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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the October 28th 2025 meeting of the Cadam Select Board. Please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly hereafter for scheduled and on demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device. If anyone else is recording the
meeting, please notify the chair. Seeing none, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 28th, 2025 signing of chapter 2 of the acts of 2025 extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. Massachusetts
General Laws Chapter 3A section 20 until June 30th, 2027. This meeting of the Cadam Select Board is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the order. A reminder that persons who would
like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number 1508-9454410 conference ID 203 386491 pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda. While this is a live
broadcast and simalcast on Chattam TV Xfinity channel 1072, despite our best efforts, we may not be able to provide real-time access. We will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible. First order of business is to establish
a quorum. Miss Davis >> present. >> Mr. Matters present. >> Mr. Smith >> present. >> Chair is present. Um, so we have four Z. The first item of business is to approve three sets of minutes. The first is a set of minutes. So from October 7th,
2025, do I hear a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Are there any corrections? The chair has several on page um four, second full paragraph.
Um right in the third line from the bottom where it says columns, at the end of that line, it should say a column. Uh on the next page, page five. Um second line from the top in the middle
the word estimate. Strike that and substitute actual bid. Next paragraph. Um last line in the middle of that sentence, the word bids should be changed to bidding. And that's it. I will with those
corrections, I'll call the role. Um, Miss Davis, >> I. >> Mr. Matters, >> I. >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> And the chair says I. That's approved. Next is the set of minutes of October 14th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Second.
>> Any corrections? I have a couple. On page three, first full paragraph, third line, um fourth word in the strike the word 'the'
and um substitute ah with the article A. Um page eight, there's a third paragraph in the bottom. There's something that's dropped there. um says guided with the caveat that it
may not be possible due to the I wonder if it had something to do with the superior authority of the state. If you could check the record and substitute whatever is required there. Um next page at the bottom
the last paragraph before the words roll Mr. Smith made an amendment uh review the recommendations. I think you meant draft regulations and then uh that's it on those. So I'll call the role on that. Miss Davis >> I. >> Mr. Matters. >> Hi.
>> Mr. Smith. >> I. >> The chair votes I. And finally the minutes of October 20th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Um any corrections? I would just like to add at the end
after the vote on page two, the board thanked both Mr. King and Mr. Buckley for applying. >> With that, I'll call the role. Miss Davis, >> I >> Mr. Meadows. Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> Hi. >> Chair votes eye.ai. They are approved.
>> Thank you. Next, public announcements and agenda item requests from the board. Miss Davis. >> Uh, thank thank you, Gan. I just wanted to share some important updates regarding the supplemental nutrition assistance program known as SNAP. Um I'm
serving on the uh anti- hunger task force with the governor and I just wanted to I know that there's a lot of confusion going around about what's going on. There's two changes to SNAP that's happening in tandem. One of them is that there's uh actual significant
changes to the program requ the way uh people are required to uh to um be on SNAP, but also that the funding is slated to be um ending November 1st, which means a $240 million deficit uh
for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And right now, um, there's, uh, a couple of things just to know that, um, the task force is looking for solutions as is. Um, and the food pantries are
stepping up for those that are in need or might find themselves hungry. Um, but I just wanted to let everybody know that the state funded programs for uh family assistance and food assistance like transitional aids to families with dependent children, emergency aid to the
elderly, disabled and children, and the healthy incentive program remain available to help support those households that have those, but also uh residents can still access Wick and school meals. So, we don't know what's going to happen uh with the state um for
there is emergency monies available, but it's not up to the governor to release those funds. It is a legislation uh active legislative. She can move forward with some um accelerated payments to some of the state programs, but for right now um we're sort of in this uh
area of uncertainty. Um, surprisingly the stats for for the Cape are there's a lot of people that are on SNAP benefits that are Cape residents and Chattam residents. So, I just wanted to get that out there if there is any questions. Uh,
I believe the state I mean the county has put together uh sort of a resource uh web page. So, it's capecod.govaccess if anybody uh has any questions or they can contact the department of transitional assistance in Hyannis.
Thank you, Shireen. Very important. Um, any other announcements from the board or agenda item requests? Any from the public? >> Yes, Joan. >> Good evening, Joan Craig. I'm uh here before you as the chair of the traffic
safety committee at the request of the committee. Last week we met and on our agenda we had an item with regards to um the property on meeting house and the future um traffic with regards to that.
And so my request tonight is to ask for a future agenda item if possible with regards to the meeting house road um property uh meeting house road itself with regards to the addition of a sidewalk on meeting house road which by
the way is route 137 perhaps from route 28 to the park area and I have information on that if you would allow me to mention it. Um if you want to give a little background that's fine because this comes from a committee I will put it on the agenda for this board to
consider. Um >> okay. Our comment um is that items are moving fast and before it gets too late. Um we would request this because of safety
issues because we understand that the possibility of not only uh more traffic but more people including students getting on and off buses will be um it'll be a hazardous area. Um we've all
witnessed uh most recently our committee has witnessed um individuals walking on meeting house and um the dangers of doing that when there is no sidewalk. Um
unbeknownst to a number of people including some people that uh go to our meetings and probably yours um Route 137 is not a state road. It is a town property. Um, it is my understanding also that our public works director had
hoped that with the construction happening that included in that construction would be um sidewalks and that was negated by the individuals he was speaking with that there will only be a path from that property to the bike
trail. is we feel strongly that something should be done with regards to the safety factor on Route 137. >> Thank you. Um I I assume the committee is aware that you could directly um go before the zoning board when they have
their hearings as as well. But I I will certainly put this on our future agenda in the near in the near future. >> Thank you. And I'll probably then copy this very memo to them too. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Any other public announcements? uh agenda item request. I seeing none
online. Greg Burman, you have one. Our director of natural resources. Thank you very much. Greg Burman, your director of natural resources. Just wanted to take a minute of your time. Uh next to me is Andy Grover. He is our new health inspector. Uh working with Judy
in our health division. uh he started I think it was around the middle of last month and just you know earlier this week was our final acquisition in the department of natural resources. I don't want to steal the thunder from the harbor master but he'll
be going next. Um so we are fully staffed here at natural resources and he's been a familiar face around the annex for a number of years uh working with Ryder and Wilcox. He's a registered sanitarian, excellent experience with septic and public health and he's been
fitting in just great and we're thrilled to have him. >> Thank you. Would you like to say a few words or >> Yes. Um I am very excited to be here. Um I I live in town. My two sons go to school at the elementary school and the middle school. And I just feel fortunate
to be here and I feel um you know I'm very excited about being the health inspector. and um I'm just really happy to be part of the team. >> Thank you and welcome. Good luck. Thanks. Uh next, Jason Homer, harbor master, with an introduction.
>> Good evening. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I am extremely excited to introduce our newest assistant harbormaster and first marine mechanic/boat operator for the town of Cadam, Jackson Goddard. Uh last name might be familiar to some of you. His father is a longtime retired police
officer in town and Jackson's continued uh that longing for public service uh after spending many years uh gaining extensive experience and background in the marine mechanic industry. Uh he has extensive knowledge in auxiliary machinery, pumps uh and so forth. And uh
really really excited to to have him. I appreciate the board support and the town support in creating this position and uh I couldn't be happier. >> Thank you. Would you like to say a few words, Jackson? >> Sure. So, I'm equally as excited to be here. Um, I grew up in town. I went
through the Chattam school system. I've lived here since I was a little kid. And, uh, as Jason stated, I, you know, had an excellent role model in my dad who was a public servant for a very long time. Uh, and to have the opportunity to kind of follow in those footsteps, but also give back to the community that has
given me so much over my entire life is very, very exciting. >> Thank you and welcome and best wishes to you. And please say hello to your father for us. >> We'll do. Thank you. >> Okay. I have one last announcement that real estate and personal property taxes are due Monday, November 3rd, 2025 by
4:00 p.m. With that, we have next a public hearing on a petition from NStar Electric Company doing business as Evers Source Energy to install one new pole 41/30-5 at Trainingfield Road and to install 50
ft plus or minus of 4 in conduit under Training Field Road for the new water treatment facility at Trainingfield Road. I'll ask our clerk, Mr. Smith, to read the public hearing notice. Town of Chattam Select Board public hearing notice. The Chattam Select Board
will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 in the large meeting room at the town hall annex 261 George Ryder of Road, Chattam, Mass and remotely via Microsoft Teams platform to consider a petition
from NStar Electric Company doing business as Eversource Energy to install one new pole 4130-5 at Training Field Road and to install 50t plus or minus 4
in conduit 4-in conduit at training field road. This work is necessary to accommodate the new town water treatment facility at training field road. The public is welcome to attend the pre uh the meeting in person to participate via
link in the meetings posted agenda. >> Thank you. I think we have Marissa Jackson, manager of right ofway uh to present. Marissa, you're on. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Marissa Jackson with Eversource. So again, what we're proposing is the install of one
new pole. This would be along Training Field Road approximately 30 ft from the existing pole along that roadway, which is 41 over 30. From there, what we'd like to do is install approximately 50
ft of 4in conduit under the roadway. And that being said, I'd be happy to address any questions if there are any. Again, this would be to accommodate the new water treatment facility for the town. >> Thank you. Um, before I go to the rest
of the board, the public works director has sent us an email and I'll read what a paragraph from it. It says, uh, trench trenchless technology is preferred, but in the case of an open cut, all pavement patches to restore the road after trenching shall match the depth of the
pavement removed. When the trench is prepared for its permanent pavement patch, the top one to one and a half inch layer of asphalt shall be mil uh foot 12 in on either side of the trench before placement of final pavement to reduce reflective cracking
in the future. All other provisions regarding required trench permit from the DPW highway division remain in effect. Are those terms that ever is going to comply with? >> Absolutely. I will address that with the contractor prior to any construction. I
did speak with the Department of Public Works previously and I understand what needs to be done. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments from the board? This is a public hearing. Anything from the public either in person or online?
>> I see none. Do I have a motion? >> Move approval. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Call the role. Miss Miss Davis. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. Hi. >> Mr. Smith. The chair votes. I >> Thank you. It's approved.
>> Thank you very much. >> Next, we have public comments on the business agenda. Um, we have under our rules um contemporaneous public comment on each agenda item except those that indicate for board discussion, which is really just one item at the end. It's a
committee appointment. Uh but uh this is still on our agenda for anyone who wants to speak up front. Mr. Leer. >> Thank you, Mr. Niccastro. Um I am chair of the committee for people with disabilities and have been that for about five years. At our last meeting,
um we the committee made a request to reduce the size of the committee from 7 to 5 and Mr. Dykens was kind enough to put it on the agenda for today and I'm just here to give you a little bit of background about why >> we want to do that. Um
about five years ago, our committee learned that Harwitch had engaged independent agency to investigate compliance with accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Community Development uh secured a grant to have that group assess the town facilities and a report
was presented in June 2021. That comprehensive report detailed over 600 impediments to compliance with ADA. After lengthy discussions with the town, the town meeting town meeting agreed to pass as part of the 5-year capital budget starting in FY 24th 250,000 per
year for implementation. Subsequently, Pomeroy Associates was engaged as a project manager to develop a plan for and engage outside entities as needed to resolve the deficiencies. They initially divided the identified tasks between those that would be accomplished by town staff as part of
their normal duties and and those which would require input from architects. Pomeroy also developed a comprehensive spreadsheet to provide quarterly reports to the committee and more summary information has been included in the town manager monthly report to the school board I'm sorry select board as
of earlier this month of the approximately 370 tasks to be dealt with by town staff by pomroy 143 were completed of 300 where a designer is needed 24 were listed as complete an example of that latter ca latter category is the new restrooms and t
clerks modif ifications at town hall. The differential with between what is needed and what was has been done is reflected in budget summaries also developed by pomeroy which show that of $750,000 available through FY26
approximately 150,000 has been been expended. Clearly much remains to be done. The town does now appear to have a plan and process to achieve compliance with the ADA requirements. The committee would like to continue its role of monitoring through regular open
quarterly meetings which require a quorum. At this point we are down to four members which requires 100% attendance of the existing seven member mandate. So we're asking go down to five. So at least our current four people can or three of them can be the quorum. Um, we'd also like to make a
pitch to have more members to our committee because actually it's mandated to have people with disabilities on it or people who are uh in the family with people with disabilities. And that has been very helpful in the past because some of us don't necessarily notice
things which people with disabilities have and then don't figure it out as being important and something that's helpful to allow them to participate in normal activities that might not be so evident to disabled citizens. So we'd ask you to approve the reduction in size
of our committee. >> Thank you. Uh Bob, I will u move the item um in the absence of Mr. Dykens when we get to it on the agenda. And as far as uh pitching to new members, anyone who is interested and willing to serve can go on our website and apply or
apply in person at the town offices. So, good luck. Hopefully, we can populate. Thanks. Thank you for coming. >> Any other public announcements or agenda item? I'm sorry, any other public comments on the business agenda? >> Okay, seeing none, we will now go to the
regular business agenda. The first item is to consider the use of town facilities, property, and resources for first night chatam 2025 to 2026. Mr. Stooka, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Niccastro. I'm Paul Stooka, chairman of First Night Chatam,
and I'm pleased to be here again requesting the use of town facilities. Uh this will be our 35th anniversary at first night chatam. In the past I've accounted some of the other first nights around the country that are no longer going. At one point
there were 350 to 400 first nights nationally and now we're down to about 35 or 40 and Chattam remains one of those first nights which I'm very proud of. in terms of planning this event and on the day of the event we'll use
approximately 250 individual volunteers many of whom come from Chadam. Uh we will bring approximately 10,000 people into town that day and hopefully six to 7,000 of those will buy buttons for our events. The event this year will
look much like it has in recent years. We'll begin with the town photo at noon at the Coast Guard station and we'll complete at 1000 pm and we'll run buses until 10:30m to bring people back to their vehicles. Uh we will have the
usual fireworks display at 6:30 p.m. at Veterans Field and that'll be preceded by the noise parade down Main Street and we say from 6:00 to 6:30. The reality is that takes about seven minutes for everybody to run down Main Street. So it it's always a very popular event
particularly among the younger people in town. Um in terms of acts we have already hired all of our acts for this year. We have approximately 12 new acts this year. Um our policy is to try to replace well roughly 20 to 25% of the
acts each year to keep it fresh. Although we will have such familiar things as the circus coming back. Um, one activity of note, there will be a Taylor Swift dance party commencing at 700 p.m. uh immediately after the
fireworks and that is an attempt to get some of the younger folks in town involved in First Night. Uh, we hope that's a very popular event. Uh, one thing we did not have at last year's event for the first time in many, many years is the ice sculptures and
those were missed by some people. The reality is it's very difficult to find an ice sculptor, particularly an affordable ice sculptor. The gentleman we had for many years has retired. He will not be doing large sculptures anymore. And any sculptor close to
Boston is usually in Boston that night for their first night. So, what we have found in the place, and I've included this in the letter, um, we have a I'll use the term balloon sculptor for lack of a a better term, who makes arrangements approximately five, six
feet high. We are actually using one of hers at the Taylor Swift dance party. Um, she does it with balloons that are biodegradable, non-helium, and we proposed placing one of those in front of the library circular area as we have
with the ice sculpture in recent years. We hope to use a couple more around town, but they they would not involve use of town property. That's really the only significant thing that's changing in the request. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to a very fun-filled evening as
we have in the past. Typically, we have very few problems during first night and we hope that continues again this year and I'm open for any questions you might have. >> Thank Thank you, Paul. Um, very detailed uh report per usual in the packet and uh
I just had uh one or two questions or comments. Um I know you've been in touch with the library. You've gotten their okay for the placement. >> Yep. >> Um uh are you in touch with the school district regarding the use of the elementary and middle school? >> Yes. And we'll actually be meeting with
police, fire, and DPW in the first, I think it's December 1st, first week of December, as we do every year to go over the plan. And the police and fire department as well as DPW are having a very extensive plan that we've used in the past. And really, it's a meeting to remind everybody of what has to happen
and how it's done. So, we look forward to that as well. And um you're agreeable to having your committee pay the sum of $525 for uh keeping the restrooms. Is that >> we will do that?
>> Okay. And the last uh question I know I think it was last year we had I think it was the Girl Scouts were interested. >> That was a couple of years ago. >> Yeah. Have they approached they haven't come? >> They have not. And we ask in the letter that anybody that approaches you in terms of using town facilities that you
speak with us regarding that because the issue a couple of years ago involved a community center if I think >> Yes. >> Yes. And that was a late addition >> right >> by this board and frankly it was not in a very convenient place for the public entering the building. I think we could
have worked out a better arrangement for that if we had discussed it in advance. >> Okay. Any questions or comments from the board? Mr. Matters. >> Hey Paul, how do how you doing tonight? Good. >> Um, generally I'm per, you know, I'm excited to have another first night activity. Just a couple small minor
stuff. I just want a clarification on uh use of town hall facil uh property town hall. Uh I know in the past we've had discussions about time. Is there any specific time that we need to insert into this as far as um not disrupting business but making sure the performers
have their um >> Yes. I believe what we approved for last year is we have access beginning at 100 p.m. is 2 p.m. It's 2 p.m. and then our first performance does not start until 4 p.m. It is another business day. >> Okay. Wonderful. And then I know um
you've put in a request to use a variety of different restroom facilities. Uh one is the one by the ball field by Veterans Field. Unfortunately due to the vandalism that one is down for unknown amount of time. I guess the question is because I know we kind of shut that down
seasonally anyway. Would you find and and I'm thinking long term, but this is probably a discussion, you know, for another discussion for another day, is would that restroom be a um a good good strong amenity in years future. Um >> it would be good in light of the
fireworks being there particularly. I'm just wondering if maybe we should have an agenda item down the road about what it would take to, you know, have that facility on the a system that is able to stay open later like the other restrooms and what it would take and all the the dynamics, but we don't need to get into that deep tonight because it's it's
clearly down for this year. So, >> make that an agenda item. >> I will make that agenda. Yes, >> I'll add that to the list, Kathy. Please. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Um, but in general, um I just hope that we have really good weather and um I mean it's usually there's a lot of people that come to town. People look forward to this uh literally all year
long and um I thank you guys. I thank all the volunteers that put their time and effort into it because it takes a lot of e extra hands to pull these things off. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions from the board? Any from the public? Is there a motion to approve this request?
>> Motion to approve as as presented in our packet. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Moved and seconded. Call the role. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Matters. Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> I. and the share of votes. Good luck. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Um next, um opening of bay scallop season on November 1, 2025, Renee Gagny. There you are, Renee. You're on. >> Yes. Good evening, Mr. Chair, and good evening to the board. I'm here before you tonight to seek your approval to
open Bay Scolop season this Saturday, November 1st. >> Okay. Is there a motion? >> Mr. Chair, I move uh that we approve uh the opening of Bay Scolop season on Saturday, November 1st, 2025. >> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Miss Miss Davis, >> I. >> Mr. Meadows, >> I >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> The chair votes side. That's approved. Thank you, Renee. >> Thank you. >> Next, consider special one-day alcohol and entertainment licenses. First, for the Cape Cod Commercial Fisherman's
Alliance. There are two requests here. One is meet the fleet November 12th, 2025 at 1566 Main Street with a 30-day waiver. Um, and two, holiday open house December 9th, 2025 of 1566 Main Street,
Cadam. And who was presenting this? >> Jen, I'm here. Hi, >> you're on. >> Uh, thank you. So, we are back. This is the final meet the fleet of 2025 for the Cape Cod commercial fisherman's alliance. I'm sure you may remember we
do these a few times a year. Um, and this is going to be on Wednesday, November 12th, and it'll be from 5:00 to 7:00 at the Fisherman's Alliance office, 1566 Main Street. It's a 30 minute um
sort of cocktail where we serve a sampling of beer. The beer is Devil's Purse from Colonial Beverage and then we do a presentation. The second event that we're requesting for is for our annual holiday open house
um where we invite donors and supporters and industry members to come and celebrate the year and that's going to be on December 9th from 5 to 7:30 p.m. also at the Fisherman's Alliance um 1566 Main Street.
>> Okay. Um do I have a motion? Are there any comments or questions come forward? I think we have a double motion here. Mr. Smith, >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Okay, there are two. One is for the um Did you want to read them? There they are.
I move to wave the 30-day application requirement and grant a special one-day alcohol license for wine and malt beverages only to Bridgette Kug, responsible manager for the Cape Cod Fisherman's Alliance
for November 12th, 2025 from 5 to 7:00 p.m. at 1566 Main Street and to grant a special 1-day alcohol license for wine and malt beverage only to Bridget Krug, responsible manager for the Cape Cod
Fisherman's Alliance for December 9th, 2025 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at 1566 Main Street, Chattam. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion?
No public comment. I will call the role. Miss Davis I. >> Mr. Matters. Hi. Mr. Smith. Hi. Votes. I. They're approved. Thank you, Jen. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. Hope you join us. >> Um, next is a request from the Chattam Garden Club for a fundraiser on December 6, 2025 at 347 Stage Alberta Road,
Chattam. And uh, presenting is Marilyn Sink. Welcome. >> Hi there. Thank you for having me. Um, so we're having a festival of trees on December 6th at the Atwood Museum. We did this two years ago and uh it was quite
successful. It sort of was to bring back what we used to do many years of fundraising by having a silent auction for little trees that people would decorate and then they would buy the trees. It's a fundraiser. Um I'm Marilyn Sink who is the uh in charge of the ways
and means for our garden club and as you know we do many things beautifying gardens but scholarships and things around town and so this festival is at the Atwood Museum. So did you get a fly? Oh you good right there. Um so um we we
have a preview so people can come and look at the trees and pay to get into the Atwood Museum. And then on Saturday evening at from 5 to 7 is when we charge $25 and that's when we serve food. We have, you know, food. We have some
entertainment as well. We have a piano player, a local guy that just plays on his keyboard. Sometimes we have handbells, sometimes we have a recorder player, but we serve beer and wine um which is included in the um donation. The tickets, the tickets are $25 a
piece, open to the public. anybody is open to come. And um yeah, you asked how many drinks people have. It's you know, ladies from the garden club. So it's we don't usually have more than one or two per person.
>> Okay. So um I just note on the application um Kathy or Shauna if she's on uh that the box that says all alcohol was checked, but it's really just a beer and wine license that they're looking for. Um I went off of the all what the
application read. Um they do have they did provide their um nonprofit status. So they would be eligible if they wanted and that was how the application was received. >> You're doing just beer and wine. >> We are we just do beer and wine. >> Uh and uh the music uh is there any
concern with the neighbors as far as it's not amplified really right now? >> No, it's a keyboard playing Christmas carols. >> Okay. All right. Any comments or questions from the board or anyone else? Okay. Is there a motion? >> Mr. Mr. Chair, I move to grant a special
one-day alcohol license for all alcohol beverages to Maryland Sink of the Cadam Garden Club for December 6th, 2025 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Outwood Museum, 347 Stage Harbor Road and to grant a special 1-day entertainment license to for live amplified music to Maryland
Sync of the Chattam Garden Club for December 6, 2025 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Outwood House Museum, 347 State Harbor Road, Cadam. And I also want to make a motion to thank them for beautifying Chattam. So, Yes. >> You're welcome. >> Is there >> Thank you. >> Is there a second to that motion?
>> I'll second. >> Okay. I'll call the role. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Mattis. >> Hi. >> M. >> Uh, Mr. Smith. >> I. >> Chair votes eye. >> Good luck. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. And please come. >> Thank you. Okay. Next is um Chattam
Beautifification Committee proposed Kate Cool Park Legacy Restoration Project presentation. There is a recommendation uh we're being asked to consider from the parks and recreation commission to proceed with phase one of this project. The presenter is Angela Bukar of the
Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association. I just want to state for the record um that the beautifification committee is not technically a town committee. It's a committee of the chamber and the merchants, although we have town representation on the committee. Mr. Dykins and Tom Bar and
maybe some others. Meredith Fry who's the chair of the parks and recreation commission. Welcome, Angela. It's all it's yours right now. >> Thank you, Chairman Niccastro. So, tonight we're going to walk a little bit through um where the park began and
where we are today. And in doing so, present a concept and some ideas. And tonight we're here to ask for the permission to then bring this out to town people so that they can um take a look at what some of these concepts are
and bring it to public forum to get some feedback to some of the ideas that we've put forward. So again, as mentioned, we are a beautifification committee that is uh steered through the Chattam Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association. And
with me this evening are several members of the committee here representing uh we've been working on this for a very long time and we're at a place now that we want to introduce this not only to the select board but then uh bring it to public opinion.
So the gift of Kate Gold Park in 1930s Miss Gold left the park to uh her trustees and it was gifted at upon her her death. Um, ultimately the public library was inherited by the Eldridge Public Library or the the
Eldridge Public Library inherited the park and then um it became locally known as Kate Gold Park. It was a symbol of generosity and civic pride that continues today in a picture there to the right of of Miss Gold I found in the Atwood archives. Thank you to the
Chattam Historical. >> She was the town librarian. I understand >> she was she was um her vision on the left hand side you'll see is a hand drawing that I was able to find in the archives that actually was her vision of of what the park would or her you know
upon her um gifting what she would like for the park to look like. So we're just wanting to bring it forward and and certainly uh where we are today but where her wishes were. She was a lifelong resident town librarian and she left her main street property and the
residue of her estate to her trustees in honoring her family. The rock that sit is sits inside of the park is to her mother and to her stepfather. Her wishes were that it was a sanctuary of peace and beauty. Two natural ponds connected and there's remnants of that in the back
of the park if if you are able to go and and climb. Um curving walkways and and fieldstone terraces. Upon that um there were 1233 123 trees planted, 356 shrubs, 500 crocus bulbs on the grounds and an
outdoor uh seating for concerts and gathering. There were strict provisions that only uh folks that are in uh wheelchairs or baby carriages were to be in the park. So no motor vehicles, no bicycles. It really is a strolling park. Her design emphasized dignity,
simplicity, and the connection to the Cape Cod landscape. a legacy that continues to shape our downtown today. The 1940s and 50s, the heart of a growing town. So in 46, 1946, the Chattam band rec relocated to Friday
night concerts after World War II. This is a historic image of what Cape Gold Park looked like back in the day, but it has quickly become the centerpiece of downtown summer evenings. In the 60s and 70s, traditions started to take root. Concerts grew, summer
rituals, as we've all attended, our band concerts, and it the park cemented its identity as a cultural heart of Chadam. Hip hip hidey-ho as we all know. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Wit Talston era, there's a great uh interview here.
I won't play it today just because it it, you know, from a time constraint, but basically this is really what brought that Friday night concerts together. In the 90s, the gazebo was re renamed and the park became a multi-generational place continuing its
patriotic Friday traditions. In the 2000s, the park was in full bloom. So, you can start to see where some of the the flowers and the trees and uh the canopy started to to develop. Uh crowds, hundreds of families gathered each Friday night. But more importantly
is the civic and social expansion of fundraisers, festivals, and things that we experience today in the 2010 era. Um, art, music, and community. So, the park hosts Easter eggs, Shakespeare in the park, Friday night band concerts, pumping people,
October Fest, and Holiday Stroll. Additionally, First Night Chatam. The park becomes a year-round gathering place alive with music, art, and local pride. The legacy does live on. Kate Gold Park is more than a park. It's a promise to
preserve beauty, music, community for generations to come. It's been nearly a century of music, laughter, and civic pride. From one family's gift to a town's living legacy. Stewardship continues through collaboration through its residents, town officials, and also
the volunteers that you see with me this evening from the beautifification committee to help support some of the efforts. So, what does 2025 and beyond look like? We're here this evening to talk about restoration and renewal. The beautifification committee in partnership with town officials, park
and wreck, DPW and friends of trees, Chadam conservation and other folks. We are looking to restore the legacy of Cakeold Park providing accessibility, sustainability and community engagement that drives design priorities. The
future vision is native plantings, improved seating, upgraded lighting, improve the front of the park, as that's always been some of this the mention, you know, with the wear and tear of the the front of the park. So, today we're here just to show you some concept ideas
of of what our thoughts are. So the overview is is below uh you know really turning this gift and this landmark back to public space and public use. Bringing the heart of Main Street with home concerts gathering and community pride. But we have been facing
challenges aging trees, compacted soil, poor drainage and accessibility issues. I did provide in your packet a study that was done on the health of of the trees. So it was a pretty extensive study done in partnership with Bartlett.
Um so you can see exactly what the health of the soil and and the trees are as it looks today. So the vision is to preserve Cape Gold Park as a safe, welcoming and sustainable gathering place for generations to come
to preserve the natural charm, our civic identity and maintain street vitality. The core goals of the community, the beautifification committee is to preserve historic integrity, honoring what Miss Gold gave to the town as a gift, ensuring ADA accessibility,
enhanced health uh environmental environmental health and resilience, supporting year-round economic vitality and strengthening civic pride and community engagement. and partners as mentioned um friends of trees, chattam conservation, department of public
works, park and wreck and also some other uh stakeholders that are part of the committee as well. So this is just a highle concept and I have with me tonight Dave Hawk from Hawk Design and we have larger blownup drawings with a little bit more detail but this really just gives you the scope
of of what we're looking at. When you look at downtown Main Street, Chadam, Kool Park is the largest green space that we have. Some of the other colored areas are partial green space, public benches, and the key to the bottom shows you exactly what it is. But
the heart of downtown really is that park. It's the largest green space that we own as a town. And I think we need to make sure that it stays beautiful and accessible for many generations to come. Chattam Main Street. It's beautifully
maintained, has classic charm. It's thoughtfully designed, and a renovation of Cape Gold Park will also blend with the existing streetscape and complementing the town's architecture, planting, and overall aesthetic. Rather than standing out as something new or
foreign, the park would feel like an extension of Main Street, inviting comfortable space for rest, gathering, and people strolling through the heart of town. The park is a central landmark to Chattam, serving as a lively hub for
community gatherings such as art in the park, Oktoberfest, Shakespeare festivals, pumpkin people displays, first night chatam, and despite its popularity, high foot traffic, the park currently lacks landscape spaces for people to gather, rest, or enjoy
comfortably. The park currently has an untapped potential for a more uh elevated, inviting and enduring public space that reflects on the community. The gathering spaces today, the park is currently uh the benches are tucked off
to the side and um you know having them closer together, feeling more welcoming for people to sit together and engage comfortably in events and activities without defined hardscape areas. A town square is what our concept idea is. It defines pathways, seating zones, and
therefore inviting places for people to gather together. The slim walkway limits the park's usability, and it makes it more likely that the pass through space rather than a destination for community connection. The street entry is shown here. The
fence along uh the street creates a physical and visual barrier. You know, if you've ever thought about it, when you walk by a fence says, "Either don't come in or we're keeping you in." Uh, it feels closed off and and uninviting. Instead of welcoming
visitors in separate from the park to surrounding streetscape, it interrupts the natural flow of movement that is one of the largest and most congested areas in downtown specifically when we have our visitors and residents who who are there. Um, it
really is that kind of heart of town and it always seems, you know, there's there's a little bit of a a congestion spot there. More open could be better reflected in the park's role as a community gathering space and also for people to explore and engage in the
park. By opening up the front, it says come in and then it allows for folks to walk down in into that green space. and opening the entrance will be able to give the park back to Main Street, making it more feel uh make it feel more cohesive and in place with its
surroundings. The circulation space, the width of the existing walkway currently doesn't accommodate large amounts of foot traffic. Park visitors typically typically have to step off the walkway into the dirt while passing for others. Uh this creates a sense of congestion
and contributes to the ongoing wear and tear in the erosion of the surrounding landscape. The density of the canopy as mentioned in the the Bartlett study, it's impossible for grass to thrive there. The conditions highlight this need for a
thoughtful redesign to balance the pedestrian flow, landscape health, and also the overall visitor experience. So you can see the shadow people as you know if mom and dad are holding hands with their child only two of them can be
on the walkway at once or passerbys someone has to step to the side with that I'd like to invite Dave Hawk up to um show some of the larger concept designs and then we can go into what we're looking at as a phased approach today really is just to to put this in
front of you. We are looking to have um several months of public engagement through uh working very closely with park and wreck to have surveys to have public forums for people to come in and see what these concept designs are and also you know make make suggestions.
>> Thank you. Uh how do I follow that? What a great presentation. >> But uh I was asked what has it been about a year ago? I think I spoke to Janice Rogers and she said, you know, why don't you come talk to the people at the be beautifification uh committee here in Chadam.
I've been doing work in Chattam for over 30 years. I'm a resident of Orleans and uh let's face it, this is a great town. It's quintessential New England. um you got it going here with the pumpkins and
the and the the activities that happened there. So I was asked just to put together a few thoughts of of uh of the park itself. And you know the initial thing was as you said uh
why don't we give this park back to Main Street? It's such an important spot. Um I walked down the street a few times. I I worship it at, you know, on Main Street here in Chadam. And, you know, there's a lot of great green spaces. The
library actually is a is a nice green space, but most of the other green spaces are elevated with the uh with the churches, the congregational and the other Methodist church. Uh Sears Park there is a sloped monument area. So, you
know, you take a look at that and you say, "Look at this in the most congested area here. Look at this gem that's here that's just waiting to get some help." So, if you can just scroll back to the pictures of the park there. So, and then
we got together and we looked at it and uh you know there are a few things that we felt that could be done to open things up and really create a doorstep to the rest of the park which by the way is beautiful also with the gazebo and
the green space down there. Um and that was the first thing that became evident. Uh but then once you get inside, if you go back, um there's a lot of dirt in there and uh some signature legacy, what
we call legacy trees, which is a big Lyndon up front. It is Elco and I had the opportunity to talk with Craig and look at Bartlett's all their great information. And so the goal was, okay, we've got this here. Uh, I don't think
anybody would enjoy taking down these big legacy trees. Uh, uh, how can we work with them? How can we create a space up here that works for all this traffic that we get in there? And then how do we get people in here to sit uh,
offse on season when we've got all the tourists in? If you walk down Main Street, we've got a sidewalk that's a little bit challenged to parking and the roadway itself. And you know, they've tried to put benches in there, but wouldn't it be nice to have an area where people could
go off and sit and really create kind of a doorstep into the rest of this park, which obviously there's the natural aspects of the park uh with the trees and the lawn and everything else and the the activities down by the gazebo.
So again, these are just thoughts. These are just very initial ideas, but the thought of extending that town square and let me grab the pointer. Uh the town square here where we have
these signature trees and you can see that here and here uh along with the other ones along uh the way. Uh if we were to grade that town square with traditional paving or something like that, if we were to
add benches around the trees, potentially pots uh that keep people off those root systems, we can do a lot to save those trees. Uh and also we can do a lot to energize this space and say come on in. Uh I spent 20 years up in
Boston uh in Charles Town, you know, over the north end to Paul Rivera Park and areas like that and they they had big trees that have grown up and they became more of paved areas there. So
then you take a look at all the other aspects, historical aspects and and educational aspects, uh, you know, statues, you know, things like that that can also be used in this park and and
further embellish, you know, the meaning and the use of that park. And you say this is an oasis, a gem that's just waiting to have some enhancements uh happen to it. So the thought is those
areas right there uh the landscape around the perimeter is is a little bit tired and that comes from a lot of shade. So any lower shrubs or things like that uh you know have have particularly along the wayside here are
just I think they're beyond um uh trying to uh keep and and that may be areas that we could add some landscape to and frame the park also to create a little separation on each side. And down to Candy Manor there's brick
that goes all the way out to the curb. you know, if there's a spot to do that, we didn't show it here. We have asphalt sidewalk there. Um, you know, extend it on out that things can further go by maybe, you know, the crosswalks change a
little bit. I know how valuable that parking is there for everybody. So, that's a biggie. But there's a lot of opportunity that's just being waited on here to to grasp and to really take advantage of this this gem in Cadam. And
and I was just fortunate to get an invite to say, Dave, what do you think? And uh hopefully this spurs on and provokes thought and discussion and further uh movements to enhance this great spot in Chadam.
>> Thank you, Dave. Thank you. >> Did you have a second panel behind that? >> Yes, it was basically just a blow up. >> Okay. >> Of the pictures. >> It's upside down. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Which doesn't help.
>> Okay, Angela, back to you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, we're looking at a phased plan uh for enhancements. again talking about honoring the deed of Kate Gould and and
her gift to the town making sure that it stays an honorable place for respit and it should be a place where people go you know outside of their workday uh phase one we did the tree health assessment and um we engaged in design concept and
that is in this time frame now uh the scope of the work that we're looking at we've had identified three trees that um Tom warden Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom three warden Tom Bar um is is working and has scheduled a uh tree warden meeting to discuss some of
the uh major trees that need to be looked at. And then really what we're looking for and asking for today is the ability to move forward and get public opinion, being able to send out surveys, asking people, all stakeholders. There's
many, many different people that use this park. Um, we've got our friends of trees, Dan Young, representing here today. We have the merchants association certainly that we're tied to um in and working with some of the things that we do. Um, but more importantly is the
ability for even our Monoy school district and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and everyone that uses that park. So we do want to make a public appeal and put out surveys for people to ident you know obviously make suggestion and and be part of this this whole project.
Moving into phase two would be after public um adoption and when we would come up with a final plan we would go into larger renderings and that's really where we'd be able to price out what the scope of of this would look like
engaging with uh CPC funding and um looking at at what that total scope would cost and then with hopes in the in the next year or two be able to get into uh donor landscape uh donor recognition, ribbon cutting, native plantings uh both
private public partnership in donation and then being able to reopen that park understanding that there are going to be blackout periods when we have a lot of visitors or when uh work cannot be done just based on other activities that are happening there. So that is something
that needs to be determined from a scheduling standpoint and also you know a cost uh standpoint what that would look like. But this is really where we are and before moving forward, we want to just, you know, put this in front of
you to allow for us to move to public. >> So, thank you. Um um I'm going to momentarily ask u Meredith to come forward, but I'd talk about her committee's recommendation, but I I'm I'm trying to just get a handle on what
is the ask of us tonight. Um because it's being referred to as phase one. Um, are you looking for an endorsement of phase one? And my my reading is that phase one is the tree the tree business. Is that a correct assessment?
>> So that in parallel with allowing for us to move forward with doing surveys, holding public forum and and things to get buy in on some of the concept. This is more just an awareness. >> So you want our endorsement of that because you could do that anyway, I think.
>> Yes, but we want to be >> not have any standing but you could do it. CPC. >> So there's also an opportunity to do with some of these marketing efforts to apply for CPC funding as well. Uh we do have a seed fund uh that we still have
in the beautifification fund from the brick installation, but we are looking to have your obviously your endorsement if to apply for funding to help the marketing of this as well. in phase two or I don't know how many other phases there are but th those would be the
phases or that would be the phase that establishes what the final vision is going to look like >> correct >> whether you're going to put papavers or >> correct >> whatever um now who who engaged um
Bartlett and was that the chamber was that the town was partnership or >> so that was done um in part of uh being a member of the the beautifification committee. So >> they did it. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um
when I saw um when I first read it the material over the weekend, I I was concerned about the removal of the fence. Not because I thought it added much, but it I'm concerned
about little kids wandering into the sidewalk in the street in the summertime, especially. Um, it's interesting. U Dave, um, is your last name Hawk? Are you okay, you're from Okay. The consultant, um,
mentioned that the other green space is elevated. The congregational church is the best example of that and this is flat. So it is more welcoming when you take I was I was less inclined toward my initial view when I saw the presentation
tonight. Um widening the path the walking path. Um again I'm going beyond phase one. I guess I wouldn't want to see it too wide. I mean, I I live near Chase Park and there's a lot in Chase Park and I can tell you the neighbors and I'm one
of them think we've got enough stuff in Chase Park and all due respect to Meredith and her committee. I think what we have is fine, but I'm concerned about putting too much in any one location and eliminating the green space. So, uh, we have a wide
walking path there, but it had to be that wide for ADA purposes to get up to the windmill. So anyway, with that, I'm u I guess I'll throw it open for public comment. Meredith, did you want to speak uh to the your committee? Your your commission has made a recommendation.
>> Welcome. >> Good evening, Meredith Fry, chair of the parks and recreation commission. Um yes, we um on a whole endorse phase one of this project. What it's going to look like um we're not quite sure. When you
say pavement, that sounds scary. That's not our vision at all. >> Um, but there is it is impossible to grow grass and especially with irrigation, you know, cut offs and the the front of the park is is very
disturbing. It's not aesthetically pleasing. And I agree with the fence, too. That that's not a 100% given either. I guess we're just asking and Angela is just asking for approval to move forward and seek some funding from
CPC. Um, beautifification committee does have its own funding as well. Uh, and as in terms of that walkway, it was supposed to be ADA compliant when we approved it. >> And there is room to make it a little bigger and selling more bricks will
obviously um give more money to the park. Uh but it is a beautifification committee which we're all working towards to beautify that space what it's going to look like. This is just an example. >> I wouldn't go that far with the
hardscaping and I like field stone and like grass in between or something you know it it can be very visually aesthetic. And David Hawk um has done incredible work. He's done quasa. I mean, I don't know if you know his
resume, but he knows what he's doing. And um he also a vision of putting seating around like circular seating around the big trees would be nice. Um but our commission is dedicated to green
space and keeping that park and the hill um as green as we can until it's too shaded, it's rocky, it's bumpy. There's so much traffic. There's We have to do something. So, I think phase one
is just doing something. What it's going to look like is up to the town um and all of you and the commission and the beautifification committee what we can come up with. And even if we don't have a fence there, you could put low bushes.
>> Um something that doesn't need maintenance. Cuz if you look at that fence now, it's horrific. I mean, it's ugly, moldy. >> So, it's just been ignored and we're trying to beautify the park. So, phase one is so we if we can seek some
funding, additional funding. Um, so our commission approved phase one of this project and we're asking you to approve it as well. So, they could potentially get CD CP CPC funding,
sorry. and um move forward as a town. >> Thank you. I I think you've laid that out very nicely and I certainly appreciate that there is a group that's looking at this great gem in the in the center of town and I didn't know some of the history of that. I didn't know the library had owned that property at one
time. Um so, um I think you laid it out very nicely, both of you and nothing's really carved in stone. We just want to get started. You want our blessing so that it takes on some standing within the community. >> Correct. >> And people people feel um empowered to
participate. >> It's been going in circles and we've been talking and talking and talking about it and we're just trying to get it done. >> We want the community empower to feel empowered to participate. Okay. I'll throw it open for discussion. Uh Mr. Meets. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. No. Um, I attended
the site visit we had a couple weeks ago and I think the the one message that I think needs to be crystal clear is phase one is public input. Bring the stakeholders in play. Get all the these visions together. See where things are landing um before it gets too far ahead
of you know some of these ideas. That is that is the the focal point of phase one. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um so happy to endorse that. Um there are some um I guess mechanical questions and some clarifications because looking at the Bartlett tree
report um I guess qu well question one is we've identified three trees and we have a public tree the tree warden has a public hearing probably scheduled in upcoming weeks. I guess the first question is are we only addressing the
three trees for the front section or just careful there are trees that are identified that are are at higher risk and from a liability perspective that door is opened how are we addressing anything that is a high liability
>> yeah so Tom Bar uh town of Chattam deputy director DPW tree warden so we uh >> it's a long title >> I don't mean that reluctant ly. I don't mean that reluctantly. Um, so I do have a hearing scheduled for those front three trees due to the fact that they
are more uh they are all hazards. They've been identified in that report with some uh issues, some concerns with them. So, they are we're going to have the hearing November 12th for that to get those trees removed. Um, in the trees out back, we will be having
another hearing as well, but most of those ones are on that back area where the public aren't really climbing up there. There's a lot of overgrowth back there. So, so I just felt like, let's get rid of these first three here. Budget constraints and everything else, too. And then I'll work on working on
the back of the park where where there's less but traffic, less area. a lot of my team can drop those trees because they're not as big as these bigger ones because these ones out front, I'm going to need to hire a company to to remove those trees. So, it's more of a budget part as well as where's the most risk
for the town up front there with those trees falling onto the gallery next door, etc. Okay, second part of the question. This is going to get a little more complicated, but going into the Bartlett report on page 21, the the the
map is captured or it says uh inventory trees by condition class. So in the front section, we only have one well the code is uh green is good, yellow is fair, uh red is poor. So we have that one front tree that we we all saw. It's
got cracks in it. You know, mother nature has chipped away at it. We understand that one needs to go. >> Yeah. >> The other two trees um that let's see page we'll go over to 31 in inventory trees
for suitability for preservation. So we got the tree the large tree behind it now. Yep. >> Which visually speaking does did have some deficiencies and whatever, but um I couldn't quite understand from the report because it was it was conditioned
fair earlier. Um now it's at low low, you know, low priority for for saving it basically. Um but ironically that is also one of the top 10 value trees of the property. said that that whole remediation conversation comes in
because there's another chart on page page 26 that says top 10 trees highest tree asset value. Um and that that is one of them. So that's going to be an interesting conversation. Mhm. >> Um and then the third tree is that third
tree >> is that the narrow one that's just off the path to the right hand side when you go past the pumping people, >> but that's that's been either green or yellow this whole chart. So what is what has triggered that into having that one come down? >> That one was had a lot to do with the
roots. Craig, if you could speak to that one a little more. Your your crew kind of did that one. So there was a lot of issues with the roots there. And then there's a couple of uh there's like a split up top, but Craig can kind of explain more. He's the professional. >> So, this is a report that wasn't
generated by myself. This is an outside team that comes in that does, you know, universities and fidelity campuses and such like that. So, this is what they're tasked with is going around looking at things >> that uh it's a honeyloust, I believe, that's on the right side of the path
that you're referencing. So, it's it's in decent condition. um except for if we're going to do all of this work, it's going to be impacted by the and primarily the widening of the pathway is where you're going to incur all the root
damage. Um it's also been improperly pruned significantly. It's got a major uh improperly pruned portion of it that everyone can witness that's about 15inch diameter which is going to rot and decay eventually, not anytime soon. It's the
combination of all of these items. The fact that it's overlaying a a memorial tree, which is a nice pin oak that's trying to mature, but doesn't have any opportunity. It's just when we're doing this conceptual design, we're looking at everything and we're saying, "Okay, if these pieces are all put together, is
that tree going to be something that's lasting?" And it's not. So, it's been added to the list. It's not in that report like you're saying, but it's been added through our discussions with Dave Hawk with all of our agreement on what direction we'd like to go. And we're all looking at it as a potential that should
come out because if we're going to have a a a new beautifification of this front portion of the park, which I'm all in favor of as a taxpayer, I'd like to see this happen. I'd like to see it done well and done right, and this tree is included. >> Okay, fair enough. Thank you. Uh my last
comment will be about the fence. I had this kind of the same first reaction Mr. Datra did about the safety, but taking a step back. Um, you think about the gazebo and the bandand area, um, access to the parking lot doesn't have any
fences or anything and kids are fine. I think, um, the the final design, if you were to take the fence down, you'd need some kind of landscaping or shrubberies or something to kind of create that, you know, barrier. Um but people also have to have common sense about realizing it
is a sidewalk and it is a downtown area with you know pedestrians and vehicles and everything else. So um I think a phase one endorsement is I'm comfortable with um stressing the fact that you guys are asking for input from all the stakeholders all people who are
interested in their thoughts ideas opinions that is what is the critical focus on this part. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you Shireen. >> Hi Angela. Thank you for the presentation. It was really informative and um um I'm very excited to see the
improvement on the uh on Ko Park. Um it it is a a flagship for that area of downtown. Um I really I'm not going to comment on the present design as that's a fluid design. So in in general, I am
in favor of it. Um I'm in favor of the idea of opening up the park because I think I think it's more inviting. um in in essence um not sure Hardscape is the inviting factor to get in there, but um I I think we always have to remember
that we should never lose the vision of what you actually see. The first thing you really see when you're in the park is the gazebo. Yes. >> And it always should be that um that sort of shining piece to the whole thing. So, however that gets framed up,
I'm really excited to see and hear from the community. So, I'm I'm going to uh support the phase one um moving forward on this. >> Thank you. Thank you, Sharine Stewart. >> Thank you, Angela, for the presentation. Um
I think it's a certainly the park needs a little bit of little bit of work. Any history on the fence? Has that been there for some time? And >> we have Polaroid images from the 1990s and it used to be a split rail fence,
but we don't know when the picket fence was. So, it's probably somewhere in the '9s that it was or after that, but we do have images of a split rail fence. So, it looked like the oldfashioned Cape Cod fence. Um, but that is something to, you
know, that we can look at and and the reasoning why it was actually installed. I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere. >> And and >> I can tell you that there was benches in front when I was a kid because um that's where the the the um some of the >> That was the '9s though, right?
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> No, but I mean that's where u folks had had their days off um would sit. Yes. And um >> on Thursdays and Sunday afternoon. >> That's wonderful. >> And and the fence is I assume town own. It's a town fence, >> correct? temper. Um I'm glad to see that
um we're going to be honoring the provisions of the of the of the gift. I think that that's really important. Um and I did notice this is probably it is nothing to do with you that no structures
are allowed >> correct >> beyond this 10x10 square administration building >> which is now the bath house. That was my next question. >> Okay. >> Administration was supposed to sit there, but now it's the bath house.
>> Okay, fair enough. Um, and thank you. I I'm going to support it. I think it's great effort. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, I I I mean, I had my comments before and I think this is a great idea and I'm very supportive, but I'm going to open it up for any public
comment. Um, yes, you have to come. you you have to come to the ma'am you have to come to the podium >> we partner very we have a long-standing relationship with the garden club so certainly >> I was just going to say that
>> as part to doing >> I was just going to say that I would hope they would contact the garden club for beautifification because I think floral and what you said about the shrubs in front and a bench or something that does I do agree that there should be some separation there but I also wish
you know because we have some knowledge of plants and pretty things. >> And you and they currently uh take care of the pots in the front. Um the garden club we partnered. So >> yeah. >> Yes. >> And also at Sears Park those shrubs they also keep the dogs out from going into
the a little bit. So that's another thing around the edges. So >> thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other public comment either in person? Yes, sir. Do you mind outlining uh just >> Could you please identify yourself? >> Yep. Sorry. Uh my name is Ben Patton, uh
resident of Chadam. Um can you outline the plan of you know what it's going to look like phasing it out to the town for public opinion? >> That is still to be determined. Today was the first day to introduce the concept and then we'll be working
closely with uh the park and wreck and hopefully with um Katie Dunovan's office to be able to push some of this information out for survey. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any others? Yes, Brian. Brian Phillips, 374 Road. Uh I wasn't
really sure what to expect uh with this meeting today. I didn't know it was just going to start with the um public opinion type stuff. So um I guess uh the first thing you know I think we should get a second opinion on these trees. I know Cory touched upon that because cutting down these trees kind of uh fits
the narrative of the hardscaping um which people may or may not want uh depending upon the uh you know the public forums or whatever. And once they're cut down they're down. Um, and I um I had someone take a look at it
and they said if you know those trees are cut down there'd be enough sunlight to grow grass. So that so you know I think the um we should definitely prioritize green space there. Um you know with the trees we just had nor easter none of the branches went down. Um and I reached out to a couple people
to you know feel out and what they thought about this because I I was kind of impressed this was the plan. Um, so we reached out to Sarah Summers and she actually reached out to um Chris and Kyle Gould, the ancestors of Kate Gould, right? >> And uh they were not in favor of
hardcaping this at all. They were uh in favor of green space. Um you know, it's a great it's always been a great place for kids to play. I don't know if that hardcaping really is going to uh be welcoming for that. Um, you know, other things we got to
consider is um, you know, what we got to do in the winter time. We have to salt this uh, you know, the maintenance, frost heaves, are the roots going to grow up through it? So, it's not just, you know, the, um, you know, putting it in. Um, I'm kind of wondering, we just put this
sidewalk in. Um, and it didn't affect the roots of that tree, so I don't know why it would affect it now. But, um, I guess that's kind of what I have for right now. Any questions? >> Okay. >> I don't have any questions.
>> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Brian, Mr. Chair. >> Uh, I can put you in touch with um, uh, >> Kyle and, uh, father and his, uh, his sister. >> That would be great. Thanks. Okay, last call for comments. Okay, I'll
take it back to the board. Is there a motion? The park and recck commission uh voted to support and move forward with phase one of the Kate Gould Park Legacy Restoration Project. Um, so is
>> I move that we um endorse uh phase one uh phase one of the project to include um stakeholder engagement and public um um input um on the beautifification project slated for the front section of KO Park.
>> Second. >> Okay. You're just talking about the front section now. >> I believe front the front section is the focus at the moment. That's phase one. >> Phase one. Yeah, that's that is my understanding. >> Um, so it's been moved and seconded. Any discussion at the board?
>> Okay, we'll call the role. >> Uh, Miss Davis, >> I. >> Mr. Matters, >> I. >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> The chair votes I. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you to the committee. >> Thank you very much. >> Good luck. >> We'll be hearing more about this obviously.
Um, next item is to consider the license to enter and use real town realtown property at 128 training training field road, Boston gas company doing business as a national grid for training field water treatment plant. Uh, Rob Phley, our director of public works, I think is
going to present this and Jay Talman, our town council is on and he has um made some revisions to the draft agreement, the license agreement. Um, this would be in two stages. It would be a license issued by the select board. We've done
this before, but they want a permanent easement and that would come from town meeting down the line. Um, but I'm going to turn to Rob first and then I'm going to ask Jay to um comment on the uh agreement language itself because we we just got tonight
the the final version. It's not red line. So, I don't know what changes might have been made. So, Rob, we'll start with you. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair Rob Philly, director of public works. Uh this is similar to the Eversource petition that you heard earlier tonight. Uh quite
simply, it's for a gas service to provide heat and a fuel source for the generator at wells 5 and 8 uh the iron and maganesees and POS treatment plant that's currently under construction. Uh if approved, the temporary license would be in effect until the granting of a
permanent easement at 2026 annual town meeting. >> Okay. Jay, do you want to comment on this? Um, we were handed just before the meeting a presumably revised version of the agreement.
>> Yeah, thanks Dean. Um I was given this I think towards the end of last week um maybe early this week to take a look at and it was a license prepared I think on behalf of the gas company and you know I
review it for um the same way I would review any license and I found it lacking in many respects with respect to the asurances and protections that we um normally seek. um when we're giving a license to use
municipal property including such things as releases and indemnification um I made a a number of revisions they came back accepted a few of them left um and then reverted back to a few of the
others including voiding my suggestion for such things as releases and indemnification for the the work that they're doing and the installation that they're doing. Um they came back to that um or I I restored some of the language. They came
back and said none of that was acceptable. So my question to Rob then was okay. So this is not likely to result in much liability. And I'm, you know, being a lawyer, I'm going to take
a conservative view generally when I'm reviewing these things and try and um prepare for every contingency, the worst case scenario. so to speak. But then I asked Rob, I said, "So, who has the leverage here? Who needs who more? Sometimes with Eversource and gas
company licenses, they need us more than we need them." The question I posed to Rob and which he answered was, "Is this something that we want?" Um, to the extent that we would want it and we're okay with their language. I don't love
their language. I think the risk is very low with their language. which it is not the form I would love to have, but sometimes things aren't perfect. Um, so I think it's important for the board to consider whether or not this is a bit of
infrastructure that is important to the town. I think uh Rob can speak to that better than I can. He's indicated that it is important to the town. And if that's the case, then maybe the select board would consider yielding to their last draft, which I think may
be before you, although I think I don't have don't I don't know what's before you, but I assume that it's the last draft. Um, it's marginally better than the version that they originally sent over, but it's less than perfect. But
I'm not sure if the board wants to, um, have the perfect be the enemy of the good here given our interest in getting this done, but I think Rob could better assess how important this is to the town than I can. >> Rob, would could you comment on that?
And could you also comment on the time sensitivity of this if there is any? Sure. Absolutely. So, this is a request that the town put out to National Grid so we can have gas service to our facility. Um, certainly, um, you know,
National Grid doesn't have a stake in it other than we would be a customer of theirs, um, in this respect. Currently, uh, National Grid said they we could be on their schedule as early as January if we get this approved, um, in a reasonable time frame. Otherwise, we're
looking at uh potentially delays even longer. Um a time frame of January would work with our current construction schedule. Anything longer than that may jeopardize the schedule of the project, which again, we were looking to have wells five and eight up and running by
late spring of 2026. >> Okay. Oh, well, um uh it's there's a doc there's a document number at the bottom, Jay. I don't know if this if yours conforms to what we
have. Um W wround. >> I I I can take a look. I maybe Rob could just comment on whether or not or even I don't know if Kathy is there whether or not this is the last version. >> I just want to make sure we we we what we're being asked to vote on is
something that we understand in terms of changes that were made from >> what we read over the weekend. and and I see some changes that, you know, don't look bad at all to me, but I want to make sure we're talking the same thing.
>> Mr. Chair, if I may, this is the most recent. Um, I did also just forward again to Jay, but um this was the most recent one that accepted his like first round of of uh edits. This is different
from what was included in the packet. So, there there are edits. This this is the final one. >> So Jay has what what we have. >> He he does now. Yes. I mean I had forwarded it earlier, but I did just send it again if he wanted to review. Um Okay. It it is the one that he the final
version he did see and and suggest additional edits that were then rejected. >> I'd like to dis I'd like to dispose of this tonight if we can. Um >> if I could Dean, um let me just offer a
a brief comment here. The the first is that you know I remain you know somewhat disappointed that they wouldn't accept the release and indemnification language with respect to the um the the license.
Um I could live with that because this is routine infrastructure. The important thing that they did accept, which is something that I would draw attention to if they didn't accept, is that this is not an easement, can't be recorded, and
is revocable at the whim of the select board if for some reason something wasn't going well on this site. And that's the most important component of it for me, that they accepted that language. Uh, would I
like it if they also agreed to release? That doesn't mean that they're off the hook from a liability perspective because they haven't asked us to accept the liability. It just means that it's not explicit in the agreement where the liability would lie and not lie um with
respect to their installation of infrastructure here. But you do have the termination rights. That is probably the single most important thing about licenses as opposed to easements where once you agree to one, it's locked in. >> That's on the final page. I noticed that
myself um because the previous version said it was a forever >> license and then it said it terminates upon the recording of an easement which was >> and I took out the forever. >> Yes, I saw that. >> That wouldn't that wouldn't be consistent with law anyway. we would
have to go to town meeting, right, >> to do a license that was forever. So the way we skip procurement as well as town meeting is we it has to be revocable, but also revocability is important in case things don't work out here. And
then as we approach an easement, which would probably be after the installation itself, then we're much more comfortable in in giving some forever rights there. But for the time being it has to be temporal like and they've accepted that language which to me was the most
important component of the back and forth and then another back and forth that I had with that >> yeah the operative language and revocability is reads I'll just read this sentence this license is revocable at the discretion at the and at the option of the license that's us subject
to 60 days prior written notice to the license e um something in that paragraph about um seventh line or sixth line. This license cannot be it says constructed as an ement. Don't they mean >> Oh, it should be that should be construed. I didn't Yeah, I didn't see
that. That should be construed. So, and I'm sure they'll be okay with that. Um >> there there is some >> um minor change >> there. There appear to be a some minor there appears to be some minor editing on the second page, but I didn't see anything that really jumped out at me.
Um any questions to Jay Corey? >> Thank you, Dean. Uh so Jay so this is a this is in sense a temporary easement. The thought process it would be brought before town meeting to create a permanent easement.
If for some reason town meeting were not to approve a permanent easement. It would continue as a revocable license you know subject to everything you just explained. And I guess what I guess I guess what at town at the town meeting
level uh would prevent it from from wanting it to be passed. I go I guess what is just so we get a clear picture of what we're putting ourselves through. >> Yeah. I mean these things it it is unfortunate you know in with with respect to some infrastructure in terms
of um uh placing it. There are certain things that are exempted from town meeting requirements such as, you know, drainage pipes and some other things like that, but we've never quite been able to um get a statute on board that would
allow us to skip the town meeting stuff for this routine infrastructure installation. I mean, my experience generally is that these things sail through with little comment at town meeting. I don't want to jinx us, but you know, it's pretty routine infrastructure. It's It's for a
municipal project. Rob says it's important, which to me means it must be important. Um, so my guess is it would get by with little fanfare at town meeting. It could be explained as to what it is and what it isn't obviously,
but it is kind of more of a routine thing. Could even be a consent agenda item potentially. >> All right. Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions from the board? Steuart? >> Sure. um mine to Rob. Um Rob, if it
weren't natural gas, what would you be considering as an alternative? >> We would probably need to uh install a a propane tank, underground propane tank. Um, I know a lot of our a lot of our
facilities are already um designed for natural gas, so we'd have to look at any possible changes uh to, you know, some of the equipment that would be there. But um that would really be the only alternative that I see. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No question.
>> No. Yeah. I I just u you know, quickly read this. It looks fine to me. Um I like the revocability piece. Um I I'm prepared to support this. Um we've been wanting to get these wells up and running for a long time and uh
we're close to the end here. So um I mean this treatment plan. So um is there a there is there any public comment? Okay. I don't see any online either. Is there a motion to u approve this license agreement? We'll all have to sign it, I
guess. That's what I heard that the company wants everybody to >> Yes. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Um I'm move to grant a license to enter and use town real town property at 128 Training Field Road to Boston Gas Company for utility connection for the
town's training field road water treatment facility. >> I'll second that. >> It's moved and seconded. I'll call the role. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> I. >> And the chair votes I. It's approved. Thank you, Jay. Don't go away. We have you. We need you for the next item.
Thank you, Rob. Okay, the next item is to consider the letter of comment a letter of comment on the seasonal communities draft regulations. This was continued from uh our meeting on October 14th uh when we
asked um town council to take a look at the regulations as well as a proposed letter that was drafted by staff. and I'm going to turn it over to uh Gloria McFersonen. Welcome Gloria. >> Hi everyone. Thank you. Um let's see. I
don't I don't not really sure where to pick up other than to um say that this was continued. Um we had um questions that were submitted and then answered by town council. Um
there was al also a question by um Jeff who isn't here about um you know understanding the potential impact of undersized lots mainly like how many undersized lots are located in town. So we did a little research on that and we have that information if you
need that. Um but otherwise um I'm here to answer questions um about the regulations. Um, I had followed the development of the draft regulations. I actually attended almost all of the listening sessions and the work sessions. Um, made
comments along the way. Um, so from my perspective, there were only a few things that I felt really strongly should be um, commented upon um, which are in the staff report from two weeks ago.
Um, but other than that, uh, if you have any questions, I'm here. >> Thank you. Um, so there's a draft letter uh that Jay has edited. The letter does not endorse the regulations. It simply asks the Commonwealth
agency to make some revisions that might benefit the town of Chadam. And I will just say cities and towns are creatures of the state. We're political subdivisions. We may have independent corporate corporate
status, but that's pursuant to the state legislature. They can do whatever they want to do and they can force whatever they want on cities and towns. Um, I don't particularly like one feature of the regs that that basically says you have to adopt certain
zoning um or else your seasonal community status is potentially at risk. They don't say that they they will absolutely take it away. So that was in the act. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So the act actually said that in order to get the benefits of seasonal communities, you had to do two things.
So you had to adopt zoning that would allow for tiny homes um and adopt zoning that would allow for um development on undersized lots. And both of those came with restrictions, too. So undersized lots would have to be attainable housing and tiny homes would have to have a
year-round restriction. So, it's not just unfettered development on those things, but that was specified in the act. >> Well, thank you for pointing that out. I I was not aware of that. Um, I'm just going to ask about one section, and I know we've had a lot of back and forth with Jay in terms of emails. I know
Stuart has a series of questions that Jay responded to. They weren't in the original packet because they came about over the weekend. Since do we have those been disseminated? I They're not here. >> Yes. Um, you should have. That was one of the handouts. >> Okay. Okay. And
>> they were also emailed forwarded. >> I will turn to Jay momentarily and we have some information from uh the assessing department too. >> Correct. >> Um and all of that will be posted. Um there was the section uh I'm going to sort of
turn this over to Jay for just for this limited response and then I'm going to ask Stuart and other members of the board to go into the issues or concerns that they have. I personally think we should submit something. Uh and the deadline is the 31st. Uh so um the it
was the provision that uh is section um get 70. It's what is this? Um 76.04. Yes, we had some discussion of that.
Yes, it's on page six of the regs from as as were disseminated last time. Anyway, a seasonal community shall amend its owning bylaw to allow the following uses as of right in a single family residential zoning
district um tiny houses and then residential um uses on undersized lots. Uh, sub paragraph 4, any residential use um on an undersized lot shall comply
with any applicable prohibitions, limitations, or other requirements of the seasonal community. Um, oh, that's not the one. I'm sorry. I'm looking for the provision that says um oh it's in two paragraph two. A seasonal
community shall um maintain a record of all development permitted under such zoning establishment which shall include but not be limited to the address gross floor area. That's not it
either. There's a provision that says um you um have to adopt a zoning bylaw that says X um you can
uh as a zoning board enforce um coverage requirements, but it doesn't say anything about anything else. We had some discussion about that last time and we asked >> that adhere to any applicable floor area ratio requirements. Yeah. Where were you looking, Laura?
>> So that's three. So that's one A section subsection two. Number three. >> Any single family residential use on an underside size lot shall adhere to any applicable floor to area ratio requirements of the seasonal community and comply with all
>> I guess that's it. >> Yeah, >> I guess that's it. And and Jay responded uh in an email. if you want to comment at this point, Jay, on this this one. There was some discussion at the board as to whether that limited the the town
in the case of an application before the zoning board to just um being able to enforce um coverage requirements apart from other types of requirements that are in our zoning
bylaw. Well, it it's interesting, Dean, because they they are calling it a byright use. So, and so we know that they we couldn't then require a special permit. Um, but
and I put this in the letter as well in in one of my additions in the letter. Does that mean that we couldn't, for example, uh require site plan review if the board recalls? um and they may not because I don't think we've we've uh robustly addressed it yet in terms of a
zoning bylaw change with respect to accessory dwelling units in communities which was a statutory change last year. We are allowed to employ site plan review which doesn't change its by right nature because site plan review is non-discretionary. You can only use it
to help shape a project but you can't use it to deny it. So, open question to me as to whether or not we could additionally require site plan review. It's somewhat silent here, but I I did pose the question there because it came
up and it was very central to the accessory dwelling unit um discussion with EOHLC and they're obviously administering that. If if their suggestion would be no, you can't do site plan review, then the only
limitation that I would see that we could put on with respect to this was would be essential essentially floor area ratio requirements and obviously all the other non-zoning things like governing wastewater. It doesn't seem to indicate necessarily anything about
height restrictions or anything else like that. I will point out, however, that even though it talks about undersized lots and doesn't reference whether they could be future lots or existing lots, they could be either under this these rags, but even though
that is the case, floor area ratio is essentially a lot area requirement. So, I'm not sure if they just don't understand that or if on one hand they're saying it has to be an underside or it can be an undersized
lot, but on the other hand allowing us to essentially having a lot area minimum um that would be out there because floor area ratio considers building area to lot size. So, we do have some controls
over how undersized the lots could could be here. What other controls we may have to me is an open question because you could have a by right use and still have a height restriction. You could have a by right use and still have site plan review. You could have a buy right use and still have setback requirements. But
they don't um say what uh that we can or can't do that here. And I think that's an important clarification that I think they will ultimately have to provide. You know, we went through this with accessory dwelling unit bylaws that towns did
and the state ended up kind of essentially making up regulations well after the adoption of the statute that confused everyone. And I hope they learned their lesson a little bit and will provide a little bit more clarity
on such questions. But as of right now, it appears that the only um uh control they have is under floor ratio. Whether or not they would reject a bylaw that had a height restriction or different setback restrictions, I don't know. >> Okay.
>> But it >> All right. Well, thank you Stuart. Did you want to You had submitted some questions to Jay. Did you want to take an opportunity to discuss any concerns or points that >> um Sure. Thank you, Jay, for answering
my questions as at least as best we could. The um because some of this we just don't know. Um >> right. >> The and I guess my question is well maybe to Katie. How many lots are we talk talking about that may be affected? I see the
map uh on page whatever it is here on >> there's one on the screen. So we have we have new maps that actually show the number of undersized lots in each zoning district. >> So if you look on the screen in R20
there are 71 lots, R40 there are 121 and in R60 there are 72 lots that would be considered undersized. So less than the um area required under that zoning district. And so one of the things um I
noted in my report actually when we were looking at this is that especially if you look like in the upper portion where it's blue the R60 um a lot of those undersized lots are bigger than the lots that are actually built on in those neighborhoods. And
then it got us thinking um how many other undersized lots are there? Like how many built-on undersized lots are there in town? because right now we have like a smattering. We have a couple hundred um lots pretty evenly distributed throughout town and
throughout the zoning districts. Um and then we actually asked GIS to map all of the undersized lots that currently have houses on them. Mark, do you mind putting up the next map? So, those are all the undersized lots
that already have houses on them in town. There are there are thousands of them as opposed to hundreds of unbuilt undersized lots. >> I can give you an example. If you think about South Chattam Morton Road, >> I'm I'm thinking you're probably
thinking about that where it's now R60 up there when in fact those are 10,000 square foot home lots on the homes there. >> So, what this zoning map says is that really all of our zoning districts were upsized. >> Yeah. >> Um
>> Stuart, did you have more? Um well, you know, this is somewhat that the uh horse is leaving the barn here. Um I initially supported
the seasonal designation. I I thought it and I still do. I I think it has I think it has um some advantages to it uh that are attractive. Um, but I I still think we have and uh some pretty significant
unanswered questions. And while I know that the letter is simply a commenting letter that's due in a few days, uh, on the regulations, um, I feel as though as if I support it, I kind of lending credence to what how this has kind of
evolved. um the you know the regul I think the most one of the most important things for me is that the regulations uh that were or the statute that uh town meeting supported um
you know town meeting didn't have the regulations we only got them maybe a month ago um and I just don't know that we whether we've had uh time to digest this and know what the implications of a
seasonal community design or the full implications are uh to a seasonal designation even though I understand town meeting has approved it. Um I think that uh this is going to require uh more study than what we've done. I
don't know. I honestly just don't know what what the community what town meeting would have uh I don't know what their decision would have been. Maybe it would be the same decision had they known this information uh then and had
they had the regulations then so they could make a more informed decision. Um so those are a few of my comments. I may have more as we move along but those are my initial ones. >> Um anybody else have any comments?
Um, you know, I think we've been provided with some good information and background from the last meeting. Um, interesting to see uh the undersized lots. Interesting to think about the history of what Chadam uh was doing back
in the '9s, you know, when we were looking at um well-intended preservationist sort of making bigger lots uh requirements. I sort of led to an upscaling of like big homes on big lots kind of thing. Um those the smaller
homes never stand a chance kind of um requirement. But what I'm what I'm thinking about in town meeting is it was implicit that you know it was tiny homes for small lots. I mean it was that was there in the uh you know in some of the
language that we we did approve at town meeting. So, this is just these are recommendations that um have been put together and they're thoughtful and I'm going to uh vote to move them forward. I'll make a motion right now to uh
accept the letter as written. >> Do you want to defer the motion till we have >> Sure. >> finished the discussion and then we'll come back to you Corey. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I just want to be very very clear because I've had conversations with different people I feel you know provided some input on
their thoughts on this the seasonal communities designation that's been that's established town meeting spoke on that. So this is not us saying we we want it or don't want it. This this what this what we are doing tonight is asking or deciding if we want to
respond and make comments to some language that has been proposed. That is that is the action that is before us tonight. So, we're not saying we we we we want in or out. We're in. Um, I do, as I said before, have some issues with the, um, you know, the
zoning, uh, the bylaws that would be automatically, well, the way I it implies to me is they would be automatically crafted to fit the language um, that is drafted not by the Chad Chadam, but is presented to us,
which I I think is is uncomfortable for me. Um, and I'm still a little unclear about exactly what would happen if town meeting says, "No, we don't want these bylaws." Because bringing zoning bylaws to town meeting
is certainly not a given. We we know that historically it's very hard. Um, there's a different threshold. Um, and is is this um would this be if it were to if a zoning bylaw were to brought down meeting and
failed are we essentially removing ourselves from that seasonal community designation? Doesn't speak clearly on that. And in our third paragraph of our letter or even making a recommendation that says um uh furthermore, you may wish to
consider not revoking a designation due to failure to adopt zoning, but rather state that the community may not avail itself to the benefits afforded by the seasonal community designation if they fail to adopt zoning. This means basically we're out and I do
think there are multiple layers to the seasonal community uh designation. Um you know that everything has you know I think people you know opinions about is everything beneficial. Are there certain things more beneficial? Um so this
recommendation says we're out. So I don't know if that is the tone we want to take. Um, I I I definitely have some issues with the um the zoning elements. Um, and I think we should obviously spell that out. Um, but it's going to be out of our
hands at some point. You know, they're going to make a recommendation. They're going to bring language back to us and then I guess at some point, you know, when it goes to town meeting for these zoning bylaws, if it doesn't pass, I don't know where that land lands us. I really don't. >> Can I speak to that a little bit?
>> Go ahead. So when when a state crafts regulations, I think that the most important thing because we have 351 individual FFTs in Massachusetts, all with their individual
character, their own needs. Um, I think the most important thing in regulations is flexibility for municipalities so that the town of Chadam can create zoning that works for them just like,
you know, the town of Ammerst can create zoning that works for them. Um, and part of the recommendations really that I made was really making an effort to look at the regulations and give us a little bit more flexibility
and give other towns more flexibility. It's not changing the regulations. It's just saying, "Oh, yeah, you know, all right, we can pass this in 18 months, I suppose, but wouldn't it be great if we had two town meeting cycles or yeah, wouldn't it be great if we allowed
undersized lots, but also can we have the flexibility of presenting preventing new undersized lots from being created?" So in your mind, you should think about the recommendations being made to the state now as a way of increasing
municipal flexibility in actually implementing these regulations. And as far as our zoning goes, we're going to through the planning board and through a public process and ultimately before town meeting try to create zoning that
makes sense for Chadam. And I when I think about the undersized lots and I Dean I understand your concern about those and I find it interesting that they picked floor area ratio which Cadam doesn't even do. It doesn't even impact us but I found it interesting that they picked floor area ratio as like the one
thing to pull out. And I think that has to do with um making sure that you don't have oversized houses on these small lots. But there's nothing in the regulations that would prevent our actual zoning from being applied to
these lots. And in fact, there's a law in statute that would prevent someone from creating new zoning for only undersized lots scattered throughout a bunch of zoning districts um with different dimensional standards than the
districts they're in. You can't do that. You have to have uniformity within zoning districts. So we would never be able to do zoning that says sure we'll allow undersized lots but only if you know the setbacks are increased by two or only if this. That's not consistent
within zoning districts because you see that all of those lots are are spread out throughout that. So just look at this as two tiers. The first tier recommendations to make this more flexible for us to do what we want to do and then the second tier zoning. We're
going to do that in the Cadam way to the best that we can do within the flexibility of the regulations but understanding that we already we already have zoning dimensional requirements and we're not we're not changing those just
for undersized lots. We can't >> I respond to that. >> Yeah. >> So I agree. I want Chadam to have the flexibility. Absolutely. But the way I'm interpreting this language is we're going to get language presented to us and then we have to match our our zoning
to to correlate with that. That's that's where I'm uncomfortable. >> So when I look into the regulations, there is no language in there other than floor area ratio that is zoning language. They're not they're not telling us how to zone.
>> Are they going to be providing sample language? So, probably not the EOHLC, but I think that a lot of like regional planning commissions might put together sample language. >> Yeah. I mean, the way I'm reading this, Corey, is um they're saying you have to
adopt these zoning bylaws. You get 18 months um and to do it and you have to submit what you adopt to us. and their their final section 7612 revocation of designation basically says what they can do if you don't
>> right >> if you don't do what they like um it it doesn't say there's an automatic um removal of the t revocation of the of the status of seasonal community but they do have that as a potential club what the way I'm looking at this is
the state has said this is what we're proposing to adopt as regulations if you want to comment on them. If you think there are some changes you'd like to make, let us know. If you don't, we don't have to do anything. There are a
couple of things that that staff has identified in a draft letter that are probably worth commenting on, but I've got the letter in front of me. By the way, the very beginning of the letter just said the first paragraph um says
that the seasonal population is nearly four times that of the year round. Isn't it like five times? Because we use 30,000 as the we're 6,000. We multiply it by five and we use that for liquor. So, we might want to adjust that language a little bit. But the um
uh on the on the second page is where we get into some substance. Um with respect to the first paragraph with respect to under undersized lots, the select board recommends that the regulations add the language um um in either of these two sections
that undersized lots or those that are in existence and nonconforming. at the town of town meetings adoption of the required undersized lot zoning bylaw. This would prevent the creation of new undersized lot. I think that phrase and non-conforming came from town
council. Is that right, Jay? >> That's right. >> And the purpose was purpose of that addition. >> Well, as I read the rags, um it seems to indicate that you could create new undersized lots.
>> It does. So whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is not for me to to assess. I think we could we could talk about it and I'm not sure how many new lots can be created, but the regs right now read literally means that you could create new
undersized lots. So it's not just with respect to pre-existing non-conforming. Um >> okay. And and I am, you know, just to kind of back up a little bit, having done a lot of the ADU bylaws, I would not take for granted
that we will be able to apply any setback or height restrictions un unless and I hear more from EOHLC because our experience in doing ADU bylaws, which is another protected use created by the state in the last year or so, our
experience is that they allow very little variance from what they're allowing. So I think there's a reading of this that it that uh could ultimately mean that the only control we could have is F floor floor area ratio. That seems
kind of um illogical to me. But read strictly that's what it says which is why I inserted language like well what else? Yeah, I was going to get to that next paragraph, but that just going to that that when you recite
>> principle in the law, when you recite one thing, you're sort of excluding others and they've recited just the floor area ratio. So, >> right, the the the omission of some language is always intended to be purposeful, right? >> Yeah. So, >> so the next paragraph, so that so so
your language of and non-conforming at the time is I think a a good thing if we can get that in there. Next paragraph. It is further recommended again regarding undersized lots that language is added to allow municipalities to establish a minimum lot size for undersized lots along with a notation
that seasonal communities may adopt other dimensional and other requirements including site plan review that are not inconsistent with the seasonal communities act or the regulations pro promagated there. I don't know who put that in there, but it sounds to me like a good thing. Came from town council apparently. Is that right?
>> I think at least I think at least some of that was from me. I'm not sure if all of it, but I think at least some of it was from me. >> Okay. And I'm going to pass on now to the the final substantive paragraph. Um, and Corey mentioned this and as he was talking about it, I some concern was
raised in me about one portion of it concerning revocation of designation. And the select board recommends that section number be changed to allow a seasonal community 24 months rather than the proposed 18 months to pass zoning allowed for undersized lots and tiny
homes. It would be important to have two annual town meeting cycles to pass the newly required zoning especially for communities such as Cadam that are already working on other housing related zoning articles. I I guess that's okay. I mean, it seems somewhat
um nonthreatening to me. Um I don't know that it's necessary, but I I'll we can discuss it at the board here. This is the sentence that I'm a little bit concerned. These two sentences. Furthermore, you may wish to consider not revoking a designation due to failure to adopt zoning, but rather
state that a community may not avail itself of the benefits afforded by the seasonal community designation if they fail to adopt zoning. this will be a benefit to towns that try to pass zoning but fail to get the initial town meeting approval. Do we really need to say that they can do that anyway? I mean, why
give them this? Why emphasize this idea in their heads? Um, that's kind of >> I mean that was my language. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Yeah. So I mean the the rationale that I had there is that
you know with respect to some other zoning things that the state has done recently like the 3A zoning it became a little bit less like a carrot and a stick and more like a hammer. M >> so you know ultimately the town meeting
may choose not to do this at least in the initial run but it seems to me to be no skin off the state's back if like if it doesn't work out the first time around okay just hold our initial acceptance and obeyance and we can't use
it until such time as we get it there's no loss there for that you know I've been through a lot of controversial zoning initiatives and sometimes it takes takes five years to to get it done. So, I think Chadam's acceptance of the Seasonal Communities Act was
certainly altruistic and I would hate to see because we don't know what they would do. I agree with you, it's discretionary, I would hate to see them essentially revoke our acceptance of the statute and then have the town come around and then have to go
through the exercise all over again. So, okay. Um, it was just a comment just on like let's work together on this. Sometimes passing zoning is really hard. It might be really easy ultimately if everyone's on board, but my experience
is it takes town meeting a little bit of time to warm up to things. >> Okay. Weren't Were you going to add something else in this letter about classification of of of categories, an additional category of worker that was going to be benefited? Yeah, there was
also the we had also uh asked for the addition of what we had passed at town meeting was to consider the >> uh commercial fishing and um service worker. >> Is there a reason that's not in the draft letter, Gloria? >> So I so I don't think that would be applicable to the regulations. I think
that's more of a home rule petition because the regulations are really clear about what a public employee is and the act also says public employee and when you talk about commercial fishermen and um healthcare workers um it's really changing the actual language of the act,
>> right? >> Which is why I think it makes more sense as a home petition. I have a question about um having this in obeyance if if we don't pass a zoning would that mean that we wouldn't be able to have the benefits of the rest of the seasonal community in that act and that so that
language sort of says we're in it like Corey had said we're in or out uh whether it's on hold and I'm I'm that makes me a little concerned because there's so many other benefits that we could be enjoying um very easily without
you know you know so I'm I'm a little concerned about how this is uh how this is um presented. >> Um this last paragraph, this last sentence in the third paragraph. >> Okay. >> In the back second page,
>> Corey, >> no. Basically, I'm looking at it very simple. Um we're already a seasonal community designation. We have an opportunity to make comment. I think we definitely should weigh in on the concerns we have. We could say
nothing. This could move forward and our words would just not matter. I think if we have concerns, we need to put it out there and see where it falls. Um I do have some concerns with elements of our designation. I'm not going to lie. But to the point where I pointed out that
that paragraph, I'm interpreting our letter as saying we're all in or we're all out. So >> that's the tone we want to take. I'm just pointing out for observation. I don't think that's necessarily what the people at town meeting supported. I think there are some parts of the seasonal community that have merit. I
think there's some things that I have concern over. Um it's like an all or nothing is probably not the appropriate time to take, but I just want to throw that out for observation. Um but I wanted us to get a letter and get our concerns on record and see where the
chips fall. So >> yeah, you know, if I were with all due respect to what Jay added to this in his explanation that was with respect to that last paragraph, if I were going to put in anything at all, I would I would drop this this the paragraph after the
word tiny homes in the first sentence. I would just drop everything else in that paragraph and basically say, why don't you give us 24 months rather than 18 months um to to adopt zoning bylaws. I don't
know that it really is helpful to say, you know, we might want another ex we might want additional time. We might might want to keep going back to town meeting with his owning bylaw that they've rejected. Um, and you might want
to consider not revoking our designation because we haven't adopted it, but you know, limit our availability of benefits. I don't know that that really helps us. I think it puts I think it puts ideas in their head,
but those those are my thoughts. I'm fine with dropping the >> That's just >> No, I am. I'm just nervous about the you know that we are we're sort of boxing ourselves in. >> I I don't know why they picked 18 months anyway. I mean, a fiscal year calendar
year is 12 month and and they they've got a year and a half. I don't know. Okay, I'm going to open it to public comment. Um I think we had one online. I think that's Nicole Stern if I'm not mistaken. Yes, it's Nicole Stern. Good evening.
Um, when this article was brought up to town meeting, I don't remember being told that Chattam would have to permit undersized lots and tiny house developments by right in
every single family zoning district. I know I would not have voted for that change in the town's protective zoning bylaw. This, like so many other agenda items, for an example, the increase in water
rates, come to the select board and have to be rushed through. It seems to me that there should be a public forum so that the public is aware, educated on the impact of this letter the board is
being asked to send. Pluses and minuses. Maybe we can have a video. they can see where all these underlock are and how it will look and then give them the pluses because I don't think most people at
town meeting are informed. Now maybe if there might have been something about small houses and writing buried somewhere but I never heard anyone speak of it. I never heard anyone from the select board
speak of it or anyone who was supporting it. So I must say also that I'm not sure changing Chattam's zoning, the purpose of which is to manage growth and
development is worth the designation that the affordable housing group is advocating. I think we need to do more homework. So, I ask that you please vote no tonight and let's hear from the planning
board and let's hear from the public first. They need to get more educated. They're not. And when they're not, and they vote for things, they come back months later, a year later, and then they're angry, and then they don't want
to vote for anything. They need to be educated, and we're not doing a good enough job. We just want to get things done. We want to get things passed. And I heard many times tonight about town meeting, you know, or what
happens if it doesn't pass or what can we do so we don't have to go to town meeting? That's very upsetting. And I think we need to go to town meeting. We need to educate our public, not just give them the little surface
bit. They need to understand the pluses and the minuses so they can make an informed decision. So again, I ask that you please not vote for this and let's hear from
the public first and from the planning board. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comment in the room or Ela Gibbs? Yes. Thank you, Elaine Gibbs. Um, first of all, this was all that was in the
warrant and all it said was acceptance of uh Massachusetts general law seasonal community designation. uh and it talked about we got this award um because our status is a municipality
with over 35% seasonal housing units and so it passed. Uh there was no language in there about the implications of that or anything about putting affordable housing in single family residential
districts. Uh the ZBA is required quote adopt bylaws or zoning ordinance to permit undersized lots and tiny house development by right or special permit in all single family residential zoning districts to be used yearround for
affordable housing located in a zoning district that allows single family residential use. I think that's pretty clear. Uh this map that we had up before you saw it, this one here, uh the first thing we should do is go to the zoning
board. This had these are all the lots in R20, R40, and R60 that are less than the minimal lot requirement for the area. So you're talking in these there are halfacre lots, there are uh acre
lots and there are one and a half acre lots as an example. I'm less concerned about something going on a small lot than I am on the larger lots because based on this um
I think these effectively eliminate all single family residential districts as it relates to the seasonal community by allowing affordable housing. Um these are currently undersized lots which means by definition they could uh be
used for that. Uh in addition to those are the ones that are non-conforming grandfathered that are 10,000 or less. The seasonal community 76.05 allows the affordable housing trust fund to purchase and retain real or personal
property through purchase or gift. Uh, this is different from an ADU because an ADU is put on on an existing property. So, we can't compare the two. This is where the affordable housing trust could go out and buy one of those lots and potentially build on it. And I think the
unanswered question in here because we haven't gone before the ZBA is um if you meet that F the size of the law and the setbacks and all that, can you put more than one unit on it? Could there be multiple units? Uh, and we don't know
that. And I think you could drive a truck through this. And I'm very concerned. I think the first thing we should do, the very first thing we should do is go to the ZBA. They're the ones with the institutional knowledge. They would know if under a special
permit, someone could come to them and say, or affordable housing and say, well, we've got the acreage based on, you know, the limited criteria. Uh, we want to put six units there. I that makes a difference and we have to know that. That's that's sort of like the
essential elephant in the room that we have no answer to. So, um I think only sending a partial answer when we have so many questions gives the wrong impression that we don't have any questions because I think we do. And I I
would assure you if the December 24th, 2025 uh I'm sorry, December 12th, 2024 memo from uh the the under this act had been
shown to the public and we were able to read it because that quote came from that. We've had it since December 12th of 2024 and we were not aware of that and I don't think if the public had been uh that it would have gotten approved. I
think they would have said no that you know this is too expansive and it's it's literally eliminating single family districts for affordable housing in my view. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other can can I take the public
>> Yeah. I just want to respond to coming >> Carolyn McClullen >> and we'll come back to the board. >> Carol McClullen, South Cadam. Um, just in regards to the town meeting last year, uh, we did have public conversations about the parameters of
the, uh, small lots and the small houses. That was a public discussion that was had. Um, I did a PSA thing on it at one point that was aired. Um, >> was that a town meeting? Excuse me. >> Was that a town meeting? I I I I don't
remember the specifics, but I I read the article and I read the explanation and it didn't get anywhere near this level of detail. You're what you're Yeah. about the what what what you're talking >> there was there was a conversation at town meeting regarding the special regarding the size of the lots in the
small houses. Okay. >> That was sp that was explained at town meeting. >> Right. It wasn't in the article. >> It wasn't written in the article. >> Thank you. Um but the issue about whether or not how to meeting feels about it now if people knew they're all
going to get a chance to vote on this. We have to pass a a a zoning bylaw. They're going to get to vote on it. If they don't like it, they're not going to vote for it. So they'll they'll have their opportunity to have this conversation and to weigh
in on what they want and what they don't want. Um, we're not bound to they can't make us do something now. We have to pass a law. If we don't pass the law, it it doesn't it doesn't we don't get in the designation. They can't force it on us. Is that is that inaccurate? Jay, are
you there? >> Jay, >> no that that's entirely accurate. >> Okay. Okay. So, >> 10 town meeting will be the ultimate arbiter on the zoning. So, there'll be an opportunity to educate the public about what we're talking about
specifically, whatever parameters we're going to set, what it's going to look like, and they will get to decide whether or not they want to do this. If they don't decide, we we'll we don't get it, we'll lose a lot of other things, but if that's what the town wants, that's where we'll be at. But this idea that we're we're doing something behind
the back of the town. It hasn't come to that yet. We're going to have this conversation and that will be their opportunity to chime in and to understand uh what we're trying to do. And I'll just also point out that you saw how few how um few dots there were on that map of available lots that were
available. And these will be for attainable housing, uh year- round housing. That's what this is for. You want to talk to the ZBA every every other week. The ZBA issues permits for McMansions on on non-conforming lots. They do it all day long. That's what
they do. We're talking about small lots for year- round people. there's a value there, but we don't need to discuss that now. All you want to do is discuss what um what recommendations you like to make to the state to broaden it so we can end up with a bylaw that we like. But again,
that's going to come to town meeting. It's we haven't done anything underhanded to get the people to support this. >> Well, my if I could just go ahead. What I had said at the beginning was and I'm not suggesting it was underhanded. I'm just suggesting the information wasn't available for town. at least all
of the information wasn't available for town meeting. As an example, these regulations that we just got a month ago, that map, I don't think was displayed at town meeting. I'm sure that we haven't notified those neighbors that may be affected by this change. I don't think they've been notified. We
certainly haven't consulted ZBA and the planning board and ultimately um this may be a good thing. Uh but like anything you look into the details and there are you know do you you weigh the two you want to take the good with the
bad and um all I'm suggesting is this hasn't been the most transparent process I've seen and partly due we didn't have the information. It's not as though these regulations for instance were withheld um because we didn't have them.
So that's what I'm having trouble with. And um your suggestion on the the the process by which town meeting will still have the opportunity to uh you know uh say yes or no to a zoning provision. Um
my understanding is if we say if town meeting says something inconsistent with the regulations, uh the state may not support that. And um I like old-fashioned I like local control and I
and I don't I I I see that being jeopardized here and that's that's all I have. >> Are you saying that the state we would make a proposal the state doesn't like it and then they're going to impose what they want? >> No. >> No. We're just out of we're just out of the seasonal community. So they're not
controlling us. They're just not letting us have >> No, I I understand that. I I think that that's somewhat backwards. Um but no, I I get what you're saying. Can I can I I know you want to talk. I know Shere wants to talk. I just want to get the public comments in first and then I'd like to bring it back. Carol, let me
finish. Thank you very much. I know you want to speak again, Lane. I'll let you if unless there's someone who wants to go before you. I don't see anybody else with an initial comment. Blaine. >> Yes. I I just like to say one thing in in terms of the question. Uh could
someone could the affordable housing go to the zoning board and ask them for a lot that's an acre to put in more than one building on that acre because it's considered an undersized lot which would be covered here. And if we don't have
the answer now I don't know how we're going to have it in May. I mean that is the question. >> I have the answer >> and I think you brought up a good point that a butter should probably be aware of it so that they could comment. >> Yeah they should. I'm sorry. They those people affected ought to be informed so
they can have comment and if we didn't have that information then well we have it now and maybe we should start that process before we get deeper into this. >> Well, they would be informed if there were an actual application before the zoning board. I but I understand you're talking about something in advance of that. I'll let Hela has asked a
question. I'm going to let Gloria and Jay respond to try to get an answer to your question. >> So, do you want to go first Gloria and then Jay? >> Sure. So, so very broadly, seasonal communities is about attainable housing and year-round housing. It's really not
about affordable housing. Um, and regarding your comment about the affordable housing trust, can they buy a property? Yes, they can do that now. We don't need seasonal communities. We have 40b. So, anytime the affordable housing trust feels like buying a property and
putting a dozen units on an acre, um, they can absolutely do that through 4B. It's it's already there. That's that's how you do it. >> Well, again, I think that we have to hear the zoning board should get involved in this because there there could be a lot more of these going on
because as I said, this is different from the ADU. If there's resources and you can pay 500,000 and put in 10 units, it's going to happen. So, I would like to know if they can put more than one unit on a lot. J >> Jay, do do you have a response to that?
A comment? Yeah, I I I I feel pretty strongly that this has nothing to do with multiple principal uses on a single lot and that this is about a single lot, a single house on a single lot. So, I I don't think that that's a particular concern. Um the other um thing I raised
my hand because I wanted to talk about here too and again without any value judgment on any of this is that the whole notion of building on undersized lots that are vacant that right already exists under zoning. the overwhelming
majority of those vacant lots that Gloria showed already have rights to be built on without regard to lot sizes, setbacks, or anything else. Um, so long as those lots have at least
5,000 square feet of area and 50 ft of frontage, they could be built on today with a single family house. So, it's probably not all new um opportunities for those lots. I don't know why some of those lots have fallen through the cracks. Could be wetlands, could be
other issues, but assuming they could solve other development issues, they could be built on today. So the mere fact that the seasonal communities might provide another building opportunity doesn't mean that these lots are necessarily going to lieowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow
again unless there's a another issue with them like wetlands or something else or ledge that's keeping them from being developed or maybe people are just holding them out and don't want to develop them. But um that can happen today. So the benefit on the seasonal communities is we could get these built
on and get the attainable housing or at least some kind of workforce housing out of the tiny houses or anything else like that. So I just wanted to make sure that folks understood that that this is not something new where we're opening up development rights on vacant lots. Those development rights already exist today
and this actually with floor area ratio gives us a little bit of rights to control the size of the houses that are going on it. Okay. Thank you, Elena. We got responses. >> I I I still >> You may differ with the response, but I got your responses. I the best I could.
>> Um, thank anything else? >> Nope. >> Okay. Uh, Shireen's been waiting. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate that. But go ahead, Shar. >> I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. Um, you know, the affordable housing trust is about affordable housing and it's, you know, we're not
going to, you know, the statement being said that we're going to, you know, that we can go out and buy a bunch of, uh, land and put tiny houses up. you know, we have an RFP process and we have policy, but I I mean, if I'm thinking
from a perspective of cost to benefit to the town for the affordable housing trust to take and one off tiny homes all over town, that is absolutely absurd. We would not take money and do something. I I wouldn't approve
I would vote negative if that proposal came before the affordable housing trust. That is not, you know, we that's that just doesn't seem to make sense. However, there are people that have small lots in town that probably wish
they could do this um to either house a family member or uh uh contribute to the community in some way. So, um that's what I wanted to say about that. And the other piece to this is we are just talking about making recommendations to
an existing draft regulations um in you know uh at the state level and as Caroline and everybody has said you know if we can't get this through zoning through town meeting then it won't exist. >> Thank you Corey. Thank you Mr. Chair. No
I want to make make sure we're on point. Conversations about our seasonal community's designation will certainly not end tonight. Before us is simply we either we have a deadline. We either sit silent or we express our comments and and if we have concerns which I believe we have identified very clearly where
our concerns are, we send them forward. And I think it's responsible for us to put those forward those concerns in writing in within the timeline timeline. All these other things we're talking about, but they're going to have to play out. there's going to be more conversations, more input, and you know,
when we get that final language back, then that's going to open up a whole new, you know, chain of conversations and possible reviews from ZBA, planning board, the select board, public, etc., etc. So, we have a recommendation, we have concerns, let's move them forward. >> Thank you. I I just want to um comment
that we, you know, we just got these regulations recently. It isn't as though we've been sitting on them or there's been a lack of transparency. We put them on our agenda as soon as we had them with some um uh developing a development of of um um background given to us by
our staff. And it's the state that has said we you have to respond by the 31st of October and we can as Corey just said sit back and do nothing or we can send a letter saying hey these are some things we'd like to see clarified in the regulations without endorsing them. And
with that in mind, uh, I there's a one other sentence I would like to suggest we delete, and it's on the first page where it says at the bottom. It's a freestanding sentence. Overall, the draft regulations are clear and representative of the intent of the language of the Affordable Homes Act. I
don't know that we have to say that. It implies an endorsement that their regulations are great, but I would propose deleting that. And I would propose deleting everything in the um penultimate paragraph. Um, after the first sentence, as we discussed before,
the paragraph that says on page two concerning revocation of designation and leave everything else in the letter, make the adjustment regarding the seasonal size of our community. And and um that would be my suggestion that we consider doing, but if others disagree
with my deletions, >> I I'm fine with making a motion to accept that and to move this forward. >> Okay. So, I'll take that as a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. It was moved and seconded to send this letter uh by Friday. Are we all going to sign this? That's what they they want us all to
sign it or is that it's been drafted that way? >> I drafted it that way. If you want to physically sign it or if you want me to stamp it, it is being transmitted electronically so I can stamp it, scan it, and send it. >> I move move that we stamp and send.
>> Is anyone going to object to signing it? I don't want to. >> Well, that was what I was getting at. Um, so if if we don't have and Mr. Dyken, well, he'll be back. No, he won't be back >> before this. >> Why don't we just have the chair sign? I'm happy to sign it as the chair.
>> I'll add that amendment that >> you want the chair and you want the town manager to sign it also. Chair and the town manager. >> That's the board's >> Well, I'll sign it as the chair. We'll just leave it at that. Okay. So, it's been moved and seconded uh to uh submit this letter in that form. Uh, I'll call
the role. Miss Davis. >> Hi, >> Mr. Mr. Meadows. >> Hi, >> Mr. Smith. >> No. >> And the chair votes size. So, it will go in. That's >> 3 to one. Thank you very much. Thank you for public comments. Thank you, Gloria. >> Okay.
Uh, annual committee board commission review. My favorite topic. Uh, >> at least you have a favorite one. >> Yeah. Right. So, um, this is in the charter. Um, we've been through this
eight or nine times I think. Um we have a list of all the committee um um charges um types of committees. We have I went through them. You know, I didn't see anything that jumped out at me. We have
two requests from two specific committees. One is the um to increase the membership of the traffic safety committee and the other is to decrease the membership in the committee on people with disabilities. I'm going to take the latter first because we've already heard from Mr. Lear, his chair.
Is there a motion to decrease the membership uh on the committee on people for people with disabilities? I guess I'll offer the motion because I promised I would uh from 7 to 5. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Um any public comment on that? I
don't see any or hear any. I'll call them call the roll. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Meadows. >> Hi. >> Mr. Smith. >> I. >> And the chair votes I. So that is done. The next is to increase the membership in the traffic safety committee and the chair Joan Craig is here. Joan, it's all
yours. >> Thank you. Joan Craig, chair of the traffic safety committee. Uh we were asked to update if we had any um openings and we have not had an alternate. I will say um over the past years, as you all know, we have been
very busy. We're very fortunate that we have a working group that works well. We have only had an uh if my memory serves correctly one occasion where we uh did not have a quorum. Uh so our group is dedicated. We do not have an alternate.
So that was the piece that we were presenting to you. >> So you are you proposing adding an alternate? Is that what you're proposing? I'm looking >> Well, we're supposed to have at least one alternate, >> but that's that's your current. >> Correct. Currently the traffic safety
committee does have one vacant alternate seat. So I wasn't >> alternate. >> I didn't know. >> We don't have an alternate. >> No one is appointed to the alternate seat. But you do have >> the position is there. >> The position is there. >> Position is there. It's just not filled.
>> Correct. >> So what do you >> So that's what I was that I'm sorry then I guess I didn't clarify it in my note to you. Um I was asked if there was somebody missing. I was talking about physically missing, not necessarily increasing to more alternates.
>> Okay. >> So, the traffic safety committee currently has five regular members. >> Yes, we do. >> Correct. >> And and they're all filled. >> They are. >> And you have one alternate or two? >> Currently, one >> one alternate. So, you do have an opening. >> We have >> for an alternate. You have an you have
an alternate position that is assigned to your committee but it's vacant right now because it's it's unfilled >> and we do advertise it. You know it is con it is included. >> You're looking to get another body in that alternate slot. Isn't that the bottom line? >> See initially I thought we had openings
for two alternates. >> If you want to increase to two alternates that >> I I I don't uh what I'm saying is we have a position opening. I need to clarify my misinformation.
I thought you wanted to know that yes, we do have an opening for an alternate. >> Okay. So, we don't have to do anything tonight, I guess, because you have the position. >> That's all right. Now, this will serve as an advertisement. This will be serve as an advertisement for someone to
apply. >> Somebody please apply to the traffic safety as an alter. >> Make Joan happy. Um, thank you, Joan. Um, are there any um comments or questions or relative to the annual committee review which is in the charter. We're supposed to look at it.
>> Any questions? >> You know, there are some committees there's sort of still dormant like the uh there's a committee on personnel committee and there's a there's a building code committee, state building code committee, and there's no one on it. >> Right. Um at a later date, I was going to uh make
an agenda request to revisit the personnel committee. >> Okay. I think it's long overdue that we >> okay >> get that reconstituted. >> Um the other thing and more of a question I may be reading this incorrectly. Um
on the regulatory charged by statute um do shouldn't there should the airport commission be in there? >> Yeah, let me get that. There is a section that is not included for review um which includes the finance committee.
Um there are a couple other committees that >> but the airport commission should be here. I mean it should be >> they're in that first section I believe that is um >> I have it >> nonregulatory charged by statute. >> They're in the second >> Yeah, they're in the second group.
>> Yeah, I see that. Um >> nonregulatory. Is that what I think that says? >> Well, I think I think these categories are sort of chosen selected by the staff. I don't or
they're in the handbook. I don't know where they come from, but >> I admittedly inherited this document, but I do believe that they are how they are listed in Mass General Law. Um, I can look into that and provide you an answer. >> Well, and I may just be reading it. I'm
not sure how I'm supposed to read this, but all the point I wanted to make was obviously the airport commission is a regulatory commission. We know, right? >> Well, I don't I think a regulatory commission is is is a body that that issues permits and reviews applications
like the like the planning board, the zoning board, the HBDC, the historical commission, and the conservation commission. Those would be reg to me those are regulatory commission. They're all statutory. Um um and and you've got the the airport
commission, the board of assessors, you know, they don't they don't make regulatory policy. They don't approve permitting. >> That's that's why I think they're there. >> Okay. >> That's my that's my understanding of it.
>> Okay. And um I associate the airport commission as a regulatory commission and because as I've read their statutes, they clearly have regulatory authority under the statute. So I didn't know if that should be with these other
regulatory charged by statute. It would seem to me that's where it belongs. >> I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I'm I'm the leaison, so I just figured I'd bring it up. Um the parks and recck commission I believe that they have statutory
uh regulatory powers. >> So it would seem to me that that belongs under number two which is regulatory charge by statute. It does have a bearing in terms of the rule that the select board has historically established and it's in the it's in the
uh the handbook that says we're not going to appoint somebody to two regulatory commissions. So right now if someone serves on the airport commission we could put them on the zoning board. We could put them on the conservation commission. And if you put the airport
commission or any of these others like the council on aging board on under the first category, they wouldn't be able to do that. >> No, I I Okay, >> that that's the that's the down that that is the result of how you categorize
these things. One result. So the the maybe we ought to define what these are because when I read regulatory charged by statute meaning they have a statutory authority to create regulation I believe is what you're trying to say. Clearly the airport commission has that. Clearly
the parks and recck commission I believe has that. I don't know about the cemetery commission. I think they have a statutory authority there. So just food for thought. I'm not >> Yeah. Well, we can. >> So, just if for clarification, I just pulled up the handbook. It does
statutory boards and committees. State statute outlines the powers and duties of statutory committees, some of which are more commonly known in Chadam as regulatory boards. Town bylaws and the select board may further define the work of these committees. although the select board reserves the rights to make
exceptions. And then to Dean's point about being appointed, it goes into being appointed to more than one board um and serving concurrently. Um I'm just trying to see if >> Well, the first part of of what you just read is really what I'm referencing. I I didn't read that, but it's it's I think
it's along the lines of what I'm point I was trying to make. All all these committees in parag in in items two and three are committees that are either enabled or mandated by statute. >> Some are regulatory, some are not. Um I
I don't think the open space committee is that I'm not even sure that's a statutory committee. Why it was at one time and when we had a land bank and then we changed it. That's probably doesn't that probably doesn't belong here anymore. >> The land bank no longer exists. Yeah, that probably doesn't belong here anymore because that was a creature of
statute. >> So, you know, this might need a little >> tweaking. Tweaking. >> Well, I guess I would say, you know, rather than extend this committee review to another session, um maybe Kathy's heard us and
maybe as she gets some time to look in this, look at this and and come up with some suggestions of refining this, she could come back, we could put it on as a separate agenda item in the future. How's that? >> That's fine. Great. >> Okay. anything to get rid of this. All right, >> that was a big hint by you, Dean. Get this done.
>> I I got that message. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Um so, um we'll there's no action on the traffic safety committee. >> Right. >> Next item is to consider committee appointments. Uh this we just have the one committee, the golf committee, golf
advisory committee. And we had two um I thought excellent candidates, Leo Aldridge and Thomas Maguire. And uh there's just one open seat unfortunately >> for a term ending June 30th, 2026. Um so um I guess I'm just going to ask
if someone wants to make a nomination. Um and if there's a second of one or both of these candidates, I'll open it up. >> I'll throw it up there. Um, I move to appoint
Leo Eldridge as a member of the golf advisory committee until June 30, 2026, unless sooner revoked or a successor is appointed. >> Second. >> Second. Are there any other nominations? Okay. I I had a real hard time with this and whoever obviously there's just one
nomination. So, we'll you've you've made a motion to appoint him and um Sharina seconded it. Well, I'll take the vote on that and then I'll say something. Um, Miss Davis, >> uh, I >> Okay, this is on Leo Aldridge. I >> until June 30th, 2026, unless sooner
revoke assessor is appointed. Davis is I, uh, Mr. Meadows. >> I, >> Mr. Smith, >> I. >> And the chair votes I. So, uh, Leo Elders is appointed. Um, I know we'll send a letter to, uh, Mr. Maguire. I hope that if there is another
appointment, another vacancy, we take him. These were both they both had s both had similar backgrounds too. >> All right. Final motion of the night. >> Motion to adjurnn. Mr. Chair. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Miss Davis. >> Hi. >> Mr. Meadows. Hi.
>> Mr. Smith. >> Hi. >> Chair votes. We are adjourned at 8:16 p.m. >> Good night. Chattam. [Music]