This is the town of zoning board of appeals Wednesday, August 17, 2022 remote participating meeting agenda. Due to the ongoing CO9 pandemic in accordance with chapter 22 of the acts of 2022 suspending certain provisions of
the open meeting law, OML, public bodies otherwise governed by the OML are temporarily relieved from the requirements that meetings be held in public places open and physically accessible to the public. So long as measures are taken to ensure public access to the body's deliberations
through adequate and and alternative means. This meeting will be live on Zoom. The public may participate remotely by joining Zoom meeting ID 85797287177 or by calling 312-626-6799. For additional information about the
remote participation, please contact Carly Antineellis, assistant town manager at atmayair.mma. us or 978-772-8220 extension 100 prior to the meeting. Let's call at 6 PM. We'll call the
meeting to order. First item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda. Yeah, I'd like to amend that a mo amend that agenda for one minute, please. I I'd like to
amend the agenda so that we I may uh or Carly may introduce our new admin um before we go on to the public hearing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um joining us tonight on Zoom is Samantha.
I made a motion. One of them's got a a Oh, sorry. So moved. Thank you. Seconded. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Sam Goodwin. I Jess Jessica Gino. I thank you. Okay, Carly. Sorry. So um
Samantha Benoy is joining us. She's our new administrative coordinator. Um Samantha's gonna uh is coming to has started work here last week. Um she was at the library for quite some time. Uh she'll be on the third floor of town
hall and she'll be covering um the building department, zoning board of appeals and the board of health. So I just wanted everyone to say hi to Sam who's here joined she's with us tonight. So thank you Samantha and thank you Mr. Chairman. You're welcome. Thank you. All
right. Uh, next item on the agenda, it's a continued public hearing application for comprehensive permit MGL 40B section 2023, Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, Inc.
Um, where's my note? Stand by. Make sure I get this straight. We have um do we have a we have a presentation by BCS? Is that BSC? Is that correct? No. Yeah. Mr. Chairman, what we um what
we were going to do first is um as you know, the traffic study has been submitted to the town. Um we will be getting that peer reviewed. Um we do not have a peerreview consultant on board yet as the RFQS were just due today. Um,
but Stephanie, I know you wanted um them to give an overview of the traffic study and then what we'll do um after that is go over the the um comments from Noah regard um from the town's letter from
the town's from the town department heads their responses and then we'll take public input. Fair enough. Good enough. Okay. So, so I would um hand it over to Stephanie from Noah. Very good. Stephanie, you're up. Thank you. Good
evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um, as was just kind of previewed, uh, back Jul July 27th, I believe, the traffic report was submitted and it will be peer reviewed, but, um, we have our traffic consultant
from BSC here this evening to um, basically, you may have already reviewed it, but to kind of walk you through the the key points of it, and then should the board have any specific questions that they want to ask, um, we're happy to address them this evening. And then
from there, uh, we can move on quickly to the, uh, responses that we submitted, uh, relative to the department head comments. Um, again, if there's any further, um, input, I don't believe that any additional department head comments have been received since last week.
Okay. No, thank you, Carly. Um uh and then from there um if the board wants to discuss um peer review, I'm not certain or just take public comments. But again, we're happy to respond to any questions. Um fair enough. And w with
without further ado, I'm going to turn this over to Sam um to walk you through his uh traffic assessment. That one. Okay. Go right ahead. Oh, sorry. Wrong one. Yeah. Okay. Um, you just have to give me a second here.
Just got a a warning that my battery was running low. Sorry. I have those days when my battery is running low. Yeah, I just have to turn something on. Yeah,
it's all good. Um, so Mr. Chairman, with your permission, uh, I would like to share my screen. Go right ahead. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So my name is Sam of Ado um a traffic engineer
at BSC group and BSC was asked to do a traffic study for the proposed residential development at 65 um Fishb Road. So this uh graphic here just shows a
general overview of the site. Um here is the project site um on route 2A um Fishburg Road which is under Mass D's jurisdiction and we looked at intersections in close uh pro proximity
to the site and that was looking at route 111 or Grotin school road at Fitchburg road and also looking at Grotin Shirley Road um at Fitchburg road. So we look at those two locations and we performed uh traffic counts
at those two locations uh during the weekday. Um that's when schools were in session when we uh did a count in the morning between 7 and 9 and also between 4 and 6. And the numbers
you see here represent one the peak one hour during the peak commuter uh period. So you could this is the A.M. ones or the morning ones um without the parentheses and then the PM numbers we
show them in uh in those brackets. And we also did a 48 hour count uh that shows um the total number of vehicles uh traveling on route 2A in a 24-hour period. So it's a little over um 7,000
vehicles 7, um 800 vehicles uh on route 2A. So I think uh that is the context of what is there today. And we also looked at crashes. Um we evaluated the safety
conditions along Route 2A. One, we measured speeds as part of the traffic count. And the posted speed on Fishburg Road is 40 m an hour. And the speeds uh we tend to look at what they call the
85th percentile speed which is more like the maximum speed above which only 15% of the people are really going faster. Um and it was 41 miles per hour know
heading uh in this uh westbound direction and also 39 heading uh in the eastbound direction. So speeds that we measured during that time were right in line with the posted speed. I have a
question. Yes, please. You you where did you take the count? Is was it before or after the the supermarket? It was in the vicin of the site. So,
it's after the supermarket heading um west or northwest. So, that's what I was asking if if the supermarket count would have influenced the traffic flow through there that you counted. Not really because this is over 20 48
hour period and it measures everything even through the dead of the night. So yeah, it doesn't uh it wouldn't affect um Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely far far away from that driveway. Thank you. Yes.
Okay. So then as part of um the traffic analysis, we uh looked at the proposed project uh what is it going to add to the traffic on the roadway and
we use as part of the industry uh practices is to use the institute of transportation engineers uh a trip generation manual that would compare the trips generated by similar developments.
Um I mean it has over a thousand different uses in it and for the proposed residential development here um the the proper category is a multifamily um resident. So we we look at that um
and based on it uh it shows here that the project will be generating a total of um 56 trips in the morning. You have 43 trips exiting and 13
entering because in the morning most people leave and also um in the evening the people are returning. So you have 42 entering and 24 and this is all within one hour. Um and we distributed the we
distributed the traffic uh coming out of the site on the roadway network based on the counts that we had taken at these two locations here. We look at what the existing travel patterns were and the trips were generating in accordance with
the existing uh patterns. So you can see here that essentially in the morning um we have most of them going down Park Street and just a a few maybe five of them turning uh onto Grotin School Road and also you see that very few people
are coming uh we are sign coming through here uh because not too many people are actually entering the site uh in the morning uh in the evening it's only only five coming down from uh that direction. Then uh the next step in all this was to
look at um what the future uh as part of the standard traffic study um regimen we're supposed to look at 7 years project the traffic 7 years into the future uh to see what the what the
potential um or what the projected volumes could be seven years out and we use what we call the growth rate uh which is based on we look at historical data um around the area or on
DO's roadways and also look at projects that have been approved under construction or uh yet to be constructed but yet to be occupied sorry in in that area and we added all those things into
the volumes and added the trips from the pro the project site to it and this the resultant uh traffic volumes as as uh we showed um here. So this includes the project uh trips in the future volumes and with
that uh we did an analysis uh to show uh what the what we call the level of service and this is really a qualitative way to look at um how the intersections will be functioning uh how they are functioning
today. How would they function in the future if the development is not constructed? That's a no build conditions. That's future 2029 without the project and the build conditions is
future 2029 with the project added to it. The level of service um is represented by like a letter grade goes from A to F. A being the best means that there's no delay um that you really
don't stop at all and then as the uh level of delay um increases you know the letter decreases till you get to F and there F is also um I mean it's a very large there anything for unsignalized locations where there are no signals
here any delay greater than 50 seconds shows as F and it's really showing it as um the fact that people coming down Groin School Road have to wait or they have to wait for traffic on route 2A to
go through before they can enter um the stream of traffic. That is why you have this F. Um and when we saw this, we actually went there. A colleague of mine went there to observe if people were actually waiting for that long to enter.
