e good morning I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brooklyn select board and this is the uh regular meeting of the select board meeting at the uh Country Club uh not Country Club the golf course here in Brooklyn those our country
clubs um for a workshop session uh let's start off with any updates comments from the select board and then I'll sort of introduce the meeting no okay so uh this morning's agenda will include presentations and
discussions of the comprehensive plan uh the long range plan plan road map or 2030 road maps and a community health Improvement plan I think people should think about these three planning efforts as a unit
um for example the comprehensive and 2030 roadmap plans will include uh housing issues uh for people at all stages of their Liv lives and affordable housing this implies that we we have to
be ready to to address the additional Health and Human Services needs of that larger population that we may be bringing uh to Pro um so think about these three things in particular as sort of one unit and
and how they can work together um and we'll we can talk about that in more detail the specifics of that in more detail uh when the time sums and then in the afternoon we have a number of soort regular SL board it items uh but U
probably most important is the DPW public RightWay discussion uh we last night uh we got a lot of documents I assume that people have at least scanned them uh we will not be voting on them at this meeting but at the next
meeting so that's uh what basically what we're look forward to this uh today's at today's meeting um let's see let's go into our M miscellaneous calendar question of approving the
meeting minutes from March 4 2025 any edits or corrections to those no I'm Mo approval of minutes from March 4th 2025 all in favor please invate by saying I Stoya hi Michael sandon hi Paul Warren hi David crowman
hi chair votes on uh next I'd like to take items 2B through 2 m in from this fashion uh you may recall that item 2J was respect to the peer School guaranteed minimum maximum price has
been taken out and we will discuss it at the next meeting um let's see any questions or other items you'd like to take out I just I I just want to flag for folks awareness because we got a couple questions about that item you know we will take it up as part of the
regular agenda on the 25th um but that request is a request to move money around uh not to increase the scope of any work but to increase the contingency of the construction budget there's money left over in some of a preconstruction Consulting budget that we're moving out
of that money out of that bucket of money into the construction budget because of the uncertainty being generated at the tariffs right now um but the team will be here next week to discuss that in more detail with you so I just want to fly for the public here an emailing asking does this mean we're getting more does this mean there
there's no change in scope thank you okay um get out of here this is just a select word sorry this is just the select word instead be the public yeah okay um so um all in favor of items 2B
through 2 m then by saying I John hi Michael samon hi Paul laen hi davidman hi okay next get into the real interesting stuff and this is a joint meeting of the
select board and the planning board you have everyone here or online or enough online m is online don't know the mar Mr yeah sorry it's joh uh may I ask
a couple of questions I I always hate to be the person doing this but um can we really start that if it's said on the agenda we would start it at 945 I think because um it says it's an approximation in Theory we could have however because if planing board also
noticed it separately for 9:45 I do think we should probably wait until 9:45 um to to call The Joint meeting um and as it happens I have one item that I didn't think quickly enough to bring up um during public excuse me board
announcements okay and so maybe we can do it now Y and it's I'm G to Chaz I apologize if I catch you by surprise a lot of people are wondering what the news that circulated yesterday about a possible legislative fix for calling of
meetings means for the prior announcement that we made in Brooklyn about the town meeting that's coming up yeah yeah thank you for reminding me I wanted to bring that up too my mind so yes we have been hearing now that there is the possibility that the legislature
will FasTrack an approval of an extension of the current rules for for um hybrid meetings through 2027 Point dates are in 2027 um there are many different competing bills about making this permanent it does seem like what the legislature is doing is buying itself
more time um I believe the governor has indicated she would look favorably on this and sign it um we could see it on her desk as soon as Friday um so the long and the short of it is that if that is passed the current rules will continue to apply throughout however the
one thing that we can't undo unfortunately is town meeting town meeting was not noticed as a hybrid meeting because of this concern um there was no request for the hybrid meeting as a result of that because we didn't know whether or not um that would happen so
this town meeting is going forward as a town meeting in person which means that participation remotely will be limited to those who have a reasonable accommodation request accepted um oh Sor that's fine you can keep going
okay so unfortunately that's just the nature of the Beast because we have to call town meeting by a date certain and most people were unaware of whether or not we were able to um host the meeting in that fashion we can't re notice town meeting for that date any anymore I
don't believe so can we check that CH yeah maybe we should check that it's been noticed know whether you know would be really interesting to know important to know if we can update the parameters yeah
because it's still over two months away it is over two months away I think the rule is like 90 days but I I will double check with Town Council um and we will see what the timing is that maybe the June meetings right I mean we'll we'll have to see I mean c the meeting has been
noticed so if we if we can do it what we'd have to do is we'd have to basically gabble one town meeting and gabble out and gabble in a new town meeting um we couldn't reissue the notice for this one um just I'm just quick thought chess if I may so in past
Town meetings the the procedures for uh being remote and participating remote As defined and issued by the town clerk have you know certainly been communicated to town meeting after it had been noticed so he had procedures of
when you could request a temp a tablet whether that tablet would be available for three days or could you give him two days notice um so the the method of participating remote has been defined after the notice of town meeting so it' be really helpful to get yes legal yes
we'll take a look at that um I think it's it's worth you know trying to maximize access so we will we will take we will dig into this we can't we can't recall the current that's the issue so okay good flag John no well um yeah
people were asking about it just this morning so okay anything else there's that um if you want if you want a quick update on the um school um you um maybe we do that just because
that's part of updates and announcements um the CLA team has been working for a week uh they will have their first meeting with the Steering group of electeds um this week um you know work is progressing um I don't have any uh
any readouts as of yet um but I do just want to let people know that that work is ongoing um and they are interviews they have access to all of our all of our systems all of our documents so we're moving expeditiously on that front um I do just want to flag
I've heard some questions about you know what's the source of the Gap you know where is this an issue regarding revenue or expenditure um and I think as the schools have said um most of that Gap is an expenditure gap which used to say
that the school's projected expenditures were much lower than what their actual requests are um there is a less than a million dollar Revenue Gap that ised to say the town's Revenue projection came in a little less than a million dollars under um and the reasons for that
include things like the increased cost of Health Care The increased cost of settling the police JC contract and so forth but those are not you know I've heard people say well you know was the town did the town miss this somehow Town under project revenues I actually think
based on where we've gone actually in the last three years and the unexpected things that we've had happen we've actually were pretty good at projecting where the revenues are because we're not significantly under um where we need to be it really is unfortunately an expenditure side problem so folks have
just been asking you know are we off in our revenues and the answer is not you know it's it really is an actual actual order of magnitude difference here so well CH that's where make clear so the the million dollar um difference
yeah is that a million more or a million less given a million less a million it's about it's I think it's between 7 and 800,000 if we were sandbagging Revenue higher yes and then um minus thinging is that the schools are now at about 4.3 million
they've reduced it to 4.3 from 8.2 that right okay they've got more work to do yeah they have that meeting coming up on Thursday and I think another meeting next week so uh separate from that on Thursday the auditor is going to brief four of us on you know where they've
gotten in the AIT and I assume that we will let excuse me u in my case let the select board know yes jally where we are so be aware that that's coming okay is
it well do you want to maybe talk about the ifar dinner that some of us attended oh yeah yeah the three of us attended AAR dinner which is um as I understand the end of Ramadan uh and um a
uh a end of the fasting the end of the fast for a particular day yeah okay right the very end of Ramadan is is eat eats for
eat anyway uh it was an Inc I thought it was an incredible uh event at a beautiful Church um um up on All Saints church pisal church um and
uh the program included a historical uh review of Islam In America which goes back to the founding not the founding of America goes back to the original uh call original European settlement in America that then included African
slaves who were um Muslim uh in their religious including a Boston connection that Phyllis wheatle very famous Boston slave and poet was apparently of U Muslim origin because when she would start uh writing as a child in the home
she lived in in Boston it appeared to be an Arabic script and that her earliest memories were her mother um prostrating prayer in the in the Muslim style wow so in addition to that um you they they
went through the ritual of ending the uh the fast um with the dates which they distributed to all of us the first time I went to the ifar I sort of was reintroduced to dates and used it as a way of sort of starting
my day um when I'm not going to eat breakfast immediately so um and then we had a really nice dinner um prepared by who who prepared it the local restaurant I think restaurant Pakistan Pakistan
restaurant um and um you know very very uh nice conversation with with important part of our community who who have through our attending to you make more open contributions to you know Civic
life together anything you want to add it okay you oh that's that's good summary thank you okay are we at 9:45 close 25 seconds I know when planning board meeting start at 7:30 that's exactly when
I not at 725 or anything like that so who's going to give the presentation the two of us will okay so this is so are we are we on time we can now start um I just want to say
just briefly that this is is uh the U comprehensive plan steering committee update which is part of our work plan I know Le on to the committee and the chair um this is part of our in our workplans to periodically come before um a joint joint uh public meeting of both
the select board and the planning board to update them on our progress so that's the intent of this U there's been a lot of progress a lot of hard work there's still more to go so where we go great all right with you all if we stand it will help project down to the end great
and I know um also the presentation is down there so you'll probably be focused down there we won't take it personally stand stand right here I can move why don't I leave that space um before we jum into the presentation can we just confirm who is
here from the planning board um see ien you're so new I didn't even recognize we actually haven't met in person marillo online board markill online is on the is
Jenis KH on the 23rd no no okay sorry thank you are we g a project that presentation yes I'm about to put up so we do have is it is it separate from what's in our packet no it's the same okay great well thank you so much for
having us here today as Paul said um we're excited to present some progress to you all on the comprehensive plan um we've been moving through the schedule um engagement analysis a lot of thinking about div vision and theme so we can share with you where we the community um
and the committee have arrived at we'll start with the project overview um and really just a reminder that uh this comprehensive plan is about looking to the Future so we're setting kind of about a 15-year vision and road map we're working very much on the vision um
period right now and then as we get further into the fall and winter we'll dive into what that road map really looks like this is being put together by an interdisciplinary team on the planning kind of Consulting side so hi everyone good morning my name is Bri hensold I'm
a principal and a co-founder of agent landscape and planning we're an urban planning and design firm based here um in Cambridge I'm joined by Jill Dixon who is our project manager and a planner as well um we're also supported on the technical planning Side by inis
Associates who has a lot of experience in comprehensive planning in Massachusetts as well as on the regulatory side rkg Associates who has done and is doing a lot of work uh for the town of Brookline looking at um kind of market economics um and policy ideas
um we're also joined by util who has done many comp plans in the region as well um they really focus on built form Urban form and development um and then finally by Bowman um who's thinking about some of the infrastructure systems the uh the kind of uh resilience side
but also really focused on mobility and transportation and then you'll see on the other side we have sort of our engagement team so agency is spanning both of those so and I are constantly thinking about the interplay between Community engagement and the technical data um but great scale collaborative um
and Caesar McDow are really focused on an equity framework and making sure that the community engagement is representative inclusive of all of the town of PL we're working with kind of an integrated approach to planning so one of um one of my favorite and Mentor
urban planners is Mitchell silver he used to be the head of the apaa Planning Association um and the New York City Parks commissioner and he once said people don't go to cities and towns to see Landes they don't go just to look at Economic Development um so really what they're looking for are these kind of
integrated places where they can have great experiences gather as a community live a whole life and so um that's why this comp plan is thinking about kind of an integrated approach to planning that really Builds on the American Planning Association sustainable places initiative so we're kind of percing back
always to these six guiding principles thinking about a holistic livable built environment harmony with nature a resilient economy interweaving Equity throughout um building a healthy Community as a whole here in the town and then keeping an eye towards Regional
relationships ultimately as we get towards a plan that will be um a framework for that vision for the future this plan will also include uh ways to implement that Vision so thinking about policies for the built environment that might guide zoning or other regulatory
Chang changes a way to be a guide for future investment um and also a way to kind of make sure you're on a solid uh fiscal footing with that investment and then also we'll support we hope kind of ongoing Community discussions that
continue to evolve as the plan is implemented so a quick overview of schedule you can see we're actually um almost halfway through the process but it's a four-phase process um where we've really started um with that pre-planning phase of confirming scope confirming timeline really um data request all
those um really important foundational elements um we're just getting towards the end of the initial visioning phase um so that's really about you know listening to the community um as a whole really thinking about what is the future for Brookline um we're right now um in the heart of um topic based recommendations
which um the first half of that yellow bar is really all about data analysis where we are today is a community and then we'll be shifting years um in the early fall really switching over towards planning for implementation so that's really about taking the Community Vision thinking about what actions are really
going to help realize that over time so we wanted to share a quick update of progress to date um there's been a lot happening um first of all we've had a lot of um time reviewing past plans you know this this comprehensive plan isn't something that just comes out of the blue and just does
its own thing but it's really building closely on a lot of work that the town's been doing for years we've also had a series of interviews with Town departments to understand current priorities current projects initiatives that the comprehensive plan should be um building upon and this diagram really speaks to
the role of the comprehensive plan it's to really take all of the great work that y'all have been doing across a lot of different areas from housing like the housing production plan to um you know referrals from town meetings to small area studies focused on things um whether that's Chestnut Hill and other
areas we're we're really taking on board all of those different projects um understanding when you put them together um what does that mean for the future and how can we have all these policies in one spot that can really help guide on what's going to keep the town healthy in many different
lenses we've had a lot of community conversations there's a big round of Engagement last fall we know some of yall participated in that as well that included everything from pop-up engagement at Brookline day at farmers markets um we had a both a virtual in an in-person public Workshop that were both
well attended we got a lot of comments so we'll be sharing some of that feedback with you shortly at the same time we've been doing a lot of listening to people we've been also doing a lot of analysis of data to really bring those two pieces together so this is um a snapshot what
we called the data skim this was just a first pass um at some of the um current trending conditions in town that we completed last fall this looked really comprehensively at you know Community um changing demographic ICS we looked at economic trends when it comes to retail
recovery and so on um looked at who's moving to Brookline um as well so this is really a combination of where the town is today but also what are some of those trends that have been changing over the past five and 10 years and what does that say about what's up next equity and inclusion are really
foundational to this effort and so um our colleagues at grayscale put together an equity and inclusion approach that gives everything from Guiding principles around engagement really making sure that you know the process for developing this comprehensive plan is accessible to everyone and so with their
recommendations we did a series of small group conversations to make sure that anyone that might face barriers to traditionally participating in planning processes has a way to participate and make their voice heard as well so overall across all of these
different ways to give input last fall we had more than um 10,900 Community contributions so that's you know postcards that were filled out that's um comments and online surveys that's you know conversations um and participation in small groups and these are really good numbers you know it really I think
Beyond just a high number it's also a real diversity of perspectives that's really um informing the way we think about the future of Brookline so that future is starting to take shape um we are very early on it but we're starting to kind of um concretize some of these emerging themes
and so we'll show that to you today uh there's a number of different themes that go into the vision you could really think of these themes as the way to tie Community priorities um to the plans Vision uh they're shaped by feedback they're shaped by that kind of integrated approach to planning they're
shaped by guidance from the state about what comprehensive plans should look at as well as the equity framework and the data analysis that Jill alluded to they've also been really closely shaped by the town steering committee who works very hard on a monthly or
sometimes more than monthly basis um to really help make sure that these um themes and this plan is grounded in the town and its priorities and its voice um so the six emerging themes right now that we're working with and these are going to be very important and foundational to the shape of the plan
going forward are expanded housing options thriving commercial areas climate action and resiliency public well-being inclusive neighborhoods and mobility and accessibility so Jill and I will show you a little bit about what each of those means also important to
note no worries you're doing awesome on the slides thank you um equity and regionalism are cross cutting so they really inform every single one of those themes and we're trying to think of that as a touch point with so the First theme is expanded housing options I think it's uh not a
surprise to anyone that this is a priority and that housing in general in lots of ways feels very tight um both here in berline and then also in the region and the country um so everyone is thinking about that when it comes to supply when it comes to afford ility and attainability um to to what does that
housing provide and offer to support different shapes and sizes of the community uh we've heard a lot about aging in place a lot about the need for young adults to be able to find a home here so this expanded housing options encompasses all of those different
topics so as we look forward um some of the key questions that this plan will need to address are you know really how can new housing opportunities be coordinated with Transportation open space access facility Investment Services all of that to make sure that you know expanded housing options are continuing to bring that high quality of
life that brookline's really known for um and really importantly how can brookline's housing better support the Brookline community so these are questions that going be really fundamental as we move forward the second theme that's been identified is thriving commercial areas so there's a lot of different factors to
this um I think there's a sense that the kind of commercial streets and um and centers within the town are part of local identity that they're really beloved special places where people can come together get their daily needs met um so some of the key topics are around
expanding commercial activity within those centers making sure that um you know small businesses are supportive so there's fewer empty storefronts um enriching the identity of each place and then also thinking about commercial centers as a way to create local
employment and local jobs so only about 10% of land in Brookline today is um commercial land uses and so this plan is really going to look at you know what opportunities are there to diversify the tax base um hey to that also be looking at retail
opportunities we've heard so much from the community about desires for retail desires for active retail places to go and enjoy and so we're really be looking at how to strengthen um those existing centers in town climate action and resiliency um is
often one of the topics that uh community members who disagree about other points come together around it's always really nice to see that that's sort of a rallying call people really want to live in a place that has clean air Clear Water um a clean future and so that's true here as well this has risen
up as a priority and the town has done a lot of good work already for us to build on um so climate action and resilience are thinking about Clean Energy Futures they're think it's thinking about human comfort as it relates to a changing climate with heat resilient shade and
Equitable climate action it will also be thinking about storm water management um and kind of landscape solution for that and more broadly kind of sustainable land use how you think about transportation and land use together um to make sure that we're living in a in a
more broadly sustainable way so some of the key things we'll be looking at here is you know what is brookline's role in Regional climate Solutions and really how can you know this the comprehensive plan help support land use patterns and Mobility that help
reduce the overall carbon footprint um you know this is one where jism is really poor because you know the climate you know air particles water molecules they don't know political boundaries so this is really about you know what is brookline's role in the region and you know y'all really sit at an interesting
spot you're higher than a lot of your surrounding municipalities um you don't have to deal with flooding in the same way that they do and so that puts you in a much better position fiscally because you don't have those big Investments that some Coastal communities around you will need to be living over the coming years your Urban Forest is also a really
great resource it helps keep you cooler than a lot of places around you so you know this plan really to think about what does that mean for the future of um you know Brooklyn's already an attractive place to live but what does this mean as you look ahead too both for people wanting to live here and both some of the benefits that this might
have from a fiscal perspective the fourth theme that the community and the steering committee have really elevated as a priority is the idea of public well-being and that here in the town of Brooklyn that has a lot of Dimensions that are really important to think about in a comprehensive plan
um the first is Town fiscal sustainability um the presence of historic and cultural resources um across the town and their preservation into the future uh providing good highquality public services and Facilities that match the needs of the
community and meet them where they are um and also providing access to Great Parks natural resources and Recreation experiences that align with Trends and Community needs as well so for this one we've been taking close look at existing facilities across town um everything from Parks and
Recreation schools and so on and this one really looks at you know how will changes in the town's population affect the need for these varying um services and Facilities um and big questions here are just how can Brook Lin's land use and physical planning choices enhance both the town's physcal um sustainability as
well as quality of life for residents so this topic is really cross cutting it really brings together a lot of things from the economic lens to quality of life and what it means for residents theme five um could almost hold everything within it um this has been a really important topic um to think about
kind of uh reinforcing and supporting inclusive neighborhoods in the future um there's a lot of support um and love I think for the different and unique neighborhoods of Brookline and so this this topic is really about thinking about how those places remain connected
safe into the future um have walkable walkable neighborhoods and kind of the optional option for different modes to bikee to walk to not always have to get in your car that each place has ways to reinforce its own identity both in the built form and through placemaking um
and that those neighborhoods are healthy beautiful attractive environments into the future this one really looks at you know how can Brook line remain relevant welcoming to a diverse group of residents with changing housing needs so we'll be looking at you know as um
communities are aging as there's um more young families you know how can brookline's housing and neighborhoods better support everyone at all stages of life and finally I think you've already heard us allude to the connection of transportation and Mobility to some of these other topics um but also really
important to think about make sure that the mobility system here within Brookline works well on its own um so mobility and accessibility as a theme is thinking about complete streets so places where you can uh mix cars bikes people um Transit thinking about
accessibility um and kind of distribution and proximity across the town uh thinking about that multimodal and Regional connectivity especially transportation is one of the themes where um it's not always something that can be solved purely at as at a local level within the streets but relies on
that Regional Supply of transportation and so one key data point here is that 29% of households in Brookline don't own a vehicle so as we think about you know that really balances approach to Transportation we'll need to think about how do you continue to expand options for people to get around whether they
enjoy driving whether they want to get around by walking Transit bicycle or other modes so that's really a summary of where we are today and to give you a quick overview of what's coming up next we'll really be continuing um to fine-tune the vision statement as we
move forward um from a technical point of view we'll be working on what are called growth and change Alternatives so these are essentially stories about Brook Line's future that rely really heavily on data as well as forecasting what did you take today's data fast forward 10 years what might that look
like for the town so that'll be exploring what if Trends continue and what if the town does something different we'll have um an online survey that focuses on challenges and opportunities as well as a round table this spring to get additional Community input and then our next really big
milestone for the community outreach will be in the early fall where we'll share the draft vision statement and Al also share these Alternatives and get feedback on desired directions for the town and a big appendix always more any questions from the select board
or board I didn't have a question but I did want to make a quick comment I first I neglected um to recognize Jake so Jake uh Jake is our planning department lead um and he uh has done an amazing job in keeping us all connected so this is a
very polished presentation but I can tell you the sausage that behind the scenes um is not always that way um Jake is doing an incredible job and also we have a a steering committee of 17 individuals that were appointed by this
