Belmont Housing Trust—Minutes for November 17, 2011
Belmont Town Hall, 7:30 PM
In Attendance—Judie Feins, Alisa Gardner-Todreas, Helen Bakeman, Charles Laverty III, Ann Verrilli, Gloria Leipzig, Jonathan Jacoby
Absent—Ann Silverman, Charles Clark
Guests—Donna Brescia, Steve Laferriere, Anne Goldenberg
Guest Comments—Anne Goldenberg from the League of Women Voters recalled how valuable it had been once before when she attended a Trust meeting and then reported back to the League on what the Trust was working on. She was advised to see past minutes on line, but responded that this was not an easy matter for League members. This was a reminder of the outreach suggestion made in an earlier Trust meeting.
Minutes—The minutes for the meeting of October 20, 2011, were approved.
Metro West Collaborative Developers—See Steve’s Update is included at the end of the minutes; additional details and discussion follow.
Steve’s thoughts regarding 20 Moraine Street were that it might have some connection to historic preservation for CPA funding, possible use with other sites for scattered-site development, or as a use for HOME funds.
Ann V. raised a question about whether the Belmont Housing Authority could release any project-based vouchers for use in a potential Imler House proposal. They will be needed to leverage a purchase and there are not likely to be any available from the state, as Steve reported.
The Waverley property extends from the car wash to White Street, except for the bank. It could be mixed use, phased development, with potential air rights. The Trust is interested in pursuing this idea, but may need partnering; Affirmative Investments was mentioned in discussion.
MWCD has received the Metropolitan Area Planning Council technical assistance grant of $60,000. This requires that Belmont join the “Sustainable Communities Consortium. “ In order to encourage the Town to take this step, the following motion was put forward, seconded and unanimously approved: “The Belmont Housing Trust recommends to the Town of Belmont that it join the Sustainable Communities Consortium.” There is no financial obligation required by joining. The Trust may want to work with Sustainable Belmont on this issue.
Alisa asked for a volunteer to replace her as one of the two Belmont representatives on the MWCD Board. Helen agreed to take her place; Ann Silverman will remain as the other Belmont representative.
Community Preservation Act—Donna reported on a useful briefing to the CPA Committee by the Community Preservation Coalition. It is expected that Belmont will have $1 to 1.2 million; the state match is currently 26%. The CPC is gathering proposals and Donna encouraged the Trust to submit its ideas as soon as possible, as the next meeting is December 9th. There will be a RFP in eight months, followed by a Town Meeting vote on the recommended allocations. Judie said there was an older “wish list” that could be used as a start for Trust proposals. Steve may try to attend the CPC meeting.
MWCD—The discussion continued regarding the reorganization of the MWCD. Alisa was given a number of questions and responses to take to the meeting on November 18.
- Does this have to be resolved so urgently? Is there a deadline?
- Is the budget realistic? Can we get more details?
- How will the recently acquired MAPC grant figure into the changes?
- What is the effect of adding more towns to the Collaborative?
- Does a merger with Watertown involve Belmont in Watertown’s financial dealings?
- Why not keep the MWCD name?
- The Trust is still satisfied with the services it has received and wants to stay involved.
- The Trust thinks if valuable to keep everyone around the table, but that non-paying members should not have the same voting rights or services.
Finally, is this matter going to be politically awkward for the Trust in Belmont?
Submitted by Jonathan Jacoby
Metro West Collaborative Developers Update
November 17, 2011
Moraine Street: Jay has not, as of yet, begun the process of creating a 40R district for this site.
Purecoat: No update.
McLean – ARC: No update.
20 Moraine Street: I have not contacted the owner. He owns a two-family that supposedly contained a pet shop, but it must be some sort of home-based business because there is no evidence of commercial activity at the building – no signs, etc.
Imler House: The good news is that Jeffrey seems to think that shared group living could be done as of right if we established that it would a single-family use with an accessory apartment for the live-in manager. However, he is still looking into whether the Town has an ordinance regarding the maximum number of unrelated adults that can occupy a single dwelling. The bad news is there doesn’t seem to be a way to get project-based vouchers from the state for this type of a development. Finally, the Church continues to be slow to respond.
Waverly Opportunity: There is a large commercial property that recently came on the market in Waverly Square. Based on feedback from the Trust, Steve is not spending much time pursuing this opportunity.
108 Woodfall Rd: A five-acre parcel of land owned by the Town. Portions of the parcel were sold years ago to the Belmont Country Club and possibly to a few abutters. The site doesn’t have a lot of access and may have been slated for sale to the Belmont Country Club, but Steve will look into this further in the coming month.
0 Lamoine St: A 9,060 SF lot in an SR-C zone that was on the market a few months ago but was pulled off without a sale taking place. As only one house could be built by-right, Steve is investigating mostly for the purpose of adding it to other small opportunities, like 20 Moraine, to potentially create a scattered-site opportunity. Also, if HOME funds needed to be committed to particular project, a small deal could be helpful.
Other Municipal Land: Steve did a quick inventory of vacant land owned by the Town and turned up 1 undevelopable property, a few properties too small to do anything with, a few others that had small structures (such as the gazebo at the intersection of Concord and Common), others that had conservation restrictions (such as Beaver Brook and 751 Pleasant Street) and another property with a recreation restriction on it (130 Orchard St – across from the Wellington School.) This search was inspired by the Lamoine property and did turn up the Woodfall property.
| 
