Cushing Village Decision Set for Saturday

The nearly seven-year long saga known as Cushing Village, the proposed multi-building retail, residential and parking complex in the heart of Belmont's Cushing Square, could see its last chapter written as the Belmont Planning Board is scheduled to make its "final" decision tonight, July 27, at 9 a.m. in the Board of Selectmen's Room at Belmont Town Hall. 

The Board will take up the "deliberation and final vote" on the application by Acton-based developer Smith Legacy Partners to build approximately 185,000 square-feet of apartments, stores and restaurants and parking on four parcels located at the intersection of Trapelo Road and Common Street, the largest development in Belmont's recent history.

A year-and-a-half after submitting their initial proposal to the town in January 2012, Smith Legacy is seeking a "special permit" from the Board to allow for the project – with 114 units of one- and two-bedroom apartments, nearly 35,000 of retail space and 224 residential and municipal parking spaces – to move forward to obtaining a building permit.

The Board was granted design and site plan review of any projects in the Cushing Square Overlay District by a Town Meeting vote in 2008. 

While the approval process has been criticized by some as taking an extraordinary long time to complete as opposed to neighboring communities, Planning Board Chair Sami Baghdady said in past meetings that the board and town were required to take the time to seek compromise on major issues such as the critical height and mass of the project as Cushing Village is likely to be a template for future large development projects in Belmont.

According to developer Chris Starr, he anticipates putting the "first shovels in the ground" as early as the final days of this summer.