The Trees Are Down, But Parking Lot Protesters Remain Standing

Bunches of balloons dotted the landscape, as suited-up young men mingled at Belmont Hill School’s fall open house on September 30. But the scene was overshadowed as cars drove by, honking at about a dozen protesters, who held signs that read “Belmont Hill School killed this forest and wildlife!”

“It is funny they have a sign that says ‘working together’ because they’re working with who?” said protestor Mack Brown, referencing the message on a banner in front of the school. 

Belmont Wildlife, an environmental advocacy group, organized the protest. It’s the latest iteration of opposition to the school’s East Campus Project to clear-cut acres of trees to make way for a 140-space parking lot and 7,000-square-foot maintenance facilities building.

A group of residents has been locked in a year-long battle with the school over the project. As The Belmont Voice previously reported, residents lost that fight in August, when the Zoning Board of Appeals denied their request to stop the parking lot. The Planning Board initially greenlit the project in April after the school, town leaders and some abutters reached a compromise agreement.  

The school started cutting down the trees last month.

“We are witnessing blatant environmental destruction that the Belmont Hill School appears to just not care about,” said Angus Abercrombie, Belmont’s youngest town meeting member (Precinct 8), at the protest. “They’re nonchalant in their destruction, which is really concerning to watch.” 

Belmont Hill School declined a request for comment.

Abercrombie also highlighted the school’s lack of financial compensation to the town. As a nonprofit organization, the school is not legally bound to pay taxes. However, at a recent Select Board meeting, Member Mark Paolillo said Belmont has asked the school and other nonprofits to make payments in lieu of taxes — a common practice in many cities and towns. He said the nonprofits, including the school, have simply said “no.”

“They get off completely scot-free,” said Abercrombie. “If there’s a fire in one of their buildings, our fire department is going to go up there and deal with it because that’s what they do, they are amazing public servants, but the Hill School is not gonna compensate for all of the good work that the town does.”

Belmont Wildlife member and resident, Catherine Scott, helped organize the protest. She said the school has not responded to their request for a report on the project’s developmental impact, or to concerns about the project’s impact on wildlife. 

“The institution has not cultivated good relations with the locality,” she said. “They say they are within their rights and they say they have lawyers.”

Protestors said they’ve seen an increase in wildlife like foxes, coyotes, owls and turkeys in their backyards or on the roads since the trees have been cut down.

“They’re going to be roadkill, or because they are displaced from their habitat, and they can’t find food in the ways they are used to, they are going to become a threat to domestic pets and backyard chickens,” said Scott.

The complaints are not limited to Belmont residents. 

Scott said people in Belmont and Arlington are recognizing that this issue swells across town borders. 

“People realize that it doesn’t matter if there is a town border. Animals don’t care; animals don’t know. There is a ripple effect,” Scott said.