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Recording in progress. 2 one. Good evening everyone. It's July 15, 2025. We are here for a select board meeting. Uh chair Bernard Green is not able to join us today, so I will be
chairing the meeting in hisstead. We are uh first going to be entertaining a motion for executive session for the purpose stated in item two and to reconvene in open session. So the specific purpose is executive session
pursuant to GL chapter 30A 21 section A6 purpose 6 for the purpose of considering the purchase and value of real property for 16 William Street where the town has a right of first refusal to purchase the property and 2B executive session
pursuant to general laws chapter 30A section 21 A6 purpose 6 for the purpose of considering the value of real estate at the following properties 1234 boiler Boilston Street 1244 Boilston Street 1268 Boilston Street 1280 Boilston
Street 1290 Boilston Street 1300 Boilston Street 1330 Boilston Street 593 Heath Street 601 Heath Street 603 Heath Street 629 Heath Street and 19 Tully Street. Is there a second?
Second. All right, Michael seconds. you you also have the executive session minutes to get we will also be considering executive session minutes for the dates of May 13th 20125 June 4th June 10th June 17th and June 24th so Michael a seconded Paul
I John I Michael I and I also vote I and again we will be reconvening in open session once we conclude executive session [Music]
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Good evening again. We're back in open session and we will begin our open session with announcements and updates. Does anyone have any? John. Um, yes. Uh, thank you, David. Um, I
just want to say a word or two. I think most people in Brooklyn are well aware that there was a unfortunate fire on Franklin Street this past week. Things uh I'm going to assume um could have been much worse uh for the residents uh
of that street if not for the prompt response by our firefighters. Um, Brooklyn. News did a I think excellent job of uh with a follow-up story that included some photographs by a local
resident Craig Hower uh who I I'm assuming responded to the scene with his camera. And uh I urge everyone to just check out the Brooklyn.NE news story, but check out the photographs. Um, you know, and um think think for just a
minute about um what you're seeing in terms of firefighters who um were literally um you know, spled on the ground because of exhaustion. Um and I'm I'm making an assumption there that that's what what
was behind uh what we see. Um but it it sure looked like a um a case of you know some firefighters who um did everything used every ounce of their energy um and put themselves um much in harm's way to
make sure that people got out of that building on Franklin Street safely um and furthermore firefighters who worked as quickly as possible um in a situation in which there was a lot of smoke and etc um to get that fire extinguished as quickly as possible. so that there
wouldn't be damage to neighboring properties. So, good for our firefighters. Um uh our prayers go to the families um on of the housing on Franklin Street, some of whom, um are going to be in a rather, you know, desperate situation for for a little
while they try to find replacement housing. Um and uh I urge everyone to read the story in brookline.news because it's a great example of how uh reporting um is part of who we are. helps us to sort of understand who we are as a
community and helps us to understand better um you know the the situation of neighbors who right now in the case of the Franklin Street neighbors um could use some help. Thank you for that John Michael. Um, I'd like to bring everyone's attention to
the 4th annual Art in the Park at Fairstead event that is happening this Sunday, July 20th, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm. Um, there will be uh design office tours of the historic property.
Um, there will be performances and artwork and food and beverages will be provided. So, I encourage everyone on Sunday to take advantage of this community event. All right. Thank you for that. Any other
announcements or updates? Seeing none, we will move into public comment. Tiffany, thank you for joining us for public comment. This is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you. Each
person speaking tonight is limited to three minutes. You don't need to use the entire time, but you may if you like. Once 15 minutes has been met, there is an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments. Members of the public sometimes raise questions during public comment. We may be able to provide a
quick answer to a question, but are more likely to work with staff to get a more thorough answer and respond over email. The on-screen timer will flash orange when you have 30 seconds remaining and red when your time is nearly up. Please conclude your remarks at that time. If you have more to say, you are welcome to
send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in greater detail. Any person speaking must begin their comment by identifying themselves with their full name and either their Brookline precinct number or street address. And I just want to note we do have a public uh hearing on the agenda
related to project eligibility letters for two properties. Um and so if you wish to speak on that, we ask that you hold your comments until the public hearing time. So, the only speaker we had sign up in advance is Janice Khan.
Oh, that's right. Thank you. There was another one. Apologies, I've lost my place here. Judith Stit and Judith online. Judith, I'm promoting you now. Hello. Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you. Okay, thank you. Uh, good evening Brooklyn town counselors. I'm Judy Stit calling from 16 Wear Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thanks for this opportunity to offer a public comment. State law authorizes cities and towns to
transition from electronic voting machines to handcounted paper ballots to increase transparency and accuracy, reduce costs, and rebuild voter trust in elections. Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 54, Section 34, allows cities at
at least 90 days or in towns at least 90 days before a presidential election to move from electronic voting to other methods aligned with state approved procedures to act in their community's best interests. Hand counting maximizes
transparency and trust. Electronic voting machines, which may be convenient, do not provide transparency to earn voters trust. Our constitutional right to vote in lawful elections for representative government is the grand right from which other rights emanate.
Electronic voting machines can be hacked though and Colonel Shaun Smith, US Air Force retired, whose credentials I emailed you today has observed number one almost every major federal government department was repeatedly
compromised in the last five years, most notably by Solar Winds supply chain cyber attack. Number two, the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency overseeing election security had its servers compromised for 10 months,
but didn't know it. Number three, some voting machines have 60 to 80 system level software programs running in the background that no one, not even election officials, can access. Number four, such complex systems can't be secured, which the Homeland Security and
Defense Departments know. Unlike election officials, understandably due to the machine's complexity. Are you aware that voting machines software is proprietary to the manufacturer? Key to our 27 trillion
economy is our election system, which must be protected. Most countries now tabulate votes by secure hand counting since convenience must not override safety. and counting ballots mitigates the risk of election results being
altered through hacking. Municipalities must hand count if and when machines fail, so election managers should already know how to handc count ballots. Please implement a secure, coste effective, transparent hand counting
system. Over 40 Massachusetts towns now do, and some of their clerks have said they could serve as points of reference. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the speakers who signed up in advance of the meeting. Is there anyone else in the room who
wishes to speak during public comment at this time? If so, please make your res presence known. If online, please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature. There are 12 participants in the room, 16 online, and it looks like no one is indicating their desire to speak.
All right. Thank you, Tiffany. Uh, that brings us to miscellaneous approval of miscellaneous items, licenses, and contracts, which we typically take up in omnibus fashion. But before we do so, do any board members have questions about
any particular items or would like any of them to be considered separately? Uh, not a board member, but uh, Tiffany Oliva, assistant town administrator for operations. I just wanted to point out that we need to pull um item 6D which is the electric vehicle incentive program
grant um as that was not approved by the school committee. Okay. Prior. All right. Thank you for that. Any questions or any other items to be pulled? All right. Then I move that we approve miscellaneous items, licenses and
contracts 6A through 6J excluding 6D which has been pulled. Um go ahead, Michael. Item 6A is the approval of meeting minutes. Um and there were a few small amendments.
Yes, I believe we caught those. All right. So I'll add uh as amended. Yeah. To 6A. All right. So, if we're ready to vote, John, I, Paul, I, Michael, I, and I also vote I.
That brings us to boards and commissions annual reports, presentation of the age friendly city committee's annual report to the select board. Hi everyone. Good evening. My name is Emily Williams. I'm the director of the Brooklyn Council on Aging and Senior
Center. And I'm Matthew Weiss. I'm the uh co-chair of the uh Age Friendly Cities Committee. We presented um we put together a kind of a fun PowerPoint for you just to make you aware of who we are, what we do, and
how you can get involved. So we have our first slide. What exactly is Age Friendly Brookline? Does anyone know? Well, basically it's a collaboration amongst the town select board, the Brooklyn Council on Aging, and the Brooklyn Community Aging Network, also
known as Brooklyn can. Um, it's a really um important initiative guided by the select board through appointed member committees such as Matt, right? And uh um we have a number of people that are
directly appointed obviously to the commission. Um and of course as part of the commission we have representatives from the town departments from a number of the town departments. Uh from the very beginning was the library. They were a big endorsement and a big big
help. Public health was very early and a number of other uh departments and we actually have a vacancy right now. Um so I encourage anyone to apply. Um, also the the pledge is um to ensure that there's full participation of older
adults in town. Um, they have a a plethora of knowledge and experience and it's important for them to be able to share that for the next generation. Um, uh, age friendly Brooklyn is also um a pledge that encourages activities that
enhance the health and well-being of older adults and it also assures strong supports for our more vulnerable older older adults. We have about 12,000 older adults in town currently and that number is expected to increase from 20% right
now to about 30% in the next decade. So, we're getting ready for that. Um, this uh slide on the left is the letter uh addressed to Chairman Green in 20123. Uh yeah, I want to point out that the uh
in 2012, the World Health Organization uh named Brookline its first in the first community in New England to be uh an age friendly city and declared on from their global effort of naming age friendly cities. Uh AP in the last
couple of years also got into the act and was very proud to uh uh name Brooklyn one of its age friendly cities. as a result. Um, so uh we're people think a lot of us and they keep an eye on us as we uh proceed.
So this uh is pulled directly from our website and you can also see in the upper right hand corner of the slide the actual logo and I don't know if you've seen these um posts around town but they're in every entryway to the town of Brooklyn. So you can see that we have
well representation um that we're an age friendly comm community but overall the enacting resolution is as follows. It's an agefriendly cities committee duties will include refinement of the town's action plan and coordination and implementation of the action plan. Our
committee will keep the select board informed about the progress of the initiative and make recommendations on policy issues that arise. And it will also uh we will also monitor the progress of this initiative so we uh can achieve our objectives.
Agreed. [Laughter] We have an eight bullet mission statement which I will read now. Uh the first is to advise the select board on communications with the World Health Organization global network. Uh if there's any updates or changes then it's
our responsibility to share those with you. Um, also to manage routine communications and report on the town's plans in progress. We are to uh prepare renewal applications for the network and submit them for review. We are to establish and recruit subcommittees
focused on priority areas and then expand on them as needed. And we'll go into that in a second. Uh we'll also be collaborating with every town department, board, and commission on certain initiatives as they apply. We will inform stakeholders and the public
about activities and progress. We will promote interdep departmental communication on issues affecting older adults. And lastly, we'll support town entities in communicating effectively with older adults. So, here we are, the eight domains of
livability, and these really put together the framework of what it looks like in each community. Um I believe there's uh we're number uh 183 in the state that are age friendly. But what these domains do is it creates
flexibility amongst each unique um community whether it ranges from uh age friendly housing initiatives like uh accessory dwelling units or naturally occurring retirement communities as an example to outdoor spaces and buildings that are age friendly and have great
walkability. for example, in our local parks, transportation to make sure that all of our public and private transportation networks are age friendly and safe for our older adults with or without disabilities. Um, you can read the the remainder of
remaining five, but this is a really important um visual image to build the environment to make it an age- friendly community. If you can almost put a lens on every piece of work that we do from policy to action, this will help create a very age friendly um good place for
everyone to live and grow old together. One of the things we focus on from the committee is communication and especially now with less and less newspapers uh and with difficulty in getting communication to people who don't necessarily have the technology
etc. So, uh, communication, one of the things we did very early on, Frank Carroll, uh, formed a committee, subcommittee for a television show on big and that's the age friendly cities committee, age friendly cities TV
program, and that was uh, to replace there was an earlier one before uh, which is Betty Joel was the uh, host of that was a little different. Um, and I'm the host of that of the age friendly cities TV. Uh, a number of you people A number of
you have been on uh that program. We've done 54 episodes. We uh every one of them is available on the Brooklyn can network or the big network uh on YouTube. Uh and you can go back and find uh well some of the people
here Jazz Paul Warren John Vancoyak uh and we're glad to have the new new members. Um so and and in each case it's been directed directly at people of an older age, older adults as we call them.
Uh and uh and giving them information about how those departments, how those people, how those uh um functions communicate with older adults and serve them. And that's this one. Yeah, that's this
one. I was a little ahead of myself, but Brooklyn can Brooklyn can network has uh I I'm going to expand on it has something called a newsletter and the Brooklyn can newsletter which uh is run
by uh someone named Carol Carroll and uh a communications committee from Brooklyn can. That newsletter is extremely informative and really worth taking a look at. Uh in addition we have a website on Brooklyn can and that website
has the age friendly cities TV shows. It has the newsletters. It has everything that's happened over since 2012 that's run by John C the web master. Uh and finally you have the Brooklyn Council on Aging uh and the senior center and
that's you. Yep. But it it really shows how you can work across departments collectively and also to get the word out. Like if you ever look at the Brooklyn Ken website, you can see what's going on across different departments, parks, wreck, senior center, library, but it's like a
one-stop shop as well. And actually, um, we'll be reooking at our publications because as new residents of all ages move to Brooklyn, we want to make sure that they're aware of these resources. as an example on the Brooklyn Ken website. You're looking for a private
contractor to maybe change light bulbs that you're unable to reach, you can go on that website for that. If you're looking for a public restroom, whether you have to change your your child's diapers or you have to use the facility yourself, this is age friendly. This is all inclusive um as a way to uh stay
connected in town. Um now to really bring it home there is we're very happy to report this year we two minutes one of our uh local initiatives which was with uh BEu's school of um anthropology. So we had u a
few of their students come over to do a project with us to evaluate local um parks, the libraries as well as the senior center to identify if they are age friendly and dementia friendly which is um part of our public infrastructure
in the uh domain wheel. You can see public infrastructure is one of them. Um the purpose was to design and refine a tool which will be replicated across multiple communities. It's kind of cool. We were the the guinea pigs to do this. But it will be used throughout the
state, senior centers, public parks, and libraries to be able to make it again an inclusive environment for all ages, whether someone has visual impairment, mobility concerns, or um has a caregiver, for example. These are great.
It they de developed a um a very uh accessible tool to be able to evaluate um inclusivity as well as accessibility. And um we can share this with you if you wanted to take a look at it yourselves. Um it will be available on our website
very shortly. Um and we're uh taking it to the next level. For example, we met with um the parks department and what they uh were involved with was um evaluating accessibility of their space. You can see in the lower right hand
corner a man pushing his child in the the stroller. So we shared this evaluation tool with the department head to be able to evaluate future parks or existing parks that haven't been a part of this uh uh student study. So uh we
want to share it basically with everyone and I'll go a little faster. um the community health improvement plan. Uh other local initiatives will be uh uh we are on the steering committee. So we'll be providing direct input to what that framework looks like as we uh roll out
an action plan. And as a look ahead, we'll be reddesating ourselves with the AARP um uh statute for an age friendly Brooklyn. We're always reframing aging communications to make them inclusive.
