 So I think I will go ahead and call the June 21st meeting of the redevelopment board to order. So for the governor's extension of the remote meeting provisions. And this meeting is being held remotely via zoom. The governor's recent order amended the open meeting law to allow remote meetings. In lieu of holding meetings in a public, excuse me, publicly accessible physical location. For this meeting the ARB is convening via zoom as posted on the town's website identifying how the public may join. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. And if some attendees are participating via video conference. Finally, please be aware that other people may be able to see you and take care not to screen share your computer. Anything that you broadcast may be captured by recording. So allow me to verify that all members of the board are present by taking a roll call attendance. We'll start with Ken Wow. Jean Benson present Melissa Tentacles present and Rachel Zimbari I am here as well. And from the Department of Planning and Community Development we have Jennifer Rates. And Kelly line of a present. Great. Thank you very much. So we will begin our meeting this evening by discussing the redevelopment board committee appointments and Jenny and Kelly prepared a document for us to review to run through all of the different committees for which the redevelopment board either has a seat or a representative currently filling that that seat on the board and Jenny I will turn it over to you. Thank you Rachel. I posted a fairly simple document that just simply outlines that there are currently really six committees that relate to the redevelopment board. And they are frankly your own committees so the ones however that you have already appointed folks to include in vision Arlington. Most recently Alex Bagnell is the ARB designate to that. The standing committee. Then we have the open space committee and that is still Wendy Richter, who it serves as a liaison on behalf of the ARB. And then I'll just skip down to a different committee outside of the air bees typical committees which is the Community Preservation Committee, and Community Preservation Act committee rather. And that one has been Jean, and he's served now for pretty much the entire time. He's been on the board I believe I think there was like sort of a little, a little brief period of time with a temporary appointment. And then Jean has taken it on. And then David Watson had been serving as the zoning bylaw working group designate from the air be but of course is no longer on the board. The other committees are the master plan implementation committee which has been vacant actually since Andrew departed the board and the housing plan implementation committee which has actually never had anybody other than Andrew serving, but nobody else had ended up attending those meetings either. And then the last one on this list that I posted is the committee that was recently formed out of town meeting, but it's, you know, sort of upcoming there's nothing. There's nothing formal to apply to yet but I figured I would put it on the list, which was a committee that came out of a warrant article to basically study remote participation, and to, I think identify ways to do remote meetings and moving forward and engagement and outreach effectively, and the air be has a seat on that committee as well so I figured I would just put that on the list, in case there had been any immediate interest. Now, I will say that I had intended for us to have this conversation. Once all five members were seated, and I'm still awaiting the final word on the gubernatorial designate to this board. At this time I would just note that that individual may want to serve on a committee so I don't see any reason why we shouldn't still proceed with this conversation but the other thing I want to note is that the housing plan implementation committee generally speaking has been meeting the first Thursday of every month at around 730pm. It has pretty much held for quite some time. It was at town hall of course and now it's been on zoom. They meet their next meeting would be the first one in July. The master plan implementation committee generally meets quarterly and almost always tries to meet before town meeting because they end up formulating report to town meeting. I think we talked about this last time but just to recap the Community Preservation Act committee basically gets pretty active with reviewing both the preliminary applications which occur usually in October through December and then they get even more engaged from January through March when they're reviewing the full application and often splitting off into smaller groups to meet with applicants. And Gene can of course fill in any blanks on sort of the activities of that committee. The Envision Arlington is not one to talk about so the Zoning Bylaw Working Group. They have been meeting the first Wednesday morning of every month at 830 in the morning and also similar to HPIC had been at town hall and then has been on zoom. They haven't met the last two times mostly because of town meeting and waiting for that to be over also waiting for the new assistant director to start. And I just she will be starting actually on Monday this coming Monday so I will be planning to hold a Zoning Bylaw Working Group meeting the first Wednesday of July. So, I'm glad to answer any questions about any of the committees and, you know, mostly hope that those who are not currently active with any of these subgroups might become a little more and more or at least maybe attend a meeting before deciding before committing that, you know, shop around if you want to. Sure. Before we go to other folks I'll just note that I had put my hand up for the master plan committee the last time we had this discussion I think in the fall so if nobody else is interested in that I'm more than happy to serve on that quarterly group but I'm also if anybody else has a burning desire I'm also happy to step aside so Jean I saw you had your hand up. Yeah, first on the Community Preservation Act committee to add to what Jenny said aside from reviewing the preliminary applications and then the final applications and making recommendations to town meeting we often split up into small and look at