Summerville Planning Award for Wednesday, January 28th, 2026 will please come to order. Adequate notice for this meeting as required by the Open Public Meeting Act has been provided. A copy of the notice specifying the date, time, and locations are one, posted on the bulletin board outside Burough Hall, two mailed facts or emailed to the Courier News, and three given to the
clerk administrator. This meeting is a judicial proceeding. Any questions or or comments must be limited to the issues that the board may legally consider in reaching a decision at the decor and the decorum appropriate to a judicial hearing must be maintained at all times. Roll call.
>> Andrea Dair is excused this evening. Chris Addex is excused this evening as well. Larry Cleveland >> here. >> Tim Hayes >> here. >> William Kale >> here. >> Jason Kra >> here. >> John Manilio >> here. >> Barry Van Horn >> here. >> Mayor Gallagher
>> here. Council member of Vroom >> here. >> Chairperson Warner >> here. Please stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Landed. >> Okay. I have no extra comments. I'm going to bypass that. Uh, we have no uh ARB reviews. I need approval for minutes for November 12th and December 10th.
>> So moved. Second. >> Larry Cleveland, >> yes. >> Tim Hayes, >> yes. >> William Kale, >> yes. >> Jason Kraker, >> yes. >> John Manilio, >> yes. >> Barry Van Horn, >> yes. >> Mayor Gallagher, >> yes. >> Council member Vroom, >> yes. >> Chairperson Warner, >> yes.
>> I don't I don't think Tim was eligible to vote for >> Yeah. >> November and December. >> I wasn't there. >> Yeah. scratch. >> I'll list those twos as abstain when we do the minutes. >> Okay. And just a me a note for everybody. January 14th was pulled for
those minutes because they're not uh ready yet. All right. We have no resolutions. So we move on to her hearing and courtesy review for the Summerville Board of Education. >> Chairperson, we do have a >> Oh, that's right. We've had a walk on. That's it. Sorry. >> Yeah. Sorry about this.
meeting6 >> um for 2026. I think this is the second one you're voting on this. No, I'm sorry. This is >> We'll figure out the number. 12 and 13. This is just memorializing what the
board decided last meeting and everyone except for >> so moved. Second. >> Larry Cleveland. >> Yes. >> Tim Hayes. >> Yes. Jason Kraser. >> Yes.
>> Oh, okay. Yeah. Thank you. >> He's itching to vote. >> Uh Jason Critford, John Manilio, >> can't vote. >> I'm sorry. Barry Van Horn, >> yes. >> Mayor Gallagher, >> yes. >> Council member Vroom, >> yes. >> Chairperson Warner, >> yes. >> It's early in the season. We're getting
it. >> We'll get there. We'll get there. >> All right. So, now we will move on to our hearing and courtesy review for the Somerville Board of Education. If you guys want to come up. memberes. But uh the goal at the end of their presentations is to make recommendations
for them to consider as they move forward with the projects. Good evening. >> Yeah, you just got to hit the button, make sure it's red. >> Good evening. >> There you go. >> All right. Uh, thank you for your time tonight. Um, we are here representing
the uh the Somerville Board of Education. I'm Dan Scaton from FBD Architects. I've testified in front of this board before. Um, with me is Gary Leisco. He's the superintendent of schools. Um, setting up to my right is Beth Kenderdine from Edwards Engineering Group, the civil engineer on the
project. We're also here and give a shout out to Brian Boyce, the business administrator, and Ted Hopkins, president of FHD Architects. Um, as you know, this is uh projects that you're going to see tonight are from the past referendum in March of 2025. The two
projects tonight are the Vandervir uh turf synthetic turf fields and then there's a new gymnasium building on the current lot at Somerville High School. So, if you're okay with it, um we can talk about this is the gymnasium building that's pinned up first if that's okay.
Do we need to be sworn in before we do anything at this point or >> I do So with us tonight should be exhibits that you've already seen. This exhibit's labeled A100. It's a floor plan of the high school gymnasium building. It's about a 25,000 square foot building and
we can show you on the site plan where that was located. Um it's on the along Davenport Street and I have exterior renderings to show you what that looks like. It's along Davenport. >> Yes, >> I do. >> Okay. is what'll happen is we're going
to switch that laptop so the public can see it as well. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> There you go. >> There we go. Sorry. >> We're just going to start with the site plan to orient ourselves on the site. So, as you're aware, again, this is a
referendum project. This was the second question on the ballot. Um, Davenport Street on this site plan that you're seeing on the screen is uh plan north at the top of the page running left to right. >> Cancelled. Thank you. Sorry. >> Close out of that.
>> There we go. >> There we go. Uh, the gray hatched area is the building on the left and to the right that you're seeing on the page is the existing high school building. for setting the building a little bit off of the sidewalk back further on the site.
That's a vacant piece of current lawn and grass area. And I'll let Miss Kend and I go through sort of the site attributes before we jump into the sort of the building. >> All right. Okay. Um well, you can see uh Davenport Street at the top of the page.
Um on the left is the existing conditions. So, if you want to orient yourself, this is the existing building. The front of the building is sort of off page towards the my left. Um, and this is sort of that that higher building
entrance that slopes down to the steep driveway coming up to the maintenance yard in the back. So, um, there's this open lawn area between the driveway and the existing artificial turf field on
Davenport that's going to be taken up by the building itself. Uh, which is the the dark gray um square on the plan. Uh then we are reconstructing that existing parking area and driveway and reconstructing the
area in front of the maintenance yard um to provide some additional parking, compensate for parking lost, provide a bus drop off um some more channelized um traffic flow through the site, two
ADA compliant parking stalls um and some additional parking stalls and then uh access to the front of the building will be through a walkway and two staircases. Although that's not meant to be the main entrance. The main entrance is actually
in the back of the building where there will be stairs and a ramp and a planter um and a and a canopy over the front entrance. Um to the left of the parking lot will be a small bio retention basin
to provide water quality treatment for the additional runoff from the parking area. Um and then the rest of the storm water will be mitigated or controlled through underground detention systems under this parking lot and under the parking lot in
the back. Um I'm sorry on this side of the of the school. I apologize. There's a retaining wall that's going to delineate between this building and um and the uh adjacent artificial turf field um with a with a
fence on top to keep it safe. And then there will be um a small area of artificial turf outside the weight room which is this area here. So that um the weight room is going to have overhead doors so the students can come out and
and exercise in the fresh air. Did I miss anything? >> No, I think that's for sitewise. Um, just some information about the building. So, it's a roughly a 25,000 foot building. The uh has a gymnasium and I'm I'm pointing to the floor plan. You want we can bring it up on the screen.
>> Oh, yeah. >> There we go. Oh, that's not Hold on. So the entrance in the building uh orienting across from that ramp at the existing high school is plan South where the cursor is right now and that's a vestigial that you come in. The bulk of
the to the left is the main gymnasium. It's again about a 25,000 foot building. The height of the building on the site is about 31 feet from finished slab up to the top of the roof. So it's a one-story building, double height in the gymnasium. Uh we're required, you know, by Department of Education standards to
be at least 22 feet to the bottom of structure or about 25 to fit all of the athletic equipment and things that have to hang from the ceiling inside the gym. Um for the inside plan north of the build of the gymnasium, you'll see a large weight room and then we have some
utility areas coming in along Davenport is where the utilities are coming into the building and then Davenport is to that side of the page there. Um there's a long hallway that sort of bifurcates left and right of the uh gymnasium building. On the other side of the hallway is housing team locker rooms, a
new athletic training facility um that'll help let students who need trainer and emergency can also be accessed out closer to the fields. We have a concession area, multi-user bathrooms, and then this building is fully sprinklered um for building code and for due to the size and the
occupancy under e use group. Um there's coaches rooms and some of the other smaller uh toilet rooms and everything on the inside. But I'm going to jump to the elevations because there's uh two important elevations. Uh arguably three, but you're seeing um the middle that the
cursor is on right now, number two on this sheet, it's A201. That uh elevation where you see SSHs, that's the elevation along Davenport. So, while it's the side of the gymnasium in the interior, it's really a front of a building. And there's some care taken
to the fenestration and exposure of the materials there to make it look like the front of a building intentionally. And then as you work around, and if you're okay, I can show you the renderings on the on the board. This is the elevation from the coming from the ramp across the high school. So
this is what we're calling sort of the second front entrance. So this is the elevation that you'll see coming from the school into the building stairway up. We are required to have ADA access with a ramp around this way. So at the front entrance we have ADA access also on the other side.
