[Music] Thanks. There we go. Can you do me a favor? >> You That's great. $50,000. My doctors. What's that? It's too much.
Yeah. What do you think? Hey, that's I'm going to have them speak on this item here. Okay. Okay. Fantastic. So, we'll see you very soon.
>> Perfect. Thank you. I have this I thought too. allow him to speak on the communication. >> Good evening and welcome to the U special meeting for the L city council. Today's day is Tuesday, August 12, 2025
and this meeting was supposed to start at 5:00 pm. We apologize. Um, pursuant to chapter 20 of the act of 2022, this meeting will be hybrid, allowing participation both in person in the city council chambers as well as
remotely. Anybody that have requested link for the zoom meeting was provided through the city clerk's office. This meeting is also being uh transmitted live through the Lawren City Council Facebook page as well as the Lawren City Council YouTube page. Madame Clair Roco.
>> Councelor Levy. Um, Council Levy is noted as absent. Council Lant >> present. >> Council Luzon is noted as absent. Council Del Rosario >> present. >> Council Santiago is noted as absent. Council Lamo >> present. >> Council Reyes is ab noted as absent.
Council vice president Infante >> present. >> Council President Rodriguez >> present. uh as per section 3.5 uh section C number two of the L city cattle uh any uh three counselors um can call for an special meeting. At
this point three counselors uh call for this special meeting. Councelor de Rosario, Councelor Anna Levy and Councelor Selena Rees. Both of them uh signed uh this petition and uh call for this special meeting in regard to uh the
Lance Redevelopment Authorities items. So this is going to be submitted for the record and at this time I would like all you guys to join me for a moment of silence. Now join me for the pledge of allegiance.
>> I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Fantastic.
>> Well, as you all as you all saw us, we were looking at this this corner for the flag, but it was uh change it over to this side due to the construction uh that we've been uh having here at the council chambers. So, any inconvenience,
we apologize. So at this time we are allow everybody that is here today with two and a half minute to speak in public participation. The rules for public participations are
as follow. You are going to have as as I just mentioned two and a half minute to to discuss anything related to the city of Lawrence. You can refer to this council as a whole. Uh and we at the 2 minute mark you hear
a beep sound an indication or some type of sign indicating that you have still have 30 seconds to go. Uh and then at the two and a half minutes you Mark you have u your time is up it's expired. So
at this time um anybody do we have a list from the public that actually want to speak? >> We haven't picked them up yet. If anyone would like participation, you may do so at this time. >> Let's just tell you how what's going to
operate tonight. The matters that you're here for are going to be referred to committee. So there will be no vote. There will be no discuss. So, but you're here. We realize you're here. If each individual group wants to have a spokesman in two and a half minutes tell
us a little about what your proposal is. Uh the council's all theirs. So I would ask that each someone from each proposal sign up and be the spokesperson and we'll let >> And it's important to recognize that is just on any topic.
>> It could be your proposal or it could be on anything. >> This is your time. We can just form a line and that's fine. Does anyone else want to sign in before I take the sheet? >> Last chance. >> Okay. >> How are you?
>> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Nice. Thank you. All right. Um, the first person that we have on our list for public participation is Rafael Guzman. Daniel,
uh, please name and address for the record. >> Yeah. Yeah. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Raphael Guzman and Daniel is my nickname. Uh, I live at 38 Beaconsfield in Lawrence, Mass. Um, why are we here? Why are we here?
Well, first of all, thank you, uh, Councelor Rosario for setting this up. Um, I know you did this at my request. Uh, I want to say thank you to the administration, to uh, Brand Pñena and his office for open open, you know, opening the the dialogue for for having
this conversation. So, how how do we get here? And very quickly, I will tell you how we got here. uh some of us participated in a process in the city of Lawrence that has been out there for almost 12 months since last year where
um we participated in an open bid process of request for proposal for properties that have been under utilized in the city of Lawrence. It is our understanding that the process is over that some people has been selected which I am one of them. I'm lucky to be one of them and I understand
that uh the thing is not moving forward because there's a conversation pending with the city council. So that's why I asked Rosario, well maybe we need to talk to the city council so the city council can see that in one generation this group of folks that is currently running the city right now or living in
the city, you know, have made a transformation in the city since the 80s. You know, just to put it in perspective for some of you, okay, I've been in the city for a while. In 1996, the building next door uh where Teraluna is at, I purchased that building for
$125,000. 1996 in 2012, I purchased more than mills for1 million. 2012, today those buildings are worth millions. The transformation that you we've seen
in this generation in the city of Lawrence in the last 20 30 years is something to be happy and proud of. It's something that gives us the opportunity to take these projects that we are presenting in front of you guys for air for for for properties that have
been underutilized for years in this city and let's talk about it and say, you know, that's a good project for Lauren because it will invest over $1 billion in the city over the next 10 years. And in my personal case, in my group, it
will generate over 700 jobs, direct jobs because people will live, work and play on what we are planning to build in the city. So having said that, I really do want to ask you that if you find that
the process that the L used to get us all here, thank you L for doing what you did. Um, I think you should consider moving this proposal for and say let's go and let's get to work. There's no way another minute.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. The next person that we have is >> just give me the name of the person that is here to >> I'm Melissa and Rioetti.
