Planning Board Meeting Aug 24, 2023

001I will now open the meeting for the Ashland planning board on August 24th 2023 at 7 20 pm and we are all here other than Trisha so today I will chair tonight and we will begin with the clerk's report uh Madam chair and board members we have received one communication since the last planning board meeting that was actually from an applicant so I assume that our town planner will take care of a response to that and that is it thank you okay and now we're going to move to our public comment a brief introduction the planning board for several months several meetings now has had a public comment it's at the start of our meetings the purpose of this public comment is to allow members of our community to come and speak about General items

002relating to planning if your comment relates to a project that's on the agenda or an item on the agenda we do ask that you wait unless there's something preventing you from doing that and do we have any public comment uh I could see that there's one person with their hand Rings Mr Mark the Sony if I could can I please ask Mr Mark desoni to uh to unmute himself and introduce his name and address okay thank you good evening all it's not really much of a thought on my side but it's just thanking the time to have the baby of the talk and get on get on with the public proper comments I'm fulfilling this board is here more transparent for what they have been doing and I'm not going to ask the last three

003who want to talk about what the goals are I'm not going to ask that tonight brother saying thank you for the citizens participation and anything that I can co-watering with and talk to with anybody they want to ask my experience or what I've been doing I would like to um join in on any subject that can be talked on thank you thank you Mark and is there any other public comment and it does not appear to be any other public comment Peter am I correct correct okay and with that we will move to the next item in our agenda which is our discussion with the sustainability committee regarding the development of a new tree bylaw and as I understand Margie is going to present on behalf of the sustainability committee is that right Peter uh

004that's correct and tonight we have uh we have Margie but we also have a few other members so I think it'd be appropriate just to let Margie introduce uh the her committee members uh and to go from there sounds good thank you go ahead Margie sure um so Chuck let's just join in here's the vice chair our chair Ash is away at this time and then we have Mark Matt Marsh Quest and Cara um who you can't see but they're here and myself wonderful and Margie do you want to tell us a little bit about the background of this particular bylaw and how we got here and what um you hope to accomplish tonight with us so that we have the planning board knows what how we can help okay so um I have given

005you two documents one was last week and it was sort of a summary of what's in the bylaw and um I can't pull that up in my screen so I'm gonna have to go for a memory on that and then one I gave you this week that's more of an outline that I thought could guide our discussion tonight so um do you want me to try to remember off the top of my head what was in that other document or do you have questions about it so what I would suggest I know Peter you sent to the planning board a one-page document um I believe today with the amended agenda um that sounds like the kind of shorter pinpoint version is that something Peter we can put up on the screen and maybe Marjorie you

006could walk us through it and as a starting point yeah sounds good just hold on a sec I just gotta grab it please bear with me Margie that's what you sent over today right yesterday no the that I have that one right in front of me and Peter the document that was very more towards where we're gonna go going forward it's going outline on the email Peter if you it wasn't attached it begins with the sustainability committee strongly supports a tree by law yeah I have it I'm open it up right now that's not the one from last week but that's one from this happy to address that one Margie do you want to start with this one that we got today the one pager and then we can move to the prior document which

007I believe is a little bit longer it might be a little bit more layered okay for how do you want to proceed whatever is easier for you guys if you and Matt have a particular approach you wanna take us through I think what would help the board is to hear about what you're trying to accomplish with the tree bylaw and what some of your challenges are if you will that we can offer input on I'm good with that okay so this kind of summarizes that starting with what we hope to accomplish um and so I think it's maybe doesn't need to be said but this tree by law is important to us as part of the Net Zero plan um which is why we keep pursuing it and um so I outlined four things that

008I think are where we're trying to get to so I'll read them to you uh we want to preserve and protect this valuable resource um that let's sequesters and stores Comp Carbon but also provides the whole ecosystem comprised of treason and other parts of the community provide essential services to humans we want to prevent the loss of this especially due to clear cutting of property we would like to use trees to help us lessen the destructive effects that are caused by climate change such as flooding and heat Islands and we would like to Encompass the community in in this process of protecting our natural resources okay and then as far as applicability it sounds like you're kind of narrowing in on larger um commercial type of development rather than residential property yes that is correct

009so from the beginning the bylaw has excluded homeowners private property and has focused on larger developments and it specifically names the types of permits that would trigger the bylaw so site alteration special permit um help me out here Peter I forget um special permits right yeah yeah essentially is it is it only applicable to the kinds of hearings if you will be before the planning board that are not private residential property owners yes exactly so um there's something in there referring to subdivisions and um yeah but it's exactly right that everything that would go before the planning board but not um not a private homeowner okay a question about that that um wondering why the private property was left out like how kind of what was your consensus or study about that I I did

010look up um like Concord how's that another yeah well it seems reasonable right it's not that you decide to cut down a tree for whatever reason it's it's also related to if you're expanding your property your footprint of your house or you want a garage and again it's defined at what size tree and how that works so I'm wondering how you guys came about to exclude private a homeowner versus a developer okay so we discussed that from the very beginning which was I don't know maybe four years ago and we decided that at least at this point in time we would exclude exclude private property because mainly because we felt that it would be very hard to pass a bylaw because and we've gotten this feedback when we've been talking to people it's going to

011apply to my property and if so I can't support it okay so it's all I guess it's like I think that has to be kind of fleshed out more because it's always private property I mean it can apply for the town as well but you're not I guess to make it clear you are applying this to private property and town property just not a individual homeowner is that correct are you only applying intending to to be public property um no it's not limited to public so um when a developer is going to put up apartments on the lot that it would apply apply for one of those permits so essentially it is applicable to multi-family housing commercial space yes or public property would it apply to like a public school I don't think so because

012they would not apply for a permit would they they do they do apply for a permit and so you have to give me a break here because I don't understand those terms that's okay not a big deal so I this is one of the benefits of this kind of meeting right we can kind of flush some of those things out and so what I what I'm thinking is maybe I mean I can take some notes of some of these topics that are coming up um so that we can come back to these right so like what I'm hearing is the scope of this bylaw like the applicability of it we we're going to have to flush out who it applies to and whether it applies to public development only private development and what kind of

013private development so it sounds like right now what I'm hearing is that it's being presented to us as private development multi-family housing type of document and we just need to flush out as a planning board and as a community what that means and whether that's appropriate I I am curious Peter if in general from your experience in planning whether communities are allowed to create bylaws that only address private versus public space like can the bylaw be very clear that this is not apply to public projects are we allowed to kind of narrow ourselves in a bylaw just to private space I think you can agree I think we'd have to double check on this I think you can bring it yourself or you can uh give the given out toward Municipal projects right to give

014an exemptions um you know I think just to add into what Margie was kind of saying I think uh you know going back to when the bylaw was first discussed four years ago pre-covered um the idea was to have this apply to subdivisions but also projects for you know commercial development makes use development um and then on and then down the line right that projects that were already would be triggered under the same thing review and or uh special tournament dialogue but this would not pertain to be residential development uh Kate is corrective as you see other towns if you're starting to compare other towns and research in other communities tree bylaws do reach into residential a typical which is your typical residential development housing structures especially way number one it's a tear down and

