Letter to Precinct 6 TMMs: Overlay Zoning

Dear Town Meeting Member of Precinct 6,

I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed zoning change that would allow a hotel to be built in close proximity to the high school. As many residents have already voiced, hotels bring documented safety risks that are not appropriate next to a school.

Peer-reviewed research supports these concerns.

A 2022 study by Bowen et al. found that hotel and lodging properties experienced the highest number of violent crimes among business types, with violent crime occurring at twice the rate of restaurants and bars (1).

Leung et al. (2018) reported that crimes connected to hotels were divided into 36.8% statutory crimes (drug-related and prostitution), 45.7% property crimes, and 17.4% personal crimes (2). The same study identified crime locations as 18% inside guest rooms, 35.4% inside the hotel, 17.2% on hotel property, 28.7% outside the hotel, and 0.6% unknown (2). Given the proposed location near the high school, our children would potentially be in proximity to roughly half of these incidents.

LeBeau et al. (2012) classified hotels as both crime generators (“bases for criminal activity”) and crime attractors (“criminal opportunity”), which is uncommon for most businesses (3).

The closest comparable town, Winchester, has no hotels within its borders. Surrounding communities primarily have smaller inns (fewer than 44 rooms). Huang et al. (1998) found that the number of rooms significantly impacts crime rates, with smaller properties associated with lower crime levels (5). Even those smaller inns are not located next to schools.

The Department of Homeland Security has identified sex trafficking as a concern within the hospitality industry (6). A Cornell University report estimated that hotels are involved in 65% of drug trafficking cases, including both luxury and economy properties (7).

The 2024 RKG Associates Market Analysis for Belmont projects only 35 additional rooms within a three-mile radius (4). However, the Cambridge Point development is already underway and will add a new hotel, altering those projections significantly against Belmont.

References:

Bowen DA, Anthony KM, Sumner SA. Business and property types experiencing excess violent crime: a micro-spatial analysis. J Inj Violence Res. 2022;14(1):1-10. doi:10.5249/jivr.v14i1.1566.
Leung XY, Yang Y, Dubin EA. What are guests scared of? Crime-related hotel experiences and fear of crime. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 2018;35(8):1071-1086.
LeBeau et al. (2012). Sleeping with strangers: hotels and motels as crime attractors and crime generators. In: Patterns, Prevention, and Geometry of Crime. Routledge.
RKG Associates (2024). Town of Belmont, MA Market Analysis Summary Report.
Huang et al. (1998). Exploring the Relationship Between Hotel Characteristics and Crime. Hospitality Review Journal.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Human Trafficking and the Hospitality Industry.
Cornell University News (2017). Student work sheds light on hotels’ dark side of sex trafficking.

These concerns are not theoretical. Recent local reports include:

A sex trafficking ring operating in hotels in Lexington, Newton, and Waltham (9).
Prostitution stings in Burlington and Woburn hotels (2, 3).
A kidnapping incident at a Cambridge hotel (12).
Drug trafficking cases in Watertown, Waltham, Burlington, and Newton hotels (1, 5, 10, 13).
Shots fired at a Natick hotel (4).
Arrests of dangerous individuals at hotels in Lexington, Burlington, and Waltham (6, 8, 11, 16).

Looking specifically at Lexington Police logs, officers intervened in local hotels 42 times in 2025 over a 49-week period, with four weeks missing from the public page. These reports only cover police intervention at the hotel address, not any other events connected with hotel residents outside of the premise.

The Boston Globe has reported that hotels are locations where registered sex offenders may rent rooms or work. During the migrant crisis, reporting highlighted risks to families placed in hotel shelters, including lack of protection from individuals with concerning backgrounds (14).

Is this the type of establishment we want overlooking our high school and athletic fields?

Belmont is known for its strong school district, which continues to attract young families. The 2024 RKG report notes that Belmont is not following broader aging demographic trends. Our responsibility is to protect our children.

As a parent of two young children, I respectfully urge you to vote “no” on the Gateway Overlay District on March 4th. I am looking forward to seeing you there.

Thank you for your time.