Friday, May 17, 2013
Construction could begin this summer after board gives tacit approval of project's massing and height.
It may have just been a straw vote among the four Belmont Planning Board members at its Thursday meeting on May 16, but the unanimous tally all but assures the long-stalled Cushing Village retail and residential development will receive a special permit in the next 30 to 60 days that would allow construction of the 185,000 square foot project to begin. "This is a milestone. This vote will move the project forward," said Planning Board Chair Sami Baghdady after he and the members symbolically approved the project's height and mass, creating an "envelope" that allows the developer and abutters an assurance of a specific size and boundary to the adjacent neighborhood. "We're ready to go," said Chris Starr, the president of the development …
42.38052
-71.1746
Common St & Trapelo Rd, Belmont, MA
/articles/milestone-belmont-planning-board-oks-cushing-village-envelope
/locations/9396582
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Belmont Planning Board approves sound reduction efforts that took more than a year to accomplish.
Talk about being tardy. It has been 615 days (or 885,600 minutes) since the doors opened on at the new Wellington Elementary School on Sept. 7, 2011 until yesterday, Tuesday, May 14, and for that entire time, the school building has been up and running with a temporary occupancy license issued each month by the Office of Community Development. That will change when Glenn Clancy, as town engineer, sign his name on a Certificate of Occupancy that will allow the School Department and town to finally close the book on the project. The final dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's will occur after the Belmont Planning Board voted unanimously to close a more than year long public meeting to discuss attempts by the Wellington School Building …
42.39627
-71.17714
Belmont Town Hall
455 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA
/articles/belmont-s-wellington-school-given-ok-to-receive-final-occupancy-notice
157295
/locations/9390018
42.39169
-71.171841
120 Orchard St, Belmont, MA
/articles/belmont-s-wellington-school-given-ok-to-receive-final-occupancy-notice
/locations/9390019
Monday, April 29, 2013
Late action by Bylaw Review Committee and incorrect addresses forced Selectmen to reassign Demo Delay bylaw to last day of Town Meeting.
"What a mess!" An exasperated Mark Paolillo leaded back into his chair with a look of frustration on his face after hearing the latest news concerning the proposed demolition delay article on the Warrant set to be placed before representatives at the annual Town Meeting set to start tonight, Monday, April 29 at Belmont High School. The chairman of the Belmont Board of Selectmen heard from town officials at an "emergency" meeting of the board this morning, Monday, April 29, that a last minute move by the By-Law Review Committee to take out a list of approximately 210 buildings to be "protected" by the new bylaw that the Belmont Historic District Commission placed into the article. In addition, he was told that nearly a quarter of the …
42.39627
-71.17714
Belmont Town Hall
455 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA
/articles/delay-delayed-demolition-halting-article-pushed-back-til-june
157295
/locations/9326087
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Board still hopes to present retail/residential development to Town Meeting; developer presents "final" project plan. But where's the clock tower?
If the year-long review process of the $80 million Cushing Village project could be compared to next week's Boston Marathon, the 184,000 square foot, three building residential/retail project has reached Kenmore Square and is in the last mile of the race heading for finish line. At last night's Belmont Planning Board meeting, April 9, Cushing Village developer Smith Legacy Partners provided packets to the board and the public of 40 over-sized pages containing its Project Plan, an all encompassing set of detailed technical drawings and schematics that will form the basis of its final submission to the Board, according to lead developer, Chris Starr. "Yes, this is it. This is basically what we will be submitting," Starr said of the Project …
42.38052
-71.1746
Common St & Trapelo Rd, Belmont, MA
/articles/belmont-cushing-village-nears-planning-board-s-finish-line
/locations/9207426
Monday, April 1, 2013
Planning Board will ask Town Meeting to delay passing bylaw change to allow a dispensary in town for a year.
While the state has taken the first step on rolling out the first marijuana dispensaries across Massachusetts after the passage of a ballot question in November, Belmont is going to take a laid back approach introducing new town bylaws to allow pot shops to do business in the Town of Homes. "[The regulations] will be so new [by Town Meeting] that it is advisable we as a town should take our time," Belmont Planning Board Chairman Sami Baghdady said last month, effectively pushing the town out of the running to be home to the first round of marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts. The state's Department of Public Health introduced the first draft of the new guidelines for the distribution of medical marijuana on Friday, March 29, that goes …
42.39627
-71.17714
Belmont Town Hall
455 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA
/articles/while-state-moves-forward-belmont-goes-slow-on-medical-marijuana
157295
/locations/9143045
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
By how much depends on which of the analyses is used.
