 So seeing the presence of a quorum I will call the meeting of the town council committee on outreach communications and appointments to order at 6 o 1 p.m So the purpose of this meeting tonight is to conduct interviews for appointments to the planning board This is the first time in Amherst history that we've ever done planning board interviews publicly And so before we begin I wanted to provide a little bit of history in context For those of us who were in this room and also those of us who might be watching the Amherst media videotape later on of this meeting tonight So under the previous form of government from 1954 to 2018 The planning board was appointed by the town manager with approval by this elect board interviews if any were conducted by the town manager in private Typically without the presence of an elected official and the names of applicants were never publicly disclosed With the transition to our new form of government with the adoption of the new town Charter in 2018 The planning board appointing authority became the town council This committee outreach communications and appointments or OCA was charged with making Recommendations to the town council regarding all appointments by the planning board We first acted on this part of our charge last spring when we recommended the appointment of four members of the planning board Under that process our former chair Cyrus Schwartz Conducted the interviews of all applicants in private with select town staff Tonight. We're trying something new Over the past fall OCA developed a new process to recommend appointments part of which shifted interviews from private interviews To public interviews conducted during a public meeting as I stated This is the first time ever that public that planning board interviews have been done publicly and represents a new step And demonstrates a greater amount of transparency in our local government To provide some context on how we got here tonight in early October We had a resignation from the planning board creating a vacancy on October 21st The town council posted a vacancy notice to solicit applications from residents who are interested in serving on the planning board in late December I as chair of OCA Contacted all applicants who applied to be on the planning board over the past two years from October 21st 2017 until present No applicants were screened out beforehand and every person who applied was given the opportunity to interview The three applicants who are here tonight are those that confirmed that they remain interested in serving on the planning board They are Robert Greeny Douglas Marshall and Jacob Hirsch Prior to tonight OCA developed interview questions and selection guidance Those were both shared with the applicants in advance of tonight's interview and are publicly available on the town's website Tonight's interviews will be used by OCA to make a recommendation to the town council regarding appointment by the planning to the planning board The council will then vote on that recommendation and potentially appoint a new member to the planning board Regarding the format for tonight's interviews all three applicants will be interviewed as a group Per an earlier vote of OCA. I as chair will be asking all questions My colleagues on OCA here tonight to listen, but will not be asking questions After I ask a question of the group each applicant will be given an opportunity to respond Per an earlier vote by OCA each applicant will be given up to three minutes to respond to the question If you start to go over three minutes, I will interject and ask you to finish your sentence Oh, I will rotate the order of responses with each question I would like to ask now if the three of you have any questions about the format of the interviews before we begin Good to go. All right The interviews are the sole agenda item for this meeting tonight There will be no other business of this committee conducted during this meeting Town council rules of procedure 10.5 h give discretion to the chair during special committee meetings as to whether or not to allow public comment There will be no public comment period during this meeting This meeting is being taped by Amherst media and the broadcast will be available later on their website For viewing by the public so with that I want to thank mr. Greeny mr. Marshall and mr. Hirsch for being here tonight and for their interest in serving our community on the planning board So let's begin and so our first question and we will start with mr. Greeny and then mr. Marshall and then mr. Hirsch is Why are you interested in serving on the planning board? So we'll start with mr. Greeny During my 26 years living in Amherst, I have always been actively engaged in the maintenance And enhancement of many aspects of our shared community My engagement with government has been primarily through town meeting, but I have also participated widely in public elections Running for select board school committee charter commission and town council My current choice for civic engagement is to serve as a member of the planning board Our built environment is an important expression of our collective community vision and values The constructed landscape in which we interact and live More than any other body the planning board coordinates and facilitates our collective effort to create the physical structures that best need that best meet The aspirations and needs of our community as a whole It does this through the coordination creation maintenance and implementation of the master plan That needs be maintained as our best effort at capturing the collective vision and will of the town Besides the master plan update and implementation I would like to bring a fresh set of ideas to our collective effort to create a broad spectrum of housing options for our