board um and last night Jake does this include the most recent stuff we vot on so uh but we we we've been meeting to uh take all the input from the surveys that uh that agency and others have collected for us and has have given the information to the steering committee
and the steering committee is the ones that H come up with these themes and these topics um of course Linda is our representative from the planning board Linda Hamlin um and you know it's uh it's a tremendous amount of work uh to to bring this and it really is a community-driven vision um and the the
steering committee is representative of the broader community and we've got a lot of different opinions about um uh the choices that that we need to make so I just I do want to recognize Jake uh and also Cara because Cara spends significant time and the steing committee because it's a significant
investment of time for 10 years PES okay Mike um so first of all that was very very helpful that was a great review and there are a couple questions that that that come up one is when we talk about
um commercial areas and there's an obvious impact on um the sense people have of what the community feels like if there's a robust commercial U commercial area or commercial areas there has been
and there continues to be a shift in shopping habits right uh to uh to online and when you talk to store owners in particular retail store owners not restaurants because restaurants you can't you know you can't buy a good mail from Amazon right um but uh when you
talk to shop owners their concern is that there continue to be a variety of stores because that attracts traffic and without you know if you have all
restaurants U and two or three stores left the stores are going to die because there's you know there's nobody who's going to make a trip to the stores um and you know connected to that um they're having a lot of
discussions especially in the harvestry caror about how increased population um brings more more traffic even if there's been a shift some part of that increased population will go into the the store so how do you how do you match that
interest in connecting increases in population in in the commercial areas um and increase uh interest in in the increase in in U or bringing people back to stores with some of the other elements like for
example there's a comment in here maintaining architectural integrity and character of the neighborhood and uh when I hear that I think that means somebody is very concerned that there not be a lot of change in the streetscape and yet if you're going to accommodate commercial and and
residential there needs to be a change we won't all fit into the existing buildings right so how do you put all of that together in a plan that um you know we'll have some practical practical values yeah so I mean I think you're
getting exactly the meat of that topic and also um how all these topics are connected as you said and so those are um what you've raised I think are key fodder for some of the next steps around that road map So within each of these themes um we'll be developing kind of
the recommendations that move the plan forward which could be policy they could be investment um I I think what you mentioned fits in both of those it could be small business support programs that are recommended um and you're exactly right that retail is Shifting right and
that I think people are finding that the way to be successful is offering not only things to buy that people need but an experience that people want to be part of um and that that's more than just the kind of retail square footage it's the streetcape it's the public realm it's the space around it where you
can run into people and be part of a community so we'll be thinking about the thre and Commercial Center is very much as this broader environment as well as like you said you need people to shop there whether those are employees um in new businesses or invests okay I have a
related question to Mike's so I don't think it's necessarily that people don't want the streetcape to change at all I think it's more that they want uniqueness and and they don't want to see just some generic glass box and is
there a way to create some kind of win-win and where you can have that sort of creative or traditional architecture that fits into the neighborhood so that the street skate par is satisfy but you're also advancing the needs of commercial
vibrancy and housing yes definitely I mean I think this what we mentioned util who's on the team this is something agency thinks a lot about too not just the kind of numbers side but the qualitative experience um and the kind of design
recommendations too so I think that's definitely yeah and then relatedly about the mix of the type of stores that you have in a certain District I think you had mentioned this at a prior Meeting PA about how in New York City there are certain incentives that are offered to
use for use and I'm wondering if that's something that's done in Massachusetts to what extent what would that look like yeah that's really interesting I mean I think we um we recently worked on a project for the city of Boston called the Boston Design vision and that involved a lot of community engagement
where we heard exactly what saying that people really want this they see their neighborhoods as being about this mix of retail uses that don't always align exactly with what the market wants to supply and there's all sorts of different lovers you could pull um incentives are some we also found new
development those glass boxes you mentioned they tend to build really big kind of generic ground level retail and so there's ways that you can think ahead to say that needs to we need to be providing not uh large uh floor plates
but actually subdivided many entrances on the street um smaller spaces where small businesses can get startups and things like that so there's a lot of different ways I think to think about making sure that you have the mix that aligns with the Community Vision from a physical or policy standpoint yeah I
just I want to touch upon this the issue of identity and character and Street safe this was a we had a lengthy discussion last night about this um and the and the presentation of course hasn't been completely uh up to date because we did finish this late last night 9.m um but the you know the the
issue around identity and character is really about the embracing and celebrating that we have different neighborhoods and that there's different identities right um the the uniqueness of the neighborhoods the different street Scapes are important but we don't want to communicate that that that
doesn't mean we can have cor we still need to have cor so how do we balance retaining identities and uniqueness in character right character doesn't mean that you can have a white box I guess with some character I mean you know but my point is we need to be able to
embrace the the identity of different neighborhoods while continuing to allow birth to happen and that's that's what came out for my discussion last night Jake what did we end up calling that bull you remember because we spent a lot of time on on on character I'm not gonna put you
on the spot but it's important we I think we end up with unique neighborhood character with unique neighborhood does not mean don't grow yeah thank you comment about multiple access points multiple entrances and small spaces so
for it's interesting to hear that because it's one of the things we're talking about with the chest Hill West you know to what extent do we want to um uh either zone for that if we if we can or provide incentives for uh for uh the
property owners to to provide that and it's um very much it that kind of design appeals to Neighborhood residents much more than the generic box with the large
scale retail if you look across the street cross n at the street those are all big spaces um and they attract a different kind of retail and a different excuse me different sort of Shopper generate a lot of tax revenue they do indeed yeah they
do indeed that's where the unique neighborhood character is really nice because you have all the different things that you need you do need to drive to a grocery storees yeah see first of all I wanted to mention that I noticed that a couple of other members of the planning board are with us online I see Andrea Brew
there Andrea and uh I briefly saw Blair Hines who says he's traveling and may be able to stay for a bit of this meeting so glad to see them both here um I thought that was a very smooth PR ation of where you are I'm concerned
that I think you started almost a year ago and and we're like halfway through and I see a lot of very uh you know nice kind of descriptive narrative about the things we'd like to see but it looks to me like it seems there's an awful lot of
work to be done to sort of turn this into U strategies for how to implement these things and uh you know from the planning board perspective you know we've been anxious to see zoning change to help Implement some of the things that are high priorities and also I'm
I'm the planning Bo rep to the housing Advisory Board and we had Jay gave us a an update a couple of weeks ago where one of housing was not one of the themes and like what happened to housing so I'm glad to see that it's I don't know if they're in ranked order GL see that housing uh is now the number one theme
and picking up on what Mike started off by saying I think there is a a complete Nexus between increasing housing opportunities and vibrant commercial areas and David mentioned the same thing yeah increasing housing within our commercial areas brings more people
those commercial areas provides more opportunities and there's some we've had any number of plans that keep repeating the same thing we need to allow for more intensive development of our major commercial areas I'm talking St Mary's we've done a plant to Har tree I think
it falls short of really facilitating more development by limiting height only four stories Washington Square there are deep sites in both Washington Square and St Mary's I just saw on brook. news plan
to redevelop two of one property that has the Japanese Bakery and the wine cast for wine store wine press wine press yeah uh the owner wine press is moving to another location in St Mary's the East Boston City SP further up the
street the Japanese Baker is going to have to relocate the owner of that property proper is planning to build a second story increase it from a one story building to a twostory building that which I assume is what the zoning allows because the FL is one that to me
seems crazy um we should have allowed for more density in St Mary's and Washington Street a long time ago Washington Square and uh it frustrates me that we've had to sort of sit and wait for this process before we can make
what I think our long uh anticip changes the housing production plans both of them from 10 years ago and a couple or five years ago and a couple years ago a very useful study of the commercial areas from 2018 um all these plans talk about
allowing mixed use multi-story development in our commercial areas and it's about time we sorted got some that uh David so just a followup question I have to what you uh just said I I sense that a lot of people would support uh
moderate up zoning in these major commercial districts along the lines what you articulate and my sense the concern getting back to Neighborhood character is more around the Aesthetics of it and so do you see any way to make the Aesthetics pleasing while similarly
having that type of up zoning well I have to say architect it's one man's opinion just remember this just one person as a fellow the American in of and a long career as both an architect and urban designer um the um the result
of the Harry plan and the detailed aesthetic uh requirements make me crazy um and uh you know I guess I just innately object to having rules for what everything has to look like I know our
president has just agreed that all federal architecture once again has to be classical and selling off all of the modernist buildings they're selling off you know the H headquarters and FBI all these modern getting rid of them because the president doesn't like that the
agency in them or the design of the building so uh I I personally object to um having you know wanting to make everything look like what's around to down s South planning yeah oops um I I
would second um my colleag remarks but you know some of the guidelines were just way too specific and and they came to us after they were already um established the idea we each have our our our beef one was every
balcony had to have a brackets and doors had to have an 18inch kick plate that was just way too specific for for any kind of construction and we later also went through materialist the idea of what's
what's currently materials that are used for construction that aren't you know going back to 19th century things but beyond that I mean that that's part of our and then do you referencing just to be clear
you're referencing the form based zoning guidelines how the guidelines how the guidelines intera I'll put it a little bit differently my point was more about how do we avoid the sense of being in any town USA not necessarily overregulation I understand
your concern there I just mean how do we avoid being like any other community in the country and losing that sense of Brook line is special that I mean more on those lines well you know I don't know I mean one of the images on the commercial districts there were nice collages I saw the new hotel at the
corner of book Avenue I think that's a nice looking building it's glass but it's not it's a GL it's not a box it's actually got a little few curves on it but I think that's a handsome building uh maybe not everybody likes it I mean a few years ago the planning board approved the expansion of what's now
like the Korean Church in forla Village a lot of people hate that you know I think that's a nice piece of architecture sort of a modern piece connected to a colonial you know chel I I think with can I just say one agenda here that part of this process is
not only getting information from the community but educating the community as well I mean looking at at modern materials how they can interact with our yes historic structure we're not going to tear those things down that is not
the point we have a lot of one-story buildings in our commercial area I beg you they're not great place Savers you know they're just you know other things can go in okay Mark I see you but I want to ask
Chad first just sorry this is a little off a little perhaps orthagonal to what we're discussing here um one of the one of the other holes of the uh piece is climate adaption and resilience and you talked about how we are fortunate in the
sunrise as a community and that we have very few areas that are in flood light even with revive flood maps which we going to come across at this town meeting you'll see there's just not that many areas that fale beles are subject to you know the risks behind your flight
um but I've been saying this since I took this job what keeps me up at night is not groundw it's storm water right um it's the fact that as the climate warms we're going to have harsher and wetter Winters um and that's going to that's going to require us to think very
strategically about permability of our services uh the retention of of you know uh sinks for that where's the water going making sure that our storm water networks are are upgraded and current so I think just you know as we
a part of this I want us to keep in mind as we go forward is that adapting to a change in climate doesn't necessarily mean combating sea level rise you're right that's not our problem our problem is actually in some ways more Insidious because you can't see it until street
light um so I would just as we think through how to put all these pieces together making sure that we incorporate and work in conjunction with sustainability division to talk about how the climate action resiliency plan Feats into this and what the requirements are going to be for us to
build and develop J climate yeah yeah Mark sorry me yes Bernard you're referring to me yes I am I got your hand up oh yeah thank you thank you first of all I'd like to say that oh
GE first of all I like to say that I think it was a great presentation and I guess you're at a point now where you you moving forward for uh the meat of the dis of the of the planning um there were two comments I wanted to make um
regarding um the the the the six topics that you discussed um one in terms of inclusive neighborhoods I was hoping that you could include uh something related to con the physical continuity
of of neighborhoods um not not only the the people part and the architectural part with the physical continuity I'm sure that you agree with that and I would I would like to see that in terms of Imaging uh more in terms of trying to
Define what the character of a neighborhood is and not necessarily saying to you that it should be modern or it should stay the same or whatever but basically you know we as a regulatory body have to deal with this thing about not detrimental to the
neighborhood and if we if if we allow for you know a special permit so it's sort of a situation where if we had a definition to go by where it had a set of rules or guidelines probably guidelines of what the character of a neighborhood is or the different
neighborhoods in in the town that would help us to you know to make decisions and adjudicate things that relate to our decisions um the other thing that I wanted to say about the commercial area is I listen to an interesting discussion on that and I'm participating in or I
did participate have been participating in the Boon Street um Carter studies is that I I would not like to see us lose the uniqueness of of the village concept for for our commercial areas you know if
if we still look at it from the standpoint of you know um smart design and you know two-story inclusion inclusionary housing and so forth that at least what we do is we think about that our commercial areas which are
Village likee what division of that would be in the future because that's different from other places and it's different from obviously what some visions of of commercial commercial design would be so I think that that that's the difference
that we ought to include in terms of the imagery and what we don't want to do is lose our unique as as a as a as a cultural town and historic town um and knowing that the
town was basically you know Incorporated in 1705 and and Zoning didn't come in until 1922 that mostly the entire town was developed without zoning initially so as we develop our uniqueness and the idea
of what we are in terms of our image I think we should should understand that we have a lot of exceptions that we should probably keep or try to make special and keep the uniqueness of what
our what our town is but I think that that comes in the next part of your work and I'm looking forward to see that looking forward to see that thank you before you go I want to S shift to another topic that I think really can't
be missed here uh throughout your presentation you use the phrase uh all current and future Brook liners and you that raises the issue of you know the sort of demographic um demographics of of
Brooklyn which anomalously right is in the middle of you know JP um Dorchester Roxbury and we still are a town that is 95%
nonblack which I mean it's kind of strange so so unless we're going to continue that I think that the finding offs have to address how do you make sure that the future is not going to replicate the past um and I think that
that includes you know active marketing type um efforts but also other things and and it's not just I think that too often we think of that in terms of affordable housing I mean it has to be beyond that I mean you because there are
a lot of for example black professionals who you know move to Lexington or or some other string places um who could could live in Brooklyn you know with all my Transportation Transportation assets so I think that needs to
be clearly articulated in the process thank um so um almost everything that's been said in the last um uh in the last several minutes has a Zone in theme attached to it
somewhere uh and so one of the challenges I'm sure I'm listening to what you're talking about in your complaints about the prescriptive nature of the one zoning and okay that's been loosened up somewhat so I hope that that that's helpful and the comment that you know we really probably need to go
higher than four stories along Harvest Street which I agree with um all of these things link to all these discussions about zoning specifically link to actually achieving what you're
trying to do here um and the question I have is where is there a discussion of zoning in the comprehensive plan that where does it belong to what extent does it there's belong in there so I I mean I will defer to carara but I'll give you
my I don't know if you're asking me yeah Z yeah so so Mike zoning certainly um is is playing a major role in what when we do the data analysis in future State yeah you're limited by what your
current zoning is so if you did nothing here's how the town would grow and where it would likely grow right um the values that are coming out of the process of themes and topics is going to say what are the alternative scenarios for for for growing and what is the and more importantly what does the community
think about I know there's a lot of opinions individual opinions about how Brook line should grow and where and how high but that's not Community Vision that's individual opinions so so that what we're committed to doing and we're going to continue to do is ask the community it's a community-driven
process it's not one person or two people that have an opinion we're getting input from the community and when uh the future State scenarios come out we will then survey the community and ask them do they want 10 story buildings we may maybe the community wants 10 10 story buildings maybe they don't uh but this is certainly a
Community Driven plan and Zoning will flow out of that I'll talk to ask Cara to address when and how does zoning uh you know get a affected by this the comprehensive plan is not doing zon but we do need to we do need to find a Zing effort but yeah Paul I just want to say that a number of the previous plans the
housing production plans that commercial area plan were both very broadly Community engaged processes which had many many participants and the ideas and recommendations that came out of them were not my ideas they were broad Community consensus about what people
wanted to see happen Okay uh can I I want to ask I just want to ask har you want to address this Z John and then Andrea I see you me me first oh John yeah thank you
um so stepping back um going all the way back to near the beginning of the presentation and the engagement process and I took note that the largest number of you know engagements mhm was for the online survey um there are people who
participate in every online survey they can and there are people who never participate in online surveys and I sometimes get the feeling that um we're using these very you know uh
useful um tools but are we figuring out if what we got was a representative sample of the consensus of opinion in the town so so what what is your take on that yeah it's a really important
question and that's something we keep a really close eye on um one of the things we do where we can assess demographic information to understand who we are hearing from to help figure out how it is you know who are we hearing from how does that compare to townwide demographics and where the gaps and that's one of the reason there was such a focus on those small group
conversations to understand who's not able to do an online survey who's not able to come to the public workshops and how do we have a space that's not just you know answer one question you know going your way but those were really in-depth conversations about you know what do you need to succeed in Brook line what's missing um and that really
turned up a lot of themes around like housing quality that we hadn't heard from other venues there were a lot of comments about culturally relevant businesses that we hadn't heard otherwise um people are saying you I want to shop and you know go to businesses in Brooklyn and there aren't things to beet my needs yeah so as we think about this holistic planning you
know the future of our retail corridors also depends upon like attracting diverse people to come and have shops that are interest them so I think those conversations really helped show you know to lift up a lot of topics and also to show some of the interconnected nature of how you know everyone's
opinions on different topics actually there's a lot of common goals that can support them so um if I may just continue with a couple s followups um you know continuing on this same sort of line of questioning um I I didn't hear
um preservation mentioned very much you know in but I you know from my experience and it's been a long decades many decades experience in Brooklyn preservation is really important to you know substantial number of people in Brookline and also if you there's been a
wonderful Series in brooklyn. newws where they just ask people tell us your story tell us you know why you came to Brooklyn how you found a place to you know call home in Brooklyn it's amazing how much people love bookline the way it
is yeah you know and so that's sense of what are the things that people want to leave the way they are isn't I don't feel that that's communicated in this kind of an engagement process because what you get are wish lists and wish lists are great everybody
should have them but you don't find out if people really want what they say they want until you show them what it would mean to have it and a wish list for something that people think would be great for the town if you say but would
it be good on your street can get a completely different result you know no I was thinking of you know the other part of town or somebody else's Street you know um so I I just been bringing these things up so that we try to keep
that in mind because future planning tends to become prescriptive but it starts by being let's be expansive and no limits on what you say we you wish you had um but at
the end of the day we have to be able to afford changes that stem in these planning processes and we may find ourselves in the middle of a completely different and unexpected crisis I'll just throw out as an example I don't
think we have this Prospect but people are starting to worry a lot about water supplies and the the Aging of the whole infrastructure of water syst MH and if the day ever comes you know a decade two
decades from now where people start having problems with water coming out of the tap their priorities are going to change completely as to what we should be focusing before I go to Andrea and Tommy U just want to add something to what
John said and that is when we surveyed people in Brooklyn we getting elderly homeowners overwhelm like yes um and um you know other characteristics that don't really
reflect the fact that for example uh more than way more than half of our homeowners or or residents are are renters um a lot of them are sort of temporary residents and those those are those are groups that we have to make
sure that in comprehensive planning we're we're accounting for uh even the temporary residents because you know we we do want our community to be hospitable to people who come and spend time at the longood medical center and go on to wherever so that that's one
thing I wanted to sort of add to what John said um Andrea yep also following up to what John said um I understand that it's this is a community process and so I'm wondering how you
balance um the community wish list or Community needs from these surveys with experts um such as Architects planners Financial people um in making decisions the best decisions for the town um I
think the Harvard Street Corridor is an example of sort of be careful what you wish for and I'm concerned that a lot of uh lay people have these wish lists but don't really understand the results that they could get or or the effects and i'
like to know how you balance that out yeah these are great questions and I think um you know just to comment first on the engagement comments that have been coming up we're thinking very actively about the next rounds of Engagement and how they specifically reach out to those who we haven't heard
from yet in a way that first the engagement that's been done to date is a good diagnosis of kind of What's um you know what's missing it tells us where the gaps are and so there's an engagement committee a subcommittee or a small group um as part of this steering
committee who's kind of actively thinking about that right now as we do some Outreach in the summer that's more sort of meeting people where they are and then gear up for our next big round of Engagement in the fall how do we make sure that we close some of those gaps so very much appreciate that feedback and
then also this question about trade-offs I think we're really excited to head into this next wave of looking at the growth and change Alternatives and using those kind of structured questions looking at current trends what will happen if we stay the course of where we are versus where can we start to move
some needles to get more towards different Visions um you're right that there's not singular consensus right and so we're going to be testing different visions and then that will give us some sense of the tradeoff both in terms of you know spatial land use um uh growth
and change in lots of different ways and so I think that's going to be a really interesting part of this process um it's it's a component of comprehensive plans that you don't always see um comprehensive plans don't always include Bo that step and so I think it's going to be a really great moment and it's great that baton Brook line is taking
that on to Grapple with those tradeoffs um and really get to look at it in both a quantitative and qualitative way hopefully that will yeah yeah thanks um so I apologize if you went into greater depth on this during your presentation
than I was able to take notes of but um a term I keep hearing kicked around here a couple of terms talking about unique neighborhood character neighborhood identity I was just ious about your process and trying to better Define what in my experience can sometimes be a
really mushy term yeah depending on how people are using it and in what context and what they're looking for when they use that term it can mean a million different things so when we're talking about that I was just curious about your process are you looking at just the built environment are we looking at
historical aspects of neighborhood's cultural aspects you know are these neighborhoods where there's more turnover less turnover and just trying to better nail down what we're talking about when we're talking about neighborhood character so it doesn't turn into a mushy buzz word
that anyone can use to push their own agenda well said yeah very well said and it Mak think two of Mark's comments I really like the term physical continuity and then kind of the unique moments within that so I think we do we think very much about all those different
aspects that you mentioned um in the data analysis but we also listen to community feedback about what that was one of the questions I think that we uh had conversations about in the first phase of Engagement what are the unique futures of your neighborhoods um
