Okay. I'd like to open the regular planning board meeting at 6:03 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22nd. Earth Day. Earth Day. Uh the first up are administrative items. Uh and the
first is Kayla's way file number 25-001C endorse form O and release consultant review fees. The submitted asbuilt plans have have been updated to include all of the uh outstanding items that were requested um
from the board. There was a monument that hadn't been installed and located on this site, so that's been included. Um aside from that, that's really it. So um we're okay with releasing the covenant on this lot as well as the consult and review fees. There's $1,200
left in the account. Okay. So, we need a motion. Uh, Mr. Chair, I moved uh to release the consultant review fees. I know not say 1350 is 1,200. 1350
interest 1350 plus interest. And also, do you want that motion to include to release the covenant? Yes, please. And the Okay, second. All those in favor?
Hi. Uh, next is 392 Solder Road. Guess I should start again. Uh, next is 39. Next is 392 Sodom Road, file number 25-004 ANR, accept withdrawal without
prejudice. This was an ANR plan that was submitted to us and it it didn't meet the submission standards. So, we had been going back and forth with them to get them to update the plan to uh have to meet the submission standards and uh they ended up withdrawing or asking the
planning board to withdraw without prejudice. Okay. And we did it within the time frame. Yes, we're within in the time frame. We we've had them agree to a number of um extensions. One motion, Mr. Chair, please. I move to accept the
withdrawal of the application for 392 Sodom Road without prejudice as requested by the applicant. This acceptance shall be granted without any negative implications or impact on future applications for the property. I
second that. All those in favor? I I thank you. Uh, we're too early for the 6:15 public hearing. So, uh, assistant planners report. Sure. All right. Assistant planners report.
Number one are the follow-ups. Um, I believe Nine put them physically in y'all's binders for today's meeting. Um, yeah, it's just kind of like as Michael uh guided me, a punch list item of what's going on. Um, so I can quickly go
through. We're going to start with case 1506 SPAC CDS. This is clean energy off, excuse me, off of Old County Road. Um, and actually for reference, the first three cases here Michael actually
completed for me. Um, so the status that we've received in ASB build consulting engineers closed out. They've got to um address remaining seating. Um, I just need to find out what the remaining bond is. Um, there's a certainty of 10,000 um that I did see in April 2017. The board
voted to hold a new bond and release this original bond of 10,000, but I need to find out what the new bond is. And then there um per the uh sorry review from TEC on January 10th, 2017, there's a consultant review balance of a little
over $2,000 that should be returned. Bentley states the subdivision's complete. They just need to install those sidewalks. There's a shity of uh 194,000 held plus a little bit left,400 in consultant review. Um for 1803 SP, this is another solar de development at
Zero Drift Road. Um this case was in litigation but then dismissed slashs settled in 2019. Um we have received the asbuilt and occupancy permit had was given in 2021. Um there's a shy of 200
about 200,000 um that needs to be returned to the applicant. This includes interest. Um this is per recommendation from the consulting engineer SW Cole um from their asbelt review of in August of 2024. Um there's also about 850 bucks in
the consultant review balance to be returned. Moving on, retail lane extension. Um so it seemed that the board motion takes up the road um for some outstanding items highlighted by SW Cole. Um there was an HOA established. I highlighted does this need to be
resolved? Sorry, dissolved. Um we also need an asbuilt. So after I share these follow-ups with you, there are a few of these cases I'll follow up for a status update. Retail lane being one. Um there's about $87,000 held for construction of ways and installation of
municipal services and about 15k that should be returned to the applicant. Prestige Automart at 50 Forge as builtin received incorporated final comments. They do have an occupancy permit from building. No shity held, no consultant review um balance held. The remaining
funds have been dispersed. So looks like that one's kind of more on the closed end. Uh moving on, Watupa Realy LLC at 25 Sanford Road. I think we need as from them so that we could recommend the issuance of a full occupancy permit. That as will also need review from SW
Cole. There's no shy, but there's only 265 in the consultant review balance, so we'll probably have to ask them for more funds, too. Plaza 549 long. Um, so I'm actually going to go see the site out this week. The asbuilt in the site needs to be amended with some SW coal comments from
this past March. And they need to close permits for building B. They closed all their permits on their site with building last week. Building B just has a non-operable drive-thru and kiosk which are still kind of um coming up to code. Uh also vegetative health needs to be re-evaluated in September. Um no
shity, but they do have um a little over 2,500 in their consultant review. I think that that should probably be enough for this final site visit from SW Cole. So yeah, I'm going to be seeing that site on this on Thursday. Moving on, 431 Fisher Roadst Stacy Lane.
There's an Asbuilt referenced um but sometimes they're not labeled in the right way. So I'm not seeing a specific plan that says Asbuilt. And when I do see it, it needs to incorporate these comments from SW Cole from June 2024. These comments are related to the roadway rightway, the washing out of
basin number two, some disturbance caused by homeowner actions. Um $3,000 was recommended by SW Coal to complete the work. 10,000 is held. They also have about 1,300 in that consultant review balance um to support the final
review from SW Cool. Additional funds may be needed. Another solar development, Mile Solar, Ironwood Renewables. This one has a location of Zero Horseeneck Road. They've got to submit an ASB build. Um conditions of approval from May 2022 and field
engineering's February 2022 report must be incorporated. These comments cover grading, vegetation, erosion control, um storm water management and battery storage plans, weekly permits and approved plans, no shity but about a little over 3,000 which needs to be
returned to the applicant as field engineering indicated in that February 2022 report that it was a final review. Can I interrupt you please? I'm sorry but ask you a question on this. Yep. When this was approved, I have a memory that we asked
for. God damn it, it's called Beyond the Grave. That's my son. So, he's on another coast. And I'm sorry. Uh, so I have a recollection there was supposed to be records of I mean, there
were supposed to be inspections almost like weekly in some cases. And do we have This one's not built yet. What? This one's not built. Okay. So, the asbuilt is is for what then? I they need it hasn't been completed. So, there's no
can't be an asbuilt, right? They need to submit an asbuilt and their comments. Uh I wrote a little bulleted list. I'm not remembering field engineering's exact verbiage, but it looks like once they have submit that as the submission of these weekly reports and permits need to
be coming from them. So, step one, they need to submit an asbelt. So, I think after this follow-up or potentially our working session, I'll be following up with Ironwood Renewables on the status and asbuilt though is yeah, my language is after the project is finished before
they go and get um like permits with building and stuff. So, they'll have to submit an asbuilt to us. We can provide a final review which it looks like field engineering's already signed off. So once we endorse an asbuilt then I believe they'll go through to open or
close all the remaining permits. Uh weekly reports I can go back and check what what is what are they actually referencing there and should we have been receiving these weekly? No yeah this has I don't think there's any activity on that's
why yeah this might be you might be referring to a different Oh okay project. Okay, I'll go back and check that for you, Mara. Thanks. Because you also referencing weekly reports as did I in this. That was division road. Okay. Okay.