Whether it's $80,000 or $316,000, the conclusion of competing economic reports on the impact of the proposed residential/retail Cushing Village development in the heart of Cushing Square will be a net upside to future town budgets. "Whatever number you take, it does have a positive (number) before it," said Belmont Planning Committee Chairman Sami Baghdady at the Committee's Tuesday, March 12 meeting, as the economic and fiscal analyses completed by the Planning Board's Elizabeth Allison and the developer, Smith Legacy differed in a single area; the impact of the three-building complex on Belmont schools, particularly in the number of students the 115 apartment unit complex will attract. While the Partners defended their figures showing …
42.38052
-71.1746
Trapelo Rd & Common St, Belmont, MA
/articles/bet-on-it-cushing-village-to-increase-revenue
/locations/9007752
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Board of Selectmen accept Planning Board-written amendment on interim controls.
Belmont Town Meeting will vote at its annual gathering in April on an interim amendment to delay for more than a year changing the town's zoning bylaws to permit marijuana dispensaries to do business. Written by the Belmont Planning Board, the interim controls for medical marijuana uses – which was brought before the Belmont Board of Selectmen for its approval on Monday, Feb. 11 – would allow the town to begin a careful regulatory review on where treatment centers could be located and how they dispense its goods, according to Belmont Town Administrator David Kale. Under the bylaw, a proposed center will be shut out from opening its doors as it will not be permitted in any zoning district including all overlay district. Those controls would…
42.39627
-71.17714
Board of Selectmen
455 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA
/articles/bylaw-to-delay-medical-marijuana-until-2014-ready-for-town-meeting
230746
/locations/8803765
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Committee co-chairman list recommendations to increase sustainability of proposed project.
With the Belmont Planning Board deciding at its previous meeting to review other aspects of the proposed Cushing Village development, the focus of the three-building complex situated on three blocks in the heart of Cushing Square turned on recommendations to make the residential and retail proposal as energy and environmentally friendly as possible According to Belmont Energy Committee Chairman Roger Colton, developer Chris Starr and his development team, Smith Legacy Partners, should view the recommendations of his and other sustainability proponents are making as a chance to produce a more profitable and sound project. "I urge both the Planning Board and the Cushing Village Development Team tonight to view the recommendations I have …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Temporary moratorium will be on Town Meeting agenda in April.
While two-thirds of Belmont voters supported the measure in November, don't plan on walking over to your friendly neighborhood medical marijuana dispensary until sometime in 2014 at the earliest, according to the person who will lead the effort writing a new bylaw. Belmont Planning Board Chairman Sami Baghdady said at the direction of the Belmont Board of Selectmen his group will be presenting a draft moratorium to the annual Town Meeting in April prohibiting medical marijuana facilities in Belmont. "This is all new to us and every town has to do this the best way we know how," Baghdady told Belmont Patch after Wednesday's Warrant Committee meeting. But unlike some surrounding towns, such as Wakefield and Reading, which have already placed…
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Planning Board Chairman predicts vote on Belmont's largest development in late April.
After nearly a year since first meeting, the Belmont Planning Board has sent out a tentative "save the date" for its big decision on the largest commercial development in Belmont. Belmont Planning Board Chairman Sami Baghdady told Belmont Patch that he is pushing for a final up-or-down vote on the Cushing Village development before the annual Town Meeting set to assemble on April 29. "I hope that we will be a position to vote on the project in a few month. My goal is before Town Meeting," said Baghdady. Baghdady's announcement came after the chairman proclaimed that the board was prepared to move forward after 11 months of reviewing the critical "shape, size and mass" dimensions of the proposed 184,000 square-foot in the heart of Cushing …
42.38052
-71.1746
Common St & Trapelo Rd, Belmont, MA
/articles/decision-on-cushing-village-by-town-meeting
/locations/8657325
Matt Sullivan
9:55 am on Friday, May 17, 2013
sully121 10 hours ago Report Abuse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This was a great night for Belmont. After years of discussion and changes in the proposal the Planning Board has voted to move forward with Cushing Village. What we have now is a development that is much improved and should make everyone happy, Thank you! Read more: Planning Board … more ›