oftentimes it is the physical dimensions and many times it's uh business too it's a restaurant you know it's a memory and so those rline stories that were mentioned um those are really important too so we try to capture both the things that are really place-based and then
also um you know less spal sorry if I could follow up um as far as the data analysis goes um I mean how proprietary is your data analysis like how much like granularity are people of Brookline going to have if they want to
really dig in and look at how you analyze these things yeah um I'll look to Jak and Cara any thoughts on how we kind of edit and share some of that I would say none of it's proprietary everything we're doing is for the town um and so we're using the committee is
and Karen Jake and Paul and Linda is kind of a first sounding board to make sure that the data is correct um and you know and to make revisions um that it's ground truth but then it's it's very terrible and it's been we have a lot of committee members who are really interested in the data so we have a data
group as well as an engagement group um that's diving into some of the assumptions to go into the growth and change analysis um I'm not sure actually what's in the appendix but all of our slid decks tend to have appendices because we want to share the story and then get
people thank you um Mike first and just remember we have five minutes before this is over I would like to at least keep on track to extent that's possible well there's one we're talking about data analysis and I want to come back to
what you said rard about um uh you know what the demographic make up the racial makeup makeup of the town and demographic there's one slide in here um about t Anis is who is moving to Brookline 12689 New residents moved to Brookline
in 2021 that's basically 20% of the population now maybe the other 80% stays here for 50 years but there is this very substantial turnover um and you as you say 50% of people he rent one of the most powerful comments that I that I can
recall about schools is that Brooklyn is an unusual place in that it's an urban place with good schools where people can rent the schools rather than having to buy so you have a different income uh uh uh uh income profile of
people who rent as a consequence and they when they come here for schools they may stay here for a certain period of time and then leave after the kids are out of the schools the that that data that bit about well who's moving in who's who's and who stays here I think that really
um we really need to look at that pretty carefully to understand what's going on in the town so and that's a wonderful piece of information I had I had no idea that that turn over of course people are leaving too yeah of course
yeah that's what that 20% moves through stays a couple of years and then they consistent yeah just briefly I think Tom made a very important point that when we're talking about neighborhood character we need to understand what that means and to the extent that each
neighborhood could maybe as part of this process Define what are maybe the three or four characteristics that define your neighborhood so we have something tangible to deal with rather than this Amorphis concept I agree that's very important and that's uh probably a lens
we ought to utilize in general for this process with Renny zoning change to be able to understand in tangible terms what are we looking for and how would we measure whether we're progressing toward it uh and I think another appro another
important lens to utilize is the economic John touched on this can we afford what we're asking for and is it something that is going to help reduce our structural deficit would it actually exacerbate our structural deficit we
have to look at economic realities too and I think that's important for any potential zoning change wrap this up yeah yeah yeah but but picking up on Mike's Point you know about the interesting data point you know
20,000 12,000 in 2021 is that right sorry yeah sorry um one of the things that though that particular piece of data um I've never seen taken into account how many of those are students moving into student housing oh
absolutely moving into student housing out of student housing into student housing and it makes it seem like you know Brookline has no core I mean if if we 20% of us turn over every year I mean my gosh where's the core population in
the town well that's what I say 80% may very well stay here yeah yeah and I I I think that it raises the question like who are we planning for um you know and I hope we're planning for the core population not that you know we we we
leave everything up to the olders and the long time you know residents but they're the ones who are more likely to be here 5 years or 10 years from now when when these Visions you know are put into place I don't think we can ignore those who are transitioning no through
here though no never mark yeah I just wanted to make a comment that uh we need to try and avoid regulation overreach because it cuts both ways in terms of whether it's Progressive or whether it's conservative
and what we need to do is is is tread a middle ground a middle path that tries to reflect you know not only what came in the past what came in the future and I realize that that's very hard to do but I think that that when we get data
from uh the sources that we're talking about and then we argue about the sources and what the value is and the weight given to each Source I think we have to keep in mind that regulation overreach is is a result of some of these things and we should think be
thinking about guidelines rather than Absolut good thank you thank you for a very enlightening and well prepared presentation thank you all so much for the very helpful
comments okay next we have our road to 2030 road map and think about this discussion in the context of the comprehensive plan discuss thank you I'll let [Music]
everyone3 comprehensive you stay and listen [Music] okay Tiffany um tell us about the 2030 road map yes um Tiffany Ola assistant to administrator for operations um this has been a part
of an ongoing discussion that we've been having at these work sessions um and I think from hearing your feedback uh loud and clear we worked together to pair down the original kind of RFP that we had put together um for developing a
strategy or road map um so uh the Town Administrator Carrie me Mike Paul we met together to look at this 2030 roadmap proposal um which is really uh an internal document to guide uh executive leadership Administration and our upper
management in the town um through a four to five year time Horizon um and I found a model that I think really aligns with um what you all have been sharing with us which is we don't want a plan to just sit on a shelf and we want something to
be tied to concrete operational and programmatic um changes and objectives and so that's called the Strategic public Leadership Model um and essentially it's connecting the work of a traditional strategic plan with more focus on activities needed to actually
Implement that and evaluate it um and so it's having a facilitator come in um through a series of meetings and events with you all but then also with department and division heads um to translate that into management actions and tracking systems um so I think we
again paired down this scope of work um it entails a history component going through and understanding the plans that uh we currently have in place and also what we're working on through the comprehensive plan we also added um the cart plan in here it has the development
of the high level um kind of vision mission um and vision mission and values piece um I think the core of the work is really going to be on the Define objectives action steps and measures of success so that's really what's going to be the cost dver here is looking at what
operational changes should be made um how we track success in each of the Departments um and then we really peered down the socialization aspect and so since the comprehensive plan has done a really great job of engaging the
community um we've really paired this down to um once a document is is in place kind of just generally socializing it but not necessarily having a survey kind of Workshop setting with members of the public um so really meant more to be an internal document for you all as a
select board and also for our management team um to make decisions on a dayto day basis and track success so I would love to hear your feedback on this um and answer any questions you might have yeah I'd like start off by saying that um oh
this is an internal document uh I had to read sort of halfway through before I just did what it was about okay so I mean I just think we need to be you know up front with and and what I what I understand is that we're looking to create a work plan
based on the so-called smart principles um I hate that idea but it's it's helpful because it's it's you know the ways in which you get from a goal a go abstract goal to actually implementing that goal and I think that that's an
important thing have up front so we know what this is all about the other the other um comment that I think is critically important uh to include in here even though it's an internal document is the fact that uh the context
is not just you know Rook Line's population by racial ethnic group but it's the renter percentage um I mean that that is such an important aspect of Brook line that we can't do any type of planning without taking it into
consideration and I do want so we can definitely add in that feedback and it's really helpful I do kind of want to it's more of an internal guiding document but I think it's going to be important that you know we decide to go down this route that it's a transparent document as well so folks have an understanding of what we're doing and then also when we come
up with that road map um that it's clear to folks what path we're going down you're welcome to come in and have us hang out with us so I I I thought this is going to be part of an our um so we're still kind of determining the best um procurement
process it will either be an RFP but I think we've gotten down the scope enough that we can just go ahead and proceed with three quotes from FS reaching out to firms directly reaching out to the consensus building Institute who last fac facilitated your um kind of guiding
um mission statement yeah um I I know you all said that you liked working with them last time so definitely want to reach out to them and a couple of other firms so I think we might not have to go through the formal RFP route yeah just going to build up what you were saying and what Tiffany was saying about this not being a a purely
internal document it is a public document but it's a document that we actually use I think the most Salient criticism or feedback that we got last time was this document should not sit on a shelf it shouldn't be worthless to us it shouldn't just be a you know statement of goals and then nothing nothing practical in there about how we
make how we get there so I think Tiffany's done a great job refocusing this around this model the Strategic public Leadership Model um that focuses not just on what are our you know goals broadly R but how you know what are the
metrics that we use to measure that how are the steps that we take to get there um and how do we know if we're being successful I think one of the other benefits to having a document like this is that when we have priorities laid out we also know what lies outside of those priorities I think sometimes we are
pulled in many different directions you know we receive you know feedback from boards and commissions that are specialized in the field that say wouldn't it be great if we could do this but if we can line that up with the board's goals of objectives and say we understand that that's a priority here but it's not the select board's priority
either the select board's goals will change or the select board will say yep no we've got we've got a road map that we're sticking to um and in that way we can focus our energy on where you want us to focus our energy um right so this um B the
concept its origin was we had a conversation Paul and Chaz and I talked about um strategy maps and strategy the purpose of a strategy map is to say well okay here's your strategy but how do you actually get there how do you actually produce something and how do you measure
that and this what what has evolved here is not a a a CL sort of a a typical or by the book strategy map approach but rather something that is adapted I think well to um to Brookline and well to
imity um but the origin is very much okay we want to get from A to B what needs to be done to do that yeah J you know what immediately came to mind for me because I had stumbled
across this excuse me about a year ago is um key performance indicators um which you know a fair number of municipalities use that as a way of operationalizing their VIs
you know and and um putting into clear terms uh that there's the vision and then there's here's how we get there um and it is reduced to key performance indicators and then you report back you know you know we we said by year one we
will have done this this this and this how did we do um and I I think that's extremely so would love to see that it can I'm sure excuse me that be overdone um but U it's a good place to start is
how would we get to where we want to be if we reduced it to actions to be taken in year one year two year three year four good any other comments I had a question for for Tiffany can you point to a nearby community that uses this
strategic so I actually um this model comes from the UNC School government University of North Carolina at toal school government does and that's where I got my MERS from so um I don't I think I don't know that I can appoint to a community that doesn't take the
traditional lead with the strategy and then follow up with um kind of the kpi's aspect that you're mentioning uh this kind of like flips that a little bit um I don't know that I can appoint to another community in Massachusetts but I don't know them well enough I think
there's a lot of the traditional strategic plans yeah I would agree with so just to jump in I would agree with Tiffany that typically what you see in Massachusetts is you see sort of a larger effort that is you know a much more expensive longer term project that looks more like the comprehensive play
um and I think I think what I think we're trying to I think with this model we're trying to meet sort of what the goals what the board wants to see out of this you know what they would find useful and what we would find most useful as well so it is it is a little bit different I think a strategy other
communities use but we're also trying to minimize the cost minimize the time spent on it make very useful make it more practical and I think it's going to be different in that sense Paul yeah um I
can my overall sense is we we have planning overload we've got a comprehensive plan we've got the revenues and expense overide study committee that's coming we've got the climate action resiliency
plan there's an active open space plan that's taking place um and I think there's probably a number of other uh studies that are in Flight um and I I can just tell you that I'm having a hard time grocking how these things fit
together um and how to make this particular effort very very practical for the board um knowing that the board changes every year um and I know that you know Chad we talked it would be great for you to have kind of a touchstone from board to board to be able to guide because that's a problem
because otherwise you're getting Whiplash right um and the question is what what are the critical components of that Touchstone uh to allow you to be able to do the midterm planning that you need to do to be effective um without overc
committing the board to doing something that politically might change from year to year and that's where I think that if you look on page two right that that that core area there defining objective active step active steps and measures to success that's really the heart of this which is that provides that Touchstone
that all talks about you know it says here you know appropriate measures of success for each objective which can be easily tracked and displayed Trans transparently on the town website vill of k um being able to have that as a reference point and be able to say at the end of Any Given fiscal year or even
during the fisol year here's where we are um here's here's the progress we're making towards the goals you set yeah um and I think it is it can be difficult at times to Think Through what's you know what is a midterm strategy that isn't necessarily going to be subject to the wice of
political pressure right um but it's possible it's doable um that's really but so but that's really your objective right that that each year we sit down in the summer and we at least give you we okay step out for a moment to do
a work we at least give you from the year our goals and objectives are the planning up sets and now we've got this longer term 15-year plan which is the comprehensive plan which isn't going to get to the level of detail that you need right and you're just looking for something that can be mid right that
spans board to board yes so that you can have some continuity of planning so you're not getting kind of whip rashed right is this and it's not just me it's departments departments I'm I'm not saying but I say staff right because staff is trying to execute the will of
the board and the will of the board changes quite you know PR right each year so but I also think one of the strengths sometimes I think one of the strengths of the board as as an institution has been that your practice has been towards collegiality and
institutionalism H you're not well you've been here yes I I know that but even then I think there you know I I think even when there are times when there isn't true when there are real divisions on it there's still ultimately this it's you're trying to be a
consensus building body the whole point of a select board as an executive is that you're trying to govern my consensus like that's what this is all about um and I think being able to find that at any given point and give staff that mid-range guidance gives us then
more freedom you know you say you're putting out guidelines and maybe guidelines are constraining in some way but I actually think it frees us up to say okay I feel confident that I can come to the board with a multi-year project and I'm not going to have this sort of whiplash that the board is going to look at this and say even if our
priorities have changed somewhat unless there's a real political sea change we're going to be reluctant to move away from a multi-year project that we committed to earlier um because it fits in with these strategic goals and objectives so things like what you're about to hear you know this multi-year
chip plan and and the you know the action items from that um are born out of the fact that we're confident this is an area where we have confidence that this is squarely theone the board wants us to do and and and don't our goals and objectives which change to some degree
every year but still are sort of a a a um a continuation of you know board goals and objectives over many many years yeah so and so yes it's it's that next level of abstraction almost there's no Shar break there's no Cliff where you
but they should but they should focus I would encourage that we focus on the things that require really investment right so so you can't have staff flipping back and forth because you get to be people need to be able to feel confident if come and work in Brook line and
stay right um you know also with respect to investments in infrastructure our CIP is very dependent on right the priorities in longer term planning for the board um things like that so I I think if we do this that sounds like we're going to do it that's really where
we should focus there midterm investment vars so you have an idea of what to do yeah that's very helpful and I think the CIP is actually critic this it's one of the few areas of the budget that is not you know not yearly right it's it's a much more long range plan they're
devoting money to resources that we might not spend for years um and then you hear questions sometimes in town meeting did we really add yes you did you appropriated this money um for how long are we anticipating that we will Engage The
facil trator I mean is this the person who's going to be engaged forever I mean to come back and come back and come back and come back no I think I think this initial engagement would be um a set number of meetings over the course of the next year with the select board and
upper management um and then you know if we do think we need a facilitation session I think that would be kind of coming back to that facilitator and saying we need some some consensus building or revisiting this but I think the goal is to have more of a document set in stone for that longer time
Horizon um so I guess the answer is it could be but I think the goal here is really for a defined period of time and and do we have money in the budget for this right now we do um it's you know it's tight you know we're spending but it's we're talking about next fiscal year have some money into the select CL
budget for the next year for this um and just to the other to add on to Tiffany's point when you look at the kind of Gant chart of planning that we have going on right now everything that's happening in parallel this actually fits nicely because if the comp plan is going to be finished in December or around the end
of this calendar year even if it gets pushed a little bit if expenditures and revenues is publishing its report by the end of this year before the forecast then what we're doing is we're actually building both the FY 27 budget um any possible ask from the community if
there's an ask for an override and this sort of long the mid-range planning process should be being finalized through that through that period so that the community has confidence that whatever the outcomes are from the expenditures and revenue study committee
they're being carried through by the board doing mid-range planning and demonstrating that we're going to follow you know this is what we're we're committed to yeah yeah yeah and if I made one last question so um earlier I asked are there any
communities you can point to this is sort of a variation of that question are we confident that there are Consultants out there in this area in this region that can do already yes I've already reached out to several
to have conversations um and um spoken with consensus building Institute as well who um you all last time they're one of the firms they reached out to we'll we'll talk to several more um but confident that we can get at the we're seeking to get here well it's not necessarily A broader
thing done in Massachusetts a lot of these firms also work in other states and some other states are looking at this kind of model more closely too so I'm confident that we can achieve that okay why don't we take a seventh inning stretch okay and before we start on next
yeah and what we'll do on this is we'll take this feedback we'll bring it back to you hopefully next week if there are more questions or followup please let us know um if it's ready to go hopefully there won't be much more discussion we can vote to move through the whatever the procurement process
is good thank you she e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e okay uh we're back uh this is the select board meeting for um March 18 2025 and uh we are um at uh the community health Improvement plan at
president and discussion by the heal department so the buzz word for today's plan you have plan or plans plural that's our last oh there we go
okay um well gu we Dive Right In because I know thing standing between you and lunch is us um so thank you for having me I'm re director of the public health and human services department here with John John kinsky assistant Health director for policy and programing um so just a quick run a show
we're going to provide some background on the process we went through really dive into the priority areas in the plan and then a short wrap up at the end but feel free to chime in with questions at any point sh in presentation so the bookline community health assessment and Community Health Improvement plan is a community
different plan and the goal is to evaluate and enhance the overall health and wellbeing of BR residents identify key social economic and health related challenges and prioritize Health Equity and commun engagement to shape this 5year strategic plan the initiative was
a two-year process funded through arpa and conducted in collaboration with Health Resources and action and I hear you on your previous discussion um I would like to employ these Consultants forever because they were fantastic but at some point you have to end a relationship um the findings were drawn
from national state local survey focus groups interviews leading to the development of the community health Improvement plan to discuss not only has this process really developed a complete plan it has strengthened our Community Partnerships which are essential to the buy and and achievement of our goals identified the
plan has also been shared with our colleagues in planning who you just spoke to this morning and is formed a comprehensive plan and we've also shed it with the sustainability Department to inform the climate action and residency plan really looking for that Synergy um the community health Improvement plan keeps us all moving in
the same direction towards the same uh Community identified goals thank you uh so before we get into the kind of the nuts and bolts of the plan we just wanted to ground this conversation with some definitions about some of the process work that we did and and some of the themes so first up is
what's a community health assessment assessment is pretty self-explanatory but for us we really use the structured process we partner with h who does this work for a lot of communities uh across the the country really and it was to understand the health status the needs and strengths of the bround community go
assessments to Gather Comprehensive data on health outcomes social determinance of health and Community perceptions to create a clear picture of the factors that are influencing Health here in Brookline uh the assessment combined quantitative data we did a survey uh we partnered with the the state on that we also had other health statistics
National health statistics that were collected of Brook line residents that we could uh use as part of our assessment economic indicators as I said social determinance health and then we also had some qualitative insights so we did some focus groups uh some key inform interviews with members of the community
and we use this mixed methods approach to ensure that we're capturing both differences across time in Brookline and among subpopulations so we understand who our vulnerable populations are but we also wanted to color that picture with the lived experience of bookine residents so the assessment allows us to identify the gaps in Services here in
town uncover emerging health concerns and understand which populations are most vulnerable and this information directly informs those priorities and strategies which we're going to talk about today in the Improvement plan ensuring that we have a data dur plan it's targeted and it's responsive to the needs of the
community and that takes us to our community health Improvement plan so that um started right after we finished the assessment another strategic action oriented plan designed to improve the health and wellbeing of residents here in Brooklyn over the next five years uh it builds on the findings from our
assessment using that data that I talked about uh we worked in a group of about 40 residents and Community um organizations to identify our key priorities and then establish a coordinated strategy to address them and this is particularly important coming out of the pandemic where we were so
focused on that it was a great this was a great opportunity to reset and really think about what we're going to do over the next five years the Improvement plan has four priority areas they're identified through that data collection that Community engagement and Analysis and each of those priority areas has specific goals measurable objectives and
then we have targeted strategies aimed at improving those Health outcomes uh the Improvement plan is not a static document here us say this a few times today it's a living plan we will be updating it we'll be adjusting it based on feedback and our ongoing evaluation that we'll be conducting uh but it really creates an opportunity for
partnership ensuring the town departments a lot of community organizations and residents are working together toward these shared goals thought it was important to just ground this conversation and Define what we mean by social determinance of health so this is really a central focus of the Improvement plan uh addressing social
determins of Health these are the conditions where people live work play and age that influence their overall health outcomes uh factors include things like access to housing Transportation education Economic Opportunity in Brooklyn we see how social determinants disproportionately
affect certain vulnerable populations and the strategies that we use in the that we suggest recommended the Improvement plan aimed to address these disparities directly ensuring every resident regardless of background has opportunity to achieve Optimal Health so here you see our project timeline and it shows the phases of the
process that John just outlined um and you can see along the time rine different events where we gathered feedback from Community Partners um phase one started in 2023 which included producing the community health assessment and it ended with the final Community Health assessment report
during then we took the key findings and pulled it into a presentation where we looked at like I said the key findings uh visual data representation and top issues impacting Brook line to inform the community plan is where we are today then we engage with stakeholders through interactive planning sessions to
determine their priorities and strategies including several workshops held at the team center with Community Partners and community members to compile again these goals objectives and strategies which we're really going to dive into today and lastly in phase three we continue the collaborative effort to develop a monitoring and
evaluation plan to ensure the community health Improvement plan implementation remains on track effective and helps ensure progress and impact over time so if I could you invited questions in the in the middle of this and so you I think
you were here when we were discussing um The Looking forward a road map for for 2030 and we talked about how important it was to say well okay here's where we want to get to here's what we're actually going to do to get there presumably that monitoring and
evaluation does you know is a is a check on okay how are we how are we progressing and getting to where we want to be um you want can you talk a little bit about the it's a little tiny thing on that slide
but I think that's in some ways that's the most important part of the whole yeah that's going to look a lot at our data in understanding what Baseline data we have and what we need to collect I think when we start talking about the actual plan you'll see there are a lot of metrics and timelines and responsible
