and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel two hundred and ninety five listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound cloud and i tunes just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news projects to go to town meeting by joanna case of alephs two more projects have been approved by the community person of ation committee totally one hundred and fifty six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars the pay some pot band stand for ninety thousand dollars and the restoration of the st church clock for sixty six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars these two projects along with six previously approved projects totaling two million six hundred thousand dollars will be voted on by the town meeting this spring for twenty nine the they pay some poc news a festival has been a some a tradition at peace in park in belmont it was founded by belmont resident tommy olsen and features live music performances from professional bands every wednesday from the st day of summer to the end of august and children's concerts every friday during the month of july peter quinn architects designed the proposed bandstand estimated to cost ninety thousand dollars the purpose of the bandstand is to keep musicians in their instruments sheltered if a summer shower occurs during the performance the st church in belmont at four all four conquered avenue owns the historic clock located in the tower of the church property at faurot for concord ave which has been there for more than one hundred and thirty is however it needs to repay a because it hasn't been the correct time for many mechanism retired town meeting member madi cohen used to men men usually wind the clock the amount of sixty six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars will pay for the cleaning of the clock and the installation of automated systems that would eliminate the need for people to maintain a wind the clock and funded new ladder for the talaga the application from the historic district commission and public works slash police billing committee for seven hundred dollars missing eighty seven thousand five hundred and seventy five dollars to repair the exterior facade of the belmont police station that would include roof windows stonework gutters trim paint etc was recently approved by the c p a committee the belmont conservation commission's application requesting twenty thousand dollars for preservation and restoration of vegetation surrounding the pond which will help manage non evasive and noninvasive and invasive plants and restore historic views of the pond has been approved that  referring to the clay pit pond by the way rock meadow habitat preservation the belmont commission's application requesting twenty five thousand four hundred dollars to control non native an invasive vegetation and help preserve valuable and unique grasslands and woodlands by reducing eliminating noxious weeds has been approved and also the community path design the application from town administrative patrice garvan on behalf of the board of selectmen are requesting one million dollars from the c p a committee does to design phase one b of the community by path project that would be brighton street to the clock street bridge creating a pedestrian and bicycle path that connects belmont center and the fitchburg cut off path on brighton street was approved town hall playground restoration the friends of town field playgrounds a application requesting seven hundred thousand dollars to update the existing playground with more modern excess simple structures as well as the basketball and pickle ball courts which are in disrepair or has been approved sixty thousand dollars for the design from the fiscal year two thousand and twenty budget and six hundred and forty thousand dollars for the construction of from the year two thousand and twenty one budget friends of the town belmont's director of facilities requested seventy five thousand dollars to repay of the slate roofs on town hall the school administration building and the home building to prevent water intrusion which could compromise structural timbers and horsehair plaster the application was approved and now over my colleague claire thanks bob plan raises zoning questions proposed for car garage raises questions about zoning by law amendment by diane mclaughlin what started out as opposition to a belmont residents plan for a four car garage has raised a series of questions about zoning bylaws the town's interpretation of a two thousand and sixteen by law amendment and whether the town conforms to state requirements a group of neighbors from clark street in kilburn road have appealed a building permit issued for  addition at sixty five dollars clark street the addition willing crease the building's gross floor area by more than thirty percent which based on a two thousand and sixteen by law amendment approved by town meeting requires a special permit from the planning board but the town has interpreted the amendment to apply only to new houses and interpretation the neighbor's attorney says violates the state's zoning uniformity law import of appeals held a hearing about the matter in february and its ruling could affect how the amendment applies to belmont homeowners what is the project the project calls for a four car garage with the nd story of living space at sixty five clark street owned by xin lu at sixty five clark real estate l l c a building permit was issued on november th two thousand and eighteen work on the addition started after the permit was issued according to a letter from the owner's attorney stephen rosario is the house is located in a single residen zoning district why are neighbors opposed in two thousand and sixteen town meeting approved changes to the zoning bylaws to address residents concerns about houses being demolished and replaced with a larger allen's neighbors say two aspects of the two thousand and sixteen amendment apply to this project the by law now requires a special permit from the planning board for additions that increase the gross floor area by more than thirty percent also town meeting changed the maximum built in height for drawings in single residences see districts to thirty four feet to the ridge or the highest point in a letter to townsend dated december th glen clancy belmont's building inspector wrote that he interpreted the bar law as applying to new structures not to projects on existing homes on december th towns and was one of ten neighbors from clark street and kilburn road to file an appeal with the z b a the appeal contended that the building permit should not have been issued because the roof right made the existing structure a preexisting non conforming dwelling about twenty other neighbors or signed a petition supporting the appeal does the roof right make the building non conforming and its two thousand and sixteen report two town meeting explain in the proposal the planning board