Tag: Policing

Habitat for Humanity Project Approved, Other Development Deferred

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

An update from our meeting on Monday:

At the top of our meeting, one of the actions we took via the Consent Agenda was raising the minimum starting salary of our police officers to $45,000 (from the current $39,749). Generally, most of the police officers hired by the City start at a salary above the minimum due to various certifications, experience, etc. that they bring to the job. However, the number for the minimum starting salary is the number used when the department advertises new positions, so it is important that it be competitive with what other municipalities offer. The new $45k level we adopted is more in line with what other peer cities offer. There is minimal impact to the budget as a result of this (as most of our officers already make above that level), but it will make us more competitive in recruiting new talent.

There were two major land use decisions on the regular agenda, and the first was for the Dixon Village neighborhood proposed by Habitat for Humanity. We received a lot of public comment on this project during our meeting (both for and against). And Habitat actually made several substantive changes to their proposal between last week’s Planning Board meeting and our hearing on Monday. As a Council, we weighed the pros and cons of sending it back to the Planning Board to give them a chance to review the changes, but we ultimately voted against doing that and then proceeded to approve the proposal unanimously.

I think what Habitat has proposed for this neighborhood is a positive step forward in addressing affordability in our area. Additionally, they have been very receptive to all of the feedback they have received on this project over the last few weeks, and a lot of that was reflected in the final proposal we saw Monday night. They have clearly put a lot of thought into making this neighborhood a very nice place to live, and the mixed-income approach they are taking is not something that has been tried in our area before. So, I am very excited to see how this project turns out.

We also heard the proposal for the Smith property across from the new middle school. This development calls for a mix of 42 single-family homes and 57 townhomes (99 units total) while also providing for the realignment of Belwood Drive. The Council discussed this project at length. There was an overriding concern about the density of this development. Most of the larger properties south of Stowe Road (including the middle school property right across the street from the Smith property) are zoned to a maximum density of 3 dwelling units per acre.

By what appears to be a unique set of circumstances, the Smith property was not included in the overlay district that down-zoned much of the peninsula, so the zoning on this property is set at 3 dwelling units per acre but may go up to 6 units per acre on a project-by-project basis. The proposed development would have a density of 4.3.

My view is that this property probably should have been included in the overlay district that limits density to 3 units per acre, so while the property can technically be developed at up to 6 units per acre, the fact that the land use code allows this on a “project-by-project” basis seems to imply that that density is not automatic. In this case, I think the most appropriate density is 3 units per acre as that is consistent with similarly situated properties along South Point Road. I think when you also consider the impact that an additional 99 homes would have on the traffic infrastructure in that area, the lower density also makes sense from that perspective.

For an idea of the impact this seemingly small change in density would have on this project, consider that 3 units per acre on 22.84 acres would result in about 68 homes, which is a 31% drop in the number of units from the proposed 99. Presumably, this would also mean 31% fewer cars on South Point Road as a result of this development too.

The general feeling on Council was that this project is too dense, and we provided that feedback to the developer. The development team seemed open to revising their project to incorporate our feedback. So, rather than voting the project down, which legally would preclude them from applying for another rezoning for 12 months (and would also mean that any realignment of Belwood Drive would have to wait another 12 months), we deferred action on their application until our March meeting to give them time to revise their project and come back with another proposal.

I think this was actually a very positive outcome. I definitely want to see Belwood Drive fixed, but we do also have to be cognizant of the impact this development will have on the surrounding area. Based on the tone of our conversation, I look forward to seeing what they come back with, as I do think there is an opportunity for a win-win situation with this property.

If you have any questions on anything, let me know!

Increasing Setbacks

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

An update from our Monday meeting:

We kicked off the meeting with special recognition for the retirements of Public Works Director David Isenhour and Public Utilities Director Chuck Flowers and for their many decades of service to the City of Belmont. They both played no small role in making the City what it is today, and their presence will certainly be missed.

We also had a special presentation by the police department to recognize them for their recent CALEA accreditation and to introduce some of the new officers and promotions that have occurred this year. They also presented the results of a survey that they conducted of the entire department to gauge employee satisfaction. The numbers they presented were some of the most positive employee engagement scores I have ever seen, with upwards of 90% of the department indicating that they were satisfied or very satisfied across the board (including on things like training opportunities, advancement, their supervisor, and general job satisfaction). Belmont has a lot to be proud of when it comes to its police department, and I think results like these really just underline that fact.

The most significant business item on the agenda was consideration of an ordinance that would increase side yard set backs for alley lot and street lot single-family homes. The ordinance increases the total space between alley lot homes by four feet (to 10 feet total) and increases the total space between street lot homes by one foot (to 12 feet total).

Councilman Turner proposed increasing the set backs on street lot homes to create a total space of 15 feet (an increase of four feet versus the one foot in the proposed ordinance). He explained that he thought that the proposed one foot expansion was not as substantial as the four feet proposed for alley lot homes and that we should consider a more significant change. I agreed and seconded his motion, and we then had an extended discussion on what we were attempting to accomplish with this change.

For me, I think a change like what Councilman Turner was proposing helps ensure continued diversity in the type of housing that we have on offer in Belmont. The nice thing about Belmont is that it has a little bit of everything – from denser/closer housing in places like Eagle Park to the more spread-out/larger lots found down on the peninsula (and everything in between). My concern stems from the fact that the trend among the development community appears to be more focused on fitting as many houses as they can on a given piece of property – which would mean that people who want to live in a close-in community would have a lot of choices and people who want a little bit more space would have significantly fewer choices. I think it falls on the Council to ensure a balance, and given the current situation, that means ensuring that people who want more space between them and their neighbors continue to have those options available to them.