015then somebody comes in and knocks Down and Out proposes to build a bigger house and or someone proposes you know addition greater than I would say 50 of the existing house um and so there are elements that I've seen across New England across the eastern Mass for tree bylaws are growing in popularity um and uh where they would do require you know a plan to plan or replays indoor payments in the world um but I know that was a broad brush answer to that small question I'm sorry no I think that's really really helpful it sounds like this bylaw right now may be a little bit less aggressive than other communities um by kind of exempting or not applying to individual private landowners and it also sounds like we might be able to exempt public

016development if we so choose um so now that we kind of go ahead sorry I would I'll consider that as a waiver that we would have to go through kind of a waiver process um but that's that's what I would that be the the best I think that's the best element I think that's the best tool to think about right now for municipal partners um and Margie do you or anyone on the sustainability committee want to comment on on these points before we start to kind of discuss the the rest of these topics I will so what what Kate mentioned is correct so places like um Wellesley apply to public shade trees and also to private residential property and um the same Cambridge applies to residential construction and demolition um Newton a special permit and

017a building of 25 000 square feet or more Somerville is public shade trees and private property and then there are other bylaws that a lot of them are just public shade treat which is a little surprising to me since we have a state law that does that but they can add to it to tailor it to their own situation um so yeah there are a variety of types and and ours is a bit different that way it's what I think the consensus of the original group that formed thought was appropriate here and I guess I should emphasize that one of our main goals is to stop hair cutting of lots thank you Margie so it sounds like the purpose of this at least for Ashland is not so much to limit um development on a

018small private landowner scale but more of the clear cutting that has been a concern yes that's true if if we want to revisit that we can revisit it so my suggestion for the planning board and the sustainability committees we could now in front of us we have these topics like the definition of a protected tree replacement requirements and we could spend I would say a long time discussing all of these things in depth um and I don't know how much time we have tonight to do all of that and so what I thought we would do is have Margie kind of walk through some of these things for us all together and then we can see which topics really jump out to the planning board as controversial or requiring a deep dive tonight how does

019that sound to the planning board I like if I can make a comment um I I think they'll be fine with me I I think before we get into those more detailed Explorations that this group um [Music] did uh can we address this bigger picture items first and and maybe Steve we are on the same page yeah like the uh I just want to clarify that this list of topics is there for us to discuss over the course of the next few months thank you so much laying them out there for now but um I should say that I have made peace with the the postponement of this bylaw to Spring Town meeting because I think that the planning board and sustainability have a lot of things to discuss and work out and especially because

020we need to have a really thorough public process and and there isn't time I'm I'm accepting that now so yeah this is a list of things that we can spend the next up really until probably until March wonderful and in that case my suggestion would be that maybe we can through marcelo's input we can identify some of the big picture ticket items just identify them throw them kind of on the board if you will and then come up with a work plan um together to address these multiple points how does that sound as a realistic goal for the meeting does that sound good Deepa Kate um I agree with that I would like to leave here with like probably specific I know sometimes our schedule shifts a little but like specific topics and dates because

021I do not I don't want to take or put off the gas I think Ash expressed that sustainability committee and I think this the planning board can offer that kind of support that we regularly have it on our meetings to get through these topics and I I think Marcelo suggested and I agree when these are live talked with the public that's part of the public exposure I don't think it's good enough but I think it's um getting this regularly in front of the public so yes with please dates topics through March 24. okay and so Marcelo Deepa you're kind of nodding yes does that plan sound good to you okay yeah I think this was that you're seeing in front kind of covers all the big topics but I think we need to set the

022foundation first before kind of going deep into some of these topics because these topics can take different forms in different scenarios um so I think we should set the foundation right first to make sure that what kind of projects are we attacking are we kind of pigeon holding ourselves into one particular type category versus like looking at the big picture um and I think some of these questions if you go through this list like for example um I think it is Watertown for example recently came up where they are allowing residents to um if they're willing to plant a tree in their kind of property they are they can reach out asking for that so I think there's a lot of these categories can apply for a lot of those private owners as well big

023or small um and I think we should give make sure that that opportunity is set when we're trying to look at this bylaw before just talking about one aspect of this thank you Deepa and Marcelo you had mentioned some big ticket items are these the ones you were referencing did we miss one uh no no we I I don't I don't think we we missed one I think I think the these um this this document is is a great start I I Was preparing more of what was just discussed uh in the sense of the big picture um Margie was telling us you know this is the the objective the the objective is to to achieve this this big picture goals and and hear the bullet list is uh is is it's a good start

024of of of items that that would be part of it I I just I I think before we kind of bypass it and just saying oh yeah this would apply to to residential or not I think that's one of the critical parts that I I would hope that we that we all can discuss a little bit more and and see if we are kind of on the same page and and I'm just gonna mention what came to my mind as as I listened to to Margie and and Joanna at the beginning so the the in principle I think and I agree with Margie that that I think they are trying to to to adjust this to Taylor to to make sure that that is something that is uh well received by the community and it

025favors the community not everybody is going to be on board for it or for everything on it but but at least uh uh something that that that is in favor for the majority and and and it can pass so I think that's a good objective now when we started looking into that and we start saying okay it would apply to to to to just this or that I think that's critical because uh for example I I I would I I from for for several meetings have stated that there's no way that that that a talent should pass a bylaw that that impacts you know private developments or or even residential lots and not the municipal uh projects as an example excluding the town to me is philosophically unacceptable I think the town should actually lead

026on that and and we've talked about that maybe help the town to see if there's going to be our fund which I think is part of one of these Bullet at least points uh but the talent should not be excluded from this and I think setting that stage would be more amenable for people to accept it and and to accept the value of it um overall I think it makes sense what Margie said I mean commercial properties uh uh that there's some requirements especially if they go for for a special permit that makes a lot of sense to me uh the the residential part uh uh there could be gradations I think it should not be uh um like the honors in a way that is that that is that is unreasonable I think there

027could be a a type of exchange when somebody wants to add a garage like like somebody said um that's some type of replacement that is that is a little less stringent than what a commercial project would face or the town um and lastly I the idea of clear cutting I totally understand that because uh I hated when that happened and in general I'm I'm very excited about these possibilities uh but I think clear cutting and Margie I think you said that it's one of the key objectives of this effort and I am I'm a little doubtful of what the percentage of the problem in Ashland is clear cutting um my understanding is that there's not a whole lot open land that would be clear-cut for developing in Ashland uh so even though I think it

028should be part of it because I think it's important I don't think it's going to be the majority of of the applicability of these by law I think the majority is going to be what happens on large developments and and quite frankly on Residential Properties because that's the majority of Ashland so uh those are just general thoughts on on to to see if if we could discuss it and narrow to understand how Global the the the orbit of this by law really wants to be and that that's that's what uh crossed my mind hey so while you were talking Marcelo and you mentioned the importance of applying it to public areas essentially as a matter of leadership both deep and Kate you were nodding yes is that something that you both agree with I just

