Molly Farrar
They came prepared to fight. Nearly two dozen residents spoke out — both in person and virtually — at a Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting Monday night in an attempt to prevent the Belmont Hill School from clearing wooded land to make way for a parking lot and maintenance facilities building.
But after a three-hour meeting filled with impassioned pleas from residents and an in-depth discussion of legal procedures, ZBA members denied the appeal.
In April, the Planning Board approved the Belmont Hill School’s plan to create a 140-space parking lot and a 7,000 square foot maintenance facilities building, which was the result of a compromise between the school and direct abutters.
During Monday’s meeting, Robert Fitzgerald, a lawyer for the Belmont Hill School, focused on procedural issues. He argued that the appeal wasn’t valid because the project does not include building permits and that the appeal was submitted past a 30-day deadline.
“The Zoning Board had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a site plan approval,” Fitzgerald said.
Residents focused their concerns on the environment and impact on the town.
“The idea of uprooting trees … to put in a parking lot seems to be very much against the grain of the way that most cities are thinking right now,” Linda Bilmes, a resident and faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School, said.
“It is something that has united this town in a way I have seen very few things do in opposition to allowing a school that does not pay to repair our roads to put another 150 cars on them,” said Angus Abercrombie, a college student and Town Meeting Member (Precinct 8).
No residents spoke in favor of the project.
Alessandra Wingerter, an associate at Boston-based Fitch Law Partners, is representing over 100 residents against the plan. She argued that the Planning Board didn’t properly understand its authority as related to a 1950 law, called the Dover Amendment, which exempts nonprofit educational corporations from zoning restrictions.
“The Planning Board operated under the assumption that they could not place reasonable conditions on the school’s project,” Wingerter said. “This misunderstanding permeates the Planning Board’s written decision.”
Ultimately, the ZBA agreed that it did not have jurisdiction to act in this case, denying the appeal.
Town Counsel George Hall told The Belmont Voice that while this topic was complicated, the school is within its rights.
“There are no laws to my knowledge that would have prevented someone from buying that property and build a house on it and cutting every tree down,” Hall told The Belmont Voice after the meeting.
The attorneys for the residents and the advocacy group Belmont Wildlife did not return a request for comment. Hall said the next steps to block the project would have to involve a judge.
“Unless the petitioners can persuade a Land Court or Superior Court judge to stop the project — and they can make that request — the permits are in effect, and nothing is stopping Belmont Hill School from proceeding with the project,” Hall said.
