Good evening. Noting the time and the presence of a quorum, I'd like to bring this September 8th, 2025 meeting of the act and select board to order. We'll start out as we usually do at with
residents concerns and uh we will be trying to move ahead expeditiously. So, we're going to once again observe the threeminut rule or presentations.
Any resident concerns? Okay, we'll move ahead. Um, member minute chair update. Um the one item that I have is like to recognize uh the passing of
Barbara Wilson. She served for many years on the Council on Aging. She actually had a doctorate in gerontology. She was extraordinarily wellqualified. Um and she was a a great person and pleasure to work with. Uh she served on
the council on aging and also on the uh senior center building committee for a number of years. So, she will certainly be missed. Uh, that's the only update that I have. I will uh hand it off to the town manager.
Thank you. Just a reminder that the uh September 11th ceremony will be taking place uh this week on September 11th. Um it starts right at 9:55 a.m., but we encourage members of the public that are planning to attend to get there a few minutes early. And it'll be a brief
ceremony, but it's always very moving. So hopefully people can attend. It's located at the public safety facility which is 371 Main Street and there should be enough parking there. If not, someone will help direct you uh to a place to park. Um
I also wanted to mention just a appreciation for the residents for the patience that folks have shown uh with all the road work and construction in the community. uh we we work very hard to get projects and road work projects implemented but
um the actual doing the work creates some um frustration for people. So fortunately we just finished the Prospect Street and Main Street intersection project uh which really improved that intersection in a way that makes it much safer. There's a new traffic pattern that hopefully people
have figured out. Um it is safer uh if they follow it appropriately. Uh but we're still working on some pretty major road work projects in Kelly's Corner and in down in Powder Mill. So thanks again for the for people's patience. Uh and
we'll that we're working to try to get the entities that are doing these projects to finish them as quickly as possible. But uh Kelly's Corner is going to be continuing through the fall and into the winter and hopefully will be substantially completed before the snow starts to set in. And then all will be
left after that will be sort of the finished touches, the plantings and the final p uh paintings and things like that. So uh thank you for your patience and if there's any questions, please reach out directly to to me to my office uh manager actmma.gov if you have any
questions about road work. Thanks. All right. Um comments or items of interest from my colleagues? David Uh thank you. Uh two things. I just wanted to let folks know that the school
committee um has um dived more deeply into its uh AB forward uh strategic planning and restructuring effort. Um at their last meeting, the school committee was presented with a report um on some background data compiled during the
summer. And now the subcommittee um needs to uh work on and make recommendations um to the uh school committee as to what to do with that data. Um also I wanted to mention that at its August meetings the finance committee um had two groups of college
interns present uh reports on financial topics that they each investigated. Um all the um the reports were really interesting and I encourage you to watch them on ACT TV. Thank you. Thanks. I just have a few items. I
wanted to give another reminder about the immigration education forum that is happening at Great Road Church tomorrow evening, Tuesday, September 9th, from 7 to 900 p.m. Um, we're going to be joined by an immigration attorney. uh do some
roleplaying and we'll have lots of resources to learn about um rights of immigrants, bystanders, and businesses. And the the forum is sponsored by um the Peacemakers Network, Chelmsford Connect,
and Indivisible Act and Area. This Saturday, September 13th, from 10 to 1 at the Memorial Library, um the library and Green Actton are uh coordinating to offer another fix it clinic. I believe they're quarterly now. Um volunteer
experts will be on hand to help you learn how to repair small appliances, toys, clothing, electronics, and more. And finally, this sounds like a really fun event. On Wednesday night, there's going to be a senior's night out at
Velvet Vine Cafe from 6:00 to 9:00. Um, registration is required through the economic development office. You can find info on the website, but I think that they're going to be playing a lot of music from, I don't know, the 50s and 60s. So, senior's night out. I think I'm
too young to go, but sounds like fun. Thank you, Fran. I have uh just a few announcements. I wanted to recognize Actton's own cucurbit farm. Um it they were one of
the wi winners of the 2025 Massachusetts tomato contest winners. They won for best slicing tomato. And this event is held in August and sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and the New England Vegetable
and Berry Growers Association. The event highlights locally sourced produce during peak harvest season and this year the contest received 101 entries from 19 farms located all over Massachusetts.
And another um event folks might be uh you know familiar with in town is the 10th annual scarecrow contest hosted at Cuc Kerbet Farm that benefits the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Central Middle Sex. And
to enter uh a scarecrow, bring a $25 donation to Cucet Farm at 32 Parker Street in Actton and pick up your scarecrow starter frame. then drop off your familyfriendly scarecrow at the farm stand.
And I think you have all of September to do so. Um I also too wanted to announce a tremendous loss in our community. Um Margaret Miley who left this world in July will be terribly missed. I thought if I
waited a few months it would be less raw. But uh she was a tireless advocate for economic justice um and an an incredible gardener, wife, and mother. Uh Margaret was a founding member of the Midas Collaborative where she served as
Midas' executive director from 2002 to 2016. Uh, the MIDI collaborative works to advance the financial security of low and moderate income residents across Massachusetts in collaboration with its
members, member organizations, and partners. Margaret's visionary leadership laid the groundwork for what would become a statewide movement to promote economic opportunity and financial empowerment through match savings and asset
building. Margaret had an incredible sense of humor. She was down to earth and had great taste in music. And she will be missed, but her legacy lives on in her two beautiful children, Colin and Fiona. Thank you.
Okay. Um we'll move on to new and special business. Uh item three, presentation on tax exempt programs by principal assessor CJ Carol. Go ahead. Uh members of the board, I think, uh this was mentioned briefly in the budget
preview last week or last meeting uh of some of the tax exemption work that we're doing here. But uh CJ, our principal assessor, is here to go into some more details and answer any questions you may have about our current tax exemption programs and talk about a
new one that uh he's been looking into. CJ, thank you. It's good to see all of you again. Um, so I'm CJ Carroll, principal assessor here in Actton. Been here about um going on 3 years. Um, so what I want
to talk to you about today is first um is some of the surrounding communities tax exemption totals as compared to Actton's. This is the slide that John mentioned. and he had touched on in a select board meeting uh recently a couple weeks ago. But um I just wanted
to highlight it a little bit more because I think that it's you know representative of um one some of the goals that I know the board set forward recently um but also because I think it's a a really good reflection of the work that um that uh my staff puts in.
Um, so if you look here, um, in 2025, Actton provided just short of $670,000 in tax relief. Um, that's across a few a few different programs, um, to a few different, uh, demographics of people that I'll go over in the next slide. Um,
but I laid out other communities in the area and the totals that they they've provided recently. Um, and the only two, if you notice, who have totals higher are Newton and Lexington. And those numbers that are a little bit cut off
there, those are actually their deferral totals. So, if you take out deferrals, which are of course amounts that do need to be repaid, not exemptions, that you know, they are due back to the town with interest at some point. Um, your totals for those two towns are uh 247,000 and
160,000 respectively. Um, so who is eligible for these programs? Um, the the biggest group of people that we see and that, um, Marty in our office meets with and sometimes ends up driving around to make sure
paperwork gets filled out for are the seniors. Um, people over 65 typically, uh, meeting certain income and asset qualifications. Uh, the programs that, uh, seniors can qualify for in town be clause 41C. Um that's your um fairly
standard. Most uh towns uh recognize the statutory exemption. Um and it um we have a few dozen seniors who qualify for this. You also have your clause 17, which is surviving spouse, not to be confused with the surviving spouse that
I'll touch on a little bit later. Um you have your circuit breaker, which I'm going to highlight in a little bit. and um your 41A which is a deferral similar to a hardship exemption but deferral is probably the ones used by the other
communities um frequently. Um the second group that we see a lot of disabled veterans um the uh the people who qualify for this is anyone it's all the clause 22 exemptions anyone with any disability rating from
the VA. Um, and there's there's several different options based on um what uh disabilities that they're dealing with. Um, next one you have surviving spouses. Um, this one does uh relate to disabled veterans as well. You have your uh
clause 22Ds, which is gold star families. Um, people whose uh partner or spouse um died as a result of their service. Uh you also have clause 42 which is the same thing for police and
fire. Um blind persons are clause 40 clause 37s and then you have um individuals in situations of extreme hardship. So this can kind of span a broader uh demographic and uh that would be the the clause 18s. Um applicable to
everyone is a CPA exemption with income some of the higher income restrictions but anyone can qualify for a CPA exemption as well. So, one of the reasons I wanted to talk today is to highlight the circuit breaker exemption. Um, this is an
exemption that um uses the Massachusetts income tax credit called the circuit breaker. Um, and it does require that the applicant be qualified in the previous year for that circuit breaker from Massachusetts on their income taxes form called the CB1. Um,
it's interesting in Actton. um it actually provides on average a little bit more relief than um the statutory exemption that most communities have adopted relating to the circuit breaker. And the reason for that is because it piggybacks on the clause 18 hardship rather than adopting what the what the
state actually later um created as a framework. Uh so what what it does here in actton is it ensures that real estate taxes do not exceed 10% of the adjusted gross income of the individual. The only exception to that is that the exemption can only be up to 50% of the taxes
charged for the year. Um the reason we want to highlight it is because we get about 20 applicants annually. Um we know for sure that there's one more people who already receive the circuit break from the state and two far more people who would qualify for the circuit break
from the state. And um it's something that requires a little bit more leg work for the applicant because they do have to go do this income tax piece. Um, but you know, it's something that's definitely well worth it in the next year when you actually do qualify. It can I mean, the average person receives
um about $2,000 per applicant um on average because that that's 42,000 for the um for the total uh last year is what was um given. So, the um Oh, and I do want
to mention too that um I talked to Sharon over at the COA. Income tax experts are available every year in February um for seniors to go to and and talk to about this. And if you mention the CB1 form, they're going to be able to help you fill it out. Um so, the last thing I want to talk