And lastly, we'll be applying our lens across all municipal services to really recognize the support that older adults contribute. Excellent. And we'll constantly mention street lighting. you let me in
the uh and I can't stop it because I think it's really important to keep in mind lighting for pedestrians, for sidewalks as we go forward with everything we do because constantly that's been submerged under lighting in
general for cars, bicycles and their pedestrians and not even for bicycles frankly. So we we really want to focus in the future and you'll be hearing more of that. Thank you very much for that presentation. Thank you for your time. And do we have any questions or comments
from board members? Paul, one question. First, thank you for your long service to our community. I appreciate all that you do. The both the two of you newer service, but thank you. Um, so you mentioned one of them uh a thing that we should be doing more of.
What are maybe two one or two other things that So you mentioned lighting, pedestrian lighting, which is different than that light that's 30 feet in the air. It's really ground level lighting for pedestrians. What other things are should we be doing that we're not doing or doing more of that we're not doing
enough of for our seniors? We have a list. I'm sure it's a long list, but if you could focus the topic, can you come up to the mic? Oh, excuse me. Uh, we have a list and I don't have it handy, but uh um things come to mind
immediately, but uh um for instance, when you saw the health, you saw the four priorities in the area of uh of health. Every one of those is a a big factor. Can we go back to that? Is it possible? Can we go back to that? I don't want to.
Thanks. Yeah, you passed it. Oh, I passed it. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, this is comes out of the chip, you know, right? But if you look at it, financial security now, it applies to everybody, but we say that the age friendly cities
committee, anything we do for older adults is just as uh valuable to others. Not everybody has the ability to focus on it or as as important to them at the moment, but it's important to all ages. For instance, uh we have automatic doors
around the the various stores. You're in a carriage, you want an automatic door, you know, uh things like this, but financial security key to everybody, that's a key in town. Access to social and health services, that's a key in town. Housing affordability,
is that important? Right. So, and I would say if I look at these, these are our main main points whenever we have a meeting, housing affordability, uh access to uh services and financial security are all aspects of what we discussed. So, the focus will be in all
of those. Okay. Thanks, Matt. And if I could add to that briefly, transportation should be a number one concern in the town. Some kind of an intergenerational inclusive transportation. Uh we have two vans right now, technically three. uh one's
out of service uh amongst the COA, but if we had an additional one or two to provide microransit on demand services, that is a way to get people around town very easily um fully accessibly but also affordably. So, we would be subsidizing
this. It also helps reduce isolation, which is a real problem. Yeah, I'll add I'll endorse that. By the way, the transportation is something that comes up in everything everything we do, right? That uh it's a key. We're talking about
uh expanding all of Brooklyn rather than south and north, right? And including them all, transportation, right? There's so many things. Thank you. Yeah. Just a question I have. I noticed under your actionable next steps included there you have evaluation of
existing space. Could you elaborate on that a bit? Sure. As part of the study with the anthropology students, we wanted to take this tool kind of to the next level and go through other buildings as they refine it to really make it to hone in
on what um a fully accessible um bathroom as an example would look like. Then we would take that tool. But then step two to that is putting funding behind the building improvements. Um, for example, the first floor bathrooms at the senior center are very low to the
ground, don't have a a wall behind it that really makes the the toilet seat pop out for people with dementia or uh visual depth perception issues. So, where would that funding come from is is kind of the question mark. But, um, it's definitely a goal to be able to put data
to to good use kind of thing. I see. Thank you. Any other questions, comments, John? Just uh a quick comment to say that uh it has been a real pleasure of my time on the select board that I have been the select board's
member um on the age friendly cities committee. Uh Matt has been uh just terrific chair and thank you Matt for you know um the service you've given and and will continue to give and for everything you do. I mean, the show that
you host, age friendly city show, um uh and and Matt probably doesn't necessarily need need for everyone to know this, but he starts every meeting by saying, "Do we have a volunteer to take the minutes of this meeting? He always ends up being the volunteer
who takes the minutes of the meeting, and he does an excellent, excellent job." Um, and uh getting back to, you know, so what what does an age friendly Thanks to Zoom, huh? Thanks to Zoom. Yeah, I know. Zoom is great, but um a age friendly cities
um you know in in large part is all about making sure that um that that are the population in Brooklyn that um are in fact um our older residents um are
always um somewhere, you know, in in our minds and in our thoughts as we do all of the things we do as as we plan our parks, as we plan our library services as we plan um you name it um uh all of the services that we provide in the town
that um there will be um consideration given to the needs of the town's older population. Um that's what the whole age friendly cities movement is all about and as Matt pointed out uh it got started by the World Health Organization. It's a worldwide movement.
um everywhere you go um there is the need to give some extra degree of consideration to the unique needs of uh people who are older. And here's my example. Uh it's a very simple one. Um if you you know walk around Brooklyn
frequently, especially in our north Brooklyn parts of town, you will come across benches. Um and um how do we plan where to put a bench? Well, in part a consideration that should go into where you put a bench is that um some people
who are older um they don't walk as e easily and as smoothly and with as much um energy as um uh people on on the average and they need to sort of pause in their walks and sit down for a little bit and catch a breath and then they
continue. And having a bench um can actually be the difference between uh in the decision of someone who's older getting out of their apartment, getting out of their, you know, housing unit and going for a walk. Um because if they can
stop in the middle of the walk to take a breather and just sort of watch the um life go by for a few minutes, u that might make the difference and get them out of their unit and break through some of that isolation that occurs. So there's many many decisions like that
that can get made that if you if you make them with in keeping in mind that um everything we do needs to serve um uh the population as a whole and that includes um those of us who are older um that that's that's part of the age
friendly city's mission. Michael that sorry go ahead just one quick that uh one I'm one that needs that when I walk around and two uh Frank Carol spent almost five years I believe trying to get benches added and succeeded eventually. Yeah.
And uh yeah it's one of the things we're proud of of is the benches we have got. We need many more. I just want to throw in there if the DPW is listening, there's someone on Summit A, um, and I love her dearly and she goes to every single meeting of the Council on Aging and every time I see her, she says, "Can
can you help me get that bench on Summit A." So, if people in the DPW are listening, uh, there's maybe a place on Summit A for a bench that I know at least one person would appreciate very much. Michael, um, thank you very much for the report
and all of the progress you've made and the the attention that you're giving um, to older adults and and I especially appreciated the eight areas of of livability um, and I'm thinking about how that might apply to uh, other
populations as well as older adults. Um, so thank you for that. um you you obviously are very tightly integrated into the community health improvement plan um and are looking at that as a vehicle for supporting older adults in
town. Um, I'm just wondering whether you have looked at other planning efforts or other um uh other uh goal setting or strategies for the town to make sure that those um also
uh include the concerns of older adults. Um I would mention the comprehensive plan um whatever we're doing with our housing production, uh our open space and transportation. And there are committees that are certainly focused on those things. And I'm wondering whether you are also developing active
relationships with all of those other various town public bodies and uh departments. Well, our liaison keeps us attentive. He uh and we do have in fact in our
agenda the comprehensive plan. A number of those uh items are covered and when they're not they're brought up. So there's absolutely no question and when anything's happening on them, we we they become primary. I encourage everyone to participate in our monthly meetings as well because we
always have a public speaker from another department. So it's almost like a twofold where we learn about their initiatives and they learn about how to apply an aging lens um to make it um cross collaborative kind of thing. So thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much for that
presentation. It's greatly appreciated. And that brings us to boards and commissions, interviews with candidates for various boards and commissions, parks and recreation. As a reminder, at our last meeting, we interviewed three candidates. And for this meeting, we are
interviewing four more. There are currently uh two available positions. So, first up is Michael O' Conor. You can approach the podium. Hello. Uh, I'm Michael Oconor. Uh, I
guess do I go over my experience to begin with? Uh, sure. Sure. Go ahead. Okay. Uh, so I guess my, uh, professional experience is in architecture. Uh I'm an architectural designer in the architecture and planning world. Uh and right now sort of
in the historic preservation uh public housing uh mostly public bid work. So lots of public process experience uh from the side of the architect. Um I've also been uh on the owner side of things. I've uh worked in campus
planning at uh Harvard uh in Cambridge. I've looked at sort of space management, space use, uh different applications. Uh I worked alongside lots of the capital project managers on some of the larger restoration projects uh around campus and then also uh just the day-to-day
space management sort of smaller projects. So I sort of saw uh a multitude of scales across uh both campus, all over Cambridge and then now in my current position uh sort of all over Massachusetts, all over Boston, lots of small town work. Um and everything is very uh public focused and
we you know I've been in uh lots of public engagement meetings, communitydriven design meetings. Um and so that's sort of me professionally. uh but sort of more I guess philosophically or academically. Um I I studied architecture. Uh I have a
master's degree in architecture and then uh with a concentration in urbanism. Uh so I'm very academically interested in urban design uh urban planning, parks planning, ecological design. um sort of lots of these like modern movements of how can you integrate uh public planning
and public process with the community that it uh engages with and then also with the environment and how can it be climate responsive. Uh and so that's sort of my I don't know my headsp space uh where I come from and then I guess my my overall interest uh just as a person
uh is in fun uh park spaces around town. I'm in a Brookline park every day. Uh, and I that's why I took interest in the commission. All right. Thank you. Any questions from board members? Michael, um,
have you attended any meetings of the parks and reccks commission? I have. Yeah. Uh, and what were your impressions of things that worked well or things that you would like to see improved? Well, I think uh for my first couple meetings, we received or I guess the commission
received uh presentations uh about uh like urban design guidelines that things that the DPW was working on. Um and then more recently about uh kind of like the like budget proposals for the um the ice rink uh things like that. I think that
uh like that sort of integration is is really nice but I also understand that like it's not possible to bring so many and also the meetings being kind of later and and like after work hours um I don't know I think that more people should be exposed to uh like that level
of presentation or even the one we just watched. I think uh it would be good kind of like in in that meeting level to bring more public interest into it. Um, and I wouldn't be 100% sure on how to do that, but I think it would be something to look into.
Anyone else? John, did you want to ask? I I'll follow you. Okay, Paul. Uh, thank you for your application. Appreciate you coming forward. Um, so our, uh, parks are under tremendous pressure. Um, multiple uses. I think you heard, you know, Matt Whis from the the
aging cities committee talk about accessibility with benches. We have folks that are using the parks for organized sports. We have the parks being used for pickup sports. People that just want to, you know, walk and enjoy nature, um, run their dog as part
of the green dog program. There's a lot of competing interests. Um, how do you find balance? Um, so that's an it's an equitable experience for everybody. Yeah. Um well I think it's I it's somewhat I feel like built in already in
the way that the parks undergo the review process every uh every few c like a circle of years. Uh and then like how Griggs is under redesign proposals right now. Um I think the way that they come under review it it needs to be taken
into um kind of each it becomes modernized like in that way. Uh but I think that the as you balance all these different attributes while you redesign the park, um it it it takes I think public representation uh from from all
these different groups that use it. Like a large topic at the last meeting was about how at Amory uh there's been lots of pickup volleyball games uh and they're interfering maybe with the the baseball games. And I think the the consensus was, you know, this is just a
pickup thing. we can't it's their their right to use it and if they want to they can pull permits. I think that the balance is sort of built in in that it's such a public amenity. Um but I I think in the way that uh you steer the ship uh is through like the the redesign
process. So bringing in the right people at the right times like representatives from uh maybe the Council on Aging, things like that um as you work to make the parks more accessible and inclusive to everybody. Thank you, John. So, um this is a question I'm asking of
all of the applicants just because uh a couple of issues came up um within the past year or so that uh were, you know, important issues that the park and wreck made decisions on. Um uh the one I want to highlight is uh the decision about the ice rink which um you know after a
lot of discussion of whether there should be a new location for a much larger rink with a cover and all that um and you know different dimensions so that it could serve the interests of hockey leagues. the decision was made to just replace um and refurbish the you
know the I should say replace excuse me but in the same spot and with the same dimensions the existing ice rink. Uh is that a decision you think they made wisely? Did you agree with it at the time? Well, I was not present at the decision
at the time, but I I know of that uh that topic and and sort of how it went. Um, and I think that I think yeah, I think I think I agree with it, but I also I don't know. I I enjoyed uh kind of the historic or I
don't know the the older the charm of the existing ice rink and that I also as like a historic uh with my experience in historic preservation I'm always for uh using what exists uh for as long as it could possibly be or kind of like the cheap or like the the most sustainable
way to build something is to use what is already built things like that. Um, so but I also understand the the point of view that um, you know, that the outdoor ice rink versus um, something that might be like more accessible to like larger groups, things like that um, could bring
a more draw for the public. So I I think in the way that it will hopefully become more accessible to more groups. I do agree. And and the other topic that I wanted to just I've been asking everybody um, do you have anything you want to say about um, uses of the municipal golf course?