some of the sites where applications have been proposed for or meet with some of the applicants outside the committee at the sites and additionally, there are public hearings on the final applications where the applicants come in and each makes a presentation about their proposal and the public is able to comment on that and as Jenny said that usually picks up in the fall when preliminary applications are due and then gets busier between late fall and March when we make the decisions and put together the recommendation for town meeting it's it's very well supported by staff of the town who do a great job assisting the committee. At my very first meeting as a member of the redevelopment board can turn to me and said, I've been on the Community Preservation Act committee would you like to take over for me instead. I said, sure. So I've done it for a little bit over four years now. And they're great people on the committee it's been very instructive, a good way to learn a lot about the town. On the hand I think it's time for me to pass it on to somebody and for me to volunteer for one of the other committees, and I had let Jenny know in the past that I was interested in being on the zoning by little working group, which is one that David had been on before and so that would be my preference for the one that I'd like to move on to. Great, thank you, Jean. Ken, did you have any, any thoughts, any, any committees that you might be interested in. And perhaps serving on or any questions about. No, I support you in the committee you want to go to. I thought there was one other committee that that was there there was meeting once a month, which was the what you call it, the Heights. Yeah, I was going to mention that yeah it's the Arlington Heights neighborhood action and implementation committee. So Rachel, Rachel has been participating on that committee. It is it's not reading meeting quite as regularly. And there was a big break obviously taken during, during the town town meeting. But if that's something you're interested in, can I'm happy to step off if you'd like to step on onto that one it's, it's been it was very active pre pandemic. Okay, either one or I wouldn't mind going back to the CPC, but I knew Jean was doing such a great job I didn't want to get there you know he was just doing smash jobs I figured you know but if he's going to step down I wouldn't mind going going back to that. Either one. Okay great. Melissa did you have any, any thoughts. Any questions about any of these committees any that that you think that you'd like to become involved in. I mean, I would consider the master plan implementation committee. But in terms of my time commit I just feel like I'm a little cautious about that. Because sometimes I don't, I feel like I would over a promise if I can do them and then not be able to make them so how what do you think that would be. Yeah, that was quarterly. Okay, well that's a little bit more reasonable art. Most of them monthly though. Go ahead. They meet quarterly. Melissa, there's not there's not a monthly meeting at all. Oh, they only meet quarterly, and they tend to meet before town meeting and I would say that usually at the prior meeting they schedule the next meeting it's not a regular set meeting for the group because they would prefer to do it that way usually things change. So like for example the last time they met was like a very different time than normal it was like a Friday at like 2pm, which is a highly unusual time for that group that that's not emblematic of their regular meeting. I think they were meeting usually on a Thursday evening, mostly because we were at town hall until seven, so they would start at like six or 630. And again it was quarterly, and usually there's a meeting before town meetings. So definitely count on, you know, a meeting usually in March. And then one usually in the summer. I want to be clear that's for the master plan master plan implementation. The other ones, not early to place. What's that. The other committees are monthly. Generally speaking yet there's that there's scheduled meetings that people generally stick to the meeting date and time, like the housing plan implementation committee, and the zoning by low working group, the Community Preservation Act that they all have a regular meeting date and time, like a monthly one. This one is a little more. This one is quarterly. They have been since the, since the start of that committee actually in 2015. And, but they tend to jump around with the meeting days and times so I guess there would be flexibility Melissa in terms of people's availability. In vision Arlington one, I know we have point appointed someone does it. Is it helpful for another ARB person to be there occasionally or how does, you know, kind of that. It's not, there's not a seat for an ARB member. It's just a designee of somebody who's a designee of the ARB, and that person is Alex Bagnell. What we've done in the past is have like Alex might come to a future ARB meeting and serve report out on Envision Arlington stand to committee activities like we've had, though not in a while Wendy Richter has talked about open space committee. So that that's those are those that's the way that we handle those. They're more of our designees but not a direct seat. So if you're interested in the master plan committee. I'm happy to continue with the Arlington Heights implementation committee. If that's when you'd like, like, because that one is monthly. So the master plan at quarterly is something you're interested in and that schedule works with you. That that would be absolutely fine with with me. Are you sure. Absolutely. I enjoy that. I enjoy that committee so I'm happy to continue on. I mean, I'm assuming we all want to take responsibility and take some role with these committees, correct. And that, you know, was part of being on the ARB like to, you know, can contribute to one of the committees. So I think that might be most feasible for me at this point. Great. And Ken, you had said that you'd be happy to jump back into the community preservation act committee. Okay, so I think the one that we don't have a rep builders to the housing plan implementation committee, which I think, Jenny, if we could speak to that one. I know that that's going