uh and our observation was the intersection function may be actually better than how the model was showing it because the model is calibrated in a such a way that any uh slight delay you can even have just one vehicle and it
would throw the intersection into F. Uh, and as I was showing you earlier on, we're really not um, sorry, let me just go back. Um, if you look here, the addition, there's really not a whole lot of traffic being added to uh, Groten uh, school road. So,
the existing condition is already showing an F and then any addition to it uh, continues to show the level of service F. So one of the um things that we looked at is what can be done to
reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles. Uh that's one thing that how do we reduce the number of traffic or what ways can be done to improve the overall traffic conditions uh in the vicinity of the site. um one I
mean air has um a commuter um station with the commuter rail you know going um into Boston and one of the um ways to do it and actually on route 2A there is this
uh there's even a sign pointing people to the train station and it's something that we are recommending that the management should um encourage encourage people who will be living in this place if they are working um Cambridge, Boston
or whatever, you know, to uh let them know be aware of the train and to and to use it as well. Um another um recommendation is to provide bicycle racks on the site. Um it's currently
wide enough shoulders on route 2A and also from uh Park Street intersection all the way into downtown. They have shoulders where they've marked bicycle lanes. So encouraging uh people to use bikes um having bike racks on the site
would help those who choose to ride their bikes. And uh this no island sign uh really it's um from an environmental perspective to reduce the emission um you know of gases when people just sit
there and and then they just let their engines run and there's it's really part of the general TDM support you know encourage people to use alternative u modes of transportation there is um currently a sidewalk
from um or up to the supermarket. And uh one of the things that we were researching and and we continue to look at it is the on mass do's uh project website there is
a project that um had been proposed for Route 2A in that area. Um we're trying to track it down to see what actually we're proposing because it is a one of what they do talk about sidewalks and
things in the general description and uh our recommendation is from the town to coordinative do because this is their road uh in extending the sidewalk along route 2A I mean uh to and beyond the site. Um so that is uh one of the
recommendations that um we think it will help and it will also people walk to the supermarket um they'll walk to town and it will definitely reduce uh the traffic uh volumes and the last thing I want to touch on is
parking uh at the site. Um the proposed 106 unit development is um or the divine is proposing to have 157 parking spaces and it it comes to a
ratio of 1.48 48 spaces per unit. Data from it and this is from their parking generation uh manual which um has data for all sort of parking um
demands and for a use like this they look at the average rates and the 85th percentile rate. The 85th percentile is really more like the maximum um usage of the site and the average rate is 1.21
spaces per unit and then for the uh 85th percentile the parking demand is 1.52. So this site is providing 1.48 spaces per unit. So in comparing that to the IT
uh data you can say that this site um what is being provided falls right within uh the IT recommendations. So excuse me the the 157 on-site parking places does that encompass both the first and second phase or the first
first phase only? I believe this is the entirety. It's for all the 106 units. It's for all it's for the entire first and second phase. Yeah, that's my understanding, Mr. Chairman. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And with that and
that is my presentation. Um, so I will stop sharing. All right. Hi. Could I ask a question? By all means, deputy. That Thank you. I apologize. I'm in the back parking lot
here. So um when you were discussing uh Sam the study what was the dates of the study or the day that we did the counts we did on on June and then I have the report here we did actually write it in the
report July July 26 what mine says so July 26th no no the study the date maybe that's the date you received it but the date for the count uh was yeah was June June. So I I wonder Yeah, it was June
14th and the 15th. June 14th. I asked that because obviously um in our our town we can see a difference of uh the motor vehicle traffic towards the end of the school year. Uh so I just I just want to note that. And you also noted and I wanted to make
sure that I was clear that you had uh had an account for some of the other businesses that may uh be in the area. looking at the down the road study and obviously during that period of time, you know, we're seeing construction across the street at the supermarket and
that shop and save with many other businesses going in there. Was that taken into account? Yes. So, we um I think we reached out to um the town planner and we were told to add uh 22 Fishb Road. uh that was uh the
information we got and we also used uh what we call a growth rate like a 1% per year uh to cover any other uh potential development. So you add specific projects and then you also apply a
growth rate based on all other development and 1% per year is actually quite significant saying that you know every year traffic is going to go up by 1% you know for the uh the seven years that we uh projected into the future.
Well I can say that our you know our population continues to grow here so I don't think it'd be too off base for us but thank you for uh addressing those questions. I had You're welcome. Other questions. Okay, it looks like um Dan has his hand
up. Oh, there it is. I'm sorry. Okay, Dan. Hi. Hey. I'll just add um a little from um my background. Um, so my predecessor, he worked very hard to get the sidewalk from Brotten School Road down to um,
Chop and Save. Um, a lot of strongarmming with DOT. So, you know, the town can assist with extending a sidewalk toward the site, but you know, I don't think it should be totally put on the town. This is, um, um, part of the applicant's um, you know, the applicant is putting the site in place
and we can assist with that, but I do think a sidewalk should go to the site as as was recommended. Um, and another thing, the Mass DOT highway project. So, I reached out to Masdot about that and the project's been in their system since 2012 and um, the person I spoke to at
Masdot, who was um, a project manager, wasn't even aware the project was there. So, it appears to kind of be just be left out in space. Um, and it has an advertised advertised date of 2050. And they um, they recently repaved the road about four years ago. So, I think it's a
project that's going to nowhere. It's it appears. Um, so just um a little background about that project they had for for the area. It doesn't seem like it's um a real project that's going to happen anytime soon. You know, I I I
wondered about that. That being said, when we look at this um the traffic going in and out of this location, I'm wondering what kind of interface we're going to have with Mass DOT about access in and out of there. I mean, if you go
in and out of Lorden or or U-Haul, you have you have trouble getting in and out of there at times because of traffic. And I'm I'm beginning to wonder if there's going to if they're going to try and make if we should consider a third lane, a blinker light, a traffic light, or
some respect like that to allow access in and out of there without somebody taking shots in the dark. You know what I mean? Well, I think too S you with what you're saying, sir, my concern is now we're encouraging the pedestrian traffic. Uh and so we and we're
encouraging that you know that obviously this is not this is something that DOTs need to be at the table for. Are we going to have a crosswalk and how you know and then once because we know I I'll say it like when once people clear the inter you know past tinies then they
accelerate. Yeah. So now we got to slow people down. And I know Dan, I don't know if our DPW director wants to use the word calming anymore than he has lately with traffic, but that is something that I think between, you know, if we're inviting people to use public transportation, use the
bicyclists and use the the the cross the sidewalks, we're going to need crosswalks um that are going to encourage people and invite them to a safe location and not into, you know, an unsafe uh location because obviously that prior to this like people would walk to the market, but that was there
was nothing else and now we're encouraging them to walk elsewhere. So, this is something I think I agree we're going to have to consider between um whether it's caution, whether it's lights, whether it's common methods on the road to uh make sure people slow down. Would that I'm wondering if that
would be considered part of the infrastructure improvement in order to access this project. Yeah, Mr. Chairman. Um sir so as I I I mean I tell this is a DOT roadway and
any access um any uh use of that um road by any whether business or the um resident you need an access permit from mass DOT. So as part of this process they will have to go to man's do uh and
if a sidewalk is extended along to a they definitely would need a crosswalk um you know at at the site and one of the things that would be necessary uh would be because it's a midb block crossing and people really may not know it is there they will have to be
adequately signed and um the we have there different ways of alerting people, we have this rectangular rapid flash beacon. Uh, this site may qualify for that, but it won't qualify for traffic lights. If you look at the volumes, you
don't have adequate volumes to really even have a traffic signal here, but it may qualify for um a rectangular rapid flash beacon. So as part of the DOT review and the fact that this is also a
DOT road, I think with all the current infrastructure bills etc out there, this actually be an opportunity for the and I'm not saying should be just be put on the town but I think the town will need to push DOT to have this in done. Um
because if with all the well they they talk about a lot of projects really that they are working on now and maybe uh this is one that uh could still be pushed to the four uh maybe talking to the right people at DOT and I think uh as noted with the amount
of traffic that uh is less now like during this study obviously yes the end of school and the in start of summer but we are experiencing much less traffic now post pandemic. Now, obviously, who knows when and if it'll ever get back to what it was prior to, but during those
times and if anyone's tried to go through Park and Maine in our our town, we know that it can back up quite significantly. So, if traffic continues to increase like it was pre- pandemic, those numbers might be able to support, you know, many of these ideas that you
have. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I don't see anybody's hand up. I don't see anything to you. Carly. All right, Samuel. Thank you very much. Yeah, Ron.
