e e e e e e e e e e e e e Liza oh oh candy okay remember that when you get your hamburger and hot dog okay it's okay she she was one of my favorite counselors so so I know know spe you good evening and welcome to the Len CC special meeting today is Wednesday May 1st 2024 pursuant to chapter 20 of the Act of 2022 this meeting will be hybrid allowing participation both in person and at the city council chambers as well as remotely anybody that request the zoom link uh was uh uh was send it to this meeting might also be viewed through the uh different platform uh for the laen city council the laen city council Facebook page as well of the LA City Council YouTube page roll call please Council Anna Lev present councel llant present councel Luzon present councel Del Rosario is noted as absent councelor Santiago noted as absent councel mam present councel Reyes is noted as absent Council vice president fonte present council president rodrig yes present uh please join me for a moment of silence pursuing the pledge of allegion to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all there is no public hearing today um if councilor would like to open public participation we I'm willing to entertain a motion at any point of the meeting uh communication there is no communication from the mayor or city official all the City attorney public participation do you want to make a motion make a motion motion to allow public participation second there is a motion to allow public participation discussion properly second discussion all those in favor please say I I any nose the eyes have it anybody that would like to speak that is in the public today please refer to the council as a whole not as an individual counselors you have two and a half minutes at the 2 minute mark You're going to hear a a bip indicating the 30 minute left name and name and address for the record please good evening councils my name is Richard Russell 34 cross street Lawrence I've giving each of you councilors a copy of these questions just in case I'm not going to be allowed to ask them but uh I'm going to skip over some of it um my rationale in wanting these questions asked is due to the fact I have worked in and around the land industry since the mid-60s and this work has been from Southern main down to parts of Maryland and I have seen all sorts of political chicanery at work I only want best I only want what's best for the citizens of Lawrence not just a few insiders if given the chance I want the council thank the council for the opportunity to ask these questions and I hope that you people will also ask these questions as uh City officials have a bad track history in answering public citizens the you people they uh do answer the questions when in the past has the lra done any extensive work regarding property in the city the second question is why is it imperative that this land grab be done right now why must all of these aples be taken at once wouldn't it be better if these apostles were doled out several at a time uh to make sure the developers and the L are both capable of following through with their proposed plans with the rate of inflation regarding property the value of these properties is only going to increase in the future is there any truth to the rumor that these pels of land have already been allocated to various individuals and if so who are these individuals and have these individuals been vetted to make sure they have no connection to any City or LR officials I'm sure there will be other questions raised by what I consider this land grab thank you for the time thank you for your comments anybody else that would like to would like to speak today anybody else that would like to express this their comments today all right at this point uh uh public participation is now closed uh we'll proceed with the uh table matters counselors can I get a motion to untable matter uh 382 23 which is the transfer of the real estate properties uh from the city of lens to the Len Street Development Authority can hear a second second properly proper uh uh properly second discussion I hear none at this point I call the question so all in favor please say I hi any knows the eyes have it councelors we have an item in front of us which is the item uh 38223 uh the transfer of real estate properties uh from the city of lawen uh to the lawen development Authority Madame Clair there is an under um an underline motion for this uh yes council president there was a motion um made by Council Rez seconded by Council Del Rosario on October 17th to approve the transfer of all 10 Parcels of land there's no vote on that motion though all right councelors uh we have an um an underline motion that we can open for discussion um at this point I would like to acknowledge the chair of the of the L Development Authority Eric Walker he's here with us I would like to open the floor for him so he can introduce uh the L and other members as well uh good evening City councilors uh council president my name is Eric Walker I'm the chairperson of the Lawrence re Development Authority uh we have been working with the existing Redevelopment plan uh to begin to Market these properties for development according to the plan um we have Mr Carris here to go over the plan he is uh sanch he is our our basically been working on the plan to uh come up with a comprehensive plan for these properties in the city all right thank you Mr walker uh councilors we have we we have this special meeting today uh because a few counselors um request uh to have an special meeting to go over the urban renewal plant they uh councelors you receive a uh a package uh with the boat and uh and I sent over the urban renewal plan back then that the council took a adopt and uh in 2016 in December of 2016 uh at this point counselors we are here to entertain uh and allow an opportunity for the L to to uh go over the plan to refresh people's mind about what we what we have what the city of L adopts to a Bo of the city council sir if I may I misspoke Mr Caris with Caris Community develop investment I'm sorry sure thank you so we have uh members of The L that I would like uh to allow them if they would like to speak introduce them themselves uh to this board you welcome to uh in the meantime um councelors we will uh we we could entertain um the presentation that uh Mr carus have for the board for the uh for the city council in regard to the over renewal plan uh by all means we can uh we can proceed she's right behind it Anna council president uh Madame Vice chair Madame vice president through you I just uh for any few now the whole thing for for any future meetings and this goes and I always say this uh when we don't have physical copies um in the future if you can provide a a copy to our city clerk so she can print us print it out and provide copies for us as I listen I like to make notes that I like to go back and and and all of that so um it's just helpful so just in the future ensure that we have that you than sure uh Mr G bomin thank you council president and uh to esteemed City councilors and uh City staff and uh residents of Lawrence that are here tonight I'm pleased to be here yeah go ahead go ahead my name is James Caris um and I am principal of Caris Community investment uh Consulting for in community and economic development later on in the presentation I'll detail a little bit more about my experience and my role in Redevelopment both here in Massachusetts and other states around the country um next slide please so tonight what I'm going to do is present a a very brief introduction in terms of what the state law is in terms of uh Redevelopment and uh some of the statutory requirements second is have a uh brief uh discussion and overview of the Lawrence urban renewal plan third is to talk about uh changing those plans or amending that plan uh and what it takes to do so and what uh the L has uh undertaken so far relative to that uh change of the plan and then finally uh is to look at moving forward and moving forward is a need to update the plan and updating that plan will require not a minor change or Amendment but a major change in Amendment and I want to go through what that process is in terms of that of those changes the difference between minor change and amendments and minor major changes in amendments and I will detail a little bit about a downtown action plan that we're proposing to U uh to undertake so the Massachusetts Urban Redevelopment law is based on chapter 121b and its purpose is to address substandard decadent or blighted open areas and allow cities and towns in Massachusetts to create Redevelopment authorities and the role of these Redevelopment authorities are to acquire land plan and oversee Redevelopment projects and the responsibilities of these resp Redevelopment authorities and they must prepare and Implement urban renewal plans approved by local government and I'm I'm I picked out the things that are most gerain to our discussion tonight uh Redevelopment authorities must prepare and Implement urban renewal plans approved by local government and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development today is the um office of housing um and and and all of a sudden I I get the new name but it's effectively it's the office of housing for the Commonwealth uh and the types of projects the urban Redevelopment authorities take they focus on residential projects commercial projects and mixed use developments and there's an emphasis on uh eliminating blight and this is within the legislation increasing tax revenue and improving quality of life um I was born in Boston and grew up there and uh educated and and much of my life has been in the city of Boston and when I was growing up all I heard was about the Boston Redevelopment Authority the BR so I I was early on I I knew the important role that Urban Redevelopment to took place in the city that I that I'm from and from there I I made a career out of working in Redevelopment and in implementing Redevelopment uh plans and implementing uh urban renewal plans is is critical and and this is one of the key themes that I want to mention uh focus on uh tonight is the implementation of uh urban renewal plants and they must have urban renewal plants must have uh specific Redevelopment goals uh if you can put the next slide please thank you urban renewal plans must have specific Redevelopment goals they must have Financial plans and they must have timelines these are uh in mic to all urban renewal plans in the Comm and second there must be robust Community involvement including public hearings and consultations are required to produce that plan um and there are economic and social implications of these urban renewal plans and and dealing with issues around economic revitalization that uh uh results in infrastructure improvements and new development but there are also social social implications of development as we well know and these social implications include displacement and gentrification and and and we must look and urban renewal plans have to look at how do you mitigate issues around uh GIC the the the negative impacts of gentrification which are around displacement next slide is the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and its urban renewal uh plan the L was created as a public entity by the City of Lawrence in 1958 and the urban renewal plan that is currently in effect was approved by the Commonwealth in May of 2017 and what you see on the uh on the slide on this particular uh slide is the outline of the boundaries of the uh uh urban renewal uh plan in the Lawrence urban renewal plan identifies action steps that the ra the re ofel Authority and other public and private Partners can take to advance four key goals those goals include Economic Development job creation improved quality of life and fiscal stability there were over 40 meetings that were held uh with the public uh and and over 400 people uh uh were involved in the planning uh process of the uh urban renewal plan that's in existence uh today and the ultimate ultimately the urban renewal plan created a vision and that vision is creating a thriving local economy in which residents have access to new employment opportunities and higher paying jobs enabling them to afford better housing and more goods and services within the city and keeping in mind that Vision uh statement is really important because everything within the plan is meant to how do we how do we achieve this uh this vision and in the urban renewal plan it outlines eight key strategies and I'm not going to go through each one of these strategies but you can see uh the percentage of uh people who were involved with the process that felt that uh uh creating an attractive environment for walking and uh improving U Public Safety um and incentivize and accelerate development of large vacant Parcels uh for light manufacturing Health Care education and mixed use development uh both to the city's Arts and Cultural uh uh uh assets and uh uh and attract visitors to uh Lawrence preserve protect and enhance the city's andur buildings support the expansion of small businesses that generate jobs and pill build total uh local wealth uh activate ex Essex streets Essex Street encourage sustainable development through new renewable energy and create linkage linkage mechanisms that capture the value of new development for Citywide quality of of of of its improvements so where are we today this Lawrence renewal plan the process began in 2014 10 years ago and the plan was finally approved in 2017 so it's been in effect now for over 7 years and the implementation results in 2024 and I purposely put in these question marks and that's a uh issue of of discussion um but in my observation and since working with the L since last summer I have read and reread and read and reread the urban renewal plan and I keep asking the questions of what has been implemented and I have not found much evidence in terms of implementation of the Lawrence urban renewal plan in the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority the uh the mayor reactivated the re Redevelopment Authority in effect it was dormant uh and is that had not been acting um and the currently the Redevelopment Authority is focused on implementing the plan were feasible and relevant and two is to identify sections of the plan that need to be updated I think we can all agree that any plan that is now uh over going on eight years and that has been was put together beginning 10 years ago needs to be updated uh and needs to take a look at so the process