lawsuit filed against the toll brothers smith legacy potters files a lawsuit against toll brothers for twenty million over the belmont project smith legacy patna series recently filed a lawsuit in the middle sex county civil court against toll brothers on september the ninth the developer of the bradford formally known as cushing village for twenty million a total of six slots were sold by smith a legacy is to toll brothers on october nineteenth for fourteen million two hundred thousand according to mass land records dot com the bradford development when completed is slated to bring one hundred twelve new apartment residences ranging in size from studios to two bedroom residences fifty multiple municipal parking spaces newly created open space and several new neighborhood retail opportunities to cushing square high end amenities will include thirty seven thousand five hundred square feet of street level retail including a stop bucks a courtyard roof decks open a plaza on site fitness center and walkability two restaurants and retail in addition the development is expected to provide belmont with an annual a new woody stream of property tax revenues the crux of the lawsuit centers on toll brothers requirement to perform the environmental cleanup and to construct the project in accordance with the special permit that s l p secured for the project prior to the lands conveyance both parties agreed within the p and s agreement to a clean up scope budget of one point three million with changes to be mutually approved by s l p and toll brothers after the land was conveyed s l p alleges toll unilaterally increased the clean up budget to four point two million over three hundred percent of the agreed budget and urged s l p to sell out its retail option to its potters if s l p would not pay for the enormous budget increases the lawsuit alleges toll brothers provided scant documentation and failed to acquire s l p's approval as required under the p and s no material changes to the kno environmental conditions at the site were documented to justify the massive cleanup costs increase damages being sought in excess of twenty million the complaint yes the court triple the damages on the basis of bad faith unfair and deceptive business practices and therefore is ultimately seeking over sixty million in direct and punitive damages we assuming them because we have reason to believe that they are using these unjustified increases in environmental cleanup costs to eliminate retail option and put this a patient in the future of the bradford said christie managing partner of s l p in response to the news of the lawsuit john petrucci at the met marketing director of toll brothers apartment living said that said that they have  receive a copy of the lawsuit told disputes the factual allegations as set forth in the press release toll will respond to the lawsuit through the litigation once it has an opportunity to review the specific allegations in the meantime working closely with the environmental experts toll continue performing the environmental remediation in compliance with the state environmental regulations and with approval and oversight for the massachusetts department of environmental protection as part of the ongoing development project at the bradfor and now on to clare thanks bob meetings scheduled for a high school project if you want to learn more about the belmont high school building project there is now site you can visit belmont high school project dot org there are also several upcoming community meetings scheduled on different days of the week at different times to accommodate the schedules of all interested three of the eight module massachusetts school building authority process also known as m s b a which began when belmont was invited into the eligibility period on january twenty seventh two thousand and sixteen the hybrid design firm perkins name will working very closely with the building committee superintendent john failon and community members will design options for three potential grade configurations seven to twelve eight to twelve or nine to twelve the b h s building committee will be following a timeline which would allow them to potentially have a vote on the ballot on the november two thousand and eighteen general election after the town reaches a project funding years to complete and will cost approximately one point seventy five million the m s b a will reimburse the town for the lesser of thirty six point eight hundred nine percent of the eligible approved costs of the fill the feasibility study as determined by the m s p or six hundred forty five thousand five hundred seventy five dollars funds for the feasibility study were appropriated at the two thousand and sixteen spring town meeting according to an analysis performed by the b a h s building committee the total project cost could be as high as two hundred ten million and as low as one hundred forty million the analysis was based on historical data or on school construction collected by the m s b a and in roman projections and space capacity needs identified as a result of a collaborative analysis by the m s b a and belmont town officials the figure ranges from approximately one hundred forty million for a grade nine to twelve configuration with fourteen hundred seventy total students approximately one hundred five seventy five million for a grade eight to twelve configuration with eighteen hundred forty five total students or approximately two hundred ten million for grade seven to twelve configuration with twenty two hundred fifteen total students ok here is max thanks for members pointing fingers planning board members suggest chairman resign over proposed library senior center development by joanna cates savalas within the first ten minutes of the planning board meeting september fifth board member charles clarke spoke out against chairman liz allison and fellow member rafi monday kian for their idea of building a library and senior housing at the site of the belmont carwash in waverly square saying it's not the planning board's place to propose things and push something forward without thinking about it in a raised voice and with his finger pointed at allison clark said i think you should resign as chair of the planning board and remove yourself from the process allison composed attempted to move on to the next item on the agenda but before that magick ian came to her defense saying he was surprised at how his colleague was behaving regardless of his opinion robust and rigorous fingerpointing is not called for he said despite the