##VIDEO ID:l56y5zllwGo## we are recording I'm just noting that ammer media isn't connected yet I'm going to contact them and see if they're on the way please we'll wait to start then hi Anna can you hear us thanks yes I can thank you we're waiting to see where ammer media is Lynn maybe in the meantime you could note for those in the audience when we're going to do public comment on the master plan and when we'll have general public comment so do you want me to open the meeting even though we're not recording you can make that announcement before we begin okay um we're going to officially open the meeting in a moment but let me just mention tonight's uh agenda is in three parts uh the first part is what we call a primer on the master plan and that will be provided by Chris breast who's our director of planning then after that which will go for about a half an hour around six o'clock we will actually hold the public forum on the master plan this is required by the uh Charter that annually we hold a public for with regard to the master plan and it gives people an opportunity to refresh their memory on the master plan and also see what different things have been done that then plug into the master plan and again Chris will have a very brief presentation during that but the real purpose of public forums is to have the audience um ask questions comment and engage in a dialogue with us about the a master plan after we finish that we'll go back into the regular council meeting I'll reconvene it and we'll go on with the business for the evening during that time there will be a general public comment period as well that will not come until at least 6:30 or quarter of 7 okay we're waiting to see if amoris media joins us Athena did they know we were starting early okay e for those of you that are joining us on zoom we're waiting for ammer media to connect so that it is available on uh television thank you and if you're looking at the uh screen it's actually in under the please note the regular Town council meeting will begin at 5:30 actually it will begin as soon as we can with a primer on the master plan and it's at 6:00 not 6:30 the council will hold a public form on the master plan they're working on connecting now it should just be a moment thank you e e as soon as we are connected to amris Media we will begin amous media is connected I just want to confirm that they're online with us thanks for your patience everyone are they online they're connected I'm just confirming that we're good to go okay thank you for your patience we're ready thank you um good evening it's September 23rd 2024 this is a meeting of the Town Council it will start we will call the meeting to order we'll start with a primer on the master plan recess that the meeting and go on to the annual public for on the master plan and then reconvene our regular meeting and continue with our business the open meeting law allows us to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the council physically present at a meeting location while providing the public with adequate alternative access to the meeting this meeting is accessible in real time by Zoom by phone and as a live broadcast on Amis media channel 9 there are in fact at this time six counselors in the town room given that we have a quorum of the council present on September 23rd I'm calling the meeting to order at 5:40 and I'll call on each counselor by the name they have indicated they would like to be addressed uh at that PL at that time please unmute and make sure that we hear you and we can hear we can hear you and you can hear us Patti Angeles presentent Anna Devin gothier present councelor ete will be joining us later Lynn grimer is present councelor hanii I assume will join us later Bob hegner present councelor Lord present Pam Rooney here councelor Ryan is absent uh Kathy Shen I'm here Andy Steinberg present Jennifer to here and councelor Walker will see the ch joins us later there is no chat room for this meeting if you have technical issues please make sure ethena and I know and we'll be monitoring for that let me explain there will be a public comment period during the public forum and one general public comment period for any other items during the regular meeting with that let me introduce Chris prrp and state the following each year is required by Charter section 2.13 we have we hold a public forum on the master plan starting in 2019 we have provided a separate session prior to the public forum called the primer on the master plan provided by Chris brep it allows us to refresh our knowledge of the master plan and updates regarding actions related to the master plan the plan was developed through a comprehensive process involving over a thousand ambris residents it was formally adopted by the planning board in 2010 and by the Town Council on November 9th 2020 at the conclusion of the pre of the primer we will then um pause recess the regular meeting of the council and move to the public forum um during that time we encourage the public to ask and engage in dialogue with us about the master plan Chris please go ahead thank you councelor griezman um good evening my name is Christine brep and I'm the planning director for the town of ammer I'm here to give you a short presentation about the master plan and then during the public forum to hear comments and concerns from the public about the master plan first I'd like to make a few General comments one definition of a master plan states that a master plan is a dynamic long-term planning document that provides a conceptual framework to guide future growth and development a master plan is not the same as zoning it doesn't deal with streetscape and tell us how wide the sidewalk should be and it doesn't say where we should plant trees doesn't tell us what style of architecture we should um have in our town or how tall the building should be and it doesn't talk about how many parking spaces that we need as you will see it's much more General than that to accompany our master plan and to support its goals and objectives we have a series of other plans that map out details for us including our zoning bylaw since the master plan was completed in 2010 we have made many other plans which can be incorporated by reference into the master plan and to list a few they are the sewer extension master plan the housing production plan the housing market study Transportation plan open space and Recreation plan bicycle and Rec pedestrian Network plan Community Field Master Plan climate action adaptation and resiliency plan and the ammer historic preservation plan of 2024 which was just voted uh by the planning board to incorporate into the master plan by reference that was just completed it's an update of a previous plan we have also made many changes to our zoning bylaw since the adoption of the master plan including seven zoning amendments in 2021 alone we have recently adopted zoning amendments to make it easier to build an accessory dwelling unit on your residential property although the state seems to have preempted that and has gone ahead with its own uh change to the law with regard to adus um we've also made zoning amendments that make it easier to open a restaurant we've adopted a new set of flood maps and a zoning bylaw to accompany them we're currently working on a solar bylaw that will be become part of the zoning bylaw it will regulate how large scale solar installations are permitted and the planning board has just sent a new zoning amendment to Town Council to rezone the area along University Drive between AMD Street and Route 9 to allow more housing in the form of mixed use buildings to be developed there the master plan that we will talk about tonight was created over a period of 12 Years from 1998 to 20 10 since we had previously not had a master plan it took a long time to develop the one we have the town should start the process for a new master plan sometime in 2025 appropriating money to begin the process with the goal of having an updated master plan in place by 2030 this time I hope it won't take 12 years to adopt the master plan since much of the groundwork has already been done meanwhile the town should work on implementing the master plan that we have including continuing to create new plans to address issues that are important to us including changes to the zoning bylaw so let's start looking at our master plan um so this is a presentation I've given this I think this is the fifth time I've given it so yes hope you uh I'm going to test you all afterwards so you can yes answer my questions um let's see is this on AA I pushed the button the right button right what's happening okay thank you okay so we already went over the definition of a master plan anyway it's the community's general long-term blueprint for its future it's a dynamic document and it's the beginning not the end of a process okay uh what does a m what does the law say about a master plan it's required by Mass General Law chapter 41 section 81d our master plan was adopted by the planning board in February of 2010 and then adopted by Town Council in November of 2020 ammer home Rule Charter requires the adoption of a new master plan by Town Council every 20 years so 2030 is our Target date for a new master plan we should begin to plan for a new master plan in 20125 next slide please so um this master plan was the first in ammer for nearly 40 years and it was based on extensive public input you probably recognize the room that we were in here in this uh picture over to the right it's the same room we were in uh recently to talk about downtown um design guidelines uh the high school cafeteria it's a great place to gather um in addition to public input the master plan was also based on research on the community's existing conditions and anticipated trends for the future so this master plan represents Amor's best effort to balance competing interests of a diverse population next slide please the beginnings of the master plan were in 1971 and lasted until 2006 in 1971 the select committee on goals which is affectionately called scog was established and they made a report about um um what we would like to see in ammer one of the things they uh concluded was that there should be um a plan based on a map showing areas that we would like to develop and areas that we would like to preserve so the map over here on the right with the circles shows the village centers and the downtown downtown is the rectangular shape in the middle and the village centers are those kind of wheel like um images that surround the downtown you have two uh Village centers in North ammer the north ammer intersection that's at the intersection of all those roads North Pleasant and Meadow Etc and then the Little kushman Village Center off to the right moving down to the South you have the gate House Road um Village Center over to the east which is really um it hasn't developed as well as we would have hoped there is housing there and there are some businesses there and I understand there will be more businesses there in the future then we have two Village centers kind of in the lower third that's Pomo Lane where we recently built a nice roundabout and um The Village Center at the South amers Common which is where the South Congregational Church and the mson library are and then we have the Village Center to the far south which is Atkins Corner Village Center which includes Applewood and it also includes Hampshire V Hampshire College I almost said Hampshire Village Hampshire College I think it also includes Hampshire Village doesn't it yes it does um so after the skog committee um finished its work in then it took about 20 years or a little more than 20 years and ammer held a visioning process and um I think they were talking mostly about Visions for the downtown but that was that was important so we have a document called ammer Visions which was prepared by Walt kofski and his uh company up in Conway um and it does have some interesting things to say about the downtown um then the comprehensive planning committee was established and they met met regularly over a period of six years to work on how to proceed with planning amers together so this was planning to plan and that's uh what we do uh there was a lot of participation from Hampshire college and college and new mass in fact the drawing on the far right the little purple drawing is a a document that was produced by a class at UMass a planning class at UMass trying to get a handle on what parts of town should be more heavily developed and what what parts of town should be more preserved um so $20,000 was appropriated in 20 2004 to hire a consultant to establish a scope of work and a cost estimate for the work of planning ammer together many community members were involved including Bruce coldham which who is uh now a planning board member John cun who recently retired from cun riddle Cheryl Z who used to head the Emer survival center Alissa Brewer was a select board member and also a council member Eric Nakajima and Aaron Hayden Jim Wald and many others in 2005 Town Meeting voted $65,000 for the master plan next slide please then in 2006 we really uh launched the project in um in Earnest so the consultant was chosen and we had uh engagement and support from the comprehensive planning committee town meeting voted another 135,000 so we had 200,000 Al together and the Consultants started Gathering data and a lot of this data is on the uh town website if you're interested under the topic of Master Plan in 2007 planning amers together held public idea Gatherings and group workshops and a community survey was um sent out I think to 650 randomly CH chosen households and the first draft of the master plan was was created then in 2008 through 2010 the master plan subcommittee of the planning board edited the draft it was a group of about four or five members of the planning board who worked with former planning director Jonathan Tucker to edit the master plan and then in 2010 in January of that year we held a final public forum on the draft master plan and the next month the planning board voted to adopt the master plan many years later in 2020 uh in November of 2020 after Town Council was established Town Council also voted to adopt the master plan next slide please so the master plan contains chapters on the following topics and these are required by the Mass General law goals and policies land use which is my favorite section demographics and housing Economic Development natural and cultural resources open space and Recreation services and Facilities transportation and circulation and implementation next slide please um so how's the m i want to just pause for a moment uh councelor hanaki has joined us can you hear us M okay thank you go ahead it begins with a statement of key directions for the community um and some of them are maintain Amor's existing Community character provide housing that meets the needs of all residents while minimizing impacts on the environment diversify and expand the economic base and promote an ethic of sustainable environmental energy practices in all Town activities next slide please in terms of land use the master plan says that we should preferentially direct future development to existing builtup areas preserve key undeveloped lands protect key farmland and farming in ammer guide new housing growth while minimizing impact on open space and small town rural character and honor the historic and cultural character and beauty of the neighborhoods next slide please in terms of demographics and housing it says we should encourage a greater mix of housing types sizes and prices serving a wider range of income levels we should preserve and expand the number of affordable and moderately priced rental units and housing stock we should encourage the production of housing in an environmentally sound Manner and we should improve housing and services for people who are homeless next slide please um in terms of natural and cultural resources the objectives include promoting preservation appreciation and sustainable use of our historic and cultural resources and applying principles of environmental sustainability townwide so we have some images here on the left hand side we have an image of the hoo range in the middle of course we have the iconic Emily Dickinson Museum and on the right hand side we have the Kern Center at um Hampshire College which is a living build building challenge building which means that it's um pretty much sustainable all by itself it doesn't need connection with the Grid or anything like that and it's also built of materials that were sustainably sourced next slide please in terms of transportation and circulation the objectives include actively promoting alternative modes of transportation and we have done that with the um Valley Bike uh system which is very Innovative um providing adequate public parking to support existing and desired new development in the downtown and elsewhere and I guess that's something that still needs some work pursue funding strategies for achieving Transportation goals next slide please and in terms of implementation provide sufficient resources to implement the master plan involve a wide variety of stakeholders in implementation and require concurrence with the master plan requiring concurrence with the master plan is reflected in parts of our zoning bylaw where we have criteria for um whether to uh approve a a planning board site plan approve site plan review or um a special permit and it requires that um there's a statement that whatever is being proposed concurs with the master plan next slide please um so I'm going to show you a few things about what we've accomplished since adopting the master plan and how we have implemented some of the objectives and strategies next slide please and I'm focusing on housing here particularly affordable housing so a number of years ago I think it was around in the ear in the early 2000s um we worked with ha housing which is now wayfinders they have a new name um and they the town and hap work together to create this Olympia Oaks um Housing Development which is really beautiful if you haven't driven through it it's it's definitely worth driving through it's off East Pleasant Street on Olympia Drive and it's a it's a really a lovely place it's really wellmaintained and um it's rental housing for for low-income families and all all of the units are uh affordable then we have the Main Street housing on Main Street which you probably pass every time you go up into town um and that is 11 uh units that were developed um in conjunction with ammer housing authority and it's also very wellmaintained and really a beautiful asset to to the downtown and and ammer um more recently Valley CDC proposed and had approved a development on we call it ball Lane but it's really not it's really the pulpit Hill Road and the intersection with monteu Road or Route 63 and there are 30 units there um 15 buildings with 30 units in them of affordable home ownership and so this is a new um idea that the state has has put forward to support home ownership for people who haven't been able to own homes in the past and we're hoping that this project is um built and will be U inhabited very soon it was approved by the zoning board of appeals I believe it was last year um next slide please then the other ways we get affordable housing are uh preservation of existing units um at Rolling Green um Rolling Green was about to go off the affordable housing inventory and um Beacon communities in the