Belmont Hopes Third Time The Charm for Woodfall Road Parcel

Will the third time be the charm?

That is the hope of Belmont town officials as they prepare to released a new request for proposal for five-and-a-quarter acres of town-owned land at the end of Woodfall Road.

In two previous attempts by the town to sell the 229,000 sq.-ft. parcel adjacent to the Belmont Country Club, developers either failed to come up with the necessary funding to proceed or simply failed to show up, Glenn Clancy, director of the Office of Community Development, told the Belmont Board of Selectmen this week. 

But with a revision on how the town calculates affordable housing payments by developers at this year's Town Meeting will help spur applicants this cycle, said Clancy.

"The change in the inclusionary by-law made it so that developers will not make a payment of up to $500,000 (to the town) under the old calculation," said Clancy.  

Not that there has been a lack of interest in the site overgrown with weeds, trees, debris and wetlands. In fact, it was a year ago when one potential buyer that created a fire storm of criticism from residents in the surrounding neighborhood. 

In June 2012, Integra Medicial Properties from Atlanta approached the town to purchase the small parcel off Greenbrook Way and Woodfall Road to construct a 16,000 sq.-ft. single-story residential-styled building to house a 15 to 18 room hospice care facility.

But by that August, more than 100 residents showed up at a Board of Selectmen meeting pressuring the board to restrict development on the site to four residential homes. 

Yet despite encouragement from the residents that the site – located in a very desirable location of Belmont Hill – would attract developers to build up-scale homes on the location, the latest RFP did not attract a single bid when the proposal closed in February.

That marked the second time the parcel went begging for a buyer; in 2008, a prospective developer could not come up with the funding to purchase the site after being selected the high bidder by the town.

Now for the third time, town officials are preparing to advertise a request for proposal for the site on July 31 with final development proposals to be submitted to the Office of Community Development by Oct. 31, said Clancy.

Yet if there continues to be a stumbling block to the development of a site, it could be its location. The site lies within a wetland and has an underground water conduit  which will restrict where and how much of the lots can be built. 

Clancy said that a bidder – the town will only sell the four lots to a single buyer – will be allowed to reduce the number of homes on the site without the town having to change the RFP. Any bidder will also have to agree to building a fence between the lots and the golf club. 

While building four homes on the land will have challenges, it could be made even more problematic if abutting residents can convince the town to include specific language protecting a green buffer that now separates the lots from the neighborhood. 

"My concern is that this is the third time we have to dispose (of the site) and we don't want too much restrictions," said Belmont Town Administrator David Kale. 

Yet Stephen Edmonds of Spring Valley Road told the selectmen that if the trees and vegetation is taken down, "it will reduce the property value" of the surrounding homes and requested language be placed in the RFP specifically protecting the buffer.