Negative Reaction To Belmont Uplands Decision

Initial reactions to the decision by the state's Department of Environmental Protection to allow a 299-unit apartment complex to be developed on 15-acres in an environmentally sensitive location located in Belmont along Frontage Road and Acorn Park Drive has been mostly negative.

State Rep. Will Brownsberger was "disappointed' with DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt's ruling issued on May 27 allowing the O'Neill Properties Group to seek permits to construct the 299-unit Belmont Uplands apartment complex located in the midst of the 115-acre Alewife Brook Reservation near Route 2, Arlington and Cambridge.

"It's a valuable urban wilderness that could be a great park resource," he said, "but a poor place for housing."

"Swamp on three sides; highway on the fourth," said Brownsberger.

Town officials, residents and conservationists have opposed developing the property in the wetlands saying it would increase the likelihood of flooding in several Belmont neighborhoods, overburden the town's sewage system in heavy rain conditions and harm an ancient silver maple forest.    

The mixed-income development would be built under the state's Chapter 40B law allowing developers to bypass most of the town's zoning bylaws by setting aside 25 percent of the units for those who meet certain income restrictions when they buy or rent the units.

Another long-time critic of the proposed development pointed to the possible harm to the land and wildlife the project in denouncing the decision.

"A travesty of environmental justice has occurred at a time of great alarm for national resources and floodplain forest preservation," said Ellen Mass, president of the Friends of Alewife Reservation (FAR) that has been championing the protection of the land for nearly a decade.

The threat to both wildlife and the natural forest "will probably go on for years because of a faulty regulatory state process," said Mass.

The state's decision brought to the fore the possibility of using the courts to find a remedy.

"There are some people still pursuing litigation," said Brownsberger.

FAR has a standing Superior Court complaint that centers around the protection of the habitat on the proposed location of developer's J. Brian O'Neill project.

Brownsberger also mentioned as an other "major avenue"  for critics would be acquisition the development parcel for park land.

"But the challenge is fund-raising," said Brownsberger.

"No public or private entity is presently at the threshold of funding an acquisition."