Speaker 1: Good evening and welcome to the Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 select board meeting. I'd like to go into open session and call to order at 6:06 PM for those of you who are in the room and able, could you stand so we could say the Pledge of Allegiance and observe a moment of silence for those who are serving our town, our Commonwealth and our country Speaker 2: Pledge Speaker 3: Allegiance to the Flag Flag, the United Case of America, and to the Republic, which it stands, one nation under God, Invis, liberty and Justice for all.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Bless you. So we will talk about, we'll start with announcements. We have a lot of announcements. First, I'm gonna take these out of order. First, just a reminder to residents that we are under a drought mandate to not use our irrigation systems and not use water that's unnecessary. So you can use a sprinkling can or use a hose for necessary watering, but please do not use your irrigation systems are sprinklers. The Rotary is conducting a repair cafe at Natick Community and Senior Center on Sunday, May 4th from two
to 5:00 PM you can bring clothes that need to be repaired, zippers, things like that. Lamps, the, the idea is to repair and not throw away things. So to the extent that you can't, if there's parts that you have that you need to bring, do that. But it's a, it's a really a awesome opportunity to get things repaired as opposed to throwing away and replacing Natick. Farmer's Market will start its spring summer season on the Common on Saturday May 3rd from nine to 1:00 PM So, yay.
That's always a great day. And of course, eco Natick Earth Day begins on May 3rd and fourth. I encourage everyone who's interested to please go to the town website. There's a list of activities that will take place around Natick on the third and the fourth. The Charles River Parks Improvement Site Walk will take place on Sunday, May 4th from one to 3:30 PM Again, information Will is on our website about that. And for those of you who are planning for June, the 2025 WOC Town takeover will take place on June 6th. And I'd like to just boast for a moment that
of the 26 communities that are invited to participate in the Woo Socks Town Takeover Natick has sold more tickets the last two years than any other town. Go Na, go Natick. And I bought my tickets. So you can buy tickets, you can also Town of Champions. Yes. If you also go on the town website under announcements, there's a link for you to buy tickets through, through the Natick Service Council for families who are unable to afford tickets. So I encourage you also those of you're able to do that as well. And Mr. Evans, as you're tearing apart something,
I was just wondering if you might want to talk about, you can save a life event by Nick 180. Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Or gimme a second or I can, Speaker 2: If you don't mind. I don't have. Speaker 1: Okay. We'll observe a moment of silence while Mr. Evans locates that announcement. I apologize. There we go. Speaker 2: Alright. Speaker 4: Medical 180 is excited to invite community members to a free event focused on saving a life from overdose. The you can Save A Life event will take place next Wednesday, May 7th, four to 6:00 PM at tcam
and will fe feature Metro West Resources for individuals who experience substance use disorder and their families and friends event attendees will have the opportunity to hear from folks in recovery and family members impacted by addiction. Learn the signs of overdose and how to respond, including how to get Naloxone and how to perform rescue breathing. All are welcome to this safe and supportive space. This free event is made possible by Metro West Area municipal opioid abatement funds. For questions more information, contact
Natick one eighty@natickma.org. Speaker 1: Thank you very much Mr. Evans. I think we'll move into the consent agenda. Madam Clerk. Speaker 5: Thank you Madam Chair. I will read the consent agenda on, it's on. Can you hear me? Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 5: We'll read the consent agenda and if anyone wants to pull anything, you'll let me know. So A through J, A approve request to occupy a public way. Oliver Street Block party B approve put shack Boston Natick, LLC South 12, all alcohol beverages change
of manager application C approve core golf LLC application for a one day liquor license on May 18th, 2025 for a golf clinic. D approve Natick Center Cultural district applications for one day Liquor licenses for Natick Nights on June 26th, July 10th, August 7th, 2025 E approved 2025 license renewals for the junk dealers. Collectors in the tax delivery. LA F approve Rushford and Suns brewhouse application for a farmer's market permit.
G Approve Abruzzi Transportation for a new 2025 livery license. H approve Dave and Busters of Massachusetts LLC application for a new 2025 non-live entertainment license. I approve Dave and Buster's amended automatic amusement device license, two amusement license devices. And Jay approve House Beer Brewery application for a farmer's market permit. Does anybody wanna pull anything? Speaker 1: No ma'am. Speaker 5: I move to approve the consent agenda. Second Speaker 1: Move by Ms. Pope, seconded by Ms. Slager. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Any opposed? 5 0 0. Thank you for that. Madam Chair. Or Madam clerk? Madam. Madam, Madam, at this point I'll move into public speak if there's any individual, any individual who wishes may raise an issue that is not included on tonight's agenda and it'll be taken under advisement by the board. There'll be no opportunity for debate during this portion of the meeting. Due to the requirements of open meeting law. This section of the agenda is limited to 10 minutes and any individual addressing the board during the section
of the agenda shall be limited to three minutes while the board endeavors to ensure that all interested persons have the opportunity to address the select board due to time constraints that may not be possible. In cases where there is intense public interest in a particular topic, the board may address or may schedule a future meeting to allow for further input. Is there anyone online who wishes to be recognized for public speak? Is there anyone in the room who wishes to be recognized for public speak? Seeing none a question? Yes. If the public hearing for the, if a public hearing is scheduled for six 30, can we take it up before six 30?