6 through 12 Hampshire Street, Lawrence. >> Could you please say your name? >> Emilissa. E M L I SS A. Last name is Seti. S A C H E TI. And Melissa and Rio Seti. Great. Good
evening everyone. Thank you. Uh the city administration, Brian Dea, the uh LRA, Lawrence Redevelopment Authority, as well as the city councelor. Thank you for this opportunity to come up and speak up. My name is Dr. Emilissa Ceti
along with my sister Dr. Oratada. We own Westchester Properties. We are 100% minority and womenowned business based right here in Lawrence. We have we are both born and raised in the city. Lawrence is our home. Our parents immigrated here half a century ago, 50
years ago. Though our professional careers are in healthcare, our passion for Lawrence has always gone far beyond our work. We've served nonprofit boards, supported local initiatives invested in the city by owning property here. One of those properties, 6 through12 Hampshire
Street, which directly abuts the five Mthuan Street parcels awarded to us by the LRA. Because we already own the abiding parcel, we can combine it with five city parcels to redevelop the entire block together. That's something only by Chester can do and it's what
makes this proposal truly unique and special. It is an opportunity to uplift our community, bring much neededed housing and create opportunities for people of Lawrence. To ensure we do this correctly, this is my husband, Rio Siceti, our advisor. Rio is an
experienced affordable housing developer which has developed projects across Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhiden, Connecticut, and Virginia. Rio can provide more information on our project. Thank you, Melissa. Good evening,
counselors. Uh my name is Rio Saketti. For the record, uh I've been an affordable housing developer for the past 15 years. I've been in the real estate industry for 20 years. Um, and I've I've worked for local, regional, and national developers. Uh, my
experience includes managing the acquisition, development, and financing of roughly 29 properties totaling 2,000 units. Um, our plan for the five Methuan Street properties is 120 unit mixed
income community with both affordable uh, workforce and market rate units. Um, we've spoken with Lazarus House uh about partnering with them with reserving some units for transitional housing from the shelter into permanent housing. Um,
we've also spoken with the Marramac Valley YMCA about providing on-site community space for youth programs and for resident services for those in the transition program. Um, this approach would include housing, supportive services, and community amenities in one
location, helping residents not only live there, but thrive. Um we have a uh very credible financing plan uh and a clear and achievable path to getting this project developed um using uh
state, federal, and local resources, all of which currently exist now and all of which I've utilized on other development projects. Um, we're ready to deliver a project that reflects Lawrence's character and
historic nature while meeting the city's housing needs and creating another multitude of benefits for the city uh including jobs and local hiring. Uh, our our three approaches to our development
project is local local. That means hiring local companies, hiring local engineers, architects, contractors, um having local workers do the construction work and housing for local people. >> Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you. >> The next person >> recording in progress. >> The next person we have is Matias company Manuel Matias. name and address for the record, please. >> Manuel Matias, 68 Broadway, MDU, Mass.
>> Name is Ani Bay Levy, uh, 85 Morris in Everett, Mass. >> I just want to start off by saying thank you for hosting this event. Thank you for allowing us to be here and present in front of you. Like I stated, my name is Manuel Matias. I am a developer,
investor, and manager of um, real estate here in the Marramac Valley. Um today we're here to present you guys with uh 20 I mean uh 40 to 60 units um mixeduse component development and in order to do so we've partnered with uh studio uh 26
I'll let you >> Yeah. So uh we're my company Studio 26 we have a firm that does architecture and interior design in L low Massachusetts. Um and yeah we're working with Manny to create this project. >> So our strategy behind this is a
solutionbased strategy. I don't know if you guys are are aware but the the uh the nation the state has a housing crisis right now and our project uh stands to provide a solution to that by bringing 40 to 60 uh mixed uh use units
uh commercial on the ground floor with residential on floors 325. The units will consist from anywhere from 1 to three bedrooms with sizes uh from 600 to,200 square ft. Um this this uh
development will not only bring jobs to to the city of Lawrence. It'll bring the muchneeded uh housing, but more importantly, it'll also bring a subsidy component. 20% of the units that we're here presenting in front of you today will be subsidized because we understand
that things are getting a little bit pricey. So, we want to keep in mind, not only that, on top of that, we're also bringing small businesses. Our project has committed to bringing in not only our uh company, Matias company, like I
stated, a a property management uh brokerage and uh construction company, but also a small law firm to the city of Lawrence. So along with the with the with the units that I've mentioned, along with the affordability, along with the solution to the housing crisis that
the state, city, and nation uh is is facing today, we're also bringing jobs and small businesses to the city of Lawrence. And we in our original presentation uh we showcased how we have certain uh state level representatives
that have shown uh support for for our project. Um, and we're hoping that with your support, uh, you guys are able to see not only what the citizens of Lawrence saw, but also the L. And it is a a project that I'm sorry. Thank you.
