After months of debate, the proposed zoning overlay for downtown Belmont is off the table for the annual Town Meeting in May.
Instead, town officials are looking to potentially include it on the warrant for a special Town Meeting in June, if not a fall special Town Meeting.
“I think any May date is virtually impossible,” Director and Town Planner Chris Ryan told Select Board members Monday night. “I say that because there’s so much work to do.”
According to Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne, Ryan recently received a second round of changes from the consultant on the project, Able City, which helped him to determine there was more work than could reasonably be completed in advance of the May 5 Town Meeting.
“We all need to be comfortable that what we ultimately present to Town Meeting is in its final, responsible form,” Dionne said.
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Efforts to create an overlay for Belmont Center stem from a 2008 report, “A Planning Vision for Belmont Center,” which recommended establishing an overlay zoning district, possibly using form-based zoning, which provides guidelines to influence the physical design of a new development. According to Ryan, the work is also influenced by a 2010 draft of the comprehensive plan for Belmont.
In recent months, the project—which allows for increased building height to buildings on Leonard Street, with plans for mixed-use development—has received considerable criticism from local businesses, who fear the overlay could cause more harm than good for existing businesses. Many local business owners, as well as abutters to the project, have asked the town to complete parking and traffic studies, as well as a fiscal analysis, before proceeding to Town Meeting.
“I think what would be very helpful is an itemized list of what has been completed and what’s yet to be completed,” said newly elected Select Board member Taylor Yates.
Yates, the former chair of the Planning Board, plans to step down from the Planning Board at the end of the month, once the permitting process for McLean Hospital is complete.
In an email statement, Ryan said the redevelopment of the Claflin Street parking lot—a matter of considerable contention—remains out of consideration, though it’s possible it could be brought back “once key questions are addressed.”
