watch and listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six hundred pm on channel ninety six comcast xfinity and channel thirty verizon fios it can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four hundred and thirty pm and wednesday at one thousand two hundred and thirty pm on channel nine xfinity and channel twenty nine fios listen any time on the bmc podcast network on soundcloud and itunes just search for the belmont media podcast network now on to the talking news major decisions to be made by town meeting by joanna kate tzouvelis this will be town moderator michael widmer's 11th annual town meeting in his role and he expects there will be a lot of debate on the articles related to plastic bags marijuana and the number of selectmen here is a preview of the warrant articles expected to be voted on for the town meeting and special town meeting plastic bag general bylaw the purpose of this article is to reduce the number of single use plastic checkout bags distributed by businesses and to promote the use of reusable bags or recyclable paper bags thin film plastic bags without handles used for laundry dry cleaning newspapers produce meat bulk foods wet items and similar merchandise would not be prohibited under this article public works and its recycling coordinator will have the authority to administer and enforce this article violators will receive a written warning for the first offense a penalty of fifty for the next violation a penalty of two hundred for the third violation and each additional violation the article will take effect six months after posting and publicizing or on november 1st two thousand and eighteen whichever is later for retail establishments with a net floor area equal to or exceeding thirty thousand square feet such as star market in belmont for retail establishments less than thirty thousand square feet of net floor area the article will take effect nine months after publicizing and posting or on november or on february the first two thousand and nineteen whichever is later this article will require a majority vote for passage the fattiest frost house this article was established two hundred and ninety two hundred and ninety one brighton street a historic district if approved the building shall not be altered in any way that affects the exterior architectural features thena mcginnis owner of the home newt ernest frost the grandson of thaddeus frost personally and does not want to see the home have the same fate as the thomas clark house which was moved from its original location on common street to a temporary location on concord avenue and ultimately torn down on august 21st two thousand and fourteen the fattiest frost house was built in one thousand eight hundred and twenty seven and is one of the few remaining examples of federal period architecture in belmont that survives virtually unchanged the living area is two thousand seven hundred and twelve square feet and the lot is twelve thousand four hundred and eighty six square feet a majority vote will be required for passage of this article general residents were zoning bylaw amendment approval of this article will eliminate the sunset clause for the zoning bylaw for nonconforming single and two family residential structures making it a permanent amendment the amendment required homeowners in the general residence district to go before the planning board for design and site plan review for additions or new construction this will require two thirds vote for passage there was also an article that revises special permit requirements for alteration of nonconforming structures in the general residents zoning district allocating projects less than three hundred square feet to the zoning board of appeals this will require a two thirds vote for passage in may 2nd fy19 community preservation projects there are six community preservation projects seeking approval by town meeting for fy nineteen on may the second the highest ticket item is seven hundred and eighty thousand and seven hundred and eighty thousand and eighty seven to construct a walking path around grove street park and for other park improvements pace and park music festival is requesting the lowest ticket item five thousand for structural drawings for a performance stage to be added at pace and park the veterans memorial committee is asking for one hundred and three thousand to restore the existing monument at clay pit pond to its original condition other funds would be would integrate the memorial into the intergenerational walking path at clay pit pond a committee to restore town field playground is requesting twenty five thousand for design documents for new equipment and improvements the land management committee is requesting one hundred and seventy five thousand for repairs to the formal mcclain barn at rock meadow to prevent further deterioration of this historic structure in the future when the town determines an appropriate use for the pond the project sponsor would develop a funding mechanism to support the rehabilitation estimated to cost two million the belmont housing trust is requesting two hundred and fifty thousand to pursue affordable housing opportunities monies will be expended per a housing trust agreement to be developed with the selectmen possible uses of funding include purchasing land or affordable units working with developers to promote the affordable housing or leveraging state and private funds to increase the number of affordable units a majority vote is required for passage of this article and now over to claire thank you bob schematic design plans for the new belmont high school taking shape by jovana ks of dallas if residents haven't been paying attention to the work of the belmont high school building committee they may want to start the committee has been meeting frequently with project design at perkinson will as they prepare for the preferred schematic design to be submitted to the massachusetts school