Hello. Um, how much how much of an assumption is there for public transportation to be used by these residents for their uh uh daily work? And uh you know it seems like um this could be
very different in another area even even a few you know in an urban area obviously you have u you have local bus lines you have many other things you have you have a culture that people tend to walk up the streets and out here
we're still in a a wild west here a little bit and uh I don't see that many people being allured to the public transportation, especially when the walk is over over a mile. I see um you know, if anybody's going to do that, they're
going to hop in their vehicle and do that. So, that would add to the count. And I'm just wondering as as other things u uh you know, the traffic flow here is very important. uh would talk about you know adding um you know any
kind of more congestion here will will have a lot of influence on traffic flow albe it may be in maybe at the rush hours mostly but um you know anything you do if you don't have turning lanes and things like that
um out of this particular project if it's if people are coming in and out at the same time the factory across the street is working. Um, you know, I know there's many things that can't be adequately anticipated, but I'm just wondering when you go to the tables from
these traffic studies that you use, is there any difference given to um uh the type of environment you have, is there is there local public transportation available versus somewhere out in the uh and essentially we're almost in a u
well, you wouldn't call it a rural area, but we're out in you know, we're not we're not part of the city. We're not the we're not the same as a city or even a a a town, a suburban uh area closer to Boston. And
I'm just wondering what, you know, uh I think it does fall under suburban Ron. We're not we're not rural, that's for damn sure. Well, maybe classification, but we're a different animal from let's say from uh you know, where I grew up in Watertown in Belmont.
um you know where where you do have you know local transportation as well as the commuter you know now they have commuter rail in Belmont but you know you have you have an alternatives yeah the trolley yeah here you got to go a long way to
get to the public transportation yeah so Mr. chairman if I can uh respond to that. Uh the first thing is go ahead. The analysis that we did um we did not discount it for public uh we this is assuming that everybody is driving. So
if we had done this in for say Boston, Watertown or Belmont we have something called a mode split where we would account for those who walk those who take the bus or take the subway. This is the full assuming that everybody drove.
So the numbers you saw did not discount any um transit. What I was talking about in the TDM was to say that in order to help even further reduce whatever we were proposing that if you you put in
these measures it could help reduce it somehow. But that is that wasn't what was used in the analysis. So we're not discounting we're not discounting at all. Um there are also specific um volume thresholds you know I mean I hear
talking about needing a left turn lane or a turn lane there are certain specific volumes that you need to have in order to justify let's say a left turn lane on route 2A into the site and you may need about I mean well over 100
trips per hour to making the left turn into the site to have a separate left hand lane. So this is something that DOT wouldn't even uh allow for a left turn lane on their roadway. Uh so we just I I just wanted to put those numbers out there. I think it's actually more than
100 maybe 100 or 200 vehicles per hour making in that left hand lane uh for it to really require a dedicated left hand lane. So that is um the reason if there should be a crosswalk here I think it would
definitely have to go with that rectangular rapid flashing beacon which you know would come on when somebody is crossing and pushes it and it's it warns the driver of the presence of a pedestrian in the crosswalk. So those two would have to go in tandem uh if it
gets to that point. But that is what uh should be seen as one of the mitigation um for this location here for pedestrians. Okay. Thank you Sam. Um thank you for uh making that clear what went into the
study. I was just concerned that it was it was somewhere, you know, you know, probably your your firm is based mainly in the Boston area and uh it might have been biased towards that type of it's a different place.
Well, I think maybe that's a background. I actually did some master plan study in h maybe I don't know in about 10 15 years ago. We we also do work in Devon. We do work in Western Mass. So we may be in Boston but We work the whole everywhere. Okay. Thank you, Sam. Thank
you. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, I'd say I'd suggest we move on to the um town letter. The responses to the town letter. Sure. Sure. U just one
clarification on on Sam's and I I think this is the case but just it may be of note I don't know how much note but uh when you projected the traffic associated with the project there was no deduction for the existing traffic because it's an existing developed site
so my understanding is at BSC so the numbers may be slightly over because there was no correction for the traffic associated with the existing uses that was never drawn out so to make it more conservative. Is that am I right on that? That is correct that the existing
uses at the site um although we counted it as part of what is there today when we did a trip generation for the future we did not discount it. So yes, it's already built in and then we added the new ones on top. So it is conservative. Yeah,
Mr. Chair. Sir, I don't know if this is the appropriate time, but since we were talking about parking, uh, when I read through the application
that there are comments in there about the community building is going to have a pool and it's going to have all this stuff and it's worded as open to the public. And I'm concerned about how much more
parking demand is going to be open if they open that community center to the public. I think short answer to your question, John, I think we're not at that point. I think when the when the community
center, which comes under phase two, when that comes up, I think that's where we'll address it. Okay. Well, we were talking about parking there, so I just want to make I just want to make that concern and put it on the table that I'm a little concerned about that. He he
used the parking identifier as sort of a tracking vehicle for vehicles going in and out of there. So, if you have x amount going if you have x amount parked there, you're going to have a certain amount going in and out. Yeah. So I think he used that the
parking spots as a basis versus how many people were going to be living there, you know. So took it from that way. That's the way I took it anyway. I think that's the way they did it. I'm looking for um Carly, where did that you sent us that
uh the the response, the town letter response, right? What date was that? Yesterday. But I can share my screen and pull it off the website if it's easier. Why don't we do Why don't we do that and then Good idea. We'll just we'll go through it. Um we'll hit the highlights
and see if we have any discussion as we go through there. Can you guys see that? Yep. Yes. So, Mr. chair, maybe um if Stephanie wanted to just maybe go
over to some of the high points. Uh they she had sent the letter over yesterday. That's fine. Stephanie, would you do that please? Absolutely. Um so um the the letter is under BSC's uh letter head, but let me walk you through it and if I need any technical, I'm going to
call upon Taylor, who um Taylor Dowy from BSC, who you heard from at the initial public hearing. Yep. Um so what we did was we um compiled the department head comment letters that were received and um tried to set forth just for your
ease and review what the comment had been and then um the response. Um some of them at this point and recognition the correct when the applicant submitted to the town its application um within seven days copies of the application
were submitted to all department heads and then the department heads submitted back to the board their preliminary comments. Okay. Okay. Um and so what what we've attempted to do for the board's ease um is to reproduce the
comment and then provide a a response. And uh you know with the understanding that uh this likewise once the board identifies a peerreview consultant this may be a useful um tool for them as well to consider because then they can have kind of in one fell swoop the department
head's initial comments together with to with the response. Um so with that being said, the um the the first comment had been the town managers um basically just saying that the select board and town manager um were supportive of of
affordable housing. They recognized the need. So nothing more to be said there other than that's acknowledged and we agree. Um the health agent um identified that the area is um in a light industrial area um
with a number of units that are relatively close to 2A Fitchburg Road. Um and uh had inquired whether there would be considerable dust, odor, noise complaints and um how was the trash to be handled? Would it be fenced in? Um,
taking the last one first, the trash. It's shown on the U materials and layout plan. That's the BSC plan where the trash area is and that will be fenced in um relative to kind of the project locus. So, it's actually within three zoning districts. So, it's the light
industrial general business and and residents A2. Um but the majority of the the building envelopes if you will um and and the work to be done on the site would really be within the portion that's general business and um somewhat similar to any sort of construction site
prior to construction taking place. Um the contractor uh would be required to prepare a construction management plan um that would be implemented implemented while construction is moving forward. So to kind of minimize dust, noise, odor.
