WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=TuU46A3BaXg

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: TuU46A3BaXg):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Called to Order; Zero Emerald Street Withdrawal
- 00:01:15: Definitive Site Plan Review - 677 Tany Boulevard
- 00:05:55: Other Business: Master Plan and Housing Production Plan
- 00:06:43: Barrett Planning Group Presents Master Plan Overview
- 00:16:55: Master Plan Questions & Discussion About Timeframe
- 00:18:15: Continued Master Plan Timeframe Discussion
- 00:18:31: Board Member Thanks and Discussion About the Team
- 00:22:02: Motion to Accept Garden Master Plan as Presented
- 00:22:34: Announcements: Joint Transportation Committee Appointment
- 00:23:56: Housing Production Plan Sent to Board for Review
- 00:25:01: Motion to Adjourn the Meeting


Part: 1

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All right. The Tuesday, May 12th planning board meeting is now called to order. First item on the agenda, we have public hearing for Zero Emerald Street. We received the request to withdraw that. >> We have not received the request to withdraw from the planning board. We

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they did receive uh request withdrawal uh without prejudice through the ZBA. So I'm expecting that because there's no avenue for him to go down through the planning board. But I just need that formal letter in order to close the item from our agenda. So we'll continue it to

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the next meeting and hopefully get that letter uh with the request to withdraw without prejudice. >> Do we have a motion to continue the hearing to the June 9th meeting? >> Make a motion we Okay. Go ahead, bro. >> I'll second you. made a motion to continue it. >> I'll second.

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>> Got a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next up, we have uh 677 Tany Boulevard definitive site plan review. Jason, do you want to give a quick update?

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>> Yeah, we didn't really have any further comments. There was a resident who I believe reached out in regards to this item. Um but as they are not present um I can't speak on their behalf. Um I did send around the order of conditions uh

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conditions of approval uh for this development to the board of which I received no comments um Buller Engineering also reviewed the order of conditions and all the conditions were um valid and and uh approved by them as

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well uh through their review. So, if uh the board would allow, I'll as I do run through the order of conditions um conditions of approval for the development at 677 Timothy Boulevard of

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the 8 pump fueling facility and adjacent uh convenience store. Condition one, the project shall be constructed in conformance with the civil set plan, drainage report, and other supporting documentation submitted to the planning board on March 24th, 2026 and are considered binding conditions of approval. The applicant shall obtain and

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maintain maintain all permits and approvals required by local, state, and federal agencies prior to commencements of construction. Prior to commencement of land disturbance, the applicant shall obtain a storm water permit from the city of gardener engineering department in accordance with the city of gardener storm water management ordinance and

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storm water and erosion control regulations as acknowledged within the applicant's March 2020 March 24th 2026 response letter. the operation and maintenance plan, long-term pollution prevention plan, spill prevention and respon response pro procedures. BMP

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inspection schedules and associated maintenance requirements uh included within appendix G of the approved drainage report shall remain inforceable conditions of approval. Prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the applicant shall submit an asbuilt plan to the building department prepared

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and stamped by a professional engineer certifying that the drainage system and storm water management facilities were constructed in accordance with the approved plans and applicable city regulations. Snow storage shall be limited to the locations depicted on the approved plan. Any excess snow shall be stored only in out in areas outside of

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wetland resource areas and associated buffer zones consistent with the applicant's March 24th, 2026 response letter. The applicant shall maintain all pedestrian access routes, ADA compliant parking spaces, curb ramps, detectable warning surfaces, and accessible paths in travel in compliance with the

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applicable Massachusetts arch architectural access board regulations 521 CMR as shown in the approved plans. Any modifications to the approved plans and that substantially alter drainage, access, circulation, lighting, landscaping, utilities, or building layout shall require review and approval by the planning board and or city

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engineer prior to implementation. The planning board reserves the right to inspect the site and request or request documentation from the applicant at any time to ensure ongoing compliance with these conditions. And all site work and drainage system installations shall be subject to inspection and approval by the city engineer or their design. That

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is the conclusion of the conditions that have been set out in front of us. if the board has any final comments. Um if not, then I would request that a vote be put to the floor uh for um a decision to be

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made for the site plan. And we changed up uh the format of the agenda a little bit. Um rather than have the public hearing and the vote on the decision separated, um just decided to take them kind of at the same time rather than wait until later in the

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meeting to >> okay >> vote on items. um just for projects going forward so that uh you know any residents who are there can hear the vote right after the hearing is closed and the applicant doesn't have to stick around either. Um so are there any further questions for

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the applicant before we close the hearing? >> Nope. >> No engineering has been met. >> Is the engineer all set? >> Yep. Good. >> Do we have a motion to close the public hearing? >> Make a motion we close the public name. Second

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>> motion and a second. All in favor? I oppose? None. And then do we have a motion to uh approve the site plan with conditions as outlined by staff? >> I make a motion u approve the site plan with conditions as presented. >> Second.

