 Welcome to the select board meeting of Monday, February 24th, 2020 My name is Diane and mahan to my right and at home your left John hurt Dan done Steve DeCorsi Adam chapterling town manager Doug Hyme town council Thank you first agenda item is a report a presentation from the Community Preservation Act committee Eric Helmuth chair of the community Eric Helmuth chair of the Community Preservation Act committee Clarissa Rowe vice chair of the committee and I'm here to talk about the community preservation plan Which is first on your ward article list? Before Eric goes into our Presentation I just wanted to tell you that most community preservation act committees have a Preservate community preservation plan. We had a draft one and we're gonna have a final one We want to go to the public probably in April or at the end of March to get people's ideas about community housing and Historic preservation and open space So that's why it's on the ward article and now I'll turn it over to the leader Thank you very much Eric Helmuth again the chair of the CPA committee CPA stands in this case for Community Preservation Act and just as a very quick recap as to what it is It is a source of dedicated funding for three important areas to the community's Vibrancy and well-being and that is historic preservation so that we remember who we have been and who we are Open space and recreation so that we can enjoy the beauty of of that space around us and preserve it and community housing so that we can help make All into a place and the community is a place where everyone can live the CPA provides a dedicated funding stream through a small so local sex tax surcharge and a state Matching fund that allows us to take those funds and do even more with them and I'm gonna talk some a bit about what CPA is able to do when we Bring to you tonight for Consultation for discussion and for information about the projects that we are considering as we look to town meeting As you know the CPA committee is only the gatekeeper town meeting writes the checks So we make the motions to town meeting for appropriating project funds town meeting actually makes the final decision So we are in our process right now. We have a pretty good idea of what we tend to put forward And I'm going to be talking about that tonight every year the three areas that are funded under CPA have some minimum reservations, so 10% of the annual Income that we're expecting from the local tax surcharge or from the state fund Need to go to each of the areas as a minimum So we do those reserves right off the top the rest of the money is flexible the little gray sliver We are allowed to keep or to ask town meeting for up to 5% of those revenues for our administrative expenses The this coming year we were planning to ask for just 2.75 percent We've found kind of our happy place for that most of that Funding covers some staff in the town manager's office that are instrumental in administering the program next slide So the projects before you and you have in your documents a grid and I'll talk a little bit more about the budget at the end of this But the projects that we are actively considering are as follows First up the continuing restoration of the Jason Russell house I love this project because they started with CPA funds to build a Comprehensive conditions assessment and preservation plan that has guided every single time they come back to us for a funding request So this is the third Amount of funds that they've asked for and it's all always been about this range of funds And what's been amazing to me is the historical society has taken the investments that we've made in CPA and invested them to use use them as the required local match and they have received to date about a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in additional funding directly because of CPA's Ability to be a catalyst to assist in the preservation. So the money is going to an ongoing work on the envelope the foundation repair Windows just about everything you can imagine in a house of that age, but it's one of Arlington's and the state's most important National historic resources and it is an absolute pleasure to be able to fund that you can see that this is not the most beautiful picture of the house But I showed you this photograph because right out in front on the corner is Is a statement a strong statement of how the people of Arlington are contributing to this through their investment in CPA? Next up is another continuation of investment the CPA has made possible in another continuation of leveraged funding Where our a little bit of CPA money has been able to be invested in produce some returns So the mr. River waters has shed association working very closely with the town planning department has Used CPA funds and prior awards first to do a comprehensive study and plan and then to do a phase one of improvements to the park This is the park that most people think of as the tennis courts by the DPW But it's actually much more than that and one of the purposes of this project is to open up the park to uncover part of Millbrook, which is right there and one of the nice Things that happened in the first phase of funding a couple of years ago Was that the town was able to use the CPA grant as the local match to get $400,000 and a municipal vulnerability preparedness Grant that dovetailed beautifully with the face first phase of the work if you would this these pictures actually from the work that was done Previously in this graph this map shows that that there was a beautiful boardwalk installed the MVP grant went to flood storage and invasives removal and The rest of the funds went to just uncovering Charing out a horrible chain like link fence improving the path installing some signage to get people raise awareness That this is a great Natural resource that we hope to build on the next phase that they are asking us to contemplate Would be the second and final phase of construction where we would extend that path. There's a bridge that's As you can see pictured there over over the brook in need of restoration and repair. So that would be short up to guard against flood events in the future and you know kind of complete this this work along with some other plantings and a rain garden the area so next The reservoir likewise is another open space and recreation area that we have been able to invest in This is a large ongoing project CPA as part of the funding the other funding has come from the capital plan in various channels But this year they're asking us to contemplate an additional contribution that would Continue the trail and perimeter improvements because a lot of people think of the res is the swimming beach but in reality, it's a really great recreational resource all the way around and The path has a lot of problems, especially mobility wise So there are ADA improvements erosion control improvements in that recreational path that will supplement and Help us make a lot more out of the res than than simply the swimming beach, which itself is part of this plan So that's that's the the installment there for this The old burying ground is a historic preservation initiative This is the burying ground that is next to the library between the library and Pleasant Street This is the second phase of CPA funding the town has sought and the the boundary wall Which is historic but is also crumbling stone wall and as a safety hazard as well as just a risk to the historic asset Is in desperate need of repair? It's expensive tedious expert work We are able to successfully repair the areas in the black dots that that you see there in the first phase The second phase would take the area of red as much as far as we can down to the Unitarian Church and perhaps bending the corner And that's being very very ably led by the assistant town manager Jim Feeney, and we are grateful to him for his work next please another continuation Again another project. We're enormously proud to have contributed to is the restoration of the Robbins Memorial Garden right here next to Town Hall a major CPA grant from two years ago went to restoring the water features and getting those up and running again and This is a much smaller grant that's been proposed by the Historical Commission and the Friends of the Gardens to restore The original planning's to the Olmstead Brothers design. This is an Olmstead Brothers designed Park and The this work would would simply just beautify the park and make kind of complete that project to Make it as beautiful as it once was Next up we have a slate of small planning projects that were proposed by the town of Arlington and The open space and recreation plan is required every few years in order to qualify as for state conservation grants So that's a really good investment The archaeological survey is an investment in protecting what? Resources may be there. So its purpose is to identify and document prehistoric and historic Artifacts that may be in key places around town so this can be mapped so that we can start to we could apply for funds if necessary to preserve them and To formulate a plan to protect them in the context of development so that we know what's there And we can have a good idea what's there the historic municipal resources as a continuation of another CPA funded project whereby the town when it properly documents some of its town owned properties on the Historic register is then eligible for preservation grant money. So that's another way that we want to use this as seed money for future funding and Finally the the Department of Planning and Community Development has proposed a minute main bike way Planning grant to take a long-term look at the long-term maintenance needs of Arlington section of this Transportation corridor and also to look at some of the new forms and modes of transportation that are coming into being some of the electric Mobility and some of the low-speed mobility and how our pedestrians interacting with the cyclists are their infrastructure improvements We should be considering and this will be done in concert with the sustainable transportation plan work that's being done So that's also before us So quickly the budget and it's I know it's a little too hard to see on your screen But you do have it in front of you. This is where we stand right now. These are the projects. We are considering we will take our votes on this in March before we go to town meeting This year I want to note that we did not receive any affordable housing applications. We were disappointed by that But I'm glad to say that you can see the red box there Which is not on your documents in front of you that I just simply did the math the two tables that if all these appropriations Move through our committee and go to go through the town meeting We would still have $724,000 in change to put in the bank and that would be available for town meeting to reserve for Appropriation for reserve for future appropriation, but would have to be spent on future CPA projects So it would stay there and would be eligible for for affordable housing in the future And we hope very much next year to see some robust applications in that in that area some good news with the state match as you can see that in the lower left table there that the Estimated revenues regular revenues from this tax or charge are about 1.8 million the regular state match money came in at Just 14% of 220,000 We had some additional funds as as noted But one of the biggest sources of those additional funds was a state budget surplus and the governor and legislature actually Allocated 20 million dollars to the state CPA trust fund to shore that up and raise our effective match to Clarissa I think it was about 23% This year and we were looking forward to next year with this legislature also Signed and enacted an increase in the fees that fund that feed that state matching fund So we are hope we're hopeful that the we're gonna be able to hold the line on that better state match So that that gave us 217 almost $218,000 extra this year So we are optimistic that we'll be able to hold somewhere around that in the coming years We welcome your questions your advice thoughts Any questions for my colleagues at this point because this is also Going to fall under the warrant of hearing article 66 It's in my colleagues. Do you want to move receipt or? What's the motion I can't I think we're gonna move receipt Okay moved by mr. Cureau Seconded by mr. Herd any further questions or comments by my colleagues So on the affordable housing a refresh my memory who've been the applicants we've funded in the past We have funded the housing corporation of Arlington and the Arlington housing authority. Thank you It's interesting because in the CDBG funding cycle We actually kind of found a similar thing that we didn't get a ton of housing Affordable housing applications that we did get one from the housing corporation and I was and so We have some members of the CDBG subcommittee consists of a couple like two of us in the select board town manager Someone from the like a couple people from the planning department sit in and three Citizen members and not two of the three citizen members had the same question They're like why aren't we getting more affordable housing applications and I didn't have a good answer for it I think my colleague may have an answer I talked to Pam Hallett of the housing corporation of Arlington about it and they are a small small organization and they are in the process of the project in Westminster and they've broken ground in the adjacent project and they're also Doing the Broadway initiative project and their feeling was they had too much on their plate and that they You know any kind of housing a project requires extraordinarily Labor-intensive grants from many different sources and they just didn't feel they could do the right Kind of investment for this this year. I'm hoping that next year. They will be able to yeah I definitely didn't mean in my comment in any way about this negative about the housing corporation because they have been doing like a Further that they have been making a request and it's right It was more about how like that like the the list of groups that would make an application is thin It wasn't that the housing corporation wasn't doing it It's we were wondering we're only have to so far right and I think they're the planning department is thinking possibly the having a housing fund and But I think that's early on so that would also be another source But we we agree, you know, this is a problem right now people need affordable places to live As we go through our process to revise and finalize the community preservation plan This is one key area that we really need input from stakeholders from the public from the leadership Because there isn't that much CPA money every year it adds up, you know, it's between 1.5 to 2 million a year That's that's good. What's really powerful is it's a dedicated funding stream and it's it's a useful catalyst for matching funds But by itself, it's not a lot that said so we were very conscious that it's the public's money We want to invest it in congruence with the public's priorities So to the extent that we prioritize housing You know in a budget like this, you know, I think we'd like to hear from folks We'd like to know what we've done. Historically we have by practice, but not formal policy allocated at least five hundred thousand dollars a year to housing Projects and I think that's just a statement of values, frankly So I think that we will welcome your thoughts on that Now later is part of our hearing process when we when we adopt the plan because we really do want to listen One of the other things the housing projects bring in the largest grants from outside and I think the total grants brought in are about 12 million dollars into Arlington for affordable housing and that is tremendous because That's that it's our seed money and the CBDG seed money to bring in, you know, lots and lots of federal and state dollars Mr. Carroll, thank you, I wonder through you as well you mentioned the affordable housing trust funds being proposed through the The planning community development and they talked a little bit about that when we had our joint meeting with the redevelopment board to Could you talk about what is the benefit there? So because there's a 10% community housing reserves that obviously is carrying forward through the CPA accounting is that to allow for a if if for example the the affordable housing portion of CPA were appropriated to the Affordable housing trust fund that does that just make it more streamlined for a consolidated grant application? I'm gonna let the town council speak to that. Okay Thank you. Thank you madam chair One of the things that the affordable housing trust would be able to do is if the CPA and any other funding sources essentially built up the trust enough the trust isn't on a town meeting Timeline or even the CPA grant timeline it means that if there's an opportunity To invest in affordable housing or a specific need that arises at a time of year That's not very convenient to the CPA's grant process or even town meeting that they'd have that money is essentially a liquid asset It's particularly advantageous for the acquisition of property if the there was a potential project That the affordable housing trust might acquire and then dispense of in a later subsequent Measure that might be compatible with the CPA that might include for example CPA dollars to help support a rehab of an affordable housing trust Purchased property that would be administered by AHA or the housing court something of that nature Great. Thank you. I just had one other question on the reservoir project My recollection is that in phase one one of the things that was happening is that a number of different? Surface materials will be tested out on the on the perimeter this phase two Acting on a decision around that to extend One of the problems that we had at the beginning of phase one Was that the bids that came in were way beyond the expectations in the budget? So some of the work has been delayed some So those surfaces That they haven't been through the kind of I think some of them will be installed this spring but that's One of the reasons it's that we're in another phase is bid prices right now for public work are skyrocketing I think partially because of The tariffs that are going on metals I'm finding in my public bins, and I do almost all public did work The prices of just skyrocketed and that's what's happened to this project Thank you very much. Thank you madam chair Thank you madam chair just a couple questions and thank you for the presentation On the the 10% reserve is there a requirement that This year they may not be funds to spend so that the reserve that money's going to be put in to the reserve But how long can that be carried over before you actually have to identify a project? To my to my knowledge and and Doug correct me if I'm wrong there is no there's no limit I think that it's it's once it's reserved In a designated area, so if it's a housing reserve or strike preservation reserve That has to be spent in those areas now what we normally do and most years what we've done is is we have a Almost a paper transaction with the first town meeting vote under our article Reserves those because that establishes a paper trail if there are any turnbacks of our project doesn't happen Then we are retroactively in compliance with the requirement to spend 10% every year But I think that moving forward if we don't spend those right away on a project appropriation in the same meeting that those Those do sit there and are Eligible at any point in the future Question on the state match It's 14.1 percent of last year's CPA is what's projected. How does that compare to what the match was a year ago percentage-wise? Yes, it was 11 and with and effectively with with the bonus money from the state Surplus than it was it was above 22 23 percent. Okay. Thank you. And then last question on the unspent Funds I guess that was just unspent administrative funds everything else that was funded was the projects were worked on and completed or The phases were completed or the well Yeah, they unspent the unspent administrative funds would have been access from our the discretionary administrative account for the committee Project funds the projects are in progress Sometimes that if they if they don't start right away the money is still held for them You know, the award is still valid and we haven't you know, we haven't had a situation yet come up where the project doesn't happen Sometimes there's a delay, but that there's no problem with that. Thank you It's good to see so much investment into our historic structures in this plan I know over the past couple of years we've been doing renovations to the Jason Russell house our Is there an ongoing plan that's identified? you know what Renovations or repairs and necessary for our historic structures as a whole that's getting You know picked off year by year with CPA requests or is it just as each year? Successively the individual entities have to come in it. It is Because that's a private. Yeah, it's not a public entity I think the town is keeping track of the public publicly owned buildings and landscapes and This is