Belmont Citizens Forum

Vol. 3, No. 4 A Newsletter for Belmont Residents July 2002

Land Use Plan Discussed for Concord Ave. Area

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By Sharon Vanderslice

After more than a year of wrangling overwhose capital project should be built first, membersof seven key town committees have been told tocome up with a joint land use plan for all the town-owned property that abuts lower Concord Avenue—by the end of the summer.

This new Cluster Planning Task Force, appoint-ed by the Board of Selectmen, began meeting week-ly in June. It is chaired by Michael Speidel of theCapital Budget Committee and includes members ofthe Warrant, School, Permanent Building, andAthletic Complex Building committees as well asthe Council on Aging and the Library Trustees.

Working with Michael J. Dowhan, a landscapearchitect with Edwards and Kelcey, the seven-person group is conducting a “massing” study todetermine where proposed buildings and athleticfacilities could best be situated. The goal, saidSpeidel, is to create synergy between the capitalprojects advocated by various constituencies, so that“everybody gets more than what they have now.”

Fitting More on Existing Space

The Library Trustees want a new main librarybuilding close to the center of town. TheRecreation Commission wants a new ice rink, a newpool bathhouse with new pumping facilities, andadditional ball fields. The Council on Aging wantsa new senior center. The School Department wantsa renovated high school library and improved soiland drainage on its athletic fields. All need more

parking than they have now.The task force is studying several options, one

of which is shown on page 10. That plan calls forremoving the old White Field House and the privateresidence beside it, building a new main library onthat side of the street, converting the existing libraryinto a permanent senior center, building a new orrenovated ice rink with locker and storage facilitiesfor the high school’s athletic teams, possibly razingthe existing bathhouse and building a new one onthe hill above the pool, reconfiguring several athlet-ic fields, adding two new parking lots (one on eitherside of Concord Avenue), and expanding the park-ing area at the west end of the high school.

continued on page 10

Table of Contents

Environmental Events Calendar. . . . . . . . . . 2

Unsafe Streets to Be Reconstructed. . . . . . 3

Parking Options Considered for Center. . . 5

MEPA Ruling on McLean Development . . . .8

Testing Under Way at Junction Brook . . . . . 9

Book Review: The Great Swamp. . . . . . . . 15

Does Belmont Need Branch Libraries? . . . 20

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Environmental Events Calendar

Exotic Plants at Fresh Pond. Take a walk throughthe Fresh Pond Reservation on Saturday, July 27,from 1 to 3 p.m. to investigate non-native plantsthat have taken root on the Reservation, and learnwhat about their impact on animals and other plantsin the area. Meet in the Neville Place parking lot,650 Concord Avenue, Cambridge. Offered by theFriends of Fresh Pond Reservation and the FreshPond Ranger Program. Call Chief Ranger JeanRogers at (617) 349-4793 with questions. Or visitwww.friendsoffreshpond.org

Early Sunday Morning Bird Walk. Beginners andexperienced birders are welcome to participate inthis walk around the Fresh Pond Reservation onSunday, July 28, from 7 to 9 a.m. Binoculars anda bird guide are recommended but not essential.Meet at the Neville Place parking lot, 650 ConcordAvenue, Cambridge. Call Chief Ranger Jean Rogers

at (617) 349-4793 with questions.

Rethinking Trapelo Road. Belmont's main streetcould be much more attractive. The CitizensForum's Planning & Zoning Committee has beenmeeting to develop a community-wide process toexplore the possibilities for improving TrapeloRoad. If you'd like to help, please come to our nextmeeting, on Thursday, August 8, 8 p.m., at 109Trapelo Road in Cushing Square. If possible, bringan idea, a suggestion, a photo of something you likeor hate about Trapelo Road, or a recommendation ofanother street that could serve as a model. For moreinformation, call Sue Bass (617) 489-4729.

Fall Fungus Family Fun. Puffballs! Turkey Tails!Stinkhorns! These are types of fungi found at theHabitat Sanctuary. Join the Habitat staff on a mush-room hunt on Saturday, September 14, from 10 to11:30 a.m. as they look in the meadow, near thepond, even in the trees for these colorful wonders.You’ll also learn how to identify some of the morecommon species. For registration information, callHabitat, 10 Juniper Road, Belmont, at (617) 489-5050. $6 for members, $8 for non-members.Children and adults welcome.

Habitat Bird Walks. Join this monthly, fun, hour-long ramble around various sections of theSanctuary to see what birds are to be found. Whilethere are no guarantees, there are always surprises.Non-birders and birders of all ages are welcome.No fee. No registration. Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary,10 Juniper Road, Belmont. The next walk is onSunday, September 29, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

Belmont Citizens ForumOfficers and Trustees

Jim Graves, President Sue Bass, Vice PresidentMark D’Andrea, Vice President Peter Rand, Secy. John Dieckmann, Treasurer Evanthia Malliris Eva Patalas Thomas G. Shapiro Rosemary Chase

Newsletter Editor: Sharon VandersliceArtwork: Ann Coit Sifneos

Belmont Citizens Forum, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that strives to maintain

the small-town atmosphere of Belmont, Massachusetts, by preserving its natural and historical resources,

limiting traffic growth, and enhancing pedestrian safety. We do this by keeping residents informed about planning

and zoning issues, by participating actively in publichearings, and by organizing forums on key subjects.

Our newsletter is published six times a year (January, March, May, July, September, and November).Published material represents the views of the authors

and not necessarily those of the Belmont Citizens Forum.Letters to the editor may be sent to P. O. Box 609, Belmont MA 02478.