029want to see where there's consensus with the planning board absolutely I think that was a good point I think as a town we should set the example for people coming into the town to make sure we should we should be the leaders and set that uh example before expecting somebody else from outside to come and do it and Kate you you give a thumbs up do you want to add something nope I I concur I think it absolutely should be supportive sustainability folks are you are you in concerts and so bad are you comfortable with with expanding this bylaw to cover public space it was actually it was always my impression that that the town would it would apply and and I think that would point of contention in the last go-around because there were

030two um Municipal properties in the works okay so it sounds like there's some consensus with folks here that we can move on to other items and mercelo's point seems like a good point to start a discussion on which is what is clear cutting what's the definition and is that really what we have left in other words how many properties truly at this point are left for the potential of clear cutting and if there's not much are we focused on the right thing I think is that what you're did I summarize that correctly Marcelo yeah that's exactly the point I want to make sure maybe it is a big part of the problem I'm not convinced it is uh but just uh it would be great to to put all the energy on whatever is going

031to have the biggest impact so then my question for the sustainability folks hopefully you've been a little bit closer to this issue and you've worked on this for a little while do you have any data or knowledge that you can share with us as far as kind of the status quo of properties in Ashland that are kind of left um for potential clear cutting or you know how do you define it you know has there been an analysis done of what we're what are we dealing with here in Ashland I'll start um I I my understanding is that there are limited lots that are that are still undeveloped but they do exist so um and some of them are sort of in the works um but you might see this example so um the property

032up by the train station that is in in the courts right now is heavily wooded property so clear cutting could certainly apply there and um there's the property at 501 Pond Street that was cleared sitting there and granted it wasn't heavily wooded but there there was vegetation and trees that it's no longer there now it's just [Music] um a swamp for lack of a better word so I I personally think that it it is anyone else from the committee want to jump in um I'll say I think in one breath there it does seem like there's not a lot of big Parcels left in town but I think that's deceiving um I want to say there has been properties on Oregon Road and Oak Street um I know that the Town Forest has um there's

033properties of budding it that are large parcels and when I say large Parcels I mean over two acres um and once you start counting them um it's significant because of the value that each forested um acre provides um so I I do think that this is overall worth it um otherwise Margie and I and Matt and the rest of the committee wouldn't have been spending our time uh trying to make something that will stick um so yeah there there are significant amount of properties um yeah I I can think I can add to that because I do live on Oregon Road and I know the property owner who has been fighting off of developers who want a clear-cut and put up a bunch of houses uh I you know greatly sympathize with her but we

034don't but you know if we had a mechanism where we were protecting the large majority of the area that she um it's trying to protect I keep trying to tell persuade her that she should just donate it to the town Forest but because it does abut the Town Forest but so far she's not proposing to do that so but yeah so could I ask kind of an ignorant ignorant question um and maybe Marcelo and Deepa can jump into with their experience like what I'm imagining is a certain size of a lot is needed for a developer to come in and build you know multi-family housing right and so if you have a very small lot it's challenging to do that um what would be kind of can we agree what is sort of the minimum

035size that's needed for multi-housing development like how do we Define it is it is it five units is it 10 units like what is the size and I think once we Define that as a group and understand it we can have an easier conversation about how many of those lots are out there in Ashland that have enough trees that there could be quote unquote clear cutting is that a helpful exercise because I honestly don't know what the answer is to that so I have another way to look at though if we're trying to protect trees like can we craft it around like sometimes there's a small amount of trees and sometimes there's a bigger amount like I'm having a hard time seeing how if a half acre lot in my neighborhood got clear-cut how it

036matters if it's a five acre somewhere else like it's still got clear-cut it has those big impacts in fact that it happened in my neighborhood it was a wildlife Corridor right in a dense neighborhood but it was and it got so I I I'm not quite sure how it matters I guess except protecting the trees well I I would say just to address Anna's question first I think um it is it's tough to to answer it because every point definition when you develop a project every project is unique because every lot is unique on orientation on access and utilities Etc typically I think the building code considers I think four units or more a commercial building or this this volume or square footage after which is is considered a commercial building on the commercial building

037code applies um I I think the the the the challenge that I see because I think I I don't think we're going to have a lot of a problem a lot of an issue with people agreeing with it with the overall intent of what we're doing here what where things get a little dice is um addressing Kate's common let's let's pretend that that example takes place if the zoning bylaw on a district allows for that lot that that Kate was referring to to develop a certain percent a certain far because that's what the law says then and we all want to save trees or and I wouldn't say maybe you don't have to get into into a close position where you just save that tree or sometimes properly replace it with more trees which is

038better than save one at some in some in some cases you you have to take some trees down unless there's certain value of the tree uh but how how is these by law going to compete with the zoning where the the owner of a property has the right to develop a certain far uh and and now these other bylaw is going to say oh yes but you don't because we have to save these streets so it is it I I think that's the the difficult part of it uh I think is is easy to address I think how trees should be replaced on a certain type of or size of development uh how do you treat the the open space in the lot or I guess quite frankly then you would have to amend the

039zoning bylaw to provide certain portion of every lot of a certain size to be basically uh uh allowed almost like an easement for for for for green um for for tree planting or something like that so it's a little tricky that way in my in my head go ahead sorry is that Kara talking yeah sorry thank you we um Margie Matt and I um have talked a lot about um and this goes on to you know how do you measure um either or quantify the trees and their value on the property we've gone kind of back and forth a little bit about whether to do this based on tree canopy or to count individual trees by dbh and um that and we ran into you know how would we want this apply to a lot

040that is in the center of Ashland versus you know a property of budding the forest so we've we've talked about it it this is not an easy uh an easy Endeavor but we have given consideration to both um how do you make this something that applies to both types of properties and so how did you how do you guys do that just just to if you can explain a little bit more are are you thinking that would have some type of map where some districts in that map have a different gradient of of enforceability than others so I think um our current uh struggle with that was we were starting to like the idea of doing it more by tree canopy um and using different tools whether it be um I think it's I tree

041is a is a mapping tool that you know kind of gives a percentage of treat canopy coverage we kind of found it to be a little bit inaccurate um but you know we had tossed out the idea of like would a lower percentage be more acceptable within downtown you know and that would be based on like zoning or whatnot versus a higher percentage required and you know uh more forested um or maybe do we make it you know measure what the canopy coverage is prior to construction and then try and match it so that wouldn't actually be overall improving our tree coverage um but it would be at least maintaining it so these were ideas we have talked about we haven't settled on anything one of the things that um came into play when we

042talked to uh Becca Solomon our conservation agent was she was not a huge fan of measuring by the tree canopy coverage and Margie had more of the conversation with Becca on that I wasn't there for that meeting but um the overall gist from what I got Margie was that it would be difficult to measure by tree canopy coverage and therefore it's harder to enforce and yeah Margie do I have it right I have it right you think yes that that is a good summary um but I'm wanting to go back to the beginning and in the application because it's suddenly seeming even more complicated than I thought it was originally and I'm hoping that a planning board can help with this so we were advised in the very beginning about the the specific types of