That's the next one. Third. Okay. So, yeah, moving on. 359 Division Road. Um site inspection completed April 4th and the report from SW P is currently outstanding. They do need to um submit a final review per the conditions of the special permit approval. Um, town
planner did uh require additional landscaping to screen the site's concrete utility pad. About 3,400 left in this uh consultant review ballads inheritance lane. So pending revision for this new myar which um
wasn't properly filled out last time. Uh the dean family must record the decision plan the myar and the C2 with the registry after signing tonight and then forward us the book and page. At that time we will need the asilts as well.
$65,000 held in a shity and about $4,200 held in a consultant review balance. A final review from SOB Cole is needed, but I believe that that should cover it. Um, Melo's Lane, Plat 21 lot 8A at 220 American Legion Highway. Additional site
visits should be completed once the ground thaws a bit. The applicant needs to file the LI decision with the registry and forward us the booking page as built needed. Updated drainage calcs may be required by the board based on that asphalt review. No shity and they've paid out their consultant review
balance. So if additional funds are needed, we will reach out for that deposit. Salty Breeze final approved site plan needs review from SW Cole before construction. The ASBUtilt will need review from S SW Cole before receiving an occupancy permit. No
occupancy permit held. I do not believe there's a shity held. and almost $4,000 in consultant review balance. Corey Ridges states, "I need to check the status of this appeal. It was appealed. Um, and I couldn't I don't know why I couldn't track down an open or closed
case in MA court trial land use." Um, the decision of the approval needs to be enulled prior to the endorsement of a definitive subdivision plan. An HOA and a performance guarantee must be established. And I'm kind of coming into this one after the fact, so there might be some context that I've missed
regarding, you know, this litigation. And there's about 755 uh dollars in the consultant review balance. So why were the decisions of approval need to be enulled? It was appealed. So then I read that I think I
read like from their council that this dis this approval must be enulled because uh plaint or because it was brought into litigation. So I need to check like I said I wasn't able to find the exact
Corey Ridge case trial in the MA trial court. So the I think we need to understand what that means. Um if if a an approval that we have given for anything is
appealed, we don't normally unknow the decision if there's pending resolution of the right u litigation. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. So potentially if the case was closed,
maybe the the decision of approval being enulled is like a uh condition that was put on the case or if the case is still open. Maybe that's I think that's something that their council I got from. So I'll have to check the status of that. I think what
for this one we're we're just really need need to sit tight and see what the the court orders or see if it gets I don't I don't know. I I haven't I haven't looked at any of this, but um once we work out where it is in the
court system, then we can see what what we might have to do next or any any you know, I don't think we'll have to do anything, but Right. So, but I mean, if the if the court throws it out, right, our decision decision stands. Yeah. Okay. If the court uh amends our
decision, then we need to see what that is, right? And then for our records and if the court obliterates our decision then it's done. I mean we don't have to do anything. Okay.
I will uh update y'all and follow up on that. Thank you. Um so Rod Old County Road 72726 Old County. So they did just drop off these asbuilts last week. The special permit has been filed in the registry per the applicant. I wanted to
just verify that the site in the asbuilt needs to be reviewed by field engineering. They've got about 390 bucks left in their consultant review balance. Uh sunrise at soulsway. So there are a number of conditions of approval that must be adhered to including um storm water uh protection
or swip permits nifty's permits and delineations and asbuilt as needed and may require updated drain drainage calculations per discretion of the board about 1400 left in the consultant review. Another solar swision road
solar. They would So sunrise at SS way is a solar. Yes. Right. And um so I believe that's done. So, have we sent anybody out
to to take a look? Do you know when we had the last inspection done? Uh, I'm trying to think. I don't think I know of the top. You want to know when the last inspection was? No, I I I want to know
if they've gotten their their electrical permits from from the building inspector's office. Are they in production of solar energy? Yeah. Did they did they consider it
done? In which case, we need to send somebody out to inspect. It was last inspected in April 2024. So, um I don't know exactly what that that report said. That was a year ago. But well, the the point of this is to let give you all a status update on where some of these
projects are at and then we're going to start following up on, you know, uh trying to get them closed out or chasing folks down for money or whatever needs to happen next. Sounds good. Okay. Um chairman, are you okay to move on?
