e it being 6 o'clock I'll call to order this March 11 2024 select board meeting and ask you to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance stes okay first up is our public service announcements Virginia so first up for for those struggling with having too much stuff or if you need help decluttering organizing your home or reducing your acquiring of things uh there will be a buried in Treasures information session on MAR March 12th from 4: to 5:00 p.m. and there you can learn about the the uh free Workshop that will be offered and you'll be able to register if you have questions you can call Taran or Darcy at the chelsford health department at 978 250 5241 or email t Angel chelsford ma.gov and again it's March 12th from 4 to 5 and that'll be at the library uh next up the planning board held a public Hearing in advance of the 2024 spring annual town meeting on February 28th regarding the proposed MBTA zoning the public hearing will be continued for additional comment on March 13th at 700 p.m. at the town office is in room 204 participation can be in person or via zoom and the zoom link will be included on the posted agenda which will be available on the agenda center of the town's websites uh this announcement and the agenda have a number of supporting documents that you can look at and if you need more information or have questions you can contact Evan balansky the director of Community Development at e balansky chumford ma.gov and the planning board uh appreciates the public participation and looks forward to receiving input from the community uh next up the chumford select board and the school committee will meet on March 25th 2024 to appoint one representative to the nishoba Valley Technical High School committee for a three-year term ending March 31st 2027 applications are available on the town website at www. chumford ma.gov and they should be forwarded to the town man man's office at 50 boa Road by 700 p.m. on Tuesday March 19th 2023 uh next up the uh chelsford Health Department with funding from the greater Lowel Health Alliance will be hosting a forum for let's talk about health in teaching tweens to cope with worri Stress and Anxiety uh Linda price a youth a youth therapist will help you understand how pre-teens experience stress worries and anxiety and how you can help them in building some practical skills The Forum will be Tuesday March 19th 2024 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. at the Chelmsford public library and there is a QR code on the announcement that you can scan uh for more information or to register and next up uh the chelsford uh ch for business development in the public library will be hosting a 2024 volunteer fair from Saturday March 23rd from 1: to 4 p.m. at the chelsford senior center at 75 Gren Road um it's a great opportunity to meet with organizations who are looking for volunteers to talk with other volunteers or to talk with people who are looking for opportunities to volunteer there are two QR codes on the announcement one for volunteers and one for organizations if you'd like more information and the chumford health department is going to be starting a wellness from within after school club it's going to be conducted every other Tuesday starting March 26th and this is a space that will allow students to make connections with other students who may be facing challenges in self-acceptance mindfulness um or other Healthy Mind issues it's facilitated by Sha ducher a district social worker and Marissa Cameron from the chelsford health department if you have any questions uh you can call 978 25524 or email M Cameron chelsford ma.gov or ders at chelsford k12.us sorry Dutcher s not ders and the Harrison oh and uh next up we have Harrison for the town election good evening um so the annual Town election is coming up in three short weeks here on April 2nd the last day to register to vote for this election will be March 22nd at 5:00 p.m. registered voters may vote in person on Election Day or apply for a mailed ballot the deadline to apply for a mailed ballot is Tuesday March 26th at 5:00 p.m. there will be no in-person early voting for the local election anyone who selected all elections on their vote by mail postcard will be receiving a mailed ballot for the April Town election we're currently preparing to mail 5600 5,633 ballots uh beginning on March 20th when the printed ballots are scheduled to arrive the sample ballots have been posted outside the town clerk's office and on the homepage of the town website please research your candidates now and keep a sharp eye out for your ballot as we are looking at a very tight turnaround time all ballots need to be received in the town clerk's office by 8:00 p.m. on April 2nd to be counted voters who want to ensure their ballot is returned on time can mail the voted ballot in the prepaid envelope as soon as it arrives or hand deliver their ballot in one of three ways the secure Brown dropbox at the front of the Town Hall the secure accessible black Dropbox outside of the town clerk's office or return it directly to the town clerk's office you can check the status of your ballot at chumford ma.gov my ballot thank you in advance for the taking your taking your time to cast your vote in your local election thank you Harrison thanks and we have one other announcement uh there's no flyer on the agenda but this is uh from the Conservation Commission uh they are creating a working group for the open space and Recreation Plan update and that working group will include four resident positions two residents with a general interest and two with recreational specific interest in Active Sports playgrounds rail trails and things like that uh the expected involvement is a series of planning meetings likely a month or so apart and they will also be getting help from the northern middle sex Council of governments to guide and facilitate the process if you're interested in being one of the residents on the committee you should contact David CZ the Chelmsford conservation agent at D chumford ma.gov or 978 25052 31 extension 2 or Carl Bishoff the Conservation Commission chair at KB CH 10@gmail.com and they would appreciate contact uh your application by March 15th uh there is the same information on the chelsford homepage website announcements um so if you need to go back and look at it you can reference that okay thank you okay now we're at the public input part of the meeting is there anybody here that would like to speak uh during this part of this the meeting Evelyn first and then I saw somebody else Evelyn Thoren chairman of the Arts and Technology education fund um from the last time your deadlines for public announcements had changed so I'm here during public input um as you know it's been 28 years since we established the Arts and Technology education fund and I usually get up at least once or twice a year to tell you uh a status report with regard to that but our applications are out they're on the town website and they've also been distributed to the staff of the chood public school system and the deadline is March 31st so I wanted to make sure that uh there was a reminder out there for anyone that may be listening this evening that there's that our applications are due March 31st they can be uh sent to the um Town manager's office uh also uh so you can see that there's email that's the so it's it used to be that they had to be postmarked but we're usually getting them electronically now um one of the things that the committee did change this year is that they added clubs we still have the same criteria everything is still working exactly the same but they wanted to expand the scope of being able to distribute the money the money is for anyone that doesn't know that it is donations anonymously the committee doesn't have any idea who gives the money it goes through the town Treasurer's Office there's a tax check off slip on your real estate tax bills and the excise tax bills so if anybody wants to make a donation they can Mark a check or whatever it is that they want it goes directly into that fund it is not part of the regular budget of any the school department or the town so that's why I'm here thank you very much for your time thank you pleas got wait no we yeah you're not up just next hi good evening um Eric homberg I live at 43 North Road uh I wanted to have comments on the Crosby Village Development that uh was on last month um just quickly the the V the proposed apartment building it's a proposed uh 12 unit it's currently two units on the spot it's a mistake doesn't fit um the mockups neglect the parking the dumpsters the square footage um per acre uh and the proximity to nearby buildings it's a it's a concern um I understand the state is likely to push it through because it's a 40b um Housing Development but it's only two of the 12 residences are going to be included in that um the right of the way so the street is very narrow it doesn't fit twoo large Vehicles side by side the DPW uh Express as such and also Emergency Services if there's a problem uh we'll have difficulty getting past each other if they need to do anything more than the most mundane of service calls um so that large development uh it it'll basically ruin the character of the of the Dead End Street that also happens to be only one of one of the only residential streets within the horse historic district has a few historic homes um and it's frankly it's an eyesore based on the um the photos and all I'm asking is please do your due diligence in your letter to the state because I know the board uh recommends um and just Express each and every one of the concerns uh raised by the department and the residents of the road we're we're all very concerned it's just too large you know you know many of us have talked there would be uh smaller you know two three Apartments four is fine but for a 12 unit building to be squeezed on that is it's too much it's too large for the sewer it's too large for the street and it's too large for its own footprint thank you thank you anyone else proba we have anyone on no one on the zoom for this purpose thank you all right committee V vacancies okay so the current committee vacancies are the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee has one three-year term available the board of appeals associate member is open for a one-year term ending June 30th of this year the clean energy and sustainability committee has W unexpired three-year term the Conservation Commission has one expired unexpired three-year term the commission on disabilities has uh three terms for unexpired threeyear terms ending at different times any miss this open meeting yeah uh we're we're we're past public input should take it I'm sorry specifically ask for it see his hand raised see hand rais see him but we can go back okay um let's finish this okay let us finish the committee vacancies and then we'll we'll take your comments Brian thank you uh Commission on disabilities has three unexpired three-year terms the Community Action Program committee has one unexpired three-year term the Council on Aging board has one unexpired three-year term and one three-year term available the cultural Council has one three-year term open the diversity equity and inclusion committee has one term open the historic district commission associate member term is available for an unexpired three-year term the holiday decorating committee has two one-year terms open the parade committee welcomes all applicants for one-year terms ending on July 30th 31st of this year the public records advisory committee has one unexpired one-year term open the Roberts field advisory committee has two unexpired three-year terms open and the tree committee has one unexpired three-year term in addition the town moderator is seeking candidates to fill two unexpired terms on the finance committee one seat until June 30th of 2024 and one seat until June 30th of 2026 if you're interested in serving on a Town border committee please complete an online application available on the town website and for more information you can contact the town manager's office at 978 25052 to or email TM office chelsford ma.gov okay thank you Brian sorry about that you're out good thank you um I had two topics um Madam chair uh number one was um the meeting the last meeting you had we were