Belmont Community Path

Dealing with the BCP project has been tiring: so many misleading statements, woefully unprepared and uninformed people.  I took a break from it all but now I am ready to continue.   Part of the reason for continuing is that I am keenly interested in how the CPPC develops in the next few months.  It feels as if I were watching a soap and I am sitting on the edge of my seat wondering: will Leino be deposed? will Friedman also be quietly removed? Will quiet but steely Muson be enthroned as Chair? The soap's storyline: since last year the CPPC has been struggling to have its charge extended in order to continue on to Phase 2 and it was facing deadline of Nov. 1, 2021.  However, the SB kept on dragging its heels.  The CPPC even went so far as to write the charge extension and sending it to the SB so that all that the SB would have to do was sign. But, alas! The SB still did not extend the charge. When Paolillo became the SB's liaison to the CPPC, he made it clea...

 It is getting harder to be amused at these meetings.  However, there *was* one funny moment hinging around Leino and Paolillo talking about their meeting with Jammal last week.    Stanton pleadingly asked:  had they broached the subject of the building itself?  The unspoken question fed by Stanton's desire  throbbed in the ether: did they ask Jammal whether they could demolish the L-shaped building into an "I"?  Seemingly flustered, Leino replied that they had not - a "Perish the thougth!!" implied.    CPPC Chair R. Leino Stanton then thrust back: had they broached the subject of landscaping for the spur? The shimmering arch of Stanton's much desired trellis appeared now in the ether. But once again, the answer was no. Seemingly deflated, Stanton sank back into silence.  After that, it was mostly humdrum except that Michalak put a stop to the CPPC/Paolillo's plan to proceed with eminent domain (ED) appraisals and “trans...

  At the Sept 29 CPPC meeting , "Friedman pointed out that there is “a bunch of construction beginning on Pleasant St.” and that the "businesses and such" there must be made aware that they will have to accommodate the BCP coming through.  Checking the Planning Board site shows that there are two applications pending from businesses along Pleasant St.  One is to turn Lenny's garage into a Mint Dispensary but this does not seem to alter the current footprint.   However, the other is a complete revamping of the Subaru dealership property which includes a new 3-story building. Information from a local source reveals that 2 additional businesses are planning construction within their property. Friedman's was a surprising statement that revealed that the BCP Phase 2 plan is for it to run south of Pleasant St, in back of the businesses there.  Surprising because this is not one of the Pare feasibility study's potential routes.  In other words, the Pare...

The CPPC keeps on testing the Open Meeting Law.    For the previous meeting, they went back to getting the notice under the wire by the minimum time allowable which is 48 hrs.  For this meeting, the agenda was stamped by the clerk on Sept 23 but it was *never* posted on the Town’s Calendar or the CPPC's own calendar.  It was only listed under "Agenda".  This fact was brought to my attention by a fellow abutter last night who was mystified as to where to find the notice and asked for help.   Moving on to the meeting ... 7 Channing Rd [and Pleasant St] Town and Nitsch will meet with Jammal next week unless “it goes south” again. [Pleasant St abutters reported to me that no one has approached them;  as one wrote: “not one peep”.   So Michalak’s talk on the 15th about meeting with them and presenting the Copley-Wolff “renderings" has gone nowhere so far.] MPO TIP Policy Changes I think the CPPC has been aware that the policy changes wil...

 Michalak and Clancy attended.   Michalak reported. 7 Channing Rd: Jammal scheduled a site meeting and, at the last minute, cancelled.  Clancy, Michalak will schedule again. Later on, Michalak said that submitting the 25% design did not depend on meeting Jammal: "that connection/spur is in the plan”.   All they wanted is Jammal’s approval of the spur/path planned for the side of the Chase building.  But Michalak conceded that the only thing he can see changing in the 25% are the access points such as the spur.  [My guess  is that they are likely to back down when it comes to the spur.] Soil borings 1.  Borings that required Keolis/MBTA were completed last week (week of Sept 6).   2.  Two other borings to be completed by the end of this week (week of Sept 13th).  These Pleasant St borings moved away from the ROW "to reduce cost and easier access”.* *Via FOIA request, I received Nitsch-GZA-Clancy emails .  This ROW issu...

[This post was written on Sept. 2] CPPC seemed to expect that Clancy and/or Nitsch's Michalak would attend.  Neither showed up so the meeting was short consisting of updates and approving one minutes.  Priceless moments of hearing Leino struggling to massage the truth into pablum suitable for the public (he tends to sound tortured when doing so as I’ve learned through the years). This is the second meeting that Clancy and Garvin (aka "town staff") skip so they’ve been missing for about 1 month.   It raises a question as to whether they are working on something behind the scenes; maybe, they are just working on Town Day.  (Recall that on June 9th’s CPPC meeting, town staff explained that they had been absent in order to keep from publicly reporting their activity which had been undermining FF’s amendment by producing the “French plan”.) The updates fell into 4 areas: 1) soil borings status; 2) Fire Chief's concerns; 3) 7 Channing Rd; 4) MPO's upcoming TIP policy ...

 Read all about it! Hot off the presses! Programming Policies Memo and For a preview of the Fall's show:  Ad Hoc Meeting August 19 video! It even has a joyful ending! Matt Genova, CTPS staff and the Ad Hoc Committee have been engaged in a fast but well thought out dash to set up new MPO policies to be voted on and approved by the MPO Board in mid September. The details of the new policies are set out in the memo linked above.  What it means to Belmont: upon submission of the 25% design, it won't be automatically accepted.  The design will be evaluated using new criteria including its cost effectiveness.  The MPO reserves the right to reject a project  if - as Len Diggins humorously put it - the project is a "dog" or if it does not score high enough.  Considering that Sen. Brownsberger seems poised to run the MBTA's safety standards over even if he has to call on Governor Baker to do so, I was glad to hear that the MPO will make sure that "abutters" m...