town stepped in the town contributed over a million dollars to help Beacon communities to retain uh the 40 units of affordable housing that's available at Rolling Green um we also have develop developer-driven affordable housing so again Beacon communities uh teamed up with um Kohl's WD Kohl's and built uh North Square which has 130 uh units alog together 26 of which are affordable and they are affordable to very low income 30% and moderately low income or 50% of are of median income so that's really a boon to the town we have two developments of Habitat for Humanity housing one on North Pleasant Street and one on East Pleasant Street Each of which are duplexes that uh the people who inhabit them now and have are now the owners um helped to build and so that's a really great a great thing that came to pass Valley CDC recently completed um a development at 132 Northampton road which current ly houses uh 28 um low-income people all different um income levels 30% uh 50% and 80% of area median income and it also includes some people from the U Mental Health Community um I already talked about ball Lane and now we're currently working on with wayfinders again wayfinders again is the same group that we worked with on Olympia Drive so wayfinders is back in town working on a project on Belchertown Road and at the East Street School to provide 78 units of uh affordable um of housing I think all but 10 of them are affordable so that's another really great project that's going through the zoning board of appeals right now in terms of inclusionary zoning we have a pretty robust inclusionary zoning bylaw in our zoning bylaw that requires um developments with 10 10 units or more to provide 12% of their unit uh as affordable so presidential Apartments recently added 54 units to their development and they were required to have six affordable units um University Drive 70 University Drive has four affordable units Aspen Heights has 11 University Drive South has five I believe um 462 Main Street which is just down the road here was developed by John roleski and that has um 2 three units of new new housing with three of them affordable and recently we had a developer take advantage of the payment in lie um of providing on-site affordable units so he's given the town or will give the town I shouldn't say give he's going to pay the town in lie of providing affordable units on site over a million dollars um and that's a project at 45 and 55 South Pleasant Street so the town's role in all of this is um m multifaceted we have our zoning bylaw which as I said has a pretty robust inclusionary zoning uh facet um we act as a facilitator with a developer and the state and Consultants to um help developers to develop projects that can provide affordable housing uh the town provides funding in the form of um Community preservation act committee monies and we also have a tax incentive the only developers who have taken advantage of the tax incentive so far Beacon communities but I think that other developers know about it um and then we have a role in permitting when these projects come through we uh assist the planning board and the zoning board of appeals as well as the applicant to um kind of facilitate the the permitting process and the town also provides land so in the case of Belchertown Road and East Street School the town purchased the Belchertown Road site I think it was $750,000 and the town already owned the East Street School site and is providing both sites um I think there's going to be a 99-year lease on both sites so that these units can be um built and can be managed and go forward next slide please here are some images of some of the recently completed projects that include affordable housing North square at the Mill District which you're probably all familiar with as a result of there being Provisions is there and a general store is there and the um the development is really quite lovely it has a nice dog park and a nice playground so it's a place to just uh go and and spend some time on a Saturday one University Drive um was recently completed and that as I said has five affordable units it also it's a mixed use building and it has eye physicians of Northampton in it Aspen Heights um is mostly uh students I believe but there are um 11 affordable units there and Eastgate tables is the 28 units on Northampton Road next slide please um the Amir Municipal Housing Trust also has a role they're part of local government and they get their powers from the state and local regulations um they uh prioritize housing um they uh provide Community engagement and advocacy um you'll probably remember John Hornick who was very instrumental in having the housing uh trust set up and then he was um you know he he really was the the primary energy behind it and um he's really done a terrific job of promoting housing this East Street School site was one of the things that he talked about a lot and eventually it came it is coming to pass this is an image on the right here of what is being proposed Now by wayfinders um and the housing trust also provides funding and acts as a facilitator in uh housing projects next slide please so we're also continuing to work at as a community on many things that are talked about in the master plan um adequately addressing homelessness and the need for more affordable housing Belchertown Road and East Street School um the VFW site we recently purchased the Veterans of Foreign Wars site down on the other side of the railroad tracks and we're developing that into a shelter and affordable housing and that's a very very exciting project we're repairing aging existing infrastructure and I can attest to that because I live on Heatherstone Road and they've been uh really doing a terrific job of rebuilding the road um Bridges and sidewalks as well we're having we just finished a sidewalks along boltwood Avenue in front of um ammer college and the the hotel um and so that's a really exciting project to see these things come to pass we have a lot of new sidewalks around the north north nor common um constructing new sidewalks along East Hadley Road M Lane Amity Street Belchertown Road as I said Heatherstone Road I love it and boltwood Avenue um and we're also addressing large capital projects in a time of rising costs which we've um really been kind of astounded by but anyway um the library and the elementary school were happy to celebrate the fact that the entry Elementary School seems to be coming in under budget um and then we have the fire station and the DPW site to to still uh think about and work on um so we're also updating the zoning bylaw and the general bylaw the general bylaw was recently amended to include preservation of uh significant historically significant buildings the zoning bylaw we added adus and flood maps um we have the University Drive resoning coming before Town Council tonight and we also have the solar B that we're working on um and we continue to apply principles of environmental sustainability townwide in terms of stretch building code Net Zero for municipal buildings and solar bylaw next slide please ah okay um so I'm gonna stop talking and thank you very much for listening it's been a pleasure talking about all the accomplishments and how we've managed to uh Implement some of the master plan um thank you Chris are there any clarifying questions from the council before I recess our council meeting and go on to the public forum Bob hegner yeah Chris I I'd appreciate it if you could talk a little bit about what the town is doing for senior housing and for Workforce housing uh I mean we we've covered affordable housing pretty well but I don't know that we're doing anything for the others can you please um discuss what the town is doing well we are talking to some developers who are interested in um building senior housing um but nothing has really gelled as of yet um in terms of Workforce housing I think that's really a difficult one because there aren't programs at the state level that are available to um to promote Workforce housing so it's really up to um developers to choose to develop Properties or housing that is you know not as expensive as much of the housing that is being developed in ammer I think that's definitely something we need to work on but it's kind of a challenge to figure out how to make that work okay Jennifer um yes I wanted to ask you probably mentioned it but um in for the next master plan is that under the purview of the planning board or is the council the planning board and then it comes to the council the planning board will actually form that committee um I think that's probably the case Chris I don't know that hasn't been worked out yet I think that the comprehensive planning committee was probably set up by the select board yeah um but once it comes to actually refining the um master plan and uh adopting it the planning board has the primary role and then the Town Council has another role also adopting it okay thank you thank you are there other questions that one Jennifer okay Kathy thanks Chris for that sweeping a presentation so um I I have two questions the first is are you knowing that you're leaving the amazing service you've given to the town over all these years do you or the planning staff have a list of of if there were the changes to the ma planning master plan where do you think attention needs to go you know just a a laundry list and you don't have to say yes or no on the spot the second is um I think there's often the impression that we have a lot of open land that could be built on and I was looking at a map on how much of our land is wet um so if we asked you for where is there Awards where there's nothing on it right now um that is potentially developable would that be something you you all could do without a huge amount of work that is really challenging because much of ammer is either um very Rocky or very wet um so if you look at you know some of the areas in the north well and it also some of emmer doesn't have sewer or water so if you look at some of the areas in the Northeast quadrant of town um it's it's fairly wet the water is close to the surface and um there's no water and sewer up there um there's no water I think because of water pressure I think the sewer is mainly you know it could be built if the town had the intention to do that but um so land is wet Rocky no sewer no water but we also I think in my opinion and also in the opinion of the people who put together the master plan want to um Preserve Reserve our outlying areas and not have um all of our farmland and forests taken over by housing so we'd like to concentrate housing in places that are already developed it's very challenging to find places in ammer now where you can build single family homes for instance um so the idea of adding adus to already existing neighborhoods is probably a good idea um the idea of potentially loosening up on um duplexes is probably something that should be looked at um but in terms of finding large swaths of land developable in town is not um is not something that's really reasonable thank you in my opinion Pam rone thank you sorry thank you I had actually the same question of is the uh is the planning department compiling its list of potential updates and and revisions um and secondly if 2030 is the target year for um a major update it looks like the it looks like the planning board is the group that will consult and utilize Town staff to start identifying um the process so I'm guessing or I'm I'm asking asking would we see activity on that two to three years before the 2030 deadline I think we'll have to start in 2025 and it will involve Town Council will'll have to ask for um an appropriation to hire a consultant to help us with this um I would say all of the planners have mental lists of things that need to be updated or changed in the master plan but I don't think we have a document where we've actually put that down on the paper um so that's a good suggestion um I don't really have qualms about the existing master plan I think there are some things in it that're outdated or some things that we've already accomplished that could be um eliminated and certainly our um approach to various topics has changed over the years since this was really written WR in about 2007 so it was being addited in 2008 so by the time it was adopted it was already you know reflective of the thought processes that were in the mid 2000s rather than in the mid 2020s um so there are probably a lot of things that will need to change but this is going to be a community conversation it's not really something that the planning department is um you know going to be uh the planning department isn't necessarily going to be be leading the topics the planning department can lead the process but not the ideas that come to play okay are there any other questions from the council okay then I'm going to um first of all thank Chris this is um it's always interesting to look at this and say gee we did do that but we still have to do this um we are going to now recess the regular Town council meeting and move immediately into the public forum on the master plan and Chris we'd like you to stay in the room thank you so uh we've already called I'm going to I have to call the master plan meeting I mean the public forum to order um this is the annual public forum of the master plan at the conclusion of the public forum we will reconvene our regular meeting I've already talked about the open meeting law and our connectivity and we have called a quorum and I can see that people are still here and no one else has been added since the last counselor um there will be a public comment period during the public forum and one general public comment period during the regular meeting it's a requirement that during the public forum half of the time be devoted to uh public comment and questions Etc so with that having just finished the primer with without much change in the audience here or in the room um I'm going to suggest that we not have a additional presentation and we move immediately to any questions or comments so if you're in the audience and you would like to comment on the m master plan please make sure you've registered with Athena if you're in the on zoom and you would like to comment please raise your hand at this time okay right now I'm not seeing any hands Athena we officially started this part of the meeting at 615 6 16 okay so we are officially now open for public comment this is an opportunity for people in the audience either in the room or on Zoom to ask questions to raise issues about the master plan perhaps even things they'd like to see in future Master plans oh John Sheldon please enter the room state your name and where you live and per and we ask that you keep your remarks to three minutes hi uh the John Sheldon I live on Sunset and I'll keep my remarks short but um I just listened to the rehash of the uh the current master plan from 2020 and the comment was made about how public parking may not have been adequately addressed according to that master plan which I would support that assessment I think our Central Downtown definitely needs more public parking to support retail businesses to support restaurants to support Commerce to support visitors um my wife owns a retail business in town and she knows many business owners and a common complaint among the her customers and business owners is how little public parking there is to support their businesses um uh so I think I would encourage the council and uh the the making of the next master plan to better address this need thank you thank you for joining us John Arley please enter the room state your name and where you live um hi my name is Arley gold I live I'm sorry arle you need to speak up hi can you hear me now yes we can sorry um Arley Gould South amers it was just interesting to me listening to the master plan I heard words about preservation and of cultural uh aspects and given as you know I talk a lot about the Jones Library um I just thought that was interesting in the context of what's happening with the Jones Library so if there was an emphasis in the past thinking about preservation um seems things have changed a bit maybe at least in context of this project thank you thank you for joining us Arley are there any more people who would like to make public comment I'm going to ask one more time and Frank at this point we have actually had the M had the opportunity open for half of the meeting are there any other people who would like to make public comment seeing none I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the public form and seek a second second thank you uh we now will take a roll call vote for adjournment uh Pat deangeles I Anna Devin gothier I councelor ete is still absent Lyn grimer I councelor hanii I Bob hegner I councelor Lord I Cameron yes councelor Ryan uh is absent I'm sorry thank you um Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg hi Jennifer to yes councelor Walker is also still absent okay the public forum is adjourned and we will move immediately we will reconvene the town council meeting Chris we'd still like you to stay okay so before we start the formalities of the meeting we would like to take an opportunity as a Town Council to thank Chris Chris is retiring at the end of this month I think that's the date and we have a small token to say thank you now you know why we made you come out of your room I see you so much those are beautiful it's really been a pleasure working for the town of ammer I've been here for 21 years and it's a wonderful place to live and work and it's always stimulating always different every day is different new surprises and I've really enjoyed it tremendously so thank you thank you very much thank you for being a part of us for all these years thanks so we are going we are now back in the regular meeting uh I just want to make sure that I have [Music] um so it's the regular meeting of the Town Council it's uh the 23rd of September and we are now moving on to the rest of our business um we've already talked about the open meeting law and uh we have actually made sure that all counselors can hear us and no additional counselors have joined us um so we're going to begin with announcements uh can you place um the announcements on the screen thank you we have a council meeting coming up in October on both the 7th and the 21st we have community resource committee will'll meet on the 24th Finance on October 1 and go will meet this Thursday at 6:30 and TSO also this Thursday at 10: I also want to mention there is a four towns meeting on September 28th at 9:00 at the Regional Middle School on your screen you'll see a postcard that many of you have received this is a very important postcard this is a very important project it's not just another company soliciting you to join them for your for your electricity this is in fact an opportunity for you to have your same supplier whether it in in our case it is ever Source but without opting out you will have part of your energy now supplied through green sustainable capabilities you've received something in the mail again it's an important document if you don't respond or opt out you will automatically go into the vge standard green program if you do opt out then we really advise you to call the number on the screen go to the website and talk to a specialist and ask any questions you may have okay and the second side of the postcard just gives you a little more sense of the fact that your electric bill will not change you'll