This is the secure vestibule going in. This is R1 by the way in case you need it. sheet R2. This is what you saw the elevation of. Again, treatments to different types of masonry between split split face block, pre-cast and brick.
Um, we were very fortunate on previous projects to match very well the brick that's in the existing building. We're very cognizant of the height along Davenport and the setback to the street. We realize that there's houses across the street and being sensitive to the scale of the area. The intent is to make this building look like it fits with the
architecture of the existing high school. So you'll see the sophet up here. This dark bronze is paying homage to the high school. We're making a little more of a modern take on it, but still like it belongs. The setback off of the street, you'll actually notice there's a small retaining wall here. So
you are higher than the sidewalk. There's a retaining wall already along Davenport at where the turf field is now. So we're continuing that. And we're also putting some uh fencing along prior to where you see this rendering. These are emergency exits that have to happen
for the gymnasium. And again, this material up here, this is what it's the brand is called Cowo. It's a translucent panel. Allows diffuse light into the gymnasium without direct sunlight getting in the way of athletics. Um, opportunities for signage should the
board of education choose to do some kind of alternate sign there. We realize we have to comply with those ordinances, but right now, this is what we're proposing. It could be future ready with electronics should that be required by the board of education. I'm going to show you two other views to understand sort of along Davenport and
some impacts. So this is coming from Davenport down south. The existing high school building is back in this direction on the right side of this page. Uh one important thing to note, you can see this is the the double volume height of a gymnasium. On this side is where we have the weight room and then we have utilities coming
in this way. Our intent is when utilities come in here, we have rooftop units that have to sit on here. um the fresh air requirements and ventilation requirements in the code has increased significantly over the years, especially in a postcoavid era. And we're putting large pieces of equipment on this roof.
This rendering is from the street view. There's actually equipment screen and units in this rendering, but you can't see it because we set it far back about 30 feet off of the face of this wall, which is more than that obviously off the street. So, there are going to be HVAC units on the roof of the building,
both on the side on this roof here, not on the main gym, and I'll show you on the other roof in the back in the first rendering. Um, we're very cognizant of noise and what that looks like across the street. So, around that is acoustical fencing. So, it's an equipment screen. It has acoustical properties as well. So, we have the
ability to do things like noise packages on the rooftop units to mitigate noise at the unit and then mitigate noise architecturally with equipment screening. You're actually not able to see the units from street level from eye level. From further away, you'll see them, but I wanted to show this rendering to show that we the impact of
those units will still be uh visually won't be there, but the units will. So, you're sort of seeing a real view of what that could look like. And then this is the last view. This is the driveway coming in from Davenport. The existing high school again is to my right. So, you can see we're kind of treating this as two solid fronts of the
building. Again, across from Ivanho, across the field, um you're seeing the other side of the building, which will have exposure and the elevations you can see for the weight room. Um some large overhead doors should the students want to open it up and have a little bit of interior and exterior exercise area that they're used to now.
And a representation you can see on this rendering is an example of what that equipment screen looks like. This elevation here where I'm pointing is to the back of the site. It's going to be buried on the school's property. That's where we're putting the bulk of the rest of the HVAC equipment. Again, trying to be sensitive, keeping the noise away
from the houses on Davenport on the other side of the building, using the building to shield as much as we can. and then also being sensitive to the equipment screening that's up here. Again, materials are indicative of what's there already, so we're trying to be sensitive to that. Are there any
questions? I know it's a lot of information to take in, so take any questions. >> Board members have any questions? >> I definitely have quite a few if that's all right. >> Can we go back to the renderings? Uh, is there a chain link fence all the way
around the front of it? Is that what you're showing? >> I don't see it there. But then on that one, so the where the intents to continue the chain link fence that's there. It's it starts at Ivanho and goes around the field and then ends at that vacant lot
that you see. If you can bring up a site point, I'll show you the extent to where the fencing ends. the intents to continue that fencing along and that's for mostly access and security reasons that the school would like to keep people away from walking up to the building off the sidewalk, but we still need it there for sec uh egress
obviously. So when people eress out of the site, they're not going to go directly out of the sidewalk. They'll come between the fence and the building so that the intents continue that fence along and then egress and everything happens on the on the school's property itself. >> Can you explain the connection between
the Um the So this is the existing building and the walkway that goes across. Um we are we're essentially recreating the parking in almost the same footprint. Um
it might be slightly larger. It's that's here is I think the only expansion and the intent there was to kind of replace some of the parking that we are losing um along this driveway because of the building. So um the existing parking
along this driveway is um rather haphazard in my opinion. It doesn't really function properly. um it's all kind of angled um but there's really not enough space to make a turnaround once you pull out of the spot. So um we've
essentially eliminated that um in favor of 90° stalls along the building front and four 90° stalls here and we're delineating some parking stalls along the maintenance yard as well. Um so we're we're maximizing as much space as
we can to get as much parking as we can on the site. um and and as functional as as possible on the site. This driveway, as you know, is really steep. Um so, what we're proposing is actually where this concrete ramp kind of goes down and
and lines up with the front entrance to the building. I am proposing um a speed hump there with a crosswalk on it so that vehicles will slow down for pedestrians crossing to from the existing building to the new gymnasium building.
And that area that you see sort of where the cursor is, um there's an a lawn area where we were taking out the parallel, I'm sorry, the the slanted parking and we're introducing a little bit of greenscape in between the two. >> And obviously the the bio retention
basin. Um this is actually going to be uh walled around the outside. It's it's not very deep, but we're using the wall just to gain as much volume as we can for bio retention. And that will also be planted. It'll be like a like a rain
garden type um aesthetic. >> Hi. So, one of the things mentioned in the referendum was uh space for the Hall of Fame. I don't see anything in here referencing that. So, how's that going to be incorporated into the design? >> Um so on the interior, I'll go to the
floor plan. We actually the board of education has interior renderings which subject to them approving to for release to the public. They okay the exterior side. Um, I'll show you the uh the interior on the floor plan. >> Can we zoom in a little bit?
>> I don't know. So as you come in from the front entrance here which across from the ramp this area in here this hallway from this span to here the high roof volume is not on this wall it's actually across the hallway. So the intent is to have height
here in this hallway double height actually up to the where the the gym is to hang banners along this hallway. Um, we're doing a combination of digital and in, you know, trophies as well as a display case. So, it's a combination of going back and be able to show your history a little more than beyond what
you're able to display physically with the digital capability. And then we uh offer space high on the wall for banners. There's actually clear story windows on this elevation, which you can see on the 2011 sheet, opportunity to bring in diffuse light, and then ceiling panels that will help illuminate that. So, the main entrance and the main
attraction when you walk in this building, when you're standing at the main entrance and then looking out towards the field, that's where the Hall of Fame is intended to be in there. >> Go ahead, Larry. >> The ramp parking, it used to mostly
operate as one way up the ramp and around the school clockwise. that going to still be the same or you going to have >> um it's it's not designed that way now. It's designed with a 24 foot wide drive
aisle so cars can go either direction >> at the front. >> At the front. Yeah. >> But once to to your point, I think what you're referring we'll go to the site plan real quick. What you're referring to is once you're sort of let's say past where the cursor is, it's one direction. Well, we're working with the school and they're aware of this because our new parking arrangement is for drop off and
pick off. So, we're going to follow that bus pattern that the school needs. We'll offer that flexibility. Um, one thing that we are talking with the board of education on is the opportunity to put a different type of gate in >> which helps security and entrance when that's not supposed to be used for other than dismissal and arrival.
>> So, the intents to follow the same sort of traffic pattern with arrival and drop off. I realize that's two-way now. It will be wide enough for two-way sort of up to where that parking lot is. Once you're getting into that drive, it's going to follow that same traffic pattern. for two way. >> So the so the
in this rendering the upper part will be two-way. Once you go past the hump or the speed bump it'll be one way. >> That's I I that that is the intent as I understand it. But this driveway is 24 ft wide so it can function
>> technically if it had to. to your point, the intents to keep the same traffic pattern going. And >> you guys have driven over there, right? >> With students walking around their phones and their parents on their phones gets improved. >> Well, yes. >> Yes, it does. All the time just you're
going to you're going to modify it if you have to. >> Yeah. So, the introduction of speed humps and ballards at that point, too, because there is a connection is important there for when students traverse that. So, that's also something we're adding in. It's not there now. So, it'll be either two students or one teacher gets hit and then we'll switch it around.