of changing the plan is critical to understand what that process is um the the executive office of Housing and livable communities I keep forgetting the livable communities part the executive office of housing liable communities the new name of the of the agency that's responsible for urban Redevelopment it reviews any application for any changes to the plan so the lra if it wants to do anything that is not in the plan anything that is not in the plan must go to the Commonwealth to the executive office of housing in livable communities and ask for permission to do so and and it must uh uh put it in an application that office will then comment whether it is a minor change or a major change um and that and they uh and we have not the L has not officially submitted any request for changes at this point however the mayor has identified as you well know 12 city-owned underperforming properties and upon the transfer of these properties uh from the city to the L it will request from the state a minor Amendment identifying the 12 city-owned properties within the existing urban renewal area for transfer to L and disposition for development uh we believe I believe and also the Consultants that work with me Stant and I'll introduce U uh through this presentation their role in and the work that we've been doing for lra we strongly believe that a transfer of these properties these specific properties do not require a major Amendment but we require a minor Amendment initial review by the state because we asked them to review our uh potential uh uh requests uh is indicated they have not made a determination whether it's minor or major but they asked for some clarifying questions we will be responding to those and we believe that the transfer of these properties will be a minor Amendment these Parcels that been identified are vacant lots and they're currently used as surface parking um transfer to the L and disposition by the lra will provide the maximum opportunity for privately financed ear Urban revitalization consistent with the Lawrence urban renewal plan right any development that takes place on these must be consistent with what you have approved what the city has approved what the Commonwealth has approved is the lawence urban renewal plan the lra uh has issued a non-binding request for letters of interest and L rli to gauge Market interest in the properties for for read development uh and that was issued and I think it believe that it's in early June uh that that any responses it's non-binding it's testing the market this is what Redevelopment authorities do is that they can put rfps a specific proposal or it can say we're interested in what the private Market has u in interest in these properties and then once we get these uh uh uh uh letters of Interest back from the private Market assuming that there are interests we believe there is a Citizens advisory Council will be named by the lra by the mayor and by you the city council to review all proposed uses it's very similar to the 25 member Community advisory Council citizens advisory Council that was created to provide the input on the urban renewal plan all we're doing is mimicking what has already been done and in terms of community participation in the process so again I want to make it clear is that what we the L has done has issued a request for letters of interest non-binding for the private sector to respond and say on such and such a lot I Envision doing the following type of development and here's our capability to do so all right and so once we receive all of that in terms of the 12 properties uh a Citizens advisory Council along with staff will review all of these proposals and then make recommendations to the L um for uh for the next step uh for for development so that's the minor amendment process right and and again it is it is dealing with what's in the plan major amendments are things like if we want to change the boundary all right we want to expand the lra boundary that's a major Amendment all right um and and and other things that are not already in the plan that you want to introduce something new is considered a major Amendment and therefore if a major Amendment takes place it's repeating the process that you went through seven eight years ago and that process was Community input analysis city council hearings city council approval so major amendments involves uh very actively uh the city council and the public um and we believe that this plan needs to be updated it's it it it is is it is well past the time of uh uh in terms of needing the update uh for for this for this plan it's dated right A lot has changed uh over the last uh few years and certainly the p mic um and we're now in the post-pandemic uh recovery it's been an uneven recovery as we well know some have benefited many have not particularly in in this community um and uh but it has changed the market dynamics tremendously uh construction costs is significantly higher significantly higher than what was envisioned seven or eight years ago doing de de development is is is is is much more uh challenging and we believe that not just on a local level but on a state level and through this current Administration in the legislature and in in Washington there's greater emphasis on affordability affordable housing um not just low income but all the way through the workforce uh uh is is an important issue second Transit oriented development and dealing with the fact that you you are an MBTA community and as you well know the Commonwealth has passed a law that requires a certain percentage of affordable housing around uh Transit uh stations third issues around equity and this is something that personally and professionally is important to me it's my fundamental value uh I've spent my life and career dealing with issues around racial equity and particularly this community uh uh wants is is is intent on addressing and making sure that any development that takes place focuses on Equitable uh impact and Equitable results fourth is sustainability as we uh recognize the changes the dramatic changes that are taking place uh because of climate change and the need for us to think in a sustainable way of any future development and then finally and probably what's most most important to the citizens of Lawrence is economic prosperity and economic Prosperity not just for the city as a whole increasing property tax revenues but economic uh prosperity for the individuals every uh household and families that live here in Lawrence so we believe that this plan needs to be updated through the lenses that I had just outlined is to focus on those and in order to do this it would be a u uh a detailed planning process that would take six to eight months and it would involved a Citizens advisory Council it would involve public hearings and also would involve your determining and approving any plan changes before they're submitted so the substantive implementation of this plan it needs that we need to have an updated plan and we need to have the active involvement in the community and the city council as well so let me let me uh back up a little bit in terms of some context uh what we're seeing nationally uh as you well know uh the uh Lawrence uh uh urban renewal area is primarily your downtown um and what we're seeing nationally in terms of what's happened to downtowns across the country um post pandemic and they been uh facing a decline as you many of you go into Boston and you see what's happened in Downtown Crossing in the financial district you know people describe it geez it's really dead down here if you go to New York City you see the impact it's had San Francisco uh the tremendous impact that it's had so we we know that downtowns downtowns are facing a long-term decline unless there are new strategies and that's why we believe believe a new plan an updated plan is is necessary uh without a a a robust aggressive a downtown economy it leaves the city and the region without an essential El engine to draw knowledge and Innovation Talent jobs and investment whether you listen to employees or managers office space will not uh Drive downtown growth for years all right we you know Focus using and chasing after companies to move in their offices it's not to say not to not to do that but the previous plan has a lot of emphasis on that we know that more and more employees 55% of employees prefer working remotely at least three days a week and 68% of Executives think employees should be in the office at least 3 days a week to maintain a strong company culture therefore again cre creting these robust uh mix use walkable places in other words a new downtown a new version of downtown whether it's Lawrence or other downtowns across the country is critical and these uh and knowledge information this younger generation and at my age everybody's younger but the younger generation if you will is focusing on technology and Innovation um and this if you you have that Urban Tech uh environment it will uh you will see private sector investment that will follow you know when I was growing up uh and I don't think anybody here may necessarily remembers this from the 50s but this is the imagery that we saw in our in in our version of social media which was television and this was the the kind of image of of America uh you know the uh two children three children households and predominantly white both parents living at home um this is our image has changed dramatically and that image today is of uh single parent households households without children Without Partners or uh certainly this generation um this millennial generation U as uh as the census likes to call has avoided household formation in other words another ways of saying getting married and having children um and so we're increasingly seeing downtowns that are much more attractive to these uh uh the reality of these demographics um and and and part of this is can hold true for for Lawrence as well in terms of of of focusing on renewal in in its downtown it's not to say that housing shouldn't be provided for Ames absolutely not that's not the case but the reality is is that the the the future economic success is going to rest on partly addressing the needs of these these types of households and the demographic changes that we seen dramatically in the United States and finally Place matters more than ever is that this generation if you will these younger uh residents and even older residents if you will are are seeking what we call the 5 minute mix use walkable environment where you're able to uh uh walk uh in terms of uh restaurants coffee shops parks open space uh you know working out all of those things if you can provide that within a five minute walking uh area you're going to see investment that will be following Lawrence has that DNA in terms of its downtown of its urban renewal area to be a five minute uh mixed juice walkable environment including the fact that it has a significant uh Transit stop the the uh MBTA Commuter Rail and these 5 minute downtowns um start with housing um and housing provides the critical mass of people that are necessary to create the coffee shops to create the shopping and the Arts and you know the micro breweries that we see which attract and retain talent because those people those are the things that this generation is looking to have U it is necessary and when you provide that type of environment you create Innovation and jobs and investment in downtown and in turn it unlocks uh local and Regional economic growth and creates jobs across the skills spectrum and it can benefit everyone in the community and finally housing and mixed use Rock able spaces creates significant economic uh value um in terms of fale housing multif family housing and mixed use housing and uh office retail and I want to end by saying that what is key here with all of this though is equity inclusivity it is not just enough to create a plan for downtown that is economically driven in terms of the economic uh benefits for the city for developers and for others but we need to look at a plan that focuses every decision that is made on sharing the benefits of the expanded downtown opportunities which uh result in Workforce Readiness Workforce training mixed income neighborhoods as well as entrepreneurship and small business business ownership and finally uh as well as uh uh home ownership ship uh is is a is a critical ingredient of this so an updated downtown Lawrence if you will action strategy Imp in implementation plan which we were proposing um and for the L to conduct would be a major amendment to this urban renewal plan and within this uh this uh plan we would create a an expanded Vision uh we would look at the current economy the existing situation ation and Outlook what has changed in the last 10 years since we've done planning for downtown what's the recent and outgoing ongoing development that's been there what's the potential for future growth and development and what are the recommended next steps and but I emphasize implementation implementation and implementation what good is planning if it's going to sit on a shelf and nothing is done with it and so we really emphasize how how does this get do this uh recipe get cooked if you will and we produce this and this implementation is typically driven by money by Capital funding and financing so the plan we're proposing would be focusing on on Equity inclusion it would be focusing on implementation um of the vision and the uh specific uh uh outcomes and it would would focus on how do we get this paid for and and do that so bear with me I'm going to close by just telling you a little bit of who I am in my firm that's been working with the lra now for uh nine or 10 months um I've been in business as a consultant for over 35 years uh we've worked in 38 States 120 communities and 500 clients over 500 clients uh I've also for 40 years been an educator and for the past 10 years I've been teaching at Harvard I teach a course on Equitable development and housing policy and previously taught at MIT tus University and Florida Atlantic University I've taught UH 60 graduate courses with over 1,500 students and have spoken to dozens of professional conferences and seminars and and workshops what is core to me again to underscore what I have uh addressed throughout this presentation is implementation at the heart of any Equitable development planning implementation is a is a commitment to fairness to inclusivity and empowerment I will not be at this stage of my life or career involved with a client that's