because it's privately held it isn't but I think that the checklist the historic resources checklist Which again is only for public buildings and landscapes We'll be keeping track of that, but there isn't anything. I mean we we will have we have a preliminary list of everything we funded and that's something that we'll be talking about in the public meeting that we have and I think that's going to be pretty interesting because The reason CPA was started in the first place was those housing Historic preservation and open space have been were chronically underfunded and that's how CPA was started in 2000 in 2001. That's why it was signed So all the resources in Arlington are being the old Schwab mill You know some things that really bring value to the town are slowly being fixed up I mentioned that because I talked about this briefly new business in our last meeting, but I attended a Meeting a couple of weeks ago with some slug board members from surrounding towns and we discussed the 20 25 Patriots Day event which is slated to be quite an event the Semi quint centennial celebration and they talked about the then president of the United States visiting this area You know a lot of great events going on so The CPA is doing this anyway We are ready for the scenic byway committee that is made up of Arlington Lexington Lincoln and Concord have been talking about we have the National Park as part of our group And we are talking about it and one thing I would do is encourage Setting up a committee for Arlington because the other three towns have already done that Owners is on my shoulders Yeah, well it is interesting though because it seems far away, but they want us to submit a plan yesterday Okay, and a motion to move receipt made by mr. Carol seconded by mr. Hurd all those in favor say aye Unanimous vote for continuity sake and so it's still fresh in our mind We will take out of order of warrant article Hearing for article 66 a vote for the Community Preservation Act I Sort of did that at the beginning I did that at the beginning and what I'm asking for We are asking for is a positive vote We will have more substance to the motion is after we have our public meeting First is there a motion? Mr. Carol seconded by second mr. Dunn Recognizing we haven't had the public hearing yet Seeing none on a motion by mr. Carol seconded by mr. Dunn to move approval all those in favor say aye those opposed unanimous vote Thank you We'll now go to the consent agenda We have the minutes of February 10th 2020 reappointments commission for arts and culture Stephen polters I key To expire 131 23 library board of trustees Joyce Radoch it term to expire 6 30 2023 Your request common victual license DBA name change is Villa house of pizza hopes to be Boston pizza and curry Sumendra Shrestha a request for a special one day bear one license 3 1420 at Robbins Memorial Town Hall for a private event Karen's Schwartz an appointment of new election workers Virginia a Shannon of Sherbon Street Geraldine Padrini of Grandin Park Benjamin Wall of Udyne Street Susan he born of school Street first is there a motion on the consent agenda So moved move by mr. DeCorsi second seconded by mr. Curell Is there anyone here to speak to any of these the common fixture or the special? Any seeing none any questions or comments from my colleagues if Not on a motion to approve by mr. DeCorsi seconded by mr. Curell all those in favor say aye I oppose unanimous vote. Mrs. Mahan may I abstain from the minutes of February 10th, okay, so it'll be a 5-0 with the exception of number 2 it will be a 4-0-1 Thank you, that's amenable to you mr. DeCorsi that's okay Okay, now we go to appointments Commission for Arts and Culture Tom for Macaulay term to expire six thirty twenty twenty one is he yes You can just come up and once again just say your name and I'm Tom for Macaulay Nice to see you We have the select board has materials before us so you can see your credentials and Your expertise, but if you could just give a little explanation of how you found the way to this Kim Commission and or what you hope to add on to Etc sure I'm the new executive director of the Arlington Center for the arts the Commission kind of found me though I knew about them. I was paying attention I have Lived in Arlington for 15 years. I was on the Arlington Cultural Council for six years I think four of those years I served as the chair so I've been involved in the community and I've been involved in the art scene in particular and And now with my new role at the Arlington Center for the arts I am you know ready to Immerse myself really in the cultural scene of the town and I feel lucky to have been invited by My colleagues at the Commission to join them Thank you Is there a motion? Move approval. I'm Mr. Carol seconded by Mr. Herd Any further questions or comments? Duly impressed with what you're going to be bringing to Arlington's from what you've done in the past and Really lucky to have you and I know we'll be seeing a lot more of you So I want to thank you for adding this onto your plate of happy to be here. Thank you all On a motion by mr. Carol seconded by mr. Herd all those in favor say aye. I have those posed unanimous vote agenda item 8 for approval Removal of one yellow wood tree and two Norway maple trees at Whittemore Park. Mr. Chapter Lane tail manager. All right Thank you madam chair So I'm actually going to quickly get your discretion turn it over to Ali Carter from the planning department as well as the town's hired landscape Architect Naomi Cattrell to provide a little context about the project as well as then go into detail About the project in general and then the request for the removal of the trees tonight Good evening Ali Carter economic development coordinator The Department of Planning and Community Development embark embarked on the project to make improvements to Whittemore Park in 2016 as part of the mass av phase two conceptual plan process The department applied for and received a community preservation act grant in 2017 to create a plan for Whittemore Park The community visioning project for the park was launched in 2018 with the goal of creating a conceptual and schematic plan with cost estimates for construction Public outreach for the project was extensive three community forums a design day event for in the park for Public input a survey that received over 500 responses from residents and the work of a project committee committee comprised of residents members of the Arlington Historical Commission the Historic Districts Commission the Dallin Museum the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce all culminated in the Whittemore Park conceptual plan which was released in August of 2018 The overall project goals of the conceptual plan based on the feedback received during the community outreach Outreach process were to improve circulation in the park to increase visibility and prominence of the park to cultivate opportunities for passive recreation programs and events and to enhance the historic cultural and natural landscape in Arlington Center The community and design goals were to create a park that was democratic and that it could be used by many types of people Flexible in use for many kinds of activities and a place that is beloved and inspires stewardship In 2019 the department applied for and received another cpa grant to implement phase one of the plan Which includes the portion of the park in front of the jefferson cutter house under considerations this evening It has been presented to and approved by the massachusetts historical commission the arlington historical commission And also has support From the cyrus dallin museum the arlington chamber of commerce and the cutter gallery all located within the jefferson cutter house To provide a more detailed overview of the project and the reason for our appeal tonight I'd like to bring up Naomi cattrell of callie crally cattrell landscape architecture Thank you. Again, i'm Naomi cattrell with crally cattrell landscape architecture Thank you for the the Summary of our goals. We do have that listed here within our presentation Um, but I want to walk you through and take this moment to go through Some of the planning and and the reasons why we're here tonight. So go ahead and advance the slides um the existing conditions of the park really There are a lot of great assets to widowmore park that We're trying to balance with the goals that were set forward in the planning process of Really trying to bring more cultural and public gathering assets to the community through renovation of the park Some of the goals that we're trying to balance are not only improving the space but also to preserve the natural elements of the trees and and the cultural elements of the railroad tracks and Some of the existing landscape features So if we can move forward just to give you a diagram of some of the things that We have been considering in the the redesign process Currently the the park as you can see in green Consists of a frank bended lawn One that during our planning and outreach process we heard a lot about The community wanting to have a centralized open space for program currently The paths that that are designed lead to a singular focus of the front door of the cutter house Really creating what we found again in our outreach is being the number one used for the park Which is as a cut through We found very few people who Came out to our public process or responded to the surveys who actually stayed in the park and used it As a gathering place, which was one of the number one things that people were craving One of the other things that the crossing paths within the park does currently is it cuts the the remnant of the rail corridor the tracks into two fragmented pieces we are looking at and and with the Encouragement of mass historic into having the rail tracks be a more continuous Peace within the park and also giving the opportunity for people to in an accessible way Traverse down down the length of it to be able to really look at it In and folks with mobility issues to be able to do that in an accessible way And lastly the places to stop and rest currently in the park really do Do more focus on mass av The the benches are turned and faced towards the street rather than an interior space So a lot of what we're also trying to do is to create gathering in the center So that there's an actual place in widower park rather than it being again a cut through or feeling like a place that is So connected just to the streets and the sidewalks So our proposed diagram is is such that we're creating a Circuit path around around a centralized lawn The paths would all be of an accessible material and an accessible slope The the red path that you see along the side of the rail corridor also would be an opportunity for more direct Accessed along the length of the of the tracks themselves Also an accessible pathway Looking at providing benches that would be interior focused so that if there was a Larger gathering going on in the center of the park that it would be something that was More universally accessed that people could really In an accessible way be able to Experience the totality of the park Go ahead during the planning process and the conceptual process we Hired an independent arborist Bartlett tree experts to evaluate the existing trees within the park The park currently are suffering from The planning effort that was originally done when the park was first established and the trees are That are shown in red and in in orange Our trees that based on the assessment were considered poor or just fair Where the green is considered good quality? So you'll see that the Lower half of the site the site that's towards the pedestrian corridor on the old mystic street Are the healthier sets of trees where the trees that are up on the corner of mass av and mystic are the ones that are over mature and of Are beginning to show a lot of signs of stress So we look at this in the planning process To evaluate where we would want to stay away from from trees So the next slide maybe it's a little light here. So I apologize for that showing our New path network And where we are Interfering with current trees So one of the things not only again balancing the cultural and the community Wishes for gathering and improvement to the park Trying to balance the best trees that are in the park again The green trees and making sure that we're doing the least amount of damage to those trees And not putting those into any sort of stress Um, we'll go to the next slide if you wouldn't mind So in this slide here, you can see that we have three trees that are identified as the trees for removal We have a 15 inch on the top of the of the slide here a 15 inch norway maple Um On on your left hand side a 22 inch caliper norway maple And then down at the bottom of the slide a 15 inch caliper yellow wood If we go to the next slide it just show you what those trees look like The 15 inch caliper norway maple the one that is um along the edge of mystic is um in In poor condition this tree is um a It is wedged between the sidewalk and the Existing fence of the park. It's actually growing into both The canopy on it is predominantly over the sidewalk and it's an incredibly uneven crown So this tree is one that is Not getting any healthier It is It is starting to definitely show lots of signs of failure The yellow wood shown in the center of the screen here Is uh the only can you could you go back a slide? Is the and then maybe back another slide It's the one tree that was considered fair and not good within the side of the park We are proposing to thread uh the path Through Through that tree so that we can stay as far away from the other good trees as possible This yellow wood and again if you can go forward two slides This yellow wood is actually within it's a yellow wood trees are medium to small understory trees that grow Underneath other other trees as far as their their Understory But this tree in fact is very narrow because it has so limited access to light Um, so the tree itself isn't as good as the others And we felt that this was the one in creating this circuit path that would be the one that we would Need to take out This is the tree that was the new was new information to us that needed to be removed when we took the design from the conceptual phase in through development We had a partial survey during the during the conceptual phase and we had more topographic survey done At the time of the development And it became clear to us that in order to make that portion of the Park's path accessible as far as slope that we would need to take that tree out And then the last tree shown here on this slide is the 22 inch caliper norway maple Again, this tree is actually right next to the sidewalk on mass av It is actually Also predominantly the crown is over the sidewalk doesn't provide shade directly into the park The the head on this is is lopsided again That comes from being over planted with the other trees that are in the park and it has Predominantly grown over over the sidewalk of mass av It has significant girdling roots and is not in great condition either Um So this is the proposal for new trees within the park as you can see the when when we show trees on our plans The solid dots are existing trees to remain and then trees with pluses But we've also then highlighted them here with a little bit of blue Those are our proposed trees So we are asking for permission to take out the three trees as described And then these are the trees that we would be putting in as replacements Those consist of all native trees if you go ahead to the next We are proposing redbud Yellowwood and hawthorne which are all native understory trees So we would be getting in a different level of canopy And then as far as our canopy trees that we would be proposing we are looking into the thornless honey locust Tulip tree and a swamp white oak Again, all native trees those last three the honey locust the tulip tree and the white oak are canopy trees and will Get full canopy and provide shade Now, I know that there's been some discussion in throughout the town about carbon sequestration I will acknowledge that the tree removal and then the tree planting will not be an equal carbon sequestration from the beginning Trees obviously bigger trees do sequester more Than new trees Per our calculations We estimate that within nine years that the new trees that we would be planting would be sequestering as much as the current Trees are today And then afterwards would start to sequester more carbon I think that's where I'll end our presentation We also do have a series of shrubs and ground covers also of native varieties That would be planted around the perimeter of the lawn the lawn area being in the center And then around the perimeter having the shrubs and ground covers And then let's go Is that the end of your presentation? Okay, I guess we're going to public comment Hi, I'm ellen lee and I submitted a letter. Hopefully folks have gotten a chance to look at it. Terrific So first of all, I appreciate the efforts the time and energy that's been put into revitalizing what more park it's a real treasure in the center of town And I recently became aware of this proposal to remove the trees and I became very concerned about removal of healthy trees I appreciate Being able to offer my perspective as a person with a disability in a wheelchair So I live nearby I'm able to go by the park and utilize the park and and and I think that Usage of the park has increased over the past two to three years. There are more Arts programs the beer garden concerts a variety of things where people do gather In fact, it's been quite popular and as somebody who uses a wheelchair I have been able to be there and enjoy it and and find it accessible In fact, there are three entrances currently that are accessible. There are pathways I'm all for improving accessibility for sure and taking out those bricks and you know improving things in a variety of ways But I think respectfully it's one thing to look at Design plans and pictures of trees. It's another to be in the park and to experience it And it's a peaceful oasis when you're there in the summer and it's getting hotter each year The climate is changing and we we need the carbon that the You know sequestration that the the trees provide but we also need the shade cover And as someone with a disability and also speaking for people with elders We often have trouble with temperature regulation And so it's that much more important to have the shade cover to be able to reduce the heat to provide to have that relief from the heat So I know that the goal is to revitalize the park and to make it more user friendly for the residents of Arlington but as someone I would find that it would become too dangerous for me to use the park if we if we'll reduce the shade cover and through We're talking about very tall Trees the yellow wood is 30 feet tall. I've been in contact with with tree warden That's 30 feet tall and the norway maples are both 50 feet So these are some of the tallest trees in the park that provide the most shade cover and appreciate the desire to plant new trees That's important, but it would take many years if not decades to Grow tall enough to provide adequate shade cover to to have similar shade cover to what is provided now So if the goal is to revitalize the park I fear that in fact it will become less Usable and and it would be too risk-giving heat complications for people with disabilities and elders Can actually be life threatening and I know that's not what anybody wants But I wanted to be able to share this perspective because it's important and I only recently became aware of this issue Which is why I'm here to speak up now I'm a volunteer with a commission on disability And I brought up this issue on the agenda just this past week and we talked about it But we we decided to talk about it in greater depth next month when we had more information And could speak more knowledge about it. And that's when I reached out and was in contact with With ali carter and with jenny raid and Getting more information, which I want to be able to discuss more knowledge Really with the commission So I think it's important to Consider this carefully given this perspective given these issues because I don't think anyone wants to Create a negative situation. We're trying to improve Um and you know as someone with a disability, I'm able to utilize the park. I'm able to enjoy it I'm all for improvements, but I I if we reduce the shade cover We not only interfere with the health of the environment, but we potentially interfere with the health of the residents of arlington Um and make the park less user friendly. So um, I think it's important to Find some way an alternative to work around so that we preserve the trees You know have accessible paths make improvements But keep uppermost in mind preserving these trees because once we remove them, you know, it's going to be many many years before we have Similar shade cover, um and all the benefits and beauty that that provides So I appreciate you hearing me out and listening to my concerns and I thank you for your consideration Thank you so much And just for the record, I just want to note um that uh with