>> Let's hope not. >> Would you like to answer that, Beth? >> Let's hope. >> Let's hope. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Mayor. >> So, uh, a couple of things. One, um, >> I think you've done a good job. Uh, you
know, we had some discussion about the treatments on Davenport Street and it went from what I'll call a blank wall. It did. It looked like the back of a gymnasium and they've put some very nice aesthetic treatments on it to to I think make it more community oriented, more
neighborhood oriented and fits in with the character of the front of the rest of the high school, which I think is great. Um, a little picky and I don't know if you can do anything about it. I look at the doors on the Davenport Street side and they look like exit
doors. Is there a way it and I don't know if you're you're you're bound by certain security restrictions to have certain types of doors, but I don't know. It just they're not soft. You I don't know if you know what I mean.
>> So So I'm going to I'll take a little bit of liberty with that. Introducing some more glazing panel as an option there. Soften it, make it look more like a front door. Again, that's we can definitely look at something like that. It's something we should take into consideration with the board of ed. basically the amount of glass that we'd like to have versus not for security
reasons. Um, schools in this case with security, anything on that first level that's accessible, meaning at that height, let's say 7 feet or below gets security window film >> for for those reasons. So, we just have to work with the board of eds to consider the amount of glass and mitigation. But definitely something we should consider
>> and I understand I do understand that, but I'm sure there's other types of security doors that you could use that just soften for the neighbors a little. >> Absolutely. I think >> and we can look into that. And then one other just the the connection between the ramp and the new structure. Have you talked about putting a canopy connecting
the two? So you're actually physically connecting the two buildings. Is that is that possible? Is that something you've contemplated? >> I I think the slope of that ramp would be pretty prohibitive to that. Um I am hesitant to touch that existing concrete
ramp. Um because if I if I reconstruct it, I have to make it to code and that's going to be very difficult given the the site constraints. It's in good shape now. >> So it doesn't need to be replaced. Um and I think trying to get
>> any kind of cover to work over that um at this point would be >> very difficult. >> One one of the big driving fact we did have that conversation because especially with students walking back and forth let's say during the day for classes. Um, one of the things to consider was it's a bus route and the
height required for the canopy across the grade. It got so high to the point where the sort of wind driven rain was kind a moot point and you'd be hit. >> So, we decided to work best with and we put a new canopy on the front entrance. So, there's an extended canopy walking across and then we'll work with the existing. But, it was something we
considered. It just kind of got ruled out for those reasons. >> Okay. That that was it. I mean, otherwise I think you know the front it's uh it's a a market improvement. I think it looks good. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Uh yeah, just quick question. I'm not
sure if it was mentioned. Is there any uh lighting building mounted or site lighting proposed as part of this? >> So there's definitely uh building mounting lighting that we're required to by code for emergencies and ex exits at doors. Um we have to look at security lighting on site with wall packs. Um we don't have the final version of where
that is. We're not putting like pole lighting on this project for instance. So, the existing field lighting or or whatever is there is going to stay, but the building lighting will have mounted wall wall pack. I'm calling them wall packs, but it'll be some kind of fixture that's mounted to the wall of the of the uh uh building itself. And again, that's
mostly for security reasons and around exterior exits and those those areas. >> Okay. Yeah. My only recommendation if you do the wall packs, make sure to just, you know, shine straight down instead of out. >> Yeah. So, and and to that point, when we talk about the other field as well, we'll talk about um the uh directional
uh shades that the LED fixtures offer now for minimal light pollution across. So, it'll be as directional as we can make it. >> Yeah, John, you're talking about full cut off >> potentially making them dimable. LEDs >> with the light temperature that's
similar to the area. That's the fancy way of saying if it's a the lights are out there or 3000 Kelvin, which more yellowish, just match it. If they're 3500, as you go up in Kelvin, it just means more of a daylight. But the
problem is if you put new lights with a high Kelvin, they stand out like a sore thumb because the rest of the lights, in the old days, you would say high pressure or low pressure sodium. I'm just saying they, in my opinion, they should match what the existing light is the best they can. >> Yeah, absolutely. And we have that
ability with the LED fixtures nowadays. So, we'll take that into account, make sure we try to match the color temperature as best we can. Any other comments for this one? >> Okay. You want to go on to Vander? >> Sure. >> Yeah.
>> So, just a quick introduction here um this project. I'll let Miss Kendai go through um sort of the the site plan and the orientation. Um the the uh drawing you see on the board and also on the screen is the same drawing. It's the existing conditions of the rear of Vanderve. Um behind the what we're
calling the B-wing. It's the left side of the site when you have uh Union Street running on the bottom of the page here. The corner of the building is sort of where her the cursor is down there where the comment box just came up. >> Sorry.
There we go. Okay. >> You can see the corner of the building there. >> Corner of the building. This is the >> existing playground. >> Existing playground. This is the the fence that leads up to the rear um the rear uh recreational fields. This is an
existing soccer field um to the left. So that's it's pretty much right now uh an open grass field with a softball field and a baseball field uh kind of facing each other. Uh the intent is to construct a new
state-of-the-art baseball field with a multi-purpose field um as well that is shown here. So, what you're looking at is um a new baseball field. Um the
intent is to make that adjustable for every level of baseball. So, um it'll be good for pony league, little league, um junior varsity, varsity. Um the intent is to have adjustable baselines and
adjustable pitchers found so that it can accommodate softball and baseball at every level. Um, so the the actual color layout will be for varsity baseball, but the the the bases and the pitcher mound can be can be moved to adjust. Um, so
what you see um along both sides, so along the home side and along the visitor side, we'll have uh new dugouts for each. We'll have uh u bleachers for um
>> spectators. >> Spectators. Thank you for spectators right behind home base. And then uh it says here that these are both bullpens, but we're actually going to have one bullpen and one um batter's tunnel along each side of the field. One for home
players, one for visitors. Um, in order to construct the field at the proper pitch, we are um essentially raising the whole end of the of the field, this end, and we're constructing retaining walls
along the the two sides of the field to make it work. And that is then going to um necessitate an ADA compliant ramp. So, we have an access point here that is ADA compliant from the school. There's a walkway, a new walkway around the
basketball courts and a little concrete plaza with an ADA barrierfree walkway up to the field. Then we have a second one located right about here between the dugout and the bullpen that is also ADA
compliant. And we have an emergency access that can also serve as pedestrian access between the bullpen and the um uh batting cage on the home side. There's also another access. This one has stairs
attached to it to to provide access to the home bleachers um just to provide four points of access from the school and from the parking lot to the new field. So, um, in addition to the baseball
field, you'll see in the outfield, uh, multi multisport playing field, um, as I understand it, that field is going to have soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, but not football. That's, um, the the
what I've got just today. So, so ignore the numbers. Um, and then essentially around the outside perimeter of the field is going to be chain link fence. Um, most of it will be six feet high,
but along this line and along this line it's going to be 12 feet high. Um, they want to make it orange so that they have an orange monster. That's what I'm told. Um, uh, there are two scoreboards proposed.