Speaker 6: No, you have to open it at six 30. Okay. But you can take other things out of order if you would like to 'cause Speaker 1: Yep, I will do that. Yeah, I will do that. So for members of the public who are following our agenda, just a few notes. Item D under executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations, contract negotiation, contract negotiations with non-union personnel. Town administrator has been titled incorrectly. That is to be, that is supposed to be the review that
of the town administrator. So we're moving that to two weeks from now. And that will be done in open session. The Town Administrator's review under discussion and decision Temple Israel of Natick Proclamation. It should be plural. We have three of them. They're not ready for discussion and decision. So they, they will be taken up at a future meeting Speaker 2: To cover the, Speaker 6: The Sherman IMA and Toll Brothers. Yes, please. Great. And there's no materials for this item. It was more of an update to the board and to the public who may be interested. The board may recall, and the public may recall, several years ago the select board was a prior iteration
of the board, had a dialogue around a proposal to connect a, basically make a connection point into Sherburne along Bean Street into the town sewer system. It's really a pass through because our, all of our sewer system goes to the MWRA. So we would really be more of a conduit of flow through Natick to the MD area system. But it was really to support some work that the town of Sherburne was doing primarily for a development project but also for some other potential projects down the road that they're considering. At that time, the board had some questions
and gave some direction to 10 administration to work with Sherburne. But then the development for various reasons was sort of put on, on a little bit of a pause. Fast forward to about maybe a year ago, and Sherburne and the developer for that one development came back to the town and it's the Toll Brothers development that I'm talking about. Came back to the town and said, okay, we we're, we're back on track. We'd like to, to resurrect this conversation with the town of Natick. What, what do we need to do? And at the time, what they actually need to do was a number of of things they need to seek special legislation to even create a sewer district.
'cause they don't have a sewer district in Sherburne right now. So they needed to actually get that special legislation to do that work. And then they also needed to go through some local processes on their end to basically authorize through their select board in town meeting process the creation of a sewer district as well. All of that work has happened. And concurrently with that, what we've been working with them on is the drafting of an interm municipal agreement. 'cause there needs to be an Interm municipal if, if Natick is to consider this, there need to be an Interm municipal agreement between the Natick Water
and Sewer Commissioners, which is the select board in the case of Natick, the town of Sherburne and the Sherburne Water Sewer District. So it's really a tri-party. So that's one component of it. And that would essentially outline the, the parameters by which flow would come into the Natick sewer system. We also, concurrently with this, had to work with MWRA to ensure that they were on board with this. So they're not a party to the IMA, but they're still part of what we need to be mindful
of when we, when we talk through really any added flow into the Natick system because there's requirements that Natick has to follow when we add any new development into the Nat sewer system. And then concurrently, we've been talking with Toll Brothers on a proposed project in Sherburne that would be one of the first connectors into the Sherburne sewer system that then ultimately connects into the Natick system. And the reason for that is because of some of the MWA requirements, we need to make sure that we're getting some of the Ben mitigation funds for something like that, as well
as some other stipulations as part of a development agreement. Long story short, there's nothing for the board to review tonight. This was more of an update to make sure the board knew that this was coming down the pipeline. You're probably going to see by the next meeting, hopefully a draft IMA and a draft development agreement or, or maybe the week, the meeting afterwards. And this is more just to get it on your radar so you're aware of it. I'm gonna work, we're also working with legal counsel. Components of this might be able to be negotiated in an executive session. I haven't said anything here that wasn't already previously discussed, sort of an open session, but we're gonna be working through that.
I more just wanted to make sure the board was aware of it and if you had any initial questions to just be mindful of those as well. Speaker 1: Thank you so much Mr. Erickson. Mr. Sidney? Speaker 7: Yeah. A couple of questions. Am I correct in assuming there'd be some kind of a flow meter so we could tell how much was coming in from Sherburn? Correct. So that we could charge them appropriately? Speaker 6: Yeah, all that would be, all those types of details would be outlined in any type of Interm municipal agreement. Speaker 7: Secondly, how do we ensure that, 'cause we do a lot of work for INI and how do we ensure that Sherburne is meeting our INI needs so that we're not sending storm water.
Speaker 6: So two components to that. Part of that is potentially what we could discuss in the development agreement. I don't wanna go too far 'cause yeah, it's into negotiations and part of that would be potentially outlining the IMA. Some of those details are exactly what we're still working on right now. Speaker 7: Okay. I just wanted to make sure we didn't forget those. Speaker 6: Oh, those are very much top of mind. Thank Speaker 1: You Mr. Sidney for keeping us Speaker 6: Honest. Yes, trying. Speaker 1: Mr. Evans, Speaker 4: Just a question that I undoubtedly will come up, which is capacity, sewer capacity. My recollection when we discussed this a year ago
was that Mr. Sprat had indicated that we have plenty of excess, I wouldn't call it excess capacity, but plenty of capacity to handle this proposed development. Speaker 6: So this, the current connection point as proposed and presented previously to the select board years ago. Now it's the same one that we've been talking about. It's at the end of Speed Street where Speeden Street enters into Sherburne. And that connection, it's actually a main line for Natick or one of our main lines. It does have capacity that for what is currently being proposed could be accommodated.
But we are doing a updated analysis on that as well, just to ensure that that's the case. Speaker 4: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Evans. Any other questions or comments? Let's go onto boards and committee appointment process. Item F. We're almost close to adjournment Speaker 4: Now. You've done it. Speaker 6: Naughty, naughty. Don't say things like that. I Speaker 1: Know this is just a brief, we have a number of openings coming up on boards and committees. And this has been discussed at in various different fora forums. So I'm just gonna briefly go over what the process is for reappointment or appointment.
We don't really have a policy. The select board doesn't have a policy for appointments. What we do is we have guidelines. And so for most of the boards, the mandate of which, or the charge for which touches all aspects of Natick. So for instance, or are quasi-judicial con com ZBA boards that the historic district commission, those when those have openings, people are free to re reapply for reappointment or apply for reappointment.
And the, if you go online to boards and appointments, to our, to our town website for boards and committees, there is a list, there's a section called vacancies. And you can see what vacancies are open and what the charge is. Mr. Walsh. Billy Billy. Billy, yes. Mr. Walsh, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Walsh. Mr. Walsh put together a, a wonderful list of what is available, what appointments are coming due, when they're due, what the charge is and what the term is.
