With the Belmont Center Overlay and Gateway Center District mostly in the rearview, attention has shifted to the town’s next commercial district.
A vision plan for the Brighton Street Corridor was adopted by the Planning Board in February, according to Planning Division Manager Conor McCormack. Now, a workshop is scheduled on March 30 to gather input from residents.
“It’s still pretty early in the process,” he said. “So far, the work done to date has been the public survey that was circulated last summer. That was followed up with a project from the students at the Harvard Kennedy School.”
In December 2025, students from the Harvard Kennedy School Urban Politics Field Lab presented development priorities identified by key stakeholders in the Brighton Street corridor to town officials and members of the community. The Harvard students engaged with residents, property owners and developers using interviews, surveys and focus groups.
As part of their study, students gathered information on the amenities people would like to see in the area, as well as the long-term vision residents have for the neighborhood. They also sought input from the private sector to determine what types of projects would be possible, and from all participants on how Belmont should communicate updates on the project.
McCormack said the current zoning for the area is a bit of a hodgepodge of zoning.” It includes Local Business 3, General Business, General Resident, and Apartment Housing. The process aims to address that.
“Part of the idea of this is to look at Brighton Street as its own unique place and have zoning that is reflective of that,” he said.
According to the recently adopted vision plan, some elements under consideration for the potential overlay zone include: enabling mixed-used development by right; including form-based code tailored to parcel patterns along the corridor; increasing height limits; allowing higher floor area ratios; reducing or eliminating parking minimums near transit; and encouraging building typologies that transition sensitively to adjacent neighborhoods. An overlay is a type of zoning that exists in addition to the underlying zoning for a particular district.
“The next step in the process is the public workshop,” McCormack said.
It will follow a similar structure to the workshop for the Belmont Center Overlay last year. The consultant, AbleCity, will guide the process, which will include a presentation and a number of activities to allow participants to offer their input.
The workshop will take place March 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Morrissey Hall in the Belmont Public Library.