still pay eversource there however will be a statement about your uh sustainable energy so um and particularly when want to point out that this is a collaborative effort of amist Northampton and pelum uh and there is an upcoming public forum on it on the September 26th from 7 to 8 and the link to that public forum is on your screen and also on the town website thank you um okay the next one is District 2 is having a meeting they're going to try something uh which is both being in person we will be in this room and and virtual by what by the zoom so that meeting is this coming Monday a week from now September 30th at 6:30 and finally we want to recog recogniz that on September 29th is gold star mother day this is a day set aside to recognize women who are the mother stepmother adoptive mother or Foster mother of a US Armed Forces member who dial died while serving an action against the enemy Tracy Taylor was presented this award this year her son was killed in action in Iraq in 2007 and just a note she's donated her gold star flag to the town and I'm sorry she has donated a gold star flag to the town that's right thank you we have no hearing at this time we will move to public comment anyone wishing to speak during public comment who is in the town room make sure you have signed signed up with Athena anybody who would like to speak who is on Zoom please raise your hand at this time do we have anybody in the room okay um public comments on matters are on matters within the jurisdiction of the Town Council residents are welcome to express their views for up to 3 minutes the council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during General general public comment public comments are not reflective of the opinions of the Town Council I see one hand we're going to go ahead and recognize that hand and after that move on to the rest of our agenda Maria k keki please enter the room state your name and where you live thank you very much Maria kapiki South amorist I am speaking tonight to make the council aware that the petition that has been circulating about the Jones Library building project uh has achieved more than 1,000 signatures at this point uh this petition has been circulating to get the take the Pulse of the community and people were asked to sign if they uh opposed cuts to sustainability and historic features if they opposed authorization of any additional Town funds besides the 46 million uh authorized and to uh tell us that they would like the demolition expansion proog uh project to stop now and pivot to an affordable repair and renovation option 87% of respondents said stop now and pivot 76 said do not authorize any more money 72% said do not cut historic and sustainability this is to date of the people um who responded online they were offered the opportunity to say whether they had ever supported the project or had changed their mind fully 31% of respondents had changed their mind about the project they had previously supported this project but now do not support the project anymore and the reasons that they gave were cost 81% the fundraising Gap that exists and is expected to continue to exist 65% sustainability 56% and his impacts the negative impacts to the historic Jones 67% the response to this petition has been enthusiastic people are hungry to express to you our town leaders how they feel about this and how they would like you to please stop pursuing this project and pivot to a more rational and affordable option this is not a handful of disgruntled people as we have been described by some on this Council and some in town this is a lot of people in town please heed this please do your job the Town Council holds the per strings you need to look at this project look at its fiscal viability and take action you need to stop this going out to bid when you don't even know what's going to happen to deal with the adverse effects does not make any sense thank you for listening thank you for your comments uh Alicia Walker has joined us Alicia can you hear us yes I can thank you Lynn thank you Arley please enter the room state your name and where you live hi this is Arley again thank you please speak more into your mic thank you I'm sorry can you hear me now yes we can okay um I'd like to talk kind of following a little on Maria I'd like to talk about the name calling that is going on around this uh Library um issue so far I've been called a naysayer a stinker a nist a vocal minority that ruins all of Amor's projects and these these don't really bother me that much um but there is one comment that that does and it goes like this if you are interested in historic preservation and sustainability which are interrelated you are a privileged self-centered complainer who doesn't care at all about children teenagers English language Learners people with disabilities the poor and the homeless this is a narrative that has evolved in response to those who disagree with the project and I've been read reading and hearing it for the last few months let me be clear I have and do support these groups in my personal life I just don't feel that an overlarge overe expensive project that destroys a significant portion of the historic building is the best way to support these groups and I have heard other proposals and ideas about how to support these groups thank you very much thank you for joining us Harley that's the end of public comment we're going to move on to the consent agenda the following items were selected because they were considered to be routine and it was reasonable to expect they would pass with no controversy if you would want to remove an item please state so after I read the motion and before I seek a second the motion is to move the following items and the printed motions there under and approve those items as a single unit 8A authorization for Town Council president to sign a letter in support of the Northern Tier Rail Project on behalf of the Town Council that letter has been revised twice and it is now in your packet um 8B acceptance of deed to property located on Sand Hill Road shuberry for water supply protection and land conservation purposes that was an item earlier on our agenda and this is just the acceptance of the deed 9 A and B approval of town manager appointments for the community preservation act committee and the Board of Health and 11a approval of the following meeting minutes September 9 2024 regular meeting I don't see any hands therefore I'm seeking a second second thank you we're going to move immediately to the vote Anna delin gothier I councelor ET is absent Lyn grimer is I councelor hanii I Bob hegner I councelor Lord hi Pam roone yes councelor Ryan is absent uh Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg I Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat deangeles hi thank you okay we have no resolutions or proclamations and with regard to presentations and discussions if we have time at the end of the action items which mostly deal deal with roads and public way uh we will move on to discuss Town manager goals with that we're going to move immediately to the action items and the first um action item that was not on the consent agenda is the public way request sidewalk and Road improvements on West Street between potwine Lane and Long Meadow Drive uh I've asked the count town the clerk of the Town Council to place a map so that people can refresh their memories on this town services and Outreach committee have met and forwarded this to us Andy uh Steinberg as chair of that committee do you have any comments I think that the report that we provided in writing which was now been in two successive meeting packets um really covers the um territory we um did not do this quickly uh we asked for transportation advisory committee and the disability access advisory committee uh to uh provide us with um in their input and um came back strongly tac's is a uh written comment that is also in the packet for this meeting uh and uh daac just um stated to us that they were fully supportive of the uh proposal um and we did have conversations with uh the superintend of Public Works Gilford moring um and uh I think that we were very impressed and so it was unanimous vote one member absent thank you um are there any I'm going to make a motion seek a second and then we'll ask for questions to approve the permanent changes to the public way on West Street as shown on the conceptual plan titled sidewalks and double Splinter Islands dated 1 to 24 in other words January 2nd 2024 is there a second second are there questions Kathy um I I well I have two questions one um uh we did get the very positive review from tac and they noted that there's many efforts along this uh area to uh impose traffic calming slowing meanwhile the speed limit is 50 so they were suggesting we drop the speed limit so I just wanted to put that on the future to-do list as a an i idea a concept and that it's it's 40 along part of the road then it turns 50 and if you drive there you can see cars stepping on the accelerator pedal when they see that 50 side so it's even though it's a short piece so that's just a comment on this the my my second is more a question on how when DPW was working on these how they prioritize because when I first ran for Council there was an approval for a sidewalk study along uh Northeast street that was presented by a group of residents they plotted out where it would go jcpc approved it there was a study done and as far as I know it's in a file box somewhere or it's a file somewhere so as as money becomes available potentially becomes available how are we how are we the town setting priorities and how would the council know what guides those priorities because I don't ever remember a review on here's possible places for sidewalks and we've rated them ABC or or so it's a it's a broader question not a an opposal to this with the town manager's approval I'm going to go ahead recognized superintendent of DPW Gilford moing Paul is that okay okay Guilford thank you for joining us did you have a response to that question um I I have a response also I froze I have a response but I also had a question first is it Northeast Street or is it East Pleasant Street I I meant East Pleasant you know yeah it's got the wrong Street the one yeah it's the one that you did do a survey as I spot I needed a map but than I thought I was losing I wasn't remembering right um so East Pleasant Street was brought forward and we've been working diligently on that there are some issues of along East Pleasant Street but we'll probably have a conceptual plan for you with before the spring about what can be done on East Pleasant Street um we had a few more um a few issues with Wetlands we had to here to talk about on E Pleasant and a couple other ones the project you have before you now was came from a citizen's complaint a couple csts complained about it and actually there are no Wetland issues it was a very straightforward realignment um we also had a request from pbta for bus stop improvements in this area so they that kind of drove this a little farther ahead of other projects um because it was a relatively simple thing for to work out and put together um the biggest the biggest thing we had to wrap our head around was how to deal with the intersection at at pot wine but we we kind of just left that intersection alone got the crosswalks in and put the splitter Islands in and the bus stops so it was a pretty it was a much easier project than East Pleasant Street which you should have a preliminary plan to look at before the spring okay Kathy is there any follow up on that that's great news and I'm going to let the people who have been waiting in the wings for a long time make sure if they're not listening tonight they hear that thanks Gilford thank you uh pamaron thank you thank you uh I had a question that uh since it looks like you're repaving this stretch has consideration been given to looking at all the water and sewer lines that are under that road and making sure that they're up to Snuff since we have been experiencing water line breaks here and there is this the time to do it and is there funding for that we did we did look at this area and there are no concerns with the little section that we're doing that there's any water or sewer issues in there thank you Andy Steinberg yes um I guess I'm supplementing the prior report I gave for Town services and Outreach Committee in response to something that uh Kathy had raised and that is about um issues that were uh raised by Tac in its uh uh response that were additional they said we support this but these are some things that we also want you to think about category so when we were um confronted with making recommendation we really had to focus on the questions that they were enthusiastic about the project which was what the recommendation was we did have a little bit of a conversation about the speed limit question and it goes back to Prior work that we've done on talking about uh speed limits um as a town we need to be um very thoughtful to not shy away from reviewing speed limits but to recognize that this kind of speed limit change would require um a substantial study uh by qualified traffic engineer to make a recommendation as a part of the process it is not a brief or uh inexpensive Enterprise and uh I think that um we should recognize that when alerted to speed limit questions we should consider it consider it with care because of something that he's asking for resources and uh in order to even just study whether it is possible to do that um in superintendent warington supplement if uh he feels that I've U misstated anything in that additional response Gilford no he just shook his head now um Gilford is 116 a state highway but we own it one 116 this section of 116 is the town's responsibility we're responsible for maintenance and oversight of this area but it is a state highway it is a state highway if we want to change the speed limit on it we do have to get help we do have to get concurrence from the state on that if there was a school on this road and you wanted to put school zones in now you'd have to also get concurrence in to state for that as well thank you are there any further questions or comments seeing none the motion's been made and seconded we'll move to a vote I'm starting with myself Lyn grimer and I councelor hanii I Bob hegner I councelor Lord I Cameron yes councelor Ryan's absent Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg hi Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat deangeles hi Anna Devin gothier I and counselor ET is absent okay we're going to move on to our next item and this is intersection improvements to Southeast Street between Main Street and College Street um and uh we have with us uh again superintendent Public Works Guilford moing and uh I'm going to ask Guilford to make a brief statement or comment and kind of where are we on this and then we're going to open it with a motion to refer and then uh I'm actually going to make the motion to refer um to refer the conceptual changes to the public Way on South East Street between Main Street and College Street as outlined in the CDM Smith report titled Fort River Elementary School traffic Engineering Services dated July 2024 to the town services and Outreach committee for a report to the Town Council by December 16 2024 is there a second second thank you Guilford please go ahead thank you so we hired CDM to do some analysis of the traffic counts that were created for the school project um we did some intersection analysis um we looked at a lot of different things and based on everything we looked at and how the the traffic flows here including some information we gathered during the installation of the new traffic light we have at the entrance to the school um we pretty much this is what we feel is the best solution for this Corridor and there are other Solutions but we feel this is the best solution um we have a set a series of four roundabouts um it allows this um to slow traffic through the corridor the entire Corridor not just at the intersections and it allows for traffic to move in and out of the schools um so if there's a there's probably tons of questions I know that there's tons of questions so I'll stop there Gilford could you just Orient people to what we're looking at on the screen so on the screen the top of the screen is Fort River School which is East the bottom of the screen is West Main Street is to the left of the screen or north and College Street is to the right of the screen which is South okay um and as in the past when things are referred we asked counselors to you know raise issues that they want to make sure that the re the committee to which it's referred will be looking at um Kathy first off thanks Guilford I've been as I think you know I've been asking to have a proposal before us for a while um and I as far as I can see this is probably a pretty expensive proposal so I have two question comments and then I will repeat them and send them to TSO I didn't read every piece but the the cut off was addressed in the CD Smith uh piece but I'm not sure I agree with it that cut off that allows you to avoid the South round what would become a roundabout and come in um I think is dangerous um and they talked about it in terms of traffic flow it lets the traffic keep going and avoid the intersection but what it also does is threatens kids and threatens bicycles and threatens cars that are coming in and out of the school there was a member of the school building committee she's not on anymore that had a severe accident there cuz people don't stop at the stop sign they look at it as a Runway and they just keep going so there was a decision in this proposal to leave it there so I want to question whether that makes sense if you don't view it from the car point of view but you view it from the people point of view so that's comment number one comment number two is I can't see them here you may have them in more detail crosswalks the only advantage of the existing lights is I can press a button and get across the street if I want to walk and we're going to have more people crossing the street because it's not just the school but we've got some apartment buildings coming in in this area so where the crosswalks would go and how you would cross safely is a a question and I know when we did the roundabout at py Lane the solution was to put blinking lights to add a a lot to allow something to happen but particularly during school time right now one of the things the school Personnel does does is they stand out in the middle of the street and put their hands up and stop the cars so the kids can get across the various intersections safely um so it's just a thinking in terms of Walkers or bicycles where do they how do they intersect with what would become one two 3 four roundabouts I'm not going to ask a question about the price tag now because I'm sure it's pretty high I think it would be good to first try to figure out what makes sense thank you Gilford did you want to address any of that um the only thing I would do is that we um the crosswalks are not shown here uh one of the questions that's out there for a future decision in the TS so or somewhere is do you want to add a sidewalk on both sides of the road for East Street there's not a sidewalk on the west side of the road on Southeast Street right now um if you did add that sidewalk you would need more crosswalks and if you didn't need that sidewalk you'd have the same crosswalks that you have now um