The following was submitted by Ellen Mass, of Friends of Alewife Reservation (FAR), one of the groups opposing the Belmont Uplands project

Maintaining open spaces at the Alewife Reservation is a battle that shows no sign of abating.  Even as global warming ensures more heavy precipitation frequently flooding the entire area (March 2009), the multimillion-dollar development plan for “Discovery Park,” situated on a delicate “floodway,” continues to move forward.

That development along with four others planned for the area occupy the FEMA floodway and 100-year flood zone, increasing the likelihood of more frequent flooding and threatening the Reservation’s biodiversity and increasing displaced water runoff.

Tax dollars for the city of Cambridge, however, are taking precedence over sound environmental policy. To date, no cumulative water-elevation study, advised by FEMA in this area, has been performed. FEMA expanded its heavy flood zone designation in 2010 with rapid Cambridge permitting, while flood insurance maps were being finalized, seemingly to "squeak by."

 The Alewife area has been particularly plagued by development plans and strategies that have reduced the private area to tiny parcels. In 2000, the owner transferred the 15 or so parcels to himself or his trustee firm often for zero dollars.

 According to the book about the Arthur D. Little firm, then the world’s largest management company, the 1999 bankruptcy that O’Neill Properties was the recipient of for sales of $20 million was of great dismay to the ADL board.

the state Bankruptcy Court was interpreted to say that the case was one of “fraudulent conveyance” as the real assessment was made by the board was $45 million. There was a clamor for a lawsuit, but that was not completed.

Last March, several parcels, one of which was next to the Uplands,  continued to be bought and sold in preparation perhaps for maximizing profits once again or for extending square footage allowances.

The same property owner, who bought the 1999 ADL campus, continues to grow the value and floodplain development footprint at Discovery Park, all perfectly legal, one might say.

Further evidence of property-value manipulation exists in records of sales made in 2000 from AP Cambridge Partners LLC II to AP Cambridge Partners LLC – which turns out to be the same property owner.

Public trust in the permitting process, however, has been severely questioned and eroded. Keep in mind, the largest of our region’s floodplain is also the region’s health and safety net and wildlife refuge.

To date, two office building and a parking garage totaling 450,000 square feet have been built in Discovery Park, a floodway site adjacent to Route 2, just before the ramp comes into the Alewife T from the west. Two office buildings and a parking garage totaling over 500,000 square feet are also planned for Discovery Park.

Tenants are being sought. This is the size of 3 Walmarts.

 In addition to the development proposed for Discovery Park, two residential projects on adjacent parcels are ready to break ground in the floodway and 100-year flood zone.  The Residences at Alewife is a 254,000-square-foot, 229-unit apartment building slated for the old Faces site in Cambridge.  The 300,000-square-foot, 299-unit Residences at Acorn Park development is sited for the Silver Maple Forest in Belmont with around 3 acres in Cambridge.

Annie Thompson, East Arlington watershed resident and former geographic information systems instructor, reviewed development patterns at Alewife Reservation and along Route 2 for various city and state agencies, noting their location in the FEMA floodplain and even more tightly regulated FEMA “floodway.”

Thompson showed slides of the large concentration of development in “Discovery Park. Thompson presented a FEMA map to demonstrate the expansion of the “floodway” from 1982-2010 with its implication for an increased “no-build” zone. 

FEMA can base floodplain development decisions on a “cumulative-impact” standard that measures impervious surface water table elevation, and they highly recommend that it should be done. The city must then make sure the developer carries out and provides this study.