News & Press

Carol Kennedy Berberian officially announces her candidacy for the Belmont Select Board and will appear on the ballot in the Tuesday, April 7th town election.

Berberian is a lifelong Belmont resident, small business owner, longtime civic volunteer, and parent of two Belmont Public Schools students who will bring experienced, steady, and inclusive leadership to the town's executive branch.

The review of the town’s policy follows a Town Meeting vote in July 2025 authorizing the Select Board to file a Home Rule petition with the state that would allow the town to ease its seating capacity requirements for establishments that wish to obtain a liquor license. The proposal initially came in the form of a citizen petition, filed by residents Carol Berberian and Max Colice.

Belmont Historical Society Board Member, Carol Berberian, serves on the Library Working Group's transition team. She worked with the Library Trustees to help facilitate the organization's move to the new Claflin Room.

Carol Berberian, a former planning board member, has pulled nomination papers to run for the Select Board seat currently held by Dionne.

Nomination papers are now available from Cushman’s office. The last day to file signed papers is Feb 17, 2026. The last day to register to vote in Belmont’s town election is March 28, 2026.

Ms. Berberian is widely respected throughout Belmont.

The current Moderator, Michael Crowley, passed over two extremely qualified Warrant Committee candidates, Jeff Birenbaum, the former Planning Board Chair, and Carol Berberian, now a former Planning Board Vice Chair, both of whom had overwhelming support from his newly created Moderator’s Advisory Committee (MAC).

Effectively, the article authorizes the Select Board to file a Home Rule petition with the Massachusetts Legislature “so as to expand eligibility for restaurants and simplify the application process for restaurants, the Select Board, and the staff,” according to Carol Berberian, who filed the citizen petition along with resident Max Colice.

A second citizen petition passed Wednesday night with no discussion. That petition sought to eliminate the seating capacity requirement for all-alcohol licenses, increase the number of licenses available, and modify policies to simplify eligibility requirements.

“As times have continued to change, we’ve seen towns take steps to expand their licensing standards … to encourage new restaurants to come to their town,” said Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Carol Berberian, who filed the petition with Max Colice.

That article also passed, 189-6, with 5 abstentions, authorizing the Select Board to file a Home Rule petition with the Legislature “so as to expand eligibility for restaurants and simplify the application process for restaurants, the Select Board, and the staff.”

In addition to offering existing businesses a way to grow their bottom line, Berberian said easing the seating capacity might encourage prospective restaurants to open in town.

“We do have smaller spaces available, and if you can only have a certain number of seats … you’ll most likely choose another town,” she said.

According to Colice and Berberian, the petitions grew from recent conversations around economic development.

“There is an immediate interest and really a need for some of these people,” Berberian told Select Board members on April 7. “They’ve talked about how tight their margins are and how this could move the needle and change things.”

The board will want restrictions on any “by-right” hotels in the overlay district. “Hotels, in general, have been a very popular point of discussion. But there’s been a lot of conservation about, should they be boutique? Should we have 200 rooms” said the board’s Carol Berberian. “I think that as long as there are some standards in place, it’ll just give us an idea of what to expect.” 

After four hours of discussion, Town Meeting members approved amendments to the accessory dwelling unit bylaw, officially bringing the town into compliance with a new state law.

That law, signed by Gov. Maura Healey in August as part of the $5.1 billion housing bond bill, allows accessory dwelling units (ADUs) by right in districts that allow for single-family zoning. According to the state, the new law aims to jumpstart housing production and make it easier for families to find affordable places to live.

Up until Feb. 2, when the law went into effect, Belmont only allowed ADUs by special permit in historic accessory buildings, such as a carriage house, according to Planning Board member Carol Berberian. However, those restrictions are no longer enforceable.

In the meantime, the town is, however, protected in the sense that underlying zoning — such as setback requirements and linear and dimensional requirements — remains in place.

“After Feb. 2, if someone comes to the building department in Belmont, with a permit application for an accessory dwelling unit that is consistent with the new laws, that application should be generally approved by the Town of Belmont, even though it will not be in compliance with our bylaw.”

“Like many other towns, we have accessory dwelling units in existence that were either in place before the bylaw was in place or just have not been permitted,” Berberian said.

According to the state, the new law aims to jumpstart housing production and make it easier for families to find affordable places to live.

“You can have an ADU that is strictly rental,” Planning Board member Carol Berberian said at a recent Planning Board meeting. “From meeting with the Age Friendly Action Committee, they do feel that’s a really viable option for seniors who are looking to stay in their homes.”

“The biggest challenge … [is] it’s too restrictive to do based on what we have here, and there would be very few instances where you’d actually be able to have them outside the envelope of the structure,” Berberian said.

“I think we’re all committed to an open and fair process and regardless of our views on [individual maps], I think we go through a fair open process and so it makes sense to vet these both,” said Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne.

Planning Board Vice Chair Carol Berberian echoed a similar sentiment.

“The more information we have, the better we are going to be,” she said.

On Tuesday, the Planning Board agreed to have Yates and Vice Chair Carol Ann Berberian meet with Epstein and Town Planner Chris Ryan to finalize the map before sending it to Utile for a final check. If it clears those hurdles, it will be submitted an application to the state for a pre-compliance check.

On Monday, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin explained that initially, the now-disbanded MBTA Advisory Committee received a grant from the Massachusetts Area Planning Council.

“As the committee was wrapping up, the Planning Board was well-equipped to take the ball and start running with it,” she said. “We tried to carve out some money we found in the budget to give to the Planning Board … to [spend] using Utile to get us to a map we could present to Town Meeting. Unfortunately, some of those funds have been nearly exhausted.”

Of roughly $50,000, about $6,400 remains, she said. The Planning Board originally requested roughly $12,800 to fund about 80 hours of consulting work.

“We are heavily residential … I feel like we’ve done our share for the region, and we could try to do more, but we can’t stretch ourselves too thin,” said Planning Board member Renee Guo.

The town is looking to submit its pre-compliance report by either June 13 or June 28, with one timeline allowing for a bit more room for public input. The state would then have 90 days to review the map before the zoning change can be brought to Town Meeting for a vote. Faced with tight deadlines, Carol Ann Berberian, a member of the subcommittee, asked last week whether additional options were being considered in the event the submitted map fails to meet compliance.

Change is on the ballot, Belmont – new faces and new ideas. Join me in voting for them!

With that, here are my recommendations for the contested races in this April’s Town Election.

Berberian wanted some guarantee the canopies would be installed once the occupancy permit has been issued, and asked if $20,000 could be set aside to ensure this would happen.

Lovallo assured her the building committee would install the canopies.

The vote was three-to-two, with Lowrie, Thayer Donham, and Karl Haglund voting to approve the proposal, while Carol Berberian and Jeff Birenbaum voted no at the meeting held virtually on Tuesday, April 11.

In a prologue to what was a swift review of the proposal, Lowrie presented the legal next steps for critics if they choose to challenge the board’s decision.

Lifelong Belmont resident, Carol Ann Kennedy, was elected to Town Meeting as a representative of Precinct Five.

Belmont High School Senior Carol Kennedy delivers food being donated to the Belmont Food Pantry.