parties in there that would question better okay good thank can I add one thing to that it's okay so you know um if you go back a slide this one this is actually an excellent
framework for What U first of all the comprehensive plan is doing looking at a lot of these components not structured exactly this way but for us for a a strategic plan or Roat Jazz um many of these are the things that you know we
potentially could be talking about right um because at the center of the work that we do should be the health and wellness and caring for our community which we represent this is I think this is an excellent brand thank you um Mr T if we don't get to your
question by the end once we dive into them let's let's that go over the monitoring evaluation plan so I don't expect to read this but just um this is a list of Community Partners and organizations that contribute during the phases so just to show how expensive it was and you can actually find the names of individual
participants in the appendices in the report and then here's some great photos of us at the team Center where we met over those several days to set those goals objectives and strategies so here you see the key themes that emerged from the assessment phase we determine this by taking
considering both secondary data as well as qual qualitative data in terms of qualitative data we look at both how often certain topics were mentioned but also how many different interviews or focus groups it was mentioned in so BAS Al if it was mentioned multiple times by different people in completely different
conversations it was elevated and flaged to a key theme you'll see here the major themes with Equity as a CR cutting theme and from here we worked with Community groups and partners to prioritize down to three or four issues that's where it resulted with the
chip priorities so this was back in May of 24 uh diverse group of perity based organizations and agencies gather to identify priorities using common criteria a rating tool and polling process to identify these priority are shown um which would be addressed in the
plan this is really the start of the chip like with every community plan there were a lot of trade-off and competing priorities that were discussed during the meeting we heard many opinions and agreed on compromises for example we had a robust conversation about the top issues for older adults
many of the top issues in the community health assessment that arose for older adults were addressed within these four priorities so the group decided to focus on the priorities rather than a specific population another result of the discussion was actually to include Financial Security which you didn't see
on the previous slide um since it was determined to be a root cause of many of the top issues in the assessment we know low-income individuals are more likely to experience chronic illness heart disease such as heart disease or diabetes and uh due to limited access to services such as safe housing and medical care which
again were top issues in the assessment so it was a way to capture broader population broad projects by identifying these priorities that um when you say that racial Equity is a crosscutting came across all priorities and you've got
that a couple of these slides uh certainly understand that um I wonder if you can talk a little bit about what that means as a practical matter is there um are you
saying that um the lack of equity in opportunity or lack of equity and or the where you know where is there a a concern here that we could that we can
address or or let me ask why is it racial Equity as opposed to dis Equity because you know Equity really broader than just racial yeah and we we had a lot of those conversations and one of the topics we had was we pull out Equity as a separate priority and ended up
having racial Equity as a prosting theme as a root cause of many of iniquities that we see um so we we recently had a conversation with a colleague thinking about some of the new environment that we're dealing with politically how do we continue to do this work around racial equity and one of the ways we used to always talk about it was around social
economic status um and we felt like that was almost a step backwards in public health um because we know a lot of the inequities that we see around social economic status have its roots in systemic racism yeah so we want to make sure we're really focusing on the right priorities and the right strategies and
the reason chose a cross cutting theme was to be very conscious of all these strategies and priorities to make sure we're considering it when we get to the objectives and strategies okay just sort of a reminder that this is a
um there's a societal problem here that you have to you have to recognize when you're dealing with any of these pieces okay and the systemic changes so here's just a quick snapshot we wanted to break down the priority areas
by the goals and the objectives we're going to dive deeply into these um but we want to put them all in one place before we do um so each strategy is designed like as we said and I think the last slide says racial Equity that's certainly a core I think it's fair Bernard you said well what about Equity
more generally I think that's true in the report throughout the report we talk about Equity we talk about vulnerable populations underresourced populations there there are a whole number of uh vocabulary the idea here is we're centering Health Equity at the core of our work ensuring resources and
opportunities are distributed fairly and that those that are uh historically underserved receive the support that they need so that they can be healthy uh the Improvement plan is more than just a set of goals we're going to talk about that today it's really a comprehensive action plan designed to create meaningful lasting Improvement in health
and well-being for Brookline residents I [Music] am careful asking this question but yet you go back so goal one with respect of Financial Security is everyone in the
Brook Community will Achieve Financial well-being and economic security needed to that that's that's kind of a utopian and it also ironically um sort of misses the point
that Brookline opens its doors to people who don't have Economic Security you know in public housing for examp examp so I'm not sure you how do even read that that goal I I completely agree with you Bernard because also with the public housing example we are always going to
have a population that does not have Economic Security and that's actually a strength of Brook line that we want to bring in people from all economic strata so I I would consider rephrasing that certainly it's a goal that we want everybody to be improving at all times
and I understand that's probably the Genesis of the the point you're trying to make but by the same token I don't want to make it look like we're trying to become that that our utopian vision is to be exclusionary yeah well and I go
your I was GNA say um I was in this priority group and really struggled with what the thrive mean um so I don't think we we particularly use that we didn't want to use prosperity and you know a measure of economic because that's also very hard to describe and I think we had
that exact conversation about housing we actually want to increase affordable housing um so we don't want to sort of decrease the percentage of the population that would need of housing um or not having the financial security that we're that we're talking about here
so if we did have that sort of intricate discussion about how exactly do we summarize this Financial Security goal when you when you look over the specific objectives those are very I think those are very well put especially 1.4 uh uh
uh that is uh with regard to no cost or reduced cost Child Care um that's something that directly addresses the um needs of a low a low income bookline housing authority in
Section 8 population something that's really missing u in town so setting that kind of objective you right the goal looks kind of like well this is utopian or does this really mean what we say um but that objective goes directly to the point of
what needs to be done I I certainly like 1.4 I agree with you that's very tangible benefits everybody especially those who are um lower on the economic scale right but I I still uh bristle a bit at this notion that we don't want to
have people at the lower end of the income Spectrum I think we always do we want to be able to accommodate more people to come in we want those who are currently in public housing to be able to improve their economic condition stay within Brook line and then the spots
that are opened up bring in some others realistically there's always going to be if you look at this globally there will always be people who are economically struggling we want to be a welcoming community that brings them in and helps see them rise but I think you know to to Seagal's point right this is the the
priority here is not everyone should be at 50% Ami or above like that actually destroys the con by Ami yes right it's not we have an income Target for people and we're going to expect people to meet it it is people will Achieve Financial well-being what does that mean it means different things for different people um
you know for people who are you know and I think that's where the objectives really frame out the goal is well-being and economic security doesn't mean I make a certain amount of money it means do I have the food to feed my family do I have the do I have money left over at the end of the month do I have access to
child care the things that will keep me in this community it's not necessarily I need to make at least $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 it is do I have what I need to not just scrape by but to you know be able to participate in the
community that's where I think you the the word smithing that they went through as part of this was was really to get at this issue that you've raised David which is what what what does that actually mean what does thrive mean because you don't want to put a dollar
value next to is someone is someone okay is someone well off is someone you know where they need to be um as opposed to saying you know what what are the what are the metrics that we measure when we say that someone is um is is in a is in
a space of Economic Security it doesn't necessarily mean I need to make X dollars it means that my the needs of my family whatever they are are met and I'm able to save and participate comp in a community going forward well I'd rather articulate it that way than financial well-being I the word Financial of it
completely maybe covering the basic necessities at a minimum or something of that effect with that Financial in there because I also don't like the idea of measuring someone's worth as a person by their money and I know that's not the intent behind it but I just think that some
people could read it that way and I think that what you're really trying to get at is everyone should have access to resources necessary to you have stable opport that that's not you know has nothing to do with finan other be dirt
or but still have access to food and and you know healthare Etc I mean but you know what are the those are the other three goals right I think if you just say the access to to the things that people need that's almost too broad right that's what the other three goals cover you know you can't Overlook the
fact that money is a part of what makes people in our society people have to have access to money in order to have something so we are not saying you know again we're not the the people's Financial well-being is important in the community and I don't
know if there's a better way to say it than that um because you have you can't leave Finance out a bit um sounds too utopian I guess that's really and and that and Utopia means what what the it means nowhere or
something like that or impossible like the perfect vision I don't even see that as the perfect vision I think we always want to be bringing in other people who are struggling and try to help them out so I don't even see that as a as a good goal but but again look at the objectives that flow from the go the
objectives are great I don't think anyone objects to that question how do you sort introduce that okay all right I don't know how you how you did that without reference to financing um excuse me under the
strategies um however um 1.3.1 identify develop and Implement a basic income guaranteed in viable wage standard program leaving out the viable wage part um communities U have sort of
experimented with this and done Pilots with this um Cambridge Somerville I think as well Chelsea as well every single one of them was using um arpa funds or some equivalent of arpa funds um and as far as as far as I know arpa
funds are no longer an option for us um should that be in there if it's only doable under extraordinary circumstances with a you know gusher of federal Monies to play with temporarily I'm you know I I'm not aware of any communities that
figured out how to do this within their budgets um so so the the I was asking actually right I'm G to give you a specific example right here uh that I think will help the um I think Cambridge
is actually to continue beyond with other one time only for a while with other one time only for a while and similarly the Brooklyn Community Foundation is getting ready to head in this direction yeah with funds that it's pulled together yeah so um it may be a
constant scramble to replace those onetime funds yeah but there are municipalities that are trying trying to get out thank you and now may I get answer the question for me so the Brookland Community Foundation is the Implement for that strategy yeah so it's
including that strategy in the overall Community Health Improvement plan so again it's not it's not sort of a to they're the they're the lead Agency on that strategy should say through the through the Brookline Community Foundation yeah yeah um so again this was just a snapshot we're
going to dive into each of these so we can continue to have discussions um as we look at really the actions under each of these objectives the strategies and actions um but before we dive into that we have one more little one more model one more framework so this is uh this is the social eological
model um I love this model I'm familiar with it because it was in my dissertation but we're going have to go down that road today so we just wanted to bring this up really quickly before we dive into the specifics of the Improvement plan just to note you know as we've said through the the social determinance health
doesn't happen in isolation right it's shaped by our environment where we live where we work uh and this model helps us understand how different layers of influence interact and shape our health outcomes so I through this figure in here just to show that typically a social eological model has five five spheres some have four or six depends on
how how much you want to break it out but it starts at the individual level with our own kind of individual attitudes beliefs and behaviors and then it grows until you get the largest fear which is local State national policies and systems and the larger the sphere the greater for potential health impact if you're implementing a strategy or a
policy at a higher level um and I just want to give a couple quick examples and I think a lot of what we're going to talk about today are also examples but um so if someone doesn't have access to Affordable Transportation it's obviously going to be harder for them to get to medical appointments or get to a grocery store and buy healthy food they don't have
housing or if their housing's not affordable obviously their stress levels are going to increase which is going to impact mental and physical health and these are the kinds of systemic issues that we aim to address through the Improvement plan and so I think with that we can move on to the next slide okay so now
we're going to talk details about these four priority areas so priority area One Financial Security the was everyone in the Brookline Community will Achieve Financial well-being and the economic security needed to thrive and I think we should acknowledge massively lofty goals as we've already discussed
um so before I go into the details here I just want to note you're we're going to be talking about the year one action plan and those are the detailed steps for each of the objectives that we're going to be talking about today uh it identifies the implementers which Seagal already talked about one specific example the resources that are necessary
and then establishing a clear timeline for execution so we're holding everybody accountable to what's in this plan and actually achieving it and I think that gets back to Mike's Point earlier so this first area of Financial Security uh we know economic stability is a foundation for health and well-being if families are struggling to make ends
meat it creates stress reduces their ability to focus on their uh the first objective that I want to talk about is uh objective 1.1 increasing the number of residents from historically underresourced populations who gain employment in positions with career uh
Advanced opportunities so here we have uh three strategies in year one that we're going to implement the first is strategy 1.1.1 expand Partnerships with Community Based organizations so here we're going to be working with women's uh women thriving the teen center steps
to success rotary among a whole host of community organizations to hold some Community Job Fairs we'll be doing Outreach to large Employers in the area we'll partner with Career Centers other Town departments like HR uh and just promote existing resources and web pages to try to help people find uh gain full
employment yes don't forget uh the Brookline housing authorities U program for uh economic independence that they they operate that's a really important element just the the wording the objective for 1.1 the portion of the
sentence with career advancement opportunities I wonder about that on two accounts one I would think that almost any type of employment potentially has a career advancement opportunity and then secondly would we measure whether a type
of employment has a career advancement opportunity or not so is that Superfluous and does it create add an added layer of difficulty in being able to assess every offer of employment have to go to the actually monitor an evaluation see how we're
measuring that objective yeah but it's I mean I think it's a good point if we just I think we might just be assuming that every opportunity has career opportunity or has advancement opportunity and just count it as such but so it might be something super yeah but but it
also you know is implying that we can do do something that maybe we're not doing I think that that that's problematic um why is that problematic that's what the whole plan is about is to do stuff in well you not everyone
need is in need of a job career advancement I me for example um you know kids on the Spectrum I'm thinking about since I have a kid um who who just need a job right as
opposed to a job that they're going to become manager of a story had and similarly to that also U many seniors who go back working because they have to they're not necessarily looking to advance they just want to have an
income coming in and then just from the measurable side of it I think it's easier if you just track employment period but look at the percentage it's not talking about everybody having it's an increased opportunities by 10% and what that references going back to that
what the brookly housing authorities objectives are in their program is to get people a high get people to the point where they have uh the necessary credential high school equivalency uh in order to or some you know some uh some
ability to get the next step up and it's a relatively small objective 10% well and I would just say too that um I maybe it's uh it's just rewarding but I do think if you have an objective
to help people identify opportunities for employment that have career improve opportunities for growth that's you know that so when you're let's say it's youth right are you going to go find day labors are going to be fing around sheetrock right or are you going to try to place them with you know
uh hbac company where they can actually learn a skill and potentially get in the union there's a big employment is just checking a number yeah right career advancements is helping them grow over time and and and continue to grow their employment so I'm fine that the way it's it's worded unless you want to tweak it
just a little bit but and I'm reminded if I may uh to the was the steps to success student that came in this past summer and was interning in our office so I mean that was they were being really intentional and saying we're not just going to get them any internship like a laboring job for the summer we're going to give them a job in the health department because they want to work in
the healthcare industry worked with Seagal and I on some policy work so it was really an intentional effort to give them something that was yeah more than just a a summer job good I think maybe we could pursue both I I'm not sure why we would denigrate any type of employment and
similarly even in the day labor example you got really good at it and you learn the trade maybe you are going to manage your own day labor business at some point so I get a little nervous when we try to um push everybody in a certain
direction I think we can be all encompassed and do both and I understand your point Mike about making sure that uh people graduate high school have a GED that opens up opportunities so maybe spell that out those are important goals themselves but that belongs over here in
the strategy side right yeah is is this the Tye of feedback you want weting question I think I think these are important issues I I I think it's I think it's valuable but I also think you have to realize right this is the end of a process a long Community Driven
process so what we're seeing here is the is the expression of the communities what the community felt was important um and you know that's why at the beginning we went through this long description of how over many years we've tried to really build this out so I think it is
important to flag these things and see you know where they you know what the limits of this are but I also think it's important to realize that these have been workshopped in a way that I think sort of in in a very um elegant way even if it's not directly addressing this
concern is still speaking to a broad to a broader thing right a community priority is in general we want people to be in gain gainfully employed in places that give them the opportunity for advancement because that contributes to Financial Security and stability there
will inevitably be people who don't do that either because they can't or because that's not the path they want to take but that's why it's not the objective is not put everybody in that spot it is increase the population because there are people out there for
which there is an unmet need identified we know that there are people in the community that want to be doing this that can do it that can't do it right now and so the objective is to increase that amount of people it's not to denigrate people who are otherwise working in a you know a in
contract employment or who can't work because they have a physical or mental limitation of some kind um it's about or for whom that's not the next step right so I'm coming off for example you know the next step is not
career it's the job well uh I mean I don't I'm not a drug counselor but I don't know if that's true you know um so I I think that's that you know it's important for the conversation is important to identify the to make them to make these
flags but I do think it's important to realize where this is coming from which is the culmination of a community Mar process that produced these you know workshopped goals and objectives but I I not trying to cast
any aspersions but if we're not allowed to offer our suggested tweaks and what's the point of ever reviewing these proposals as a board if we're supposed to rubber stamp whatever has been presented to us oh it's not about rubber stamping it's not it's not about offering critique or feedback it's it's
more it's information it's it's it's not just informational because we want the board's the board ultimately sets the priorities right this is where the community is saying this is where we are this is and we're trying to say to you this is the process that we follow we do need your feedback and bu so it is
important to raise those issues I'm not saying don't I'm just saying think think about this in the broader kind text so that if we as we move to implement this what isn't there the board is concerned about so this is health of feedback in that case but also you know it's not maybe it's not necessarily tweak the
document it's think about where the Contours of the document are and what we're missing so that if we need to all right so in terms of what isn't there I would agree with Bernard that any type of employment is a step in the right direction and that should probably be in there too the other thing coming back to
a previous discussion who is a community that coming up with these ideas I mean it's limited right and and you know I think we have to factor that fact in not that you know their input is is um
unimportant but that may not be as as broad as as the the as needed I think I mean for example you know at the high school everyone goes to Harvard right that's the goal of graduating from Brookland high school or some you know
some sural place and you know we we we don't think about kids who really would be much better off much happier doing something other than you know an academic career but this speaks to that population I'm not sure it does but I
yeah it seems to me looking at the uh both the objectives and the the strategies that IT addresses the sort of the if you will the people who aren't going to have it the the that was just an example I didn't intend
that no no I know I I I I using it as a Shand I appreciate that and so am I okay it it IT addresses the um uh earlier on there was a slide when uh um in the previous presentation was a slide that talked about how uh you know
20% of the population turns over that a substantial part of that population that moves in has an income under 80,000 under some you know and there was an an income breakdown people move into
Brookline without having uh the kind of uh uh income that even approaches the Amo and it's this this is addressing that whole population yeah just briefly so I'm I'm I'm inserting myself in their shoes for
a moment in their seats uh and I'm thinking comp plan a year from now is the board going to Wordsmith uh the goals and objectives and strategies maybe you will but I think we did today hold on think we should I'm just I'm afraid right now that there's a
disconnect between their expectations and our expectations and I'm not sure what we should be doing so is this the type of feedback you want are you looking for us to help you Wordsmith the goals and objectives Str concept I understand we're getting
we're getting very and I'm not having a problem with it I'm just saying we're getting very specific in terminology and I'm just asking I I I understand that this is this is the culmination at the end of the process um if if we provide you with this feedback are you going to
come back with a revised presentation that takes this feedback into account that's my that's what I'm asking I think want back up a little bit throughout this whole process this two-year process we've taken very broad big things and completely prior at every
meeting down to these really narrow strategies and then under these strategies we're verbally kind of going over our actions actually the steps we're taking to do it so the whole a lot of these discussions have been held at these meetings and really sort of narrowed down to this really narrow
specific strategies and action so I think this is the year one as we could sort of talk about this living document these things will change and respond to the environments around it so I think this General feedback is good and it will adapt are we're going to come back and do another presentation with revised
strategies probably no but as we look to implement year two three we're going to have it's one of my final slides but we're going to have a steering committee and specific working groups under each of these priorities and so that continued input and massaging of the plan is going to happen if a living do
so I think hearing that stuff now is helpful as we continue to adapt this changeable document I mean it is changeable and living it's going you can't have a plan that isn't adapted can I have one follow up St picture all back
over um so again this is where it's helpful to understand expectations coming in because I do I do think and again I respect my colleagues and their feedback I I understand what they're saying um there are some things in here that perhaps this the select board from a policy perspective would not want to
support right and I think that's I think that's what you're hearing and I'm trying to help solve the Gap here um so I do think that that it would be very helpful to have the feedback and then come back with if there are significant changes in either the objectives or the
strategies that that be incorporated because it's the will of the executive board to do that can I can I just respond that I think that's an important Point um we're taking some big swings and we're we're jumping into areas that public health doesn't local Health departments don't generally get involved
in but I think it's important to recognize that not all of this plan is being implemented by the municipal side of the government So the plan is a municipal plan but there are a lot of community organizations that are taking on specific aspects of this that the executive branch doesn't directly have
control over it I'm not challenging your Authority right but I just want to recognize that in when it comes to financial and housing like some of these are not things the health department is going to be doing actively doing it's going to be some of our Community Partners prohibit do and the guaranteed
basic income was a great example we have a very minimal you know we're in the group we're in there we're talking in conversations but we are not the implementers of that just to say I think this goes beyond word smithing as Paul suggested there's certain policy implications from how the objectives are
defined and I like the strategies I don't really have any qualms about how this about the strategies but I do think the way that we word the objectives do create a certain undertone about the policies that we want to and objectives
in a broad sense that we want to pursue as a town and I worry that some of these at least to me and I think to Bernard sound a bit elitist and uh I don't think that's the intention at all I don't I'm not questioning the motives but the way it's worded to me sounds like we don't
want to have people who are at the lower end of the income Spectrum we want everybody to be funneled into positions that career advancement and while those are worthy goals I don't think those are the be end all and I don't want to come
across as brookly being an elst Town that's trying to push out certain types of people H yeah I mean that's just the opposite of the mission of Public Health right in our not be responsive