exchange alison was able to move the meeting agenda forward prior to clarke speaking out allison said the full discussion on the waverly square and south pleasant idea would be discussed with a full board on september nineteenth planning board vice chairman barbara fiasco was not present cathy chairman of the library trustees came forward and said the trustees sent a letter to the planning board asking them to withdraw the proposal for the library to be built in waverly square the idea to build a new library and a senior housing development at the site of the belmont carwash in waverly square evolved after a meeting in january seeking input from the community on the revitalization of waverly square and south pleasant street the idea according to allison would help solve at least one of the town's four major capital projects needs without the need for a debt exclusion or override by partnering with a local developer who would build the structure and then lease it back to the town  claire hopes ok new transmission lines substation supply towns electricity don't want light has successfully completed the transmission line completing the electric supply portion of the blair pond substation and transmission line project in august belmont light crews executed a series of planned power outages of belmont three existing substations in order to cut over belmont's electric delivery system from older n star lines to the current system fed by a new one hundred fifteen kill a vote transmission line in the new blair pawned substation the successful completion of the four separate cut overs represented the final step needed to bring belmont's next generation  electricity on line belmont's new system of delivering electricity to belmont residents businesses and municipal facilities represents a critically needed upgrade to the prior delivery system which had reached maximum capacity and suffered from significant power quality issues the new electricity supply system through the new one hundred in fifteen kill of zero transmission line in and blair's pond substation has more than tripled belmont's electricity delivery capacity from the former maxed out peak of thirty megawatts providing more than enough capacity in significantly higher power quality for consumers for generations to come the switch over to the new electric systems so supply system represents the culmination of an extremely complex development project that was originally approved by belmont town meeting in two thousand and twelve and was completed over five years of planning design location and r identification property notion negotiations in purchases local state and federal regulatory processes and a complicated construction phase with belmont electric supply problems significantly and successfully addressed the focus will now turn to a ten year master plan to retire belmont's three older and smaller substations  updating and aging in less cost effective distribution infrastructure planning has already begun for readying the oldest substations for retirement in electrical work is expected to kick photographer doug photographer now displaying work at exhibit at the belmont media center by joanna kay savalas not everyone can turn something they love doing into a career resident blue emirates has found a way to do just that in two thousand and ten she took her love of exploring the outdoors with her dog iris and bringing a camera along and turned it into her business beyond the fence adventure dog photography iris an australian shepherd was emirate as inspiration for beyond the fence iris was diagnosed with cancer when she was thirteen years old so i packed up my car and we drove across the country to finish the series of landscape photographs that began with iris we explored the southwest desert hiked in the rocky mountains and played in the pacific ocean is a big beautiful world out there and the best thing i've ever done was exploring a bit of it with my amazing little dog sadam rich iris passed away last march emmert studied fine art at the university of massachusetts dartmouth and earned two bachelor's degrees one in photography and one in painting after she graduated she worked as a wedding photographer and an architectural photographer examples of amateurs work is an exhibit at the belmont media center art gallery through september fourteenth visiting hours monday through friday ten am to eight pm and saturday noon to five pm the belmont citizen harold had a chance to meet with a match and learn more about her passion for dogs and photography how did you start your business beyond the fence started out as a series of landscape photographs that i was working on with my own dog iris she was always with me when i was hiking so it was natural to include her in my photos i love the experience of being outdoors with my dog so i created beyond the fence to share that with my clients and their own dogs how did you build up your customer base the best thing i did was getting involved with the local community of dog lovers i took agility obedience and herding classes with my dog which was a great way to meet and connect with people i also volunteered and still do as a photographer for local shelters and rescue groups including the pca and big fluffy dog rescue there are so many wonderful dogs in rescue waiting for good homes and i'm always happy when i can use my photography to help promote these dogs where do you take your photos my photography sessions are always outdoors that's part of the adventure the dogs are so much happier when they can roll in the grass run through the woods and explore new places i travel all over massachusetts and new hampshire anywhere from the beaches of cape cod to flower gardens in boston to the white mountains of new hampshire what is most challenging about your work now the dogs certainly make sure that my work is never boring they make me laugh every day and when i'm planning a session i always make sure i'm setting the dogs up for success first i'm very careful to choose a location that matches each dog's personality rambunctious dog get to go on long walks will shy dogs get to explore quiet spaces also almost all the dogs i photograph are on leashes for safety i may be the end of the leash is out to repose processing so it only looks like the dogs in my photographs  perfectly trained really they're all just happy pets who happen to hold still for a split second all it takes is a lot of patience and a good sense of humor what is most rewarding about your work the most rewarding part seeing how excited people are about their dogs