so that is how this this would lay out so if you add a sidewalk you get have to add more crosswalks um if you leave that sidewalk off you have the same number you have now and then they would be Pro placed strategically to fit with the roundabouts at that time and that was just something we haven't we didn't dive too far into it because that question about a sidewalk was the key question thank you and I just just the last thing and it's for the committee at one point Gilford you had talked about widening the street and I didn't see whether that was considered um you getting an extra Lane out of some of the public way did you decide that wasn't needed we decided that you could add another Lane um but then you would also probably you would need to signalize this more than it is now um and then we also did not find when we installed the temporary cross temporary traffic lights at the driveway in and out of the school now um we found a a very high instance of people ignoring the the stop light when it actually functioned as a stoplight if they saw a red light in front of them and there was a green light behind it they ignored the light in front of them and would drive through the entrance to the school and then go into the intersection but the green light at Main Street was needed to clear the traffic coming out of the school that are making a right-hand turn if you did not have a green light at Main Street people would come out of the school and you could only stack six or eight cars because if the light was red um so that in that those movements kind of LED itself that the you could add a third lane but adding the third lane didn't really work that well with two traffic lights so close together okay Pam roone thank you I appreciate this study it looks it looks um intriguing I had a couple uh reactions to it and it it looks from the graphic that there must be more traffic going through the Main Street Northeast Northeast Street intersection than there is on Route n and Southeast Street which surprises me a lot um I would think that that route N9 would be the heaviest traffic and need a bigger Circle uh second I would Echo what I heard Kathy talk about the beler toown road access I take that because I don't want to go to the stoplight and turn right but if I had a roundabout and I had a right turn capability I probably would do that it feels like that should be access to the bank but not a through passage um again for protection of pedestrians and the speed at which I sometimes go through that um that access way um let's see oh the other thing was the complication of the um access to Southeast Street into the Cumberland Farms Zone that seems that that also needs to get a little bit of uh a second look that it may need some consideration of of entrance only um because it's so close to the intersection all in all um I appreciate seeing this as a as a concept and look forward to seeing it worked out in more detail thank okay Jennifer uh thank you yeah I don't want to repeat what's been said although I I did bike that today and wow it's a lot of roundabouts in a short span but we can I guess uh address that you know discuss that in TSO I did want to ask if this has been um if this has been put before the the safe routs to school I think we have a group of parents in ammer that's part of that and if that's how that would get referred if that's something TSO would refer as we sometimes you know ask opinions of TAC um but I think it would be you know important to solicit their input thank you councelor haniki thank you um in addition to some of the questions that have already been asked I have a couple others and I know this is a concept plan but um the north school entrance on this plan seems to really encroach on the common especially if you start putting sidewalks on um at least that's what it looks like on this plan that it's really kind of taking a chunk out of the common um where it might not need to if you move it a different way um so I just want to look at that and if there's a way to minimize taking that chunk out of the common um the uh um oh the west side of the common so the old Southeast Street I think is how it's labeled here is already used as a cutting through particularly with buses and others um how are we if we do this how's that going to look and has the traffic study studied that um of people using that side of the common the West Side to cut what would be then two roundabouts um and coming in much more heavily onto that lower roundabout and does that affect the planning of the roundabouts or even the planning of the size of the street and the turns into that old Southeast Street um coming out of the bank this concept plan shows there's a entrance into the bank and an exit and then it appears maybe it's cutting the farther north exit an entrance completely out maybe not um just because it's hard to read the concept plan they've got arrows for a specific one and nothing for the other one um would people being able to come out of that bank entrance be able to turn left and does that present problems both for safety and for other reasons um and are you actually cutting the two other entrances to that bank parking lot off given where the solid lines are and no showing of entrances and exits um the one from there and the one from the the uh Road access um the just I think I have three more that you sort of addressed the sidewalk plan um and so I was curious what the sidewalk plan on Main Street would be given that it looks like you're actually removing a PVE a lane of pavement um on this concept plan so would the sidewalk also move how how would that sidewalk look on Main Street then um sort of we'll we'll get it more presumably when we see a um more than just a concept plan but um I'm curious about that um the north entrance roundabout seems small compared to all the others is that because most people will be going straight through um so you don't really need it bigger um and um the Main Street roundabout the Main Street um Northeast Street the the farthest north one um that roundabout if you're coming east on Main Street and to turn South again this goes to the would people used to cut through going south then on Southeast Street it looks like in this concept plan that you don't even have to enter the roundabout sort of maybe you only half enter it um so I'm curious how that works it's a very tight turn um and how would that traffic work and that turn work while others are trying to also either come straight through Northeast to Southeast or do the three quarters and all of that um I'm sure it'll show up more in when we get farther but but that looked very strange to me and is that you know how's that going to be dealt with I know at triangle street it's like two completely different lanes that you merge into kind of how this North School two-lane entrance is looking now could you have any comments Guilford um we we looked at all those and this is um we did look at all those things you're talking about and we've taken them all to account and we can sit down more when we talk about it in gso and go more through it if you'd like um but or I can slog through it now it's your choice did you want to go through it now man um why don't you just briefly uh go through it now okay so so the roundabout the at the north entrance to the school that is just shown just it's in there it actually can move farther to the um East if we do move it farther to the east one of the things we were talking about is how to accommodate the law office next door to it um we might want to work out some arrangement with the law office that they actually exit onto the driveway of the school and maybe this becomes a public way at some point um and then they can they're not in between the two roundabouts and we can shift it farther to the east um the lane that Manny Joe was talking about that our coun councelor heni was talking about that comes into from downtown on Main Street and then turns right you do enter into the roundabout to make the right hand turn if you're a car there is a little bit of area extra area that's shown in the drawing and that is a raised area that's for trucks the track cross because trucks would need that extra space to make the turn um the going down on the West Side um we do not we don't think the pvta bus is going to W to change its route right now pvta goes down the old old Southeast side and we've made that accommodation so that people coming from Main Street heading east who go to belch toown Road or continue up continue down Southeast Street again go through the cut through there go into the roundabout and continue on their way of traffic travel um we expect that to be a good use for it and actually cut down some of the traffic going through the Main Street and the school entrance roundabout so we've kind of left that there and accommodated them um the driveway for the um the bank uh so for the bank there has to be a dedicated left turn lane for the roundabout so what we did was we left it where it is now but the discussion can be had if we want to move this Lane on the east side of the bank to the roundabout and do away with it and that's why there's not been a lot of real finesse with how the circulation will be in the bank um we have to resolve that question um if we do move this Lane too closer to the roundabout we end up having to take a piece of the bank's property to accommodate it but it would that would eliminate this cut through and you could turn that cut through into a driveway for the bank um that comes into the bank and then goes back out of the bank or it can just be a bike path for people going or a pedestrian way to go to the school so that's still a question that has to be resolved which we we didn't really tackle because we wanted to see what people's appetite was for taking additional property I think I hit most of them if I missed one okay anything else councelor hanck uh Anna hi Guilford thank you uh for for sharing this with us my biggest question has been alluded to in some ways but uh with the sidewalks but we've heard some really compelling stories from especially students at uh Fort River seeking uh access to to the school via bike and I'm curious as you're looking into your sidewalk plan whether you're just looking at sidewalks the way they've always existed in ammer I know they exist in multiple ways but you know what I mean or if you're also looking at uh protected bike Lanes or additional just painted bike Lanes um and how that's being incorporated into this I mean it seems like this is such a major project um I know often I'm I'm very kindly explained too that a project isn't necessarily big enough to Warrant putting in a bike lane this feels like we're putting in some major new I mean major new roundabouts and I'm curious about what the opportunities are for adding in infrastructure that would support safely biking along this route I don't need a full answer sorry I I would love some sort of response now but I'm not expecting a full answer now okay we haven't really decided we've discussed the fact that it might be better just make an eight foot wide or 10ft wide sidewalk which is more of a multi-use path Offroad for B bicycles and pedestrians versus putting bike Lanes on the road um the goal with the roundabouts to is to slow traffic down so that experienced cyclists who commute through this area not going to the school but commute other places would could pass through and feel comfortable but then for younger bicyclists who aren't as comfortable could be on the multi-use path in front of the school so that's kind of how we're we're heading our bets towards this that's really helpful thank you okay anything else Anna no okay um so Gilford I have a couple questions well I re I thank the people who already asked about pedestrians and bikes um am I correct that the um entrance that would be to the school to the farthest right is for buses only and the other entrance is for cars only okay that remains as it has been the plan for the school so that the bigger Circle as you come off of um route nine or col College Street is really has to accommodate buses coming in and out which tends to be a little bit uh you know they're longer they require more room to come in come out turn around whatever um so that was my I just wanted to confirm that the the entrances and the exits have remained the same um I personally think we're being shortsighted with regard to Route n um we already have one apartment complex another one being talked about and a whole other big one that we're writing and if anything happens in amest it's future growth growth and so I really wonder if although we see and believe me I've seen it the uh traffic jams on Southeast Street I really wonder whether we need to consider a larger traffic circle um at the route 9 entr uh rotary um and my final question really is Paul and this is looking down the road so we have bids that came in beautifully for the school with about $4 million do we know as for a fact that that money can be used for this so if this s a private developer roadway improvements would be required of them to make to accommodate their project um many school projects have used this money for infrastructure improvements associated with the construction of the building it is not reimbursable by the msba that's the difference so this would be all just be money that we have that we would allocate to this it' be a count it' be a council decision ultimately okay so pushing further is there anything about the language that we use to go out to the voters that would prevent us from using that money for this we'd have to get the legal opinion on that you know I think that if it's an Associated cost with the with the school um we're putting a back stop in things like that so I think you know if it's associated with the project we just double check check the the language on that okay and the final question is uh I'm sure the cost for this is more than we just think we're going to save on the school at what point would we actually know that we have the savings from the school to do these roads uh when the school opens okay that's I just wanted to confirm and raise those questions about because we do have contingency associated with the schools we want to maintain that contingency because you just don't know what's going to happen in during the construction process of a school and it's always good to have a healthy contingency right thank you uh I'm going to uh actually let's see Jennifer you've not no yes you did I'm gonna skip over to Bob and then come back to Kathy and to Jennifer Bob yeah I just wanted to um alert uh Guilford I'm sure you're aware of this but um the the um the in and In-N-Out uh to Cumberland Farms is very dang dous right now I drive by there every day I go to town and particularly the the entance entrance and exit which you can see basically right by the what the square thing on there is where the the the gas pumps are to just to around there is when if people are making a left turn they they have to stick way out into the oncoming Lane in order to see cars come around the corner and that that won't change by putting a rotary in there so if if there's a way to kind of figure out how to fix that problem that would be a good thing also the building across the street is now I believe an apartment building um and there's going to be a lot of traffic making a left turn into there um right around that spot too so Ju Just take those those things into account when you finalize the plan uh point of order can we please confirm councelor EIC in here and be heard I'm sorry yes uh thank you can you hear us councelor pre yes councelor yes thank you um okay uh now we'll go back to Kathy okay I'll I'll be quick just um the school construction all the design as you know the it has been built a bid and the work is about to start so for that north entrance one of the plans was to put a sign welcome to the Fort River School there we need to interact with the with the design team so that we don't put anything near where your roundabouts are Gilford that then we have to take out because the what Paul's answer on this money is the school is due to be finished the building by June 2026 the rest of the work will be ready for the kids to move in but I wouldn't want to have to redo something that we just did in terms of Paving and other things so I don't know whether some pieces of this these roundabouts by the entrances to the school could be done before 20126 so it's a question that to put into TCT as opposed to the really big intersection ones could we get this in the works so it could be coordinated with the widening of the street and the aisle for the two the buses Vans to go in and out so we don't have to redo something we've just done I wouldn't want to pay for it twice and just so everyone knows we've got about $9.8 million in contingency so the 4.8 that we came in under is on top of money we already had um so there is this pretty substantial buffer sitting there with the whole project and the good news is interest rates are going down so Jennifer top so I what is there a plan for how this would be funded um as a and is the plan not to start this until after the school is built I mean is this I guess I was assuming this was something that was going to happen I'm directing your question to the the town manager well first the council has to decide what you want to do and then if you say yes we want to go in this direction we'll work on the plans more and then we'll come up with some recommendations for funding so it's really we have to know what what direction you want to go to this is the first time you're looking at this four roundabout model kind of radical in some ways to some people but and when the engineers have looked at this it's a very difficult site to have a school as we know and so this is one of the options that is being recommended by the DPW superintendent and the town engineer and the uh Consultants so if this is something that you agree to and you're going to hear from a lot of people I'm sure as you consider this during Tso and then we'll say okay here's what we'll go out and price it and see what's going to come we'll give you an estimate though and so there might be grant funding because we've had other roundabouts funded that sure we would look at grant funding especially being close to a school there is there are some funds for safe fruits of school there us they're usually not big money um but we could look at all options for that as well there is one that was talked about a couple years ago called intersections near schools so it's more than just little pieces I I just don't know what the plot of money looks like sure again so when the school does open in 2026 in September it will probably the street will probably look the way it does now that's what I was asking Jennifer so I don't know whether the two smaller uh roundabouts that affect the two entranceways could be done nearer to when the school opens to solve the In-N-Out problem and then the big ones so it's a question that DPW whether we like the whole thing as Paul said this is premature to even be asking that but I don't know whether two could be done sooner and then the big ones later and that would be a question that would designers would have to deal with okay are there any other questionss Gilford I think Guilford wants oh I'm sorry Guilford please so um the town manager was correct we need to have approval that this concept is kind of the way we want to go and then it's um close to $600,000 