certain so um I I I want to take a step sort of back a little context a little bit earlier on we were talking about um looking at a road map 2030 and one of the things I I talked about was we
started I think it's fair to say at least with the conversations that Paul and I had sort of uh um were about starting with the the concept of a strategy map which is you define where you want to go and then you define all of the things that you need to do to get there starting from the basic most basic
levels what resources do you need how do you you know what up how do you operationalize using those resources that is very much the tenor of the the direction that this is going so I think this is a you know whatever grabbing we
may do about wordsmithing this is a wonderful piece of work and I think we all recognize the effort that's gone into it the thought that's gone into it and the good sense that's gone into saying okay we want to get somewhere how do we get there in very specific
terms I don't think I just want to make sure that we get that across to to the the the the to the health department because this is this is what they've been working on and they've done a hell of a good job with it and you well yes thanks
um so you know um I think maybe what what we really need is one of these cross cutting you know bars on each of the slides saying cross cutting for all priority areas being able to afford this
you know I mean because we're we're looking at a broadened sense of what is the uh Mission and the future potential of our Department of Public Health to do more than inspect restaurants to make
sure everything is sanitary uh you know set up inoculation clinics you know it's this much more broadly defined Public Health Mission um if if we were to say yes to this tonight which I you know I assume we do I don't think even know if we're going to take a
vote on it um but it's commendable I think all of us like it um six months from now when you come to us as I expect you would and say remember how you said you really like this plan well it's going to require we add three people
here and birther more some monies for XY or Z we might say no um and I just want that to be clear I mean because if if we don't have the money to do this stuff we're not going to be able to say yes to it but on the other hand I think it's
commendable that that there has been a more broadly defined Mission you know for our Public Health departments and by the way let me just quickly said of course this is also part of the process of actually defining what is the name of your department because you originally
it was Health and Human Services and then Lloyd jelo you know left his position whatever it was called and it on some parts of this on the website it was Health Department some part of you know website of Health and Human
Services and other names so you know this is sort of trying to give give the department an identity based on a broader uh scope responsibility if I could address John's Point sure um I just want to emphasize what this John mentioned was talking
about how it's community plan um a lot of the uh because we did look at exactly capacity and resources needed for each one of these strategies and actions yeah um and it's not all on the town and that's what I think is really good about this I talked at the beginning getting the Buy in and participation from those
Community groups on this new strategy because they are the executors in some of the money support behind us and we were very careful for things around policy to say there will be groups advocating for um to understand that necessary that will not particularly be
Town staff advocating for that that will be outside groups that were involved in this process that will be advocating for that policy well yeah so uh thank you Scott and I want to Echo what Mike said this is an outstanding piece of work I may not agree with all the words but it's it's an outstanding piece of work
and um we should do more of this across the board um I think the piece that you just mentioned is missing to connect for perhaps some of us is what does it mean to us as a board what do do we need to
fund this are we going to use a partner what support are you going to be coming to us in the future for this plan um you know guaranteed minimum income you're saying that would be done to a partner that would be important to know as part of this plan so another crank on
this PID to create more work but would be almost a responsible a matrix that you have it we we went back and forth whether to give you this this is really the living this one's going to change and adapt so we can share this with you this is what we were going to go through verbally we were going to take two
objectives under each priority area and walk you through it and then open up a conversation under each PR that was a plan but I love this conversation that we're having this is I'm kind of picking ourselves this is the hardest one to be honest because the other three were like I talked at the beginning really concrete from the
assessment this came out of that conversation when we had 40 people was actually anyone tell how long your changed um and we had these 40 participants in community groups and we ended up coming with up with Financial Security is an additional priority because it was the root cause of many of
the things we were looking at so how do we work on people's finances so it helps with housing so it helps with access to care so it helps with you know seniors and older adults so we kept going back to finances and that's why this ended up being a priority in the plan but I think
to your point of who's exactly responsible what is the resources what do we need to implement it and I think when we look at the human access to human and Social Services you'll hear a lot of things that you've already heard from me in the budget presentation the Human Services Navigator um the online system to pay for that and that's
actually throughout many of strategies you'll see that and that's something that you know aligns with the goals and objectives St board and already been implemented into the budget for next year so we have tried to align with things that do fall under the department directly um but another example that we're going to talk about is connecting
with BHA around um health and safety findings in that is our inspectional staff so how can we better collaborate between BHA and the department you know that again Falls heavily in the department but then there's examples that the Department's very limited in and there's there's no budget app we're going to come back to before um but
we're more facilitators in I just had a similar question to Paul's about I think it would be helpful to know who would be responsible for what in terms of making it happen and something I think could be done at the local level would be flow charts on sort
of each of the uh major areas just so people know how to navigate through their issue so if it's about medical access who do they contact when and why and under What scenario um if it's something about uh Economic Security who
what are your resources local state at Federal level what do you do where do you go um that can be helpful to people because many times people are lost and they don't really know what to do maybe help them navigate through the system right that's why we call them a navigator um yeah and and you'll see
that position throughout the action items under the strategies um so this has been really helpful but I don't want to continue down going into the other priorities and talking about some of those AC because it might be more clear if you get to the actual
actions under each strategy so why we go quickly through the others yeah yeah be that much discussion so we want to jump to the next we want to just go straight to Priority two because we can talk about human services or we want to skip that
just talk about it only because we mentioned childcare do you want to dive into this one so so how we're going to do this how we going to increase capacity CH here yeah so this is objective 1.4 uh increase the capacity for uh no cost or reduced cost Child
Care Early Education and after school programs uh so for year one exploring approaches to decreasing uh the cost of child care we're going to be working with potential Partners like BCF trust early Learners steps to success and just a few actions that we plan to take in
year one includ uh support emerging initiatives using arpa funds to create 30 to 50 additional slots for low-income children uh yeah something you guys have already done so working with trusted Learners and some of the coordination that they're already doing so again it's really making sure we're all driving
towards the same priorities and goals it's not necessarily all new initiatives yeah it's that we prioritize these and how can we help facilitate the community to reach these goals sorry no that was that was perfect and and also working with some other community organizations to explore ways that we can expand scholarships for
after school programming and create a centralized directory of childcare options that will be used by our Human Services navigator for those uh families that come in and are looking for child care options they'll have that resource ready for them to to provide to Residents okay that's it for this one
and then we go on okay certainly when I feel much more comfortable with because and you'll see so for priority area 2 access to Social and Health Services uh the goal is high quality Equitable And Timely social
Social and Health Services will be easily accessible to every Brookline Community member so how do we plan to do that uh first key objective is 2.2 uh increase access to diverse and culturally competent social workers Community Navigators and community health workers employed by or partnered
with the town so expanding these roles will help residents feel more supported and improve trust in local Services here in town our year one strategy we've already started working on this as Seagal was just talking about uh this effort to hire a human services navigator to facilitate comprehensive Access to Health and Social Services
ensuring Equitable support so that we've worked on a hiring plan we've been networking with other communities that have similar roles to understand what that job description should look like we developed that job description got approval from HR and later this spring we'll be seeking approval uh to hire
from the board for that position of course a question that just is 00 pound Gilla in the room is that uh you're not going to get Ser or support services and resources from federal government in many of these areas so we
so we're also talking about additional um hiring other um other things to make up for that loss we can I kind of describe the predic been looking at with that on three fronts so I mean directly to our
department we don't have Direct Federal bonds for much things not federal funds but for example just information um oh yeah see information um and other things that that that we RI
we relied on to anticipate you know pandemics or whatever yeah so I think particularly around Social and Health Services um I think we will see cuts to some of our partner agencies which will only make the problem worse in our community so I been thinking a lot of
these strategies and this is sort of living do making more adaptable um and then same thing for the state you know as we think the state how is that going to affect other resources um and then the misinformation that you were just talking about which is going to be a constant challenge for us making sure
inform and require additional hiring so that's that's the point made but I also think some of these goals are macro level and long term that are going to certainly outlive any one particular Federal Administration and so I think
it's so I think it's still important to not get too focused on specific challenges for this particular year and next year and think about this as what's the road map for the next 20 right um one thing I think would help a great deal and to some extent would respond to
John's concern about well where does money come from um is that You' mentioned a couple of partner Partners it would be maybe under the strategies and reference who the partners are for implementing this because that's an
explanation explanation not just to us but it is to the community at large uh and um uh it just seems to me like that would um help at least to some extent alleviate the concern about where do we get the resources I I can stop sharing
the slides and pull up the action plan just you can see a snapshot of what that looks like well you can what I'm what I'm suggesting to you is this is a this is a really interesting and very very useful document
um to the extent that you can add that little bit to it I think it would become that much more I mean it's it helpful around right now so why we're talking just well it's I hate things but as you can see I already flip through it a lot
yeah the action plan it's literally I you'll see it it has the goal at the top has each specific objective and then it's really goes Point by Point how we're going to get through it right the question is how you how you explain what you're doing you've explained what you're doing to us
with this presentation um and uh and if you're going to explain to the community at large the same question is going to arise where do the you know where where do the resources come Paul yeah so course I I had no doubt that you have that level of detail
I mean I can tell that you got amous amount of work here I do have one question about how the goals were set so 2028 is not very far away um and you're going to increase uh Access to Health Services through trans Transportation by 20% I don't know what we starting point
is I I think I saw a number either 12,000 or 15,000 trips uh our senior uh transportation is 12 15,000 per year I think right now as the Run rate it might be higher 20% a significant increase um I know that cdbg money is
helping to support uh the trips program that's like potentially going to be cut um you know and some of our other so I'm just curious about the goals jumping to the next slide uh you know and I don't mean to but I just want to talk about goals uh increase the percentage of deed
restricted affordable housing by 5% by 2029 you know the housing production plan has identified a whole number of barriers uh 5% a significant increase in four years for deed restrictive housing was almost I don't think that's even an achievable goal so how did you how did
you set your goals and did you test feasibility with any any other agencies uh um that that that are responsible for this yeah the goals were set during those sessions of the teen center with Community working groups um
it was something we struggled and discussed a lot and solved a lot through three rounds of feedback with case of um I think you know similar to the goal of the objectives those measurable objectives are also very lofty the some of the timelines we set because it's a
it's a five years plan right um so I just want to want them to be realistic right there's no way in the world we're going to increase deepers refed affordable housing in Brook line in four years 5% it's just it's not possible even if we even if we did a bunch of 4bs it's just not it's just not possible to
do it and I think similarly decrease by 10% I'd love it the proportion of housing burden 30% 50% by 2029 still that's means you're generating a lot of De restricted housing um or you're increasing other programs to supplement it um anyway I I
get people want to have a measurable lofty goal but it's got to be most entertainment um and you'll see sort of under under the first strategy 314 there um you know that with some of the voices in the room we settled on advocate for
yeah um there's a lot of people that wanted to implement and to execute of course and we you know we said this needs to be advocated the action word associated with that strategy um I can dive into housing we just I didn't mean to jump ahead you
should stick with me did we want to highlight we want to talk about access to I I do want to quickly mentioned under this one that the Human Services Gap analys and recommendations are integrated into this priority so we had sort of those two parallel reports going on for a while
and then we integrated so this this actually was our easiest priority because we had a nice sort of um layout of what we should do from the Human Services study so everything was integrated here um I think we know housing and pressing in bookine um I talk about a
lofy goal here um all neighborhoods you know really struggled around that word how do we make this inclusive of all of work line include healthy wellmaintained accessible that's physically accessible um and stable he they maintainable for everybody
um why we Dive Right into um so I just wanted to point out this one some of the groups we're going to work with is the bir Community Development core um have go on board there and work on Community Foundation and resources like Greater Boston Legal
Services really identifying legal aid for tenants and landlords and how we can better connect people for services um and the second strategy um we've talked about I think um with you know with the select Board of integrating housing stability into the
Human Services functions um and how can we better connect people to housing resources let me loss over my not because I want I want to hear something they discussion about it um this is the one I mentioned 3.3 is
really how can we better coordinate um responses from the health department and BHA properties around health and safety funding so evaluating both our process their maintenance request process looking at neighborhood communities how do they do it how can we improve and how can we get feedback from tenant and
tenant associations on the current work we're doing and then any improvements that we propos so really trying to gather that feedback from the occupants about how system oration and about um I think tapping into um the CPA so this is all about funding right to be able to
address or to correct those uh the health and safety issues with them some some of it does require funding for us better coordination and information sharing okay we don't have to pay for the improvements and order them to make them okay yeah okay but I hear you to get the
improvements that'll need funding and again thinking about um housing as a Human Service need and how can we work with a navigator to better connect people um there's something that we talked about
um the when we talking about setting priorities going back a few a couple of these meetings um and it's the increased is interest of the community as far as we can tell uh and this is a pretty good indication
we're right uh in an expansion of the social services provided by municipalities at the local level part of that is in response to a feeling that there is inadequate support state and federal level but part of that is a
sense that well we should be doing something locally almost without regard to what's going on at the uh other level of government but there's certainly that that's a priority that I think we recognized just as we recognized that
there was a great greater interest in concerns about climate change and concerns about um uh uh yeah climate change is probably the most a wrapper that that uh uh uh that really can't has
come forward in the last 10 to 15 years and the increased interest in concerns about housing and what can the municipality do so um a lot of this is responsive to something that's broadly going on uh in the community and taking
Sagal sc's comment that this came out of discussions with the community what we're hearing is that change in community priorities and Community concerns from the more traditional well how are the schools and how are the police and fire departments to Let's
broaden what we're uh what we're concerned about through some of these other things so these social issues uh and this is a reflection back to us of what we um uh what we've been
hearing in in less uh specific less detailed form from uh our own experience in the community so a question I have about this particular priority housing affordability obviously critically important there are a lot of other
boards that are also uh addressing housing affordability and have their own plans and I wonder to what exent the objectives and strategies for uh this particular plan with Health and Human Services aligns with housing Advisory
board and some of these other groups yeah and I have some Kudos at the end to give to Cara for the amount of time that she helped us particularly with this priority um because we public health professionals were not housing professionals um so you know helping us massage these but also the compromises
that we made with the community groups and the participants we had CH you know throughout the process so there was a lot of back and forth um with her team um Cara and many of the people in her department and also um we have shared it with them um and shared it with the have we were just talking during the
transition here um hoping to do a presentation for them again particularly on this PRI but the whole chip maybe in the summer when time meeting is over but to make sure that coordination is happening all right a little worried I'd be a little worried if they have different goals and obviously both have
the same macro vision of increasing housing affordability but even some of the specific objectives if they're different and some of them might be opposite each other in terms of priority I just worry about how that would work we don't want to be disjointed
yeah and I'm I'm hoping um we've had some conversations that some of her staff will be be on this working group those men and the work that heard the planning department does around housing are really ingal to this working group and making sure the work proc
implementation we have one more that we'll try to go through pretty quickly talk about a goal I don't know how they came up with this one um this was this goal was definitely written by a committee um the camel yes provide easy access to
Affordable preventable and responsive mental Behavioral Services for all people that are sustainable and that are representative all forine so that all can drive and there's that word driver again what does that mean a lot of do that whole sence me yeah I like to think about it accessible rentable and
responsible mental health services so that people can Thrive understand how mental health is part of thriving right but I hear you on that go important yeah um and it really lends itself to just identifying resources
that are available in making sure that we we help people accept those resources and not to beat a dead horse but I appreciate that in this goal there's a mention of that are representative of all of Brookline because I thought that was lacking a bit from the first two
okay this is a big goal yes they're allous and and I'll keep emphasizing community plan Community to implement um so under this first objective we work to expand access to mental and Health Services that adding
new community based location um and increasing access to service points for ensure the residents get care when and when where they need it s of what um just mentioning better accessible it is and more likely people will seek that service um and steps to implement this include identifying and prioritizing
locations for mental health services working with the brook mine Center Community Mental Health to provide services on sites such as the senior center senior housing the library or the teen center um so again Bine Community Mental Health Center really being lead on this and we're going to be facilitating helping to make those
connections with some of these groups and I assume you're including tell mental health oh yeah because does necessary you have to have locations right well this under this specific strategy and I should say
you'll see in the chip under each one there's a whole list of strategies we're identifying year one strategies that the group has pulled out and says this is what we're going to do first there are other strategies that we hope to implement in year two three four and five and that's what the working group and steering committee will pick so but
that's a good point because tele Health um and U mental health counseling through uh through zoom and is a very easy to implement tool you have to get the person who needs it to come to the
uh to to seek it certainly and maybe onsite will help get you know create that but it is very um easily implementable approach well and I think some of the conversations here for who right technology is a challenge for some
not for others technology is easier for others so having telea Health Works for some and it will fill some gaps but some people want face to face they want it where they are and we're not necessarily always talking about direct counseling either um there's other ways that we look to improve mental health and well
wellbeing and belonging it's not necessarily All Therapy that's sort of the healthcare part of mental Healthcare we're thinking more Community B how can we promote belonging okay all right um need some therapy if I don't get that much
okay you way over we are way over um it's okay we we've been distracting you that's all right um some things again here came out of the um Human Services and GAP analysis any questions about this one
because that's it we just have a couple little next steps and I can really just gloss over these um again we've talked about the working groups and what implementation means um this is a call to the working groups which I think I'm excited to hear the interest in this and
and your feedback actually because that means you think it's important um so we are going to be putting together a steering committee and a working group um so I'll be reaching out again I'm sure this called a working group method so cab has is utilizing a similar type of approach really using working groups
in order to implement and part of the plan um there of course there's a risk associated with that because it's not systemtic right you're depending upon volunteers to go to execute what portion what percentage of your plan is depending upon execution by
volunteers um some of my volunteers but some of them it is their role so we think about our partnership with BHA we work very closely with Danielle so it's more they're already doing this but so they're a community partner they're already there okay um but there will also be
volunteering and sort of my calls you know we want to mix the lived experience and content experts so we need a mix of both okay um business owners someone just passionate about improving Health nonprofit Community um or any of the topics that we're working on so on your work to go
around I looked through the action plan and that's very helpful a lot of concrete steps laid out although even there it sounded like on the budget part it's talked to so so and so about identifying funds at what point of the process would that OCC so that the funding mechanism is Spilled
Out about I think depends on year to year what we're able to attain getting that living document I hate to give you that answer it depends um on what strategies are chosen and what is successful one that isn't um that'll constant be there's always a capacity issue in
prioritizing what needs to be addressed over others that's a constant struggle we have but just for example if there's a certain so mental health if there's certain grants that are available that can one can apply to I think maybe flushing that out a little bit at some
point in the process would be helpful as opposed to an action item of let's talk to this person about what to do because that still leaves it as a very open question so to the extent that there are some uh recurring available funding sources as follow those out yeah and one
of the ones I was going to dive into was um and you heard it in my budget presentation the Strategic prevention framework around substitute prevention and that is something that we're laying the foundation so we can apply for some federal gr funding around that yeah pod um I I just want to do a
couple thank you like I mentioned Cara but there were many many department heads that were involved in this process and really want to thank them for their time on their extremely valuable time and thank Chad for his support on this plan and for the ARA committee and the select board's support by funding it um this has been extremely valuable to me
not only the ab strategic plans of the department but like I indicated at the beginning really developing those Partnerships across the community because Public Health Works in this collaborative atmosphere we can't do it as a department by ourselves if we want over sort of the systemic changes that public health is looking to achieve and
we need a community to achieve that so this has been really instrumental to achieve those connections good thank you thank you thank you Tiffany um I think we go out to the ready for us okay
yes e e e okay uh welcome back this is the uh uh regular elect board meeting for March 18th 2025 um let's start off with the DPW
public right away discussion and who's going to I'll kick it off okay all right get afternoon everyone Aron Commissioner of Public Works and we are here this afternoon to provide you with an updates and recommendations about the public right of way
um last year let me just say so um because we got the materials just yesterday we're going to vote next uh next week okay but you know we want want to hear all the preparation that you need
we'll provide provide each we have a lot of slides and some of them I'm going to go through quickly but they are all available kind of not only in your pocket but we put them on our website as well um under a sort of full page we'll let you know what we have but a lot of
information we' put out there for the public uh regarding the public right of way so in 2024 um the select board requested that the Department of Public Works evaluate its approach to Pavement management Rehabilitation develop a system that's
clear transparent and Equitable um and optimizes the town's investment intive way and in advance of this um we had presented to the board um to the Transport ucation Board many done a conditions assessment we looked at the um deteriorating conditions the roadway
and shared that given the current model given the policies and given the investment on a trajectory to continue in Decline um recognizing the urgency of these issues the select board set a strategic goal to improve the conditions of perance roads by ensuring that
essential maintenance and asset management are conducted promptly and inefficiently and so today we have a proposal for you um our plan in terms of how to move forward um we're proposing to implement a structured datadriven Transportation Mobility plan with Asset
Management as its foundation and aligning all of the associated policies uh this approach prioritized projects based on clear metrics including cost benefit analysis safety enhancement user volume and will significantly streamline
the management and maintenance decisions So today we're going to provide um just an update on um industry best practice and what we are doing in terms of targeting Road segments using the greatest cost benefit value um we are going to talk about the