about today is the new exemption option that um that was passed in 2024. It's chapter 59, section 50. Um, it's interesting. It's a little bit different than anything else that I think the state offers as far as statutory
exemptions and it's certainly different than anything that Actton has in place currently. So, it's something that I wanted to bring to the attention of the board and and just kind of um put the information in front of you to start. So, what it does is it provides an incentive for property owners to rent
units at an affordable housing rate to specifically lowincome tenants. Uh, there is a lot of flexibility within that. um for the town to determine how they want to institute this. Um there are a few requirements. Um there's a limit on the exemption amount. The ratio
of qualifying square footage in a rental property can needs to be the same or higher than the percent exemption. So, you know, if you have a $10,000 tax bill and a 1,000 ft home, if you uh rent 500
square ft of that,000, your exemption can only be $5,000. Um, the other things, rents must be in line with affordable rental rates, which go in line with HUD guidelines. Um, income restrictions cannot exceed 200% of area median income. Uh and uh and
then the town can institute any other requirements that it sees fit to meet the needs of the community. A really good example of that, I I I called the DLS data bank. Um they're a really good resource for exemption materials and they told me that Haritch down the Cape
was the only town that's actually instituted this, at least that the state knows of. So it could have passed at a recent town meeting and they don't know yet. um and they used it in a really creative way where um they're struggling with short-term rentals being the only thing that makes sense for property
owners. And so your local um people who work at the grocery store, work at the local town hall necessarily have an affordable option to live. And so what they did is they structured it in a way that provides those people a means of it
provides property owners a reason to rent long-term to lower income people. And so I think that um it's it could be a really great tool um if we could creatively think of a way to use it in a in a way that makes more sense for
Actton's goals, Actton's exemption goals. Um so the next steps from here, um I have a meeting with the board of assessors tomorrow. Um first one since the beginning of the summer and it's something that I want to discuss with them, see if they have any ideas, see what their thoughts are. I think it's
important, you know, as as the ones who approve or deny these exemptions, um, you know, they really have a good feel for what makes sense for the community. Um, it's also important that we conduct a study to determine the potential benefits to the community and how we
would want to structure this exemption in a way that would benefit the community. It's not something that there's a a framework laid out by neighboring communities. So, it's, you know, we would really need to make sure that we do it in a way that that makes sense and that actually gives these
property owners a a reason to use it because it if we institute it and it and it financially doesn't make sense for anyone to use, then it likely won't be used. So, I've been talking to the um regional housing services office um to get some affordability numbers and to figure out what would make sense
potentially. Um if it's approved and um supported then we would then bring it to town meeting for consideration. Anyone have any questions? Jim, um this is an exciting new program.
Thanks for bringing it to us. Um, and I'm not surprised that, you know, we might be the only only the second town in the Commonwealth to do this because, you know, you you and the board and the manager have been clear that we want to, you know, maximize what we can do with
um, you know, with exemptions because of the high cost of housing in Actton. Um so some questions um lowincome tenants um is who verifies what's the
verification process is that laid out in in the law or is that something we get to invent? Yeah, that's a good question and maybe something I should have brought up. So when the application is taken in by our office as with with most there are certain required materials that need to
be presented. Um the two main ones for this would be the lease um to show that it is in fact leased to the individual and and all the qualifications are met on that end. And the other um and potentially a hurdle for some is the um
income tax returns of the tenant. M so you it wouldn't be something as simple as oh they've proved their eligibility for I don't know the the you know um fuel assistance or something like that. You we actually have to look
at actual income tax data. That's a good question. I I I don't know off the top of my head if it is if the only acceptable materials we can take are income tax returns. Okay. That's typically what we do take for any incomerestricted exemptions, but given that it's not the actual property owner
that we're taking it for, it's it's possible there's some flexibility there. I can look into that. Okay. Um these um these rental property units would not have to be deed affordable units, right? It's just the question of
the rent being low enough to meet some, you know, like whatever percentage of of mean income we we decide is appropriate. Is that right? Correct. There can be an an existing affordability restriction on the property, but all that's required here is that the deed actually implements the
existing um affordable rent rate, whatever it might be. Okay. Um and uh would this h this would have to be um reverified every year um as you know as tenants change and all that?
I would I would think so. um if something like a three-year lease were to be signed, um it's possible, like I said. So, there's a lot of um there's a lot of flexibility built into this and there's
a really goodformational guideline release um that the DLS put out that might give a little more clarity to these things. Um so, I I don't know that for sure because it might be something that could be flexible. Okay. Um and final question would be um
affordable housing rates uh is that uh defined by state law or are we do do we still get to have a discussion about what percentage of area mean income would be deemed affordable? So as far as area median income goes um those numbers
are defined by HUD. um the town would get to determine what percent of area median income is applicable to this exemption in terms of affordable rental rates. That's something that is a little bit less u black and white. I've been talking to uh Jod at the regional um
housing office um and she's going to provide me with some good numbers in terms of affordability. A lot of times it does have to do with HUD's official uh fair market rent rates. Um, but I think there's a little bit more to it than that that I'm I'm not I'm not the expert on. So, I'll have to find out
more in the study that we do. Okay. I mean, if we do have um some flexibility there, um it seems to me initially without act having actual data to look at that the the lower the percentage we can go for, the more it's
going to benefit the people that need it the most. But I understand there's a there's a point of diminishing returns where if you set it too low, no no no no property owner is going to take that uh you know reduction in rent. Um yeah,
David, uh thank you. Um and thank you CJ. Um I was just reading between the lines here. You didn't actually say these words, but I assume the town has to pass a bylaw to turn this on. Is that correct? It would need to pass a town meeting, right? It's a bylaw pass town meeting
that would gets added to our list of bylaws. I presume I believe it's a local adoption that town meeting would adopt that statute and then how it's implemented could be through policies and procedures or I suppose a bylaw, but bylaw isn't
required. Okay. So we if the policies and procedures were involved whether they or some of them or uh we we might want a bylaw right because to say whatever our restrictions were in it and then allow the assessor's office to you know to you
know add any additional regulations. Um I'm wondering if um can and this is kind of one of those one of those things if um our way of implementing this could involve you know if if I'm understanding you with the tenants um uh tax returns
required if we could set this up in a way that once the tenant qualifies then we let the um landlord know and they reduce the rent, you know, rather than the
reverse, right? You know, I I you know, you to me in my mind, it's what what came what comes first in this action. Do they try to rent an apartment at a lower rate and then provide their tax return or do they rent an apartment at a higher rate, provide their tax return, and we coordinate with the landlord to say,
"Okay, we will exempt this amount of taxes in return for you to lower the um uh the rent to this this level." Anyway, it seems to me to figuring out that Dance is part of this uh bylaw. That's I hadn't considered the logistics
of applying it in that way from case to case and that's interesting. I think you're probably right. Yeah. Um so any we have we have to we have to figure that out and and did I understand you correctly that this is prorated by area of the building. And so if there's
10 apartments uh each at 1,000 square ft and um 2,000 of uh two apartments or 2,000 square feet are uh done then 20% of the taxes would be reduced. So that's completely up to the town that
that is so there there's a limit related to that where the ratio of exempt dollars cannot be higher than the ratio of qualifying square feet. But if we wanted to to implement it in a way where it was a percentage exemption based on how many square feet of the building, we
could do it that way. If we wanted a dollar amount per unit in the building that was qualifying, we could do it that way. And I think that's an important those are important things to think about when we conduct this study because different types of property owners are going to see different benefits depending on how we do that when we want
to make sure that it it makes the most sense, like I said, for our goals. But that it's super it's very flexible the way the law is written. Yeah. Yes. I I completely understand now that so that's that's just the the limit. That's not the value. Um so it it seems to me that we definitely want a bylaw here, right? Because we'd want to
institute that dollar amount or percentage or whatever we chose in a bylaw, right? That just doesn't want to be uh you know uh kind of off the cuff. I think we want to and encode that in in the law. So, I'm
I'm definitely interested that that we pursue this. Um um I I'm in favor of um asking the uh RHSO for um their recommendations and details as to how many units it might cover and that kind of thing. You know, coordinating with
the assessor's office. So, anyway, I think this is great. Thank you, Alo. Thank you. Thanks, CJ. Um, so I thought Jim had asked all my questions, but now that I've heard a couple more from David, I have uh some thoughts. I think
that the logistics are going to be very important cuz I would be really concerned about someone signing a lease for a certain rent, expecting and hoping that it would be dropped and then what if it doesn't? What if something gets mixed up? I mean, that happens right
now, right? people sign leases um for rents that they can't truly afford and and then are um evicted. Um so logistics are important. And then my question is um what would happen? Say I have an
apartment building 10 units and one of them qualifies. Um, would I then be able as a landlord to recoup the the lost rent from lowering the rent on
the one apartment by raising the rent on the nine others and also get the benefit of the of the tax reduction? Is there something that we can put into place to prevent that from happening? I don't I don't know. I think that you
would hope that the rental market would prevent that itself because if you just rent a bunch of units at 10% over what the market allows, either the market's too low or people aren't going to rent it. Um, but it's an interesting question
just to make sure that nobody's double dipping in a way getting this exemption without actually in reality providing any relief um that they're promising. So, it's it's definitely an interesting thing to to consider when creating this. Thanks,
Brian. I have nothing really to add. I am I'm in favor of this. Um, and I would think that kinks like signing a lease would be worked out because I don't think you would sign a lease for an amount you are
not going to pay. So, I think a landlord has to be on board, right? and and advertise them as such. So that's just my comment. Thank you.