Um I not in specifically I don't think. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. All right. A question I have for you. I see that for a time you worked on uh
space planning at Harvard. Yeah. And uh did that experience or any other experiences you have does that help inform you in terms of any priorities you might have if you uh join parks and recreation? I think so. I think that experience was
sort of unique in that it was working for an institution uh and that institution's vested interest was uh at all times to support the faculty in their endeavors. And so I I thought it was interesting because now in public bid work it's a lot it's budget
constricted and things like that get in the way of the public interest uh or you know it's just the reality of public bid work. But uh you know with the way that the budget flows over there they can cater to the the faculty's you know whim
uh and need and really bring the the faculty into every meeting if they want like owner architect contract and faculty uh would meet uh you know once a week sometimes and I think that the prioritizing and and the way that they would bend over backwards really for you
know the user the end user uh in construction projects is something that I haven't seen before. So I think that uh in the way that you know a town would manage parks, it should be to cater to the end user which is the public at all times or wherever possible. Okay. Thank
you. Anyone else? All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. And uh no vote will be taken today. Uh but certainly your remarks will be factored in. And next we have Katya Luchich. Hi,
Princing Tuan. Why I'm here? Can you move the mic up? This one? Yeah, just closer. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm an architect, planner, urban designer. I've been working for 30 years. 20 years I've been
living in Brooklyn. And why I'm here now? I think for first time I'm not traveling anymore as much as I used to. So I would like to give back to community and um I
we in Brooklyn we have inherited such a great green space and we are so lucky that we have that we have 100 years ago we have a great civic planners that they thought about what would happen here and now we are getting many more people and
we still need to protect what we have today and bring it to the next generations. And there is a climate change. There is cost that's tremendously higher
than ever. And we can see what has happened in last five years. And you have many capital projects. I'm sure that and a lot of a lot of prices and uh expenditures is getting larger and
higher also money and maintenance of the buildings of the parks and everything that you have is getting tremendously higher. So how we can look at that together? Um I think I have an expertise and good
perspective on that. I led multidisiplinary teams. I worked on different sides. I worked as um planner, architect, urban designer and I continue to work that but in less
capacity than I used to be before. So I hope I'll be able to help you and thank you for all your work. I voted for many of you, so I think I know all of you. Um, but also thank you. It was so great
to hear the group from the senior committee. So, I'm looking forward maybe in 10 years I'll be part of that group because once I retired and I get to that age. So, um, thank you for having me here and yeah, shoot with the questions
and then we'll go. All right. So, who has a question? I'll start this. Thank you. Go ahead, John. You may have heard the question I asked the Yeah. So, do you want to speak to the So, is this is the ice rink? Ice rink. Yeah. Yeah. And the other is just whether you
have some ideas that you might want to air having to do with the golf course. Yeah. I think for ice ring um you developed you had a somebody who was helping you giving giving different options and you price different options and I think that you have um good
information to uh that inform you to bring decision that you have made. I think what's a um what happens is when you bring something new to the scenic environment of low
armstead it has to be very special because you are in already very historic landscape so you cannot do it cheaply and then do very no I wouldn't say cheaply but less inexpensive
and then with all the maintenance that you would need to put into the managing these new facilities. It's another thing how you're going to manage it and also ice rink as it is from the point of view
creating a certain level of uh you know you have ice you have zamonis you have all the different things that happen and to having it's it's a big cost and also just providing parking for the people that will come changing rooms that will
happen with that type of facilities is going to be quite expensive. So perhaps I'm sure you made the right decision. So um I don't know I don't know you know very often I work in the world when there is where we have a big donors and then it's
much easier and here we have a public facilities so we are not really you know those facilities can have a be very expensive so and and the golf course any ideas golf course I'm not golf player but I walk around that golf course and I
really enjoyed it and so I know that you're is doing that I uh you're just in the process. Um I've seen um I've seen different golf courses and some of them are used for different
things in the times when there we used to have a lot of snow you know people will go and have a possibility to when nobody's playing golf they are doing some winter sports or things like that but I don't know you know climate is
changing so we have to be careful. Yeah. And yeah, thanks. Yeah. Paul, I thank you for coming this evening. Um, so same question as I asked the other individual. There's a lot of pressure on our parks. We've got ball fields, children playing games, organized
sports, pickup games. I think we heard about Amory tonight from one of the other applicants. Uh, green dog programs, people that want to just enjoy the park and sit and be in nature. How do we make it all work? How does it It's really an an issue of equity and equitable access. How does it work?
We have to listen to everybody I think and all different users. We need to do lot of surveys. We need to have a data and also we need to repeat that in the cycles because things are changing. I
mean every five 10 years but every five years I think there is a change and we need to analyze that and then we need to do our decisions but we need um I think we shouldn't follow our impulses
and I know that we come with ideas oh I want to do this or that I think in my role as advisory role I think I can I can bring my expertise of how to look
at data, how to design, how to come with new policies, how to do how to help with capital projects, managing. Okay. Yeah, Michael. Um, and I I'll follow the pattern of
asking you the same question that I asked others. Um, have uh first of all, thank you for for your application. Um I'm interested is if you've attended any of the meetings of the parks and rec commission um and if so what you find
works in those meetings and what doesn't. I didn't have opportunity to attend meetings. I watched some of the meetings recently just when I was when decided to apply
for this position and I think meetings are run well but I think we also need to have a lot of and I think there there are a lot of changes all the time and I in a way that
we I I like the synergy of the group and I like the way they approach decision making and I think I like that group is we have different ages in the group and
I think that's very inclusive and I think each of commissioners I'm sure is also having um different audience that will become also making a kind of consensus making in F
for the future projects. Thank you. Question I have in your uh application materials you address ecological restoration, sustainability. Uh do you have any initiatives in mind around those subject areas if you end up
on parks and recreation? I think every project would be I think every project needs to look at that. Each project I think we cannot go forward without looking at that. Okay. I don't know you know if we have a things are expensive you know it will go
through the budgets but I think every project all right okay well thank you very much thank you thanks our next applicant is Viniac Venitaraman and Viniac is online can you guys hear me
we can yes welcome Awesome. Thanks for thanks for having me. I'm Vanag Meat Trauman uh calling from uh South Brooklyn, actually across from the golf course. Um my wife and I recently bought a house um in Brooklyn. We previously were were renting uh close to Cleveland
Circle in Washington Square and we've loved our time here. Previously, I was living in Cambridge for uh seven or eight years when I was in my medical training. Um I'm currently a physician and medical oncologist at Dana Farber and uh my primary passion both uh in my career and also my life is supporting
young adults uh both teenagers and uh those in their 20s and 30s um through uh their cancer journey as well as um uh focused on their general health. And one of my primary interests in the parks and recreation committee is is the role of
exercise and recreation and uh both team based and individual sports um and ensuring that we have space um for people of all ages. So, not only young adults, but also those of all ages, knowing that exercise and uh good physical fitness and and um healthy
lifestyles is important across ages and and having access to um uh both to sustainable and accessible um parks and recreational activities is is critical to ensuring that all of our um uh
members of our town uh have access uh are able to to live their best lives. And so um you know I'm new to new new to Brookline so um you know haven't been as involved as maybe others have been um in the the governance but um as a new member I'm very excited and passionate
um as I mentioned we bought a house and we hope to live here for a long period of time and and um uh really want to invest in the community. I live across from the Robert uh Lynch Golf Course and uh often um when working from home and
and um going for for walks after lunch, I I go to the the Skyline Park and Lars Anderson Park is one of my my wife and I's favorite locations. Uh and so really love the park system, love um uh the recreational system and and want to do
everything I can as a as a resident to to support it. Um, so happy to take any questions. All right. Who would like to go first? John. Um, hi and thanks so much for applying to um to us for this position on the
park and rec commission. Excuse me. Um, I hope you heard that I've been asking all the candidates uh for their view on whether the park and rec commission within the past year made the right decision by deciding to do a um basic replacement of the ice rink at Lars
Anderson in its current location. Uh, you know, a much more upgraded and modern facility, but still an open air ice rink. uh not a um uh ice facility for hockey leagues and so on.
Um so do you dis disagree or agree with that decision? And then furthermore uh you mentioned the golf course um and I just wondered if you had any thoughts on um future of the golf course. Yeah, absolutely. I'm, you know, as I mentioned, I'm I'm new to to Brickline,
so I wasn't part of those conversations. But, um, in relation to hockey, I um, you know, you, you know, partly I think it sounds like, uh, there was a lot of community engagement and and conversation about, um, uh, you know, how to proceed with the Lars Anderson
hockey rink and being an outdoor facility. And there is an indoor facility closer to Cleveland Circle that, um, you know, is available. and and so I think it it sounds like there was a a compromise made between the the different um uh stakeholders in in that conversation. Um so you know I I
generally support um you know both in my professional practice and also in in this role uh you know making sure that we're engaging the full community all all participants and ensuring that everyone's voice is heard and it it sounds like in this case you know you can never make anyone everyone happy in a decision but it sounds like it was
made in a thoughtful manner. Um, you know, with relation to the the golf course, I think it's, you know, it's it's challenging. Obviously, golf is a very specific sport and um, you know, just personally, I I love tennis, which is also a very specific sport and and um, you know, it's not one that everyone
is engaged in. But I think um, what I like about the Robert P. And as someone who doesn't actually myself golf is that you know we my wife and I can go across the street and have a a really nice um uh you know bronze share host of people at the the cafe and the hemlock grill and and um you know it still is you know
even though it is focused on golf there are you know still aspects um that allow for community engagement and and opportunity to bring people together. um you know we've been uh at least you know just like observing different you know social functions that that go on there that can be very special um you know
both graduations and and other celebrations and so I think the hemlock grill in that space is really helpful to facilitate that and I think you know I think um there are people you know like myself who um you know don't necessarily see us as the country club golfings uh
contingent but um you know a public golf course that's very accessible and easy to to access um does bring a diverse population that that I think could could benefit from having a full golf course. You know, whether or not uh it's a full golf course versus transitioning some of
the golf course to um you know, different usage is you know, again, similar to the prior response, you we you know, we have to engage the committee to make sure that everyone's voice is heard, but ultimately not everyone is necessarily going to be um you know, fully happy or you know, fully
content with the decision. But I I think the golf course as it is um just to summarize is is a a special and you know very meaningful place to the community and also to myself just even as a new resident and having access to and so I think as long as we uh continue to have
it be a place that's accessible, sustainable and and open to to everyone in in Brooklyn. I think it's a special place that we should preserve in some fashion. Thank you for the answer. Yeah, Paul. Yep. Uh thank you for for coming. Anybody who survived residency,
fellowship, what you've been through to get to where you are is ready for Park and Wreck, I think. Um, and also to add to your uh your your bucket list, we actually hold our offsite uh at the Lynch Golf Course. Um, and with you
being right across the street, you can pop over and participate in an exciting uh engagement. But similar, I'll ask the same question I've asked the others. Um, you know, you had mentioned early on that, uh, you do have a a specific interest in in active sports and and and
and healthy lifestyles. Uh, there's a tremendous amount of pressure on our parks, uh, specifically in South Brooklyn, but also in North Brookline, um, where we're the density is a little bit higher. Um, your thoughts on God bless you. Um, your thoughts on how how
we can make it all work. Um if you go to any any you know uh active park uh early evening you'll see a host of folks playing different types of activities and whatever. How do we make it all work?
Yeah, great question. I you know it's uh you know part of it as a doctor you can't make everyone happy and I think as in parks and recreation you can't make everyone happy. I think you just have to um understand where everyone's goals are and what their their mission is and and you know parks are open from from dawn
to dusk and if there's way that we can incorporate people's you know interest across that 12 hour or whatever span uh depending on the year um you know I think that is you know one way and then you know just like in my personal fitness journey like I love playing tennis but oftent times you have
to compete with pickle ball players and just as a a funny example and Um I have liked you know in the Baker elementary school that you know rather than having um you know both side you know for pickle ball like some other courts for example in Cambridge where I lived they
would actually have like one court of tennis also be a a court for pickle ball whereas like at the Baker school rink they've um or the Baker school um uh tennis courts they've uh purposely had um both sides of the tennis court be pickle ball court. So rather than
having, you know, one set of pickle ball players uh use one court, it actually is able to distribute between two two courts. Um and you know I think people have to bring bring their own pickle ball uh nets but at least you know maybe as a parks and rec we can think about
ways to support um some of that equipment being on site you know but so you sort of like creative situations like that where you know you know obviously like a tennis player and a pickleball player are going to have like two different um ambitions for the courts that they share but there might be a way that allows both to to
participate in a way that is equitable and fair. And so I think just having you know making sure that everyone's uh voices are heard and also we have ground rules in place where everyone you know sort of feels it's fair and it may not be the most ideal but at least like fair allocation of scarce resources. I think
that's like probably the best um the best for forward. Thank you. Thank you. Uh also on a similar theme you talk in your application about supporting diverse physical fitness. Do you have any specific ideas that you
would like to see uh within our parks that would support diverse forms of physical fitness? Yeah. No, I think I mean um you know just going back to the the tennis and pickle ball like you know they're expensive sports like it's it's sometimes hard to to get the equipment that you need to play tennis to play
pickle ball um you know to play some of the sports that you know you do have access to as a Brooklyn resident but you might not have the equipment um or like beyond that like just having access to basketball, volleyball, you know um uh
facilities and also equipment um you know so rather than assuming that someone is going to bring it from home like having that access in some manner like it doesn't um either rental um or um um sort of like reserving time on
whatever uh you know physical either the court or the field um you know that's important and then I think also um I really like for example the financial aid um you know I learned tennis um you know through because my parents invested in me playing tennis
and they had the the funds to allow me to to have a coach which some people don't have access to to those resources and and I really like the idea of like the financial aid program to make sure that all kids across ages are able to access the same um both camps and and
other uh whatever fitness or physical health journey that they want to take. And so I think making sure that we're as a town supporting that not only the people who have access to those equipment and have access um or the social capital of having parents who invest in that making sure that everyone has access to those not only facilities
but also their training. Um I think that is like one way to to make sure that it's equitable and and accessible. All right. Thank you Michael. Um thank you very much for your application. Um, I'm wondering if you've attended any meetings of the park and
recre um commission and if you had any thoughts about things that worked well or things that you would like to see improved. Oh, great question. I uh uh just because we're so new to to Brooklyn, we haven't had the opportunity. So, um it's definitely something, you know, now that
I um am part of the Brooklyn community and it's a place that we really want to invest um our lives in and and build a family in in Brooklyn. I uh definitely hope to, but I haven't personally um done so myself, but it's something that I I definitely want uh in the future,
regardless of whether or not I'm selected for this position. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. And next up for tonight, Deborah Hatsy Leththeriatis. Good job.
Hi, I'm Deborah Hatsy Leththeris. Stippy Hats. Most people know me as um uh the reason that I applied is that uh I'm a lifelong Brooklyn resident and I
also raised five children here. I was an athlete and I coached many of my kids teams. I uh was on the board for Brooklyn youth hockey, Brooklyn youth baseball. So I and uh I'm a retired police officer. So I, you know, I've
pretty much been to every park in the town, I think. And, you know, as I got older, I realized my fondest memories were at the different parks in Brooklyn. And I uh I just, you know, start I I
have been to a lot of meetings and I really respect the way, you know, as a kid, you just play there. As a as a parent, you bring your kid there. Um, but you know, I realized all the work that's put into the parks and I just am really uh fond of of the way the
Brooklyn takes care of its parks and I just want to be a part of it. All right, questions. Michael, um, well, I'll start with the same question you you it seems like you started to answer. Um,
you've been to many of the meetings as you said. Um, I'm wondering if there are things in particular about the way the meetings are run that you that you like or whether ways that you think that the meetings can be improved. So, I I just love that. Um, I feel like
everybody's heard and, you know, each park has a different flavor or a different need and I feel like that those issues are addressed and and people are heard here. Uh, I was trying to think of things that I didn't like and I I don't I don't know. I couldn't
think of any. So, thank you. Yep. Uh hi, Debbie. Um and thank you for applying for this position. Sure. Excuse me. Um so, do you want to comment on your your view of whether uh the right decision was made on the ice rink?
