yates.

Matt Taylor, who took over the helm of the Select Board on July 1, said the three-member board should have a discussion on the name of the rank. “Having this drag out without some clarity is part of what has triggered this petition in the first place. I think we should have that discussion and and a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote before the [Special] Town Meeting.”

Gail Harrington, who is James Viglirolo’s youngest child and has helped spur on the petition, said the group submitted proposals to name the new rink for Viglirolo’s under the town’s current naming policy in January and April. After it had not recieved a formal response from the Select Board and to show broad community support, Harrington said it used the citizens’ petition process to ensure the town holds a “public meeting” perscribed under the existing policy.

That public meeting would bring attention to “many community members were not aware of the potential of the rink being named something other than to honor Skip,” said Harrington.

But the family was a little too successful collecting signatures to promote their claim. Harrington told the board at its June 23 meeting the petitioners were attempting to have their request placed on the scheduled fall Special Town Meeting in October. But the pentitioners passed the 200 signature mark in which under state law requires the town to hold a Special Town Meeting within 45 days.

The Vigilrolo family’s decision to go the citizens’ petition route was personally frustrating, said Dionne.

“We have been working on a naming policy for months now. We expect to finally approve it. I’m very concerned about the precedent this sets,” said Dionne, who is the lead author of the new policy.

“We haven’t named our high school after a person. We haven’t named our library after a person. And if you were asking me, I think there are a lot of very worthy people, including Glenn Clancy, who just served the town for 41 years,” said Dionne.

“If Town Meeting is going to be asked to weigh in on this asset, Town Meeting can also be asked to weigh in on any other asset in the town. So it makes a very negative precedent. This is, in my mind, in opposition to good management.”

Citizens’ Petition Would Force Belmont To Name New Rink After The Old One

By Leave a Comment

Photo: What was once old is now new: a Citizens’ Petition would require the town to name the new skating rink and recreation center after the old one

In a move that would circumvent a newly written policy on naming Town assets that is expected to be approved by the Select Board on Monday, June 23, a Citizens’ Petition certified on June 18 would force the town to retain the name of the former dilapidated rink onto Belmont’s new municipal skating facility if the article is OK’d by members in a rare summer Special Town Meeting.

Submitted by resident Gail Harrington, the “Save the Skip” would require the new $30 million facility adjacent to Harris Field on Concord Avenue to continue being named for James ‘Skip’ Vigilrolo, a long-time Parks and Recreation Department employee, outstanding hockey player, and head coach of Belmont High School hockey for a quarter century. Vigilrolo died earlier this month at 95.

The petition states that in recognition [of] Viglirolo’s years of leadership, service, and contribution to Belmont, “by retaining the James P. “Skip” Viglirolo Rink, as the official name of Belmont’s newly reconstructed municipal rink and sports facility … for generations beyond to keep Skip’s legacy alive in our community.”

The successful petition, which secured 258 signatures, now triggers a scramble for the Town Clerk’s office to prepare for a Special Town Meeting – most likely a virtual meeting – that must be held 45 days from its certification. The final day for the STM will be Aug. 9.

The Citizens’ Petition is anticipated to be on the Select Board’s agenda at its June 23 meeting.

But before the “Skip” gets a debate in the heat of summer, supporters face a significant barrier similar to what collapsed an initiative by residents at the Spring Town Meeting in May to place limitations on town involvement at the town’s senior center located on Beech Street: Does the Town Meeting have the authority to name town assets, or does that power lie in the hands of Belmont’s three-member administrative board? 

“Town Meeting will need to know whether its vote is binding or merely advisory in nature,” said Elizabeth Dionne, overseeing her final meeting as Select Board Chair this Monday. Vice Chair Matt Taylor will succeed the Chair on July 1.

The drive to continue honoring Vigilrolo has been a feature of an online campaign and direct action by campaigners before the Select Board.