the agenda items under this Item that we have the memo from ali codder the report from crawly cot trial We have correspondence from patricia warden warden dated january 24th 2020 regarding compliance with chapter 87 We also have correspondence from patricia warden dated february 10th 2020 Regarding tree requests and those have already been incorporated into the record as requested. Sorry go ahead You should have done the beginning. Okay My name is rachel stark in addition to being ellen's uh mike stand I am the founder and chair of walking in arlington, which is a 20 year old walkability and pedestrian advocacy group with an email list of 700 people We advocate for walking and walkability in arlington and around arlington and part of walkability is having someplace that's worth walking to Otherwise, there's no point and people I hear all the time people want Tree line streets. They like walking on tree line streets much better than sunblasted streets And they want to walk to tree shaded parks. And that's what a lot of people talk about people of all abilities Deserve walkable sidewalks in a walkable environment, but we have not done a good job with that Just across the street from The widower park the sidewalks are crumbling uneven missing bricks I mean nearly impassable for an able-bodied person Never mind someone in a wheelchair And that's just across the street when we get snow A large mounds of snow are allowed to be left on the curb cuts and on the sidewalks And making it basically impossible to to walk difficult to walk and impossible to get Down the sidewalks and to the park in a wheelchair Widowmore park is in the middle of 10 lanes of traffic It is It is noisy. It's full of exhaust fumes The only thing that makes it a nice place to listen to a concert Or to have a glass of beer is the mature trees. They keep it shady. They keep it cooler They keep it a little bit quieter. They keep the air a little cleaner That's what makes it usable and nice at all. It's it's kind of right on the line of not being usable because of It's in the middle of two huge streets The trees keep it shady. They keep it quieter. It's nicer if you cut down those trees What you have is a patch of sunblasted grass and dirt In the middle of 10 lanes of traffic. That's not a nice place to be If we're serious about the americans with disabilities act and honoring the spirit of that law And I think we should be we should focus on repairing and maintaining The streets and the sidewalks in and around the park to the park And keeping the snow and ice off the sidewalks and the curb cuts Cutting down mature trees in the middle of town is not the right way to increase wheelchair access It is not the right way to make a nicer park Do not do not plan paths through trees plan paths around trees Improve the pedestrian and the wheelchair access to the park Improve the conditions in the park and there's plenty of ways we could do that Existing mature trees are survivors. We know they're going to make it because they have Um newly planted trees most of them die. We all know this and we are not good about watering our street trees So almost all of them die We know that um keep the trees we have we need them They're beautiful. They make the park usable and We need them. Thank you. Thank you And I'm I've been sort of bending the three minute rule, but also recognizing that there's Um lots of people here for other warrant article here So but I'm gonna let continue to bend it But if if something at the point, you know, if you want to reiterate the point you can't go ahead I just want to say I discovered tonight that This meeting is not wheelchair accessible I had to help Ellen through the front door because The button you push that opens the door doesn't work We didn't know where the elevator was and it's almost impossible to get through that door So, um, I know you didn't know what I didn't know it, but that might be something Okay Thank you I'm Joanne Preston. I live at 42 mystic lake drive I'm a town meeting member for precinct nine Which is in compasses widower park I have also We've started a group called friends of our linkedin trees because so many trees Large trees shade trees have been cut down the gas leak ones 45 at the high school Some others that are going to be in broadway plaza And we would like to find alternatives to cutting them down I'm going to read this because I have some slides. I'm going to show Uh, thank you for this opportunity to speak about the importance of preserving Three healthy trees in widower park as you know, the public response has been overwhelmingly in favor Of preserving these trees the request for cutting down these shade trees was denied at a tree gearing In which our town tree warden Deemed all three trees as healthy Um, 23 letters were asked. I hope you got them And 12 residents took time out of work to go there. Others have written you sense The rationale for cutting down the trees was that they were in the way Of a proposed new walkway Which is ADA compliant because they all have to be However, the planning department itself states that the new walkway was not strictly functional residents To cut through the park from russell street to the intersections of mass app. That's not what it's for It was to improve circulation within the park Hence the ADA compliant walkway could be anywhere in the park It's not getting from a to b. It's just to experience the park But unfortunately it seems to be in the way of three healthy shade trees I argue that design should follow function And these trees are highly functionable um, they collectively We do remove It's your numbers 1900 pounds of atmospheric carbon a year At one of the heaviest traffic areas Moreover these large leafy shade trees cool the park for the benefit of residents And furnished relief for the newly discovered heat island, which is right next to the park Um, I would like to know by the way, I did look again at what you had on the internet and it did make the point that all if these nine trees replacement trees after nine years would Remove as much carbon as the three healthy trees but that's not those aren't the right numbers because What is being moved removed are eight trees large trees and being replaced with What two inch trees four inch trees small trees? And so it'll take a very long time Before we're able to remove that carbon Since The trees need to stay where they are again with the trees They and they continue to absorb carbon and render shade The path can be anywhere on the park to improve circulation Um, I'm requesting that the designers make small changes in their plan to preserve the trees now you see here you have The 2018 plan goes on one side of the yellow The yellow wood tree a very very special tree It said that there was too much slope Well, wouldn't an alternative be In a million and a half dollar project to take a few thousand dollars and just shore up that slope I did it in my backyard for a tree And that would allow the tree to be there It could even be on the the path could even be on the other side and they could use Recycled plastic tree crates that would protect the roots of the other tree the other two trees In this plan you could change the opening Onto the sidewalk and you would save them. I don't think it's a bad thing that one of these trees it Has a has a function Of shading the sidewalk Because I think Ellen will tell you I will tell you it's important in last July is the hottest July We've had on in recorded history to have a shaded Walk now, um You're at five minutes if you could Other people that's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that Hi, my name is Mara vats. I live at 77 Warren street Um, thank you for your time. I know there have been a lot of um discussions about trees This isn't the first time and probably not the last time I'll be up here Um, I'm here to oppose the removal of the yellow wood tree The two norway maples were slated for removal in the plan that was presented and accepted by town meeting But the yellow wood was not part of that plan and we were promised that no more trees were going to be removed The tree warden has said that it's a perfectly healthy tree Although it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing tree. I don't think that that's the purpose of trees It is sequestering carbon and providing shade and it's a native tree. So it's supporting the ecosystem I'm concerned that the construction of the circular path will cause significant stress to the existing trees So some of those that are Going to remain might not survive the renovation I'm also concerned that new plantings won't survive because as far as I know, there's no long-term watering plan for this park Um, I realize this is just one tree but removing it As an afterthought sends the message that we're not really serious about saving trees Uh, we're looking at the removal of 45 trees along mass av for the high school rebuild And possibly 13 mature trees in the broadway plaza in the next few years So I think we need to ask ask ourselves if we really value trees even when it's inconvenient With what we know about climate change and carbon sequestration, we cannot go on as if mature trees are disposable or easily replaceable Every design decision must put preservation at the forefront I don't think that ADA compliance has to be at odds with tree preservation and ellen spoke to that With ingenuity and creativity. We can find solutions to these things Regardless of the decision that the board makes for this particular tree I hope that in future projects Arlington can express from the outset a dedication to preserving our urban canopy. Thank you Thank you Hi, I'm susan stamps 39 grafting street. I'm on the tree committee as is maravats, but we're speaking as individuals The tree committee has not taken a vote regarding removal of any of these trees um I did get up on the floor of town meeting last spring When one of the town meeting members presented a motion to actually remove this project From the cpa menu of projects Um because she didn't want to see any trees cut down whatsoever and the lead up to town meeting Several members of the tree committee and I spoke to many of the involved parties including the tree warden And we felt that it was a good process the as the planner person from the planning department said they had their own arborist come and um rate the trees in the the park as healthy or Middle-ean or or not healthy and the tree warden agreed with that assessment except for Um two trees they thought were kind of middle-ean. He thought they were perfectly healthy And at the time of town meeting those two trees were Um the the planners were going to remove more healthy trees They put them back and there were only two trees left at the town that the tree warden thought were healthy that were going to be removed and I felt that the tree committee was happy with the process that the tree warden was consulted as we had asked the town to Start doing and all the projects and You know, you can't have a perfect plan Nobody's going to be completely happy So I got up and I advised town meeting to vote down the motion to take the cpa project off the The list Put it on the list and vote in favor of it because we thought it was a good process now there's a third tree that Is is was Regarded as a healthy tree by the tree warden um the plant I believe the the planning department person Said that all three trees were kind of not that healthy, but The tree warden would not have had a hearing if the trees had been unhealthy. He would have just had them taken down anyway Um, so the yellow wood is the tree that I'm objecting to I already said the other two trees Okay, you can't win them all but to add a third tree that's perfectly healthy Um without really there being any input and I understand that there wasn't a final plan on the floor of town meeting I get that But I do agree with the other speakers that the general proposition that we need to have as many trees As we possibly can have in town and this is very important public space I just I read somewhere that I don't know the actual reason why the yellow wood tree had to be removed but it might have had something to do with an uh accessible ramp And it just seems like there's got to be some way to do it and keep that tree So I would like to advocate for um Denying the appeal on the um the I would Ask the select board that I'm okay with them up denying am I asking for that the The planning department apparently appealed the denial of the removal of the trees because of the objections The denial of the two trees that were before town meeting Last year could probably be reversed. It would be consistent with what's already happened in town, but I would Um, hope that you would uphold the denial of the yellow wood tree. Thank you. Thank you. Excuse me My name is Clarissa row. I'm at 137 Herbert road I'm a registered landscape architect 675 And I'm raising my voice to say This plan is a wonderful plan and I've lived in town for a long time I wasn't born here, but I've lived here a long time And I'm old I like shade And I'm somewhat disabled so I spend a lot of time under trees um We are I think it's too bad that plan is not up There are a lot of circles on that plan. There's a lot of shade trees still there I'm very worried that this And I'm I've been Taking care of Arlington streets for a long time. Mike knows I'm a pain in the butt as a nice way of saying it But I You know, there's a beautiful lemon plain three on mill street Um that I've been saving every time there's a new manager of that building This is a precedent setting decision We need to improve our spaces whether it's This space which has really been A not a common not a space Yes, people have come there in the last couple of years because of alley's wonderful programming of the space This plan that this wonderful landscape architect has done will transform it We'll make it a place and we landscape architects talk with our hands We're sorry, but that's what we do. Um, it will make it a wonderful place a real destination with a lot of trees but by Saying that every single Project that comes to this town has to not touch a tree is a mistake and it's a mistake to say The high school can't be built because some trees are coming down. We know that's not going to happen Let's be practical. Let's I think I think it's a very good idea to be planning small trees Because they grow faster We could of course say, you know, this is equal Caliper inch to caliper inch, but those trees won't do well. They don't do little trees too well In a public situation And actually the DPW does water their new trees And they do a fine job of it and I think that this is an opportunity to make a really beautiful space in earlington and I urge you not to Do a precedent setting vote To not take down the three trees There are many opinions about whether the trees are in good shape or not The two norway maples are on the invasive list They don't count in a way And the yellow wood I think is not a specimen tree You're going to get some really beautiful specimen trees and I urge you to support the plan and vote down the idea of taking down The three trees. Thank you very much Thank you, Patricia Wharton and thank you for your wonderful presentation on behalf of the disabled people who Like to use the park Arlington is fortunate to have a treasure in its center At least it's an 19th century antique house and a tiny forest with healthy shaped trees But the trees Are happy neglected They are endangered by our planning department and their chosen landscape firm who want to eliminate them Many arlingtonians came to the tree warden's hearing all except one Who happened to be a member of the tree community pleaded for preservation of the trees all of them set that one The landscape was get rid of shade trees attitude is tragic as we all know trees help stop climate change purify our air clean our water and Provide climate resiliency Irresponsible removal of shade trees is in violation of arlington's official hazard mitigation plan Which recommends them for this and other areas along the commercial corridors Shade trees provide natural outdoor air conditioning Health hazards to seniors by heat island at the site would occur if these trees are removed We have several hundred no income senior residents Residences within walking distance of the site chestnut manor winds of charge q-side terrace mill book apartments from whom The new landscape panel is unhelpful in many ways including removal of appropriate seating And apart which makes it more difficult to reach Point a from point b from point a In knowing this the planners have chosen To recommend that the lucrative landscaping contract of one million five hundred thousand dollars For the tree cutting plan must be funded partly Firstly by cpa funding under the auspices of historic preservation, which is bogus It's not historic preservation That money could be used instead for many many projects to help the homeless Uh and for cleaning out Japanese not good and their bike way and mill book Secondly the planning department wants to use 125 thousand dollars of federal heart cdbg Funding designed for low income residents for this project But this project will only hurt these seniors the director of public works has said that the charm itself Could do the basic work necessary for less than 17 thousand dollars The trees do not belong to the chamber of commerce They do not belong to the planning department. They do not belong to the time manager They belong to all of us including our seniors our children and grandchildren Please we hope you are select board will make sure they remain for us all. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs Hi, my name is Lynette call the house Thank you for this opportunity to share Um, I'm reading a statement on behalf of one of our low income Disabled residents whose voice probably was not considered in the planning of this project Um, I'm making a statement partially, uh Wait As as I understand it there are alternative suggestions to achieve ADA compliance While keeping those trees intact As a disabled individual who supports disability accommodations I am in full support of any alternative solution that will allow ADA compliance while still enabling tree conservation To clarify my understanding of these issues I work as both a volunteer and paid consultant for the boston center for independent living The boston metro areas for most disability advocacy group As a journalist and health blogger I write for national publications on living with disability However, my graduate degree is in the environmental sciences I work for environmental nonprofits as well as for the town of wellesley as their environmental education coordinator In recent years, I turned much of my focus on the intersection of environmental conservation sustainability and health I have a rare connective tissue disease eilers danlos syndrome One of my many symptoms includes the inability to properly regulate my body temperature And in warmer weather I am prone to heat intolerance As an apartment dweller, I do not have the privilege of easy access to a yard to enjoy tree cover and fresher air I am fortunate to live Close to spypond. I'm fortunate too to live in a town that overall values and maintains its trees When I go for walks during warmer seasons, I can find more shade cover while walking And the trees help create beneficially cooler micro climates This is even more crucial for those of us of lower income who do not have access to or can't afford air conditioning Or running it often This is something to consider as well as the town mills over densifying the area But also diversifying its population to be more inclusive of minorities and those with lower income as well as disabled people It's easier for homeowners with yards and central air conditioning to speak about urbanizing an area When they can insulate themselves from the adverse health impacts that often occur with density and urbanization Those of us who need to live in apartments are often without yards or air conditioning We need to rely on our immediate surrounding environment for those benefits And if they don't exist we suffer I know this intimately and painfully as someone who has had to be rushed to the hospital in summer And watch family members get ill and pets die in the heat because of lack of relief As one peer review paper on the subject of temperature related illness noted Higher rates of heat related morbidity and mortality occur in city dwellers who reside on the top floors of apartment buildings Or who do not have access to air conditioning The urban heat island effect refers to patterns of city development such as replacing trees with concrete surfaces that cause urban areas to retain heat throughout the evening in comparison to suburban and rural area As it noted in Yale university's climate connections, climate change disproportionately threatens the health of vulnerable groups According to the 2016 climate and health assessment vulnerable groups include those with low income Some communities of color immigrant groups older adults persons with disabilities and persons with pre-existing or chronic medical conditions I hope you will take these factors into consideration when making