The motion did fail (by a 2-3 vote), but I think we had a very productive conversation about where each of us would like to go on this. The original proposal (which increases the space by four feet for alley lots and one foot for street lots) did pass unanimously, which to me suggests that the difference on Council boils down to a difference over scale versus direction.
Just as a reminder – we will not be having a workshop this month. But if you have any questions on anything, feel free to let me know.

Council to Meet with Main Street and Environmental Sustainability Boards

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

The next City Council workshop is Monday, 11/16 at 4pm. We will be meeting at the new CityWorks building (not TechWorks). You can find a copy of the agenda here: http://ow.ly/T2Ue30rjYa9

We will be meeting with both the Main Street Advisory Board and the Environmental Sustainabilty Board to review their work plans for the upcoming year. This will provide the full Council an opportunity to check in with these boards and ensure that we are all aligned on goals and strategies for 2021.

In other news, our police department successfully completed its CALEA certification on Friday. This makes them only one of 17 agencies in the state (among agencies with less than 74 employees) to obtain this national certification. The certification process involves a rigorous review of the police department’s policies and procedures against a set of national standards and is a demonstration of their professionalism and dedication to our community. So, this is a significant accomplishment for our police department and Chief Hawkins and his team.

August Meeting Preview

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

The next City Council meeting is Monday, August 3 at 6:45pm at TechWorks. The livestream will be available at cityofbelmont.org/livemeetings .

There are only two items on the regular agenda. The first concerns the addition of a position for an Assistant Public Works Director, which is largely to assist with succession planning in our public works department. The second item is a code enforcement case for the property at 603 S Central Avenue, where we will consider a demolition ordinance for the building on that property.

Our consent agenda also includes the acceptance of a Governor’s Highway Safety Grant which will fund a new DWI enforcement officer in our police department. The grant covers 100% of the cost of the officer in the first year and then provides successively smaller amounts over the next three years (covering 50% of the cost in the final year).

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments!

June Workshop Recap

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

A quick update from our workshop on Monday and other goings-on:

-The workshop started off with a presentation from Chief Hawkins on Belmont PD’s standards and training. We got a good overview of the work that the department has made to implement the recommendations that came out of the 2014 President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing as well as their efforts to bring their policies and procedures into alignment with the standards required for the national CALEA accreditation. The amount of ongoing training on everything from de-esclation techniques to emotional intelligence for the CALEA accredidation is substantial, and I think that we as a community can see the benefits of that in a Belmont PD that becomes a better “guardian” (per the Presidential task force) of our city every day.

-We had a good conversation about the site plan for the new Belmont Rowing Center. We approved the new alignment of the docks/boathouse, and I anticipate that we will continue to have productive conversations about the operational details of the new park as we move forward.

-Our Community Branding consultant also gave us a preview of the new logo and brand for the city. We will continue to use the existing seal for official purposes and also on things like police and fire department uniforms. The new logo is intended to be used in the city’s marketing efforts – so you would see it on things like the banners hung around town and the external advertising done for things like Friday Night Live. The City is planning a public roll-out of the new brand soon – so keep an eye out for that.

-Council also formally adopted the Vision and Goals that we put together at our retreat earlier this year. We also set some priorities for future workshops and will be taking a look at our Major Development Process (which is used for new neighborhoods, etc.) at our July workshop.

Also – The City’s annual Juneteenth celebration will be this weekend. There will be a parade down Main Street Saturday at 2pm, and a virtual concert (on Facebook Live) at 7pm (also on Saturday). You can find more information on the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/606605806576491/

2020 Budget Finalized and Other Updates

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

We had a very productive meeting on Monday/Wednesday. Here are some of the highlights:

-We received an update from the county health director on COVID-19 response. Overall, we appear to be headed in the right direction, but he stressed the importance of basic safety precautions – washing your hands, avoiding large crowds, etc.

-We also had a very productive conversation around the Trolley project. I raised some concerns that I had about the project in light of the additional complications stemming from the COVID crisis. So, the Council talked through those, and we made some changes to the MOU that I think will better protect the city (and taxpayers) in the event that these complications become insurmountable. Belmont Trolley will also be making annual presentations to Council so that we can check-in on the project and review goals prior to making each annual support payment.

-We concluded the public hearing and passed the 2020-21 Budget on Wednesday. No additional changes were made to the budget, although we did receive some public comment.

-The ordinance closing Centerview Street and Jade Circle in North Belmont also passed. I asked the developer’s attorney about the timeline for the project (as I have received several questions about that), and he indicated that the actual demolition of the road would likely start by the end of the month.

-We also approved a change to the Rail Trail. The new route will now follow Main Street to Woodrow Ave, and then pick up the rail line again at the intersection with Woodrow. You can see a map here: https://cityofbelmont.civicweb.net/document/21705/3760D662CDE24927A7DFC67F59599AB5-.pdf?handle=7CF687D031104674966E2676C867F1DA

-We also approved resolutions supporting a virtual Juneteenth celebration and continued Powell Bill funding from the General Assembly.

-At the end of the meeting, our police chief also spoke to some of the national issues surrounding policing. I remain very confident in the professionalism, integrity, and training of the Belmont PD. I believe that our police department is one that all residents of our city can rightly be proud of.

If you have any questions – feel free to leave a comment below or email me at mseelinger@cityofbelmont.org!