to be pretty active given the current. I know that at least several of us have been participating in the public process so, so far. So I'm sure that that one will be pretty active as we start heading into the fall and winter preparing for town meeting 2022. So, perhaps if we could have that conversation at our next meeting when we hopefully have our fifth member with us. If the rest of the board feels comfortable deferring that one. Okay. And then the remote participation study committee. You know, I think that one, you know, I'd certainly be happy to to speak to speak to so that'll mostly affect you know, as we're running the meeting and some of the other items I'm happy to once there's a little more information about what that will entail participate unless there's any board member who would would like to be part of that one. And I don't have much information about that other than directly what I saw past at town meeting, other than that I don't have anything else but I figured if we would could, you know, think about that. Great. So we'll we'll postpone the conversation about the HP I see once the new member is on. Okay, great. And then for all the other appointments. Really it's just the CPA committee. I think, Jean, if you, you're officially sort of resigning, I will send a letter to the CPA committee chair with regard to kins appointment. The recommendation of this board to appoint kin to that committee. We have to take a vote back to you can on the term. What's that take a vote. You'll need to take a vote. Yeah. Yeah, I would suggest you just vote on the whole right on everything. You know, the new member in present next week, or next meeting. Yeah, in July. Great. Any other discussion on the, on the board committees. So we will now move to agenda item number two, which is the air be properties updates. Turn it over to Jenny. Thanks Rachel. So this, this is really a brief update. I know that a couple of you have asked about 23 maple street and central school and how that is progressing. So I'll just say that 23 maple street at this point is occupied by DPW, some DPW staff, inspectional services staff, and engineering staff, as well as some IT staff so a number of departments that had been, or will be need to be located as a result of both the high school construction, as well as the DPW town yard renovation, have moved into the 23 maple street building, and they'll be there as you know, from the, the agreement that you signed, or allowed us to sign. They will be there for the net for the foreseeable future 18 to 24 months until the, you know, pretty much the town yard is finished construction. And at this point, and I haven't heard a lot of issues from any of the neighbors about traffic or matters like that I think that there was something actually posted on the website, indicating to people that those offices have since moved to 23 maple street and how customers can access their services, where to go and what to do. And I haven't, I haven't had a lot of other feedback about that at this point in time. Jean, do you have one? Just two quick things, one I did walk by yesterday and the sign is up in front. Yeah, parking to 15 minutes, which was one thing we discussed so that was nice. I just wondered I think if I remember correctly they had to do some work to make it handicapped accessible. And I just wondered whether that's been completed. They completed all the work inside of the building, including a lot of work to the floors. You know a number of various things had to be repaired the ADA accessibility improvements adore the ramp and related signage, and that's all been completed most of it was completed in house by facility staff. I may have missed it, but I didn't see anything at the front, indicating where the ADA entrance was. Yeah, I think that I think there should now be a sign that indicates that you need to enter the main entrances in the back. I think there's still access for example inspectional services, and I think that they've maybe just today installed a dropbox for like contractors and others. So I think they're still, they're still getting set up there and established, but I'll check on I'll check back on that to confirm. Any other questions about 23 maple. Okay. So the central school, the renovation continues. We weren't having a lot of issues but we've now entered a phase where there are definitely, we are seeing some delays. And so the project is probably now delayed by about three months, and the anticipated and date is in August potentially into September at this point in time. Additionally, we've had some really significant challenges with cooling in the building, particularly on the third and fourth floors which is having an impact on our current tenants the Arlington Center for the Arts and the Mystic River watershed association, which is really unfortunate to not be able to address those issues though I am trying in working with the facilities department as well as the contractor and our opm is managing the project. But there are a lot of issues. And I'm hopeful though that we are going to, you know, finally see and progress towards the finish carpentry and the end of the construction I'm basically the shing touches and details and colors and signage and things of nature. You know, that's that's where we're at right now. But there's, there have been, you know, some additional costs change of pricing because of the amount of time it's taking things of that nature this is not. This is not that unique compared to other construction projects we're seeing similar similar things happening. But does anybody have any questions about the central school project. Yeah. Jean, you're first. You go first can cause mine isn't one is about the central school but not the project. When it gets to certain point is it possible for us to a walkthrough. Yeah, I was going to actually mention that if anybody would be interested in walking through the bill that I can take you on a walkthrough of the property I'm glad to coordinate that. We were talking about it previously but due to coven we were sort of unable to do that but at this point I'm happy to organize something like that. So I'll send it follow up email to the group and see if we can schedule something. Would you mind if it's if it's just you, you know, one on one individually that's fine too. Would you be just sent over the. You have a schedule. If you can send all the schedule I can sort of point, pick a point where along that schedule. I would like to see it. I don't really. I mean I have a, you mean the schedule of like the project schedule. Yeah. Oh, oh sure. Yeah, I can send that around. You know, I rather, I don't want to see it when it's all beer I want to see it when it's close to be closed and finished, you know, that's going to be, that's going to be like a month or so from now. So yeah, but I will I'll send around the schedule and if you want to pick a time or pick a week, I guess I should say that looks good to you for the kind of work you want to see and let me know and I can coordinate with the opm and the the super when it's happening. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. So my central school but not the project has to do with on the Maple Street side. And there's that some sort of driveway. You see a tendency for runoff, just a couple drains that, you know, surface trains that go into it. I haven't looked at it this year, but last year it wasn't functioning as an infiltration base and I would walk by days at a time, and the water was just ponded up in there and there was a great dream ground for mosquitoes. So I haven't looked at it this year, and probably with the drought, it's successfully soaking up water, but I think it's worth watching over the summer and fall to see it's actually functioning as intended or not and I maybe it's not I may send you an email about it. Okay, yeah, it actually it's it's lacking plantings. It's supposed to have plantings but we were waiting for a point when it made sense to do that with the construction project. And I think that with COVID. You know the garden club hasn't been very active on that one. So it's probably like that's a next year project but I'll still keep in mind keep in mind what you said and I've had a couple of other people make some observations about the functionality of that let's just say. Thanks. Yes, you're welcome. And the last property is Jefferson Cutter House, which, you know, the biggest update there is the Whittemore Park construction is underway. You may have noticed. And we're looking forward to the project finally having started. This is just the first phase. We're only really into the first and second phases at this point with the third phase basically being on hold and or may not may not actually pick up and the third phase was meant to be sort of the rear of the building. And the sort of idea of stairs and more of like a tricky coordination with the butters and also with the Russell Common parking lot. So at this point that is that is temporarily postponed. So we're focused on the first and second phases of the project. And I don't I don't have a lot more to say about that property, but anybody have any questions. Is that is that a little stage by a corner and then include the seating along the edge of the retail area. So the second phase actually goes from the path of the house. Right now, if you go down Pleasant or Mystic Street. The access to the walk and then as part of doing that we're creating a small seating area or like a garden garden. That's just off the Beverly door on that side of the house. And then we'll be relocating the Havana stone, Alan Havana stone there and having maybe a little bit more ornate plantings on that side of the house. So to create this kind of quiet space with that. But the primary point of this project is to improve the accessibility to the portion of the house. It is actually funded with CDBG dollars to help promote the accessibility. What we're doing that. So that rules out. So that's a period where we under construction. But after that, I think it would be very accommodating for, you know, our community gatherings, which could include a beer garden. So there's not any other questions about in your mind that in the next over the next, probably yet, but I have a goal to facilities department completely. I think some of you may recall that we used to actually have a paid staff person who was actually technically part of the department who actually properties. And then we transitioned that slowly into the facilities department. And I think that the overall maintenance of these properties has gotten has gone to a higher level. And that it would be helpful to all of the management of the three properties collectively. And I would say that the longer term goal would be to transition these properties away from the redevelopment board as well. In terms of like ownership. So we're not only managing all of these properties, yet we have sort of just a legacy of a connection to these properties, which is included. You may or may not know, but it includes us managing all of the rentals that happens at these properties, all of the management and coordination of any repairs and capital requests. And I think that in the long term, we can talk about this when I have something a little more solid to propose. I think in the long term, transitioning these properties to facilities or another department. And we can facilitate more of the programming and the planning, but do not need to directly manage each property because without having the staff or frankly the capacity and the budget to really manage the properties properly we were put into a very tough situation, like for example, what I was just talking about with regard to the air conditioning situation at the central school, I have very limited ability to handle that issue directly due to budgetary limitations and staff capacity limitations. So, yet we are technically responsible for the property. So, I would say that in the long run I think that this is a very good, this would be a very good plan for the board, and I will formalize this in working with the town manager's office and facilities department, and bring it to the board for a future meeting for discussion and a vote. I'm also planning to engage town council in the conversation because we obviously have some legal relationship to all of these properties including all of the leases, and other other documents that I technically in the signatory for. So, I'm glad to answer questions about this but I feel as though