I am appalled by the Planning Board’s recent decision to accept cosmetic deception and grant a Special Permit Amendment to 45 Chestnut St. This approval greenlights a building that violates our General Residence District’s 2.5-maximum-story-count by-law.
During hearings for this project, the Office of Planning and Building used slides to show the board and public a compliant structure with stepped-back dormers. Their own presentation openly admitted the goal was “reducing the visual appearance of the 3rd floor,” rather than enforcing a compliant structure. In a local retelling of The Emperor’s New Clothes, town officials are telling the public not to believe their own eyes.
Belmont residents and the town’s independent peer review see the truth clearly: full, three-story exterior vertical walls, stacked floor plates, and full-height ceilings. We know that dormers must be secondary projections that break outward from a sloped roof plane. These are not dormers—a fact confirmed by Spalding Tougias Architects, who determined the building has three stories.
What makes this truly egregious is that our own building department brainstormed the cosmetic deception, collaborating on the stepped-back facade and false skirt roof ideas to evade the story-count limit. They are supposed to administer and protect our by-laws, not create clever maskings that help a developer break them. When municipal officials tasked with protecting our zoning integrity act like the fox guarding the henhouse, the entire public process breaks down.
The building department and Planning Board have severely eroded public confidence. If we cannot trust them to safely oversee a two-family townhouse, how can we trust them to oversee the extensive new overlay districts? Belmont residents have every right to question how they will manage the intensive building and zoning changes on our horizon.
Joanna Dunn, Ridge Road
Editor’s Note: According to Director of Planning and Building Chris Ryan, based on staff and peer review consultant analysis, the building approved by the Planning Board met the standard for 2.5 stories based on the definition in Section 1.4 of the Zoning Bylaws.
