Town Meeting members voted Thursday night to approve the Center Gateway Overlay District, creating the chance a hotel may be built on Concord Avenue.
The vote was 196-52 with six abstentions. Because the Gateway District Overlay did not have a residential requirement, it needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
With the change, three parcels along Concord Avenue, 365, 375 and 385, can be redeveloped as a hotel up to five stories with 150 rooms. During his presentation to Town Meeting, Planning and Building Director Chris Ryan said the new zoning allows for a building up to 55 feet tall, about four feet shorter than Belmont High School.
Town Meeting members who spoke in favor Thursday night focused on the potential revenue represented by the zoning change.
According to Precinct 8 member Gi Yoon-Huang, the location is ideal, near the rink and the library, pointing out that parents often travel great distances for their child to compete or perform. The proximity to the rink and high school mean some of those travelers could come to Belmont.
“We have a great high school, the rink is right there,” she said. “Certainly, people will be coming to visit family, but I don’t think that is the main thing. It would be all the other reasons that we travel.”
According to Ryan, PKG, the consulting firm hired by Belmont to study the zoning changes, found the town can support a 150-room hotel. Several Town Meeting members emphasized that changing the zoning is not a guarantee a hotel will be built.
“It is not the job of the town to decide on the financial risk of what might go into a zoning district,” Precinct 1 Town Meeting member Joseph Wright said. “It is the job of the investors.”
According to Wright, he had enjoyed looking at predictions made about the viability of alcohol or cannabis sales, predictions he said turned out wrong.
“You create the zoning, then people decide on the investment associated with it,” he said.
Opposition focused on traffic along Concord Avenue, parking and future appearance of the building.
Precinct 1 Town Meeting member Anne Marie Mahoney said while she supports a small, boutique hotel somewhere in town, the size and the Concord Avenue location made it impossible for her to support the Gateway Overlay.
“The neighborhood cannot take that congestion,” she said.
Traffic was a common thread among people opposed to the zoning change.
“The most important thing is traffic on Concord Ave,” said Deran Muckjian, a Precinct 2 representative. “With the library, rink and high school functioning, how much traffic can Concord Avenue handle?”
Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Paul Joy pointed out that any hotel would likely need costly infrastructure upgrades to ensure sewer, water and electrical access. According to Ryan, developers are responsible for those costs, which are determined during site-plan review, but Joy disputed Ryan’s assertion.
“We deserve something better than speculative zoning that risks public funds without clear benefits,” Joy said.
Supporters pointed to the potential revenue generated by a hotel, even if that money is years in the future, can only help the town. A Warrant Committee financial analysis, published in February, speculated that the Center Gateway Overlay District could generate revenue from $150,000 for the smallest permitted hotel to $530,000 for a mid-range hotel, to $780,000 for the largest permitted hotel.
“There’s no such thing as an unimportant revenue source,” said Erin Rowland, a member from Precinct 6. “And, for Belmont, where we don’t have enough revenue annually to support our current services so we run a deficit every year…it grows in the ballpark of $2 million a year, I feel like we should take very seriously an opportunity to bring that kind of revenue to Belmont.”
The debate was called at around 9 p.m., and the meeting adjourned about 20 minutes later. It was held at Chenery School because of the high school play using the main auditorium.