Folk Music CD Available"Thank You for the Music: A Collection of

Memories from the Belmont Folk Festival,"assembled by local musician Peter Johnson,

has been offered as a gift to anyone whomakes a donation of $50 or more to the

Belmont Citizens Forum.Please check the box on page 19 if you

would like to receive a copy. Thank you!

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Unsafe Streets to Get New Pavement, SidewalksBy Rosemary Burke

On June 10, the Board of Selectmen held a pub-lic hearing on the major pavement managementprojects planned for the coming year.

Most of Brighton Street, all of Prospect Street,and the section of Concord Avenue betweenPleasant Street and Day School Lane are to undergofull-depth reclamation beginning in the fall. WhiteStreet, Oak Avenue, Pine Street, and sections ofPayson Road and Cushing Avenue are also to bedone.

Full-depth reclamation is street reconstructionthat requires the removal of the existing street sur-face to a depth of several inches, re-grading forproper drainage, and then complete rebuilding. Thestreets just mentioned will have granite curbing aswell as sidewalks on both sides. Tom Gatzunis,Director of the Office of Community Development,reported that, even though the gutter lines willremain as they are, the streets will be narrowed atcrosswalk locations to make crossing easier andsafer for pedestrians. Crosswalks will adhere to thenew international design standard, which specifieswide striping for improved visibility.

The choice of these streets represents a major

change in direction for Belmont’s pavement man-agement program. Whereas the town previously fol-lowed the Water Department’s water-main replace-ment schedule and resurfaced those roads uponcompletion, the new approach, quite reasonably, willdeal with roads that (1) meet specified disrepair cri-teria and (2) have safety issues that warrant atten-tion, either because of high traffic volume, a size-able number of pedestrians, or a school in the vicini-ty. As the Water Department continues its water-main replacement program, those streets will bepatched rather than fully resurfaced. Oak Avenue,Pine Street, and Cushing Avenue do not meet thecriteria for reconstruction because they do not haveserious safety issues, but they were on the old pave-ment program and had been promised reclamation.Gatzunis believed that the town should be held to itsword.

Residents of the Oak/Pine/Cushing area werepleasantly surprised to hear two of the selectmen(Dr. Solomon was not present) agree to install gran-ite curbing instead of the bituminous concrete (blackasphalt) previously selected for these streets.Gatzunis acknowledged that bituminous concrete

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Pavement Program, continued from page 3

curbing wears away too quickly; the selectmenbelieve that an upgrade to granite is financially justi-fiable because the paving of several other streets onthis year’s list had to be delayed. AlexanderAvenue, Leonard Street, and Moore Street will notbe redone until decisions have been made aboutMWRA piping in the area. The possible relocationof the Belmont Center fire station will also affect thedesign of these roadways.

Serious pedestrian safety issues in the Butlerschool area have given priority to the reconstructionof White Street between Trapelo Road and BelmontStreet. Traffic calming measures being discussedfor this street are “neck downs,” or narrowing ofthe roadway at strategic locations, and the restrictionof parking to one side of the street.

In response to questions, Gatzunis said thathealthy trees would not be removed to make way forsidewalks. The Town’s tree warden will examineeach street to determine whether there are any dyingtrees in need of removal.

Generally, the Town owns the seven feet of landfrom the gutter line on each side of the roadway.The Americans With Disabilities Act requires that

new sidewalks be at least four feet wide, and thetown intends to add a three-foot tree lawn. (A treelawn is a grassy strip between the sidewalk and thecurb.) The town can and will narrow these standarddimensions, when it is necessary, to avoid disturbingtrees, stone walls, and other immovable objects. Inplaces where a large tree has grown into the side-walk area, one panel of the concrete sidewalk willbe replaced with a section of asphalt. Residentswith concerns about individual properties are invitedto get in touch with Mr. Gatzunis at the Office ofCommunity Development to discuss them. He saidthat once the reconstruction work is complete, itcannot be torn up for at least five years, so residentswho wish to install new cable or gas lines under-ground should do so now.

A few residents were distressed by the expectedbrightness of white concrete sidewalks and suggest-ed the addition of a darkening agent. They alsoasked why a sidewalk was necessary on both sidesof a given street. Gatzunis said that the cost of adarkening agent would be half again as much as thecost of the sidewalk. This additional expense wouldrequire the town to reduce the number of streets dur-ing each repavement cycle. He also explained thatthe town is legally obligated to provide a sidewalk“if there is a destination,” such as a store or aschool, that can be traveled to on foot. SelectmanWill Brownsberger agreed that the town’s policy isto provide sidewalks for pedestrians on both sides ofthose streets where a single side only might endan-ger pedestrians.

Although full-depth reconstruction of theseroads may present residents of these neighborhoodswith major disruption, the result should be saferstreets for all concerned.

Rosemary Burke is a Town Meeting Member fromPrecinct 2 and a resident of Prospect Street.

This map of Belmont Center, right, shows the number of legal parking spaces currently available.

The map was prepared by BSC Group.

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By Sharon Vanderslice

At its regular meeting on July 8, the Board ofSelectmen reviewed eleven ways to increase thenumber of parking spaces in Belmont Center.Among the possibilities, ten of which weredescribed by a town consultant, Tom Houston ofEdwards and Kelcey, were the reconfiguration orexpansion of the present Alexander Avenue andClaflin Street municipal lots, the closing of ClaflinStreet to through traffic between Channing andAlexander, and the construction of a one- or two-story parking deck.