The Citizens’ Petition will be highlighted at this Monday’s Select Board’s meeting when the administrative body is expected to put the final touches on a detailed rewriting of the one-page naming policy currently on the books. Since Spring, the new naming policy for all town-owned buildings and properties has been earnestly underway. 

In preliminary and draft proposals, the Board has avoided naming town assets—including buildings, athletic facilities, and grounds and fields—requiring a high bar to achieve that honor.

The Board of Library Trustees and the Belmont School District have separate naming policies. 

James Paul White Field House Now A Memory As Belmont Remembered Namesake’s Sacrifice [VIDEO]

By Leave a Comment

Photo: James Paul White (center) in an undated photo

It was 79 years nearly to the day when 19-year-old James Paul White was killed during the Battle of the Bulge on Dec. 21, 1944, as a small group of local veterans, residents, and town officials gathered on Monday, Dec. 18, in torrential wind and rain to remember White and the building bearing his name which in a few hours would be reduced to rubble.

During the height of the worst late winter storm in recent years, Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee Chair Bill Lovallo and Belmont’s Police Chief James MacIsaac spoke as workers for Skanska USA made final preparations to demolish the historic building to begin the construction of the town’s new $30 million skating rink and community center. The multipurpose facility is scheduled to open in the spring of 2025.

“Today, we’re representing and going to thank James Paul White for his dedication to Belmont,” said Lovallo.

Belmont’s Police Chief James MacIsaac

MacIsaac read from his history of White – “a gifted athlete and outstanding student” – and the field house dedicated to him in May 1948.

MacIsaac’s in-depth tribute to White and the Field House can be found here.

“We should remember that 83 other Belmont residents were killed in World War II and [the field house] represents those other 83 young men,” said MacIsaac.

A plaque honoring White that was located at the field house’s entrance has been removed and will be relocated.

The demolition began just after 10 a.m. when a blast from an air gun announced the beginning of the end for the venerable structure that served Belmont High School athletes as changing room and coaches quarters for three-quarters of a century.

Workers at the site said it would take little time for the mostly cement structure to come down, and they were spot on. A lone excavator began ripping through the building from the back of the facility near the rink. By noon, the street facing façade collapsed after a well-placed hit from the excavator’s arm.

“One down, one to go,” said a worker viewing the aftermath and pointing to the ‘Skip’ Viglorolo Rink feet from where the field house stood. The half-century skating facility is scheduled to be brought down a couple of weeks into the New Year.

Before and after

Four Draft Skating Rink Designs Revealed At Public Feedback Meeting

By 1 Comment

Photo: Steel beams in the current rink that could be used in a new rink.

After being selected as the architect to design the new town skating rink, Ted Galante‘s first official task by the Skating Rink Design Committee was to essentially take a blank sheet of paper and start drawing.

And on Thursday, April 7, the Cambridge-based architect who led the renovation of the Belmont Police Headquarters and ramped the DPW building presented four variations of a new facility to solicit resident’s feedback after a few week into the design phase.

”We don’t have all the answers yet,” said Mark Haley, the chair of the Preliminary Rink Design Committee who hosted the meeting. ”We’re just really starting our journey on this design and that’s why we are reaching out to the public to get some of their input.”

For Goden Street resident Amy Tannenbaum, it is incumbent for both committee and architect to as go commit to a thorough process as ”we’re only going to do this once … so let’s do it right.”

What was presented Thursday were first impressions, the rough outlines of possible structures with the programs a new one-sheet-of-ice rink. Galante said these “are not final plans by any stretch” but rather the first iteration of how the ice sheet will relate to locations and the programs associated with the building.

“It’s the right time to be doing this sort of project given the vintage of the building.” said Galante of the structure built as an outdoor rink in 1969 and enclosed in 1971. “It is well past its useful life and is falling apart in many, many ways,” he said pointing to the haphazard way it was constructed and expanded over the years and currently “in violation of so many building codes” as well as the American with Disability Act.

”It’s a dangerous building as it currently exists,” said Galante.