your final decision We can improve our town. So it's both ADA compliant and conserves the trees and other Trees that disabled and other vulnerable groups need for the health and to keep our climate in check Thank you so much Beth Beloff check 20 Russell street Town meeting member. I am the town meeting member that attempted to get town meeting to act like congress a year ago and shut the purse To offer an opportunity for a re-examination of the objectives of this particular plan I respectfully ask the members of the select board to Give serious consideration to this precedent setting decision So that all projects that come before you Concerning public land land under your control as the select board Land for which CPA funds town funds or federal funds would be used First and foremost consider the tree canopy after the hottest summer on record and certainly Having watched what happened in australia And many things that we're all aware of It's incumbent upon us And I don't have children. I'm up here because of your children and your grandchildren It is incumbent upon us and I respectfully ask you again to consider the precedent setting decision Any project that comes before you first and foremost we need to consider are you preserving and fortifying the tree canopy? and if you are going to minimize it To what degree and why? So It appears one of the main objectives of this plan is to create a lawn And again with the heat we're facing with the lawn at uncle sam plaza due to the unfortunate demise of the heritage maple With the lawn at Town gardens with the beautifully restored fountain. Why do we need this additional lawn? It seems a little redundant This is a beautiful park now for the shade it provides. It's been neglected many spots in town or like that I understand there are decisions that need to be made where you spend the money So I would like to remind everyone that a year ago at town meeting Again, it was made this plan. It was described as envisioning the creation of a lawn It was stated there are four trees that have to come out because they are dead or unhealthy Those have already been taken out. We were told And this is a statement and I'll quote it. It was at an hour three minutes on may 8th I'm quoting the chair of the cpa I've been assured by the town manager that there are no plans to remove trees for this project Beyond those that the tree warden has already designated for removal that need to go anyway So I ask you to please not further diminish the tree canopy when we need it for your children and your grandchildren Everybody in this room for people who enjoy using the park now for people who want to be able to get out of their homes And apartments during the summer when it's hot. I like to get out of my house in my apartment and I would also ask you I hope you will reconsider the plan I hope you will reconsider the choice of honey locust because anyone who is familiar with arlington center knows we've got ailing and dying honey locust along that stretch of masav On both sides of mat of on both sides of masav right facing the park Russell parking a railroad parking and russell parking are filled with honey locust not doing particularly well Buzzel field. It's all honey locust. Please ask the tree warden. How many honey locusts we have in town? and Please consider catalpa And other true canopy trees true majestic trees, but I hope you don't cut out any trees in this park I didn't intend to speak tonight, but I felt it was important. So thank you for your indulgence Thank you I guess I'll Unless there's anything else this car or mr. Chaplin, you know Take questions comments from my colleagues. Oh, I'm sorry Oh, okay, sorry Good evening elizabeth ray on jason street. I also um was here to attend and not speak but um On this issue, but this really speaks to me. Um I agree that this is a precedent setting decision But the precedent that I would like arlington to set is that arlington values trees and tree canopy over perfectly circular paths And that arlington does not remove trees Even trees like norway maples Because they're inconveniently located And I would also like to say that as far as carbon sequestration goes every tree counts every tree is important even norway maples I also agree that the goal is to make that a Wonderful place for the town I took my kids there after getting ice cream at chili cow. They'd run across the railroad tracks We'd sit on the bench and hopefully lick the ice cream, but when I'll melt it all over us What makes that a wonderful place is the people gathering its families its people with picnics It's the great beer garden, but people are not going to go there and bake in the sun That is not what's going to make it a wonderful place. It's the people wanting to gather there In the shade and not a perfectly circle path And one more comment before I sit down is that I was just talking to a friend before I came And she related to me That what she would say is that she grew up and her father was in a wheelchair for most of his life And she says I'll tell you how hard it is to push a wheelchair. I've done that. I've fought that all my life But my my father would say Keep the tree he would rather have a tree and sit in the shade Than a perfectly smooth path. Thank you very much. Thank you And I would like to Pour this on to the select board office so they can be notified We did receive letters from residents who couldn't be here tonight in opposition to the planned The plan that includes removal of these three trees We have bill berkowitz We have nancy bloom With her opposition. We have Anthony jones and tamara chenna with jones Who strongly protest the plan removal of these three trees? We have lara quiesel Who also opposes this it cites widdermore trees and disabilities We have Letter opposition from claire odum We also have strong objections to the removing of the trees by robert p. Murray esquire We have Again In opposition to the removal of the three trees from june ritowski jeff and ellenore frie We have several pieces of correspondence from jone. You smeltzer Asking us to support preserving the trees and not Removing them And we have a correspondence from james. Sorry jane widdermore Again in opposition as well as a letter of opposition From monsoorat zuckerman, so they will be entered in Since they couldn't be here tonight and we'll contact them and let them know. Okay Um any comments questions mr. Dunn? Oh, I'm okay. Um So I wanted to talk a little bit about I wanted About some of the history about uh trees and how we've thought about them in arlington Just in I speaking just from the last few years while I've been on the select board when I think about when uh When I started here, we had a part-time uh tree warden And we didn't really have tree hearings trees would just come down It was the way it was to practice it was as a matter of practice when it was time when someone wanted a tree to come down it pretty much just happened and uh We changed that process through a series and in some ways in many ways We didn't actually even change the law or the bylaws We just started applying them because the bylaw says there will be a tree hearing And so we started saying okay, let's actually do the tree hearing And I think that that in itself has really changed the way that arlington is thinking about tree Is because we actually like because when we take one down we actually talk about it now as opposed to it actually coming coming down I think the second thing I'd point out is Think about it's important to think about is how arlington has changed its attitude about replanting And our budget for tree planting has gone up Like I mean I've got this little sketch in front of me, but it's like I don't know a factor of five A factor of four something like that over over the last five years as we've appreciated That there was a period of time where we were taking more trees down than we're putting in And we have reversed that and for the last several years We have been putting more trees into the ground than we have been taking down And yes, there's age issues and like you can't replace a mature tree with a baby tree But at the same time, uh, and I'm not trying to exactly make that argument But I am making the argument that we've been a lot more thoughtful about it and the uh And the third thing is a third big change is not just did we talk about the trees But we've instituted a lot of process around them As I think someone had mentioned earlier Involving what is now a full-time tree warden in the town's plan from an early stage such that trees are more likely to be preserved and uh So to me when I get to this so I for me When I think about it And how many tree hearings have we had in the last few years way more than we used to but still not that many And how many trees have we taken down and the answer is not that many But we we've saved many by simply having the process we've saved a few by uh denying the the appeals But that said I do have a practical approach to this I don't think that every tree is needs to be saved I don't think that every tree is worth saving and I do think that there really are Practical applications and I think the trees can be taken down and and uh be replaced And I'm I'm satisfied that we have looked at these trees that the planning department and the in our landscape architect have looked at this and have been careful about their How they're addressing the the trees and the use of trees and the replacement of trees Here in town and so I I don't have a I will love the tree canopy. There's still going to be a tree can be over this and not only that The tree canopy is going to be expanded with some of these new ones And I think the which also takes me to kind of my fourth point, which is I really believe this project that when we're done, it's going to be a better place We're going to have a better park and I think that sometimes Change is scary and sometimes change is hard But it sometimes but it helps to when you can when one can look past This change and say what is it that we're going to get to And I think that we are going to get to a better park Through these changes for so for all those reasons I move that we grant the appeal and permit the three trees to be taken down Motion by mr. Dunn is there a second for discussion or Second for discussion Second by mr. Carroll or An additional motion Second for discussion first I have some questions Mr. Carroll, um, thank you Thank you, madam chair and thank you everyone who's uh spoke spoken on this And thank you for all of the work and the memo and the presentation on this So I I did go down to the park yesterday and as everybody knows yesterday was a beautiful day I went down about one o'clock in the afternoon And um I went down the streets were full of people At that time So I went down to look at the trees, but the first thing I noticed was I was all alone In that park when I first went in um, it's it's really I it really underscored for me the need for this project um to to um Uh revitalized the the park itself Eventually there was one gentleman who sat down for a couple of minutes He seemed to be kind of watching me because I was walking around looking at the map of the thing I'm looking at the trees and I think he was trying to figure out what I was doing Um, and then there were two women who who did eventually come right at the edge They they sat down on on the the first benches when you entered in Which incidentally, I don't believe um They were outside of the tree canopy. There's a little piece that's that's within the the um the tree canopy So I looked at the I looked at the trees in in question And it's obviously it's a little bit hard to visualize at this time of year because they don't have the the um The leaf cover, but I did Just as a lay person. I was struck that the the norway maples They really lopped off or the branches have almost all come off on the park side of those two norway norway maples, so Most of the benefit from those are clearly to the sidewalk And allowing this plan to go through actually allows anyone who's Cutting that corner to actually cut right through the park, which is not an option that they really have right now There is no entrance on mist mystic street to cut directly across um to to um To mass av So I think from that perspective, I think my sentiments Veer towards a couple of the speakers who said that they could see the norway maples invasives um The the sense in in allowing them to come out and I think In the interest of having a more usable park where people can actually get in And access the tree canopy that is there will be there. I think that that's that's great but I I did have a few questions on The the other we had some information in the memo About the alternatives that were looked at around rerouting the path for the yellow wood We had some suggestions that were presented by one of the speakers I I was wondering through you madam chair Could you speak a little bit to the the the various options that were considered or that could be considered? um To to avoid Absolutely, so we did look at um having the path go on either side of the yellow wood So the The lower path would require retainage It would require changing of grade if we were to make that section um accessible Now the other thing that was a concern with going on the lower side of that yellow wood is that we were We would not only be close to the yellow wood, but we would also be close to The red maples along old mystic the pedestrian way That we would be getting very close to them as well So we looked then at the other side the uphill side of the yellow wood Which then actually gets quite close to again A really nice yellow wood which is more of a specimen because it is more out in the open and has a fuller crown And it gets closer to the the two best trees in the park, which are the two pinnokes So to to slice the path closer um uphill to the yellow wood In our in our opinion was going to be more harmful To the best trees in the park the yellow wood and the two pinnokes So when we look at the canopy of the yellow wood that we're suggesting to take out You can actually see that it is actually underneath other canopy It's underneath the canopy of its of its fell yellow wood and it's underneath the canopy of the red maple that's adjacent That was a question that was madam madam chair That was actually my next question because you mentioned that that it's an undergrowth tree. So my question is How much is the yellow wood itself contributing to The net shade within that area the yellow wood itself actually doesn't provide That yellow wood doesn't provide much shade to the area at all because again There is other canopy over top of it the yellow wood that is next to it Which we deem more valuable because it is out in the open provides its own shade because it doesn't have the the Red maples over top of it Okay, so we wanted to stay away from that one and also away from the the red maples By putting the path right through the center of that rather than splitting it on either side And do you consider it vital to have that that segment beyond the bench between the bench and um Jefferson cutter house have that section of path there As part of the plan Yes, I think that it's really important actually to provide a way in which to engage people who are coming up from the parking lot To be able to engage the park if we didn't have that section They would then be going across the whole entire Front of the cutter house or would go all the way down to mass av in order to be able to get into the park So as far as as best practices of park design having circuits that are That are pathways where you don't have dead ends Are of a real value. So we see that as being part of a loop That really provides a lot of Circulation and connectivity to all the different areas in the park Okay, thank you. Um, I appreciated the the information on the carbon sequestration And how long would take to match and then and then Exceed the current carbon sequestration from the three trees By my Math, I think we have 42 caliper inches removed and 23 inches I think were placed. How long would it take For that number to So that's the that's within the roughly the nine years That's also within the so the the other thing about the sequestration that sorry that sorry the the canopy the caliper inches Is a 17 year Where they get to be the the thing about the carbon sequestration is that we actually gave The trees that are there the yellow wood and the two norway maples. We actually gave them the By our calculations what a perfectly healthy Totally and completely full canopy 22 inch norway maple and standing out in the middle of a field What that would have and so we're actually giving it a lot of credit I think if you went through and you actually did an even more detailed Survey of the existing trees And you gave it a percentage reduction based on the actual health and size of the exact of the tree that's there It would it would actually Show that the current carbon sequestration is not as great as we're giving it credit for but but we do like I said, we Acknowledge that it would take nine years for the trees that we're proposing to match that calculation Okay, great. Thank you. I have no further questions Mr. Hard Similar talking points and questions. Mr. Caro. So try not to duplicate I went out there today again similar introductory story Today It was 60 degrees. It was beautiful similar experience. I was the only one in the park Um, I took a look at these couple trees particularly First I looked at the norway maples and one of them looks like half a tree and You know bending out over the massab it has some I'm not a tree expert, but some owners looking Branches that go right on over to the lanes of traffic that Look like they could be potentially hazardous in the future And the other one too just both of them seem to Bend away from the park. I don't think they contributed too much to the aesthetics of the park or the shade My concerns and I think a lot of the concerns that were heard from residents were the yellowwood tree and so I think you spoke to this but What would be I guess one question initially is how close can you dig a path next to a tree and consider it safe for an existing tree So that's a really depends on how you dig next to it There are lots of ways to protect existing root structures of trees But typically five times the diameter of the tree is where there aren't any viable roots So what we're planning on doing throughout the park regardless of whether these trees come out or not Is root pruning air spading and root pruning along the edge of where the path would be going anyway And what that does and those are best practices in the arbol culture currently is that it carefully removes the soil around the existing root structure And then it allows for that root structure to be cleanly cut And then you can excavate to put in a path And the reason why that clean cut is so important is that if you come in there with a machine or even with hand tools without cutting cleanly so the root pruning it's called without pruning the sides You can pull out roots that rip back to the tree So best best practices is to blow away gently with the air spade itself And cut along the edge so that you have a clean cut. We're planning on doing that As far as how close you can get to the tree it really depends on the tree itself Okay, so as we looked at the plan When I was out there today, it was clear to go to the right wouldn't be feasible because of the drop in grade and it would land you In the stairs, right and that just won't work. That's right. So Was it considered and for what reason was it ruled out To go to the left side of that tree So that's where we get into it's the pear yellow the the it's friend the other yellow wood that's right next to it And the concern there was do we want to Put two yellow woods under stress by threading the needle between the two Or would we like to give the one that is a fuller head headed canopy is in better condition the current the yellow wood that we are proposing to take out also has a Has crotch rot Where the main leaders split off from the center and you can actually put your hand into it and and it's actually rotting The other tree doesn't have this condition. It is a healthier tree So we we want to give that More of a chance to succeed So by pulling it away further That's really what we're trying to do rather than Then compromising two trees. We would like to give that one the best chance of becoming even even more of a specimen tree So the companion yellow wood is that the tree to the left? That's right That's the tree directly to his left much just because I don't know how to identify trees. Is it larger? It's larger and it has a much fuller and rounder canopy because it's not competing against the the shade of the red maple That is on the side Because as I looked at this tree it looked like I guess I'd call it a had a roof on top of it with the four trees around it That's right. Whereas. I mean, I wouldn't want to take out a healthy tree regardless of whether or not has any you know Whether or not it contributes to the canopy just because you know, we have a lot of residents who care very much about these trees but The answer here. I think is in order to achieve