Joel Mooney, chair of the Town Hall ComplexBuilding Committee, pointed out that parking couldbe expanded by anywhere from 20 to 310 spacesthrough means ranging from simple re-striping to“decking” the Claflin Street lot and installing pass-throughs from there to Leonard Street similar to theones in Lexington Center.

Area merchants have been clamoring for moreparking for years. Customers who find it difficult topark near the local stores will take their businesselsewhere, putting at risk the financial health of thetown. The parking woes in the center are complicat-ed by commuters who park their cars, for the wholeday, close to MBTA train or bus routes. The districtis also expected to absorb overflow parking for townemployees, because the Town Hall lot is not largeenough to accommodate all the workers, includingsome from the Fire Department and the SchoolDepartment.

New Fire Station Would Eliminate Spaces

The location of a proposed new fire station willalso affect parking.

Acknowledging that Belmont’s three aging fire stations must be replaced, the selectmen agreed in

continued

Parking Options Considered for Town Center

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Continued from page 5

May to restructure the department into two new sta-tions: a headquarters on Trapelo Road, near the siteof the former Volkswagen dealership, and a substa-tion in the Belmont Center area. At its August 6meeting, the Board of Selectmen will make a finaldecision on the location of the substation.

The Fire Station Consolidation Committee hasrecommended that it be built on the rear portion ofthe Claflin Street municipal lot, with access andegress via Cross Street. The committee’s secondchoice of location, according to Bob McLaughlin ofthe town’s Permanent Building Committee, is a sta-tion on the municipal lot at the corner of Leonardand Alexander, across from Filene’s.

Business owners, led by Kevin Foley ofLocatelli Properties, which owns most of the busi-ness block on the east side of Leonard Street as wellas the parking lot just behind it, have said that thereshould be no fire station in the center unless there isa plan that would make up for the lost parkingspaces and add others. Foley, along with his con-sultant, John Connery, presented an eleventh optionfor expanding parking in the center. It involves con-struction of a one-story parking deck on a portion ofthe public lot on Claflin Street, surface parking onthe portion of that lot that abuts Cross Street, and anew fire station on the corner of Leonard andAlexander. This would add a significant number ofspaces, Connery said, without having to closeClaflin Street to traffic, and would still maintain thecharacter of the town. Connery reminded the select-men that a parking deck, if it is properly managed,could be “revenue-neutral”; that is, it would pay foritself over a period of years through parking fees.

Pedestrian Safety Concerns

Citing the need to make Leonard Street (1)more attractive to pedestrians and (2) more narrowin the years to come, McLaughlin told the selectmenthat he considered the Cross Street location the bestsite for a fire station. Either location would offergood response times, thereby meeting the FireDepartment standards, he said.

Tom Gatzunis, the town’s director ofCommunity Development, said that no matter whichsite is chosen, Leonard Street would have to remainwide enough to accommodate a third travel lanedown the middle of the street for emergency vehi-cles, such as fire trucks. Either way, he said, thestreet could be made at least ten feet narrower thanits current width, if the selectmen decide to makethe change in the future.

Parking Deficit of 192 Spaces

A study of parking in the town’s three businessdistricts, conducted last winter, concluded that theBelmont Center district north of the railroad tracksis short by 145 spaces and the Town Hall Complexby 47. These figures, reported by the BSC Group,consultants to the town, are based on the minimumrecommended parking requirements specified inBelmont’s zoning by-law for individual businesses.In reality, the deficits may be lower because shop-pers often do several errands—visiting the bank, thedrugstore, and the dentist, say—all in one trip. JoelMooney believes that an additional 100 spacesmight well handle the demand for the foreseeablefuture.

The BSC Group reported that the Claflin Streetlot is over capacity between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.; thatis, every space is filled and drivers park illegally anddangerously in fire lanes and other such spots. Aparking deficit of this magnitude naturally has anadverse effect on the neighborhood. When parkingis not readily available, said the BSC report, “cus-tomers circulate the streets in the center, exacerbat-ing traffic congestion.” A pedestrian was struck in acrosswalk there two years ago by a distracted driverwho was concentrating on finding a parking space.

According to BSC, the lack of adequate parkingcan adversely affect “the viability of the businessdistricts and the town’s revenue from propertytaxes.” Drivers who come to shop often leave thearea frustrated and defeated.

The BSC report recommended that townemployees should be denied permission to park allday on Moore Street and Concord Avenue. Instead,all-day employee and commuter parking should be

Parking Deficit Is Bad for Business, Study Says,

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permitted on the north side of Royal Road and inleased space at church lots on Common Street andConcord Avenue. This would free more spaces forbusiness customers and visitors to town offices. Tomeet the demand in the center, however, structuredparking will have to be built.

A survey was sent to Belmont Center business-es and homeowners on July 11 to determine whichsite the public prefers for a parking deck as well asfor a new fire station.

Will Brownsberger, chair of the Board ofSelectmen, said the board is committed to expandingparking in Belmont Center and will certainly choosea site for the fire substation this summer. An articleto appropriate design funds for the fire stations willcome before Town Meeting this fall.

Sharon Vanderslice is a Town Meeting Member anda resident of Pleasant Street.

More Spots Needed for Shoppers & Commuters

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Traffic, Stormwater, WetlandsEliminated From MEPA Studies

By Jim Graves

On July 1, the office of the Secretary ofEnvironmental Affairs issued a statement saying thatthe Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) sub-mitted for the McLean development project “ade-quately and properly complies with theMassachusetts Environmental Policy Act [MEPA].”This decision is a significant disappointment formany Belmont residents because the FEIR failed toaddress numerous concerns about stormwater, traf-fic, and historic buildings that McLean had previ-ously been told to address.

