The next series of articles are on deck for Town Meeting on Wednesday night.
Next week’s meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium, is a continuation of the meeting that began on April 29. During the first night of the meeting, members approved the non-financial articles on the warrant (Segment A), which included a number of housekeeping-type articles and three zoning amendment changes.
Town Moderator Michael Widmer expects that the members will meet on all four reserved nights: May 29, June 3, June 5, and June 10.
Among the articles expected to be considered as part of Segment B are funding appropriations for three Community Preservation Act projects — including $1.3 million in total for the Chenery Park project, $275,000 to support new affordable housing, and a total of $192,000 to fund the first phase of the Community Path — a request to establish an override mitigation general stabilization fund (and to transfer funds into said account), and appropriate $1.6 million for a Chenery boiler replacement.
“They’re [the boilers] at end-of-life,” Town Administrator Patrice Garvin previously said. “When you get to the end of life on something like that, you’re kind of playing Russian Roulette; we want to be more proactive.”
Town Meeting members will also be asked to consider the salaries of elected officials and approve a five-year lease for up to 49 Tasers for the Police Department. State law requires a Town Meeting vote for any contract over three years. Garvin previously said the goal is to get the expense into the operating budget.
Article 21 seeks approval to pass the fiscal year 2025 capital budget expenditures totaling nearly $5.6 million.
Article 24, meanwhile, seeks approval for the $161.5 million FY25 budget, which includes $66.9 million for the Belmont Public Schools.
Additionally, a Special Town Meeting is expected to take place during Segment B of Town Meeting. As part of this meeting, Town Meeting will be asked to ratify a revised Traffic Monitoring and Mitigation Agreement (TMMA) involving the Select Board, McLean Hospital, and the developer, Northland Residential.
The revised TMMA focuses on ensuring safety at the intersection of Olmsted Drive and Pleasant Street. Select Board Chair Roy Epstein wrote in a letter to Town Meeting members that the existing agreement, signed in 1999, is “making it impossible” for Jack Dawley of Northland Residential to obtain the necessary financing for the proposed housing project, which includes 150 housing units, a portion of which will be age-restricted and affordable. In 2020, Town Meeting approved zoning that would allow up to 150 residential units in Zone 3, a Senior Living Subdistrict of the McLean district.