One is for multisport facing the multisport field. One is for baseball facing the baseball field. Um there will be um some audio um visual sorry audio um equipment installed so that there are
speakers um proposed kind of around in in critical areas so that people can announce um the announcers can sit and and announce the game. There will be the equipment for the floorboards and for the lighting will either be in a shed,
probably in this general area, or within a storage room of the dugout. Um, so the sports lighting, you'll see we have six sport lighting poles. One, two, three,
four, five, six. Um the sport lighting poles are um state-of-the-art LED uh light poles designed by Musco Lighting. Um they are fully controllable by remote
and mobile. Um and you'll see I have um included or I had handed out a brochure a sort of a lighting design put together by Musco. So you can kind of see what the light
levels are across the field. So um you'll see this this exhibit shows kind of the lighting levels. They were aiming for like a 50 foot foot candle on the infield and a 30 foot foot candle on
the outfield and in the multi-purpose um multi-purpose field. Um there is existing lighting on the field but it's not It's not at this level and it's not controllable at this level. That's something to point out because the the Musco lighting, they
they've come leaps and bounds since they installed lighting back there. So, um like I said, um it's all controllable on a on a on an app on your phone. So, you can dim the lights, you can turn off the lights, you can turn off the lights, you can turn on one light and not another
light. it's very um controllable and and specific to what you can and can't do. Um and I did include in that exhibit just a a a plan showing
the location of that um the light pole, the nearest light pole to the nearest um residential area. So it's actually You can see this. How do I zoom? Hold
on. I do this. I went the wrong direction. Okay. So, you can see on this screen, this is the light pole. I'm sorry that it's it's rotated, but this is the light pole and the nearest residential uh
house is um over 200 feet away from the pole. Um so we're we're doing what we can to mitigate light. Um as as you mentioned earlier, these lights have full shut off, so they're aimed directly towards the field. I think there's an exhibit in that Musco package that shows
exactly how they're aimed to try and keep light pollution down. Um so we're doing doing what we can to just keep the light on the field and um make it so the field is playable at night. Um oh, one thing I should point out,
there's uh obviously we're taking a large grass area and we're turning it into imperous coverage. So, we are proposing um a large underground detention system beneath the field um in stone there. The whole field will be drained with an under drain system that
will drain into a large a large um a series of underground arches that will store the water and we'll be discharging actually into a wetland area um on on this side of the property where
it where it it goes now that the runoff goes there now. We won't be um we won't be exacerbating any kind of downstream drainage conditions. you'd actually be improving the downstream >> Yeah. >> drainage conditions. >> Well, but we'll be Yeah, we'll be concentrating it and we we won't be
using this ditch anymore to uh to to direct the runoff. >> And part of the regulatory we're we're aware of the NJ process that we have to go through for that as well. >> Yeah, we're going to need a a general permit for the for the outfall. >> Um are there any questions?
>> So, I have a couple quick ones. Um, for the multi-use field, is there going to be bleachers or anything for spectators around that field? >> Yes. >> Yes. We actually discussed that today in a meeting. We're going to we're going to include a concrete pad um in the in the
in the rear of the of that field so we can put in um bleachers for spectators and also um like tables for um >> scoring >> scoring and that kind of thing. And then um you talked about speaker systems. Are the speakers going to be mounted on those
light poles? >> Yes. >> So So my only concern would be with those residents there. They don't have any speaker system back there right now. So if we could be >> gentle towards those neighbors. >> The intent is to um get them as close to
the bleachers as possible. So we we'll we'll definitely keep that in mind. >> That's all I have. Quick, what are you doing with that baseball field that no longer has an outfield? Is that getting demolished or
>> It is not. It's my understanding it's going to just be a um a practice infield. >> So, it's staying the way it is and they're going to use it for um practice. >> Okay. Possibly little league,
>> the little little >> little tight ball or whatever. Yeah, >> really small. >> Have a couple questions. I don't know if it was mentioned. How tall approximate are the walls around the uh baseball field? >> The highest ones are about 4 feet.
>> Okay. um round about uh this then I can show you on the highest ones are kind of in this general area over in here. Um they're about four feet maybe five feet. They're not massive walls
and they're in kind of slopes down to the to the wetlands. >> Okay. And then I just have two just lighting questions. Um, are there gonna be any lighting scenes? I know about Musco like if you hit a home run and score a touchdown, you can have scenes where lights flash and is that something
that was considered or >> I don't >> we talked about it. No decision made introduce the idea of having quality lights there. Okay. >> And second, just I would recommend just having Musco run the analysis at the
property lines just to make sure there's no spillage. I know that they'll do that, but >> we'll do. >> Go ahead, Mayor. >> Um I I I will just I'll just reiterate the light spillage and the sound spillage I think is a major concern, probably the biggest concern that a lot
of folks in the area will have uh both to the east and to the west. Um, I love the sound of the football games on on Friday nights. It's I live on the east end of town and I can hear it and I think it's awesome. It's the best sound
ever. Well, not the best sound ever, but one of it's up there. Um, it lets you know your your community is alive and that's that's pretty cool. Um it's may sound like a small point but about 20 years ago um there was an
agreement done with the board of ed uh the burrow and the wreck uh commission at that time and the fields were named the Ralph Chick Sternadori fields and there's a monument up there uh to that. Uh Chick was the burrow's administrator
for about 55 he was the first administrator and he lasted until 2006. So I think it was 55 57 years he was the burrow administrator. Um and uh that that uh he was a
AAA ball player. He was a world uh New Jersey state champion golfer. Um he was a World War II CB, construction battalion. Um just a a a really great guy. Um so I'm I'm hoping that that is going to to remain.
>> So um >> do you know where it is with it? >> It's as you come up it's on the left hand side kind of by the the back fence. >> Big rock. >> Yeah, there's a big rock and it's got >> on what you would call the home field side. >> Yeah, >> you can't miss it.
It's >> got a plaque on it. >> Yeah. >> I think I think Chick was also recreation director. >> Yes. >> Yes. Right there. >> Yeah. >> Just put important in front of the word boulder. >> We'll make sure to take provisions to
salvage it. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> We'll make sure we put that into the construction project. >> Yeah. Kevin's working on something now. He he wants something named after him. He's >> only to go. >> He's only the second administrator the Burrow's ever had.
>> TripleA ball. >> We We have a dumpster with your name. >> Stick ball. >> Got to up your golf game. >> I I have a a question from years ago. Our neighbors to the east were quite
iate at the original field conditions and the lighting and they restricted it dramatically with lawsuits and all kind of crazy stuff. Is there anything to overcome that or are you going to run into the same thing again?
>> Um I'm I'm not aware of any legal standing. >> Oh boy. It was it was they sued the living hell out of us about not putting the lights on the way we wanted and everything and we had to restrict everything. That's what you have there is result of that.
>> Okay. >> It wouldn't have been this nice 20 years ago, right? But nonetheless, >> they were quite vocal about ironically about not having noise on their borders. The people in Bridgewater do whatever
they want to do to us with any kind of borders and Everything they do, they stick it right on our border. Lights and sound. So, I'm encouraging you. Stick it to them. >> Heard. >> Um, without speaking for the board of ed
on the options and contacting neighbors and that sort of thing. Um, the one advantage I think we have here is that the new technology with LED and that light pollution. Again, I think the the spillage from Musco will help with that. Yes. But I think that we have the opportunity to mitigate that with the new technology and LEDs. the ability to turn lights on and off quickly and not
have them warm up or warm down I think will help. So hopefully that's an improvement over what you have now. >> One one last question. Um I don't see anywhere on here you're not doing any kind of concessions or anything for the varsity games or anything on site.
>> Oh concession. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> What about bathrooms? >> Bathrooms. For bathrooms, we do not have plumbing for the water. >> Are they going to allow access into the gymnasium?
>> We're going to have toize that and or >> John. Okay. >> Because of where it's located. >> Yeah. >> Anybody else on the board? >> All right. I would like to open it up for uh public for any comments that you have.
Hearing none, we'll close public session. Um, any last comments from the board? >> Just Beth, if you can get the stormwater management, I don't think the burrows are going to be the review agency, but if you can get in, we'll drill down on on that deal. >> We get ahead of it.