to get the final plans designed and then we can move forward so if everything went perfectly perfectly as you laid it out that the TSO reports back in December is that that is the motion then that gives about six months six to eight months for final design and then if it's accepted we could probably begin construction um in 20 was 24 now we would could could begin construction before the school opens um but more than likely construction will probably begin probably as the school is opening that'll really be popular I'm sorry I couldn't resist the side comment um thank you Guilford are there any other questions uh I want to thank Gilford for um working to address this issue this this is a question that's been out there as ever since we chose this site for the school so the motion's been made and seconded uh we're going to move to a vote uh councelor hanii hi Bob hegner hi councelor Lord I Pam Rooney yes Council Ryan's absent Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg I Jennifer tub yes councelor Walker yes Pat deangeles hi Anna delin gothier hi councelor ET hi Lyn gar is an i it is unanimous with one person absent um given that we have several of us have been here since 5:30 I'm going to suggest we take a break of 10 minutes right now and come back uh we will reconvene at 720 okay make sure please make sure you turn your video off and your audio thank you e for left all for I know you know you are some but you're going to get both yeah could I'll let you know that's a I've taken my mom and how'd she do Mom okay not uh as you return Please turn your video back on so as you return please turn your video back on and um Athena would you please bring Mohamad in again as you return Please turn your video back on that way I know you're here counselor ET I know you're back Anna are you back and Alicia are you back yes I am thank you Lynn thank you okay um our next item is is a request from the University of Massachusetts it deals with vehicular directional signage and we're joined tonight by Muhammad abdella who is the project manager for at UMass facilities and campus Services he's here to answer questions there was a significant amount of information in your packet we're actually going to show the item on your screen and again this is a referral unless somebody tells me they actually want to go ahead and vote uh that's the one from last time can you in NOP that's overlay that's the one okay so the motion is to refer the referral of public way request University Massachusetts request to place campus vehicular directional signage in the public way is there a second to the motion second thank you so you see in front of you the places where can I ask of order you read the title not the actual motion so what is the motion that actually just got made I was looking at the wrong sheet ah to refer the request to approve the installation of seven vehicular directional signs in the public way to the town services and Outreach committee with a report to the Town Council by December 16 2024 so moved is there a second second Rooney okay thank you thank you I was looking at the wrong sheet okay so in front of you is a map that shows where these various signs would go and in your packet you've gotten a sense of that from the um both the chart that shows them and also the sign uh so the floor is open for questions councelor hanii um a couple of questions on a few of these signs on the first sign um which is s 07- 020 one I don't know how else to refer to these location 07 that is number one on our screen number one on the yeah um that sign looks extremely close to the curb and the actual traveling way so I'd just like to know how far the edge of the sign is from the curve on a I guess a horizontal distance I know there's vertical issues but it was hard to tell whether mirrors if cars get close to that curb weather mirrors will be hitting the sides especially trucks and let me just mention for uh Muhammad's uh information the purpose again is to raise questions that the committee will answer so we don't expect you to have answers to all of those kinds of questions but this will be referred to TSO and that's a question that will advance to TSO continue M thanks um on location A- 087 I think it's number four um yes it was unclear where the right of way is um because the pictures we got don't actually show the right of way so i' just like confirmation that that's actually in the right of way okay um um same for 08 a990 or number five again it doesn't really show where the right of way line is so I wasn't sure that one was in the right of way um and then the last one so page I guess it's labeled number seven um 08b 987 um it seems like that one is planned to be put on the west side of the road but intended to be seen by those travel in North so those that will be traveling on the east side of the road um and so that seems like a strange site issue to me where the signage for directional purposes is not on the side of the road you're looking for signs if you're going north you'd be looking on the right side of the road the east side of the road not the West so I I'm curious why the decision was made to request a sign there on the west side of the road that is supposed to be directional for those traveling north okay um and again all of these will go to TSO um I have one question and that is uh this is really to Muhammad all of these are to the east of the campus are there similar signs already on the from the west of the campus and if not will you be coming back with requests for any of those if they are in ammer Muhammad um good evening everyone um so should I address uh should I start by answering the all the five questions or or should I start the the last one only just ask the the the previous question will be uh forwarded to TSO okay and so right I I would like if if he can answer the one about particularly number seven sign the other one's not but number seven would be nice to have the answer okay okay uh number seven is yeah is the question yeah okay yeah my reaction to that is um the it's a it's a two-way it's a single Lane uh two-way uh Direction and the sign is on the left the content or the message of this sign is a left arrow that says UMass Amherst and currently there's no not no sign in this uh on East Pleasant Street in that area that directs visitors firsttime visitors to UMass um the we haven't explored the right side with full honesty and um it might not be it might be a private property I I haven't explored that um we run this by the uh by the consultant and the consultant actually provide two or three options all of which are on the left side of the road so um I can bring this question to them and see um if there's any violation in that but do you see a violation to that or in that or is this uh you know is there a precedent of something similar to that on the left side of the road or you haven't seen that before coun hanii I'm just having trouble visualizing how a sign on the left side of the road will help people traveling on the right side of the road because I'm not sure it will be that obvious that it's referring to them versus people traveling south so okay um any other any further comments on any of the others which was mostly about whether they were in the right away there was one about distance to the curb right Lyn um there is a house on the east side side of um East Pleasant Street uh in that area on the corner of the strong and East Pleasant there is a house there according to Google Maps so right there you do have to be concerned that there may be some property issues I don't know what kind of RightWay the town has there any other questions man councelor hanii okay uh Bob hegner yeah I that that was that was the question um I I just mentioned that there is a house there on Strong Street uh and the corner of Strong Street and East Pleasant on the on the right hand side the uh East Side so that could be a possible uh conflict with placing a sign there yeah there's actually a house on both sides of the road there okay um okay are there any other questions are issues you want to make sure that if we refer this TSO deals with okay so uh seeing none the motion to refer is the motion on the table is there any question if not I'll move to a vote Kathy I just when when this is being reviewed I just was looking at the size of these signs these are big signs um so the kinds of issues Mandy is Raising both on sight lines and everything um on the number of them and what else will be blocked if you have like s feet tall so many feet wide they they're not like a little turn here so so it's something the TSO should pay ATT worried yeah uh pan yeah I'd like to reiterate the proximity to the curb because it's not just in one but it's in several of the illustrations that it shows very close to the curb I'm more concerned about bicyclists that are being forced to the side who are you know have a handle out there um I think as far these are large signs it's like a big piece of plywood 4 by8 are most of these signs um I think I read in the material that the that the consultant has conferred um with the town engineer in terms of um making sure there is no blockage or um loss of visibility so I appreciate that they took the time to do that okay are there any other questions I see none then the motion on the floor is to refer I'll begin the vote with um Bob hegner by celor Lord I Pam roone yes uh Council ry's abson Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg hi Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat dangeles hi Ana dein gothier I councelor ET I Lyn grimer is an i and councelor hanak hi it's unanimous with one absent uh Muhammad you have your hand up yes I just didn't I realized I didn't answer your question uh um Len that uh these seven locations were identified to be the only ones on the town of Amer right of way all the other locations as part of this project um are on the um prty so that's why on the western side there's uh nothing that uh that ched these are the only locations that came that came up through the the analysis thank you you're welcome that's helpful okay and we're going to move on thank you for joining us Muhammad thank you have a good night everyone yeah bye okay the next one I'll read the title and then the motion it's a referral of proposed University Drive overlay District adoption of overlay District changes to official zoning map by ad the University Drive overlay district oh point of order I think you have a an old motion may I do so I want you to show the new motion up on the screen okay and if is it the one that you emailed me yes okay okay so the motion on the screen is to refer the proposed University Drive overlay District adoption of overlay District changes to official zoning map by adding the University Drive overlay District to the planning board and the Community Resources committee and then on the bullets the community resource committee and planning board um public hearing hearings must be held no later than November 27th 2024 that is within 65 days of the referral if we refer tonight second bullet written planning board recommendations recommendation must be sent to the Town Council and community resource committee no later than 21 days of the close of the P planning board public hearing and the third bullet written community resource committee recommendations and all materials must be sent to the Town Council and go and governance organization and legislation committee no later than 30 days of the close of the CRC public hearing and then we we have two more bullets written government and organization and legislation uh report on Clarity consistency and action ability must be sent to the Town Council within 60 days of the close of the CRC public hearing and finally Town Council action is required within 90 days of the close of the CRC public hearing is there a second second thank you and uh Mandy Joe thank you for helping write this um very explicit motion okay uh we're g to put something on the screen uh we are joined tonight by uh Guilford moring and uh I just want to note Chris brrip is also here as well as Nate Malloy and Nate I believe you're the one that's going to speak to this am I correct sure yeah I'll say a few words please lean to your mic a little more so we can hear you oh good goodness can you hear me now yes oh thanks yeah you usually I don't have that problem so Nate Malloy a planner with the town I'll speak to the overlay proposed overlay uh it's something the planning board put forward they discussed it uh for a number of months last year you're coming through quite garbled so it's okay on my end for what it's worth I don't know if that I think interesting I think it's pry well the town room okay let's try again Nate okay uh sorry yeah Nate Malloy a planner with the town uh this is a proposed overlay District so the existing zoning remains uh you know essentially you know it floats over it's shown here outlined in in black and so it's the properties between Amity Street and Route 9 along University Drive uh it's an overlay that applies only to mixed use uh developments so uh you know if someone wants to propose Apartments it's whatever the original zoning allows there not what so the overlay is really as it name implies a mixed use overlay and so it's to encourage mixed use development uh you know mixed use by site plan review the hope is to encourage infill here uh the planning board thought this was an appropriate Place uh they have uh the purposes for um you know residential development multiunit development and um non-residential development which is the you know commercial retail piece of a mixed use building uh the right of way is about 100 feet here and then the proposed setbacks of you know over 20 feet on either side of the road uh allow you know taller buildings without having a canyon-like effect and so uh right now most of the right of way is where the Swift way is on the east side of the road and then there's this parallel access drive on the west side that parallels University Drive the goal is to have that become a pedestrian pathway and so a wide setback would allow that to happen uh 75% of the ground floor facing University Drive in Northampton Road uh needs to be non-residential space and so the planning board made a a decision here to Define mix use differently elsewhere in the bylaw but to really have a streetscape that has you know Shops and and other spaces uh you know to have a vibrant streetscape there's a sixth floor that's allowed it must be stepped back from the facade um Park you know there's flexible parking so we're not requiring any um necessarily you know two to1 or one to one parking ratio but an applicant must provide a parking memo and study to show the permit granting Authority that there's adequate on-site parking or shared parking and you know I'll say that the planning board you know they discussed this a lot so there are different iterations and versions discussed you know would it be only students uh and this is not what it is it's actually you know mixed use so inclusionary zoning would apply it can be a mix of unit types for different tenants um and you know they really want to have this be a denser area so some of this the thinking here is it's you know it's multimodal it's near Route n it's near the university there's bus routes here and if there's density here then maybe there can be more bus routes there could be Bike Share stations and they really see this as a great opportunity to encourage uh some infill uh in some you know new development here I will say at the same time they're looking at other areas of town to do other things right so this is kind of one part of a to me a bigger strategy to address housing and so they see this as a great opportunity to address housing and economic development with this overlay uh as part of the the um being it being a mixed use in an area that where they think it's appropriate in the memo it was noted that M General law changed a few years ago and so you know if this were referred to the planning board in CRC the planning board and CRC will need to make a finding that this is an eligible location and if they do that it's a it's a defined term in Mass General law then it only needs a majority vote to be adopted as a zoning measure and a community cannot combine proposed zoning amendments that would have something that needs to be uh by majority then with something that needs to be by a two-thirds majority we're not proposing that here but you know for others zoning amendments if if it's an area where the the town would like to see um either housing or mixed use or certain elements moving forward we'll have to be careful in terms of how we structure any parts of the amendment because if something needs a two-thirds vote then it has to be two separate amendments here as an overlay that only applies to mixed use buildings with flexible flexible dimensional standards and parking standards we feel it does meet this definition and the planning board is actually really excited by this not the the simple majority but by the idea of this overlay um like I said after a number of months many board members thought it was ready to move this forward you know there's concerns about Wetlands but the town has a strong Wetlands bylaw and Conservation Commission we have a storm water bylaw so all those need to be followed any work in the right of way still needs to go through the regular processes so really this is addressing mixed use buildings on private property and any other bylaw in town or regulation still needs to be followed okay the floor is is Chris was there anything else you wanted to add no there's nothing else that I need to add thank you okay uh the floor is open for questions Andy yeah I think that they just answered my question said I'll confirm it that is that uh struck me that there are multiple things going on here and the one that I'm conscious of these days is right of way and you were mentioning the uh access road that is on the west side and I've never never been quite certain as to whether that's part of the right of way or if that is actually a road on the private property uh but there's a whole set of questions come up there too but it seems that they're not part of the overlay discussion but heavily related to it right so that Western Drive is on private property it's right outside the right of way and there's easements a number of properties have easements to access that and so you know there's been previous town meeting action limiting the number of curve cuts on this section of University Drive I think the thought was at one point this would become more of a oneway or a major entrance into UMass and to limit traffic and I think at this point that could be Revisited uh with this overlay so you know um 70 University Drive and other developments have come before to ask for a new curb cut and you know something that we would need to work with public works on what is you know the right spacing and what's appropriate especially if that access Drive is no longer being used for vehicular uh you know a parallel road yeah I may just a quick followup uh strikes me that this is actually a significant ific an issue because I was on town meeting when we had the discussion about limiting the number of curb Cuts going into University Drive um if we start eliminating that interior Access Road things like access to post office and to the slowbody building becomes an issue and I'm not sure then when you start dealing with those kinds of things we in the scheme of