Um, and then generally also there's a a meeting with the building inspector and other applicable departments to kind of review that and make certain if there needs to be a police detail or whatnot to ensure that um there's a minimization of um impacts during the construction
phase. Um uh then from there uh Department of Public Works had a few comments. Um first, which I I think we've somewhat touched upon in Sam's presentation relative to um Pitchburg Road being a a
DOT state highway. Um and that, you know, impacts would need to be coordinated and reviewed um you know, in accordance with Mass DOT. Um and and as Sam someone had highlighted, you acknowledged that, but um as we had previously touched upon, um this may be
a good opportunity to kind of open up between the town DOT and and you know, even the developer to have a dialogue as to you know, what can kind of take place there. Um the second comment is in a similar vein. Uh all infrastructure
improvements to comply with DPW DOT requirements. Again, acknowledge that. Um third, the DPW has included an allowance for this size project in its water and wastewater capacity planning.
Um we acknowledge that. That's great. Um and then fourth, they touched upon the waiverss and there there were two that um DPW specifically touched upon. One um was the connection waiver as as we discussed at the initial hearing. the
applicant seeking uh a waiver for the connection fees for both water and sewer. And the DPW um ran a preliminary calculation suggesting that it would be um a total of 182 bedrooms with a water connection
fee of 273,000 and sewer connection fee of 327,000. Um so the response that we've had and we recognize that this is an ongoing dialogue with the board when we when we get to you know reviewing the waiverss but um we would highlight that as we've
said before the uh the project here is it's going to be a 100% affordable project and it's not being proposed by a um by a for-profit entity but rather a community development corporation a nonprofit entity um seeking to you
very much boost and improve the um the quality and the quantity of affordable housing in air. And we would like to work with the town to to work towards making that happen, making the budget for the project work. Um and then also, you know, considering what are other
priorities that the town may want to consider in terms of money, you know, and if it can give a waiver for this, maybe there's more money in the budget for something else that's important to the town and the board. Um, one, well, two things I would note that's not specifically mentioned in our response
is I believe the total number of bedrooms is slightly off by the DPW's calculations. It's slightly higher. Uh, 194 196 may be the number. So, just when we get to it, we can talk about that. Um, and then the other point that I
haven't had a chance to look into, but the um the $1,500 per bedroom, $1,800 um for sewer, that was based on fiscal year 23. And I don't know what those numbers were, if they were the same for
2022. Um, here the project was um the application was submitted um prior to that that publication date. So if the numbers were different, it may be a lesser number. I could only find on
the town website the 2016 numbers and then the 20 fiscal year 2023. So um just as a matter of clarification and we can work through that with DPW just to make certain we know exactly what that number is. But again um our preliminary
response is we would like to work with the town to uh negotiate a waiver. um if the board's not inclined to a full waiver, maybe we can continue the discussion. And again, just highlighting the fact that the project here is 100%
affordable and being advanced by nonprofit. So um and then the second waiver comment was just that um public works didn't notice a storm water bylaw uh waiver request. We are going to go back and look at that. And as with all 40b
projects, the waiver list kind of gets refined as the process moves forward. So um in our in our next update of it, we'll we will include that and we can have that discussion more fully and um probably a better time once you have the peer review on board.
Um and then comment five from DPW was that granite curbing should be required at all radi. Um and ESC with this response we submitted for updated sheets. So if we look at sheet C102
um the granite curving has been provided now at the entrance radi and the radi at the main intersection. So that's C102. Um, if you have any questions about that, Taylor is here, so he can respond to that. Um,
and then the sixth comment, uh, dealt with a sidewalk along the frontage in connection to the shop and save should be required. Um, again, this kind of dovetales into the discussion that we just had with traffic. Um, and then again, just, you know, this is
this does relate to an off-site improvement on a state highway. Um and you know while the complete streets is it's kind of a town focused it does seek to have cooperation with private developers. Um and so we think that you
know kind of working through this process and if there's an ability for any sort of mass works funding even to help um move that forward. Um I think that could be potentially a win-win for everybody. Uh the seventh comment from public works
is that the parking access driveway width of 20 feet should be increased to 24 feet. So at the entrance drive, if you look at the plan, the the access drive is actually 22 feet wide. And then as it heads kind of back, it it does
slightly narrow to 22 feet and uh or 21 and 20 feet kind of as it's near that rear portion of the um the phase 2 building. Um but the aisle widths within the surface parking areas um to the east and the
west of that main access drive um they provide for 20 foot widths and that's um an adherence with the uh minimum width for 2A traffic under 9.15B subp part one of the bylaw. Um, and then
likewise, um, it's noted one of the additional plans we submitted was a, uh, a firetruck turning analysis. Um, so that should be on, I don't think it has a sheet number, so it's just labeled firetruck turning plan to show that a firetruck can navigate around the site.
And Stephanie, can I just jump in? I just want to show people on the town website, um, we have a whole page dedicated on the zoning board page on this. you just click air commons. So all the revised plans that um Stephanie's
speaking about are here on the website. Um everything we've got from Noah is all here. So I just want to people are looking for these revised plans. We have them separately listed out for everyone. Harley, did we get a Did we get the set
of plans we asked for early on? Yep. Or you have them? Yep. Yeah. So when you're back in town, just come grab them. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you, Stephanie. No, thank you. That's a that's a great point. And and actually, uh, Mr. Chairman, that that's a good
point, too. The four updated plans that we submitted, we just submitted by PDF, so they're just the 8 and 1 half by 11. If you if you want us to submit for the board the larger copies of those as well, we're happy to. We'll pop those in the mail yet this week, too. I thought
we had asked for the uh couple sets of the full size. You did, and we did submit those. It's just those four plans were attached to our response letter. I see. Okay. Okay. Right. So, what we'll do is we'll submit full size or or full.