Yeah, sure. So then SWE Division Road Solar, they withdrew without prejudice. Um Andrew Hamill will let us know he said around today what they want to do regarding next steps. I didn't see that correspondence as of yet. They do also have to work with conservation to
delineate wetlands. No shity about 300 uh sorry 3,400 held in consultant review balance which we're going to hold on to so that they can refile. If they don't then we'll return that to the applicant. Then lastly Francis states uh the
project's currently under planning board review to be reconsidered tonight. No shity shy to be required for the roadway upon project approval about 5,350 left in the consultant review balance. So despite a few, you know, mixups or
whatever, I mean, you're you're only been on this job for a short while, but I really commend you for doing this kind project. And uh it's very handy to have this kind of a running tally on where we are with these projects that get approved and then we don't hear anything
for for a long time. But and you'll just you need more time to go out and check each one, go to the site, do a site visit and uh dig in a little deeper. You'll you'll get the details, but uh I think it's it's a good start and I like the I like the idea that we're we're
doing this now. Mr. Y um I concur with Mark's u compliments that this is uh represents a lot of work and it represents um
our figuring out how to keep track in a systematic way. So I I applaud you with all of that. I have one kind of request that builds on the information here. There's some overlap, but maybe not
total overlap. And I thought this was where we were going uh at a previous meeting, and that has to do with just solar projects. Now, I don't know whether that's the same thing as
saying renewable energy projects because I'm not aware of any wind turbines or other renewable energy other than solar. So, I think solar and renewable are the same thing as far as Westport is concerned. Uh, but
I would love to see a um fairly simple summary of all the solar projects. Now, there may be some that aren't on this list because they were closed out before
and our work is totally done, but I I'd like to see uh all of the solar projects and then uh you can figure out the categories of status, but one would
be that our work is done with it. And another category would be that it is producing electricity and as we've talked about there can be a long lag time between our work and such and I
know with inspections and followup our work is technically never done but if you define it however you're going to define it in terms of they've got the the permits everything's done but if we could know uh What's the name of the
solar project and the location and the planned megawws and then uh the status is it still before us have we finished but it's not yet in operation or third category it is
oper in operation as the chairman said and it's producing electricity and the reason I want to get at that is I recall two or three years ago uh that uh the planning department had
calculated that we are have permitted or in the process of permitting uh enough uh solar capacity to meet 150% of Westport's needs or something like that maybe on I think
and and which was pretty impressive. Now the emphasis was we this is what's permitted. It's not what's generating. But it led to the conclusion that when this does get generated
uh and these things pass the last finish line uh that Westport is over 100% on renewable energy which I think is worth having a parade about. Uh so if that is
something and I think a lot of it's kind of in here uh but there going to be some projects that aren't listed because our work's done and there's other information like megawws and what stage it's at that you need to you either have
but I just want it on solar. Yeah, we can do that. I think we've been doing that annually with you all. Um so we'll just update it and get that back for the for the next planning board meeting. Thank you for your feedback.
Great. Thank you. So, next is the public hearing. Uh the continuation of Francis Estates file number 24-037C- SPA-LID continued from January 28th,
2025. All right. Good evening. Uh Tom Morris with Zena Consulting Engineers. Um so since the last meeting, we have made another revision that has gotten a clean letter back from MDL. Um that revision
also included a few town comments. Um pretty minor things like the the grass strip between the road and the sidewalk needs to be widened a little bit to meet the regulation. Um, we widened the access to the cemetery a little
bit. Um, we looked at the the sight triangle at the intersection um, under the town bylaw and show that on the plans now that we're we're meeting that site triangle. Um, but all the engineering
things have been sorted out with MBL to this point. So, can you sort out the sight triangle that you mentioned? How is that? I don't remember what sheet it's on. Maybe the third. Oh, no. That's the loting sheet. Fourth sheet.
I think it's on here if you zoom into the intersection. Yep. Yeah. So, we have the It's 80 feet, I believe, is what it was. Um, from the intersection intersecting center lines,
it's 80 feet in each direction. And we had to move the landscaping up here a little bit to keep the side of that triangle. And we don't have any issue with the corner of the abuing lot here. Is that a fence? No, there's no fence.
There's no fence. Okay. I think there's a low stone wall there. Yeah. So you can see over it. Yes. So you have the 25 foot radius there or not. So that was the um the variance that was
requested that was voted on last time um and approved on the last meeting. So we have the this hasn't changed. This is what it was last time. We have the actual curb radius that's required. The
variance that was granted or the waiver that was granted was for the um the radius of the right away and we have the room for it but it's not there because of the conflict with the the reserve strip regulation.
Right. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. So, I wanted to go over staff review number three which has incorporated MBL's comments from the March from March 13th and a revised plan from Zenith Consulting which was received March 18th. Then I will pass along the extension for this case 24-037
spid. we need to extend this review um because the recision paperwork was not prepared in time to post a public hearing in the notices. So we're going to continue this hearing till June 10th and then at the next planning board meeting we can sign up on the recision
and potentially motion to endorse um these plans. So for this just a quick correction the hearing itself would be continued until May 20th. The extension for the review would be June 10th because then that would give us some
time to um render a decision and get that filed with because we don't want the the review period to end on the same day as the planning board hearing essentially to give us some time to draft the decision. Okay. So, we need an extension of time. That's correct. Yeah,
they've agreed to it. Um it just needs to be endorsed by the planning board. Okay. So, can you state those dates again? Sure. So, we need to continue this hearing until May.
