##VIDEO ID:3N-IpYKuOHo## [Music] good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brookline select board and this is the meeting of the select board for October 1 2024 uh so initial uh issue I'd like to move that the select board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing litigation strategy in the case of Cecilia m versus town of Brookline um we are going into executive session because to do uh to uh let see what is it what are we saying to discuss uh matters of litigation strategy in public would compromise the position of the town and the chair so declares uh that as a reason for going into executive session the board will reconvene in Open session after our executive session uh is completed all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sandon I Paul Warren I David Perman I and chair votes I so e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e we're coming back in five 4 3 2 one good evening I'm Bernard Green chair of the Brooklin select board and this is the um Regular meeting of the select board for October 1st 2024 to start off with uh any um uh let's see any uh comments from the select board John are you raising your hand I'm raising my hand I'm raising my hand um so I Just Want U be sure that everybody knows uh about three particular things that are coming up within the next week or so uh one of them is the um excuse me the friends of Halls Pond having their uh fall volunteer um effort um at uh at Halls Pond on uh Sunday October 6th 11:00 am. to 2 PM um and even if um people are not all that experienced with Excuse me with outdoor yard work and such it's a great place to to learn about outdoor yard work so you don't have to be um you know a um uh veteran of U lots of uh raking and hoing and uh planting of bulbs and that kind of thing you can you can go to this Hall Pond Sanctuary um cleanup day and and refresh day um and learn about those things so that that's the number one thing that's Sunday October 6th um at 11:00 a.m. at Halls Pond then there's a flu Clinic uh at the baker school on Wednesday October 9th and I would strongly advise that people check the um Brookline town website uh and the particularly the health department part of the town uh website it uh for all of the details about that because it does require registering in advance but that's a flu Clinic Wednesday at the baker school starting at 4:30 p.m. and um then further down the road but coming soon is indigenous people's day and looks like there's going to be a terrific celebration of that in Brookline that's coming up on October 14th and uh 1:00 um in the space um sort of behind and to the side of our health building right here um on the town hall um campus uh and so starting at 1:00 October 14th um a really good program uh for indigenous people's Day celebration and and um I I made a point of saying Outdoors but I think it's indoors and Outdoors so um it'll be um in the Public Health Building and then I think for part of it I think they might move outside but they know better than I do PA y thank you Bernard thank you John for the announcements um I want to mention again that the comprehensive plan uh process is having its public launch next week uh the resulting plan will help shape the future of the Town its neighborhoods uh mobility and businesses um and we are having an official kickoff in person there'll be a visioning workshop that the public is invited to uh kind of be an open house type of format um Wednesday October 9th from 7 to 9:00 p.m. at 22 taen Street uh that is in the tapen street cafe of the new Freshman building uh of the high school um and you can drop in any time you can come in and spend 10 minutes you could spend the two hours if you want uh we're just happy to see you come and engage in various parts of the planning process there'll also for folks that can attend in person the next day there'll be a virtual uh visioning Workshop uh that will be done over Zoom that's going to be held Thursday October 10th from 12:10 is very specific 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. and then there'll be some discussion after to about half 1 um and there's a zoom link uh on the town's website to gain access to that and register and then lastly uh but not uh complete there'll be an online survey uh that launched today and that link is now available uh on the comprehensive plan website the uh you can submit a survey from today until the 20th and this is for future visioning type of work there be many other opportunities to engage in uh in the process uh as we go but it's about a two-year process um and so that's uh that's all taking place next week um and I'm hoping that the public will come on out and help uh shape and set the vision for the future of Brookline it's very important thank you Mike um thanks Berard I want to bring uh the board up to date on uh and and the Town Administrator up to date on discussions that um I've been having as the the remaining co-chair of the OPA committee the uh we've been talking with uh trust Early Learning and with the Brookland Community Foundation about putting together uh what I hope would be a sustainable uh mechanism for providing affordable child care in Brooklyn that is child care that um either accepts state vouchers or accepts children who are eligible for State vouchers uh we're getting um I think fairly close to a conclusion I have made it very clear that we need to finish this up uh certainly by the end of the year uh in order to allocate funds uh and uh the both of the other parties are sensitive to that but it's hopefully coming along uh and uh if it doesn't then we'll need to sort of pivot and think about uh what else to do with those funds and there are some thoughts that um I have and that um that come out of the discussions that I have had with regard to affordable child care that I can provide to the board if that happens thank you say one more sure um I did want to say something about uh Rich kellerer um we learned of his death um a week ago uh but not in time for us to say anything at the time um and so he's a former Town Administrator that he was the Town Administrator PR to chaz's predecessor Mel clner um Rich kellerer was Town Administrator for 15 years and uh those who um read their emails on the town meeting member list serve uh were privileged to excuse me read many tributes to Rich from people who had experience with him back during his 15 years as Town Administrator and I'm going to take advantage of um uh one individual who wrote something I just thought it was so eloquent that I sent him a note and said you know thank you Ben for the what you wrote I hope he doesn't mind if I just quote from it um and this is his description of Rich kellerer um we lost a very good man who could run a complex neurotic ambitious evolving Brash town without making too many enemies but making a lot of allies and Friends Rich kellerer spoke softly but reliably and his silences spoke like steel he told the truth to those who could handle it but he didn't lie to others either and then Ben goes on to say um in spite of Rich being a man of power he was good gentle in his Manner and steadfast and he concludes as they say in the faith into which Rich was born Eternal rest Grant unto him and let Perpetual light shine upon him and in the faith into which I Ben was born May his memory be a blessing so I thank Ben for writing those eloquent words and um Brookline um can be thankful that we had a really extraordinary person in Rich ker um passed away a week ago thank you anything else okay let's move on to public comment uh Tiffany thank you for thank you for joining us for public comment this is an opportunity for us to hear your perspective on the issues in Brookline that matter to you each person speaking tonight is limited to 3 minutes you don't need to use the entire time but you may if you like once 15 minutes has been meant there is an opportunity at the conclusion of the select board's business for additional comments members of the public sometimes raise questions during public comment we may be able to provide a quick answer to a question but are more likely to work with staff to get a more thorough answer and respond over email we'll let you know when you have 30 seconds remaining and when your time is up please conclude your remarks at that time if you have more to say you welcome to send an email to board members expressing your thoughts in Greater detail um we did not have speakers sign up in advance is there anyone in the room who wishes to make a public comment if you're online and would like to make a comment please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time there are approximately 19 participants online and no one is using the raise the hand feature at this time thank you okay next uh we have a number of M Lous items I'd like to uh vote items 5 a through 5G in Omnibus fashion if anyone would like to pull out one of those items uh let me know and we'll discuss that separately um Cas seeing No Hands raised to pull out out in the item uh I move approval of warn art I'm sorry approval of item five items 5 a through 5G uh on favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak I Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David browman I and chair votes I now can I make one comment about the um the preservation commission annual report that was in the consent agenda um I just uh you know to read that report and see the amount of work that they do yeah um there's a complete uh list of all the actions that uh the preservation department and the pre preservation board took in order to protect um our uh historic structures um and so I would just encourage the public to go to the packet and and and look at the variety of um activities and protections that have been done in order to to oversee and maintain our our historic structures it's greatly appreciated yeah I agree and it's good idea to you know use their as historical uh commission report for purpose of uh notifying the select Board of what they're up to because that was very very helpful okay uh next boards and commissions interviews uh we'll start out with the Brookline commission for the Arts we have Melissa and mcquary Bernard um I apologize I did not realize how quickly we're going to move through this first part of the agenda so they I don't think either of the candidates are here quite yet that we're moving fast so I I asked that we might skip to the Noise by law waiver and come back to the interviews when the candidates are here okay uh question of approving a noise bylaw waiver for bonded wearing course Hammond Street nighttime Paving um work to happen between October 1 and October 14 2024 uh do we have someone to speak on this yes we have Aon sh commissioner sh and Amy Engles Transportation administrator online good evening Erin chud I'm uh commissioner of Public Works and I'm glad to turn this over to Amy to explain and I'm here for support and to answer any other questions good evening everyone um so this is some work that's um supposed to be done by a contractor that's actually under contract with the town of Newton um uh Hammond Street in their jurisdiction is did you speak more into the mic oh I'm having a little time difficult time here sorry about that is that better um and louder yeah louder it may just be my old ears but I'm sorry no worries no worries um so yeah I'll I'll say what I said again uh Newton um uh Hammond Street in Newton is uh is undergoing some repaving and they have a a Newton the city of Newton is under contract with all states constructions do that Paving um we're also doing um some uh that with that same contractor um an our section of just a small bit of our section of Hammond Street right by that Newton um Town Line um but we are uh looking to get a waiver uh for the noise bylaw to do this uh repaving at night um just because this is a very very highly trafficked area we think that it'll be um much less disruptive to um have it at night um rather than um dealing with the the high traffic volumes going through there the um the decb um will be fairly um fairly mild it's you know below 90 um when standing on the sidewalk um we only anticipate it'll really take one night um but they are kind of uh they have notified um people for uh for one week I believe sorry for two weeks um just in case there's any kind of weather issues or um any kind of problems that they run into on site okay any questions um Mike just uh uh I I assume that this is similar to what's just been done on Beacon Street okay good that's a fairly quick process yeah great well one I'm glad Mike brought up Beacon Street I just want to thank you uh for the work that you're doing on beac Street um it's greatly appreciated um I know that we uh spend quite a bit of time together uh working to get some more funds into the budget for uh maintaining our roadways and it is a pleasure uh to uh to see that happening um I think it shows an important investment in our community and our roadways for not only um you know for folks that are walking and biking but you know just being able to navigate the roads it is it's impressive to see it and I just want to say thank you for your work on that okay anything else any other questions it is a public here oh sorry there you go good for Paul he's he's reading the agenda um this is a public hearing um I'd like to open the public hearing public comment any questions comments from the audience there are 18 participants online um if you would like to raise your hand using the raise the hand feature to speak during public comment please do so now no one is raising their hand at this time okay um I have one question that part of Hammond Street that's in Brook line uh are there any houses nearby there's three small residential buildings it looks like there are very small apartment buildings um yeah okay yeah the rest of the abutters is um the uh tenants courts um and then on dumpster and then CVS right okay I assume they all got the notice that's in our uh the public notice that's in our packet um with those sent to those three apartment buildings okay okay um seeing no comment from the audience IO hereby close the public hearing and uh call vote all in favor of uh the noise waiver bylaw for uh the bonded wearing course I assume that's the description of the that's part of the street that's the that's the stuff that's put down oh okay um on Hammond Street all in favor please indicate by saying I John v coak i Michael Sandman I Paul Warren I David pman I chair votes I okay you want go on to Warren articles you want to go back to the interviews they are not here yet so we are still moving at an efficient Pace um okay that being said are the warrant article petitioners available they're not here quite yet so I might suggest we go to Warrant articles condition uh continue possible vote yeah okay uh item 10 on the agenda uh warrant Article 4 the acceptance of chapter 59 section 5n of the general laws allowing for the creation of a veterans tax workof reduction program we had a disc discussion of that last meeting um addressed a number of issues any further discussion no I gu just one yeah one comment Bernard and I'm in fully support of this article I just wanted to make sure that the that we'll capture the discussion we had last week about monitoring uh the availability of uh positions and you know not creating a situation where we have one protected group competing against another protected group for uh for these types of uh yeah uh you know opportunities the select board's report and the combined reports will mention that that's great okay thank you okay and beyond that do we have any power to control you know you this is the this this if if it were passed would allow you to create the program it doesn't set the Contours of the program so obviously we we take that the the um directive of the board very seriously when it comes to not making this a zero some game so okay good so we we'll structure it in such a way that it's not uh putting two people two groups against each other right okay um unless there are any further questions comments I'm move approval of Warrant or favorable action on warrant Article 4 all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sammon I Paul Warren I David Perman I chair votes I okay okay I might suggest not to totally mess up your schedule um that you might take outdoor dining and the um the other questions next and then come back since I think Chestnut Hill is going to be of interest to people and it may be a little early um want to make sure everyone who wants to have an opportunity to see that gets to see it right um if you want to take outdoor dining um and then however farther you want to go until we either get um interview interviewees fore an article petitioners or um you feel that enough time has passed to move on Chestnut Hill now let's go to um outdoor dining okay um so we went through last week the um the proposed changes with the um the team um we made one additional change based on uh subsequent feedback which I will put up on the screen just so folks can see um it's actually two changes right J right two two changes you know in on one page um which um is language U making clear one that licenses are issued in the town's sole discretion applications can be denied for reasons including you know there's not enough space in the street it would be dangerous there'd be um um you know there's storm drain there that can't be blocked you know any any any any appropriate reason to deny uh a license um we just want to make explicit that that's there so that there's no um thought this could be you know as a guarantee um and then making clear that new new applications will be reviewed on a first com for sur Bas by the select board licensing panel once all departmental sign offs are achieved and may be subject to additional review as all things you know approved by the panel are by the select board so um those are the two changes made in response to feedback otherwise the document is as it was okay I have one question um the door dining season is April 1st through November I guess November 1st correct um but we start putting out the Jersey barriers on April 1 correct is there any way that that could be before the start of the Season we we talked about this with DPW and the concern we continue to have is with winter um you know um we've been very fortunate these last few years we may not be fortunate again and we really want to be the other thing is it's not just the winter it's not just might be snow pack on the ground April 1st that's not always the case it's more like what's the backlog of work that DPW has at the end of the season at the end of the winter season because as soon as they are capable of going out on the road and doing emergency repair work and so forth that's what they're doing so they have a they typically at the start of spring have a significant backlog of work to get to which is why we want to be very clear in setting expectations to the businesses we will make every effort to get barriers out there we understand particularly that businesses have an interest in being open the weekend of the marathon we don't we can't guarantee that because we can't guarantee the weather and we can't guarantee how much work needs to be done in the aftermath of winter so starting in April 1st rting the barriers out April 1 was the earliest I think we all felt comfortable asking DPW to start that process given how much backlog they typically have once spring gets started right uh I just want to remind you of the April Fool's Day blizzard uh in the early 90s um I was here I remember um which had Dr dumped I think 12 or 15 inches on April 1st um at the brook line it you know two days later was could happen again but then again it's not guaranteed not guaranteed to happen but certainly not guaranteed not to happen I'm 37 inches un conquered Massachusetts my dog disappeared into the snow okay uh Paul you yeah I just um I wanted to thank Chaz for adding um these two provisions and specifically the one that allows the town to at its discretion make a determination as to whether uh it should allocate areas of the public way for outdoor dining um you know we we could see this potentially becoming very very popular and we're uh could get into a situation where we're converting um the public way which includes parking um and walkways uh into dining space and we I just think it's really important that we have the ability to throttle that if we need to um and very much in line with what we talked about last week uh where um you know depending on the priority within the area um and what we're seeing for for parking demand and and you know biking and stuff we may want to be very careful about um having precious space automatically taken up by uh by outdoor dining which I support outdoor dining I think it's very beneficial to the