Belmont schedules March 3 public hearings on watershed and stormwater ordinance revisions

City staff presented proposed revisions intended to tighten Belmont's rules for watershed protection and citywide stormwater controls and the council voted to set public hearings for March 3, 2025.

The proposed changes would clarify how the city calculates low- and high-density development, set grandfathering benchmarks for older development, expand city jurisdiction for stormwater review, add stream buffers and require detention for larger storm events. A staff presenter said, "Anything that was built before 1993 is basically grandfathered in," and recommended using 1993 as a benchmark so later additions count toward density limits.

Why it matters: council members said the revisions would close loopholes that have allowed repeated additions to avoid…