Uh I think you're pretty familiar with it. Yeah. Where where should I begin and also just your view in general on um the future of the golf course? Yeah. Um so, I am thrilled about Lars Anderson. I mean, um, the rank, the open rink, the to me, the park is a gift to
us and I feel like the open rink is, you know, just, uh, a beautiful addition um, to that beautiful park and that if we had have done the other, it I feel like it would have uh, really damaged the park. So, I'm thrilled that it's there.
As you know, I'm on uh, Friends of Lars, which if I get this position, I would step down from there. Um, and we worked really hard um because we love the park so much. Um, as far as the golf course, I'm not a golfer. It's one sport that I didn't do or don't do.
But, um, the restaurant, somebody else mentioned the restaurant is fabulous and I think people don't really know about it. And, uh, it's so beautiful there. My grandson plays on the high school golf team and so I sit there sometimes and it's beautiful. So, I would say, you know, to promote the the
restaurant a little more and then the winter activities. Uh I didn't know until I started going to the meetings that the, you know, the snow um uh the snowshoeing and the winter events that they have there. So, I think it's um you know, it's just just not a golf place.
It's a beautiful, you know, all year round uh place to be. Thanks. I I I do want to um highlight something you said in your answer because I know I've been asked about it and that is you know your position uh with friends of Lars Anderson Park um
and people want to know you know but you know would it be appropriate if someone was on the park and wreck and on I think you were actually chair right of yeah friends of last Anderson Park and I heard you say you would step aside in that position I would you know I have to
say I I think is is the right approach to I agree. There's no I when I thought this through, I knew that that would be something I would have to give up. Yeah. To be fair and no problem. Yeah. Paul, thanks. Deb, there's no surprises tonight. First, thank you for your service to our community. Sure.
Greatly appreciated. Um, so, uh, no KBO. So, lots of pressure. You said you raised kids, you went to the, you know, the various activities. A lot of pressure on our parks. Yeah. Right. A lot. Um, and it's and it's not going to get any better unless we
acquire some more park space or start doing stuff. How do we make it all work? Um, you know, it is it's just love to hear your thoughts. Yeah. Um, yeah, that's a big question. It's a I it is a big issue. Um, again, each park has
its own flavor and its own wants and needs, and I do think Brooklyn does a good job in addressing those with each park. So I think to continue to do that um basically you know make sure that the rules and the standards at each park is
known you know posted um there you know the green dog program you know um make sure that it's posted places um if an issue comes up to address it you know if kids are you know if the if the animals are there later than they should be
there you know we have animal control um I think that you know you Everybody should be heard. And then you look at the space, you look at the size of the park, you look at who's coming, and then you figure out the best way to do it
fairly with everybody being heard. And you do the best you can. I mean, some people aren't going to be happy, you know, of course, but you do the best that you can with each park and the space that's there. Thanks, D. Yep. I noticed in your application materials that you have spent significant time on
uh Brooklyn Greenspace Alliance. Yeah. How has your work with them, how does that help inform what you would do on parks and wreck? It it just again the the passion that um these boards have and you know the green
space. I there were, you know, different things that they do about the environment and the trees and things that I just was so impressed with that we take care of our our town and our parks and that I I just want to bring that continue to bring that passion with
parks and wreck. I I I love this town. Obviously, I'm still here and uh and I just would love to keep doing that. I mean I you just think um I'm on the hall of fame committee also and one of our inductees the first thing he said he was talking about Devotion Park and when he
moved into Brooklyn he was like in fourth grade or something and how he went to the park and that's where he made his friends and so you know it reminded me like it's just they're just so special and my 91year-old mother used to sit at Marian Park so as an el you
know like and that was her solace so I just like I feel really passionately about it. I I think it's we're we're so blessed to be in Brooklyn and and uh have these beautiful places and I just, you know, just want to be a part of it. All right. Thank you.
All right. So, that concludes our interviews for today. Again, there will be no votes taken today and uh we will likely take this up again in early August. So now to our next item, which is a public hearing on project eligibility
letter applications for 1280 and 1330 Boilston Street. Yeah. Good evening, select board members. Okay, thank you so much. Um, my name is attorney Jesse Schmer. I'm a um an attorney with the law firm of Dne Torpy
in in downtown Boston. You speak into a little closer to the microphone. How's that? Perfect. A little bit better. Great. Thank you very much. Um, so um with me tonight, uh, select board members are are members of the development team, including representation from city realy, Cliff
Kensington, director of acquisitions from city realy. Uh behind me is um representation from the architect uh fineold Alexander Architects um Tony Shiao. I didn't want to mispronounce his name. Um and then Jennifer Gilbert who
who you all will know very well I'm sure from her many years of experience uh in Brooklyn local permitting. She's going to be assisting with the permitting of this project. We're pleased to be before you tonight to present a proposal for uh two chapter 40B developments at adjacent
parcels located at 1280 and 1330 uh Boilston Street. So, I'll just I'll run through a couple of uh presentation slides to to give you the broad overview of the project that we're proposing and then walk you through of some of the floor plans. Tony will will back up
there. the other members of the team are also available for questions and then we'll talk about a little bit briefly of the uh 40B process and the timeline and and answer any questions you all may have. But we you know you have a long agenda before you tonight so we we won't take up uh too much of your time
tonight. So um moving on to to the next slide. Um this if if you can see this is a aerial view of the project site and hopefully the the mouse will show up here. I'm highlighting the the development sites
here. As I mentioned, located at 1280 and 13:30 Boilston Street. I'm sure you all are very familiar with the site. It's in my view in the town of Brooklyn and and near the the line with uh with Newton. It's one of the most perfect development sites that are available uh
in the entire town. You can see on the plan that's highlighted here that essentially every amenity for residents of this project are available in the neighborhood. You've got the street uh mixeduse uh facility across Boilston Street. Uh farther down across the
Newton Town line, you have the Chesn Hill Mall. There's in addition to the uh the shops, supermarket, Star Market here, there's a gym down in the uh atrium center here. uh shops, gym, grocery stores in this location here, medical centers, uh essentially
everything residents will need in in close proximity that will not need to rely on a single use uh single uh occupant vehicle uh transit uh in order to uh to utilize these amenities. Um, in addition to the commercial amenities in
the area, I've also highlighted a number of recreational amenities in the area, uh, including, uh, the sole rec center. Uh, there's municipal offices. The the Brookline Fire Department is approximately one mile south of the plan here. MBTA, uh, commuter rail, excuse
me, uh, Green Line station is located about half a mile just up off of the plan. uh in this location here. And we've also highlighted the orange line uh excuse me, the the the bus line which runs through the uh through the area here and a bus stop actually uh right
next to the project site uh at this location here. There's ample precedent in this area for dense multifamily housing as I've also highlighted. There's LCB in the site directly next door. We've got Avalon down Boilston down here, Tustin Hill Towers among
others in this area. So really everything the future residents of this project could want or need is available in this area close proximity. Uh just by way of some some background of the history of this site, the total
project area, it's two parcels that we're proposing to develop in in separate projects. Uh, and we'll explain the reason why it's two projects in just a moment, but it's a total of 5.34 acre site. City realy acquired that in May of 2024, and they've been engaged since the
fall of 2023 with uh with the town on u proposals to redevelop the site uh with various proposals. Uh the the goal of this was to go to town meeting last May for a vote on a reszoning of the site.
Uh there have been a number of meetings that have taken place since then. Um at this point the future prospects for the redevelopment of the site are unclear. So city realy has has made the determination to essentially cover all
their bases by uh filing a proposal to develop the site uh as is permitted under chapter 40B with uh residential housing only and and no mixeduse components. So highlighting the site, this is a
conceptual architectural site plan uh which highlights the two projects. And I'll just the the the mouse can really illustrate the division line of the two uh project sites. Here what we're calling the east parcel we're designated
as 1280 Boilston Street. The west parcel is 1330 Boilston, although it comprises four four tax slots at this moment. They'll be consolidated and and divided into two separate parcels for this development. The as is noted on the plan
in front of you, the 1280 Boilston project proposes two 12story buildings. There's also a parking structure and we'll get into a little bit more detail on the buildings uh comprising a total of 540 rental units. Under chapter 40B,
uh 25% of the units must be permanently deed restricted as affordable at 80% of area median income. So that's 135 units and there will be 483 parking spaces on this portion of the site. Now when you move to the west parcel or 1330
Boilston, we're proposing two sevenstory buildings. This will be an age restricted rental development. And so it'll be restricted uh for seniors at uh well seniors in quotations I would say uh 55 plus and and as with the other
project deed restricted as affordable for at least 25% of the units and that'll be 61 of those uh units. There are proposed 194 parking spaces on that site. So, we now move to the project floor plans and I'll I'll hand over to
Tony to to walk through his his firm's buildings. Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'm Tony Sh. I'm principal with Fangled Alexander Architects. Um so, as a further descriptor, what we're showing on this particular image is the ground floor
plan. And again, um, starting on the left hand side, the west parcel, what you're seeing here is essentially the garage parking development that occurs underneath the residential portions and it really consists of essentially garage spaces. This particular instance here,
the corner masses to a five-story garage and then single story underneath here. This secondary building right here is a singlestory garage underneath that building. And then as he moved to the east parcels, it continues again with a singlestory garage underneath this
portion of it. And then over here, it's a combination of a singlestory garage under the front part facing Wson Street and then a five-story garage at the back of the site, which comprises the numbers that just were alluded to. The real development here is to manage to provide
the bulk of the parking within the each individual building development, but there also will be surface parking areas as you can see here. uh in my mouse along blanking on Boilson Street and we are essentially going to keep the existing curve cuts that exist. So we're not proposing to change or modify those.
So that will continue to remain intact and then there will be a subdivision road down the middle which splits right at the middle of the two parcels which will further connect to the back side of the site which is providing garage access uh into the development over here and similarly over here on the right and
here. And then flanking between all of these two buildings are a series of outdoor courtyards which will be developed as outdoor green spaces here and here. As we continue up to the plan directly above the garage level. So both of all
these buildings largely consisted of a mixture of studios ones and two-bedroom units of varying sizes and percentages. Um and for all intents and purposes this is as we said all residential development. So each one of these floor plans illustrate uh the breakdown of
those units. I won't get into the details here, but this is how each of those units will be dispersed across the buildings. So that they will have a mixture of different types. And then again at the far right building here uh in the east parcel, this portion of it
will comprise a five-story garage here to accommodate the required number of cars here. And similarly on the far building on the left, this is also a five-story garage as well to accommodate the required number of cars to service the development as a whole.
And then as we just continue up to the more typical floor plans, it largely consists of all apartments again with a mixture between studios ones and twos across the nexus of these developments. So this really breaks down again based on those percentages that we were just
alluding to. I think it is in the proposal files. If there are questions about the numbers, we can certainly get at that. But these comprises the development of the tickable floor plans. Again, these two on the left, as a reminder, are sevenstory buildings and the two on the right are proposed as
12-story buildings. And then finally, when we get into development, these are just very conceptual uh in terms of development, but the intent is that you can see here on the two u building this is um facing on Boilston Street looking towards site. So the two buildings on the left or the
east side are the 12story buildings and then the lower to the sevenstory buildings on the right uh here is as is related to this elevation. In a similar fashion you just flipping to the Heath Street view. This is again looking at the back side of it where we
see the sevenstory buildings here uh the two pair of them and then the two 12story buildings here and then the five-story structured parking garages here in the corner and here at the backside of this building here. I'm gonna turn it back.
So, just to to run through some some additional metrics for the for the proposed project. Uh this is again this is the elevation for 1280 Boilston. Um as Tony mentioned, this is conceptual at this point in the permitting process. I would say that the the plan details
we're looking at the project from like a low earth orbit level of detail. It's it's very very conceptual at this stage. So the final product will look uh significantly different from this but this is just to give you an idea. Uh the project is this this project is proposed to be phase one of the development of
the site. As I mentioned two 12-story buildings, 540 dwelling units and we've broken down the mix there. The one item to note is there's 57 three-bedroom apartments. That is uh a requirement of the state that at least 10% of uh the
apartments in these 40B projects be three-bedroom units that are considered suitable for families. Uh as I mentioned previously, 25% of the units will be deemed restricted as affordable at 80% of the area median income. Uh this will not be age restricted. So it will be be
open to all workforce housing families and seniors. This these will be elevatorfed buildings. So seniors could uh certainly move into these buildings and all of the units because they're elevator fed would be adaptable as a as accessible units. Typically for this sort of project if supported by the town
and I assume the town would support this uh there can be a local preference for the initial rent up of these buildings and that's up to 70% uh if there's a a support by the municipality and we would certainly support that as well. to the next slide. As I mentioned
previously, this proposes 483 parking spaces, 91% of which will be covered in the garages. Uh there will be uh visitor parking, designated parking for ride share vehicles, Ubers, uh Door Dash, and and and whatnot. Uh we initially
proposed to debundle the parking from the unit rents, which means that residents would not have a dedicated parking spot that comes with their unit. they need to to rent that separately from the ownership and the purpose of that is to discourage vehicle ownership and encourage residents to rely more on
public transport. U as Tony mentioned the site access is using the existing curb cuts essentially on on Boilston Street. There is a secondary access on Heath Street and the buildings will have programmed amenity spaces on the ground floor and on the outdoor uh courtyards.