citizens and promote economic vitality of our town Housing options that enhance the beauty of our built environment with a good blend of classic New England architecture and tasteful well coordinated contemporary design Housing that spans a broad range of size and form Recently Maria Chow at the planning board zoning subcommittee introduced a new concept called the missing middle Duplexes quadruplexes Clustered cottages courtyards, etc. That needs our attention This overlaps an idea that I have been researching and promoting for quite some time How do we encourage and promote small and medium scale incremental? organic renovation and growth expressing a collective culture of architecture architectural diversity and beauty Affordability through owner occupancy is another powerful tool for expanding the housing options and for working-class folks Additionally, I would like to see more widespread engagement and coordination of collective efforts in planning and initiatives It would be beneficial to include strong public engagement in maintaining and implementing the master plan inclusion of diverse views inclusion of multiplicity of colliding competing contradictory and complementary ideas dynamic productive synthesis of those opposing ideas Thank you social I have long thought that serving on the planning board would be an interesting experience as I would welcome learning about and influencing the local process that produces the zoning and other constraints Which I've worked under as an architect in multiple communities I believe that I could be a helpful member of the board because of my professional experience and personal characteristics I am a longtime architect somewhat more recent planner and I'm very thorough and detail-oriented Over the years that I've lived in Amherst acquaintances have on several occasions suggested I consider volunteering for this board Prior to now my professional and personal obligations left little time to do so But I am now in a place where I think I could make the commitment required to do that. I Also think that with the new town council now is an especially important time for as many people to volunteer to assist with the new Town government as possible. I am happy to be part of that if that's your choice With the planning board beginning discussion of the master plan update I think this could be an especially interesting period on which to serve on the board. I Am also interested in being a part of a conversation in town about our community's carbon emissions and its Contributions to climate change especially as they relate to upcoming development in the town This is a time when we need to be thinking about the long-term future of our town and our society Thank you. Thank you My wife and I moved to Amherst in 1980, so I feel like I'm a long-term resident I grew to love the town raised a family here My kids went through the public school system I participated in a number of civic ways through coaching and other things Through the town, although none in any official capacity Either through town meeting or an elected capacity And now I feel like I'm willing to do that I've seen a number of changes over the years some I think are great changes and others I'm not as fond of and I feel like as a member of the town Planning board that I would have some say in direction of how we evolve into the future Jonathan Tucker once told me that the future comes whether you plan for it or not so you might as well plan Great. Thank you So our second question will begin this one with mr. Marshall is what is your relevant expertise and or experience? So as I mentioned in the answer to the first question, I am a registered architect in Massachusetts I've been I was first in private practice in the Boston area for about 25 years mostly working on college and university Higher education projects during that time. I was a designer. I was a project manager and I oversaw construction since About 2010 I've worked here in Amherst for the University of Massachusetts and I'm on the campus planning staff And I also served as 18 months as interim director, which ended about a year and a half ago During my time on campus obviously I've been looking at the campus itself a lot I've also been involved in the campuses off campus least office space Which has exposed me to the local real estate market and sort of the issues associated with leasing commercial space in the area, I Also have served as the As one of the UMass representatives to the University Town of Amherst collaborative UTAC group during the time that that was in Was active. I was on the housing subcommittee and You know that was part of my experience Finally as an architect, I've been familiar with the lead Rating system for sustainable buildings and as I'll Talk about in a later question. I'm familiar with the living building challenge system as well for Building sustainable buildings Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Hirsch well, I feel like My contributions are more as a longtime resident of Amherst rather than in a professional capacity I filled out a citizen involvement issue and I feel like I'm a citizen who is Representing a number of other citizens in town rather than an expert involvement committee or involvement form So I can't say that I have professional expertise I know something about construction through my past, but I wouldn't say that I'm an expert at that at all My wife is a small business owner and has an office downtown Amherst so I hear a lot of scuttlebutt from her about various changes in town and And I see my own experience as I've interacted with the various changes in town So I feel I have worthwhile input from that perspective Thank you, Mr. Greening Thank you I like working with people and I like committees. I Enjoy the challenge of finding