In any new design, the building must incorporate an expanded program to fit its new role: large three-season and hockey specific locker rooms, a lobby, spectator seating, office space, ice skating rentals, and many more.

The new rink – which need a great deal of energy to create ice and maintain operations – will be designed to “reduce its carbon footprint” and sets a target at being carbon neutral using geothermal heating/cooling and installing photo voltaic panels on the roof or on south-facing façades.

“I think they’ll be many people in town that htis building be operationally zero net energy,” said resident Brian Isler of School Street. ”Rather than contributing to the global climate problem spewing carbon, let’s make a contribution to the solution and very likely save a ton of money” as rinks use a great amount of electricity, he said.

The structure which will house the high school’s Boys’ and Girls’ varsity and junior varsity teams will be the highlight of the area known as west of Harris Field which is part of the new Belmont Middle and High School campus. An important aspect of any design is a requirement to fit three fields and a 90 space parking lot – a requirement by the Planning Committee when it approved the entire Middle and High School project – the inside the area’s land envelope, which Galante will incorporate in his next design reiterations.

Two of Galante’s draft designs stood out, the first was rehabilitating of the current ice rink which was not included be so much renovating “The Skip” buy rather a near complete gut rehab of the structure. Galante envisions keeping the large steel bends and and as they represent “embodied energy.” But after that, every thing else goes: the ancient surface where the ice is located will be dug out, the ice-making infrastructure – refrigeration pipe grids, chiller, and pumps – tossed, the brick and corradiated steel walls hauled away, the leaking roof taken down, and all other interior structures from offices, locker rooms, bathrooms, concessions and Zamboni storage space will be taken away. From this point, a new structure will be constructed on a greater footprint than the current rink due to the expanded programing.

“So this is one concept, one dream, one possible scenario,” said Galante.

The second design which caught the attention of many would place the rink adjacent to Concord Avenue with below grade parking for 90 vehicle and locker rooms for fall and spring sports, a rink just above street level with tennis courts on the roof. It is one of two designs which would allow the current rink to be operational while a new one is being built.

Such a design would provide more space for fields by eliminating the need for a parking lot and provide the high school tennis program with the five courts on the western campus.

“Open space in this area is so limited,” said Heather Barr of School Street, noting the advantage this plan would have being flexible where along Concord Avenue this could be situated.

The other designs includes one preferred by the school committee and the district which is perpendicular to the current rink adjacent to Harris Field and flushed to the commuter rail tracks. It would allow easy access to fall and spring teams to the locker rooms and would push the rink and associated parking away from Concord Avenue which is favored by residents in nearby neighborhoods. It would also have a place for a concession stand that is currently adjacent to the White Field House.

Rink adjacent to commuter rail tracks.

Like the renovation concept, the perpendicular option would require the hockey program to seek a new “home” for two years as the structure would be built

The final design would place the rink behind the Mobil service station.

”These [designs] are concepts,” said Galante at the end of his 15 minute presentation. ”These are ideas. They are ways of considering how we might think about … creat[ing] something that is more energy independent and not in violation of so many codes and is safe and forward looking for the next 50 years.”

What each of the Galante’s initial designs don’t include is a price tag. And the cost of some features – below ground parking, roof tennis courts, elevators to be ADA compliant – could quickly “x” out any design or specific features.

During the public feedback many tennis supporters raised their voice in support of including five courts on the roof of the building which Galante presented in the four scenarios or on the grounds. Others pitched non-hockey skating – “Don’t forget our figure skaters,” said Goden Street’s Anne Marie Mahoney as she and her daughters learned the sport at the Skip – with skate rentals and locker rooms for ice skaters, using the playing space for other sports if the building is not a 12-month ice facility, and the need for solar panels and other carbon-free energy.

Haley said previously the committee will present two designs to the Select Board in the coming weeks.