this is a, it's timely right now mostly because of the timing of all of the projects and reopening of properties and. And also just in terms of the budgetary issues that we are being faced with right now. Jean. Yeah, can you let's just take 23 maple street as an example. We had to approve women in the redevelopment board had to approve. And at the end of the lease with the previous tenant and temporary situation with some of the town departments now, if the ownership, or what a shift, who would be making those decisions with that go to the select for to make those decisions. The town manager's office. The town manager currently has other properties under their authority and control and oversight. So just directly be the facilities department and then with any legal documents it would be the town manager's office and town council. So just simply default to you know the town, other than the redevelopment board. And actually that's a very good example, because in that situation we had a tenant who was there for, you know, almost two decades paying about at the end of their lease about $56,000 which included their ability to not only pay rent but also to pay capital costs and they had a building superintendent essentially taking care of all of the issues when they departed. And we have town departments in there we have not we don't have any, we have a very limited income from them staying at that you know, it was about $14,000 and no capital contribution at that point and of course, we don't have personnel directly related to that property, except through facilities department. So I think that's a good that's one of, of a couple of examples of sort of a transition of a number of renters in tenants and the various properties who are not, you know, they're basically it's, you know, town departments rather than outside entities nonprofit organizations, etc, who have traditionally been renting from the town and perhaps more capable of paying what we are asking. And we usually post the request for lease proposals as part of you know, a whole process to find new tenants. So that's the traditional process and as you recall, perhaps, we actually went about that twice with 23 maple Street we're unable to find a suitable replacement tenant so it's not as though we didn't lead ourselves into the situation we got into. We tried but you know it's hard to again without the right staff and the right capacity it's hard to manage that appropriately. That's a good that's a very good example of a recent situation that really takes a hit on the urban renewal fund, which is our primary source of funding to manage the properties. And by the way, when I say management, I mean that we're paying for the urban renewal fund we pay for various contracts that include, you know, snow removal landscaping cleaning of all of the properties and all of the offices and the properties and supplies, toiletries all that stuff that relate to any of the properties. So we're part of group purchasing contracts and we have to pay from the fund to finance those ongoing improvements, as well as all of the utility bills. I don't want to get into that part. Okay, I think I think that makes a lot of sense and yeah so that's that's the proposal. Okay, great. We'll look forward to seeing that at a, at a future meeting then too. Okay, excellent. Yeah. Just wanted to give you the heads up. Yeah, I appreciate that Jenny and I'm just going to maybe be kind of a counter to that thought and I was wondering like, you know, kind of nationwide if there's any other kind of best practices that we were looking, we should be looking at in terms of, you know, public owned facilities that actually do make money. And if there's a public use that might actually still have a little bit more value to it just I'm trying to think if, you know, we're doing in a traditional status quo way, and it's not making money so we're just moving and we're shifting it to facilities. Or should we take this opportunity to explore some like kind of creative options with these spaces and I don't know enough about how they're operated and the tendency, but it does seem like there might be some of these out there that I haven't thought of and I'm just wondering what the exercise has been or if we could do some research like that. That's a good question and a very good counterpoint and one that I've been exploring for years now. And particularly with 23 maple street I had hopes of transitioning that property in a very different way and had been actively working on that with a different potential proponents, but it didn't come true for fruition. The other property that I think has some potential to transition is the Jefferson Cutter House into something really potentially dynamic for the community. The central school is something that, you know, I think is already headed into that transition in a positive way. We worked very actively to move the Arlington Center for the Arts there and helped them to leverage the state grant for capital in order to make the improvements to the third and fourth floors for them to be at the property and I think that it's a good thing for ACA to be located there. And also with the central school renovation, you know, moving, basically allowing the Council on Aging to have the entire ground floor, as well as the first floor space is, is frankly a bonus to the Council on Aging, which had been, they had been looking for space pretty actively for quite some time. So I mean, I think, depending upon what we're talking about there are good uses for any one of these buildings they're not very large properties. And they do have some limitations. Once the transition happens of the, you know, the town yard being completed and the town offices leaving 23 Maple Street. I think that having this board engage in some conversations with the town manager's office about ways to repurpose that property would also be something that could be very interesting for the community as well. So I agree that there's some really, there are some really good best practices out there, some of them we've explored, tried to find grant funding to make them happen. But I, you know, I'm open to suggestions if you have any other ideas. And I don't think that I don't think that letting go that transitioning from the