common ground in an arena of competing and conflicting ideas At holy committee college where I'm a physics professor I have served on many committees 12 years on the long-range planning committee six years on the college senate six years as physical Science department chair Also spent five years as president of the board and co-director of mud pie potters at Leverett crafts and arts in Leverett and Three years as a member of the board of directors of North Amherst community farm when it first started The challenge of meaningful committee work is to find balance between engagement inclusion and Expression and efficiency there is a skill in practice and knowing how to turn Disagreement that is going nowhere into a productive synthesis of competing ideas Because of my work in physics I am comfortable with numbers graphs charts tables statistics spreadsheets diagrams and figures in Physics we find patterns and structure and meaning where it may not be obvious at first When you think of the planning board, you may think builder architect urban planner lawyer zoning expert, etc Why not? artist musician teacher plumber poet Would you want the planning board to be all musicians? Of course not Anyone on the planning board must be willing to engage the necessary technical expertise needed but in my opinion the Regulatory function of the planning board should by all means be secondary to the planning master planning function coordinating firing Focusing and producing results that represent the entire town the entire community Thank you Our third question and we'll start with mr. Hirsch What important perspective do you feel you bring to this body? Roughly five years ago. I was president of the safe historic kushman Stop the retreat organization We were threatened by proposal for a large development in the kushman forest reserve and Neighbors very quickly came together We were very concerned number one because it wasn't zoned appropriately that didn't seem to bother anybody And number two it was a proposal for roughly 800 students to be crowded into What they termed were Homes, but they were actually separate apartments Spread throughout the kushman forest It was An ordeal in organizing we approached it as a way to try and educate the town about what was proposed I feel like after a long An arduous task we actually convinced the planning board through multiple meetings to Reject the proposal before they did that The proposal was withdrawn because it became obvious from the last meeting at the planning board that it was just Something that was an impossibility We had to hire an engineer to convince the planning board that what was proposed was something that was Physically almost impossible there were things The land was so rough And they were planning on doing so much construction there that they were gonna have 20 and 30 foot cliffs that I Remember at one time Ms. Brestrup pointed out that the cliffs would be about the same height as the Bank of America building across the street Anyway, so it was An ordeal that required us to learn about zoning it required us to learn about development and it required us to learn about Economic opportunities and I think that the town is better off because of our efforts and it also got me to see the the purpose of the planning board and Got me interested in serving on it I've also been very involved in a number of different communities Committees at the university. I don't think anybody can work at the university for 35 years without getting involved and a lot of committees there in particular, I've been secretary of grievances with my union and Have served In a number of union committees and in other types of committees as well So I feel very comfortable with committee work and I feel Pretty well educated to serve on the planning board Thank you. Mr. Green We're on question three, right? Correct I'm a scientist and an artist. I am practical and I am visionary My signature over all my work and campaigns has been the mantra of inclusion participation of a wide cross-section Persons in the inclusion of diversity of ideas that leads to better outcomes I will bring this perspective to the planning board in a manner that a greater Diversity of Amherst residents will feel their voices is included in planning and zoning policy and practices There are many people in this town that feel disenfranchised by the loss of town meeting. I Have consistently gotten about 35% of the total vote in town-wide elections When I tell people I applied for this position on the planning board many of them say you'll never get appointed to that board I am widely seen as a representative of a viewpoint that is perceived as being absent from the planning board We see a big surge in large-scale development Projects by a small number of participants. I do not oppose that in principle If there is a market for expensive rental units, then that need should be met In my opinion the placement of those units is Not consistent with what a large segment perhaps even a majority of the town of the people of this town want There is a big untapped potential for meeting the huge need housing needs For a much broader a range of housing by a much broader a range of housing options That's provide that that provided by large-scale development projects. We are seeing The Congress for new urbanism has a publication called public square They're suggesting That there are many projects on a smaller scale that can meet the needs that The large level of housing needs So let me read from their publications the modern the modern Regulatory system shuts people out who do not have the capital to hire development attorneys engineers and architects To navigate the difficult process According to Brian Falk who directs the project for lean urbanism. One answer is pink zones They call it