Planning Board advances Hill's Crossing zoning changes

Planning Board · Meeting of July 21, 2026

Belmont's Planning Board voted four times to reshape the proposed Hill's Crossing Overlay District zoning bound for November Town Meeting. Members raised the district's maximum height to 69.5 feet with required stepbacks, created a new six-story commercial subdistrict and a four-story mixed-use community path district along Brighton Street and Channing Road, and voted 5-0 to pull the roughly 400-unit Hill Estates apartment complex out of the rezoning "for now." Town Meeting member and Belmont Housing Trust member Michael McNamara warned that redevelopment could mean "the prices would rise and the families were there already would be forced out." Director of Planning and Building Chris Ryan said staff needs more time to craft tenant protections before Hill Estates returns to the plan. The board also approved a redesigned addition at 7 Broad Street, ordered an independent peer review for a disputed addition at 45 Chestnut Street, and continued the Belmont Housing Authority's 140-unit Sherman Gardens redevelopment hearing, which carries $2.1 million in Community Preservation funding, to August 4.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of July 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.