Uh the the yes the hearing the next hearing will be May 20th, but we're extending it till June 10th, 2025. We're extending the hearing till May 20th and we're extending the time this
the statutory review period, right? Y So somebody want to make a motion? Yeah, Mr. Chair, when was it? June 10th. Yes. Uh I move that um for uh the Francis Estates project
that we extend uh the time of uh the hearing to May 20th and we extend the time of the statutory review to June 10th. Second. Uh, is that
clear? All those in favor? I I I thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Okay. Next would be the planners report. Chairman, did you want me to go through staff review number three for Francis or we've
already series of grant updates. We submitted two grant applications to the municipal vulnerability program. The first was a request of $119,000 to for two years of funding for public engagement to inform the town's
efforts to develop a climate resilience plan. UMass Dartmouth is going to draft the plan itself and that's going to be an inind contribution um which was a huge help for uh showing some some institutional uh commitment to
the project in our application. So, we're really grateful for that. Um, and really looking forward to working for or looking forward to working with them on drafting the plan. Um, all of our grant funds through the MVP would go towards
community programming. So, doing various events, going and paying some volunteers like we've done with the MVP 2.0 program to go out and be community liaons. Um, this you mean like community engagement? That's what you mean by community
program. Yeah. How to engage? Yeah. Yeah. And I would fund two years of that. So, um did you want to provide any updates on from the UMass Dartmouth side? No. Um we've been in in touch with uh UMass
Dartmouth. Jeff Canton has done an awful lot of work on this with Michael and our hope was that at some point and you met Dartmouth marching ahead uh that with every everything kind of lined
up, everyone knowing what they're doing, it would be a partnership that's significant enough to publicly announce. So, uh, we circulated a draft press release
and as is in the case with that, you want to get quotes from Westport town officials, from UMD, from various elected officials. So, it's circulating to get everyone who needs to be, for example, present if we were to have a
press conference, uh, familiar with the project and, uh, agreeing with the words we put in their mouths or words they would say if they had enough time to figure out what to
say. Good. Yeah. So I think the UMass Dartmouth whe whether or not we get funding through MVP, we're still going to move forward with UMass Dartmouth. I think this will just really
make it a nice holistic approach. How is B the BOS grant? AOS provided $7,500 in match for us to use uh as match to any grant part of this project in the community engagement. Yep. Segment. So
we want to get them involved in this too recognition. All right. Then the other one I submitted was a $28,000 grant request again to the the municipal vulnerability program to support the development of engineered
plans for the head of Westport to get um nature-based storm water and flood resilience improvements um installed in that location. Um, we also want this storm water infrastructure to be designed in a way that it can be a
public amenity or educational amenity for people to come out to and enjoy. So, we work closely with the Westport River Wershed Alliance obviously um since they're big stakeholder there as well as the landing commission who is the the owner of of
the property up there. Um, an update on our application to the Buzzards Bay National Estster Program Grant. We received $69,000 for further uh or furthering the engineered culvert
designs at Angeline Brook and Cornell Road, Lionsbrook and Drift Road, um, Snell Creek and Drift Road. probably just going to end up selecting one of the three to dedicate the funds towards that design because it's $69,000. So, I
don't think it'll be enough to spread it across all three locations. But, we're continuing to chip away at those and grateful that the funds are out there and whenever they pop up, I work with Buzzards Bay to get an application together. So, we're keeping that moving
along. an update on our one-stop community planning grant. Serpent is helping us administer this grant. We had applied for it last year um for $91,000 to develop a long range plan for the
Route Six corridor. So this will be a kind of like a typical comprehensive planning exercise for the corridor and some of the adjacent residential neighborhoods. Looking at things like, you know, are there storm water improvements needed in your neighborhood? Um what kind of transportation needs are there within
and between different neighborhoods? Um looking at the zoning and and the area. So can we support um small or better support smallcale commercial and residential development without sewer? I think is is the kicker here because that
wasn't successful um when it went to the town meeting last year. So, it'll be without without sewer. Um and then seeing if there's an opportunity to create recreational opportunities. Uh we working on the bike path with um or working on the bike path along uh South
Wapa Pond. So, is there you know an opportunity to continue to leverage that project into something else? So, the Serbed's going to meet with the board next week um with the planning board at the work session on April 29th at 4 p.m.
Um and they'll provide an overview at the work session next week. Who? It will be Rob Cabraw. Okay. And I forget his last name. Daniel Kees. Um and then one other person who wasn't on our call today when I talked to them
this afternoon. Um okay, next planning board. Mr. Chair, on that work session, um I am the planning board representative now to the open space planning committee and they are also meeting uh that evening at 5:30. So our
meeting is at 4, right? I don't know how long our meeting will go, but I open space. I would hope we'd be done by 5:30. Okay. Then just to let you all know, we're going to post a meeting for town meeting
um in the I think we've always done it in the cafeteria at least an hour prior to town meeting. So, uh, that'll go up and so we can talk about anything that might come up at the meeting beforehand. And then when is that
town meeting or Yeah, town meeting when because that our meeting would be an hour before it starts. Yeah. May 8th. When is it? May 8th. Is it May 8th? 6. May 6th. May 6th. May 6th.
Yeah, one hour before the down meeting starts. Yeah, in the cafeteria. Okay, I'm going to be away so that as well as lastly uh the National Coastal
Resilience Fund. We are going to give this another shot. If you remember last year, we applied for uh with as a joint applicant with Little Compton and and Dartmouth and we weren't selected for funding. Um the main impetus for this
the application last year was to look at Westport's salt marsh islands um and see what we can you know do some kind of uh feasibility analysis um for doing like thin layer placement on those islands.
But at the time it it wasn't permittable and that wasn't a permittable activity. Um so we kind of wrapped a number of different things into that application. But now at the end of 2024, DP's issued guidance that then layer placement is a
permittable activity. Um, so we want to apply to the National Coastal Resilience Fund just for that purpose to do a feasibility analysis. Is that where things left us? I was kind of on and off the call. Okay. Jim was on a call with
me discussing with um an engineering firm, EA Engineering, who's interested in in providing the town assistance. Um and I I had to jump off the end of the call. No, I think that that's that is correct. Um looking at the new regulations,
they're only 22 pages long. So, good luck. What D's regulations for? Yeah. Well, it at least gives us the option now. Anyway, PhD understand
hopefully we can get funds to hire a PhD to to work it out. Uh, but that's it. So, we'll we'll see what happens with that. There's a pre-application that we have to submit and then they screen the applicants before you're even allowed to move forward to the full application.