things that falls uh but it's something that obviously has to be addressed so I'll leave it at that okay Kathy Nate you may have already gone over this but um I was staring at the map when I get down to uh Northampton Road and the little Hunny uh bottom part is where the Big Y is there's a post office there's a CVS does this overlay that turns it into mix shoes also include them and the reason I'm asking is that is heavily used as a shopping market when you go in there by the kids who live in all those dorms they can walk easily to it and although we might need housing we also need to eat um and so the when you go in there it's it's a really busy Market with a lot lot of kids you know the CVS we have a CVS in the middle of town that's Al also heavily used then there's an office building and the post office so the the lines look like it takes in the whole thing and turns it into mixed juice with residential and so I think there's a risk that it develops out some of the commercial that's a major asset to the town yeah so includes those properties I mean we actually would say that you know perhaps the front parking lot of Big Y could be redeveloped I mean that if there's actually more residents living down there I think Big Y would stay because now they have you know hundreds of more people that can walk there and access there and so you know doing this overlay doesn't necessarily mean that that will change we're just there there's already two overlays down here in base zoning and so what we're trying to do is offer an opportunity for something to happen you know it might be slow it might you know there may be four projects that uh come of this but it's really an opportunity and so um we actually think that some of those existing stores will become more valuable to perspective residents and tenants uh if this is built out so the idea is not to lose Big Y or those commercial areas but to actually you know get more people using them know I just want to I understand you might hope there's more people using them but supermarkets are a low margin business um and if if someone sees an opportunity to build a large residential building and the rate of return is higher on it um that might overcome the low margin business um that's the thing I would worry about because they the that combination is a nice combination of a marketplace where we've already lost it downtown you saw Lou leave downtown even though you built all those stores now we have a CVS selling food um a little bit of food anyway so I I just worry about and I understand that it's an odd thing if you don't go all the way down um I have no problem with the upper part of it thinking of it then the other question I know this came up with the planning board is uh that land is really really wet um so unless you build up you can't build very deep um and so it's it's got a a high water table it's sluggy back there once you get back for very far so just thinking of you know the limits to what can be built in terms of a physical structure on the land it has to go up um Big Y being exception it's already in a different part but that North part is it's got a river almost running behind it well it does have a river thanks okay Bob hegner yeah I I I have a a an I agree with Kathy's concern about a big why and we need to preserve that as a shopping center um but I I also have a concern that if if all we do here is provide dorms for students then the the mixed use the commercial that we're going to get there is going to be focused on providing services to students not necessarily to the community at large whereas if we had a broader spectrum of of uh you know families and senior housing there uh there might actually be more development of commercial business that serves a broader community so I don't want to see this just turn into uh you know more dorms for UMass and uh you know commercial uh properties to support them the other thing I'm concerned about is parking um you know if if in fact we get the kind of commercial development that I would like to see uh it might attract people uh that don't live in that area so they would need parking in order to get into to that commercial you know space u and again I I don't know what the requirements will be for parking except you know the the the the developers need to provide a plan but that doesn't doesn't seem to really guarantee that there's going to be parking for all of the commercial space that's needed so anyway I I think this can be dealt with in CRC but um I I do have some concerns I don't have a concern about developing this area but I do have concern if it turns into just college dorms councelor haniki um a couple of questions I know Nate you've heard some of these from me before I'm concerned that there's not a provision for apartments to go in this overlay um that it's only for mixed use buildings especially since the office Park designation on the underlying zoning does not allow apartments at all um and Office Park also does not allow I don't think mixed use buildings either they're both NOS in the office Park um so that section of town that that portion of this overlay were at least adding mixed use buildings only for the overlay you have to follow the overlay but we're not adding Apartments to a place that we have specifically said we want more housing um I'd like to think of other ways of adding to this overlay the potential for apartment buildings I know the last time CRC a couple years ago looked at apartments um and changing the definition particularly for the downtown we were we were stuck because the definition of apartment needed tailored to different parts of town um and this seems like a an overlay that is already being proposed seems like a perfect time to tailor a definition of Apartments to this particular area um and I know there's concern about um commercial space and losing commercial space but we also have some studies that show we are actually saturated in commercial space and we know people are having problems filling their commercial spaces in our town um the requirement of 75% of Street facing facade um for nonresidential use again goes to my concern about no Apartments um it seems like there might be a better way to do this um and I'd like you to think about that and and and when we start holding hearings be able to talk about the ability to maybe Define a building as having a first floor that is um commercial 1A space I think it might be called I'm not sure I'm not sure of my commercial building definitions but a definition where the first floor is built to commercial standards but might not need to occupy as commercial space so that it actually can be functional as both commercial or residential depending on the need at the time and Float maybe between them depending on how things go um the maximum 65 foot six floors I love the six six floors is 65 ft enough um when you've putting commercial at a minimum on the first floor that's more than 10 ft tall that's 15 or maybe 20 ft ceilings and then you can't get I don't I don't know what people would do but can you get a full six floors in with 65 ft or is especially since this says no provision to wave dimensional standards so I'm very concerned with the ability to get six floors in with the maximum height listed I wouldn't want us to put a maximum height in that says you get six floors but you can't actually get six floors with it so i' i' I'd love to hear your thoughts on can you build six floors when the first floor is commercial um with a maximum of 65 ft um those are at least now some of my questions I'd also I'm going to be exploring expanding the overlay Zone to a little larger some of the original proposals that the planning department had for the overlay were a little larger and I will be exploring that in hearing and you're on CRC correct yeah okay Jennifer uh yes well I think it's very important that it remain mixed use all the buildings that that be a requirement and actually and I would hate I hope that some of Pat and I have Pat I agreed with the comment she once made that we need more sort of I think you use the adjective uh funky Bo iques and businesses in amorist and Hampshire Bike exchange I go to all the time is on University Drive I'd hate to see businesses like that not be able um to survive and I think in exchange what I'd like us to discuss in CRC in exchange for the sixth floor maybe the you know some of the uh commercial space will have to be a lost leader and you will not be able to charge uh top dollar maybe market rate for for every commercial space so that we can keep um some of our small quirky but um businesses that people and like a Hampshire Bike exchange which people depend on and and provides a service that is much used in in town and at that location so um I um I agree with everything that Bob hegner said um and I'm very concerned um the Big Y parking lot I go there all the time it is usually quite full um if that if any that space if people are tempted to purchase it and put residential buildings and um the parking is lost uh that would uh impact that'd be a real loss for the community and I know people come in from some of the surrounding towns to Big Y at that location so that we really can't um sacrifice the parking that serves CVS big why there's a couple of restaurants there I mean there's some small businesses there that the community uses and relies on and again I would hate to see um that in exchange for this overlay we lose those businesses um I I think that we're we're biting off a big chunk and I don't think we need to extend the overlay to the North or the South I think we can start with um what we have and see you know how how we fill the space and I am concerned about the very tight time frame um as a member of CRC uh this is a big project and I don't um it often things refer to us and we're asked to report back in 60 or 90 days but this sounds like it's pretty firm that we're supposed to have completed our work in a very tight time frame that we've never had that imposed before that this is consistent with all of the other but it usually says that we can report back we don't have is that still the case if Mandy Joe please as a former chair of CRC there are state law time timelines yeah the state law requires that both the planning board and CRC open their hearings within 65 days the state law does let me finish the state law does not require either body to close their hearing within 65 days but they need to be opened so that is why the first bullet point says within 65 days hold the hearing because you must start that hearing within 65 days state law also requires the Town Council vote on the me if they're going to vote they must vote on the measure within 90 days of the hearing the council's hearing closing CRC holds the council's hearing you must vote within 90 days of that hearing closing or you have to hold another hearing so you'd have to R notice it and redo all of that so that's why that's in there and so those other inter room timelines the state law also requires the planning board well the state state law requirement for planning board's report is the council cannot vote less than 21 days after the planning board closes its hearing unless the planning board has sent its report to the council um they have 21 days to send its report if they don't send their report within 21 days to the council the council could actually vote without the planning board report I see the motion again yeah let's put the motion up again sure I just wanted to share if I may yes this document it's a CRC document so it's on the CRC web page there's a link um it describes the flowchart for zoning bylaw amendments and the um the notice periods and so on um one of the reasons that we want to avoid having multiple notice periods is because they're so costly um those new I can check it's a it's a newspaper ad it's a newspaper why it's so costly and and we unless CRC combines its hearings with the planning board there are two separate notice periods in the in the newspaper so those can get costly to repeat I'll put the motion back up and as Mandy said this is all this motion was intended to just encapsulate what the requirements of the state law are and the deadlines that you see here no later than 21 days of the close of the planning board public hearing and the close of the CRC public hearing so there are various clocks that start and stop depending on the the days of the public hearings so a public hearing May begin and then not be closed for several weeks so um what seems like a very tight timeline may not be um so this 90day deadline for the council action is actually at the close of the CRC public hearing so see CRC might have a public hearing that goes on for several weeks and then that 90-day deadline doesn't begin until the CRC votes to close the public hearing okay does that help yeah okay okay it's been I I don't think we've had one of these in this term we had one last term um that we had to go through this cycle and it does seem tight Until you realize it depends on when you close your hearing so um I do I just want to go back to the Big Y issue it is the only large grocery store we have in ammer and I mean I realized there are two others down the road in Hadley but it's the only one in ammer it is one that was discussed when we um agreed and voted on 132 Northampton Road it is one uh that many many people use and so I don't know how the uh zoning will imp impact that but I think the last thing we want to do is discourage um a very very seriously used business that provides food uh into some kind of difficulty that they wouldn't be able to be there um the other thing other question I have is I know that there is at least one project that's already in the works that's in this Zone would that project continue to go forward if this is approved or if this is not not approved the uh right so 422 Amity Street you know received a variance from the zoning board and they open their public hearing with the planning board already and so they're moving forward with their site plan review if the zoning if this overlay were to be adopted they would probably seek an amendment to the site plan review to comply with the overlay meaning they could add a six floor uh I think it's 27 units to what you know compared to what they already have now uh and some other changes it have to step the building back a little bit to meet the setbacks and have a wider sidewalk but it's something that the applicant uh had stated that they're you know they're looking into just you know to you know make it work so they you know they were following the overlay process so the design of the building much of what they're doing in terms of mixed use requirements all that's already met so there would be changes but you know they're going to go forward with what they've already proposed and if this were to then uh come into place later they would just probably seek to use it um they're moving forward with what they have already are there any other projects in the works at this point for this area no that we know of okay thank you Pat thank you for speaking out about the big why I mean ammer is a food desert um and uh I am concerned uh if we jeopardize that store uh there is Whole Foods or whatever it's called now was bread and circus when it started in Cambridge and that's very expensive store U many of the people that I know can't access it because of cost but the other thing is there was recently in the last four months or so an article about uh stop and shop and possible closures of Stop and Shop uh stores in different parts of the state and there was no listing that said where so that's so I guess I I'm I've gotten a little bit more comfortable Nate with the overlay idea I want to say that to you uh but I am concerned that we could jeopardize Big Y with with because some developer could make more money by doing something larger so before you if you address that can you wait just one minute the other thing is it's becomes um very important that these not be dorms for undergraduate students and I don't know whether we can guarantee that if it's a mixed use building and the units are varied size does that guarantee that we will have uh families living there seniors living there I do know that in any building that rents to students that aren't these uh public private dorm things they're renting also to graduate students and to Young faculty and that was a uh something I had to hear from somebody who uh works for a developer someone I trust who works for a developer so it made me realize wait a minute when I think student I'm only thinking of undergraduates so I don't know if I have a question here but is there a way to guarantee no dorms and is there a way to protect Stop and Shop uh big why yeah I think uh I don't have a great answer for either of those the um you know I actually like I said earlier I think Big Y would see this as an opportunity to you know increase business um you know so yeah but you know that's something we could investigate more in terms of the students the the planning board you know we had talked about making this student only right so right now this is a mixed use building so social dormitories or dormitories are not allowed and so it can't be you know you know we do allow social dormitories elsewhere in town and so that's not what we had and so that was discussed at the planning board would this be would it actually be students only right and actually do something that is different than you know market rate with affordable units there will be inclusion units um acquired here so there will be you know um affordable units and market rate units and so it could be any any uh perspective tenant right I mean the market is the market and so it's really hard to control who the end user is but the hope is that by you know having inclusionary zoning by allowing a number of units that there will be a mix of of tenants and residents uh you know the planning board wanted that and so you know I at one point was pushing for only students right what if we just said let's actually have students here so close to the university and they said no we want to have commercial development we want to have different household types and so you know that's where they went with the mixed use buildings it's hard to guarantee that it won't be students but I've heard too that other buildings you know it's not all you know undergraduates it's a mix right maybe it's 6040 whatever it is but um you know at least with inclusion Ariz we have a percentage that will you know be affordable indeed restricted and then there's you know probably another proportion that will be you know could be graduate students or other other end users can I follow up please go ahead one of the when you presented um this earlier to uh CRC I believe um I lost my train of thought um you mentioned that it and you kind of brought it up again that oh well big and why would like this idea to bring customers which but you also said that it's possible that there could be development in front of it uh which would impact parking for it and things like that so I guess I would like some clarity if a developer comes in that's going to make a whole lot more money I'm not sure what the process is or how we would protect a grocery store and how would we protect its parking because I go there and I don't live close enough to walk anymore given my knes yeah I mean I think that becomes a conversation with the town and the property owner perspective developer uh you know it you know it's hard to have a guarantee