talking about or you were talking about without um public input allowed um putting colored lights on our Revolutionary War Memorial in the center of town uh let the children protect what the um sers have won is the town modotto and that that uh Monument um is a revolutionary war Monument it's like it would be like putting lights on a gravestone in my opinion um that's topic number one second topic was uh question of censorship um last week uh or last meeting I made an attempt um after meeting in public um at your meeting with one of the neighbors who was able to speak and I was able to speak but I missed a a couple of topics um I came back home and tried to use the online um tool and I was challenged over and over and over again and basically told that I could not enter the meeting uh place that we've used for four years because I wouldn't tell what the topic was that I wanted to talk about or they were going to turn the zoom tool off at the end this is not free speech this is not what we've come to expect for 4 years of doing Co and our ability to connect with the select board in our in our town um I would like to go back to a non-censored form of communication with you um I'd rather have more than three minutes to discuss the topics of the day gasoline stored um dumpsters over in in the edge of our town in our Wetlands for example hot holes and that sort of thing those are topics that may take more than 3 minutes um anyway I was censored I was told I could not speak and I was told that after the next agenda item that I was told that I had to tell this person that was the filter between you and me uh um I've been an elected town meeting rep for 30 years I've been a resident here for more than that this is not something that I should be censored by a secretary so that's the second topic that I have and we can discuss the others at another time thank you very much for your time good thank 15 Jesse wrote is my address the town meeting rep in Precinct 9 thank you thank you okay uh Mr Dodie you're up now it's nice to be back again I'm at a point in about three years now I need to add a few extra hours at the diner um so the reason behind it I like to make a few extra bucks so no problem with me I don't know why I'm here but anyways well it is required yeah that you come to us for change in hours and just to so the so people watching in the audience you knows what we're talking about it is Do's Diner and yeah you you'd like to as you mentioned extend your operating hours uh if you want to tell us um what days you'll be open late and how late well we're going to be open um T Tuesday from 7 to 6 um those those um days will be be there I I I apologize I don't what we have in front of us is Tuesday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. p.m. yes and Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. is that correct thank you okay okay anything else you'd like to tell us about your new menu or anything well we're going to try to try to do some uh nice uh uh Entre that um that will be a uh um that the um people will enjoy to have instead of having okay we're going to have Mexican we're going to have Italian we're going to have Chinese we're going to have Cambodian we're going to have this I'm going to give you something a little different so anyways uh I think you'll be quite happy when you uh when this uh come about I don't know how long it takes to get an approval but anyways I I do appreciate your time okay do we have any anybody have any questions for Mr doie this evening no okay no I will make a motion to approve the amendment of hours of operation on the common vigilar license for do Diner Inc doing business as Do's Diner at 7 Summer Street number 25 I'll second the motion okay we a motion in a second all in favor okay you can probably pick up your license tomorrow and thank you very much quick You all take care luck thank okay uh so next up is a one day beer and wine license for uh St John's Evangelist Church we have anybody here for that we do good evening my name is Jane saki I live at five Jefferson Drive in tingbo and I am the ministry head for the hospitality Ministry at St John the Evangelist Church at 115 middlex Street in North chelsford next Saturday March the 16th we're having our annual St Patrick's dinner party and um I have applied for a one-day beer and wine license for that dinner and uh I am here to seek your approval for that license okay anybody have any questions about this license no okay I'll make a motion to approve the one-day beer and wine license for St John's Evangelist Church at 115 middlex Street for March 16th 2024 no second to motion a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you very much good luck thank youbody okay we have another one day beer and wine license for St John's Evangelist Church we have somebody here for that [Applause] one good evening my name is Danielle orrey um a member of the St um John the Evangelist African Catholic Community um and we are planning to have a one um day um beer and um wine license for a celebration of life event on um June 29th 2024 um I live at I live at 27 tremwood Road in draut and I um follow due diligence um in getting the right paperwork for this uh event to take place and uh on behalf of the community the African KH Community where I'm I'm president I'll be um delighted if uh request um is honored okay you have any questions for this license okay I'll make a motion to approve the one-day beer and wine license for the African Catholic Community at St John's Evangelist Catholic Church at 115 middlex Street for June 29th 2024 I'll second the motion here a motion in second all in favor okay thank you very much okay um is David hederson joining us remotely okay David hederson you're up to talk to us about um Choice construction and other things hi good evening um it feels so odd to be here via Zoom I wish I could be there in person uh David Hedison director of the chumford Housing Authority I can't believe it's been 30 years as director um but I'm thrilled to be here um at least remotely uh to speak to all tonight um so first on the agenda for me is uh the choice development that's um been permitted U on Princeton Street you can see that the alexin has already um made progress the 340 units that are there um that will be valued at over $100 million our project which is much smaller at 54 units um we are anticipating going into the state for fall of 2024 with uh hopefully an award for funding spring of 2025 it's at that point spring of 2025 that be pulling the permits for um the development and hopefully beginning Construction and if it goes as planned the building will be ready for occupancy um spring of 2026 sadly um there is a significant pipeline or weight to secure funding and if we are not successful um in the fall 2024 submission we will have to go back a year later fall of 2025 with um hopefully an award for spring of 2026 with completion in Spring of 2027 so if we are going to be positive and think positively which I'm going to do it's spring of 2025 we'll be pulling the permits um for that development and with that um historically we have um come to the board of Selectmen and the board of assessors to make sure we have a uh pilot agreement in place so that um we can be in a better position to secure the funding that's needed for this project so I'm happy to take any questions about the choice um UMass West project and the request for the pilot before he go on the other two items okay we do have a copy of the the pilot agreement now should is it going to be the the same regardless of when you get your funding I I guess the question is should we approve that today yes that would be great if it could be approved today that would be fabulous um this draft has gone out to um Town Council and our Council and it's based upon on similar uh pilot agreements that we've executed with ch Woods one CH Woods 2 and um it would actually take effect so the payments would start once the initial closing happens and that would be spring of 2025 or spring of 2026 and until such time we are currently paying taxes on the property at a proportional a proportional rate um with alexen and I want to say our portion was about $5,000 this last round and we continue to make um um our our payment until the initial closing happens and um the pilot would then take full effect okay does anybody else have any questions about this pilot agreement or that project on Princeton so what was the assessors and Council both reviewed this yeah this has been the agreement has been signed and approved by the board of assessors been reviewed by Council and then you're the last signature to of this agreement um and as David noted it it basically becomes effective upon the uh closing uh of the project and so and as David notes it's uncertain as to when that will take place and then it's 12,500 per year and then increases by 1% annually uh and the payment is made at the beginning of each July 1st the beginning of each fiscal year and it runs for a 30-year period which is the maximum allowed period for an agreement and this is so the Housing Authority can have some predictability in well their process yes and and as you know housing authorities and not as a tax exempt this is their contribution to the town recognizing that they do utilize some services so this is an effort by the housing authority to be part of you know the finance impact of their project and and just a note in terms of the in issue of subsidized housing inventory um because there's been some confusion on this what what the uncertainty of the of the construction date May alter the town's subsidized housing inventory because what happens is upon the approval of the development which took place regulatory last October the units once the regulatory agreement is filed become effective to the town's Housing aor Authority for a 12-month period back from the date of the approval which so in other words once the Batory Agreements are filed the the units 54 units that David is speaking of will be on the town sub subsidized housing inventory until October of 2024 meaning almost s months from now if no building permit is pulled by then then they fall off the inventory and then they go back on when the building permit is pulled that's that's why you get this that's why you get this  of units coming on and off and are they counted for the town's inventory do they go on the inventory upon our approval of this no the inventory upon the recording by the state the of the regulatory agreement that accompanies this okay and and and we're taking silver actions on the other ones that were approved as noted at 255 same location for the traml crow development where there were six units that um you that get recorded and then you may recall last month or so you recorded uh regulatory agreements with Dalton Road in carile Street um so that's how that works um so that's why there's this you know counting and not counting impacts again you've got the date of the decision for the approval 12 months and then if a building permit isn't pulled then it falls off until the building permit is pulled which is what happened which is what happened so that's right so that's why we're Haring below and above 10% because the building permit has but the building permit can't be pulled until their funding com in this in this instance but but yet it's once the regulatory agreement it it will run until this October so in other words once the regulatory agreement is filed it will be added to our inventory for the 12-month period back to the date of approval so we had one filed last October MH right yeah but but the regulatory agreement hasn't been filed yet but we couldn't apply for the funding then well David can't get the funding then that's the issue he can't you know he can't file for the building permit till he has the funding in hand to pull for the building permit because and also if he pulled the building permit then didn't act for 12 months it would fall off as well correct right so we got councel here he could may do a better job than I can explain this but there's all these different equations of the calculus and I think you did a very good job the way that the the executive office of Housing and livable communities compiles its subsidized housing inventory if you approve a comprehensive permit or a chapter 4dr