The Planning Board took another step toward completing the Belmont Center overlay district, finishing the final “topic-specific” piece of the ongoing public hearing.
The meeting, held virtually, concluded in just under an hour when the hearing was continued to Aug. 5. The topic-specific meetings are held to offer the public an opportunity to ask questions and make comments about specific chapters of the proposed overlay bylaw.
If approved at Town Meeting, the overlay becomes a tool developers can use to build taller buildings in and around Belmont Center.
On Wednesday, the focus turned to the administrative section of the bylaw: The steps developers will face when trying to use the overlay bylaw in their work.
“This section is designed to be more robust design and site plan review because the projects are larger and more important,’ said Director and Town Planner Chris Ryan
The administrative section includes a number of pre-application steps so when the Planning Board gets the application, everything needed to make an informed decision is included, according to Ryan.
Those pre-application steps include an informal consultation with staff, a pre-submittal meeting, and meetings with members of the neighborhood and a design presentation.
Once that is complete, the application can move forward, Ryan said. Before final approval, it will face a battery of reviews from various stakeholders.
“This may seem excessive, and from a design standpoint, it’s a little long,” Ryan said.
The exacting language of the administrative section of the bylaw is needed because there is no rules and regulations document, where some of the material in the bylaw would exist, Ryan said. With the complexity surrounding the bylaw and the overlay, the bylaw’s authors want to be sure every step is taken to ensure a clear, transparent process with a positive outcome for Belmont residents.
“Maybe at some point, when we get a rules and regulations document, we can migrate some of this and shorten the bylaw,” he said.
Next Steps
- Aug. 5, members will discuss design guidelines
- Aug. 19, the public hearing will continue its discussion on the code
- Sept. 9, a conversation on financial and parking impacts
The goal is to have the bylaw draft finished by late September, so it can make it to the special Town Meeting in October.
Abutter Concerns
The project has stirred criticism from people living on streets around Belmont Center, such as Pleasant and Claflin streets. Those who have spoken up at meetings and other forums have expressed concerns that changing building heights will fundamentally change Belmont Center for the worse.
Merchants in the center have expressed concern that changes will have detrimental impacts on their livelihoods, as overlay-related construction snarls Belmont Center.
Linda Nickens, who lives near the Center, asked Ryan about the neighborhood meetings called for in the pre-application portion of the bylaw.
“I think we were hoping for a meeting that did not involve everyone in the town,” she said. “We have a specific set of concerns and questions.”
According to Ryan, he foresees those meetings being restricted to people with the concerns Nickens expressed.
“I think that to us, we think that zoning is a tool that can lead to outcomes and we’re hoping that the way we’ve calibrated the zoning for the Center will be a great balance between getting some additional development in the center,” Ryan previously said in an interview with The Voice.