The programming of those is to be determined at this point. So moving to the the 1330 Boilson Street project. This will be phase two of the development and the reason why this is to be developed separately is because there are existing leases in this
building. So the timing of when this building could come online is to be determined at this point. So the the plan now would be to develop the first portion of the site first which is now unoccupied and then move to this portion of the site once the first is completed. This is proposed as two sevenstory
buildings with the unit mix outlined there. Again, the 10% three-bedroom units and 61 deed restricted affordable units at 80% of AMI. This project is proposed to be an age restricted project as I mentioned 55 plus. It'll be subject
to the federal HOPA guidelines which require that at least 80% of the units be occupied by at least one person over the age of 55 plus in order to qualify as a as a age restricted project. uh city realy would be partnering with a
specialty uh operator of senior housing for this project and that's essentially the the senior and age restricted nature of this project is the primary reason why it's being developed separately from the remainder of the site. Um, as with the other uh portion of the project, we
we will be supportive of the 70% local preference for local residents at initial rent up. And as with the the other project, this will be elevator fed. So 100% of the units uh will be um either ADA accessible or adaptable to be
accessible. This uh this project proposes 194 parking spaces, 92% of which are in the garages. There's as with the other project visitor parking and ride share and etc. And the same the same uh statistics apply to the to this portion
of the the project as well. The boilson street access emergency access on Heath and the amenity spaces will be programmed that uh to be determined. So just to move to this is there's a lot of words here and I won't I won't read or I won't highlight every single point
here but just a a brief overview of where we are in the permitting process. We're very early in the chapter 40B process. Um, my practice at Dne Torpri is primarily focused on chapter 40B development. So, this is this is the bulk of my practice and I do this all
day and every day essentially. So, I'm I'm very familiar and happy to answer any questions that you may have, although I'm sure you are very familiar with the 4DB process as is the town planning staff. Um, essentially where we are today, uh, we have recently filed, as of, uh, July the 2nd, we ru ruined
their, uh, Fourth of July weekend. Uh, we filed with Mass Housing for project eligibility letters for these two projects. Typically, that process takes 60 to 90 days. Mass Housing will conduct an independent appraisal of the site, and they'll also conduct a sitewalk,
which we're in the process of scheduling. The municipality is encouraged and invited to have representatives available at the sitewalk for questions and comments and um that that will be scheduled uh probably in the in the coming days once
the the site eligibility determination is made by Mass Housing. the they if if they find that the projects are eligible under the proposed financing program, which is the New England Fund program, which allows for financing by private lenders to draw upon a subsidized
lending fund called the New England Fund. Once that determination is made, the the project eligibil, excuse me, project eligibility letter or PEL is essentially the the ticket to the ball. And and once that once the develop developer has that they can apply with
the local zoning board of appeals for the comprehensive permit. In the comprehensive permit process the zoning board of appeals has 180 days or six months to review the project. And in that process the zoning board stands in the shoes of all of the local permitting
boards, department heads and other local authorities in issuance of all permits that are required by town bylaws. Uh so just by way of example for a project that would normally need site plane review that would be done by the zoning board. Special permits would be the same
thing. Variances but in this the 4DB process those are known as waivers but essentially the same thing. Uh waivers uh refer to the ability of the zoning board to uh to relieve the developer for from compliance with all local regulations. Um the standard of review
for that is whether there's a need for affordable housing that outweighs a local concern. Now I also want to highlight for your consideration that the zoning board of appeals has no authority in this process to wave any state or federal regulations. So this project would be required to comply with
all applicable state and federal laws. There would be other permits that the project would also need to apply for separately such as a massac permit and that would be done after the local review process is done. just to highlight some some project benefits from the developers
perspective. Uh we feel that Brookline and the Boston area is there's a critical need for housing. Understand that there's the the subsidized housing inventory and that the town is close to the 10% metric. uh in the Boston and the
Commonwealth uh in in general, there is a a broad recognition that we're in the midst of a housing crisis and that hundreds of thousands of new housing units, both capital A affordable and generally are needed throughout the area. So, we feel that this project will bring much needed housing to this area
in a in an ideal location for it to be located. This uh project proposes affordable housing deed restricted permanently and available during rent up to local residents of Brooklyn housing for seniors. Uh this both of the projects will provide housing for
seniors and the second one at 13:30 targeted specifically as age restricted for housing. uh the 4DB process from the developer perspective the the the benefit of that is a streamlined uh process as I mentioned 180 days with all
permitting consolidated under one board um this project will generate significant tax ref uh revenue for the for the town of Brooklyn with the increased value of the property under compared to its current development. So that concludes my remarks and um I
thank you for your time. I'm available for any questions. Uh and as is members of my team. All right. Does anyone have any questions or comments? Thank you very much for the presentation. Um go ahead, John. Um this is this is more a question for
the developer I think but you know you your team can decide who should answer it. Um uh thank you for the presentation. Very interesting. gave us, I think, a good idea of kind of what we're facing here. You know, there was an original proposal for hotel
commercial space. Um, and now we have that still kind of on the table, still sort of um on the drawing board. Um, and still being looked at by a Chesnut Hill West committee with community members. Uh, but now we also have this proposal.
At the end of the day, isn't the developer going to be more interested in developing the um the the the proposal that has the greatest potential for profit uh to the developer? Um does
somebody want to take a position on that? Evening everyone. Cliff Kensington again um representing city realy. So I I would you know the point was brought up uh kind of earlier in the presentation. You know we we are we are still committed to
working with the the community advisory group and the Chestnut Hill resoning process. We are we are very interested in um we are very interested in you know permutations. We've will are interested in continuing to develop proposals that
fit within some of the frameworks and guidelines as as they come out. I we you know I we would you know plan A is still to go that that route. this, you know, we see as a as a kind of plan B in case the uh
results of that are either, you know, continue to be delayed or in the results that they that there is kind of requirements or, you know, decisions made that make a development infeasible under under those zoning guidelines. So our our goal is absolutely to to still
work with a a project, but we just can't say right now based on some of the some of the kind of guidelines or or you know ideas that have been thrown out that uniformly that path is going to be feasible as in comparison and and you know my just rephrasing the
question uh um I is the 40B proposal scaled so as to match the profit potential of the hotel and condominium etc. proposal commercial space. Um I would say that it is there are
various um iterations of the hotel version that is better and more valuable uh than than this 40B. This is not the you know absolute highest and best use of the proposals that we've been talking about. But there are other scenarios that have been talked about on the
resoning, you know, that either come with kind of very high commercial requirements that we don't that we would have a difficult time meeting or come with much lower discussions of much lower density that are worse than this. So I guess I would say that this is probably in the middle between some of
the versions that of the proposal, the mixeduse version that we've been talking about and others that other ideas that have been thrown out. So it it is there's a large realm in which we expect that the that the reasoning if it does happen will absolutely be better
than this and we you know we we expect that but this is more of kind of a I guess a a hedge against some of the worst Okay. Okay. outcomes of that. Thank thanks for that. Anyone else? Sure. I have a just a couple of of maybe
specific questions. Um, thank you for the presentation and putting it forward and for the conceptual drawings. Um, I appreciate seeing what these things would look like. Um, I would also appreciate seeing what these look like with a slightly larger aperture. Um, if
you have, for example, uh, neighboring, uh, units, uh, neighboring parcels, um, that have their images, it would be, uh, great for us and the community to see what those look like relative to each other as opposed to just looking at the
at the edges. Um so uh for this or other um future presentations um the the first question I had is um you had talked about unbundling the parking from the units um for
understandable reasons. Um I'm interested to know hear your thoughts about how that unbundling affects the accessibility of parking for the people who are in the uh deed restricted
affordable units. Are the parking units also deed restricted and similarly affordable or are they all market rate? So I can I can answer that one. So I should have said at during my presentation for the for the deed
restricted affordable units the state requires those to come with one parking space at least. So those units they will not be debundled the other ones will be. Okay great thank you. Um and the second question I had was um when you had
discussed you know all of these units have elevator access um and you had talked about some of them being accessible and some of them being adaptable to accessibility. Um, in your experience with this kind of development, since you've done a lot of these 40bs or in particular for this
one, do you have plans as to what percentage of the units would be accessible uh, from the get-go? Uh, and what percentage of the units would then need further work or further constraints in order to be accessible.
So Tony can can confirm if I'm if I'm right, but my my understanding is that the the ADA and MAB Mass architectural access board requires 5% to be accessible group two units. So 5% would be accessible from day one and then the
other ones would be adaptable. Okay. Thank you, Paul. Yep. Uh thank you for the presentation. I mean I have a statement, not a question. Uh first I'm uh sympathetic. I know that this has been a long process
uh that you've been going through. Um and it's been difficult at times. Um I did pick up on your statement that this is not the highest and best use of this uh of this location. I would agree with you. I think the community agrees with you and my hope. Um I understand that
we're making progress. Um and there's, you know, some some concerns on either side about ratios and stuff. Uh but I would strongly encourage that we work together uh to find a solution that's mutually beneficial. Um 40Bs at this
location is not the highest and best use. Uh it's a tremendous opportunity for a generational addition uh to the town of Brookline with your help. So I would hope that we would find a path uh that is not this. So thank you.
Just a question I have regarding this proposal. Uh you have the garages sort of toward toward the back. Uh how would traffic flow work? Like how do you visualize the cars getting into the garage and traversing the parcels?
Um I we can we could go back to the I'm not sure if there's a best way to go back to the uh presentation. Sorry. I don't want to I don't want to sign out of something by accident. Mhm. Uh yeah, thank you.
Um so as um as Tony laid out, but we can uh get into it a little more detail. Um we are proposing to maintain site access uh this the same as as it is currently Boilston Street through the existing curb cuts. Um, there is internal
driveways for circulation, but you can see that both garages, all basically all four garages have entrances off of this Boilston Street kind of call it parallel road as well as all four of them having a uh access from the rear off of this
kind of Heath Street parallel road that is connected by this. So, so there is, you know, we we were we were intentional to try to create entrance and exits on both sides to not create kind of bottlenecks or too much uh queuing and maintaining a similar level of access to
Boilson Street that exists now. And uh again, you know, as as was mentioned there, there will be emergency access potentially from Heath Street, but we are maintaining the no no new traffic onto Heath Street as as we've agreed to through prior iterations as that was raised as a as a high priority for any
version of the development of this site. So, we are maintaining that this road is mostly just duplicating for internal site circulation, loading, and then potentially fire emergency access as you get more kind of at grade with Te Street uh in this lower corner.
All right. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Well, this is Thank you very much again. This is a public hearing and I know that Janice Khan has signed up to speak. So, go ahead, Janice. You have three minutes. Thank you very much. Janice Khan, town
meeting member, precinct 15 and a nearby resident of this project. Um, thank you for the opportunity to comment. I support the select board's draft letter requesting that Mass Housing deny a project eligibility letter um eligibility letter for projects that
would convert over 5 acres zoned for commercial development in Chestnut Hill to residentialonly housing. the replacement of 124,000 square feet of commercial space with 784 rental housing units in a part of Brooklyn that has
almost no town services will have lasting negative financial consequences. For example, we will need to budget millions of dollars for a new fire company, the purchase of additional fire apparatus, and perhaps even build a new
firehouse. Brooklyn has a decadesl long commitment to creating affordable housing. Almost 40 years ago, we were one of the first five communities to set up an affordable housing trust fund. Our commitment to constructing affordable housing has not wavered. At one time,
developers were interested in building affordable housing without incentives. My own neighborhood was a planned development built as workforce housing for bluecollar trades people in the 1930s. But no longer. The state statute known as 40B exempts developers from
local zoning regulations allowing 75 to 80% of housing units to be luxury in exchange for a much smaller percentage of relatively affordable units to be built. And oddly, those luxury units will count towards our subsidized housing inventory, which bears little
irresolence to the number of affordable housing units that's actually being created. Developers used the law to erode our existing affordable housing and now to erode Brooklyn's last important commercial area. A 40B project a few blocks away just received its
comprehensive permit. It removes five 100-year-old triple-decker homes which are part of the town's affordable housing stock as well as two commercial properties. In exchange, we are getting a six-story luxury apartment building with 25% of the units renting at 80% of
area median income. same is is um represented here which is out of the reach of those who truly need affordable housing and no commercial development in an important commercial area that would otherwise require first floor commercial. The Chestnut Hill commercial
area study committee on which I serve is making a good faith and ongoing effort to come up with a proposal acceptable to all parties with a mix of commercial and residential uses that is welldesigned and right-sized. approval of a 40B project on the site should be denied.
Thank you. And I do have one um response to um a comment that was made earlier. Um so in the presentation it was said so with the exception of SU Recreation on Hammond Street, every so-called amenity for this depart this project are in
Newton. So yes, this will be an economic boon for Newton but not for Brooklyn's commercial area. This project should be denied. Thank you. Janice, could you please send your comments electronically to the board? Yes, I'll be I'll do I will do that.
Thank you very much. That concludes the speakers who signed up in advance of the meeting. If um there is anyone in the room who wishes to speak on this item, please make your presence known. If online, um please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature. Yes, if you in the white shirt want to approach and please state your
name and Bruce Brookline precinct uh number or address. Hi there, my name is Martha Yach. Sorry. Can you move the mic up? Thank you. How's that? Good. My name is Martha Yuk. I live at 745 Heath Street.
And I want to say we're making progress. Um I agree with Janice wholeheartedly that a 40B is the wrong way to go in all of the ways Janice so well articulated. The good news is that some of the conversations that we've been having um
over the past few months have been recognized. in particular, the massing on the east side of the site um is showing up in uh this uh 40B proposal which is um which we haven't seen before. So um I have faith that we can
continue to find some road that's access that's uh yeah accessible but acceptable uh to all of us. So um thank you for the opportunity to comment. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the room or online? Again, if you're online, please raise your hand using the raise
the hand feature at this time. Uh there are approximately 10 individuals in the room, 16 online, and it looks like no one is in no one else is indicating their desire to speak during this public hearing. All right, any further discussions by the board?
Seeing none, thank you again for coming in and for presenting. I think you're hearing loud and clear both from public comment as well as some remarks made by Paul and others that we would like to hopefully reach a collaborative solution that would include a mix of commercial
and residential and highest use for really prime parcel. Uh so I look forward to further discussions and hopefully we'll get there. Do you have something else you wanted to say sir? Nothing further other than to thank you for your time and and the audience for their comments.
Okay. Thank you. And with that, we will close the public hearing and move on to our next agenda item, which is the letter. Oh, I'm sorry. The letter. That's right. Question of authorizing the chair to sign a letter to Mass Housing conveying
the select board's comments. So, David, go ahead, Paul. So, um I think some of the comments that Janice Khan made would be uh worthy of incorporating into the letter, I think. Um, okay. I think some of the So, you use the microphone.