building authority in july for the new grade seven through twelve high school building to accommodate two thousand two hundred and fifteen students for the past two months the committee has been refining the design in an effort to get the total project cost down at the most recent meeting april 11th the total project cost was reviewed the total square footage of the building has been reduced by six thousand four hundred and seventy five feet from four hundred and fifty one thousand five hundred and seventy five to four hundred and forty five thousand one hundred square feet the cost per square foot has also been reduced from five hundred and fortynine dollars and fiftythree cents to five hundred and thirtythree dollars and eighty cents bringing the total project estimated cost to two hundred and ninety five million eight hundred and twenty four thousand six hundred and twenty four dollars from three hundred and nine million forty five thousand nine hundred and fifteen dollars belmont estimated contribution is now two hundred and eighteen million nine hundred and ten thousand two hundred and twenty two a reduction of around ninety eight million from two hundred and twenty eight million six hundred and ninety three thousand nine hundred and seventy seven bow tie design on january 23rd this two school committee voted unanimously in favor of a grade seven through twelve option which will change the lower school configurations to kindergarten through third grade for the butler burbank wellington and windbrook schools and grades four through six for the chenery middle school the school committee board of selectmen and bhs building committee also voted on january 23rd on the major addition minor renovation design option known as the bow tie with two separate entrances for upper and lower school students course base on the first floor of the building will be shared which will include a prefunction area for the auditorium theater and gymnasiums design tweaks and discussions instead of individual practice rooms for music students the new school is being designed to have space for small group practices instead of small practice rooms wrote lovallo gender neutral bathrooms were discussed at the april eleven meeting perkinson will presented options to consider such as a gender neutral bathroom with a common sink area in the center we're not going to build individual bathrooms for every person that needs a bathroom we're looking at ways to be efficient and respectful of those that need their privacy said lovallo upcoming meetings are april 26th design update and workshop seven hundred pm in the wellington elementary cafeteria may 8th design update and virtual reality presentation seven hundred pm chenery middle school community room and may sixteen traffic solutions discussion seven hundred pm wellington elementary cafeteria now to max thanks claire town meeting to decide future of marijuana in belmont by joanna kate tzouvelis pam eager is the belmont town meeting member for precinct eight behind a citizens petition that would let voters decide if they want to stop nonmedical marijuana businesses from opening in belmont action on this article requires a special town meeting which is taking place may 2nd this bylaw if approved at special town meeting would not apply to a registered marijuana debt dispensary the purpose of the article according to eager is to let belmont voters decide whether or not to permit marijuana establishments in belmont if town meeting members vote no then there will be no town wide election and nonmedical marijuana establishments will be allowed in belmont if town meeting votes yes then the belmont board of selectmen will decide if there is going to be a town wide election for belmont voters to decide according to town council george hall the selectmen will have the final say on whether or not there will be a special election for voters to decide this article will require a majority vote for passage town supported question four in the november two thousand and sixteen state election massachusetts voters approved ballot question four approving a law permitting the possession use distribution and cultivation of marijuana in limited amounts by persons aged twenty one and older removing criminal penalties for such activities and providing for the regulation and commerce in marijuana marijuana accessories and marijuana products and for the taxation of proceeds from sales of these items in belmont question four passed by a seven thousand and seventeen vote margin five thousand two hundred and forty eight voted in favor and four thousand seven hundred and fifty two voted against it belmont's turnout in the election was high eight thousand two hundred and forty one of registered voters went to the polls wording in the question also stated cities and towns would be authorized to adopt a reasonable restrictions on the time place and manner of operating marijuana businesses and to limit the number of marijuana establishments in their communities a city or town could hold a local vote to determine whether to permit the selling of marijuana and marijuana products for consumption on the premises at commercial establishments emma thurston town meeting member for precinct one filed six amendments to the citizens petitioned to be discussed by the bylaw review committee april 25th my amendments simply give town meeting nonbinary options for prohibiting the recreational marijuana establishment thurston explained in an email to the citizen herald on april 24th the citizens position is an all or nothing opt out for an issue that is exponentially more nuanced than that these amendments give multiple options for allowing or disallowing various types of marijuana establishments in our town the sunset clause is address the fact that this is an entirely new industry for the state and should be voted upon bylaws not addressed the needs or wants of the town in three years perhaps this would be a more efficient way