Uh CJ, this Okay, go ahead Dave. Um, so I just wanted to say m maybe there to to camp on to what uh PR and and Alyssa said, maybe there could be some kind of program where a uh a landlord qualifies and agrees um that you know any tenant
that qualifies they will give the reduction. So they um uh give the discount and obviously I don't think it can be a one for one discount. So, if the discount qualifies, say $500 reduction in taxes um for one apartment,
maybe maybe 80% of that goes to the tenant and 25% reduces the landlord's overhead. So, um I don't know what the the right numbers are, but um that that's the kind of um that's one of the things that that kind of analysis is one
of the things that the RHSO helps with. That's pretty exciting. Thank you. Uh thank you CJ. This was great. Uh yeah, I agree with my colleagues that this is
certainly worth exploring. I'll be interested to see uh results of the deliberations from the uh board of assessors and our HSO. Um, as far as the rest of your presentation, I hope that you will send this PDF off to the, uh, Council on
Aging because as liaison to that group, uh, I can tell you that this bar graph here would be very interesting to them. Um, the issue of high taxes comes up at
virtually every COE board meeting. So, um, this might be reassuring to some folks or at least show what we're trying to do. Thank you. Thank you all. See the classification hearing. Okay. Uh it is 6:30
and we have a uh public hearing. Notice is hereby given that the select board will hold a public hearing on September 8th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in the Francis Faulner hearing room 204, Actton Town Hall,
472 Main Street, and remotely by video conference and call in on the application of Santa Fe Burrito Grill, Actton LLC. For a pledge of license located at 297 Main Street, Actton, Mass.
From computer, please click on the link to join the public meeting at www.acttonmma.gov/me/ GV/meing SB or from a telephone dial 646 876-9923
and enter webinar ID number 503-918-785. Telephone users may dial star9 to request to speak after joining the meeting. Computer and app users may use the raise hand feature in request to speak. Is the applicant present?
Yes, we believe that there's someone representing Santa Fe Burrito here in the room. Um maybe in the virtual room. Okay, hold on. Dawson Cooper, you should be able to speak uh now.
Good evening. Uh, my name is Dawson Cooper. I'm an attorney at Upton Canel in Devlin. I'm here to represent Santa Fe Burrito Grill Actton LLC. Um, Santa Fe Burrito Grill is seeking to pledge its liquor license as collateral to Northern Bank and Trust
Company as part of a loan agreement to assist with both the refinancing of their existing locations and the acquisition of a new Santa Fe Burrito Grill location. Okay. Uh, thank you. um we don't see this pledge of license uh
issue come up much in the pa in in the past. Could you explain a little bit more about the technicalities behind this? Um yeah, so simply it's it's just that um Santa Fe
Burrito Grill has six liquor licenses that they're pledging. Um, basically they're getting a loan in exchange for issuing each of those licenses as collateral. So, if and I'll look to town staff as well
to give us some reassurance on this. If your client defaulted on the loan, uh would the bank then take possession of the license and effectively cut the select board out of
the process of issuing such licenses? Um, yeah, they wouldn't cut you guys out. Um, I I believe it would still have to go to um another hearing before they could issue it to someone else or do anything with it. Um, but they would
take possession of it. Yes. Thank you. Um, questions from my colleagues. Alyssa. Um I have a question about the six licenses that are being um issued as
collateral. I'm assuming that only one of those is in Actton and the five others are in other municipalities. And and if so, um you know, as Dean as Dean just uh
outlined, if the client if your client defaults on the loan, do all six then um are they transferred to the bank or some percentage? And how is that decision made if it's a percentage?
Yes. Um so each of the six different pledges has their own application in a different m municipality. Um and they would take all six. Um if for some reason they were to default.
Yes. Um you also thank you for that. You also mentioned um that part of this is to um refinance and also open up another location. Um can you share are you at leave to
share where the other location would be? Um I'm not sure of that. They they didn't share that information with us. Um they they just simply said that they'd be using part of it to to get a new location or to assist in getting a new location.
David. So, I have a few questions here. May maybe for the um the town manager and and assistant town manager. Um I thought there were two ways that liquor licenses operate operated in the Commonwealth. either
they were uh a possession that people kept what once issued or they returned to the town when they or the municipality when they expired and I thought we were the latter of those. Is that not correct? So Lisa is our licensing expert. um
she's not available uh here tonight to help answer that question. But I do think that those those two options, one of those the reason why they're here asking to pledge it and not just pledging it is that because the select board is the issuing authority for that license. So
they wouldn't be able to just pledge it without your permission. So if you don't permit it, then it doesn't happen. I understand. Um my my next question is what happens? Um, suppose there's a uh a liquor incident, right? I'm not accusing them of anything. Obviously, there've
been um uh a good restaurant to have in town and everything, but if there was an over serving issue or something and we decided not to renew the license um after the loan was taken out, what are the implications of that? Right? Um are
we taking their collateral? And then what happens to the loan? Are we prohibited from taking the license back? Um, what does that mean? I think that's a a good question to see if council the applicants council can answer.
Yeah. So, the the pledge isn't going to affect your guys's rights to the license or any implication of that. That's something that would be worked out between the bank and my client um in terms of whether if if they were to lose their license for
whatever reason um they they would have handled in their agreement, but it certainly doesn't limit your guys' rights as to what how you would deal with it. I I understand. So I I don't really have an objection to this. Um so I I I'm
satisfied with the answers to the questions. Other questions? Fran, I have sort of a is this a common practice? I I was curious. I think we uh according to Lisa, a
similar pledge was approved by the board in 2023 for uh Felos or what used to be Felos or what is now Bella's but was Felos. Thank you, Alissa.
So, I also am pretty much comfortable with approving this. Um, what I would like is something in writing, um, in addition to the asurances of the applicants council that this doesn't
impact our ability to revoke a license should something happen. um that we can still weigh in even if the bank holds the license because of default on loan.
You know, Santa Fe is so successful that I don't think that's going to happen. But just I I don't I'm not seeing that information in the packet and I don't even know um if that agreement would be
allowed to be shared with the town of Actton, an agreement between the restaurant and and their bank. But if so, that would be nice. I I think um as a license as a entity issuing the license, you have the
ability to make decisions based based on your role as licensing authority. So, if you need to take it away, you can take it away. It's between the restaurant and the bank how they handle that. It's not it's not really the town's issue. Uh it's it's on them to figure that out in that
scenario. David, um yeah, two two things. Uh I I just wanted to uh uh make a comment about Fran's uh question. This is really common in municipalities that have maxed out their liquor licenses because in the
liquor licenses are hugely valuable. Um the um um the question I want to ask is if we approve this today, are we done or is there a document um that the chair or the manager has to sign after this with
the bank or anything else? Um, I'm not sure of that. I I believe um there is an additional step um but I'm not 100% positive. It varies. So, I'd have to double check that.
Well, in in my opinion, um, all of this discussion has been too speculative. Um, before I'm would be comfortable in voting for something like this. I would like to see documentation in writing of
exactly what the procedure is and I'd like to see something from our our council uh to make sure that everything that we're doing is is proper and appropriate. We have another select board meeting coming up next
week. I don't know if this paperwork could be accomplished by that point, but at this point, um, I would certainly be happy to bring this to a vote by the board, but I'm frankly a little bit queasy with, uh,
with people saying, well, I think this and I think that, but I haven't seen anything in writing that reassures me. I believe in the packet that was submitted, the agreement,
the the pledge agreement is in it. Um, so you should be able to have seen that um in in the actual application that was submitted to the town. Um, It is false.
I would It's a standard ABCC form. I would be happy to uh This is the paperwork that if the board approves it, we would then sign and send to ABCC saying that the board discussed it in a public hearing and is
comfortable with it. Okay. Thank you. Um, do we have a motion? Can I ask a question first? Sure. Um, I'm not seeing a place for the town to sign this, which is
h I scrolled through the to the end. All the emails from the police chief and health and um, so it has a place for the corporate officer, um, the corporation clerk signature.