The Secretary wrote: “At the time that theEnvironmental Notification Form was filed, thetown of Belmont had applied for financial assistancefrom the Commonwealth (in the form of a PublicWorks Economic Development [PWED] grant) fortraffic mitigation measures associated with the proj-ect, which would have provided MEPA with fullscope jurisdiction. It is my understanding, however,that the use of Commonwealth funding is no longerbeing considered; consequently, MEPA jurisdictionis limited to the subject of state permits.”

Thus, the scope of the state environmentalreview no longer includes traffic, stormwater, andwetlands, according to the letter from SecretaryRobert Durand. The state sewer permit being soughtdoes grant Durand’s office jurisdiction over historicpreservation and archeological concerns, and herequired McLean to provide expanded informationon those issues.

It is a mystery, however, how Durand concludedthat “the use of Commonwealth funding is no longerbeing considered.” The PWED grant application tosignalize and widen Pleasant Street between the pro-posed new McLean driveway and Trapelo Road isstill pending, according to Belmont’s Director of

Community Development, Thomas Gatzunis. TheMEPA files contain no explanation either, andMEPA officials declined to explain.

In addition, while the McLean filing was beingconsidered, Durand and the same MEPA analyst,Janet Hutchins, also were studying the MEPA filingon the Pleasant Street reconstruction. At the publichearing on Pleasant Street, it was revealed that thatproject involves about $600,000 of state money tomitigate stormwater problems in the area, mostlyfrom McLean. That seems clearly to be anotherexample of state financial assistance to the McLeandevelopment.

The failure to acknowledge this state fundingprevents EOEA from requiring remedies for thenegative environmental impacts of the McLeandevelopment. To give just one example, the con-struction of a long winding driveway down the gran-ite hillside across from the Star Market will requireclear cutting a wide swath of mature trees, whenthere is no evidence that a new driveway is neces-sary to handle the projected traffic volume.

Many improvements in the McLean develop-ment had been required in the previous letter fromSecretary Durand, on September 14, 2001, inresponse to McLean’s Draft Environmental ImpactReport, including substantial efforts to reduce traf-fic. Those requirements were ignored in the FinalEIR, leading a number of environmental organiza-tions to ask Durand to require a Supplemental EIR.He decided instead to narrow the scope of the envi-ronmental review.

The need to preserve historic structures is men-tioned in the Secretary’s approval notice. It requiresthat McLean provide additional information aboutalternatives to the current plans to demolish the his-toric cottages at McLean. The Secretary’s decisionspecifically lists Hope Cottage and theSuperintendent’s Residence as structures that couldbe saved from demolition through further negotia-tion.

The Secretary’s decision concludes with whatmay be unintended irony: “I suspect that local over-sight of the redevelopment of McLean Hospital willcontinue to be the main mechanism for ensuring thatthe project meets the highest standards of environ-mental protection.” The irony is that without stateenforcement of good environmental protection andhistoric preservation, large developers will continue

McLean Updates

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to run roughshod over local boards and citizens,who do not have the resources or the legal means torequire further concessions. Despite two rounds ofdetailed comments by citizens to point out specificdeficiencies in the McLean plans, very little hasbeen done to stop the environmental devastationcurrently proposed for the property.

Testing Underway at JunctionBrook

McLean Hospital has agreed to allow ground-water measurements and dye tests to be performedin the area of Junction Brook, a small stream thatoriginates on the hospital’s property near WaverleySquare. Twenty Belmont residents originallyappealed to the DEP in June, 2001, asking that thebrook be declared “perennial,” meaning that it flowsyear-round except in times of severe drought. TheRivers Act severely limits development within 200feet of a perennial stream. Current plans for theproperty call for a setback of only 100 feet. Theappeal is supported by the Belmont Citizens Forumand is being paid for by over 80 Belmont families.

This hydrological research will help to deter-mine the sources of the stream’s water and whethersome of the water is being diverted from the

streambed. Permission to conduct these tests, nowscheduled to be completed in July, was originallysought more than a year ago, when the matter firstcame before the Belmont ConservationCommission.

McLean has repeatedly claimed that the stream-related research would disturb its patients, but thisclaim is undercut by the years of disturbance thatwill result if commercial developers are allowed toproceed with the over one million square feet ofdevelopment that is proposed. This constructionwill involve blasting of ledge rock and daily use ofheavy construction equipment.

McLean finally agreed to the testing after a pre-hearing conference before an administrative lawjudge with the Massachusetts Department ofEnvironmental Protection. The hospital has refusedto allow one form of testing: a smoke test thatwould help to locate connections between thedrainage system and the sewer system on theMcLean campus. Water that would ordinarily flowthrough the drainage system into Junction Brookmay actually be diverted into the sewer system,causing Junction Brook to run dry several times peryear. The petitioners have filed a motion to compelthis additional testing. This motion is beingreviewed by the DEP judge and may still be granted.

The hearing on the appeal before the DEP isexpected to take place in November 2002.

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Proposed Plan Would Put A New Library, Rink, Continued from page 1

The plan would provide 255 more parkingspaces for library patrons, senior citizens, swim-mers, skaters, field house users, and spectators atvarious athletic events. It would also relieve conges-tion on nearby side streets during high school foot-ball games and other major contests.

The other plans being considered show differentfield configurations, a different site for the rink, and asmaller number of parking spaces.

If one of these plans were approved by theselectmen and the Town Meeting, it would be com-pleted in stages. Even if the town could afford tobuild all these facilities at once, it does not have thestaff to supervise that many projects simultaneously,nor the space to relocate all the displaced people andequipment.