Am I not speaking into the Yeah, just a little more. Sorry. Oh, a little more. Okay. I Okay. Um, thank you. But, you know, I support uh sending the letter of denial. Okay. Anyone else? John? Yeah, I have a
question about the letter of denial because, you know, frankly, I'm a little bit confused uh uh as to what is expected of a municipality in response to a 40B application if the 40B application is prompted by um you know,
this 10% uh subsidized housing requirement that we sometimes, you know, are in excess of and then sometimes dip below. And I don't think they would even be here tonight if not for the fact that um you know they see a window uh that is
we we apparently dipped below um the 10% subsidized units. um given given that that's why they have put together this presentation and this proposal, does arguing to the um state authorities that
we in Brooklyn are doing a lot to create affordable housing um uh tend to you know deaf to the fact that uh we're we're not doing 10% and that's why the 40B law exists. So is that the
best argument that we can make to the state at the state level as to why they should not issue a P project eligibility letter for this for this particular proposal? I mean other others might have more experience with these than than
I've had, but it just seems to ignore the fact that they wouldn't be applying if not for the fact that we dip below that. Cara, perhaps you could answer that. Um, my name is Cara Brutin. I'm the director of planning. John, I think to answer your question, I'm I am not aware
of any harm that it would do to submit a letter um to mass housing. Um, but I agree with you. It's it's uncertain what the effect of it will be. I can think of a couple of examples um that it appears from the outside that we
were able to push in some positive direction on behalf of the town. One was the 40B that was filed at the Welder Durgen site. The original proposal was for a 21-story building and after the sleptboard's comment letter, we didn't hear anything from Mass Housing, but
when we saw the actual comp plan permit application come back in, it was for like half the hype. Um, so I do think that was effective advocacy um of getting something that was at least reasonable for that for that property. And then last year,
um, 429 Harvard filed a PAL application letter and after we drafted after the select board drafted a comment letter and revised it, they ended up um, pulling their application. I don't know to what extent
that was because of the letter or because it was on Harvard Street where we had just passed as of right zoning. Um, but it that did happen as well. Cara, could you also comment about it the 1.5 rule and whether we're uh in
compliance there? Yes. So, we are we are not as far as um my best calculations, we're not we're not close to the one and a half percent. Um once we're over the 10% with putting stone, we will be back over the one and a half% by land. Okay.
Michael, um, as you and I have dis discussed previously, um, this letter does not make any such recommendations about, um, dimensional requirements or design
guidelines or any other sort of particular constraints as I think you just referenced in the Waldo Durkens site. Um, so I'm just wondering um given John's question about like what
the what the effectiveness of this letter is um in the in the event that we submit this letter and the uh mass housing moves forward. Um,
is it is it is it clear to you that even with Mass Housing issuing their PEL um that there will be a significant time before
um the applicants will be able to submit a 40B application that would end up overriding the town's zoning controls. Um,
as far as I can guess, that's the case. This is based on what Chestnut Hill Realy is telling us of when they're going to be able to get their certificate of occupancy. So, I certainly couldn't guarantee that, but it's my understanding that they expect to have their certificate occupancy in the next four weeks. Um, and project
eligibility letters usually take two to three, sometimes four months um to work through with mass housing. Paul. So, so I guess um you know just in feedback Michael and and John, not specifically, but um just in general
that if we're silent on the matter, then they'll say work's in support, right? We're not supportive of this site being used for 40B development. Um and and so just hold on. I'm not debating with you. I'm just making a point. Um that I think
it's just important that we that we send it um so that we go on record that we are opposed to it, that we think there's a better use and we can raise the issues that we talked about here as well as I think Janice Khan raised a number of issues and I'm sure Cara has a list too
that she'd like to work with the chair on and the town administrator. But I do think it's very important that we go on record that we are not in support of this for a whole host of reasons. And I, as I mentioned earlier, I have great faith that uh we're going to have a meeting of the minds and come up with a a project that's going to be beneficial
for both parties. Michael, you Oh, you had something further to say only to say that I agree with you. Thank you. Um sorry, may I? Um you know, I guess the the the line in
the letter that, you know, it just um doesn't ring true for me. Uh, and and by the way, I want to say I think it's a terrific letter. I think it was really well put together. If anybody wants to see in two pages um a really good summation of sort of what Brookline is
doing to try to meet affordable housing guidelines that have been um you know, I'll say dictated uh by the state. Um read this letter. Um, but it ends with the proposed residentialonly development would not advance the state's affordable
housing policy and would be a setback in advancing housing policy in Brooklyn. Essentially, we're saying the 40B law when applied has the opposite effect that is intended. Uh, it doesn't advance the state's affordable housing goals and it doesn't advance our affordable
housing goals. So, I I don't I don't get how we come to that conclusion. Um, yeah, I I think it's it's an interesting question. I think the answer is 40B is a blunt instrument, right? And 40B is a blunt instrument by design. It's
intended to be something that ensures that in communities that are below this 10% number that something gets built. That doesn't necessarily mean that like that that so to the extent that that is the state's affordable housing policy,
well, okay. But I actually what I think what this letter does well and what Cara and her team have done really well with this is to demonstrate that 40B is not always the optimal solution to these issues. Um and it's particularly the case here where the long-term effects of
the development on the community will actually be detrimental to the construction of affordable housing and mixed use and mixeduse development and all the things that will cause the community to thrive and hopefully add units at multiple price points in the long term. you know, which is what the
state's stated goal has been. And it's been evolving. You know, we've 40b is now a relatively old law. It's been on the books for 50 years. Um 1969. Thank you, Regina. Um and um and
it's um you know the state has tinkered over the years but first with 40R and then with the MBTA communities act with how to make what a blunt a blunt instrument a little bit more focused on the aims of the state. So I don't think it's out of line for us to say, you
know, yeah, the use of 40B here, which is an antiquated instrument that does it serves a purpose and there are times when 40B is the right way to move forward in building affordable housing, but it's not the case here. Um, so I don't think we're saying as a community 40b is bad, we hate 40b. It's saying
that at this juncture in this community given what we're do what we have done and what we are doing to try and not just meet the spirit of the shi and all of those things but actually develop affordable housing at multiple price points. Um we got to you know we we we
can do better um and we will do better. Um we're not it's the the the process is long and tortured at times but we're getting there. I think everyone has said we're trying to get there. So, I don't think us saying that it I I think us saying it doesn't advance the state's
affordable housing policy is right. And Carrie, wasn't there a situation where the state at one point at least once did say when someone was very close to the 10% line? You know, you've you've done enough. We're going to hold we're going to hold on this project for now. Yeah. Um unicorn exemption, but
yeah, the case in um I want to say Eastston, but I'm looking at the my notes. have to get get it to you. Um, just a second. Yeah. And Eastston um saw mill back in 2012. Um, the finding that mass housing
used for that was holistic. It wasn't just one piece. Um, in that case, Eastston was very concerned about um either endangered species or wetland um provisions that were near or on that property. So, it was a combination of it
being a wrong site for residential development as Eastston argued combined with the recent actions Easton had taken, which was the 40R district, which allows multif family by right. So, that is the tack that I'm trying to take here
is to talk up what we've done. um to have multif family by right. Um and then using the commercial the importance of the commercial use on this commercial property as um why residential only is
not appropriate for the site. If I could John's comment, this one sentence was actually a whole paragraph I hit send. And so with your permission, I'd like to uh work with the chair to flesh out the arguments a little bit more, put some words back in
of um the reason I was thinking that this does not advance the state's affordable housing policy is because the community has been working with each other, with town officials, um and with multiple property owners to try to get resoning to happen here. And the
argument is if we, you know, if the mass housing issues appel now, it's shortcircuiting that work, which means that it's going to be less likely that the community would be willing to go through that hard resoning study anywhere else in town. But I cut that piece out, John, and I think you're
right that it's it's not a very clear argument in that one sentence is left there. Well, uh, yeah, it's it doesn't necessarily find a lot of support. Well, it does find support in everything that precedes it. Excuse me. Um but but uh maybe it does need a little bit more, you know, fleshing out. Um if I may, I
just want to ask Cara a question. I'm not sure I heard you correctly um about this whole business of um you know, we're we're uh we're at the threshold, we're below the threshold, we're above the threshold. All of a sudden, a window
opens, developers see an opportunity. Then there's the project eligibility process which is uh takes at least what 80 I mean it's has to be over in what 80 days 90 days something like that. Um are you saying that if the window that has
opened closes before the state comes to its decision on a project eligibility letter that this applicant will no longer be eligible for consideration for a project eligibility letter at least. Yes. But I I always say for now and nothing's ever permanent. So for
example, the dennial census is actually not that far away if as long as there is a census in five years. Um and that will change the denominator of how the current regulations are. And the governor has um in some of their
task force has floated the idea in multiple venues of changing the 40B regs. Um, so that one of the ideas floated out there is that you would only be able to count on the state's subsidized housing inventory, those units that are 10 years or younger.
Yeah. So all of the older affordable housing stock that's on the inventory from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, those would fall off if that regulation were to change. It's, I think, a long way from actually getting changed. But possibilities like
that is what gives me caution to make sure we don't think it's always a golden just so that we all understand this. So if the window closed before the state had finished its process of issuing a project eligibility letter would they continue to go forward until they reach
their decision then issue the letter and would the understanding then be the next time the window opens that developer has a project eligibility letter in hand? Yes. when the window opens. That's right. And that's sort of how it would proceed. Yes. And it's also a possibility that
certainly the um the process allows for city realy to file um a 40B application whether or not we're above the 10%. If it was, you know, a so-called friendly 40B, yeah, you could imagine the zoning board of appeals taking that up and even though
they wouldn't have to um make a decision, they they could. So that's another that's another possibility. Yeah. Paul, so I just I wanted to uh two suggestions. One is see if we can move this forward with authorizing the chair
to make some edits in collaboration with the town administrator and our director of planning and community development to send a letter on our behalf. Um I'd be happy to have that happen. But two, I want to just rewind a minute and just remind everybody what's for me what I'm
reading here is a flag, a caution flag that's going up by city realy saying help, help this this we we need to come to a conclusion here. Um and that's really what's going on here, right? Um, and you know, we my interpretation of this evening, and I
really appreciated their frankness, is that, you know, they're looking for a plan B just in case, you know, there's unreasonable expectations of what they could possibly do that fits within their criteria. And frankly, we're already not rolling over for them. And, you know,
and I think we're, you know, it's coming to a place where the parties are working together. But that's the important thing. It's a flag. Caution. Um, we're we're warning Will Robinson, right? So, I I would hopefully that we can move on with the letter and encourage our uh
excellent planning and community development group along with the committee that's working that Janice is part of and the developers and their lawyers to come to a mutually beneficial conclusion. Sorry. Sorry. I have another question. Go ahead, John. So, we have a whole bunch of 40B
developments in town. They're they're either almost finished construction or they've been in you know, on site for quite a while. They were constructed a year, two years, five years, 10 years ago. Um, in each of those cases, did we write a letter basically saying, "Please
don't issue a project eligibility letter for this project. We're trying really hard to um develop subsidized housing, but you know, unfortunately, we're just not there yet." Each letter has been a little bit different, you know, through the years. They've had different select board members, different planning directors,
right? Everything's a little bit different, but um I think there is maybe only one or two times where the select board has said don't don't issue a PEL. Oh, it's it is often been is more likely that it has been here's some design things, here's some things we want to
see with traffic knowing that we didn't have any as of right multif family zoning, right? Which is named in the regs as a piece of the puzzle here for meeting local housing need. Um and so it focused on okay, we know it's coming back. We'd like to see something smaller. We'd like to see
something that fits with the neighborhood more. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, it sounds like we have general agreement to authorize the chair to work with Carara on some word
smithing, further fleshing out that last point you made, John, about the end of the letter and also incorporating some of Janice's comments into the letter. Uh, so would I'll go ahead and move that and we can vote on it. Uh John I Paul I
Michael I and I also vote I thank you. Thank you. All right. So now we will move on to the next agenda item which is the select board public bodies handbook. Question of approving the appointed public bodies
handbook. Tiffany. Sure. Yes. Tiffany Oliva, assistant town administrator for operations. Um this has been in your uh pocket a couple of times now. Um and we have made some revisions for clarity. A special thank you to select board member uh Rubenstein
who has helped to kind of reduce redundancy and um u make the document a bit more concise, improve clarity. Um and we went with uh instead of boards, commissions, committees, uh advisory boards, all of the number of things that
we call things uh call our advisory bodies, um we've gone with public bodies. So, I don't have much else to add to the actual document. Um, we've also received um a great deal of input from our um chairs of our public bodies.
Um several public bodies have reviewed it. Um not this version of it, but kind of various versions of it. Um and discussed it during their meetings. Uh so, I do feel confident that we are at a good point um as long as you feel confident that we are at a good point um
to go ahead and move this along. I believe we're ready. What do others think? And this is under 13A. Oh, excuse me. 11 11 A. I'm sorry. I'll get I'll get it straight. Uh, okay. This is the handbook. Uh, not not the media engagement. Correct.
Yeah. Okay. With your question. Um, I would just like to commend Tiffany and her team for taking this on. Um and um I certainly as a new select board member appreciate the
learning that uh that I was able to take from going through the document. Um and I hope that um we use this document both uh in our recruiting process so that people who come onto public bodies are aware of their responsibilities um as
well as ensuring that um certain challenges um that we've experienced in the past can be more uh cleanly and consistently resolved with this with these guidelines.
All right, I echo those sentiments. Thank you very much, Tiffany, for all the work you did on this and incorporating everyone's feedback and answering our questions so thoroughly. Anyone else? All right, then I will move that we approve the select board appointed
public bodies handbook. John I. Paul, I. Michael I. And I also vote I. All right, that brings us to our next item, media engagement policy and the social media policy.