neighborhoods but we need to be able to control it um and not be accused of you know um picking winners and losers uh on outdoor dining okay any further discussion okay we're moving along a little too fast here you do you do need to vote to approve these I know but it's okay some more you have other things to I have I I do have one other question I think John brought up and you I do like when we talk about these things more so I think this is an important policy right um last week I think John had mentioned um or someone had talked about the you know the amount of money that we're giving up on the meters uh so it's like two and a half spaces right so that's three meters y um worth of of potential revenue and you know are we covering that um within the licensing fee and if not are we making it up in other ways like you know meals tax uh additional demand within I'm just curious that maybe have a little bit more meat on the bone so I mean the answer is no right the answer is ultimately this program is a subsidy um we don't we don't get enough we don't get specific restaurant by restaurant information about what the the meals exse tax comes in right the state just gives us the number at the end of the day and that's by Design they don't want us knowing that information yeah um but um the um the theory here is that you are effectively making an investment in your businesses and your business districts such that the growth then becomes sustaining and ultimately you do have that interplay where you have a vibrant commerci neighborhood you have tenants in and eventually that balance between the excise tax the commercial growth in commercial usage and so forth does balance that out but you know the process here is really one you know you're you're trying to incentivize growth and so in that way there is a subsidy here and we just want to be mindful of that which is why this is a continued work in progress right we want to continue evaluating this to make sure that we are not that it's that it's we're truly getting the benefit to it it's not just about the money obviously viously but the money is a big part of it can can you remind me what the Gap was between how much are we subsidizing so the Met I'm off the top of my head I think it's you know 2600 a year for a meter um for year per year so you're talking about a period of eight months nine months um you've got um you know right you're talking about 3 MERS so you know back of the envelope call it you know roughly $6,000 to subsidize a spot in the public way and we're charging $500 for repeats a th000 for new so it's a significant subsidy on that a lot of money but but again you have to factor that again meals tax you know the revenues there and so forth which are harder to calculate um but also recall even at the level that you were operating at before you were still subsidizing these um these spots right it was less but it was still a subsidy um um if you want to if you want to treat it as though it was around $66,000 you were still only charging you know 3,000 you know 4,000 it was going up to that level um but you would also see the downfall and the fact that other communities have made the determination to subsidize it you know other communities are making the same kind of calculation that you are you know that still had still do outdoor dining which is the value is the the value in increased traffic and increased use of Comm commercial space especially in the aftermath of the pandemic is worth trying to subsidize this for the present term while we figure out you know so so just I just want to make sure I understand just from the number standpoint are you saying on average we would be subsidizing 6,000 per restaurant for outdoor dining if they're in in the metered spaces it would be it would be closer to 5,000 just but again that's not it's not Apples to Apples I'm trying be less than 5,000 you're you're talking you know you it's definitely as sub subsidy um but again and you're not factoring in labor you're not factoring in some of these other things so the cost can go up based on for example DPW overtime cost can go down based on yeah you know what we're what we're seeing in terms of the Delta and the XI tax sorry the meals tax um good um Mike I'm I'm a little surprised by the meter yield of $2,600 a year um is that what am I correct I'm I'm let me pull m numbers before I speak that seems like a very low number to me we have about we have about 2,000 meters right and so that would be $520,000 a year with a revenue ordinarily I would have my cell phone on me but of course or am I missing a zero here um but I'm pulling this up [Music] um I'm I'm sorry I'm missing a zero you that's that sounds much more like it yeah yeah okay my apologies no it's okay and again I will get you the exact number I apologize this is off the top of my it's yeah I just 2600 just like Johnn I wouldn't bother to pursue this point but we do have time to kill it's an important um because I I still um I don't hear in in the description that you just laid out of why you know how you made that calculation I don't hear accounted for the possibility that the car that would have parked at that meter simply parks at a meter that otherwise would have been empty further away from the restaurant that's right so again you you're you're you're talking about that's why it's difficult to really lay out you know the the opport the Lost opportunity cost right the opportunity cost of taking those meters offline um knowing as we do that we're conducting for example the coolish corner parking study we're doing these analyses of how much of our commercial parking is really used on a regular basis so it's hard to say yes on average this meter brings in X it's possible in busy districts that meter brings in more it's also possible in those busy districts that um you know that meter might not be being used because either it's more people find it more convenient to park in the parking lots or you know elsewhere so it's not it's not it's never it's never really you need more specificity to really make an estimate of how much revenue you're giving up um you know I think it's really what I would say from a from this standpoint is you can assume that it is a subsidy um it's just not a subsidy that breaks the bank we have been subsidizing this program already um and we have been for several years we have also not been taking we have not been realizing the revenue from this program we've been treating it as a pilot um so this the revenue from this program does not go back into the the operating budgets of the Departments that run it goes into free cash we've never budgeted for um and that was intentional because but but that means it's funding something yeah I mean it is funding something yeah no but I mean it's it's not funding something in the operating budget is what I'm saying um it is contributing to free cash but so uh Paul again yeah yeah again yeah yep I'm going to we have time so we might as well spend a little bit more time on getting this right so but the it's not wasted um so just if I understand so let's assume that 30 meter 30 um restaurants would take up three spaces so you're talking 150,000 in meter Revenue potentially right but again we would we were if we were cons you know that's the other thing is that we've had data now from you know what we can expect in terms of meter Revenue during the pandemic and during the period when this has been in operation for a couple years um and now it's still not enough that I think you could make it definitive trend line out of it but we haven't seen you know meter revenue is increasing and meter Revenue has increased due to the raise in rates which is good and important um but it hasn't it hasn't the the fallof hasn't been such that we have felt like um it's it's caused a dramatic dent in meter revenues we need to look at meter revenues this coming fiscal year because we're concerned now that there may be a plateau um but we don't think it's due to outdoor dining um okay ready to vote okay I move approval of the proposed amendments to the outdoor dining program regulations and and guidelines uh as presented by the um administrator and as shown in our packet all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Michael sammon hi Paul Warren hi David P i and chair votes I what what should we do next how about the committee of seven get the committee of seven and then you may have some interviewees okay so question of appointing David kman uh as the select board representative and chair of the committee of seven for public for the public safety buildings front entrance Lobby feasibility study thank you David for agreeing to serve on this committee it's an important committee uh it's not going to take up a huge amount of time but uh what time you do spend on it is valuable so um any discussion think folks should know um what is the project the pro the project is um so the public safety building which was renovated fully re redone in 2000 um its Lobby um has some identified limitations no notably Ingress and egress and the um the ability to have kind of space you know uh space for confidential interviews of w of of uh victims and you know places for people to sit uh and so forth It's it needs to be re-evaluated and we need to look at what we can do within the scope of the the budget we the capital budget we have to improve it and so that's what the committee this Committee of seven is about building's about it's going to be 25 years old next year um and so that's the you know it's it's time for us to take a look at that entryway and see if there are ways we can improve it and I think it's a priority of the police Chiefs okay any further discussion then I'm Mo approval of um the appointment of David Pearlman to the committee's for s for public sa for the public safety building front entrance Lobby feasibility study all in favor please indicate by saying I JN van skak hi Michael Sandman hi PA Warren hi David bran I chair votes I looking forward to it good thank every select board member should have an opportunity to serve on a committee of seven you learn a lot very quickly um okay where are we now um Melissa an mcari is here so I suggest we go to her interview for the Brooklyn commission for the Arts if you're to it great thank you um remed on my Bine Commission of the Arts do you want to step to the podium and introduce yourself and why you would like to be on the recline commission for the Arts and what you can bring to that body awesome does this Hub you can hear me okay yes just speak into the microphone well it's so nice to meet you all i' I've definitely voted for you um I've been a Brookland resident for over 10 years I've worked in uh the tech field for the past 15 20 years I worked at companies like Adobe uh Google I've worked at um AIA so I have a lot of experience with sort of Building Bridges across the corporate world I have a master's in Fine Arts from Parson School design in design and technology and my undergrad is a BFA in general font Arts includes an art history minor from Maryland Institute College of Art um I have over the past year noticed that the Beacon Street uh gallery that is associated with Sanctuary has sort of fallen out of um you know being a a operable gallery and I've reached out to them this is a concern for me you know when we voted to put put a a medical dispensary there part of the arrangement was um to have a a functioning Gallery um I follow what's going on in Praise over at on Harvard which has been really wonderful and so I was disappointed to see that the gallery had sort of closed and I'd like to come on to the board to sort of help build that bridge I noticed in January of 2024 there was an issue maybe it was New Management we're not exactly quite sure why the gallery has not been in use we know that they want to push towards um supporting the Brooklyn food bank which is great um but I sort of feel there's an opportunity where I can come in and help you know I feel that that Gallery space was great and we really enjoyed it um it seemed to me maybe it was too controversial for the new management I'm making assumptions um I think that's something I can assist with you know sort of figuring out why that Gallery is not functioning helping management understand that as far as I understood in you know 2019 that was a big part of um you know the the whole space that they set up there so that is why I came to fill out the application um I think there's a lot I can do to sort of help figure out what's going on maybe we can pull in something that's more Brookline light you know I noticed some of the uh installations there were very heavy um very intense maybe there's an opportunity where we can use that space for a way of supporting you know Brooklyn local Arts wherever we can find that I love you know a lot of the things we've done with our flags in terms of artists and their work on around town I think there's an opportunity we can help you know bring more families into that gallery and just do something to sort of build the bridge there um I think I can also help with the uh Newberry so we know the Newberry is about to open um it's 12 120 unit um it's assisted independent and long-term memory care so there's going to be a lot of people moving in and I think I can also a lot of these folks are artists watercolors painting I can help to sort of unite uh Brookline with the new community of people in November so maybe we'll have art galleries up there but somehow maybe you know we can import art from people at that place to um Beacon Street um but mostly I I think it'd be a great opportunity to keep supporting the Arts in Brooklyn I think it's very important um so in addition to like grant writing and evaluation curating um those were sort of three of the ideas I had I noticed in in the um Unitarian in in The Universal Church near us they have a coffee hour and they've got a rotating Gallery there I know there's a gallery you know downstairs here so I'd love to come on and you know sort of be of service um and try to pick up that conversation I've tried to call over at Sanctuary hey what's up with your gallery this was very important to us as voters you know five or six years ago so we don't like to see it empty um so I think that's a place that can definitely be a service thank you um could you sort of flush out some more your idea of using art in general to bring parts of our community together um I mean you you mentioned uh you know the Newberry elderly housing project any other ideas in of using art pieces art um displays or exhibits etc for that purpose yeah I mean I think one of the great things we've seen improving like our was coolage Corner this past weekend and right next to the Simon shoe store there was literally opera singers in the alley singing the most beautiful music that bring you to tears Quality Music um and I I think there's opportunity for more of that kind of thing I would like to see more like family and like you know maybe a father son show or a mother daughter show like there is so much great art going on in our Brooklyn Elementary I think there's a great opportunity to bring you know bring that art into a curated setting and be a part of the curation help people to get their art into frames and onto the wall you know help to set up the stages of that and then I you know I sort of think of there's new ideas coming in helping to promote that um but mostly you know mostly what I'm thinking of is bringing back kind of if it didn't work at Sanctuary it may have been because the work was very um not controversial but very of on guard and unique and maybe that was offputting to the management I don't know I'm trying to figure it out as we go but we have so many great artists here like I think my favorite recent artist is John Wilson so I often come into the lobby here just to see the beautiful sculpture or you'll notice that the MFA just sent out um a flyer you know about education and art and on the back of the flyer is a fold out full page drawing of John Wilson so ways we can celebrate Rook line artists um I feel like I've always been a great supporter of um Frederick Olstead you know we started designing for the web you know in the early 2000s we really looked at the experienced designers like the plan landcape designers the park designers and when I moved to Brooklyn I'm like are you kidding me Homestead has a National Historical Society here and then you really see that homestead's impression across um across Brooklyn and I'm also interested in the history of Brookline so there may be opportunities there you know I've done a lot of research on Elizabeth Perkins who is the wife of Lars Anderson what their legacy was how they were friends with the mestads and how they they were friends with the cranes and how each of these cranes meaning uh the crane estate at nip switch and um they ended up donating their land to the to the town you know like there's a lot we could we could do to kind of um you know continue to speak on on behalf of you know the beautiful history here and then I'm really excited about the new murals like so I know that um Ridley School has a new mural i' love to be and assist with that so I think there's a lot of great things going on I can help to continue with great Paul yep yeah thank you thank you for uh coming forward I I too was quite disappointed and I did speak with the folks at Sanctuary about the loss of the art gallery it won't be coming back um which is disa it won't be coming back as far as I'm aware of um we'll learn from that and how we write our agreements but I I wanted to touch on um this idea of of public private Partnerships and murals uh we have a number of uh historic murals that have been on the side of private buildings for quite some time up in uh JFK crossing the gfk crossing neighborhood association uh you know commissioned a number of murals maybe 30 35 years ago one of them we just lost um on the side of one of the one of the restaurants there they painted over it um and I'm just curious about your thoughts you brought up mural's um you know ways to better utilize private space through Partnerships for art for murals maybe even for some Rota temporary murals that could be moved through they add quite a bit to the community but I wanted to get your thoughts on that yes I absolutely agree I feel like I was down um donating um at the Goodwill over um down on harison Avenue in Boston and as you drive down Molina cast there's brand new hotels with the most gorgeous murals I've seen in a long time um and I feel like it brightens up the community it it I mean you can see it now happening in Brooklyn where we've painted all of the I think they electrical boxes across town and now these electrical boxes speak they're beautiful they catch people's attention and they're everywhere and I feel like the way we've been doing it with the electrical boxes can continue with um with the wall absolutely thank you great you uh talked about Brookline light for certain uh exhibits and I'm wondering if you could expound upon what you meant by that do you mean you'd like to see more explicit Brookline art content or do you mean by Brookline artists by Brookline artists yeah because I I think over the past five years I've really seen you know artists that we see everywhere like they I'm not exactly sure of her name who she does the beautiful like paintings of the turkeys um she's got a very distinct style and her paintings are in in the Le fight you know the uh smoothie shop so I feel like people that are more kind of commonly noticed kind of represent like average Brookline and I'm from the art community I am not trying to um diminish creativity because I've really loved every exhibit that was in the seway gallery the vegan Vegas Street Gallery um but they are also very powerful and emotional and very deep and sometimes controversial which can be um excluded like it can be exclusive in some ways because people are afraid of it you know so maybe we don't have to go quite so deep maybe we can lighten it up you know that's kind of what it meant by you know sort of bringing in you know school work bringing in you know parents and children together um I think there's a great opportunity to do that especially with all of our elementary schools my son has just uh entered into the new ninth grade building so I've just the the eight years we've been in at rla just blown away and I recently moved so now I vote at um uh hay and the artwork in there was phenomenal you know just so much great work so I think that's what I kind of meant something that's more light and not quite so um you know powerful so thank you we will be you nice meeting you too and hearing your ideas so is there um we will be making pardon me yes we'll let you know we will uh be making the appointments at another meeting sounds good so nice to meet you all