July 21 - CPPC - Same old same old

 

 

I am writing this about 3 weeks after this meeting.  I am looking back as I struggle today to keep my garden alive during another human induced climate crisis heat wave. Humor  is not my companion today.

I do recall vividly how boring this meeting was.  Boring because I see a repetition of certain themes: reality is massaged and "misinformation" is dealt so that it becomes the official record as meeting minutes.  

It is all so very tedious. 

But let's go to the meeting were a detailed "concept" was presented  (screenshots  of plan - dashed red lines =  temp. easements; hatched area = permanent easement;  scalloped line = vegetation/trees.)

 

 

7 Channing Rd. (E. Jammal’s property)

In this morning session, the town is proceeding with its goal of taking permanently a large chunk of 7 Channing Rd, a property owned by developer E. Jammal and currently rented by Chase Bank.  The chunk of  land is all of the property immediately in back of the building and an additional strip on the east side.   Temporarily, the CPPC/town also plans to seize a section of this property's driveway.  The plans also call for seizing a slice of 17-19 Channing Rd's driveway and rear parking area.  


 

It is difficult to see how any customers will be able to enter the Chase's parking lot and do business there.   It is also difficult to see how the homeowners' SUVs will fit through the narrowed driveway and into the narrowed down parking.   But all these difficulties and seizures seem to be shrugged off  by the CPPC and many townspeople because ... "Gee! Golly! we will have a park!" while others will have something to add to their CV and/or political profile.

(I should point out that these are permanent easements and not "takings".  PEs absolve the town from having to upkeep the strips of land seized.  It will fall on Jammal and other abutters to maintain the PE land including removing trash left by the future BCP's users. )

Garvin is arranging a meeting with Jammal  to show him this new “concept".   In reality, it simply delivers what Jammal requested at a previous meeting: exact measurements of the land the town plans to seize.  Garvin, Leino and Paolillo will be the ones attending this meeting (Michalak will attend according to the minutes published today).  Clancy said he could not attend implying personal animosity exists between him and Jammal.

Once again, Stanton pushed to include a trellis bordering the spur  (he’s been talking about this trellis since he came up with the idea of this spur.)  Clancy pushed back saying that the purpose of this drawing is having Jammal accept the path in back of his property and the spur.  In other words, have Jammal accept the massive loss of property and the likelihood that his roof will become teenagers’ dance floor.  (If you recall, the back section will be filled and graded to roof level.  They talk of a fence to stop climbing on the roof but ... chain link is snipped so easily!)

Muson suggested that pretty drawings be produced to show abutters because Jammal and 17-19 may not be able to understand this type of plan.  Someone pointed out that Jammal is a land developer. [Because eminent domain is such a powerful hammer,  it seems Muson did not care to look up who it would squash.]

In talking about the loss of trees that this plan entails, Bowen said that abutters and others must understand that some of the trees are invasive.   By that, Bowen is referring to the Norway maples mixed with the oaks, black cherries and other native trees.  But Bowen doesn’t seem understand that at a time of mass extinction when over 365 bird species are heading towards extinction including all that come to our backyards (finches, orioles, hummingbirds, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc) it is time to stop using the slash and burn approach. Protecting what we still have calls for slow, measured replacement of the maples.


 [As you can see, tree line will be severely pulled back to back fences.   It will be a greatly diminished canopy.]
 
 Bowen and Clancy extolled the town’s virtue in planting about 400 trees for the Trapelo project.  (Ahh yes! - I thought - the "town of trees" where old growth trees either have asphalt and concrete poured up to their trunk or are smothered in mulch volcanoes.)
 
What Clancy did not mention is that, instead of natives, the town is mainly planting Asian tree species which is why you see gingkos and an abundant number of Japanese trees around town and in town center.   In addition, Marcotte informed me that the tree warden insists on planting only bare root trees and that there is only one bare-root vendor in the entire continental US; that vendor is in the West coast.  Thus, besides not being native, these trees are shipped across the continental US instead of being bought locally - not a very green footprint and perhaps more expensive.

MPO Report

By this, the CPPC meant the MPO's TIP Project Cost Ad Hoc committee that is working on TIP policy changes.  Attending the meeting is Bowen’s responsibility but she did not report on it -  only spoke in generalities.  She would only repeat several times that it was chock full of information including “matrices” and that people should go watch it themselves.  The interesting thing, though, is that I attended and I checked regularly for attendance from Belmont people and never saw anyone  show up.   Sugarman said that she watched the video and made some specific, appropriate comments.

Miscellaneous

No further information on whether soil borings are being done or not.  Garvin is also arranging a meeting with Fire Chief.  {Recall the issue of fire trucks making 3 point turns on the BCP).
CPPC will be tabling at the Farmer’s Market and at Town Day which has been set for Sept 4 according to Garvin via Clancy.  

Like I said, it was boring.


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