043permits that would be appropriate for this bylaw and I just had to kind of go on faith because as I said before I don't know the ins and outs of of the permitting process and the various types so this whole discussion is just calling into question exactly where we want it to apply and I'm not quite sure how to move forward to resolve that so I I've been listening to all this and I'm trying to categorize kind of the concerns and listening to Marcelo and then Kara and Margie marcelo's point the first point he made correct me if I'm wrong Marcelo is a concern over the ability of private landowners to develop and how on a small scale small tiny pieces of land not massive ones but smaller you know something that might be four

044units were in that vicinity and the ability to kind of prevent private development and where that line is and so I kind of heard that as a concern um and I do think that one way to address that might be it's not like we're going to prevent the removal of every tree we're going to try to Define what can or cannot be removed and then we're going to create incentives to prevent removal and perhaps a tree fund so that if you have to remove for development there's a mechanism for replanting elsewhere I'm assuming we're not going to prevent development we're going to allow development allow tree removal under specific circumstances that's kind of a very quick solution I had if you will I think there's a way to allow development without saying no you can't

045develop here because this tree is too pretty right yes you're a private developer you can cut this tree but because it's a certain size you're going to have to do certain things yeah I I like the way you you just just put it I think you were very very clear I I think the the I guess the beauty of what this could do is um I I always like the word incentives uh even in small projects uh let's say that that they could be um uh special um benefits of protecting a tree of a certain canopy or a certain caliber even on on land right whether this goes there or not but the incentive of of maybe adjusting your your building or or or or the houses that Chuck was saying maybe adjusting the plan

046to try to protect as much as possible of a lot instead of clear cutting if there are incentives that that would benefit the project and the town I think that that that's all good I I overall I think I I would love if if there would be a magical way to to make this be a bylaw that is that that promotes the right type of development but through the doing that incentivize the increase the increasing the footprint of of of trees that we have in the town over time uh so like like you said Anna maybe there's a there's a place where and buildings typically especially larger buildings the more compact they are the more efficient the the the the they become uh and and so there's a place where that building is going to

047be located where obviously you're going to have to remove all those trees so what do you do then and and and if if if there there's a mechanism mechanism of replacing those in the side now tier one let's say ideal uh and replace them with more than those that were there which in some cases we have I guess the example is 501 um that the margin mentions is a good one because that project was permitted and and it was basically a material dump before and what what is permitted is going to end up with more trees than where they're at the beginning uh and and the the the the objective is that it doesn't have to be there that could be ideal if it's in situ but if if there could be a replacement to

048a fun or simply by putting having areas of the town where people can can plant the trees that they're cutting somewhere else as long as we are increasing all the time our population of trees I think that probably isn't positive route I'd like to respond to that go ahead um I want to point out that incentives and offsets are high on our list of things that we want to incorporate and Sam is actually working on that right now that aspect there are a couple towns in the vicinity that have what they call a green score that um give credits for various things that would other that can offset the loss of a tree and still contribute to reducing emotion emissions for example so um definitely want to do that okay so that sounds like a

049really helpful thing that we want to explore further in the future kind of what incentives mean and I'll I'll add to that I really liked marcelo's point about like tears of replacement like so tier one might be like if you think about it the ideal scenario is no trees are cut down and you somehow magically develop between them right and that should be super easy like that should be like a permit that we basically we will do we will create incentives you can build density you can you can do crazy stuff because you're protecting every tree on that property you're going to get a gold star right then there's like the second tier which is you have to cut some trees down but you're more than happy to plant the same amount same type on

050property yay so you're like not quite the gold star but like close right and maybe maybe there is an incentive because we we allow more parking or less parking or I don't know something and then there's like tier three which is oh my God you're gonna cut down every tree on that property but you're gonna stick a bunch of trees somewhere else or you're going to put it into a tree fund and maybe we have like some area in town that's public land where you're going to agree to plant some trees and that level might have the least incentive right because we don't really need to incentivize that that's like an easy way out you're just kind of moving your money somewhere um so is that what you have in my Marcelo or am I

051completely off well something like that I mean you just created a a a a great picture for it I I think but but but I I would say that that would extend even Beyond there is incentives on the municipal front um but actually not let me withdraw and rephrase that on the municipal front I think it should be a very strict uh requirement so the town leads on on how we can we can expand that but then you start getting into Scenic roads for example where I see an argument there which I think is used now I mean we've been talking about a tree on a Scenic Road for a long time right um the the in those cases there are certain trees that the tree itself is precious uh in particular in Scenic worlds

052I think we've we've heard that but there may be others in other places that are kind of not necessarily in development part of what the town or what an owner needs to develop there will be cases like that so maybe the bylaw needs to consider that as well and then there's the the ultimate tier of the larger projects and those are the most difficult ones but but I in principle agree with the way you said it in that case there will be um fewer incentives if there's not an effort to to do that but still the requirement to end up with uh uh an equal plus amount of trees either there or somewhere deeper do you have thoughts on this this does the the onion tier system kind of resonate do you do you like

053it I think so and I feel like uh the big picture is how is this going to support that Net Zero initiative right what is it that one is to preserve trees but what is going to help us to get to that NetZero which is what our final goal is during this journey of these 25 years what is that ratio that we need to make sure that we reach that effective net zero right there's like calculations out there like one ton of carbon dioxide is equal to that many trees so there is that ratio and math out there that we probably should also keep in mind when we're talking about the replacement quantities because you can bring down a 25 year old tree and plant something that's like absolutely the canopy is like one-fourth of

054what it was there it's not really it's quantities Apples to Apples but at the same time it's not really the same thing so uh I think the a lot of these categories have a very tiers within themselves so I think we one is to look at the big picture but also so go into each of these categories to look at that tier items and especially the replacement requirements I think has to be well flushed out because that's as important for that Net Zero initiative as much as trying to avoid the clear cutting that we are trying to do I think it's for me that feels like much more a stronger weapon like that Scenic row that you said we have brought down one tree and it's been two years we've never had a chance to

055put back that tree or put equivalent of that right because it's on a private property you just didn't happen so um everything every tree car is important and it's critical that was a one important one as well so um um this is a very serious topic it's got a lot of information kudos to the team you've got a very good list here for sure but as far as like the incentive because I think that's a really important Point does that resonate with you Deepa Kate and I definitely want to hear from the sustainability folks as well but if we can reach some consensus that we like the idea of incentives based on tears of tree cutting that's a helpful input for the sustainability folks so Kate are you are you there as well I I

056like the idea of tears and I like um I think definitely deepa's grounding it in that carbon carbon offset climate change people are becoming more familiar and that's we did support that as a community and I think um that goes along with you know it's a different world now than four years ago when you guys are working on it so we don't we we can be open to other things my concern about that um is the way we were initially just talking about it is that we're talking also zoning changes and that's a whole other animal which as you know is one of the reasons I signed up to be on the planning board so I'm not afraid of that work but what I I think we have to try to get something for Springtown