thank you very much thank you Nicholas um jenovich is online for preservation commission we'd like to go to his interview next Nicholas I'm promoting you now and then you'll be ble to start your video and then the chairman will begin your interview okay um please introduce yourself and tell us uh why you would like to be on the preservation commission uh and what you can bring to the work of that commission so my name is Nicholas shanovich um I've lived in uh Brookline now close to uh 20 years I have two sons in college um and um I guess just as my name so evidently so evidently um shows actually I was born abroad I was born in Mexico so I do bring a bit of I guess International and and and other uh experiences uh my professional experience is a as a financial uh person I work worked as a portfolio management manager for Wellington Management I was a partner there um and my studies were economics and and business so um so I believe that that is that my background actually is is is I would't say ideally but certainly can contribute to to the preservation I am interested in it uh in the commission um I was talking to a member a Rea boy and we were having conversations about uh what the the preservation does and and you know again being I guess 20 years a long-term um resident of the town I feel that that I want to contribute I just recently retired and as a as I find the town having an awful lot of character uh I guess historic elements to it that I would like to get involved preserve those and improve other things that um that I think uh need some work great go well um Nicholas thank you so much for applying for this position um uh how have you had much opportunity to get familiar with you know the issues that the preservation commission uh deals with whenever they meet um and um do you have a general view of uh whether preservation uh uh processes and laws um are um uh when when you when you see that it can get down to even things such as you know whether a window is historically appropriate in a particular historic district um are you comfortable with that level of detail um of the work of the preservation commission so I guess I'll start off by saying I did uh listen to couple of the meetings that you had and I did have a conversation with uh Elton um so so that is to the extent in addition to the conversations I've had with Arisa and a couple of the issues that she has mentioned so that's that's the extent of it I did read the um I guess the the what do they call the town of Brookline the preservation commission regulations and general and general information um I can't say that I am an expert on the you know the detail of Windows I'm not an architect although I am very interested in I guess architecture in general my brother-in-law is an architect in Mexico um and but besides that the level of detail I am not as familiar but I am uh do want to uh learn I guess or be more I'm happy to be involved at that level of detail I do think they're important detail sorry go ahead no excellent thank you for that answer oh I uh Nicholas thank you uh for coming forward um in your uh application you mentioned that you'd like to see the preservation Commission address the difficult issues of preserving our wonderful assets uh in character while also you know addressing in the challenges of affordable housing can you speak a little bit more about that what you know what you mean by that and what you think could be done so it is obviously an issue that uh that touches um I guess many towns and as I guess as a business person as an economist um a conversation that I've had very often about how best to um to do that it's obviously a complicated process and it's there isn't just a one answer like in anything in economics you have to you know there's gives and takes there's there's you know compromises one needs to do but what I found I think interesting is that I found that a lot of people do not have the data necessary to make possible decisions or decisions uh in one of the um the meetings I heard there was you know talk about a developer and the developer said that they that he needed to to make this building rather large in order to make a profit but there were no data regarding that what is the internal rate of return for example for that for that building is that is that adequate um so I think that there's data we need a lot more data to start having some conversations and I believe that that is something that uh I would like to push more so that we make informed decisions and not just opinions I guess a followup question so just to explore a little bit further so because you were very specific about the challenges facing you know the balancing preservation with affordable housing where can you can you talk about maybe how data or more information how do you blend those two and what are some of your ideas in order to blend those two wow um so so we'll start with affordable housing I mean I you start with again going back to the date a lot of people are pushing you know affordable housing I think it is an interesting idea but I'd like to see the data of who actually is living in the affordable housing that is currently um available and I have found very often in the conversations that there are people who don't necessarily need the or or should qualifi for that but information is an aspect where I think a lot of the the families that could live there they just don't have the information so they don't know and the people who live there are people who have access to information so that would be one aspect that I would like to uh spend more time on um and again I it um more specific I guess is again um I don't have anything more more specific on that um I have a lot of ideas um um again it's the it's the it's the give and take of green spaces which I think are important for mental health for climate uh couple with um um I guess you know having more in dense area and constru instuction so I think those are the two things that need to be explored okay thank you oh uh David I mean I'm wondering about your methodology in how you would determine whether something is uh worthy of preservation or not or the official designation of uh being historic so do you have a particular rubric that you would follow is there a checklist that you would run through uh what's your philosophy on that it's an interesting I have thought it through 100% um um I don't know if I lost you um oh okay um so I I believe that I believe that there's rules and regulations that need to be followed um I do believe in Aesthetics but that is an opinion um and and that is the one area that I would like to you know spend more time on the Aesthetics behind it uh again I think using numbers and economics uh are an important piece to what we're trying to accomplish again just saying something should be um um preserved uh because some people like it and and do not want to see I guess an evolution of of of the properties um so that would be that would be what I where I would be where I would be focusing on is both the Aesthetics the regulation coupled with what exactly are people really you know uh discussing good any other questions thank you we will be making appointments to the preservation commission at a later meeting and you'll be informed in advance thank you thank you okay those that's the end of our interviews given that we've lost a couple next warrant article public hearing is that uh we ready for that yes we're juggling a couple of meetings that are happening at the same time for different petitioners but um if we can start with warrn Article 19 okay uh the petitioners are both here good online online okay didn't see them in the audience Michael burin and Scott Gladstone I am promoting you now good evening uh Scott and Michael um hello good evening talk to us about your uh um Warren article well thank you chair green um we do appreciate the opportunity um I first want to start by um apologizing to the select board for not actually being there in person um Scott and I or at least I am uh in the throws of preparing for Russ Shana which starts tomorrow night so which is sort of relevant to the warrant article um but um basically the war article that we have filed is an attempt to take the um the Jewish American heritage month that is already considered a federal observance it's part of the um State Department's list of Heritage and history months you could find if you actually go to the state department website and to try to make the concept Jewish American Heritage Month something more of a formal observance in the town of Brookline um we basically modeled this on very similar a warrant article uh that um town meeting passed two years ago November 2022 um about aapi heritage month which actually is the same month it's the month of May uh also you acknowledging things such as uh the commemoration of Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Day indigenous people's day and things like this um and we know that um Scott in the past has gone to the select board every year or a few years and and you guys have actually voted in May or before May to acknowledge Jewish American heritage month but we felt that given the current climate of anti-Semitism quite frankly that it would be a good time to highlight the positive contributions of Jewish Americans and there's many resources out there websites from the state department and other places where you can find out a lot of information and history about people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Albert Einstein or Jonas Su uh as part of the history you know we feel that uh it would be useful for us to to sort of um put a spotlight on on the contributions of Jewish Americans in our culture um we um feel that uh you know that we would like to see um the schools do something perhaps would like to see possibly some sort of um you know perhaps some some sort of town observance or celebration uh and we can tell you that the um again all a lot of the things that we put in the warant article are things that we're already talk about doing for other um you know ethnic groups and you know we see this as something that's H has its intrinsic value not just celebrate I we obviously want to celebrate the unique contributions of the Jewish residents and Brookline and Jewish Americans but we see it as part of the whole Mosaic of faiths ethnicity and nationalities that make Brooklin the community that we enjoy so you know we see this as part of the uh one piece of the larger effort uh to educate about Embrace and celebrate every Community within Brooklyn um and I think I will turn it over to Scott to say a few things as well if that's okay with you um great thank you no I think Michael um really covered it um I mean we've heard some objections uh the um one you know an objection is you know why do we need a waren article to do this and I think Michael addressed that somewhat we we do have a precedent with uh aapi month and since that and there's two things um both with that in this it's an opportunity just in town meeting to educate people um about Jewish American history and um in the contributions of uh of Jewish Americans to the um our our Mosaic um that makes Clin so vibrant uh but also since the passage of that um there's really been a really vibrant celebration of Asian American History Month now I it was certainly driven by a core uh organization and core people who took the Reigns and organized things um but for sure they they had a boost and they had a legitimacy when they approached um other entities the town Town branches of town government um because they you know they had the prur of a u you know resolution declaring it as a policy of the Town um it just gave a legitimacy that I think is going to be very helpful um there was some there was a issue raised about well it's a religion and so are we putting um you know the town's uh um resources behind promoting a religion and the interesting thing about that is that that objection and I'm I don't want to highlight where that came from uh it really um speaks to why Jewish American herriage month is really really useful because the fact is that Jewish Americans are identified as Jewish Americans not because they necessarily just have a religion uh that's Judaism most of many of the people that um in one of the links that Michael um came up with it provided that uh uh held up famous Jewish Americans who made significant contributions are are certainly either totally not obser religiously observant um or well famously um one baseball player was one time religiously observant or or could be atheist um because it's not um you know it's sort of a it's a Christian maybe even a Muslim um conception of religion that you have to have the faith in order to be considered a member of uh of that group um that's not true of Judaism and Judaism in America um it's a ethno uh religion um you know American culture has absorbed a great deal of ashkanazi Jewish culture in some parts of the country um leino Jewish culture and mrai which is you know Arab Jewish culture and um you know that's again that all contributes to the the uh the Mosaic it's also you know it's a culture with unique languages um Yiddish Laino judeo Arabic U I've I keep learning of more and more it's it is a people it is a culture uh that happens to also have a religion that's connected to it so there's lots to learn there's lots that Jewish people have to learn there's lots that non-jewish people have to learn and the more learning the less misunderstanding and the more uh possibility that we will be a Bull workk against uh intolerance uh hate uh anti-Semitism and the more we educate about all the groups that make Brooklyn so terrific uh the more will be a Bull workk against hate just generally and this is just one piece of that tapestry thank you any discussion um Mike so I appreciate the comment that uh well we already have a proclamation in May in fact I read that Proclamation at the select board meeting um it was passed it and so the first question that I have is well we already do this why do we need a resolution and I guess the question is what will change uh if there's a resolution you referenced the um Asian uh uh Asian-American Pacific Islanders um uh recognition and the activities that were driven by um a local group of of people who got together and and provided um uh they had among other things a an essay contest and they had um dance contest and so forth for the uh both for their own Community for the the public at large and they were both very successful um and juneth is another example of uh people getting organized my question is do you expect that same thing from um the is is that what you're planning in in to to do um in the uh in and with members of the Jewish Community if so what changes with the resolution what does it bring that um isn't there now so the the first thing that the resolution would do is actually bring more attention to it and give us the opportunity to say it's not just the select board the five of you you know making a statement uh it brings it to I I would say the same level as uh our aapi month observance which as you remember we we did do that for you know some time before and I think the Sight board had declared it before uh but there came a point when the API Community felt it was important to have a full townwide resolution um our feeling is that if we have uh the you know town meeting voted that also allows us as as I knowe in uh the resolution uh very similar to what might H what happens to the API month um I'm hoping that there would be an ability to establish a possible Jewish American Heritage Month celebration committee so we'd be able to actually have a you know a town committee that we would have you know Town volunteers work on to try to figure out exactly what the sort of kind of Celebration would be in addition I have to say that we want this resolution to help stress some of the education in a way that we we frankly do hope that that the schools will Embrace um at the subcommittee hearing for the advisory committee we heard from two eighth graders at the Florida riffin uh rudley sorry Florida Ruffin Ridley School my apologies I I was Tongue Tied there um and and these two girls from the Ridley School told us something very interesting that they uh that they brought to the school to their class at a an observance of Jewish American heritage month that apparently from what I gather and I don't have all the facts necessarily but it sounded like there wasn't necessarily a lot not being planned and these two students asked their teacher could we bring something and and the teacher said yes and the students then put together a presentation about Jewish Americans famous Jewish Americans in history and while I think I I I admire our students in BRK line and I think that's shows great initiative it also seems to me that there was a piece missing there it's like well why wasn't the school already saying okay we're going to you know make sure to spend some time talking about this in addition um one of the problems and these three students mention that that a lot of when you talk about well what are we going to do talking about teaching Jewish history Jewish culture it often goes back to the Holocaust it's like oh we're going to teach about the Holocaust everybody knows about this horrible thing that happened and while you know Scott and I agree that and I think and the state of Massachusetts too through a a vote agrees that Holocaust Education is vital um it does get tiresome for our community to always be defined by that one horrific event when we've got so many wonderful things that we can illustrate and again as I said talk about the contributions uh that Jewish Americans have made uh to uh American society as a whole so I I hope that answers your question Mr Sandman you know it's the the idea is that the warrant article we think will actually do more simply by being there and bringing the SP Spotlight that that Scott and I feel is desperately needed I I think that um that last uh last comment about uh C celebrating more than a disaster um more than the Holocaust is a very apt one I appreciate that um the only concern that I have in mentioning the schools is I I mean we don't have control of what the school committee does so I want you to make sure that you understand that I'm sure that we we we understand that and we know that the school schol committee is has decided not to take a position on this and we're not we're not attempting to pressure the schools but um again we think if the town we think if the town pass you know town meeting passes resolution one thing that I personally will do I in my life I have been a teacher uh I am actually currently I I actually you know uh at an editorial manager um at an educational uh technology and Publishing Company one of the things I plan to do is um provide basic Bally a a curriculum that could be taught in either one period or one day or one week uh that could be adapted into uh into the month of May at some point for Jewish American heritage month and can be cross-curricular you know so we're not just talking history but you know you could put something in science and English literature simply by looking at the contributions of Jewish Americans so my goal is that if with this warrant article is passed uh it would be then I can bring this to the school committee and say hey here's resources and pass this along you know bring this to Super tacy you can pass this along to all your teachers it's all built in it's it's it would be a turnkey situation did you have your hand yep I did thank you um and first I want to thank you for bringing this article uh I think it's uh it's very timely uh and frankly I think it's quite needed in our community um I guess I you know I have a a question maybe CH Chaz might be able to help me with this or maybe you twoo would know the the answer uh I'm looking specifically at at at the resolution now therefore what we would do uh the select board would established the celebration of the Jewish Heritage Month event um do we do that for the aapi or is that is that done with Partnerships we do that in partnership with Community groups we do okay so um I guess I'm I'm gonna ask you guys um Michael and Scott do you anticipate community group coming forward you know to assist and help with this uh this type of activity um if we're going to put on you know a celebration maybe a specific event to help coordinate this or would you be anticipating it's all going to be uh relied on by staff well first of all yeah it's not going to be relied on by staff at all we do anticipate um having a some group or or multiple groups in Brooklyn um you know I will admit that to some extent part of it you know might be some of the syn OG being involved with this but there are also many people in Brooklyn who are part of uh Jewish organizations