>> The next version that we have is uh, Jimmy Salama. >> Good afternoon. My name is Jimmy Salama at 525 ESC Street. Uh, thank you very much for having us here.
And it's uh been pleasant since I moved from New York to Massachusetts. Uh right now in the lot I'm trying to build it. I own about six building around it was maybe
about 150 units apartment and I know what they need. So I'm trying to take this lot, the one I'm trying to build to build 205 parking lot and also supermarket to be
convenient to everybody there and with going to bring also more job for everybody. Uh it's uh it's been simple and I'm trying to just continue what we've been doing so far in in Lawrence to continue good project and something
Lawrence will benefit and not just Lawrence the people in Lawrence to benefit project like this. I hope you accept it and I hope you give me the chance to build it. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next person that we have is Alberto Nunes.
Um good afternoon Mr. President, city councelor. I really appreciate the opportunity you give it to us to present at this meeting tonight. And uh we're here to uh present uh a project that we
be involved since last year since July. We put a lot of effort, a lot of energy and money to put this process together. Sama property is a is a family business that been managing and developing
property in the city of law for 33 years and now we are concentrated in the west island where there is a no canal area. They also know as Alaka West Island and we are concentrated in developing that
area where we own Nunes LLC being managing by Sama Property Inc. And we are um we are totally concentrated in developing that area there where we because we are the majority own the
property in that area complete in the island and uh beside that our uh experience is uh be uh creating some abandoned property for years and years where we don't have nothing. We've been
creating a property to be successful to have a new business. We've been serving serving hundred residential and small businesses for over 30 years and uh we are here today and I have member of my team here to answer any question you
might have. I know we have a short time. I know we go to the next level in this meeting and I really very happy to see this moving forward for that direction. Thank you. >> Um I'll just uh take a little bit more of the time. So at at a high level what the Nunes family is proposing on the
Peton Place site. >> We need we need you. >> Certainly. My name is Mark Aleno. My home address is 81 Greylock Street in Mthan um 30 330 dwelling units about 20,000 square ft of ret of retail space
of retail space um approximately 400 on-site parking spots as well as satellite parking around this. And at the end of the day what the what the theme really is for the West Island as Mr. Nunes was sharing is to curate a space that will become a destination for our city and an anchor to our city as
folks are coming over um and into the city to really um capitalize on um our riverfront assets and everything else. What we're here also um go echoing the the um the words of the other members that uh members of the public that have
spoken is really um requesting the city council to act with a reasonable amount of urgency given the amount of time and energy and funds that everyone has put into this. The vast majority of the developers that are here present today are Lawrence developers and are have
assembled their teams with people that are either from Lawrence or actively committed in this city. So, um, we're all here to help move our city forward, to help address the housing challenges, to help continue to to feed and reinvigorate our local economy. And, um, you know, with respect to the Nunes
project, um, assembled here with me are Gary Sidell, who's his family's obviously been involved in real estate in the city for years and manages, uh, real estate through, uh, Bell Tower commercial real estate, as well as Gino Peron, who is also a Lawrence kid. Um but his experience I think probably far
exceeds most of ours in uh everything he's done as a project manager on a global basis as well as um our our design Matt who uh was with Fishbrook Design who you know really has created a really interesting curated building uh for the city. So, in closing really just
is um help advance this process down and um down down down the river so to speak so we can um you know have some come to some conclusions and um really get these projects moving forward. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. All these names are going to
be submitted for the record. Um now we are uh proceeding as following. Uh we have no public hearing for today. We have u communication reports. We have but there
is no communication um communication from the mayor, city officials, city of training on this item. We should have some type of petition as a report coming from someone so we can
allow uh at least the presentation uh that the overall presentation of the uh of the L but it was not added to the agenda. Uh usually this represent online people want to speak at
publication. >> I haven't received any shots or any comments on here. So we move forward from public participation already. Uh as far as that u I mean there is ways either here or on the chat. uh there is no way for me to entertain a
presentation at this moment with no uh nothing on this specific items because if I entertain an item uh and I open it up for the floor for the presentation purpose that means that I didn't send it to committee and as per our chat section
u 3.5 section D I shall have those items be sent to committee but uh I went ahead and I asked the city attorney to see if he's willing to put his name as as a report as as as the petitioner for a report uh coming
from the city of Cheney. He was kind enough to say yes. So we uh he agreed upon allowing uh putting his name for allowing the LRA to open up the
discussion not on particular project but the overall process of uh of that uh entire situation. I I asked him and he agree upon. So now we can have the LRA
coming in front of us not to discuss the project but any type of wording or reporting that they have um in general overall uh discussion not to in particular to any project but like I said the
process of the L. >> Yeah. Good evening council president uh councilors good afternoon. Uh just to the way we decided to do this very short um uh attorney Brian Corgan is going to
speak on behalf of the uh of the L to explain your name. >> Yeah, sure. Octavian Spanner. I'm the senior adviser to the mayor, Mayor Deia, but also uh the executive director of the L. >> You are here today >> as as the L. Yes, correct. Uh but I'm
stating my both my positions. Uh Mr. Chairman, would you like to just briefly uh thank you city council for having us in here. My name is Eric Walker, 8 East Haveril Street, Lawrence Mass. Um chairman of the L. um you have a stack
of the work that we've done over these many months and engaged with these developers who have uh also put a lot of effort into this. Um I think we should clarify moving forward uh between the recommendations and the
uh conclusions that we came to and uh hopefully we can move forward with that. Uh good evening, council president, councilors, city officials. Uh Brian Caran, 122 Chestnut Street, end of a Mass. I represent the redevelopment authority. Uh with me tonight, uh are