Rink Design Committee Found Its Architect And Maybe A New Plan To Think Over

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Ted Galante of Galante Architects has been selected to present a design for a new skating rink

They found their designer and now the Preliminary Rink Design Committee is ready to introduce a familiar face to the Select Board at a joint meeting on Monday, March 14 to advance the project to replace the dilapidated facility affectionately known as “The Skip.”

After interviewing three candidates, the committee gave the nod to Cambridge-based Galante Architects and its principal, Ted Galante. If that name rings a bell, it should as Galante won universal praise for his renovation design of the nearly century old Belmont Police Headquarters and the temporary improvements to the Department of Public Works’ building which both opened last year.

His innovative work at the police station included adding an addition to the existing structure while gut its interior resulting saving the town millions of dollars and a decade if it had elected to build a new headquarters. If selected, Galante will join the owner’s project manager Tom Gatzunis from CHA Corp., reuniting the “Tom and Ted” team responsible for the police and DPW projects.

Galante told Committee member Mark Haley earlier in the week that a “very preliminary” design concept could be presented to the Select Board and School Committee “in the first couple of weeks in April.”

“We’ll have some meat on the bone to talk about,” said Haley, who is heading the committee, at its Thursday, March 10 meeting.

The committee agreed that the preliminary design needs to come as a report to Town Meeting in May so the Select Board can place a debt exclusion for the project on November’s ballot. An 2021 feasibility study of a new rink located by the commuter rail tracks adjacent to Harris Field came in the $20-million price range.

Haley also indicated that he will suggest on Monday the committee sees at least three alternatives plans for the rink:

  • Construct a new rink.
  • Renovate the existing structure.
  • A new alternative in which the rink is either renovated or a new rink is located at the current site, with both plans incorporating the White Field House.

The inclusion of the White Field House in any new design recently became a possibility when the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee pulled funds for the demolition of the 70-year-old structure (along with money for the renovation of the fields west of Harris) to replenish the middle and high school projects contingency funds after they were depleted by a shock of Covid-related expenses.

Haley confessed there is no long term study for a White Field House addition to the rink, “it’s just what are the possibilities and what are the opportunities for the time.”

At the March 14 meeting, the committee will approach the Select Board to broaden its scope by incorporating the fields west of Harris Field in its design work.

Several members said to come up with the most economical overall design would require expanding the committee’s scope to link the fields and rink “in combination” allowing for a more holistic approach to the project.

And while the committee wants to add the playing grounds to its purview, it will specify to the Select Board that funding for the field will come from a separate source. In addition, members agreed that the total square footage of the field space must not be decreased in the new plan.

“I think people would not be happy with that,” said member Meg Moriarty, who represents the School Committee on the group.

”I think in order to get the best rink design … there are so many factors that we’re dealing with: parking, locker rooms, space for other sports,” said Frank French Jr. “Looking at how the fields will lay out in relation to the most efficient rink design … I think makes sense and is necessary in order to achieve our goal.”

While agreeing with the committee on creating an overall design overview that includes both the fields and rink is the way to go, Gatzunis informed the committee that the Middle and High School Building Committee found that the current site of the rink is “an absolute constraint” in accomplishing the goal of building the “most efficient and economical rink.”

Whether or not the rink stays at its present location as new construction or a renovation or is built where the 2021 feasibility study said is optimal, “[I]t will at least answer the question for the community at large: ‘Did you look at everything that you could? Is there a better way to build this mousetrap?'”

Hockey: Boys’ Back In The Win Column With Win Vs Burlington; Girls’ Hang On For Victory Against Red Devils

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont High defender junior Peter Grace.

After taking a first loss of the season – shut out 2-0 against a rising Wellesley High team on Wednesday – Belmont High School Boys’ Hockey took the most of the opportunity to return to the win column with a dominate 3-0 victory against Middlesex Freedom Division foe Burlington on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Skip.

The W gives Belmont a 13–1-1 overall record and 8-0-1 in the Middlesex Liberty division.