not committed to this and I made that clear to the L and the L made it clear to me right and and that this is what the commitment to fairness inclusivity and empowerment means to us and we believe in collaborative Partnerships Innovative strategies and a Relentless pursue of Justice to make sure that this future a future where Equity is not just a goal it's not just an academic expression but a reality for all citizens in the community our professional value though is that in order to implement this capital is necessary and one thing that we have focused on through my Consulting and teaching is where's the money show me the money is it in Washington is it in the state house in Boston is it local um is in and and is it private sector and we we focus on finding those funds and find financing to make Equitable Economic Development plans uh a reality just very quickly in Jamaica plane where I I grew up uh I I did a plan uh that talked about the ReUse of a uh one of the original breweries uh the half refer brewery as you may know that Jamaica plane in the late 19th century right up until prohibition had dozens of breweries and one of the last buildings that left as you have Mills we had breweries in in Jamaica plane uh we were able to come up with a plan to purchase the brewery and today uh it is a small business uh incubator and complex and is it is made up primarily of local uh businesses many of them uh immigrants U who have created businesses um and are located in in in that Brewery um in Fort waterdale uh we prepared uh last year an arts and culture plan for an historic African-American community and today we're seeing implementation and development and for the first time development in this community by a person of color versus uh uh non-minority developers uh who have been doing gentrifying development in this community and resulting in a mixed use project with Workforce res residential units and commercial space for creatives on the first floor of local entrepreneurs and finally something that if you bear with me toast for a moment uh 30 years ago I put together the plan for the Massachusetts banking industry to create a affordable housing Investment corporation called Massachusetts housing Investment corporation and today 32 years later uh they have invested in 850 development projects and have financed over $3.2 billion do in affordable Workforce housing and Equitable development throughout the Commonwealth and now in Rhode Island in Connecticut and I'm uh my other client that I work with is the Mass housing Investment corporation and working with them on their next plan in terms of doing Equitable development um and I'll close by saying that I do this in conjunction with a another firm uh this work and uh for for for the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and it's stantech and stantech is a as small as I am stantech is large they're the national uh Corporation they do engineering they do architecture uh and they do planning uh they have an office here in Boston um and that's uh their their uh clients include uh in Brockton uh they have uh helped uh in terms of their urban renewal plan and have created a number of new projects in downtown Brockton I don't know if any of you have been in Brockton recently but that Community has changed dramatically in terms of their downtown and the implementation of their urban renewal plan they've completed two new parking garages attracted a number of new businesses including restaurants a brewery and a museum in Boston Sant was involved with the Redevelopment of the Bunker Hill public housing project in Charlestown as well as u a major multi-use project in in the South End they have worked as well in other projects very similar and this why I picked these uh in Tampa in downtown Tampa in Memphis um they have uh work on the downtown uh Memphis plan as well the team is uh working on with the L and the the plan for the downtown uh I'm the Project Director Allison laflor from uh santech is our project manager Allison is also the uh chair of the of the uh Massachusetts chapter of the American planners Association she has worked on numerous urban renewal plans uh in the Commonwealth including Brockton Ador Fall River and other communities and finally uh David Dixon um is a senior adviser and uh the slides I showed you about the trends in downtown David is one of the key experts or I consider the national expert on what's going on in downtown and downtowns across America and the changes and how do we take advantage and meet those changes as well thank you I appreciate the time that you've afforded me I know it was a lengthy presentation but there was a lot to cover and I wanted to cover what the law is what the plan that Lawrence has created kind of the good bad and indifferent if you will uh the state of that plan the role of the L and then moving forward forward with minor amendments and major amendments and the major amendments are the significant piece that we want to be focusing on in terms of what is it what do we look like in in 5 years and 10 years from now based on where we are today not where we were in 2014 not where we were in 2017 thank you again thank you Mr Gus uh thank you for the presentation thank you for the presentations uh this point U I definitely appreciate the presentation and other information they you have provide uh I would like to open the opportunity for counselors to uh uh potentially ask questions in regard to the presentation information that was presented to us and also allow an opportunity to uh other members that are here uh or other people that are here that represent the the city perhaps and uh and have different capacity um at this time counselors I would like to open the floor for any questioning in regard to the presentation councel Lon oh thank you council president to you council president Mr Caris um can you explain minor changes excuse me Mr M Lon uh coun Lon for the record uh we would like to read what the plans of the L says What a minor change is so we can have some Clarity because he already explained there what the law says about the minor change and the major change but we have the actual L plan and we're going to read it for the record he went over uh Cil president he he went over uh major changes but I don't recall minor Chang as well I don't recall him going over minor changes for for the record uh we like to refer to an a specific page of the of the Mr Miss consel president can Mr Caris answer the question if possible I'm confused so and I want to hear him answer I want to help you out so let me let me read let me read Mr to you Mr pres C pres Jesus Christ can I ask can I have U Mr caras answer my question sure thank you go ahead um thank you for the question counselor U you know in effect a minor Amendment recognizes that there are certain things within the plan that need to be changed but in order to get minor Amendment approval it has to be very specific in the plan already so in this case with a minor Amendment it is within the plan it says that the lra is able to have properties transferred from the city and also then the L can determine the use of those properties and the disposition of those properties in order for that to happen though because it's in the plan you already approve you excuse me the city council and the mayor and the community has approved this plan and said it's okay for you to do this all right to dispose of city-owned properties all right but now we have to go to the state and say we have specific properties that we want to uh we we want to uh transfer and that we would dispose of so that is considered we believe a minor Amendment the state could come back and say well we agree with you on 10 of them but two of them no the way we read it is you need a major Amendment but it is our opinion that the 12 property transfer would be a minor Amendment the power of doing this is already vested in the L by the plan that's been already approved uh thank you Lon um I would like to I would like to call uh the city of chin for to clarify a few things before we continue uh the city cheny from the city of lawence please council president give me one minute let me open the opportunity for U the city of CH good evening councilor Tim Hoon city of uh can you clarify a few things here that was said when it comes to uh Property Transfers and stuff like that so let's let's be very clear and let me start from the beginning on this my position in this is to do what would Encompass a transfer your board the L the mayor you're the big thinkers you decide what what you want to do what you want to do with the property my job is just to get it done so I take no position on whether it's a good thing a bad thing that's not my job I don't nobody elected me that's not my job my job is how do I complete what I've asked to do so what everybody what has been said here I believe is is correct there is there's nothing right my point is and if you want the L to handle the property and you want to transfer the property to the L there's a specific way to do it and I believe that it is that the city council has to vote on any property that they want to transfer and then the mayor has to sign the deed if either of that does not happen it does not get transferred to the LR even if it's contained in the plan um the other thing that I'm a little con a little concerned about not concerned about but I'm sorry as a lawyer I'm I'm taught to nitpick so when people speak I can I tend to listen to Little Things They that I I may think they're wrong or whatever um the gentleman that just spoke um I have two groups of property which is exhibit a and exhibit B in in the thing uh what they're what is saying is exhibit a is property that's contained in the plan that the plan was approved in 2016 by the city council and exhibit B is land that's not contained in the plant so as the gentleman just said if you want to put the property in exhibit B which is not contained in the plan it would be his words extending the boundaries extending the boundaries by his words is a major change so the last three properties the Summer Street property the tumber property I believe would require a major change I'm not an expert on it I'm just going by what I heard here because it extends the boundaries to property not- enclosed it would be a major change again whether it's a major or a minor change doesn't make any difference to me all I'm trying to do is if the city wishes to transfer the property of the LR right what is the correct method and you just anything the state tells regarding major or minor um transfers does not affect my position the state can say all of these are minor transfers but I still believe that we have now designated certain properties and the way to transfer them to the lra is to have the city council vote on them and have the mayor sign the deed so independently of of what the state say was a minor or major change the property still need to come in front of the city council for for the city council to vote on the transfer of those deed and the mayor need to sign on the transfer of those deed so let me give you an example let's assume that the state says that everything is a minor trans minor change so now all the properties in the L are in the l i on the urban renewal plan all all I mean all the properties are in the plan plan the Redevelopment plan if the deed if the mayor never signs a deed that property never goes to the L it doesn't matter what the state said State said it's a small change a big change if we don't deed it to the L the L don't do not receive it so there's a second step that must take place there has to be deeds and I'm saying that the proper way to De it is to have a to make a presentation you see this slot here this would make a good developable lot why here's the reasons city council hears that argument says I agree with you that sounds like a wonderful thing we take a vote Lot number seven we vote to transfer the L then the mayor agre agrees I mean the mayor might not agree and and then the mayor signs then it's properly transferred whether it's contained in the plan not contained in the plan that that's not my job in this my job is this is that if the city decides to trans transfer property at the L we want it to be legal binding so that when they go to sell it to the a third party or develop it by a third party they have clean title that's and then that require a vote for the city council and a sign for is my position again yeah just for the for the record I would like the city cl to read what uh what intakes the uh minor change on the plan and a major change on the plant what was approved in 2016 so it read follow Madame CLA do you mind reading uh section 6.63 of the or renewal plant yeah minor change and may change this is a section 6.5 of the urban renewal plan references to this code of Master eggs CMR references 760 CMR 12.03 that talks about the process for future plan changes and it refers to a minor plan change as a um the lri may make a minor plan change through a resolution minor plan changes do not substantially alter the provisions of the plan minor plan changes include the following correction of typographical errors modification of proposed language of zoning changes in design guidelines to be consistent with the language approved by the city council major plan changes a major PL a major plan change involves more substantial alterations of the underlying plan and as such require a more complex approval process the process for a major ma plan change is the same as was followed under the the procedure to this urban renewal plan evidence of a public hearing certification of Conformity with existing Plans by the planning board and approval by the city council all affected rear developers must be notified and given an opportunity to comment we just read about a minor change and a major change of the arban renewal plan that was approved in December 2016 uh by the city council and it's a current uh uran renewal PL uh what we hear before was what the what the Lo takes of a minor change and a major change but not necessarily what the our plant or the urban renewal plants intakes um the bottom line and I I hate to be this blunt it really doesn't matter what you think it really doesn't matter what I think it matters what the state thinks if the state thinks it's it's a minor change it's a minor change if the state thinks it's a major change it's a major change so you and I may have our opinions and that's why they submitt it to the state they'll make the determination whether