to revisit those bylaws instead of the messy way in which we had to walk back our alcohol ban depending on the outcome of the bylaw review committee meeting april 25th special town meeting may have amendments to the citizens petition to vote on article eight temporary moratorium this town meeting article is for a moratorium on marijuana establishments to last through december 31st two thousand and eighteen and requires a two thirds vote for passage during the moratorium the town would consider adopting a new zone the adoption of new zoning bylaws relevant to marijuana establishments this article will require a two thirds vote for passage and town meeting is expected to vote on it may 2nd article nine three sales tax this town meeting article would allow a three local sales tax on retail sales by our marijuana retailer located in belmont regulations permit no more than one marijuana retailer to open in belmont at this time the three tax would go into the town coffers according to selectman chairman adam dash a majority vote will be required for passage and town meeting is expected to vote on it may 2nd over to you bob thank you max items to bring to the belmont recycling event a mary beth column it's the it's that time of year when residents have the chance to recycle textiles electronics and paper shredding from nine hundred am to one hundred pm may the 12th at the town yard thirty seven c street note that the listed recyclables are the only items we can accept also no early birds we need trucks to come in and can't have cars in the way residents should follow the recycling instructions for each type of item textiles must be dry and clean includes clothing linens footwear purses belts and stuffed animals items can be ripped and stained it is estimated the average us citizen throws away seventy pounds of clothing each year out of the ninety five of textiles that can be donated or recycled only fifteen achieve this result the other eighty five end up in the trash when textiles are donated forty five are reused and repurposed mostly as exports thirty are converted into rags twenty are used as fiber and home insulation and carpet padding only five ends up as waste keep towels and sheets separate to donate to the animal rescue league no bulky rigid plastics will be taken this year electronic recycling anything with a plug excluding lodge appliances air conditioners refrigerators of any size gas yard and power equipment paper shredding limited to five boxes sponsored by the watertown savings now is the time to clean out your home office and safely get rid of all your sensitive documents that have been accumulating and taking up space boxes of your unwanted documents are shredded onsite in seconds voluntary cash donations are accepted to benefit the belmont sport for this service usable eyeglasses the belmont lions club will be collecting usable eyeglasses for their recycled for site program books hard and soft cover books audio books movies music game cds and dvds will be recycled by recycle that propane tanks propane tanks over twenty pounds or other types of gas tanks will not be accepted save the town money if you just have a propane tank to dispose and no hazardous waste bring to the dpw recycled days instead of hhw days note that helium tanks will not be accepted think twice about buying balloons and helium tanks both are not environmentally friendly balloons even biodegradable ones cause litter when they are released outside eventually falling back down into waterways fields and forests once on the ground they can harm wildlife and marine animals before they slowly break down tanks that store helium can't be put in the trash or collected by the town need to find a scrap metal recycler for that scrap metal items must be all metal no wood or concrete attached examples are bed rails metal filing cabinets pipes tire rims not the tire metal furniture chairs rod iron cast iron non coated pots and pans etcetera and now over to claire thank you bob a local author's new book details her son's addiction and death by carrie feltner kate genovese traces it back to sports between his hockey and football careers her son chris known as gino had six surgeries four for his knees and two for his shoulders those surgeries brought pain medication into his life and amount of drugs that never left his life and only got worse after his sporting pursuits ended gino died at age thirty in two thousand and sixteen from an overdose watertown native genovese chronicles her son's life and opioid addiction in a book called hat tricks from heaven the story of an athlete in his own prison of addiction the book took her over a year to write and was officially released in november of two thousand and seventeen today genovese is on the massachusetts organization of addiction recovery committee and the central massachusetts opioid committee genovese will host a book signing at the watertown free public library at six hundred and thirty pm on wednesday june 13th two thousand and eighteen proceeds from the book will be put towards opening a sober house called gino's house somewhere in new england so far the book has raised five thousand toward this effort kate genovese sat down to discuss the book and her son's story why did you write this book the opioid problem is so huge right now he seems like the most unlikely kid that would overdose he was an athlete really smart and had tons of friends we traveled all over the place with his hockey he went to private school with a scholarship so he got through school and he got a really good job and had a girlfriend but he kept slipping how did his multiple surgeries exacerbate the problem it was mainly his shoulder it was really bad he just kept getting surgery i want to point out that this disease can come from all walks of life the doctors thought nothing of giving him prescriptions one time i spoke to the doctor about it and i said i think he's had enough i don't think he needs more the