057meeting and so working the tears with incentives when it's going to involve density I I don't know how that can happen for spring so I would caution us to try to figure out how to separate them a little bit so there can be something brought to the public with the public for Town meetings right fair enough so you're concerned that once we kind of have the tier systems it may require some complex zoning changes and difficult to pull off um okay I I saw the the sustainability folks nodding like Matt is there something is this helpful to you guys as far as input for incentives if one of you I think I heard Margie say someone is working on something relating to incentives can this is true in that what you've heard so far from

058us sorry Samantha's working on incentives Samantha is this helpful as far as input very useful um what I've been looking at them um was sort of other ways that they could offset carbon so that they didn't have room to put in trees but then they install the solar panels or in speaking of constitution Meadows are very important to our natural Wildlife Regional Wildlife so putting in a meta there's been so many the full root of solar equivalent to kind of normal so this is very helpful and I don't know about you guys I have kind of a hard time hearing Samantha but I can tell you we're approaching the one hour mark in this discussion and so I wanted to kind of try to um walk away with kind of the next step and what

059I'm hearing is that this kind of idea of incentives meaning the more trees you have to cut to do your project um the less we need to give you incentives meaning the less flexible we're going to be in our permitting right um that concept combined with Samantha talking to Becca and developing some ideas around that what are your thoughts sustainability folks for coming back with maybe a memo or some high level points from Becca and Samantha as to what that might look like hey this kind of you know this kind of tree cutting that's kind of like the magical ideal version I mentioned where you know you just happen to build right around every tree um and so we're going to be super flexible in our permitting right and like walk us through each layer

060each tier and what some of these ideas might be of incentives right flexibility that you're willing to give at each level um Anna can I add one last thought I just just to to kind of wrap up I I think and clearly even in this bullet list point in the first uh the topics to be considered and this document the incentives analysis are there so I I think a lot of of of of the ideas that we discussed are in this bullet list which which is great I think maybe what we can try to to develop as a part of the conversation is create the com make this list start working on on some type of system and un understandable and and logical system where there is a a gradient of Tears or or something

061else it really doesn't matter as long as it's not arbitrary and and disconnected uh and I think a lot of these bullet list uh points here uh are part of that of that ecosystem if we can start kind of making it work towards maybe around what Kate was saying with with a baseline that has some math to it but also with with the zoning part I I think a lot of the meat is is here in this document which is a good point of departure and Chuck you've got your hand raised did you want to add something I just want to uh say a gratitude to the planning word folks I think this has been really a helpful discussion and I think you've given us some things to work with so thank you okay and

062then one question yep go ahead Margie um talking about next steps and going forward I'm wondering how often we will meet with the planning board and um well I have some other questions but let's start with that yeah that's what I was going to say I think our next task here as we wrap up the hour is to come up with a work plan if you will um and um I mean obviously the planning board has to consider this and our availability um and Trish is not here as chair and I think we should obviously check in with her as well um but you know my thought my suggestion to the planning board is that we if sustainability is available that we allow with 20 30 minute discussion you know regularly at our meetings for

063this so that we have a working continued working movement on this is that something that resonates with folks so that we're not having hours and hours every time but maybe 20 30 minutes a meeting um so that we can make progress and move this along I have no problem with that as long as the agenda allows yeah for sure the more we discuss the quicker we will make progress the only thing I would ask if that works for the sustainability folks is maybe the sustainability folks could come up with I would trust them to they've been working very closely with these topics that they have outlined for us so they probably know what is kind of challenging and controversial versus the easy stuff um and maybe they can kind of organize it as a what's

064it called a projected work plan for us and and get that over to Peter and Trisha our chair and then we can kind of break it apart and fit it in right so I would suggest getting some easy stuff out of the way so that we get some momentum and get to know each other a little bit and then you know get into the nitty-gritty challenging things does that sound doable to Margie and the team I'm not sure how to answer that I think a lot of the things on the list are um a few things on the list are easy um and for sure can we identify is there we need some resources that can help with some of the more technical things and and these questions about when we might um inadvertently move

065over into the zoning realm and not want to do that is planning board and planning department um able to advise on that Margie I'm always happy and free to help talk and work with you on this bylaw we're not I don't think we're saying that we never want to talk about zoning right I think Kate is just saying we have to be thoughtful about it not that it's not allowed to go there right Kane yeah I think when we get into density incentives though it's going to get quickly wrapped up in that tier so um I I can see to get I mean I would say try for spring and I think we one way would be we have four tiers but we're holding off on implementing the fourth tier right but you can still

066pass the bylai thing probably you can check with Town Council flush it out but yeah okay one question on that I don't know what your thought is but uh one of the key things that I think we discussed this before I think for this to be successful as we kind of condensing it to a more intelligible system that of of parts I think uh how can we somehow advertise this and make sure that everybody in the community knows that this is taking place and start participating because if there's no clear Community input here right it's not going to happen anywhere I'm concerned about that that was one of my goals for tonight that we didn't get to before the time ran out is to develop a community outreach plan I think that's critical that we

067do that and also well I'll link the rest for later so one of the beauty of our agendas right is they are I think Peter correct me if I'm wrong pretty regularly the town posts on the website on Instagram hey planning board meeting coming up um and perhaps we could um add hey the tree bylaw is being discussed and we have you know it's going to be a topic for the upcoming 10 you know planning board meetings and we start to put that out there so that the public is aware that we're having this and you know everyone in the sustainability committee on the planning board can spread the word and and that way we start to generate some energy around this continued work working discussion as many ways to run a Facebook or social

068media campaigns and be interesting bylaws and um you know it really trees of that matter um at first I just want to state that obviously we're talking about pre-complex bylog right now and I think a goodbye law sometimes can also be a simple bylaw so I think I just want to reiterate I think it makes sense that we all go back after today's meeting and actually reread what was proposed which was sent out and I'm happy to resend it tomorrow just tell everyone kind of get their eyes on it but also just to take a look at what other communities have regarding tree bylaws uh because you know a tree bylaw we're not we're not creating the first tree of the bylaw ever in the state of Massachusetts we are joining the Cause right the

069same trees and obviously the in the fight against the climate change uh we'll say um but it's going to want to say you know let's take a look at what other towns have had and what works for them because uh that may be a good format right and or um template to use uh moving forward excuse me Matt I see you every day and Peter to that point can can you help us with that like at the next meeting could we have some examples of that so that we have context for the draft versus what other can I ask about that sorry yeah go ahead so Peter yeah could you elaborate because I have we didn't get to it tonight but I have a list of um the definition of protected trees for all uh

070bylaws or ordinances and um to to what realm they apply so are there other things that should should be included or is that mainly it entertainment the size of the tree yes and that's a great Point that's a great topic right and and I think we all have to come together and you know have the consensus obviously tonight we're on Zoom uh however at the last 24 meeting which we had them so difficult to do ran late I think the Plenty board remembers I had actually cut out um cardboard um samples of diameter right to show what is a tree diameter right and so I can tell you right now luxury our dialogue our definition call for a six inch tree is a major tree now I can tell you right now industry standards has