>> I I would just say that I think you've taken the uh the mandate of the voters and put together a package that uh that will advance um our schools and and our community. Um, in addition, uh, the the superintendent uh and I have had
conversations uh publicly and privately about um the gymnasium being accessible for public use and that's something over the course of the next couple of years as construction begins that we'll we'll flush out further. >> One last question. Um, do you have
timelines for the two projects? >> You so the um >> estimated >> Yeah. So rough estimate the uh gymnasium building we're looking to bid out let's say between April and into June. The intended construction timeline would be August September let's say
groundbreaking and roughly 20 to 24 months. Um the district did hire a construction management service that's required for this package of this size that'll help to manage day-to-day operations. So they're aware of that timeline as well. And then the turf fields is intended to go out to bid a little bit sooner. We'd like to award
some time in April and then have the construction be over the summer into the fall a little bit. So, we'll start as early as we can now. Take advantage of some of the springtime coming off. Um, the intent for that project is to be done for before 2027. >> Beth, definitely get that storm winter
management plan in >> All right. So, um, I just wanted to I have my comments to the end. Thank you. They're two beautiful projects. Um, as a resident, I truly appreciate you putting your heart and soul into improving the school district for these children. You know, as I'm done, it'll be my grandkids
next. Hopefully, all of them stay, but we'll see. Um, but they're two beautiful projects and I really do appreciate you, the whole board appreciates you coming. It is a courtesy review um, and allowing us to have some input and allowing the public to have some input on this so that it is project that everyone can
love and enjoy throughout the rest of these years. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you everyone. >> Okay. Uh so the ordinance review that is on the agenda we are pulling. There were some issues that we need to rectify
them. So that will be put on for a later meeting. That was for ordinance 2780260120 and that will come back up on either the next meeting or the meeting after. Okay. All right, we're going to move on to our piece of
>> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Okay, we're going to move on to our discussion items. So for everyone's awareness and the public, these items we will be fully discussing on the agenda tonight. Does not mean we're coming to final vote. Does not mean we're coming to final decision, but we will be
discussing them as a board and having public input. Um we are going to start with Mike. Uh can you go over the current where we're at with the storm water ordinance? >> Thank you. Um the planning board
discussed that on December 10th meeting 2025 and just went over the 30,000 foot view down and the summary of that is I did a brief uh synopsis uh that I think the board members have
and the this the conclusion of that was the recommendation was to keep the major development definition that's in the current ordinance there intact and uh not to uh do uh infiltration,
groundwater recharge or the easements. So that's in a nutshell. We and that's in section A here. Uh do not require groundwater recharge or major developments. Do not regulate projects that don't meet the definition of major
development. uh do not require easements in the stormwater management systems and no annual license or fees for the those systems. That's that is what we discussed the board discussed on December 10th. And that left uh the
other items which were the definitions of redevelopment which is kind of uh I was just talking to John about this. The D just passed, if I have the date right, uh January 20th of last week, an
amendment to the stormwater rags, uh that uh further tweaks the the idea of redevelopment. What what I'm talking about is on some applications in the burrow, particularly in the burrow, uh
more like the truck farm site that uh storms developed up until these rule changes from If you had a site that was 90% in black top and you were going to rip it out, that's what happened to Truck Farm. The whole thing was going to be ripped out, two apartment buildings
being put in there, but the impervious coverage was going to be less. In that case, it was less. It went from 80% to 50%. If you did the calcs and showed that your runoff meant the pre-existing condition was the black top, you really
don't have to do storm water management. Uh some uh entities say that's this the redevelopment exemption being that if you have a site that is uh already developed and it's already a massive imperous coverage that if you basically
reduced it, you could so hydraulically the runoff was not being increased. Therefore you you were not uh subject to some of the stormwater management regulations. uh the change in last week
tweaks that that says if you're touching the black top you have to count that is disturbance and you don't get that exemption anymore. So I the environmental commission had proposed some definitions to address this and it
might be more prudent just to follow what the state did so that the burrows in concert with what the state just passed which is the state's the D is going to say you're going to have to amend the ordinance anyhow to address what just passed. So you have uh what
was left to discuss was this redevelopment definition which goes back to major development and the other item was review agency. There was a proposal to have a third party review some of this and I just proposed that there's
already a whole certification process in place to do it. So the board could discuss uh whether a third entity would be reviewing it. Just for the the history here uh basically the board engineer be me in this case reviews the stormwater
plans with everything else. Um there was some discussion items is to have either the burrow designated stormwater professional or a third party review that give feedback to the planning board or
the board of adjustment for what is uh what the recommendations are. Uh so that's something that is still needs to be discussed by the board because it was put out there in the ordinance. So um I just threw in a certification saying
that the D anticipated this issue and all the essentially the review engineers for municipalities have to be certified and you have to five years and you have to re-up it and take all the courses. So there's already a mechanism in place to
address this essentially. Uh and so that's in a nutshell. Uh we could go into definitions of redevelopment, but if the state DP just enacted it, it might be more prudent to get that to the planning board. Um
uh to see we don't really >> Yeah. No, I essentially >> I think we wait if everybody's okay with that. I'd like to see what the actual new regulations look like and then we can have that as a discussion so that we have it in front of us to be able to look at. >> Right. Basically, you don't have it. There's no discussion. something's
mandated that the the burrow is going to have to comply with based with what was just got adopted. So in the nutshell, uh that is where we are. Leave the that the major development alone and don't do infiltration. We discussed that it's an
urban area and the DP rules don't require infiltration and then that goes into the easements and the rest of it which you see in items uh A through E on the summary. It's essentially in a nutshell, leave it alone. What's in the
ordinance? Leave it sit where it is. And then, and I I talked to John about this. I'm sure Barry shaking his head saying, "Yes, why don't we look at what the state is requiring of the burrow so that we do this once? What if we tweak this and it's not right, then we don't have
to tweak it any again over what the state says." So besides the I'm sorry besides the redevelopment we do al also look at some other topics which we could discuss tonight. >> Is that what you're saying Mike? >> The only topic is the review a
>> review >> redevelopment >> that we wait on. >> Redevelopment is from the state and and again if you whatever that redevelopment definition is it's hooked into a major development then you got to change those definitions like what the state says. So I'm saying if we if the redevelopment is
tabled the only thing left is who's reviewing it. >> So what was what were the some of the uh recommendations that were given to the board on that again? >> Uh basically a third party. >> Okay. >> Have a third party either uh with some interaction with the environmental
commission review land development applications and make recommendations to either body regarding the stormwater management system. Uh, I'd like to hear from the board members on comments on that, please.
>> Yeah. Know, um, yeah, I think we had a pretty good discussion. I think it was in December, uh, to go over the the recommendations and our thoughts on it. Um, yeah, I think, you know, we're ready going over and beyond for major developments in the bureau. Um, we we reduced essentially everything in half
of what the state requires. Um, there was discussions about minor development and I I think the the concern was there's a burden on residents for small projects and that's going to deter people from from actually going through the correct measures of getting approvals and going for permits and
bringing it uh either people not improving their properties or improving them without permits. That was the concerns there. I think that was pretty much the overview >> and then the just to chime in agree with everything um Johnson said and then as
far as the third party I don't see the personally the need to bring in a third party review for every project um for storm water management if we're already reviewing I think it's just going to lengthen the process cost more money time and frustration for anybody um
trying to complete any kind of permit project. Um, but that's my thoughts >> and I I'm just going to chime in on that now. I think that my biggest concerns and seeing some of the recommendations when it came to that were what it would do to the process. >> This, you know, and I think that we
already have some concerns that we're beginning to address on ensuring that this is an easy, when I say easy, nothing is ever easy when you're trying to do something, but um as seamless and as quick a possible process um as possible. and we do have a process now
that is working. Um I am hesitant to make any recommendation to council where we're actually adding extra layers and then adding more. Um we've been pretty strict um compared to some other bureaus on storm water management. We've been
very very strict on this board when we're reviewing plans. Uh Mike, you've done a great job on our on those reviews. Um my my feeling is changing that for other things I think is just going to add >> some concerns that maybe we get get missed andor that aren't addressed by
the planning board. So >> yeah, I just want to say like we're very lucky. Mike is um we're like your main town, your only town. So the level of detail we can get from you is very great. giving it to a third party consultant. They're just going to crank
out a review, give it back, and we're not going to get the same level of detail we got now. So, I don't see a need to do that. >> Yeah, >> I appreciate that, Gary. But >> I I tried to give the board all the information in one concise and then we can drill down on that. But as the
charge has been for 20 years to keep the process moving timely, as Collins in the audience will know, keep it timely moving so that we don't hold people down. But be very costconscious being uh as we all know is if something drags
for months or years, it just drags the cost up for everybody involved. So that's been the charge for 20 years. And I I think both boards have done an excellent job is as we've said in the past, sometimes we grant approvals much faster than the other side. We're
waiting. It's typically not waiting on the municipal side on where applications are. Typically, it's not this body or the border of adjustment who's holding the process up. If we're waiting on something, it's on the development side. Typically, >> any other comments,
>> can you just make sure your mic's on? >> Sorry about holding the button. I guess I kept turning it off. Har's trying to call me out on that and I didn't pay attention to him. Um on the routine maintenance um and defining that is like is that the intent of defining it is to
kind of exempt um that type of work from storm water management because it seems like a lot of these things are things we want residents to do um and would have you know I don't know how it would really impact this >> that was the intent when we discussed
it. Yeah. Yeah. The but the the new rags drill down on that subject. Exactly what is routine milling. That's routine maintenance. But there's examples in the D rags. Literally, this is last week. >> Literally last week.
>> So I I think it'd be prudent to get the board a summary from D of how this is being addressed. Uh so whatever is said here is not is in concert with what the D's policy or mandate is.