condition of the current road of the the current condition of the roadway uh our program work history and fiveyear CIP and then policy updates that will prioritize responsible Asset Management um complete streets and sidewalk work
based on funding capacity service level and need and then prioritization of traffic caling Based on data uh just s quickly um the overall pavement condition as noted in the memo has decreased uh in recent years and
construction costs are escalating significantly um compounding um kind of the urgency of getting the asset um under control and do it more um with maintenance management of the roads the public expectation I think as we have
all heard around bicycle infrastructure um and traffic cing are increasing and this data driven approach couldn't be um more important the goals are to strategically improve our roads and sidewalk conditions accommodate
users of all ages and abilities implement this datadriven approach and also establish a unified and cohesive policy framework which is critical um for managing the public right way and just sort of to start us off with
the road Network itself our current PCI um that's a rating it's based on 0 to 100 in terms of the pavement condition index is 6.15 in 2020 it was 71.6 to we are uh scheduled to do another um
assessment this summer to see what the PCI is and um our plan is based on looking at um the PCI the type of meet events required and volume uh and we break out the number of miles and the
average PCI we have this um for every Road in town it's been assessed it's been given a numerical value that's available on the website can I are you question you want to wait till we're done I think we should wait until we're done um so Conrad I'll move it over to
you yeah so uh nice to meet you all oh that was myor so I want to introduce the team this is great team and there are others actually that have been working on um the development of this plan on the implementation of this plan Kevin Johnson is our director of Highway
sanitation F Services my Deputy Commissioner of operations Conrad Ledger and margos Spiller are uh our consultant team from Environ environmental partners with Apex and um have worked with us in developing the the plan but also rolling
out the work and the different type of work very integral to our team um whyly thank you bie Engles our transportation administrator um Jake scarpino you maybe haven't met is one of our uh engineers and manages the roadway um programs
doing a fantastic job and Dan Muffy our director of engineering and transportation thank you I should have introduced introduced yeah I had so exced you got got into it presentation so with that sure uh
thanks uh for allowing us to come in today and um you know I've had the opportunity and the pleasure of working with the community since 2018 so um it's been uh a pleasure working with the community and trying to get this program moving in the right direction to make uh
real improvements in the community um one of the things that I think I think the only thing that has been consistent uh in the community since I started working here is change uh change in policies change in people um and change
in the directive moving forward and and how we're going to approach things and let's face that as humans nobody likes change um change is difficult change is challenging um but one of the things that you get going when you get through some of that initial change as you get
momentum um and I think that is going to be some of uh what you're going to see here as part of the presentation today is that the program and what we put in place with the change in some of the policies and some of the dire IES um we are starting to really gain momentum now
um and you'll kind of see some of that with um some of the results that we show here and then the plan that we're going to present moving forward so I'm going to break this down into kind of three components and with some of the team taking place uh taking part of it but I'm going to kind of give you the framework of of where things are right
now um and this is General asset management practices we look at an inventory and assessment of the overall Network um and then we get into uh uh analyzing that information and getting an understanding of what it means and the approach moving forward and then
presenting a plan moving forward or an action plan or an attack to how we're going to move forward with spending some of the resources that the town has allocated to this program um so with that you know what's up on screen right now is uh kind of a snapshot of the
roadway Network um and as commissioner sh mentioned we started this program back I believe the initial assessment believe in 2019 or 2020 um and what we did was We did an assessment of all the roadways using the latest Technologies
so um that is an assessment we basically grade every segment of roadway from intersection to intersection um and that results in a zero to 100 rating for each of those segments of roadway 100 being a roadway in near perect condition just recently paved and then a zero being
roadway in a really state of district there um on the left hand side here you have have a breakdown of the mileage uh and the repair category that all those segments add up to so uh you can see the total on the bottom the total Centerline
miles of roadway is 99.54% um and what this allows us to do is get an understanding of what the cost would be to do the repair or the rehabilitation that's needed on each of those segments of the roadway some of those costs are in the right hand side
and we've kind of broken down um those uh costs based on different approaches to the roadway and how we're going to repair or rehabilitate those roadways we'll talk a little bit more about the different approaches as we move forward but basically what the town is left with
is a map on the right hand side that shows all the conditions of the roadways red is poor green isn't good um and we also have all the reporting intersection by intersection breaking down and understanding every segment of roadway in the
community um we've also done a similar assessment as of the sidewalk Network as well um this is actually where the program started I believe in 2018 2019 and 2020 we conducted the sidewalk Network assessment um and you can see the overall assessment de that there
were 149 miles of sidewalk and then there's a breakdown by condition as well again this is a holistic look at the RightWay and all of the Assets in it so this allows us the information that we're when we're doing our cost estimating and understanding what roads and what segments we're going to repair
what the condition of the other assets are along with the roads so here you want to talk history I think just to um yeah if you want to go ahead and move forward I think these we're just going to go through very
quickly we wanted all of this to be sort of available as part as presentation that you can see what work has been done between um 2019 and 2024 it's organized in the same format
you can see the type of um treatment in terms of bond wearing corest Rec constructionon overlay um the area the length in terms of milees the cost um expended by the town to get that work done and it's mapped and we can go to the next slide
that is now also available in a dashboard that we have on the website so you can see previous work and you can click years on and off you can look at the type of treatment and then we have that projected for the fiveyear CIP going forward um so uh we also have a
summary in terms of uh expenditures for sidewalk work um and we did have a bump in 2024 uh this was we're we're in the third year this year of a three-year contract uh for sidewalk we also put some of that
money towards um supplies and materials where Kevin has been able to do some of the spot work um inhouse where we have several panels that we need to um replace and um this inventory we are going to update this summer as well um
so we'll have a full new updated inventory on number of ramps the condition of the sidewalk and will continue um to work and so I do want to just sort of emphasize that the sidewalk inventory also looks at every ramp and
the condition of the ramp and so we pull out and do both ramps and sidewalk replacement as part of that contract and then just looking at sort of a summary of our uh work history um to date I think what you're going to see moving
forward is um more work uh Capital planning all right with that as M mentioned we're really looking at having a data griven approach um that is predictable transparent and as efficient as possible um so the Department's
approach to planning future Paving work maximizes the use of the town's dollars by prioritizing Paving based on the cost benefit value that that work provides to the network um so here we are defining the cost benefit value using the
pavement condition index of the roadway the traffic volume on that Corridor um and then the unit cost and the life extension provided by the recommended type of treatment um so this is a quantitative predictable approach that
inherently prioritizes work that is that lower cost preservation work um and maintenance work on higher volume roadways that provide more connectivity value to the community um it also prioritizes work that have those lower
PCI values um prioritizing this preservation work um allows roads that are in good condition to stay in good condition delaying and preventing the need for that more expensive um Rehabilitation or reconstruction work down the
road um but we do recognize that a lot of the roadways in town are already in poor condition um and particularly those lower volume res IAL roads that just would never rise to the top of the prioritization list with this
methodology um so our process also proposes to set aside a certain amount of the CIP funding for lower volume roadways with those lower pcis or the worst offenders um just to make sure that those roadways don't just continue
deteriorating inally um so approximately half a million to a million dollars is proposed to be used for those roads either to perform the treatment that is recommended based on their PCI so you
know if it has a PCI of 40 it would warrant reconstruction or um another approach that we've been discussing is doing a maintenance overlay program which has been very successful in Newton and the intent of that program is to Simply
overlay these roadways that are in the worst condition to act as a stop Gap measure before you know while we are waiting to be able to come there and do the treatment that is actually warranted but it at least slows that deterioration
in the meantime all right um so as already has been mentioned the type of treatment that is identified for a given roadway is based on what the PCI is so this graphic kind of gives typical rules of thumb for what treat are appropriate for
different types of P um there are certainly exceptions to this rule um but this is kind of standard practice so routine maintenance typically in the form of crack cealing um is really just for the roadways that have a PCI of at least 80 um and can keep a roadway that
is in that highest PCI bracket there for about three years um trck ceiling is by far the lowest type lowest cost type of treatment at about $15 doar per square yard um preventative maintenance which has been taking the form of a bonded wearing
course is appropriate for those roadways with PCI is around 65 to 80 um with a cost of upwards of $35 per square yards um so this approach entails a thin about 3/4 inch layer um that is applied across
the entire surface of the roadway uh you might have seen that applied on the western part of Beacon Street last year we're planning it for the middle section of uh in this year um this approach this treatment can be used on roadways with a PCI under 65
it just requires more prep work is required to create that uniform roadway surface before the final Ser um treatment is applied at the end um from there some of the more conventional treatments or Rehabilitation um include
Mill and overlay which is um for roadways with a PCI of at least 45 um and in that treatment a thicker um surface you know about an inch and a half to 2 in is milled off the top of the roadway and then a new layer of
pavement is um added um that treatment's about $95 plus dollars per square yard um and then finally the most invasive and certainly the most expensive option is that major Rehabilitation which is reserved for the worst roadways um and in that situation
the entire pavement box is either replaced or reprocessed to be um in better quality and be able to be reduced um so that is by far the most expensive at at least $160 per square yard and certainly upwards of
that sure um so you know one of the things that we do as part of the payment management process is and ultimately uh what you all want to know is what what is going to happen up to our roadway network over time and that is that PCI projection so what we're showing on
screen here is uh the 2022 model that we put together kind of showing that $5 million will kind of keep the community um at the same level as it would be moving forward um one of the things that we've done as part of the calibration of
the program and one of the things that we've seen since this time is the escalation of construction costs um also some of the the ancillary work that Brook line does when they go and um repave or rehabilitate a roadway such as the sidewalks and the curve ramps and
some of the other um ancillary work that goes with it we want to capture that as part of all of the unit costs so see on the right hand side when we did this analysis back in 2022 you kind of used some standard unit prices um and you can
see that those in the next slides have changed significantly since um the time of this model so this uh second model is uh the proposal that we're we've kind of put together in terms of some of the policy changes that were looking at
implementing um but looking at you know doing the Ada improvements that are needed along these roadways um and making sure that those are completed as part of the process um while also completing the rehabilitation that's needed to improve the roadway Network so
you can see on the right hand side the assumptions and unit costs um so specifically on the minor and the major Rehabilitation jump up pretty substantially based on the differences of what Brook line completes and and what needs to be completed and also the construction cost from 2022 um so you
can see in the first one it was $60 and $100 with preventive maintenance at 20 and then on this new one with calibrated prices for the community it's 35 95 and 160 obviously with that in play um the money doesn't go as far as it it was
intended to in the initial model um and you can see that $5.5 million is now degrading the overall Road Network and now it's taking $7.5 million to be able to keep that road keep that road Network in the same
condition um we also did an analysis to look at if we kept the policies in place as they are and completed all of the complete streets upgrades that are necessary as part of the existing policies you can see on the right hand side there um the unit cost specifically
for minor and major Rehabilitation go to 165 and 225 per square yard and again that can vary from Street to street because of the fact that different streets require different um processes but you can see it jumps from 95 to 160
to 165 to 225 again that same modeling structure with no other changes to the model at all simply just the unit cost uh you can see that 5.5 million now is dropping off significantly over a 5year period um and it's now taking $9 million to complete the same amount of work and
keep the roadway Network um at the same level as it is today so the last uh the last Model that we're showing here is the approach to uh you know try to look at the goal of getting to a 70 PCI um over the next uh
five years and you can see that that number in order to kind of keep that there and also only do the Ada upgrades complete streets is $8.4 million so we can talk a little bit more in detail about the as we move forward great we're now going to Pivot
to the work plan that we've developed based on this um CBB based approach um so we have used this prioritization process to come up with a plan for um work through 2030 um covering over 18
miles roadway within town and as you can see tackling a lot of the highest volume Town own roadways um within the community so these charts here I know the numbers are very small um summarize the amount of preventative maintenance and Rehabilitation work that is planned
for each year through 2030 um with the target overall construction cost of about $4.5 million um each year so while each year has a mix of bonded wearing course overlay and in some years
reconstruction um you can see based on the quantity is that the overall the program overall does prioritize that lower cost bonded wearing course um to make those significant strides in the overall network with the amount of money available um I did want to note that
these tables do not include any of the routine payment work um like track sealing and full dep patching just because those work plans are really finalized on more of a year-to-year basis but in each year a certain amount of funding would be allocated to that more routine payments
um so I have two slides after this that go list out all the roadways plann for each year um so mainly for your reference um I don't want to go through these in detail um it's important to note that while this list is very well
thought out um guaranteed to change at least slightly over the next five years based on unforeseen uh circumstances like emergency utility work um one of the things I just want to mention there to was you know I've I've
worked with over 100 communities in New England on these programs and this is meant to be a living breathing document so every year uh we meet with the team we look at what was accomplished in the fire year make sure that we're recalibrating make sure that a roadway
didn't you know deteriorate a lot quicker than what was modeled in the initial um assessment and make sure that we do an update there so again we we can kind of say that the 2025 roadways are really pretty pretty close to final at this point but the future years they
tend to shift and move between year to year um but these are the priorities as of today all right so aside from all that Paving work uh the department is also utilizing that annual sidewalk funding to reconstruct the highest priority
sidewalks within Town um this slide shows the current unit pricing that's uh used for the sidewalk work which is about $300 per linear foot that's assuming a but wide sidewalk and granite curbing which is the town standard um it's also about $88,000 to reconstruct
each pedestrian program um so the annual funding for 25 and 26 at about 433 and 750 um will focus on the sidewalks identified as being in poor condition based on the
latest inventory um particularly the poor condition sidewalks within 1,000 ft of any school um we're also trying to get ahead of the upcoming Paving work by doing the sidewalk work along that Corridor the prior construction year so
the sidewalks are all ready to go and then the caving work will be the last step of um you know rehabilitating that particular roadway um currently planned improvements to the bike network using the existing funding and the fiscal year 26 funding are also provided here again
for your reference um you can see the efforts include not only quarter improvements but also installing new bike racks and updating the green routes Network plan to guide those future Investments um next intersection
Improvement projects that are currently underway um include the Hammond at Woodland intersection as most of you know it's a high crossi location that has excess pavement and outdated signal equipment so the design is currently being Advanced and will'll upgrade um
the traffic signal equipment and provide safety benefits for all travel modes um and this does align with the larger um road diet that is being implemented on Hammond Street um to reduce travel speeds and improve bike safety in
particular um so construction on that intersection project is anticipated to begin later this year um also underway our improvements to The Pedestrian Crossing at Carlton at Colchester and that's right in the of the recently
renovated Carlton Street Footbridge um this location sees a ton of pedestrian and bicycle traffic um and and you know that specific area it is a mid block Crossing that has limited sight distance and pretty fast moving uh traffic so it
does present a safety concern for non-motorists um so to lower vehicle speeds and improve increase awareness of those Crossing at that location this project will uh install a raised Crossing and those flashing beacons on
either approach um and then other uh projects listed here are the traffic bbing initiatives that are currently underway um so that includes implementation of speed humps as well as 20 m per hour signage and implementation of the safety
improvements that were detailed in the upper Washington Street pedestrian safety Improvement plan and last but not least um this table just provides a snapshot of the various costs that are being
incurred to construct but also plan for and design these roadway and sidewalk improvements um this table in particular just highlights some of the fiscal year 24 to 26 funding um it's not an exhaustive list but again gives you a sense of the level of effort that's
going into the different elements of this program with that I will turn over to Amy to talk through the policy updates all right I'm going be talking through the different policies that will help support us um as we deliver this incredible workpl was just you um that's
a brand new payment preservation maintenance and management policy and then updates to the complete streets policy the traffic calling policy and sidewalk and rant policy the new pay uh policy is written with a goal of extending the life for our roadway assets it allows us to use
mix of different methods preventive methods as well as full depth reconstruction and really everything in between to help us complete this task and the model that was developed by Apex really helps us select the right Road at the with the right treatment at the
right time to be as POS effective as possible um this policy also decouples uh maintenance and capital Investments probably most importantly um while still allowing projects to be coordinated with other goals uh if there's funding
available and If like the public involvement um process has been addressed uh the table to the right you kind see some of the some examples of these U these other goals Vision zero shaky interventions complete streets projects something from the bike plan priorities of the pester advisory
committee uh those types of goals we think that with thoughtful Network planning we can be much more efficient both in with time and in dollars and achieving better outcomes for all users the complete streets policy so the previous policy uh tied complete streets
objective objectives to maintenance projects and that led to uh time and cost inefficiencies because designs need to be reviewed um and there needs to be a public process these things take time and money and in the meantime what we're doing all fulfilling all these um
requirements our roads would start would continue to gr degrade and uh we would just end up spending Limited payment funding um adding complete streets to streets that don't that don't have the highest need that are really just prioritized based on uh payment
condition so our updated policy um instead instead of applying the the comp series policy to all streets equally um it prioritizes those that meet the town goals various Town goals could be mod Shi and multimodal access um improve
safety for bikes heads and Transit users and it also um identify a list of um priority streaks which you'll see in the Box on the right um and that we can use to prioritize our Capital funds these streets have RightWay wi to
accommodate a lot of different features such as separated bike Lanes or bump outs maybe bu shelters all that will depend on you know the context of the street um and it's also either part of or connected to a priority Network for bicyclist andrians or off in a bus route
uh the traffic cing policy so our previous policy was written in such a way that um traffic cing projects were only done uh per request uh not you know driven by data that demonstrated that need uh it also prescribed a very
timec consuming data collection and Analysis process um that to just prove that the requested Street uh needed traffic fing it also required multiple public meetings um to develop a very complex M multi pasting plan that was expensive to
design and to build um and would also take a lot more time so all these things end up resulting in a huge backlog of requests we just essentially were not able to uh follow the policy and work through these requests faster than they were coming in so the new policy um
instead uses existing data sets which honestly were not available when the the first policy was written to streamline the analysis and of requests and um identify projects um so being able to move faster this will help us address those that
backlog of requests and also prioritize other streets that have demonstrated need based on the data but may not have a request associated with them um additionally we can uh we will be focusing on quick build improvements that are low cost to design and install
and that'll further speed up the process uh the policy also takes another look at the um public engagement process and makees sure that is right size to the public commun by meaningful input but that were not s to a huge number of
meetings looking at the table to the right you can kind of see some uh statistics of the current uh chapter calling program So currently there's uh 36 requests on our list covering 32 different streets obviously there's been some double requests um covering about
15 miles of roadway in the town the existing un unobligated funding and traffic fing plus the as for f26 is a little over $400,000 we estimate very considerably um at about $122,000 per speed HP saying
about 30 or 300 fo spacing we get about 36 speed HPS on roughly two miles ex Street for reference our last traffic calling project that was completed on Beverly Road cost over 100,00 more than that and only covered half the
miles less than half the miles Palm Street so we're getting more for our money with this U this will just kind of show you the breakdown of the process again we're using data to identify eligible streets looking at the entire roadway network not necessarily basing on um basing it
on a request and then prioritizing those eligible streets using multiple data STS including the presence of requests we still want to honor those um then we um identify the streets that we wanted form projects on and make turn them into adjacent streets to form like kind of
our clusters that not U putting speed HS on one street and diverting the Speeders around to the next street um and we designed uh we come up with a plan based on the Clusters bring that to a public hearing and and ports will um be giving the Butters and the and the requesters
if there's one that they can full public input on those projects and the last policy is the sidewalk and Grant policy our previous approach meant that sidewalk work was driven by pavement
condition we talked about before um not need for sidewalk improvements so we've had dedicated sidewalk funding but the prioritization of it the actual work was suboptimal with this new policy it decouples the sidewalk prioritization from pment work meaning that sidewalk money is now spent where it is needed
most um in areas of high pedestrian use condition where there's poor conditions of sidewalks and ramps um and other priorities the public has let us know about just near schools or Nal areas things like that um Ada ramps programs are still
brought up to compliance the payment work that is the law um sidewalk work can be also be done ahead of the payment work as Maro mentioned um all this just takes adequate planning which I believe you can do with these policies this graphic here just shows kind of by
the the nature of sidewalk repair maybe it's a panel here a panel there block at a time um this is driven by so I'm working together to create a fully accessible Network and finally um all of these policies uh updates and new will work
together to create a p Management program that is more structured and predictable um that is more cost efficient so that allows us to combine uh work and goals when feasible um and that prior ases Capital funding to address multimodal safety and connectivity goals it also makes sure
that this spending is as Equitable as possible and finally um it creates a process that's transparent and easy to understand for the public to consume well that's commission it up great all right and actually you can go ahead we just have a couple more slides if you
want just Advance this next one so um we do have now a um dashboard as I mentioned so information on on the town's website you'll go to um Department of Public Works engineering Transportation you go to the the projects page and you can go to the
pavement um Management program it's actually Brookline pavement management preservation program you'll see this presentation uh the the full pavement uh condition report um listing all the roads alphabetically uh we also have a
map um so you can see the condition in the roadway treatment um we have our 2025 plan for roadway construction multimodal safety improvements we also have the roadway moratorium um listed on there as well so you can see the roads
uh that are under the fiveyear moratorium we have our um fiveyear P Paving plan and then I mentioned the dashboard which is you know a uh GIS map where you can click on and off um the roads the year the type of treatment Etc
uh the repair category of the road um next slide so want that information to be available to the public we want this program to be really clear to be very transparent um construction season is here we have a a really Rob robust
lineup of uh work that we're excited to get started on uh for this construction season we are going to keep shape very busy but we're in good hands there um these four policies that we've discussed are really important to the success of
this program for the town in essence um the policies were kind of working against each other in terms of um overall asset management and maintaining the roadway in good condition um is is directly related to safety through all
modes we also want to be able to maintain the sidewalk in good condition and be prioritizing that based on where there's the greatest need um so that's what these policies um will do uh we have the one new policy the other three
are frankly just amendments and updates that allow us to do that but doesn't take away from the importance um that's outlined in each of those policies and with complete streets um what we'll do is we'll be prioritizing our complete Street um work
so that where we are implementing complete Street um it's justified in terms of the cost and the process uh and where we'll have the biggest um gain for the for the community uh and then funding as we go forward is going to be really important so I think as we
demonstrate um what we're able to deliver um with the change in um the update in the policies and this approach uh more and more we're going to want to U make sure that we are improving the overall condition and implementing uh this policy uh and this