071an eight inch tree at rest Amber height in an urban environment has a tree that is of of of a major right and then a 10 inch Tree in a forested environment is considered a major tree right so I think you know just to talk about I think that the both committees need to come down to a to a consensus on what is a major tree or what isn't a major tree um and that's just one example that we have to work together on and and that's the reason why I made those cardboard um pancake diameter examples so what I what I want to know is when you say let's look at what other communities have done what should be on that list what topic should be on that list besides the size of the

072tree I mean what else the the payment blew up right can I can I offer Just one thought and I know that I think Matt wants to wants to talk as well um but um I I I I definitely we getting examples of what other communities have done is is important and I think it's kind of um is going to help us speed up the process but I think before we get into the details of how they uh selected this type of trail that type of three I think would be great to have like a little like a little table where where we see how the overall philosophy of this town is different from the other one in terms of implementation in terms of public private or what have you have the big picture ideas

073and see okay in Wellesley that that Community considers these power of the bylaw the key kind of the the key enforcement part that is critical in Concord they don't do like that or what community that is really similar like like more uh of our um income level and our type of economic activity what is important to them and maybe we can start comparing and see which one it's more similar to us so we've kind of started a little graph excuse me I know Matt you get your hands up I'm sorry oh um well I I think go ahead and I I had something relating to the Outreach so it's kind of jumping to another topic but I think you were going to say that you've done some comparison already we've got some comparisons already obviously

074died in the tree was a big one uh came into uh um we really haven't looked at incentive to an offset but I think other elements that you have to take into consideration are uh home value um average even their average you know average home value uh average median income um lot size so those are all elements that you have to take into consideration because you just can't you can't take from another community that you're just a dash is right you have to make mold it and say yeah that's the passion for these reasons one two and three um and and we don't we can take some of their principles and apply them but obviously we have to make it our own um and you know and Marcel we take the town of Wellesley right

075it kind of wealthy has a home immediate home values about work I believe it's a little over a million dollars I think it's around 1.3 1.4 right absolutely was about between I believe it's around five hundred thousand dollars currently if I'm lost and that that's why I made that point because and and their density is different if you go to a density of an affluent town with a very little density well they have a lot more green area than we do so that'll that'll applies absolutely correct can I just kind of counter that because for me it's also about equity so just because wellesley's Rich doesn't mean they get to have all the trees like I don't know how to be more direct on this point like one of the reasons I live here is

076Ashlyn is green and beautiful and just because we have more density or we're not as Rich doesn't mean all of our trees should be under attack by development so I'm uncomfortable with this idea that we should not be comparing ourselves to those who have more ability to protect their development or protect themselves from cutting trees I think it's an equity issue I think our community is becoming more and more diverse and people who are moving here are of all kinds of backgrounds race class gender and they deserve beautiful green trees just like Wellesley so I really want to counter this idea that we cannot be like Wellesley we can be like whatever we want to we the people of Ashland get to decide what is important for us and if we feel like we want

077a green protected environment we need to develop for that we don't have to keep being dense we can be different and there's a way to build severe density with a lot of trees I I can tell you I grew up in a very Urban environment um not in in a more of a European environment and I lived in a high high Riser you know high-rise apartment building that was extremely dense but in the middle of it was a beautiful Green Space and so there is a way to build dense and green together you don't have to be just like Wellesley but you can protect trees just like Wellesley foreign I'll just add one thing about Outreach you know I think we've already done some Outreach uh you know the survey that we sent out we

078had about 270 responses there was high interest in it um so that that's kind of helped us to hone in on some of the things like why we're not necessarily targeting individual Lots um we're doing larger larger projects that you know a lot of that comes from the feedback so um if you there's a PowerPoint that has those results if you're interested but I feel like we've we've kind of started with feedback and Community input so that's helping to inform this so hopefully uh you know we can bring people along at key points but we've already kind of set the foundation that we're listening to the community on it so I think we're now past the one hour Mark um to summarize it sounds like we have some consensus on the applicability of this to

079public space um the importance of a work plan and continued effort between the planning board and sustainability and coming up with a schedule if you will and trying to spread the word so that the public is aware of our schedule maybe sharing that's that work plan if you will um and then the importance of incentives and kind of a tier system and having Samantha it sounds like Samantha's doing some work on that and maybe coming to us with with the results um and also Peter's input on other communities including income and all of those details um so that we can have a chart if you will that compares all the different communities and we can have a deeper dive discussion um some of which I'm sure is very different from the views I've shared um

080so does that sound good as far as the next steps so we can wrap up tonight's discussion I see the folks nodding um and with with that we can move forward to the next topic thank you so much Margie and and the sustainability committee thank you Mikey thank you everybody and the next item on our agenda is the public hearing for 949 Homer Avenue site plan and special permit application and Peter as I understand the applicant has requested a public hearing continuance to September 14th 2023 do you want to speak to that yep I'm going to pull that up on my screen up here everything exactly um where capability this is the continuance that came in for 1949 Homer Street I know after the last meeting we had discussion about when we were going to

081continue this too uh and if the applicants had the availability to get what needs to be done uh with that said the applicant after Consulting after the meeting in Consulting with those um architect uh Mr Wrong board a civil engineer uh Mr Rick Salvo the attorney um Attorney Morris um contacting me and obviously stated that he needed to requested continuance they had some end of the summer vacation plan vacations happening and taking place so therefore they're going to feel comfortable to uh bring something back to the clinic board tonight um and then with that said um worked on um some comments for the design Review Committee those were actually shared with the applicant so therefore the applicant's going to put together a package to go back to the design Review Committee uh and so here

082we uh are planning to go back to the design review hopefully on September 21st and then they would reappear in front of the playing board on September 28th so they're looking for a continuance to September 28th and uh please note that they're looking to extend um the Plenty board's time to move on this matter to October 15th so at that point uh there's as much does anyone have any questions or is prepared to make a motion I have a question so the last um the gcg report the last meeting right at the meeting or right before so it wasn't really discussed they had um the responses that go to gcg so that's usually a round or two back and forth that happens um you know they facilitate I think Peter's sort of involved one of

083the things was they said um the consultant our third party consultant recommended a traffic study and the response from the applicant was we're working with the planning board on it now I said to Peter that I do not recall a discussion that meeting and my concern was um of retiming if they come and they discuss it with us and we say you have to get a traffic study the traffic study then goes to third party review I've usually seen that a couple rounds what does that do to the schedule so I I think we have to be cognizant of that I know that I believe Peter had talked to the applicant about it but that if they're coming back September 28th with a traffic study that hasn't been reviewed yet and that October 15th I

084I do still have concerns about the deadline um just to reply to that case so um I did take your email and I did a conversation with the applicant um and they did what they do obviously do believe that is important so they do believe that they will I believe right now they're going to come back with some information on that I think when I when I talked to our gcg my partner about this they're really initial comment was regarding the visual the um excuse me your visual um for visual sight line coming in and out of that driveway so I think that's the main point that gcg is trying to get across uh but hopefully the applicant will come back I think and we've been working with this applicant and I believe that um