Speidel emphasized that the committee’sConcord Avenue work is only a prelude to the largerjob the Capital Budget Committee must undertake:prioritizing all proposed projects town-wide, includ-

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Senior Center, and Bathhouse on Concord Ave.ing a new building for the Wellington ElementarySchool. The selectmen want to see a list of priori-ties by the end of 2002.

Mixed Reactions to Plan

At a task force meeting on July 11, representa-tives of the affected town departments were invitedto comment on rough drafts of the Concord Avenueland-use plans.

Council on Aging. Nava Niv-Vogel, Director

of Belmont’s Council on Aging, and BarbaraMiranda, the new chair of the Council on Aging,said many older residents would prefer a permanentsenior center on the site of the former KendallCenter for the Arts, which burned down three yearsago. If the senior center is to move into the existinglibrary, renovations couldn’t start until after the newlibrary is built, and some elderly citizens who havebeen advocating a permanent senior center for thelast 20 years may not live to see their dreamsbecome reality. Niv-Vogel reminded the task forcethat the town’s lease on the Our Lady of MercyParish Hall, where the senior center is temporarilyhoused, expires shortly. With extensions, the centercan remain there for no more than four years.

Niv-Vogel also had questions about the ConcordAvenue location. Miranda said previously that sen-iors “would prefer a location facing a residentialstreet rather than a major road.” Niv-Vogel andMiranda were not sure that a renovated buildingwould meet their program needs as effectively as anew building, where all the rooms could be on onefloor.

Speidel said that the library could be redesignedto the council’s specifications. A large assemblyroom could replace the existing periodicals room,for example. He urged the council to have its archi-tect draw up renovation plans over the next twoweeks so that they could judge for certain whetherthe building would suit their needs. While acknowl-edging that Concord Avenue is a busy road, he saidthat the cluster plan proposes that a traffic light beinstalled at the intersection of Concord Avenue andCottage Street. Seniors would exit onto CottageStreet from a new parking lot in front of the pool,instead of pulling out into heavy traffic on Concord.As for the timing of the project, he said he did notknow whether a senior center at the Kendall sitecould be built any sooner than one on ConcordAvenue.

continued on next page

One possible land-use plan for the town and schoolproperties adjacent to Concord Avenue. Drawing byEdwards and Kelcey of Boston.

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Continued from page 11

School Department. School Committee ChairKathy Miller, reviewing a blueprint that combined agirl’s softball field with a junior varsitysoccer/lacrosse field, said that “reducing field spaceis an issue.” Committee member Scott Stratfordnoted that more than half of all high school studentsnow satisfy the Physical Education requirement byplaying on a team. Demand for athletic fields willincrease even more in the next three to five years asthe children of the second baby boom reach highschool. There will soon be three or four lacrossesquads looking for field space, Stratford noted. TheSuperintendent of Schools, Peter Holland, said hebelieves that “trading athletic fields for parking isnot a plus for the high school.”

Speidel countered that the current JV

soccer/lacrosse field next to the rink could bereplaced with a new one, with better soil anddrainage, at Hittinger Field, for no net loss of fieldspace. This alternative, however, would require theremoval of four existing tennis courts that now abutHittinger Field. Two of these courts would have tobe relocated elsewhere, perhaps on the adjacentparking lot or at the Winn Brook School.

Other members of the Cluster Planning TaskForce felt that additional parking on school propertywas more of a benefit than Holland realized. Nightgames on the new synthetic turf field will drawmore spectators than day games, noted Mark Haley.Barbara Miranda, a resident of Myrtle Street, con-firmed that the existing lack of parking on schoolproperty was “a huge problem for the neighbors.”

Recreation Department. Jim Fitzgerald of theAthletic Field Study Committee reminded the task

Plan Requires Removal of White Field House

This 1914 photograph, provided by the Belmont Historical Society, shows the original, bungalow-style bathhouse atthe Underwood Pool. Construction of a new bathhouse on the hill to the left has been discussed.

force that some of the demand for field space wouldbe met by a new soccer field proposed for MDCland that is encircled by the Route 2 off-ramp atLake Street. That soccer field, on the site of an oldice skating rink, will be surrounded by a “woodsywalking track,” he said, and will be paid for by theprivate Belmont Hill School, in exchange for exclu-sive use of the field before 5 p.m. on weekdays.Town teams from Belmont, Arlington, andCambridge will have use of the field after 5 p.m.and on weekends.

Fitzgerald said that the private Belmont SoccerAssociation currently spends between $20,000 and$25,000 per year to upgrade and maintain Belmont’ssoccer fields (a cost that would otherwise be borneby the taxpayers).

The ice rink, however, has not benefited fromthe same level of maintenance. Lee Barber, chair ofthe Recreation Commission, described it as a ‘timebomb.’ The pipes underneath are failing. “We’ll belucky if we make it through another year,” he said.The 25-year-old rink, originally designed as an out-door facility with a shed roof, was built to last foronly 20 years. Someone donated the old metalwalls, which were added later. Asked about renova-tion possibilities, Barber said: “In my opinion, thereis so much wrong there, it would be wiser to build anew one.”

A new rink would include locker and storagefacilities for the football, hockey, and track teams,which now use the White Field House.

Complicating the task force’s decision-makingprocess is an offer from a private donor to fundconstruction of an expanded boys’ locker room onthe back of the existing rink. This would includelockers, showers, lavatories, and a coach’s office.Gerry Missal, Finance Director for the SchoolDepartment, pointed out, however, that because suchan addition would sit on school property, it couldbecome a “Title 9 issue.” This means that anyimprovements to boys’ facilities must be matchedwith improved facilities for girls.