said the bylaw amendment establishments criteria for new homes and large additions are nonconforming lots less than nine thousand square feet and seventy five feet rose alys the attorney for the homeowners pointed to an apparent inconsistency and belmont's by laws related to roof right neither the definition of height in section one of the months bylaws nor the table of linear requirements in section four mentioned a thirty four foot ridge height rose said he added that sixty five dollars clark street conforms to the bylaws because the midpoint of the roof is apply only to new structures i view in that the two thousand and sixteen zone in amendments do not apply to sixty five clark street rosario's are asked to have the building permit reinstated he also pointed to the two thousand and sixteen town meeting report to support the interpretation that the amendments do not apply to existing conforming buildings but bob russkie said uniformity laws require zoning  applied consistently within a district the state don't enact reads and his own you know what is ordinance or bylaw which divides cities and towns into districts shall be uniform within the district for each class or belmont's community development office said during the z b a hearing the belmont's town council had reviewed and approved the town meeting article in two thousand and sixteen the charity general's office also approved the article the word candidates running for thirteen year selectman seat in the upcoming town election on april nd to help voters decide who is the best candidate for the job the belmont citizen harold is asking each of them a question of the week leading up to election day this week's question is there are five uses currently being considered for the town's former incinerator site if you were selected and which use would you vote in favor of as the best option for the land's post closure use and why answer in three hundred words or less hear the candidates answers jessie bennett the town has been hoping for a big idea to mitigate the cost of capping the incinerator site unfortunately based on what we know right now no single option  an obvious choice one thing is clear the eneral big digester needs to come off the table locating it in a residential neighborhood is not a viable option forty tractor trailers full of waste queuing up on a major traffic artery simply will not work as if that weren't reason enough the numbers don't add up the market for solid waste is uncertain and we would be taking a huge financial risk as for other uses we still don't have enough information to make a decision the board of selectmen asked langdon environmental to conduct to research the soil conditions to determine whether they are favorable for building we also don't yet know how the state will define municipal use and whether they will allow a public private partnership for a rink on the site in the next few weeks we will have enough information to know whether a rink on the site is possible the battery storage from belmont light looks like a fantastic idea that doesn't rule out other options we can use batteries which are the size of a shipping container to buy cheap electricity off the grid during off peak hours and use it during peak times the savings could help fund green initiatives or benefit tax rate payers directly or maybe more than one answered combined solar and battery storage with a skate park or a rink with solar panels and battery storage as frustrating as it can be to wait for answers until we have all of the necessary information it's impossible to make a final decision on the use of the site roy epstein as chair of the warrant committee member of the light board advisory committee and a concerned citizen have been studying the use of the incinerator side for years the critical factor is that the e p a requires us to install a cap on a forty foot deep ash pile it is not a suitable location for a heavy structure i would vote for energy storage using modern batteries combined with a solar farm the site would accommodate a two megawatt farm something as big as all belmont's rooftop solar combined it would have no neighborhood impact complications for capping the site and have no maintenance expenses this would be a big step toward reaching our climate action goals improving belmont light reliability and generating revenue another needed use is both material storage for d p w and storage for construction materials for the new school some areas can be repurposed when the school is finished energy storage solar and bulk storage leave room for other passive uses i favor options that do not impact the cap and have no upfront capital costs or maintenance security expenses bike paths and green space fall into this category a skate park would require more study the proposed anaerobic digester does not work for all the reasons given by the neighbors in addition i conducted an economic analysis of the digester with fellow fellow warrant committee members we determined that when the engineering consultants faulty economic assumptions are corrected the project is not viable financially the incinerator site is a poor location for a hockey rink construction on the asheville would be very expensive and even then the ice might crack it is also too far away i recommend a new rink near the high school instead timothy flood i do not favor any of the current proposed solutions for the incinerator site although each option has its merits the ongoing testing must be completed to determine which options are viable for the site furthermore i do not believe we should rush to this decision the current seven to twelve school building project proposed to use the site for storage for up to five years in addition to the five currently proposed options i would consider other solutions to better meet long term town needs such as a much needed d p w facility or a combination of solutions given the large site area over to you bob thanks max lease elisa's pizzeria now won't open a rachel kelly after several months of awaiting permitting includes other locations in the world but in wait field took spary melrose medford and drake it owner tony pereira said that the belmont locations menu is similar to those of the other locations featuring kill zones salads sandwiches and chicken wings in addition to an stretched italian thing crust pizza pereira said he wants to earn business from belmont residents provide by providing st products daily and by forming relationships with his customer as we want to be where you see the same faces time and time again he said in small towns like this people know who you are and they become not only a customers but your friends perreault owns a breakfast restaurant in medford and another pizza shop in quincy in addition to the seven leases pizzeria locations said the most important part about operating these businesses is making a commitment to the local community whether that involves sponsoring a youth sports team or something