this plan if Leaving this tree is going to put other trees at risk then you know, I think It's a tough decision But certainly want, you know a major consideration in that decision this plant I I've loved this plan since You know the first time I saw it. I think this greatly greatly enhances the usability of The widower park anyone that's been to the beer garden knows that if you don't get there early then You don't get a good seat at the at the beer garden and this will help expand the space and Create a lot more use and allow for bigger events Will attract more artists to the space Thank you, madam chair just a few comments And I start with the the plan itself and then I'll get to the three trees but As was mentioned by one of the speakers earlier There was a motion at town meeting last year to remove this plan And and town meeting voted 199 to 15 against it overwhelming support in town meeting for for the plan itself and The two norway maples were contemplated at that time To be removed So as the speakers have said it really comes down to the to the yellow wood and on your Diagram of tree quality the six healthiest trees are on either side Of the of the path. So if you went to the east On top of slope conditions There's a possibility that you could harm those trees from what you said if you went to the west Just as as you just spoke So I think you're sitting and no one wants to cut down a healthy tree But there are trade-offs that have to be made and I think given the overwhelming acceptance Of this plan. I'm inclined to support it. But the other thing I want to mention Hasn't come up a lot, but we we started at least on this plan. There are 15 trees within phase one in front of the the Cutter house Three would be removed That leaves 12 trees and I understand there are there are some issues Particularly on the one in mass av that might actually affect the shade the most because it's facing It's the first tree that from from the west The norway maple on mystic street actually is in the shade of another tree that's further up On mystic street that while it impedes Onto the sidewalk it provides a lot of shade and that's being kept. So I see that as a as a positive thing You know, they're they're difficult trade-offs that that that you had to make but I think This incorporates the plan. I don't See that they're the statement last year that there were no plans not to remove any trees Should be held against the speaker or or or the town manager Who who had information at that time that suggested that the path could go Just to the east of of the the yellow wood we're talking about so while it's difficult I think looking looking at everything here. I'm inclined to support this as well and One of the benefits and sometimes disadvantages of being a chair is sometimes all your points get made and sometimes more than once So I agree with the the one that I really wrestled with was the yellow wood I was down there on sunday after Might have been the same event. Mr. Carroll left Made the same observations and that was the one I really need to listen to listen to the residents and the citizens and for me what it falls down to is Looking at the professionals who know far more than I do who are to my left but also to my right And really be guided by that so With that if there's any more question just one question just one thing on on the tree diagram There's a tree that circled in this might have been earlier. That's en masse. I have closest to the corner mystic street There's no tree there, but it's it's Look Right here And it's outside the park, but there's no tree there. So is that There's a tree there. There was not a tree. There's not a tree in that but which is going to be replaced Okay, all right I miscounted but I thought If it wasn't there I was going to suggest that that that's I'm sure is going to be replaced as well because you have it here Sorry for that. No, no, it's a good clarification. So no further comments or questions on a Motion by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Cura all those in favor say aye All those opposed unanimous vote. We now go to agenda item nine An update on our water sewer rate changes to mitigate the mwRA debt shift From our town manager. Yes Thank you, madam chair So as the board recalls several months ago Uh, we had a conceptual discussion with the board and the director of public works And I believe the deputy town manager about various scenarios very scenarios we could consider for increasing water sewer rates to then reduce the water sewer debt shift in Potentially in proportion or not in proportion with the new debt that would be rolling on in relation to the high school so what we Don't mean to wait a moment. All right. Maybe Madam chair while we wait Oh So long as I don't have to do it. I had the worst luck Okay, he just goes right up. Let me try and give these to you These they all spoke so I will say not all the windows in this room work I'm sorry for my benefit. Can you start over because I've totally My fault. No, no, please Ready? All right. Thank you. Uh, so as the board may recall. Uh, I think it was several months ago now myself director of public works Deputy town manager had a discussion with the board about rolling back the mwRA debt shift needing to consider requisite increases in the water sewer rates And tying that rollback or pretend either tying or not tying that rollback in the debt shift to the amount of debt That would be rolling on from the the high school project So what we wanted to do tonight Was show you some scenarios. We now know what the debt Will be that will hit the tax rate this january from the high school that borrowing Has gone out and we have those actual debt service figures So we wanted to walk through some of the possibilities Uh tonight and then based on your feedback questions concerns What have you come back at the next meeting and ask the board to take action on the water sewer rates based on what it Seems like or feels like the board would like to pursue So the board has a memo before them And i'll just quickly walk across The table that's in that memo just to explain what each one reflects So current fy20 rates you can see with the average household bill is on an annual basis on a quarterly basis and what the What the rate increase was the board had already voted the seven and a half percent rate increases for fy20 The next is what the director of public works anticipates that he would need to be asking for for fy21 Outside of this discussion about the water sewer debt shift So we were looking at a five percent water rate increase and a four percent sewer rate increase Moving to the next column We start looking at rolling back the mwa debt shift 20 percent at a time which could be then rolled off over a five-year period The next 25 percent reduction could be rolled off over a four-year period Or 33 percent reduction, which could be rolled off over a three-year period So there would be that corresponding increase in either those five four or three-year increments What the final column shows is if we took the full amount of debt that's going to hit the tax rate this december and Rolled that off the debt shift. So that amount is two point eight six five nine hundred and eighty dollars two two million eight hundred sixty five thousand nine hundred eighty dollars that equates to just about a 50 percent reduction in the in the end of our debt shift Under this plan presumably If the board was to choose this plan we would then wait to see what the next increment was in the following year The year following that and then they just continue to take it in the chunks as they come from the debt service So you can I Should add to be clear So in the 20 percent 25 percent 33 percent and then the full debt reduction Scenarios the five percent water rate increase and four percent sewer rate increase that the director of public works projects We would need absent the end of our debt shift is incorporated into those numbers So those numbers are all comprehensive or fully fully loaded so to speak The only other thing That's worth mentioning is all of these figures assume That we um that usage Levels off at one million ten thousand ccf's per year, which is based on the trends. We've been seeing over the past couple years However, more recently, uh, the director has noticed the trend is downward a little bit down towards one million one hundred and fifty thousand A year we don't yet know if that that trend is going to stick or if that's a new trend, uh, but Just want to put that out there in full disclosure We've looked at it and we don't think that In any case we would have to come back for a mid-year rate increase But it could mean that in the next year things change as opposed to how we how we're seeing them right So with that said, I'll Stop talking uh and hear what you have to say, but I hope this provides you some food for thought about how to how to proceed so, um I just want to State something that I think we all know but it's worth saying is which is That the amount of money that is going to be paid by the taxpayers and water users of arlington under this is the Is the same it's a matter of which bill They're they're they're paying on so this isn't about Whether or not we're spending more money. This is about how we're paying for the things we've already decided that we want to buy and so I definitely And so yeah, so and I think that's just really that's a really important point for us to You know thinking people at home. We're watching us just to say this isn't about how like yes We're talking about raising the water bill, but we're also talking about lowering the tax bill Uh by the the corresponding amount Leveling like neutralizing tax increases that yes reducing to yeah But with the net being the out of pocket the same though in this world if you're using a lot more water You are going to experience more and if you use less water, you're going to enjoy the benefit of this change more Um, I definitely lean towards things to the right-hand side Doing it faster I could Go along with a quarter, but I'm more on a third or the full And I will say that frankly my Motivate one of my big motivations here is I would like for it to be done well in advance of the next override conversation Mr. Heard and then mr. Kuro Just might be an obvious question, but When we had this discussion before I one of the options we talked about was doing it over to you Which is not here. I mean this is just a comparison sheet, but um I thought and I like mr. Dunn said I think we It was a general consensus that we didn't want to Hit everyone at once with the debt shift But you know, I thought we come close to a consensus on around two years So I would say probably Three years is really in the wheelhouse, but I assume A two-year reduction is also an option. So the challenge is going to be We're looking at it today. I don't think we're going to borrow The same amount of money next year as we borrow this year for the high school project So there probably won't be that same you know matching or even near that 2.8 million dollars To close off. We may borrow some more But not that full amount Well, I think in these scenarios that then I would lean towards the 33 as the target figure Mr. Carol I'm actually I don't think we've been being asked for a vote just just for our feedback, right? But I also lean towards the 33 percent You know that band between 20 and 33 As far as the average bill over three months, it's very very small. That's a that's a narrow Band, I think the 33 percent makes sense Also following Mr. Dunn's logic because we're one year in now on a four-year plan. So I feel that we have a responsibility actually to complete this by the end of the four-year plan and That that rolling off the correct the debt shift So I think that 33 probably is the one that That gets us there and while we're discussing this though, I would just Remind us all and I know we nobody forgot that we did discuss When it comes around time for rate setting though Establishing a a water sewer discount program I'm probably means tested but for our Seniors and so we're going to want to figure out how we want to offset the increases that are in here When I look at this, you know for average I only can home use you know, it's 90 bucks over Over what it would otherwise be with no offset change So that might be something to think about when when we're coming to rate setting time putting together scenarios around that would be my my thinking about what the impact would be and what our expected Participation might be maybe based on the participation rates and other programs like around 90-dollar disc annual discount or something like that So Yeah, thank you, madam chair, and I'm comfortable as well with that the 33 percent and Getting through this in the time period that mr. Dunn raised before the next potential override And I will say just to reiterate because I think it's important Again to say what this is is it's taking money that was included Within the tax rate in moving it over or taking it back to water rates because it was shifted To to to the tax rate. So it's essentially revenue neutral, but it's it's all going back to rate payers As opposed to to being in property taxes And we had discussed earlier because of changes in the tax laws the benefits of Putting it on the tax bills are no longer around and so For that reason and also for the reason that people can control consumption Of the water bills to to a degree But this would also be brought back to in addition to taxable uses There are exempt organizations that pay water bills. So it's bringing them back And they'll be paying the full amount as well Okay, I agree on the 33 percent in terms of what we've outlined in terms of Getting things done over the next four years and I do want to commend the town manager and others Because when we last embarked on the campaign a lot of people were talking about how different bills were hitting and Assessments and you know and they were saying don't you people think when these things are happening, you know In the future, you know, why do you it's like an onslaught and then there's sort of a quiet time And you know, couldn't you kind of temper it over? So that you know if a hit comes in some relief comes in at the same time and and that's more easier said than done It you know takes the long-running financial planning the finance committee Town manager and deputy town manager and I know I've seen the amount of hours that have gone into that and but also keep it livable and sustainable in terms of What people have to pay Here in Arlington and I really do appreciate I know we've all sat individually at these meetings to actually see that it's you know, it's a level lane versus, you know, it's When everything converges that way. So Yes, the community is paying more and is committed to The town of Arlington, but we definitely took up those remarks to heart And came up with this But I just wanted to acknowledge that it wasn't just sort of putting a formula into a matrix and and hitting a button it was a really a lot of Conversations as well as what we have asked you for which you gave us the the four different options So I would agree with the 33 percent. I'd rather Get it done within the framework that we've committed to the voters And it's my only caveat would be if for some reason These numbers there's any kind of wide variance and they change in some way, which I don't see I think you're certainly getting the sentiments of the board for an agenda item At the next select board meeting. Absolutely. You've made it very easy to come back with a clear Recommendation and thank you for those remarks and I'm sure but also I want to make very clear that Mr. Roddenmarker did the lion share the working analysis on here. So thanking him is As always, thank you Just out of a matter of form. Can I get any motion? You don't even need a motion or see. I think I Okay, that's fine Now we go to agenda item 10 for approval Solicitation of additional host community agreements timeline revise process and application the attorney town council hind Thank you, madam chair I'm aware of how many people are waiting for a warrant article hearing so I'm going to try to keep this brief But if there are questions, I'd be happy to go further into the history of the hca application process As the board and the public will recall The board had a solicitation process for host community agreements where it received four applicants for three potential special permits special permits are awarded by the redevelopment board based on Zoning and environmental design review criteria But as an initial step every adult use marijuana retailer must obtain a host community agreement first You awarded two based on your selection criteria. I'm here before you tonight Because we have a third potential room for a third potential Licency to ask for you to affirm the hca process and application It's been updated only to reflect that there is likely to be only room for one more HCA given your criteria giving both the zoning by-law's criteria and your criteria And then I'm asking the board for a deadline to receive Applications and a date that you would expect to Um receive presentations and hold your hearing to make a decision on those applications Mr caro madham chair, so there are no other changes to what are through you madham chair No other changes to thank you madham chair. Mr. Caro. The only substantive changes are essentially stating that There's two hcas have already been awarded and therefore It's unlikely that there could be one in east darlington or in the heights And that folks should consult with either Inspectional services planning or both to determine whether their location is viable given the buffer zones between Marijuana establishments. Yeah, so um, I realize this is coming forward because there there have been some inquiries But it seems to me that it's it's with us to kind of set the timeline and I think that last year we tried to recognizing how time intensive it was Both to prepare for this hearing and read all of the materials that are submitted and to To have the hearing itself. I think we tried to aim it for late may with the hopes that we'd be through town meeting at that point I don't know if that Creates any any issues, especially taking a vote that Are you saying Are you saying and then I have mr If attorney heim has some comments and then mr Heard are you saying late may For So whatever the time I think I forget what what our deadlines were last last time. I think it was like mid-may Where we had the deadline for receipt and we had late may we we had the hearing But throwing that out as a straw man, there may be other reasons why why that's that's not a reason I Think just this is in line with mr Kuro's comments that we want to be cognizant of giving the marijuana study group time to review submissions I think the board in the past committed to having the marijuana study group review Comment and make recommendations So a timeline that both coordinates with the board schedule in town meeting as well as giving time for Applicants to submit review by marijuana study group Then have you have time to digest those before meeting makes Makes sense Okay, mr. Heard I know attorney Heim had touched on this but as I was reading this As we contemplate getting one more application My thought was and I'm sorry if it's already incorporated in here and I missed it but Just adding one thing to the application for this particular Community host agreement in the form of like a certification From the applicant to the board that the the proposed location Is not within 2,000 feet of the other current HCA's that are in process so as part of the application It's you know, this should be pretty easy to to determine but we know Precisely that We can actually grant the application. We don't run into the same problem that we did before Whether or not that's something that the board thinks is necessary. I believe that's my colleagues, but If that was may last year that was a warm may night So Mr. Carroll and I'm sure through you just a question for mr. Mr. Heard So I think what you're getting at is that right now our criteria said that's not not within 2,000 feet of another establishment But but you want to recognize that some of those are in in process right now So the establishments don't actually exist So we have criteria where if it comes to us since within 2,000 feet then we have to deny it based on But we don't technically have to deny it because it's the zba they can't allow for the special permit but if This is what we did with the last year was we took three of the applications that we said We only can approve one of your hcas not that we were barred from doing so But just because it would have been useless to send all three to the zba So if we can just add one aspect of it where there's something in writing from the applicant saying that they've Done all due diligence measure that area and they can confirm that they're not within 2,000 feet of a current applicant I think it adds to the viability that we don't have to check that Attorney hyam thank you madam chair I think we can certainly accommodate that There's a version of that in the criteria and just for the public and the board's information While