I think you wanted both full and half size. So, we can submit that. So, you have those. You need I need the revision to go along with the plans. Yes. Exactly. Yep. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um Oh, moving on. Uh, comment eight, uh,
DPW had request asked whether there were going to be any speed bumps through the, uh, through the project site. Um, the answer to that is no, there there aren't any planned at this time. Um, and then next, uh, a question relative to where the mailbox would be located. So, those
would be within the community building. Um, and and just a clarification, um, I I think it was mentioned earlier that the community building would be within phase two. I believe that's within phase one. Um, and I'm sure that Anukica Lambert from Noah is here. She'll correct me if I'm wrong with that, but
the community building was part of phase one. Excuse me. Did you have to uh talk to anyone in the post office about a mail room or postal post post boxes or mail delivery? Did you have to clear anything with them?
I will defer to Taylor, I think, if he's building postal. Yeah, as as as we get closer to construction, there are some standards that uh that the US Postal Service has for for mail delivery. Um, and we we have not had any conversations
with them to date. Typically, they don't even want to talk to you um really until you're about to hand over the first key to the first department and then they finally say, "Okay, this is the type of mailbox they want." But long story short, yes, we will coordinate with the
post office to make sure um we meet all their requirements and they're satisfied uh with the mail delivery system. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. To the uh DPW's 10th comment, um they had uh asked to see proposed lighting on
a phototric plan. Um we've not yet presented that plan. We will do that. Um so just to confirm that. Um and then they had asked to see the proposed plantings on a planting plan that does exist within the original um submitt
set. Um just drawing your attention to sheet L300. There's a there's a planting plan with proposed plantings listed on that. Um and does the site have an existing septic system?
uh and BSC uh reached out to the Nishoba Associated Board of Health that they did not have any records of a of a sec of a septic system on the property. Um but there is a 500gallon pit that appears to have last been pumped um about four
years ago in 2018 located at 63 Fitsburg um which is uh Sydney Lans um street address. So, well, we're 65. I guess it's 6365. Um, and but any septic system if it's not known to exist, but if there is one
encounter, then during construction, it's going to be removed for kind of title five standards. Um, next, uh, public works uh, inquired whether it would be the property would be managed by a real estate uh, management company or a homeowners
association. Um, it will be a private um, property management company. um anticipated to be PB properties and uh then there were some water and sewer utility comments that were raised.
The first one that water and sewer utilities on the site are to be privately owned and maintained. Um the DPW will not take ownership of the wastewater pumping station collection system and pumping system. um that includes the force main and then the
water system components, hydrants, um fire lines are also to be privately owned and maintained which we acknowledge that. Um and the second comment relative to water and sewer systems is the the the water system design isn't complete at this
point. um and that the applicant must submit uh water hydrant flow testing data and it's not clear where the water system components such as hydrants valves, curb stops are to be located and where the strut connections will be made and pipe sizes. Um uh in response, BSC
has since submitted um together with our letter here um an up uh an updated utility plan updated through 8:15 as well as uh sheet C203 which is a civil details for sheet um that shows the
hydrants, the valves, pipe sizes, gate boxes, uh valves um and again as as with all of the updated plans or um we will provide the full size as well, but they are currently available and they are listed on on the uh ZBA's website.
Uh the third comment uh relative to sewer is that the existing house has a water service that needs to be abandoned. Um that's acknowledged. And the final comment, oh the final water and sewer comment is that uh pump
station design and layout um will need to be approved by DTW um and um the sewer design and layout be included with within the final plans that would be um submitted prior to making an application for building permit. So generally what happens is
during the 40B review process um there are the the plans that are um assuming the project is approved they are the approved plans and then the final plans are kind of the the building permit quality level. Um so just to provide a little context for that comment. Um and
then lastly there were two um DPW comments rel or public works comments on storm water. So um the first one is that there's a significant number of water quality and underground infiltration units which require routine maintenance
and the owner of the long-term pollution and on andm is required to submit an annual report to DPW um detailing its storm water maintenance and inspections. That's acknowledged um you know that that's something that generally would just be a condition of a
permit. And then the last one was that uh the storm water bylaw wasn't identified in waiverss which we previously addressed um and uh due to potential redesign storm water uh public works didn't perform a
detailed review of storm water cops. So um again as we said we will uh go back update the the waiver list but um we'll confirm that the project will adhere to the mass D storm water management standards. U moving on to the police chief. There
were no comments. Uh the fire chief made a single comment to make sure that the parking lot accommodates turning radius of um ladder one. That's the uh longest fire truck. Um, uh, BSC reached out. It has that information and, uh,
she the sheet labeled fire truck turning plan, uh, shows that the turning analysis, um, has been completed and the site does accommodate the longest truck, that latter one. Uh, moving on to conservation
commission. Uh the commission noted that a a notice of intent, also known as an NOI, um needs to be filed with the commission as there's going to be work that is within the 100 foot buffer. Um the response to that is that the uh Noah
will submit a notice of intent to the commission under the wetlands protection act. um uh the there is no need to file it under the local wetlands bylaw because this is a 40B and so that's part of the comprehensive permitting that the zoning
board does. Um but a but a notice of intent under the state act will be filed with the concom. And then uh lastly uh Concom said that um if you could scroll that up just one second. Thanks.
um uh natural heritage and endangered species program um has been contacted and there is some priority habitat on the site um and a permit from natural heritage will be needed to obtain work on site to protect the species found on site and the commission's request a copy
of the letter from natural heritage um just uh basically to kind of uh fill you in and if the board wants additional information on the natural heritage we'll have our kind of wildlife um expert from BSC come in at the next
hearing if you like but um uh there has been a preliminary reach out to natural heritage um and um and we agree that you know once we've kind of locked it in we'll obtain a determination from natural heritage um
applicable to the project um based on the preliminary feedback what we did was the limit of work um maintains a 75 ft um setback from the protected firm species that's on the site. And if you look at the layout of materials plan, you'll kind of see where that area would
be. And then there's a a circular kind of 75 foot span around it showing that how the how the um limits of work are outside of that. And then uh likewise the uh the project has been designed such that it's it's pretty a compact
design. So it increases the overall open space of the site. Um, but it also avoids a roadway crossing kind of over that intermittent stream in the back areas of vegetated wetland. So, kind of to further protect the uh the turtle habitat. And so, there's there's no
structure or parking or access drive that's going to be in either the W or the um intermittent stream. Um but there but there will be work in the front part within um portions of the buffer zone which um we're working through with uh a
notice of intent of the act. Decided have you decided not to put the uh sewage through there? So, I'll let Taylor's not explain the uh we will have a um a
crossing of the wetland with a um with the force mane that she said there was no work going to be done there. So, that kind of surprised me. I'm sorry. No roadway work. I'm sorry. No, no roadway work. We're not p We're not building over it and and paving it. It's it would be a temporary impact um to put the
sewer pipe uh through there. Um um and that'll be part of our notice of intent. Thank you. Sorry about that. I think I did speak too quickly. Um and uh then the commission had just noted that the the project is designed
in two phases. Um both phases having buffer zone disturbance. Um and the commission would like additional information relative to the phasing and the extent of the work for each phase. Um, for instance, will the site be cleared fully in phase one with only construction of the buildings and and
infrastructure in phase two? Um, at that point, we're still working with what the um work would be within phase one. And um kind of as we work through this and get feedback from peer review, I think that'll help kind of um define that so we can provide better information to the
board and and to the commission. Um then lastly, these are less technical, but uh town clerk's office just um supports affordable housing and air. Again, applicant acknowledges that. And economic and community development.