that something you know couldn't change um you know so uh you know if we had I'm just you know it's all one ownership so you know the whole Big Y property is all one um ownership and it also extends into Hadley so the building actually is on the Town Line H the front part portion is in ammer and the back portion is in Hadley um and so you know for uh and like the CVS is a separate property so the back of that property is also in hadly so I think it's something that you know it it is a it's a valid concern I mean I guess I'm I'm being The Optimist thinking wow this has becomes a great you know a great place to have a grocery store knowing there'll be more more customers uh I guess I can see the flip side that you know does this become so valuable that the grocery store isn't worth it I I guess um I don't see it that way but I think it's a good concern and something we can look into thank you Nate councelor Lord yes thank you I'm I just want to ask a question to make sure I'm not doing a conflict of interest about whether I can vote this even though it's a a referral but the organization I work for rents four properties within this overlay um Zone and I'm on the leadership team so I just wanted to clarify whether I should abstain from this vote I don't think it's a conflict of interest but I just would love some clarity about that and I want to thank the counselors for bringing up the other points I as long as you do go ahead Athena if you want um councilor Lord for future votes when it comes to um making a final decision on the adoption of the zoning overlay um before then I would check with the ethics commission they can advise you on your specific situation I don't see that there would be a conflict on a vote to refer um but in the future before this comes back to the council I would advise you to check with the ethics division you can explain your whole situation and they can let you know if it's wiser to abstain or recuse or what have you oh thank you so much okay and thank you for bringing it up councelor Lord councelor haniki yeah um in reading the overlay zoning section 17 it appears that the only mixed use requirement is um parking allowed well there's two parking allowed on the first floor or ground floor and 75% of the street facing facade is non-residential um if I read this correctly that means that none of the requirements within section 3325 apply to section 17 uh if that is correct that means there is no required diversity of bedroom count in the mixed juuse buildings and the overlay as currently proposed is that accurate Nate uh yes so there's no requirement to have a very you know right now they say no more than 50% should be the same bedroom size or bedroom count and so we don't have that condition in there right now okay uh were there any other questions councelor haniki okay uh Kathy uh when CRC gets this I'd like to know whether we can carve the Big Y part out of the overlay so have the overlay come down but come short of it um so in addition to Big Y just people who are there there's Goodwill and Goodwill is a really no low margin I.E no you should see it at any time a year when people are moving out I mean it is an amazing asset so I just wanted to know whether we can carve it out and Pat um in terms of could we get a mix of people who are living there and mix of units the one when we first ran as Council Spring Street was going to be two and three bedrooms for families and they said ah the market students their efficiencies now so if you build very small units that that hold one person you're unlikely to get families in it and we once it's mixed use building we don't have direct control on it there's a little bit an apartment building that said has a mixed size of units that no one but in our mixed juuse building World um the developer can figure out what the best Market is so I don't think we have a real protection um if if we reone it without some change in what we can't specify we want there I don't know what the market will yield but uh five floors of apartments and units um might all be small um so I just my question is could we stop the over I like the idea of developing some of this but I want to keep some of the things that we think are assets so in CRC could we explore can we just uh truncate the overlay so M make it not as long I guess I think it north south trun quite the sth South End okay are I'll say um you know there are other uh measures in terms of if if it remains in the overlay could you have a standard or condition related to you know proximity to Northampton Road in terms of other uses um you know so there could be ways to keep the overlay and still you know have you know different uses or something that encourages Big Y to stay where it is in terms of unit size I think that's really up to the developer and what they would like to manage so the current proposal at 422 Amity is a mix of Studios all the way to three bedrooms and so you know that developer and property owner doesn't want to you know I think likes the mix of units because it attracts different different you know uh residents and so some some developers may want you know a similar size unit and others may not just because the way they want to manage it and who they want as they you know on the property and so it is really difficult to require a mix previously in different zoning we have right so and the trends changed so 10 years ago the trend was three and four bedrooms kind of sweet style living and bigger units and then it now it's right smaller singles and Studios it could go back again and so in our zoning and older decisions we've actually required a certain percentage of three or four bedroom units and then we've heard from the property saying they have a really hard time filling those units even if it's meant for families uh just because they don't have the appropriate size or you know they might have some if they move out it takes a while to fill and so the planning board did discuss having you know some Provisions there but decided on having flexibility at this point as opposed to having a prescriptive formula or proportionality to unit sizes councelor handicap I think you just addressed this but um you answered my question that says right now our zoning bylaw on page 31 requires any mixed use building to have no more than 50% of total number of dwelling units having the same bedroom count um and I think you just said that in developing this overlay the planning board actually considered that and rejected having that same requirement for this overlay such that they believed that it would be okay if a mixed use building was built with all say four bedroom units or all one bedroom units Nate right yeah so they you know what we actually have seen with that 50% uh sometimes depending on the the even if it's a larger building uh you know what that actually does is it it ends up you know splitting the units a little differently because you can't be at 50% evenly and it will change the ratio and so the planning board here said well let's let the developer come with a proposal and so they didn't want to have that requirement in terms of you know certain unit sizes Jennifer I know for one development where they wanted mostly four bedrooms and the four bedroom they said they told the zoning board of appeals that the rent would probably be $4,500 and there was a request that they not all be four bedrooms because at that price they could could only be rented the student sharing the rent so I guess there's two sides yeah are there any other questions or comments okay the mo I I think for the purposes of this we should put the motion back up on the screen the motion has been made and seconded uh it is very detailed in terms of what needs to happen and provide some timelines and it certainly is a um significant piece of work ahead for CRC and the planning board okay so the motion's been made in seconded um we'll move to a vote um are we yes I'm sorry question the the the first bullet states that CRC and the planning board public hearings must be held no later than November 27 the 65 days I believe is the the state law for planning board when it is referred there is nothing that says the Community Resources committee has to have it within the 65 days of referral is that true it's the town council's public hearing on the zoning by law CRC is holding a public public hearing on behalf of the Town Council so that requirement is for the council's hearing when then Mandy when I was chair I asked for a legal ruling on that matter because I think I read the law as you are which is the planning board needed to start in 65 days and the only deadline for the council Was the vote after it closed the legal ruling that came back was that both had to start within 65 days thank you okay are there any other questions or comments okay this is a referral to CRC with timelines attached we'll start with councelor Lord I pameron yes councelor Ryan is absent Kathy Shane I guess yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat d'angeles hi Anna Devin goth hi coun ete I Lynn grimer is an i counselor hanii I Bob hegner yes unanimous with one counselor absent um we have finished the action items uh so we can take this down um and I I'm going to suggest we not do goals tonight um that that we not do anything with goals tonight because as I look at the agenda for October 7th it actually will have some significant enough room to do them all at that time but I do ask that you spend some time looking at them so that we can just quickly go through them I think it is important to have this discussion because go well has to start their discussion of town manager goals so that they can bring it to the council before the end of the year um okay so uh appointments we've already done uh we're so we're on to committee and liaison reports CRC pamini thank you uh CRC has been discussing the solar bylaw uh with input from at least one counselor and um there was General agreement that uh CRC will not pursue a separate battery excuse me battery energy storage system by law at this time but some reference of battery energy storage systems could go into uh be incorporated into aspects of uh of the solar bylaw itself um we will discuss at the at the upcoming meeting our our process for public comment and our approach and strategy um so that's I'm excited to think about that um yes anything else thank you Elementary School building committee Kathy I think you all got the news as well as the town got the news that we got on Friday that the bids bidding process produced a low bidder that in total between coming in low on the early site package as well as this produces a $4.8 million um lower than budget and I just want everyone to know and I think this was in the memo that Paul said we already had a $5 million contingency so we have nearly $10 million in contingency on this project compared to with and this is all the original number that people saw so uh we've had I think this is a result of a fabulous design team including all the elements that created such a detailed architectural drawings that there were very few questions and the bids came in very close together which is also an indication that people were reading at the same way um and uh the attention to detail I expect will continue because one of the many features of this design team when we were picking them I took a tour of a building that they had recently built in Springfield and the civil engineer in charge of all the projects said he'd never seen drawings that were as precise as they were there were no change orders that he couldn't believe how well the tarits had done it and it and we had the same architect on our building that was in charge of that building so it just built us our confidence even in when we chose the team so uh it's basically a green light and we'll it can the whole thing can start in October there's a flat piece of land they can build on and they just have to spread the pile of dirt instead of having to be a pile it's for the underneath the building to raise the building so it's it's EXT ordinarily exciting to have it uh move forward at this rate I have a question has the pile of dirt resulted in compressing down you know it's I I assume they will be testing that what we were told is the compacting of the dirt the dirt on top of that is the same weight as the building now how you measure the weight of a pile of dirt so the idea is that the building weight won't push it down any further so now when you spread it and you build on top of it um so we're I think people remember where because of the site and the water levels we're building up uh so they can be drainage off um so uh I think the answer is yes okay I I just I go whenever I drive by I see this pile of dirt and wonder if it's compound um fine any question so far finance committee Bob nothing nothing to report I was uh on vacation last week so we canceled the meeting we our next meeting is October 1st okay thank you uh go Anna go will be meeting on Thursday the 26th did we to discuss the um the charge the committee charge for the uh African inh Heritage operation assembly successor body and so folks uh based on I know we didn't discuss it at the council level but if folks have questions or things that they'd like to see in the charge please email those to me uh as soon as possible and hopefully we've got a short meeting because it's a special one but other than that that's that's what we got going on okay Jones Library building committee Pam roone thank you uh yes the Jones Library building committee met on the 17th it was announced that there were four approved General Contractors uh so those are the four that would be expected to bid on this project um there are several questions asked uh and and the first one was might the required section 106 timeline affect the bid date uh another question is if there are any mitigation measures to protecting historic features should they not be incorporated into those bid docks uh and a and a concern was raised that otherwise the project is subject to change orders which we just heard from Kathy is is really critical you do not want change orders on your project because you cannot control what the what the contractor will essentially charge they they will propose a cost for a change order but it's really hard to keep them um tight and so you start to lose control of your budget um so if you do not incorporate your mitigation measures how do you how do you protect your budget um and then another question was who would pay for changes to the construction documents uh to accommodate any mitigation measures um before or after the bid has occurred and unfortunately there were no answers to those questions because neither the town manager nor the project manager o the owner's project project manager um was able to be present at that meeting okay are questions at this time Kathy yes um you know U my question is hearing Pam's report and I had heard some of what had happened in the meeting is I have a major concern of moving forward without first getting approval from the section 106 review for historic environmental it's fairly critical because if there were negative impacts that required mediation uh both the neh and the HUD grants re rules require this happen before Contracting um so we're at risk if there were any negative findings of putting $2 million at R um the concept that you that we also had a email there was anail email that was received from a foyer request from any saying if the process wasn't done correctly the town not any would be liable if it wasn't done correctly so it's important and I believe we are going through all the steps so I think it's premature to go out to bid before completing the review process or if we go out to bid set the due dates for the end of the expected one month review um so the biders need to know that this process is pending so I really urge the town manager to think of the timing of all of this because we don't want to lose these grants and we certainly don't want to face any legal challenges and as Pam just said you can't uh if you think about it you can't contract before you know that 106 has been clear sailing and you can't do a change order until you have a contract so you really can't count on change orders later because you'd have to contract first um so we really need to wait and do the timing carefully so Paul I don't know to what extent you have the power to really think through the timing on all of this but this this process seems to be pretty complex and it's important that we put it to rest certainly we have to put it to rest before we sign a contract so I'll leave it that we this was list is in action but I really hope the council joins me in urging the town manager to be really careful on the the timeline here and and not to contract before the process is over Paul you have your hand up yeah so so these are really good questions so I want to appreciate that um the um it's a very complex timeline and we're trying to abide by all the requirements the goal has been to go out to bid this fall because there are a number of things coming into play one is last time we went out to bid in the spring and the critique was that was a bad time of year to go out so we've identified that this is a good time um we also have our pre-qualified contractors much like and we're sensing that the market is strong given what happened with the elementary school building um project um we also have the mblc funds which are supposed to be committed by the end of December and we're overlaying all these different timelines one of the things that we've done is to go out go out to bid but have a 60-day um response time period that we would whoever put puts in the bid will has to re hold that bid date for two months and so that will allow us to hopefully given the time frame for the 106 review complete the 106 review um this the um this is all about the money from the federal government that's why the 106 review is is triggered and that's on the library Side Of The Ledger in terms of the Town side and the mblc side and all that that the 106 review is not required for that but we want to get those funds those funds are committed those are important funds so I think you know I've been you know the owner our Bob parent has been working very hard on this to sort of line up everything to to see if it will go forward um the decision de ision to actually award the bid you know will probably not happen until January because we want to make sure everything is in place before we move forward and that means the one you know there will be litigation most likely on something along the lines here you know there's been enough um you know anticipation of this um and a lot of opposition so I think that that's we're also thinking about that as well so Paul did I hear you correctly saying 60 days to respond because that leave leaves big no I'm sorry 60 days once they once they submit a bid they have to hold the bid for 60 days does that make sense okay yeah so once they give us a price normally you say you'll hold that price for 30 days in the bid bid specs I believe we're putting in 60 days to hold the bid price okay Jennifer okay so let me see if I'm understanding this if the bids go out and are they at this point are they scheduled to go out this week uh I think supposed to go out uh by the end of September um yes okay so the bids go out and then the uh project 106 the review the section 106 review proceedes and if there has to be changes to the bid to the RFP then that will