Belmont Select Board Backs $1.3 Million Community Path Right-of-Way Request

BELMONT -- June 8, 2026, Belmont Select Board unanimously backs $1.3 million right-of-way request for Community Path as appraisal estimates surge. The board voted 3-0 Monday night to recommend favorable action on Article 3 of a concurrent special town meeting, authorizing up to $1.3 million from FY26 investment income for property easements needed to complete phase one of the Belmont Community Path, a figure updated from $200,000 just hours before the meeting. Chair Matt Taylor warned that failure to complete right-of-way acquisition by late June or early July would jeopardize roughly $50 million in MassDOT construction funding. The board also accepted a donated parcel at 101A Channing Road from the Belmont Citizens Forum under a Chapter 30B unique-property determination, appointed five members to a reconstituted seven-seat Human Rights Commission, and recommended a $60,000 enterprise-fund appropriation to acquire a private sewer pipe on Concord Avenue. Town Administrator Patrice Garvin disclosed that Principal Assessor Dan Dargan resigned the afternoon of June 8; the town is seeking an interim replacement.