Um they recommend approval. Um we acknowledge that. And then lastly, uh the town planner um states that um very supportive of the proposed AR Commons comprehensive permit application and project, the town certainly needs
this quantity and quality of affordable housing. I also believe that this development may finally spur redevelopment and improvements to the Fitchburg Road corridor, which is perhaps not one of AI's most scenic roads. On initial review, it appears that the general site plan is well laid out and designed. Though I desire more
time to go through the site plan in depth so as to be able to provide more specific comments. I know the planning board is also the application and plans and offer its comments and um we just acknowledge that. So those are in a nutshell the comments that have been
received by the town department heads together with the applicant's response. Um, we understand that, you know, additional comments are likely to come in, but we wanted to, um, just work through the comments that have been received from the town departments to
date. So, if the board or um, any of the departments that may be here have any other follow-up questions. We have pretty much our full project team here this evening. Um I believe our architect is not here but um we have civil, we
have traffic, we have uh applicant representatives. So um and if there are no other questions um that's our presentation for this evening. Thank you Michael. Thoughts, questions? So you know I I think
reviewing the comments uh from the town departments was helpful. Um, you know, some of the ones that stuck out to me the most were, you know, frankly, the waiverss from, um, water and sewer because I can see a dollar value on it. Um, and it's not an
insignificant amount in a town like Air. Um, so that's something that I think I'm going to want to look at and maybe we can talk to Dan about that um, you know, at a future meeting. Um, just jumping back to the traffic study now that I've
had a second to think about it. Um, you know, I I think with the number of spots and cars that the study showed going in and out every day, frankly, I don't think the intersection of concern for me is Fitsburg Road, Graten School
Road. It's Park Street, Main Street, West Main Street, that intersection at the end, because in the morning, you know, you can buzz through that intersection on your way to the train station and and to two, but it's, you know, park to Main Street. I mean, they
have a a detail out there every day. And I also appreciate uh the comments from the deputy chief because, you know, my wife is a teacher and I can tell you the last two weeks of school generally aren't the busiest, right? Tests are done, some kids skip field day, and
traffic counts can be a little bit down. I think, you know, if it had been the end of June, I'd be more concerned about that. But that's just something that that I noted and I was I was glad she brought that up. Um, but those are my those are my thoughts on tonight. Thank you, John.
Um, well, I you know, most of most of I I I had read through all the responses and um they you know, they address everything that there was. So, as far as dealing strictly with what the board submitted in their responses, I have no
issues there. But, you know, there are, like he says, other the waiver issues are are probably going to be on the table at some point. Well, I'm sure they will. Absolutely. When I get back, um, probably either
tomorrow night or Friday, I'll stop by the town hall and pick up the drawings that I want to look at. Ron, what do you think, bud? No, no further comments. All right, onward Jeff. Um, yeah, one
question I had was at what point in this process do or how do we interface with mass DOT about some of the questions that have been raised here? I don't think we can. I think the DW's got to do that. Okay. I don't I really don't it
everything that I've heard so far and every everything that I've read tells us that once you go off the road into the dirt that's our purview but that highway belongs to Mass DOT and the only the only direct link we have with Mass DOT
is the DPW that's the way I understand it somebody Dan is that correct Hey. Um, yeah. So, typically with like a a subdivision project such as Curly Circle, which went through the planning board, um, what we've done is we've had
the applicant reach out to Mass DOT for their comments on the proposed project before we approve the project, but I mean I I certainly can reach out to DOT as well to get them involved if we have to do that. Okay. Thank you. And had one
other comment. I had an email from a resident yesterday um just asking if when we were doing all the the peer reviews that we're doing, were we also doing a study and this is more for Paul HDY uh were we also doing a study to
determine financial impacts of the project to the town in particular uh to the school district and its infrastructure? Um do for 40BS do is that something that often
peer reviewed. No. So, Mr. Chairman, fir first of all, the only things that the board has the authority to peer review are studies that are prepared on behalf of the applicant and submitted to the board. Okay? You don't have the you don't have the right to do a peer review
in which you're basically going to conduct your own study. And the last thing that you want to do is to look at impacts to schools as part of this process because that will get you
straight down a um a um basically a a lawsuit from you know a group basically arguing that you are um preventing school age children you know from living in town. Okay. fair housing problem that
the town does not want to get into. Um there there's no there's no good reason why the town would do that sort of study or request that sort of study. Okay. And then the the other uh issue this resident raised was the idea of improvements
accompanying the project. Now my own feeling is yeah this is a 100% affordable project and from a nonprofit entity. So that doesn't bother me so much. But some people in town will raise the issue of would there
would there could there be donations to this person wrote future senior or community center roadway improvements, shuttle service for the community, water and sewer investments or costs associated with additional burden to the
school system. You're talking about infrastructure improvements in order to substantiate the project basically. Yeah. I mean, that sounds more like a host community agreement for a marijuana establishment, not a affordable housing. No, really. I mean, that's what that's what that strikes me as, not an
affordable housing development, right? Um, it did make me think and I'll just throw this out with my head on as conservation commission member as well is in terms of thinking of things that the town benefits the town could get from this is just wondering and I I
raised it this at a community preservation committee meeting the other night was if there was some way to in this project to consider taking the open space and putting that under permanent conservation protection of some sort. Um, and that I I think would be within
our purview. It's part of the parcel. Um, you know about that? I don't know. Paul, is that Mr. Chairman? It's it's certainly something that you can request of the applicant. I'm not sure it's something that you can require because
you're really talking about a fee interest in property when you're talking about a conservation restriction. However, very frequently developers are quite happy to restrict um open space areas because they know they're not going to be able to do any more development and it actually reduces the
taxable area of the property. So, they're frequently open to that suggestion. Okay. And I'll just just add on there that I think Anakah mentioned the other night, you know, some possibility in the north end of the parcel above the wetlands um towards
Isaac Lane about that maybe being developable at some future point. And so I was thinking of what uh so at the CPC meeting the other night
um asking for funding from CPC um and I don't know if Anna on here I see her on the screen. Yes. Hello. Okay. You had mentioned I think some possibility of that upper corner of the parcel potentially being open for
development at some point down the future. So that's correct. So that northern portion of the property that's above the wetlands, um if you're looking at it from Fishburg Road, um that area is technically developable land. It's not something that's feasible for our
project because it would require a wetland crossing um and there's just not a ton of space over there that really lends itself well to the development we're creating um in the southern portion of the site. However, there were some preliminary conversations um before
my time, so this would have been back in 2020, between uh the developer from Noah that was in charge of the project at the time, and uh some members at the affordable housing trust just to discuss the feasibility of um there being sort
of a uh a housing authority project done there by the whether by the town or or potentially um through Noah as some sort of conduit, that would be a very future development and not anything that's being considered realistically at this time as part of this zoning. And then
nothing that would be through like a private developer. No, definitely not a private developer. Um it it the land is going to be purchased by Noah. So if there's any changing of hands, um you know, it unlikely at this stage in the game, it's so far out in the future. Um
but generally I think just as a principle Noah's uh pride is is not to allow private developers to come in and you know dismantle towns and and put up expensive things. So I believe the area behind that so the Isaac's Lane property
which is what the town had suggested extending back into that northern property is housing authority DHCD property. So it would have to go through plenty of affordable channels to do that. And I know uh Janet uh Podricks has been um kind of briefly discussing
that. Let me excuse me for a minute. We're talking about this entire piece of property. All right, that's what we're looking at for this project. So if you were to take
a separate piece of that property to try to develop it in another project, would it have to be divided? Would it have to be subdivided? What I I'm This really looks to me like kind of a pretty dirty gray area. So, how does
that function? I mean, you can't If we approve the the project for that piece of property, does that kill any further development of that property or is the door still open for future development? That's that's a very serious question.