So for those of you in the public who are interested in serving in the town, I encourage you to apply If you someone after town meeting who is not a town meeting member, just attended last night to see what town meeting was all about. Approached me after the meeting and said, I wanna get involved, but I don't know how. So I directed him to look at the list of openings and then to see what he was interested in and then to email us and we would put him in touch with people with email addresses so that they can, so that he can reach out to people who are on the boards to talk about time commitment or you know, what the scope is
and what it's like to serve on those boards. So I encourage everyone in the public to who's interested, please look at these boards and committees. This is largely a volunteer run town with a outstanding but under under resourced. Under resourced thank you. Professional staff. So I would encourage anyone who's interested in getting more involved to take a look at the boards and committees. What we will do is receive applications for vacancies. And we will do interviews during the month of May and June for most of them. For some committees it may be
that we put them on the consent agenda. These are committees that have a limited scope and application in the town, and only if the number of vacancies are equal, the number of applicants. So for the most part we do like to do these by interview. And that is all I have for board and committee appointment process. Ms. Slager. Speaker 8: Thank you Madam Chair. Just a, a couple of things to add. So if, if you're interested in these, when you do fill out your application online, you can apply for more than one committee. Yes. So you don't have to just say you wanna apply for the cultural council. You can apply for many of them.
And many of, and many of our applicants actually do that so that we might not pick them for one committee, but because they're interested in another, they get chosen for another. So you're not, you don't have to decide. And the other part is, I would encourage anyone who is interested to look at the meeting minutes from these committees, you, you get a sense of what's being discussed, but also how many meetings there are. So if you go on the town website, you can see, hey, this committee only, you know, meets once a month or it might meet once a year. So we have a variety of, of different,
each committee is different. And you can go back and you can see, but, but take a look at the minutes because that'll give you a good flavor of, of what's being discussed at these, at these committee meetings. Speaker 1: Excellent points. Thank you so much Mr. Sidney. Speaker 7: Yeah, the only other thing I'd add here is with very few exceptions, you don't need any particular set of skills for any of these committees. You need an interest and a willingness to learn and, you know, it helps if you have some professional background, but it's absolutely not necessary. I was not an accountant when I applied for the finance committee.
I had some background from years before, but you know, I, I was a software engineer and there are a couple of committees where you have to have some particular requirements. The audit advisory committee requires some connection to an accounting firm, but that's rare. Most committees, if you're interested and you want to help the town and do the work, apply even if you don't have any relevant background. Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Sidney. Very good points. Ms. Pope,
Speaker 5: I wanted to thank Mr. Walsh for putting this together. I think this is fantastic to look at and also, you know, our, our comms director for I'm sure getting this on the website. And one of the things I was thinking about is how we are getting the word out about these vacancies. I I, I don't actually have the answer for that, but I, I am curious as to how we're getting the words out because on some of these, like the affordable housing trust and there's six vacancies, so, you know, there's a lot of opportunity for people to, to get involved and to serve.
But I just wonder for on our behalf, what are, what might we be doing or, or what should we be doing to get the word out about these Speaker 1: Ms. Speaker 8: Slager? I just wanna point out that in many cases, just so people don't get discouraged, if it says six vacancies, they may be people that are current committee members that are reapplying. Right? So, and, and it's not that we necessarily, if someone's an incumbent, they don't necessarily get favored, but it, it, it it's not, if you're just looking at this
and you say, geez, you know, we're we're missing all these people on these boards, nobody's applying that. That's not necessarily the case that it could be just their term is expiring. Right. Speaker 1: Thank you Ms. Wilger. Speaker 6: So on, on the outreach in years past, we've posted in newspapers, we've used our social medias as best we can. It's obviously always on the town's website and I'm confident that Jay is gonna be doing something similar this year. I mean, we're early in the season, this is the first memo for the board and it's the deadline's May 30th, so we have a whole month. A big, a big part of outreach is really also encouraging the
board and committee members themselves to help spread the word. But that's usually how I've seen anyway, new members come onto boards and committees that it's through word of mouth of the people who are on the boards and committees who can then get neighbors or friends or colleagues on the edge sides of fields or, or courts or what have you getting involved. So a lot of it's through word of mouth and, and you know, we've done advertisements in the past and has nominal benefit, but just helping to get that word out is what I would encourage anybody and everybody to do. Speaker 7: Thank you Madam Chair. Yes. I'd like to suggest that those of us who have office hours take a paper copy of this
and like have it with them. So if somebody comes and, and has any interest at all, you can show them and then point them to the website and it's just a kind of outreach to people who show up to talk to us. Speaker 1: That's an excellent idea. I was just looking for the schedule for office hours. That is an excellent idea. Thank you. You're next And are you at the Farmer's market or so Saturday at the Farmer's Market? Next. The following. Okay. Yeah, that's an excellent suggestion. Thank you Mr. Sidney. We're very close to six 30 and I would like to open, ask the Madam Clerk to read the public hearing for Soah Sushi
and Seafood, which is agenda item C. Speaker 5: The elect board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday march. This, well, we're gonna say that it's gonna be today. The select board is going to hold a public hearing on Wednesday, April the 30th. Speaker 9: This is the last, Speaker 10: Okay, Speaker 5: This is what was printed out and left for me. Speaker 10: I'm sorry. Speaker 5: Thank you. There you go. Okay. The select board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 at six 30. Upon the application of YMJ Inc.
DBA Bills pizzeria manager of record, Yasser Lewine for a for an S 15 package store, wine and malt beverages on premise license transfer. The previous owner is Lil Bills Inc. Bill's Pizzeria is located at 58 East Central Street, Natick, Massachusetts. The premise, the premises is located on the first floor of the multi-tenant building. The premises contains 1608.5 square feet of area with movable
Speaker 1: Madam Clerk, forgive me for interrupting you. That is the incorrect notice that you've been handed. I'm sorry about that. Speaker 9: Well that's the, that's the right one for, we're trying to open up the one for the So Speaker 5: Soros, which is the one that I was reading Correct. Speaker 9: But I had the wrong date, Speaker 5: Which is what I said. Correct. Speaker 9: But the date on the website is correct. Speaker 5: Okay. So Speaker 1: Sorry about that Madam Clerk. Sorry, Speaker 9: Lemme just confirm. I'll just print this one's. Speaker 1: Let's take a five minute recess. I'm back Madam Clerk. Okay. Speaker 5: The select board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 at 6:30 PM upon the application
of Sora Sushi and Seafood Buffet, Inc. DBA Sora Sushi and Seafood Buffet Z Manager for a new S 12 beer and malt beverages on premise license, Sora Sushi and Seafood Buffet will be located at 1282 Worcester Street, Natick, Massachusetts. The premises consists of a single ground level with approximately 10,500 square feet, 300 seats, one front entrance, one side
and one rear exit front dining area, sushi bar in the middle, and a kitchen and prep area in the back. Restrooms at the left rear of the restaurant. The hearing will be held in the Edward lot meeting room 13 East Central Street as well as remotely anyone wishing to be heard in this matter can participate in person or through Zoom. Login instructions will be published on the April 30th, 2025 agenda. All persons interested in this application may appear and be heard at the time and place mentioned above or may submit written comments to the select board at 13 East Central Street, Natick,
Massachusetts 0 1 7 6 0 select board@massachusetts.at natick ma.org by April 30th, 2025. Do I need to read that last paragraph? Is that necessary? Sure. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 7: Moved over the public hearing Speaker 1: Move by Mr. Sidney. Seconded by Ms. Ger. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Public hearing is open. Are there any comments or questions about the application from the board? Speaker 7: I just have a comment. I'm glad to see somebody working to open a new restaurant at that location
and I'm glad that we're gonna be able to continue to grow our commercial businesses and in town. This is, this is always good Speaker 1: And local Option taxes. Speaker 7: Local option. Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Sidney. Yes. Are there any comments from the public either in the room or on Zoom or questions? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the, the license for Sora Sushi. Speaker 11: So moved. Second. Speaker 1: Moved by Mr. Evans, seconded by Ms. Slager. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that's 5 0 0.
The section 12 beer and wine on-premise license has been approved. Speaker 7: Move to close the public hearing Speaker 1: Motion to close the public hearing by Mr. Sidney. Seconded by Mr. Evans. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes 5 0 0. And we will take up Bill's pizzeria after we return from executive session. At this point we will move into executive session. This portion of the meeting is not open to the public pursuant to Mass General Laws Chapter 30 a Section 21 A two to conduct Strat strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations
with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel, the fire chief pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 30 a Section 21, subsection a subsection three to discuss strategy with respect to litigation If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair. So declares and I do DeClemente v. Town of Natick et al C. Civil action number 2 8 3 2 CV 0 0 2 53. And item C, pursuant to Mass General Law,
chapter 30 a Section 21. Subsection eight. Three. To discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair. So declares Jamie Verner versus Town of Natick et al Massachusetts Superior Court. Docket number 2 8 2 5 8 1 CV 0 0 6 2 2. As I mentioned when I opened the meeting, item D will has been posted incorrectly. And that's my follow-up. Apologies to Mr. Walsh, the Town Administrator's review will be posted
or will be heard in open session at the next meeting. So I will entertain a motion to go into executive session. So moved. Second. Moved by Ms. Pope, seconded by Mr. Evans. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? We will return in about 45 minutes. Thank you. Welcome back. The next item on the agenda is the NA Hazard Mitigation Plan, the adoption of fema, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved plan. And we have Ms. Rundel to speak to this. Welcome Claire. Speaker 12: Hi everyone. Thank you all so much for having me here tonight.
Folks may have recalled hearing bits and pieces about our hazard mitigation update process. Over the last, just about two years, the town has been working with Horsley Whitten Group to update our hazard mitigation plan to the state and federal standards. The Hazard Mitigation plan itself is a plan that the town is required to have in order to qualify for certain grant funding programs. Primarily those related to hazard mitigation and hazard relief. I do wanna clarify that this plan is in relation to primarily things like natural hazards and doesn't reflect things
that may be reflected in the comprehensive emergency management plan, which deals more with the on the ground practices of how the town responds during an emergency. We submitted our plan to mema the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in November of last year for their approval, following their approval. It was submitted to FEMA in January of this year. And FEMA's review has been completed and we have now received their approval pending adoption of our hazard mitigation plan. A resolution was submitted to you all tonight, which is
what you would be voting to adopt, along with the plan text as a whole and once adopted, our plan is valid for five years before it needs to be updated again. And I'm happy to answer any questions that folks might have. Speaker 1: Questions from members of the board? Ms. Ocker? Thank you. Speaker 8: Thank you. Great work Claire. And the team. It looks like there's a lot that that needed to lot, a lot that was involved in put in putting this together. I have to find it now, but I had a question in, in looking at this about the earthquake. One of Yes.
And then how that was it, it it potentially involved a non masonry buildings and it looks like that was dismissed and I, and I wanted to have some information about that 'cause it looked like I I didn't understand that. Speaker 12: So we did, we receive a list of sort of required hazards that have to be included in the plan, though all may not be as applicable to Natick as some others. Earthquakes were ranked lower on the sort of potential hazard impact for our community compared
to some other hazards. But there are still certainly goals and actions that do relate to the safety of our municipal and town structures in regard to earthquakes. Speaker 8: I, I guess what I was, now that I finally found what I was looking for it, it's action number nine and, and the comment that said remove no longer relevant and I wasn't really sure why it was no longer relevant. I mean, it could be that, as you said, it's not something that's high priority, but I, I was reacting more to that, that it's not relevant
and what the reason for that would be. Speaker 12: Oh of course. Let me just pull that action. Speaker 8: Yeah, action number nine. And it's the Johnson School Coolidge Gardens and the Elliot School. Speaker 12: Ah, yes. I can state why that was listed as no longer relevant. As the select board is aware, the town recently sold the Elliot School to Metro West Development Collaborative for redevelopment. And so that structure will be undergoing structural improvements. And as the Johnson School was, is no longer an active school building, I believe that it was the recommendation
of the Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee to remove that action as well. From this current plan, this plan is not a workbook in terms of that the town is gonna be moving on every single action that's listed in the plan. But it allows us to make, be a, excuse me, it opens us up to grant funding to support those actions should we choose to take them. And because of the status of those two buildings, it was determined that that action was no longer as relevant
as some of the other ones that the town was hoping to prioritize. Speaker 8: And about Coolidge Gardens, Speaker 12: I don't recall specifically Speaker 6: Under building jurisdiction. It's building, yeah. Cools Gardens is actually owned by the housing authority and so therefore it's not a town owned building. Okay. I mean, both Johnson and Elliot are still technically owned by the town. But to, to Mr. Del's point, for us to prioritize those projects from a hazard mitigation funding perspective over other active buildings in town would is not likely. You know, we'd likely be looking at using our active
buildings like libraries or schools or town hall or other, other buildings or other projects. Yeah, Speaker 8: I certainly understand the priority issue. But, but, but it not being relevant, I was yeah. Looking for clarification on Speaker 6: That. Yep. Yeah. Cool. Just probably just 'cause it's not a town and building and it might, this is building off of a plan from what, three, three or five years ago Claire Speaker 12: 2018 was the prior approved plan. Yes. Speaker 6: I I worked on that one so that's why I just remember that. And it was also also Horsley. Witten. They do, they do a good job on these plans, but it could just be that that's for some reason it was identified in the plan that time
and this time it's noted. Okay. That's not as relevant. Speaker 7: Well there is a, there is an earthquake fault running by the train tracks in Wellesley. So it's not a very active one but it's there. Speaker 1: Are there any other questions for msde? Ms. Rendell? I'll entertain a motion to approve. Speaker 8: So moved. Speaker 1: Moved by Ms. Lauer. Second. Speaker 7: Do we need to read the resolution into the record or Speaker 6: What? Do, what do you need Claire? For the official record, Speaker 12: We do just need a vote to adopt the resolution and the plan as a whole. If the committee would like to read the resolution onto the record, I don't think that that would be a problem. But I do not believe it's required for the vote.
Speaker 7: Okay. Speaker 1: So we have a motion and a second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Passes 5 0 0. Thank you so much Claire. Thank you Claire. Speaker 12: Have a wonderful evening everyone. Thank you so much. Speaker 1: Let's open the public hearing for Bill's pizzeria. I'll, I entertain a motion to open the public hearing. So Speaker 7: Moved. Do we have to read it? Read it. You need to read the Speaker 1: Read it. Yeah. I need to read it. Public hearing notice. Yes. Ms. Cole. Thank Speaker 5: You. Public hearing notice the select board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday April 30th, 2025 at 6:30 PM Upon the application of YMJ Inc. DBA Bills pizzeria manager of record, Yasser Lundi
for a south a S 15 package store, wine and malt beverages on premise license transfer. The previous owner is Lil Bill's Inc. Bills Pizzeria is located at 58 East Central Street, Natick, Massachusetts. The premises is located on the first floor of a multi-tenant building. The premises contains 1608.5 square feet of area with movable seating for 54 patrons. There's also a service counter for takeout orders. There is a public entry on the south side of the premises.
There's also a rear entrance on the north side of the premises, primarily for deliveries. The hearing will be held in the Edward De Lot meeting room 13 East Central Street as well as remotely anyone wishing to hear in this matter to be heard in this matter can participate in person or through Zoom. Login instructions will be published on the April 30th, 2025 select board agenda. All persons interested in this application may appear and be heard at that time and placed mention above or may submit written comments to the Natick Select board at 13 E Central Street, Natick, Massachusetts 0 1 7 6 0
or at select board@natickma.org. Speaker 4: Second Speaker 5: Oh oh sorry, Speaker 1: Sorry, we're Speaker 5: Done. And I move to open up the public hearing. Speaker 1: Second. Moved by Ms. Pope, seconded by Mr. Evans. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Is there anyone on the board that has questions or comments about the application for the transfer of the beer and wine license? Speaker 4: I have nothing. Speaker 1: Are there any questions from members of the public? Speaker 4: Yes. Speaker 1: Seeing none I'll entertain a motion to approve the transfer of the section 12 beer and wine OnPrem license. So moved. Second. Moved by Mr. Sydney, seconded by Ms. Pope.
All in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The move to close the public hearing. Speaker 5: Move to close the public hearing. Second. Speaker 1: Moved by Mr. Sidney to close the public hearing Seconded by Ms. Pope. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Public hearing is closed. Thank you Mr. Pearlman. You are all set. Parking review, update Mr. Jones. Speaker 13: Thank you. Members of the board. So in your packet this evening, I provided a, just a memo and some materials regarding parking.
So for a number of years the town has been exploring parking options, both long term and short term. A small working group of staff came together to dive a little bit deeper looking at the existing conditions and starting to map out to make sure that we had the existing conditions in all of the parking areas. Correct. So we wanted to basically map out our starting point and then start looking at options from there. So in your packet there are a couple of maps. There's one that's a base map. It became really busy over the years. A lot of words in there, a lot of different colors
and things along those lines. So we really work to try to simplify as much as possible. And the thought is once we get to a solid base map, then we can start doing some potential interactive maps. We've gotten some good feedback from the community. You know, how can you draw like a radius around the center and see how far it would be to walk from one parking area to another? You know, taking into account what that means for people going to the businesses in town. We also heard, you know, beyond the permitted parking
that we have within town, are there options for all day parking? So the last few years with the commuter lot, we haven't seen the same return to people parking there, taking the train into town. I think some of the behaviors have changed a little bit. So we have a all day parking option in that lot. But with the business community we talked about exploring other areas. So that's almost in one bookend of the parking area. And we wanted to explore alternatives where there we might not be seeing as much parking
and that's where we see some opportunities on West Central Street. I should probably rewind a little bit. The intent this evening is to have a conversation with the board, start sharing some of the things that we've been talking about at the staff level. Start gathering some feedback on the board so we can start moving forward with implementing some of these changes. None of these changes have to happen tomorrow, but we do want to make some changes to make parking better for the businesses and the people visiting these locations. We had a, myself and Morgan
and CED stopped over at a meetup a couple of weeks ago with some of the business members and basically shared the two maps. Started gathering a little bit of feedback. I know I added some of the comments in the memo to the board this evening. It didn't fully capture everything, but there's some further review that we want to take a look at right now at the metered spaces. There's a button you can push and if you push it, you get 15 minutes free. One of the things we heard from the business community is 15 minutes isn't quite enough time. And a lot of times they'll push that button, they'll go in
and they'll come out and it's past the 15 minutes and they may have gotten a ticket, would be be willing to look at extending that from 15 to say 30 minutes. We will lose revenue in that. So, you know, do we look at increasing the fees on the other end? So I also included some information on fees, but depending on what we do with that change, we may have to revisit those in a different way. So again, this is kind of part of the start of a conversation in how we look at this. There's a good amount of information that I shared with you.
I almost feel like it's a little bit of like bouncing around, kind of like the budget maybe last night when we were talking at town meeting. But I wanted to get it in front of you. Have the board start reacting to some of these things and then, you know, figure out a a a step and a process moving forward of implementation. One of the things we talked about with signage in the parking lots, trying to clean that up, make that a little, little bit better. There's a ton of signs throughout the whole parking district. We likely can't do that tomorrow all at once with time
and resources from staff. We have the ability to do some signs in our public works department, but we couldn't necessarily do it all at once. So do we consider an option where we take one of the lots, we use that as a starting point, we get it signed exactly the way that we want, make sure we have the spacing correct to make sure we have the in the signs directing people to that lot good use that, get that done right and then work to the other lots in town. So I know I bounced around a little bit with information, but again, I really wanted to get this in front of the board
for you to start looking at this and start providing some comments and feedback to us so we can start prioritizing which items we wanna move forward with first. Speaker 7: Mr. Sydney? So one of the things I've noticed, you know, as I look on co social media is apparently a lot of people don't know about the 15 minutes. It's not real obvious if you're not paying really close attention to the meter itself, that you can push a button for 15 minutes and the
the meter folks are really good at letting people know, hey, if you only need, you know, go ahead and push that button when, when they're there. Right. People have explained, oh thank you, thank you for letting me know. So I wonder if in some of that signage thing we could work out how to let people know that you know, they can have whatever amount of time it is. Also, I noticed that that only exists at the actual meters, not at the kiosk lots. And I wonder if there's a way to handle
that in the kiosk lots as well. Speaker 13: So in exploring this and having conversations with some of the vendors that we work with, with both the apps and the kiosks, they're not keen on the idea of having a free option because that's revenue that they lose in doing that. So we have had conversations with the kiosk vendors that we work with and also the passport app that we work with. We've had 'em on several occasions. They have not entertained it, they're not doing it in other communities. Right now we're exploring a couple of other technology solutions pay by text.
I don't believe that they offer a free option as well because it impacts their ability to collect revenue on those. But we are looking into it. I just don't believe that there's a solution outside of the physical meters that we have in place. One of the things, and I'm sure those Speaker 7: Are pretty expensive relative to the kiosk type Speaker 13: Compared to the desk per space. Speaker 7: Yep. Speaker 13: In an ideal world, we would have the ability to remove all of our meters and kiosks and kind of simplify the process because we would lose that infrastructure and then it wouldn't become something that we have to continue to invest into.
It's not, it's not likely in the next couple of years. So the approach we are considering right now is some type of phase out, keep the meters in the more central area of downtown and slowly as we, you know, make changes to sidewalks and roads or if we look at expanding the parking district a little bit further to add in some spaces instead of putting meters in those having signs with the ability for apps, whether it's the passport app or a pay by text or another solution that we identify.
And then even put a Speaker 7: Kiosk on a street. I mean, Speaker 13: Again, you, you could, but I think one of the things we need to consider is the infrastructure and the ongoing maintenance and the electricity that you have to have to tie into it. It's, it's funny 'cause when we think of solutions we're like, oh yeah, that's a good idea. And they're like, oh, but then it's a piece of infrastructure that we have to maintain and keep up with. So that's the pay for Speaker 6: Wifi and there's a lot more to it than Speaker 14: Just throwing it in there. Yeah. Speaker 13: Yep. But great su great suggestions. Speaker 15: Oh, Ms. Hope, Speaker 5: Thank you for providing this to us. My first question is, I appreciate the feedback from the,
from the businesses I'm and and and what you mentioned about extending the 15 minutes to 30 minutes, but perhaps raising fees in other places. I like the sound of that. Another question I had is, are we, are we discussing it all? Raising fees? Is is, is that Yes. Yes. Okay. And then the permit fees, is that something that needs to be decided upon? Again, completely. It, it was unclear to me. It says permit rates where businesses were reviewed.
Is it something that we need to reset because it, it was set in 2020, Speaker 13: So we will need to look at the permit rates, permit rates fall on the calendar year right now. So I think it's something that we need to explore further. I don't have enough information right now to really provide recommendation or even any material that I think would be valuable for the board to review at this point in time. I think from a placeholder standpoint, it's definitely something that in and around the, towards the end of the summer, beginning of the fall, we should be trying to come to a decision about any changes we wanna make
with the permit fees to give the businesses enough time for them to be able to prepare for what the changes might be in the new year. I think a couple of the things we've heard is, you know, some of the businesses have, you know, a a number of different employees. Is there an opportunity for a discount if they purchase in bulk or something along those lines? Or do we take a, another approach and do we say, you know, everyone gets your first pass free. Like, I, I think there are certain things that we need to just dive a little bit deeper into.
And I, I don't have, I haven't gathered enough information to really provide any good information back to the board at this point on that. Speaker 5: That's helpful. I would, whenever you have like, when we have that information, I think that would be a good jumping off point for the conversation. Thank you. Speaker 1: So before us tonight is to give direction to Mr. Marshall so he can go back to the parking committee. And I, I'm interested in hearing from people about whether they, what their thoughts are on extending the 30 minutes, the free parking at the meters to 30 minutes, but picking up that revenue by increasing
the, the other fees. Ms I Speaker 8: Guess, oh sorry, go ahead. It it, so I'm looking at the rate fees and it seems like, you know, we picked certain communities and I assume rate one or rate two is just as if they have different rates in different parts of, of a town, then they have a second, second rate. Yep. If I'm, if I'm reading that right, I mean, you know, if you look at, it's interesting, you know, that Framingham is actually more than us, but other places that you'd think would, would, would be more like Newton for example.
I expected to be higher than us just because of the, the congestion that they, they have there. It's more urban, I mean, and, and we're higher than Needham and, and Wellesley. So I don't know about raising the rates. I I I'm a little uncomfortable in anything that, you know, we do might potentially impact our, our businesses or impact people coming to town hall. I don't know how many of you have ever gotten a ticket before we got our passes? Yes, I've gotten Speaker 13: A, I've gotten a ticket, Speaker 1: I get lots of tickets.
Speaker 8: So I, I've just, I think that would require some, really, some more data and some hard persuasion for, for me to be okay with raising the rates. I mean I, I think that the concept of the making this a profit center is not something that I'm in favor of. I mean, I think that we should charge a reasonable amount, but our objective isn't to necessarily make a lot of money on this. It's, you know, to ensure that we get turnover with our parking and you know, have con convenience and, and you know, certainly account for some of our costs.
But I don't think this should be something that we're, we're trying to make money on. As far as the extending the, the free time on the meters, I'm not sure 30 minutes is, is quite the right duration. Did we get any sense of, you know, has it just expired or is it a longer amount? Speaker 13: I mean, in the meeting we had, I heard from, you know, at least two or three different representatives from the business group and you know, I think some
of the examples I I heard was, you know, parking, you know, maybe they're not able to park exactly close to where they want to go. Then they're walking over, they're going in, they're coming out and you know, it's 20 minutes or something along those lines. I think, you know, looking at it from a standpoint of trying to, I, I think one of the things in looking at the prior maps and how we looked at parking is we tried to carve out every specific situation and then it was like, well this is 15 and then this is 30 here and then you're 60 here
and if you park in this colored area here, but it wasn't really easy to communicate. So I think at least from my starting point as I was, I was, you know, working with the team and having a discussion around this, trying to keep things grouped within time seemed to make sense. So if 15 wasn't enough, it seemed that at least from a starting point for a conversation, 30 minutes was probably the most logical next step. You potentially could do something in between. But you know, Speaker 8: Do we, do we get information on how many, do they have data that the parking meter company has
where we can tell how many times that that 15 minute button has been pressed that, you know, so how often is it being used now? Yeah, because I think that would be useful to know. 'cause Speaker 13: If we, and I think, and I think one of the nuances is, you know, if you push the button and then you go to feed the meter, you don't get credit for that free. So as soon as you push that button and then start feeding the meter, you lose that free time. Right. Like really the intent of that free, you know, 15 minutes as it is right now is to be able to push it, do your business and then come back out.
I I can certainly, I can certainly see if there's a possibility for us to gather that data. I don't know if we would have to go in because I believe each meter is kind of its own center, so it might take a little while for us to gather all of that data, but can certainly look into that. Speaker 8: Yeah, it'd be interesting and 'cause we could potentially, if I, I'm just curious, I mean to Mr. Sidney's point, maybe a lot of people don't know about that 15 minutes and just publicizing this war might suffice for a lot
of people a half an hour just seems like a lot to me. But, Speaker 13: And, and I'm not even sure at this point in time. Like it came up in a conversation a week ago after we had started, you know, once we had the base map together and we had a second map, we wanted to gather some feedback from the community before bringing this forward to the board. I'm not even sure if with the meters we can reprogram 'em to that there would be a cost associated with it. If you look at the face of the meter, it says 15 minutes on like this metal plate that's in there. So if we changed all of those over,
that could be really expensive. We may want to, if it's even possible to adjust it, maybe adjust it to the 30 and maybe we don't change it on there. We put like a little sticky over there. I might, I know it might not look great, but you know, in, in terms of what's possible, we have to figure that out first. But I wanted to make sure that at least you heard that feedback from the community, that that 15 minutes is I think as great of an idea. It is in practice, you know, at least for some of the people it's just not enough time to conduct something in and out business. Okay,
Speaker 16: Thank you Mr. Sidney. Speaker 7: Thank you. I'm with Ms. Slager about half an hour being too much. I I would lean to 20 minutes if we were gonna make any change at all just for that ex just to make the extra few steps because you know, you're not always in front of the place you're gonna go in. The other thing I note is that the rates and, and I think we have to figure maybe put something else in these tables, the rates don't represent the minimum charge. So for example, and I don't remember exactly,
but I, I think in Wellesley you gotta buy an hour. You're not, you're not allowed to buy five minutes, you gotta buy an hour. We, at least in meters I've gone to in Wellesley, you, you just can't. Right. Buy less. Speaker 13: Wellesley is actually interesting in looking at this and it could be based on the lots because they may have started updating stuff, you know, based on, you know, when we took a look at it. But they still do have some locations in town where you can actually put a nickel in and get five minutes, which is okay. Which Speaker 7: Is interesting. Okay. But I, I think, I think the thing to look at also is,
you know, maybe what their average minimum is and, and then we may be more, much more in line with what some of the other communities are actually charging. Because if I, you know, if I have to put in for an hour, you know, if I can only feed quarters and I have to feed or, or only, you know, feed something, then at that point, you know, we might be in line because our minimums might be less. So I think we need that kind of analysis as well from our,
from from the relative the places we're comparing against. You know, I think it's important that we continue to charge something for parking to, just to ensure the turnover. It's, you know, it comes up every year at town meeting, you know, are we, are the meters paying for the parking services? But that's never the point. The point is always we charge for the meters so that we can ensure that people come back out and move their carts so that somebody else can use the space. So I, I'd also like to see if there's a way to
kind of, you know, if we're gonna have all day spaces, especially like on West Central Street, I'd like to make sure they don't get chewed up by non-com commuters, right? Somebody comes in a little before the commuter and then the commuter can't park there and then that guy leaves and you got an empty space. That's not fair either. So we need to kind of pay attention to that as well. So those are, those are my general thoughts. I kind of like the new map. It looks a little simpler. I don't entirely, I'm not entirely clear what all the changes are, but Morgan
Speaker 1: Did a fantastic job on that. Speaker 7: I, I think it is a fantastic job and it, it is a lot simpler. It will require significant signage in different places. Speaker 13: And I think one of the goals from here is once we get that kind of new map, so we had the base map, now we have a proposed changes map. Once we have that solidified and in a good place, we're then gonna work on an interactive map that we can work on with the businesses. So it'll be available on the website. If you want to add layers on and off, you'll be able to do that on the website also be able to show some distances. So we're already looking at those, you know, potential options.
Once we get to a point, you know, where we have that kind of proposed map at a good place, then we can move forward from there. Speaker 1: My only, my only input is that I think we should, and this isn't the time for that conversation, but I do think that we should enact a policy where more than one parking ticket per day is given. Because there are people who park all day, even though they can pay $7 to park down the street, they will pay, get a $20 ticket every day.
And that ties up parking for our downtown businesses where customers are circling the block. One of the things that I heard and hear from my friends in Sherborne when I say let's meet Natick for lunch, is I can never find a place to park. I don't think we have parking problems, we have walking problems. I've never had a problem finding a place to park in downtown Natick ever. Middle of the day, five o'clock, nine o'clock in the morning Saturdays. I just have never had a problem. So Speaker 7: Circle the block once or twice in a year. Yeah. Speaker 1: Or just park and walk two blocks or a block.
I mean, it's not, the entire lot behind the park, behind the police station is available and open and it's plenty spots there. So yeah, I would like the board to consider that at some point. This is not the night to do that, but I think we've given you some, I, I think perhaps picking a lot to start with maybe, and I, I'll leave that to the committee. You know, the, where the, in terms of signage, picking a lot to, to experiment with signage and, and then come back to the board. We'll have a chance to digest this and, and bring the analysis
that some of the members have asked for. Speaker 7: Yeah. The other thing I'd say, and I just, you know, I know we're updating our EV chargers around and I know that Pond Street is eventually on the list and then we're gonna be charging people for the electricity, which we don't do now. Although that charger doesn't work anymore at all. I would like it to be, you know, I, I would like us to collect parking revenue even from people who are charging right now. I believe the policy is if you're plugged in, you don't pay, you don't have to feed the, I I mean, I don't know, I've got a geezer pass,
but I believe people charging don't pay, don't, don't feed the kiosk. And I think, I think they should, I mean, they're gonna pay for the electricity, but why should they get the parking free? Just because they're buying electricity unless it's included with the electricity, which some places too. Speaker 13: Yeah. I, I have to give Jillian and Ben a lot of credit in looking at the upgrades to the charging stations. We're also looking at it through a lens of maintenance going forward and making sure that as part of that, you know, the vendor coming in who's upgrading those chargers,
that will be, you know, part of what is done. So, you know, it won't be an additional cost to the town. It will impact some of the revenue we get for the charging, but it will be a benefit to making sure that those chargers work well. 'cause I know that when the last plan ran out, you know, it, it became a challenge. Speaker 5: I I would wanna see other places maybe for a comparison that, that both charge for the electricity and for the parking. 'cause I, I feel like most places that I go, the benefit, the incentive with a a electric car is that you pay
for the electricity. Not for both, but, but if there's places that, that do both, I would, Speaker 7: Well I've, I've seen a lot of places where the parking charges is charged as part of the electric fee. So when you plug the car in, you get a base charge, which is for the space, and then you pay for the electricity on top of that. Okay. Speaker 1: Yeah, Speaker 7: There's different models clearly. What's that? There's different models. There's different models clearly. Yeah. Right. But I mean, I've seen that in a lot of places. Yeah, sure. Speaker 1: Any other comments or direction for Mr. Marshall?
Excellent job. Really great memo. Good, good information. And please extend the thanks from the board to Morgan and his excellent work. Yes, thank you. Yep. Much Speaker 13: Appreciated Morgan and Deputy Chief. And you know, I, I think the thing with parking is we will be able to make some incremental improvements. I don't think we're gonna be able to turn everything around in a night, but if we can make some progress over the course of this year, make some changes that are gonna benefit the businesses, have a positive impact on people coming to visit the town,
I think it's gonna be a, a good win for all of us. So looking forward to circling back with the board, providing some updates on some of the information you're looking forward and continuing this forward. Speaker 8: Great stuff. Speaker 1: Very good stuff. Next agenda item is town administrator updates. Speaker 6: No major updates. Town meeting started last night, so we're gonna be thick in that for the next couple. Hopefully just a couple nights, but maybe into end of next week. We are soon to enter the, well we have the farmer's market setting up, but it's, it's, you know, spring and summer season, end
of fiscal year procedures are coming up as well. So there'll be some stuff coming in May and June for the board, but you've already done quite a bit of work already with some of the stuff that, that help with the fiscal year change. So that'll be a net positive. But if you have any questions on things post town meeting, let us know. But we're kind of thick in the, in the town meeting season Speaker 1: And hopefully it's a short season. Speaker 6: We'll see. Speaker 1: Thanks. Thanks. Thank you Mr. Erickson. Select board updates. Ms. Wolf, Schlager, Speaker 8: Just a quickie. Just wanted to say thank you to town meeting
for approving our budget last night. Very exciting to see that it, it went through with, Speaker 1: You may have jinxed it with motions for reconsideration. Speaker 6: It's still open, Speaker 1: Still early. Speaker 8: Still early. Well, I still would like Speaker 1: To thank for the vote last night. Absolutely. Speaker 8: And the other part is since we aren't having a meeting next week, the following week, and I will be at the farmer's market on May 10th from 10 to 12 for office hours. So if anyone would like to talk to someone on the select board, you can find me there.
And I, I hope, I hope we get a good turnout, so thank you. Speaker 1: So select board updates. Our next meeting is the 14th. Do we wanna wait until that meeting to reschedule or to schedule our retreat? Or do we wanna try to do this tonight? Let's see where we're, yeah, I would fair. That's fair. Okay. So our next meeting is May 14th. Very fair. Very pr I'll entertain a motion to adjourn having disposed of all of our business. Second I Rich. Oh, of course. Yes. Thank you Mr.
Sydney. Yeah, silly me. Thank you Mr. Sydney. Seconded by Mr. Evans. All in favor, please say aye. A. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Goodnight. Thank 9 24 8 24. 8 24.