photographed after their session everyone is always surprised their dog still i love being able to bring artwork into someone's living room so they can be reminded every day of happy sunshine filled adventures with their dog bob thank you max delegate project gets the green light planning board approved belmont day expansion project with conditions by joanne or k savalas after the six planning board hearing on a proposed expansion project at belmont day school the planning board on august thirty first close the public hearing process and voted three to one in favor of the school's application subject to a set of conditions the project includes a twenty five thousand eight hundred seventeen square foot academic and athletic building referred to as the bon together with the new entrance driveway between six eighty eight caucus avenue and the eastern border of highland meadow cemetery planning board member was the dissenting vote he said that he thought it was a mistake to vote with the final written version of the conditions including the conditions board members discussed at that meeting weren't in front of them i don't see how we can have a awfully vote on it when we do not know how the actual final decision said i haggle and planning board vice chairman bob or a fiasco said it was not an easy decision the board tried very hard to listen very closely to everyone and to carefully consider the one hundred sixty one comments submitted in writing over the course of many month process we appreciate very much everyone's input i recognize that probably no one is completely satisfied with tonight's decision but i hope that you will all respect it and respect each other and neighbors going forward during the construction process she said or abandonment of the town's easement rights ongoing communication with the surrounding neighborhood throughout the construction period and the opening of the bonn is critical to ensure that they are aware of what is going on clock and exhibit show kerry casing work by ten of belmont's public school teaches from september seventh true october six at home or building in the town hall complex nineteen more street belmont artist participating in off the clock two thousand and seventeen include nicole pawned in drury kathleen burns public artist richard hill's surfaces exhibit featured in the bee gas east gallery has been extended through october sixth as well and opening reception was held with the  on september fifteenth at six to eight pm initially conceived by the burbank school teacher nicole pond in two thousand and eight the clock has become a tradition at the gallery offering belmont residents and other visitors to the b ga an opportunity to see what the town's art teachers are creating as individual artists in their time away from school when first thinking about the idea for off the clock i thought it was important for people to physically see what we create said pond where teaches discussing art history and arch making techniques with our students but without their seeing how we use the same information off the clock let people see what we've been creating as artist on our own time off the clock belmont gallery director rebecca richards agrees with pond i think it's important for people to see the art created by our communities dedicated our teachers said richards people can sometimes forget that art teachers are also artists in their own right this year's off the clock artist teacher exhibit includes oil in acrylic paint hundreds ceramics fiber rot printmaking photography and collage many of the pieces are for sale since opening it doors in july two thousand and five the belmont gallery of art has presented over seventy shows featuring the work of dozens of local and regional augusts in two thousand and seven the  recipient of a gold star award from the massachusetts cultural council in recognition of its work promoting the arts in belmont and surrounding communities and here is max  there is a turn the house for sale in town by joanna kate savalas there are currently fourteen homes on the market in belmont ranging in price from a one bedroom one bath ranch for four hundred seventy nine thousand to a six bedroom four and a half bath for one point nine seven five million bobbie mcshane of remax leading edge is the listing agent for the least expensive tiniest house in belmont on a dead end street it's been on the market for one hundred forty one days and dropped from its original price of five hundred thousand in june mcshane says there's been a lot of interest on the property however he thinks the requirement for a special permit to rebuild or add is what may be holding the buyers back based on the non conforming a lot any work done would need a special permit in order to obtain the special permit you would need plot plans and would need to be approved by the board said mcshane the properties current owner kerry me purchased it in one thousand nine hundred six for one hundred twelve thousand dollars i've always known it is e mc property and was so grateful to have found it i was so lucky she said originally a workman's home the home was built in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine by developer harry hall of arlington according to records from the town buildings department hall also built a twin homes slightly bigger next door to seventy nine channing road town records show in one hundred fifty five holes request for a special permit to add on to the home was denied however the current owners of two seventy nine channing road were able to expand the home by making an eight foot addition to the forty three by thirteen foot home and then putting a second storey on the existing dwelling plus a twenty one by ten foot deck in march one thousand nine hundred five made believes the two homes were originally built to house construction workers while they worked on building homes in the general area commuting was not a cut not common place at the time nor was car ownership especially for laborers the houses were built to hold house construction workers while they worked on building houses in the general area the homes originally shared a driveway submitted according to the belmont historical curate society curator victoria haas the in the streets of belmont richard betts states that channing road was originally part of the large land holdings of the wellington farm family farm when the areas were developed into house lots we find that channing road was originally laid out in  reading today please join us when we return next week for another edition of talking news