it's a major or minor change no no no I I agree with that 100% uh at the end of the day even though um it's a minor or major change doesn't matter the property need to come in front of the city council for the for the transfer of the property and then to sequentially a signature from the mayor to be uh ultimately right again that's the position of the city attorney's office right C um Wendy L you still have the floor no I'm um thank you uh council president I don't have no more questions councelor councelor vice president Infante you have the floor thank you I have a question for perhaps the chairman of the L but I do have a comment for the City attorney before he he sits down every time we talk about the L there's language that is used about I'm Not Elected I'm not this not X Y and Z and I understand that and there's kind of like this hostile um attitude or or or Vibe when answering questions to the city council the city council did elect confirm appointed hired the City attorney and the first assistant City attorney so I just I want to make that clear I I have no problem with that and I sorry I tend to do it matter of factly so people don't think that I am on one side or the other um this is these are both City departments um this is not this is you know not no one I I don't get involved in that if the uh dep of Public Works doesn't like inspectional services so be it that's not my job if they need something legally done I do it and the and the reason I say I don't get elected is because those you are the people to make the decision I just follow your decisions uh it's not aggressive it's just a matter of fact and I apologize if my voice gets that way but I like to State it very clearly because as my job is I pick people apart so I expect people to pick apart what I'm going to say so I try to be very sus thank you attorney attorney my whomever I don't know perhaps the chairman or or the lr's attorney um it is my understanding that the L did submit a question to the state have the L received any answers from the stand from the state pertaining to major minor changes Etc any any information at the state from the state address for the record please good good evening council is Brian cargan 122 Chestnut Street andova Mass uh L Council uh councelor Infante yes um uh we submitted a a draft dra request for approval of a minor Amendment to the uh director of the um executive office of Housing and livable communities it was presented as a draft uh because uh the director Maggie Schmidt who we've been dealing with now for uh about a year uh recommended that we submit it that way uh because it was the first uh opportunity that we had uh to submit such a uh request request uh and she provided some feedback um there was uh there were some very specific questions uh that she asked maybe four or five what did she ask she asked uh I could pull it up if you want please do do you have it this is the time for it it's uh s c h m [Music] TT yeah I will yes all right counselor um if you if you want actually uh you can you you I I can read as as you but you can summarize you want you want to see you want to see the actual requests that went yes that would be helpful so is that is that the document you have before I actually have that so let me hold up but if Li up Council I'll just read uh I'll read my my letter I won't do a Verbatim but I'll kind of skip over some of the intro stuff um was April 1st I sent an email to Maggie Schmidt um urban renewal and relocation coordinator executive office of Housing and liberal communities uh concerning an amendment to the Lawrence TBD urban renewal plan amendment number one um uh the amendment identifies 12 city-owned properties within the existing urban renewal area for transfer to lra for disposition or Redevelopment you're familiar with those 12 properties there before the uh uh the council um these Parcels are vacant Lots currently in use as surface parking so every property that we're seeking um approval for and the request for uh Amendment uh is a Surface City owned surface parking lot uh transfer to and disposition by the L will provide the maximum opportunity for privately financed Urban revitalization consistent with the plan uh we talk we reiterate uh some of the strategies that were uh cited in the plan which Mr Caris referenced earlier um we talk about the uh the the existing uh status of these properties which are in our opinion um a nuisance to the city uh surface parking creating holes in the street wall contributing to a sense of a lack of safety for pedestrians and cyclists um we mentioned that each project will be subject to a land use disposition agreement with the L as as well as any other land use controls and environmental permitting um we talk about the fact that there's a significant ongoing uh need for um uh mixed use multif family uh development in the downtown um and then basically what we got is this so I I submitted that as a draft request and I got those comments back um so uh Miss Schmidt mentioned that the draft transmitt refers to Future Redevelopment on the transfer Parcels for multif family residential Andor mixed use mixed uses and then she asks whether there are any uh uh zoning um ordinance related impediments to that so I mean I haven't responded to her because I've been waiting waiting for this particular event to to take place but we are going to hopefully respond to Miss Schmidt very soon with uh a formal uh request uh she goes on to ask about some specific property she she questions the uh proposal for the pmon park uh site which uh you you may all recall uh in the original um plan approved in 2017 there was some mention of having a uh uh a concert venue there um you know it's the position of the L that that's probably no longer a uh a viable use of that property because it's not going to generate uh any uh revenue for the city um and then you'll notice I think in bullet point number four she's asking about public Outreach and public meetings so I've made Miss Schmidt aware that we're we've been dealing with the city council she knows that we're having a special meeting tonight uh I've been very uh Comm in communication with her uh so you know I'm hoping that we make some progress tonight because I really would like to get back to mionet with a formal request uh ideally with with the support of this uh with of this body in some form of fashion so that we can move forward um cooperatively with the Redevelopment of those surface uh surface parking lots and so that's where we stand I hope I I've answered your question you now know everything that I know that is the extent of the communication that we've had with the state so far thank you and no just to clear I understand clear for to make it crystal clear for the record she has not provided a direct answer on whether or not this propos these proposals on the parcels are major or minor changes that is that is correct that is correct and and since you since you mentioned I just want to make sure that I clarify um if you'll bear with me uh council president uh cited or had the uh city clerk uh read into the record the provisions of uh section 6.5 uh of the plan but I just want to make everybody aware you should really should read this this is only a very brief summary of what is a the process for a minor and major Amendment request this section 6.5 specifically references 760 CMR 12.03 that is the provision that very explicitly details what is and what is not a minor Amendment a minor amendment is not simply the correction of a typographical error just because that's cited here as something that may be included in a minor Amendment change that's not the extent of a minor amendment in fact the correction of a type graphical error does not require any state approval whatsoever that would be absurd to have to go back to the state for approval of a correction of a typographical error what is a uh minor uh Amendment or a minor plan change is a plan change that does not significantly alter any of the basic elements the Acquisitions characteristics objectives public improvements redevelopers obligations or disposition of a previously approved urban renewal plan so it is our position that what we're asking for and and we can all disag we can all respectfully disagree but our position the L's position is that what we're asking the state to approve uh is in fact a Bonafide uh minor uh change to the urban renewal plan because we believe that this board this Council already approved the urban renewal plan that these properties are located within the urban renewal plan and just because that urban renewal plan that was approved doesn't contain a lot of specificity we think that adding specificity to it now in 2024 does not significantly alter the plan it just adds some specificity to it and we believe uh carries forward the the basic purpose of the plan hopefully the state will agree but ideally what I would really like to see is that this Council would agree with us because then the state definitely would agree um and then we'd be able to move forward cooperatively and figure out what we're going to do uh with these properties attorney poret I the bigger issue at hand the debate that we have is whether or not this is a major minor change I would I I in my opinion I believe you were wrong in not continuing conversation with the state because tonight I would have felt more comfortable in my position knowing what the state thinks when it comes to this um additionally I saw one of the questions from the state pertaining to parking in downtown and what's going to be you right now I get calls almost every day about parking specifically about the downtown area it's a huge issue I would have loved to see the the lr's response to that if we're taken away what's going on but primarily before I see advisor spanner primarily the bigger issue at hand is whether or not he's he's an attorney he can handle himself whether or not this is a major or minor change and the L should have been prepared to give us something on this specifically specifically Madame vice president can I can I just uh can I respond to give me give me one second very quick uh on the law you just mentioned something very quick when it comes to minor change and she's very she was asking when a specific question and you indirectly give her the answer on that section of the law that you mentioned can you read it again what a minor change takes yes um Li I don't know if you can pull up pull up on uh yeah 760 CMR 12.0 three but got it but again there is no direct answer from the state which which which is all what we are all waiting for we all said we would love to see to be able to move forward because that's really the the debate between the L and the city council it's what's a major I mean even though we have the definition we have the renewal plan we have everything but ultimately as like attorney hoen says the they can come back and be like this is minor this is whatever and overrule everything that that we're discussing right now or thinking or believing so I I would have liked to see some type of answer I would would like to see further communication but I also understand why it was halted and I understand that you wanted to see how tonight progressed so thank you yeah we we we agreed to Halt the whole process because you you you wanted to have this meeting I thought that was the purpose and and in terms of the parking uh issues I mean what what we're seeking is is basically ideas for improving the parking right now you have surface uh parking lots that are not being maintained not being well managed not serving the community um I mean can one of them be converted into a parking garage um these are the types of things I think that we you know it's not my area of expertise on these things you you have probably have more expertise on that type of thing that I do so I think your feedback to the lra would be helpful and then of course we have recently uh We've recently published um uh requests for letters of interest on these so what we're now seeking is feedback from the community private investors developers um anyone with an interest in um participating in this process on on what can be done with some of these uh sites can can a can a parking garage be built uh will that be beneficial to the city um maybe other other uses uh instead of a parking garage but but I agree with you 100% that parking is a major issue we're not looking to take away parking we're looking to do something better with the parking sites that you have uh currently that are we we believe are are under utilized so thank you madam vice president there's a few things here that probably he will uh he'll be able to answer correctly for you um I have one last comment before before we get into that council president my last comment is pertaining to the presentation um through you council president my last comment going back to to the presentation that we that was just shown to us about housing how I kept hearing housing housing is needing housing housing this housing that I'm a huge advocate for affordable housing we don't have that enough of that what I've seen so far in the de in in the development area is that we keep saying yes to market rate housing when that's not really the need of our community however my district is a little different I do get comments and one one of the the the marac um paper site is is in my district and I know there is a huge opposition for housing in that area particularly because of traffic going to south to North specifically in that bridge area my most of my constituents that reach out to me do not agree with housing in that area um actually just two weeks ago or a week ago I was driving I live Mal Veron street I was driving from my house to city hall and it took me 30 minutes to get here so um I don't believe it's just housing housing housing like how I heard throughout the presentation and um my constituents so far have been very very loud and clear and I'm they're the ones who got me to the seat so that's where I stand with that specifically for the paper mill site thank you madam shair Madame vice president um there is there is one thing here uh uh uh carrian that you were mentioning that you were looking forward to have feedback from this body uh when it comes to uh the trans the when it comes to the the project when you guys proposed when the L proposed the property transfer uh back in 2023 uh the intent was was to get information as of what was going to be built and that uh that still haven't been provided uh even though to the