development those units are counted immediately upon the approval but if you're talking about a local action unit they theoretically are accountable on the date that they locally approved but you can't actually add them to your Shi until you execute a regulatory agreement so that one-ear period where you get to count the units before the building permit is pulled can be shorter when you're talking about local action units because there may be a lag time between the date of approval and the date of an execution of a regulatory agreement so that's sort of what we're having here in that these these units were locally approved back in October but we can't add them to our Shi until the building permit is pulled and I'm sorry we we add them to our Shi once the regulatory agreement is executed but they fall back off 12 months after the original approval which in this case will be less than 12 months after we added them to our Shi so it's you're sort of chasing your tail a little bit and they can't pull the building permit until the funding is secured correct and the funding can only be applied for once a year correct so last year did we apply and were denied or was that what happened last year so what happens is is the door opens every fall um um with executive office of Housing and liable communities and there becomes this issue where you ask if they will allow you in and they would not allow us in to even submit the application and that's because the approval had not yet issued correct correct yes so they want to see a development at a certain state of Readiness before you're allowed into the funding round in this instance they didn't allow it what and sorry go ahead go ahead David so so we are in I would say a great position to submit in the fall as the door opens once currently and hopefully will be funded in that first round now that being said ju I'm hoping that with this new affordable housing bill or Bond bill that's going through um it's going to have a significant increase in funds available for this type of development if that happens the door could open more than once we could go back to a place where we had two funding rounds each year and if that happens I feel confident that we're we would be funded in the 1 if not the first then it would be the spring of 2025 so so what we do at the local level is we prod people to get these regulatory agreements in even the planning board did one at Meeting House Road um and we're pushing them saying please get us your regulatory agreement so that we can have it signed submitted to the EO executive office of housing Lo communities and recorded to at least you know do everything that we can to keep our inventory current and moving and we'll keep you updated as those events happen how about when they pull the first uh building permit on the other 300 units what is that oh yeah that then that then that goes on our inventory so that makes a 10% that much more difficult to get to right well the the 396 was 3 354 there's only six units affordable units there yeah but that's what he means they go on the yeah but they go on the other side of the yeah but but those only get added to our denominator or numerator I always forget which that is every decade every decade so in this instance the Shi was not updated until 20 late 2023 so the census so that was yes so the census information was not added to the total year round housing units until late 2023 so we actually got an extra two years of being above 10% because they didn't add the new housing units but you get to count the new affordable units as soon as they're created okay thank you and so yeah and so they won't get the next count off to the next decennial census after 2030 which theoretically we should be well over 10% even after that and we should be all set and in fact if if you saw the planning wood discussion is they're now moving away from from their policy of of taking payments in lie of and actually requiring the construction of the affordable housing unit so that you can prevent those shortfalls from occurring okay okay David so sorry yeah I was going to suggest that we um approve the the payment in L of and then we can go on to your other two unless you had something else to add on that okay so I will make a motion to approve the choice agreement to make payment in lie of taxes for the affordable housing units at 255 Princeton Street as presented I'll second the motion okay a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you okay David you have a couple other things you wanted to tell us about yes um so I wanted all of you to know that um McFarland Manor which was finished in 1984 for our senior housing we had been Relentless and we were able to secure back I mean things take a long time with the state we were able to secure about $4 million in 2019 and during the planning process covid hit and we were able to go back and I was able to increase the funding to redevelop McFarland Manor to well over $10 million so all 51 units in the building are going to be completely gut renovated all new Plumbing electrical new electrification I mean all the new systems that are going to be very you know efficient all new windows um the building is going to be brand new and ready for another 50 years as uh state public housing and we're finally we received today the final um architectural drawings and we plan on going out to bid by the end of June construction on that building will start the fall of 2024 and by hopefully fall of 2025 um those 50 units will be reoccupied with seniors once again the one thing that you'll see happening um you'll see the building going through some significant Demolition and you're going to be probably seeing um two trailers which I need to talk to the town about as soon as we know the how and the when for our office will be without electricity and water supply and need to locate out of our offices for about six months so that's McFarland Manor if anyone has questions on that I can answer those before I go on to the next topic okay any questions about M are any of those units occupied now no so one of the things that makes me quite frustrated is whenever you need to make significant repairs on state public housing it's almost impossible because you need to relocate the residents somewhere that's going to be safe for them so we have had um I'll just say this the state of Massachusetts has over8 billion of deferred maintenance in their state public housing portfolio 8 billion do and they fund only $55 million a year towards that 8 billion need the state gives us $250,000 a year for um a $25 million need we have in our public housing portfolio so every time we're able to secure any kind of additional funds over 250,000 it's an reason to celebrate we had a sewer line crack over at chumford Arms in one of the buildings because of that crack we carried a number of vacancies at McFarland Manor and at Delaney Terrace we moved people out of chelsford arms so we could dig up 24 in of cement slab and replace the sewer line when that sewer line project was done we moved almost all the residents from McFarland Manor that were still there over to chumford arms on Smith Street so residents are still receiving their Supportive Services from the same providers they're still within our buildings and they're safe and not living in a hotel or in an apartment somewhere that's unfamiliar to them the sad part is is we've had 50 vacancies for over three years so that brings us on to the next topic which I'll I'll get to as soon as I answer any more of your questions on McFarland Manor so this $10 million is huge I got 10 million of the 55 million for chel from McFarland so it's like it's it's wonderful any other questions for David emote McFarland okay so let's hear about Chumps with arms okay Chumps with arms is older than me which now being around as long as I have been it's scary it's from 1969 the other building has a sewer line that's cracked and um um if you drive by one Smith Street on at the corner of Smith and stemman you'll see it's a very dated building uh I could go through some of the concerns that we have at the site but um I will say this when back almost 20 years ago we looked at adding six additional units to the rear of that site when we started looking at the rear of the site um it was clear that being built in 1969 the building standards the site um was not up to current code I cannot continue to see that building stay the way it is as $250,000 a year is going to get us nowhere and even if we were going to rehab the individual units the units the structures are past their their life expectancy so right now um well I'll say this not right now the Chon Housing Authority Board of Commissioners voted about three months ago to transfer the deed to the chord housing authorities nonprofit Choice Inc it was approved by the executive office of Housing and livable communities and now we're issuing a request for master planning at the site of the corner of Smith and Stedman for the complete Redevelopment of the 64 units there Our Hope would be once McFarland Manor is completed will'll be able to move the residents that are at Chumps arms over to the brand new building at McFarland Manor and take the steps necessary to redevelop the 64 units at the site and it is our hope to add an additional 32 senior units there as well it's currently a two-story building we're hoping we can go to three bring it up to current standards um it'll be a passive house standard um which in you know our language it's going to be a very efficient building not like it is now we'll be treating the um groundwater that's coming off the site and currently flowing into a brook will be eliminating all the asbestos that's riddled throughout the whole building um we have accessibility issues we have um a number of concerns there at the site and it will be addressed and made into a beautiful site um similar to what is being built over at UMass West and the time frame for that um we're looking at hopefully vacating the property around 2026 and it being completed by 2028 and we'll be coming forward with a 40b application for that site okay any questions for David about Smith Street oh I have one question David how how many Jord residents uh are on the waiting list to get senior housing right now so this is so we have over I going to say over 90 last last I looked it was 96 so it's somewhere in the range of you know 90 to 100 chumpon residents on the list that's seniors the problem is um the state moved to what's called The Champ waiting list it's a centralized waiting list and anyone who applies today can go online and apply the number one preference anyone can get is still the same number one would be emergency veteran local after emergency veteran local it goes emergency veteran after emergency veteran it goes emergency and when I say emergency you're not hearing the word local so when it's an emergency anyone from anywhere in the state who has selected chelsford as a community they want to live in would be offered housing before a local resident so with our state public housing it's become more and more challenging to address the 100 senior that are waiting for state public housing we're fortunate because we have built buildings like the choice Center behind the senior center we've built North Village behind the senior center we're Building UMass the UMass West residences up in North chelsford we have the Richardson which was Brianna Lynn in north chelsford and those do not fall under the state public housing guidelines and we're able to address the hundred seniors that are looking for housing um without going to non-local emergencies first thank you you're welcome okay any other questions for David all right thank you very much for coming for the update sounds like I hope to see you in person soon we hope so too hope you bring more good news and more more funds for redevelopment that's what's needed okay thank so much thank you okay next on our agenda is um a discussion regarding the a proposed chapter 40b affordable housing project at 47 Boston Road um we do not have the um proponent here the applicant to make a presentation um so um this has to do with u proposed 16 units eight duplexes four of which would be affordable all three bedroom units and this is on about 1 and a half acres off of Boston Road so the purpose of