Lorene Melvin
27 Lafayette Street
Arlington MA 02474

28 July 18, 2014

lmelvin1@aol.com


To the members of the Arlington Conservation Commission:

I live on Lafayette Street, two streets up from the Alewife Brook. We have had two terrible floods in our East Arlington neighborhood since I moved here, once with 14 inches in my basement. Permits are now being signed off by the towns of Belmont and Cambridge to allow a Pennsylvania company to raze the entire Silver Maple Forest (about 700 old growth trees) and construct 299 housing units. This forest is essential in absorbing waters from the Belmont Uplands and Arlington Heights. It also is the home for deer, herons, several species of warblers, orioles, grosbeaks, coyote, badgers, mink and a stop over for many species of migrating birds including the rare prothonotary warbler.

Plans are underway to attempt to stop the development of this unique urban flood plain forest either by the purchase of the land through open space funding or to use updated EPA reports on the increase in rain projections for the regions (from 100 year floods to 30 year floods) to deny building permits. The last EPA reports used to access the impact of further development were compiled over a decade ago and did not incorporate new information on the increase of rainfall for New England due to climate change.

As a board member of Friends of the Alewife Reservation, I am asking the conservation committee to encourage the town to both pass a resolution against the further development of the Alewife flood plain and to join with Belmont and Cambridge selectmen in purchasing the forest.


Thank you for your consideration on this matter.