085they have been uh respectfully obviously going to be continuances not you know an extension to work with the planning board and I don't think the point is the word and and I think they will continue to do that uh uh and so I I do I understand your point regarding time frame however um we are um almost you know a little shy of a year-round this application so I think they're going to continue to be cooperative yeah and and I do know that they were going to try to have take a look at that before the next meeting and any updates I get regarding the traffic and in and out I'm happy to share with everybody obviously first and for them and Is there further questions some more emotion I'll make a motion to continue

086the 9 to 49 Homer Street project till the September 28th planning board meeting on second in a roll call vote Catherine Jersey guy and that passes um the next item on our agenda is the reports on planning topics Peter you want to walk us through that yeah I just want to I can walk everyone through this one so the reports under plenty of topics I just want you to know uh doctor in my screen so looking at my notes um I know going back to Scenic Road we've been we've been long talking about Scenic World Scenic Outreach Anna you worked with um Alvaro uh together you know language regarding a uh a postcard out and so I just want to update uh work with the DPW we have we have a list of of uh

087all residents that live on Scenic roads now a couple of the condominium complexes were on that list uh but I can tell you right now we have over 800 and well we have 835 buttons on our Scenic roads so we plan to do a mailing of a postcard um at 51 cents per postcard that's going to cost about 425 five dollars and so we have nailed uh we have not we just wanted to give that estimate to the planning board uh but I think it's appropriate to move forward with that element um and so since we do have this list we will be doing hopefully a mail merge uh and uh being able to print out postcards for everybody so hopefully at the next meeting in your upcoming meeting we can wrap up that text

088regarding um of language uh regarding the scenic bylaws um and or the scenic ways so we can kind of check this uh item off of our list can I ask about that Peter I I thought we had the postcard already finalized and so if it's already finalized we're just going to use that then yeah I thought we did that at a prior meeting another thought I had is I think you know I don't know what the planning board thinks about this but like I live in a condo Community I don't think I'm on a scenic route but I live in a condo community and condos communities tend to have boards that release newsletters to all of their residents regularly and I wonder if we can save some money to the town and rather than having

089hundreds of postcards go out that in my opinion don't always get seen we reach out to the condo associations and have them put it into their newsletter just for rather than a postcard but I don't know what I don't want to miss a chance to get individual residents a postcard I'm just kind of throwing it out there that if that's a significance cost savings we should think about it I'm happy to discuss it it's you know I can take a look at how many committee ah I would have to take a look to tell you two data to see how many um how many of the abundance are actually within the condo development which is actually pretty easy because you're just looking for a couple of streets but obviously I know Elliott Street is the

090scenic road so I know Spyglass Hill and or in Europe in you know for example Spyglass Hill would be triggered um Cedar Street is it in the Cedar Road so in that instance you know Workman Circle another big condo development I mean that's hundreds of people and so I think that's going to save us some good good money and you know I think where we can't find money to plant a tree we we may want to be thoughtful about spending money on a postcard when we can really spread that news through the condo association newsletters much more efficiently in my opinion yeah I mean I don't know if you every resident in the condo building really needs that because what's being taken care is like the property office or the office of that Condo building

091that's what needs to be notified to make sure that they can pass it on I don't know if the plan was really to send to every individual family in a condo complex that doesn't make sense because they are not going around cutting trees yeah so I hope the 800 that you said Peter is not really having individual condo families accounted for all right we can take a look at that it's it's it's it's just it's a very bad scenario yeah trust me the last thing I we want to do is print off 800 um yeah I can tell you I I can barely like put a plant on my porch without getting someone complaining about it so I can assure you condo folks can't really cut anything um so I I would definitely look into

092that and and it's a very effective way to communicate with condo communities in my opinion okay uh moving on I would just want to reiterate uh item number D the MBTA communities on September 14th we will be joined by the select board um to discuss the MBTA communities in resulting in the direction we want to go and the priorities of the town and so if anybody has any topics regarding MBTA communities if they're going to send in please let me know and I can add them to the agenda or if there's any information I can get to everybody regarding MBTA communities I'll probably dust up a memo that I did to the planning board a couple couple months ago and a couple weeks ago and I'll resend that out leading up to the meeting on

093the 14th but that would conclude any uh any updates I have on your reports great and now we moved to the reports from board members and town planner and we begin with the comprehensive plan key do you want to do an update um sure we we've had a meeting last month so right now it's just once a month I think depending on work plan the September meeting is September 21st that will be the first introduction of the consultant so I've been personally lobbying and asked other people to um their Community Resources that we're reaching out to um I think it would be helpful to have a warm welcome of the consultant and show there were engaged Community I think that's going to help push the whole process forward when when they see that there are

094people willing able and interested and willing to lend a hand on that on the project thank you Keith and then the next item is the design Review Committee 949 Homer Street item and Peter can you update us us on that uh yeah so I just want to make a brief note that everyone obviously received that um that we knew that Trisha put together um and that went back uh and I think Trisha and marcelo's comments were highlighting in green if I am correctly if I'm wrong um and I started to make a note that those went back out to the applicant as well as to the design Review Committee um and uh just to say that obviously that task was completed and it was circulated out to all parties any questions or comments on that

095from the planning board I would just say as a matter of a summary I think what we tried I hopefully you guys saw it uh that way what we're trying to do is to kind of uh uh have a um a real uh grouping of the different type of topics those that do not apply through that review based on on what we um asked them to see those that they are recommending uh and try to set up um um kind of a a more a more systematic way of doing this review based on what the bylaw says for for the guidelines of of the sound review uh so so there hopefully I think this provided some clarity on narrow the topics that are critical to that project to be reviewed by the design Review Committee

096uh so that we can get their recommendations and and bring it back to the board thank you Marcelo for and Trisha for getting that done and uh anything else on this topic before we move on to the rest Peter I think the other two topics in this category sustainability committee and CPC usually Trisha Commons on so I think we've covered this area that's proactive and that brings us to administrative matters and we begin with the associate member update Peter uh so just to give everyone an update this is going to close on August 31st and then we'll kind of then we'll move forward um I I was exchanging emails with one person no one's interested but you I do not know if they could fill out a talent Bank form and I believe we have

097received I think one other Talent of the position so how how many total applicants do we have I believe at this point we have two okay um and so presumably at our next meeting we might be discussing the applicants so that we can present our recommendations to the select board is that right uh we can do that yep and and also this appointment is going to be a joint appointment from the select board and employment got it I was gonna bring up is there any way um I don't think we need to rush it but on the 14th I believe that's our planning board meeting and the select board will be there for a joint meeting on MBTA communities so is that at all practical to add that to that meeting I think it would