there are certain things about buffer zones in the zoning bylaw that can be waived One of the things that cannot be waived is the distance between Retail establishments So it is a functional way for the board to essentially say These have got to be within a certain location because otherwise it's not a discretionary matter for the ARB They can't grant one within a certain distance of another retail establishment. So we can add a certification to the application Either town council or town manager in terms of appropriate spacing in between If my memory serving me that when we had application submissions that date That the actual presentations were about six weeks later I'm trying to think how much every was it longer than that in terms in terms of the other commissions that need to weigh in I believe the initial madam chair I mean I believe the initial period was scheduled to be shorter and then we extended it a little bit There's a preliminary again I don't want to take up a lot of time on this because I know there's a busy agenda tonight But just so folks know there's a preliminary review team And there's a marijuana study group as part of that So there are a lot of me moving pieces before it would get back in front of you So I think a six week period would be advisable So what I was thinking Is have applications due no later than 12 p.m. Friday, May 15th And um This is hard where you know We haven't scheduled that far out and the board is definitely going to have a different makeup But um And we have to set a date for when the presentations will be made So I guess I would like to hear from my colleagues regarding Monday, June 22nd or 29th If if we can look at our calendars right now to see Um, definitely amongst the three if there's a clear date amongst the three of you that you all definitely will be here Pardon me June 22nd That works better for you What about you mr. Carroll? That's all right. I know we're gonna get up to me my thing will come up I'm sure it's I'm sure it's gonna be fine. And while he's looking that up, um, do we anticipate we'll have Just one or possibly two Applicant understanding there may be three four or five Madam chair. I we've gotten a steady stream of interest. I think there will probably be at least two potentially more than that Last time we had a certain expected number. It was a little bit lower But the first round I think we expected as many as six or seven And we ended up with I believe Four or five So I would expect there to be fewer but still I wouldn't expect to just be one So do Here's my concern last time we had four I think five five. We did it all in one night, which was I think not as positive a process for everybody involved um, do we need to set Sort of a backup date if the number I mean, I can see doing three in one night and it's for the future board to decide But if we do need an extra night Do we have to set that now or can we as we go along if we see six come in we We need to add an extra one. Mr. Thank you, madam chair And I I think for that night and that was one of my first meetings and flew up to washington that day through providence and I think we just need to have a very light agenda because we had some things that took a lot longer that evening Before we even got to the hearings. So whether it's three or five I think other than consent agenda that probably should be the only thing on the on that night Okay, mr. Carroll, um, yeah 22nd or 29th define, um That why we say 29, but should we just put language in here that says applicant presentations Shall be made on whatever date For a later date to be determined by the The select board, but if we say okay, yeah, it shall be made starting on Um, june 22nd 2020 So that doesn't mean they have a deadline. Yeah. Yeah, so starting on that. So does that work? And you don't need a motion for that or do you You tell me I think I take a motion to move approval of those dates From those dates and the hta process that's revised by the select board. Is there a motion to move approval by Mr. Carroll seconded by mr. Heard any further questions or comments if not on a motion by mr. Carroll seconded by mr Heard all those in favor say aye. Aye on those opposed unanimous votes. We now go to warrant article hearings I'm just gonna get all my things out. Sorry Okay warrant article nine by law amendment canine control fees and fines Madam chairman fine, if I may um, the long and short of this is the town clerk has received a lot of feet of the Assistant town clerk has received a lot of feedback that the canine control Bylaws penalty for late registration of dogs is Seeing is too much and she'd like to reduce it from 50 to 25 dollars Okay, um, is there anyone here who would like to speak on warrant article nine Just to add a little meat if I mean madam chair to build upon what ten council just mentioned What what we're being told by the assistant town clerk is this fine structures actually having sort of a Counter effect to what we would desire a you put fine in place so that you get compliance Which he's finding is that the fine is so high people are just not Registering their dog. So we're we're getting less compliance by the nature of the fine. So To up compliance lowering the fine seems to be an inappropriate strategy Okay, is there a motion? Favorable action or something else. Sorry. I'm all favorable action moved by mr. Curie. Is there a second second? Seconded by mr. Heard Any further discussion if not on the motion By mr. Curie seconded by mr. Heard all those in favor say aye. Aye all those opposed unanimous vote Article 10 bylaw amendment display of notice finds mr. Chapter lane or An attorney hind thank you madam chair. This is really administrative cleanup when we essentially migrated Most of what was a somewhat redundant signed by-law from the town by-laws over to the zoning by-law The one remaining piece left where things called notices, which are essentially Missing pet signs and other temporary They're not even really necessarily signs. They're notices That come before the select board in part because the select board regulates public ways in other public areas Because the by-law used to be tethered to a state law about outdoor advertising We were allowed to assess a penalty of $500 Since we removed that language the maximum by-law penalty is now $300 So it's just something that we need to clean up in the by-laws because we can't assess more than $300 fine for any violation of the by-laws Move favorable action move by mr. Heard. Is there a second second by mr. Curie Mr. Dunn, I think you're about to look to the audience. Yes. Yes. Um, is there anyone here for article 10? Any further questions and comments if not Vote of favorable action by mr. Heard seconded by mr. Curie all those in favor say aye. Aye opposed unanimous vote Now go to article 11 by law amendment street performance definitions Attorney hind I certainly can speak to it. Um, do you think but if um, there's a member here from the Planning department or from the arlington culture Commission on arts and culture. I'd invite them to present the article to you Just name for the record. Good evening, uh, thomas davison Pre-synced 11 commission for arts and culture. I just wanted to briefly explain the reasoning behind the amendment last year for two months we One of the goals for the for the commission was to activate the The street performer by-law We started a program called live arson arlington and over the course of two months we programmed about a dozen different spaces to Use the arts to place make throughout the town. Primarily we worked at broadway plaza a bit in east garlington uncle sam plaza The performers primarily were Musicians dancers Some puppetry we did have a couple of Members that were kind of associate to some of the activities that were happening that were visual artists And the purpose of the amendment for the first definition of what a performer is is to allow for visual artists by I'm trying to work with the and the committee our commission is trying to work with the definition as The by-law is written which says It prohibits the production of items for sale By practice a painter is producing an item that could be for sale That's the goal of this to allow for Visual artists to be able to be on the street and take the Last year when we did this this program we allowed for an hour or two for the performance as it were If it were if it were a visual artist, it would be a person painting doing sculptoring We had someone working that engaged with the public. So we think In the making of something we think that would allow more arlington artists to participate in that So that's the that's the idea behind this step the request for the change in this definition The second part of the amendment is to allow for Street performances in public parks, which currently is prohibited by the by-law We have reached out to the parks recreation commission about this. We've shared the amendment with them They have a meeting tomorrow evening another one on the second week in march If one of my fellow commissioners can go tomorrow evening to speak with them directly They will personally I can't make that if not I can't attend in march I'm not sure the timing for the board when you need to hear from us about this but the thought there is We chose to place make with these activities in the cultural district between the center and East arlington The parks the public parks specifically we think that would be impacted by these changes and where we would try to Expand our placemaking would be a spy pond park Perhaps Crosby Park, but something to kind of fill the gap along the cultural Corridor which there is kind of a dead space in the middle there So we think that would enhance opportunity for more engagement of arlington residents with with the arts So those are the those are the points behind our thinking we do understand that Regardless of the of any amendment to the by-law parks and recreation commission still has purview over any sale of product in in parks We'll be speaking with them about that and to get their feedback and thoughts If there's any questions or observations, mr. Harder So just I'm very excited to see A by-law amendment that encourages street performers. I think You know we need a little more music and and art in our around my question it might be for town console, but I'm a little weary with allowing vendors in public parks in Is there any sort of restrictions as to what types of vendors that would now be a You know I understand the rationale that allowing artists to sell their wares that they have on display But as a parent that often goes to the playgrounds. I envision People walking through with ice cream carts and you know those carriages of the toys and whatnot Will appear at every public park in arlington because it's hard to say no to a kid that wants Wants a toy. So would those be included if this by-law was amended? Thank you, madam chair. I think it would depend on whether balloon animals are art And I can understand as a parent myself that you don't want any more balloon animals in the house Like silly string So the way that this is framed right now is around street performers, which has a somewhat squishy criteria of being essentially Engaged in the creative enterprises as opposed to a vendor for sale of specific Items the park and recreation commission has a fairly long-standing policy with respect to what they allow and don't allow From a vendor perspective So the park and recreation commission would would retain quite a bit of control And it might be a better place than the town bylaws to have more Specific park rules and regulations on the types of things that can be sold It's always my recommendation that These things be based on as objective criteria as possible. So for example like a silly string Is essentially a certain type of product that leaves behind a certain type of waste in a park Arguably balloon animals do the same thing in the sense that they're Latex or whatever rubber they're made of, you know, if they pop they create waste So there are ways that you could try to regulate Through park rules and regulations what types of things might be allowed and what types of things wouldn't this is pretty narrow In the sense that it's still caged as essentially people and engaged in the creative enterprises So from that perspective, it's a very clever way of trying to introduce Certain types of amenities to the park without having You know Food for sale and you know ice cream carts and things like that necessarily So the answer is that Written to the bylaw there is some sort of restriction that the vendors that were Are now allowing in the parks subject to the approval of the parks and recreation commission Do have to have some sort of Creative or artistic value or I think the more I'm sorry I think the more precise answer is that The park and rec commission is going to have to approve Any type of commercial activity in the parks and this bylaw won't change that So they have an ability to regulate their parks with an additional layer of things That this bylaw doesn't address But this bylaw does prohibit that activity So it's like this is sort of the first layer and right now it prohibits that type of activity for street performers And it has a definition of street performers that is somewhat Limited it's not just Anybody so you're you're working with the definition of street performers basically allowing street performers in the parks And then it's going to be up to parks to decide how much more they want to regulate But I want everybody to know that the default regulation now is fairly high They don't allow Basically any commercial activity in the parks So they're going to have to create an exception or a modification for this Okay Yes, um Is there anyone else here who wanted to speak to article 11? Any questions or comments from my colleagues or Mr. Kiro I'd like to move favorable action with The suggestion that we Um actually change the name of the section from street performances to outdoor performances given that we're Not just talking the streets anymore Um, is that amenable to my thoughts? Seconded by uh, mr. Dunne Um any further questions or comments if not on a motion of favorable action by mr. Kiro Um as well as to change street performance to outdoor Or outdoors outdoor performance Outdoor performance second by mr. Dunne all those in favor say aye. Aye. Those opposed unanimous vote No, thank you open the air. I don't know maybe the council can come back. Yeah article 12 bylaw amendment storm water management Madam chair, I'd like to invite the environmental planner and representative of the engineering division to come speak on this bylaw Okay Hi, my name is Emily selvin. I'm the environmental planner and conservation agent I have bill coppathon assistant town engineer. All right, so the bylaw amendment Basically goes in place as a result of the town's current permitting with the epa The town's drainage system is permitted by what we call the ms4 permit Again overseen by the epa The most recent revision of the permit Went into place in 2016 and basically lays out a roadmap for 20 years Of actions that the town needs to take in order to remain in compliance with the permit One of the very first requirements is to make sure the town has a number of bylaws in place related to storm water Um One is just the storm water management bylaw that we're here to speak of there's also a construction amendment that will or bylaw that will have to be put in place in the coming years And a soil erosion As well that will be coming down But this amendment itself While it looks like a lot of changes by words Is actually almost a rebranding of the existing storm water mitigation bylaw As a storm water management bylaw The biggest change is like any good governmental agency the epa is requiring us to add a lot of writing to our bylaw A lot of those details are just to remaining compliance with the permits and don't Change the overall bylaw greatly and how we are applying it to the town So if you are familiar or not with the existing bylaw Essentially it requires that if Developments are happening on a property and they increase the impervious service service on the property by 350 square feet or greater There's some exceptions to That allow for higher allowances than that right now and that impervious area could be driveways Houses sheds walkways, etc The Any change you're required to mitigate to make sure there's no more runoff or more volume Coming off your site as was under the pre-existing condition So under the amendment that remains the same Um, we tried to provide some clarity as to what constitutes impervious area I think there was a little bit of vagueness in the existing bylaw That could give Some the right to claim okay in this case. This is not in pervious area We just tried to make that definition a little clearer So, uh within this proposed bylaw amendment, we do refer to some rules and regulations often and those are still under development We are working internally with various departments and commissions and boards Just to use this bylaw amendment kind of as an opportunity to streamline permitting across the zba the arb engineering division the conservation commission so trying to take that opportunity in Hoping to have a draft of those rules and regulations in the coming weeks We also have a public meeting scheduled for march 10th to review those rules and regulations Arlington has done a lot for stormwater over the past few years And we have a lot of residents who are engaged and interested in this topic So hoping to give them an opportunity To give feedback on These rules and regs and in what we're proposing To kind of clarify the permitting process for stormwater management Attorney hind if I may add one thing madam chair, I do think it's very important just to summarize some of what These wonderful folks have said is that one of the things that gets difficult with our bylaw scheme Where it interacts with certain state regulations and federal laws Is obviously we have to go to town meeting to update Our bylaws anytime we need to make a change and to the extent that certain things can appropriately be vested in the discretion Of rules and regulations it affords Some flexibility while still keeping fieldy to the overall schema of of the bylaw And it's an important way of helping these things stay in sync, especially with the epa's permitting process Any question anyone else Any questions from mr. Dunn I'm curious. So for proposed rules of rights, are you thinking that those will be Shared on town meeting floor as well. So people or okay. Thank you Thank you Any further questions is there a motion Actually, sorry the same question. Are they going to make it into the town a select board's report is another question When would they need to be submitted to be included? Ashley? Do you know what our print date is? I think we'll have a draft of the rules and rags by mid-march. So we can certainly try to accommodate the the printing schedule and so draft rules and rags And fees or no, you're not looking at Yeah fees will be addressed in the rules and regulations. Okay Is there a motion or Or would the move recommend a positive action Move by mr. Dunn by mr. Second by mr. Hurd any further questions or comments like my colleagues If not an emotion by mr. Dunn Favoural action seconded by mr. Hurd. I'll just say I I was opposed unanimous vote. Thank you so much We now go to article 15 before I call on The proponent. I just want to say very briefly and I'll talk about this more under new business When I as the select board chair met this morning with Andrew banell The redevelopment board chair mr. Chattelaine attorney heim and our planning director jenny rate. We went over the warrant And recognizing this is fluid We had four warrant articles that definitely thought both for it should report on Three maybes And there's still a few Depending on the other thing that we discussed on the four warrant articles and it played Perfectly here tonight is which warrant articles The redevelopment board felt like they should Here and take a vote first and which one should the select board and I was guided by Um Andrew and this this warrant article 15. This was one that you know I asked them do you think it should be heard by you first and they said no they felt that the select board should so I I did take some notes of what their comments were but first I want to hear from Someone representing the article. Thank you Thank you I'm paul perisi from hemlock streets Um I've spoken before the select board a few times in the last Three to four years about the issues arising from the ongoing residential development activity I want to thank you again for the opportunity to address these issues tonight I have some brief remarks and would then be happy to try to answer any questions you may have Um This article's primary Concerns include creating the ability of residents to have input to the development changes occurring in their neighborhoods To preserving their quality of life and character of the neighborhood and to minimizing impacts Both temporary and permanent during construction and redevelopment The purpose is to allow owington to develop and change as it naturally should While balancing the interests of