this meeting this evening primarily is to get um feedback from the town departments about issues having to do with this proposed development and so I'll go through those responses that we have received and then anybody here that would like to make any comments will be welcome be able to do that um this is in preparation for sending a letter to Mass house about this U proposal um and again this is not a public hearing it is just a a a meeting to get this this feedback um for those of you here that are interested in in a more formal public hearing that will happen at a later date um after Mass housing sends a a letter to the local zoning board of appeals about this this project so the first um response we received was um from DPW um they noted that a full sight plan review was not conducted um because of what they did receive um they note that rain gens and infiltration are going to require DPW to be present for so soil testing they note that there has to be an enclosed dumpster pad and the dumpster should be depicted on the plan sets and the care of the dumpster is the responsibility of the property owner there we looking for all existing and proposed util utilities to be clearly and accurately labeled on the plans uh they note that the section of the parcel is located in the aquafer protection Zone to and they note that there will be a need for a snow storage location on site as far as the sewer comments they note that they do have their allocated they can use up to 630 gallons per day of of sewer capacity at the location but with the number of bedrooms that they opposing here they will need um to have an on-site treatment system to um to be able to handle 3330 gallons per day uh the police department notes that there are line of sight concerns uh having to do with the proposed driveway on Boston Road and note that this is a a very heavily traveled area uh there's a child care center nearby which is an additional safety concern and um that there's not much in the way on on the plan for emergency access um they will have to provide for emergency vehicles to be able to to turn around in in that location excuse me that was the Police Department fire department has similar um concerns they note that there there'll be a requirement of a hydrant within 500 ft of all all dwellings um again they they uh they want an emergency access or turnaround plan for their uh vehicles to get in and out they um are requiring that all dwellings be protected with a firearm uh fire alarm system that conforms with NFPA 72 um so there will be checking that that that is done and the applicant will be required to contact the fire chief and submit possible names for the proposed roadway and then apply to the to chwi e911 Comm for addresses the Board of Health reiterates about an onsite septic system which will be required to meet Title 5 regulations and any other requirements of the health department as far as their application and inspection process and also about the dumpster that has to be on site um and must conform to all the Board of Health uh regulations for dumpsters um the building commission announced that the applicant will have to comply with all requirements for dimensional requirements for the town's bylaws see uh Conservation Commission had no issues of cons of concerns um the historic commission noted that a couple years ago the owner did come forward uh with the Demolition delay on the building that sits at that location now then that demolition delay has since expired so he he can uh go ahead and demolish that house at at this point and JN water uh District had no comments at this time so those are the comments that we have received from department heads if there is anybody here uh in the room that would like to make any comments about this proposed development sure just if you could just identify yourself um name and address yeah my name is Brian bester I am a a I get a budding uh owner I live right across the street from that uh proposed development um all of those concerns were exactly the ones that I had um traffic being probably the greatest the one thing that's not shown in the plan is an elevation View and um the project engineer describes what do you call swales basically tearing those housing units um can't see how possibly that could be done in any way to allow the parking that is required uh and and allow access um and then the other great concern I would have would would Echo the fire uh and police Chiefs with respect to traffic there's no sidewalk on that side of the street children presumably would come across and be in uh uh you know in a way of that very very busy road which already has a an exorbitant number of accidents along its axis so um yeah I have a lot of concerns and I don't see them addressed and and our community doesn't either so I would go very cautiously in providing uh granting access to very very high dense uh access I I mean I I hear and and there was a proposal for a uh you know discussion about um senior housing and and uh low-income housing so uh everybody wants to to support that uh but not at the expense of the people that would participate or the rest of us so um it's it's a difficult situation to be in okay thank you for your time anybody else hi I'm Christiana schnit I'm actually the ab budding uh neighbor at 55 Boston Road so I am right next to this uh property um my concern you know the same concerns that I had the last time that uh we convened prior to covid um you know where fortunately the board had made a decision that there could only be one house on the property but my concern is you know stands as well with the elevation of this property there is water flow through the back of my property there's actually a well back in the back um shallow well in the back but the water actually flows down along my rock wall down the side and into the um current drainage system down at the bottom on the Main Street and that's I just want to keep putting that out there if something does happen to this property that it it gets this uh infrastructure of 16 homes on it um you know that there's no impact to my little house um you know of course I'm passionate about my little 1860s house and want to make sure that it has you know retains its historical value that was also the concern you know with the properties in general uh the last time that you know we met with the selectman is that you know we are you know historical homes in chelsford and you know it's very unfortunate that this house is actually allowed to be torn down right next you know right next to me on that property I guess we'd all expected that that would probably happen at some point um but it's still you know what does chelsford want to be how do we want to look in the center of town um do we want to keep doing these Mega you know structures uh multiple apartment complexes Etc versus maintaining our historical kind of Heritage that we've signed us signed ourselves up for and put signs out there um but anyways thank you I for you know thank you for the time I appreciate it thank you anyone else I'm G to get emotional I'm sorry Michelle hi to worked up at 65 Boston Road I'm right next to Christine I've been in that house since 1958 so I am definitely a chelsford person I can't imagine them even considering tearing down that building but of course because he destroyed it because he left all the windows open so that everything inside is probably destroyed but it's an antique house my house is antique house it's an 1859 house I can't imagine them even thinking about considering putting that many PE um people in that lot it's all uphill there huge Boulders I have videos of them the day that they were taking all the trees down so now that the deer that have lived there my entire life I moved into that house when I was five I am now 72 moved to for a while came back I just can't believe that this town would even consider putting that many people in that small a lot and that's all I have to say I'm sorry good thank you anyone else hi I'm West aan um 31 Boston Road resident I've been a resident of chelsford for about 16 years I think four years about last four years at that on Boston Road um just wanted to so nowhere near the history of some of the people that have been here um but just I don't really have much more to add except to uh reinforce I think what I heard from both the police and the fire department um we have three teenage uh children um so we've had them I know that on that side of the the road there's no sidewalks as was mentioned um our kids have had to cross the roads for for um getting to the bus and and change the bus stops accordingly to for that that so with that number of of people living there I think the sidewalks are a real concern for for families that might be in those kind of units um and um yeah just the number of units in that small amount of space and I would also Echo we see similar with the um elevation change and the water flow coming down to the road um from our units or in our in our road as well comes down my driveway mainly um but I would assume that similarly couple of units down um they would have to deal with that uh water runoff as well okay thank you thank you anyone else isn't Amy Gilman on the zoom call who who came in on the zoom for this purpose of this uh discussion so Amy if you could turn your camera on and microphone Amy microphone is on hi there you go okay I don't I don't have anything else to add than the other neighbors said I agree with what everybody said and and the general consensus of the neighborhood address okay yeah could we have your address please 69 Boston road9 okay thank you very much thank you is there anybody else there in Zoom Paul no that's it okay thank you very much so um as I mentioned at the beginning um this is in preparation for preparing a letter to to sent to Mass housing um and after that time um if this does continue moving forward you will be notified again do you do you have a question yeah just the process how how long would it be I have no idea you you you'll get a an ab's notification Paul so Pat I did speak with somebody from Mass Housing Partnership earlier today who wanted to make sure that I pointed out that a complete application has not yet been submitted to MHP and they are not going to reach out to the select board to request comments from the town until they have received a complete application okay so it might be a little while just so you know you won't miss it if you don't get it next week thank you very much all right thank you thank you all for coming all right next on our agenda um sorry can I ask a question oh the neighbors theuts don't get a copy of our letter yes they do all theuts do oh within 300 feet Yes they they did y that's why they're here I assume that's why they're here we got a that's correct yeah but then they get a copy of our letter back to the scene is no no no no that letter no they they would not um but that will be a public document okay but they will get something from the state saying once it's been approved before it goes in front of the zba or no no zba will no the way the process works the the applicant is required to get a project eligibility letter from a qualifying subsidizing agency yeah once they have received that project eligibility letter they are allowed to file a comprehensive permit application with the board of appe once that application has been submitted all of the abuts will be given notice of the commencement of the board of appeals hearing process so before it goes to the zba they'll that's when they'll be notified before the first hearing correct yeah but they'll get their notification from the zba not from the state yeah from the CBA correct okay kind of like you got the notification before this right they'll get a similar notification from the zoning board saying that they're going to start their process okay although those will will certified ma c those certified mail so they'll be sure to get them yeah these were only first class ma okay thank you thank you thank you thanks Paul welcome and there will also you know be the typical public notice process so it'll be posted on the town website it'll be uh posted in a newspaper of General circulation okay all right so the next uh we have a couple policy discussions this evening the first one um being the one about lights on Town