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>> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I oppose. None. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, next up we have other business master plan and housing production plan. Jason,

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>> so we have been in the process of completing this master plan, the first since I think 1974, 1975. Uh first in 50 years, over 50 years now. Um over the past year we have had multiple uh

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community engagement pro um events as well as the public comment period. Those have all concluded. Those edits have been implemented into the plan which I've uh shared around with the board um early April uh for their review as well

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as circling back following the public comment period finishing with the few edits that were uh implemented following that public comment period finishing. So in front of us all tonight for the this item is uh the presentation by Barrett Planning Group uh which Jen will be uh

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facilitating shortly. But then following that would be the decision of whether or not to accept and uh adopt the plan as presented um in its entirety. >> Okay. Yes. Thank you, Jason. So my name is Jen Dy. I'm the preservation planner

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with Barrett Planning Group. Um, and as Jason said, we've been working um, sort of for the past year, almost a little over a year now, um, with the city on preparing a new master plan. Um, just wanted to give a big thank you to Jason, other city staff and our master plan

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steering committee members um, who really helped drive the project um, and guide us and tell us more share more with us about gardener. Um, so as Jason said, we were updating this lovely plan from 1974. It's 50

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years old now. Um, master plans are adopted in Massachusetts under general laws, chapter 41, section section 81D. Uh, and we were working on the sections that covered natural resources, open space and recreation, uh, housing or excuse me, historic and

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cultural resources, land use, housing, transportation, and economic development. Uh the project was funded by a grant from EOHLC. Uh and it really even though the last master plan was done 50 years ago, certainly didn't mean that gardener had kind of stopped planning for 50 years.

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Um we certainly incorporated a lot of the plans, especially plans that have been completed over the past 20 or so years. Uh so just a quick review of some of the community engagement and some of the results of our work. Um so again we started in April of 2025 on the project.

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Um we had a sort of initial round of staff board and committee interviews. Uh we had a community survey available for about a month. We got about 200 responses for that. And then we had initial community workshop where we focused on developing a vision statement

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and some values for the community. Over the summer, we did a few more kind of drop-in events a little easier um when folks were kind of gone for the summer. Um we had a drop-in coffee hour for local businesses. Um Adam attended the library kickoff and then he and I

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attended National Night Out, which is a really great community event, pilot of our season. Um and then in the fall we had another workshop uh where we focused on presenting um some of the information that we'd found sort of about gardener and kind of current conditions and

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getting more information from folks there. Uh and then in December as we were starting to actually develop the implementation plan, we held office hours here in city hall for um staff and boards to uh drop in and chat with us.

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Uh in early January, earlier this year, we were working on kind of finalizing a full draft plan. Um as Jason said, we made that available for public comment at the beginning of April. We had another final workshop in midappril to present the findings of the plan,

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present some of the recommendations. Um, and then we are here tonight to hopefully have the planning board adopt our master plan. So, our plan was really built around a vision statement and values that we heard from the community members. Um so

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these values uh and vision statement really just were kind of guiding um you know what we want gardener to be in the future. Uh we had at our initial public workshop a sort of mad libs where people could kind of fill in their own vision statement uh for the future. And so

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those were some of the things um that had come up from folks um in that Mad Lib statement. Um, but this was our final vision statement that sort of pulled together a lot of the different things that we heard from the community. Um, I won't read it. It is quite, but it is there.

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Um, and it's really sort of what folks want Gardner to be in 20 years. Um, we heard a lot about community and the sense of community that people have within the city. A lot about the natural resources. Um, a lot of concern for having some affordable housing in the

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city. And so those all sort of worked their way into this final vision statement. And then these were things that community members valued their values. Uh they are things that are present in gardener but that may f may want to sort

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of see amplified over the next 20 years. So again, they really kind of drove some of the recommendations in the implementation plan um focusing on really sort of amplifying those values through the steps that the city would take. And so the final document itself, it

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includes an inventory and assessment again which is basically kind of what is going on in gardener right now, what's happening on the ground today. Uh through that we developed key issues and opportunities uh where you know there are some pain points where Gardner

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isn't quite to its future vision of itself um or where there were some good things that the city could really build upon in helping reach that vision. And then finally, the plan closes out with a prioritized implementation plan, which are more specific actions for each

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of the topic areas and some of the key issues um that the city can take, whether that's city departments, uh staff, boards, and commissions um or even other organizations within the city. Uh so in addition to those topic areas that I mentioned at the beginning,

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things like housing and economic development, uh we did pull out some sort of crosscutting key issues that were things that just kind of kept coming up and that, you know, didn't fit as nicely into some of those other categories. Uh so again, these are things like community and support, just

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sort of the general sense of, you know, good community that is here in Gardener. um an interest in balancing growth with preservation. Uh the city has a lot of historic buildings and it needs to grow some more hopefully. Um but wanting to kind of keep those historic buildings

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and keep gardener sense of place while growing. An interest in revitalizing the downtown area, encouraging more businesses there, more housing there to kind of um you know get it back to maybe what it once was in the early 20th century.

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Um we did note that like a lot of sort of north central Massachusetts communities, the city does have an aging population. Um it is the you know average age of the community is getting older. There are fewer families moving in.

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A focus on sustainability and resilience. Obviously many communities are doing that now as well. Um and then an interest in really trying to find outside funding for a lot of projects. Um this uh plan itself was funded by a grant from EOHLC. Garner has done a lot

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of work getting grants for other projects. Uh and so really just kind of continuing that work to uh build upon this the resources that the city does have. So then our final implementation plan looks something like this. Um so each

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category, each topic area kind of has their own um set of specific recommendations. They include a ranking um high, medium, or low. Basically, if it's something that the city should focus on now, or if it's something that's a little bit, you know, longer term, 10, 20 years out. Uh

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and then finally, those abbreviations there stand for different city departments or boards and commissions um who have sort of a key ownership role in that recommendation. So we are here to ask you to adopt this as the new master plan for the city.

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Under the general laws, master plans do lie with the planning board. The planning board is sort of the final vote in adopting a master plan. Um and so just a majority vote to adopt this as the master plan. And I will note um we are going to clean it up. It is still

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sort of in a draft form. Um, but we just like to have planning boards actually adopt the text and, you know, the information that is in the plan. Um, none of that will change and we're just going to clean it up, put pictures in, make it look nice, all that kind of good stuff. But we just like to make sure

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it's finalized before we go through all of that work. Um, so just kind of looking ahead once you do adopt this as the master plan. Uh we certainly encourage communities to kind of keep track of their progress on implementing it. Um you know hopefully

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it is something that gets implemented and you do kind of look to it for uh things that the city should be doing. Um, one of the things that was suggested was including um, some kind of question in the city's annual report questionnaire about how departments and

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boards and commissions are, you know, making progress towards implementing the master plan towards those pieces that are sort of under their purview. We always encourage incorporating the master plan into any new planning documents. Um, so as you develop other

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different topic specific plans like updating the open space plan, um, the housing production plan, which you're already doing, but in a few years once you update that, um, kind of making sure it's in line with what's recommended in the master plan. Uh, and then finally, we did include a

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20-year time horizon for this MA master plan. Um, hopefully a little sooner than 50 years next time for gardener. Um, but even sooner if there are a lot of changes that happen in the city. So, you know, significant population changes, significant development, you know, some

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huge company comes to town, whatever the case may be. Um, if there's some kind of, you know, drastic change to the city, uh, the master plan should be reviewed, uh, sooner than 20 years. Um, and so that is all I have. So, I'll turn it back to you guys. And again, we're just looking for a vote to adopt this as

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the new master plan for the city. >> I have a question. I notice you review of the master plan 20 years and you addressed it. >> Why did you just was it just selected 20 years or

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>> because uh some of the plans that we have are probably regulatory by statute for like five years. >> Um so 20 years is just an arbitrary figure. >> It is to some degree.

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>> I know 50 50 is way too much. 50 is way too much. Yes. Um and it really kind of depends on the community. We do have some communities that go shorter than that. Um we're just starting a project now where it's actually been only 10 years. Um but again, they're a community where they've seen a lot of development over the past 10 years. There's been a

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lot of significant change. Um so they were really looking to kind of redo the master plan. Um it is a lot of it's a year-long project. It's a lot of effort to kind of go through and update a master plan. So we certainly wouldn't go sooner than 10 years. Um, but if gardener's just kind of, you know, going

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to chug along for the next 20 years, I think that would be sort of a good time horizon to consider the next plan. >> I think it should be 10, but that's only my opinion. If we get to that point where it's 10 years and we feel like it's worth

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>> until plan, >> I would say until we start seeing things happening and we can then determine, well, we can throw the 20 year thing out and have a meeting and change it. So,

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>> yeah, >> sure. I'll leave it at 20 right now. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Anybody else have questions or comments? >> Yeah. just uh I'd personally like to uh thank your team. I think you guys did a wonderful job and I know it was a lot of hard work. So uh thank you. Terrific

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job. >> I think we've enjoyed working. >> I think so. Thank you. >> And to expand that not only the team but to the all the members of the team that are incorporated to it. >> Uh it's getting back to your 20 years Bob. I think in 10 years something

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happens we'll go looking if we have to. >> I imagine so. Yeah. >> Sure. 20 is a locked in so >> until something happens. >> Sure. >> God doesn't move swiftly. So >> how old are you? >> Echo Paul's comments too. I thought the team was really great to work with and

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the plan was really well written. So it was fun to be a part of the steering committee and it was easy to review because it was a good product from the beginning. So >> appreciate that. >> I like the way the a lot of the issues were addressed >> uh very clearly explained

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the old and the new and merging together and let's not get rid of the old but bring in the new. I I kind of like that approach that we had happen that to remind people that we we've got a city that's been around for over hundred

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years. We want to be around for another hundred >> at least. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for that though. Well done. >> We are a city who have largely lost our industrial core. >> Yeah. >> Is something that we have to acknowledge

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and they've done Vera and BSC have done a really fantastic job of giving us implementation steps to step by step how do we reach the next point of what gardener is is supposed to be. Um, how

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do we mi make that missing middle for the for housing? How do we uh replace that missing uh pieces of of previous employment opportunities in gardener? Um,

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all of that is represented here. And so I I again, as everyone has said, echo the sentiment of of thanking you, the whole team. Um, you've all been fantastic to work with. And hopefully you've enjoyed working at gu with gardener as much as we've enjoyed

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working with you all and doing something that the city has needed for well if we're doing math 30 30 31 years. >> I was thinking about the old chair on Elm Street. That's probably the 10th or

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11th version of that chair. But kids today have no idea what that chair means other than to sit on it and climb on it and have their picture taken because I come from the industrial age and I remember the all the smoke and the

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smells that came from those factories. So I sorry that they're gone and I and I blame the owners for not changing to the 21st century.

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>> So but that's done with now. So I just wanted to get that off my chest. >> We'll certainly incorporate a picture or two of the chair in there for sure in the final. >> Thank you again. >> Yes, Mr. J. I'd like to put on the floor

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to accept the garden of master plan as presented and to adopt the plans. So for >> I second it. >> We have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you again so much. Yes. And so

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we'll be finalizing the plan over the next month or so. It is due June 30th under the grant. So we will certainly have it before then. Um but yeah, you'll have a sort of nice clean finalized document with pictures. Sounds good. >> Thank you. >> Thanks.

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>> So, announcements, news, articles, events. I know you had something that you sent out, Jason. >> Yeah. The only other item is the appointment for the Massachusetts Joint uh Transportation Committee. Uh every year we have to appoint a new uh member from the planning board uh to represent

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uh Gardner within that joint committee. Previously, we've had Bob. uh he's currently serving as chair, but um if anyone else is interested um it's I have to bring it to the to the floor to gauge interest. Obviously Bob has I think Bob

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is still interested in in continuing his work there, but there's also the possibility of having an al alternative an alternate um member. So, if someone else is interested in kind of swapping out who might be interested in joining in uh with Bob or just have it be Bob,

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those are all the options available. >> Is the camera looking at me? No, I can't. I can't. >> Mr. Chairman, I'd like to uh make a motion that uh I've asked Bob if he's still interested also he continue in his position as our representative to the

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board. >> I second it. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I oppose? None. Motion passes. Thanks, Bob. >> I didn't lose. >> If you can just send me your um address.

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I have your telephone number. I think I just need your address. I don't know what it is and I think you'd prefer not to say it on a publicly recorded meeting. Um I had no other items for um announcements, events. >> Don't you have something for

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>> Oh, yes. Yes. Thank you. Um the uh housing production plan was just sent to me uh like 50 minutes before this meeting started. Um so the draft of the housing production plan of guiding housing development in the city um as

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well over over the next 5 years I believe five years um is is going to be sent to the board shortly for their review. And then um similarly to this um the acceptance of that plan at the June meeting on June 9th.

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So expect that in your emails and we will um provide comments back to me and I can relay that over to bear planning. >> Sounds good. >> Okay, good. >> We have a motion to adjurnn.

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>> So move second. >> Second. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Thank you everybody. >> Thank you.