Barber said private money could probably alsobe raised to improve the bathhouse and pump at theUnderwood Pool. The pumping system, which isnow located below grade, often malfunctionsbecause it is periodically flooded by groundwater. Itneeds to be put above ground to avoid pool closureslike those that occurred at the beginning of the 2002

swimming season. He estimated that a “Friends ofthe Pool” group could raise $100,000.

Library Trustees. Library Director MaureenConners and Trustee Jil Westcott were thrilled thatthe cluster plan would give them a new library sur-rounded by green space in a central location, includ-ing an outdoor space for story hours. A much largerparking area would also be a welcome addition.

Representatives of the Library and the SchoolDepartment had discussed the idea of merging thehigh school library with the town library, leavingonly a computer room with Internet access in theschool. But Conners said that proposal had manyproblems. Schools have stricter security require-ments, and school librarians must act in loco paren-tis, keeping an eye on students who use their facili-ties. A town library, however, cannot requirepatrons to check in or check out. All have a right toopen access to the stacks. Also, the salary structuresare different. Certified school librarians get paidmore than town librarians, she said.

Recommendations Due by Summer’s End

By the end of August, the Cluster Task Forcemust present its recommendations for the ConcordAvenue properties to the Board of Selectmen. TheCapital Budget Committee will take them intoaccount when it produces what Speidel calls “thegrand plan,” a prioritized list of all of the town’sproposed capital projects (those with a definedscope, location, and cost estimate). This plan is tobe presented to the Board of Selectmen by the endof the year.

The members of the Cluster Planning TaskForce are Pat Brusch, Mark Haley, Barbara Miranda,Joel Mooney, Mike Speidel, Scott Stratford, and JilWestcott.

Citizens who wish to look at the plans at anystage may do so in the Office of CommunityDevelopment on the second floor of the Town HallAnnex.

Sharon Vanderslice is a Town Meeting Memberrepresenting Precinct 2.

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Book Review

This local history of the Alewife area, writtenby a Cambridge activist, Sheila G. Cook, traces thetopographic and economic history of the GreatAlewife Swamp, which formerly covered almost1,000 acres of Cambridge, Arlington, and Belmont(reduced to about 100 acres today).

When English settlers arrived in the region inthe early 1600s, this enormous basin, carved out bydeparting glaciers during the last ice age, stretchedfrom what is now Pleasant Street in Arlington toConcord Avenue and Blanchard Road in Belmont toObservatory Hill and Avon Hill in Cambridge. Itspicturesque marshes and lagoons served as adrainage area for Belmont Hill and ArlingtonHeights. From here, rainwater and spring watermade its way to the Mystic River and into BostonHarbor. Alewife and herring swam up from theMystic to spawn, and settlers reported that LittlePond and Fresh Pond were “seething” with fishevery autumn.

The soil was unsuitable for farming, mostlysandy gravel and clay. Early farmers first used theland for pastures, then gradually ditched and drainedit for orchards. In the 1820s, when the ice cuttingbusiness boomed at Fresh Pond, other industrialuses followed. Railroad tracks were laid to carry thelarge blocks of ice, packed in sawdust, to theCharlestown wharves. Farmers who formerly drovelivestock to Brighton now left their animals atAlewife slaughterhouses, where the meat could berefrigerated with Fresh Pond ice. Tanneries andglue factories opened to use the hides and hooves.

As demand for brick increased, clay pits weredug all over the area to extract the blue clay leftbehind by the glaciers. Clay was dug by immigrantlabor and sent by rail to brick factories, where it waspressed into molds and baked in kilns. The bricks

for Trinity Church and many other Back Bay build-ings came from the Great Swamp.

Because the area is only about two feet abovesea level (the water in Alewife Brook is lower thanhigh tide in Boston Harbor), these clay pits eventu-ally filled with ground water. Belmont’s clay pit, infront of the high school, became a dump and then apond. The three Rindge Towers and the Fresh PondMall in Cambridge were both built on used-up claypits. Other former pits, Jerry’s Pond, Blair Pond,and Yates Pond, were used for skating and swim-ming until the late 1970s.

Conservation efforts in the area date to the1890s, when Charles Eliot Jr., landscape architectfor the newly formed Metropolitan ParksCommission, recommended that the area be turnedinto a park. He envisioned it as part of the EmeraldNecklace of parks and waterways that surround thecity of Boston. Unfortunately, this plan died withEliot a few years later, and development continuedin the area, even though much of it was now underthe jurisdiction of the MPC (later the MDC).

In 1902, when Alewife Brook Parkway wasconstructed, the brook itself was buried in a culvertand, from Arlington on, channeled through a narrowconcrete ditch to the Mystic River. Construction ofthe Craddock Dam in Medford stopped much of theannual fish migration. And what used to be calledPond Street was turned into a four-lane surface road,Route 2.

Toxic waste began to accumulate in the area, asiron works and steel fabricators moved in, followed,in 1954, by W. R. Grace Asbestos.

In 1952, Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL) purchasedthe last farm in Cambridge and erected office build-ings within 15 feet of Little River. The companyalso secured a long-term lease on 5.7 acres of MDCland, which it paved over for use as a parking lot.

By the late 1950s, Alewife had become a shop-ping district. Movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, gasstations, and nightclubs moved in. With no brookand no park in sight, the Alewife Brook Parkway nolonger lived up to its name.