property and and monuments buildings and monuments um in our in our packets we have several items related to this uh one is a draft policy that Aon was working on um to begin a discussion um a uh a discussion about a a text about the the monument that we're talking about having illuminate being illuminated and um part of our bylaws about um [Music] um lighting of outdoor Illumination in town and if I could have uh Paul Paul hav if I could ask you on on that does that apply to public buildings in addition to commercial ones R 19534 you're talking about the the zoning bylaw yes uh I'd have to go back and look through the bylaws but I don't think that there's an exception for the public buildings okay so I can take a look at that though okay all right is that in here the bylaw yes it's after that all of that thank you okay so um sorry I mean there are sections in the bylaw that exclude like emergency lighting by police and fire so that's why I was wondering that it's not just for the planning board it seemed like it was written for lighting in town but I appreciate if council could look at that for us right and I mean quite frankly that might determine how this policy goes yeah I mean if this is already vetted by town meeting right I mean if if we would have to go to town meeting I mean to planning board every time there was going to be a request for for lighting a building or a monument that would put a damper on on any policy we might have um so I don't know if maybe it's premature to talk about this I don't know how anybody feels about it could I ask a context question sure so this says a draft of display of lights on Town property and IT addresses potential lighting for causes but I guess this is more for um attorney Hy when we were presented with the need to develop a policy for flags flags are a form of advocacy right and um there was a lot of advice that you gave us in that context about having to be very specific about what we were allowing and what we were excluding and I just have kind of the same philosophical question about the lighting because the context of this policy was or this goal was developed under the umbrella of advocacy lighting and so are we in a similar situation where if if there's anything nebulous or discretionary at all in such a policy should we need to develop one you know depending what your review of the the bylaw says are we in kind of the same position where it needs to be very specific about what's allowed and not allowed versus defining a process where we can apply discretion for every case that comes through yeah I I think that I agree with with your point I think that it really is very similar to The question as it relates to Flags they can be used as a as a position of advocacy and you're going to run into the same issue that if you're allowing a use for one particular advocacy group and not another you're going to run into claims of of disperate treatment um and things of that nature very similar to you know what your concern was with the flags which then means you're going to open yourself up to potentially having to allow certain you know uses with regards to lighting that the town may not actually support um so again you're going to you're going to want to be as specific as possible I don't think it's possible to be as inclusive that you that you get every potential use um but the more discretion that you put into the policy the more likely it is that someone's going to challenge it okay yeah I don't know if you have had seen the the draft that that we came up with I mean and it it would indicate um awareness to promote charitable causes I mean I I don't think you know I know one that that kind of prompted the the flag policy was the was the pride flag and I don't know if how it consider that a charitable cause I mean it is a a good cause but I don't know you know I I don't know if that would delineate it more I think the provision that states lighting shall not be used for partisan political or controversial issues or events can be helpful but you may find it more limiting than you want it to be um it leaves room for interpretation about all of those things I mean these days I'm not sure there's anything that's not political and you know someone can make a claim that it's partisan even the most innocuous thing so it it's it's a difficult line to walk really in the sense that you want to be restrictive enough that you you can't let anybody just come in and do whatever they want but you w don't want to be so restrictive that you can't do anything well or or or or do we I mean I I kind of I kind of go back to just kind of philosophically I've been trying to think about this but like when we had the flag discussion one of the one of my concerns back then was for any given month there's multiple causes there's also multiple charitable causes so how do you start to decide which ones you could have if there's 30 days in a month you could have people coming up forward with 50 causes that you know are honored in that month and so I kind of I'm falling back I'm I'm almost falling back to the kind of the flag position that maybe we're not taking any position of advocacy as the municipal government for charitable causes um and even like with the monument it is a it's a war monument and I don't I don't feel comfortable repurposing that Monument from what it was initially intended for and it's there to honor the veterans who fought for us in the Revolutionary War so is it more of a policy about maybe what we're not going to do rather than what we are going to do I I or which monuments and buildings could be includ yeah I mean every monument in this town has a purpose for which it was erected if we want to have an advocacy lighting then we're probably bringing an article before town meeting to say let's erect you know let's create an advocacy Monument that we can light a PL white one you know I just so that's where that's where my I keep kind of getting wrapped up is I am not seeing any clean way to continue this once it started Paul do you have something that you want well I mean where did this come from we had a request from a resident who wanted the light the monument to recognize sudden unexplained death in children MH um when we had discussions in this in the past it is it's a historic War monument and if on Memorial Day or fourth of July the DPW could illuminate it in red white and blue would that be acceptable right now if it's just white no it's not acceptable and I think and then the police and there's been efforts to reach out to support autism um we've seen our police cruisers do the flashing blue lights and so forth and and then the question we come was well could they illuminate the exterior of their building in blue um to you know recognize autism I think that's where it's coming from and I think that's the question that the Board needs to decide is do you want to allow that in the community um and I guess the question is is you know you know where you know where if not the common then where would you want to do this or where could the community do this I think the reason the common is done is because the common is the common and we we illuminate the common for you know for the holiday season um you know in recognition of the holidays um and and so I think that's sort of where the spirit of this comes from and I guess that's the question is is you know does the town want to do it and then and and then how do you does the town want to do it um and and and so and I guess my that was why when I saw the policy there wasn't any question about Community observances celebrations you know and and I think that may be language if the board wanted to do that that you'd want to add to the policy when we illuminate the common for the holidays it's the trees and things right we're not we're not Illuminating the monument red and green or blue for Hanukkah or we're not doing that we we've illuminated the monument with wreaths we put wath we put wreaths on that Monument large large wreaths on that Monument I mean when you say something like for a war Monument to light it in a special color for Memorial Day I'm just speaking from a personal perspective that resonates with me right because that is in line with what the purpose of the monument was it so where I'm getting [Music] um where I'm having discomfort is kind of going back to advocacy and where does it stop or how do you draw a line how do you decide what's what's worthwhile and what's not um and I don't I just but that's the job of the five of you or the five that are sitting in the chairs to do that um in terms of make those decisions as as as they arise I mean would we so would you anticipate that we would would have a running list no I think you you'd submit requests you'd consider request upon submitt like like everything else that you receive so why didn't we do that with the flags why didn't we say we'll consider requests upon submitt for Flags Town buildings I have no idea because the next month you're going to have the Armenian Genocide people come in they're going to re ask and receive a proclamation they're going to go over to Westford and they're going to fly a flag in West at their town hall and then they're going to go to l City Hall and they're going to fly a flag in l City Hall but they can't do one in chord and it's because the town has not chosen to allow the board to do government speech and that's what that decision came down to was government speech there is something called government speech What in in the Boston case didn't say in the decision didn't say that the government couldn't exercise speech it said it had to articulate its speech and therefore and and therefore couldn't just willy-nilly just sort of have a policy that they were picking and choosing that the government has a right to expressive speech and I think the same thing would apply to lighting that if the select board wants to support sudden unexplained death in children or Autism or or uh you know Alzheimer's or whatever I think the select board has that discretion within the rights of the Constitution and council's Here If he if he has a legal opinion that's different I I think we're all willing and wanted to hear it but I don't no I mean we we covered this ground when we adopted the flag policy um the the there is such thing as Government speech the board certainly has the right to set exactly you know what can and cannot be done when it comes to Flags but again there's there's limitations and the the the the Freer you are with allowing people to put things up then the more likely it is somebody is ultimately going to come up and look to put up something that you don't want up right and then then get becomes a question as to whether or not you're treating them differently than the other groups and if they bring an action against you you know it's difficult you know without knowing the exact scenario how that's going to result um but you know there's there's absolutely you know an argument to be made in favor of being a little bit less restrictive and allowing certain uses and taking your chances and then there's an argument to be made for being more cautious and and limiting it it's really a policy question for the board I think ultimately it's impossible to guess in advance if somebody were to file litigation against the Town based upon you know a claim of discrimination it's impossible to to to guesstimate you know how that will result because you don't know the exact circumstances that would be involved and and when when the board on the flags when the board said okay we're going to allow three flags right the P the town and the US flag is that a form of the Town deciding how they're going to exercise government speech or is that walking away from government speech well that's still government speech you're allowing certain fls we didn't you're just it's a very limit choice in how we're implementing it correct thank you dge any comments yeah I mean I I think the the the flag policy is what we should I would stay the same way here I mean this this I mean I just agree with Paul and I don't mean you know it's hard to make a decision but not for me but uh I mean that that I I I've read on that on that thing it says it in in memory of the people of the people who gave their life fought for the Revolutionary War so why would you