state it was sent out a draft letter uh specifying a specific project and how those property were going to be used I think it will be uh a great opportunity to actually uh specify each project come in front of the city council through em uh 38223 to um uh develop those discussions come up with the discussions as of what the city needs uh and then incorporate uh uh the city through the city council perhaps in open and open uh public participation and P perhaps even a public hearing to hear the community out as of what we need and eventually down the road be able to approve a transfer of a specific property for a specific project but that was not the case when the when the when the item was proposed to us we have four letters um I mean we have one one item with um five six or five specific uh lines of um information and and essentially I believe that getting the opportunity to discuss this item here with the specific project that the it's going to be developed will help out the discussion uh when it comes to the city council actually approving this or people voting in favor or against uh that specific those specific projects but so far that haven't been um discussed council president if I may uh to answer that question first of all all I just wanted to clarify that the reason why uh we have held the process or the L board has held the process just for the record I would we would like to state your name and your position as of who you are I mean as of who you're representing today yes Octavian spanner I'm the executive director and SL Secretary of the L so the reason why there was not a uh and you were present when you us council president uh visited the uh uh attended the L meeting and it was one request in which the lra board agreed to come before you tonight to do a presentation we held the uh the meeting I forgot it was two three meetings ago April 8th upon your request the L board decided that it was a good idea to come before you and before we continue with our step in terms of with the state to to to you know to comply with your request in regards to the process and uh concerning the different activities that uh economic activities that we going to have at each property that's the reason why we're submitting a letter uh requesting a letter of interest of interested parties and to uh to present to the community exactly what they are proposing uh you do have a urban renewal plan that specifies uh the um you know the initial wishes of the community through a public participation and approval of the city council but remember that you do also have a uh we need to create a CI citizens advisory uh Committee in order once these proposals are presented to the city we can have open discussions and public hearings uh maybe shetes in which they can evaluate the uh CI uh citizen advisory committee I believe it consists of 25 individual uh our recommendation to the to is for it to be representative of the city city council there with two uh individuals from your District each one each nine uh Plus um uh other organizations that are working uh on this on this project uh like marinac Valley Planning Commission should be part of it as well and also uh Representatives I mean the mayor can appoint someone as well to be under the committee so it would be it's not as if this process is done and it's decisions are made unilaterally we are issuing the letter of interest uh I mean requesting the letter of interest then we will have a citizen advisory commission uh committee that would evaluate and then uh all the ideas as was proposed by the lra board would be presented to you as well and we can have a discussion uh to to see both what the experts in the field are saying what a citizens are saying and what uh you know the V the wishes of both uh uh the mayor's office as well as the city council let me see if I understand you correctly so you're saying that um there's going to be a a a letter off of intent coming for a specific project The Advisory uh board will review and then uh it will be presented uh to the city council um on item 38223 for the transfer of those specific properties for that specific project and then um a a a a vote possibly uh to transfer those property signed by the mayor and then continue with the project uh with the D transfers I mean is that what you what you tell we like to hear because when we did we we we submitted the request to you to council to get your involvement it was not vice versa we requested to you because we wanted the city council to be part of the decision making it was not this body it was the previous body so we did it correctly we came before you and we said we went to the housing committee there were questions that were asked we prepare a document that was submitted through the chair through the council uh answering all all the questions I believe the city clerk Madam city clerk do you you have it was presented to you with all the questions uh the after the the questions were submitted to you obviously uh there's other laws also on the books and the ones are like uh attorney uh Tim hooton said the L is a quasi public it's a it's a it's a city we called it the city department but it's a city agency created by you this body and uh so when there are City properties within that boundary and within that is within the urban renewal plan the law specifically says that the uh that they can be transferred automatically to where in the law uh the exemption on 30b exemption of 30b that's different that's that's that's everybody everybody's understanding but we just want to find Common Ground as of where we can actually work together and not actually going through an executive order and transfer those property through there so that's basically the cliche yeah councilor president that's the reason why we came before you through the L initially to have these discussions unfortunately it was during an election year uh a couple of months before and things have changed but now it's not here or there there's a request before this that the city council has made through you that you went before uh the lra board the L board and please the members are here acknowledge that request yeah and as far as I understand we held everything to come before the council and discuss what's what's happening I think that moving forward you know we can't we're not going to develop these properties we're gonna we're going to ask for input from the council we're going to ask input from the constituents within each individual counselor's area and we're going to go out and we're going to ask people to put their money in and develop these properties we don't have the money to improve the parking we have to we have to go out we have to find and see if these are marketable in that way so this has been the plan I mean through the L to implement this plan that was put in place in 2017 uh for a number of reasons we haven't moved forward and we're trying to move forward at this point yes um um Mr uh Mr Walker is that means that since we are coming back to what originally was proposed is that mean that the executive order signed by the mayor and by you will be withdraw to the for the transfer of those deed to the L not as far as I know I mean I thought that in our advice from Council was that we were going according to the law did you hear what the City attorney says I did and that's not that's not everything basically lots of lawyers have opinions so until someone says that wasn't the proper way it's two lawyers saying that there's not right one of them is is the L attorney and the other one is the City attorney they're both so that means that we're going to have to if we have difference of opinion when it comes to the attorney we're going to have to have somebody else coming and tell us what's right and what's wrong you could okay councilor any questions in regard to this matter Council l plant first as the Cur I like Mr spanner was mid-sentence I do want to hear what he has to say and then I'll ask my questions once again uh council president just uh before uh councelor uh Le plant coun Council um I want to hear what he has to say and then I'll ask my questions in in in in closing of this part is we come before you what we want to do is compromise that's basically how it is we don't want to go out having a city divided so we want to come before you like we did before the L came before you with a presentation with a with a proposed plan and now we would like to uh see if we can reach Common Grounds yes but in the meantime you have an executive order that is been transferring the properties while we speaking well not now because you guys took a vote not to accept those deed yes give me just just to answer so his entertainment give me one minute Mr I will recognize you in a second I'll recognize in one second um we have those uh executive order that was signed and and the council is not voting on those properties according to the city attourney we need to follow what the city advice and and that's based on previous records so I just saying we not compromising here because there is not the city council involvement so I don't know how ccil plan thank you council president so uh just a few random all over the place kinds of questions lra received some monies I believe funding from the city council through an appropriation transfer how much money was that it was a total of 2.5 million so city council is supporting the L and its Mission as a matter of fact has provided $2.5 Million worth of funding to do it I think that's frankly a very very very good faith uh support for an organization that had very little money and was scraping and scrapping and frankly was dysfunctional or was out out of commission for a while so I I just want to make sure council president that we we we make mention that that I think as an institution I think this council's already spoken with the per with the with the with the purse book and has already provided the money that the mayor requested for that I happen to think that the LA is a fantastic organization that is so capable of doing tremendous things in our city and I'm a huge supporter of the L because I think that it holds a lot of promise and things that this Council as it says in the memos that were written by your chairman your current chairman today there are certain things that can be done with the expertise that the lra has that I think uh provides Great Value to not only to government but to the residents of the city so I just want to start off with with those those things because I I want to be supportive we also have heard this evening however and I think the council president has been drilling on this for the last bit which is we've got an opinion from the city attorney and we've also are hearing from we also are hearing from Potential from the chairman who says that he's having a difference of opinion from the city attorney as to whether or not a a transfer of property requires um requires city council approval um I'm of the mindset that I'm going to be listening to our our Council on that I think this the council makes perfect sense as to any other kind of disposition of properties it goes through the city council that is the that is the very nature and the mission of of a part of our core of the city council is what we do um and so I I I I I subscribe to what that opinion the opinion that was offered by the City attorney I so whether it's major or minor and I have concerns about that too but I think the first threshold the very first threshold there two thresholds the first threshold is to determine whether or not and I think I've already expressed to you what I my belief is whether or not it has to go before the council then we go to threshold number two is a major or minor because if it's threshold number one and it's the console everything's running through here everything right if it's if it's if it's not and the mayor is able to do it then I think we go to Major versus minor if it's minor you pretty much have got whatever you want to do I mean if you wanted to go forward on it if it's a minor you don't have to go before the council you just do when I say you I mean the L does what the l wants to do if you decide if they the state decides that it's a major I believe that would then have to come back to the council it needs to go through a public hearing I mean public participation again as well as this public participation and so there's two steps public participation and then I'm presuming not only does it have to do that but then the actual disposition of the property must come from the city council as was articulated by the City attorney so I believe that takes place in the language from the your your your your chair who's very eloquent he was the the tone of it now an argumentative tone but the tone of it was we are going to empower you city council to be members of what we're going to Grant you to be we don't have to do this but because we want to do this because we want to be together on this we want to bring you in um it's almost like we're trying to give you the all of Lea and we're saying no you're not the all of we're we're the ones that make the call you're not giving us anything you're not giving us or granting us Authority The Authority is already vested in the city council so I just I guess I don't know where we're going to be going with this but let me drill with the question the question is on Major versus minor I want to find out inside the document because as I understand it and reading and and I've read it quickly but I've I was on the vote in 2016 I voted in favor of this in 2016 can you shed some light or can somebody shed some light as to whether or not housing is a part of the 20 urban renewal plan I would have consult to answer was I meant 197 this Great War was going on but I meant 207 Mr car before Mr car answer I would like to just make a comment uh councelor through the chairperson sure the when the mayor brought his budget before you in terms of our funding uh which was the previous Council but now we have this Council uh the council requested for the expenditure of arpa funding that the that the mayor would present uh a plan to you when the mayor presented the plan uh that came before you it entails specifically activities and what they were going to be used for spe specifically the $2.5 million that was going to be used by through the lra the expenditure so it was not predes sented the to requesting only a $2.5 million but is also it was tied to specific activities within the document so I just wanted to clarify for that about that because