Uh, so we'll get that submitted at the beginning of May. Okay. Can I just make one comment quickly? I I I said this to Michael before the meeting that I thought, you know, I he sent a around a copy of the slide deck they did for the presentation
of the zoning proposals for town meeting the on the uh accessory dwelling units and the short-term rentals. I thought that was very well done. I mean, the graphics and just the clarity of it and uh so um anyway, I'm full of compliments
tonight. You did a good job. Thanks. No, I think it it was very good. Michael, you've done the coordination or someone done the coordination with the moderator. Mhm. Yep. Yeah,
it's a a new moderator that will be Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Are you done? That's it. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. Do you want to finish up? Sounds good. to continue my report. Um, on March 31st, I went to Brig Station with
Brian from Highway and met Chief Baldwin, Deputy Chief Brisk, and Captain Green, and Seth Brian from Kleinfelder. So, we talked through uh like a training presentation Kleinfelder had had uh prepared for uh storm water pollution prevention
plans. We also went through the inspection form and kind of like a Brig site visit for the few um like on-site like culverts and drains. We did a quick site visit uh walk through fire would like a shared document for these covered inspections which are required to be
reported quarterly with planning. So an email thread has been set up but no further action has been taken at this time. Uh the wata shared use trail meeting that was with PAR corporation I think maybe about 20 25 attendees. Uh
strong presentation from PAR. There were two ladies who gave it uh they g pitched two choices. one with the trail uh for the spike path kind of hugging alongside route six next to the traffic and one that hugs uh more the shoreline of of
pond. So obviously everybody almost unanimously picked the route along the water but they did say you know it's better to give the a choice. Um I think kind of next steps with that were waiting for par to incorporate some of the feedback received at the meeting um in like new designs. Um but I thought
their designs were really strong and they had some breakout sessions and I feel like it was a really positive um experience for everybody involved. um 359 division road solar. I did conduct a site visit with Derek Melo and um one of the one of the one representing the
applicant side from the solar de edf solar Molly um yeah that site is in good condition they it was all across wetlands so they've had to recreate those wetlands pretty much everywhere and they've done a strong job um one
basin basin number two is still experiencing I think some standing water and needs to be addressed Um, in addition, uh, they were approved to deviate from chain chain link fencing. Uh, but that correspondence isn't like
well documented. So there was a little bit of a hiccup there, but we are now moving forward with them using this aggra style fencing, which I'm sure we're all familiar with now. Um, so overall that looks good. I walked the whole site. Um, now I'm just waiting for Derek to complete his review. Um, and
then the high school reuse community meeting. On April 10th, we had a community meeting. I thought it was a good turnout. There were maybe up to 100 folks who came. Um I guess the people that did came were expecting more. So we're aiming bigger for the next community meeting. Things that went well, it was a strong
presentation. Um and I like I said, I like the turnout. Things that could have been adjusted, you know, maybe letting to hear some other voices who don't normally get their voices heard. You know, the same loud voices sometimes say the same things. Um, and I feel that what I'm nervous about is this feeling
like another, oh, we're just collecting this feedback. We're not going to do anything. I don't think the purpose was super established with that meeting, but we had a debrief last Thursday and um RGB is going to prepare um specific cost models for a couple different options. And the goal is to go into the next
meeting with uh more control over the conversation to allow more room for uh conversations in new directions so we can push this project forward and not keep our wheels turning in place. I would I would overall say it was an effective community meeting though and I think now the word's kind of out, we got
somebody new on the scene doing this, let's um keep that momentum going. Thank you. Um dear thanks for that report. Um I have a question on the high school uh community meeting. Yeah. You mentioned
in Wata that there were two options but there was an overwhelming consensus about one. Yeah. Uh in the high school reuse there are all kinds of options. I think I don't know if anyone's numbered them all, but there seem to be almost an
infinite number of ways to to do this, right? Um, and lots of potential users. Did you sense any building consensus around a general plan? Yeah, I
definitely think that the high school functioning as a multi-use community center is what everybody wants. a shared space that can be shared with children, with seniors, with other adults. And I did get a strong sense that they don't want to bring in outside retailers into the space or lease it out to outside
retailers. I think a key part of the conversation that needs to be established next time is making up these costs. Where are we going to make up the costs to retrofit this building and bring it up to code? Um, there's also a little bit of a misconception as to why we can't use the building right now
because it is being used right now by that daycare and facilities. So it's like why are we not able to use the whole site right now? So I think because all the information wasn't upfront at that meeting, it's still a little shaky, but my consensus is community center.
We're not releasing to outside retailers. We're doing Westport business. We're supporting Westport residences. I think there was a strong push for some form of housing. Could I ask a follow up on that on the uh kind of multi-use community center?
Uh first part of the question, would that include town offices such as found at town hall and the annex? And then are people saying, well, if we take the uh occupants of the annex and town hall
into the high school, then we would go about surplusing these two buildings for other uses, housing or whatever the uses might be. I is that part of what you're talking about in terms of community use? Yes. I think there's one angle where municipal offices are not moved and
there's like an addition to town hall annex. Then there's another sub conversation where yes, the municipal offices shared this space with Westport Recreation, Council on Aging, etc. You know, there's a lot of square footage at this site. So, the architects, RGB
architects, their main thing is there's enough room for everybody. So it does kind of this matrix gets a little shifty when it's like so are we bringing in municipal offices or not with that community center. There's not correct me if I'm wrong. There's not
as much consensus about whether all municipal offices would end up in the building. Right. Right. There might such a consensus might evolve but it doesn't exist right now. It doesn't exist now. And I think it might exist once they put together those more specific cost models. Yeah. you know, what is it going
to take to then sell the uh town hall annex or if we're in it right now or you know, what is it going to what are we going to do with town hall after everything incurs a cost doing nothing incurs a cost. So, it is a little bit I think I think some clear routes need to be
established and then people can kind of be able to pick what's going to work best. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Well, uh, John, I was at the meeting also, and I have pretty much similar takeaways, but it seemed to me that the
the primary use that everybody almost I wouldn't say everybody, but almost everybody uh agreed with is having a community center. And the community center from listening to people would be
like a YMCA. So it' be the gymnasium, the u changing rooms and whatever else you can build into the place. Um as well as uh I brought up we were meeting in the
library. Do you know where that is in the building? Uh that used to be a gymnasium and I think it'd be a perfect place for a pool for a community pool which I think would get a lot of use
from school kids as well as seniors and but you share what Dia said about there isn't really a consensus about what the town offices would move there. Correct. Correct. And I think the the thing that there's a large cost to develop
space for town offices. There's a large cost to fix up these two buildings. But one of the one of the costs that you might en encounter with vacating these buildings is
uh they're the town center. So, if you move these buildings out of the town center, do you still have a town center? Well, it would depend on how these buildings would be used. If they're
empty, then I agree, you weaken the town center. If they're full of people all the time, then it it is uh a different kind of energy in the town center than than town offices. It's energy. It's just a different form. Right. And the
other takeaway I I took from the meeting was the Council on Aging. Um apparently there's two groups in the Council on Aging and the main Council on Aging would like to move over there today.