that are not tied into the religion group we have uh in Brooklyn uh for example the head of cjp lives in brookln um cjp is the combined Jewish philanthropies which is not a religious organization uh we we I think we will soon have an associate director of the American Jewish committee uh living in Brooklyn um we anticipate that a disclaimer I should make actually yes um that that that um that will be Scott I think um but the key thing is that once we have the warrant article and we've already spoken to members of the Jewish Community uh who are enthusiastic about this but U our our what we expect is that the warrant article will actually uh energize the group of people and honestly I am hoping you know if if we do form a celebration committee that is a town committee uh I would be more than happy to be on it or possibly even share it although I don't want to make this about me uh but the idea is that we would group we would partner with an organization just like again the the town does this with the aapi because you know that language I believe I I think it's almost exactly verbatim What the town does with the aapi same thing with like Point number three when we talk about adequate funding um you know and the question I that actually question came up at the subcommittee you know about the board offering adequate funding and I said that language actually came directly out of the API warrant article so we know there already is precedent for the town to do this sort of thing but yes the the short answer to your question is that no we're not depending on the town or town staff to do this entire thing okay thank you so um let me preface what I'm about to say by saying I support this Warren article I think it's a good idea I disagree with um my colleague here that um it's important because it's time timely I I think we want to make sure that um not just this committee uh this initiative but uh all the Committees that we have rep U um celebrating uh different uh ethnic and and other groups um sort of step outside of you know current situations that may be facing those groups uh that's very important because we want to have these uh committees uh designed to bring people together not find you know ways in which you know we we can be um sort at odds with each other and I guess I think you answered this question but uh the question is um the relationship between the committee you're proposing and the town and I think you know Chad's answered that but that is a that is a critical piece uh we want to make sure and this is not just an issue that's come up in connection with uh Jewish American Heritage um a Warren article but we want to make sure that you know our committees don't go off on um tangents that are not consistent with the town's needs and um you know the town as a whole uh and and all of its different uh individuals and groups so so my my I should reaction to that uh one the unfortunately the the um anti-asian hate in semitism are the gifts that keep on giving these are evergreen problems that you know that Spike and have lulls depending on what's going on in the world but um the time to be working on them is when there's not a crisis and um education is the key and uh I think that's that's what we're proposing the other thing is that um uh as with all communities the American Jewish community in the in the American Jewish community in Brookline are not a monolith um there's a a lot of different opinions there's a lot of issues that would be U hot button issues that would probably strain consensus and make it hard to work collaboratively on U on the kinds of things we've just been describing this evening and we would be concentrating on the things that are uh easier and bring people together and probably not so much on um on more topical events uh John um uh thank you very much for bringing this and uh I I think that this actually has caused all of us to think a little bit harder about what are we doing currently and what should we be doing in the future um either when we are presented with a request of this nature or on our own initiative to anticipate um requests of this nature because I I I love that we occasionally um will do something official in the way of a proc clation by the select board to recognize uh a Heritage group that is um observing a a month a special month and I thank you for specifying that you you used or turned to you know as kind of a guide to um how this is done um the state Department's list of Heritage months and it caused me to immediately Google search that list and I'm going to read back um the the the months that are recognized currently by the state department um because I think it's very informative so there's Black History Month there's women's history month and by the way each of these is you know is a separate month on the calendar um Arab American Heritage Month Jewish American Heritage Month Asian-American native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage month that's the one that we had a town meeting resolution um that formalized our recognition uh military appreciation and National veterans and military families month um lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer pride month um Caribbean American Heritage Month immigrant heritage month and World Refugee day and Hispanic Heritage Month um by the way that's 10 so I think there's two um two months that are still available and it kind of jumped off the page uh to me that um not on this list is um uh indigenous uh Americans a month or I should say indigenous people's month excuse me um and I wonder if the state department has few future intentions of adding that to the list at any rate it it it helps me to think about you know how do we receive requests of this nature to see it in the context of Are We joining with people at the national governmental level and I assume at the state governmental level um sort of in concert to recognize certain very special Heritage groups among the American population and do it in a consistent way month after month over the course of a year so I think in with that as the context what has been proposed for town meeting um sounds like something I would support um I I think that there is going to be a little bit of question as you've already anticipated about um uh how we can do that Express that support uh and at the same time observe um the distinctions under law in terms of government not not um you know sponsoring religion um uh I think we can I think we can take care of that I also think it'll be very useful to find out more about how has the it's only been two years that we've had the recognition of aapi month um and I think they could help us all better understand how that has worked out in practice practice because um from my observation excuse me it's been essential that it be driven by a community group it it's it's essential that it's organic to the community and and not um oh you know because the state part department is recognizing this month we put on a list of things we have to do as a select board let issue the proclamation you know it's great to be asked to issue the proclamation it's great to have people from the community come to the meeting where the proclamation is read and say a few words themselves so it it's really important that it be from the community in the future um and I also think um what we would find out from the aapi um group is that um which is which is uh ba brookly Asian families Network bath yeah yeah that um there has been a little bit and I emphasize a little bit of um assistance financial assistance offered I believe through the office of diversity Equity inclusion and community relations but I'm I'm not 100% sure that that came from appropriated funds um because I do know of at least one instance where um there was uh a gesture by the Brooklyn Community Foundation to offer them some support or excuse me there was a an effort excuse me by another organization to offer support to purchase books for the library um and M money did um assist in that but I it it was not money that came directly from from town funds so again they can inform us on this but having said that I've probably spoken too long um but I I thank you for bringing this forward and I hope people on this board and also the sponsors of this warrant article will keep into consideration all of this context that I've mentioned because I do think it's important uh David I am sensing that there's a lot of support for the warrant article can we public hearing by the way that's right all right so we need to hear from the public first but I'm perhaps we can vote on this depending on we here okay um this is the public hearing uh if see if there's anyone in the audience or online that would like to speak is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on word Article 19 if you're a participant online and would like to speak on warrant Article 19 please raise your hand using the raise the hand feat there are approximately 24 participants online and no one is raising their hand at this time oh I thought there'd be someone that would like to say something but chair green may I say one additional thing um at the risk of of of making Mr van a little worried I just want to correct one misunderstanding he had there are 10 Heritage months on the calendar but some of them do overlap and actually Jewish American heritage month overlaps with uh aapi month in the month of May thank you very much you're welcome and this was actually a question that came up of you know can the town handle doing like two observances at once to which the answer is why not I mean it's uh you and and in fact uh Scott and I both mentioned people that we know who are members of both the aapi and Jewish Community who would find that very um useful um but yeah we we hope that this does encourage enage other groups to come forward and and you know as you know I will tell you as a former chair of the library trustees and a current Library trustee you know the library often you know tries to you know mention have books programs at all these different groups and different heritages and I I certainly hope that the town uh and I hope you guys do do Embrace this concept for us and uh for all the different groups in the uhich thank you so much for um you know getting getting giving me that information I always try to misstate at least one thing at every meeting so that I can learn something at every meeting so thank you I I'll let me pass along what Neil Gordon said he would have said if he was here and because he chaired the AC subcommittee he just wanted to report that the full subcommittee voted unanimously in support with one um uh exstension that was what I was going to bring up I have the uh I have the handy chart that's been distributed by um by the advisory committee I don't know if you guys have access to it but it shows the votes of uh each article the subcommittee vote when they're hearing it so on and so forth and it looks like uh the subcommittee which was admin and finance voted 30 to1 and then the AC voted 23 to uh zero with one exstension for favorable action okay um I Heard uh some Rumblings over on the right right hand side of desire to vote this tonight do other members think that that's appropriate may I ask you a question before weo are we awaiting some kind of um you know call on on this question of whether there's any uh interference with um the Constitutional so town council's office sent a memor around to you this afternoon which I think Tiffany distributed there's no impediment here no impediment all right in that case fine um okay well do you want to do a motion all right I move that the select board recommend favorable action on Warren Article 19 okay all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van I Michael smon um in the tradition of the uh advisory committee I abstain okay I'm not sure I understand that oh well I abstain okay Paul Warren hi um oh David Bowman hi and and the chair vot I okay Happy New Year to everyone whether or not it's your new year thank Youk you thank you thank you and to you thank you okay you so next Warren Article Five amend the general laws to create a Brookline youth council do we have anyone yes we have the petitioners for both um I'm trying to fix this screen issue that's happening um um but Jonathan Simpson is on and we could take war in article six next I do see the petitioner for five is on oh petitioner for five is on we don't have the screen image um whoops do PE do people at home have access to the yeah what does that mean people can see we just we can't see them on the big screen here but if you join the zoom I can see it on Zoom okay oh we went blue yeah so Karen baacha is on okay um Karen uh if you're there please uh actually I don't see you on my screen I've just promoted um Kieran okay thank you on okay can you guys hear me okay we can great so tell us about your warrant article um yeah so um this is a warrant article that would create um is a border commission a Brookline youth Council um as we all know Brookline is home to a pretty diverse population of young people over 25% of our Town's population Falls between 15 and 25 years old um these young people really represent the future of our community um yet I think that they're often rep underrepresented decision-making processes that directly impact their lives you know young people should participate in public policy at the municipal level they should identify policy issues that concern them U build support for program program implementation they should know about democracy as a process in which they can engage policy as the way as a way to achieve their goals and the municipality as a vehicle for their action so the Brooklyn youth Council really tries to espouse those values it will consist of 10 members aged 14 through 24 who will be selected for three-year terms um these young leaders will really serve as representatives for their peers um contributing to discussions on on local policies engaging with you know various Town Town Bard commissions recommending actionable solutions to to issues facing communities youth um this proposal isn't unprecedented um in that several other neighboring municipalities have um undertaken such action such as Boston uh Cambridge Somerville Newton they've all established similar Youth councils and they've proven to be enormously effective in representing Youth and government offering um you know fresh perspectives on on critical issues fostering environment of of Civic engagement from an early age they've provided valuable input on education policy Mental Health Resources youth programs and they've also spearheaded community service initiatives partnered with local governments to implement change um you know in Cambridge for instance the youth Council played a pivotal role in advocating for increased mental health uh resources for students a need that many youth were uniquely positioned to understand similarly in Arlington their youth Council organized community events like planning a regional youth Leadership Summit creating a youth resource guide Within their town to help youth um become more engaged in Municipal Affairs um even um as I've spent 17 years um in Brooklyn coming on 18 I can still recognize that Brooklyn has always been a town that values inclusivity and Community engagement and our youth are no exception really you know we have ideas concerns solutions that you know I believe deserve a seat at the table and without a formalized structure I think these voices risk being overlooked in policy discussions that that shape our Town's future youth engagement is an inclusive intentional mutually respectful partnership between Youth and adults where power is shared respective contributions are valued and young people's ideas perspectives skills strengths are are really integrated into you know the design of programs um that that affect our lives and communities um and so you know this youth Council will really provide an essential platform for our youth to participate meaningfully in local governance um allowing allowing them to engage in in issues like Public Safety Transportation education mental health ensuring that policies affecting these areas areas are developed with their input um I think in particular we've seen how pressing mental health challenges you know climate change activism social justice movements have been led by young people across the country and brookland's youth I I strongly believe are eager to do the same for our community um you know I think Beyond just representation I think the youth Council offers long-term benefits um by involving young people in local government now or planting the seeds for lifelong civic participation you know several studies show that early engagement in Civic life leads to sustained involvement as adults and you know today's youth will be tomorrow's leaders and and this Council will help prepare them for that role um and so you know just to kind of wrap it up um establishing a youth Council I don't believe it's just an investment in young people I think it's an investment in our future um and you know creating a formal structure for for youth engagement youth representation youth participation within Brooklyn's government I think we can ensure that town policies you know reflect the needs concerns and ideas of all of its residents young and old alike and you know I think our neighboring towns have recognized this and you know I ly believe that Brooklyn should join them in in empowering our youth to help shape our community um so thank you thank you I have one question to start off um we have a uh Commission on diversity Equity inclusion and community relations uh its predecessor organization was called the uh community relations and youth uh Youth Services Council I believe uh and and the current commission has as a mandate addressing issues facing youth including including them in the membership of of the commission um why why wouldn't uh that serve the uh purposes that your youth Council would serve admitting that it's not doing so now but you know could we make it um serve those purposes I think that really having a specific Council that is dedicated to youth issues and you know not only that but that is composed of you know 14 to 24 year olds as its membership um you know of course with additional staff support um you know I think that that is really um you know in my view a better message um and a better way to sort of integrate youth into the process um you know because we have um as the the article describes there are 10 spaces um or 10 you know um seats on the commission that are really open exclusively for young people um and so I think that having a commission um you know that's not dedicated you know more broadly to to you know diversity within the town but I think that is really dedicated towards you know youth issues towards youth representation I think that that you know um provides a better impetus for for young people to want to join and want to participate in municipal government as well as more um you know Authority when you know like the article mentions you know making recommendations to to town meeting um on on a variety of of issues I think it gives that um young people more Authority in that process uh Paul y uh thank you thank you for your your presentation um when town meeting maybe two years ago we took up uh the the an article that was I think going to lower the age of voting I forget exactly was related to town meeting but it was a voting age issue and we had at least one uh Buu professor of law uh speak extensively on the subject of um when you have uh you know individuals that are you know lower than the age of consent um so 14y olds for instance that are going to be voting and making recommendations on policy they need to make themselves available to the public the entire public uh to be able to be solicited and lobbied uh they need to meet with them um have you explored that issue uh did you look at the at how this discussion kind of played out in illegality that have you done any research with having a 14-year-old needing to be able to take a knock on the door uh of their home so that they can be lobbied on issues that are coming before them as a commissioner um yeah so that was actually one of the things that we discussed um two meetings earlier on this um Council today um one with the school subcommittee for the advisory Council and the other with um cosos um this um proposal given that it would create sort of a youth Council as a border Commission in the same way that other you know demographic based Community uh commissions are like you the commission for women the commission on disability um given that it has sort of that border commission sort of status um you know it would be subject to open meeting law um it would be subject to having members of the public weigh in um on on