I don't know. It just it seems I'm not seeing the the place for the town in this, but um I I think the the relevant statement is on um Oh, these aren't page numbered, but at the at the application for amendment
at the bottom of the page, it says the local licensing authority, that's the town, must submit this application once approved via the e-place portal. So, it goes through a portal rather than actually having a place for us to uh sign. We'll have to, you know, we'll have to there's presumably some, you
know, doc doc docu sign or some electronic signature thing so that it's not just a random person logging into the ABCC and claiming to be the town of Actton. David, Mr. Chair, would you like a motion to close or continue the hearing?
Oh, I mean um would the town manager have a suggestion? No, just just confirm whether there's any public comment I guess in the it would be one step before you considered closing. Any public comment?
I guess not. So, Mr. Chair, I would move that uh we close the public hearing. Second. Moved and second to close the public hearing. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Abstensions.
Public hearing is closed. I move to approve the pledge of license for Santa Fe Burrito Grill LLC located at 297 Main Street Act and Mass as collateral on a loan application. Second.
Moved and seconded. All in favor, please say I. I. I I opposed abstension one. Uh it's approved. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Second public hearing.
Actn Select Board will hold a public hearing on September 8th, 2025 at 6:35 p.m. in the Francis Faulner hearing room 204 at Town Hall 472 Main Street, Actton and virtually on the application of HDR Holdings
LLC DBA Wonder located at 145 Great Road, Actton, Mass under chapter 140 with the Massachusetts General Laws for a common vitular license. The application can be inspected at town hall during normal business hours.
Login instructions for computers can be found here. For a computer, please click on the link to join the public meeting. www.acttonmma.gov/meingsb. From telephone dial 646 876-9923
and enter webinar ID number 503-918-785. Telephone users may dial star 9 to request to speak after joining the meeting. Computer and app users may use the raise hand feature to request to speak. Is the applicant present?
Thank you, Mr. Chair, board members. Uh, my name is Daniel Brennan. I handle permits and licenses for Wonder. Um, Wonder is a is a different concept, probably unlike that you've ever seen before. Um, it offers many different cuisines where you can get a Bobby Fle
steak or a pizza, Italian food. Um they have about 15 to 20 different menus they offer from worldrenowned chefs um that they've duplicated their recipes and um they pretty much solve the question of
uh what's for dinner. Um you know one person wants pizza, another person wants fried chicken. Um so that's what their goal is here. Um their space is um just under 2500 square ft. Um, I don't know
if you have the floor plan, but most of it is kitchen. Um, there's, uh, 13 seats, so you can dine in, but, uh, for the most part, it's geared toward a takeout. And, um, the location, um, is
over at 145 Great Road. I believe it was a subdivided Pier 1 space. Maybe there's a virtual golf right next door. Um, we're under construction now. Uh, super excited. Um they wonder has 50 plus
locations operating currently mostly in the New Jersey New York City area. Um expanding into the DC area and also a big push in the Boston area. Um so right now um 2000 by 2026 we plan to open
roughly uh 15 new locations and um actually ACT is one of the one of the first ones um probably that will be opening up. It's pretty far along in comparison. Um, I don't have a open day, but I know that we're probably three to
four weeks out from completing our inspections and then just, you know, finalizing hiring and stuff like that. Um, so super excited to come to Actton. Great. Thank you. Sounds like a great
concept. Uh, comments from any of my colleagues? They all look hungry. David, just very quickly, when do you intend to open? Say again, when do you think the restaurant will be open? If I had to guess, I believe it will be
open by December. Um, yeah, great. Um, you answered all my other questions in your statement. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Melissa, I just have one question. Um in addition
to takeout, will there also be a delivery option? Yes. Um that's one of the big components of Wonder. They have their own um app where you can order where they'll actually have their own like delivery service built in. So
Okay, great. I guess my only concern would be the limited parking there because it seems like um XGolf and Trader Joe's and and now this um is going to draw a lot of folks to that side of the parking lot even though the other side is usually at least if not
more than half empty. So I'm happy that there will also be delivery option. Yeah. Okay. Uh see if there's any public comment. No one with their hand raised online. Okay. Thank you. Um
I would be uh willing to take some uh some motions. David, I move to close the public hearing. Second. Moved and seconded to close the public hearing. All in favor say I. I. I.
Opposed. Abstensions. Public hearing is closed. One more. Uh, I move to approve a common viddler license for HR holdings uh operating as Wonder on at uh 145 Great Road.
Second. Moved and seconded. Any other last minute comments? No. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed extensions. Congratulations. We look forward to it.
Thank you very much. Okay. Our next public hearing, the Actton Select Board will hold a public hearing on September 8th, 2025 at 6:40 p.m. continued from August 25th, 2025 in the Francis Faulner hearing room
204 at Town Hall, 472 Main Street, Actton, and virtually at acttonma.gov/meing/bos on the application of Riverlife Church for a site plan special permit. I'm sorry. This is on the agenda uh inadvertently.
So, you're welcome to continue. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I just want you to know in the end this was already approved at the last meeting and there's no there's nothing on the agenda. Shouldn't be anything on the agenda related to it. So, I I don't think you need to read it then.
I think we have the applicant here. Sorry, continue. I'm sorry. I should have sworn it was approved. It was approved. So, our expectation hopefully was to talk about the uh fossil fuel waiver that we submitted. Uh
I I think it was posted in inadvertently the the way it was. So, I agree I agree with you, John, that that uh uh so it's not a public hearing even though it says it's a public hearing and so therefore it's not on the agenda. Uh well,
right. So, the the matter of the fossil fuel waiver can be presented as an update, but it's not before you for approval tonight and it's not on the agenda. Sorry about that. Okay. Um let's hear your update about the fossil
fuel. Okay. Good evening. For the record, Paul Morris, Pinnacle Construction, general contractor for the project. Uh, so we presented a letter uh to the building inspector in the town of Actton
um on August 22nd requesting a waiver from your fossil fuel bylaw. So, I don't know if you had a chance to see that. Okay. So, we presented the building inspector. He's currently reviewing it, I believe, but it goes on to seek a waiver that the project is
financially unviable um to comply with your bylaw and request a waiver as such. The additional construction cost uh to go to electric heating uh is about $80,000. The ongoing annual additional
cost is $60,700 annually in consumption. the additional electrical size for the service size increase would be about 30,000. So if you remember when we were discussing the project there was three buildings pickle ball building, tennis court building and
a singlestory clubhouse or support building. Um that 4,000 square foot singlestory building uh is expected to be fully compliant with your bylaw. So that will be fossil fuel free compliant. It's the two big buildings that are
quite sizable, very tall. Um, and they're what they call a tension tension fabric building. Uh, that has rigid frames, but it's just a fabric with insulation uh that creates the roof and the walls to the building. Uh, but there's some, one building's 30
something feet, the other's almost uh 30 39 ft high. Uh, so they're quite sizable. Uh, one building's the tennis building is almost an acre. It's 43,000 square ft. uh to heat those buildings uh with a nonfossil fuel option is just
unviable. Uh construction cost is increased and the uh even worse than that is the annual consumption cost. Thank you. Um I understand our building commissioner is has raised his hand and
said available to speak. Ed, are you there? Can you can you folks hear me? Yep. Okay. Thank you for having me. Um, this is currently in my office under review. I have a I actually sent an update out this afternoon. um waiting for a few
questions to be answered and then I was going to um get in touch with these applicants. I'm not sure how it ended up on the agenda for this evening, but I'm certainly in touch with Mr. Brooks and I have a few questions for his engineer um before we move this forward.
Their case is compelling regardless, but um I did did ask the uh engineer to join virtually. Uh Andy, are you on? Yeah, I Mr. Chair, I'd rather do this when when it's up on the agenda for approval, if it becomes that if it goes to the agenda for approval. This is
apologies to the folks that came out for this. Uh but it's not it's not part of the schedule. Shouldn't have been part of the schedule program and there's not an application before the board for a waiver. Um so it's really not something we could we should spend too much time on it, but sharers discretion, of course.
That's fine. We'd be glad, you know, we'll follow up with the building commissioner and answer his question. Um, I understand your point, but I also would ask the board if they had any questions, we could take that away with us. Let's um
I think what I'd rather do, we do have David. So, if if you'd like um uh Mr. chair. I could tell them the things that I'd be interested to see in a waiver application. I'm going to make a point of order. I
don't believe that any of us can ask questions or make comments on this subject because it's not on the agenda. And in my understanding of the open meeting law, that would be a violation. I I And we're going to be back here Monday night. Yeah. I I tend to agree with you,
Alyssa. Um, and my apologies for the uh situation that we found ourselves in here. Um, we do have a another select board meeting coming up next week, next
Monday, and I don't know if that would give you and your engineers sufficient time to meet with the building commissioner. And uh, we've got an agenda setting meeting tomorrow afternoon. So, you know, we could probably put this on. I
don't know what else we've got listed, but I frankly I' I'd like to and I'm sure that you're the applicant as well would like to see this move forward as quickly as possible. So, we'd be great with that. I ch Mr. Chairman,
I would I would appreciate that. And I think um David, there is certainly nothing that would prevent you from sending a message to the building commissioner describing the the kind of questions that you as a citizen might
ask about this matter. Um but I it's getting a little a little too weird from a legal legalistic point of view here. So um Mr. manager, if you could make a
note and we'll uh we'll Alyssa and I will speak with you tomorrow and we'll find an appropriate time to put it on the agenda for next Monday. Um, normally I don't like having two select board meetings in a row, but I guess
it'll work out okay for you guys. Thank you. So, thank you very much for coming in. Okay, we'll try to get back on track here. Um, item four, amend use special permit
number 4-22-2024-501, 930 Main Street, Sweet 10, Let's Roll LLC for a change in operating hours. Uh, is the applicant here? Uh, please please use the mic. Thank you.