pink zones where they lighten the red tape for small-scale projects The on the streamlining side the project team overlooks The hurdles that prevent people from building for example accessory dwellings which should be legal and affordable from a bureaucratic standpoint That should be The same should apply to owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes and quadruplexes All of which I'm gonna have to ask you to okay, okay I'll just stop there. Thank you Mr. Marshall, so the perspectives that I bring first as a Amherst resident as A parent of an Amherst student at in the public schools as a member of the church here in downtown first congregational church And as an employee of the University of Massachusetts My law I have a long interest in the built environment mostly manifested through my profession and through that profession and awareness of how the various regulations of towns and Other governmental entities Influence the built environment I've been here long enough to have followed the conversation about various development initiatives and Got in a sense of the values and the different perspectives in town But I've been here actually short enough time that I kind of remember my first impressions of the town when I got here Which I think are somewhat at odds with the way the town that sees itself I have experienced Several projects in town One through being a part of the building committee at the Hitchcock Center when they did their new building Also as a member of the building committee at the first congregational church when we were doing a renovation and Through my UTAC involvement Stop there Thank you Our fourth question Is tell us about an experience you have had collaborating with a group and we'll start with mr. Greening. Okay, I Hope that my reputation and Amherst is one of collaboration Over a year ago now we had our first town our first town council election. I Recall a spirited election where differing opinions were generally respected although there may have been some unpleasant exchanges after The election was over Lynn Grismeyer organized a unity breakfast at Amherst College I recall that more than half of the candidates attended. I Was reluctant to go not because of my anger or resentment over losing only that I thought an open-ended social gathering Might not help me feel unity I suggested to Lynn and others that we have a period of formal gathering of all attendees And we discuss our thoughts and experiences of the election and how we might move forward in unity The idea met with mixed reaction some supported the idea others had doubts Understandably were less outspoken. I went to the breakfast. I asked Lynn. What might we do? She said there was mixed reaction to your idea, but feel free to offer the idea and suggest Optional participation. I met with two other People who thought it to be a good idea with support from them. I made the following suggestion I offered at the end of the breakfast that those were willing gather in a circle and share their thoughts and experiences the campaign and election process By the time we started a few people had left But there was still about 13 People or about half of the total 26 candidates that ran for the 13 positions I can only speak for my experience, but in fact it was a unifying experience I heard people speak with thoughtfulness consideration and humility Although optional everyone chose to speak and everyone listened at least in those moments I felt the genuine recognition of the importance of inclusion and unity. I take this orientation Wherever I go. I offer the art. I offer the opportunity If offered the opportunity, I will bring this practice to the planning board Thank you. Mr. Marshall So I have as I mentioned, I've worked on a couple of building committees and part of UTAC while I was here I was gonna I would I will talk about my experience at Hitchcock Center In 2013 I was approached by the center and invited to join their building committee They were starting work with their architect and were seeking members who had experience in the building industry I support the Hitchcock's mission and was interested to learn about the living building challenge System under which they were going to design their building I ended up becoming the chair of that committee and also joined their board as I thought my effectiveness on the building committee Would be enhanced by an awareness of what was going on at the board level There were about 10 members on the committee Consisting of the director and one staff member several current and former board members and a couple of other interested people Most of whom did not have much experience with design and construction And the intricacies of those sorts of processes We met at least once a month first with the architects during the design phase and then with our part-time Project manager chris riddle and the construction manager as well During the three years I was involved on this committee in the board My primary role was providing advice to the center's director and supporting her as we navigated the project process with the architect project manager and construction manager town and hampshire college However as committee chair I also helped with the meeting agendas and tried to keep meetings on topic and moving along I did my best to be prepared for meetings and on time Through the course of the project I also attempted to mediate between various people And their disparate points of view on the decisions we had to make some of which were contentious Together we made it through with a building and a site we could be proud of And a and a building that I think the town of amherst can be proud of Thank you Thank you Mr. Hersh Okay Well again, I'd like to talk about my experience with safe historic kushman um It was something that as