put a statue on there I mean a light on there for some other cause that's just that's just the way I feel Paul and I think if once you make one you let we make one move and put some let somebody else another cause we're not going to be able to stop any cause is that correct I mean that'll leaves us open for much more than you know for leg legal issues than if we just kept it without I I don't think it's quite that cut and dry um I think the more restrictive you are the the easier it is to to prohibit something from I guess that's what I was trying to say the less restrictive you are the more likely it is that somebody's going to come in and want to put up a flag that you object to but won't have any ability to object to I think you know we with the uh people from Zay V that you know uh I think they they were the first person the people that we had to say no to and you know they accepted it and and they came in we gave them a proclamation we had them in here and we honored them I mean and they went along with it I you know I just I mean it does make it easier for us if we have a blanket no it does I think it does make it easier yeah because well it makes it easier in the long run but get lot of people mad but it makes it easier for us to make a decision it makes our jobs easier and it removes ability for the town frankly by having a blanket decision which is I I'm assuming I'm assuming what part of what went into the flag policy right is uh yeah you're removing that liability also which kind of stinks in some circumstances because there will be because there'll be people very worthy we very much like to do want to fly absolutely but there'll be then not worthy and they'll be trying to fight you and you you know and then I I don't know that there will necessarily be a lot but be a few you just you can't you can't figure it out you know you don't know when it's going to come that somebody is going to come in with something that is more controversial than the board wants to get involved in and and wants to deny and well and we can always deny but we're going to have to right but and it might not be something as Stark as someone wanted to come in and F fly a Confederate flag you know but it might be something that's more of a judgement call um and and hence Begins the slippery slope correct yeah so there were there were three things I noted kind of I guess in this conversation one is can we get a review of the bylaw and understand how it does or doesn't relate to this and then with that does that review of the bylaw mean if we want to Implement something is it a policy decision for this board or are we going to town meeting within Amendment um and well I just like to understand kind of the Viewpoint and then my other thought is when we did the flags we did get some written guidance from Council before we kind of kept going on a path forward and maybe we could if the board thinks that's worthwhile we could do that again written guid for this topic written written guidance yeah just to summarize kind of what he's saying but kind of put it in writing for reference for us and kind of the traits that we should understand y That's my thought okay so I guess we'll we'll wait for that and revisit and revisit see where we go from there if anyone else has any thoughts on that so for now I guess we're holding off doing any any more any um requests granting any requests for that at this point do you need me for anything else tonight I don't think so okay thanks very much have a good night okay the other policy discussion is for the town manager and town accountant performance reviews um I just made a few um edits to the actual policy um based on comments that were made Virginia I think by U most of them by you about um requiring the town manager and town accountant to do their self evaluation and provide that to to each of us um and then I did make some edits to the time manage evaluation form um to make it so there's not quite as many things that we have to rate the town manager on um hopefully that'll make it a little bit easier I for everybody to do that so any comments or additional edits you suggest I just had a couple small ones thank you for doing this Pat um on the first page I didn't bring it up before and I don't even know if it were warrant an edit but um the third paragraph up it says we conduct the review in the month of July and I guess just philosophically we used to do them in June didn't we we used to shoot for the end of June I don't think it's been as late as September October I know and and so I guess my only comment is I would want it no later than the month of July but if we could accelerate it that would be good because then what happens is we're still doing the reviews we haven't done our annual goals yet you know we wind up getting the goals in place after a fiscal quarter has already gone by well in summer slow so so that that was my only thought is if we wanted to say no later than the month of July or okay I mean that's yeah that's fine um I mean one thing there not hard over on it you know a technical thing theal year is not done right right you never know what's going to happen on June 30th but did we do them in June last year I almost feel like not since you've been on the board when I first was on the board I thought they were more on a June schedule we would get we would get them out in May we'd get inputs in by like the first half of June and then we'd have the review by the last meeting in June when did we do them last year I think it was July or too late I yeah the notion back then was all the compensation schedules Union contracts everything were kicking in July 1 right therefore the idea was to get everybody else done but that's that's not dependent anymore not dependent anymore but that was the but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do them yeah I agree I agree okay all right so I can change let's finish reviewing our goals for one year so we can start the next one there you go yeah um and category one M um my only other I didn't know if there should be a statement in one of these about um the town manager compliance with the responsibilities as stated in the select board policies okay there's not much there but there are a couple things about like reviewing goals quarterly and okay um and then in category four managing the [Music] town number one says um implementing short and long range strategic planning Direction and expectations and I just I thought somewhere in that it should be um we can leave strategic planning directions but we ought to identify and like the annual goals and expectations or strategic direction is one thing but goals that we set are something different goals are more specific so I just thought maybe add Direction goals and expectations or something like that okay um and then on the last page under goals and accomplishments it says based on three to five anticipated goals but this is looking behind us so maybe it should just say three to five significant goals or three to five major goals okay yeah so really minor things but I think this looks good and thank you for doing it all right any other do you have any heartburn with any of that Paul no anything else okay um so I mean I can either make those changes and bring it back next time or if you want to approve oh can I ask one more question the note it's not recommended to average the individual items rating to arrive at an overall rating yeah did we do that in the past mhm we did we did average and we're not going to do we you weren't supposed to I mean some people did we show the average of the um like if there's five board members for the categories will show the average of score for each one but then the overall rating at the end is not just an average of everything above overall ratings is not okay right I got you yep that's I'm okay either way whatever the board wants to do about what what did she say Pat was asking do we want to approve it with amendments and just trust her to put them in or do we want her to bring it back again I'm okay with that yeah I think it looks okays I will make a mo George did you have any comments no I I agree okay I'll make a motion to approve the town manager and town accountant performance review process as amended I'll second the motion were you done with your motion huh were you done with your motion yeah okay do you need more you second no you second it so quickly I didn't know if you were done okay we have a motion in a second all in favor I okay thanks very much we'll get that set up and put in our policy book somewhere all right next up um appointment of a select board member to the conservation commission's open space and Recreation plan committee all right we have any volunteers so we I'm Leo and I'm happy to do it but I also have other heavy lifts on my plate so if somebody else wants it I'm happy to have someone else get involved when are they going to start Pat because you could flip it to the new person and starts in all three weeks we could wait till April because they don't have their resident applications yet exactly I mean we we you know I I know they wanted to have all their their applications in this this month March 15th yeah so they're going to make a decision probably right yeah but I don't know I mean we could wait till after the election you know cuz we will because you're right there's so many things going on and if we fill up everything now a new person because we know we're going to have at least one new we have whatever you guys want to do can we wait until then though that's I guess April do you do you have any idea until we around when when they might hold I don't know when they're going to start I don't know when they're going to get started but you know they're they only meet twice a month to do the appointments and they only have one meeting left in March to do that you know they won't do it till I was assuming if they wanted things by March 15th they were going to try to which would be their second meeting which would be their second meeting of the month so by the time they get the committee going and started you know you might miss the and then we're going to flip all of our might miss the PO I mean you know if if if they want a name right now I mean you could give them my name and then I could go until we have a you know our our new Bo is in place and we can always you know it's only going to be at most one meeting that would be missed so sound reasonable okay all right sure okay Tom manager bid Awards yeah um getting members of the board tonight we start some DPW seasonal material bid Awards and then at the next meeting uh there'll be some additional ones with road paving and so forth and and and at our next meeting the Public Works director will be here but we have some initial ones for traffic markings micro seiling uh and miscellaneous BMS and such so the first one for the traffic markings there were two bids submitted and the recommendation is to submit to the low B low qualified bid which is K5 Corporation the bid price was $15,995 um for the micro seiling the recommendations to a it the seal coating um doing business as indust at 155,00 $80 for the paving hm miscellaneous Allied paving at $9,250 and Paving HMA burm Allied Paving $28,500 what is HMA I don't recall the specific Office Highway marking something yeah yeah I don't recall TR any other questions besides what the acronym means I will make a motion to approve the award of the traffic markings to K5 Corporation in the amount of $15,995 for the microsurface to seal coating ink oh the micros surfacing to seal coating ink doing business as indis in the amount of $155,400 to award the HMA miscellaneous to Allied Paving in the amount of $ 59,2 and to award the HMA burm to Allied Paving in the amount of $28,500 I'll second the motion Motion in a second all in favor thank you thank you okay and time manager reports yeah just a couple of brief reports here this evening the first one pertains to the housing Bond bill um the just a couple things I just wanted to note to this and and it really sort of Falls in light of the MBTA communities uh in which a lot of people were not aware of what was being Advanced and and even cities and towns weren't aware until after the law was enacted uh on MBTA communities and and then the regulations were developed afterwards