Good evening. Andrew Coocher on behalf of Let's Roll um LLC. Unfortunately, Mr. Reynolds could not be with us this evening. He is home ill. Uh, but with me I have um co-owner uh Mrs. Reynolds with
um who is also an employee uh of the uh of the LLC for any questions that may uh come about. So um last year we were before you to uh get a special permit for 930 Main
Street, Sweet 10 for Let's Roll LLC. Um it's been a a fantastic year for the for the company and uh the only complaint that they have received from their um from their customers is that
they're not open enough which is actually a good complaint to have. Um so we come before you to uh change the operating uh operating hours uh for uh Let's Roll LLC.
um from Sunday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Now, it just because we're asking for that, it doesn't mean they're going to be open uh 7 days a week. They just want the option to be able to see what days work better
um than others for customers coming in. Thank you. Um, we have, as you're probably aware, your client is certainly aware, we've received commentary from at least one of the
neighboring businesses about this impacting their operations. So, that's kind of why we're here. Um, initially it seemed that you were client was looking for a very limited operation. and now it's expanded
considerably. So I think trying to find a a reasonable accommodation would be in everybody's best interests. Do we have any questions or comments from
Well, we um my client my client was wondering what was the specific um the specific issue with that neighbor. uh because the only complaint that was received was that they were operating outside of the hours. We're looking to
amend that issue. The uh Alyssa, I think you you've probably followed this more closely than the rest of us. You'll care to make comment. Yeah. Um so the board received um I
think it was in July a note asking about uh the conditions of the of the permit and that any change to the hours which were Monday 10 to 2 would require board approval. Um in addition to that um
there has been a negative impact on business for them. um they're losing business according to the to the owner and employees are uncomfortable. Um so we wanted to
figure out if we can have a situation of of operating hours for for both businesses that are amendable to both let's roll and the other tenants. Um, I did hear from the
individual who wrote to the board that the landlord had conveyed that Let's Roll was willing to to um find some hours. So, I was a little surprised in the memo um to to see I completely
understand um you're wanting to have more flexibility and not have to go through the ownerous process of coming before the board to make any change. Um, but I was just surprised to see that because it sounded like there was some communication happening with the
landlord at least. We um, sorry. Um, we have, like we told the board, we're willing to work with other businesses in the complex, but nobody's come to us and said anything.
Um, and it's a little hard to guess what hours are going to be less detrimental to them to work around without knowing what they're asking for. Um, and obviously, I mean, if if they want to be
open every hour that we want to be open, then that's, you know, that's kind of going to be a problem. But um we have always said we're willing to work with other businesses in the complex, but I I just don't know what hours we could
be open that won't affect them without knowing their hours. Are you aware of what the operating hours are for the complaining neighbor? Yep. So they are not open on um Fridays and
Sundays and I noticed that your hours in addition to Mondays are Thursday and Saturday. Saw your ad in the Action Unlimited last weekend. Um so you know your customers are obviously going to
have their preferences for when they can come into the business. Um, but I was hoping that Let's Roll would be open to shifting from the Thursday and Saturday to Friday and Sunday.
Well, I mean, we would I mean, we we wouldn't have a a problem with it, per se. Um, but so they're not open Fridays and Sundays, but my client would still want to be
open at least two days uh other than those. Um, we would amend our our request to include Fridays and Sundays in order to accommodate that uh that neighbor. But we would we would like, you know, at
least like Monday, Wednesday, Friday if that's doable. So, it sounds it sounds like to me that the the tenants have not connected um with one another and rather the tenants are both connecting with the landlord
who's being the go-between. So, it sounds like it would be a good idea for the landlord to bring the tenants together if that's possible. And I have no idea. um if everybody would be amendable to coming to the table.
Okay. Um questions or comments from other members of the board? David, u just two very quick things. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't adhere to the restrictions in the original use permit and now you're asking us to amend it. Um uh I would
have liked it if you had just adhered to the uh conditions in the original use permit and then come as to amend it. because of that especially um I'm not willing to just say cart blanch 10 to 8 every day. In fact, I have a little
unease about um in the you know an after 5:00 thing. I mean I maybe I could be convinced but um I think we need a a reasonable proposal that um it takes everybody into account and not just open all the time. So, um, uh, you know, I'd
like to see this come back with with with something that the other tenants, uh, um, say that they're okay with and and we work from there. Thanks. Okay. Other comments, Jim. Guess I had a question for staff. Um, is
there a um is there is there an enforcement issue here that the uh business has been open in hours that were not permitted? And is there is there a a fine or an enforcement action
that is happening or should happen? Our zoning enforcement officer is here virtually. And I knew I know that um Ed, our building commissioner, did meet with or went and visited with the business and told them about the restrictions that weren't being followed and and
that's and then they submitted this request. So part of it was to make it right and that's that's what they're here for is to make it right. Um I think if they said we're not going to make it right, then we would have taken further actions on enforcement, but that's that's not what happened. Great. Thank you for that info. That's
that's very reassuring, Fran. And this information might be documented somewhere. Um but what hours are you open now? Um so right now it's the Monday 10 to 2 and then we um had been continuing the
Thursday 4 to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday 11 to 3 um until the hearing. I had asked if we could continue with that until we get heard. Um and honestly I I'd hate to lose Saturday. It is a very busy day for for any retail store. Um and again without
knowing the exact hours, you know, perhaps we can be an off shift from their hours on a Saturday. I don't know. But um evening hours are certainly something that are better for our customers um anyways. So um we'd be steering more
towards like a 3 to 8 during the week. Um and I'm hoping that perhaps that that's less conflicting with their weekday schedule. If I may ask, um, uh, the complaining neighbor, um, what time
does this place close? Um, I have a suggestion. That question certainly could the board feel free to answer but um as mentioned in previous discussions there is another meeting on Monday and I don't believe that our
economic development director Patricia Costa has been in touch with with you or the landlord or the or maybe she has but I think she that part of her role here is to help businesses be successful and I think getting your hours adjusted
would help you be successful. So, I I think if we haven't already, we can connect you with her and and the other tenants and try to get something sorted out before Monday if that's helpful. Um, unless you want to try to figure it out here tonight. Um, I just wanted to
mention that as a as another option. And I was just going to finish. Yeah. In that I was going to riff off of what John just said. And I think businesses need to have hours where they can be successful. Um,
and Saturday is a big day and if you do business at night, open until 8, that's great. But that's my feeling. Thank you, Alicia. Um, so I will share that the business hours are Monday through Thursday 4 to 9
and Saturday 9 to noon. So sounds like Saturday is a potential split for both tenants. Um, and what else was I going to mention? Oh, David, you said you wouldn't be comfortable after 5, but I believe that
the zoning bylaw that we just adopted a couple years ago allows for operation between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. I'm trying to find it again. But um anyway, um so I just also want to
mention Fran, you you pointed out that and I think it's a great idea to bring in our economic development director to to help negotiate for both businesses to be successful. Um so I just want to make sure that we're keeping in mind all of
the all of the tenants that are involved here. Um, yeah, I'm just I'm just thinking outside the box here. Um, so right now the the complaining uh tenant or the complaining
neighbor is not open on Fridays. They close at noon on Saturdays. Sunday they are not open as well. Um, if we could Right. No, I understand. Um,
yeah, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. So, if we could temporarily um until we can meet again, allow the company to be open Fridays 10 to 8, Saturdays noon to 8, and Sundays
10 to 8. Is that something that the board would consider on a temporary basis until we come back? I mean that and I haven't had a chance to make my comments yet, but um you know
I think that's substantial progress. Um I appreciate the town manager pointing out that we do have another meeting coming up uh in a week. Um, but I suspect that any kind of a an agreement once we
involve the building commissioner, the economic development director, you folks, and some of the neighbors and the landlord, probably you'll need more than I was actually going to think for an exter 30 days extension and not a week. It seems like there's a lot to be done
and a week's not really a a um a decent amount of time to do it in. I uh and she would um my client would also like to keep the Monday that was that was already approved by the board.
It's just one of our busiest days so far. I think uh let me make my comments. Um I'm I'm very sympathetic to your your business and your client. Um,
and I made this observation when we approved the license originally, uh, because of the the anti-gun bylaw, which is was passed in town meeting, um, the
areas in town, uh, where uh, firearms businesses can be allowed are very small. Um, and I had thought that we'd found a you folks had found a good spot for it. and I'm sympathetic to allowing you to
continue to thrive in that space. The uh you know, some of the other businesses um might come and go and some of those other businesses might be able to find other locations uh where they're not so heavily constrained by town
bylaws. So, I would certainly be sympathetic to the suggestion of ours on a temporary basis until we can meet um and hopefully folks can work out a reasonable agreement. Um,
I'm also keenly aware, um, that we're probably skittering along the issue of a second amendment consideration here. Um, if this board takes too firm a stand, um, I think we've already or the town
has already taken a pretty firm stand. Um, so I would not I would prefer not to get involved in litigation uh on a second amendment issue because I think that's very significant.