Um and they they run out of room for all the programs and everything and all the people that use it. Uh they don't have enough room. But then there's other I don't know what the difference is but there's another group that uses that
facility that wants to stay there. So what is the cost of expanding the COA where it is so that they have space uh because it's an old building just
like this is not it's not not the greatest. uh you have to figure out what the cost of that is. Do you want to keep those two parts of the COA together somehow by expanding
that? You'd have to expand the parking. You'd have to do all these things. And the same with these buildings. I mean, if you empty them out, then we're going to be dealing with the same issues. And then how sailable are
they? You know, they're kind of funky. Putting putting for sale items building. I don't think you'd have any bias in this building, right? What what are you going to use it for? The same with the town hall. Yeah. I mean, the town hall is a specific. It's built for
that. Well, you see lots of schools turned into housing. Yeah. I just wanted to u mention as I recall it was the the difference with the COA. I guess money had been given for the social day program and they wanted to keep that in
the in the old in the current building and move some of the other activities to the community. Okay. Okay. So, the social daycare is that was the one that that's one of the uses over there that they want to keep over there. Yeah, I think that's
and I think you could probably do both. I mean, you could move COA over to the high school and that part of it could stay there. It probably could use up the space. Um, and then thinking about how to how
to pay for all this stuff. Uh, I was thinking that you could make the community center a nonprofit as opposed to a a municipal
uh project. and you might entice um some decentsized grants to to convert it and to help pay for it um on an ongoing basis because once you get going, you're going to need
to hire people to be there all the time. It isn't as if it's just going to be turnkey and you can just let anybody in. Most community centers that are really successful, they have people at the
desk. They have people that are that are helping people in the weight room, in the gymnasium, in the swimming pool, and all those things. They have classes and it just is not something that I I don't think the town's
the right entity. Good. And then if you take those two parts, which I think there's probably consensus that those are good for the town, you're still left with 100,000
square feet or more of space. And if you use use it for some kind of housing, um, be it workforce housing or a friendly 40b or whatever,
uh, you might get money from that to pay for this other stuff to fix up the school because otherwise we're going to have a bond for 30 $40 million to fix up this place.
Well, I think the cost of how I think the decisions of town hall annex town hall and the high school are all interrelated. And I think whenever they get to the issue of cost, that's going to start to influence what options
people start. If no one's thinking about cost, then oh well, let's let's do this and that, right? Yeah. Let's do everything. So, so the what you have to compare is the cost of rehabbing this building to
be an efficient municipal office building versus doing the same thing over there. And I don't know, you're the architect. Okay. So, I wasn't at the meeting, but
uh but four years ago, we I was on the long-term building committee and we had another architectural firm from Boston named Util uh and they did this exercise. I mean, as I read this listening to you tonight,
but I also read the article in the shorelines about the meeting and I thought, well, we haven't really moved anywhere. We're still doing what we did for the same exercise we did four years ago. We were debating, you know, do we
take municipal offices and move them to the this building which has over three acres of of uh floor space in it, three and a half acres and then what do we do with the existing buildings and uh Council of Aging and the library and all
those other entities were considered but as you just said, Mr. Chairman, they don't they only take up a a small portion of the building. So what do you do with the rest of it? And frankly, the whole building, you know, you're looking at, no matter what
you do, you're looking at bringing up bringing much of it up to date, right? Uh not only are is it required by code and there may be ch and certainly if there are change of uses, those are even more restrictive code
compliance issues. But at the very least, you've got I mean there are there was a there have been structural reports done showing the building doesn't have adequate uh shear walls. So uh portions of the building are susceptible to well
to collapse under lateral loads. Yeah. Earthquakes and wind hurricanes etc. Um the wiring system is out of date. The mechanical system has to be totally upgraded. the uh you know
it's just one long litany of of things that have to be done to the building. And when you talk about multi-use sometimes, you know, multi-use means multi headaches because there are so many different components that have
to be addressed. And at the time the you just said 30 to 40 million that was the we were talking about a number around 30 million four years ago. That was the guesstimate and probably more likely 40 to re to do over the entire building.
And um so it's it's it's a very uh and there was no consensus as to what the town would want to do it. you know, you brought up, well, let's do this with her or let's have these folks move there
with a community center or whatever and then some people would be against it. There was never any cons, you know, some people advocated one thing and others advocated another thing. Um so in the meantime, you know, the town
has spent according to uh what our town administrator says is about a carrying cost of a quarter of a million dollars a year. So we've spent over a million dollars just in the building already just to keep it uh open and without
coming up with any solution of uh what how to dispose of it. And uh I mean when I say dispose I mean in terms of do we keep it and renovate it or do we actually or do we sell it to a developer or something of that nature. So it's
been a long series and it's I don't know myself how to get to yes on this how to how we can bring it how they the committee can bring it to a head but u I guess we're going to go through one more exercise of
getting cost estimates on different scenarios and then try to see if there's consensus within the town as to which of those scenarios is is valable. Mark, can I ask you a question on change of use? Yeah. One of the uses of the building
continues to be education, right? The administration is located there right now. Some of it. Well, some of it, but the what I'm getting at is that there is a user's
education there. And if they stay part of the plan of, you know, multi-use, different uses, but one of those uses is administration because if they don't go there, where do they go? They they have to be somewhere. Does that make it
easier in terms of redeveloping the property because you have a continuity of use of part of the property that is the education element stays the same? I think it only means that that portion of the building that they
occupy is under is probably less it's less um intensive in terms of upgrades because there's no change in use. So, and that's a pretty minor portion of the site. So, it makes it easier but only
for a small portion of the building. Yeah. I mean, one idea I had was that if the library were to move to this new bu to the old high school, then you have the library building sitting next to the new administration moves there. Exactly. So now you have an education campus in
which you've got an elementary school, you got the high school, you got the school administration. So now you've really built the education campus there. Yeah, it's a great idea. You should be on the long-term building. Yeah, maybe your comment was I was being elected to
a long term on a long term building. I've never forgotten that. I I think there's sort of two truisms in the the first is um buildings don't like to be empty,
right? And if you own a building that's empty and you have to care for it, it's just a money pit. You know that that it's it's all it's all negative. You get you get no use out of an empty building,
but you have to care for it. Uh it's it's the wrong it's it's the wrong way to to manage the property. Um and and the second thing is all of these options cost something and and the
town is perpetually broke. So, so the idea of choosing options that cost a lot probably unless there was some momentous change in attitudes about taxation and stuff, you know, they're
unlikely to happen. So, you know, if you're going to reuse the building and you and you don't have any money, then you think about, well, could can I partner with someone who has money?