but um basically four months ago the H Governor submitted a $4.1 billion housing Bond bill um a week ago today the housing Committee of the House of represent uh in joint committee with the Senate of which the co-chairs is uh representative James S Westford they gave a favorable report um and didn't make any changes to the to the house bill 4138 um it now moves on in the house representatives to the uh joint committee on bonding Capital expenditures and state ass assets um and and it's noted in the in the the story that the the um there will be opportunities for constituents municipalities and legislators to provide feedback as the bill moves in its original form um as changes are contemplated in the future um and so again lawmakers are likely to make changes to the housing Bond bill but as it stands today I think the concern in the affordable homes act or the housing Bond bill um and again where it goes to the issue of housing housing Supply and so forth is um to address the housing shortages is it does make policy changes and one of the highlights of that policy change is it would allow accessory dwelling units to be built by right in single family zoning districts across all communities and and then and then the law goes on to Define what accessory dwelling unit is and it's basically a accessory dwelling unit maintains a separate entrance either directly from the outside or through an hall or Corridor shared with the principal dwelling sufficient to meet the requirement of the State Building Code for safe eras and it's not larger in Gross FL area than half the gross FL area of the principal dwelling or 900 square ft whichever is smaller um and and then the question then becomes further on to it the use of land or structures an accessory dwelling unit um shall not require owner occupancy of either the accessory dwelling or the principal dwelling um that's a significant change from what chwi calls in-law apartments which you know so basically what's what's being proposed here is that in any single family Zone District a 900 square F foot accessory unit detached or attached could be constructed and neither unit has to be occupied by the property owner um you know and so are relative are relative um so so in other words you as an investor could purchase a home build an accessory unit and then lease both or whatever you do so I'm not saying it's good or bad but we're trying to do here is is just raise awareness of what's being contemplated um because as we've seen now in the MBTA zoning you know it it's sort of you know if it's sort of trying to catch the train after as it's leaving the station or it's left the station because the laws enacted so this is under consideration I think the expectation is this will some form of legislation will come out before the end of July um because the end of July is when the legislative session formally ends uh and again we just provide this to the board I know the planning board talked about it and they are talking about it uh it was discussed recently at the planning board meeting uh most recent meeting um so again just want to alert people that you know that this is out there not saying it's good or bad because I'm sure there's a variety of opinions on whether it's good or bad but people at least should be aware uh of what's being contemplated um by the legislature and by and advocated by the governor and I know that the for example the nor the middle sex Council of governments the executive director there uh spoke in favor of this legislation I'm not saying that's good or bad and I don't know if the ncog board has taken a position but just wanted people to be aware that this is out there in favor of it norn middle sex Council of governments oh yeah has has the MMA taken a position um the MMA is I'm not aware their formal position but from what I understand is the MMA traditionally advocates for local control which was the issue on the MBTA zoning where it was imposed and I think and I would expect to be the same on this where the issue becomes well shouldn't communities have a a right to opt in or opt out and of course that conflicts with the state's goal of constructing additional units but I'm not aware of the MMA taking a formal position because at the uh it wasn't bra at the annual meeting in January and I've not I don't think we've seen any pronouncement from the MMA on this are there any municipalities asking the MMA to take a position or are there any municipalities taking a position and providing feedback I mean this doesn't come with any infrastructure support or anything else much less whether people want that in their Community exactly i' I have not heard of any movements along those lines they said that this is moving now through committee uh and I we know the Administration the Healy Administration is out advocating for this across the state but I'm not aware of formal responses coming from cities or towns or um you know now and for example Tomorrow there's a housing housing Forum in L and and chair or sah is going to provide the introductory address for you know I think he's got an hour at the beginning of that forum and I imagine he'll he'll touch upon this um but I don't know that there'll be any action by that Forum or by uh others at this time and we do know that the city of L has thus far the council has has taken exception with by right accessory dwelling units um but no I'm I'm not aware of our neighboring communities taking formal positions as of this time and that's why I'm sort of just raising this early before it gets um I you know I think I wasn't aware this was coming out of committee last week and it and it did is there an opportunity that to weigh into this at all or and when is that when is that window I I think the window begins now and and and began probably you know four months ago when the governor filed it um and I expect that you know within the next couple of months there'll be a formal there'll be a formal act by the house and by the Senate on this legislation normally what they do is they give you about 72 hours notice that they're going to hold hold a hold a private caucus and then take a vote uh and then get amendments in um and but at this point it's unclear when that will occur um and you know what will transpire coming out of this but it's it's it's obviously quite significant um in terms of what you know what what that would mean um to basically you're adopting two two you know two family zoning oh yeah so I so I have a can I ask a question if um like if something like this is adopted at the state level do we amend our our zoning bi laws no it's by R it overrides it overrides the town just like 40 just like 40b and is there a grandfathering it can okay there's no apply for everything so it triggers already pre-existing properties to be non-compliant which is as it's in its current form now we don't know what will come out of the sausage that becomes the law but is its current form it's by right 900 square 9 squ ft with dimensional setbacks I mean that that you you can have reasonable zoning setbacks for example distance from line and it's more generous than ours so it wouldn't it shouldn't trigger pre-existing properties to go into non-conformity and it also limits things in the current form is you can't require more than one parking space I mean so they're trying you know they're trying to to attack those areas where towns would often use to restrict it oh you have to have this many parking and then of course there isn't the SP to do I think you nailed it though Paul you said it's going to be an opportunity for investors that's really what it is to come build and and again I think the con the concern a concern from chood and is is the issue of the infrastructure that's required for this um if we have 13,000 single family homes just take 10% 1300 or take whatever percent you think is going to be and then multiply that times the impact that would have in terms of sewer and water infrastructure infrastructure so forth um and and and you know so again that's that's that's something that I think people need to be aware of uh and and I know the planning board's aware of it because again it was raised recently at their most recent meeting and and I think now that it's come out of it's moving out of one committee and the housing committee and not um and it's going to the bonding committee that and I think the expectation is they're going to do something with this um prior to the end of the fiscal year they're their F their legislative session which is the end of July I agree with you I think it should be a local uh initiative a local rule you know every they can take your town and destroy it right but I think it's been made clear by the governor I think the house speaker and the Senate President they see the biggest challenge Massachusetts is the housing housing shortage which is evidence in the multiple and it's just what they're doing they're coming at it with the all the above approach this combined with MBTA combined so but I think the question that cunny also has been put on the table here is is this one of the initiatives like if we were to pick do we want to push back on this at all as a community do we want do we want to have a conversation with the planning board do we want to ask the MMA to do something formally or at least maybe we with our have them theity could happen with this excuse me go ahead George we have you know like the Wess I don't even know how you could do something like this in O well yeah that's that's what Paul said yeah they would have to m still setbacks you know so I'm assuming there's not going to override setback requirements right it says it it has has reasonable setbacks and regulations will be defined for what that is from lot lines okay but if you're not modifying an existing house you can still you can take an existing property and one acre Zone all over the right town you can turn essentially anything into kill Val of all houses in town and you know they do too much of it it's just going to I don't but you see the rents that are people getting for you know so you can see the economic incentive and yeah so again we're just trying you have there are development companies that specialize in adus so you you'll have that coming in buy put up 8 900 sare foot units and right m and we did this and the other thing is is I I met with my co Nim Cog area managers today you know they're all getting like we are the feedback on the MBTA proposed zoning uh and that's occupying a lot westford's going later this a week from Saturday with their proposal we got feedback from the state last week uh it looks like ours slightly modified from what was submitted to the state will be tweaked in time for the next hearing but it's along the lines of that will be going forward and and others and I think that's it's taken a lot of oxygen and effort you know by the planning board and the communities and now you now this is coming in at the same time um so it's you know and there's other things obviously in the bond bill you know the which we which you know which you know like this local transfer tax all these other things I'm not even going in there just I just know that the sensitivity has been on density and here's an issue that I just wanted to bring to the board and the community's attention so I'm just going to ask go ahead no no I just wanted to kind of ask again like given the planning board conversation that went on at their last meeting and their concern should we consider like first thing at our next meeting inviting them here and deciding at least as a like kind of those two boards is this something that we do want to provide some feedback on directly or through MMA I would say you know yeah because if we wait too long it's it's way too late it's already getting late I think um oh we could just and I and I I I also agree with the philosophy that it should be local because like the impact to what this can do aesthetically and to infrastructure I don't think anybody's kind of thinking Beyond let's just Mass produce yeah adus yeah I was going to suggest that you know maybe we just we could invite the the chair of the of the planning board rather than have a formal you know joint meeting just to get their thoughts and tell them what you know I mean they could take their own action and we could take a separate