Warrant Committee Deadlocks on Belmont Center Zoning Ahead of Special Town Meeting

BELMONT -- February 25, 2026, Belmont's Warrant Committee deadlocked 6-6 on the flagship Belmont Center Overlay District ahead of the March 4 Special Town Meeting. The committee spent more than two hours debating whether its mandate extends beyond fiscal analysis before voting 8-5-2 to take a position on Article 2 at all, then failing to produce a majority recommendation when the final tally on favorable action tied at 6-6 with four abstentions. A separate 9-6-1 vote recommended favorable action on Amendment 1 to Article 2, which would substitute the word "reserved" for the entire article, effectively signaling that a plurality supports sending the plan back to the Planning Board. Town Administrator Patrice Garvin warned the committee that if the reserved amendment passes at Town Meeting, the session would be functionally over for zoning purposes, because Article 3, the Center Gateway Overlay District, relies on cross-references to Article 2; the committee voted 8-2-6 to recommend favorable action on Article 3 as written, and 8-7-1 in favor of reserving that article as well.