So, Mr. Chairman, yes, sir. the the approval by the board is going to be based upon the application submitted by the applicant and the plan submitted by the applicants, right? Property that constitutes the permit um is the property that's shown on those plans and
described in that application. So that's the entire piece that's the entire parcel that that so that's the entire parcel. If some point in the future the applicant wants to come back and say that they want to develop another portion of the property, it would require a modification of the the
comprehensive permit that you have issued. And the only way that a modification, you know, would be approved by the board would be if the applicant can show that somehow the failure to grant the the rights to do the further development would render the
original project uneconomical. Which seems like an unlikely scenario. Thank you. Thanks. Do we have any questions or comments from the public? Uh Janet, you had your hand up. Yes, I do. Uh, chairman, thank
you. Janet Prad is u I don't want to know one Bena court. I am a member of the um air housing authority. I'm one of the commissioners and I know Anakah went ahead and stated that I am, you know,
trying to keep emphasizing if there's anything that you're going to be doing with the sewer line going into Isaac Lane, you need to get on the board now with DHCD because it's just it's just going to take a long time. Um, so we were at our meeting today and I did
mention it to Ken Martin and you know he definitely extended his hand saying just go ahead give him a call and get the conversation started. Fantastic. Thank you for making that connection. I appreciate it. No problem. And then during the meeting um picking up where
Jess's um had a email from one of the town residents same thing here that they're concerned about you know the infrastructure some of the conversation was um especially now with the water use. So I know that this is something that DPW director um you know can will
be able to address later on of you know again you got 106 units going in. What's that going to do with um like And right now we're in a a crunch of uh water so with the water and sewer. So hopefully
that gets addressed that people feel a little more comfortable of what's going to you know be a drain on our system even though it's being drained now. As I understood the original conversation when they were reviewing the town response, I thought the water con and
sewer consumption were included into the current calculations. They were. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah, but in terms of how you know average residents, myself included, might react would be okay, it's included in the calculations,
but those units aren't in existence yet and here we are with a significant drought and watering. I agree. I agree. But they but the report states that they allowed for it, right? But that's doesn't really address our present
situation, right? True. But our pre hopefully our present situation is temporary versus permanent. Yeah. Well, it's been a number of years that we've, you know, no sprinklers and water bands and all that. So, it's not going to go
away overnight. True. So, just stating that that is a concern. Um and then on the other hand too on on top of it the August 31st meeting uh the uh air affordable um
housing uh trust and committee will be making a presentation um with regards to affordability um you know affordable projects within affordable housing projects within the town. So we'd like to I think we're going to be on your agenda anyways for the ZBA.
I thought Yeah, I thought that Carly, didn't you send it out not they were going to have their presentation and we were invited. Yeah. So, it will be a posted agenda of the ZBA. Okay. They'll be on our agenda.
Okay. On the 31st. Yep. At six. Okay. And so before we segue, I guess more into public comment, I just wanted to quickly um touch upon the peer review if that was okay, Mr. Chairman. Go ahead. Well, yeah, I Well, before you do that,
Alicia had her hand up. Oh, after Janet, you're on mute, please. Thank you. I'm okay. Janet covered a number of those things. Thank you. Okay. All right. Sorry. Go ahead, Carly. So, on the peer review, um, as you know, we put together the RFQ. We sent it out. It was due
today at 4. We got one proposal. Um, so I will I'd like to send that to the board to review. Um, where time is of the essence. I I don't know that we want
to go back. I mean, we could go back out. I'm just I'm looking for some direction maybe from Paul or some of the committee members as far as how you want to handle it. I mean, we just got it at four. I haven't even had a chance to send it to
the board yet, but I'm just looking for thoughts, but based on my conversation with the town planner, there um their request for peer review, they've been coming in um real slow, meaning people
are busy and there's a million projects going on. So, Um, I'm just looking for some direction from the board or Paul. Direction from the board about what, Carly? Re sending them out again or send
them to different people? Yeah. Or sending We We sent out the list, Dan. Um, DPW director sent it out to about four different firms, four to five, and we got one back. So, well, I'm going to have to increase our
audience, I would expect. I just weighing that against time. So, Paul, do you have any suggestions on that? Who was the firm that responded? Uh, Green International. Okay. I mean, could could we do follow-up calls to the
other people and tell them we're out of time? I don't think they'll care, John, if they're busy. Well, at least you'll know if they're going to if they plan on responding. Well, there was a deadline. But there's a deadline with an RFP, right? I mean, that would Yeah, but sometimes you got Yeah, but then it's
sort of unfair. But this is like a procurement issue, isn't it? Isn't that the I would say so. Yeah. So, you can't you can't go call somebody that hasn't had no bid because that's sort of Well, on consulting services, it's different. I think speak to that. Yeah. You're not
required to go through procurement proced. Correct. All right. Any other time any other time you send out an RFQ or RFP and and people don't respond and you call them, you really can't do that.
Right. Right. So that's for like a standard 30b procurement. This consulting services are exempt. All right. Um so but as a best practice, of course, we didn't just send it to one firm. research to like several so people
could weigh in and offer a price. You know, conservation did an RFP recently and we, you know, sent it to a bunch of places and only got one response. Um, I think that's partly the
nature of our post pandemic world now. People are I'm telling you, yeah, they're everybody's busy. Everybody's short-handed and they're busy. Yeah. And a lot of times they won't even they they won't even respond to a a request.
And just um Sam have talked to Dan. We've worked with Green International before, whether for the planning board or for you guys. Correct. Yeah, I've worked with them before and they've done a great job. And and I would kind of echo what's been said. It's it's the
middle of summer. you know, it was kind of a a quick turnaround for the um proposal. So, I wasn't surpris I guess I wasn't so so surprised that we only received one um given that factor. But, but like you guys said, I could reach
out to the other firms we sent it to and um just check in since it's like you said, it's not tied to a procurement requirement um to see if we if we can get another one or two. What is Let's Let's
Carly, the the response we got, you haven't looked at it yet. I glanced over it about 10 minutes before the meeting. So, was to send it out to you guys tomorrow first thing. Is it within the realm of probability? Let me let's let's look at it that way. I mean, absolutely.
Is it affordable? Is it within our range? Is it is is it going to do what we wanted to do? So, the affordability that's not on us, that's on Noah. But I mean it was it looked very comprehensive. It addressed all our points. We've worked with this uh group
before. So um I would just like the board to take a look at it before we make any final decisions. I would wonder what the probability of a secondary bidder would be. You know,
I I personally I think Green International is certainly a reputable firm. They're capable of doing it. I don't see why we don't just go with them. I mean, conservation, we had to go with the single uh bidder we had for our
RFP. It was some sleazy group called BSC Group, I think. But yeah, so if they've got if we've worked with them before, I'd be comfortable moving ahead since time seems of the essence. I agree. I think
if we got a if we have a good proposal back and it covers everything we need, stop there. Let's turn the page. Mike, what do you think? I agree. John, I mean, Dan seems to approve of these guys and yeah, roll with it.