Once again, it was Belmont’s first offensive line on the power play that wreak havoc against an opponent as two of Belmont’s scores came with the man advantage as senior senior Matt Rowen and junior Cam Fici potted goals in the second and third periods. In the past three games, the Marauders scored six of eight goals on the power play with Rowen (3) and Fici (4) tallying. Fici gained the brace against the Red Devils with a pretty even-strength first period goal in close with the assist coming from line mate junior Shay Donahue who helped on each Belmont goal.

A stubborn opponent for the better part of the past decade, the Red Devils had a hard time to keep up with Belmont’s team speed with arguably one of the best defensive pairing in eastern Mass – juniors Peter Grace and Joe Gaziano – shutting off the Red Devils’ incursions into the zone with senior net-minder Ryan Griffin adding his seventh clean sheet of the season.

Belmont will visit Wilmington on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Belmont High Girls hang on for sixth victory

A great second period led to a very nervy third as the Belmont High Girls upped its record to 6-4 (5-4 in the league) defeating Burlington High at the Skip, 3-2, as the Marauders’ relied on standout goaltending from Bridget Gray on Seniors Night on Jan. 22.

You could say that Belmont’s forwards “stole” this victory as freshman Sadie Taylor and senior Jaelyn Marchetta intercepted clearing passes in the Burlington end and scored – Taylor’s a rocket from the left circle three minutes into the second while Marchetta grabbed the puck on the penalty kill and put in a shorthand tally late in the same period – to go along with senior Molly Dacey’s second chance opportunity just outside the crease at the four minute mark in the first period.

It was Gray’s stellar play in the final stanza securing the win as Burlington stormed the crease time and time again as the Marauders tired down the stretch. Two of the best saves came in the final 1:40, one off Gray’s helmet and a deflection off her glove with seven ticks left.

Belmont will host Lexington on Friday, Jan. 28 at 5 p.m.

Rink Sinks: New Skating Facility Proposal ‘Not Economically Viable’

By 3 Comments

Photo: The Skip has opened for the season.

On the day the town opened the 40-year-old plus Viglirolo Skating Rink for the season, the Select Board heard that a long sought after replacement for the current dilapidated facility came to a close after the only candidate to reply to the ambitious proposal could not make the project financially feasible.

“I wish I had better news to report,” said Tom Caputo who was the Select Board’s liaison to the town’s effort to create a one-and-a-half ice sheet rink to the west of the current facility known as the “Skip.”

“But the consensus of the group [of town and school officials] who worked on this is we don’t have an economically viable public/private partnership at this point,” said Caputo during the board’s ultramarathon of a meeting [four hours and 26 minutes] held Monday, Nov. 9

This comes as Recreation Department personnel who run the rink state that it is only a matter of time before a catastrophic mechanical failure involving the pipes and compressors – some original underground equipment from the 1970s that are no longer being manufactured – will require the facility to be closed for good.

“It’s running. That’s the key every year, we just hope it gets up and going,” said Recreation Director and Assistant Town Administrator Jon Marshall.

“But in the near future, we’re not going to be lucky. That’s the challenge,” said Marshal.

First proposed in September 2015, a long sought-after new rink was envisioned to be private/public partnership in which the school department would lease a portion of its land west of Harris Field to a private developer/rink manager at not cost for at least 25 years. In exchange, the Belmont High ice hockey teams would practice and hold games for free as well as allow for free recreational skating while the rink manager would rent the space to hockey leagues and private functions.

A detailed request for proposal was developed with input from the school committee and district, the town and neighbors during at times laborious negotiations. While there was some interest in the proposal, only one team headed by Belmont Youth Hockey put their hat in the ring to move to more substantial discussions with the town.

A tall order that failed

According to Caputo, what doomed the talks directed at replacing the ancient rink was how the RFP “was pretty highly constrained” to the developer. Not only was the town seeking for them to fund, construct and operate a multi-sheet facility, it required more than 100 parking spaces that would be linked to the high school and construct three high school playing and practice fields while providing aforementioned free playing and game time for varsity and junior varsity teams.