>> Okay. Thanks. >> Anybody else on the board side? >> Well, just um we have environmental >> that's going when I open it up to public. Yep. That's what happened. >> Well, I was going to say with these storm water rags, these new ones, do you want the environmental commission to
review them and make a report? I think that we'll invite them back again for you know to be a part of the discussion and and here but I don't think there's I don't want to delay it and we need to get these done and having an external review and then to us is going to delay the process for us. >> So then they'll have an opportunity to talk.
>> Yep. In a little bit. Yep. I just haven't opened it up to public yet. Anybody else on the board? Okay. So now I will open this up to the public for comments andor questions. Hi. Uh, I'm Tim Deal. Um, 76 Culver
Street. I think I'm supposed to say that. >> Yes, please. >> Um, so I am the chair of the environmental commission. I was here with you guys a few months ago. So, thanks again for for um, you know, giving us that time and um, for taking this into all such great consideration. Um, I did get a chance to take a look at
the December meeting and I did prepare some comments. So, um I I liked a lot of what was said tonight and um you know, those real rules are going to be um a great update and and I'm glad that we're going to be taking that um you know, into consideration now and not doing
another ordinance update or anything. Um but I'm just going to go ahead and read it. So, um I did want to start by acknowledging that um I do completely agree that we should avoid unnecessary financial burden on homeowners whenever possible. Um, you know, as a homeowner
myself, nobody wants a rule that's going to make it impossible to replace a deck or make a normal standard home improvement. Um, but storm water is not a personal property issue really um in many of the ways that um you know, some
of the other zoning issues that you guys deal with are. It's really a a public safety issue. As we've discussed, um, water doesn't stop on those humanmade property lines or municipal lines. Just keeps moving downhill into streets, into basements,
into the brook, um, and sometimes into neighbors homes. Somerville sits in a watershed where extreme rainfall isn't theoretical anymore. Um, and the data indicates that these events are increasing in frequency and severity. Um, as as we talked at
length um, in our in our presentation. Um, we've all seen we've all seen that. Um, you know, just last July, we all saw the flash flood in Planefields, which unfortunately killed two people who um were in their car that got pulled into
the into the brook. Um, and based on a report that uh was posted by the Cranford Office of Emergency Management, the regional public damage assessment from that same storm event across Middle Sex, Somerset, and Union counties was reported to be roughly two 20.4 4
million um which far exceeds the threshold used to request a major disaster declaration for public assistance. Um so when we talk about storm water requirements, we're not just talking about what's convenient for one person's
home project. Um we're really talking about risk that is distributed across the whole town and it's all of our responsibility. Um that's why the Wii matters in my opinion a lot more than the me in this situation. Um so I just
felt it was important to um you know say that plainly on the record um at this time in your guys decision-making process. Um the purpose of the enhancements of the environmental commission that we proposed um it's really quite simple. uh when we add
runoff and increase imperous surface, we should manage that additional runoff on site using practical green infrastructure or other means um that you guys see fit. It's not a radical idea. Green infrastructure is um is a little bit of a movement right now. It's
part of the D's own model storm water ordinance and guidance and that is emphasized um for you know adding green infrastructure and making sure that development is low impact to really reduce runoff volume and maintain natural hydrarology.
So, um I do also want to note that the state's regulations, their baseline, um their baseline requirements, which now have been updated, but um they're strongest for major development. Um but in Somerville, um it's really the
incremental small projects that add up over time across town that really make an impact. So that's exactly why we believe that our municipality and the ordinance should um close that gap.
Um I know in the discussion it sounded like there there were concerns about how this would apply to simple minor projects like repairs, small replacements or situations where you know getting an engineer feels completely disproportionate to um to to
the project size. Um so in those cases I would just suggest that we work to find a middle ground um with clear thresholds repair in kind language and simple compliance pathways. Um but you know stripping the enhancements entirely um
really just sends a message that Somerville is choosing just the bare minimum even when we know that our local risk is real and the risk is high. Um, I understand the value too, um, and the validity of the argument that the
surrounding towns um are continuing to add their own impervious coverage and that affects Somerville. But we can't control what other towns do. We can only control what Somerville does. Um, and whether we want to be leaders or whether we want to be followers. um strong local
standards that uh that will also put us in a position uh to collaborate regionally in the future um because we'll have we'll be coming at that from a place of credibility. Um there's a lot of talk of of attacking storm water from a regional perspective. So that's why I
bring that up here. Um and just to close it out, um you all have a really really hard job. Um, and I really don't envy the position that you're in right now, essentially balancing affordability and long-term
resilience. Um, so ultimately, I think my my my last thought here is really just to please consider um your stated direction during the last meeting to um, you know, go beyond just the baseline
requirements. Don't don't just set set ourselves at that at that baseline. keep the enhance enhancements, refine them to be workable for Somerville and for our needs and for our residents. Um, and you know, make it compliance forward. As as as you mentioned, storm water is a
community responsibility. Um, and smart forwardinking standards help reduce avoidable damage and disruption over time. So, I say let's take the opportunity now um to set Somerville up to be able to handle for what we know
what's coming. Um, thank you. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Hello, Jeff Kaiser, 23 Vandervir Avenue. So, I'm glad you um brought that up uh Mr. Cole because I was going to um
indicate that New Jersey has adopted the real rules. So um as you've uh been contemplating the um the recommendations that we provided um uh the a lot of the recommendations that we
provided you were based from uh experts that we talked to in the field and those um adoptions that have happened with the real rules. Um some of those ideas that we uh recommended are part of the real
rules. So for instance the redevelopment section the way that's written is pretty much this the way that the real rules are written um again uh also not just redevelopment but also major development. So
major development will also have to be doing on-site retention and treatment of runoff. So I know that was in the beginning of the first discussion you guys discussed uh groundwater recharge. I know that we're exempt from that because at urban I
don't think that changes but um just so you're aware um that is adopt that uh retention is going to have to be addressed. Um also going to have to address total maximum daily loads as well in the new in the new regs. Um
and so I think there's a number of things that I can point to specifically if you'd like me to. I'm not going to do it right here, but um that u the recommendations that we made, a lot of them, I'm going say about 50% of them are in the real rules. They're not all
the same. And and like um Mike said, uh it came out like last week. So, I'm still digesting them as well to understand the specifics and how they relate to what we recommended. Um but we're here to help if you if you'd like us to, of course. Um I want to reiterate
and um support what what Tim Marie had said. I think that the um you know you guys have an opportunity to plan uh for the future which I know we're doing with the the master plan as well and I think that um you know we
could we have recommendations we have what's required and I think finding a middle ground that works for the town and make sure that we are resilient into the future it would be I would encourage that approach. So specifically the modern development section, there are ways in which we can
incentivize um residents to do certain retention measures on their homes. One simple one that I was thinking of the other day was basically like, you know, you have your downspouts, you have um there's like these rain barrels that you can add to your downspout. If you can show and
demonstrate that you are reducing some sort of runoff on your property, then maybe you're exempt from the permit fee u of a of a patio, maybe some uh you know actual um dollar amount incentives that you can you can apply. So, I'm just going to um encourage everyone to think
outside the box and how we can reduce storm water effects in our town by incentivizing the residents. Maybe not um adding to the cost of their project, but actually maybe reducing it. Um, and again, the the recommendations that
we provided, they're based off of the the science, the the the the research, the the climate change that's happening. And I think if we look from that perspective, um, that's where all of this comes from. And so I'd encourage you to think about
it that way as well as, of course, you're thinking about it. What's going to how is it going to affect the homeowner? How's it going to affect their p pocket? Well, it affects everyone's pocket down the road if we don't invest in the future. And that's what um the D is doing, especially along
the coastline and now with with storm water in town here. So, um thanks and uh I look forward to uh working on the next set of rags. So, appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Anyone else? >> Okay, hearing none, I'm going to close
public for this. Any last comments from before the board? All right. So, Mike, you'll get us those new rags. >> Yes. For the next meeting, I will get to the questions and answers and get it out to the board. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much.