So, I would certainly be inclined to approve um a reasonable set of hours along the lines of what you suggested on a temporary basis and then over the next month or two you folks can discuss this with the landlord and the other tenants
and come back with a revised um proposal. Okay. So, um again uh Monday they're open 10 to 2. We would keep we would keep that um those hours and then Friday
10 to 8, Saturday noon to 8 and Sunday 10 to 8 on a temporary basis until we can get the parties together and discuss. Uh what was the Sunday hour? Sunday would be 10 to 8 because the
neighbor is not in operation on Sunday. Okay. Um I would be uh if anyone care to provide a uh a motion. Is this for 30 days? All right. So I move to approve expanded hours.
John might want to say something. Sorry. This brings us but um it's a round number. Okay. I I 60 days is a rounder number and I think it might give everyone a little more chance to uh take a shot.
Well, because of the the the board is considering well is considering the um the extension of hours over the weekend and allowing us to keep um our Monday time frame. Um I think we'd be okay with
60 days. I would be okay. Yes, the 60 days would be great. My hope is that we can all meet together and get some kind of solution worked out before then. I think the 60 days just gives us time in case we can't get onto a public or town
hearing be or agenda before then. All right, then. I move to approve expanded hours for Let's roll. Oh my gosh. LLC
at 9:30 Main Street, Sweet 10. Operating Monday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Friday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Second.
Moved and seconded. Um, any other questions or comments either from the board or from the public? There was one hand online, but it's gone away. All right. All in favor of the uh motion, please
say I. I. I. Opposed? Abstensions. Okay. Got some new hours. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. See you in 60 days. Okay. Item five, announce restaurant
week October 19th to 26th. Mr. Manager. Yes. We're I think for the third or fourth time in the last several years, we're going to have a week where we celebrate and promote local restaurants and encourage residents to try them out if they haven't already. And I think
there was some some back and forth between the finance committee members and the select board chair. And um if there's anything you wanted to share about that, this would be a good time for that. Otherwise, I would encourage the folks in town to stay tuned for the list that will be on
our economic development page website, acttonma.gov/business. We'll also be using social media to promote the restaurants that are participating. And you don't have to wait for restaurant week. You can also uh frequent our restaurants now if you'd like.
Thank you. So, what the town manager was referring to is that uh Greg Jarabo, who's on EDC and Fincom, has reached out to me and we're we're
it seems a little strange to say this myself, but I think, you know, we're supposed to be like personalities and influencers. Um I don't know is either Greg or I have ever influenced anybody but um so we're going to be pursuing this a little bit and try to uh not only
make it a function of the economic development office but also try to get some uh town board and committee support behind it. So you might be unfortunate enough to see my picture or Greg's picture on some sorts of social media
efforts. That's it. I'll try to keep a straight face. Thank you. We'll move on to item six. Can I ask a question, Alissa? So, I was at a finance committee meeting
and it seemed to me that this was going to be a competition between the boards and I, you know, shook my head with, you know, from the audience with the intention of conveying there's no way you're going to win. But I think that
maybe somebody thought I was saying that's not appropriate. So, where did we land on this friendly competition? Um, and we would each get two points for each dine out we we do because there's 10 of them and only five of us, right? Needs to be weighted.
Yeah, it should be weighted. It's Did that sort of fall apart? It's just it's just you and Greg. Um, we will be Greg and I are waiting to to hear uh how the select board received this and discussed it and that you didn't run screaming out of the room.
Um, so there'll be uh there'll be updates coming out shortly. In addition to really impressive pictures of me and Greg stuffing our faces. Thank you. Will you be making a Tik Tok? Yeah. Awesome.
Um, item six, discuss letter of support for local option real estate transfer fee legislation. And can I can I introduce this? Yeah. And then we'll let Yep. Bob take it away. Um, so the board
received a letter from the Actton Community Housing Corporation, which is in our packet, um, requesting our support for legislation that would allow an option for municipalities to adopt a real estate transfer fee on high value
real estate and the revenue generated would support affordable h housing. Um so the the idea is that wealthy outofsters and um investment groups are buying up the available housing stock in
Massachusetts. Um so the letter that I drafted um does not serve as an intention for Actton um to pursue this only for um supporting expanding local control and allowing towns and cities to
choose this um should they wish to. And I wanted to point out that I referenced um some independent studies. Uh the city of Somerville and the city of Boston both commissioned an independent an analysis of the impact to the real
estate market which was negligible. Um and also the amount of revenue that could be generated which was for the those cities in the millions. Um, and so, uh, the I guess I'll let you talk about Bob the, um, analysis that you
asked planning, um, staff to do. Um, thank you, um, Alyssa. Um, yes. Uh the community housing corporation um voted at our um recent meeting to um
to approve a request for the select board to endorse the local option um legislation. And um the the the board the board also asked um us to
pursue some research on the potential impact here in Actton. Um what we have is just very preliminary numbers but just to give you a sense of the uh potential um scale of uh of transactions
that would be impacted and um and the amount of money that might be generated. So, um the number of transactions um that would be impacted if we had a if we had a transfer fee for transactions
above a million dollars. Um there were 88 transactions of more than a million dollars in 2024. Um the total number of transactions was 290. So about 30% of the transactions in the
in the town of Actton. Um if we had if we had set the fee at the low end of what um the the legislation proposes 0.05% of the um of the amount over a million
dollar. So if the transaction was 1.2 million it would be 0.05% of the 200,000 that was over a million. So um on that basis um in 2024 if a fee had been in place at that level it would
have generated about $557,000 for the town which is significant not overwhelming but is significant. Um right now um on a regular basis the um
town allocates somewhere in the several hundred,000 range of community preservation dollars for housing. Um and but you know they're and and we use those funds as does the housing authority. Um, one item which I think is
important to note about the real estate transfer fee is that unlike the community preservation legislation, the transfer, if we if we were to adopt this after the the Commonwealth adopted enabling legislation,
um the funds would be much more flexible than community preservation funds. Right now it's um there are statutory restrictions on using community preservation funds for certain kinds of rehabilitation of existing affordable
housing and I know that's been an issue for the housing authority in terms of um coming up with the necessary funds to maintain its stock. Um so overall these would be more flexible funds. Um and so
I think it, you know, it's it's worth doing. Um the the legislaturator's joint committee on finance, which is chaired by Senator Eldridge on the Senate side, is actually holding a hearing on this legislation tomorrow morning at 10:00
a.m. Um and uh I I had conveyed to the senator's staff that if the select board were to act this evening that um be great to be able to communicate that at the hearing. Thank you. Thanks. Uh questions from my
colleagues. Jim, um would this apply? Is the legislation clear that this is for residential transactions or would this include commercial transactions? Um,
it I think it is um I think it's all high-end real estate transactions. It's not just residential transactions. Um it it it's at least the fact sheet from
the advocacy coalition does not specify that it's only residential transactions. So it would apply to commercial transactions above a million dollars. Um that does make me hesitate. Um, you know, I when I first heard about this,
it it seemed very reasonable that there's all these houses that are, you know, over a million dollars um that can certainly, you know, there there's there's there's a there's a 2% or a half percent or something that could be right
easily taken um without, you know, impacting the uh the this the sales. But for commercial transactions, I'm I'm hesitant to add a tax um that um you know that might may or may not help
businesses. Um it might harm them. I'm also concerned about a particular kind of commercial business which is um you know um large scale commercial real estate of like you know multif family housing. It would seem um sort of
counterintuitive that if we're trying to help affordable housing, we would then be taxing, you know, multifamily housing as it trans from one order to another. Um I understand your concern. I don't
actually share it. I think commercial transactions are, you know, this is probably dimminimous for most large commercial transactions and I don't I don't think it would affect the
affordability of the rental units um in any significant way in a large commercial transaction. Um there is a provision in the law that allows local flexibility and exemptions. I don't know whether it would allow the town to
exclude commercial transactions, but I would note that there is there is language that allows some exemptions on the local level. That's really helpful. Thank you. Yeah, Alicia. Um, so just wanted to point out that
this really allows a lot of flexibility for each municipality. Um, so Bob mentioned the percentage. There's a range um of percentages. Um, there is a an ability for the municipality to
determine who pays the fee, the buyer or the seller. Um, you can also a municipality can establish different fee amounts for different types of properties. Um, so support of this legislation really doesn't do um
anything specific for Actton. um we would have to go through the process once it was available. It's really about allowing each city and town in the state to make those determinations about what tool serves their needs the best. Um
because as the costs of of building housing escalate um and affordability becomes further out of reach for people around the state um and more towns and cities have signed on to CPA that that funding for affordable housing is just
not sufficient anymore um because the state matches is lower as more towns have adopted it. David. Yeah, I to I won't go through the list that Alyssa just went through, but um we would have to pass a bylaw to
enable this. And the bylaw could have um any conditions in it that are allowed in that list um or whatever the the list is in the final legislation. Um and if it's unacceptable to us, we don't have to pass the bylaw, right? So, um, uh, um,
and there's, as a couple people have said, it's there's quite a bit of flexibility. And so, uh, I think we can address your concerns, other concerns, and and and how the the bylaw is structured. Um, so, and that means it's to me, uh, because the legislation isn't
done and all that, um, this is not a next year's town meeting bylaw, right? Uh, so, um, I do have one one question though for for Bob. Um, what what kind of projects do you think ACC would
recommend that we use this money on? Um so in the last several years and I defer to um my my colleagues uh uh who led the um Janet Adachi who's led the community housing corporation board
since uh for several years now. We have committed significant funds to a couple of new multif family developments. We've committed funds to Habitat for Humanity projects and I think we have one pending right now. Uh we have committed funds to
assist in um uh uh down payment assistance for um affordable units in uh the occasional 40b project. Um occasional 40b home ownership project.