that that tells you exactly what the what the lra board is working on Mr car councilor yes uh the plan does speak to housing in in many different sections of the plan uh however it is not specific in terms of any particular property or site that that must be used for housing so but housing is is is is certainly a a goal it it's listed as a goal it's part of the vision it's part of the strategies so the answer your question is yes and not to not to be argumentative so my understanding was that when the L back in that iteration moved this forward through the various 40 different meetings 300 people or whatever the ratio was that they were really focusing on economic development in those corridors and less interested in the Housing section I think this is why you made the passion of uh presentation where you said this is outdated you said we need mix use we need more people is what you said to us during the presentation because that's going to be the engine by which the economic development occurs right I believe that's what you said so you want to see a change because if if that was truly a part of the plan you wouldn't see a change you would you would just accept it as it is but clearly the plan doesn't have it like you think or as you want it to be because you want to make some fun fundamental systemic changes to this plan because it doesn't reflect 10 years ago and by the way I believe the arc according to the plan is 20 years so uh this plan that was adopted in 2016 or 17 has a 20-year Arc to it so we so we're still very early I mean we're not we're maybe at the halfway point this was ratified in 2017 what year are we now 2024 so we're less than halfway through thank thank you Council I I agree with you but if I you don't mind I respond thank thank you um I agree with what what you said and the the issues around housing around economic Prosperity sustainability are certainly foundational in the 2016 2017 plan what I see in from an objective point of view before I was a paid consultant to the lra and looking at this plan is the effective implementation and when I put that slide up there with the question marks it was a loaded statement yeah nothing's happened nothing it is a requirement in your plan that every year that there is a review of the strategy implementation all right and it doesn't take much to do this review because nothing has happened none of these strategies have been effectively implemented so to me I understand that there's this difference of opinion about the mayor transferring Properties or not transferring properties you know what it's like a psychiatrist would tell you this is your crisis today but this is nearly not the crisis the crisis is the implementation of the future of your downtown in this city all right and you need to pardon me I would respectfully say that the city needs to move on to effectively implementing the viable parts of the plan that were passed in 2017 update the plan and come up with new strategies for implementation Mr add and thank you I appreciate the explanation let me just add that stantek which is who you mentioned or part of the team I believe if I read the report correctly stantech was part of the team that presented the 2017 report that the council president submitted or sent to all of us so they they're still members and I guess they must have found a religion somewhere because now apparently they've changed their view about how we should develop as a city because this is what was presented to us seven years ago and now things apparently just for the record counselor stantech was like the fourth consultant Sub sub subc consultant if you will this plan was not put together by stantech they played a very minor role and so I I this is not something that I would say is a stantech plan that was created in 2017 okay I'm not criticizing the plan from 2017 I think it's a it's a solid basis what I'm concerned about is was what has happened post plan and nothing has happened post plan I I hear the big picture the smaller picture we wouldn't be in this pickle right now if this plan was more precise if the plan said in 2017 that there's going to be a transfer of property the miramac paper and the three of the properties on Common Street and the one on Essex and blah blah if the plan had that specificity in Isa City councelor who was sitting over there right with the council president vice president at the time was sitting there at that time you know my vote would probably be somewhat different but that was not what was presented to this city council it's just like your lra we're just in a different iteration of it but we're still the city council and that's still the L but that's what was submitted to the council back in 201617 and so that's where many of us H hung our hat on because if anybody's been listening to me over the last X number of years you know my position on housing in the city yeah you it's you know I may be way out there but I I agree with a lot of counselor infant's constituents I may have called her up and said hey stop it with this miramac page of thing but um so no but but but the point here is is that is that there was an understanding and a Reliance on the information that was provided for us at that time and it has it so let me ask you this question so as we're looking at trying to provide what you believe would be a very good Catalyst for positive change in the City of Lawrence an economic boom right and you're providing all that stuff I'm going to go back to housing can you in I've yet to see anybody with a number and it's the first time I'm asking this question publicly do you have an understanding as to what is a a good level of a population in our city that we can handle and be vibrant and and Thrive is there is there a Target number that we says man after you go over this number it it's it's you're diminishing your returns you're going to be more negatively impactful but up to there you got a sweet spot you've got X number of growth has anybody done that analysis what we're about to do right now if we say we have no control over this and this goes right to the L there's going to be a lot more there's going to be a lot more housing so the question is has there been any thought about what that number is I have not done that analysis and I haven't seen it done for Lawrence but certainly that would be part of the work that we would do moving forward for this de action plan plan that we're proposing the major am Amendment if I can comment on that though it's like if if if you saw in the newspaper the other day or the news major woo in Boston mayor woo excuse me mayor woo in Boston talked about projection of 40,000 new jobs coming to Boston over the next five years or 10 years all right that's 40,000 more people that will be in Boston my immediate reaction was not to celebrate that my immediate reaction is that means that 40,000 more Highly Educated people highay in jobs that going to push the residential neighborhoods either further away all right in terms of the affordability issue so that speaks directly to what you just brought up counselor I would say there is a certain threshold that creates economic pressure on the existing residents so the balance is here how do you grow a downtown how do you create a viable downtown yeah we want to bring in the Millennials and the high-tech folks and all of those but to what extent do we balance that with the the needs of the vast majority of the people in Lawrence who are struggling paycheck to paycheck right that's a fine Balancing Act and that's why the need is so urgent for specificity as you said and I agree with you 100% there was not enough specificity in the SE 2017 plan it created and what we call an action plan is going to be based on specificity it will deal with issues as how much growth is too much and what is the negative impact of growth that can have on existing residents I don't have that answer to that I'm not sure if anybody in this room has the answer but we we collectively we collectively need to do that and I think that's my point we don't have the answer to that question because no one's done that research and maybe with a 2.5 million maybe that would be a good place to spend some of that money to see if we're really going to be doing Redevelopment Authority and we're really going to be adding housing that would be a good that would be a good barometer as to how much more we should if at all and then you can make your argument uh Mr artavian you have an answer for Council of BL yes you council president we have submitted uh as a matter of before yesterday was for the uh for the study for the development appraisal that includes the the market as now now uh Mr Octavian now that you mention appraisal uh there is something on the plan that is it will be added to the record that refer to the appraisal so once you finish we would like to read something and and I would like to make another comment um recently and I think you are aware as legislators this body that um do act is a subject that has been spoken about oh my yes okay toact and I don't know if the council is very uh Lawrence is being targeted oh okay I'm with you go ahead Lawrence is being targeted so we if we have concerns it's about affordability affordable housing that we don't want housing uh we need housing we need a balanced housing and that's what we have always said a balanced housing housing meaning balance between housing uh commercial retail uh for us to have and and Workforce Development but Lawrence is being Target for shelters for homeless as well as uh migrants you don't have that power to say no you can send a letter to the state but this body nor anybody nor the mayor has the power to do it and right now we have two requests applicants that are want more shelters in the City of Lawrence I want you to make that aware so if we don't have Redevelopment in the city and other affluent Comm communities they're saying that their property value is too high so where are these shelters going so we don't have development in the city that's what's going to happen to Lawrence unfort fortunately want to really my time council president I I just want to I want to bring it back to my my first point which is I want a vibrant strong lra I was the lra chairman for 10 years I understand the possibilities that were able to go through that I think other members of the council have been on the L as well and I think and and we have alums as well who are now in the state legislature who are on the L so there's plenty of Goodwill and people who are supportive through you Mr President of what the mission is and but it's just the details of getting to that point that's the point that I think that I'm hearing from the council president and perhaps others on this on on the council thank you uh thank you councelor plant um any other counselors that would like to ask questions before I go to the second round of questioning council president yeah Council Council m a question but um I want to make it very clear and I think it's safe to say that all of us in this in this chamber we are for click I I'm I'm holding it down it's green mhm oh okay we are for seeing the city progress and prosper and flourish we want to see the mixed use we want to see more um I would P personally love to see our own loop our own tusin Village um I concur with uh our Madam Vice chair and saying saying how you know I do agree that uh you know housing is an amazing um topic to touch on but I don't see how it's reflecting to the needs of the residents in our community and how developers when they come into our community to buy up these Parcels do they keep their promise in um in actually helping the residents that actually need affordable housing um my my main concern is that developers come in and they want a high return in their investment and in order to do that they focus on Residential Properties and being able to rent out these units because it's a guarantee uh you know it's a guarantee profit as opposed to taking a chance on this city in creating uh an amazing Workforce uh development in creating a a strong Economic Development within our community uh by create you know opening up businesses and helping entrepreneurs and wanting to invest within our community we're not I don't I don't see how we are uplifting uh the people within our community to invest in our community um so with that being said um I was reading uh Eric Walker's I I was seeing your your correspondence and I was seeing how within this correspondence you were explaining why it would be best for the lra to to um oversee the transfer uh of these of these parcels and in in one of the sections it is stating how due to the fact that you are an independent body um but it's because of that Independence that concerns me um the independence of the fact that um I'm concerned with the privatization of these Parcels um CU I believe when you you came up at the mic you said the city doesn't have the money to be able to develop all these Parcels um what was that correct so now I my question to you is then what is the proposal if the city doesn't have the money then what is the proposed plan on how uh the development of all these Parcels how would that what would that look like how would that take place and then I would I'm I'm going to end my my little speech by saying that you know each one of us uh here having a seat as as a counselor we have been elected by our constituents to be a representative and a voice uh for the residents in our prospective district and each district has its own challenges um that require different solutions where one District it may be great to see uh additional Residential Properties versus maybe my district and District B it it would be amazing to see more of that Economic Development uh being uh heavily focused on which is why um seeing that a lot of the questions that councilor plant was making is the questions that he was asking is why I now I'm intrigued in in proposing that this is the reason why the city council the the city council has to have a say and have to have an opinion as to what would happen what what is going to be the project the proposed plan planned for each one of these Parcels yeah I don't think that we've privatized any so Walker yes you my response if you have an answer for that um the L is going to be basically a holding for these properties that are underperforming in our opinion um you know I live here I bought property here I need it to prosper I need it to improve or I'm I'm in a world of trouble I've invested in a very