program so I think with that and I think that was the the concluding next steps we have an appendix that you have we don't need to go over that but it lists sidewalks it lists the roads it just provides you some data so you can actually see um some more information uh
you know you can see how much of the road Etc we also were tying a lot of this to metrics so that you can see what the square yardage cost is and what you'll be getting uh in terms of our deliverables so are we anything else we want to want to add on this now so that
that's our proposal that's that's where we are we think that we're positioning um the town in a very advantageous way going forward and we welcome your questions sorry I should say that for those of you who don't know I'm a
refugee from the Transportation board so I know I know you know that these some couple these folks perhaps don't um I have two comments and three questions um one comment is I very much appreciate the work at Colchester and cartton there's a fight bicycle there in case
some was killed uh and in a bike accident and so that's definitely a place where you want to spend some effort appreciate that happening the dashboard is great um I think Paul you and I talked with um commission sh about
this uh some concept some time ago it's wonderful to see this come forward and to see this stuff be available to the public that's going to be so useful to to you as well as to to us and of course to the to the public okay so my
questions um one is uh we have a vision zero policy that's been put together there is pretty clearly an opportunity for integration uh between what you're doing here and vision zero and that's
that you're aware of that just okay good um the second thing is the coste effectiveness of bonded wearing um course the the the overlay versus um
Mill and overlay uh if it's $35 or so U per square yard uh and it last eight years for the bonded wearing course versus $95 and something the last 12 years a very simple-minded math says
well one cost you $44 440 cents a year the bonded um wearing course and the other cost you $8 a year why would you choose the more expense I'm sure there's a reason but why would you choose to Mill and overlay when you in a
circumstance where you might instead save money in the long term using the bond of Warehouse start us off so I will say that where yard price planning price is based on applying Bond wearing course
to a roadway that has a PCI of 65 to 80 okay as I mentioned if you apply that treatment to a roadway with a PCI of 50 that should be m in overl the square yardage price will be higher so you have to do a lot more crap work for it to be
so you have to it you so you don't necessarily have to you have to do extensive patching car sealing that sort of stuff okay yeah all right that's um that's that that makes sense thank you um the last thing is um we have
talked to very times when we give uh utilities the the uh permission to dig up the street um the the condition that they put it back in uh is is sometimes problematic and I know we have this conversation
about uh at uh um where where has been repay west of Washington Street there a place where we just gave them a permission will further anyway
wherever it is um what can we do more broadly to get utilities to to do a better job of putting things back together is any way to TI you tie them up with some kind of promise or funding ahead of time or first thing we're
trying to really coordinate with the utilities to make sure that we know all their plans and put that into the program and make sure that we're behind them they come in and do their work and we come but it's not always 100% possible because things come up with that and um but again this is fall after
the work's done you know if it's particular if it's world it's been newly repair we're going to want curve to curve and you know full restoration big large limits not just through a trench okay so we'll do that and it doesn't work out it doesn't look right or it
doesn't settle right there's a problem we make them come back and fix it but there's no way to get funding from them so that we can get the work done on our own to make sure that it meets our standards guess we could we talk we did some high talk all
that but typically we have them do the work yeah then we own the problem that's exactly so once you we did actually were going to do that on high and the price they were getting and then the unit the price that we had made it so that it it wasn't worth us actually taking the
money and then taking the responsibility for their attention yeah okay National Grid is just done s made such a mess uh and their patchwood is not great they always do a quick patch yeah I appreciate they don't
always back but it's the coming back that you know like what what decade will coming back and I I wonder though if some of those other patches end up not necessarily being red but it's the kind you know it's the the contractor for the
development and we have a very aggressive perate inspector um that really does stay on top of uh National Grid on ever Source we're meeting with National Grid actually tomorrow morning to talk about the
restoration of Washington Street um and they have work to do there oh yeah uh obviously and they're not done with there they still have work to come back and do and them to finish up in the village but we want them to do at least to Cyprus um for restoration
right away so anyway we it it is very frustrating it's frustrating for us um and you know we're running that balance between we are very clear with what our program is and then um we get some of
these sort of curveball sometimes from the utilities but it's all it's either associated with emergency work or associated with critical service to areas that the community needs and so um we have said no many times on work that we're like that can't happen here you
need to try to find another way and come back um but but some of it um you know ends up being critical work for them to do and just think about the impact on PCI and all those patches that that's right do okay well yeah a couple quick
points um first thank you for the presentation lots of detail um when you were mentioning the dashboard on the website I tried to find it it's not the easiest thing to get I mentioned that if we could put a big button on just you
know simple it was very it was very hard to Comm to it um uh the second thing is utilities I agree with I'm so I'm going to skip that in the presentation it's mentioned um to meet the multimodal and mode shift
goals what are our multimodal and gold shift goals are it specific or is it just shift I mean uh some of them are to come like we're doing the I should say the bike Network plan so some of it will be decided there um from using the green
routs uh current greenout plan as a base Point um and then mod shift I do believe it was there was some mod shift in the previous climate action plan um and there's a war article from several years ago as well that definitely so I guess I
guess thank you for that um I think I'm specifically looking for either Lane miles or the locations or like very specific so we know what's ahead of us for mode shift and you know what does it cost to there cost to shift so I think
some of that could also be um we are doing like performance metrics as part of the vision zero plan and those metrics have have to be decided so some of that could be captured there um that's something the we get add to the dashboard um we want to quy you put that
out there I also I think that the green routes um the sort of master plan that the town this year is going to um really de hard look at and look at it in terms of feasibility will um be a public process come through the transportation
board and will help understand really what is that Network what does it look like what are the land miles and then what are the priorities um so that we can all talk about that and understand that together a couple questions so one of them you met talked about traffic cing
quests are those premised in accident data to what extent is accident data a part of what prioritizes a certain Street or leads to traffic common proposal the
request is lit just a request um the previous policy required like them filling out you know whole form and stuff like that we're kind of doing going with that and more or less just takeing email um describing the situation consider that as a request no more signatures um but once it's once the request has been made or if we
identify the street Based on data that is eligible and and worthy of um traffic ping crash data is certainly part of the of the equation there's a whole bunch of different U data points that we uh kind of score each Street on and that's how we decide the priation is that crash
data publicly available and a digestible man or somewhere uh sort of yeah like yeah there's the M website that um s for crash analysis tools there's a little bit of a learning curve to them um but yeah that data is available we also
cross checked with um the police office if we need more information about because the mass data is not uh super um uh detailed as far as like a written crash report like what actually happened is that crash data a significant component of the calculus around what
are prioritized or squarely around PCI no no not PCI is not involved at all yeah um so it's it's Crash data it's l use like a a street that's near a school will have more than one that's not um have tons of PL uses in there um we look
at sensus data so like since tracks with zero car households that's also a point the existence of request a point and verifying speed important sometimes those are perceived um problem in terms of speed
yeah yeah we have like a basically big data that right now street light we looking into some others as well that captures speed of going by using cell phone data um so we can get kind of like the 85th percen percentile 95th percentile of each Street all right and
my other question was around the discussion about the sidewalk Network so heard a fair amount about sidewalks in various states of dis repair and prioritizing where ramps are located but what about sidewalks that don't yet
exist and how does that factor in because especially in in this part of town that we're in there are many that don't even have a sidewalk at all at least on one side and is that at all part of your analysis those those need to be new
CIP projects like a full like new sidewalk for whatever street it is that's it's an expensive um it's an expensive Capital project so we need to start
incorporating specific neighborhoods or roads um where sidewalks may be needed and program that into the CIP I just I want to start by saying thank you um and I I can't say thank you
enough I mean um I everything that I heard today sounded so right to me it just sounded like we're we're embarking on something new that is going to and and I I hope you will help us understand
how new this is I'll interrupt my question to just say can you just sum up for those watching and for those who are going to be introduced to this in the future what is the difference between the way we were approaching the maintenance Street Maintenance needs
until now and the way we will approach in the future so I would say probably historically it was just done with sort of some a bit of political whim and and
um phone calls and you know some certainly some assessment by um the engineering team but that was kind of what was making up the work each year and was very small amount of funding that was actually going into the roads obiously there's been a significant lack
of investment in the public right of way the current condition is problematic but no matter what it is going to take us time to get us to a place where we overall have a better improved condition
but following that you know we had the overall conditions assessment and we're looking to um use that to make decisions this cost benefit value then drives where we can get the biggest bang for the town bar it's not always you know
it's looking at volume it's looking at number you know kind of vehicles per day and where we're going to get the that best value but what was happening is that because of the policies we have in place we would get that and then we would need to do a full complete Street analysis we would be then looking
at sidewalks and then maybe areas where maybe one of those roadways doesn't have a sidewalk but now we're designing a full new sidewalk we're doing bump outs who might be living at a bike lane and it's becoming a multi-year project because you know all of those you know we have limited amount of space in the
public right away people have different wants so in instead of just managing the asset we were now actually fully changing the geometry and in an extensive um process that became um very cumbersome for staff
very expensive and was diminishing the amount of work we could actually get done while their asset continue to deteriorate so now by decoupling this we will continue with the cost benefit value model for the the roadway condition but complete streets will be
evaluated on their own Merit so we can prioritize those based on the their own Merit along with sidewalks you want sidewalks to be in good condition uh as well as the roads um well will complete streets in uh going forward um always
imply uh a grant seeking process that that becomes part of the delay and then actually not necessarily no I think I think there are different um sort of there are different different
interventions you can um do with complete streets uh not all of which require the level of um change and investment uh that is being contemplated exactly on Washington Street I think
that's a great example so Hammond Street um is uh going to be a road diet uh really done with um some bards we have the new signal that you know is going in but other otherwise if we're um doing a bonded wear course um some Ballard and
striping and we're able to uh we think make significant improvements by doing that part that that project so much less expensive and and given um the uh levels of
annualized uh maintenance and repair and uh replacement projects that are already annualized in our oute how much of an increase are is this going to mean for us to try to come up
with additional monies in our out or or does this assume we can actually do it with the money we already have kind of in our fiveyear plan for annualized spending on that road was current dollars or is thatting that's all current dollars it has a little bit of a
uh um add-on per year in terms of percentage um increase but it's it's basically on today's dollars so it depends what happens with the construction industry and those costs um again that's why this is a living breathing document we want to make sure
that we updated on an annual basis to be able to kind of forecast that out for the future yeah okay I I didn't hear the phrase quick bill used in this presentation is that in our language for out I think for for the speed humps that
would be quick build okay yeah yeah okays are a pretty quick build you Bas more or less base them on a detail construction detail you don't need like a full design to do them um there's other quick build materials we're looking at for traffic Bing yeah I've seen um communities where they apply
quick build as a description of this project which is a road you know reconstruction project is going to be a quick build project it'll start in March it be done in you know August um are we at that level
[Laughter] nothing significant Improvement but still a lot of you know a lot of time and work has to go in you still need some you know we still need survey data when we're going out to do this work so we need to do that planning it needs proper engineering everything goes out
to bid um and then we're biding that and we're also um it's quicker bu it's quicker build I think that's yeah well I just want to thank you again I think the people in Brooklyn are going to be so um delighted uh when
they fully grasp that we have something new here in many different dimensions that's going to make our road maintenance programs very understandable and give people a lot of Hope their streets will eventually get
get done yeah yeah question um so again thank you um it is an amazing change I know it's all data out so one of the things that we started with originally was complete streets kind of being a barrier to road maintenance and that you
fix that by decoupling uh but still there could be a street that's targeted for complete streets treatment but you're not going to get to it for five years and it's still needs some love what is the extent of the love that you can put into a complete Street a named
complete street that isn't going to be you know get the full treatment you can still do a bonded we can you do a bonded bonded wearing course we L could be depending on the work that is to come we might be doing a Mill and overlay okay and I think that's important so if somebody sees that their street is on
the complete streets list it doesn't mean that the road they're going to be driving down the rocky road for the next 10 years that's right the road is still going to be maintain yes and and and improve until a full complete street street that's right and we've really sort of shortened that window so that we
are looking at this in terms of asset management right so want to chim in quickly since we were talking about complet streets and vision zero I think one really good example we've been talked about yet is one of the roadways planned for this year is Chestnut Hill Avenue which is on the complete streets priority Network and it's also on the
high Injury Network for the vision zero plan so that Corridor based on PCI was flagged for a millon overlay but as part of that Paving project we are using earmarked uh Vision zero funds to put in
flexi posts for a new bike lane and race median Islands to improve pedestrian safety so you know that there's significant uh neighborhood opposition to what's going on there we Community to to get through a plan that everybody can so some
work process is continuing okay anything else any other questions great thank thank you very uh we have workk little homework um so what you have you have the the the new
policy and you have the red line sort of track changes and the clean copy for both complete streets and for the um sidewalk and Grant policy and then you have the clean version of traffic ping because it's so much simpler and before
was um a little bit more of a process it wasn't really a policy so that'll be stream what will you need from us on on Tuesday are you just going to do the vote I think we're ready to do the vote I mean the um I you we have this
material it's the same thing that was in the packet um and I think that uh I just think we need time to digest you know a thi packet like this before we vote not necessarily because we don't have ability to vote you know but you know we
need to be able to explain to the community if issues come up and what what this is and you know how it affects yeah no of course just let me know what you may if you need anything is it does she does eron need this level of uh of Team support next week no no I don't
think so I think I think the other the other part of it is probably worth stating uh that which is that we want people who follow the proceedings of the select board to uh get a u a sense that we actually do pay attention we have read this stuff in advance and they
were're not rushing anything to U toote yeah great uh we just had a circumstance where we had a misunderstanding of the fact that we in fact had gone through that all of that uh so it's important for us to have that little bit of a window to but we do have questions we
should send them to you ahead of time in case you need to bring it's a Paul's Point how do we find the that so you will go to uh and I think what we're gonna we're going to revisit the homepage so I think that we can reorganize the buttons and it'll be
right on front but you go to the the DPW website yeah engineering and transportation yeah and you go to projects that's at the top is it current projects you can actually you go under projects and then pavement maintenance and preservation program should be a new
one listed on the bottom so I see construction projects I'm not sure I see projects design projects constru which maybe so she she they know they need it needs yeah yeah absolutely yeah
yeah um not a problem I we were actually talking about that earlier today that it's a great page we now need to organize the whole website so you can get to the information that we have there great thank you to get to the Department should be a big button on
the Chad you do the real committee or but I mean maybe best we kick it off here and talk to talk to what the impetus for this was um I just want to thank one Cara for Cara did the yeah one coming back after
the morning um not being frightened away um and to really putting this charge together this came out of an idea that came up when um um part of the myi school at Clark Road came on sale um and
at the time you may remember there was Community you we had been renting that building the schools have been renting that building for some time time well we opted not the schools opted not to renew their op for the lease and the school the my moning school decided to sell the building um the building has been sold
the new developers are um meeting with the community to determine what's going to happen to that building but at the time there was um kind of a a a community response from certain members of the community basically said why isn't town by this building um couldn't
we use it and I think as we were talking through that we realized that it really doesn't benefit us to be so reactive to um a the fact that a property comes on the market um we really should have a
better understanding internally about what we have what we're doing with it in terms of real assets and whether or not what our needs are um so that when things come on the market we have a sense of what we need and we can be proactive in that regard but also so we
have can have an understanding of if we are if we have assets that we're holding on to that we can dispose of or otherwise make better use of we should be analyzing that too um this goes all the way back to the issue um right here
um nearby with the um single family houses that we now rent out um from L Anderson from L Anderson yeah um you know at the time you know members of the board asked if there wasn't a higher or better use for those properties and we
had not done that kind of analysis of you know what what we had what we were renting out we were using um so now the building department has done that analys that initial analysis of what do we own what are we doing with it um and now we'd like to take the next step which is
to form a committee a standing committee to address how the town deals with the property it owns the real property it owns so sorry sorry okay go ahead um I I
myself whack enough I remember um so that but I'm glad you brought up the the the single family homes and in leasing I think to to a country club um and we were going to get
that inventory to the board that we now saying that can we see that or absolutely I mean that would be great to see that there was a question about how many do we have how are they being used um and so on and so forth I'd hate to have to wait till a committee but noest that we will get that to you my second
question is about membership um I see it's very specific one former select board member why um why would be that we' be that specific um as opposed to two you know a
memb appointed about the select board or two commity I see there's two members here one additional member and then one former select board member um I'm just curious about why it's that Pacific in two I I would rather see the select board be able to appoint two members from the community to this committee so
I think the idea behind a former select board member is that you want historical knowledge you want continuity of knowledge across different iterations of the board um and the thought there being that presumably a former select board member is going to have so as a future
for select board member I just wanted wanted to say I had nothing to do with this yeah I mean an example would be uh there's no one on board except me went through the uh Bin situation and there we bought a condominium unit and didn't
really have a sense of U you know what we would do with it once we was determined that we didn't need it for the school so this policy would um would give us some guidance in situations like that I agree with Paul though I think there are a lot of people who would have
that historic knowledge whether they serve on the select board or not I was on the school committee at that time I'm aware of what happened but I'm not saying it should be former school committee either but just that there is a broader base of people who can fit that criteria yeah well I think also
what they're thinking about is someone who is going through the process of struggling with the struggling with with the issues that come up when when we have properties that um you know that become available or looking at it's more than just you know knowing what happened
just really knowing what process that the select board went through in order to come to the conclusions that it came to maybe maybe not back okay is a is a potential future former select board member at least the
room for that purpose so yeah so um I so I my my suggestion is on membership is that you that there I'm fine with a member of the select board who may serve as cheer uh a building
commission member Community preservation act member advisory committee member I would I would like to see the select board then have two appointees that they could make um and if and if the select board at that time chooses to use a former select board member because you
know they they choose that institutional knowledge or historic knowledge and that's fine but I wouldn't want to be limited um and I had a former select board member call me and say hey uh who who who are they thinking of and I said well maybe they're thinking of you and this person said well I can't
do it because I'm conflicted so I I would I I think it's too specific and I'd rather to see the board be able to appoint two members of the community and let us decide and deliberate as to who those two people are just counting I think it might be three members of the community then well
there's you have uh you have one former select Bo that would be a member of the community and then you have one additional member oh okay I I didn't hear you say that you agreed to the planning board member sure okay okay actually the other thing I would say is that yeah you know the boards and committees can certainly recommend
members to you but it's ultimately your decision I think one of the most important things about this is that we are one I think one of the instit one of the institutions that functions best in this community is the building commission because it has long tenured
well-respected neutral very strenuously neutral um um volunteers on staff who are very knowledgeable about the they do and take that one very seriously so that when they make a recommendation or a decision
people know that it's not based on you know uh their interest in the particular project or anything else it's about all that work and that's the kind of standard that I set on this board is a similar sort of you need you need folks
who are both you know interested in the work but also um carry that sort of Community reputation so that when a recommendation is made particularly if the recommendation is no you know that people understand and are okay with that
and aren't then pushing to go past this board say oh I know you said no we should really buy this well and chess is the is the is this committee making this committee is making recommendations to the select board corcept corre ultimately your decision yeah or you know depending on what it is can be
Town's decision right John um so is this aimed at both uh disposing a property and potentially acquiring property yes it is um because a couple of things uh develop general
policies for acquiring new property we don't have a policy right now or or a [Music] disposing we even have a list of the the property that we would love to grab if they were to come on the market we have
no priority well well well Paul's question actually kind of gets gets to what what what troubles me a little bit about this and it's not anything that you know and we can control necessarily if you identify a property as being of interest to the town for acquisition the
price probably goes up if you identify a property as being disposable by the town um you know who who knows whether you know at some point somebody's going to say say it sounds like you guys are pretty desperate to get rid of it I'll offer you 50% off the assess value you
know whatever um how do we do this in a way that is uh smart um in terms of you know getting a good deal when we sell and getting a good deal when we buy um I think she's yeah she was about
answer yeah so um we do have a list of properties that we own we also have a um aging but still very relevant strategic asset plan which does not say these are the types of properties we want to buy specifically but more in Broad strokes
and there's also the major parcel study which says here are a bunch sites just based on siid that we know about so we kind of have the the SK you know the skeleton F worth of that but I wouldn't recommend that in committee would start by saying you know talking for six
months about a property want dispose or specific property want buy I think doing these other steps first you know as George pul says make sure you don't already have the property you need you know things things like that that these experts in Real Estate Management know how to do um then you can get to a point
where you're ready to go into the executive session because you're talking about an interest in my property that's one of the specific reasons to go in session so I think there's ways to manage that but I think having professionals that do this you know day
and a day to be very helpful m I think I was going to say something similar that Cara just said that having it in Broad Strokes about the type of property might want to acquire and to serve what purpose without being so specific as to say it must be this one because I absolutely agree with you
that's going to create uh disadvantageous market conditions for the town in either direction whether it's for acquiring or for selling uh I am very excited to see this uh committee being proposed we had discussed something along these lines at the
summer workshop I do think it's uh something incredible important uh so I certainly moving this direction even if we're suggesting maybe a different type of membership yeah is this a a working group or is it a a group subject
to it's a normal spb committee they would be subject okay so a lot of this would be discussed yes but to yes to to both of your points yeah this is a this it's it's all the more important why we have General policies and procedures and place so that it's not an immediate Oh
we must have this building it's so we find that this thing meets this need that we have we recommend submitting a bid on but it's not you know we have to have this specific building um and you know people understand you know the the reality is when we the last time we
bought something big with Newbery right we it was a protracted negotiation process really kind of a dance and we got what we got which is half of the total um to have total site um only after contracted negotiations um so I
