okay uh I'm not going to use the microphone because I'm just going to talk nice and loud can everybody hear me good okay um we're going to call this meeting uh to order uh welcome to the center Town District steering committee meeting it is uh February
19th um quick roll call um and Carolyn feros uh Jason Dumber uh don Starks Stark sorry no s uh is actually Nicole Nicole poite uh Steve
Graham ex officio Town council member Ralph paage and ex officio planning board member Robert TW did we call um we're just going to move right into uh old business um receipt of pvpc
draft model bylaw I need to take a motion in a second can I get a motion so mov second second thank you okay uh thank you steering committee members thank you uh General members of
the public for coming tonight um my name is Kyle Fel from Pioneer Valley Planning Commission I'm joined by my colleague Aiden H Mcmahon from pbpc and tonight we're here to just speak briefly to the latest draft Center
Town District bylaw that we we have prepared with um the valuable feedback and input from the steering committee uh and from the residents through this project over the past
year so incorporating the input uh from Community engagement and um our steering committee members feedback we've delivered uh via email earlier today draft Center Town District
bylaw for the town to review and refine as it sees fit uh just want to speak to the fact that residents of East Long Meadow have been directly um influential and helped shape the stated purpose of this proposed new zoning District in the
central Town District um a few of those direct influences include uh statements of purpose such as allowing for a variety of housing types that's integrated with business and commercial
use uh generating positive tax revenue for the town while providing opportunities for growth uh promoting a Vibrant Community core and promoting the preservation of open space so the draft Center Town District
bylaw uh is primarily built upon the structure of the town's existing zoning language um found in the mix use Village District zone uh sections of the center Town District bylaw that relate to permitted
uses dimensions of buildings and densities and parking uh requirements reflect a recent conversation and discussion from the January steering committee meeting there are several uh sections
that will need further revision that uh Town staff uh will address prior to taking forward to the planning board for review and hopefully adoption uh there's still some discussion to be had regarding the
proportion of a development uh in relation to mixed use how much is residential versus commercial or business there's still some discussion regarding uh housing and if a proportion
of affordable housing is desirable and what that proportion is currently we've uh proposed a 10% affordable requirement additionally dimensions and density requirements such as setbacks and
Building height um still need to be um finalized and then minimum requirements for parking and the possibility of reduction of parking requirements still topics to um discuss with the
town we're not going to get into a full review of the draft um do want to take the moment to just uh reiterate and stress the importance of the community and the participation of East Long Meadow
residents over the past um 10 or 12 months um it's really been uh through a successful engagement uh with the steering
committee and residents that we've been able to get to this point I think delivering a draft bylaw that really reflects what residents would like to see in their Town Center so a few moments uh a few remarks
just about the successes of our project the Centertown District planning project we had two very well- attended Community meetings held in this space here at the senior center uh with I believe all tables
filled um in may we had over 90 residents that gathered here uh and held small group discussions uh dis uh focusing on preserving green and Open Spaces housing and neighborhood character economic growth and Community
Connections in October we had a second Community event in the same space with nearly 75 residents uh that focused on small groups uh determining what they thought the scale of a center Town District should be drawing maps that
then directly influenc the steering committee's decision which I thought was a very thoughtful and uh responsive process considering all of uh the community input we we also had a very successful
uh online community survey uh over the months of August and September residents could provide their thoughts on green amenities Transit enhancements density um what they would like to see at Centerfield uh local business Community
Gatherings and general thoughts on a vibrant Town Center uh I do want to stress that uh 550 responses for a community survey in any Community is a huge success from our perspective at the pioner valley
Planning Commission uh engagement through surveys is not always um productive it all doesn't always provide um Quality sample size but 3.4% of residents participating
is a huge success um in our experience it's more participation than uh the resilient master plan back in 2021 I believe also over the summer months the steering committee uh hosted three
public educational events um that were very successful well attended the center Town talks invited guests to discuss various topics including developer perspectives on
mixed use zoning and land use and one uh session on 40R or smart growth zoning and I'd like to take a one last moment just to stress that the successes of the Centertown District planning project uh these past
months largely due in part to invaluable contributions from our volunteer residents serving on the steering committee um so through your dedication and attention you've brought complex planning topics to the community and
your care for your neighbors and the town broadly has really helped lift voices of residents and shaped this uh draft bylaw so I do want to take a moment just to thank you all for your time and efforts uh this past
year and that would be the all of my remarks uh as of now so thank you um at this time um we can open the floor if anybody else has any um additional remarks um thoughts or
comments does that include everyone it includes everyone if you would absolutely and I I also do have something to say but do you mind if I go first absolutely floor is yours Tom uh all right thank you uh well Kyle I think
literally stole of my thunder but um no I mean this was uh a very successful process I thought um I guess I want to start uh by thanking Rebecca especially um uh I think she was here for a minute
when I handed her this project that I knew was going to last a very long time and and probably um take a lot of her entire schedule and the fact that those numbers that Kyle was mentioning that this many people showed up to that or
this many people showed up to that or we had this event or that event was largely maybe solely due to the Vigor in which Rebecca took this on and so I want to thank you as a resident but I also want to thank you as the town manager because
I don't think it could have been done any better so thank you um the steering committee uh I I I asked you to do something very difficult uh which is try to explain planning to not just anyone
the entire general public um and I think that uh I couldn't be more pleased with how you yourself with Integrity uh and patience uh I've been reading this for just as long as you have planning is not an easy thing to sort of wrap your head
around and I think at every event uh in one way or another you were engaging the way that I thought that you would when we put this group together and I just want to say thank you because I know this is a lot of time it's outside of this regular day uh you you gave up a
lot of time for this community and I think at the end of the day a lot of people are going to owe you a lot of thanks for what we're able to build and what will be built because of it so thank you all I really do appreciate it uh pvpc Aiden Kyle Ken who's not here uh
really thank you for your you know leading us through this sort of Quagmire um I think this is be something that that ends up being a real positive for the community for next year and 10 years and 30 years from now so again thank you
for your professionalism all your help answering all our questions along the way um I really do appreciate it um I think the last thing that I'll say is I do want to have some sort of debrief with each and every one of you um to sort of you know kind of get your
thoughts on the entire process but possibly more specifically uh as he alluded to uh fill in some of these gaps that still remain in the draft language and what were your thoughts and what was your vision uh for for what this bylaw was going to end up
looking like um and then we'll we'll we'll kind of take that information all the information from the public uh perhaps a few more questions for pvpc um and Rebecca and Rob and I will kind of put that into a ball and and
fill in the the the few blanks that are left in bylaw um and then again we're we're we're back on course we're we're headed to the planning board and and and sort of back on track so um thanks again to the public um most of you will watch
on elcat tonight but um you know we could we couldn't be where we're at if we didn't have all that participation uh with with all the information that the the the public gave not only in this room when we were talking about things but at the events
uh I talked to many people in my office about this process and what they wanted to see um so I just I I want to just thank everybody for really a a a great effort that was all our meetings were well attended all the comments uh from
everyone uh I feel like we we we set out to accomplish what we were going to accomplish and a big thanks to everybody for that so thank you cool thank you well thanks Tom for uh taking literally everything I was going to say
were you were you sitting there when I was like planning it out um so as the committee chair I just want to thank Tom and Rebecca for um personally for um bringing me in on this um I as a real
estate photographer I'm really interested in everything that has to do with uh real estate and Commercial and all of that stuff but I didn't know what I didn't know um and this was actually really a lot of fun and fascinating um I learned a lot and um I thank you for the
opportunity to to do that um and I want to thank uh my four committee chairs here um I think we all kind of dove in head first not knowing uh a lot um and we were all pretty eager to find out
more so um it's been nice getting to know you guys and working with you and I look forward to working with all of you hopefully in the future any anybody else okay yeah you I'll just yeah um yeah I want to extend my thanks also to um to Rebecca to Tom to my
fellow committee members um I think this is coming to somewhat disappointing end uh the the way it's sort of ending here but I think we've made a lot of uh good progress over this time we've learned a lot I personally learned that um there are a lot of different people
with very different needs uh in this town uh we've been able to gather a lot of that information I hope that comes through to some extent in the uh in the draft that does get developed I'm certainly happy to provide more of my thoughts Tom and others I'm sure will
too um but yeah people in you know there are some louder and quieter voices but people have a lot of different needs in this town um uh and a lot of it relates to housing and uh it's been really valuable to learn that thank
you go sure uh just for my two cents um kind of picky packing on Jason there is a need for housing in this town and I believe there is a path that we still have to this um and there's so the simp as possible um I believe it's still an
overlay as we've already laid out um I believe there is a number for per acre that makes sense I believe there's some good discussion between the planning board in the uh Town Council on the development of the existing buildings
perhaps on Shaker Road second floor third floor make Condominiums out of the buildings that already exist we've done there's made condos out of churches or things of that nature so we have opportunities for those folks who were talking about finding housing that's reasonably priced to to find a condo and
maybe we Max them out at 900 square feet a units so that they stay reasonably priced for people that want to move out of their single family uh in a later part of their uh life or coming back to e Salo from college or something and want to live in this town as too so I
think the focus should be housing we should offer mixed use if somebody wants to do it but the key I think is to is to make the market help us make the decision so if the market will allow for 12 units on uh per acre so on a three acre lot you could do 30 Acres if if we
see developers are willing to do that then we go with that and we get development and we get housing that's much that's needed if we over complicate things I believe we're going to lose it all and we won't have anything so my plea to you all is to keep this as simple as possible you know talk about
shared use for parking and so that we don't need all these extra parking uh uh spots but find a way to create housing within that zone that you've already talked about because I believe that's the core that's where we have to look we're not putting 36 unit apartment units out in uh the outskirts of town
it's never going to happen the only way we're going to get more housing that's reasonable in price is if we have higher density that's what I believe so I ask you um if you could get to that point to keep it as simple as possible I thank you all for your time this is been a long journey for all of you I attended
many of Rebecca's events I'm very thankful for what she has done I went to my first book club um it was great a lot of different perspectives that I received from people that I've never met before so thank you all appreciate it any other remarks he the chair sure
so I would tend to agree um like I said uh I respect Greg's opinion I think keep it simple um moving forwards with the bylaw that's what uh we need to concentrate on um I was hoping to hear
more thoughts more comments um we had started at the last meeting talking about like heights and parking and stuff like that and I was hoping we were moving forwards I'd love to hear what you guys had for thought thought as far as uh layout design um you know flat
roof peaked roofs what we actually wanted the center to look like um we didn't get to that point I think uh from what I'm understanding that'll be uh moved to the town departments now so um but I would rather have heard from
residents here that were involved in it um what they wanted as far as the looks of it like that um but we'll move on to the next phase I'll say quickly um I've enjoyed most of it
and uh it has been a real learning experience um I think one of the things I've learned is be careful what you volunteer for in town just kidding um but uh this is this is a very complex issue and
it takes um a fair amount of expertise I think which is is is not necessarily what the steering committee has but um we've tried very hard to um listen carefully to what the
community residents who participated in the various meetings um what their viewpoints were and and sum it up into something cohesive um and I think we moveed the process
along um to the point where now the experts at the planning board and and the uh and whoever else is is involved can can take the ball and run with it all right I guess I'll say something
um I have to say the process uh was new to me and I liked it I love the idea of the community involvement um we have many voices in this town many have been heard um
and I think this is also a process for something that is as large um and perhaps a sea change to many people um I think it was a great process and I also think that anything perhaps in the future that um has such a
big impact townwide uh this is a good process um and um enjoyable to get to know people too we are a community we have to remember
that we have to work together live together and respect each other's opinions um and continue the conversation so I want to thank Tom and Rebecca in PBC and the steering committee members um for all their time um I am a newer
resident to islon medal so it was overwhelming to me to be honest um just learning everything from commercial real estate and to the landmarks here that everyone seems to know so well um and so it was definitely an adventure a learning curve as well but I think that there's a lot of Hope here in eastlan
metal um I think slow and steady will win the game at the end of the day um and not to make it so overwhelming for people who live in this town who love this town been members of this town forever so I think there's a lot hope here it's just going to take some time and some getting used to so I feel that
the the future is is great here and the opportunity for housing is definitely should be at the Forefront the decisions that are made I'll keep mine real brief everyone's already said this five times thanks thank you to everybody but uh certainly look forward to taking this to
the next step on the planning board when it comes with us next with it right I think it's everybody yep um all right just uh final thank you to pvpc um a lot of hard work put into this and um
obviously we couldn't have done any of what we did without without your help and your inut input and and guidance so I really do appreciate it um all of your time so okay um so with that um need to
approve the previous meeting minutes have for you no okay we don't have the meeting minutes but that's okay because this is one so that's okay um I think that's it then all right can
I get a motion to adjourn I moved second second okay and we are adjourned