current residents and the development and real estate communities I believe current residents have an expectation That the negative impacts to their homes and neighborhood from significant construction and our development activities Should be minimized to the extent that it's reasonable Some some background Briefly numerous zoning and administrative issues concerning tear downs McMansion type construction and resident neighborhood quality of life were presented at the 2016 town meeting While specific article warrant articles were discussed none were adopted However, the town meeting established an informal committee to look into these issues. It was called the residential study group The rsg under the direction of the planning department proposed for the 2017 town meeting Covering issues regarding parking driveway slope and pre-construction notification Where the good neighbor agreement resulted from that these articles were passed in the 2017 town meeting However, many of the primary issues That prompted the formation of the rsg remained Uncompleted and are uncompleted to this day when the rsg was unilaterally dissolved by the planning department last spring These unresolved significant issues include proper notification to a butters prior to project commencement The good neighbor agreement was passed. However, from a citizen information That was gathered from town records and presented to the redevelopment board last year The gna at best Has been only about 15 to 20 effective in providing the required notifications to a butters So in addition to that follow-up with residents where the gna was fully implemented Was planned I think to go ahead and hadn't and should be done to assess its effectiveness and outcome Such that if there should be modifications to this act It can be made and made more effective A second issue is environmental and public health impacts during teardown demolition excavation rock removal and construction An open issue that remained was my understanding that noise debris and safety issues concerning rock removal remain unaddressed And are under docket in town to mitigate situations such as what happened at Irving street a number of years ago Some water mitigation suitable for some new designs is required But I have been made aware by some of my neighbors That they now report having periodic water intrusion into their basements after nearby construction Where none existed previously And as was discussed at the 2016 town meeting very significant quality of life issues Concerning the size and scale of new development continue to be produced by new large-scale construction These include loss of sunlight increased shadowing loss and reduction of sight lines loss of privacy interference with existing or plant solar arrays More importantly All these associated effects are exaggerated and made more onerous when in a butter is on a non-conforming lot Uh, there has been no discussion or consideration of this issue in the town as far as I am aware In many cases new home construction, and I've lived here for nearly 40 years And renovation has been done in an exemplary fashion with significant benefit Added to the neighborhood and it's a butters However, in a significant number of cases issues such as those that I've just discussed above have occurred with both short and long term negative effects In my opinion, it's time to try to mitigate these potential issues with active resident participation and feedback In summary, there is no one body that comprehensively represents residents opinions and concerns on residential development I believe this should be the one that the committee that's being proposed would have that as its primary task I urge the select board to recognize these important residential issues And provide an opportunity to have this warrant article discussed and debated at town meeting Thank you for your attention And I'd be happy to take any questions Okay, and um, we did discuss this this morning and um, I will look to the town manager and town council for anything I Don't remember or don't remember correctly. Basically Um, and this is just an informal discussion amongst that group It's not a representation from the redevelopment board because they've yet to I think they've scheduled the harry, but they haven't had it yet um This warrant article it really is sort of creating I couldn't think of a better word, but like a shadow ARB Everything is pretty much the same in terms of um, what the ARB does with the exception of um, the majority Well, all of the voting members will not be town employees Um, and we'll be members that we get through town meeting in the town moderator Weighing in on matters that the redevelopment board weighs on right now whose members do have specific expertise and in Experience in the area and then the other thing when I was looking at this I was just posing it as questions. So I also pose it to the proponent that To me while it looks like you know, sort of a shadow ARB it bans town employees in terms of holding any voting or Leadership roles, but what it does is in order for this second committee To complete its work. It really is going to rely on the planning department and its employees Who already are doing this work? For the redevelopment board and now what it's going to do is You know, someone said, you know, as it is going to be duplicative work It won't be true to true duplicative work because you could ask for the same thing sometimes But if you're coming at it with a different premise You can't necessarily repeat the same job same task to give the same answer Um, I don't know if i'm encapsulating this correctly. Could I I think you're doing very well Okay Do you want me to add any if you could yeah, I mean I I would Add that I think there's There's governance concerns about the way it's currently laid out I think it looks as though it has been structured to mimic the authority or Run side by side with the authorities and responsibilities of the redevelopment board Um, I think it's important to mention the Arlington members of the Arlington redevelopment board are all town residents um, it's sort of Sounds like there's suggestions that this is a resident group to protect against Some foreign entity that is the redevelopment board and I think it's again important to reiterate redevelopment board members are also town residents I I generally think that there we need to find The proper venue for resident participation and engagement in legitimate residential concerns Impacts of construction aesthetics of construction But uh, there's efforts currently underway that allow for some of that with the residential design guideline effort That's currently underway, and I think there's other ways we could talk about doing in the future I do think again creating A body that would jockey for power With the ARB before town meeting would be a very dangerous precedent from a governance point of view And I would urge the board to at least give that consideration as you're thinking about this Mr. Harg Yeah Sort of a compound that Tom Andrews said we have had we had a joint meeting a month or so back with the ARB The purpose of the meeting was that we anticipated future proposals in the zoning bylaws And as part of that meeting one of the main concerns of both boards was public participation And we laid out a pretty detailed plan To engage the public at every step of the way as the two boards Mainly the ARB but in the select board In conjunction with the select board review would Take the articles that are being proposed and lay them out for public participation and public comment so to the extent this is In response to last year's Tom meeting where some of the residents and Tom meeting members as a whole Thought that there wasn't enough public participation in the proposed articles I don't anticipate that will be the case as you know both boards are sort of moving together on this issue And again one of our main goals is to get public input from all members of Of the town Were you here to speak Before we make a motion you want to come up? Can I have a reply? To the comments that we just made No, no, no, if there's a question, but when there's a question you can definitely respond to it And Why don't we hear from everybody and then I see where we go from there because I just don't want to back and forth back and forth You know, it's gonna Make you all hit every time So sir I live on Irving street And I would like to speak in favor of forming this committee I was a regular attendee at the residential study group meetings And I was very disappointed when it was terminated last year I do not agree with the reason given at the time that had accomplished its mission The concerns of residents That led to how meaning to create the residential study group still exist The purpose of this proposed committee is to continue on with that mission not to Supplement the redevelopment board This board has undoubtedly noticed that an extraordinary number of residents are running for town meeting this year As well as various townwide posts There are several reasons but one is the perception of how well Government is functioning and paying attention to what residents want Forming this committee is a simple way to address some of these concerns Failure to do so will send a far different message Thank you Hello, Steve Revolac 111 sunny side avenue When I first read article 15, I thought that gosh, this sounds a lot like the residential study group and one of my First one of the first things I wanted to sort of I was curious about was you know What is the relationship between this group and the rsg did the rsg? You know, I know they were finished and the group is dissolved But did you know they really finished or is this you know? Well, I would like to thank mr. Paris for For explaining that in his earlier comments Now I do would as a town meeting member I would like to understand the motivation for the group composition that's been proposed So the residential study group had Sort of a broad contingency of people there were there were residents or were planners or were people in the real estate industry and the developers Or in who do property development and from my point from my perspective if you're trying to Work out, you know resolve tension between those different groups Getting the different those different groups talking to one another is sort of a first step I I do I do have some I do question how that's been sort of taken out Of this proposal where it seems to be shedding diversity specifically by Prescribing people who work in real estate or development and and and also town employees Finally, I'd you know just as a again speaking as a town meeting member I'd like to understand how this proposed this committee would fit into just sort of the overall structure of things So the rsg reported up to kind of like the master plan implementation committee, which also fell under the arb I'd like to Understand where this group would fit into the hierarchy and also how they would collaborate and interact with you know With the arb with a planning department with a housing plan implementation committee and with the work that this body is will be Doing with the arb over the next year or two Thank you So I actually have a couple questions for the Okay, so My first question is so how do you envision this group? What do you envision this group's relationship with the arb to be? I envision this group to be in a similar position as to what the arsg was This is not a group that will propose new bylaws or new standards or be able to promulgate them But we'll be able to raise issues that residents consider significant to the appropriate bodies in town So that they can have action on them Part of what has prompted this is the issues I've listed have been around since 2016 Have been adequately discussed at town meeting and in other forums at arb meetings None of these issues have been taken up for resolution In my opinion, some of these are significant issues to residents that exist Currently in town To their quality of life and so forth. So, uh, we're not trying to usurp the arbs duties. We're not trying to Promulgate new laws. We certainly won't have authority to do that We are trying to get independent residents that are not affiliated With the town or with developers and contractors and real estate people to express their opinions as how their neighborhoods are being Proceeded now the issue of not having any developers or contractors on the board. That's not true All the article says is a majority shall be independent residents the other People on the board could be town employees could be people from the planning department Could be real estate Developers and so forth. It only said a majority should be residents independent of any of these ties the balance of the board or the committee can be Whoever decides And I left it up to the town moderator. I trust the town moderator to create a balanced committee Mr. Chapter Lee Thank you, madam chair For whatever it's worth the warrant article directly states that this body would develop recommendations for proposing new zoning and general by-law So that's in direct conflict with the proponents Comments so well then I misspoke. I'm saying we're not we're not the ones creating the new laws. We're creating the recommendation But that's not what that says and the other thing that there was great concern about was in order for this shadow committee to be able to Conduct its activities. It's basically going to Rely on a lot of people through the employees through the Planning department who already are performing a similar function and task With the ARB and and I understand the concerns and that's as mr. Heard my colleague Stated before that's why and I'll have more to report as well the town manager under a new business that we Started the joint redevelopment board select board meeting over at the soon-to-be community center and Had that conversation with citizens and outlined a very Detailed next steps in terms of meetings and meetings with the public and in defining that but I understand what you're saying But it really is Creating another ARB. I know you're saying you're not going to do certain things, but it is in here that says you are So mr. Dunn. I'm sorry You had the floor Sometimes so a lot of times when we have warrant article hearings Sometimes we say okay There's a different way to address this problem and we try to do it without You know making a bylaw change or Doing something like that and I'd say that I have recognized a lot of the concerns that came up Specifically would come up in 2016, but had been there before and have been there since some of the reasons that there's Is there very difficult problems and I don't think that That it isn't that for lack of wanting to fix them, but it is through a lack of difficulty and Just want to are you Did you are you familiar with did you see the joint meeting that we had with the ARB and the plan that we laid out there? I understand. Okay. Good. Um, I apologize for not. I don't remember who's at every Uh Meaning but we have Set on a course. It's like, you know a year year and a half schedule that is meant to really solicit a lot of town input from a lot of different people and then put forward a series of articles and That would You know some of which would be addressing some of the problems you described So I would be strongly inclined to let that process run its course before I tried to uh Before I thought that it was time to try something else Many questions Comments my colleagues. Mr. Curel. I mean, I think I would just echo mr. Dunn's Sentiment here. I'd like to see how that process Plays out and some of the issues that were that were listed are already Subject to public hearing requirements, so anything falls under environmental design review Has to have considerations of preservation of landscape relation buildings to environment Open space circulation surface water drainage Utility service advertising features special features safety heritage microclimate Sustainable buildings site design some of these are some of the same issues that were it Anomalated here. Um, and there There is a a means on a project by project basis to um address those. It's already in law that those have to be um Considered I understand if they're Enhancements to the laws. I mean, I think that's that's probably the part of the bylaw to to um To look at but I would like to see the process that we we've gone through when we went back and forth with the erb and and I think it was very important that we did that too because um It was recognized that I think it was recognized that when some very controversial zoning issues came forward to town meeting last year Quite frankly our voice wasn't there and our voice wasn't there because we didn't have a mechanism to to to um to work through that and In developing that mechanism. I think we Mutually insisted that there be a strong public input component So I'm I'm not inclined to set up another structure and another committee To to confuse that process just as we're getting it off off Off the ground So that that's kind of where I'm at. I understand where what you're the types of things that you bring forward I've loved them I think what I'm hearing is a notion of no action or So I recommend I move we recommend no action By mr. Dunn. Is there a second second seconded by mr. Curell any further questions or comments? If not all those in favor say I I all those pose unanimous vote. Thank you. I appreciate having this discussion We'll continue it's important. No, we'll continue. I'd like to submit my statement for the record Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you We're getting there mr. Brown I'm sorry. This is a test in case you're Endurance Article 18 vote by law amendment envision arlington updated language I'm julie brazil. I'm the chair of the envision arlington standing committee And I just the memo gives you the sort of the summary and I wanted to show you the red line Just so It was clear We were really just changing a few words here and there The rationale is sort of three parts. Um, there's still a couple places in the bylaw that mentioned Vision 2020 and our name is envision arlington now. So it's nice to go in and tidy that up We also want to go ahead and Update the sum of the specific wording just do some light editing to the nine town goals And then we want to sort of start this process of relabeling the goals so that we all get in the habit of calling them Value statements because that's really what they are Each of the nine statements starts with the words we value so Part of the reason historically that they were called town goals was because in the early 90s This was a really big project Everyone was working on it. It was all consuming for a lot of people and they wanted to be sure that what was adopted Was sort of strong and actionable and so they said town goals They are value statements their vision statements and they're very broad and aspirational that they're not really things you Check off you you're always working to do better to live up to those Uh the values that we aspire to as a community So I think it's really a nice idea here in the 30th anniversary as we go into town meeting 2020 that we go ahead and shift gears And there's sort of two reasons why that's a good thing one It fits in better if you call them vision statements Then when work is happening Exactly the same way that reports and and projects and and recommendations are made to the town By all kinds of committees and departments You have that vision statement the value statement. You have goals that you're working on for the next few years and action steps to Um carry that out By calling it by calling them town goals. It just kind of confuses the process Because they're not goal statements. Um, they're not actionable in the way that a concrete Example would be so for example in the um early reports um in 1993 town meeting adopted The the goal statement, but it's a really a value statement. We value education for all residents The goal in that report was to hire and retain Good teachers and the action step was to do a salary study. So that's a very logical progression And so I really want to try and bring the Envision Arlington group of committees into alignment with the way that really the rest of the town operates So we'll rename them something along the lines of statements are of our community values And then I think that makes it And then the the editing that we want to do is to create a solid foundation because at the time in 1993 It was clearly the idea that the goals could be updated from time to time as as new ideas came along In practice That's really hard because we now have 80-something committees and projects and departments and Um grant studies all the time and it would be really difficult to to invite the public to a forum to talk about Whether we should include sustainability and transportation in our environment goal while we're actually doing that work It's it's confusing to people to stop and worry about the wording when we're actually trying to implement those ideas. So the Perfect world would be we have these nine foundational Values That sort of drive all of our work and and that's happening now I think we're really just trying to get the wording to to Coordinate the open space and recreation plan from 2015 which is being updated now for a new one will be done in a couple years Uses its introduction to talk about The town goals both the culture and recreation goal and the environment goal that sort of Are connected to the work of the open space and recreation plan and so They introduce The goals which are now values and then talk about their sort of their mission which is to Make sure that uh, Arlington's community Gets a greater sense of awareness and appreciation for the town's open space and then the report goes on to layout specific goals for the next few years I apologize sitting here. It's lost my voice So i'm really done. That's really the idea We want to just sort of bring it all in line with the way things are done in Arlington and i'm happy to answer any questions Questions Anyone else here Okay, um, is there a Motion by one of my co-op approval by mr. Curel second by mr. Herd If no further questions or comments on the motion Favoural action by mr. Curel seconded by mr. Herd. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed unanimous unanimous vote Thank you. Thank you Julie we share those red lines next we go to article 22 homeroom legislation for Justin brown Madam chairman. Yes Um, thank you members of the board before uh, mr. Brown speaks I just want to remind the board of the and the public such as it is who are still here Wait one second. I'm sorry. Could you take it outside? I'm sorry. I apologize because I like I have hearing loss in this ear. I can't hear already say could you start again? Sure just before uh, mr. Brown is going to speak I just want to remind folks of the general posture of what's before the board the civil service law in Massachusetts as applied to Arlington Essentially states that in order to sit for an exam for police or fire you have to be Um under 32 at the time you take the exam or the last day the exam is available Um, that can be circumvented by homeroom legislation as it has been from time to time I've outlined some of the thought processes of the board in the past but um I've also included if the board is so inclined to move positive action What that special legislation would look like I would need one detail for mr. Brown Which is his age which has to be put in the special legislation. I wouldn't normally ask So with that unless the board has any questions, I think it's appropriate to hear from mr. Brown Thank you, ma'am gentlemen, uh, I am here tonight to uh, hope that you will consider a home rule legislation that would allow me to become eligible For appointment to Arlington fire department, although I have reached an age beyond 32 and that age is 38 Um My sole motivation really is that I am Very interested and passionate about serving our community and protecting our community at a first First responder capacity I actually started taking the civil service exam back in 2014 I've taken it a number of times since then that was actually the last time I was technically eligible in Arlington, but of course there are other Towns that allow higher age limits I would much rather be Eligible than Arlington if that's possible. I've been here 10 years My family and I love it here and hope to stay here forever And I'd just lastly say that in pursuit of of uh, this I've recently Completed an EMT program. So I'm currently a nationally registered EMT and I'm working through mass OMS to get my Massachusetts state certification And as I mentioned, I've been taking civil service exam since 2014 A quick very brief bit of my own history I have had a career in technology product and program management. Um, I am Uh, the first in my family on my mother and father did not attend a university. I was fortunate to do so and at the time The pressure is positive for sure were to go into a field. That was a good, uh field with a lot of, uh potential In the future that was technology and I'm very proud of my career and Accomplishments thus far. I try to move my career in technology to Better align with with my values. I went from ad tech to National public radio and then went to work at MIT To try to advance an online education all worthy pursuits. Uh, but still Felt a bit empty to me. So this is uh, again since Year a few years back really wanted to serve my community my country help serve Our community and citizens Thank you. Um Any questions comments By my colleagues. Mr. Thank you. I respect your willingness to to serve just a question As to my understanding is there's another civil service exam coming up In march there is one in march. Is that is that your intent to take that exam? Yes, so I intend to take I've signed up to take that exam And the eligibility for that exam I think comes out in august time frame So I believe whatever decision is made here would impact Uh eligibility at that. Okay, and this may be a question for town council, but that exam How long is that list in? From that exam is that a two-year Eligibility for two years after the exam Okay Okay And the reason why I I ask that is for some of the um The other town residents who've come before the board in the past where they've come before and have sought a waiver To the age 32. There's been a sunset provision on it. So in other words that it may be for a period Of a couple years. So if the waiver is granted It would be for as long as the next list is in effect and I don't know if you have any Feelings on on that if if that if we did go that route if that is something that You could agree to absolutely. I think that is is totally reasonable Especially given that the the way the civil service exam works is the two-year eligibility I think fire and police alternate years and then when that uh eligibility list is established It's good for two years and then there's an expiration date. Okay. So that that would Make a lot of sense. Thank you Mr. Dunn, uh, I definitely I've from Long before I was on the board when I was in town meeting I definitely I tend to support these and I support them mostly because I think that the civil service law is Needs a reform and I don't think that it is serving Us or our town employees well in its current form and especially because you know the alternatives to using the age requirement are Not particularly implementable by town. And so I just uh, I much prefer to let the The police chief and then the hiring process find The right people and so I would like to move I would like to recommend the favorable action on this article And definitely including, um, mr. Like a sensible sunset date to be I can do that Second move by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Hurd And we'll work out what the sunset date is, but I'm hearing up to two years possibly That I want to commend you for doing this. I'm I can tell you personally The first time that this was introduced it. Well It came before as a warrant article and then Turned into the board did it on a case by case basis in the beginning because it was something that I had worked on when I first got on the board and The people who have gone before you really have laid the framework and foundation for this to be an avenue for Really qualified candidates that unfortunately, you know have done everything they could possibly do And because of a certain number That that process ends there and as mr. Dunn said, you know being able to have whether it's police chief fire chief, etc You know at least have a proper applicant pool to consider And I can tell you personally I won't name them in the future if things go the way they should You'll know exactly who they are. They'll tell you but I can tell you on those that I've worked within others, but I've done a lot of work on this. There's some of the best police officers that that we've had on the force and one firefighter, so I want to thank Unless there's any further questions or comments On a motion by mr. Dunn with favorable action with the sunset clause to be termined up to two years Seconded by mr. Hurd all those in favor say aye Those opposed the end miss well, thank you for hanging in there. Thank you very much We now go to final votes and comments article seven article eight Madam chair if it's so pleased as I'd love to have a chance to re-vote to turn these into five zeros Okay, there's a motion to It's not a man a motion to Have the votes reflect a five zero Vote is there a second to that? Okay, any other questions comments If not on a motion to approve as well as to reflect a five zero vote on Article seven and article eight by mr. Dunn seconded by mr. Cure all those in favor say aye. Aye. Are those opposed unanimous vote We now go to correspondence received. We have one piece of correspondence Is there a motion to receive by mr. Carol seconded by Second mr. Dunn Any okay on a motion move received by mr. Carol seconded by mr. Dunn all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed unanimous vote We now go to new business. Ms. Maher Oh, I think you said you didn't we say you're gonna have something. Oh, yes, I did Um, we're looking to put the warrant available online this week And we just want to make sure that everybody on the board is okay But the warrant the way it is now To be posted midweek Is that all right because we're getting a lot of calls. Can you accept nods? Yes, I do accept nods any other new business. No, that's right Attorney hi one small matter as the board knows my office is a little short staffed right now And I really just want to thank the rest of my staff our administrative staff Mr. Buckley paralegal who have really stepped up wonderfully to help fill in the gaps While we're trying to find a replacement for the irreplaceable. Mr. Marlenka. Thank you I'll just add one piece of new business that I know the board is already aware of but it's important to mention That unfortunately we lost our recreation director stacey mollroy to need him to become the recreation director need him But fortunately, uh, we were able to recruit on an interim basis the recently retired fire chief bob jefferson to come back As our interim recreation director So I I share that because in just a week's time he is feet ahead for us to dove right in and Is tackling some of the challenges in the rinks some of the challenges in the recreation programming some of the parks and playground Challenges and though he has no interest in being the permanent recreation director We're lucky to have him in his management experience and knowledge of town town government. So If you're around the rink And go see the chief I so agree. I had the Good fortune to happen to happen to see him this first day It was funny how he's telling me that you know the town manager called me and I said, I don't know I gotta I gotta think about it and as he's talking to me he's saying it like that And he goes, you know, and I thought about it overnight You know, then I got up the next morning. I was thinking, you know in terms of facilities But really needs to be done it And he gets this pep at the step that um, and I was like, oh, this is such a perfect fit And I never would have thought of it. Um, you know in terms of his years of experience in many facets serving the town so I'll add one thing to that I've had one recurring complaint that I won't talk about in public that I've given the town manager about the condition of the rink And I read the email that bob jefferson was taken over. I went to the rink and it was resolved Like magic On the firehouse My perspective is doing great Mr. Chatham, that's all I have. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, madam chair. Just briefly It's the last week of february But the high schools are entering their own form of march madness and I want to Wish the high school teams that are that have made tournament all the best the girls basketball team played tonight Hopefully they won at and over the girls hockey team opens their tournament wednesday night at the adverns arena And there's a a young player Grandchild of a member who's usually here with us tonight. Maddie kruppalka is on the allington girls team I wish maddie and and the girls all the success in the world and then thursday night the boys hockey team Starts their quest for another state championship And there you are the second public high school To be the number one seed in the super rate. So congratulations to coach missouri I should point out that the first team Was winchester high years ago also coached by john missouri. So best of luck carlington high to all the teams that Made the tournament Just remind everybody that early voting is open if you want to Come in and vote it is open town hall is open from 8 a.m. To 4 p.m. For it was open today But it's open tuesday wednesday thursday it is open until 7 p.m. On friday It is open till 5 p.m. So all of those hours you can come in and do your primary voting And if you don't get your early voting then come in on march 3rd Mr. Hard Mr. Carroll Just one piece of business yesterday the chair and I attended a a A farewell event for Mel galtzite and her husband ather Mel I think we all met mel and she was the human rights commission and and As the co-chair she she really pushed a number of important efforts including our safe communities trust act And the expansion of our our bylaw provisions for protected classes include gender expression identity and was a mover in the And then a leader and and our rainbow commission did so much in such a short time and Talking to her her new home. She's already trying to get you know replicate some of the success there and so We wish her and ather well. I know and we love you mel and good luck And we also met the two no two new co-chairs who have an awful lot of energy and I have four hopefully brief ones just to sort of segue into that that was going to be one of the end things um, also yesterday there was christine bun journal and when I saw her I had received an email from somebody a resident around the ollington high school rebuild project And mindful of the conversations we've had I thought to myself i'm not going to send this to the town manager I think this sounds like a Board of health christine bun journal and I said I emailed her and said i'm starting with you. Let me know where to go from there And and my goodness. Didn't she email me back within an hour of an answer Um, which and then when I saw her down at mel's going away send-off party I Said to her, you know, I hope you're remembering when you know when you get anything from any member of the board Unless it's something that's merchant, you know board of health issue, you know, I hope you're remembering You know that you have your family your downtime and she said no, she's she's mindful cognizant of that She just happened to be on for something else Because I said it can creep over and to that endeavor in terms of with the board and the town manager discussed In terms of sort of setting up a framework um for Not only a current town manager and or any other department heads, but a future town manager and department heads The town manager has been meeting with um, Karen Maloy Getting the framework of that and taking the next step to make that happen And I have been following up on that just basically sort of a check off to see that that's happening so that particular discussion we had has um Is moving along, but it's going to take some more time for that to come to fruition the last two things. Um And I'm going to ask mr. Chaplain to speak to the second part of this We did have that joint meeting this morning redevelopment board myself Town manager chaplain attorney hind planning director jenny ray Um air beach air ed banell so we did go through um all the warrant articles And recognizing the stillest fluid something could be added taken off um, what we did was so just so Um, I know we've all reviewed the warrant, but I don't know if it got as a further review There were four warrant articles that um Andrew and I uh agreed the board both boards should report on 13 15 19 and 20 We obviously did 15 tonight. So then they'll um Do that and then there was only um One the other articles they wanted the select board to Hold the hearing first With the exception of Which one was it? It was one they wanted and I have everything down as select board Municipal housing trust fund. Was that the one they wanted to do first? So, um, we've already done 15 They want us to do 13 and 20 and they want to do 19 before So we're gonna i'm gonna adjust the the maybes which to me they seem like similar warrant articles are 35 36 and 43 Um, and then mr. Chaplain if you could talk about the second piece certainly so to piggyback To piggyback on that I will say that um We we thought that I think we all agreed that those three articles you just mentioned all in Relation to parking requirements or parking minimums In the b3 and b5 zoning district, which has really come to light at the heights pub That there's three articles to try to deal with that They're likely to take a vote on one of those articles that that could be something that this board Thinks about weighing in on more generally. There's a lot of citizen articles in regards to zoning and Not presuming what the arbs action will be But regardless of their action, we thought that if they laid out a memorandum to this board with a rationale for their action Laying that out the board could then receive that and choose to do what it wants to do From there to try to keep up the dialogue that we talked about at the joint meeting But there was nothing else that we clearly thought That the select board should be weighing, you know, and at this point Am I neglecting something else? Um What you will have to work with the future chair of the select board. We kind of set up a framework for the job. Oh, yes. Thank you so Actually, chair mohan had a very good a very good recommendation this morning that we all thought Would work very well of working with the next chair to set up a goal setting session like we talked about With the arb where we find A time frame maybe it's a Saturday morning. Maybe it's not but What was suggested was let's say starting at 8 30 one of the boards Meets for an hour and hour and a half alone to do a goal setting session The next board comes in for an overlapping Hour hour and a half and then that board that came in stays for our remaining hour and hour and a half to do its own Goal setting session so that we can maximize the efficiency of everybody's time and get that goal setting done Both for each individual board as well as jointly so And recognizing everyone needs to accept Unless we're all the stars aligned there's probably going to be a person If we can find the perfect date that both boards all five can meet then that's great But um, I think we have to I think sometimes what happens is we set it and then You know, it kind of gets reset. I think it just says No, but I also mean sometimes But and it's going to be through the town manager In his office in terms of when they send out whatever it is google google alert or something like that I don't want it to be that oh, you know, we're missing one person Let's try to find another you know put out two or three dates But I'll leave that for him as well as um, what we talked about earlier in terms of citizen Future citizen hearings that we're adhering to the matrix and the outline that we distributed the other night Okay, and then my last um very briefy briefly My colleague miss roe had a mu ghar coalition meeting yesterday. Mr. Decorsi and I um sort of interface it into that um in The reason for because there's a lot of questions coming up in terms of zba oak tree Where that process is going everybody's looking to match 31st Some people were hearing that um oak tree may ask for an extension for that and or may not be ready As far as i'm aware that request hasn't been made attorney hind So we're anticipating the match 31st if there's anything that changes madam chair I'll make sure that everybody knows. I know this is an intense matter of interest for the board the public I'll try to make sure that gets communicated as early as possible and um, I'm sorry. I understand that that It's up to the zba whether to grant any further postponements or adjournments Sure And so what they've done is you know, they've updated the mu ghar coalition website. They really want to direct people to there Um, you know, they want to get the lawn signs out again Coming up with a revised, you know, frequently asked questions And one of the things that we suggest that they should do is sort of put a posting out On the mu ghar coalition website penciling these dates because just Kind of like the last zba meeting it kind of happened and everybody had you know a short amount of notice So we wanted to tell people these are possibilities, but Just so you could be around Really encouraging people to go to the mu ghar coalition website on facebook. It has a link to their website On the internet Um, because there are a few every position has been filled but I'd like to have a second person there So and as I said, mr. Decorsi and I will continue to um You know avail ourselves Assisting with them in any way If that's the case, I'll take a motion to adjourn by Mr. Curell seconded by mr. Hurd all in favor say aye all those opposed you get a miss vote our next meeting will be March 9th 2020