personal and absolute way to this city and I think that the L has been seeded with $2.5 million we are on a timeline and we've answered the city council one called we've held up our process when asked to okay and we have to go and we have to organize these properties and Market them to developers and then once we get proposals from these developers we have to then go to the city council mayor the constituencies to approve what's going to be right for the city going forward so I think that um it's very important as if this be a safe city which it was not when I moved here uh property values are up but they're not up in line with methan and Andover which they should be we have a beautiful downtown we have historical buildings here we have a rich history going back to the manufacturing core of this of this country so I think the discussion is how do we move forward with these properties you know how are they de it so it's appropriate who has the I when we started this process I thought according to the development plan that the transfer would be appropriate in as much as getting development in the city you know the L is not going to develop these properties we can't we're going to get developers here and then then we're going to go out and we're going to look at their plan and approve the proper plan moving forward so okay um if you don't mind giving an example with one of these Parcels there's going to be an RFP process um and with this RFP process uh a developer would purchase this parcel like no no they can't purchase the they have to be there has to be an approval so I need you to I need I I I need it I need you to break it down for me as to what what does that what would it entail what does it look like through you council president the councelor the um first of all I wanted to add of how these properties are going to be the the purpose of the lra is to seek uh different financing me mechanisms to leverage resources and within that that document it says and explains uh if I'm not mistaken that what what the L can do versus the city council the lra has the potential in having also leveraging municipal bonds just like Mass development just to simple simplify it in terms of the of the process uh it was like I explained before for we are requesting letters of interest and and once we obtain the letter with two site visits uh so we can have a meeting with um developers depending on the amount of people that are coming coming in developers and investors on May 8th and the 13th during that meeting uh or before uh the meeting we already posted the the we advertised the the request for letter of interest it's on the city website as well and it's being published at the American uh Planning Association and urban planning Institute as recommended by our consultants for us to to um to reach out to to as much other developers as we can once we obtain the after the meeting we will have them look at the urban renewal plan because that document is the guiding document M as to what the pre the the the people have have decided I'll they say the people meaning uh the lra that prepared the plan with public participation with the approval of the city council and the blessing as well from the den mayor and that document is the guiding document that would explain what the wishes of the community was obviously uh we are still in the process and this was process of amendment we're going to move forward with it tomorrow we had the this meeting tonight and we will continue with with the process because the plan has already been approved so the plan from 2017 that was approved by the city was prepared by the L approved by the city council and and approved by the city uh um by the state we are going to move forward with that project if there's any Amendment the request is to make certain amendments in the in the meantime if we get a response uh through a letter of interest from the different developers then what we're going to do is we're going to issue an RFQ based on that document the T TBD that is called the urban renewable plan once we have the developers presenting their proposal based on that document we're going to have a citizen advisor committee consisting of 25 individual that will participate in a in a uh in let let me call it l sherette uh or a public hearing organized by the the lra so we can get community input as required and it's recommended in that document as well once we have that information what the L was suggesting is to bring it before you that was the whole purpose last year it was not this body but it was the previous uh uh not the same members but the previous uh city council that was explained to them that we were coming back to you and present the findings both in terms of the amendment what was proposed by the by the developers the opinion and remarks and opinion of the public or the citizen advisory uh committee and then present that to you thank you Mr spanis any other questions we have something for the record that we would like to read uh and that's that's that's yes we're going to read something on the on the urban on the urban renewal plan for the record and then uh we go from there and then we I go back to you um Madame CLA do you mind reading um section four or part of the section four of the urban renewal plan sure this is um in section four it's 4.1 subsection a it talks about property acquisition permitting and development actions it reads the L is considering acquiring four categories of parcels over time Parcels by purchase or donation for Street improvements Parcels currently owned by the City by purchase or direct transfer Parcels that are in or anticipated to be in the tax title process undertaken by the city for Parcels with significant tax leans one or more privately owned Parcels on Essex Street for a catalyst project as defined in Section 3 objectives prior to acquisition the L must conduct an appraisal of the property 760 CMR 12.04 requires two appraisals for acquisition this plan would be amended by a major Plan update and the initial appraisal must be included in the updated materials no appraisals are included in this urban renewal plan as no properties have been identified for acquisition the current assessed value as determined by the city is shown in figure 1-9 c section 1 characteristics so with that said Madame CLA um uh there was a conversation before saying that properties were transferred uh through a vote when the vote was taken back in 2016 and on section four of the plan it's specified that no property has been uh acquired um on that plan [Music] um uh councelor Rees uh to you Mr President H just a comment uh because I see a lot of concern about affordable housing I want to express I do yeah uh I want to express because I'm be a part uh through different community meeting for the last five years the affordable housing is a need uh every resident be a part is does a matter what topic we bring to the meeting uh they mention we want to see more affordable housing we want to see more housing development in our community because when we have some development and we have some a community meeting in the people attending uh we have for example uh 20 apartment uh open or already to the people apply but we receive and we see the people there are to asking for their application yes more the the 100 people at the same time asking for one application for find out uh affordable housing uh I think we need to uh uh describe what is that mean for the development uh what is that mean affordable housing for them because I know they need to do a combine the affordable housing and Market race but uh I want to mention that uh affordable housing is is the need in our community thank you councelor Rees any other the councelors before we go to the second round of CC president yes counc leevy um I don't know who can answer me the question but uh I just hear that the L has to sell all the properties what C do do you mind repeating the question I couldn't hear you if every any property has to be sell by the L or they can keep it and develop the property so if we transfer the property to the L can they sell the property that's what you're asking yeah they have to sell the property they cannot keep it by so oav Mr span uh through you council president the to answer councelor Levy's question there's different development agreements that could be reached once the L uh owns the property one it could be sold or you can you can uh work a development agreement in which the property could be leased for let's say a 100 years or depending it could be let's say if the developer wants two properties or they are budding properties then that could be one could be leased or one could be sold correct me if I'm wrong uh Mr Caris correct me if I'm wrong okay so I'm I stand correct so the but there are two properties and that's why I call Frank where's Frank because you participated in the meeting as well recently we had a it was not a legal opinion but we had a meeting uh in regards to the tumbarello site uh you know both tarell site as well as the marac paper site uh there's funds that are being used uh I think federal dollars as well as State dollars to clean up the property those two properties to my understanding and I want that clarification in which once those two properties are cleaned the city cannot be remain in control of those property they need to be sold um clean by who uh coun Levy the city of L has been cleaning those two property for the last eight years yes or more ccil president I know that it's been cleaning you know but who is cleaning is the city of La who's cleaning the property or is uh s state department the city of lam is been cleaning the property City Tom is not introduce yourself economic development director city of lawrence6 mar Street um tarell is was is what's considered a brown field site which is a contaminated site which means that if we were to sell tarello right now to any developer they don't have exempt status that means they would have the time will start taking for them to remediate the site as quickly as humanly possible city has that that privilege if the city at any point starts selling off pieces of torello the city loses exempt status and the city is going to be liable to start remediating the site as as you as quickly as human possible that's why trans Baro is still within the remediation we have agencies that are right now looking at the remediation site and REM remediation is not just removing or contaminated land is um capping contaminated land and redeveloping contaminated land so we're looking at what actually can go on the site of Torell um no housing um yeah but industrial site um it is important to recognize that for the tber site to be added to the properties going to the L that's that should be a major Amendment so and that's not that's not part of the proposal right now yes I I I understand that tombarello is going to be a major uh major plan that has to be done in there but you mention something that when it's clean can no be housing in there no the contamination tomaro is too high for for public he for any kind of practically the same way than Marone and R3 that area that was contaminated and after a couple of years ago yeah the Oxford paper site huh the Oxford paper the yes that area that that was converted in parking and so the the the site you're looking at is is where the old test center is for Co um so the site that Council ly is talking about is the actual you see where the parking lot so that's called a cap that means that underneath that is is contaminated land so you don't have any development on top of that the moment that's opened up now we have to remediate the the land that means we have to you don't know what's under there but you going to have to clean it all the way till you get to levels of of um cleanness unless it's parking unless it's parking um but that's that's still within the same but this is what it is right now practically well you know yes it's parking so if you want to build a garage there you can but you have to build up you can't build on top of that particular area where it is um housing that's where the housing is and the old so this is the same problem that is going to happen right now in the tomaro side that's what we're working to remediate that but there's no p no kind of housing going in the tarella site so can be using for parking don'tk we looking for industrial indust create it into industrial site to in order to attract new businesses into the City of Lawrence but remediation is the first key step before we do anything and that's looking at what the contaminates are it's high as you can see on the site so there's two sites the green site is the big area and that's the most contaminated site on the tumber site and the front right there still has contaminants but is the less contaminated site on the tber Resto so it's two large parts um so what we're looking to see was what kind of businesses we could put there after remediation somebody made a comment about parking this will be a good spot where we could put on a a parking garage as well but we have to look what industries we have within the city that need to expand or what kind of business we want to attract but the first step before anything is some of the reation to get the levels to a proper level levels for we can um develop and then on top of that the second part of remediation is Redevelopment and is where we cap contaminated soil and how we do the development around the area to you Mr President after the remediation can we build uh parking in there correct and over the park can we build housing too no no no no housing at all not in this site no on that site no all right thank you you we could bring businesses there we could make a um multi-level garage but what we can't do there and that just the green area both the whole both sides do you highlight the other side too what we can't do in either one of those sites is develop hous cannot it's very sad that's in that big space we canot be able to make it not not housing on that lot uh thank you councelor leev any other councelors councel Infante thank you it's been a while since going back to um what Mr carus Mr cars made an interesting um statement about he he said that it would be a crisis if we don't take action on this Redevelopment plan um ultimately and this and this is uh a concern that I have expressed to the administration when the Redevelopment plan and all this conversation started the actual crisis is is what's to come in 20 30 50 years um it's not whether or not we take action on