more hands on like volunteering with the elderly nowadays you see fewer people investing in places like this everybody wants to own the big companies but it's the local people that make a real difference he said perera who was born in portugal and lives in malden bought the original leases pizzeria removing about ten years ago he said customers can expect a motivated clean cut staff including some employees that have been working with him for almost after more than thirty years in business terra firma belmont senses boutique offering a unique inventory of products from around the world including jewelry art and greeting cards is permanently closing its doors on a before thank you to all of our loyal and amazing custom is throughout the thirty plus years of operation in belmont center row trailing in an e mail to customers who mail me said business definitely changed after macy's closed in two thousand and thirteen all merchandise has been sold at a discounted price and now here's max thank you claire question of the week for housing authority candidates by joanna cates of  there are two candidates running for the five year housing authority seat in the upcoming town election nd they are a newcomer cassandra page and in come an incumbent thomas you know olson the housing authority five members four of whom are elected for overlapping five year terms well the th this appointed by the state the full time salaried executive director supervises and coordinates the programs according to belmont's town website the belmont housing authority manages programs which provide housing assistance for low income families that are ins and the elderly it presently manages a total of two hundred and fifty six dollars units of conventional housing which includes one hundred dollars units of veterans  family housing one hundred and fifty four dollars units of elderly elderly and handicapped disabled housing and two units of housing for the developmentally disabled the authority also administers two massachusetts rental vouchers three alternative housing vouchers twenty existing section eight rental assistance or to fits and twenty five section eight housing voucher certificates this week's question is what do you think can be done to improve communication between the residents of belmont housing and the housing authority so concerns of residents can be heard and residents can overcome their fear of speaking up about their concerns answer in two hundred words or less the candidates answers are thomas in olson the belmont housing authority takes very seriously the citizens concerned section of our board meetings we have had residents attend to discuss parking and safety among other concerns in an effort to be more accessible we have held meetings at both sherman gardens and waverly oaks b h a staff are considering office hours at the locations additionally literacy is an important issue and the authority has purchased and placed little libraries at three sites in the family unit alone there are two little libraries with the hope of encouraging young readers there has been discussion of instituting a story hour to further this gold reaching out through literacy efforts is important for creating greater visibility and accessibility and encouraging dialogue between the residents and the authority finally i am assisting in the planning of better together on april th on behalf of the b h a and the c e o a whose goal is to encourage greater community cassandra paige i believe the best way to address tenet's concerns without inundating the office staff or the entire board with questions and concerns that they fear that they fear to speak about would be to give them someone they already know trust and is on the same level as them to come to myself i am not afraid to stand up for them for us as a whole i am willing to listen to concerns and address them with the rest of the board and the housing authority as a whole without cause and direct attention to specific tenants i want to hopefully remove their fear by being someone they can be comfortable confiding in someone who is available and willing to take their concerns and ideas seriously and try to make a change to better the recipes using unsalted butter allows you to use the exact amount of salt needed in a recipe soda or in sugary drinks court denies add the labels the th circuit court of sion on a san francisco city ordinance that required health warnings on advertisements for soder and other sugary drinks the court ruled the three new england new england just to display works beginning april th beginning april five de cordova sculpture park and museum will present works of art and newly commissioned installations by twenty three new england based artists in decor to vote new england to buy any l two thousand and nineteen the selected artist to from all six northeastern states connecticut maine massachusetts new hampshire rhode island and vermont featuring work across diverse mediums including paintings sculpture video photography fiber art and ceramics occupy all galleries of the museum and extend into the sculpture park with new site specific commissions it will be on view through september th every two years the  renews our appreciation for the ways in which new england is a vital region for contemporary making today this major survey prison some of the most dynamic experimental and distinguished that is in our area said sarah montrose curator featuring works by artists across generations in backgrounds the bayani all can also be experienced against the backdrop of our contemporary moment as artists respond to churning political dialogues the weight in repetitions of american history the pressures exerted on ecological and cultural  the increasingly indeterminate realms of truth and belief now over to max thanks claire canopy is here grab some popcorn claim a spot on the couch and get ready to watch some of the world's best films for free belmont library card holders now have access to any of the thirty thousand films in the canopy collection if you like documentary international classic or independent films give  it offers film festival favorites hard to find titles and thousands of films from the criterion collection great courses p b s women make movies samuel goldwyn and more c b c news calls canopy a treasure trove arguably the greatest assortment of tradin of international art cinema under one roof also included as canopy kids offering a variety of entertaining and educational films and t v series for preschool and up including animated story books and am a classic films and movies for the whole family each belmont public library card holder may stream up to five films a month once you press the play button on a film you have three days to view it as many times as you like alone with my colleagues claire m x we thank you for listening to the talking news and hope you enjoyed the show we were returned next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont