I opened the U. Today's the 29th. Yeah, I opened the July 29th uh workshop meeting. 30th. 30th. Sorry. 30th workshop meeting. Don't mind me.
I'm sorry. break. Um, dude, never mind. Yeah, I'm I already signed it. Okay. trying to keep away from possible but I'm running on empty this morning I
think so. Okay. So, um thanks for coming everybody. Um it's nice to see you all in person. Um and this is a month when there are five
Wednesdays. So, normally we'd have two meetings, but I appreciate that you're taking the time to have a third meeting this month um in the middle of summer. Um so, we thought it would be good to review um
at the turn of the fiscal year, review some of the goals. Um interested to get input from all of you on sort of the bigger priorities of municipal planning. Um, a lot of the committee's work, as you all know, is
sort of responding and and uh reviewing applications that come into the town, but there's also um the opportunity for the planning board to really take the leadership role in some of the municipal planning um and other activities. So,
I don't have let's see I have a few documents up that we can review. I also um wanted to have this thing up but I need
to find it except that I won't be able to find it. Okay. So, in your handy you have a copy of the FY26 goals. Um, and um,
would you mind like a flash drive so I can put it back here? Yeah. Do you know this one? A copy of this. Okay. Do um I have
I got Thank you so much. Um, so we'll put the goals up on the screen in a minute, but if um you all have it in your hands, so I thought it might be helpful to just kind of walk through
what was identified. So, every winter as part of the budget um the town's budgeting process, the town administrator asks asks department heads to um give an update on where you are
with your FY25 goals, you know, halfway through the year and then at the um and set a draft of your FY26 goals. So, these were actually drafted in the winter. Um but uh so you know they're
not completely up to date but I wanted to um share what was submitted to the town meeting um as part of uh approval of the budget. So in other words the financial budget is accompanied by your
departmental goals and your um uh your committee or board goals depending on what department it is. So um the first goal that we listed is essentially capturing everything that we spend a lot
of our time doing. Um coordination of all planning board permit applications and management of administrative tasks. So responding to inquiries, responding to applicants who are interested in doing projects. um keeping the you know
and all the administrative stuff that goes along with that in terms of um signing documents which you've all done this morning. Um keeping the website updated, the planning department um you know obviously keeps the minutes and agendas
going for the committee. We also support additional committees including the open space committee, the new board of Austin Trail Committee. Um we've done some work with the recreation committee. Um and then internally among other staff we
work with public works and conservation and uh the building commissioner all sorts of administrative level things. Um there's also a big chunk of administrative work related to um keeping the assessor's data and the my
map um data layers on the town website updated working with Marramath Valley Planning Commission um who provides all of the mapping GIS work related to that. So that's kind of goal number one is
like that bucket and I would if someone wanted to ask me how much time we spend on that it's it really fluctuates. Um but it can be all your time if you don't kind of try to be proactive about other
goals. So that kind of other bucket of things is Thank you. um is what we want to talk about today. And I'm really going to try to not
spend my whole time talking. I want you all to talk. So, does anyone have any questions about that goal? Goal number one. and let you guys talk for a minute. Pretty straightforward, right? That's
what we've been doing. Yeah. And like you say, it occupies a huge chunk of time. So, the other stuff that we need to stay focused or or get focused on keep the wheel turning on number one.
So, yeah, I'm certainly not aware of any glaring deficiencies in that regard. Oh. or even non-laring deficienc. Yeah, I know. When I looked at the list and the agenda that came out, I was
struck by how you bite off more than you can chew, you can end up being stuck in the mud. Yes. So, there may be room for I don't know. I don't want to say prioritizing, but I
guess I am. Uh recognizing some things aren't going to get the time and attention you might like to give. Otherwise, you're stuck in the mud like me. Going through the process of
applications and dealing with emails and people, you can get lost. You know, time goes by. could be talking to getting everything in the world. You got it. There it is.
Now everyone can see what we're talking about in case anyone's watching. Um well, I I just um to Steve's comment. Um there's a a lot of goals. Um
and uh when I looked at this, you know, I looked at goal number one and um is goal I always break um break this stuff up into goals,
priorities, and initiatives. and and I'm always careful uh not to include a goal that um frankly is you know someone's responsibility you know it's
their job right so I was just wondering if this is um you know when not today or for this but maybe you know at some point in the future um it is a way to
break down I mean to have your like maybe four or five goals, right? It's the it's the stuff that um could be, you know, a three-year ongoing goal or it could be, you know, a you want to um um
you know, complete the goal in year one. Um it's just again there's a lot of stuff here and uh when you have so much stuff it's really hard to measure um whether or not you know we're doing um what we're supposed to be doing. So
just just a thought. Yeah, a high level thought. No, I appreciate that. Um, and I I think yeah, you can spend a fair amount of time thinking about like is
this a goal or is this a objective or are we talking about action? Like that is probably more time than we have today. But I appreciate sort of your calling attention to that because I would say when I
worked on these you know, previously with Martha and then this year pretty much on my own in addition to working a little bit with all of you, I was sort of just capturing
what I do, right? like what I spend time doing, what we as sort of a planning program spend time doing and then um what I think is important, right? like
moving and we can continue to go through these, but um really just trying to put on paper things I think we should be working on, but not that is kind of a different
exercise than like this is our goal, here are the action steps, and this is how we're going to measure whether we get there. The thing that is tricky about planning and why, you know, when you look at our um
uh can get back to it. Our um agenda today planning has all these planning documents that have goals, objectives, and actions in them. Particularly, of
course, the master plan, which covers everything. And then we have our housing plan. And then we have our municipal vulnerability plan and the hazard mitigation plan. And we're working on the open space w plan. And a lot of those plans are um required by the state
to be updated um as you all know. And um keeping up with just updating the plan is a whole bucket of work. Um but how to uh prioritize among all those goals is
really tough you know. Um so again I would say most of what's in here is capturing things that are underway but assessing priority is tricky. Um
so yeah, I certainly think this is important. Um sort of thinking and working through um priorities that are achievable is important.
Um, so what's captured in this goal number two is a carrying forward of the work that was brought to town in in in April this year. Um, and that is, you know, thanks
to the support of Martha Taylor as sort of continuing on past her retirement as sort of special focused on the zoning bylaw. So, this is still work that will be she will be
supporting carrying forward. We've um you know I've worked as part of the budgeting process to asssure that we have time for her to continue to support the planning board with the recodification work. Um, and we also uh
have the support town council specifically for that review as well because there are a lot of things in this goal number two bucket that are really legal required legal review. So in this goal number two bucket, are
there anything that we need to kind of talk about that we're going to have to bring to to to town meeting that we should be getting on our radar screen now? Um, yes. Um, I do have some overview
stuff we can start with today. Um, we can do that now or or go through these and come back to that. Um, and I also have Martha's out of the country right now, but she's would be very interested in coming back with a planning board and
having a meeting just kind of focused on the recification stuff. So, what does that look like now? Are we looking at two things, five things? Um we are looking at um infinite things
discuss the TVI right so prioritizing is going to be really important I what what we've um Martha and Lisa me town council and I have met twice now through the early start of the
summer um and since sad's been here um she's assisting with this bucket at work as well. Um there's the cleaning up that still needs to get done. So there are things that
just um have been identified through the planning boards reviewing projects over the years as problematic inconsistencies. um sort of that housekeeping um making consistent
that's uh in particular something that I think Martha has a pretty good handle on. So those would probably be minor things that we'd bring back to the board. Um
um I guess an example of that is, you know, a parcel that has a split zoning line on it and it just there's no reason we should just make the zoning consistent with the parcel,
you know, just cleaning up kind of stuff. Um there are some areas where um we can look at maybe reviewing best practices
and things like the parking bylaw I think hasn't been reviewed for a while for a while um and could be you know would be in the category of talking through whether that's something the board is interested in. I think sometimes
When you're thinking about zoning regulations, the way I've thought about it is if there are areas where applicants are often asking for waivers and often the waivers seem reasonable, just kind of thinking that through to
see if we can bring the regulation aligned with sort of where best practices are now. Um, so I put parking, I put um there's some stuff related to the common driveway. Um, what else?
Um, yeah, I guess that's what I can say about that right now. There also are um Well, that's that's that's a pretty good one, you know. Um because you know it's a focus that you
know when we're done cleaned up you know it's going to create um seamless and uh efficiency um saving time right saving time for applicants but just as important as saving time for us
uh so that would be uh that'd be a great one clarity right yeah Yeah. Um there are a couple of the overlay district se sections of the bylaw that
um town council is reviewing right now. One is the solar overlay district. Um currently, um the town's bylaw does not allow solar by
right anywhere in town and that's actually inconsistent with the law. So needs to be remedied. Um so she's town council is working on that. Um, the adult entertainment district
apparently has some components that need to be updated relative and some of this is because there's been case law since the town initially passed the bylaw. Um, I know we talked when I first started working here, there
was uh some work going on the wireless communication district. um and we sort of put a pause on that and said we'd come back to it. So that's something I sort of wanted to see
to talk through what the steps would be for that work. I think what was identified in the process previously was that we might need to update some of the technical
uh analysis of the town to get more than just anecdotal information to update the technical information in addition to local knowledge to have definitive like recommendations on where
we need to improve the wireless coverage. So to my mind in thinking about that one, there are some steps we need to take before we could have a new uh a bylaw amendment ready for town meeting. Um, I seem to recall there was a lot of
discussion about cell towers over by Triton and other places and it became dead in its track. Um, it's no longer low hanging fruit cuz I think all the fruit has fallen off on the issue. We need to determine whether there really are dead
zones. And I also seem to recall there was concern about the consultant's report or letter or something that was out there as being inadequate for the task. But if there is a, you know, valid concerns about cell phone coverage, it seemed like a good thing for the
community as a whole to address and get done, knock it off the list. My memory is we had some pretty good data about where the dead zones are, including Woody's house. I think uh it's several years old now and
technology is always changing. Um but yeah, they the uh the consultant identified a couple of uh areas where we because they were town owned or controlled uh we could put cell towers but I I I didn't feel in any of them
were fair to the neighborhood quite frankly or the the only place would be the Triton main Triton campus, right? But then the school committee didn't want anything to do with that as I recall. Yeah, I seem to recall the same. Yeah. So going back to pri trying to
prioritize where we need to focus if we need to bring something to town meeting. I always go back to public safety, right? And so a public safety issue is like someone being able to call 911 from their house if they don't have a line to get, you know, appropriate coverage. So
on my you know concerns this would be high on a priority list cuz we we tried to do this last year. We had to back off because there was too much on our plate. So do we come back at this to give it more traction? To me this is more this has a higher priority level than a parking lot that
you know that seems more administrative sort of stuff. Common driveway we have to deal with all the time. So that's important and this is a you know public safety issue. So you want attention. I think this is a good one to say this is where our teeth need to go again.
That on the cell tower thing having service on the beach but emergency I know that was that was part of the area on the map from what I recall too cuz later you were driving this bus when we started it. Yeah. Well, I don't know if I was
driving the bus but I was certainly bored. Um but uh yeah, we had a lot of discussion about it and and it was I I think the need was recognized certainly uh for improving the salt uh but it was just how we where where we were going to put these things.
You know, there was some discussion on the island about putting those I forget what they're called now. Monopol I think the consultant identified three uh areas um promising areas for cell towers. One
was the DPW facility down on High Road. It's a tiny lot and I mean literally the houses in that neighborhood would be in the shadow of the pole, you know. And then there was the main Triton campus which again was was not favored by the uh the school committee. And then
uh Triton owns that parcel off of Elm Street where their subject system is. I forget how big it is. Seven or eight acres. And I actually walked that parcel several times with Martha and I just didn't think it was appropriate. U because the only promising place that I
could see to put it was literally in someone's backyard. It just didn't seem right to me to put that burden on on that neighborhood. Um but again you know the like I said the technology is changing so fast that uh and we we never
one thing we never did is um and and the um terminology is escaping me but those small um what do they call them not unipoles but you know they put the cans on top of the the telephone poles. We we never finalized the regulations on those
for the uh for the select board because if it's within the if it's within the public right of way, it's a select board permit. If it's outside the public right of way, then it's a planning point special permit, I believe, or site plan review or something. I forget. Yep. It's been a while since we looked at it,
but there's some work to be done there. But I I think to get back to to Kristen's earlier point, I think it is it is time to update the the information we have in the view of current available technology. Yeah. And I um
that's could be something that requires funding to hire a consultant and that's a question I don't have the answer. I think that's the next up. Yeah. So, all right. How many How many years ago did they do that map? Do you recall, Pete?
Probably at least three. I would I would guess. Yeah. At least they started working on it. Yeah. Yeah. You guys still have that? Yours. Has your reception improved at all? No. I It depends on the day and the
what's going on outside whether it's cloud cover. Really? Yeah. Rain rainy days aren't good in my neighborhood area down on High Road. The corner of High Road by the Highway Bond Plumbers Lane especially cuz it's
in the shadow of Oldtown Hill. Yeah. Yeah. Up on Low Street. The further you go towards Hay Street, the better it is. And there's other areas that are just as gray on Orchard Street. And um there were some other
over by over by the Georgetown line there. Uh where is it? Central and the road that goes into Georgetown over that way there's some gray areas too. So, I mean, Triton was marked as a place for a tower and by the consultants of
Triton area there somewhere and it would we would fill in a lot of gaps and it would fill in a lot of gaps towards Orchard Street, believe it or not. And and I think we calculated it a pole there on the campus um would only be about 10 ft 5 to 10 feet taller than the
existing light poles in the in the football field, you know. So I don't I I think having water b could work there. Quite honestly the technology of just putting on top of what's already existing. Well that's another pre-existing I mean it saves time but so other other so
other bylaw things that we should focus on. So yeah I just can I make one more comment on wireless just to clarify. All we can do is establish the overlay district. we the town has no control about companies coming in and actually building
something. So, I just want to clarify like it's it's really a first step to um identify where the problems are, set forth the preferred opportunities, and it's a signal. It's a flag to
companies. And I I do we do occasionally have cell representatives from um wireless companies walk into town hall and say, "We'd love to put a tower up. know anybody who'd be willing to have one on their property and sometimes
they're knocking on doors is what I've been told and it is a challenge for the reasons that we've talked about. Even when we know where the problems are and where an ideal location would be, there are still
challenges related to concerns that may be raised about the neighborhood or whatever. So anyway, this was done in 2020. Um, it's still relevant. Um, but I do think as we previously talked about, um, it probably should be updated.
You said that was done in 2020. 2020. Oh, I didn't realize it was that old. Yeah. Probably more recently. Yeah. Yeah. Time flies. You know, not to Well, like there's Starlink and stuff there. They're doing
some crazy stuff now that doesn't require polls. So, I mean, it's it's really important to maybe update with a consultant to know what what's come down the pike here the last 5 years.
But to me this is also an example of u you know projects which have been deferred but with maybe not a promise but the expectation they be worked on next year. And to me it's important to try and take care of the old business
and not embark on all new business. You know the latest shiny object kind of thing. So as we move through our goals and objectives we keep that in mind. what do we think we're going to be dealing with in short order and focus on
that or give that a bump up the priority scale? So highlight, you know, big one, common driveway, wireless. Is there anything another third in the bylaws that is on our um
well so the solar I mentioned? Um what else we got? Um my understanding is there's been discussion for a while about reviewing
the table of use regulations which is has some inconsistencies related to special permit and which board is the special permit granting authority. This is there have
been some comments uh observations from the building commissioner and from members of the ZBA that it would be a good idea to review the table of use regulations. There are certain uses that aren't that aren't in there like aren't
listed. Um, one of the ones that came up to me recently was, um, there's a lot of people looking for land to, uh, put battery solar battery storage systems. It's called B, Bes is the acronym I've
seen. And if a town does not identify in your table of uses where something's allowed, if it doesn't specify, that my understanding from town council is it can go anywhere. And that is also
something that I've heard through like the planners list of other communities, companies are really looking for these places to to put these battery storage systems. It's not the solar panels themselves. it's the batteries. Um, so
that feels to me like something it could be good to try to be proactive about before we have companies I've heard from property owners in Newbury that they are getting asked by
energy companies if they'd be willing to put these systems on their property. So that I I sort of feel like that's going to land on the town any day. So I I'm a little confused, Kristen. What What is
um I'm a little familiar with this cuz I've heard about it recently. They they they're like the size of like, you know, shipping containers and uh they're batteries. So So it's one big huge battery. Yeah. So, you have a solar field
charging a giant battery that then attaches into the grid. So, they need places to put these. Um, recently, uh, I believe one of those big churches up on Hail Street is just is going to put some in. They were
approached by a company and, you know, they paid for your small area for the battery and put a fence around it and that kind of thing. And Where the power is coming from to go to that, I have no idea. But um they I
heard recently that they were approached and uh put them, you know, over by the knock middle school. The Hope Church. Yep. Yep. Either the Hope Church or the one next door. I'm not sure. They both look like giant churches to me. Those are big buildings.
on the edge of the industrial block. So, are there other are there, you know, safety concerns with this sort of stuff? Are there fire concerns with this sort of stuff? You know, they do catch up on fire. Yeah. What's the municipal response if there's an issue? So, so if this is coming, I I agree, Kristen, this is
something that we have to spend some energy on, no pun intended, uh to find out if if it if it's going to be active. I mean, we're we're very fortunate. We have land, right? and we have space. And so if I was an industry looking for
something that requires space and land, you know, this is a great block. And I think it maybe some a little bit parallel to cell towers where when these first started sort of showing
up in communities, there was maybe a little bit of a panic like what's what does that mean? what is the impact to you know buffer zones that kind of thing and but I just I haven't I'm not familiar enough but I imagine I would
think the technology is also changing quickly with these kinds of I mean it certainly is with automobiles and it is with solar panels in general so it it may be I mean that's interesting to hear Woody I can like maybe reach out to
Newbury Port and just see how they're permitting What's the permit for that? Yeah. But are you suggesting we need like a separate special permit bylaw for this or simply to included in the table of use regulations? I think it could be included in the
table of use regulations because isn't that part of Martha's work with town council is to review the table of use regulations. Yes. Pete was asking me to lay out what is in that group of work. Yeah. I mean, we didn't
do it last year, so it's still been on the table for a while as part of that recodification order. Yeah. But I think the planning board would be involved in that review. Well, at some point we would have to hold a public hearing, right? You know, correct. Yeah. Not to not to belabor the
battery issue, but if you're interested, u if you do a little search about Moss Landing, which is on Monterey Bay in California, there was a severe fire down there at the battery storage plant, which I think inferentially may have replaced an old coal fired electrical
generation plant as well right on Monterey Bay. But the fires had some long-term consequences and you can probably read up on it. Yeah. this digging the fire department would have to be up to snuff on how to put those out too. I think there's some
special protocols and you don't just go pour water on it, you know. Okay. So, but the process I'm not aware of, but I know this it's not just a like a housewire. It's a little more complex in the facility that you put these things
on. I think has to be built to protect what's around it. If there's a, you know, fire, leak, whatever, it's they're the size of shipping containers. Well, you know, I mean, if you have solar, you can have the possibility of
having a backup system within your house now, a battery backup system. So, this is just an extension of that. Allow, right? Good issue. So, the last um sort of zoning bylaw like bucket to keep using
that word um lack of a better word um is housing. Um this board has talked previously and worked on inclusionary housing for affordable um incentives and requirements related
to subdivisions. Um, in addition, when we were working on the um the MCMO, the 3A multif family um bylaw overlay
district, which was passed two town meetings ago now, but when we were working on that, it was um discussed whether that's multif family by right. Um, but are there areas of town where the town
might be interested in looking at multif family through a special permit process? Um, and there have been strategies identified in the recently approved housing production plan related to that. Um it's something we've had um interest
offered us from Marramac Valley Planning Commission staff to help work through some of the housing strategies including those particular changes to zoning inclusionary um multif family special permit. We also in working
through the accessory dwelling unit bylaw at this recent town meeting over last winter there was discussion with the zoning board in particular about places where there could be accessory dwelling units by special permit. So
sort of as a general topic that's something uh this board could think about. And I can bring up if we want to kind of
segue for a minute and the housing production plan that was approved by the state in um at the end of June. So we've also had some accomplishments with not us as a town but as a state
with the ADU bylaw coming into place in the MB uh our town passing the MBTA zoning. So there there's some opportunities that have come forth for the town. So right
well we have ADUs now as a matter of rights throughout town only throughout all the zoning uh residential zoning districts or is there are there exceptions? Um so they're they're allowed by right
anywhere in the residential district. um with restrictions like 900 square no bigger than 900 square f feet for instance. Previously the town allowed um larger ADUs through special permit. So
that's one question that came up last year. The only district where there's currently additional limitations is the Plum Island Overlay district. So, what would having a um an ADU special permit
bylaw give us that we don't already have? Um it would let you look at areas where it's not currently allowed. For instance, non-residential areas. Yes. Yeah. and it would um I think there were some things
uh that the board identified during the work last winter. Um for instance, when there's a duplex, how do you handle that ADU?
um larger size ADUs, ADUs that um uh I'd have to look back at what was allowed by special permit previously. I think there were some things in the town's previous bylaw that were left aside for the what
was passed this past spring. I think it's I mean I feel I'd be interested for some of you who've been on the board a while like what what was the previous work on inclusionary zoning and and you know what's been the barrier to
trying to pass something related to inclusionary zoning? I I think one barrier was the was the lack of a of a affordable housing trust. Yeah, I think they go hand in hand. Yeah. It doesn't have to be one and the other. That that would be part of the same
effort. So, just to explain, um, in some cases, an inclusionary zoning bylaw can say that you can make a instead of actually building a unit that is then uh put onto
the subsidized housing inventory as a deed restricted uh affordable unit. instead of actually building the unit, you can uh pay money into a fund, which is an affordable housing trust fund. So that some inclusionary bylaws allow an
eitheror to happen. So that's that's the point, Larry, is you kind of need to think about both of those things. I think the discussion was that it probably wasn't workable without that affordable housing trust because otherwise, you know, you don't have that
option of paying money. You know, the developer doesn't have that option. Um, it is I mean, you don't have to have that option in your bylaw. There are bylaws that don't give the developer that option, but most of them do as
you're saying. Yeah. For good for good reasons. Am I allowed to say anything? There's a I I don't know if the public is allowed to say anything. We were going with the workshop today as a board. Um we were we weren't going to take any public comment. Okay.
But thank you for participating. So you know it's it's kind of double Yeah. Thank you. It's kind of like a a double-edged sword. If you give it developer, don't take offense. If you give a developer an out, okay, I just have to give I can cash out. I don't have to worry about that. Then where
does the town go with that? Unless the town has a department, they can say, "Okay, we're going to manage this money. We're going to locate someplace where we can actually create housing and how many years will it take to accumulate enough money in a fund to then for the
community to do it. I was always of the of the, you know, desire to try to collaborate with other adjacent communities so that we could pool resources and then have one great big group that everybody could function under rather than having these little independent cottages. Um, but
my my perspective is regional housing, right? You know, until that lease develops, I would I would encourage a developer to make it happen. you're going to be there, you're going to have the equipment, just do it because that's what that's what we need. Um rather than
give you a pass. So until the regional is developed, I'd let it uh I'd let it continue with, you know, incentivizing it. You know, I asked a long time ago, was there a way that the community or town municipality could give tax incentives or is there a
structure to, you know, between state state programs and town programs to say, hey, listen, we can have a lot of tax advantage to do that. This is not in my wheelhouse. And so this is why I would turn to someone who knows this sort of stuff to say this is how it could happen.
contraious. The um tax incentives um you know aren't uh very attractive um sorry um you know to developers. What is
attractive, very very attractive is um instead of um you know somebody has 20 units and the town has a you know 10%. Um that would be you know two units um
in the um community uh or in the whatever community they're they're um uh proposing um that they're um able to buy out of those uh or affordable requirement by paying money to a trust.
You'll get that 100% of the time. Yeah. because the affordable units uh they're, you know, in perpetuity most of the time. And um and when a developer looks at
um say the developer was uh you know purchasing the land from a land owner um and they could get 20 units, they're really only going to pay the land owner 80. uh because those two units at the end of
the day um are diluted really to the overall um um you know um health of the of the asset. So okay,
but um but where does that money go, right? It just keeps accumulating in the trust. Um unless you have a maybe a town-owned type of um you know um um age restricted some type of community that
um is uh subsidized by doesn't mean it doesn't have to be owned by the town but subsidized you know by the town has to be there's nothing here in New I don't know of um is there the town owned housing? Yeah.
No. Yeah. The affordable housing developments we've had are all private and we're 40B developments and they're all run by private entities as rentals.
So the Beverly I mean so the Bfield elderly housing is managed by a private board. Okay. Yeah. Oakidge, Quaker Hill, and Newbury Village are the three properties
and they're all separate from each other. Um, I think the two byfield may be together, Quaker Hill, maybe managed by the same company, by the same board.
Um but I you I mean I have not had direct communication or you know effort. I mean there's certainly in my mind a bucket of strategies that the town isn't directly
able to move forward but through partnerships or collaboration we if we had for instance a housing planner like to be really working on that there are things that there is money available to
uh potentially build more units on a parcel but it's in the hands of the private companies. Um, so it's it leaves I think the town um uh
trying to figure out ways we have direct control over um so it's difficult to incentivize because it's lost it's lost revenue when a developer goes in and for that then I would I would push the ADU concept stronger
you know you know because um that's how we can we can create housing And it's actually affordable by a different pathway and increase fractal rental income individual single family homes in town, right?
And and keep people in their homes or keep them, you know, keep them in town to ADUs are above opportunity for that as well because they can either move into the ADU or rent the ADU out to continue to live where they're at.
because they age. Yeah, I I agree with you. I I'd be interested to know and it's probably too early to collect, you know, the data, but you know, sometime in 26 um be interesting to see, you know, what the uptick was for um you know, building
permits relative to ADUs. My understanding are there four that are have been initiated since town meeting. Okay. I mean that's um that's healthy. Um yeah
I have heard I will say a challenge that was shared with me from the developers perspective is the inability to sell the ADU. So you as a property owner need to be ready to be a landlord or you know or
you could live in ADU and and rent your home. But keeping them on the same parcel is something that has been said to me to be um just you know a barrier to developers kind of encouraging that.
Yeah. You know, it's a mentality, right? It's it's what can I get economically out of that parcel versus what can I create? What you know, what family unit can I create? Yeah. And you know, I I go back to the concept of the triple diverse, right? I mean, you know, they they make they
make sense. You can have an entire generational, you know, family in a parcel, bring them out here, here, you know, and just, you know, Yeah. Yeah, because of it, you know, it's a lot. Yeah. Multif family in general is like
thinking about some of the bigger uh Martha has shared with me that there have been properties that have gone on the market over the last, you know, 3 to 5 years that are very large structures. They're just like, you know, five, six, sevenbedroom homes. Like there's some
interesting properties around Newberry that exists like that that you could imagine easily being, you know, becoming a multi-unit property, apartments, condos, whatever. Like the structure is there. Um but it
is not allowed. Um, one example she shared was the property on um, where Newbury Holistic Health used to be up at the corner of Handover and Route One. Um, and it's now tech doctor or
some massage businesses. It's commercial, but if that um, had been able to be become a multif family, I think there were developers interested in that. Um
and the parking was already there. Yeah. But the the developer is a problem in some way. So is in your conversation with that that developer was um so the ADU opportunities weren't
attractive to that developer because they couldn't subdivise and subdivide and sell, you know, as a separate dwelling. Correct. You're not allowed to subdivide and sell. And so it's less
as Pete said, like you have to it's sort of a mindset, right? You have to want to live in a single family home and have renters in an ADU. You have to want that and not every single family homeowner wants that. No, no, but it is a little
um you know the developer creed really is create uh value in whatever you do, right? So if you build an ADU, I mean it's it's accreted, you know, to your property. Um, of course, depending on
the market, but you're uh creating value, um, and giving you optionality, right? I mean, you can, you know, have your mother-in-law or whatever it is, or um, you can do a long-term, you know, rental. Um, I think we have some, uh,
restrictions on short-term stuff, which is right. Um, so I think the key, um, as Pete said, is to, you know, continue to, you know, push. Sometimes we actually even have to pull,
but if you've had four, it sounds like it's getting some traction. Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, it totally makes sense. And the what makes the ADUs attractive for new in my opinion is you have a aging population.
that are living in larger homes and it allows a homeowner an opportunity to build an ADU and move into it. It's smaller. They're aging and their family can move into the house. They can rent the house out to a younger family that
needs the bedrooms, needs the needs the space and it's income for the homeowner. So I mean it it is it is attractive in that sense and it does provide housing having an ADU but it's also a solution
for someone who's older town that's lived here all their lives or most of their lives to stay in. So that's how I that's why I I think it's attractive. But I don't know.
I I mean I like your your comment, Scott. all your comments, but Scott about like maybe it's sort of looking at how what the data shows over the next year or so and then sort of thinking about like
are are there other ways the town can support more seeing more of that. Um when I worked in Ipsswitch, one of the uses of the affordable housing trust fund was
um small loans to kickstart projects. Um they had a a sort of um renovation fund. So, if you're in a home and you need help with your income eligible, you need help with repairing your roof,
there were little mini grants where the money raised through the affordable housing trust fund was able to be parsed out in like smaller ways, not just a big project to build, you know, a big development. But um and I could
certainly see with ADUs, I mean one of the barriers is having the seed funding to just get that going, right? Just to like upgrade your septic and get a architect, you know, just to to do it is a barrier in many ways to single family
homeowners. I would think I think I think it'd be the largest barrier outside of the just the superhip, right? But um and clearly interest rates, you
know, if you've got four um you know, for a 900 ft ADU, it's probably a quart million bucks, maybe north of that. How much? quarter million uh to build you know something that um
so just 300 bucks a foot that's what I did so um so the um the construction loan the interest rates I mean that just is just the barriers so that's kind of a market condition
um I absolutely love the having the idea of having trust that could give back um in the form of miniig grants. Um maybe it could be
um you know waving I mean the town could also you know wave the building permit fee right and stuff like that. Yeah that that is that's good stuff. But if we were sitting here with zero,
um I'd be a little concerned that, you know, all the work that the state did and that that we did um just isn't isn't working right. then I'd I'd be interested to know why because
it's more than likely the sewer you know having that ADU tap into an existing you know septic system that might be marginal at best because it's been in the ground for 30 years um that's the other thing turns into a $50,000 expense or more for
yeah the project right and I think those four are in uh starting projects Yes, we'll see if they all can succeed. We don't know that yet. So, um yeah.
So, one more comment on housing and we should be aware of the time. Um this is a strategy. There were five strategies in the housing production plan which I've got up on the screen. But the other um housing
uh overlay district that has been getting support and we included as a strategy for Newberry is this idea of a starter home district which is allowing smaller sized homes on smaller lots. So
currently, as you all know, 40,000 square feet is the um minimum lot size for a single family home, but there's some um been some sort of again smart growth best practices work being done
across the state to look at um this Mass General Law Chapter 40 Y, which is um uh helping communities adopt starter home districts. So that's something Marmmont Valley
Planning Commission staff have also been offering to communities to help look at the geography and the zoning of your town overall and see if there is a location where a starter home district would be appropriate.
Would that be an overlay type district? Right. Yeah. similar to the work we did with MBTA really, but just thinking about it a little differently. Rather than multi-unit properties, they're still single family homes. They're just
smaller lots, smaller size. And it would not surprise me again if septic is a challenge related to starter home districts. But but we haven't, you know, we haven't really looked at it yet and
we have technical assistance to to start doing that. I think it would be doubtful that that would be something that would come to town meeting this next spring, but maybe. And just one other comment I'll say, I do think there are members of the
community who are very interested in in these topics. So, it could be worth thinking about uh working groups or you know other members of the committee if the planning board is interested in getting support to spend a little more
time deep diving some of these kinds of um I mean these were this the housing production plan is a five-year um plan and we just got it approved so we're you know kind of here's
what was identified in terms of timing in year one looking at ADUs and inclusionary starting to think about affordable housing trust fund 2 to 3 years right-sized homes
as I just explained that could move up a little into the 1 to twoyear range because we've been offered technical assistance funded separately outside of us and anytime I think that the town is offered assistance for free. That's a good thing
to consider. Um getting support. Um but anyway, this is this table, this action plan matrix is in the back of the housing production plan which is on the town website currently. So that's a lot on housing. Um, back on the
agenda. Um, I do want to remind us all that the town has an approved master plan, which is a 15-year plan 2023. Uh uh well it was actually through 2035
so I guess it was more like a 10 to 15 year plan. Um but this is still I think a conversation that we could elevate with um
the select board. There's a lot in here that um implementation as you see it's a 300page document. um which I've now frozen the computer trying to read. But um
there is a lot in here that isn't primarily planning board. Um even though planning board is the primary driver in passing this master plan. You all did an incredible job with that over the years
and others. Um but I think uh sort of spending some time looking through this and you know again ele potentially elevating the conversation with the select board and other committees about
how the town is um you know keeping this 2023 approved master plan in mind and working towards 2035. There's a lot in here. There are there is a page here that identifies zoning
and policy changes. Bunch of that is housing. Um there's a lot of stuff related to sort of climate resiliency goals related to land use. Um
there's also things in here like municipal facilities. Um, I know I've had conversations with some of you about where the town is on working towards a new town hall uh rather than renting
space. Um, is that effort still moving forward? How can the planning board support those kinds of municipal planning initiatives? So since the planning board is a steward for the master plan, does it make sense for the planning board to have a face-to-face
meeting with the select board to say, you know, these are our marching orders. How do we do this? And do we do this once a year with the select board? Do we do it twice a year with the select board? Because the only way to keep things alive is to actually talk about them and to you know you know assign you
know tasks and responsibilities so that there's buy in otherwise uh even though we don't want it to become a dormant book on a shelf it has the potential to become a dormant book on the shelf which which it has done for years before and so I think this this last goound we we
said we want to make this a living document and the only way to do it is to say okay we have to meet we have to talk about it we have to say okay You're going to do this department, department's going to do that, and then come back and revisit it. So, we passed our master plan. Now, we need traction
in the sand. So, how do we get traction in the sand? I don't know. With town with the town hall deal, it turned into a hot potato and it cut her up. So, so not that one, but I'm just talking about the master plan itself. Well, well, the responsibilities are
pretty well set up. It's a pretty ambitious document, but there's um there's a recommendation in there for uh an oversight committee, compliance oversight committee. The only board that has the juice to make that
happen is the select board. It's got to come from them. So, do I ask the chairperson of our of our board to request a meeting with the select board to get some juice as our
our past chair leader? We could with you could with the support of the rest of the board, Kristen. So, I'm with you. Sounds good. Yeah, cuz uh things like town a town hall have
we don't own our own town. We we own a town hall. We don't use it, you know, which is um I mean that's just amazing to me. And we're one of the only comm I think we're the only community in Massachusetts that doesn't own that town hall.
Oh, but we technically own one. We don't use it. But that's like why did it get um I I don't know. Was it just the cost and um people didn't want to pay for it? And I think part of that
project in my mind is that the people there that were when it was proposed to them can't picture that site as a flat site. It's a it's a it's a hill. It's appears to be a hill now and they can't picture
that as a flood site. I think that was one of the challenges. They don't see the parking. They don't see the you know from my recollection when that happened and it was voted down. they they don't see that as a flat site then which would
provide parking and they saw it as too small and um that number two money you know there was increase in taxes to pay for it so pretty much what killed that in my mind
so I I think it's important if we we distribute copies that are there so we can all have a a physical copy to this look got it to leave it somewhere so it stays alive within us. It's really really important. I mean I mean we we least we lease our fire department,
right? We lease one of our fire departments. We lease our town hall. I mean come on guys. You know it's money going out the window that you'd never get back, right? If it was going into something that we already owned eventually it's paid for. You know the concept of a municipal
building I think should be revisited. You know, quite honestly, with a with with a station fire department and a station town hall, it's a long vision, but I mean, you can't keep throwing money out the window. No. Because costs just continue to go up year after year. And we throw we throw
the money away. I mean, we provide we provide a service for the money, but it's not, you know, it's not a long-term goal. and um having having a meeting with the select board to get their wheels going on it would I
guess would only help because right now it's a dead subject. Yeah. So, and I would also encourage the Navy, you know, we had zoning a ZVA conversation too, you know, with with with the zoning board folks so we can all get on the same page and to say where do we want to
go with what this concept is and how do we all think about it and get it there because it is our responsibility to to to direct it to help it along. I have um there is a subcommittee
working group with the council on aging that is looking at um site selection for their facility needs. Um and I have I was invited to one of those meetings um this
spring. Um, so that's just naming that they're downstairs. They also are renting space and their lease. Um, my understanding is at least some and
I'm not sure where the budget is now, but some of their lease was paid by ARPA funds out of CO which are not in the operating budget. So, these are, you know, there are layers of um projects
that the town has in terms of long-term future facilities um and services basically. It's great they could use the money for that, but that's not going to be there forever. Correct.
So just um the fire department um which one field the one in Bfield we don't correct we we lease we lease so it's land it's a ground we lease and then Morgan a is in serious
need of repair I mean it's fail with a compliance for how many town employees uh work out of this building Um, let me count them quickly. Just a guess. 15.
15. Yeah, that's like I will count them quickly cuz they're not 10 12 13 14 15 18 some are part-time. Okay. There was the conversation that
why build a building for such a small staff but when we look at all the other components that could be that could be you know included in this you know council of aging fire department you yeah I wasn't I I was just asking the
question just my my head spinning parking y um for like me I think it's a good location and that um it probably has good bones to that building and Um, what was it? Was it Whittier Votech?
What was it like $300 and something million dollars for a brand new building and uh had some conversations with some folks in the industry, you know, that could have been renovated, you know, for sub 100. Um,
you know, you could actually go up two stories, you know, on your existing building or our existing building over there. And, uh, just really the parking. Well, I think they looked at that spot. The problem, as I understood it, was it wasn't feasible to to re build on to
that building because apparently it's an old grain Charles 2 by Ford construction. Part of the problem that was pretty bring the building up to code for energy and things of that nature. The challenge
bringing build a new one. I think that was the I believe that was the conclusion of the group. those looking. Yep, that's what I recall as well. So, it was it was more economical to in for parking purposes to level that
site both dirt and the town hall itself to build a holding facility that would meet everyone's needs, have an elevator, all of it. So, there was a lot of lot of thought and a lot of work went into that proposal.
uh some people that were in the industry were on that board. So unfortunately it just no one could I in my mind no one could picture that as a level site like the where the fire station is that's flat you know
basically a bridge hall with a mount of dirt pushed up to it so you could drive up to the front door. Go ahead. just uh noting one of the other observations I remember was from the sort of historical community about the
sensitivity of the green and the abuing properties in terms of historic uh scenic components. Um I think I remember hearing we don't need a Taj Mahal on the
upper green kind of perspective which is the challenge of the spa you know building the space you need which I think there was a very thorough review by the committee of needed space related
to um you know like what he's saying like upgrades and uh technology and um I recall the top floor was uh going to be that housing for all of the town's technology
infrastructure. Um just you put in the need for an elevator. You know, it it grew in square footage to meet the needs that were identified. And I just remember hearing like we're a little town, we don't need something that big,
you know. So there were just there are a lot of there are a lot of components of coming up with the right site with the right building not an easy time for some meetings you know I think
uh discussion collaboration um and leadership is uh all good things at um the um would benefit from. Not to say they haven't had that in the past or today, but
you're not really going to get um anywhere without talking. And really, since I've been here, I really haven't seen the boards talking. Um they've talked through you, of course, and through Lisa. Um
but Tracy, yeah, I mean there's some smart people. Why everybody in the room? Let's have a conversation. truly look at that and let's hammer it out and if we need a facilitator, get a facilitator,
somebody that orchestrates what what what should take place. That's how you get success. Otherwise, we'll just say, you know, otherwise the potential is just to sit and talk about without any solution, no action plan. Steve, did you I was just going to note that um it
might be useful to look at what town owned property is in town and perhaps not sell any more of it off. Sometimes town owned land is a one of the pieces to look at because we own the property.
And I think that's something that was that took place when they were looking in the town hall. I think that site there was they own it and it's ready to go. The you I remember hearing too it was a shame that the two
yellow school properties passed back in the day but we had to pay our bills so that's why those went. So I know there's other locations but I think for uh cost cost effectiveness I think
building where the town hall is now is the best solution. It's water, sewer, uh there's water, excuse me, and u just everything's right there.
Matter of Yep. matter of leveling it and putting up something something new that meets all of our modern day needs, you know, whether it's uh handicap compliance, etc.
I a lot of good work went into that town hall plan. It made sense to me, but I think there's just a lot of fatigue associated with the subject. Yeah. You know, it it went on for years, right? You know, but understandable, right? Yeah.
Because you have a lot of different uh opinions and concerns. Yep. I mean, you know, town acquisition of of land, you know, of of the current property and offering that property owner something else. I've never heard a conversation like that.
Would that have to be a prevailing Was it prevailing wage? I mean, well, that's part of the problem, too. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They I mean, they even looked at simple solutions like a a nice Morton
building, but when you get into the green energy codes and things like that, the renovating what we had there wasn't economical. and uh that you have to pay prevailing wage and
it has to be up to a standard that M build wouldn't be a solution or you have to have an elevator. You have to there's costs there to have to go into that project. So, all right. Well, uh work to be done there. Good talking.
Yeah, I think there there what I agree with what you're saying. There was a lot of work done looking at town owned properties, looking at opportunities. I I do think um for instance, the town wasn't a designated green community when this
work was previously done. Now we are. There could be some other sources of funding to help in some ways now that weren't on the table. Like things do shift, I guess. then it's probably and the cost,
you know, it's really been 2 and 1/2 years since that committee gave its recommendations. So, and the cost of building is, as you know, it's going up every day. Yeah. It's good to right now. So, what do I
know? down 12% in my business, but yep, unions, prevailing wage, um, you know, community, commercial, um, buildings, I don't know. I I wouldn't think so. I
haven't seen anything that's just u um, anything that's meaning prevailing wage never goes down. So I heard a recommendation that the plan board reach out to the select
board. Yes. About master plan implementation and this topic in particular and zoning board. And zoning board. Great. Sounds good to me. Yeah. um
not conservation. I'll bring them into Well, they're off for the month, right? Yeah. There sounds good. And luckily, we have a that is a a established liaison when he's on the commission. That has been a
very effective. It is helpful because you know the other end of the project that you're dealing with. So, it is helpful. Yeah. Um really brief briefly uh other things identified as goals work which
work we're actually doing supporting the planning department supporting the open space committee for the open space and recck plan update that's been work that sad in particular has been um taking leadership on which is great with a
newly invigorated committee um I think the goal is to have a draft plan by December which that is um The last plan was completed in 2009. So that will once it's um approved by the state will allow
the town to be eligible for grant funding for open space and recreation um state funding. So that's good work that's underway. Um, we also, uh, I shared at the start of the meeting, the
newly appointed Board of Boston Trail Committee met for the first time yesterday. And that is, um, again, long-term goals that are in the master plan related to the Board of Austin Trail and other municipal trail
projects. So, there's now an activated committee moving that forward. Um, in terms of climate resiliency planning stuff, we are working with New Brightport on this flap grant project,
which is the Plum Island turnpike project. Um, there's a public kickoff meeting in May and the initial um, uh, recommendations and strategies for improvements. This is a
both a transportation improvement project and climate resiliency. There'll be another public meeting for that this fall. Um housing, we've talked about um Kristen, just to go back to with the
flat grant, have we see anything in writing yet as a followup? I've seen a summary of comments, but they haven't produced pre-draft documents yet. No. Yeah. I hope in August and then
just around the corner. Yeah. Then the public meeting in September, we'll have like the full sort of uh request for public um reaction and discussion. Um
yeah, uh housing strategies. Um, I've mentioned in in previous plan board meetings there are regional efforts that we try to just sort of pay attention to and keep an eye on funding that could be
available for um pedestrian and um active transportation improvements in um mostly led by Marath Valley Planning Commission. But basically they let us know when there's a grant opportunity
and a project they're and they've their transportation staff has um done some walk audits on um uh this is coming out of vision zero plan which is again a regional plan but had a section focused
on Newbury in terms of where the most crashes are and speeding and public safety. safety uh issues in Newbury. where are the roadways where there it's been identified by the data that there
are public safety concerns and then um setting forth some goals related to making improvements um again active transportation and sort of a multimodal and that's ongoing because I've there's something set up uh at the corner of uh
Boston and Route One. I saw a guy taking pictures last week of the intersection of the end of Highfield and Middle, both ends of Highfield actually. Oh, so I don't know who it was. I didn't stop and ask him, but he was out there taking multi- angle pictures of the
intersection, so it's ongoing. Yeah, I know they're doing the traffic counts at Boston Road and Route One, but I haven't y curious what's going on. I know for years this at the end of Highfield Road they've talked about doing something different there but
yeah I would just briefly one more second on this topic is I I do know some towns have a committee kind of focused on this work because there is just a ton of grant
funding available. There's um safe safe routes to school. Um there's demonstration projects coming out of the vision zero which was actually federal highway money. Um Mass DOT has just released a grant option that is focused
on technical assistance. So getting a little bit more of an engineering and feasibility study done. But and I personally as a resident who would love to feel safe biking to work and I don't
right now and I certainly would never feel safe walking to work but there are people who walk and bike on roads that feel unsafe and it would be really exciting to you know these are things that have been in the master plan
previous master plans current master plan but I do think it's a capacity issue for the town of Newbury just like we've heard um DPW planning and other departments are interested in this work but often don't have the capacity for
instance to write a grant um for this kind of stuff. Um and then one last one sorry municipal vulnerability program which is a state-run program MVP they have unrolled the 2.1 um planning
project and Newbury was um one of the first communities to do the MVP 1.0 but that was now back in 2018. So Newbury and it's it was a fiveyear plan. So, Newbury is on the state's list
for encouraging to do the 2.0 um planning project. I don't know yet if that we should hear in the fall whether they are uh requesting that we do that
planning MVP 2.0 this year or sort of starting in 2026. I haven't heard about that yet. Um but that's also um something that if we're if we don't complete MVP 2.0 then
we're not eligible for climate resiliency funding which is their action grants that they provide for communities. So what does it take to get 2.0? Um it's a it's a very um defined process
where the town hires a consultant and creates a uh working committee and there's a whole process related to data gathering analysis and a lot of
public outreach of different stakeholder groups. 2.0's know's focus is not just updating the um climate data analysis for the town um but really increasing um
communication and outreach to the most vulnerable groups in your community. So it could be the elder for Newbury. One of our largest groups will be the elderly um because we are aging we have an aging population. Um certainly as a
coastal community the data related to climate impacts on the coast has changed. Um so it's really kind of redoing MVP 1.0 with a more directed focus on outreach.
So what do we need to do to help achieve that? What do we as a board need to do to help achieve that? Um, I don't know yet. Okay. I think we will need to probably help
the town have a conversation about whether this is important work to do and if so, who's going to do it? Is this something that can be facilitated with MVPC? Um,
probably there would I mean there would be a cost to technical assistance probably. Um, but I don't know how involved I would what I because I haven't reviewed what the expectation is. This is the second year
that towns have been doing MVP 2.0 and I do know that Newbury Court has just started their process. So that's something I'm sort of observing and keeping an eye on. I know that their resiliency committee is the lead on that. It's a volunteer and staff
together resiliency committee that is working on MVP 2.0. So there could be a similar kind of driving working committee that some members of the planning board would need
to join. But there are other departments and volunteers um who would need to be involved in that. I think that's how MVP 1.0. I don't know if any of you were involved in that. It was 2018 that the town did that work. So
maybe we can talk to Martha to get some guidance on sort of how that worked. That's it. We talked about municipal facilities, right? So can I ask a question? Of course. Okay, Satie, you've been here
now an hour and a half, two hours listening to us all gabble. Yes. Weigh in on what you think we should do and where we should go. Oh, don't put her on the It's okay. I mean, what is your passion here?
Um, it's okay. breathe. It's okay. I I mean, I still don't fully understand the accessory dwelling unit issue. Um,
but something I do care about a lot is um affordable housing. Um, I don't know if those two things are related. Mhm. um related but not not super not not a equal sign between Yeah,
definitely. That's something I care about a lot. Um um while you're thinking I was thinking about the ASUS regional initiative. Do you want to share Yeah.
that briefly because that's kind of part of your background. That's true. Um yeah, so um there's a gentleman named Art Courier who's kind of spearheading this whole effort to
make um or create this like regional um effort to um meet the state's mandated goal of I think it's like 80 or 90% waste solid
waste reduction by 2050. 50. Um, and he wants um I think he's well he's with ACES, so he works with a lot of nonprofit groups, but he's been trying to get towns involved as well. Um, so there's going to be a summit sometime
this fall and he's um asked us to be part of the planning committee for that um for that event. So that's something that I'll be joining in on. Um, which I think is a good, you know, goal to move
towards. Um, I think that kind of lens of what has the state asked towns to do and that's you know it it is it's master planning really. So but again things are changing
and coming out you know the state I would say Governor Haley's administration is like really doing a lot right in recent years, not just housing and and the climate, but um yeah, green energy and you know, there's
so much that is sort of uh being identified as goals for the state and this continuing to think about ways that the town could, should, can, you know, has opportunities has, you you know,
potential funding, like where are the places that we can connect with that work? So, something simple, and this is going to be sound silly, but like um with with regards to our transfer station, we do not have a compost aspect to this at all. And it kind of blows my mind. We're
we're in an agricultural community. That's where one of our foundations are. And we don't promote that. And so, we promote trash unless you're doing it individually. And so the simple concept of just doing that and then extending
that to what that could do beneficially. I mean that's definitely in the master plan. That's you know Yeah. Yeah. And uh Newbury Port has really done a good job with getting their residents to comply with
um you know new rules regarding waste disposal. And I think part of the point of the waist summit that ACES is organizing is to, you know, have, you know, towns and different organizations
like talk to each other and talk about what's worked, what hasn't worked, you know, similar towns can connect about, you know, what works for their town. So, I think that's that'll be a good because the reality is we all produce it one way or another.
Yeah. So what do we do with it as our accountability and responsibility to so I think it's really important and encouraging I think you mentioned earlier like like thinking regionally like there you know maybe there ways you know we don't have the land area to do combos but like can we provide that
for residents in some collaborative way like that's I think where the summit is hoping to go so well to that end we could work with new report in their yard waste facility to get access to it. Just like
in theory, a new reporter could drive over to our transfer station and throw their waste away, right? There's no restrictions on checking for being a resident of the town, right? And likewise, I think I heard on
NPR that some communities have banned disposing of any organic waste in your trash. and the leftover pork chop bone supposed to go into a compost facility or else and
to my way of thinking you say well that's great I could write a regulation oh now I'll move on but having a regulation which is implementable or strategy which is implementable is always important I think in these discussions again writing the rag is the
easy thing to do uh as a point of historical note I'll say you know, lowering the levels of arsenic and drinking water, which is a good thing to do. That rule was finalized as the one administration held the door, leaving it to the next one to take care of, and it
ain't simple. You just triggered something. Thank you. And it goes back to a conversation that you and I had last week and it was about drinking water and it was about well it was about you know you know testing private you know to construct within within that um
and you know u bylaw to address or regulation to address um what we could do locally beyond the state regulations are for checking uh for for uh drinking water safety. I think it's really important. Do you want to take two
minutes and talk about that? Checking in on whether people where you need to go to. Oh, everybody everybody needs to go somewhere. You brought it up. Let's go. Well, no. I mean, we we you know, for for water safety standards, we go by
what the state requires for water safety standards, which really they're quite laxed and they they're not they haven't expanded to what things we should be looking for from my perspective uh uh for safe drinking water, especially if we're building we're doing housing and you know, we're doing we're not doing lots of housing, but we're doing housing
and we're saying we have safe drinking water, but do we really have safe drinking water or what contaminants are in there that we're we're not not being identified? You're talking about well water. well water and you know um I can't remember the study but I remember looking at it a couple years ago and it was a voluntary study that took place with a certain
amount of wells within uh Newberry and it was amazing to the the level degree of stuff that was in those wells but it wasn't meeting the current state standard the state standard was different because each state has their own standard uh and I don't know if that should be looked at should be revisited
if we should spend some time but um I think it's important I agree. Remember noting that study um and the correlating correlary related to private wells that is also something um
I've been aware of our towns pass. Private well bylaws focus not directly on water quality but on water supply. So when the state uh triggers drought restrictions for public water suppliers,
there is a way for a local community to regulate that private wells also have to adhere to the same um restrictions related to use such that I mean that the
um argument being it's all the same water, right? Like all it's all ground water. It's all coming from the same water sources. Whether it's a private well or a public well or a public reservoir that's filled by a by a public well, it's all in we're in the Parker
watershed for that um community of private wells um for Newbury. Plum Island and you know Oldtown Newbury have access to Newbury ports public water which comes from the Marramac watershed
supply. So anyway, private well, a private well bylaw is something Newbury could look at. And I, you know, obviously we would that would need to be an effort that the town worked with the Bfield water district um to to look at because they currently have
restrictions. So you'd want things to be consistent across the community. Um again, is this a planning board thing? Um that's a question. That was the point I was going to make. It seems we had
this discussion a couple of years ago. And where would we find the authority to do that? In our subdivision ranks, in our special permit bylaw, or is it more appropriately a board of health issue? It's a it would be a bylaw to pass by
town meeting. But in terms of who brings that forward, administers it. But this is actually two layers. So one is actual water usage, water consumption, and then another is water safety. So, we're talking about two things within the same bucket, right? Get water. Yeah.
Sorry. It works. It works. I mean, you can't really have water quality without water supply. So, they are related, but they are separate. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Well, I'd expect that the board of health would have to be involved as well as the planning board. The hook
being that um for private wells, these are going to be bedrock wells in our neighborhood. And given the history of mining like the silver mines that were here, some of the geology of the bedrock
in parts of Newbury would promote the likelihood that arsenic for instance would be in the bedrock well. And that could have implications obviously for the board of health approving a well. But in terms of approving a subdivision
of building out a subdivision that's going to use a private well that might be impediment unless they were going to go into some sort of water treatment to knock the arsenic or other heavy metals out of the system. I love learning things Stephen. Thank
you. Seriously I mean that's the beauty of this this discussion right now right? I would never have thought of that rock. Yeah the silver ledge road. Yeah. So, I think, you know, I'm hearing a lot
of topics that certainly other town boards and committees, you know, uh not only would need to be involved, but probably could take leadership on that, you know, aren't necessarily priorities for this board,
but we would be supportive potentially. I think a lot of it could kick to the director of planning and the planning department trying to coordinate those activities on behalf of the town because you these pieces need to come together. Well, we we could propose a bylaw, but
Steve's comments remind me it's strange technical subject. I mean, we really need to know what we're doing, you know. Um, I mean, you know, you could initiate we could initiate the discussion by proposing a bylaw to the select board,
but you know, to refer back to us with public hearing, but like I said, it's a very complex subject. Yeah. You know, I mean, I wouldn't know how to begin to craft it. We'll give you a couple weeks.
Okay. Oh, how about Satie? We'll put her on the uh Didn't mean to put you on another one, but I wanted to hear your thoughts. You know, thank you for volunteering. Not for the job, but for Yes. Well, it's good practice.
So, in summary, um there's a lot. There's you have two staff members. There are a lot of volunteers who are interested in, you know, spending time already. There are other committees hard at work and
other staff for sure um hard at work in this building. Um but I do think um there's not enough time to do everything. And back where we started, I would say 80 plus% of the
time is spent reacting to things that walk in the door projects. So just in as we move forward on this work, just it really is regularly I think important to think about how to prioritize.
It would be great, you know, to get to 50% tactical and 50% strategic because, you know, planning, you know, is strategic. Um, if we could ever do
that, I think you'd be um you'd feel better. But reacting and being tactical all the time, it's it's uh it's tough. Yeah. Takes Yeah. good to think about moving forward. I
mean, I came from a town that had five people in their planning office, and it was easier to, you know, there was a plan director, but there was a town planner, which is what I was. So it
all of this stuff focused on you know municip municipally driven planning was able to be I still don't have enough time but right like you could at least kind of balance out like you're saying in a more um it was more balanced we had
a housing planner we had a right so not where Newbury is but I do think that's sort of how I think about things is what was the um finding the balance Yes. And in IPS switch, um, what's the population I switch?
16,000. 16. It's double. It's double. Yeah. Mhm. There's um there's not a lot of multif family housing there, which is there.
There's there's quite a bit. Yeah, there's a bunch of um they have the chapter they have the 40 qu um they had 10%. No, it was like 8.9%.
Yeah. 8.91 better than three. Well, I don't know where they are now, but yeah, we're at three. You said three, but it's it has sewer. Some parts. Some parts.
Yeah, sewer is the toughest thing. It's just so hard. And now water, right? Yeah. Yeah. Thinking about some of the things I've heard, it seems to me uh that maybe sometime you want to take an hour a day
and just write down what you can't do as opposed to trying to do everything we've been talking about. I don't think you can do it all. You would say you can do it all. You might be better off being a master of a few things as opposed to
the Well, that's the side of prioritizing, right? you prioritize, then you put a bunch of stuff over here. But, you know, some things may need to drop off the list. And I remember way back when when Martha was the one person
show, I was thinking, my god, she's she's the six selectman or something like that given all the things she was taking on. I was saying, well, I doesn't really work in my mind in a 35 hour work week for that one person to do or in this case now two people. And it maybe
may not like to drop something off off the list of things to work on, but that may be a better outcome, which I would support if you come up with some Well, that's why I want guidance from the town, but and that's why I I also
think elevating committee work, you know, appointing an active open space committee has been a gamecher in terms of the work to get the open space recon. um you know the board of Boston committee is was very energized and they're they they're kicking off. So I
do think I I personally am of the opinion that community engagement is critical to right to if you're one person solo you're only doing your one person solo work. If you
have circles and circles of volunteers and engaged community members who care about this stuff and are talking to each other and doing the work, it's you're just going to elevate the what you can get done. It does really help with the outreach at the time when you're going to town
meeting. Absolutely. Right. And um did you have a lot of that with the I guess the town hall? Um, could that have been
maybe a a lesson learned from what's happened over the past, you know, with the with the outreach and and our plan and uh versus what happened. When did that town hall come before town meeting? Was it 3 years ago?
Three years ago. When didn't it happen? Yeah, a couple of times. Well, I think I think we were very successful when we did the META communities. We did a lot of outreach. We had a lot of conversation over a couple years. Uh so when when it when it
was presented, it was understood and and it flew, you know, because and the timing of that was when this town hired the assistant plan position. And it wasn't because it was me at all. It was because you then had double
people able to reach out and work with community members who also were incredibly on the ground and active about that effort. So to your question, Scott, it's completely if you start here, you have a better
path towards success at town meeting because I have, again, this happened more in Ipsswitch, but certainly as a Newberry resident, if you come to town meeting with something new that people haven't had a chance to talk to each other about and argue through and get
all the issues and try to resolve conflicts, it's going to fail. Like, you'll just fail. Hey, SC went to vote down. Yeah. And and educating everyone, bringing everybody to the table and say, "This is where we're at. What are our options?" And okay, I might not like the
personality that's delivering the message, but what's the message? Is there a good message that we should be, you know, listening to? And that's that's what all the negotiating skills are all about and collaborative work. Uh because there are some things we should look at and they are 10 15 year plans.
So, they're going to, you know, will expire, but the plan will continue. And if you're looking like a speaking of the town hall part of it, if you look at money that's already been spent providing solutions to the problem
and you add that all up and it'd be a good chunk of money that would be could have been put into a new building already. So not that that they're relative and it goes directly like that, but we we spent a lot of
money providing a solution to the fact that we don't have our own town hall. So one way or another, but it's uh it's just unfortunate right from I mean we had trailers out in front of
the old town hall providing space for people and police needed to move. It's not an easy thing to figure out all of it out, but we should still continue to keep working towards finding a a
final solution that makes sense and is cost effective in the long run. So, it's my opinion, but renting is not a long-term plan.
I think it's um just back to this the prevailing wage and the um union versus open shop. I think it's uh a result of um you know state um funded um
but if you did it without state funding you could do whatever the hell whatever you wanted. Um, I'm going to look into that. But, um, I think the the basis of getting these
boards together was, um, it was, uh, nice nice action that came out of this meeting. Yep. I agree. Well, thank you. Thank you everyone. I my last recommendation is maybe
we'll all leave the room and have this sifting through our grains like uh any time of day or night. And um when Martha's back in town, we're going to be meeting and then we'll set up a a sort of followup
to this if that makes sense. Yep. uh in person we can mostly focus on the zoning bylaw but maybe have some followup on all these other next steps. Where did she's in Europe?
Where's Where's She um is I believe in Norway on a cruise cruise. Would you like a motion to adjourn? Yes to adjourn. I'd be happy to second that.
Okay. Is it officially motion second to adjourn? Uh all those in favor? Everybody gets a copy of master plan. Yeah. Thank you for coming. Hey.