Uh, it really stinks when I leave my glasses in the car because I can't see anything. So, that's why sometimes it takes me a minute to focus there. All right. So, all right. So, area need of study, the re-exam uh and amendment ECBD. Mike, you want to update us where we're at? Minus the portion that we are
tableabling for the next >> Right. Real quickly, uh the thought process was to look at the county properties in case that changes to possibly adding it to the ECBD. When I say the county properties, it's
basically the triangle between Grove Mechanic and East Maine. It's mostly all the the uh private it's mostly all county properties with the exception of maybe the hotel which you could say is in the block. So the charge is to look
at that to see if it meets the criteria so that should things change in the future that there would be a plan in place to handle that that block which is essentially the county block. >> Yep. So that's the new charge that council had given to us on top of
re-examining just so everybody understands. So Mike will do his study, come back to us with the recommendations, and then we can discuss that portion of it as well. >> Very similar study that we just finished on the West Main Street that Cara talked about the resolution that was
>> uh from the December meeting that that's the same procedure, same study that the process is to see if they qualifies as an area need redevelopment. And then should it does should that qualify then the next thing is to come up with redevelopment standards for that block
or and again we're going to look at the whole ECBD. So and my thought and see what the board thinks is to roll it into the whole looking at the ECBD as as we talked about the ECBD hasn't been really looked at in over 20 years. So to see if
what's the redevelopment plan is still valid or needs to be tweaked. So on that note with the so the other uh task we had so we we as as a reminder to everybody which was again the one that was pulled for tonight for some just some adjustments but uh we pulled
certain uh the lots and blocks as it relates to what we already looked at but there's a very large portion of this redevelopment plan that we now really need to look at whether when it comes to bulk standards and what we saw what that vision was because it's been a very long time for the ECBD is that still
appropriate to what we feel the vision moving forward in that entire area is this is our chance to really look at that. Um, you know, and I I just want to remind everybody that this isn't just like, oh yeah, looks good. This is our chance to say we want some adjustments. We don't want some adjustments. We want
to tweak this in parallel time frames of him al of Mike also looking at the areas in addition that might get now included into this re-exam. You look like you want to say something, Brian. Yeah. Well, it's
>> I can feel it. I can feel it. >> No. Well, it's dovetailing on what you just said. So So if you look at the West Main West Main Street redevelopment area, it it it took hold. You know, the the the plans that were crafted took hold. East Main Street redevelopment area, we it it's it's kind of fits and
starts. Um, and this is the third the third plan that's been in place. Second or third? >> I think this is the third. >> It's only the second. >> I think it's only the second. >> Second. >> Well, the last >> there's been modifications. >> The last modification was we introduced
a TDR to try to spur that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, >> um, Right. But it just hasn't taken hold. So, I agree with with the chair that, you know, this is an opportunity now to kind of take a fresh look at it and open it up and say, "All right, how
can we begin begin that light the fuse? What do we need?" Um, so, uh, it it is it's an opportunity to to create. So, it should be exciting. And the countyy's got an empty building there. So, you know, rather than, you
know, I think it's important for us to, you know, stake a claim in it that says this is what we think should be here in the long term. They may have some short-term plans for it. I don't know. They haven't they haven't >> provided any to us at this point. Um,
right now, I think it's just a uh kind of a uh a way station for those going to county lockup offsite. >> And you know, what's it going to be? You know, 25 years ago, that's what they built. 25 years later, it's empty. So,
what do we want? I know what we don't want. So, let's figure out what we do want. So, and whether it carries weight with the county or not, you know, it's theirs. They can do what they want. But at least this way, we have something in a plan in our master plan uh that we can
point to that says it fits or it doesn't fit. So, >> I I have touched on this uh couple meetings back. Should we separate the two areas?
>> Yes, that's what that's what we did. >> And just keep the county section. >> No. Well, that'll be part of We can't really dis decide or discuss any of that because we need Mike's area uh in need study first. So for those potential um additions andor exclusions that we're
not going to add, it all depends on on that report, then we can also look at that. And yes, so to to your point, Larry, one of the things that we really decided was in the past, we've kind of always looked at um the redevelopment
area that's designated as one whole area. And it is, it's the ECBD, right? But I think what we've seen in our progressing and moving forward is that it what like what's there might be appropriate here but we don't think it's appropriate here anymore and this is
where we want to move in this area. So to your point Larry yes that was the whole charge and the concept and ideas let's look at individual lots and properties andor areas or combined in areas but not just as all bulk standards all this for the entire area. also the
possibility of removing the overlay zones that we originally >> that's what everybody needs to kind of look at and say, you know, that's the recommendations we're looking for >> or add more if necessary >> based upon what we've built over the last 15 years, 20 years.
>> Does it fit? >> Or does it or does it does it work anymore? >> Yes. >> Because we did the overlays almost like playing Monopoly. >> Buy four houses, you could build a hotel. Well, we were doing that and it didn't work. >> Well, we we well
>> gather all the properties you can and you can do more density. It never took off on park. >> You're raising you're raising a good point. Let me start over again. And actually, I think >> Can you say that again, please? I'm sorry. >> I think you're raising a good point. >> Okay. Just making sure.
>> Now, I forgot. But >> but I but I think it's important for the environmental commission to hear this as well. So, you know, this is something we talked about 15 years ago. So, in order to get uh businesses and homes out of
the flood plane in the Eastern Central Business District, we created a transfer of development rights area, TDR, which if a uh a prospective redeveloper wanted to add density to their project a little further uphill from the stream or from
the brook, if they bought one of those pieces of property, they'd be able to add density and they would have to turn that property back to either green space or parking. That was that was the general intent to get homes and businesses out of that flood plane. Um
that that was a goal. It never took hold. Uh for whatever reason, it just never took hold. So, you know, there is thought process there of trying to create additional green space uh additional uh water storage capacity area. Um, whoever created the greenway,
the the Petersburg Greenway, you know, 120 years ago was was brilliant. Uh, they really were. When you take a look at what we have, that area is intended to flood. It's supposed to flood. It was flooding 120 years ago. And what's
really interesting is Somerville's when we have a really bad storm, our greenways can handle it. It's the river that can't and it's upstream that can't and we're caught in this middle. So, we try to manage what we can
and and I think over the course of 120 years they've done a pretty good job. U but it is something that we've talked about the TDRs and I don't think that should go away. I think that should be >> a part of that plan. But that's what we're going to talk about >> moving forward. So I I think uh you know at this point I
know I keep saying it but I think for next meeting we really do you know if you can start looking at some of these bulk standards in these areas and it doesn't have to be everybody looking at one area at time like we can have those discussions um but we really need to start looking at and and getting a grasp
of what this entire ECBD contains and and may or may not contain. It may actually have some additions. Um but starting to really you know think of if it it sometimes at least for me and in all the years on the planning board when we've been adjusting you know looking at new plans whether it's master plan or
redevelopment for me I always say okay I don't want to know what's existing I want to kind of see what I see first and then I go back to the plan and say okay does it fit does it not fit why doesn't it fit should I make it fit um for me that's easier just because I'm a visual person so just reading a plan never
works out well for me I would be calling Mike every five minutes for explanations So, but I think however we need to approach it, I think it starts with, you know, look at what the base requirements are, then go what do I see and then how
do we incorporate that and have that discussion on how we should incorporating that into an update. Any questions from the board on this? All right. So, we'll pick this back up next meeting. Um, last but not least for
discussion, Mike, uh, Pops, please. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, just so the board refreshes, this goes back a number of years. This is the old Enterprise rental car place that was converted to POPS, which is a sandwich place. Uh, this is a
number of years ago. It's in the again in the ECBD. And about five or six years ago, there was an amendment to the ECB to allow field changes and minor uh changes to the plant. At the time, uh he got an approval. The resolution talked
about a few stools in the establishment. It was mostly outside and takeout. uh he's proposing additional three tables interior to the facility without doing any enlargements
keeping within the footprint and um he's looking for flexibility from this board to amend the resolution to allow the additional tables inside the establishment. Uh the parking seems to comply there's sufficient parking down
there. It's not expanding it. So, what's being requested of this board is to tweak the resolution of approval to allow the additional tables interior uh changes to the layout >> and he's still technically opening for construction. Correct.