A greater insult loomed. In 1948, GovernorJohn Volpe had proposed that Route 2 be expandedinto an eight-lane highway. His plan would elimi-nate forty houses and eleven acres of Spy Pond inArlington, and would slash a canyon through the

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The Great Swamp ooff AArrlliinnggttoonn,, BBeellmmoonntt,, aanndd CCaammbbrriiddggee

By Sheila G. Cook$15.00

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The Great Swamp, continued from page 15

granite hills of Arlington and Belmont. Two mem-bers of the Arlington Conservation Commission,objecting to the loss of parkland, went to court tosave it and won. But Volpe filed emergency legisla-tion at the State House, saying that a new Route 2would be an important evacuation route duringnuclear attack. The freeway was completed asplanned in 1968.

At this point, the Great Swamp had beenreduced to a small fraction of its former size,hemmed in by roads, rails, and commercial build-ings.

Mother Nature rebelled. Back-to-back hurri-canes in 1955 flooded local streets and basementswith sewage-filled storm water, runoff that in an ear-lier time would have been absorbed by the swamp.

Meanwhile, commuter traffic on Route 2 con-tinued to increase. In an effort to ease traffic con-gestion and avoid building new highways throughCambridge, federal funds were secured to extendpublic transportation via the Red Line out to Route128. But citizen opposition in Arlington andLexington forced the subway to end at theCambridge border. This meant a large terminal witha parking garage in the Alewife area. The City ofCambridge did not want to use income-producingprivate property for this purpose and the town ofArlington did not want a station located on nearbyThorndike Field. By default, the station was built

on what little remained of the MDC’s AlewifeReservation.

More storms and floods occurred in 1996, 1998,and 2001. “ADL was forced to use sandbags tokeep its tallest building from toppling into LittleRiver,” Cook says.

To prevent any further encroachment on theReservation, a down-zoning petition was submittedto the Cambridge City Council by a local citizensgroup, the Coalition for Alewife, in 1999. The peti-tion proposed a height limit of 35 feet for all newbuildings north of Little River. But the CityCouncil, apparently eager to encourage commercialdevelopment near the T station, instead approved aheight limit of 85 feet for these properties.

This development, added to the buildings southof the river on Cambridge Park Drive, “will turn theslender Reservation parkland into mere landscapingfor the adjacent commercial buildings,” Cook says.

Currently, she is opposing the construction ofyet another encroachment on the AlewifeReservation: a 3.7-acre stormwater retention ponddesigned to handle overflows from the recentlycompleted sewer/stormwater system that drains thecommercial district around Alewife Brook Parkway.While the worst of the sewage would be filtered out,oil, chemicals, and salts would not. According toCook, these would simply seep into the surroundingparkland and further contaminate the soil andground water, posing a hazard to wildlife.

Given its history, it’s amazing that there is any-thing left of this urban wild. “Seldom has an areabeen so trashed,” the author concludes. Yet itappears she has not given up hope. QuotingFrederick Law Olmsted, she says, “For every thou-sand dollars judiciously invested in a park, the divi-dends to the second generation possessing it will bemuch larger than the first; the dividend to the thirdmuch larger than the second.”

For information on purchasing copies of this 55-page book, complete with maps and historic illustra-tions, write to Sheila G. Cook, 34 Follen Street,Cambridge MA 02138 or send email toSheilagamble@attbi.com

--Sharon Vanderslice

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Branch Libraries, continued from page 20

She prefers the closeness of the Waverley branch,and the personal service she receives from thelibrarian. “Elisabeth knows what I like,” Murphysaid, referring to the long-time branch librarian,Elisabeth Strachan.

The branch librarian, who works mornings atone branch and afternoons at another, admits thatshe is pretty familiar with the collection. She ordersevery new book herself, and has known the patronsfor years. “I remember what they’ve already read,so it’s easy for me to recommend other books Ithink they’d like.” Most of the collection is fiction,because that’s what most of the patrons enjoy, shereports. Children’s and young adult titles make upforty percent of the collection. Because the hours atboth branches are so limited, many regular patronsare either retired residents or parents of preschool-ers. Family day care groups sometimes attend thestoryhours. And, at Waverley, she gets “latchkeykids” from the Butler School who come over at theend of the day. “It’s important for children in theneighborhood to have a place to go,” says Strachan.

Less Crowded, More Cozy

Sarah Ellison, who regularly uses the Bentonbranch on the corner of Oakley Road and OldMiddlesex, remembers wandering over there as achild from Stults Road to do her homework. Shenow makes the five-minute walk with her twoyoung children, a four-year-old and a second grader.“One of the wonderful things about the Bentonbranch is the individualized attention,” she saidrecently. “I can ask, ‘Do you have a book about the

Trojan War that’s appropriate for a four-year-old?’and Elisabeth will find it. It’s a little more old-fash-ioned, in a sense. I feel that I’m not bothering any-one when I ask questions.”

Having both the adult and children’s titles all inone room is an advantage, according to one Bentonbranch patron, Ellen Solari, because it allows par-ents to browse for books for themselves while keep-ing an eye on their youngsters. She reports that hereight-year-old can now go there alone on his bike.“It’s a rite of passage for him.” Solari, an artteacher, often reserves materials over the Internetand has them sent to Benton. “If they don’t havewhat I need, I can get it through interlibrary loan.”