We have Christina online. All right, Christina, go right ahead. Good evening. Um, I have the media engagement and social media and polic policy in front of you again tonight. Um, select board member Rubenstein had offered some edits and so I will be uh holding that back this evening, but I
would like to ask you if there's no more edits or questions regarding the media engagement policy to approve that tonight. and I will come back um to another meeting with the social media policy with those edits, making sure that there's no need to go back to the HR board for approval of the those
changes and then I can bring that in front of you um fully complete. All right. Anyone else? Paul, go ahead. Just I um bear with me for a second. I didn't get to plow through this this to this document. Um, so I if I remember
when we reviewed this last time, which you did a great job uh walking through it, I think there was some feedback about how many parties and departments were on social media um as was how was that feedback uh incorporated or was it
uh incorporated? Did it result in any changes? So there was um one of the changes that uh select member Rubenstein had uh suggested was um putting some information about um boards and committees or I'm sorry departments commenting on other public um forums and
groups like such on Facebook or um like a Reddit post. And so that was actually put into uh the social media action plan which is the attachment to the social media policy. That way we can amend that a little bit more freely as the operational strategy for uh social media
rather than the policy and having to come back to you in the event that that may change. Okay. So it's an attachment to the policy. By approving this tonight, are we approving the attachment or that would be refined over time? The social media policy is is going to be held back. It's just the media polic
Sorry, the communication policy. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I was confused by that. Sorry. Engagement policy. Okay. All right. Any other questions, comments? Okay. So, if why don't we go ahead and vote on the media engagement policy? So,
I move that we approve the proposed media engagement policy. John I. Paul. I. Michael I. And I also vote I. All right. Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Christina. Thanks, Christina. And now we will move to Driscoll Solar.
Question of approving the letter of intent and system purchase and installation agreement subject to final approval by town council with select solar to purchase and install the photovalttaic solar array for Driscoll school. Have others had an opportunity
to review the letter of intent? Yes. Yes. All right. Uh just for the public, I'm going to read the first paragraph so that people have an idea of it. Select Energy Development LLC in town of Brooklyn desire to enter into a purchase and installation agreement for
electricity to be produced by a solar power electric generating project to be located at 725 Washington Street and which is expected to qualify for incentives under a program or programs of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources including the smart
incentive program. The parties recognize that the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Smart Incentive Program awards incentives on a first come first- serve basis and therefore host project economics are subject to the improved incentive for each project. The letter
of intent is intended to formalize both parties willingness and intent to enter into good faith negotiations to execute a PNI agreement pursuant to which select will develop the project under the power options solar program. Uh then there's
also an attachment that addresses uh commercial general liability, workers compensation and auto coverage. And you have Alexander Veio, our director of sustainability is online. All right, Alexandra, if you'd like to talk about this in more detail. Sure. Good evening everyone. My name is
Alexander Beckio, director of sustainability and natural resources. Um I have a uh presentation just to walk through uh the materials um that you're reviewing this evening. Um, so I'm just pulling up my presentation now. Can everybody see that? Okay. Yes. Yes.
Great. Thank you. All right. So, this evening I will uh go ahead and give you an overview of the power options program. You'll see that referenced in uh the documents, both the LOI, the letter of intent, as well as the purchase and installation agreement. um talk a little bit about our existing
solar projects in Brooklyn, the federal and state incentives for solar projects that we're trying to take advantage of and um is part of the reason that we are moving uh expeditiously. Uh and then uh give you a project summary of the
Driscoll project and timeline. Uh at the end of this um I am requesting that the board approve um and authorize the town administrator to sign the letter of intent and then also the purchase and installation agreement to be signed by
the board um with a current estimated value of $343,155. I will note that uh should that value change based off of the additional um analysis and assessment that is done for the project, I would return to the board um for uh an additional vote for that
amended contract value. I also will note that uh this same question was asked of the school committee last night and pleased to share that they did uh approve unanimously supporting both the letter of intent and the purchase and installation agreement.
So the power options program um is an energy procurement program in New England. This program uh conducts and provides uh competitive procurement process and supplier vetting on behalf of nonprofits and municipalities. So Brookline has worked with power options
for many years on previous solar projects. I'll speak to those uh in my next slide. the um both the letter of intent and the uh purchase and installation agreement as you can see are with select energy and that is uh
the preferred vendor through power options. Um, so they have already gone through the public bidding process for us. And this really allows the town um to save some time and energy uh on the staff's behalf and allows us to move a bit more quickly, which is why we're moving through the the power options
program. And um we're doing that in particular in this case uh due to the changing federal landscape and our desire to take advantage of some of those federal tax incentives. I will say that select uh solar is a high quality solar installer and they have a
significant experience in Brookline. So I do have the utmost confidence in their ability with uh with this project and in the past has worked with them uh on numerous projects. We have typically done a power purchase agreement and uh you'll hear that referred to as a PPA.
So those allow basically a third party to own and operate a solar energy system on a customer's property. So in our case, we essentially lease out our roofs um to uh in our previous cases, select through the power options program um for
numerous arrays that exist and it allows Brookline to expand our solar canopy, but we don't require the same upfront capital um which is required in this case to purchase the panels um in order to install them. So, as you can see, Brookline has
numerous rooftop solar arrays in place. Uh, but those installed in the last 15 years have all happened through that PPA, the power purchase agreements that I was talking about. So, we have two very small systems that we own um on top of the Health Building and Putterham
Library. Um, and I point this out in particular just because as we've been going through this process the last few months, um, this was a question that was discussed very heavily by the zero emissions advisory board as well as the building commission. You know, should we follow past practice and enter into a
PPA for this system or should we um opt to purchase this system? And uh based off of their review, the zero missions advisory board or ZAB is recommending um purchasing this system uh rather than entering into a PPA. Um this was also
discussed at the building commission. Um I noted that in your packet of materials. Overall they were supportive um and uh understand the project um cost would be coming out of the Driscoll project overall which does have the capacity to support um the purchase of
these solar panels. So um I'm referring to different incentive programs that we're trying to take advantage of. So just want to uh touch upon both of those um some at the federal level as well as those um at the state level. So at the federal level, um
the direct pay for investment tax credits that essentially allows uh taxexempt entities and governmental bodies to received a direct payment from the IRS for the value of uh eligible clean energy tax credits. Um, and this
is something that is a provision that was uh added through the inflation reduction act of 2022 and uh allows for municipalities to really benefit from the ITC and other clean energy incentives for the first time. Um, so
this is a really uh unique opportunity. Unfortunately, um the most recent uh federal bill um the budget bill or the one big beautiful bill um that was signed into law on July 4th eliminates the eligibility of projects that don't
meet the safe harbor requirement. So as past um projects that are safe harbored are ones that are contracted and under construction and have expent at least 5% of the total project cost one year following the budget bill. So that is
one year from this year's July 4th. Um which is one of the reasons that we are uh moving through this process now um in an effort to make sure that we're able to meet that deadline. Um, unfortunately since that bill has passed, there's also been another executive order that's been
signed. Um, and we're still waiting to understand the implications of that in terms of the timing on these projects. Um, you know, best case scenario, what's currently uh in place under the the budget bill that was signed into law would still hold true. Um but there is a
possibility uh that they could be uh eliminating or severely reducing the safe harbor requirements um faster than that. So uh we're trying to move quickly in case that is the outcome of that recent executive order. Um so overall the federal incentives
would um provide us essentially a 30% return on the project cost. Um we also have state incentives that are this project is eligible for through the solar Massachusetts uh renewable target program which is the referred to as the smart program. And so over the 20-year
lifespan of a project we would um receive uh rebates each year uh for the project. So both the federal incentive and the state incentive have been taken into account as we look at the overall financial implications of purchasing the
system for Driscoll. A quick overview of the preliminary design for Driscoll. So this would be 272 panels um for uh 131.5 kilowatt system on the roof um generating about
um 144 kilowatts per year uh in the first year. So um that's a roughly going to be about 15% of Driscoll's uh electricity usage. And so then those savings would also be taken into account in the overall return on investment of
this sort of project. So right now these numbers are all preliminary. Typically the letter of intent is signed and then we come back and actually review the final budget proposal for this project and enter into the purchase and installation agreement. Again, as we're trying to move quickly
and also to, you know, accommodate um limited meeting schedules by school committee and select board over the summer, um we're asking that we uh move through the LOI process. Then once we have an updated project cost, which could be higher or lower than the number
estimated, um if it's uh higher, we would return and revisit the purchase and installation agreement. If it's at that um expected amount, estimated amount of 343,155 or lower than that, we would sign and move forward um with the agreement. So
the anticipated project cost, as you can see here, is um 343155. With the federal tax credit um that 30% through the ITC um we would have $102,947 rebate. So after that, the project cost
is $240,29. We have electricity bill savings um that uh fluctuate from year to year but we look are looking at those over a 20-year lifespan. Solar panel systems can last longer than that but um typically 20 years is is the minimum. Uh we also have
state incentives through the smart program and then um our uh total revenue savings um varying from $39,000 to $44,000 per year. We do also take into account that if we were to own this
system, uh, we would need to enter into an operations and maintenance contract in the past because we've have installed systems the past several years that have been through power purchase agreements. All of that operations and maintenance and monitoring was done by select as
part of the PPA. So we that would be an additional cost to the town. That was something that was heavily discussed when we were weighing the options here. Um and uh was something that was discussed with the building commission as well. Um it's a pretty minimal cost in in the scope of things. Um you know,
varies from year to year and does increase over time as the system ages. Um but uh that ranges from $3,900 to $6,600. So with all of those considerations, uh the tax credits, the electricity bill
savings, um the state incentives, um and taking into account the cost for an O and estimated cost for an O andM contract, uh we anticipate that the system would be net positive by year 7. So the project timeline that we're uh
looking at is uh signing that LOI so that we can begin coordination with Eversource and do some of the additional um analysis necessary um engineering design and and structural assessments to get a final project cost. Um sign the contract for the purchase and
installation agreement and then project construction. I have already talked to select um you know obviously we are not the only municipality that is trying to move quickly on installation of solar panels given the changes in the federal landscape. Um but they do believe that they would be able to schedule us in um
for this fall um with a project uh construction timeline of four to six weeks. Um after that we do have uh to coordinate permission to operate with Eversource. Typically, that's about a one to two-month process and then we would operationalize the system. I will
note that the uh operations and maintenance contract isn't something that we're um including at this time because the first year of the purchase and installation agreement does include one year of on andm. So, we would return um to to add that component in for year two um after the sister system is
operationalized. So, the recommendation um is that the select board authorize the town administrator to sign the uh letter of intent with select energy. Um and then for the select board to sign the purchase and installation agreement for a value of up to 3431,555
or less subject to final approval by town council. um that and as I noted, should the project value increase, staff would return to the select board and also the school committee for review and approval of that amended contract value. Um so um last night school committee did
unanimously support uh the that same vote um and is excited for this uh project to move forward. Uh with that I am happy to answer any questions. Right. Any questions? Paul. Yeah, quick question. Uh thanks Alexander, great job as usual. So, this
is a basic question. I'm sorry if it's too basic, but um the slide that said you had a seven after seven years would be net positive. Does that mean that it has a seven-year payback? Have we recouped all our costs by then or I'm a little confused with
your terminology because you can be net positive but still not have the payback. Yeah. No, that's correct. So, that would be um a return on any of the cost for the purchase. Um, and then we would actually be generating uh revenue back to the town based off of um what we would be saving through the electricity savings as well.
So, it's a seven-year payback and then it starts we we've covered all our costs and then it's generating positive cash flow. Okay, that's correct. Did I ask that right, Michael? I think I did it. Go ahead, Michael. But but I Thank you, Paul. But I want to follow up. Can you bring that slide back
up actually? Yes. So I'm looking at this and if our after tax credit cost is 240,000 and the minimum savings if you just take all the load numbers you get 1 2 3 four
five six seven at least $70,000 and then the highest costs you know you're you're still over $60,000 if we're getting $60,000 a year in savings and we have an after tax credit cost of 240.
Why are we not net positive by year four or five? So, so um it also is uh taking into account that um what the savings that we have so that total revenue savings line of 39,48
up to 44,000 um which oh that's that's a sum of the two previous Yes. I'm sorry I I should have displayed that differently. I apologize. Yeah. So that's a that's a sum and then from that sum um the cost that we would be occurring incurring would be an O andM
cost at that point. So then we're reducing those savings by somewhere between 39 to 6600. Okay. Thank you. I was double counting John. Um yes, thank you Alexandra. This is a
great presentation. Um but did I hear you say that um Zab uh their recommendation on this is was the opposite of the direction we're going in? No. Um uh they are in agreement. Um they feel that uh because of the incentives
um that this is really an opportunity for the town to um to take advantage of and to generate some cash flow for the town. So they were supportive of a purchase of the system. Okay. So that that's good. I I must have I must have misheard that. Um I will the
um money for this come out of the U funds that were borrowed for the Driscoll school construction project. Yes, it will come out of the the purchase for the system itself will come out of the Driscoll school budget um total. Yes.
Yes. Okay. The construction budget. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's good to know. um the the the as a lay person, you know, I I've struggled to sort of figure out this whole business um repeatedly over the years, and this this argument has gone
back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. You know, is it to the advantage of the the town or the homeowner to um own the panels, you know, on the roof and get credit for all of the electricity, you know, generated by the
panels? Um or is it more to the homeowner or the town's benefit in this case um to uh let a company that specializes in, you know, installations of solar panels are they're basically uh paying us for use of the roof, right?
Yes. Essentially, but then we aren't receiving the same um uh electricity savings um for the energy that that system is generating in a power purchase agreement. So, we're not getting the same financial rewards um for that. So,
this is a very simplified description, but essentially with a PPA, you're still doing the the the right thing by the climate and um offering that those solar panels, but you're not necessarily getting the same uh revenue generation. Whereas, if you're owning, then you're receiving both. And with um you know the
way that uh electricity prices are going to be so you know variable um in out years um h how will we know if we make the the right decision uh I mean is is it is it you know is it possible
that this decision could come back to bite us um and if we had known what you know today what we discovered in future years about you know var variation in electricity pricing and also if we had known um what the future of these solar
energy companies would be and it's been kind of a rocky road for a lot of them. Um at at what point can we assess have we made are we getting back from this investment what we anticipated getting back from this investment?