098be practical you know depended on the number of applicants we get if it stays at two um then I think yeah we can probably put it on that agenda but uh obviously we have a couple more days until it's open and obviously we'll make that decision leading up to that meeting but I I would agree with Kate that it would make sense just to put it on the agenda if everyone's going to be in the same room then and that brings us to the planning office updates um so I can tell you there hasn't been much movement on Whittemore Estates uh we've been back and forth with their attorney to try to iron out what needs to be done from the contractual standpoint and so I think at this point uh I would have to

099touch base with uh Our Town Council um Ryan Winters who's been kind of spearheading the effort uh and then also our conservation agent we've been dealing with the uh so modern uh issues but no construction has happened uh because number one um the contract that they provided for us to review did not uh do not take care of all the elements that we had concerned over and so there's still discussion going on between the two attorneys and that's where I would uh because that's the update I can give the board at this point no go ahead oh I was just going to ask on that process I I seem to remember there was a 45-day limit to to that and uh where are we on that timeline well that 45 game will limit as expired

100and we if we decide the town we can move forward uh and take that Bond um I believe because we are still in conversation with the applicant the owner the developer regarding the work that needs to be done I think at this point we are trying to continue to have conversations with them uh to see if they can still maintain the responsibility to get that work done uh but we need to make sure it's going to get that the actual standpoint to to to Talent specifications if that breaks down I think then that's the next step with tile complete um and and I'm reading I'm leaving Our Town Council to make that judgment call yep okay did you have a question that that was uh more more or less my issue and more or less

101satisfactory answer okay Peter you want to walk through the rest of the planning office hundreds of uh 100 to 130 Chestnut Street continues conjunction I think everyone may have driven by that at this point however um they're still they're important foundation walls and footings uh they built a retaining wall um and so on the Queen Isabella side um and so work continues to progress and uh that's a project that um is continuing to kind of Move Along slowly um the rain had to help any of the projects out here in Nashville here doing elsewhere uh but uh but uh that project is is stable and it's moving forward and that's what I can see oh uh 501 Pond Street uh there's really no update on that project uh besides the um our conservationist Commission in

102our information region have been out there to do with some inspections I've been out there a couple times um in the conservation uh I believe had some enforcement orders uh regarding some stormwater runoff uh caused by one of those heavy down boards um a couple you know one or two weeks ago so that's the biggest update I could give on that project 3.99 pawns excuse me 399 Newton Street um is the Starbucks project so at this point they have Jack hammered into a whole rammed out the old foundation for the um Walgreens pharmacy and it looks like they uh impacted in that old foundation and so at this point I believe they are looking to start the installation of the underground utilities and the um the the development of the new pad Foundation site and

103so uh but the obviously the demolition has been complete uh and uh it just continued that that project also just continues to move along I'll just add that and my my daughter has expressed interest in working there when it opens so very random news on that just to get you all to laugh a little bit perfect excellent let them know when they're ready she'll apply I'll pass the word on um there's a lot of excitement in the teenage community of my daughter's friends about the Starbucks you know what there's been for what I understand people are waiting a lifetime and actually first thought about so I think it's exciting uh and that corner is really going to be nice I think uh you know there's a lot of there's a lot of energy around that

104corner and I think it's really kind of a Satellite Hub to the to the downtown you know the mural component of that project I know Beth and Michael were working on that with our team with our uh Council excuse me our cultural Council um but uh Beth you know we're all deal we're all using some vacation time right now with Town Hall so I haven't update that I can update you maybe on the 14th um that's acceptable uh 12 Pawn Street uh continue to work with massdot and our DPW on the sidewalk installation I know uh Mass duty is still out in that area uh finishing up the roadway um and that continues to move along um however um I I need to get myself an update on that project because it's been a little

105bit of time but obviously that project's not complete without that sidewalk on the tube side roads and obviously online and that will include any connection to everything and then the last but not least is 10 to 60 Main Street uh complaining board and it's like with the psych board received the email last week from Michael uh Herbert Our Town manager and I just wanted to inform everybody that I have received a throttle letter um which will be on the winning boards continue uh excuse me agenda on September 14th and so it seems like that project is going to explore other permanent Avenues um and uh and and I think that's there's a couple I think I you know a couple of reasons for that of being number one the project that was proposed um two

106years ago you know that you were working on for four years um is not feasible at this time um regarding construction costs and labor and everything that has happened in the last four years and so I think that's one of the major reasons is that the project that was up on the planning board was um not it was not financiable for elect a better terms uh from a construction standpoint so that's what I've gathered uh through conversations uh and I'll just let that with Gerardo staying on its own however this would be the item on our next agenda on the 14th um and I'll I'll just leave it at that because I know it's not really on our agenda but I just wanted to give everything shed some light to all clinical and then move

107on without my you know conversations I've had sounds like it'll be something we can discuss at the next meeting in Greater detail yes and as far as applications received anything on that Peter I know we have no new applications and so I think we'll be busy this fall talking about MBTA communities and three bylaws uh and obviously the comprehensive plan which is a huge uh huge element that obviously I'm part of and in the end of your part of as well so I think that will give us some time after uh I'm gonna say 40 Years of Permitting uh we can start to do some uh some greater planning work um after you know even though we've done a lot of grade planning work um with the with the housing instruction plan and the edu

108communities and uh but this is obviously you know pop plan it's a Once in every 10 to 15 20 years uh situation great and that leaves us with no minutes right nothing to go over there were minutes from June 9th June 29th I'm sorry notice they're not they're not on the amended agenda I forget the agenda though yesterday I'm sorry because Kate uh emailed me I did email the minutes out if we don't want to take these off tonight I'm I plan just to post them tomorrow as a draft just so we can kind of do that um and then obviously we can approve them and or leave them in deeper in detail when that's needed I mean we can definitely do them tonight as long as they're on tonight's agenda I just the email

109I opened was from yesterday so if they are on the agenda we can certainly do that now at the end of the day yesterday okay brought up to my attention um I just need to find them have other folks had a chance to review them the June 29th minutes you want me to bring them up and share them sure then like I said if we don't feel comfortable doing them but I'm happy just uh no as long as they're on the agenda let's let's move Let's Do It um I I did just find them so uh Peter this this kind of yellow section Sean's comments were inaudible due to horrible Echo at the podium is that kind of kind of standard to have in our minutes uh you know what I'm gonna go back and

110I mean it adds a lot of a lot of uh flavor to the yeah the visual is really unique you know what Anna let me go back if the planning board's acceptable let me go back and try to read do uh let me look at the the um let me go back and look at the tape and I can try to fill in this line I mean I kind of like horrible echo in the minutes it gives it something different um so it sounds like you're going to take another stab at it before we address the minutes yeah why don't I do that I think obviously it wasn't on the agenda from the get-go I put it on there last night I missed it so why don't I go back through and take a stab

111at fixing those issues and then um I'll post a draft though so we can stay in compliance so it sounds like we've made it through tonight's agenda um it's now 8 56 and is there a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting thank you and all in favor aye aye I think we need to go do a rolling call right Peter so everyone is in agreement and I think we almost had the shortest meeting ever um almost an hour and a half I hope you all have a lovely evening I don't know what I'm going to do with myself until 10 30. um no idea thank you have a good night take care bye