And so, let's say, you know, the town, you know, wanted to do senior housing and affordable housing and veterans housing and those kind of activities. Could you put up the property as not the
whole property but let's say the classroom components that so you got a room like this and you can split it in half on the windows and three of the windows go into one unit and three of the windows go into the other and you know you knock a new door in here. you know, you make you
make 800 square foot, you know, single single occupant, you know, units. So you do that in the in the high school and your the town's investment is that it
puts up the building and and the developer puts up the equity to make that happen. And then then if it if it's senior housing and you think about Mark's idea of moving the the library over there, now there is
a library in the school. You expand the library. It works with the seniors. The seniors use the library. You know that that kind of partnering so that you find and you know this is a not for for profit. They they make their money out
of operating the right the the housing and and you know maybe the town gets paid for it's it puts up its equity. It gets paid out of providing you know the long-term housing. So you you think about those
kinds of activities in which in which you there are not for-profit u uh there are not forprofit developers who you know who who could you know partner if you put up there's no land
costs there there is some building cost but you're starting with a building so you you've got that renovation cost but someone else is put to do the renovations someone is putting their money in, not our money, right? And they
go out and they get grants for for each of the units. They get and they do they do tax tax increment financing. They do all those kind of things and they that's their business. And I I think that could be what to do is you you have the
different sections on either end that you save for the town use. The center part with all the classrooms you make into housing, you send in an RFI or RFP. Uh get proposals. Um people will really
come in and look at everything. Yeah. And the town's really not equipped the mindset of it's not just the mindset but the whole purpose of the town is not to be real estate developers you know so you know to put them in that kind of
you know to have somehow we'll have a committee that'll undertake you know you know the economic redevelopment of the high school is not going to work. we're not, you know, you need you need someone whose job it is to do that, right? And and I know it's
taken four years, but having this public meeting, I think, was a way to get everything on the table that we really need to do something and these are the ideas and I think we have consensus for this part of it and this
part of it. So, I think you had to go through that to to get where you are. Yeah, we had a public meeting, but it wasn't very well attended four years ago. I mean, there probably was 80 or 100 people at this point. Yeah. No, we we had about six people and one woman
bought a box of donuts. Mr. Chair, I I agree with uh both what Mark has said and what Bob has said. I've developed a lot of old buildings in prior lives and you know the first
question is always what is the use because the use then drives everything in terms of how you finance it and the use has to make sense and I would say while uh Westport is uh always in financial
stress that the times that Westport has decided to to make money, to invest money have been, in my view times where there has been uh a very strong
consensus and a vision for something that solves a problem for a long time that everyone gets on board. The fire station, the police station, the school were investments of significant amounts
of money. But they there was no there was some arguments around the school, but there was no real argument. Do we need this? And there was an answer that said if we invest this money, it's solving this problem for a long time.
And whereas the sewer work in the north end did not have either that consensus or or that feeling adequately developed right uh for the town to then say we want to make that investment. So I think
that that's why I asked you know is there consensus because if there emerge a strong consensus that this is what the answer should be and this is going to solve a problem for a long time or even that it
may reduce our operating cost as a town for a long time because it's going to allow us to make investments. I'm not saying whether this stays town offices or not. Who knows what that consensus is
around. Um then uh then there's at least the potential that the town says like the police, like the fire, like the school, this is worth a significant investment. But I also agree if you were
to do housing, uh then you say, "Hey, we want this for our town use and you get a good housing developer. I know the president of one who lives about three miles from here
has done housing of this scale you know all over and you get the money that's your business housing development and it provides a very important need for Westport and it's not the town's uh
money being invested in someone else but it's a but the town needs met. Well, I think we're we're maybe this our discussion is focusing more heavily on uh housing as a potential use for the
majority of the building. Then am I right in saying than the than it was in the meeting? Uh because the meeting you were considering a variety of I don't think anybody was looking at the big picture. What do you do with the rest of the building? I mean, I think there was
consensus for COA to go there. Yeah. How many square feet is that going to push? Uh, the community center, it's parts of the building that already exist. They have to be changed a little bit. And if you're going to have housing
in there, you got to wall them off so that you're you can't go back and forth. But um nobody was saying, "Okay, if we do that and do that, what are we going to do with the rest?" And but I think the rest can pay
for the other stuff. I think that you can get money from a developer to do a friendly 40b plus we get say they do 80 units we're going to get 25% of that is
is affordable because it's a 40B. Yep. And if it's a friendly one then we can have some input into what they do. It wouldn't be like the one up above 177 that the town is dealing with
now. I know it's a it's a permitted use. Yeah. Because but you couldn't have the dense housing without a 40. Yes. You need something. So, I think you could put out an RFP, a
request for proposals to uh housing developers and and just as Bob said, you know, offer, you know, the building the town puts up the building, but they we you know, solicit proposals. How much of the developers how much of the building
would you want to use and what would you know how many units would you create and uh and what what kind of financing etc they have. I mean I saw a program where there are some developers in Rhode Island that specialize in renovating
vacant school buildings into housing. We met with one today. We did. Yeah. Okay. uh that I'd met in December uh at Cork over in Nebraska or at wine and cheese get to know each other uh serpent put on at
Cork in December and Paul Schmidt came and so I I met one of them and he came with an architect today and we sat right here and talked about this and he said the same thing. What you need to do is
basically send out an RFI and get interest, get people to tell you what what what can and can't be done. And this guy does that with old school buildings. Yeah.
And you know John Perry? Yeah. The architect. Yeah. Yeah. He he drives out to the birkshars and but he doesn't go on the mass bike. He goes on route 20 to go visit his daughter and he stops at this little
diner in Palmer near where I used to live. And so he's sitting at the counter and there's a guy on either side and they're talking to each other over him. The guy on this side is the chair of the planning board in Palmer. guy over here
is a selectman and they're talking about what to do with a high school that's empty now. So, it's not a unique problem. No, it's not a unique problem. All right. So, let's go on to minutes.