redevelopment board to another town entity means that we release our ability to participate in those conversations. I'm just simply saying that we don't have the right mechanism or structure in place to truly and appropriately manage those properties or provide the best customer service to the tenants throughout the properties right now. No, I understand that I just think if it's under facility, it just becomes a different. You know, I guess, you know, kind of how they think of using space becomes a little different as a redevelopment board the idea of, you know, our charge is to create, you know, kind of the, the, for lack of a better or reuse term like the innovation we're trying to create the new technology that kind of creates the vitality for the community. And maybe their pockets within these buildings that we could do that I'm just spitballing a little bit here but I guess I'd like us to understand what some other possibilities might be before we just kind of say, okay, we're done managing these buildings. Let me separate things out. So the town manager be is in charge of the properties facilities would be managing the maintenance and all of that kind of stuff with the properties they wouldn't be managing programs and tenants. Okay, I would still be, I would be under transition to the town manager's office in the, again, this is me proposing something. I'm not, this is not final and this is also not yet in writing or you know, something for you to bat around specifically yet but I can, I can vet it a little bit further before bringing it back to the board. But I just want to clarify those two distinct guidance. Could facilities manage the day to day operations and yet the board retained ownership and control. Is that a possibility to possibly restigate the options and provide them to the board when I return at the future meeting. I mostly just wanted to bring this to your attention that I'm exploring this transition due to a lack of capacity in the way of resources both staff and funds. Thanks. That was somewhat somewhat correct. I think I think the town's already considering that their charge already. I mean if you look at the park where they had the beer garden. Supposedly ARBs properties to manage and they select what never consulted us about having that beer garden they just went and issued permits for it and they did it. Like it was town property. So which is fine. I think it was a good thing but I'm not saying, you know, I think it's treated by the town already that way, sort of. There's actually a complicated ownership arrangement in the park itself. Redevelopment board and the MBTA technically. But I understand what you're talking about, Ken, which is just there are sort of these, the sort of decision rights over things as well as the input sort of process. And I think that whatever, whatever happens in the future, making sure that the redevelopment board has a voice in those processes is what I'm hearing is being important. But I mostly wanted to raise this issue since we don't have something formal to review. So I'm going to come back, having, you know, taken some of this feedback and your, your ideas and concerns also. I'll vet it a little bit more internally and come back with something for us to talk about. Before anything happens, of course. That sounds great. Thank you so much, Jenny. Any other questions on the ARB properties before we move to agenda item three. So now move to the housing plan and open space and recreation plan updates. Back to you, Jenny. All right. So I mean, I think Rachel and Jean, I believe for the two members who attended the housing plan virtual community forum. I don't know if anybody else can or Melissa did you attend. I didn't actually see the whole room of people. We had a really good meeting on June 9. It was really the beginning of an entire process. As I mentioned at our prior meeting. We had about 50 people participating in the forum. The summary of the process was provided by Barrett planning group and Horsley Witten. We also talked about sort of or reported out what was heard from various stakeholder interviews. And a questionnaire that we had conducted with the community as well as, you know, some sort of, you know, initial observations that they had of Arlington's housing situation. And then we ended up engaging in sort of small group breakouts to talk about, you know, some, some pretty interesting conversations around housing needs, some of the challenges that we're facing or perceptions of challenges and people's ideas for opportunities. And I jumped around a bit from room to room. So got it. Got a sense of what was going on in different spaces but you know I think maybe Rachel or Jean if either one of you wanted to share, you know things you heard or sort of your ideas about the process I mostly just wanted to mention that the forum happened I thought it was successful. It's the first of many opportunities to engage. We have a forum online to, you know, have people continue to share their thoughts, the presentation slides the recording of the meeting basically all of the materials from all of the breakout groups are posted on the housing plan implementation committee's webpage on the town's website. So if you didn't get a chance to engage you can go there and then you can also participate but Rachel Jean do you want to add anything. I just said that, you know, I thought that it was a really productive conversation I attended mostly to listen, because we had also prior to that, the forums that were the smaller group forums that were hosted by their planning which which were very I thought as well and some of those ideas it into the, the, the presentation and some of the prompt questions that were that were asked during that meeting, but I thought what was brought up was pretty wide ranging and I'm looking forward to to their next steps and I believe that there's a second community forum plan for later in the, in the summer. Yes, yep, definitely later in the summer and possibly another one sooner as well as we're talking about going to the farmers market we're talking about, you know, other sort of engagement opportunities which we will be announcing. I mean, do you have any thoughts you wanted to. I don't really have anything to sort of add to what