Yeah. When do you expect to know that? Yeah, good question. I mean, I will say, you know, I'm just going to step back for a a second um and say that this is a little bit of a a pilot in what we're doing here. Um because I, as you alluded
to or said, John, there has been a great deal of discussion of purchase versus um and and ownership of these panels versus a power purchase agreement, a PPA. Um and there's pros and cons to both certainly. Um, I think that in this case, uh, you know, there's a question
of if we're looking to install additional solar panels, um, on Brookline roofs and and solar canopies elsewhere in town, you know, will Driscoll be an opportunity for us to assess if purchase and ownership is the right path for us to go down just because we haven't done it with a
significant system in 15 years. Um, so I do think that ultimately that is the goal here is to take some um, lessons away from Driscoll. Um I think the the biggest two things to keep in mind uh with Driscoll. One uh we are at a unique
point in time that we have this federal incentive as of today um that we are taking advantage of uh and that could change and two um that we are in a position that the
upfront capital to purchase this system is available through this project budget. So that isn't necessarily always the case. Um so I think there is a larger conversation to be had about how we want to handle this sort of uh these sort of questions in the future. But um
I think to your question of when will we know, I think that as soon as we are uh able to confirm that we have the rebates in place and that the system is performing as it's anticipated, we'll be able to track every year, are we on
target um as expected? Um what has changed based off of what we anticipated um the costs and savings to be and when are we actually um seeing a payback on the system overall? Is it in year seven or is it in year 10 or is it in year five? You know what? Uh so we'll be able
to actually monetize that and measure it each year. Great. Thank you, Michael. Um I would also add to that that when you talk about the risk of uh sort of future the change the potential change
in electricity prices which is a legitimate risk. Fortunately, with if we purchase the system and it ends up paying for itself, whether it's in five or seven or 10 years, um the amount of risk that we have uh relative to
changing electricity prices diminishes greatly because we basically paid for the system. It works just like the depreciation of any other asset. Once that asset is fully depreciated, then any use you get out of that asset is is
basically um increased revenue and benefit. Gravy. Gravy. Yes, that's the technical term. A a question I have. Uh what percentage of Driscoll's energy needs will be met by having solar power? Do we have an
estimate on that? Um roughly 15% of the electricity of the the building. Okay. All right. Anything else? We reach Gravy. We could have tucked her. All right. So, I move approval of the
letter of intent and system purchase and installation agreement subject to final approval by town council with select solar to purchase and install the photovalttaic solar array for Driscoll School. John, I sorry. Uh if if we could pause that vote just for a second, if you can amend that
language to have it be question of um authorizing the town. Can you pull the language back up, Alexandra? Sorry. Absolutely. Thanks, Tiffany. We've had to revise that a bit. Okay. Thank you. So the amendment would just be the to
authorize the town administrator to sign the LOI and then the rest remains the same. All right. So I move authorization for the town administrator to sign the LOI with select energy and for select board to sign the PNI agreement with select
energy valued at $343,155 or less subject to final approval by town council. John I. Paul I. Michael I I All right. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Appreciate your time.
And we will now move to boards and commissions reappointments. Question of reappointing members to various boards and commissions. I suggest that we take this in omnibus fashion. Unless somebody would like to pull one of these out. I will nevertheless go through the names of course.
Yeah. I just had a quick question about So um there's two components here. There's 14 which are kind of reappoints or appointments and then there's the uh 15 which is the youth the youth council. Well, there's those are new appointments. Those are new appointments.
I'm just taking up 14. So, the reappoints. Yeah. But because I did have a question about Yeah. All right. So, uh I move that we reappoint the following members to their the various boards and commissions. To the Commission on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Relations,
Jessica Chico. to Community Preservation Act Committee Meanie Kuri to the human resources board Gerald Rafel to the police commissioners advisory committee Scott Ananian to the preservation commission David King
any further discussion on just this group seeing none I Paul I Michael I and I also vote I all right now moving to boards and commissions
appointments. So, Paul had a question on this. Go ahead, Paul. I just had a question about the uh the youth council representatives. Just the process. How did that all work? Sure. Because there's a lot of them, right? Multiple precinct representatives. Yes. Yes. Um Tiffany Oliva, assistant
town administrator for operations um for the Brookline Youth Council, which was approved by um town meeting. Um during that discussion of the Warren article, we had discussed having um town meeting members review the applications of the youth and making recommendations. Um in
doing that and trying to figure out the best way to do it, I grouped them into precincts so I could uh have uh reviewers discuss together um who they recommend. And so we had um a reviewer from each precinct except for one, which I can't recall which precinct wasn't
covered. I can look that up. um but broke them into um precinct groupings. Um we received recommendations from every precinct group except precincts 5 through 8. Um that's because not enough applications were received from um youth
in that well technically we received two but they wanted to see if there was additional uh interest from that precinct. um plug here. If um you're still with us tonight, if you could make sure to share with youth in precincts 5 through 8 that they should submit an application um which can be found on our
website. Um and then uh precincts 13 through 17 had the largest number of applications. And so, um, because we have, uh, the way we kind of grouped it, two, uh, potential app, uh, appointees per
precinct grouping, um, we had the opportunity to have an atlarge member. And so, we I group took that from precincts 13 through 17 since there was a large number of applicants there. Um, and they did recommend a fourth person, which was Astred Young. um but that
technically doesn't um fit into the number of seats. So I have included her here as an alternate member. So we got more applicants than Yes. for for um for precincts 13 through 17, but we still need to fill precincts
5 through 8. So we'll leave that open for a little bit longer. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you, Michael. I I just have followup question on the process. So, you've added an alternate member for precinct 17. Um, does the
enabling legislation allow us to add alternate members? So, the select board is authorized to add alternate or associate members at its discretion. Um, this is not a voting position, but just someone who can sit and be a part of the uh the
conversation. Oh, okay. Thank you. I had one more question, didn't Paul? Um, and I can't remember the legislation, but did it require what was did it require makeup by precinct or was it geographic or that's just how we ended up doing? That's how we ended up doing it. There
was no requirement for how to group things, just youth and in order to get the um greatest array of representation, we decided to solicit applications by precinct. Thank you. Very helpful. Thank you. What efforts are being made at outreach for precincts 5 through 8? So, um the um
reviewers for precincts 5 through eight, I know I've been doing some direct outreach. Um we have done general social media outreach for all precincts. Um that didn't turn in as many um applications obviously since we only got two. Um so it also requests that you all
help us with reaching out to youth in the community for precincts 5 through 8, but we can probably make an additional posting now on that. Okay. I think uh John, you had a further Okay. Well, I I just want to point out a few things if that's all right. Um
uh because it's not clear to me because it really isn't clear in the res in the resolution that was passed by uh t town town meeting or the bylaw that was passed by town meeting. Uh really isn't clear what will ensue once we have fully
populated this commission. Um, and since we haven't quite fully populated it, are we ready for it to have its first meeting? Yeah. So, um, I think the intent here is to start to get it moving along where folks, uh, the youth can start to get
sworn in, which might take some time. Um, so, um, wanted to, even though we don't have brains 5 through 8, didn't want to hold things up and let youth go ahead and get sworn in. Um and I I anticipate them having the first meeting um right at the start of the school
year. Yeah. Um and I hope that happens. Um under the terms under which this youth council commission was created by town meeting. Um
the members of it only serve for a year. And if you're an 18year-old member who turns 19, you're no longer eligible to be on the commission. So, um, they've got to really get going. Yes, they do.
And and it's not clear like who who decides when to have the first meeting of the youth council. Um, uh, and then it's not quite clear, you know, once they have that meeting, um, what they'll do with their meetings. Um, but, you
know, this is, um, we'll we'll we'll make the best of it. and um uh thank you for all the work you've done to sort of get the town meeting delegations working on you know deciding on uh young people from their precincts. Um I do think you
know townwide uh distributed membership is the way to go. It was created by town meeting. So I think it should be just like town meeting you know broadly representative of all precincts in town. Uh and you're doing a great job. So here's hoping it you know we get to the
finish line here. Thank you, John. Um, wasn't really a question, but just a statement here. Um, my plan is to help them, you know, get scheduled for their first meeting, overview with them, again, the expectations of the Brookline Youth Council. Um, and then, um,
hopefully they'll come up with some ideas about uh, what project areas they want to focus on or if there are particular boards and commissions that they want to, um, focus on. My hope is it's not going to involve too much staff time for me um once it gets up and running. Um but I will help to kind of
orient them in the first meeting or two. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're intended to be sort of a self-perpetuating group, you know, um and they will make the best of um their opportunity to represent the views of the youth of the town.
All right. Given that thematically we've been talking about 15B, why don't we vote on that one first? So I move that we appoint the ve the following youths of the Brooklyn Youth Council for precincts 1 through 4, Penelopey Nuome and Sylvie Wellu for precincts 9 through
12, Noah Kruing House and Francesca Toronto Montamuro for precincts 13- 17. Abdul Karim Sulleman and Liam Nilaf for at large Kai Duban of precinct 17 and alternate member Astre Young precinct
17. John I Paul I Michael I I also vote I. All right. All right. Now, let's go backwards for a moment to 15A, which is to appoint
if I can get it back up here. To the Brookline Commission of the Arts, Samuel Donovan King. Any discussion on this one? All right. John, I Paul I, Michael, I,
and I also vote I. Now for 15 C. This is a question of appointing a committee of seven for the selection of a designer to provide a feasibility study to evaluate the following for fire station 5. Renovate the existing structure, build
an addition to the existing structure or demolish the existing structure and build a new building. The proposed slate, David Pearlman, select board member, David Randolph, assistant fire chief, Patricia Kripe, firefighter union representative, Nate Pek, building
commission member. Karen Brzlowski, building commission member, Charlie Simmons, director of facilities for the building department, and Lap Yan, director of capital construction from the building department. Any discussion, questions? Go ahead, Michael. Um, I just have a question,
not about the slate, but um, is one of the options under consideration to uh, build a new structure on a different site? It is not in terms of the reason why there's this language for renovate
and more possibilities are being presented. Some had uh been asking that given that we're renovating some of these other stations rather than going straight to an allnew construction. Uh some felt it would be best to take a step back and explore all the
possibilities for fire station 5 before honing in on one in particular. John Um, and this is the station on Babcock Street, correct? Yeah. Um, I'll just say I am I'm glad to see this taking the direction that it's
taking because the the original um feasibility study was done on the u excuse me the original proposal for funding of fire station renovations which was preceded by uh sort of a preliminary uh study um had proposed
only that station 5 be replaced with a brand new station. Um, I mean there there was no discussion in there of renovations uh or additions and I never could quite figure out why because it's the newest of the stations and the
answer would always come back um yeah but it was designed unlike any of the other stations after a model that became popular in California. Okay, but I'm still not sure, you know, why that means it has to be completely, you know, taken
down and replaced with a brand new station. And um I look forward to the results of this feasibility study. I'm I'm glad they're looking at renovation and and looking at possibility of additions as well. And also the rubric for assessing various designers who
might apply for this specifically calls for experience with renovation as a factor for which they'll be rated as well as experience with new constructions but trying to give equal weight to all those factors. And if I may just because some people might be wondering kind of what what is
the context of all of this? Um this is driven very much by um you know our need of uh addressing all of our fire stations in town. All of which um uh are older uh than this station five and none
of which had separate facilities for men and women. And we now have you know fire department that uh thank goodness um numbers among its ranks some women. Um, and it was way overdue that we addressed the gender inequities in our fire stations. Um, but somehow where station
5 was concerned that became a project to completely demolish and replace the station. And I I I hope there'll be a really hard look at whether that is really necessary in the case of station 5. Gender issues were one part, but there's there if you if you speak to the
fire department, their primary concern is health. Yeah. they have very significant issues with that building and the impacts on health and well-being. So, um and and we've completely ruled out building it on uh the parking lot and then using the
parking lot for housing. The the old station is that I believe so. Yes. But LAP is here with us. Hi, good evening uh gentlemen. Uh it it from an AR and I'm an architect myself from an architectural and zoning
problem. Uh you don't have enough uh square footage on that lot to uh to build a brand new station while that station is operational. Uh we do have plans for the the fire department has plans where we'll relocate some of the people so the town has adequate
coverage, but it would be pretty physically impossible to build a a new station on the same lot while we keep that station operational. Lap, you're misunderstanding what Okay, I I must be sorry. My question was, um, right down the street at on on
Babcock Street, there is a large parking lot, a municipal parking lot, and there had been an idea u I know it was discussed. I I didn't know it was completely ruled out where to keep the fire station operational. Okay. You don't lose a fire station, you build
a new fire station on the parking lot um on Babcock Street. And then when that when that uh is completed, you tear down the the old fire station and either becomes a parking lot or whatever we were going to use that parking lot for housing. I thought it was potentially
being considered for housing, but you know that that way you're not you're not losing uh an operational fire station while you're building building a new station. Okay. I I I did not realize that was an option. Uh I could Is that an option, Chaz? We we've we've
been talking about this and you know the the the long and the short of it is it's not currently on the table. Um you know it's the process that we're going through in order you know if we were to do that it would require another level of analysis. You know it's a question of what goes on. It slows the process down
and at that point you're basically consigning you're you're you're kicking out station five pretty significant. Plus, it would actually extend it would it would extend the it would extend the time where it's completed, but you'd never lose the station, right? Well, you would you wouldn't you would you wouldn't have that station go
offline, but the chief has a plan in place whereby with one station offline at any given time, we're still providing comprehensive coverage to the town. So it's not as though, you know, we're not at a situation where losing bringing
station 5 offline is going to cause significant problems to the department. Whereas if we were to take the time and and do that um and do that analysis, we'd be slowing down the time to replace station 5. And again, the desire particularly from the membership is they
want station 5 taken care of. So we're trying to expedite that. Thank you. And just to add another note, we're doing that at station 4 right now. Station 4 is closed and we uh we're we're under we're starting construction
uh soon. We're just mobilized there and we're going to start abatement and take care of station 4. Hopefully in nine months it'll be reopened. John um LA, can you give us an update on um how much uh funding was appropriated
total or or at least was envisioned as the budget for this these five stations and and how much we've spent and how much work left uh remains to be done. So, from what I understand, uh, and this is before my time, there's there's
around $65 million worth of funding, uh, scheduled, uh, for the, uh, renovations of the fire station. Uh, so far, we've, uh, issued a contract to track builders for, and you guys were there for $13.5
million for the construction of it. uh another uh we probably spent another maybe I would say $150,000 relocating the the firefighters from station 4 to station six. Uh and uh and
architectural designer fee is about $1.2 million. So all in all, we're probably $15 million between five stations one and four. Okay. So, and then there's three stations still remaining from correct from the rest from the rest of the budget.
Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Lab. And uh with that, why don't we take a vote on appointing the committee of seven? John, I Paul I, Michael, I
I All right. Do we have anyone else who wants to participate in public comment? Is there anyone online who wishes to speak at this time? time. If so, please raise your hand. Okay, it looks like there's 12 online and no one else wants to speak or no one wants to speak.
Then that concludes our meeting. Good night, everyone.