be made after the RFP is issued yeah because you know we can wait until the 106 review uh completes its process then we're into next year and I think that that that goes up against the the our major fun which is the mblc they want us to commit the fund sooner than that so we're just making a a decision here that we will be working through the 106 review um simultaneously as we're reviewing the bids so the bids the RFP may have to be changed I mean wouldn't it be easier to ask the mblc for you know another extension they that might need to happen as well are there any other questions then I'm going to move on to TSO Andy yes uh as you know uh thanks to tonight's meeting we have a lot on our schedule um however I anticipated that and I sent uh an agenda to Ina this morning for U posting and uh for Thursday's meeting but I want to actually go over it with you because it sort of does constitute what the report is uh the first uh substan of item is uh the proposed waste huler program and bylaw amendments we said in our most recent report that one of the things we're going to do at our next meeting is to review the waist Hall are work work plan and uh which uh was submitted is in was in the packet for the last meeting when we voted on this uh the other thing that we want to talk about a little bit more is Outreach and I'm mentioning Outreach because there was something in the report about urging district meetings because we um they were very they're a very useful part of an Outreach process district one hadn't out had meeting on Sunday and it was a very good discussion um I really appreciated hearing all of the questions and uh made a record of them so that we can take them up and continue to explore them and report back and really show the uh people who raised the questions that we we were listening and that we U actually think I know some of the responses we have District 2 meeting already scheduled um so uh it is now new um in that we're at the point where we've taken a significant step to the council so I hope that happens this next agenda item is something that we also reported on which is the proposed transportation and parking commission charge and amendments to the Town Council policy and control and regulation of public ways and uh there was an initial report which you can see in the in the last written report that was for today's meeting one of the things that we were requesting of all of you as counselors is that if you have questions that you would like us to be looking into regarding that take a look at the list that is in our report and if there are issues that you think are important that are not in that list would be helpful to get them sooner rather than later obviously if we had them to on Thursday uh that would we could talk at least acknowledge them but I'm not viewing that as a deadline so don't feel that I'm saying Thursday is a deadline and after that we W consider questions but I would urge you not to wait too long on I thinking through what questions that you would want to make sure that we explore the other two items of course of the are the intersection improvements on Southeast Street uh between Maine and College Street and we talked about that was just a referral tonight in the University of Massachusetts signs um I'll go over my notes and notes of other members of the committee as well as Athena's notes from tonight and uh hopefully we'll have a complete list of the questions were posed but if there are additional questions um is similar to what I said for the transportation and parking commission it's really better that we get them um to as opposed to uh uh having them come in later um and then the other thing that we're going to have to be talking about his uh future meeting schedule and agendas sounds like a boring routine topic but given the size of the um things that are before us as well as other business that we routinely um have before the committee I think it's going to be a real challenge to develop um a meeting plan U that tries to fit all of this together so that is the agenda item so I think that our meeting on Thursday is going to be a challenging one for the committee but that's what our plan is and um it's at 10 o'clock by soon um can I uh just add very quickly uh with regard to waste holler for the district one meeting and the district 2 meeting we basically took the presentation that was done here and adapted it slightly and so that's available if you're going to have a district meeting uh and uh both Kathy and I worked on those um the second thing is Andy if you would like feedback on the transportation and parking stuff um if you send me uh what you want feedback on I will send it out as a general email um other than that I have no other questions do people have questions for t uh for TSO okay uh leison reports any any liaison reports okay uh we've done the minutes Paul I'm sorry Jennifer a couple of questions I don't know if you were going to take questions at the end they're related to the library oh I assume at the Town manager um report Andor at the oh I didn't see it I man report okay okay okay uh either there or when we talk about future agenda items Etc okay uh Town manager's report Paul anything I know it's no written report this time there's no written report but I do have some things to update you you'll have a written report at your next meeting um first uh just you know the school building bid ofir bid is really important and that's really great news and I do want to commend Kathy for her leadership throughout the process it's just been really spectacular and getting into the um details of this that's been really terrific um also we had the topping off ceremony of the Centennial water treatment facility uh which is um topping off means that you've gotten as high as you're going to get in a building we didn't do a groundbreaking ceremony because um it was just a mess up there and there's no place to really stand because it's all mud um so this is this sort of symbolizes that we're halfway through the project um thanks to councelor haniki for speaking and for councelor grimer for being there and rep Dom for speaking as well um it's a $21 million project uh 1.9% loan from the state safe water drinking act uh revolving ton and uh that has come with it a $6 million uh principal relief so that's a project that's going forward and as we talked about at the topping off Ceremony this is going to provide safe um a safe source of clean water drinking water for the decades going forward so it's really a forward-looking project um um that also provides resilience because it is a different source of water so it's it adds another source of water uh to our to our community so really important and it's being paid people say well how's this being paid it's being paid by beyond the grants that we're getting by the the water users and that the biggest water users in the town of ammer are University of Massachusetts and ammer college so everybody who uses water is contributing to building this plant um the third thing I want to mention was um the uh our our assistant town clerk Amber Martin has been awarded been earned the certified municipal clerk from The International Institute of Municipal clerks she's uh town clerk suad de already has that award but we just got notified of that today and that's a real important thing uh as a professional credential for Amber to have uh to earn so congrats to Amber for that um the charter Review Committee which and it which um Athena Staffing their next they've had their first meeting and their next meeting is October 10th at 6 pm. um the uh lastly well first we also recognize in Chris breasts her farewell ceremony is going to be Thursday so if you can if you're welcome to come there'll be more things said about her Legacy that she's left for the town just just remarkable career and just really um honored to have been able to work with her and then the block party I know many of you were at the block party it was probably the biggest I mean the weather was gorgeous but wow there were a lot of people there and people are really um happy and excited to be there and it was really well done congrats to the bid and also to um Angela Mills and our entire town team who put together really dramatic dramatically bigger showing for for Town staff to be interacting with the public and the counselors had their own table um and we put the water jug on the counselor's table so people would find them and it was well used so um um Are there specific questions on the library gener let me just mention there were 10 counselors that at some point or another worked the council table so I really want to thank them uh it's good show uh Kathy so I just want to say a big thanks Paul I thought it was a terrific success and the number of little kids out running around was so joyful uh with the acrobats in the middle thing the other thing I want to just talk about the the extra Duty that Paul performs for all of us I couldn't have held the district one meeting without a key to the north Hammer store and he walked into town Saturday morning and here's the key Paul so I remember to give it back I have to give it back to you but it was like help there G to be people on the stoop and I can't get in and Paul came through so thank you for that okay uh Pam hi I had a question about the resident oversight board I know cswg identified a need for that uh some time ago um and I do understand that a follow-up survey and report will worked on last winter and I just wonder when that report can be made available um it's now six or seven months since since it was finished I believe so that and what is the stat stat us at this point of the resident oversight board thank you sure so the resident oversight board um has been we went out to bid once uh and we went out a bit second time and we've selected a um consultant to help build the resident oversight board it's pretty complex activity um our team have we've met with the biders as we talked through the um the proposal our team met last Thursday we're meeting with the successful biders on Wednesday I believe to sort of finalize the details and then we'll execute a contract and they can get started on the kind of work that they need to do there's a lot of work in terms of decisions to be made on what the resident oversight board will look like who who will serve on it uh what things are they going to be able to to what will their powers be um and so I think that that will move forward as um we have someone who's local and someone who's from Cambridge who has done resident oversight boards in the past so we're pretty excited about the Consulting team we have um the report I I I think that was a report for to CSS I'll have I can check on the report I don't I have to talked with our Dei Department okay there there was a second there was a second report that was done I think it was finished in February but I don't think it's been made public yet okay everything's public so I check on it so is second report from February's we'll get a hold of that and make sure it's distributed okay Jennifer um yes at the end of the last council meeting I think you said that you and Paul were meeting with a team from the library maybe it was the president the trustees do we have any questions yes so let me just say as I explained to you so the first thing was to have it a finance committee meeting so finance committee had a meeting and with they reported about it and then I consulted with Bob and Kathy and I said so if you include in your report what you discussed and the chart does that suffice for you and they said yes so I didn't add it question okay at the end of that meeting I I asked if you could asked about the $900,000 that had been in public comment why don't you lean into the mic and ask public comment so my question was I thought you were gonna that um we were asked if we had any questions for you during that meeting and I asked if you could inquire about I think it's $900,000 that was going to be deposited in January that that during public comment at the that last meeting that question had been asked right Paul wasn't here last time right okay go ahead so the trustees have turned over $1.6 million to dat um and so and I'll just try to give a little framework and I think we can have our finance director come in and help give you more so the mbsc so far we've received 15.5 million in the mblc grant this is an unusual Grant in that they give you the money up in front in ahead of time so they've given us about $ 2.77 four million so far so that's what we have in the in the bank right that's what we have in our account so far we spent about $2.3 million so we have on account we have not touched the CP money has been allocated we have not touched anything that the town has allocated that $15.7 million so we have about $1.6 million that the library trustees have turned over from their fundraising and that's just sitting there so there's no need for funds right now at this point in time um we want to make sure uh that they're following that they're going to be able to raise their money and they they publish their sort of status report every month from the the the capital campaign um so that's you know I'm confident that they're you know they have all these you know commitments of funds and but before we move down into actual signing a contract we're going to need real money on the barrel head basically so we're not so that's so so we have just not um required that that be right we just we're not spending the money on it they've given us $500,000 for the value engineering in so that's on top of that's actually coming out of the library Side Of The Ledger as well and that's a we the town has to pay the bills and then we send the invoices over and they pay immediately to so that's a zero cost item for the town was that was that the 900 you were referring to was really the 500 for the value engineering no okay all right there was that was was on the spreadsheet you gave us Lynn when we were voting on this on the expected flow of funds and when pieces come in that Bob Pam worked you on right that you we get we get this much money by this dat that's where this number show and put that together yeah okay um then I just my own curiosity since the timing with the section 106 review how did the first RFP go out without that process being initiated you don't have to you can go out to bid without the 106 review being done but the bids came back and it still hadn't been initiated so right we would if we want it so the the bids are something that we can the 106 review is tied to the federal funding that's that's it's tied to that and that's on again on the other side of the Ledger from what the town is and so until um you know we can't we don't won't qualify for the the million the $2 million basically if we don't follow through with the 106 review and that's a process that is been initiated we've hired a consulting firm to help fund that to manage that process because it's a very collaborative and don't understand how the last how I mean I know it's water PR there's nothing that prevents you from going out to bid if you what they say is you can't contract which we did not do until you have it so if the bids had come in on budget and we wanted those $2 million which we do I mean that was on that was part of the funds that were communicated to us when we we would have had granted the borrowing so how would that have happened I don't know we would have had to figure that one out I mean and and that's and quite honestly we have to see what where the numbers come in on you know when the bids come due you know that that's the threshold point is are we going to be where's the number going to come in for the library and in many ways you know learning that number earlier than later is is important to us so while we're on the discussion of the library if the mass historical commission um which my understanding is there was an iterative process of submitting stuff and at this point it doesn't look like they will approve us for historic tax credits okay if they had approved us would we still have to do the 106 I don't know the answer to that question okay probably so just because it's a HUD requirement okay it's a HUD and Ne and it's bizar Lin but they both they both require it and one delegated to the other to initiate it but it's a separate review okay thank you are there any other questions of the Town manager okay um we in your packet was a written report um I want to thank many people for stepping up and being at various events and Mandy Joe for speaking at the last minute at the uh Centennial water plant um and I do encourage you to go down to the go up to North Station I don't know if you go just go to North Station when you have a free moment and look at the $6 million engine we just bought it finally came in and the fire um and the Fire EMS people there are in the process of training on it and equipping it uh and eventually it will be housed at the central fire station but it's pretty exciting to see a $6 million piece of equipment uh and the others that are uh they're delayed because it's just hard to get these pieces of equipment there's still two ambulances coming and a ladder truck are there any questions for the town manager report then we'll move on oh I'm sorry Pam I don't think this is for Town manager so I was going to wait for you or just to bring it up as a question at the end okay so future agenda items let me just mention um on the next agenda as we mentioned tonight we'll finish up the goals we will have the nuisance bylaw the second reading and a vote and I believe that we have already invited uh the building inspector and the chief of police is that correct okay and they're confirmed okay we will have the black amoris black reparations committee charge assuming that go finishes that and so um that's what I have on the agenda for October 7th so now we're to counts our comments or any other agenda items Pam thank you I appreciate that there is a lot of material that needs to come into the packets and I would encourage anyone who has the the material to be placed in the packet get it to Athena as early as possible I realized as I headed out of my house around noon on Friday that everything came in about 11 o'clock noonish on Friday and I did you know I I can't complain but I did not have a chance to look at it until this morning so um I really do appreciate having the time to to think about and be prepared for my meetings and I would just ask anyone who's preparing stuff to kindly put it in a little earlier thank you okay are there any other comments uh councelor ete so i' just like to thank the um residents of district one that showed up for the meeting on Sunday and also for the counselors who were able to make it um and the Lynn and Jennifer and also I'd like to thank um the town for making sure we're able to host um something that was decent and it was a successful um event thank you right are there any other comments okay seeing none um we have no topics for the 48 hours I'm going to to make a motion to adjourn is there a second gain seconds don't rush um then we will move to a vote and I believe at this point we start with Pam roone yes Council Ryan's absent Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer top yes councelor Walker yes Patti Angeles hi Anna delin gothier i councelor r i ly grie M and I councelor hanii I Bob hegner yes a councelor wward hi it's it's oh excuse me I'm losing my voice it is unanimous and we are adjourned at 905 thank you