Linda Resnick, a frequent Waverley branchpatron, says she and her two boys, aged 1½ and 3½,prefer walking to the neighborhood branch. “It’s avery welcoming environment. The books are moreaccessible; there’s a nice play area with kid-sizedchairs; the toys are out.” She said her older son’sexperiences at the library—attending storyhours andplaying with other children—have helped him over-come his shyness. “Elisabeth’s storytimes are won-derful,” she remarked. The main library, more thana mile away, is too far for her little ones to walk to,says Resnick. “Even if we made it there, we’d betoo tired to make it back.”

Most Patrons Walk

More people reach the Waverley branch by footthan by car. The librarian said that a significantnumber of people in the neighborhood don’t owncars and would have a tough time getting to themain library. “There’s no crosstown bus,” lamentedlibrary patron Grace Taylor. “How do they expectus to get there?” Taylor said she has walked to theWaverley branch for 55 years.

In addition to providing the traditionalresources, the neighborhood libraries are pleasantplaces in which to escape the heat of summer andthe cold in winter. Retired residents often drop in toread current periodicals. Internet access is also anattraction; one-on-one computer training is availableto those who request it. Both branches have well-attended sing-alongs with Julie Goetze and offer thepopular storyhours for two- to five-year-olds.

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Branch Libraries, continued from page 17

Benton also holds a bi-monthly book discussiongroup for adults.

Part of the appeal of the branches, each housedin a historic building, is the comfortable and old-fashioned atmosphere. The sturdy oak tables,chairs, and bookcases have served generations ofreaders.

The Waverley branch, which opened as a read-ing room in 1910, is in the original Daniel Butler

School, now the Waverley fire station, at the inter-section of Trapelo Road and Waverley Street. Itshigh ceilings, oversized windows, and thick mold-ings give it a spacious feeling, even though the floorspace is limited to about 2500 square feet.

The Benton branch, on part of the formerCushing estate, was built in 1892 as a chapel for theBelmont School for Boys. After the school closed,Colonel Everett Benton purchased the property, andthe Payson Park Congregational Church and theBelmont Methodist Church each held services in the

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chapel before acquiring church buildings of theirown. In 1930, Benton’s family gave the chapel tothe town with the stipulation that it serve as a libraryfor at least fifteen years and it has filled that roleever since. A historical survey of the town, carriedout by Boston University in 1980, noted that thislibrary is the only unaltered pre-1900 building in theprecinct. Expertly crafted of rubblestone in “aninformal country style,” it displays stucco and half-timbered detail and “simple, but elegant, wroughtiron work.” Many patrons who walk into the build-ing through the massive wood-plank door, with itswrought iron strap hinges, have the fleeting experi-ence of entering a medieval monastery.

Circulation at the Benton branch has increasedin recent years, from about 8,000 in 1997 to 10,200in 2000. (The figure dipped in 2001, when thelibrary was closed for roof repairs.) Circulation atthe Waverley branch has remained constant at about7300 items per year. Each branch is open just 15hours a week at different times between 10 a.m. and6 p.m. on weekdays. Until 1980, each was opentwo evenings a week as well as all day on Saturday,and circulation was four times higher, around 61,000items a year.

Library Director Maureen Connors recently saidthat closing both branches would eliminate only

$14,000 from her operating budget, or the cost ofutilities. The only other costs associated with thebranches are the materials purchasing budget ofabout $6500 per year per branch and the salaries ofthe branch librarian and her eleven-hour-per-weekassistant. These costs would not be eliminated,Conners said; they would simply be allocated to themain library, to cover the resulting increase indemand there.

But branch library patrons say that expandedstaffing at the main library could never make up forthe loss of what they have now. Strachan said thatwhen the idea of closing the branches was first men-tioned by the selectmen last spring, there was “anoutpouring of appreciation, dismay—total shock.”

“This library is an institution,” said GraceTaylor, who described the closing of the branches asa tragedy. “What does that say about a town, thatthey would close a library?”

Ellen Solari agreed. “They closed a lot ofbranches in Newton so that the city could build abig new library. . .and it’s not the same. There aresome things that can’t be measured in dollars andcents.”

Sarah Ellison was even more emphatic. “Ifthey need somebody to raise the money to keepthem open, I’ll do it.”

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Belmont Citizens ForumP. O. Box 609Belmont, MA 02478

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Boston MAPermit No. 56393

People Are Asking

Does Belmont Need Its BranchLibraries?

By Sharon Vanderslice

If the financial planners in town have their way,Belmont’s two branch libraries may go the way ofthe neighborhood drugstore. In an effort to cut costsand free funds for new capital projects, the select-men are considering whether or not to close thebranches for good. According to Library DirectorMaureen Conners, a public hearing on the subjectwill be held in late August or early September.

The two libraries, one near Waverley Squareand the other in the Payson Park area, were set up asdelivery stations in 1891 and 1905, respectively, forresidents who found it difficult to get to the mainlibrary in Belmont Center. For people without easyaccess to a horse (or, later, a car), these stations

were the only practical way to borrow reading mate-rial on a regular basis. Borrowers would select titlesfrom an alphabetized list distributed to all town resi-dents and then wait for their choices to be deliveredto Mr. J. H. Kendall’s dry goods store on TrapeloRoad or to the principal’s office at the old PaysonPark School on Oakley Road.

Now, a hundred years later, the branches stillclaim a small and devoted group of patrons, some ofwhom have relied on these libraries since childhoodand are heartbroken at the thought of losing them.Even those who have the option of driving to themain library say they prefer the cozy atmosphereand friendly service that the branches provide.

“I don’t like the main library,” said PegMurphy, a library user for 40 years who stoppedgoing to the main library when it moved from whatis now the School Administration building onPleasant Street over to a new building on ConcordAvenue. “You go there and wander around.”

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