what they are considering on anything that the youth Council would consider um and so you know I I would trust that the members of the youth Council um would you know adhere to things like open meeting law would adhere to you know ensuring that you know there is a public voice um in what the committee is consider or what the um council is considering um and so you know I strongly believe that you know when you are um whether you are 14 whether you are 24 um when you're putting yourself on that commission when you're committing yourself to making um you know recommendations on on policy as part of the youth Council you know I strongly believe that that you are committing yourself to also respecting the principles of of open meeting lot the principles of you know letting the public um influence your work Give opinions on what you're doing um and so I think that you know all members of of the council would respect that yeah I guess you may not have understood my question the question was related to a 14-year-old who's on the commission that's going to be potentially taking a vote on allocating funds or setting policy um you know certainly they would they would be sitting uh in a public meeting that's subject to the open meeting law but I'm talking about having to take a meeting over coffee or knocking on their door uh to be solicited by the public anybody you can't say no uh anybody can come knock on your door I'm this was no you can say no I mean because it it's I mean it's not the individual members of the commission that uh you you'd be lobbying but the commission itself yeah I'm getting I'm getting at this this came up quite a bit at the last at this town meeting issue on 16 year olds I think the that Paul is highlighting is that 14y olds 15 year olds are protected by privacy laws right right and once you're in a public body that goes out the window uh or doesn't not individually it doesn't well then so you're going to have 10 members of a commission say three of whom don't have their telephone numbers and emails available to the public right well I don't know it sounds right to well that's a really interesting question is yeah a lot of about it but it'd be interest interesting to hear what Town Council says David I agree these are important questions do we have an opinion from Town Council about how we would address minors on the board and access to them in terms of uh soliciting input Jonathan Simpson is online and therefore I have not I have not been asked uh to to look into this so I cannot and I cannot speak on speak to it definitive ly but I do recognize the um the situation that this may that this may put us in I'll um I would I'm happy to look into this more um and get get back to you on it yeah we've we've been doing a little digging on this I think the the kind of Crux of that as I understand it and again I would defer to I know Joe has done some digging into this is that um it's the question of you know petitioning your your government the right to petition your government what does that entail is it sufficient that there is a me a means to petition or does it have to be equal access you know what is what does the rules require and all of that I don't think it extends to the issue necessarily of someone has to take a vis a home visit right but it is a question of what are the Avenues of communication um are they sufficient are they are they commensurate with what's available in other committees um s situations but we'll do some digging on yeah so I I would just Jonathan Chaz I would refer you to if if she's accessible and available uh Professor uh Silba of BU law I think wrote and spoke extensively on this particular subject when we were talking about um lowering the age of the voting age in Brooklyn okay which is anyway John or town me it might have been town meeting it's a different issue though yeah um I I I'm not even sure who would answer this question but this this gets me wondering is there a difference between it a um commission a council uh a committee um and does it matter in this instance whether it's a a youth commission or a youth Council I don't think so I they're both subject to the open meeting law and you know the issue that Paul raised and that is whether individual members of the committee or commission or whatever body is um are are are required to allow themselves to be lobbied uhhuh put El out into the public and you know um I hope that's not the case I mean because I tell people all the time but you're but you're but you're access but all of your information is accessible your phone number your email I mean your address all of that is publicly available that's not available for every 14y old in Brooklyn yeah I guess yeah that's a separate question um um that was just my first question if if if that's okay um so uh I I I have some hesitations about this um and I'm going to hope to get better informed about it um I you know I appreciate that you you listed several neighboring communities that have um you're proposing a Brooklyn youth commission is that right uh yes yeah um so uh I did some quick checking it seems Cambridge has what they call the Cambridge youth Council um and the Cambridge youth council is a subcommittee of something called the family policy Council which is a um uh group that is appointed by the mayor so you know you have a different form of government in Cambridge um and that you have a mayor who appoints a family policy Council and then the family policy Council um recruits and appoints um a youth Council um that kind of arrangement uh is something I'm a little bit more comfortable with because I I don't want whatever is formed if we if we go ahead with this to be in competition with other bodies that we also appoint um as members of the select board um who are supposed to be representing the very same um constituencies you know we have we have boards that we appoint already that as part of their mission um that they should be attentive to and respond to the needs of young people in the community and um I I want to be sure that if we're going to go go about appointing some a group that is solely focused on uh youth that somehow it fits in The Matrix of the other bodies that we appoint so um I'm going to take some more time on this but I thank you very much for bringing it forward and getting the conversation started yeah thank you I something with theti okay yes go ahead Ken oh no I mean um I was just yeah um but you know thank you for for even considering it um just to um sort of address some of the other neighboring um the youth councils and neighboring municipalities um in many cases um Boston is an example Boston has What's um called a mayor's youth Council which is a group of you know about 50 kids um and that's actually um derived through the community engagement division um of the the mayor's office or of the city of Boston um you know that is the same case with with Brighton um is another one with Arlington is another one um Arlington actually um is it has a a border commission that is called the Arlington youth Council um but some of these other municipalities have their youth councils that are you know specifically derived through a a um Community engagement kind of Department um and so you know I think that when drafting the article um you know given that Brook line um doesn't have necessarily a department on um you know Community engagement um in the same explicit kind of sense that that a lot of these um other municipalities do um you know I think Arlington served as an example um in having their youth Council serve as a specific board or commission within town government go ahead just to answer John's earlier question so commit you know over time committee commission Council have kind of grown to be interchangeable um just as things have gone on but a a committee is typically you know formed to handle a specific task or issue whereas a commission is more of a formal oversight body um so um the commission tends to have a more formal oversight context but that's it really is just at this point I I think most people tend to use the terms interchangeably for example parks and wck you know is referred to as a committee it really is more of a commission um for example so and quick just a quick followup for for the petitioner um because uh you did mention Arlington and is what you're talking about the young Arlington collaborative is that what you're talking about um no I'm talking about um the article Arlington um youth actually um no no um it should be the article um Arlington youth Council um yeah that's that's what it's called called the Arlington youth Council okay thanks Paul yeah I just um we had also received a a memo in our packet um uh from uh Sagal ree uh and she you know she raised uh an important question about how uh this particular commission would interface integrate with existing structures I think someone maybe what John had said earlier uh and she specifically raised the Brooklyn High School peer leaders group and also how it would integrate and collaborate with um you know the health and human services department um I guess I'm I'm unclear about how all these things fit together and overlap um and where such a council would it be independent would it be uh is it a select board councel how would it integrate is it a subset of another uh Council or group subcommittee there's just a lot of questions about structurally how this fits in similar to what in Article 19 though well uh David so I'm a little less concerned about how this fits in with existing commissions I understand the iers point that the goal here is to have a youth focused commission and that piece of it doesn't currently exist we have other commissions that overlap too so somebody can be both a woman and a senior and so that that doesn't mean that we should only have one commission so I I'm that part I don't find persuasive but I am concerned about some of the legal details of privacy laws for minors and I think that has to be sorted out I certainly am in support of the spirit of this warn article but depend on what we hear back from Town Council it might need some more finessing so that we can make sure it's legal yeah I think also the fact that a lot of other committees do a lot of other communities do this via executive appointment rather than legislative action probably speaks to some of the issues that have been raised in terms of the legality of having a a body that's a a formal body that's enshrined in the bylaws that's um made up in part of people who can't vote um um that that does speak to a you know my preference would see to have this body consider with advice of Staff as to how to do something like this in the spirit of what the petition is bringing forward but not enshrine it in a bylaw yet um you know to to to have us discuss it and figure out what's the best way to do something like this achieve the goals well we'll we'll we'll do some research into this and okay okay this is a public hearing I'd like to open the public hearing and see if there's anyone in the audience or online that would like to speak I see one person has raised her hand um good evening Regina fry from 16 I just attended uh dual meetings for the COS and several important questions were and challenges to this article were raised based on the language that they reported during the meeting this limits it to people who are enrolled in an institution learning institution whether it's um School regular school or college and they raised the issue that what if people were between schools people take a year or two off before they decide where they're going to go to school what about people who are homeschooled that's really not covered by the language it's their his language so it was an issue I thought was very important because let's say dropout we want to hear from children who have dropped out of schools especially within Brookline what are the problems um so those was that was just one of the most important ones but they raised other concerns as well and in terms of a committee uh Town Council Jennifer deaza when I was writing one of my articles said it's the same thing use the word committee it covers everything so I agree with Chaz on that thank you thank you are there other members in the audience who would like to speak on warrant Article 5 would former councel like to respond to the quote um Bonnie Bastion online is raising their hand to speak Bonnie I'm promoting you now and you should be able to start your video if you're comfortable and begin your comments Bonnie I've promoted you there we go I see you now hi every body um thank you for allowing me to speak really briefly on this um I support this warrant article strongly it's really exciting yet another opportunity for our youth to um participate in our government um Brooklyn's young people are extremely intelligent and civically engaged uh it's always so impressive to me um um I think having this commission created for youth to weigh in on applicable policy issues is important and really valuable um and as far as the legal issues I'm sure Town Council will figure out what the answer is and we are Innovative people and we can find a way um for find a way to give our youth this really critical platform um I think it's important to build support for uh policy with our youth um I think they are often um underestimated and I think this is a fantastic idea and I hope you consider it thank you thank you Bonnie are there other members of the audience online who would like to speak on this item if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature there are approximately 20 participants online and no one else is raising their hand to speak at this time okay I will close the hearing I'm sorry did I hear something I hit my microphone oh okay I close the hearing um can I ask uh Karen a question hi um I think John raised question John Vana raised the question of um uh individuals who are not uh um actively enrolled in a public or private high school college or university um wh why why would membership have to uh be be limited to people enrolled in an educational institution um yeah so is that a serious or critical concern of yours um no no so um when we talked or when we met earlier this evening with uh cos with um the school subcommittee on the AC um that was language that I think that we all agreed um could be amended um you know it it's not a hill that I'm particularly willing to die on um but by any means um you know I think that the the points raised about you know um you know children who are homeschooled or you know children who have been disconnected from the school school system um due to you know illness disability um you know anything that would um preclude them from having a normal like in-person school year um you know I think that that is certainly something that you know I would support and is certainly something that I'm amenable to okay any further discussion Mike are you just I'm just thinking that um that's bro if you drop that limitation it broadens the article the um moderator may not allow that well we'll see it's always that's always one of those naughty moderator problems which is you're technically eliminating language so are you broadening the scope of the warrant article H um we'll see we'll see what the monitor say okay any further discussion it would it would be good Bernard to get have Town Council weigh in and on some of that we'll we'll work on y before before it comes back to you again we'll that opinion thank you um this is uh our public hearing we will vote on uh the warrant article at a later meeting thank you thank you okay warrant article six uh acceptance of a restrictive covenant prohibiting future development from the developer of pudding stone at chest Hill and Hancock Village um this is Jonathan's on the uh screen there yes okay talk to us hello everyone uh for the record uh first assistant Town Council Jonathan Simpson here about Warren article 6 um Warren article 6 will authorize you to accept a restrictive covenant um related to the 40b development uh known as pudding Stone uh in Hancock Village uh puddingstone was the second of Two 40 bees built at Hancock Village over the last decade um it when it one of the conditions condition number 15 of the comprehensive perent it received from the zba required that uh prior to receiving a certificate of occupancy it enter into a restrictive covenant with the town that bars either uh chesten Hill realy or anyone any of its successors uh from building any new buildings or paved surfaces on the area covered by the comprehensive permit unless they are allowed to do so by the comprehensive permit uh this was uh this condition was viewed as as important in both in both of the 40 BS it's present in both both both comprehensive permits because the concern was that um there are a number of different ways a a landowner May argue they are have a right to build and the town wanted to preclude the owner of the land from claiming that they had any right to build on this on this site other than through the comprehensive permit the comprehensive permit however can still be amended that is explicitly contemplated by the restrictive covenant Covenant you are being authorized to enter um and the uh while it is not this the pudding Stone um comprehensive permit we are even seeing that play out currently with the other 40b comprehensive permit at the residences of South Brookline when uh they are currently negotiating whether or not the zba will allow them to modify their permit to uh to change some of the Interior parking into unit space and then move some of those parking spaces outside of the building um that's a modification of the permit I do not I'm I am not positive it involves any construction new buildings or Paving of space uh on some of the the mockups I've seen they with respect to the site in question they're only they're repurposing already paved space into parking but I I have heard various things there the point is is that I bring that up because that is a modification of the comprehensive permit that is permitted under the restrictive covenant that uh the town has already entered into for the residences of South Brookline this restrictive covenant mirrors that one almost identically but for um the you know the references to the the the plan and the site the dates and that sort of thing um so what this will do essentially is we're is town meeting will be authorizing you all to enter into a restrictive covenant that protects the town that that the ZB was attempting to protect the town's interests this restrictive covenant was the way it elected to do so the applicant agreed to it and the applicant is now asking to fulfill its obligation to give the town what it wants that will protect the town uh and then therefore by way of that allow the development to proceed okay any questions Paul I just have one uh thank you Jonathan why I'm just curious why does this need to go before town meeting uh it is an act quisition of an interest in real estate and to it therefore um pursuant to the general laws it requires a two-thirds vote at Town ah okay thank you any other questions okay this is a public hearing um see if there's anyone in the audience or on line that would like to speak on this Warren article is there anyone in the room who would like to speak on war article 6 looks like there are none in the audience if there anyone online who would like to speak on more article 6 please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature at this time there are approximately 17 participants online and no is no one is raising their hand to speak okay I'd like to uh close the public hearing and U discuss what we want to do any ideas BL I'm perfectly happy to go forward with this if that's the question same here objection same here want make a motion sure um let me go back to the I'm in a different part of the meeting here so I have to go back to yeah I can make the motion go ahead yeah why don't you go ahead yeah woke up okay I move approval of the um uh acceptance uh of a restrictive uh Covenant prohibiting future development from the developer of footing stone at chest Hill in hanok Village um this forign article would place that question before town meeting or vote by two-thirds U majority all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak I Mike sandon I Paul Warren I David Perman I your votes I do our war thanks John um want to go to the chest Hill commercial area study now or you want to I think everyone's here for that okay why don't we do that indeed good evening select board Meredith Mooney economic development director I'm here tonight to present an update on the chestn hill commercial area study um I think I was slated for 10 minutes as sort of a Target time for the presentation chair green I'm wondering if you would be open to um an additional five or 10 minutes to that 15 minutes 20 uh unless anyone objects I'm willing to I mean is an important topic we do have some time tonight thank you I appreciate it so the last update to the board regarding this project was back in April that was just as we were about to launch our community engagement process um since it's been a while since the board has discussed this project I just want to give a quick recap of the study format um as well as the study objectives so this is a a staff-led planning um initiative we are working with a uh staff-led working group that is our community Advisory Group that includes members um from different boards and committees throughout town as well as representatives from the neighborhood as well as the town meeting precincts in and around the study area um and they have been an incredible sounding board that's provided a lot of excellent uh discussion guidance feedback regarding this process um and that group is chaired by select board member Mike samman so sorry slide um these are the topics that I wanted to provide an update on I think there's the most interest in um item number four regarding City Realties proposed Redevelopment of what's been referred to as the chest Hill Office Park at 1280 to 1330 bston Street um so I'll try to keep the uh earlier topics more high level but I'm certainly happy to Circle back and talk more about our community engagement process and uh the very robust Community input that we received um throughout that process so our community engagement um was uh throughout uh April and May into early June uh and it included all of the activities that are um included on the slide here we had public workshops um we hosted two sidewalks sidewalks two s sidewalks uh and took public comment at every meeting had an online survey and then our community Advisory Group members facilitated sort of smaller versions of our workshops um more in sort of a kitchen table conversation style uh with their different constituencies so Community input uh there's a more comprehensive summary of the community input that we received through this process that's included uh in a link in the memo included in your packets this is also available on the project website for the public to review we also have the raw survey data so if people are interested in hearing um people's thoughts were submitted through the online survey in people's own words that's also available um for uh people to review as well so we categorize the feedback into kind of these four General buckets um land uses for local needs people oriented plac making Transportation connectivity and development density and intensity I won't go through um these are just some of the the key highlights that we took from that more comprehensive summary um I won't read through all of these but I will certainly uh reference them in uh some of the upcoming slides our consultant for this project is our kg Associates uh we've been working with them this slide sort of summarizes our initial scope of work with them some of which is still in progress uh we did have the benefit of receiving a market study that they conducted to sort of indicate from the market perspective what are the opportunities for the Chestnut Hill area they also helped to support our initial public engagement process so we are still working through we did sort of an initial first cut um of some massing models uh that were based on financial feasibility analysis that was formed informed by um sort of the market demand indicated from the study that rkg uh conducted so the um we're going to continue to work on um the financially feasible massing models uh so that is in progress this slide indicates sort of the direction that we think we're going at this point in time with the broader study goals so uh from a we anticipate that the recommendations for this project will kind of fall into a handful of categories uh zoning design guidelines infrastructure improvements and then some additional you know commercial area vibrancy recommendations so in taking on uh zoning first um these are uh planning interventions that we plan on continuing to splore explore over the coming weeks and months uh so the base map here is a land use map which is one of sort of the preferred Concepts that rkg had developed and it is a reflection of the community input that we received as well as R kg's understanding of the town's um uh broader objectives for the study which I forgot to uh review in the beginning but the leading objectives for the study is to incentivize significant net new commercial tax growth um this is a reflection of the reality of the chestn Hill commercial area is sort of um the Last Frontier in terms of really significant commercial tax growth potential for the town so that's reflected as a a study priority uh and then additionally um seeking net new commercial tax growth while also enhancing the livability and um identity of the chestn Hill commercial area so um back to our um anti ated planning interventions from a zoning perspective um you sort of see examples of um potential uses that we'll be exploring um Hotel lab is indicated here on the far side of the the study in the chest Hill Office Park area the market study indicated that there's really just not a market for that at this point in time um however it's still worthwhile to um continue the conversation and decide whether or not we want to use this as an opportunity to integrate lab use into the zoning um in case you know there are signs of life in the lab Market at some point over the next several years the town isn't CAU caught fat flat footed at that point signs of so um from at the the bottom of the map here in sort of the handwritten indication um there's a a sense of the scale so focusing or starting on the Eastern portion of the study area and focusing on Hammond Street between the Boon Street and Heath Street intersections we're envisioning this as more of a Main Street um focus and scale there was a lot of uh contrast between the Chestnut Hill commercial study area and the street which is uh development by WS Development that is directly across the street from our study area and there were lots of um contrast to the level of activity and development going on at WS um the sense from the community was that um although the street you know it's a destination retail the offerings tend to be a little bit more higher end and they aren't the types of offerings that people would access or use over the course of their daily lives so there's a lot of interest for um more services and uh Goods uh that you know people need on a day-to-day basis local coffee shop restaurant uh a tailor cobbler dry cleaner those types of uses so we um are interested in creating or exploring creating a new category of these neighborhood service retail and then looking for opportunities to create incentives for those at the ground floor level within the study area so kind of um this Hammond Street to Holly Street or Holly Lane block and then as you move Westward across the steady area uh you know the Hammond Street kind of Main Street area more of a low to midby scale and as you move towards the Newton Brookline border increasing in height um with the tallest buildings concentrated um at the uh towards the Newton border portion of the study area in terms of uh potential infrastructure improvements recommendations that we' like to explore um there was a lot of discussion about Heath Street uh The Pedestrian experience as you move two blocks in from Boon Street towards Heath Street is uh dramatically different he Street definitely has a lot more of a Suburban experience um and so there was a lot of interest in um you know preserving that pedestrian experience but also there were concerns about cut through traffic congestion during rush hour um and the you know high speeds at which vehicles travel through the area so we were we looking forward to working with transportation engineering division to talk about um what opportunities there might be as the properties of budding Heath Street are redeveloped to maybe add some additional um uh public space and to add um infrastructure to support a more positive um pedestrian and um this is also a preferred bike route um and uh infrastructure for bike facilities as well other infrastructure improvements um Boon Street the there was sort of a sense that Boon street is what it is um it will never be a place that is enjoyable to spend a lot of time or um walk along as a pedestrian however the need to create safer and easier uh Crossings to get from either side of bston street within the study area is certainly objective and we're going to be exploring opportunities for that we have limitations that is mass do um that's not a local road but it's certainly a priority and important to the long-term success of the area it's also important um there is a a green line stop um as you continue up Hammond Street so I think it's important to make those uh connections safer and easier um in order to sort of uh emphasize the transit oriented element of the study area so um that's kind of a sense of where we're going uh we were sort of gathering our thoughts after the community engagement process and um developing sort of this concept of where we would like to go when we approached by city realy which is the new owner of the Chestnut Hill Office Park um over the summer uh and they approach the planning departments like board member Sam man um and having listened to and participated in our entire Community engagement process they did have a Redevelopment proposal for our consideration so in um reviewing that proposal uh we the overlap and parallels between where we saw this project going in terms of recommendations from the staff perspective as well as as our of our awareness of sort of the community wish list in this project um we saw there was a lot of overlap um uh with City realy Vision for the site as well so um given the fact that um it was a well- integrated proposal strong alignment with and response to the community needs that we learned about through the community engagement process it would be advisable for the town to sort of move forward with a phased approach to this study initially we were um envisioning that we would bring a set of uh resoning recommendations and proposals for Town meetings consideration at the fall 2025 town meeting we would like to now Focus on uh phase one well we'll be focusing on uh the phase one area which includes the Chestnut Hill Office Park in addition to another property that's included along the same block uh and then uh for May 2025 town meeting and then return to town meeting to um propose resoning for the remainder of the study area in Fall 2025 so here's a a closer look at phase one so um can you see my cursor here okay so um phase one includes two properties so the the office chestn Hill Office Park is in the larger indicated in the outline of the larger dashes so that's currently zoned office 2.0 Chestnut Hill that is City Realties property there's uh what will also be included in phase one is this parking lot along tul Street uh which is zoned as general business 2.0 um and is owned by a uh neighboring commercial property owner the growth companies which also owns a lot of properties uh on the other side of the Telly street block here so um city realy just last week and less than a week ago um publicly presented their Redevelopment proposal for the first time I should also note that the city realy team and representatives are in the room this evening um I will not do this presentation Justice there is a recording of the original presentation on the study website uh these are excerpts from their slide deck which I selected just to sort of um underscore the key components of the uh development proposal but the full slide deck is also available um for the public to review last night our consultant rkg did do a proforma analysis evaluating um uh the the strength of this proposal and and whether it's um valid uh so that discussion was last night um and we'll talk a little bit more about next steps in the later slides so City Realties proposal is um three buildings in varying size uh that all face um oriented around sort of a central Courtyard and Lawn area building a uh in the western most point of the the study area and the site uh is a luxury condos over hotel that's um proposed at 20 floors uh and then Building B is multif family uh which is along the Boyston Street side and Building C indicated here that's 12 stories and then Building C is 13 stories with a mix of senior housing as well as medical um office and Retail there's also um a ground floor retail component for Building B as well Street elevations to um just talk a little bit more about the proposed Heights um the uh Street elevations from the Boon Street and then from the Heath Street side here are some initial renderings with um different views the aerial view gives you a sense of sort of the scale of the um interior Green Space um that they're proposing here's an overview of the landscape design the next slide here um is a little more zoomed in on sort of what the vision is for this large open public space and at the bottom you see some examples of uh how they're anticipating activating uh that open space they included this uh comparison which I think is um interesting point of comparison we've heard a lot about references to the Chestnut Hill Square development as well as the street um and so this is a comparison of um within the surface area of those developments um compared to City realy proposal uh how was the space prioritized ized um between cars pedestrian and Landscape elements uh and so chestn Hill Square is at the top here you can see it's very you know sort of by definition a very car Centric development with a lot of the parking in the center of the development space and then the street um which also um as you approach from Boon Street there's some parking uh sort of teaser parking available from the street but there's a lot of parking behind the property so um you know chestna Hill Square 71% surface area for car 80% surface area for the street um and if you're looking at the city realy proposal um the majority of the surface area is really prioritized for pedestrian and Landscape use they're able to achieve this um because there's the proposed investment in two levels of underground parking I believe there are about 850 proposed parking spaces and the cost for each of those is around $125,000 so it's a significant investment um for that type of parking underground parking infrastructure so the underground parking infrastructure is really to to enable this open space concept which is something that we did he as a priority in the community engagement process is really what's driving the proposed Heights of these buildings for the so the the traffic portion is a work in progress in their current proposal they're proposing one um point of access a new vehicular connection that would go from bston Street the cut through onto Heath Street and the recommending left turn onto heat Street and then left turn onto Tully is how people would return to route nine the current property taxes for the chesten hill Office Park are just over a million dollars this proposal is um projected to be um uh in the neighborhood of um $10 million that does that's a conservative estimate and that it doesn't include the potential Hotel excise tax that would be associated with the hotel development so um back of the envelope currently is that this would be an additional $9 million um in annual tax growth for the town so next steps um tonight we're presenting the update to the select board uh we had three meetings with the community Advisory Group in September we have um a few more meetings slated for October and then two more in November um at which point I think we'll be ready to come back to the select board with an update and I would anticipate that there'll be sort of significant changes to the current proposal um we're very aware and have already heard a lot about um concerns regarding the height um we are in the process of preparing a memo that summarizes the feedback we've received to date from the community Advisory Group internally from staff and the Regulatory and housing divisions um and so we'll be providing that to city realy and asking them to comment on and circle back uh with some of the concerns and questions that we have at this point so that's my presentation I'm happy to answer questions thank you very exciting interesting too any uh questions Paul you have your hand yeah I made some notes Bernard um thank you great presentation it was quick um so I had uh two actually three questions first you you mentioned um something about incentivizing use or retail could you talk a little bit more about that and how we can encourage a cobbler or a dry cleaner versus you know another noodle place or you know a restaurant of say it's a great question um I don't have uh a lot of detail at this point one of our community Advisory Group members is Ken Lewis a member of the economic development Advisory Board who was very invested in the development of the ground floor commercial incentive which was a component of the communities resoning so I think we're going to be looking at that as sort of a a jumping off point about how we might be able to integrate incentivizing particular uses yeah to get actually into a specific category of use right dry cleaner versus a commercial space which could be a restaurant i' be really interested in that that's very interesting to me um the parking 800 cars where do you know where the parking garage is going to be is it just under the hotel or is it kind of spanning a large portion of the site my understanding is it's spanning the entire site be the entire site okay and then uh my last question is related to I heard luxury condos um is this I assume this would fit into our inclusionary zoning and that you know there's going to be substantial amount of affordable deed restricted housing in there as well it is a great question so in the proforma analysis um the luxury condos um are sort of a key component to the the financing um this is proposed to be developed in phases with the condos in the hotel coming first sale of the condos would help to advance the um uh development construction of phase two um the something that the consultant did point out is that within the proforma analysis there weren't indications of specific affordable housing allocations for the different types of uses but there was they are carrying a particular line item for costs associated with providing the affordable housing so my sense is that this is certainly an area um for uh negotiation but I I see SEL this would be this would trigger our inclusion of zoning right right so I think um one thing is one's eye tends to go directly to the hotel and luxury housing but there's also a building excuse me with um uh mixed mixed use commercial residential that building has substantially more actually I better back away from that a substantial number anyway of um of uh apartments and those certainly a portion of those would be um affordable uh the um the consultant gave us a pretty good picture of the number of affordable housing units and unfortunately I don't have my notes with me but do you recall the I don't think there was a specific number but there was we know that they're carrying the cost of providing the affordable housing but it's not clear to us the expectations about um actual quantity so you know there there um it's certainly been conveyed um to the developer that affordable housing is an element that needs to be included here it's required by our bylaws right well it's required you know there are there are U yes way the short answer is yes satisfying that requir there way different ways of satisfying it is perhaps the best way to put it yep okay John um meridith thank you so much for an excellent presentation and and if I may say so thank you to um city realy for um Coming forward with a very ambitious plan for Brookline um it's going to require a lot of back and forth uh but hopefully we're going to end up at the end of the day with something that everybody agrees is good for the town uh Could you um just off the top of your head uh specify how many total parking spaces are we talking about um that this development is going to require and how many of that total will be in the underground parking so off the top of my head um the and this was included in the proor analysis memo which I have not um forwarded to be included in part of the presentation materials but I can certainly share that with the select board um so I think uh based on current parking requirements our consultant estimated that there would be the need for somewhere in the realm of an additional 250 parking spaces so the parking ratios we we still need to work through that element of it I think of the 850 the majority of the parking would be underground um and then the surface parking uh would be really minimal the vast majority is underground 850 yard spaces and then you're talking about there's that there's that one parking structure on the on the map that's where you're anticipating theing so actually the parking structure is um there is the parking structure on the land scenario but that's for phase two well I'm sorry now I'm now I'm confused so there's a there's building a Building B Building C there's the central Courtyard you know that's green there's the parking under the central Courtyard and where is this garage sorry the it's underground parking so no parking structure it's all underground don't don't what's there now with what the developer is proposing what they're proposing is initially what they proposed is no surface garage all underground yeah um that was one one of the there was a wish list developed by listening to the neighbors and among other things there was a desire not to have a sea of surface parking or even an above surface garage and so the developer produces produced a plan that has uh an all underground basically an all underground garage all underground garage and there is an Associated cost with that which feeds into the question of well how high do we have to build in order to make this work so I heard mention of two levels underground right 850 spaces y that's over 400 spaces per level it the garage extends as As I understood it and please correct me if I'm wrong the garage actually extends out to the periphery of the of the property M the underground garage yeah boy I'm having a hard time picturing 850 underground spaces but you know I don't go around you know Des we had that same question designing Park uh um so second question is uh what what number of stories would be legal under the current zoning the tallest building is currently the Citizens Bank building which is six story so that's sort of the precedent for height in the area we have an answer to that yeah Jennifer raise your hand 55 ft which translates to roughly how many stories four to five stories four to five so clearly some substantial a magnitude of increase over what is the current allowed number of stories in height yes be required okay um chor Dave got that's fine chance U how tall is the tallest building across the street in Newton five stories isn't there isn't there a taller building over there somewhere though yeah there so we had a discussion about this the tallest building across the street is 18 stories Chester Hill Towers attached to the Chester Hill Mall um but to be realistic that building is set back with those two buildings I believe there are two are set back substantially from the street from the the not the street but rather right right street right uh David so I would also like to address scale 20 stories would likely be the tallest building in Brook line or close to it um other than the two towers that are being reference that are not quite in that area because they're quite a bit set back uh this would create a lot of Shadows this would dramatically change uh the feel of that neighborhood so is the reason for selecting 20 that that's what makes it the project economically viable or was it more that you're looking to maximize the amount of tax revenue that could come in um Mike did you want to the the um uh the proposal comes comes from the for 20 stories comes from the developer based on the first question how how high do we have to make this in order to generate enough Revenue to pay for the cost of the underground garage there's ledge there um is going to be a substantial amount of cost the difference between building um a surface parking garage and an underground garage is about $75,000 per space so if you put it all underground um which is what we were at what what what what we heard from the uh from the community initially you put it all underground then um you have to build high enough to pay for the cost of doing that work and get still get a profit out of the building is constructed about David So hypothetically if we cut the verticality in half and it were 10 stories uh how how much surface parking would there need to be to still realize a similar gain so I think the goal is so the shadow impacts that you brought up that was something that wasn't discussed in the initial presentation that's going to be included in our initial feedback memo for things that we'd like City realy to report back on or address any poal potential issues related to Shadow impacts um I think the the question of how much how many floors we can reduce for the proposal um is sort of a back and forth question because there is going to be a threshold where you know reducing the size size of one of the buildings is going to undermine sort of the the broader proforma and then that would require um you know a real rethinking of the proposal and probably the provision of the underground parking which would have implications for the types of amenities like the open space um so I think we're the process going forward is going to be a lot of um trying to experiment with pulling potential levers and seeing how that um would impact the proposal in in my mind I think um I'm happy we moved forward and we did the proor analysis of this initial proposal because in my mind I feel like the 9 million in annual um net new tax growth is an important Benchmark and as we make modifications um that number will also decrease uh and so it's just giving us a sense of um opportunity cost so I do think it would be uh good to understand those tradeoffs the other issue with the building Heights if you have 20 uh stories 13 and 12 I I just question whether the green space is truly as valuable and experience because that will be massive Shadows you're not going to really have light getting into there and will people really want to congregate there and then also in terms of the 9 million um I think that there will be 650 residential units that be a part of this is that correct something on that order yeah and I think we have to be careful about also looking at what the cost and increased Demand on Town Services would be uh because that effectively May reduce the nine and so that's sort of another Push Pull absolutely the um the first point that was actually we have a few Architects and Landscape Architects on our community Advisory Group and that was certainly one of the initial um pieces of feedback where there was the recognition of what city realy was trying to achieve with that larger open space but questions about given the size of the buildings all around the space if that Canyon effect would sort of undermine what they were trying to achieve there so I would assume we're going to you know um here's their response to that hopefully at the October 9th meeting and then um your other point so we had anticipated as we got further along in the study and had a better sense of what what we wanted for the area of conducting a broader fiscal impact analysis um to really understand um given the objectives of net new commercial tax growth um residential is going to have to be a component of any development you're going to need additional residential density especially to support ground floor retail and have that be successful in the long term so um we just want to be sure that we are balancing um the addition of those uses and that um the residential units and the addition of that isn't adding expenses that are going to undercut whatever gains we've achieved from commercial tax growth I wonder if I could just chime in and answer a piece of David's question okay um if you were to take I mean this is a very a rough cut 200 spaces and put them above ground instead in a parking structure you would um reduce costs by B about $15 million which is translates into being able to reduce the total amount of floor space by about 30,000 s feet not an inconsequential amount but it's also not enough to get you down to 10 stories um so there this is going to be a bit of an iterative process and I think the one of the issues that we face with the community is oh my God 20 stories but it is an iterative process there's going to be a back and forth uh and there will be it it there will be something uh other than the initial proposal I guess uh that that eventually emerges from this but the point that you raised is you know I I think a very apt one you sort of you get what you pay for um you you have to recognize The Economic Consequences of what you want one of the most coent remarks was made by one of the neighborhood members of the community Advisory Group she said exactly that be careful what you wish for because we looked at this list of things that the proposed matches and then looked at the consequence of that in terms of height and said oh my God so um you're you're right on the right track yeah I just briefly um I a quick point you said something about needing the housing in order to support the ground floor retail across the street they don't have housing and they have a very robust uh retail right so I I don't know what the ratio is I'd be curious to know if there's some way to help understand understand residential versus commercial viability if there's a relationship there um but I wanted to understand um with 650 residen as or more and hotel guests what type of connection is going to be created between this development in the public transit are we you know this could be an important so a lot of folks probably trying to cross the road right to get to public transit and also to the schools absolutely so um more conversations about safer pedestrian connections as we talked about um in sort of our proposed interventions is definitely something that we're considering um the transportation piece is um sort of evolving and I think we're going to learn more I know that um city realy is in the process of conducting sort of their transportation analysis and as uh we The Proposal shifts and um the scale of buildings change and you know it's possible that um it might not be a great investment to do too deep of an anal is on the transportation impacts and this current iteration of The Proposal yeah um but with the hotel um you know I there'll be questions uh followup are you planning a shuttle service um you know that will provide easier access to the transit routes will this be available to just your guests or um broader to other members of the the public who are visiting the study area um to help uh make that connectivity to the public transit um more effective I guess I'm hoping that that I see Mr Dempsey here that that's a signal that we're serious about making this a good uh connection to public transit and safe mobility and walkability okay go a couple of things um uh I just want to go back to uh the comparative and chest Hill Towers was brought up and um I I have to just sort of put on the record that chesan Hill Towers themselves say that their um Tower is 16 stories so it might seem like a small difference whether it's 16 or 18 and this is proposed to be 20 you know I think at the end of the day we are going to get down to um whether this is something less than 20 and if something less than 20 is it more like 18 or more like 16 um so these comparatives are useful uh as long as we can make sure that we've got reliable information and maybe chesno Hill Towers isn't even correct as to how tall their Tower is but they say it's 16 um and you mentioned that cars would exit the um this development and and then turn on to Heath Street and then turn on to Tully street but what's to stop them from turning right onto Heath Street and then going to the light at Hammond P at Hammond Pond Parkway uh I think that would require some more conversation with our transportation engineering division about how that could be configured to really discourage the the right turn um but that's uh initial feedback from the community Advisory Group the um single entry through Boon Street and onto Heath Street that was definitely a subject of a lot of discussion um so I think there were questions about um are there opportunities to provide other Ingress um uh egress points and would there be a way to provide a more direct entrance connection from the Brookline approach to the site without having to Circle back to the Newton side and come in through Boyston uh but if I understand your your answer for now um nothing is in this plan that would dictate that the exit from the development turn left onto Heath Street and left on the Tully cars would go whichever direction they wanted unless something is changed about Heath Street at this point right no it's the um it's the exit from the driveway that controls so you put there's a there a couple of examples of this in Brook line but you put um essentially a barrier that makes it unless you've got a tank uh impossible to make that left turn it forces vehicles to sorry a right turn that forces vehicles to go left so barrier but it's not a barrier in the street no it's on the it's in the driveway and then you you may because you don't want to block the flow of traffic on the street if it's going to continue to be a two-way street yeah you can't put it out into the street yeah uh well um I'll be interested in seeing what that looks like yeah um uh sorry now I'm blanking out what the other question was oh um you know I'm not sure that there anybody needs to even comment on on what I'm going to say right now but I do think it's a very interesting question that should be addressed and is going is not going to be easy to address the setting up this development as it is um now on paper um is going to mean that uh an awful lot of people live on a site um in you know people from One sort of of one description or another some of them you know in luxury condos some of them in you know age restricted housing um some of them Hotel guests and they are going to be directly across the street from one of the nicest um and most vital and active shopping areas um you know west of Boston um it's you know a magnet for all kinds of people to come and shop and they're going to say oh boy this is so convenient uh I could walk there how would they walk there yeah the the Boon Street challenge um so I think that what I would like to see included in the recommendations for this study is going Beyond just saying we need better pedestrian connections or more traffic crossings and thinking more concretely about strategies that are going to help us get there um there have been lots of discussions about Boon Street I think of them most of them have been more focused on Brookline Village although defer to Chris on conversations about improving um the the quality of um oyston street so um that is definitely a top of mind question something that we've heard a lot about um and that hopefully now with um city realy that there's the opportunity to have some partnership um in advancing um improving those connections to the other side of Boyston and and um just to kind of put a fine point on my question the only way to do that right now um you really can't walk down to Hammond Pond Parkway uh you know and then back because you end up kind of uh in no man's land where there's nothing but cars so um I'm sorry I understand it was a very direct question about like literally how now would you get to the other side of Boon so there's a a sidewalk at T Street there's a midblock crossing right near the skincare Physicians Mattress Firm and then if you go farther down to the Hammond Boon street right and and um my point was going to be anybody who's I happen to be very familiar with those intersections For Better or For Worse I live in Chestnut Hill I confess I live in Chestnut Hill um and we use the street a lot we use that area a lot I used to live on Heath Street in the upper end near Woodland um and there's a blinking light Crossing one of these things you can activate and it flashes boy is that dangerous you know because some cars stop some cars don't there have been rear end collisions there it's not a a a daily use Crossing that people would find feel comfortable with on a regular basis there is the intersection that you mentioned there are huge trucks that do you turns and turns into the street making deliveries it's you know wow I mean the the the the risk you would have to take every day that you use that Crossing are considerable not pleasant and then there's the intersection at Hammond Street which created so many concerns for people when there was talk of a Baldwin School about the safety of just you know executing a crossing at that intersection um that there was you know all kinds of controversy and traffic studies had to be done and so on and to further make the point there is no really good um Pleasant uh and uh attractive way to do a pedestrian trip to the Chestnut Hill t stop right now um there's kind of sidewalks and then there's not sidewalks there's sidewalks in terrible repair there's um lines and lines of cars trying to get into the Star Market you know parking lot that if you cross the street God forbid you know they could hit you um and uh for us to really get the full advantage of this and have it have access to public transportation is going to require a lot of improvement just in getting people from that development to the Chestnut Hill stop and and getting them across the street to the street because they're they're going to want to walk to the street but um the way it is now I bet you a lot of them would quite liter Lally get in their car able to throw a stone to the street and go around and go around and go around and then join all of the hundreds and hundreds of people that Park you know over at the street we don't want them doing that so absolutely it's a lot of work to be done ch um just to flag on this because this is a really important point and I think something that we are thinking about townwide as we approach phase two on this but just the the in the interconnectivity of that space as it is redeveloped between us and Newton um and the the complimentary uses that we're thinking about for those spaces one of the things that's kind of in its infancy now that we are starting to discuss at a very early level with our counterparts in Newton but also kind of regionally is this idea of you know route N9 is a state route um there are large scale private developers that are thinking that are either already established or will be established on either side of that route um and you have two different communities that have a significant need for that space to be revitalized we're thinking of ways that we may be able to influence the state to either support or allow us to support upgrades to Route N9 in that neighborhood such as overpasses underpasses ways of getting pedestrians through that space you know Massachusetts is one of the only states that doesn't do Regional ballot initiatives for um roadway projects um you know other states like California their counties do you know basically put on the ballot a question you know are you willing to see your property taxes go up a set amount it's a debt exclusion for for traffic work um so one you know this can range all the way from having internal conversations with the state with mot about figuring out a way for us to invest in route n to going to the legislature and asking them can we run a pilot on you know a regional ballot initiative to see whether or not we want to upgrade the Route 9 in Chestnut Hill so these are the levels of questions that we're thinking about because you're right there's got to be better pedestrian infrastructure in that neighborhood and it's hard to do when it's a state road so we got to figure out a way to get the state on board with both Newton and Brookline redeveloping that area David good to hear regarding traffic flow a couple more questions I have uh so was 650 units a hotel senior housing is there enough uh space for ambulances emergency vehicles would we have to take a ladder truck for South Brook line more seriously with that kind of verticality have you looked at some of those impacts those are excellent questions I think um I know that city realy was having some preliminary conversations with um Emergency Services um particularly about access to the the senior center or the senior housing development um but we will continue to to delve into that and back thank you and then my second question would be about the decision to uh have the exit go on to Heath Street so chess on Hill the square very consciously made a decision not to open up into uh Heath Street and uh obviously here the proposal is to do so so I'm just wondering uh how you reach that conclusion uh I think well so not our proposal City realy proposal my understanding is um in prioritizing creating the open space Plaza if you were to uh sort of reroute the connection and um try to Route it through the tul street you're sort of uh undercutting a lot of that open space and uh I think that was sort of the initial rationale for [Music] that hey you want to get up to the you want to go to the podium and sure okay so Cliff Kensington from city realy is going to answer that question yeah so thank you everyone sorry about that uh so yes Meredith is right there was definitely the the drive would require a drive through the middle of the uh of the open space but there was also uh a danger inherent in trying to create boilson Street only access because for any westbound traffic if you think about this is what the site is now uh if you were merging onto Boon Street the only way to be going westbound would be to try to cross three lanes at once and back back up right now there's a u-turn at the Tully Street intersection which is the way you get back around so uh you know a lot of times you'd see either people crossing over to uh and basically blocking traffic on Route n or they would go on Boon Street then turn right onto Tully and then cut through the Heath Street neighborhood in order to get over to Hammond Pond Parkway because there right now isn't you know the advantage of the chesten Hill Square development is they have a full lighted intersection there that ows people exiting to go eastbound or westbound you know we we are unlikely to have that but we already but tly Street does have a lighted instruction that allows Eastbound and Westbound traffic so our priority was getting traffic over to that light and allowing the traffic to kind of utilize that intersection instead of trying to back up route n or you know infiltrate through the the residential neighborhood thank you oh sorry oh Cliff Kensington from City realy yeah I was relying on mer this introduction to I ask another question yes John um I don't know if this has been answered already but I'm just going to go ahead uh when will we see the shadow studies on this and who will do the shadow studies on this uh City realy and their architectural team and I know that we're anticipating some updates on the project at the October 9th meeting which will be before the comp plan um kickoff meeting so our members can also participate in that uh so hopefully later this month we'll have some updates and we can certainly forward that to you as we and and one last uh maybe not last I'm sure everybody hopes it's my last but um Can can Chestnut Hill excuse me can City reality forgive me uh point to a development they have done that um I could visit and I'd say you know I'd get an idea of a similar type of development that they've done and sort of what it's like in practice Cliff Kensington I I I certainly cannot point to another five acre you know three Building Development we we have done we have done you know a a number we've done some planning you know multi-building projects in in Alon and some you know midrise projects as well in uh residential neighborhoods and some existing uh commercial projects uh but we do not have something of this scale that we' have completed in the past and and any that you're aware of whether you did them or not that you think of as being in the same category as this you know one one Tower couple of other medium Towers yeah so we definitely have pointed to uh you know kind of the assembly assembly row in Somerville or the Arsenal Square development in Watertown as examples of mixtures of retail commercial residential with kind of centralized parking structures in their Cas is multiple levels above ground and you know obviously instead of an underground like we are looking for but that encourages a more pedestrian use you know we're trying to improve upon even those that still are crisscrossed with with streets and have some you know a lot of car focused traffic we're trying to stay even more pedestrian focused but you know those are some of the ones we're pulling from in addition to some of your more you know Suburban retail like the ones in the area like University AV in Westwood or other areas that kind of are larger scale developments alongs a a busy kind of State Road of of of similar to this I think one of the questions that is going to I'm sorry to just throw in a last thought one of the questions that I think a lot of people have right now is it's wonderful that there is Green Space uh and that this is built around the green space but as you think about it and as you look at it you begin wonder will the public really feel like that's a public space because it sort of dead ends um and or will they feel like it's the courtyard that belongs to the people who live in those buildings and I'm not really you know feeling particularly welcome in that courtyard yeah and and that's that's certainly uh been a a main focus of ours you know I think you'll see in the presentation and the recordings one of the things we talked about is not only did we want it to be welcoming to the people who don't live there we want it to be welcome to the people who aren't even shopping there you know we are we're really working on the connections to the area so it doesn't so it doesn't feel closed off you know that's why we're trying to get it to the ground level as opposed to just kind of having you know raised above a parking structure that you often cuts off from the neighborhood we're trying to create a mixture of not only different smaller retail spaces but also integrate them with the lobbies for the hotel and the residential areas so that it's kind of forcing that congregation we're creating a lot of outdoor seating that's not connected to like one of the retail spaces that's not just outdoor dining for a restaurant but just seating available to the public stadium seating overlooking the lawn area you know com like trying to program a lawn area that can accommodate neighborhood spaces like you know smaller music performances movie Nights you know uh festivals so we're really trying to design it so that it's not just this is the patio that connects to the residences or this is the outdoor dining for this restaurant but that it is mixture and collectively used and owned by all of the buildings in the project thank well yeah my last two questions um as you're thinking about outdoor space if there are going to be this many residences uh consider children activities for children play structures stuff like that I don't I don't know what's in the area there other than maybe the heat school they but that's a would be a hike from there um and I want to go back to uh just the affordable housing piece um I know there's a line it of Meredith in the proa um but when when will we know when will the community know what number specifically of affordable units will be built into this development uh so I mean that was certainly something that came up at the last meeting I think our intention was to have keep it as a line item so that we could have a conversation about the prioritization and you know and I think our our goal would be to likely come with multiple options of ways that it's achieved because as as many have mentioned and and Mike mentioned uh there's a lot of ways to satisfy it and we wanted to make sure that we were listening to the desired methodology from the neighborhood whether that's you know additional on-site or a mixture of on-site and payments whether it's a more of a focus on Workforce housing or deeper levels of affordability you know there's there's a lot of different methodologies we want to hear about what people's priorities are and come up with some options for people to to vote on and make a decision rather than if we put one version of it in the Pro for people think that that's the version to kind of yes no and we didn't want to you know overstate the level to which we are committing to one particular way of doing that okay so the if when you say I guess my concern was well there's many ways to meet it writing a check and not having any on site not the way we're direct the direction we're going in I no no it's a matter of setting the um uh do you are you looking for Workforce housing you set the um Ami ceiling at 100% of Ami at 80% of Ami at 50% of Ami what do you yeah you and there are different implications for the number of units and the sure cost of the developer in in the process of of this thing coming to the point where it you know could be decided voted on to go before Tom meeting when do you anticipate Mike that that piece of it would be fleshed out it really uh we as as I as we've all said here this is is the first stage of an iterate process we have to wait until there's a proposal that specifies how high because that's how many units they're going to be and when you get to that number then you can say well this number is Affordable I would assume it would be done that well if we're bringing this to Maytown meeting next year right it would be early in the winter I would think that's correct there's a lot of work to be done and um yes looking at the you're looking at the guy who's probably gonna have to do most of it okay up there so he's U my question he got his sleeves rolled up okay let's let's move Meredith I was just also going to add to that so um I think once we have a clear idea about the direction that we're headed in we want to have at least one conversation with the housing Advisory board about their recommendations on a pro an approach and if they had a um a particular option that they felt best about good right okay um anything else I think that thank you for your wraps things up and thank you for a presentation that was very uh interesting and informative and raises a lot of questions that uh you we will have to deal with going forward thank you thank you ecac ecac okay ohac first for a longer one and then we'll do that's the longer one okay I guess that's me I have set this up where are my notes okay um we have three issues with respect to the U police commissioner's advisory committee as indicated on the agenda question of amending the charge the uh pcac to reflect seven total members and removing staggered terms I'm trying to call you yeah uh question of appointing three new members to the police commission's advisory committee and question of appointing a co-chair or Co or chair uh to the pcac so um what what I proposed I understand that there may be alternative um proposals with respect to um uh the membership um we we lost three members um Judy fabric an the chair [Music] um uh Karen Karen Ambrose a member and uh chrisen Singleton uh so we have three openings uh but that assumes that we're going to continue to uh staff the uh committee at seven members the charge just says five members but in order to accommodate Beauty fabricant uh concerned that they didn't have enough staff to or members to carry out all the work of the committee uh we allowed her to add two additional members we didn't change the charge though so you know one one thing that I'm proposing is that we change the charge to allow uh um the committee to have seven civilian residents uh as members um an additional issue is leadership uh it's a very difficult uh uh job and uh the two key members that we uh were looking to to become chair um both you know felt that they did not have the time uh to do it U as do it by themselves so I was able to sort of negotiate with them and they agreed to serve as co-chairs of the committee uh so that's you know that that's that proposal um in terms of uh the members uh I i' like to propose based on discussions with Judy fabrican and and um Linda Roseman the previous uh or the initial chair of the committee that we appoint uh John hilard for a term ending August 31st 2027 Christina Christine noof for term ending August 31st 2026 and John fedler for term ending August 31st 2025 um Mike you had other um proposal well I had I had some uh Alternatives that I had sent uh to you uh do you want to have you got them there or I have them here yes you wouldn't mind yeah sure your first was John Hillyard second Elizabeth kernin and third Karen lashinsky right okay um I'm sorry David I'm in agreement with uh the chair's suggestions so I just want to mention that those are actually the same three I had identified as well taking notes so okay um Mike do you want to motivate your your choices you mean explain them yeah I mean if you want to uh well first of all we both we we all agree it appears or the three of facilities agree on John Hillard so that's easy um I spoke at some length with Judy fabricant um the the um former chair of the pcac and she talks about balance on the committee they need to have uh balance and I think the um uh Elizabeth kernin and Karen is Karen uh I believe so yeah lashinski bring the bring that balance to a greater extent than um uh Christine and uh uh and m figler i it just uh I listened very carefully to that we had quite a nice and quite a long conversation and um that's the essential basis of my recommendation um if you remember uh I believe Elizabeth Kern particular was a data has had a lot of experience with data analysis and data analysis is a very important part the police department provides a an incredibly detailed uh and and data Rich report um the trouble is that if you don't do some analysis of it the data just lies there like a lump nobody actually understands what it means or asks questions based on the data and I think that's critically uh important um uh to be able to to look at that data and and pull out the things that that really matter uh and um so that's the uh those are the the the reasons behind what I'm trying to do ask yes um I I think I understand um what you're saying but I just want to be sure I heard it right you you said I spoke to Judy fabricant um and then you proceeded to tell why you you know chose these two but you're not saying that she no no no no no reference she didn't have a list of people at that point I SP I talked to Judy a couple of months ago when she first resigned no no absolutely not there's no endorsement on her part this is my own IOD I thank you for clarifying that yeah y any other discussion I I just I would just add Bernard um and I appreciate Mike's uh Mike's input um and making the case I before I saw your note I was the three that you had mentioned in your M were the three that I had picked somewhat maybe what David had said so I'm inclined to go with uh with John Christine and Joseph hey how do you want to do this I mean it seems that we have majority for for the uh yeah that I you know I I never hesitate to vote now um and yes so we we agree on John Hil that's an easy one yeah uh and uh if you want to put the the three um names forward um let's take a vote okay yep um then I move uh to a point to the openings on the um well first of all what why don't we uh CH uh make the amendment to the charge um so I propose that we amend the charge to give committee uh seven members and to fix uh what I considered a confusing um Lang confusing language regarding staggered three-year terms I mean if they're staggered they're not three-year terms no so um the proposed um language is to change five to seven wherever it appears and then in the last sentence of the charge or or um paragraph three of the charge to to say voting members shall be appointed by the board for threeyear terms picking out the word staggered um and then uh Quorum will be four members uh um and um you wherever else we have five put seven second okay all in favor please indicate by saying I J van SC hi Michael S hi um David uh Paul hi David fman hi and shair votes I uh next why don't we just deal with the leadership question Paul Y and Ron Wilkerson as serving as co-chairs of the committee um all in favor please indicate by saying I John may I ask your question first sure this does not preclude uh that it could revert to there being a single chair does it no no okay all right I um Mike sammon hi Paul Warren hi David Perman I chair votes I okay now let's get to the membership so um I guess I I can can um move uh the appointment of the three people that I suggested and we can vote on that or unless you want to do it some other way Mike um well if you did it one at a time I would I would not vote no I don't think that's an appropriate thing to do um these are good people who you you've suggested but I would abstain on the on um Christine and on on why don't we just uhu um I'll Mo each one of them individually and with respect to um how would we do this yeah just just move each one yeah that's EAS uh so I move um starting out with John hilard all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van skak hi Michael Simon hi Paul Warren hi and David Perman hi and chair v i next um I would move uh Christine KN um uh all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak Michael S um Paul Warren hi David Perman hi and Cher oai do you want me to move uh one of your people no no go ahead no no there's no point to that yeah um I move John figler um on Joseph figler Joseph Joseph Joseph Jose there may be a John but he's not on the SL oh okay um Joseph I corrected that in yours okay yeah all right it was my mistake saying it go ahead uh I'm Mo Jo Joseph figler um all in favor please indicate by saying I John Van SC hi Michael sanman St Paul Warren hi and David bman I okay thank you and thank you Mike for you know taking the time to sure that's that's what we get paid for right okay uh the final item on our agenda is um boards and commissions reappointments that in the audience Harold Peterson you came all the way out to this meeting for that for for slam dunk Harold oh thank you good for you Harold it's always great to see you okay we're not at the end of the meeting yet not yet okay okay okay uh question of appointing reappointing uh individuals to various boards and commission Human Resources board Lori caror all in favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi Michael sammon hi PA Warren hi David proman I Fair votes I um Board of assessors Harold Peterson in the audience um on favor please indicate by saying I John vanak hi David P I'm sorry Michael salmon hi um Paul Warren hi David Perman hi and Sheriff oai so you are reappointed thank you do you want want to make a speech too long okay I mean you're you're such an important person on this committee as well as elsewhere in town that that since you're here I think people would like to hear from you I've been on the board of assessors since 1990 and there's a time to retire a time to leave and I thought it was the time to leave when I did not seek reappointment in August of 23 when my last term expired uh but since then our chief assessor has retired and our deputy chief has retired and I like being on the board I enjoy it so I believe I could be helpful in this period of transition and that's why I've asked for reappointment thank you we're extremely grateful for that appreciate your service thank you s okay that uh formal let me that ends our formal session so we'll have public comment and Regina thank you I just wanted to I live um to leave South Brooklyn I have to go to Hammond or Hammond Pond Parkway as you probably know Raj deandra's um project has taken many years and there's an extension a barrier sticking out in one of the lane so we're all forced into one lane it's it's been a nightmare it really has so as I was listening to this I was wondering I don't have an opinion but wondering especially where it's done in phases is this going to be a forever traffic nightmare that's really what I want to know because there's no other way for us to get out of South Brooklyn other than Hammond Street and Hammond Pond par so I just want to put that on your radar screen that's point one could you uh put that in writing and send to I'm sorry say it again please could you put that in writing and send it to Meredith Mooney it's in her Menace it'll be in her menace I'm just saying that you you want to bring it to her it's just a concern because it really is very difficult no it's not it's just not and especially Hammond Street because now everybody in South Brookline brings the mail to the post office and that's not accept accessible any other Street other than Crossing Route 9 at Hammond Street it really has been awful okay and the other point is um in terms of the preservation commission whether or not you have concerns about the and or it's you've been forced to think about uh whether or not the demolition delay of a year is going to be an issue legally I just want to point out to you that if you you don't hold the line on this um I don't know that there'll be any religious institution or proposal that will ever not use the same argument so I do hope that you'll hold to the preservation commission's uh determination in the usual use of a year thank you is there anyone else online who wishes to make a comment at this time if so please raise your hand using the raise the hand feature and there is no one raising their hand at this time okay therefore I close the meeting thank you thank you all righty