“That was a tall order, to say the least,” acknowledged Caputo.

While the two sides negotiated over the summer and resolved many conflicts facing the proposal, at the end of the day, the Youth Hockey team could not made their proposal work financially if it had to meet the space requirements in the RFP, especially the parking component, as well as providing a large chunk of no cost ice time to the school department.

“We just could not come up with an economically viable project that would work for the applicate that they could get funded and be confident to make payments on,” said Caputo. In fact, the town believes as currently written, the RFP as outlined and as constrained is such that there is not a viable project that will work.

Under the column titled Next Steps, Caputo said there is interest in adjusting the long list of town requirements for the project and modify the RFP.

“This is not unusual … to have a couple of rounds with the RFP before you get it right,” said Caputo. “There is creative ideas around parking and maybe not have free access to ice time that can be explored.”

But Caputo admitted that some of those creative adjustments that are “kicking around” is that “they are so far from the RFP that was created that they are probably outside the bounds of what we can reasonably negotiate.”

In addition, Marshall has begun the first steps in better understanding what it would take to renovate or rebuild the current location.

Select Board Member Adam Dash said that many of the required changes needed in the RFP to spark interest from a private developer would be “no gos” on the town side as the RFP required a great deal of negotiations with the school district and residents.

Dash also derided any thoughts of refurbishing the “Skip,” describing it as a “disaster.”

“What would it cost to build a one sheet of ice rink? God knows when we could get the money to do it,” said Dash. “This one is gonna die probably before we can get there. It’s not a good situation.”

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

By 2 Comments

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.”

Public Meeting On New Rink Set (Sort Of) For Jan. 22

By Leave a Comment

Photo: A new facility will replace the “Skip” Viglirolo rink adjacent to Harris Field.

The public will get its opportunity to listen and speak up on a new skating rink as a tentative date was presented at the Belmont School Committee meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8.

“Now is the time to take the next step” on the future of a possible public/private rink which could be located on school department property, said Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan, as he proposed the committee to request the Belmont Board of Selectmen to conduct a joint meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22. The meeting will likely take place at the Chenery Middle School.

But the date is tentative as it may change if more members of both groups can attend at an alternative date and time.

Phelan said the first part of the meeting will be a listing of the pros and cons of placing the rink along Concord Avenue across from the Underwood Pools or at the closed incinerator location on upper Concord Avenue near the Lexington town line, as well as an explanation of the RFP – request for proposal – process.

The meeting will then become an open forum for the public to participate and “can have some dialogue” that could influence what will be included as public benefits and what it will expect from a new rink design including parking and traffic access, said Phelan.

At Monday’s, Jan 7, Board of Selectmen meeting, member Tom Caputo – the board’s liaison to the rink discussions – said while two locations remain in the running, past discussions and analysis of the upper Concord Avenue site by an environmental consultant revealed the incinerator parcel “might not be the best site” for a building housing a rink as it would be “more challenging” to build on ground that first needs to be capped.

In addition, a rink could not be built at the incinerator site for up to five years as the land will be used as a staging area for the construction of the new 7-12 school building.

Phelan said if the school committee – which last month agreed to move forward towards a possible acceptance of a rink– votes to accept an RFP utilizing school property, it will advantageous that “everything is ready to go” involving the project such as having a partner selected and a list of public benefits written out when a proposal is presented to Town Meeting in May.

While the RFP has yet to be written or placed out for a bid, the leading contender to run the facility is Belmont Youth Hockey which has been guiding  the effort to build a replacement for the “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink adjacent to Harris Field for the better part of a decade. It has released draft architectural designs and a list of public amenities such as locker rooms that can be used by home and away teams playing at Harris Field.

The site will be constructed as a public/private partnership in which the school department land would be leased at no cost for 30 years to the entity running the rink with specific language in the RFP requiring an allotment of time for youth hockey, both high school teams, and public uses. The town would be given the opportunity to take ownership of the structure at the end of the lease.