doctor said to me you don't know how serious his shoulder is and quote stop being a helicopter mother i was kind of intimidated over twenty years ago i was younger and not as bold we didn't really see him every day to know what he was doing when did you know he had a problem his roommate from college called us one day and told us he was really addicted and needed help he got into legal trouble and the legal system was equally as horrible he had break probation and have to go to court and instead of him doing something the court would say quote give us three hundred that's all they did he ended up in jail and that was horrible at that point he said i need help i know i do what surprised you about gino's situation i just didn't think he would die for some reason i didn't think he would my husband and i felt like we did a lot of things wrong we did a lot of things correct too but parents shouldn't feel guilty like it's their fault i think that's one of the messages of the book because you do what you can it's just crazy i could see in his eyes there was something wrong he had no control over it how did you find the writing experience it was very therapeutic and i wrote it with my editor she had lost her son too what advice do you have to other families that are dealing with this issue i would just say start talking to children at an early age about it fifth grade no later really because then they hit middle school and there's so much going on you should just really be very open with them about it how dangerous it could be especially if it runs in your family if you're bummed out about and depressed it takes away everything all feeling he was captain of his teams he was wellliked he had a lot of friends he had a girlfriend he was very social and he helped others he just was very charismatic and he loved us he loved his dog frankie it's just so sad other comments i'm really mad at the system they had a lot to do with it they weren't paying attention there's just not enough help and they get burnt out it's a tough disease to deal with it only gets worse there's a variety of things that lead to it now over to max thank you claire talking trash automated trash and recycling pickup will begin july 1st by christy armstrong when the director of public works talks trash people listen and with big changes coming to help belmont's waste is handled there is a lot of trash talking going on jay marcott belmont's public works director recently hosted a community conversation about the new trash and recycling program at town hall on april 10th to inform the public of what the changes are and how they will be implemented we are trying to advertise the new trash system that will be in place starting this july marcott said at the presentation we tried to look at every single option and alternative the option that was approved unanimously by the board of selectmen in february is for belmont to switch over to an automated trash and recycling service every household will receive a black sixty four gallon wheeled trash barrel and a blue ninety six gallon wheeled recycling barrel in multifamily dwellings each unit will receive its own set of barrels so two family houses will receive two sets of barrels residents will be limited to throwing away one bulky item like a mattress or furniture per week everything else must fit into the trash or recycling barrels pick up of the bulky item will need to be scheduled in advance by calling public works by noon the day before trash pickup excess trash will need to be put in an official town overflow trash bag which will be sold for three each at select locations in town yard waste pickup will remain the same as it is currently but christmas trees will only be collected during the first two weeks of january recycling will now be single stream so residents will no longer have to sort plastics paper and cardboard separately several attendees of the april 10th at the presentation expressed their support for this shift to single stream recycling and the simplifying of the process we did this to control our costs explained barkat the way we collect our trash right now is the most expensive way to collect trash our collection costs for this year fiscal year two thousand and eighteen are one million one hundred and forty eight thousand nine hundred and thirty with this new fiveyear contract soup to nuts our automated collection including the cost of the barrels will be one million fifteen thousand and sixty per year marcott said automation is preferred because since everything is standardized costs can be controlled over to you bob thank you max cities towns prepare for future cemetery needs by melissa russel as certainly as death comes for all the end of cemetery spaces on the horizon for many communities fortunately for belmont highland meadow cemetery opened in two thousand and seven after belmont cemetery ran out of plots for purchase in one thousand nine hundred and eighty eight and is not expected to reach capacity for at least another twenty years without the expansion there would not have been adequate space to meet the needs of belmont residents just as the aging baby boom generation is expected to cause a spike in burial needs massachusetts state law requires cities and towns take responsibilities for the burial of their dead with an anticipated spike in demand for cemetery space in the coming ten to fifteen years municipalities around the region looking at their cemeteries and making plans for the longterm thomas daley a national cemetery consultant with cemetery helpful solutions said even in areas where burial space is not an issue in the foreseeable future town planners are addressing cemetery space in their master plans and now over to claire now we'll hear from bob to wrap it up along with my colleagues claire and max we thank you for listening to the talking news and hope that you've enjoyed the show we will return next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont