All right. >> Okay. So, it is 6:00. We have um we met in executive session and we have already made the motion to return to open session. Um so the first >> recording in progress >> item on our agenda is review discuss act
recommendation to appoint Jeff Melo as building commissioner. Uh so Jeff is here with us tonight. Um and we already discussed his appointment in executive session. Um we're very excited for you to join the the town or continue with
the town in your new capacity. Um and I think you're the perfect person for the job. So welcome. >> Anything that you'd like to say Peter? Uh, see who else is. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to make a motion to uh approve Jeff Miller as the building
commissioner. >> I will step down and second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. Um, next we have a recommendation to appoint Jeff Melo to the following
offices. Zoning Enforcement Officer, Land Use Coordinator, right to know. Stormwater Committee, alternate, fire station building committee, agent to the board of selectmen, TIFF review board member and soil conservation committee alternate.
>> I'll make that motion as you wait. >> All right, I'll step down second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. >> All right. Awesome. >> Getting tight for each position now. You have to see the town clerk on Monday to get this morning.
>> Yes. Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> So, next we have Mark Propnik, director of the library of Bedon Public Library here to discuss the library phase position. Hi Mark. >> How's it going? >> Good. How are you? Very good. Thanks.
Nice. Nice. Hello. Yeah. So, at at your last meeting, uh you appointed Captain Minsky to the position technical service librarian. She was the page and now that page position is vacated. We're going to talk about at the last meeting, but I couldn't make it and I I'm not going to
turn down a chance to come talk to you guys. So, I I we had to put on this meeting instead. So, um here I am. And we trustees met and approved the position. It went on to HR and I'm I'm here to answer any questions and hopefully we can we can post it and get the position built.
>> Fantastic. >> Uh I don't have any questions. >> Uh we we've discussed it a few times and just ready to pull the plug and go. So that's what I'd like to hear. >> Yes. So when will it be posted? It >> it could be as early as tomorrow, I believe. Yeah. As early as tomorrow. Yep. >> In two weeks.
>> Two weeks. Yep. And we'll start interviews and we'll get it filled and we'll get rolling. >> Awesome. That's very exciting. >> I'm excited, too. >> Well, with that said, I'll entertain emotion. Okay. Motion to appoint the library. Page position in post job description. >> I will step down and second. Any discussion? All in favor?
>> I. Motion carries. Thanks for coming out tonight. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Keep up the good work. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Next, we have Taylor Perez from the She's the director of housing and research to talk about the housing production plan.
>> Hello. >> You'll have to forgive me. I my laptop has just decided to simply die um right at the the best time. So I have my notes on my phone so if you see me looking down at it that's what it is. >> Perfect. >> But good evening folks. Thank you for having us tonight. Uh my name is Taylor Perez. I'm the director of housing and
research at Serpent, the reasonable planning agency joined by my colleague Robert Kalis, the assistant comprehensive planning manager at Serpent. And we are here to chat about the housing production plan which we recently brought to final draft form at the beginning of this year. We worked on
it for about a year or so, probably from November of 2024 through the end of last year. We attended two tableabling events. Uh we conducted a community preferences survey that received about 200 responses. And I think the last time we spoke was almost a year ago to date.
So it's nice to be back. And so really, I think what we're here to do tonight is just to talk through any questions you folks might have, talk about next steps, what it means to, you know, finish a housing production plan, locally adopt it, get it approved, etc. if that's what you folks would like to do. Um, I know
we also received a memorandum from the planning board. So, if you have any questions about the content and that, we're happy to talk through it. Um, but really, I kind of wanted to leave it up to you folks to hear if you had questions, Ralph, if you had comments for us, etc. um or any thoughts or yeah just kind of directionally where you
wanted us to go tonight. >> Now if I may just oh I was just going to say uh Jeff Kaval is on the uh is uh coming in Zoom. I just want to um reiterate u I thank you for the work survey did on the housing on the housing
production plan. Uh the housing production plan is a is a is a critical is a critical plan each town each town must have uh per per the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Um we have it because it gives direction to the town as to how we
want to see housing going and also it you know if anybody comes into town any developers coming into town uh you know they they get a sense of of where the town is and and and and the direction the town wants to go in. Also, um you
know, it does provide um a a an adopted uh an adopted um housing production plan, a certified housing production plan does provide a safe harbor to the town, ensuring that um you could uh the
developers who who do come in um you know, you can you know, you work with them and you work to get the the the um the project that is, you know, respectful to the town, works with the developers, and respectful to people who
will eventually, uh, live in there. So, um, you know, I I looked over, um, I looked over the production plan. It's it's a pretty good one. I know, um, the planning board has has has provided comment. Um I don't know if this
opportunity um if the board has any questions or or if you want um planning board u I I know we have another member from the planning board here but we do have the chair on um >> I think it'd be beneficial just to have
a overview of the the highlights of the plan and your findings. That would be nice. >> Yeah. So again kind of scrolling through the plan on my phone so apologies if I'm looking down. Um ultimately after again about a couple you know solid months of
engagement uh you know I think a pretty good uptake on the survey. I know that was something that the planning board brought up and that we can talk in further details. Again I think we got about 202 responses um of definitely a breadth of opinions on housing production in town and not just production but you know just policy in
general which we see in all of our communities. And what we've tried to do here is uh tease out what we think makes the most sense for the town and is actionable while still being again respectful of the feedback we received via the survey and VR tableling events.
And so I'm kind of scrolling again through here. Apologies. So again, ultimately we start with data and the kind of main conclusions that we found that we see in many of our communities throughout the southeast is that Diton's population is aging. um that the population um and the housing stock here
have seen more growth, which is actually not so common in our region compared to other communities, that you folks have a high median income, and that your home sales have remained steady. Um although prices are increasing as they are kind of everywhere regionally and statewide. And so given that and the feedback we
received from the survey, we ultimately came up with three goals um and then or excuse me, two goals and four strategies. The first goal was to create housing options and implement new programming to support vulnerable populations. And the second goal, which appears in almost every housing
production plan that we write, is to continue to produce subsidized housing inventory eligible units to achieve the Commonwealth's required amount and support communities in need, which I know Ralph was just alluding to. It's that 10% number that folks are probably very familiar with as required under
chapter 40B and its regulations. And so ultimately, we recommended four strategies. The first was to review the town's comprehensive permit rules and regulations just to make sure that everything is up to date and that the procedures are you know as you folks would like to see. The second strategy
was to conduct additional public outreach to determine housing needs and preferences in town. This largely come from uh you know the the kind of again I alluded to earlier the breadth of feedback we received on the survey. Um it was hard to at least on our end we attempted to do our best to thread the
needle and draw some consensus and get make some recommendations that we thought made the most sense. Um but there was certainly you know there was a lot for us to work with in terms of what's going to make the most sense for Don. So we think just doing more public outreach and you know trying to get out to whether it's stakeholder interviews
with folks at like the Council on Aging for example or or whatever um to again further tease out what's going to make the most sense for town. The third strategy was to pursue funding and regulatory changes to support creating and preserving housing for vulnerable communities, including senior residents and veterans. And then the
fourth strategy was to investigate opportunities for adaptive reuse to redevelop and or expand underutilized municipally owned land and buildings, something that is also almost cookie cutter in most of our housing production plans because it ties into that second goal um regarding production. And so
ultimately, again, two goals, four strategies. You want to keep it really simple. Um, and in terms of next steps, you know, what we'd like to do is we again received the memorandum that I think you folks have on your desk tonight from the planning board. Um, we are prepared to incorporate some of the feedback that we received there. And
then ultimately, it's, you know, goes back to the planning board and to you folks to choose whether or not you'd like to locally adopt it. And then you essentially, if you choose to do so, you furnish that evidence in a letter to the executive office of housing livable communities and then you can get it approved. And that kind of sets the
stage for the next five years where you now have an active housing production plan. And then, you know, should you be producing SHI eligible units? Um, I believe the 0.5% threshold is like 15 units or something. It's I know it's a smaller number, but again, it kind of leads into what Ralph was saying where
you could apply for certification where you can get up to two years of safe harbor. So, that in a nutshell is kind of the summary of what we've got going on. Um, do you have anything to add? >> Sure. Um for those of you that have read through it, the one section I think I
could add a little um distillation to is there's that barrier section in the beginning that is also uh >> mandated. Yeah. Regulatory mandate. So >> when we think about sort of planning analysis or architectural analysis or whatever way we describe that is sort of
like the barriers is just what is it's what's there call existing conditions analysis type of research. So when we say some of the things I uh maybe getting ahead a little bit of some of the planning board's comments here too that you know uh single family zoning is a barrier to producing more housing. It
just kind of is. If it was zoned higher you'd have more housing. We're not saying normatively what someone ought to do but we are required to kind of mention those kinds of things. Open space is a barrier to more housing. This plan is specifically focused on housing. So we're talking about what barriers to
housing are. Of course, a town like Dayton has to consider the breadth of sort of factors that make someone want to live here or make quality of life good here or protect the environment, all of those things. So, that's really what that barriers represents is it's a it's a >> part of that's in every plan. And to be
honest, we usually do get a little push back on on it in every plan. So, I usually try to address it right up front. So, we have that barriers section. We have the analysis section of of what we've heard during outreach. We try to look at both of those and and kind of listen to folks at meetings such
as this like board of selectment or the planning board and recommendations people have and distill all that and that's where those recommendations, goals and strategies really come from. So just to add a little bit that one piece of barrier because I know we tend to get a lot of questions on that. >> Yeah, >> it amazes me that we only have 200
responses >> uh considering not that we get a lot of phone calls over it. I I hear such strong opinions either way. Uh I'm surprised more people were not more vocal to you uh just in sheer numbers, not necessarily what they
had to say. >> Um >> and I don't want to apologize for that. >> No, that's okay. >> Considering you and our town meetings, we don't have great attendance for the major decisions that have that are made at that meeting. um especially when you
consider the adult population is what it is. Um you know the 8,000 obviously includes children. Uh so the data that you have in here was just mostly research from your end. Not a lot from well there's no data from the opinions.
>> No. So, I mean, there definitely was, I think, um, and and I, you know, I appreciate the apology, but you really don't have to because uh, this is probably one of the best uh, in terms of like responses survey that we have done for any of our communities with housing. >> I know
>> it's not a bad rate of response compared to the population of the town. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah, >> we um I know this again and this is kind of getting into the memorandum from the planning board, but um you know we were looking at the sample size for a confidence interval of 95% I think it
was you know maybe 360 responses and so we kind of were closer to 85%. So again like we I we feel that in terms of again the sheer number the volume of responses was was pretty good. We, you know, today as we were discussing before we came
tonight, um it could be more of we were saying a coverage issue where, you know, we know that the survey made its way onto social media, for example, and um you know, you just don't know exactly what kind of subset or, you know,
either, you know, voting population or whoever is taking it. We struggle with this almost on every survey where we're just constantly trying to navigate getting a very representative population, getting enough survey responses and then, you know, working with it uh again in a way that we feel
is meaningful. And so really, I actually think that a lot of the survey feedback kind of fueled this because even though it was such a, you know, again, it might seem like a small subset, they were very robust. There's a lot of information actually within that survey which is why we tried to lean more programmatic in
terms of like housing focusing on like stability and affordability for housing which is why I think one of the recommendations that um you know the planning board highlighted was the municipal affordable housing trust under that third strategy trying to focus again on things that are maybe a little
bit more bite-size easier to kind of you know move the needle on without trying to propose some dramatic change which it was very clear like through the survey responses that that you know, there was no appetite for that and we recognize that and it's, you know, Dyon is not the only community that has those sentiments. So, we're
pretty familiar with, I think, working in situations like that. And I do think that the survey, again, in my opinion, seeing how many surveys go out and kind of the uptake being really hard to kind of get people to take surveys. I was I was happy with 202
statistically significant number. And to to hone in on that one word, Taylor used coverage. sort of a statistical word we use when we look at I'm sorry go >> um >> share the bench >> uh that specifically means >> is the subset of the population that
answered the survey representative of what we would call like a typical Dyon res or the breadth of >> right >> residents in Denon so I would say if there's potentially a weakness in this and again just following up what you said Taylor it might be that people who take the survey online because we know a lot of people found it online or found
it from Facebook groups There's one of two possibilities, I suppose, that that even though it's a subset, it completely reflects the broader consensus in Diden, which you could if you were to ask every single person in town, you'd get the same answers, or that if you were to ask
every person in town, we would find that the >> yeah, there were divergences across certain, you know, reasons we could maybe age group or length of time someone's lived in town or some something like that. So it coverage is
if we were to kind of nitpick where some of that data might again if we were to like hypothetically census everyone in the town might be different. I would say coverage is probably and how do you address that? I mean >> there are everything has tradeoffs but for example maybe in the future if we
did something we would send a flyer out with a tax bill that says hey check this out if you want to. That way you know you're at least reaching every homeowner. And in a community like Dyon where most people do own their homes, that is a large portion of the town. So there there are different ways we could approach it, you know, and then of
course like uh you know, we do our best with what we've got as a regional planning agency, >> but you know, big time pollsters, that's why they phone and >> send mail and, you know, do focusers and 8 8,000 things. So, you know, but we could pick and choose a couple of these
differently next time based off what we >> uh not to go way off subject, but how many communities in Massachusetts have housing plans? Do you know of him? >> What I don't Yeah, many obviously more do than don't. >> I would say probably. Yeah, I would I
would guess at least half if not maybe 2/3. But I mean, how many are actually >> in date? It might be closer to half or so. But there are I mean at least in our region alone I would say it's probably twothirds. >> Yeah. Wow. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And then you could even distill it a
little further into communities that are smaller communities such as Dyen versus larger communities and those that are at the 10% threshold versus those that aren't. Some may say, "Oh, we're at the 10% threshold. >> Our housing planning is going the way we want it to. We don't need to do another
one." Yeah. So, so within that, but I'd say, you know, in the Surfhead region, >> um, many of our communities pursue it. >> So, somebody reaches a 10% and they just blow off a housing plan. Some people do. >> Yeah, it depends. We've worked with communities who've been at like either at 10% or near it and still opted to,
you know, either write or finalize a plan because it can queue up, you know, say for example, you know, we're near we were near the 2020 census and then we're approaching the 2030 census where those SHI threshold numbers get updated. Sometimes it can be nice either to carry
over that threshold or for example just to know in advance as that new date approaches where those numbers will be updated. Oh, like we set this guiding document, you know, five years ago and three of the five things we recommended have been done or not. Um, but I would say it's pretty community specific
whether or not they want to. Um, but for those who at least are under 10%, we ser usually recommend to have one. We just think it's a beneficial document. But of course, you know, it's up to the communities what they want. >> And some of those communities, they're I I think if they're in the room, their
response would be plan the housing. We're executing it. It's going well. I think that would be how they would interfere interfere with it. Um, >> but yeah, but and some of them even with the 10% many communities will say, well, we do want to state our goals, right? >> And we want a good picture. We want an
updated picture for its own sake. So >> but I I think yeah just to kind of compare like situations smaller more rural communities under 10% similar to dyon I would say many of them work with ser or right
>> anyone consultant or something to pursue a housing production plan and certify it. >> Uh there's a lot of information here and you guys done a great job. Don't um >> I have a lot of questions.
>> Okay. So, Mark, uh what do you have? >> Um I just could you go over the um the local adoption procedure again? >> Of course. Yes. So, there are a couple ways you can do this and we kind of have like the the slightly longer but recommended route and then we have the
shorter and probably more standard route. Typically what we like to recommend is that once both boards have seen it and feel comfortable, but if there are edits, like for example, we know we're going to have some edits that we want to incorporate from that planning board memorandum just to more clearly articulate some of the comments that were in it and make sure that
everything has been addressed. Um, you folks can do a couple things. You can either, you know, contingently adopt it on the basis that we incorporate those edits to your satisfaction. You can wait and see an updated version and choose to adopt it. Um, and then again kind of
getting at what I was alluding to earlier, this optional but slightly longer process is we want to make this, you know, the least arduous that it could be for you folks. So, what we like to do with our housing production plans is almost get them pre-reviewed by the
state where we ship it off to them and we say, "Hey, we think we've addressed everything as required in the regulations. can you just ensure that we've met that and it's satisfactory so that you know the town doesn't have to go back and adopt it twice if for some reason they ship it back with edits. So that's an optional step but we like to
recommend it because again I think it really um makes the process a little bit more bulletproof so that again you folks come and you have a nice final HPPP that you feel good about and that you know the state is going to say yes to and then you can choose to adopt it at that time. Um or again if for some reason you
know tomorrow you decide I really don't want to locally adopt this that is totally fine with us. We you know I'm not going to lose sleep and not hurt. Um it's truly up to you folks what you feel comfortable with. But in terms of the procedures that's usually how we like to do it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Of course. Um is Jeff are you willing to
give the planning boards uh feedback? Uh could you >> uh Sure. Uh thank you. Yeah, if you don't mind, I just uh you you have the memo in your in your packet. Uh I'm not I'm not going to read it uh cover to cover. I do want to get some highlights and uh first I want to say thank you to
survey members. Uh uh I'm sorry to get your is it Taylor and Robert? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. And Robert, you're you're working with us on some other work. Uh I'm also a ser commissioner, but um so uh I wanted to be there tonight, but I wasn't feeling well. So told it be best if I
just did this remotely. So I apologize. Hopefully you can hear me. Okay. >> Well, awesome. Okay. So, uh first I want to say uh I I don't envy sir this um >> because I I I I realize quickly as I'm
criticizing your small sample set. Uh I find it very difficult uh having served on multiple committees and boards and looking at that room right now uh knowing that we have a a a town of 3,000 homes and there's maybe six people in the room in the audience. So I I I get
it. I know it's hard to get people to respond. Uh I'm also very concerned that out of the 202 responses which is equivalent to which is you know it's less than 10%. Uh yeah there's 8,000 residents. uh but as the sele pointed out that's actually much less you know
households more more on the order of 3,000 uh so it is less than 10% but I the concern that I have was of those responses how many of those were actually substantive substantive uh and the reason I say that is a lot of these responses were pretty inappropriate
uh and I don't know if it's so had a chance to go through and actually read these responses I I don't know if you should because I I I don't think you'll be happy with the responses at Some of them were pretty inappropriate and vulgar and unnecessary. And I think uh a lot of that came from, like you said, it
wound up on social media and and a mob mentality took over. But u but but one thing I will say um is I didn't even know this this housing production plan was happening until after it happened and I was asked to comment on it. So um I don't know the right way to get the
word out. I wish I had a good answer and like I said, I don't envy you uh because that's very very hard. Um, so I I wasn't hearing you talk. I I realize you did what you could. I don't know what the I don't know what the strategy was for outreach because you got my comments, so I don't want to dwell on that. Um, I was
concerned about underrepresentation of of people, but you know, it's it's my comments. I I I get concerned. We talk about adopting a plan where um I didn't feel after I read the whole thing that I really knew what the plan was. Um because it it seemed after reading
reading through all the comments um and and you went through and found a thread uh I think maybe you may have just gone through and printed them and put all the ones that don't say anything on one side. When you got done you got some consistent responses and you went through and and and threaded that all
together. Um but it wasn't clear because all of your responses were actually flat. Some people thought everything you could you could have easily taken all those survey results and put them in different buckets and you wouldn't see any substantial stat statistical representation of what the majority of
people thought would be a good idea. Um so I think your number is much less than 85% uh uh 85 uh uh excuse me you you mentioned 85% as a as a stat goal before. Uh I think your number is much lower and you start looking at the ones
you actually could do something with. Um so that was one of my concerns. Um the the biggest thing I want to see happening, I'd love to see happening is I put I put it as number one and that that is strategy too. We we need to do a
more a better job of educating the public in general. Um biggest part there is like to to dispel housing myths, right? That's that's a huge problem. And and in my short time on the on the trails committee, I went to a number of different talks around the area. The one
that I found the most interesting uh was one about the Bristol bike path. Uh if you don't know the history of the Bristol Bristol bike bike path, there's a reason why this ties directly to housing. I think in my mind uh because folks have this idea in their head what would happen if a bike path comes through their town and you know they're
concerned that people are going to start taking the televisions out of the out of their living rooms and carried away on wagons. And it it took it took the Bristol Bike Path, you know, close to 20 years to to dispel all those doubts. And now you see the success that they've become and people want to live next to
the bike pack. All that being said, people look at housing 40Bs and the fact that we're at 5%, we got to get to 10%. They see that as a a really negative thing and that's what what I think you got in general from all the surveys that you had is a lot of people have this
idea in their head of what that could do to the town of Don and a lot of folks feel very negatively that going in that direction. Unfortunately, we're required we're mandated to get to this 10% number. So, we have to figure out how to get there. But I I think a big part, and I'll leave it there, is I I think
strategy two needs to be needs to be number one. So, I'll turn it over to uh to uh back to the room. >> Thank you, Jeff. respond to just the we we read through the memo of course too and and we we we completely understand
the sentiment of the comments and we felt that they were um appropriate and on point. So so we really appreciate when folks such as yourself engage with the plan >> um especially when it's to provide constructive criticism like this and and try to nudge you know move the needle in the direction that you want to see for
your town. That's what it's really at the heart of why we write them. So, thank you for uh really taking a dive into the plan. Yeah. >> And doing that and and to the statistical point too, just to the 85% what Taylor mentioned is a confidence interval, which is just like if you take the sample size statistically, they'll
give you that. That's why we said we would just maybe it's nitpicking, maybe it's just like being a little academic. I apologize, but it's not like um that's why we use that coverage word, right? because the number makes sense, but there are plenty of times where like you could get a good number um and and not
um get a sample of the general population. Like like a hypothetical >> I'm I'm a numbers guy, so I love numbers. >> A hypothetical of this would be like if you went to the park on a really busy day where there's a festival at the park and you ask everyone what they think of parks and you get overwhelmingly positive responses, it's probably
because everyone you asked is at the park. And like ours is a little more convoluted because it's not that simplistic, but the internet and the Facebook aspect of it could have produced that kind of effect in our survey is what I would suspect. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean just to add to that too and again like I I don't know that
it necessarily solves the problem or whatnot but again I I just want to like commiserate and and I really do appreciate your comments because we we like I said we we do struggle with this where you you know these kind of voluntary surveys the uptake is again
it's voluntary it's dependent on whether or not someone has interest in the topic be that positive or negative sentiment around it and um to to Rob's point earlier again it's it's so hard to to get that truly representative um sample
size. And so again, my my hope is that through this plan, we have done our best to to your point um and tried to tease something out. And again, maybe this is a representative sample in which case again maybe the the appetite is just not there and that's okay. We want to make a
plan for you folks that still is actionable even if that is not focused or centered on production. um we you know have tried to directionally take our housing production plans to be focused not just on you know affordable housing production but also market rate and programmatic changes. So you know it's
not again unheard of or or something that we felt was I think we were we ultimately I think are hopefully satisfied with it but again I appreciate the the sentiment and I do agree and um I always wish we could reach more people you know there's nothing more I can really add. >> Yeah. And to take it in the other
direction, of course, the one thing you don't want to do is you get a result on a survey that doesn't, you know, express a positive sentiment towards housing or a clear sentiment and say, "Well, we're not using that. We we are going to use the feedback we get on a plan because that's our job.
>> It's the ethical way to approach a planning project. So that is our above all else our obligation to >> to accurately describe the sentiment we heard from town >> on this. I I can say, you know, at the table events are at the Strawberry Fest are at the couch ship. And >> we did hear people that were excited about certain housing ideas. Um,
>> and so we know there are some people in town that have certain interests in certain directions, too. So, we know it's not every person feels this way. We're going to go with the data points that we get. >> And I mean, something I want to add to that again, this is not unique to Dyen. Um I know there was a comment in the memorandum about the kind of
contradictory nature folks where we post two questions usually again like or at least a section that is about you know what type of housing related strategies would you support in town and then prior to that we pose a question you're concerned about housing affordability in town and again it's not uncommon and Dyton is not unique in the fact that a
lot of folks are always concerned but you know the sentiment around actually implementing strategies to address that varies a lot more. Um, it just tends to happen where I think folks are concerned about, you know, can I afford to live here? Can I afford to pay my taxes? Can
my children afford to buy a home here? But then also not really sure directionally how you how you address that or, you know, aren't necessarily comfortable with the kind of mainstream strategies. So again, to your point, it probably is beneficial to do some more engagement and to to focus on some of these more
bite-sized kind of again like incremental changes that start to kind of um again like move move the needle. I feel like we're saying that a lot. Thread the needle, move the needle. Um you know, get towards again a common understanding and consensus. And a lot of that is dispelling myths and talking
about things that you know folks are comfortable with certain trade-offs or not. And you know, where where could we do something that we think is impactful or not? Um, you know, I really I'm just trying to get at the fact that it is super complicated and um, at least in
this plan, I think to Rob's point, we didn't want to misrepresent what we heard again, whether it was positive or negative. Um, we don't I don't think that again ethically that's, you know, it's just not we have to take what we got at face value, you know, for better or worse. >> You won't get anywhere doing it either
because you'll have a plan that no one in the town supports. So even if some of this may be you know not directionally satisfactory sometimes at least it represents what we've heard out there and and I think >> if it if we would call maybe a baby step forward it's better than what looks like
a big step forward and then you take two three steps back >> someone is like I took the survey and I don't feel like that's what I said or whatever you know >> right >> so >> completely agree >> seems the majority of the survey was taxes are too high >> it's everywhere
We hear that a lot. We hear a lot. >> Not that the housing plan has anything to do with that um in a roundabout way. I guess if >> yeah, >> we had more houses and technically you think that the tax base would I mean taxes would be spread out so that people wouldn't have to pay as
much but um of course with that comes families and schools and >> um so analysis we did not do in this plan what cranking points are or whatever >> but it is completely true um and it's not again not unique to Don we hear a
lot of similar sentiments across all of our communities who again are, you know, we have 27 communities and they're all vastly different in their own ways, but there are common themes across all of them. Again, a general concern about affordability, a concern about tax rates and um you know, housing stability and
whatnot. It's just again what is going to make sense for your community forward to do to address that. >> There's nothing in this plan that's binding, right? It's just that it's a plan and it's goal setting and it's really starts the discussion on where we
want to go in the next 5 years, right? So that's you guys did your research, you did your survey, you um compiled it here, but and this will get submitted to the state, but we is there anything in here that can that we have something,
>> right? >> I have never encountered something of that nature. Um maybe the most affirmative statement you make is like the and this is something that I think we have a lot of discussion with communities about again not unique to Dyen is that last strategy that discusses you know where in town would
you support um either redevelopment adaptive reuse uh friendly 40b work etc. We get a lot of questions about that and ultimately that again not binding. No one's going to come knocking on your door and being like did you take interplast to do anything with it or
whatnot. Um but it again it directionally aligns you in the sense you as in the town where say a developer does come and is interested in doing something in town and say you have a certified housing production plan and you want to do something with the site and you've outlined it here. again it
can kind of start to help you navigate um certain you know a trajectory that makes sense for town but you know beyond again it's it's a it's a policy instrument to your point and it's really meant to be um you know that carrot incentive where it's like you adopt this and then you get certification which is
really the big regulatory T that are associated with the plan um >> yeah yeah go ahead of course >> um also I think if we were to break this down into some of the components and the recommendations >> that last one that you mentioned Taylor is really I think from the
Commonwealth's perspective the major obligation for the plan. Um if we wanted to write the most minimal plan that we could you would have two sites selected for a potential 4DB typically one town owned and one >> right >> privately owned
>> and the community's signaling of willingness to look at those two sites is exactly what Mr. Taco said, I think in the early part of this discussion, setting the stage for us is it shows that okay, we're planning for housing and this is how we're planning for housing. We're under 10%. And if a 40B
were to come across our desk, here are two priority sites that we've hypothetically acknowledged >> that we would kind of direct development in a hypothetical sense, not not a binding sense to my knowledge. >> Right. No. >> So, is the town or community showing their willingness for planning in that
regard? Uh that's the closest thing to an obligation. But again, it's really just signaling like >> preference. >> If a 40 were to come across our desk and we have a safe harbor, this is the approach we we would signal to developers that we would like to take. >> But if something were to come up on the
site, to my knowledge, and I I don't have like historical thing, you know, instances on my mind or anything. I can imagine there could be many scenarios where a community be like, "Oh, I know we put that on our plan, but this has happened in the time since we can't >> meet that, you know, meet that >> we set for ourselves or something like
that, >> right? >> I'm sorry. One more question if you don't mind. >> Are you going to make any changes based on the planning boards?" >> So, we would, you know, based on the memorandum, we just want to go back and make that clarifying language like add
it make it super clear. Um, so I actually I went today, you know, was going line by line to make sure that we had language kind of queued up that as long as you folks are comfortable with us moving forward and doing that, we just go in and add it and then it comes back across, you know, both desks for review again.
>> So that would be the changes would be based on that memorandum. >> Yeah. Otherwise, I don't think we're here tonight. >> Right. Exactly. >> And um Jeff mentioned that goal number two in your plan should be goal one. Is that >> Yeah, we can certainly we can rearrange
however is most appropriate. >> Okay. >> That's my only other question. >> What's the timeline for state approval? >> So, it's a little squishy. That's probably not a super satisfactory answer. The state I'm trying to remember
our last plan that we did how long the again to make it clear to you, this is optional, but just something we recommend. I don't think it was longer. It's usually one to two months. Oh, that's all. >> Yeah. Like you're not going to be in like 2027 being like, "Have they reviewed our plan?" Like it'll happen. Yeah.
>> Yep. >> And the reason for that approach, um, I think is by the time everybody's kind of standing behind this in the town side. >> We kind of have that preapproval, the informal approval from the Commonwealth. So someone
>> on Don's end doesn't say, "I stand behind this and then we got to change it." And they go, "I stood behind that, but I stand behind this again with the changes." you know, it's just uh >> streamlines >> a way to keep everybody informed with as few steps. So, so what happens from here? >> So, um if you folks again um this is the
procedure we recommend and I'll leave it to you folks on how you'd like to proceed. We would >> incorporate those edits from the planning board memorandum. >> You folks can review those and make sure that again they have satisfied what you would like to see changed based on that
memorandum. Then we bring it to the state. It's just an email that we send out. We say, "Hey, uh, working with the town of Dyon. Here's their final draft housing production plan. Can you just give it a quick look? Let us know if you have any edits." And 95% of the time, if
they have edits, they're very minor. It's like, "Can you add one data point on uh age trends over time?" Or, "Can you add one extra sentence on the infrastructure?" Or, "Can you just like clarify this one data point on seasonal vacancies?" like they're very minor in
nature and more often just you know purely forformational sake um that we've never been asked to like restructure our plans or anything and we've been working with the two folks who review HPPS at the state for my god probably five plus years now it's been the same folks and they're
>> probably submitted what like 15 20 points to them during that time >> it's over 10 easily um so we have a good rapport with them and um I know the last plan that we submitted I think the turnaround was faster than I remember in the past. So, I think that they're pretty familiar with kind of the way we structure HPPS
at this point. And again, a lot of the times it's just like, can you add a data point? Um, after that, it comes back to you folks and then you formally adopt it. The planning board adopts it, the board of selectment adopts it. We have draft letter um templates that we can
provide to you folks that essentially are just like hey on X day the planning board voted you know X to Y to adopt this and on this date the board of selectmen voted to adopt the plan on you know X to Y that gets submitted to the state and then it's in their hands and
eventually you get a letter that says hey as of the day you submitted this plan for our review it is approved your 5year lifespan has begun you have an approved HPP and then you're you're good for the next 5 years. >> The planning board has some great
comments and thank you Jeff. >> Um it was an interesting read the um people who review nobody's going to know Giden. So, h how do you overcome the fact that
they're going to treat us like any other town when every town is unique, >> right? >> I mean, we again the the kind of the nature of the feedback when it comes to the actual approval process is not often um around
the context of the community. And I don't I don't mean that to sound cold. It's just true. I think a lot of the times the state focuses on does this housing production plan meet the regular requirements and you know often times they'll be like we appreciate the nuance that's in this plan. I know they read it um front to
back. >> So you know how much we want to come up front and say things we certainly can when we send it along. Um and we do try and provide some context where we feel it's appropriate. But I mean, EOHLCon, you know, has reviewed very small community HPPS that we've done to, you
know, very large suburban HPPS that we've done. Um, so they I think they've seen the breadth of our region. Again, to your point, no one will ever know Don like you folks do. Um, even we we can't. Um, so we can make as much context as you folks feel appropriate clear when we
send that along. Um, but the nature of their reviews again is largely regulatory lens. >> Okay. The type of comment that would require substantive change is I think a community that is assues the responsibility of like u providing 40b
sites or we've had them come back where a community object strongly to having a barrier section you know those kinds of things and if we felt that that was at risk here >> we would talk about it that's usually how it's gone on plans where that kind of thing has happened
>> I can't promise we're not going to get any comments or something won't surprise us or that there's you know but I mean I don't I don't want to speak for you Taylor but I suspect this plan should go through without major edits. >> I would I anticipate the same thing and
of course if we always tell communities too if in the event for some reason the state comes back and you know again in the unlikely scenario they were like we want you to rework the entire uh barrier section or the entire needs assessment which again I think is a very unlikely outcome. anytime they come with truly
substantive changes which again in my experience writing these over the past now seven years I've been at surfed has not happened um but if it does we come to you folks and say are you comfortable with this do you want us to proceed with this um because ultimately again this is
your policy document that we are you know just aiding in the production of and so if something comes across our desk that the state requests that you feel is fundamentally against what you folks would like to see in plan or whatnot. We don't want to write a plan that you folks aren't comfortable with.
Um, so navigate that at that time. But again, I intuitively, and to Rob's point, don't foresee major changes. I foresee them asking for a data point if they, you know, feel like it's necessary. >> They may also have questions on some of
the survey data, want clarifications on our end. I don't think they'd ask us to like rerun surveys, right? They'd be like, can you explain this better? That's what I would expect. It's most it's almost always clarifying in nature. >> Jeff, in in your comments, were they a
survey from your board? >> Uh, you mean did our board take the survey? >> Uh, no, not did you take the survey? You got comments in your memory? >> No, no, sorry. I need to be clear. This is this is me reviewing this. Okay. This is not this is not the planning board.
This is from me as a member of the planning board. I clear >> Yeah. the uh this went out to everybody on board. Oh, well, it actually went out to the entire town. Uh right, asking for a comment. Um >> and you know, I sat there and looked at it on my inbox for a while and thought,
"Wow, that's a big report." >> Eventually, I got to it, but um but no, this is this is for me. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Mark. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. I'm I'm good. What's your pleasure? >> Um well, I think we have to move forward. I don't think I know we have to
move forward >> and um obviously we can't adopt a plan because there's no final plan. So what is it that you want from us this evening? >> If there are any additional comments or questions that you have, we're here to answer them tonight. Otherwise, the
edits that we are going to incorporate are purely from that flighting board memorandum. If you folks are comfortable with that, >> I'm comfortable with it. I mean, some of it I didn't understand until I read it again. Sure. >> In a third time. Um, >> I've been there.
>> But, uh, I think my opinion is to move forward. >> We need a plan. Um, >> there's been a lot of work already established here and I'm not a professional other than knowing that the state's going to require at some point and we have to meet that threshold. One,
and two, I think every town and community is going to be required to have some kind of housing plan uh, at some point in the future, not just a suggestion. >> I agree. Everyone has had a chance to comment at this point. I'm comfortable with surf incorporating Jeff's comments into their plan
>> and moving forward as well. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> So Ralph, what do you want? >> So just uh no need to to act just to just to say >> go forward. >> Go forward. >> Okay. >> Are you okay with that? >> That's that's totally fine with us. And
then so we can incorporate those edits. Again, we've kind of already worked behind the scenes to prepare to incorporate those edits. So, I don't anticipate it taking a while, we'll bring it back to your folks desk again and just with everyone's blessing that they feel good about it, we will send it to the state for their pre-review and then we'll communicate with you Ralph
once we hear feedback from them and um we'll let you we'll summarize the feedback that they give us either way again whether it's just like they just wanted data point or they want us to explain this more um and then so long as again everyone here feels comfortable with what they would like if anything we incorporate that and then it comes back
to you folks. >> Okay. Awesome. >> Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the town. >> If I may, chair, um, just want to let you know the next planning board meeting is August 19th. I don't know if you want us to do another review of this or they can just incorporate it. You can go
through it and walk away. I don't I don't want to hold it up any longer, but it's not necessary. >> I mean, it's up to you. It's your board whether you think you should review it one more time. Uh, >> it's it's it's our board. >> No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that
way. Um, well, you represent the board. >> Um, I I for one think we should, um, when you do your comments, we should formally act on it on the board of select behalf to authorize you to send
it up. >> Yes, that sounds fine. >> So, um, I I don't know about the planning board, but that's how I feel for us. >> Sure. >> Sure. >> Sounds good to us. >> Great. >> Here. >> All right. >> Good job. Thank you so much. >> Appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you very
much. Yeah. And if anything else comes up, please, you have our email. I know Ralph does. Let us know. We're happy to address it. So, >> fantastic. >> Thank you, folks. Have a good night. Appreciate it. You >> All right. Next, we have Tom Ferry, our highway superintendent to discuss
resignation of Jeff Clementel and um the posting of a operator class one position. Hey, Tom. >> Good. How are you? >> So, you both had the the letter. I guess it's customary that we do not read that in this meeting.
>> Uh, it's effective the 18th. We need to fill that position ASAP next because of the workload, but it's coming quickly. So, >> sure, >> we need to train someone on the streets and stuff like that. We got to get data on this.
Um, I know it's a strong word, but when I saw that Jeff Menel was resigning, I I felt devastated for the for the town. I think it's a huge loss, and um I wish him the best on his future endeavors,
and I um sincerely and genuinely uh thank you, Jeff, for your service to the town of Dayton. Um, and I fully support posting the uh operator class one position ASAP. >> Okay, I'll make a motion that we accept
the resation of Jeff Mento. >> I will uh step down and second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. >> And I make the motion to um post the job description from the class one position. >> I will step down and second. Any discussion? All in favor? I
>> I motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> If there's any comments also, there is. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Thanks for being here. >> All right. Announcements. >> Uh the Dian Lions Club Food Bank will be
held uh next on Saturday, July 18th of 2026, located at the town hall 979 Summer A at the lower level. That's it for announcements. >> That was really good. >> Yeah, I did such a welcome. >> That was nice. Good job. Uh, is there any public input this evening to school?
So, I said I'd be back because August the 1st and second, the PMC bike ride and I heard from my team and so I have a little bit of information here. So they will be coming through Dyon on
August the 1st. The big the big break of the day is at Dyon Rehobit. Uh anyone who wishes to volunteer services just has to get in touch with the the PMC if they'd like to work at the high school or wherever. Uh Nicole Melo uh
volunteered as a nurse a few times. Uh it's the same route through Dyon uh high school to Horton Street, William Street, Center Street over the bridge. Um, there was a change in the actual entire
ride this year. They used to start in Sturbridge. Uh, I guess from now on they're going to start at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. I don't really know why they shortened it. It's 9 miles shorter, but it's
actually 800 ft reduction in vertical climb if you're riding a bike. So, um I don't know if that means they're going to be coming through Dyon a little earlier, but if people line up along the streets and wave and clap and support
them any way they can, the goal this year is $79 million. Last year they raised they raised 78 million and I think they had their target last year was either 75 or 76. So, they well exceeded it. So, this year
they just upped it by 1 million. So, um, any residents that, uh, usually are out there or if you have somebody you want to remember, uh, it means a great deal to the writers to see people along the route and my team always
comments about the reception they get when they come through Dyon. So, I'm usually at the Aggie school and there's a lot of people that stop down there. But, uh, in any case, August 1st and hope we have a good turn and hope we have good weather. Not 100 degrees, but
not pouring rain either. Okay, >> thank you so much. >> I feel like you were just here yesterday discussing this last year. Um, time goes by fast. >> And I I will say this, every year when I send uh a contribution
to my team captain, he maintains a list of people. And my list, I'm happy to say the list is three columns. The first column is people who have passed from cancer. The middle column is people who are
under treatment and the third column are those who cure it. I had no entries for the first column and I actually moved some people from the second column into the third column which is the cured and that column is getting longer. >> Fantastic. That's beautiful.
Is there any other public inputs? All right. All right. Moving on. Um, selectman's reports. No. Um, I I don't really have any reports. The um school build building committee did meet on
Monday and um there's a survey on online that you can take >> and the superintendent and the team will be at a meeting in August. Our last meeting in August. So, >> okay. Is the survey on the school website or the town website?
>> It's on uh this the school website, the town website, a social media page. Um it's at some local places like Aroo's I believe you can get it in paper form. >> Yes, that's the 11th. >> Okay.
>> So, it's not it's not live yet. >> No. >> So, we're going to have they're going to have paper copies for anybody who cannot do it electronically. There are four locations. Uh I know three of them over one of these town hall library aruios
>> council on aging >> I believe so yes >> council on aging so any good >> is it anonymous I think >> so we look forward to a good update from them in in August >> yeah we get a lot of responses >> more than 200 >> more than 200
>> 203 >> uh town administrator report just an update. I've continued conversations with with my counterpart in Berkeley. Uh we're still um we're still hammering out some of the details with the shared position of the uh
animal control officer. We are planning on having another joint meeting at the beginning of August. So I I'll keep um I'll keep uh you uh this this board informed. >> It's quiet this time of year. It is
>> um review discuss act ratification of the building commissioner contract. We've already kind of discussed that. >> Uh I make a motion to ratify the contract. >> I will step out and second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> I motion carries. Recommendation to
appoint Jason Lawrence as a voting member to the conservation commission. Is Jason here this evening? >> Okay. >> No. I make a motion to table. >> I will uh step down second. Any discussion? All in favor? I
>> I motion carries. >> Um home rule petition impact fees. So that was um passed at town meeting. >> That was passed at town meeting. Article 24 was passed as you as we becoming familiar with the process. um that
requires a letter from the chairman of the board and a certified vote and we pass that on to Senator's office so we could um so legislation can take it up. >> It's very exciting. >> Yeah. Do you want to?
>> No, cuz my name's spelled wrong. >> I But that's okay. >> Did I spell it? Oh, >> it's okay. I can >> get my signature pretty easy on another date. So, >> all right. Um, okay. Um, I make a motion to adopt
the home room petition impact fees. >> I will step down and second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> I. Motion carries. All right. We have a request from Bristol Plymouth Regional Technical High School to use the town seal. Um again
the um the town clerk is in charge of in charge of the town seal but under Mass General law they could distribute a seal within uh within the um borders of the town and then use of it outside of it would require the approval of the
selectman the selectment um the ribbon cutting for BP is July 22nd. So, um, they're looking um to to put that on. I invitations went out. I'll send it out again to the uh to the board. >> You What time?
>> Uh during the day, I think 12:00. >> Okay. >> Uh, no big deal. >> Um, so I make a motion to allow them to use the uh town seal. >> Step down. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Motion carries.
uh warrants. Okay, we have several of them. These are the warrants paid by June 30th, 2026. 53A-26 $129,216.82 82 53B-26 $181,130.3
53 C-26 $137.13 uh 1B-271,261,64.33. Then the warrants paid by July 9th, 2026. 54 A-26 $101,252.30 30 54 B-2672,348.85
854 C-26 $129,855.96 uh 20 uh 2 A-278 $85,488.92B-2768,21544 and finally 2C-27 $191,38357. >> All right, I'll set that down and second. Any discussion? All in favor? I
motion carries. So we have correspondence. We have a letter from Laura Armstrong for uh so some donations. Um so she says, "We inform you that the Dyon Council on Aging has received the
following donations for unrestricted use. $30 from an anonymous donor and $50 from uh Dennis McGee of Dayton Mass. As usual, all donations are turned over to the town account accountant and deposited in the council on aging gift
account. Do you know if she needs a motion to accept the the donations? >> Just an acknowledgement. >> Okay, very good. And uh next we have a Muddy Cove Miler for the board of selectman senator.
>> Again, this was in in association with the actions taken at at annual town meeting. Um uh as a result of the cousin street bridge project uh mico some construction work is being done on
Marico and it is private street um cannot do uh upgrades on the private street. It was accepted at um town meeting. Uh so we need to get it registered uh at the Brisb county registry of deeds planning board sign.
Uh next is the the selectman. have the myar to sign it town clerk and then we send it out to uh to get registered. So, >> okay. I just want to back up on the donations and thank thank um the folks who donated
and um allows help the council agent continue serving our town. Um minutes >> approval of the board of sloppins regular session meeting minutes for May 13, 2026. Uh meeting minutes of May
27th, 2026 and meeting minutes of June 3rd, 2026. >> All right, I'll stop down second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. This is our last public input tonight. Is there anyone for public input? >> Hi. >> Yes, sir. >> Should I approach you? Thank you. Podium
>> brandoni. Uh, Lincoln Avenue, North Seed. Uh, I did send a um email and I think Karen got it. Um, I'm sure she shared it with you. I know she shared it with Mr.
Ferry. I have some concerns about speeding on Lincoln Avenue in North Don and I'd like some stop signs put up with signage to go with it that says Lincoln Avenue is a neighborhood. Please respect
the speed limit. This stop sign is here to reduce speed or something to that effect. It doesn't have to be written exactly like that, >> but I would like them in a couple places for no other reason than people use it
for a shortcut. And the speeders are crazy. >> It's not just cuz I'm old now. It would be worse actually if there was kids. It's a problem. But I know the town has
jurisdiction over stop signs. You don't have to go to the state and go beg them like with a stoplight, >> which I know people don't like either in town because they want it to be a one-horse town. But >> um what we can do is get a
recommendation from the police department and our highway superintendent and in a future meeting the board of selectman can discuss it and um that would be a great time if you have any um neighbors who feel the same way come back talk about in public input
and uh the board can look at the recommendations and discuss it. >> Oh that sounds meeting. Yes, >> that sounds great. Thank you. >> Awesome. Very good. So, we will we will make sure to work on that. Is there uh any other public input?
All righty. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> All right. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All righty. We are now adjourned.