Jenny and Rachel said other than what Jenny just close with with I think a real need and obligation to do a lot more than reaching community engagement over the process it was nice to have 15 people there on the zoom, and I think their consultants handle it pretty well but that's only 50 people. So I think, you know, I think that should be a step in just to mention something that I mentioned before I think one of the things that needs to come out of the whole process is is how we can enhance the inclusion of engineers on my law which wasn't highlighted specifically in the presentations, but is something I mentioned in the sessions. And another thing I mentioned to that it was, it was really interesting having come off of the night before the, the bike way discussion as well which got into questions about housing and an access and, you know, all of the ways that our transportation is integrated with our commercial districts and our and our housing and it was, it was actually a kind of a nice progression of meetings although it was a lot of evening meetings in a row because I think then the open space was the following evening but it was actually kind of a really interesting cadence in the way that that those are all put together that week. Yeah, that was, that was not planned. We had hoped to have the housing plan meeting the week prior, but I wanted to be sensitive to town meeting. Yeah, I didn't mention the bike way meeting but that that, since you mentioned it Rachel. That's part of a local rapid recovery plan. Try community planning process with Bedford and Lexington. And it's basically through what's called the Massachusetts local record rapid recovery program, which is aimed at assisting communities to develop recovery plans and in this case it's about plans to aid commercial areas. And so they had a meeting on Juneteh to talk about. Basically to share that the consultant for that project shared various, their assessments of each community and their research results. And then people shared ideas about economic recovery in each can for each community. So it wasn't just specific to Arlington, but this was primarily focused on Arlington Heights I should note, not all of Arlington but specific to Arlington Heights. And all of that information is also on the town's website. And Ali Carter is actually the contact for that project she's the economic development coordinator for the town. And then on, as also mentioned the following night was the open space and recreation plan update virtual community workshop. And that one, you know, similarly included presentation by Horsley Whitten who is their technical consultant talked about, and there were about 47 people who participated in that workshop. It basically was an overview of the state, you know, open space recreation plan process and the requirements. It also updated people on the accomplishments that have been made as a result of the current plan that we have in place. The current plan was actually has been in place for about seven years so we extended it a couple of years. It's usually a five year plan. And participants also joined breakout groups I actually left the meeting at that point to attend a different meeting so I don't have much to report there and I don't believe any of you attended that meeting but I'm not 100% sure. Okay. Each of the participants had a choice of being in a breakout group to talk about open space issues or recreation issues, and then there was a bigger group report out about ways that people can, you know, make these improvements and opportunities that the consulting team might have missed. So the information on that project is also on the open space committees website, and they are also planning a future community forum, as well as community engagement opportunities. Their community engagement plan includes things like talking posts at parks in town, where there will be some interesting opportunities to engage back to the housing plan we're also talking about like a meeting in a box possibility where different groups can actually host their own meetings and we've been talking about a similar thing for the open space plan. So we are, we are trying to explore ways to engage as many people as possible beyond the, you know, traditional formats that we typically do, including some of the ways that we engage people during the transportation plan process. So I'm glad to answer any questions about that one as well. Yes, that's it. All right. So I think agenda item number four, we are going to hold for our next meeting, which brings us to agenda item number five, which is open forum. At this point, we will ask any member of the public wishing to speak to please use the raise hand function if you'd like to address the board. You'll have three minutes to speak and I'll ask that you open by identifying yourself by your first last name and address. So at this point, if any members of the public wish to address the board please use the raise hand function. Seeing none, we will close open forum. Before we adjourn, are there any other questions actually, you know what we should go to the question of the next meeting both the time and the location whether we are looking at hybrid or remote. And Jenny, I know that you were looking at this both from a time perspective. But there was a request to continue with remote meetings, at least for the immediate future. The next meeting is on July 12. Technically that meeting is when 190 mass avas supposed to come back. But I believe they will be submitting a withdrawal of that project so I just I don't have it yet so that is technically your next meeting and I don't know if I'm going to have information about the properties by that time so I don't and I don't have any other public hearings arranged for that evening either. So I guess I would ask this board whether or not you want to meet or what you would like to do with that meeting and yes technically you're scheduled for 730pm in the conference room. I'm not meeting at 7 on zoom, but you were going to go back to a 730 time meeting, but I'm glad to schedule another zoom meeting if you would like and I can do it at 7 versus 730 whatever you want. Great, so I'll turn it over to the other board members for for their thoughts but I'm hoping that we'll have