News
Next Planning Board meeting is Tuesday, Feb 7 at 7pm EST
1-17-23: article by Scott Van Voorhis in Contrarian Boston https://scottvanvoorhis.substack.com/p/01182023
Planning board meeting Jan 10
Video is https://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/planning-board-town-belmont
Lowrie allowed public comment
Matthew Schwartz discussed the justification for parking, showing that the need is at most 63 spaces while the request is for 147.
Judith Feinlieb, Laura Vecchione, and others also spoke
Jan 3, 2023: Justin Roe discusses School Claims Parking is “Educational Use” in Belmont Citizens Forum: https://www.belmontcitizensforum.org/2023/01/03/school-claims-parking-is-educational-use/
Planning board meeting Dec 20
Video is https://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/planning-board-town-belmont
Lowrie discusses challenges for on-street parking
Town Council George Hall discusses Dover Amendment issues
No public comments were allowed
Planning board meeting Dec 6:
Recording is here https://belmontmedia.org/watch/planning-board-12062022
Lowrie discussed development Impact Report, timeline of construction, and Dover amendment were discussed.
School explained that they are short 29 spaces if all 277 (approx 135 staff + 142 students) park simultaneously on campus. With the Arlinton lot they currently have 21 spaces extra.
Wes Austin (an abutter) presented comparison of parking needs to other comparable schools
Justin Roe (an abutter) discussed problems with the maintenance facility and discussed problems with the trucks they plan to park there
Belmont hill school already has more parking per student than any of its peer schools
Planning board meeting Nov 15:
Recording is here https://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/planning-board-11152022
School presented plans again.
No modifications yet in response to community
No public comments allowed.
Schedule given for future planning board meetings
Nov 15: Blogging belmont guest post by Don Hafner. https://www.bloggingbelmont.com/2022/11/opinion-belmont-hill-school-lot-turns-back-progress-on-environment/
Nov 11: Belmontian interviews Tanya Austin http://belmontonian.com/news/qa-residents-standing-firm-opposing-belmont-hill-schools-parking-proposal-as-project-comes-before-planning-board-video/
Nov 12: Letters with 1000 Belmont resident signatures were sent to the Select Board and the Belmont Hill School.
We have a facebook group Keep Belmont Wild please join!
Nov 9: Judith Feinlieb wrote about the Belmont Hill School in her"If I may" blog https://jfeinleibifimay.com/?p=1202
On Nov 8, Head of School Greg Schneider rolled out their new website defending the project and sent a letter to the school community. Our response to the letter is here
On Nov 7, during the Select Board meeting
Two citizens spoke up during public comments requesting that the Select Board hold a Public Forum to address concerns of Belmont citizens.
Candidates for the Planning Board were interviewed. Selectman Adam Dash asked every candidate if they had a conflict of interest on the Belmont Hill School project.
Nov 1 Planning Board meeting
Video here https://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/planning-board-town-belmont
The proposal was not considered.
Matt Lowrie chair of the Planning Board indicated in the last 5 minutes that he was working with the school to improve their presentation.
Oct 31: Tanya Austin wrote an article in the Belmont Citizen's Forum https://www.belmontcitizensforum.org/2022/10/31/letters-to-the-editor-belmont-hill-plans-bike-trails
June 20: Justin Roe wrote an article in the Belmont Citizen's Forum https://www.belmontcitizensforum.org/2022/06/20/belmont-hill-school-plans-to-pave-woodlands/