in a butter we got noticed of February 19th in um I believe it was 2011 or 2012 and um No, no, no, it was before then it was about 2008 um, but at any rate, um We our neighbors quickly got together and we all formed an organization We did research and found out that we preferred to be a loosely knit neighborhood Organization rather than any formal 401 or sorry 501 um type organization and um We proceeded to educate ourselves on what we could do to prevent what we thought was a ridiculous proposal um We learned that um, although there's a uh zoned area For fraternities and sororities If a developer chooses not to call his development a fraternity Or sorority or if he says oh, we won't rent to students Then um, suddenly people begin to question whether it's really a dormitory or not But um, in fact when you look at the type of construction that was proposed Where there was a bathroom for every bedroom very small kitchen that area very small living room It was clear that all of the the buildings were designed for student rentals We um Found out that because the landowner was such a large company that did so much business in town That lawyers didn't want to work with us environmentalists didn't want to work for us Most people felt that because we were opposing the coals um, the coals company um, and their Purchase and sale agreement that we were um ostracized from Most general Businesses in the country in the area. We actually had to hire a lawyer out of Eastern mass in order to get legal representation So I feel like um I can work with a group and and very effective in bringing people together and in Finding ways to deal with problems and still Arriving at adequate solutions Thank you A question five, which is a little bit longer. So bear with me Given that the planning board is a keeper of the master plan What do you see as the planning board's role in achieving the goals of the master plan to encourage vitality in the downtown and village centers? And with that we'll start with mr. Marshall So I confess to being a little bit puzzled by this question Because when I looked at the master plan I saw multiple goals and uh Encouraging vitality and down in downtown and village center was only one of them A number of the goals appeared to list Potentially conflict with each other in practice For instance, I know that towns people have differed on whether some of the new developments in the center of town Have it have advanced the goal of encouraging vitality in downtown and village centers or threatened the goal of maintaining Amherst's existing community character That said I confess to heartily supporting The goal of taking steps to increase the vitality of Amherst's downtown and village centers I understand that the planning board's formal role in development And in realizing this this goal would be realized through the following actions would that it's statutorily Provided for first managing the process by which the master plans Master plans are developed or updated Proposing amendments to the zoning bylaw to advance the master plans goals Approving site plan review applications and special permits and conducting site plan reviews In in areas that where we're trying to encourage vitality Obviously, it has other responsibilities related to subdivisions, but I'm not sure that really applies to any of the downtown or the village centers more broadly I think the planning board's implicit role Is first designing a public process that results in an accurate understanding of residents values and priorities Including sometimes competing Priorities second Keeping all of the master plans goals in mind and carefully weighing those competing values and priorities as it weighs the issues before it third Conducting open and transparent processes That at least show everyone how the decisions were arrived at And finally working together as a group with the best interest of the town as their priority Thank you. Thank you Mr. Hirsch Um, I confess I haven't read the entire master plan. It's quite a document But I have read a good bit of it Um, and I think there's a little something for everyone in the master plan and I think that that's one of the the both dangers and advantages of the master plan when you're trying to build everyone together And get a consensus you try and put things in it that will appeal to all the groups um I think that The downtown Amherst has certainly increased its vitality with the new development there, but if there's been a cost um, and obviously the cost is accessibility I have a number of friends that don't go to restaurants downtown now because parking during the school year Is so difficult. Um, they prefer to go to other Outlying restaurants and things like that. So I think that we have a danger with And we need to step back a minute And um, and I know that this is going on. We're looking at parking in in town in general But I think that that's one of the things that happens when we jump into the master plan and push development faster than we Can assess the consequences of that development The master plan also talks about a lot of unique neighborhoods in town and and that's one of the things that makes Amherst such a livable town and I heartily agree with that I support the complete streets program as well I think that adds to the vitality of the town and in general all citizens can benefit from that um I would like to uh Focus on the other village centers as well now the north amherst village center is pretty well developed and I'm really sorry to see that north akins is closing It was something that I found very convenient And I'm somewhat shocked that they're closing before the uh apartments even can fill up But I think that um that whole Construction area is an example of what One of the village centers or the village centers can do to