um we haven't I mean our there was a period of time when we were receiving substantial um payments into the town for affordable housing that we were responsible for stewarding and um we
have spent down most of those resources. So I think um there have been there was one situation um earlier this year that the select board is familiar with where we were faced with the necessity of if
we were to maintain a unit on the subsidized housing inventory, we would have needed to um exercise our right of first refusal and sp then spend additional funds um to uh bring the the
unit up to standard again and we did not have sufficient funds for those purposes. We needed kind of a a strategic reserve if you will for the community housing corporation in that case. Um I think you know we would
continue to look for uh look for both uh multif family rental and home ownership projects. I think um home ownership projects are fewer and farther affordable home ownership projects are fewer and far farther between in large
part because the the subsidies at the state and federal level are mostly for rental housing. Um there's not the same uh kind of mechanisms like the low-inccome housing tax credit for home for home ownership or at least it's not
as powerful. Um so I think we would um I mean the amount of money that could be generated is not so great in the first few years that we would have you know we'd be able we wouldn't be able to
undertake something necessarily of large scale uh for at you know if we were getting half a million dollars a year in resources from the from the um the transfer fee. Uh but it certainly would increase our ability to um advance
projects that come to us which a lot do in a on a yearly basis. Thank you. Um so I just want to say also that this our bylaw would also have to say where the money goes. Right. Right. We could put it in the the pot of money that um ACC administers. We could
put it in another set aside, you know. So there there's some all these things require a a lot of a lot of thought before we move forward. Uh and Mr. Chair, when you get to it, there's one hand online. Thank you. Um Fran,
do you have a comfort? No, I was going to ask you for I I will comment, but I was going to defer to you as a real estate expert. No expert. And we have a commercial real estate expert in in the if you wanted to
ask any questions, but I wanted to say that I'm happy to have my name signed on this letter. Um, not a lot of towns are doing this and we're on track this year, which we might make up that 88 number. I
think there's 53 to date over a million properties sold this year. So, okay. Um, I think this this would be great. Thank you, Bob. Okay. And thank you, Alissa. So, I
personally I I don't see a downside to the board supporting this. The uh there'll be lots of details will have to be worked out if indeed the legislation even gets passed. Um so, I personally would favor it. Um that said, if we have
someone who's raised their hand from the uh virtual world, we'd be happy to hear from them and and in person as well. Let's start with the uh the online comment first. Hi, my name is Karen Hoget. I am a member of the finance committee, but I'm
asking um just for myself. Uh number one, would this $1 million be indexed to inflation? Um, I think that would be up to the I'm I'm sorry. Go ahead, Elis. So, in the legislation right now, the
amount of the transaction is either $1 million or the median value for the county. So, that number Oh, or you know, whichever is lower. Sorry. You can't just choose as as a municipality. It's
either 1 million or the median value, whichever is lower. So, that number is going to change over time. Okay. So, I'm looking this up real fast. Home median home value in Middle Sex County, it's about $850.
And in Massachusetts, it's $855,000. um this so if the intent was to go after um high value properties that's you're just getting everything that's above average and in Actton if we're higher
than the average for Middle Sex it's like more than more than half the homes in Actton this um so you see where I'm concerned here this is not just going at it's you know originally what I heard um the presenter say at first was that it was out of
concern concern for wealthy out of state people coming in and buying second homes in Massachusetts and taking home, you know, taking homes out of the inventory for locals, but this this hits everybody. It doesn't target that in any way.
So, that's my concern there. Um, and again, if it's a if it's not indexed to inflation or to whatever the you're saying would I guess as the average home price goes up, that should go up, too. So, a million might end up becoming a lower number, right? and and depending on where you live. Um,
so I I I never like a new tax. So I mean no matter what you answer, I would would not like it. Um, and would not be asking you to sign this. Thank you. We have to get from Thank you.
Tom, believe you raised your hand. Sorry. Tom Bail's real estate. Kurin asked the first question that I had. Um, who would pay this? Would it be the buyer or the seller?
Um, that's up to the municipality as um as select board member Nick Nichols said already. Um, the the law the legislation as drafted says that the municipality can decide to to assign the um who pays it to
either the buyer or the seller or they can split it. I'm reminded that when the income tax was instituted, the proportion of the population that it applied to was minuscule and it has
morphed into what it is now. This is the camel's nose under a tent. Here in Massachusetts, tax at taxes never go down. And the proportion of things that are taxed, of transactions that are
taxed, never goes down. As you increase the housing price, as housing prices increase due to inflation, the um proportion of transactions that are taxed increases. This is partly the point that Corin
made. I hope the board does not approve this. Thank you. Any other Fran? I just wanted to just add that it's maybe typically the home seller that would pay the tax.
I mean, you can negotiate between, but it's typically the the home seller. Thank you, David. It completely depends on our bylaw. Right. So there's no typical. It's whatever we put in our bylaw. Um and and
as Bob said, it can be either party or split depending on what we put in our bylaw. I do want to emphasize that it is only in the amount tax is only in the amount above the median income. So if it's a $900,000 house, the the 5100s of
a percent tax, which is the low end of the spectrum, would apply to $45,000. Alissa, I just want to one last emphasis that this letter doesn't have any language um that proposes this for Actton or offers
board support for Actton to adopt this. It is um primarily a letter of support for the legislators to allow municipalities to adopt this um should they choose. So 19 communities in
Massachusetts so far have passed a real estate transfer fee at town meetings or whatever form of um decision-m they have tomorrow at the hearing. There are six towns and cities who will be presenting
testimony to the committee. Like why waste all of that time? Um, and this is something that I've presented to the legislators at hearings before. You're you're hearing from all of these towns who want to do this, just pass a law
allowing local control um, which is really important um, in my estimation so that they can make those decisions um, that meet their needs. And if it's not the right tool for Actton, then Actton won't pass it. So, this just um
petitions the the legislature to to allow that um control with the local government. There's one more online hand. Okay. Uh the one online commenter. Hi, can you hear me?
Yes. Yes, this is Tara from a massive. Um I want to remind people um that again uh this is about local control. I think that the um folks that are speaking against this are proponents of local control. Uh they would also I believe uh
relieve the uh market pressure uh to have uh town cities in particular uh um accommodate more affordable housing where people already are. Um that's um another benefit of this. I would also
propose uh that if this passes that at the town level um and maybe if you can add this if you feel like it to your support letter if you choose to approve a support letter that uh there be a one-time exemption for resident or excuse me property owners that have
lived for a long time or something like that. Um and also a uh I know this sounds crazy but we're reach approaching the uh point where affordable housing might be a million dollars. So, um there could be a clause that exempts quote
unquote affordable housing uh in any form like Jim said, um the apartment complexes or something like that. But, uh I am in support of this again, not just because I love local control, but because I love the idea of um uh
those who have u made a lot of money off of something contributing back to the community. And uh if there especially if there's a one-time exemption, this will be about speculators, not about just one person downsizing. Thank you. Thank you. And Craig Krin Hogs has
raised her hand again. Okay, you have a second comment. Sure. Thanks. Um uh yeah, I'm all for local control, but this isn't shifting control from one entity to the locality because the state is still collecting the same amount, the 0.05, the 0.05% 05%
or 046 whatever they collect. If if if you want to talk about shifting some of the control to localities, this should offset be offset by a decrease in what the state collects for a real estate transfer tax. This is just another tax. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, before I call for a vote, I'd like to make one more comment. Personally, um I think folks that understand I'm kind of a low tax hawk. Um might be surprised
I'm supporting this. But frankly, I'm supporting this so that not only Mass Actton, but all the communities have an opportunity to decide if this works or not. And I could easily foresee myself voting to approve
this letter. Uh, and then if the proposed bylaw comes to town meeting in a year or two and it doesn't meet my scrutiny, I might vote against it and I would encourage other folks to do the same. Um,
I would think that if we are given the opportunity to do this, it's going to be a huge amount of work to uh to come up with a bylaw that that threads that needle. Uh, with that, uh, if I could get a
motion from somebody, I move to approve the letter of support for local option real estate transfer fee legislation. Second. Moved and seconded. Any other questions or comments?