action that hopefully would follow fall in line with what but I think are they discussing this Wednesday I don't believe it's on their agenda for Wednesday right so it's too late to put on their agenda at this point but they are discussing it tomorrow at the what is the what the they could bring it up as new business that we're inviting a representative to come to our meeting M yeah okay we could do that yeah well so what was your question would you be able to follow with the um the event tomorrow in L I remember seeing an email for it is anyone going yeah I think three of us are you are four of us can't go but I I did see it that's good you can still register by 9: in the morning no I think you had to register by noon today oh really not think you think if you walked in you walked in it would be fine too they're not going to kick you out yeah but yeah I think that's a great idea I feel like there's a lot of pressure between all the building initiatives going on it's I think it's time for that conversation would be good I agree okay okay then next item I have is um use of open spaceand at um coolest farm um I mean the good news and I know many of you are following it and and we're have been attending the meetings and and um in attendance at the um the meeting class wednesday in this room but things are progressing uh regarding the use of open space at kol's Farm um the Public Works has done a tremendous job removing the the debris and clearing the the entry area of the site um volunteers have ma Trail locations and cleared some of the invasive plant materials and debris out there um the residential dwelling is scheduled to be raised within the next two weeks or so but certainly by the end of the month um Public Works um has disconnected the utilities to the building they've contracted for removing the limited hazardous materials that are in the dwelling um and they've obtained permits um in quotes for the um raising of the building they were they contacted four companies by quotes and and the lowest quote was around $25,000 to to do that work um and that's again scheduled to be completed um within the next couple of weeks uh and then the task force um as I mentioned they've held five meetings we've done a site walk on the property ande received expressions of interest um interest on the property has ranged from pickle ball course Wildlife clinics um creation of of pollination Meadows Harvest harvesting of hay growing and maintaining plant material harvesting pumpkins squash melons pet cemetery um Community Gardens and so forth um where it now stands is is a couple of the requ question that came in uh we're we're seeking legal guidance from Council and from the community preservation Coalition as whether those are allowed uses under Community preservation uh Law chapter 44b uh and and uh we expect to have those by the committee's next meeting which is a week from this Wednesday um and then and then I think you'll start seeing a consensus uh in terms of a plan and then I would expect they before the select board um in in one of two forms either with some initial recommendations some of the out Parcels um at an upcoming meeting or coming at a you know a later meeting in April um with you know a complete recommend recommended plan um for for the property um and then go from there um it I think what's what's drawing the uncertainty is is that we're we're nearing the growing season and there are there are a couple parcel proposals having to do with growing hay and vegetables and obviously if you're going to do that you really need to be in the ground by June 1st um and so so you may sort of see you know some um consensus on on a few recommendations so again we'll bring them to you how this will you know will ultimately go as you'll see you'll eventually get a complete recommendation uh and then we upon your direction then the town would move forward and how to go about implementing that and eventually in placement of a preservation restriction some of the actions may require town meeting if as the board may be aware any lease of town owned land or property or asset more than five years requires town meeting approval um and so if if somebody wanted to put a wildlife clinic on there well obviously you're going to need more than a 5-year commitment uh and therefore that would require town meeting approval um you know so so that I just want to point out that you know it's the there's still a ways to go and terms you may see action but I think the hope and expectation is is by this summer late spring or summer that the property may be open to the public at least for hiking and trails and you know with the with a modest amount of parking and then you may see projects going in in stages again depending upon what ultimately um is recommended and what direction the board has upon those uh recommendations and and maybe ultimately town meeting action on that but it's really I think it's really been a very uh positive experience anyone who seen it we we have great uh group of people working on the recommendations has been a great neighborhood feedback and communication on what's being proposed out there and and a lot of Co cooperation and coordination of of of the property so I think in that way it's been off to a very good start um and and and um again we'll keep you updated and I know again some of you are attending some of the meetings so it's been very positive so that's the update on kolis and then um the last thing is is U just another long-term one this has to do with the intersection of brick Hill Road and Route and Route 129 in barck which is right at the chumpon Forum um as as many of the I don't need to tell you but that's long many a a intersection of concern and probably highlighted by the UPS traffic that goes in and out of there as well as the Bera post office that's on brick Hill Road The Forum itself uh and and there's a there's a religious facility and B worker and so forth so the good news is is there there has been um dialogue that really originated from the most recent planning board View at 93 brick Kill Road which was a warehouse facility that's under consideration um uh adjacent to the UPS property about traffic improvements and signalization and so forth of the intersection of brick Hill Road in Route 129 um so we're working with Nim Cog to move that process along so it's not going to happen next month next year but the idea would be is get a traffic study done which is in the works of being done and then getting uh some Ty of a you know feasibility study preliminary design and then ultimately get on the the um the mpo the met you know the the tip tip uh for the for the Nim Cog M uh know the middle sex Council government met you know planning document for the transportation Improvement program so that it can get funded um to I think ultimately to signalize that intersection and because we know there there are some traffic concerns there um so I just wanted the board and the community to formally be aware that that is an area that's under consideration that again because it's so close to Route three has a benefit to the state also has a benefit to the town of barer and a benefit to the town of chelsford in terms of having a safe intersection there is that the process for every intersection to get a light to put a light in every intersection yeah we're going to have a inter yes you have to meet warrants yeah you have to eat the state traffic guidelines which really follow from the federal guidelines of putting in a traffic signalization because this project would be in the millions of dollars it sounds simple oh you just put in a couple lights and hang some wires and so this is going to be you know they're going to shape the inter do the whole intersection reshape the intersection install signalization safe Crossings and so forth so yeah I mean and and with that I don't want to get into Pat's report because I know the they're doing the mo and so forth but yeah that's why you see such taking such a long time in chelsford to get the traffic signalization on chord straight 5495 because it's a major project that requires you know design drawings funding and so forth uh and and that one has been moved around a few years and hopefully it doesn't get moved hopefully it gets moved forward not back um but but yeah it's it's a major it's a major design issue um the most recent ones we've seen were the ones here at riverneck Road and Bera Road by the cemetery and the Nana conet Road and and and uh you Boston Road those were all all multi-year projects and the multi-million dollar projects can you remind me who pays for the um the um detail officers down there does UPS pay for them yeah UPS yes outside of UPS UPS pays for them but at the corner of ril and 129 is it also UPS or that's assessed by you but it's bker officers who work those details it is B officers but UPS yeah yeah so that that concludes my rep court for this evening I do have one appointment okay and that's for the commission on disabilities um Matt pelago of Regina Drive uh and that would be for a term ending June 30th 2026 okay any questions about that appointment I just have a question about the term pul so the vacancy list has two terms expiring in 2024 and one in 2025 this is for another slot no then that must be an error so what what is the the agenda says 2026 so do you know what the term is that we're voting on okay then I would go with it till 2024 go with the earlier term and we can the earlier or the later no we go with the earlier we well or either one I you can do 25 I'll just say to fill one of them and you can go figure no no do the term for term specific 2025 I would say 2025 I mean he can always quit if he it yeah 2025 um I'll make a m to approve the town manager's appointment of Matt pelo to the commission on disabilities for an unexpired three-year term ending June 30th 2025 I'll second the motion give a motion in a second all in favor thank you okay and we have a set of minutes from February 26th anybody have any comments edits on those I'll make a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of February 26 2024 I'll second motion okay we a motion in a second all in favor okay thank you all right raise on report Steward anything Aon J um just a couple updates for the strategic planning steering committee um the RFP was released on February 29th and Paul and his staff have been um kind of managing that process we have a question period and we'll have an interview period um with an award planned the first week of May to come back to you for that and then the um fire station study committee is planning to do a report at the beginning of town meeting just to inform town meeting where we are it'll be a shorter version of what we presented here in December um and also to let them know what's coming ahead between town meeting and um the ballot in the fall uh in terms of opportunities to educate and learn more for both the Tom meeting reps and the public that it y okay um a few things um on March 1st uh there was the official ribbon cutting for navigation Brewery uh they've been open actually since before then um so be sure and stop by and have a breu it's uh they have plenty um yesterday was a an eagle court of honor for Blake DS our newest uh chc's newest Eagle Scout so congratulations to uh to Blake his project was uh renovating um part of the area over at the Veterans Memorial Park and he did a really good job on that um congratulations to a couple Folks at the CHC Police Department first uh lieutenant John R retired and then um Michael Richard was promoted to the rank of Sergeant so congratulations to both those guys for their uh for their achievements and also wanted to let the public know that the the sheriff KATU in is um accepting applications for his youth Public Safety Academy this is for um boys and girls ages 8 to 12 years old um it's really a good program they get for a whole week to be able to kind of Shadow the uh police and fire and emergency Public Safety folks um and then they have a nice graduation ceremony at the end of it and you can find out more information on the sheriff's website which is Middlesex sheriff.org and that is all I have so we'll take another motion at 7:56 I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second the motion Motion in a second all in favor than thank you e e