Selectmen Hear Pleas To Stop Uplands Development

Residents of Oliver Road and supporters crowded into the Board of Selectmen's meeting Monday, June 8, asking for the town's support in their efforts to halt the Belmont Uplands, the proposed 299-unit affordable housing development that would sit on seven acres of pristine forest just east of Belmont's Little Pond.

Oliver Road resident Gerald Natoli asked the selectmen to hold off on granting any building permits to the O'Neill's 40B development until two lawsuits including one from the Friends of Alewife Brook Reservation now being heard by the State Superior Court is final.

"I've lived in Belmont for 65 years and have never seen such an ill-conceived project in this town," said Natoli, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 8 and a member of the Belmont Uplands Committee.

"Water damage from Little Pond is an incredible problem. If this project goes forward, it will be a disaster," he said, noting that high water pressure from the flooding broke a sewage pipe in his house that resulted in a $2,700 repair bill. He said he had seen bills as high as $6,000 from flood-related damage in his neighborhood.

Darrell King, Town Meeting member in Precinct 1, said he does not live in the area but has worked there.

"As major development grows, the water problem will get worse," said King. "The forest acts as a sponge now but if it gets cleared and paved over, the situation will get a lot worse."

Natoli also asked for each selectman's position on the development to determine if they were for or against the project.

The selectmen would not answer Natoli's question about their stance on the development but said they will need a legal opinion on whether or not the town can prevent the issuing of permits while the lawsuit, as well as being brought by the Belmont Conservation Commission to the Supreme Court, is ongoing.

Belmont's Community Development Director Glenn Clancy said as a matter of law the state building code is a document without any ties to politics. He said a building code cannot be influenced by political dictates but follow the state codes dictated by law, which was answered with a shout from the crowd that his response "was not good enough."

The board also received a letter dated May 27 from Judy A. Johnson of the Cambridge Tree Stewards asking members to support the legal hearings to protect the forest from destruction due to the proposed development as well as citizens from Belmont and surrounding communities who would be affected by more serious flooding than they have now if the valuable piece of 100-year-old floodplain be cut down.

The Stewards were founded in November 2009 to protect and preserve community trees and the Silver Maple forest located in the Alewife Brook Reservation.

Selectmen Chairman Ralph Jones asked Natoli to provide as much documentation as possible on all properties in the area where the proposed development would be built to Clancy and the board so they can study the patterns of basement flooding.