think you know we definitely don't want to be in a position say we need to have this or we need to get rid of this but that's why having policies in place avoids that outcome because it's not about the specific parcel it's about what the community's needs are just to that point to give a somewhat concrete
example and Regina's not here but something that's dear to her heart is a park for Precinct 16 because uh the baker playground of course has been used by the schools during certain hours and in thinking about where to put a park in
precin 16 sometimes people say well why not why doesn't the town buy a couple of houses turn that into a park so that's an example of what could be discussed without identifying what must be these two houses yeah um I'm
sorry well uh I I think the examples from the past are kind of interesting and and instructive um uh one one of them that I'm I'm aware of and I think others might be aware of it is there were people who thought we should have been involved actively in um trying to
acquire the pine manner property um but I'm not sure we ever stood a chance poison that water well but given given the way that BC is very Adept and agile
and um and also rich and yeah and determined to expand um they they were in the game way ahead of any opportunity we we learned about it when we read that BC was going
to fire right well well okay you're saying that's not true no no a couple things happen we have conversations with the major Parcels owners fairly frequently we had more intense conversations when we went in the gas
plan what we saw unfold both at Newberry and P Manor is because of the state's objective that when there are students going to a school that they aren't just left out you know in the the cold and so the state's process of doing that is
working with the school as they closing and saying what is your plan where are these students going next year so both the case of Newberry and Pine Manor what that means is as another institution has
basically process much much they will be the first okay okay well and there were people too who were sort of agitating we should use our imminent domain powers to step in very aggressively that situation
now yeah Prime man brings up another issue that this committee should be um uh task with and that is you coming up with a way in you can address in case it's my matter um BC and see if there's
some way in which we could do either a friendly domain or an acquisition or some something uh for part of their parcel part of that parcel that they're not using for example I always make the joke that great place for a swimming
pool because it's already wet and that was one of the issues we we ran into when we looking at for school so I think that that is a useful purpose to the committee and I also would like to advocate for um a former select board
member and I give the example of how we have been using dick Banker right former select board member who not only you know knows a lot but has you know typ from understanding of history of how select board has uh functioned in the
past has been very I think it's been very very useful and we don't normally think about that so maybe putting it in the in the chart be a useful way of doing of it would be a useful thing to do although I'd like to know what um
what Chad is thinking was when he U put together that that's um I personally don't feel strong on keeping that or not that came from what we did with a strategic asset plan and it happened to be a great group of
people that working really well together to get that done um the idea of it though came from Charlie sunon who he's been you know saying in his way for decades that what the town really needs is one of these one of these one of these and he you know it's this kind of
hallway pitch um to have a a people that can move quickly and that are very coordinated and have that knowledge to be pass I think one potential way to bridge this divide would be to suggest someone
who has deep institutional knowledge of the Town its boards functions and then an EG former select word so that it doesn't have to be but it's mentioned as encourage perhaps because we dick Bena might not always be
available well NE Neil was very Neil was moderator select members whose career paths after select board and flip them out so we be limiting this to two or three people realistically and so I think encouraging it is one thing but
making it mandatory okay I I personally I think that it should be somebody who is either a former select board member or a former advising Comm well so so the thing is let's when we get into the discussion well I just I just following
on what David said I think that that you know we we are very good at interviewing um assessing and appointing committee members I think I think the select board's proven that they can do that work um without significant
limitation um and I you know if if we think that someone of B Bank his capabilities is is the person to point that we're point you know without without without naming you want to put his name in the chat an example we have used a couple
times in Rec past so but you know I'm willing to go with David's suggestion um you know but I think we really should think about how do we make use of the knowledge and experience of people who have sort of molded out of the orbit of
town government advis many people being can you just s around the natur list to all of you properties that we' been put it in public I mean something else that I think this committee would probably discuss is also how to try to
move away a little bit from almost always going the nonprofit route with major Parcels because we don't get significant tax revenue from that if any any and uh I think we've been shooting ourselves in the foot with that many times I mean there's some really Prime
Parcels that we're getting no Revenue so are we voting on this charge or Bernard if we're going to vote on it I would like to make a motion in the uh in the agenda that we're voting we always have have that um we have discussion and possible vote so you may
vote on it yeah you want to vot on it with that amended language we can we can if that's the will of the board we can take out this uh select board member but put in language like David requested for example um instead of so strike a former select
board member and that um a member with deep institutional knowledge of um town uh ored processes right and it could have an EG yeah former select board former advisory committee yeah so that we have the idea of what we're looking
for with that but I'm not absolutely B to it and just so we have a clear understanding because I realize in me a mistake on the agenda I didn't change the title of it but this would be the real asset property board and not the real asset strategy committee which is what I accidentally put in and to be
clear it's the select real proper maybe we the appointing I didn't get that in the beginning I thought it was staff okay um any other changes to this specifically no
definely okay I move that we approve the real property what are you calling now real property a or board yes select boards real property assid board yes two boards um charge um all in favor and
please indicate by saying hi joh Mich s hi Warren hi I both I okay thank you now next board and commission interview I take it that take it that
Robert Rogers is um on zo yes and I just report promoted Robert thank you hello thanks hello so uh Robert once you introduce yourself and tell us why you're
interested in being a member of the Martin Luther King celebration committee uh hi um yes I'm Robert Rogers I'm in um sort of near coolage Corner uh
I believe MLK day is a very important Day in the year in the calendar uh for honoring the legacy of Dr King um civil rights equality Justice
fairness um community service is often uh part of MLK Day for many people and um like this year there was hosted the event uh this wasn't community service but bringing people together uh the film
Rustin was shown at Co Corner Theater and I attended that um having already attended one of the meetings as a guest and uh I thought it was well run and organized so I kind of have a sense of
how the committee already works I think that's going to be helpful or could be helpful um so yes I just think there's a whole lot that goes into it um would you like to know like personal
background uh sure I just want to let the let the board know that um Robert has attended meetings of the committee and in fact gave us some good ideas and insights um so we appreciate that yeah
give us some background on on yeah personal background uh that you think relevant to this meeting paron uh what I think is relevant I grew up in Memphis Tennessee um I went to all male private
school there that's a side note but uh race relations are still um very much part of the community and um there's been a lot of progress I mean I'm not talking going back in time I'm saying uh
there's been a lot of progress in the city um a lot of churches work together uh African-American churches and white churches um there's uh yeah a lot of diversity in actually a lot of places um
but I'm I left Memphis when I was 17 uh so it's been a while but that's my hometown and I think carrying that with me is uh something that's still present I'm an eagle out too so I did a
lot of community service uh back in the day great you have any suggestions regarding the committee and and its orientation current orientation are ask yeah any suggestions
for the committee yeah well I think it's uh so I went to the two meetings in January was prep for the film Rustin and then the second one was preparation for Black History Month and um I thought
those were well run uh the first the first meeting I had some suggestions um about discussing the film uh I didn't talk in the second one I listened but I thought it was well run
and uh I didn't go to the most recent one Paul did you yeah you know he said something first thank you for uh for your application um and and your interest in this you had said something earlier that kind of caught my attention about growing up in
Memphis and you know uh working um or at least being aware of um how how things have improved and still the work that that needs to be done so you've you've we're not Memphis but you know I think we have some some more challenges sometimes um so I'm curious
somewhat of maybe what Bernard said um how would that experience uh growing up in Memphis and being involved in in I guess Scouts and Eagle scouting and your churches and trying to help bridge the gap and bring people together could you just give an
example of how that might apply so Bridging the Gap I think making sure that uh there's much diversity if possible at a lot of events because I feel like probably white people are over
represented or another way to put that some minorities are under represented at some events and so there may need to be a bigger push in some areas to try to uh get people to attend who might not otherwise be thinking about it I think
that's important okay thank you okay unless there are any other questions thank you and slight board usually makes this decision at a later meeting probably our next meeting um but I appreciate your application to the
committee and appreciate your work that you for the time we spent U with the committee uh at its meetings thank you much excellent okay uh next Center City lot committee
're we're not going to be appointing anyone to the uh Committee of this meeting but next right I I want to say a couple words about it if I may so we we started off with uh a committee of nine people nine
Fs in charge and it was called to my attention that um we had neglected to do a specific Outreach to members of the senior Committee of the senior community um although we do in fact have one
senior on the on the committee mosha Manaka who's a professor at the Transportation Planning at MIT um there's a list of the of the people who are recommended here I I I obviously I had a hand in choosing
this committee from the applicants and uh I think it's a very strong committee uh one of the things that we were very interested in looking at was uh in considering was we wanted people who were capable of being collaborative uh
and uh and uh and willing to engage in a process where there might be some controversy and certainly the sry lot has been investig has been looked at by you know like um the the staff went back to 2000 to look at all the studies of this industry law I can go back a lot
further than that through about 1975 uh and it's um and I'm sure before that um although the lot doesn't go back that much further um so uh we were we recognized that there maybe some uh some
things that are um uh that people want to argue a bit about and looking for people who we felt like could uh could contribute in a positive way to a to an argument I think we really do have that um there are some names on here that you don't recognize perhaps and I don't
didn't recognize until what what we did was take um people who we uh weren't familiar with the staff staff or I and um we interviewed them uh and we had over 40 applications so we had to sort of skinny that down to choose who to
interview inter but we uh interviewed these people and a couple of them um are here on this uh uh this list um Professor Bena and um Alain sa in particular so uh we interview some other
folks as well who are also on list so uh we're proposing to uh talk to Bernard and his suggestion was add two people uh to the committee and to uh seek people who were from the senior community uh
and uh we're having uh one person who um I think is a would be a very good candidate and is I think known to all of us uh and um another person who we don't know as well and we're going to be that person
this coming week okay good yeah is not just someone who's a senior someone who's involved with for example the senior senator other things exactly and understands issues in this case this concern about parking you know and and
the lots are not you know immediately close to the center but it have an impact well I should also say that I don't think there's anybody uh anybody who's uh sensitive to Brookline uh
Brookline issues who was suggesting that that parking disappear nobody in you know I'll say my own opinions nobody's right mind just that can disipar um the question is whether the lot can be at the very least be made more functional
more attractive safer um and then is there anything else beyond that you know should we deck it over with this s um hey it's a great place public transit yeah um so but I am joking uh and but there
is there something else beyond that in a very ambitious way that we might might think about or perhaps not quite that ambitious so that's where the committee seems to be well so my mind goes back to one of the earlier updates from the Washington Street corter yeah complete
streets project and I remember that um I think we ended up specifically asking for the appointment of someone from the senior center that was very sensitive those issues and I think that helped a lot actually and bringing a lens in a perspective to the to the design Review
Committee and that particular person actually ended up supporting uh the complete streets 25% design so I think it's important for that level of representation Str we had applications from people who were involved but we would didn't
specifically try to I try open this is good and as I said we had over 40 applications lot of interest okay anything else um so next
next week we'll have um an additional applicant or additional proposed member and we'll vote is it addition one or two to make is this time limited yes no later
than March 31st six okay okay not time limited when we have to vote no I'm just saying that pretty I'm asking at the last minute does it
have a budget plan Department Plan Department okay um I I guess I'm you know of a moood to say um I really find it useful every time we take one of these votes to have it identified like what it's it's fine to say there's money
in the budget for planning you know in the planning department but how much does it you know take out of that for us to just sort of say yeah let's do another committee here um that'll be working for a year what does that cost
us to to and you know are we going to put any kind of a limit on you know how much is spent on this I'm given that it's not really clear that this is going to lead to there being substantial changes to the Center Street parking lot it could be you know a nice conversation
to have for next year but I'm not sure well it's one we're guaranteed of a result there is a uh um the planning department engaged um Consulting from spec Dempsey which does urban planning yeah uh and recognize the
name uh and partner that he that he's working with is Jeff Speck apparently is not apparently is a nationally known one for urban planning yeah for so that it's not a matter of nine people or 11 people getting together and having nice
conversation we'll have uh some help what are we pay for that we approve the contct you can yeah that and I think you know sure when before you talk about the budget that's something we'll happy to discuss you know one of the big
components of the 2022 over this increase of plan is capacity to be able to take on several projects like this at once um and so you know the biggest the biggest single iron project that plan doent currently is the c one then from there you have a number of other Corridor individual lot projects
Economic Development has smaller disc Street projects that it's working but all of those things add Up's budget and they really do you'll see car prioritization list up on the up on the screen she always says this every year she talks about there are here's what here's what we've been hearing from the community here's what we're doing this
year here's what we have the capacity to do this year and here's probably how much it cost you're not you're not saying that John including in for example a charge for some estimate of what it's going to call sta you know what how many staff people
for example um going to be involved I don't necessarily know that's in a committee charge I think it's something we can definitely provide whatever yeah yeah yeah doesn't Bel I agree doesn't belong to the charge but we should know you so I don't know whether Zach is spending 10% 20% 30%
sign on this but it's would be appropriate for us to know that you know I I really am not being rims about this I mean I I have on my mind that you know we're down the road now on Beacon Street
pral paath project and so far it began with let's engage a consultant to do a RFP or or to do a feasibility study and then the consultant res recommended the
RFP for there to be a design and then the same firm that got the feasibility study ended up getting the design after the design God knows what's next and we're at the same time we haven't yet been given a find cost of
the what what would cost to do a Beacon Street there are estimates in the bar ballpack of $20 million and um people I'm sure are aware that one of the headlines just in the last week is there are unlikely to be
earmarks for a while in future what they call them in Congress when they finally come budget operations um well the the One Federal grant that we got so far was an earmark uh and it was for a million dollars on a
project that we're saying could cost $20 million and and we don't know where the other 19's going to come from at this point well yeah it's true you don't know until you know really uh and until you have the 19 available you're not going to do it yeah it's very simple but they become come self-perpetuating and and
then we realize later wow we ended up spending a lot of money but what's the alternative where do you if you have a concept a plan you know desire and aspiration I i' like to have a little better idea of what we're shooting for here are we shooting for additional spaces for parking we shooting for no I
think I I think I've described it as as making a lot more user friendly safer and thinking about what else might be done um with the lot without again it's not stated in the charge but there's nobody no nobody in this right mind is
going to think about disabling that as a park it's so user friendly right now that you can never find a space but that is that is an issue well no but I mean it's as a parking lot it's really effective it Parks a lot of cars
almost continuously I can usually find this SP John rais is a really good right and what he's raising is when we start something yeah we should know how big it is so if I'm going to hire a kitchen designer I need to know whether I want to spend X thousands of dollars or
10,000 um and I think what and John makes a valid point I've heard it because he's raised us a number of times is when we start something if we're going to spend $5,000 you know is that because in the end it might cost us $50,000 or $5 million and I think it is a reasonable
request always it's it's reasonable you know just remember uh industry Lots is a unique parcel property in town and you know at some point we should figure out you know what is the most effective and
useful use for um and and you that's not always going to start with the with the you know idea as to where we're going to end so I'm just I guess I'm advocating for him whiches I don't always that's question I just also want
to add to John's point if we take another step back and just look overall at all these different plans that are presented toward uh to us that are going to have costs in the end and these studies are not at zero cost and if you added all these various studies and
plans together it might come to a significant amount that perhaps could be allocated another way to have implementation of something that's more immediate so I do think we need to be a bit more costc conscious about uh what is the purpose of the study what is
going to be the scope of what it is we're actually going to do with the results of the study well I think so this is where I think the difference between the Beacon Street Bridal path where there was pretty you know a concept in place the community said we want to look this we want to redo this
in a certain way so that it is more friendly to different types of Transportation it's more you know walkable liveable all that stuff so there was a picture in our heads early on there with this it really is a question Mike said of what do we want
this to look like in the future and when this came before you initially to bring on the contract for the consultant one of the things you raised was can we talk about you know things that are even further a field from using it is parking can we bring housing into the conversation can we do all this is it likely based on what's going to happen
here that we're g to the committee is going to come back with a recommendation you know get ready rid of the parking spaces and build housing here unlikely um but it's possible um and that means that the total potential dollar value of what it is that you're going to be what
what it is they might recommend is unclear and that's where we need to spend money to even know what it so I think there's a difference between projects where we have an outcome in in mind and we can kind of Peg at the outset what we think we're likely to
spend on it versus projects that are really um where where you have to go through the inter process of development before you even know the price tag might be because if the answer is keep it the way it is and paid it it's much less money than if the answer is put a deck on it you know or do something you do
something more radical so yeah so I will say with every one of the presentations we had today and they we saw we had a lot of really interesting presentations um has plan one the erand
presentations um really all of everything that we've seen there has been side consultant every single one uh and you might say God I'm spending a lot of money on Consultants I'm wasting a lot of money on Consultants whatever you wanted whatever you want to choose there are two things that I would say one is
as a former consultant I can say that the chances of getting the things done that we want to have done without that outside horsepower and that outside expertise are pretty limited um if you want to try
and do everything yourself uh either you end up hiring one of the reasons you hire pel is that it's a temporary job and you don't want to add full time you know per the staff for these kinds of things and you don't have the expertise for it so um on I I do want to make sure
that we understand anybody who's sat through all of this with us uh that we understand that that component that having that outside expertise and that outside horse power is vital to the getting anything done right but I think what I think and is a legitimate issue
and I don't know where I'm landing on what things to do we are we are heavily front front loaded on planning right now yes we're doing a lot of planning the system can't absorb all of that planning for execution right so we've got this much planning going on and well frankly
we might have no execution capability depending on what happens next year with a potential expense and revenue study we have constant demand Conant I you can see that when you look at the when your financial plan we actually dropped planning planning's capacity this year
because of that issue when we needed to make budget cuts we said to the planning department unfortunately even if you have the money to do this initial analysis you're not going to have the money to do the work so we have to cut something there's a there's probably some ratio that a dollar spent on
planning turning into budget for the future that if we went back historically and looked there's just a lot of stuff in the front loaded pipeline right now for planning that we can't afford to execute them you also have to remember too that that then the ultimate ultimate decisions tend to come out of the CIP
predominantly you know planning towards onetime sort onetime items tends to then manifest of the CIP which is onetime funding free cash funded Revenue funded in some circumstances Bond funded were necessary um and that becomes a different longterm conversation for one
thing CIP Appropriations carry over so you can do the thing where you're putting money away time after time in order to ensure that when the time is right to actually execute project I mean the Baker tennis courts than the appropriation is from I think 16 um you
know those that so that process is a little looks a little different but you're right that there are also ultimately long-term impacts on operating costs for whatever is completed especially if we own it um that then have to be taken into consideration you are doing a
comprehensive plan which looks for 15 tell anybody you know so so you're you know you're uh you're the Char on something that that has an unknown a set of unknown consequences and unknown cost of the D but it's a perfectly appropriate thing to do and it would be a very inappropriate thing not to do
well well and I'll tell you the reason why I bring this up is I see the next step of the comp plan is actually zoning writing zoning and form based zoning with one money there what we talking about absolutely
z i just add one more not um there's certain amount of planning we do because we have to do because you know I mean I'll never forget being at a meeting of the the hab where they were discussing the housing uh production plan and the consultant starts out by saying the reason you do a housing production plan
is because the state requires you to do a housing production plan the reason I'm sitting on a open space you know conservation and Recreation planning committee right now Master planning committee it's because the state requires us to have and they requirest updated so that planning sure we got to
do it we can have the debate over whether the state is making good use of these plants at some other time um there was an example in this meeting of how by putting the pressure on for there to be end products to show for our planning
and I'm talking about the presentation unbelievably positive presentation by our DPW folks about how we are going to turn this ship around a little bit and start seeing more load work actually getting done as a proportion of the
amount of money we spend on planning to do road work and doing road work okay um and I think we just got to keep that same kind of pressure on and you know when we launch something being very specific we expect there to be an end
product of this and if you don't think that there's enough kind of a consensus around what the end product is going to be we're not going to solve the problem by asking a consultant to clarify our confusion about why what we think we
should do with this sparking lot because they the consultant will propose a plan that's what they get paid to do it might be one that people love and it might be one that people just say we're never going to agree on that we don't have the
money for you wouldn't do anything actually um with this particular uh committee I'm um I've been through uh a lot of a lot of communes looked at you know heard a lot of presentations with this of Consultants
uh and with this particular one um a determined to exercise the strength on the consultant so we come back with something that is uh not going to uh create fireworks in the community and is
eminently doable this is a chess this is a chestn West uh learning experience you're well no CH ches West is a I know that it books messy it is we're making the sausage in
public chest West and so and we really didn't have a lot of choice in that um it is a public process and it is a big very controversial topic uh as soon as you affect you as soon as you talk about building tall buildings next to Sunday's
house they get very upset um but um most of people who live near there are dead yeah that right there but so uh yeah uh this is a little different um this is not a matter of U engaging the
um this is not as controversial I guess at least that's not my intention meant as a compl you're applying some it'll become controversial once we start a littleit going back before start saying okay
okay okay okay um unless there's any other discussion did this briefly I to revisit the prior discussion around the uh list of town assets so I was looking through there and that seems to just be buildings and I understand that's the
charge but I do think it would be useful to also have a list of all Town own properties period whether it's open space or not because I think part of the work of this committee would be to look at what should we be acquiring or selling and having a broader idea of
what we own where helps in that process I will just throw in there is such a list well part and also if you go to the Assessor's website there are certain tracks of lands relatively small that are designated currently as unbuildable
I don't know how true that is but we on a lot more than what was on this list and I think it would be it would be used to see the True full list whether there's a building the 2018 um open space conservation Recreation plan has an complete inventory it's and it's
amazing how much there is there of sites and defined by whether it's a chapter 97 site or not chapter 97 site every playground at every Park you know every open space every SOC yeah yeah the list goes on and on and on it's in it's in
there and it hasn't changed much I mean we're updating the plan now first thing everybody read on is the list is kind of the same yeah okay thank you the meeting