Jess, you think? Yeah, I'm I'm I'm on board. Ron, you could extend it for another week, but uh what's the point? Just to see if you get responses any more responses or or maybe they
these companies, you think it's hopeless? Yes. I think these companies if they're going to respond by the deadline, they're going to. And if if they can't by the deadline, they're not thinking it's not on their radar anymore. I agree.
So, all right. Listening to what everybody's saying, Carly, I think we just ought to pull a trigger on this one. Okay. So, I'm going to send it out either tonight or first thing in the morning and Stephanie, I'll make sure that you all get a copy of it obviously
and Paul. So, I'm glad we had that this discussion tonight because I want to get them on board so they can start looking at that traffic study. Yeah. They're going to cover all the peers, all peer reviews. Y
fair enough. Thank you. And Mr. Chairman, if I may, um seeing as how no one's really seen their proposal yet, I the applicant would just respectfully ask that when we do obtain a copy of it, if we can um provide any comments if we
see potentially that it's gone beyond what the board had scoped out or if we have any concerns, if I don't know what the price is, but you know, if it's outrageously high, if we could just reserve the ability to make a comment as to kind of the the scope and the amount. Um I because we're all talking about
something we haven't seen yet. So we can do that. Um but I should point out from your own words, time is of the essence. And one out of five pretty much says you're
rowing a boat with one ore, if you get my drift. Okay? So by all means, you have every right in the world to look at what what you're going to pay for. I don't question that at all. But what are your options? What are what are our options?
I appreciate that. Okay. Now, public questions, public comments, any road. Yes, ma'am. Right. About 7 17 conversation started to move to the
topic of sewer near Isaac Lane. Um I think Janet from speaking and I'm so sorry the representative from Noah. I was wondering like what is he talking like I don't I can't I can't understand
but every third word what? Yeah. Sorry. Same. Let me try again. Um okay. So there was discussion a few minutes ago. Janet and I think Anukica
Anukica's last name. All right. So, they were speaking about the sewer near Isaac Lane and that they needed to call somebody to get something done. What were they talking about? Janet, you want to take a shot at that?
If um Sarah um through through the chair um all right Sarah what ends up happening is if they are going to touch any area around Isaac Lane that's home owned by the housing authority and because the housing authority isn't a
town entity it is the state entity which is directed by the uh DHC anything that is going to affect any of the properties it has to be approved by DHC CD. So, if they're going to be looking at again any type of um
connection, um they've got to work with the housing authority as well as DHCD to get the approval. DHCD, they're still working from home. So, they go ahead and it takes a while, you know, for um you
know, for responses to be done. So, does that help? It does. Can I follow up? Go right ahead. Okay. Why do they need to be involved though? Because I thought the sewer line looks like it's going
through John Riley Road, not Isaac Lane. Um I don't have I mean again I I don't have that answer. Um someone from Noah. Um go ahead Taylor. Taylor. Yeah, that that that's correct. We're not touching any part of Isaac Lane. Um, we are
connecting to the town owned sewer line that's on um, uh, Noah's property. Okay, good. Sarah, is that all right? Through Riley Way, correct? I'm sorry. Could you say that again?
You're connecting through Isaac Lane. I mean, Riley Way. Um I'm not I'd have to confirm with um Dan and it looks like Dan just popped online about the direction of flow on that line. No, no. Yeah, you're you're the
connection is on 65 Fsburg Road property into a sewer easement that the town has over 65 Fitchburg Road property. Um the flow is towards Tiny's the opposite direction of John Riley Road if you want to talk about flow. Yeah, that's that that was that's
what I thought, but I'm I'm glad you confirmed that. Thank you. Where is it tying in, Dan? Um, it's tying in on the north uh Yeah, it's the north side of the 65 Pittsburgh Road property. I I can't remember. I think it's at a manhole location in the easement. So, we have an existing sewer,
gravity sewer through that area. It's it's is it private property or is it's 65 Pittsburgh Road property and the town sewer line is cross country going through an easement on the north side of that of the property. So it's Noah's property. All right. So DHCD would not
need to be involved in this. Okay. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Okay. I'll just follow along. Thanks. You're welcome. Any other questions, comments? No.
Wow. All right. There being none, I guess, Carly, um, we'll just continue on this meeting until the 31st. Well, so that was my next question. The 31st is really slated to hear a presentation from the
affordable housing committee and the affordable housing trust. Um but I guess if we could continue it till that meeting if we have any questions you know with the um peer review selection process we you know we could have that
as a placeholder and then if we don't need it we can go to the next meeting in September. Does that sound okay? That sounds good to me. How about the rest of you guys? So just are so do does ZBA itself have a
meeting on the 31st or are we invited to this other meeting? It's going to be our meeting. Okay, that seems unusual. Carly, is it timesensitive? Is there to have two meetings in the month? So the I had sent an email to the whole board
about this last week. the or two weeks ago, the affordable housing committee and the affordable housing trust want to make a brief presentation to the ZVA on the need for affordable housing and what the commi both committees have been doing um over the past couple years to
get to this point where we're at. Okay. So that'll be it. I think I think Mike, what we're it's going to be like a show and tell and then we're just going to piggyback any comments on a on the peer review contract for that meeting and
then off we go. Okay. Yeah. I mean, back to that this is going to somehow tie to what we're talking about even if it's in an adjacent way, but you know, we're talking about all affordable housing units here. So that sounds good to me.
Okay. So I I mean my recommendation would be to continue the hearing till August 31st and again if there's I hate to meet and if we had an issue we needed to discuss not be able to discuss it right so we we may not need to discuss
it but we can continue it again at that August 31st meeting if that's the case. Do you have to publish an announcement that we're having that meeting? Well, just a regular meeting agenda. Doesn't have to go in the newspaper or
anything because we're in a regular the public meeting hearings already been advertised. Yeah. So, it's always now being continued, right? Yeah, it is. Continued. It I know it has been advertised. So, all we do from now on is
it doesn't need to be readvertised in the newspaper. No, I don't think so. Okay. Mr. Chairman. Yes, ma'am. Just for a point of clarification, when you're speaking of the 31st, are there two separate things? Is it the affordable
housing trust doing a presentation to the zoning board overall or is it under the umbrella of this and then are you secondly saying that that's going to happen at your meeting on the 31st and then you're also scheduling a continuation of this hearing if there's any wrapup for peer review? I'm just I'm
not quite certain. What we're doing is we we were basically invited into hearing this presentation about all affordable housing as I understand it. And then what we were doing was piggybacking in any questions or comments we had on the peer review
contract. So again, would that be two agenda items? One is just a presentation by a date and then one is a continuation of the and then we and then we continue back onto our regular schedule again. Okay. Thank you for that clarification.
Did I get it right, Carly? Okay. Y All right. Good. And that's going to be via Zoom. Yes, ma'am. Zoom. Yes, ma'am. Six o'clock. six o'clock. That's right, Josh. Yeah.
Well, it wasn't in the letter, so All right. So, we would need a motion right now to continue this public hearing until August 31st, 2022 at 6 o'clock via Zoom. Who wants to
do it? I make a motion to continue the public hearing uh for an application for a comprehensive permit MGL4B section 20-23 Neighborhood of Affordable Housing Inc. at 65 Fitchburg Road uh to Wednesday,
August 31st uh at 6 PM via Zoom. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. Voice vote. I Randy Phil. Good Mike Gibbons eye
Jessica. Yep. That's you too. All right. Good one. I We will continue it. All right. Very good. Ladies and gentlemen, if there's nothing else, I think we will move to adjourn. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank
you. We get a motion. Motion move. So move to adjurnn. Second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Hi. Hi.