the members you just met, um our chairman, Eric Walker, Ramon Kazada, and Pedro Tihara here. uh other member Anna Medina is not with us tonight but she may be on the uh maybe on the zoom. So um
I appreciate the opportunity here. Uh I do understand that there's uh this has not been an easy process because frankly I don't think Lawrence has ever been through this process before. Certainly the city has had urban renewal plans before. Uh I believe the most recent one
was in the area of the um behind the library uh back in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't think any of us were involved in that particular project. So in terms of logistics um we're sort of paving our own way here. Um but just to give some
background uh on how we got to this point in 2017 um the Commonwealth of Massachusetts approved an urban renewal plan. That plan was prepared by the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority, approved by the
planning board and ultimately by this uh this council. Um that uh urban renewal plan was submitted to the state and it was approved. Uh what that urban Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Madam Chair, please call the role for councelor Levy and councelor
Rees. >> Council Levy >> present. Councelor Reyes >> present. >> Okay. Um, urban renewal plan essentially what it did in a nutshell. You you by the way uh you should all have and I
realize you many of you probably just received it today but we we did file it uh late last week. You have a packet of material. Essentially, you have um the uh proposal from uh the individual
developer for all of eight of the projects that we're putting before you as well as the appraisal that was done uh in uh 2024. You also have an appendix which contains uh the executive summary of the urban renewal plan. The full urban renewal
plan is available on the web. I believe it's on the city website and the LRA website. Uh the the full plan is about 180 pages, very detailed, lots of charts. The executive summary is is excellent and really covers, you know, most of the the nuts and bolts and
requirements of your renewal plan. Um, so what that did was it it created uh an urban renewal plan area which essentially uh if you were to draw a line, it encompass it encompasses much of the downtown area from Broadway
uh over to uh Union Street bordered on the north by Common Street and then to the south crossing the river includes uh uh many of the sites on Merry Street uh north of MMC street. So, uh, and south
of the Marry River. So, you have Marmac paper and 55 South Canal. Um, in that plan, the city designated several parcels for disposition and that that plan once again was
approved by the city council in 2017. Among those properties that were approved for disposition back in 2017 were the Marmac paper site which is comprised I believe of three or four separate tax parcels as well as 55 South Canal Street. Those two projects are are
two of the projects that are before you uh today and will be coming before you again through the whatever subcommittee uh you're going to assign this to. What we did uh in uh 2024 was we sought
um approval from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to amend the urban renewal plan to include other properties for disposition. These other properties are all vacant uh city parking lots that are within the original urban renewal area. We did not
seek at all to increase the urban renewal area, but we did seek state approval to identify additional properties for disposition. So what you have essentially there are several several of these projects uh are
comprised of multiple tax parcels but what you have before you are eight uh projects uh which the LRA has vetted uh through an RFP process which began last year. In fact predating the RFP process
was a request for letters of interest. Then the RFP process was published I believe uh in early July. Uh we received 20 proposals um by the deadline of September 13th. We then formed a citizen advisory
committee which uh I believe all of you participated in in some form or fashion either by appointing uh members of your um uh districts, constituents. I believe council L plant uh was one of the members of the advisory committee. Uh
that committee uh was convened and reviewed all of the projects, had the developers come in to make their pitches, questions and answers. Um and then ultimately recommendations were made to the redevelopment authority. The redevelopment authority then rehosted
the developers for further Q&A and presentation and I believe with one exception um selected uh all of the projects that were originally uh recommended by the citizen
advisory committee. I believe the only one that was um different was the common street um west site which is Mr. Salama site, but we'll get into all these details with you when we get into the uh the subcommittee
presentations. So, um to sum it up tonight, because I know that you haven't had a chance probably to review everything that you have in front of you in detail, uh we have eight projects coming before you pursuant to the urban renewal plan. Without getting
into the the legal aspects of who has the right to select the projects, what authority is needed to sign off on these projects, who has the right to sign deeds. Let's forget about all that. We're bringing these projects before you
because the LRA wants to work with the city council. Nobody wants to invest millions of dollars in a project where the city council is questioning the process or the authority of the redevelopment authority to uh to to
enter into agreements with the developers. So ideally what we would have from you tonight would be a blessing in the form of a vote to move forward with these eight projects to negotiate with these developers to get the best deal that can be gotten for the
city of Lawrence to sell these properties to these developers with conditions and to give these developers then the ability to go forward through the zoning process, permitting, try to get their projects approved by the other uh divisions of
the city that are required uh uh for approval. I realize that that's not going to happen. You're not going to give us the blessing tonight. So, I think ultimately what we will be asking for as this process unfolds over the next several
weeks is for you to give consideration to all the work that's gone into uh this process. uh the diligent efforts uh made by the redevelopment authority members, the staff, the citizen advisory committee, the consultants
and then of course the tremendous work that was put into these projects by the individual developers all of whom I think you know uh most are uh local developers some are multinational
u but all are committed to and it's actually would be a requirement of the disposition to uh maximize the use of local uh contractors, local laborers, and so on and so forth. So, I think what we have
tonight, if I'm not mistaken, and if if the city clerk could confirm, I think we are we able to have the Zoom presentation from uh Professor Carris just to give a brief uh summary of the individual projects. >> No, we don't want to take any individual projects.
>> Okay. It's sort of an overview PowerPoint. It's not it's not like a >> the thing is is like if we get into the details of the individual project we defeating the purpose of sending this to committee. So I entertained that I entertained that what you just did. Okay. >> Which is an overall uh view of the
process as of how you guys get here. >> Mhm. >> Uh but any individual project that will take place or anything related to the project that will take place at the subcommittee level. >> Okay. Can I ask a question council president? Definitely you can you have >> so uh in your mind how do you foresee uh
the process unfolding its subcommittee? Are you going to invite all of the uh developers uh or all of these individual cases back on a single evening or do you envisioning breaking it breaking it up into maybe a couple of
different subcommittee meetings? just curious because I imagine there's going to be a lot of questions um and we want to try to do the best we can to uh present it in an organized fashion. So >> yeah, I mean uh that's definitely a fair questions and we will be in contact with
all of you guys. We wish that we can have individual uh project to consider but everything going to be through the L. So we'll contact you as to how we vision it. We don't have that answer right now, but entertaining all of all of the all of the project uh in one
night that's that's not that's not feasible. But definitely we will uh see how we can uh proceed. Uh but we haven't we haven't get to that bridge to be able to cross it. So u it is important that you mention a couple of things when it
comes to the LAR and when it comes to a specific situation uh as of how you guys get here. uh since I believe a year two years maybe two and a half years ago. Well, we we were uh we get the
information that the mayor have signed under security equity order uh without uh well for the transfer of the properties without consulting with the with the uh city council and we always have a specific point that need to happen and those specific points were
related to that any type of partial that need to be transferred have to be a a vote on the on the affirmative from the council and subsequently a signature from the mayor. And that's why this whole process is is taken uh to the point that we can
consider as a long process. But we've been clear since the beginning as to how we have done this uh in the past. I went to a couple of your meeting uh to ensure that that's been put up on the pro the on the uh that been put up uh on the
record and we also sent u uh communication on writing um to to the LAR as of how the process should be. Uh we are here now we are in the process of getting uh a vote from the city council.
Uh and that's that's what we're doing. And uh another thing that you mentioned is that you guys were looking for approval from the state to amend the to amend that oven renewal plan that was approved specifically in December 2016
by the council. Uh and yes, that that was you were referring to a minor amendment uh that uh doesn't require the city council vote and yes this only the state is required to approve that specific
uh process under a minor amendment that is stipulated under the renewal plan or Lawrence or renewal plan which is basically the uh a a definitely a fine process as per our uh renewal plan that
you guys submit and the council approved. So if it is anything else from the LRA when it comes to how we get here and then we will proceed. >> Uh council president I just want to acknowledge that our consultant James
Carris is online. >> Yes. Uh but uh as per your wish um I will request uh for him to thank him to be here but for not to make any comments in terms of the project. >> No I mean he can bring comments right
now we entertain it but not into any individual project when it comes to the process as how we get here. If you have anything to add to that by all means we can definitely >> can you ask him I mean since you have >> I mean he's I'm assuming that he's hearing he's hearing us.
>> So Mr. Cars, do you have anything to add not to any individual project but to the process in general? >> I I excuse me. Uh good evening everybody. My name is James Carris. I'm principal Caris Community Investment and I'm a consultant to the Lawrence
Redevelopment Authority. Um I have a presentation that is a mix of both. uh one is an overview of the process and a summary of impact of all eight projects. Then the second half of the presentation
is on individual projects which I hear you uh you do not want me to speak or anybody to speak to the individual projects but I can present to you uh in a few minutes the uh the process in detail which count uh uh attorney uh
Coran began to discuss as well as a slide that I would like to show you most importantly is the overall impact of these eight projects not pointing any individual but the eight projects. Uh, council president, is is that okay with
you? May I proceed? >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh, let me share my screen. Uh again officially I'm James Carris. I'm the consultant of the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and the services I've been providing have been grant
writing uh working on the update the uh major amendment uh which I I've reached out to many of you to uh conduct interviews with you uh on the updated urban renewal plan um as well as the uh
RFP process for these uh eight properties. Um some of this is is uh attorney Coran has already mentioned u but uh the the process for these city owned properties this has been a really rigorous transparent and communitydriven
process and it's been designed to ensure the best possible outcomes for the future development of these sites. And I want to walk through the phases of the process and uh highlight the u uh engagement evaluation criteria and final
deliberations that led to the uh uh selection of the developers. U I won't repeat what Brian shared. Uh we uh we had submitted the minor amendment. Uh we issued a request for letters of interest
last year. We did that to understand is there market interest. I've worked with several redevelopment agencies uh both in Massachusetts and Florida and and sometimes there's no market interest in the particular property or or for other economic uh reasons. And so we decided
to issue the ROI uh to test that market interest. Needless to say, we had a very strong response to the U RLI and that we decided to move ahead with a an official RFP for the city owned properties, inviting developers to submit proposals
that align with the urban renewal plan and the city's economic development, housing, and revitalization goal. The response was overwhelmingly positive with 20 proposals received from a diverse set of of developers uh bringing
their unique visions for transforming these properties to benefit the the uh community. Um upon receiving the proposals, LRA staff and and I as the consultant, we conducted a preliminary review to ensure all
submissions met the RFP's minimum requirements. uh proposals were evaluated based on financial feasibility, alignment with city goals in the urban renewal plan, economic impact, uh community benefits and
developer experience and capacity to do what they uh say they like to do. Um, as attorney Coran mentioned, we created a citizens advisory committee, a 25 member city advisory committee composed of
residents, business owners, uh, city officials and stakeholders, and their role was to view and provide feedback on the proposal, ensuring community priorities were reflected in the evaluation process. I I I have to personally say I was really struck by
the professionalism and the uh thorough review that this committee did of all the proposals. It was quite a quite a uh it it made quite an impression on me. As you know, I'm an academic, if you will, and uh these are the types of things we
teach in public policy. Um and but rarely do we see this type of uh uh citizen-driven u uh process. the uh we we all it was actually 21 development teams were invited to
present their proposals in the public forum at the CAC and these presentations uh resulted in the community and stakeholders hearing uh directly from the developers and they and the CAC and the public asked questions u and
ultimately we all gained insights into the potential impacts of of each project following the public presentations Uh I as the consultant conducted a deeper financial and technical analysis of each proposal. Uh we review the perform
financials uh development timelines, potential funding sources and anticipated job creation uh and housing impacts as well as potential uh uh tax uh uh uh revenue uh implications. We
also assessed each project's uh uh proposal's consistency with the city's master plan, zoning, and urban renewal objectives. Um throughout this process, we uh provided detailed reports to the LRA board summarizing findings,
strengths, and concerns related to each project. This allowed the board to fully understand the feasibility, risk, and benefits of each potential. short-listed developers were invited to the final presentation to the LRA board where they had an opportunity to answer questions,
clarify project details, and address any concerns raised during the evaluation process. Um, I' I'd like to double underline what Attorney Corrian mentioned to you is that seven of the uh ultimately of the eight proposals that
were selected by the LRA were in agreement with the CAC in terms of the number one rated projects from the CAC and then the other one was rated number two by CAC and LRA selected somebody
else. But uh the process showed kind of a uh strong agreement coming from a number of different uh stakeholders including the CAC and the LRA uh board. Uh the L board deliberate deliberated on
the final selection of prop of proposals uh based on the alignment with the city's goals and the urban renewal plan. Um and but the these selected projects represent transformational opportunities for Lawrence, ensuring long-term
economic growth, job creation and enhanced quality of life for residents. This process was deliberate, transparent, uh and communitydriven and community exclusive, ensuring that the final selection of the development proposals will serve the best interest
of the city of Lawrence. The LRA is confident that the chosen properties uh projects will not only revitalize these city-owned properties on their own, but also catalyze broader investment, create
new housing and jobs and strengthen the economic vi vitality of of Lawrence. So again, I'm not going to get into any specific projects at your request, but overall u I want do want to uh share
with you the uh uh the these projects. Uh residential units u we have over 800 units across all proposals. um commercial retail space over 215,000 square ft including medical, retail,
workforce training in a supermarket. And in uh all seven of the eight projects uh uh have some type of residential component uh from 100% to you know 70 to 80% as a mixeduse project and one of the
projects uh is for a uh a new hotel uh uh project. There are two supermarkets that have been uh recommended uh over 100,000 square feet of green and civic public spaces and you know parking seems to be an issue that keeps coming up uh
from a number of different stakeholders as we work on the downtown uh updated master plan. Everybody immediately says parking parking parking. These eight proposals are are are proposing uh approximately 1310 total uh
parking spaces across all projects. The estimated development uh costs uh for these eight projects is over $400 million. And the estimated property tax valuation, we worked with their uh city ass property assessor uh to uh come up
with some of these numbers. estimated prop property tax valuation is uh over $200 uh uh million dollars. Given that and if all these projects happen depending on market timing etc. we conservatively estimate that the annual
property tax revenue for the city of Lawrence from these eight projects will be between three to four million uh uh dollars. uh this uh winds up repeating what I just
said u and I I won't go any further. These are the eight uh projects and their location. um and uh and and their proposal that they they have. U but uh thank you for your time. Uh I look forward to working
at uh uh at your request with the subcommittees. Uh and as you move along in the process, if you have questions ahead of time that you want me to include in terms of presentations, I will certainly do so. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um if it is anything else from the LAR uh counselor especially in Fanta have asked me to add her uh within an area that she can express an opinion
about that and that was under the public participation but we went over already and I going to allow her to express uh her two cents on this uh matter. So council fund >> thank you council president for you there there were two comments made
during public participation that I would like to address or state my opinion as you stated president um the first thing is um the the statement that was that was what was asked of us um to
handle this with reasonable amount of urgency and I just want to make it clear to individuals here in the chamber. Um those on Zoom and also our constituents watching from home from the beginning
the council and I'm just going to refer the council as a whole has asked to work with to work with the LRA. This vote would have would have been done probably a while ago if things would have if we would have just worked together from the beginning. That's one
that's the first um statement that I want to make. Secondly, um I before I go into this, I want to say thank you to some to to the LRA as a board. Um they did take the time to meet with counselors. Um I left my meeting
feeling more open-minded about the process and and the projects that we have before us. Um, but I also learned tonight that I did not know that a resident of district E
who is um proposing a project in district E went to my colleague and asked for my colleague to put on the special meeting. Um, I would have appreciated the decency or the respect of my colleague if you
would have just given me a call to let me know. Just like I give my colleagues the respect to give them a call when their constituents go come to me with an ask an issue or whatever it might be. So, I know the LRA has asked us to work
together to move forward, but even like a a small situation like that is already leaving a bad taste in in my in my mouth. Um uh I'm I'm going to leave it there. Council President, >> right now we are going to proceed with
committee reports. Uh there is no committee report from the budget and finance committee. No committee reports from the housing committee. No committee from report from ordinance or personnel. Public safety there is no committee report. Economic development there is no committee report. Committee of the hall there is no committee report. And all
business there is no uh all business since you all know this is an special meeting agenda. We only have the two a projects. Subsequently, this is going to be into different committees and uh eventually we going to either entertain
it at the full council as a regular meeting or in a special meeting. It will be uh later on decide. So item uh now new business we have item 33225 the approval of transfer of city owned
parcel to the LRA per the L TBD I renewal plan South canal parcel one medap paper uh 11 South Canal Street map lat 123 lat one 9 south canal street map
123 lat 2 19 South Canal Street map 23 LA 3 uh by the river uh by the River Park LLC. The proposal uh as approved by the LRA. This is going to go to the housing committee and the economic
development committee. Item 12 item 33325 approval of the transfer of city owned parcel to the LAR per the urban per the Lawrence TBD urban renewal plant the south canal phrase 255 South Canal
Street map 103 lot 68 uh first city group this is going to go to the housing committee and the economic development committee I done uh 33425 approval of Stanford of city-owned
parcel to the LRA per the Lawrence TBD ORM renewal plan north canal street map 125 lot 28 uh for uh Santa Mars project inc this is going to be sent to the housing
committee and economic development committee item 33525 approval of transfer city owns parcel to the rate per the urban renewal to the per Lawrence DBD urban renewal plant,
Matuan Street, East 11 Hampshire Street, map 125, lot 19 and 245 to 251 Metuan Street, map 125 lot 20 for the Matia uh
to the for the Matias company. Uh this is going to the housing committee ended economic development committee. Uh item 33625 approval of transfer of city owned parcel laid uh per Lawrence GBD urban
renewal plan Muan Street West 261 Muan Street map 145 lot 50 265 Muan Street map 145 lot 49 277 2883
Muan Street map 145 lot 48 uh 289 uh 293 Muan Street map 45 lot 47 and 9 Franklin Street map 145 lot 46 uh per West for West Westchester group. This proposal
will be sent to the housing committee and the urban rea and the comm economic development committee. Item uh 33725 approval of transfer the city owns parcel to LRA uh per the Lawrence DVD
Arman renewal plant exit street 205 um exit street map 106 lot 14 209 215 street map 106 lot 13 and
uh 217 223 access street map 106 lot 12 per Aino Ltd. This proposal will go to the housing committee and to the economic development committee. Item 23825 approval of transfer of city-owned
parcel uh to the ele uh for per the Lawrence TBD urban uh renewal plan common street west uh 442 to 502 common street for the Lawrence re uh for the
Lawrence Lawrence development. This is going to go to the housing committee as well as the um economic development committee. Item 23925, approval of transfer city on parcel to LR8 per the Lawrence TVDR and renewal
plant common street east 139 common street map 106 lot 74 129 135 common street map 106 lot 75
common street map 106 lot 76 and 115 common street Map 106 lat 77 per Joe uh Joear group. Uh this is going to go to the
economic development economic development committee. Uh there is not a housing component on that project. Uh now counselors I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn.
>> We will to do that. >> Yeah. I don't know. Uh we'll let we'll let them know. We haven't scheduled the meetings for the either the housing committee or the economic development committee. We are
going to be looking at the the schedule uh since and how we're going to split the project. But the urban renew the LRA will re will receive a notification from those two committee as of when uh that's going to happen. usually is within the
next week, but we're going to allow the chair of both committees that is here today to just look at the schedule and see how it's going to proceed. >> So, we will let we'll let you know. Council L. >> Yeah, just as a point of parliamentary query and I'm not looking for an answer
this evening. Um, the last item that you referred was to the economic development committee. I don't have it in front of me. My understanding is that all items that are going to be voted on for a final vote need to be sent to a standing committee. economic development committee. It's not a standing committee, but please look into that. Um,
>> I have I have it right here and uh I was thinking about the sentence and that's section 3.5 section D of the city channel that established that item 33925 will also follow as any other and as any other item into the housing committee as well as the uh economic development
committee. No problem. So counselors as we just said uh we are going to be looking into the schedule for those two committee when they're going to be meeting um and then we will let the L knows uh as of when and how we're going
to split the presentations or the questionings. We also need to look into all those items that we have. As you guys can see, it's eight different books over a over 2,000 pages that we need to look plus the urban renewal plan that we
need to make sure that we have all the documentations. Um, at this point, counselors, I'll as a as a courtesy, I'll I'll entertain I'll I open up the floor for counselors to have a short comment or a question we don't answer
for the Er, council president, if I may. >> Councelor Luzan, >> I I'm the lucky one. Thank you, council president. What will be the time frame of this meetings? No, the the city council do not have a
time frame to make a determination tomorrow or today or we we don't have that. We don't have that. We we don't have that specific time to take a vote on any item that we have in front of us. That doesn't happen
with any of the other items that we have on the agenda unless there is a an an emergency that uh we consider the city will consider as an emergency and we have a specific timeline. There is items that we have on the agenda that we now
we have timeline perhaps personal from any u uh personal matters that we need to take a vote perhaps the head of department we have 30 days but other than that we do not Thank you, council president.
>> No problem. Uh counselors, council mama, >> through you, council president, I felt that um it is important to reflect um my feelings towards some of the comments that were made as well. Um
>> yeah, councelor, but I mean as we always do, >> I'll wrap it up real quick. >> Yeah, we always do. Mr. President, no, but give me give No, give me one minute. Let me clarify from that because we are respond we are deviating from the normal process not deviating quick council council mammo sorry
>> council mamo the thing is is like we never answer to any public participation never in the past so let's keep it like that and then we can continue with it uh with the answers and questions and we can probably take the podium next time >> you opened up the floor for comments so
can I make a comment >> you open >> but not on public participation yes let's keep it up otherwise I just need to close it then because and then it's going to be a back and forth and we don't want that because public participation we never answer those >> I'm not asking a question
>> councel Marmo >> I just felt that it's super important to clarify it's just to provide clarity um that any delays in regards to the the properties that are here before us has nothing to do with um the city council
so any delays that um that all the developers have faced. Um we are simply just doing our due diligence. Um as our talented attorney has expressed, this is the first time that these properties are being transferred to the LRA to which is
taking away the decision and the process from the city council. So again, just wanted to make sure that the narrative that's being fed or being uh given to some of these folks that there is clarity in ensuring that they know that
the any delays that they have faced has nothing to do with the city council. >> Yeah. And and it's important to recognize the following. We're not with the this the city the city is not in a
rush to transfer properties in general. It is it is a process that the L took over. They presented that executive brand is bringing it to us and we are taking a determination. That's that's the reality of the of the fat. And also something that we need to clarify very
quick for that uh for the people up there. We're not talking about parcels. We're talking about parking lots. So from now on when we refer to a specific parel that is a parking lot on, please refer to those as a parking lot because those are how it is and that way people knows. uh the the reality of it. But I
mean uh at this time if it is not any other comments from the counselors I entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to >> second. >> There is a motion to adjurnn properly second. No discussion. All those in favor please say I. I. >> The eyes have it. Thank you so much.