So, we have a ton of minutes. Yes. Okay. So, the first is the executive session minutes of October 15th of last year. Mr. Chair, I uh move to approve the
October 15, 2024 executive session minutes. Second as written. All those in favor? I I uh next are planning board meeting
minutes from November 19th, which is also executive session, right? No, it's executive session. November 19th is executive session. No, there's an amended executive session
on December. I had it wrong. I grabbed the wrong 19. Oh, but it's in your packet. So, uh, we're looking at the minutes that are in our packet for November
19th, 2024 executive session. Okay. Because the one I was looking at is not. So, All right. So, I would move to approve the November 19th, 2024 executive session minutes as written. Second.
Any comments? All those in favor? I I uh planning board minutes amended executive session uh meeting minutes of December 3rd. So, what's the amendment? It'sized.
Oh, it's uh on the topics discussed pending litigation. There just wasn't enough detail in the minutes for open meeting law. So, we had to add some addition. We didn't have a finding or anything, but I noticed that there wasn't enough detail in them. So, we went back and added some more detail
in there. Okay. All right. So I I would move to approve the dis the amended executive the December 3rd 2024 minutes as amended. Second. All those in favor? I
I uh planning board meeting minutes of February 25th, 2025. So now we're getting into current events now, right? Yep. Mr. Chair, I I would move uh to approve the February
25th, 2025 minutes. Second, uh there's there's a typo on the third page where you misspell my name. Sorry, you would notice that, wouldn't
I? It's not unusual. All those in favor? That's correct. All right. Well, I abstain. I wasn't there, but look good.
Okay. Planning board meeting minutes of March 11th. So now we really are getting this gets us caught up. No, the 25th. 25th. Do the 25th. March 25th. All right. I move to approve the March 11th, 2025 minutes as
written. Second. All those in favor? I I [Applause] Wow, that's a lot of minutes. It's a lot of minutes. So, can we help you guys? You're sitting
there listening all evening to a lot of this boring stuff. Yeah, we were uh I thought we were on the uh the meeting for tonight. The agenda would be probably on 2A West 280
28. They had submitted an application. I don't know. Uh it didn't make it onto the agenda. So, it's a minor modification to the uh prior approved site plan. Um it didn't make it onto the agenda. We have 65 days to review it
after it's been deemed um complete. It is a complete application. Uh I just unfortunately did not make it onto the agenda. So, we have until um June 18th to review this. However, we'll put it on the next agenda. Uh, unfortunately we only have one meeting next month which
is on May 20th 20th. Um, so we'll review it at that time. What is this about? It's a ANR. No, it's a modification to a site plan. So they had um added some retaining walls and
some um crushed gravel onto a commercial site that had previous site plan approval. So it's consulting engineers already looked at it because this is an open site. Uh they have other prior approval.
Didn't have any issues with it. Um but we just you know have to formally put it on your agenda. Yeah. I she had messaged me saying it was going to be tonight. That's why we came. Yep. So sorry it didn't make it.
I Is it holding you up at all? Well, we Yeah, because he was going to be moving. We got the temporary office department approved by Randy and we were moving everything in the building and outside of the building and he um he the notice to his other building to move everything
out. So, he can't move all of his outside kind of I'm kind of stuck at where I'm at with this wait until next month. It kind of it kind of puts a jam in his equipment if we have to wait until next month. So, when did we receive this? April
14th. Was last a week from she just told it was going to be on tonight. Yes, sir. Do you have the information here or I I do I we can't we can't review it if
it's not on the agenda though. I just hate to hold them up. Um we can put it on since it's a minor site plan. So we can put it on the uh work session for next week on the 29th. Oh yeah. Okay, we'll do that.
Can you Do we have to notice? No. For a minor site plan, you don't have to. No. Um can you make next week? Uh 4 p.m. What day? What's the day? The 29th. The 29th. If you can't, we can still we can still
review it. Just So we'll be giving them a week right after. Okay. So just wanted to say we can't look at anything tonight just now preliminary just to see open get up open meeting law is uh is difficult to deal with in terms of
in there are there are people who who look at agendas and look at what we decide and if we decided something that wasn't on the agenda. Uh, the town gets reported to
the attorney general. And believe me, if I could do it tonight, I would. Um, but there are people in Kansas who watch all this
stuff and I guess get their get their jollies from getting us in trouble. So, but if uh this is number one minor, number two,
it's met with the support of the planning staff, uh we can do two things. One, we can meet on this where it's properly advertised on the 29th and you wouldn't
be there. But you don't you don't need to be you don't need to be there. Um, if you've got if this is minor and the staff is in support of it, it's a relatively low
risk. You're not being there. We understand that we moved this and if we're taking attendance, we'll say you were here for two hours on the wrong day, so that counts for something. The other thing is if you really do want to
be here, we can pick it up on May 20th. May he's already moving his equipment out of his own. So, so then it would seem the best thing to do is to go ahead on the 29th even if you're not there
because I I think you I I will say that staff's fine with it and the consulting engineer is fine with it. So, and there's really not much to review for what has been changed. So, you can make a judgment just on what you heard from the
Yeah. So, we'll put it on the agenda for the 29th then. Is that all right? Okay. Are we all set with that? Thanks for your understanding. Thank you. Sorry about that.
We've got a vacant seat here in five years. You could run that city. Yeah. Have a good night. You too. So this is the April 3rd decision. Yeah. It's the notice of to us. We had
weard action on the site plan with this project and were supportive of it. The zoning board uh were not supportive of it, but they're looking at different things than what we're looking at. Well, they Yeah,
but they also denied it without prejudice so that they can bring it back. They left as a formal request and they left the cease and desist in place and also told them that
if they have if they get a used variance they have to come to the planning board and get a special permit. Okay. So does that cover that? Yep. You want a motion to adjurnn, Mr. Chair? Please move to adjourn.
Second. All those in favor?