I have one more. Um just to the point about um folks who have lived a long time in the community, seniors, uh I just want to note that Boston has paired this with an increase to their senior tax exemption. So also
to your point, Dean, that there's a lot that would um be required in the bylaw to win your support. Um there's a lot of flexibility here. So just make that point once again. Thank you. All in favor of the motion,
please say I. I. Opposed, abstensions. It's approved. And we make sure that letter gets electronically signed and submitted. Mr. Manager, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you much, Bob. Item seven, DPW facility update. Uh at our last meeting, I I floated some dates with folks about uh when we might expect a report back from Arrow Street and uh we've had subsequent meetings with them,
discussions. Uh timeline has slipped slightly. Um, at this point, we'll be having a uh building committee meeting on Wednesday, September 24th at 7 p.m. in this room to
hear a full presentation for Arrow Street. My hope is that coming out of that uh building committee will have a recommendation which will be brought forward to the select board and this would be an item for discussion at our
October 6th select board meeting. uh don't have anything much more to update other than that. Other than you know very exciting uh to see the uh how creative the architects have been. Um they've come up with some good
numbers. Um but I think the important thing is no matter what the number is, we need to make sure that the project has to be affordable. It also has to be fit for duty. And uh so we'll be analyzing that on the
building committee level. Staff has been weighing in on it. Um and the architects as well. They have brought a lot of fresh ideas forward. So more to come on that. Um item eight, proposed joint workshop
with Maynard select board. Uh Mr. Manager, I think you've had some discussion with your counterpart in Mayard. Uh yeah, I just wanted to provide an update on this. Uh I met with the town ministry from Maynard a few few days ago
and there's an there's interest in doing a joint meeting between Actton and Maynard and having it be sort of a a workshop where there would be just dialogue between the board members and and maybe staff but primarily with the board members on sort of a set set
number of topics so that we can have a both productive and and efficient discussion uh because I'm sure there'll be plenty of things to cover, but I think if the chairs could get together between now and when it's finally scheduled to determine what subjects we want to cover, that would be most
productive. One of the dates that they floated recently that I don't know that I've circulated to the board is the 23rd, which I think is a Tuesday night. I don't know what else is going on that day or that night. Um the other
date they mentioned was a Saturday and I purposely don't remember what it was uh the date. Um but I uh I think they want to do it on a week night um or they want to do it at night. They don't they had no interest in doing it during the day uh or little interest I guess I would
say. So I guess just the update is that I'll be following up with you with some scheduling but look for it to be on a week night most likely. And if you have concerns or ideas about things that you think should be discussed, if you want to let me know, I can talk to the chair
about that um to help frame that meeting so that it's it'll be it's fun. It'll be fun. It'll be um productive. Um that's my update. Great. Thank you. Um yeah, I was looking
at that particular night. I know that's the night of the public hearing for the uh community preservation plan. So, I know that that would at least create a a problem for most of the evening for me personally, but um certainly
um I'm personally not all that enthused about having meetings on Saturdays and Sundays. Um but whatever we can schedule for week night and work out, I think that would be great. And certainly if
folks have any specific topics that they think should be discussed, why certainly bring them forward to the town manager and we can work it that way. Thank you. Uh item nine, multi-board meeting with Actton Box Regional School District.
uh a few of us present in the room here tonight um had a meeting uh to discuss some of the logistics behind having a meeting. And here's sort of a uh an email I got from uh Tory Campbell,
the uh chair of the school committee, uh based on the discussion. So, the when would be and and I'm hoping that I'll get support from my colleagues here. The when would be Wednesday, October 22nd at 7 p.m.
The wear would be the admin building auditorium at 15 Charter Road. The agenda, it would commence at 7 p.m. Uh, with call to order and welcome. 7:05 to
8:30 p.m. would be general discussion and we didn't adjourn by 8:30 p.m. there. the sorts of things that we discussed in our planning session.
There's a possibility of circulating some information to everyone in advance um sending the stuff out about a week before. Uh I think this would be very useful
especially where we're engaging our colleagues from Boxboro who probably don't follow our meetings closely. So the sorts of things materials that I would suggest that we send out would be by that time we should have the first
pass of the ALG plan which I think would be good information for everyone to have. Um and I think the uh the preliminary um budget presentation from the town manager um I think is a
really good document. Now, if you think about how much time we've got to talk here, um we're only talking an hour and a half and we've got two select boards, two finance committees, plus a school committee. So,
nobody's going to have a chance to speak for very long. So, I think it has to be very focused. Um, a couple of the suggestions we had is that each entity come up with, you know, one or two questions or discussion points that they'd like to bring up
rather than so that we and have an opportunity when we send out the uh the packet so that these other entities would have some idea as to what kind of questions we might be asking and they might be asking of us.
Uh, I will admit to the fact that I've never not thought much more about what sort of questions I would raise. Uh, but I'm sure that between all of us, we can probably come up with a a short list and we probably the town
manager and I would whittle it down just in the interest of time. So, that's sort of what we've got. Um the format is going to be they'll they will have been in union negotiations earlier in that day. So there'll already
be a table set up for about 30 people. It'll be kind of a roundt discussion. Um and as far as what's going to come out of this well I think it's I think it's important that all of us
meet in a non-confrontational manner. the uh situation last year was was not conducive to good discuss uh decision- making. I think it's nice to be able to actually
put a uh a face to a name. Uh I've not had much in the way of dealings with many of our school committee members or and virtually anybody from the town of Boxboro. So I think it's good from that point of view.
And just in the brief discussion that we had the other night uh trying to set up the planning for this, it was interesting just to have a free flowing discussion uh between myself and and my alternate number from Boxboro Select
Board to see what kind of challenges they have and actually hear from them firsthand. I Obviously, both sides of the border have their own
challenges that they're facing. Um, there's also obviously some similarities. We're looking at a DPW project. They're looking at a fire station project. Um, the numbers are not that much different between the two of them. Uh, we passed an override by a
narrow margin a year or so ago. uh they might very well be looking at not only debt exclusion override but a general operating override as well because you know they're getting pretty close to the edge. So I think um if nothing else I would
say there's building empathy between all five boards. So, I I hope that I've got the support of my colleagues here and that that we'll attend and participate and see
where it goes from there. Anybody have any questions? Oh, Jim. Um, I'm I'm I'm enthusiastic about this meeting. It's on my calendar already just in case it all works out. Um, I
wanted to thank you for uh following up on the idea of having the presentations arrive before the meeting so we're not, you know, spending time not actually talking to each other but instead listening to presentations. Um, and I guess the question part would be I'm assuming, but I thought I should check
this out that although this will certainly be a posted meeting for the select board since we'll all be there, we're not planning to make any decisions there, right? I I don't foresee any decisions to be made, right?
Um if if the decisions are made at some point that we should come back and reconvene um and have specific decisions, then I think, you know, we'd need to post that in an agenda and and deal with that way.
But um it's more of a listening, getting to know you sort of meeting. David. Yeah, I think this is a a great idea and I agree with Jim. I hope the presumption is that everybody will have read the materials ahead of time so that we don't
have to reiterate that uh all that and in fact I would like to see and is if this works in your negotiations with your fellow chairs um uh most of the time spent on questions on other people's plans right so if you know
after we've gone through all these other presentations you know is there clarifications that any of us would want on time frames amount you know, whatever. Uh, so uh um anyway that I I think questions on the materials should be a large part of the
meeting. I I will say also I just question aside, do we know when the first ALG meeting is? Believe we've set that just Yeah, we're working to have that the end of this month. U I'm still waiting to hear confirmation from a few of the entities, but it's uh tenatively for the
last week of the month. Yeah. So, we'll we'll have an opportunity to and of course, anything that the school committee presents is going to be preliminary in nature because they're just embarking on their their
reorganizational plan and that sort of thing. So, it's if it works, it would be nice to look at having this as an annual event um just sort of get together um and
reach out to folks. Good. Thank you. Um so, we are now down to the consent agenda. Um, item 13, approve meeting minutes for
August 25th, 2025. I'm going to hold that. Um, item 14, approve committee appointment for Robert Jackson as a full member of the economic development committee with a term to expire on June 30th, 2028.
Item 15, approve request for use of Town Roads cystic fibrosis cycle for life October 4th, 2025. Item 16, approve one-day malt and wine license applications. Apple Valley Catholic Collaborative at
89 Arlington Street on October 4th, 2025. Household goods at 5:30 Main Street on October 22nd, 2025. Move to approve consent items 14- 16. Second.
Moved and second to accept those. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Extensions. Approved. Um, congrats Robert. Sorry.
Thank you. The one item that I have uh and I apologize for not uh picking this up until this morning
for the uh under the meeting minutes under regular business item two um probably 3/4 of the way down the main paragraph noted that retirees will be signing a
new contract in January with Etner and may be seeing rate increases of 40%. Um, those items have been discussed. However, I would point out that the retirees will not be the folks signing the contract. The retirees,
as I've repeated a couple of times, have no choice in the matter. So, if we could just amend that um to say that the town will be signing new contract as opposed to the retirees or that the retirees
will be covered under the new contract. Um I feel better about it. We can we can make that change. Thank you. Um with that, I'll accept another motion. I move to approve the uh meeting
minutes of August 25th uh as amended. Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Extensions. Okay. I'm looking for one more motion.
Move to adjurnn. Second. Moved and second to to adjourn at looks like 7 minutes past 8. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed extensions. Thank you very much.
What are we going to do for the next three hours? See See you. See you next week. Thank you.