>> Yes, technically in construction. Uh the fence outside is has not correct and so he needs to amend this. Uh this goes back to the outdoor eating area. Uh there were supposed to be some planners for barriers, not the fence. So he still has to do some things. So as the
interim, he's looking to get more table space to have customers be able to eat inside the facility. And we're not talking 100 people. We're talking three tables, three or four tables and just moving an interior wall. So I think in
my opinion that meets the definition of a minor change but again this planning board would have to amend the resolution allowing it because his testimony it wasn't like the board said oh no you have to have only three stools. That was
what the testimony was from the applicant. He only wanted three stools and that was reflected in the resolution. Now, he's looking for flexibility to get different tables in and to amend the the six foot fence
that's on the tables. If you He's got a sitting area out front and he has a a fence which I don't find to be overly egregious, but it's not what the board wanted and it's too high. So, he needs to amend that. So, he's still in construction phase. So, this is one of
the first things is to allow additional tables. >> Yeah. One of the other um issues we we sat with the gentleman and and you know heard him out you know he he understands that redevelopment is happening in that area and he said while I'm here I want
to try to make a living >> um and he's you know he's he's he's having a little bit of a tough go and he's trying to you know those folks that just want to stop in grab a sandwich they don't want to sit in their car they they can just sit at a small table and have a bite to eat and and you know I my
sense is we need to show a little bitlex fibility uh for somebody who's in the midst of this redevelopment uh potential redevelopment project and is still willing to keep that business open, working, and and hopefully flourishing a little bit so that when it does come, he
has the ability to successfully move somewhere else in town. >> Yeah. Oh, go ahead. >> The only thing I would say is I mean, this all sounds perfectly logical. Um, and whatever I'm sure whatever the board
can do, they would want to do. In the past, we've just asked for something in writing, just a paper and file, so we know exactly what they're asking for. So, I think we would need that. >> Um, we could certainly put it on the agenda. Um, I could even draft a resolution. Um, if everything seems to be copacetic, um, it doesn't sound like
that was a condition that would technically need to be amended. Um, I'll just double check that, but um, I would just like to pay for the file a little bit. Yeah, I mean I think we have to because we are making an amendment to >> correct >> and and we've asked that before of other applicants
>> and we have a drawing that was already submitted showing the interior layout which which could certainly get to you. So uh you >> it's simple enough it's not moving amendable to it. It's very simple >> comments from the board as before we >> Okay. Um, can we have that for next
meeting then? Then yeah, because I think that, you know, I don't see any concerns or any uh objections from the board. >> I can uh I do believe the zoning officer has the layout, so we can certainly email that to to your office tomorrow >> and then just with a little
>> written request from the applicant saying, you know, here's what we want to do >> and then we can look at it from there and I can just reference that right in the amended resolution. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh, moving on to final. Uh, not
much for open business, you know. >> Sure. I will open this. I I Yep. Gad, come on up for open. >> Can I talk about >> Sure. >> Yeah. I I prefer not to talk about Pop's Place just because that's fine. No, I I meant to I was I wonder if we would do
public comment about the uh East M. >> I was going to open it up at the end, but we can do it right now if you can just do it right now. It's fine. >> Sorry about that. That's okay. Okay. Um yes. So um uh what you mentioned uh mayor about the uh transfer of development rights. Um so as we all know
the uh the development that's going to be going on at the south side of Main Street, right? They grandfathered in uh they got grandfathered in before the 2023 uh regs came into effect. The stormwater regulations came into effect because they got it in before 2024. Um
obviously that's not um whoever's doing whatever there is going to be submitting it after that and there is a um grace period between now and July 26 20th I believe of this year for the ne these next real rule storm water regulations
to kick in for someone to apply. Um, so, uh, when you're when you're, um, thinking about what you, uh, are interested in having there or what you would allow, um, uh, I think you're going to have to really look at, um, you know, what could really go there because
the, um, the flood plane levels have all increased. 100year and 500y year flood zones have all increased in that section. It's that's specifically what you're going to have to deal with, I think, on that. So, um, I think a transfer of development rights, uh, green space would be wonderful. So,
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh under open business. So the uh tree ordinance we will get to once storm water is complete. It's I don't want to overwhelm the board. So we will get to that next master plan update. All of you have gotten your lovely wonderful. Thank
you Burough Hall Kevin for our wonderful uh binders. So we are at the point we have all of the external committees quote unquote um that have reviewed their portions so that they can provide comments. Um I said at the last meeting
this is now we are open and we are going forward with our ma our um review for the master plan. What I would like to do is um start with some specific uh ones so that we can get them
taken care of. doesn't mean it's closed out. This is something that will get done at the very end. This is going to be still a longer process, right? This is a couple months. This is not something that, oh, we're going to do storm water management, we're never coming back to it. Like, it's done. If something comes up, you know, in two
months before we adopt, we address it. Um, so we are currently obviously because of the new regs, we've already been addressing our storm water management. Um, the next one I would really like to everybody start to look at is the historical committee. Um if we could start looking at that and then be
prepared for you know I will let you know we I think next meeting Kevin is next meeting when we have I can't remember now and I don't have my cheat sheet in front of me isn't it six west or two I yeah Kevin I think those are the
second meetings in February I think they're both at the second meeting >> 25th. >> Yes, I think both the land development applications. I'll have to check with Kevin on that, but I think there are the second meeting in February. >> Okay. I don't have my cheat sheet, so I apologize. We'll let the board know if
you can start reviewing it though. What what you'll know is whether we're actually going to actually have it for discussion and or we're going to wait for, you know, a couple other meetings. again trying to keep this timeline moving forward, but we're not also we've got a lot going on right now and um I don't want we don't need three-hour
meetings because we're trying to keep to a timeline either. Um so historical uh committee will be the next or historic element will be the next one that we review. Um anybody have any objections to that and then we can discuss from there where we go? Okay. Um
the timeline um has been updated. I I sorry Colleen, I did not get to it yesterday to look at. So we will have that to the committee um to the planning board. We'll have it to them uh so that you know you guys have it before the next meeting and then we'll discuss it. Yeah, >> it's just been when I say scaled down,
we didn't really remove anything. We just scaled down the number of dates that we're locking ourselves into. But um but we'll take a look at that at the next meeting as well. Um and we will eventually be having to
discuss the bulk standards Mike for West End. >> So it is >> as you know the board the council designated the West Main Street area where Granite's building is the triangle
going down as a redevelopment area. So the charge is for this uh planning board to come up with redevelopment standards. >> Yep. So, you'll probably see that one for sure on the next meeting because we want to keep that one moving forward. All right. All right. At this point, I'm
going to open up the meeting. All members of the public that wish to address the board for any matter not listed and/or has been listed on this agenda made to do so at this time. All parties interested in addressing the board may approach the microphone, state your full name and address for the record and provide your comments and questions. All comments and questions
limited to five minutes. Hearing none, I will close public session. All right, >> Chairwoman, your your schedule for 211 is actually more open. There were three ordinances that were to be reviewed by after the council meeting. Those those
ordinances are not going to council. So that does open up and then you have um uh just the storm water manage >> and the applications are the second meeting like he's saying, not >> that is correct. So your next meeting of 211 is actually will be open because you
don't have you won't have those ordinances for review. >> Perfect. So do expect that we will have some heftier discussion ECBD as well as the historical um element as well and the obviously the storm water because we're continuing that on. >> So we're going to have six west main the
second meeting that's an addition and then the four east cliff street which was recently just deemed complete. I'm not sure it's on your schedule. Kevin, did we catch that when we >> It did. The 225 meeting has six west main, four east cliff and a uh a possible land development application on
for east cliff and then uh the tree ordinance discussion was expected to be initiated on the 225. >> So yeah, and just so everybody knows on that timeline with the new storm water regs that tree might need to be delayed by a meeting. So because we really want to focus to make sure that we get this
one right on the storm water, >> right? uh on the on the 311 meeting. That was your master plan kickoff um potential date. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um executive. Uh so at this point we are
going to we're coming back after this, right? >> Well, it's up to it's up to the board. Um I believe when we spoke there's going to be a litigation update. That's what we're going into executive session. It's a settlement agreement that we need to have to be discussing.
>> Okay. So, essentially litigation update settlement agreement. Um, if there is action that the board does need to take, >> there will be no action taken. >> No action taken. So, it's up to the board. You can close the public session now. I can make an announcement. We're going into exec and will not be returning. Or you could say the
opposite. We will be returning and then closing the public at that point. >> Yeah, I think we close public. I think let everybody go home that this is something that we just need to discuss and make the board winner of Brazil aware in executive session. No um action will be taken whatsoever. >> Okay. So the board is going to go into executive session to discuss settlement
agreement pertaining to litigation. There will be no action taken during executive session and the board will not be returning to public. We will be closing the public session. Motion a second to close public and go into exec. >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? I. >> All opposed.
You cut that off.