uh improve its vitality And I'm anxious to see what's proposed in other village centers Thank you, mr. Greeny Can you give me a 30 second warning? I can give you I can give you a 30 second warning Certainly because I have a lot here The master plan is divided into 10 chapters Seven of those chapters have goals Each goal has a detailed set of objectives and strategies for implementing the goals Downtown and village centers are mentioned uh in two of the chapters But it is reasonable to say that the vitality of those areas in the town are addressed in all seven goals of the master plan in chapter 10, uh Implementation the master plan outlines its own recommendations for realizing the goals and related objectives Um At a minimum Those recommendations should be followed The master plan provides guidance I quote from the master plan the master plan provides guidance for maintaining Accountability monitoring activities creating appropriate development regulations and procedures And involving the community in the implementation of the plan Then there's a list which I'll just read through quickly provide resources for implementing the plan Monitor and evaluate the plan Involve a wide variety of stakeholders in the implementation Develop appropriate regulatory tools to implement the plan Require concurrence with the plan and update the plan every five years Strategy one strategy 2a Is to form a master plan Implementation committee m pic to oversee the implementation of the master plan This is a new the new master plan implementation committee. This is from the master plan something we haven't done and I won't finish reading, but this is one of the things I'd like to see us do Um The planning board is well aware that no update has been done in 10 years Even though it's called for after five years it is time to do that in its own right And also because the town council has asked for that process to be completed as soon as possible So the council will be in a position to accept and improve the updated plan Having studied the master plan in modest detail I find it a good plan And I think it can be updated in both the thorough and timely manner and I am up for that task I was just about to give you your 30 seconds. Oh, I didn't even need it. Okay Question six And we'll start with mr. Hirsch Are you comfortable working under open meeting law where all discussions and decisions are done in meetings posted at least 48 hours in advance and open to the public? Yes Mr. Greeny Not only am I comfortable with the open meeting law I strongly support the operational guidelines of openness transparency and inclusion Not only should the meetings be open to the public They should be a reasonable measure of public comment period Further as far as reasonably possible meetings should be videotaped and posted as soon as possible So people who are unable to attend Can view the proceeding minutes should also be posted for public view in a timely manner furthermore I think that changing this interview process from one that is closed to one that is open to the public is a good idea inconsistent with Our commitment to the open meeting law although Seven questions is a reasonable number The last two questions are throwing this will The last two questions can reasonably answer it in one word In the future it might be useful to include standard practice questions like opening statement or closing statement Or anything you would like to say that it's not been covered in the questions Asked it is important that the interview committee the council members who approve this position And the entire community have a full and informed view of each candidate Thank you. Mr. Marshall Yes Thank you Prior to tonight's meeting, we distributed to all the interviewees a Committee handout that described what the planning board does and some of the Various commitments and including a time commitment. So question seven, which is our final question Are you comfortable with the time commitment and committee meeting schedule on the provided handout? And I believe we start with mr. Greeny on this one uh I fully understand that the regulatory and zoning work Alone is a significant commitment of time However, since I think that updating monitoring and implementing the master plan Launching new housing initiatives and engagement of a broad coalition of participants of high importance I am prepared for that additional time commitment that that will also require A seven member planning board can realistically accomplish only so much It is not surprising. It has not had time to carry out the implementation recommendations of the master plan itself That is why it is important to engage amorous abundance of Concerned committed citizens in the work the establishment of a master plan implementation committee As recommended by the master plan strategy 1 m 2 a should happen immediately Has a member of the planning board. I can help realize that important extension of the current board's work. Thank you Thank you. Mr. Marshall Yes Thank you. Mr. Hirsch Yes, I I do have some commitments on other nights of the week. Um, I'm uh, certainly available For um, the planning board on wednesday nights. I'm also available on tuesday nights mondays and thursdays I have commitments. So to be perfectly honest. I don't know exactly when the other committees that They ask assignments for Meet but I would have to check my schedule for those Thank you So turn this off. So that completes our interview questions. I want to thank Mr. Ugrini, mr. Marshall and mr. Hirsch Both for their willingness to serve for being here tonight and for bearing with us as we try out something that's never been done before In this community And so with that, I will adjourn this meeting of the outreach communications and appointments committee at 6 45 p.m Thank you