Though the necessity for a brand new ice rink and area home in Belmont is nice, such a facility received’t be coming to city anytime quickly after residents voted in opposition to the $33.5 million undertaking on Election Day.
The undertaking is the one one which isn’t transferring ahead out of main native poll questions throughout Greater Boston that sought tens of millions in funding for large development initiatives. In truth, Belmont residents overwhelmingly accredited a $39.5 million referendum for a brand new public library throughout the road from the ice rink on Concord Avenue.
About 52% of Belmont voters mentioned “no” to the brand new ice rink facility, whereas 58% mentioned “yes” to the brand new library, in accordance with unofficial election outcomes posted in town web site Tuesday.
If accredited, the ice-rink request would have changed the present facility with a brand new one which had extra locker rooms for numerous highschool sports activities groups and extra loos and water bottle refill stations, in accordance with the advocacy committee Yes4Rink.
The new facility would have had the flexibility to be open year-round, with the rink turning right into a concrete ground for use for different actions throughout hotter months, the committee states on its web site. Belmont Recreation has pushed again the opening date for the rink a number of weeks because of the latest hotter temperatures.
Belmont Youth Hockey Association, an area nonprofit, raised roughly $2 million, previous to the election. A debt exclusion, or a short lived improve in property taxes past the boundaries of Proposition 2.5, would have funded the remaining undertaking prices.
“We believe the outcome is more of a reflection of the current financial times rather than this specific project’s worth,” Yes4Rink states on its web site.
Construction of the brand new library is slated to start in 2024 and shall be funded via a debt exclusion. The expectation is for the brand new constructing, positioned on the identical web site as the present library, to open three years after funding has been secured on the city degree, in accordance with the Belmont Library Foundation.
Roughly 63% of Brookline voters accredited a $65-million debt exclusion for renovation of 4 of the city’s hearth stations and reconstruction of its fifth and ultimate hearth station on Babcock Street.
Hingham gave the greenlight to the biggest native query in Massachusetts, with 71% of voters approving a $113 million development undertaking for a brand new pre-kindergarten-grade 5 Foster Elementary School. The city additionally gave thumbs as much as $46.7 million for development of a public security facility that may home the Hingham Police Department and North Fire Station, which serves the northwest portion of city.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”