our fifth board member by that point and I'd love to welcome you know if nothing else welcome them at that meeting and then hopefully, at a minute, I'll go on the, the new, the new representatives of the redevelopment board on the seven committees that we discussed this evening, but I'll turn it over, maybe I'll just run through the board members. And then personally, I'd actually really like to to move to 730 again now that I am going regularly into into Boston and need to come come back in. So we'll start with Ken and get your thoughts on the meeting on the 12th. Well, let me start off with the meeting on the, well, can the meeting on the 12th. It doesn't really matter to me. I mean, because there's no, there's nothing really to discuss on the 12th. Is that correct Jenny. Well, I think to Rachel's point, the committee appointments and voting on that welcoming the fifth member and then the other thing is actually the MBTA communities was something that was requested as an update but I feel as though I can send an email about that. When I have information, but we can also talk about it. We need to. Okay, I was referring more to like projects. There's no projects. There's no public hearings. No, so there's no real parts of caring. I don't mind having a zoom meetings. And if there's a zoom meeting seven o'clock, it's fine with me. But if there's projects, I would like my wishes to have them in person. In the in our regular meeting room and I just thought that the presentations were better. We actually got to more get more interactive and we learned more about the project. That way there. And if we're having the meetings at the annex again like I would like to push for 730 because it's tougher to get to agree with you Rachel, because everybody's back to work sort of. And so zoom is 730 as seven is fine 730 if we had there. And I have no problem continuing zoom meetings until we have a project for a town me in person meaning that is hopefully not make sense. Jean, your thoughts. Yeah, a couple thoughts. I don't really have any preference between seven and 730 start for the meetings. I had mentioned to Jenny and Rachel that I prefer to continue the zoom meetings. So for a couple of reasons, one is, I think they tend to perhaps get more participation by the public than in person meetings, when we have our meetings in that small second floor conference room. It's really hard to accommodate a lot of people in those meetings I think the solution might be some sort of hybrid. I don't think I think that would require some technology that the town might not have available right now. So I've been interested to see what this committee that Rachel volunteer to be on comes up with as to how we might do that. I also have a personal reason for it I have a autoimmune condition, and I'm currently vaccinated, but not successfully vaccinated for COVID and are dealing with my doctor on that and it's hard for me to be in small confine spaces with other people. That's another reason why I'm interested in continuing remote meetings until you know something else can get worked out. Thanks Jean. Yeah, we certainly want to respect your, your health needs as well and, and make sure that you know what when there when there's a time when when you're able to to meet in person that that we that we take that into account as well. As long as you know if we're going to be meeting in person I will wear a mask and probably stays far away as everyone else from everyone else's input. Melissa, any thoughts on time and your, your thoughts on remote versus in person. No thoughts and I mean, kind of no preference I should say on remote or in person at this point, especially for the next meeting 730 would probably work a little better. So what I'm hearing I know Melissa and I both both have a preference for for 730 if that works for you Jenny can and and Jean to start at least the next meeting at 730 I know I know I would greatly appreciate it. It's posted as meeting at 730 the only thing that's not posted as the zoom. So if we're going remotely then I just would need to schedule that. Okay, so I have no issue with the next meeting, you know, until Jean's able to meet in person for us to, to continue to meet remotely. I would like to get back to I think that the discussion. And I think that the presentations themselves tend to run more smoothly, when we're able to see a presentation in person so when we're able to do so. I'm certainly looking forward to getting back regularly to that but I want to make sure that we're all able to comfortably do so. Yep. And I do anticipate that there will be other applications that will be forthcoming, and that there will be public hearings at some point during the summer. So we'll take those as they come in and keep checking back in with each other. The other, the other item was the retreat date, which I believe we've narrowed it down to the July 17. Yes, the 17 was the first was the preferred date and we had a backup date of the 24th. And the new member is able to do the 17th. Perfect. So I can find a location for that. And let everybody know it sounded like we wanted the morning but I actually didn't get a confirmed time. The last time I think we met maybe like nine or was quite early I believe. Let me tell you that earlier the better for us when the library opened. Yeah. Anybody. Yeah, you were, I think you're on mute. Yeah, I think we met quite early but we didn't lead to like after one or something we stayed quite a bit. I'm excited about the meeting. Either eight or nine works for me. Is there any preference for start time. I'm fine for me. Eight. Sorry. No, that's fine. I'll find a location. Yeah. I'll find a location for us and that would be an in person meeting. We discussed that. The rule of the gene. Thank you for me. We're outside. We're outside. Yeah. As long as it's a weather location and the weather, of course. Yeah. I hope you're all vaccinated because if you're not. Okay. I am too. Okay. Any other. Any other discussion items before we move for a motion to adjourn. All right. We're on motion. So motion. Second. We'll take a real call of those. Okay. Yes. Melissa. Yeah. And I am the S as well. Thank you very much. And we'll see everyone in a few weeks. Stay cool. Good evening. Thanks everybody. Bye. Bye.