this it's not it's not the threat well part of it is a thriving City but in actuality the crisis that we're going to face if we don't do this right is the foundation of our city we currently cannot we do not have the bandwidth to address emergencies appropriately we do not have adequate police we do not have adequate um fire departments emergencies all of that and that's that's that's the reality of it I I see someone shaking their head that's the reality of it um our foundation has cracks and the more we add to this foundation without addressing the foundational structure structure the more we have to deal with in the future um secondly another comment that was made I kept hearing that we need to bring in Millennials we need to bring in Millennials there's been an emphasis throughout these conversations these debates about bringing in other people we're not focusing on our people that are here um I see people shaking their heads but I am reiterating or rephrasing what I've been hearing another thing um actually I'm going to end theirs cuz I see people shaking their heads and I and I want to I want to give a I I I want to give an opportunity if someone wants to you know anybody would like to answer those those uh those questions uh counil councel vice president infant you might continue thank you so as a bill of myself with only H only being 30 years old um I know I speak for the Millennials that I I I want to clarify coun car I mean U Mr cars um Council infant you have the floor thank you I'm sorry I thought you were finished go ahead I I speak for the Millennials that currently live in our city and they say to me the ones that least speak to me is that they're tired of seeing the city focusing on bringing people from the outside in and not and not focusing on advancing the people that we already have here we are seeing um another thing actually go ahead go ahead m i I want to hear from Mr Caris go ahead carus you you have the you have the opportunity to answer thank you council president thank you counselor for your comment um I want to clarify though I said one of the things I said is the national Trend in terms of the revitalization of downtowns or the future economic viability of down downtowns is being able to serve the needs of what is rapidly changing economy in this country in terms of people live working out of their homes and it's a thinking industry in terms of Technology Etc how rence wants to take advantage of that is determined within the action plan that we're proposing to do so there's not a predetermination that you must Chase Millennials to move the downtown I I was trying to share what was going on from a national thinking relativ this but second and and I'm a little bit surprised the the total emphasis from the beginning to the middle to the end of my presentation was talking about equity and inclusion Equity inclusion and for the residents I will not be involved with something that is not have that as a fundamental value and my understanding from the L from the members of The L for the staff is they are totally committed to making sure whatever takes place is to the benefit first of the residents of this city if that means bringing in other people in terms of economic uplifting if that's part of the strategy that's great but that has to be determined through the planning process that planning process would include the public would include the citizens advisory Council as well as certainly the city council and your approval because what moving forward can't happen without your approval that's the major Amendment part so I appreciate it and I'm agreement with you thank you Council infant you have the floor I I would like to hear what advisor SP Mr President through you councelor Infante uh I respect respectfully disagree with some of the the uh the statements we are all aware that we have individuals living in basement in the city of La we know that it's because they can't find housing some of them are they can't find affordable cuz we have housing we have plenty of hous we have some housing I still have the floor and he's he's adding oh thank you uh we have housing but we don't have affordable housing we've been focused on market rate housing for the past few years in the City of Lawrence again we have many people looking they they can't fight housing in in lawence they cannot we know that through the department of Planning and Development we interact with them on a regular basis even when there's fire we're trying to find places to relocate families and we have to take them out so I will again respectfully disagree with that stat statement we have people living in in basements basements right now and I know the figure is around $800 to $900 our young younger population in LS and professional are seeking to live elsewhere because they're leave living whether with friends they're sharing uh rooms or they're living with their parents what we're trying to do is since these are City prop owned properties we we have the the power to leverage and we can demand certain affordability and it's part of the plan that's the reason why the name Equity is within the the the project so can you can you share the specifics of that so we can have it on the record what what what is the L demanding in terms of affordable housing with these properties well remember that the the city council we we look at not only at the plan but also decisions that the city council has have made you voted on an overlay district and that's marry ma Valley I believe uh great alarms Community Action Council had a has a plan to to uh build affordable housing uh on marry ma Street where Mr Tux is how many units I forgot how many units 9 98 units with a mixed use development because the mayor has met with them to speak speak about the plan to have Smart growth and smart growth now considers more than ever a balanced development where you don't have too many housing Mr span but you also have commercial Mr span just a point of information there uh that overlay allow housing under an a special permit only correct but it allows it under special permit which means that it it will be an stud behind it before that a specific permit is submitted and approve it correct I just want to put that up for the record council president through you and Council vice president inant to comment um I believe that's one of two affordable housings within the last year compared to a list of almost 20 properties that could that could help actual individuals that are from the city of Len I cannot afford to live in the city of Lawrence um of all ages and we hear every district is different every District's needs is different but we did hear from a city at large counselor that that is a topic that she's always hearing um so my My Hope Is that when we go through this process if this process goes through um that this that the L takes a strong stand on that and not not um just say okay to these developers and whatever um but to to really put the needs of the city first because I think I think there's a disconnect from the people that those people that are living in basement that can only afford $800 I mean I know people that work for the city that cannot afford the rent that's the reality we do not need more market rate housing we need more affordable housing in this city counc infant thank you for your part to your participation now um I guess that uh uh director of Economic Development huh the Director of Business and economic business and economic development I probably have an answer for you I one I totally agree with um Council Andante we need to make make sure we keeping our people especially our young people in the City of Lawrence one of the things that we also have to remember is Lawrence is a MBTA community so we have to make sure we are providing affordable housing to to be within the NBTA Community Law and make sure we don't lose our funding for for housing in the state um and counselor Selena Reyes counc fonte made great points about what is Affordable um one of many hats I do wear I chaired a housing authority and we looking at what it is what we consider to be affordable we need to make sure that we're making affordable completely affordable that is by making sure we're doing public private Partnerships but holding any developer that's coming in especially in some of these sites accountable to make sure that they're Meeting those those demands and that could be something that's put in the Deep restriction as well but we got to remember that we have to also make sure we meeting state law when it comes to MBTA communities uh um Mr Francis um M Mr Francisco just for that uh for that uh for transparency do you do you work for the L I do not I work for the City of Lawrence yes office of Planning Development yeah I want to make sure that that because I mean Mr Mr spanner have two functions uh and I want to make sure that if you do to State for the record as well council president as I mentioned before and also publicly during the the lra meetings city lra employees or city employees there's no difference we are special Municipal Employees correct me if I'm wrong there you go and City attorney htin L employees are are special Municipal EMP employees correct okay so purposes of just just just one thing at the time one other time for the purposes of the conflict of interest law what uh the lra has done right now because the funds that that the city council approved which was mentioned by by councelor uh Mark llant was to dedicate those funds to all the activities that are part of that of the of the urban renewal plan uh as common practice with all uh lras that are beginning you have city employees that would provide dedicate a portion of the 100% of time that they have in this case would be 25% that is dedicated to the L the service of the LR so who are those people oh it's uh the name of list would be uh myself uh the current director of Planning and Development the Francis director of Economic Development San Francisco you part of it right yeah yeah it's portion of the time is dedicated to I mean that was was my question so you part of the employee you employee by the by the L as well paid not paid no you're employee of the L as well I mean portion of his time is is through the to the L he's a city employee in which his portion of his time like it is common practice and allowable by law to work a portion of their time to implement a plan that has been approved by the city council and the state and the L no you just want to make sure like we disclose that for the record because that's important for the public to know yes it is it is uh it it it has been I have said it publicly as well it's documented when the question was raised uh we have our uh do you mind do you mind sending the council a list of every employee that have dedicated the portion of their time to by the way just for the record they may have requested that this document that the uh inwriting to the City attorney as well as HR I don't know since when since last year I believe the mayor yeah more or less last year thank you uh no for the purpose of discussion that's that's because originally when we start talking you dis those your position and uh if anybody around that have the same type of um um configuration within the employee it's good to have it for the rec um anybody else C plan this so one I can't help myself I'm sorry housing and I'm going to make this quick and then I'm going to get out so housing is a regional issue it's not just a Lawrence issue to think that we have to saddle ourselves as a city to deal with the entire housing issue in the region is preposterous to me so lowincome housing moderate income Market Market I don't care what the housing is we are a part of a of a of a Massachusetts Eastern miramac Valley whatever you want to call it and it's not just us it's it's a bunch of it's a bunch of communities that have got to step up there are communities all around us that are not stepping up as they should as they should and they must for affordable housing we have done we have done our we have done very well I think for affordable housing in the City of Lawrence Way Beyond any of the metrics that the state requires us to do so we are I just wanted to throw that out there that I I don't I don't feel burdened I don't feel as an elected official I don't feel burdened that I have to continue to produce more housing because you know something the very people we're representing my fear is their quality of life is suffering I don't care where where you are in the city if you got so many people that's jamming our school systems and our traffic 30 minutes it took the council vice president to come here for a regular night and that story compounds asthma rates are high throughout the city are we have resident parking throughout this we're going to go through this whole crisis of Resident parking because no one can park their cars Mr Corgan was speaking on behalf of a client the other day about about a her street project in my district where they're going to put how many 40 potentially 40 2 units in the right where the where where the relief's in where the old over there and the neighbors there are aped like what are you doing and and they are they are concerned so it's not just District D it's District F and I presume there are other areas to they're concern so I can't help myself I had to throw that out there but here's what I wanted to council I don't know where we're going with this so can you kind of give us a road map as to where we're going because I we got the presentation we all got our points in I've I've got some responses back I feel like I'm more knowledgeable now thank you so where are we going the intent of this meeting was to um as a request of a couple of city councellors that uh were asking for the L to come in front of us to reintroduce the plant from 200 uh uh 16 and and uh 16 December 16 and then approved by the state in 17 um to get to understand more the plan and there for be more knowledgeable about the the item that we have in front of us which is the item 38223 the transfer of the real estate property uh from the city of Len to the Len Redevelopment Authority with that said uh I I believe that um we are very clear uh when it comes to uh difference of opinion agreeable opinions and uh and all the things that we looking for within the plan I believe that there is Common Ground uh within this topic um having an opportunity to discuss this per project uh and be able to allow the opportunity to the city council to uh vote on the transfer of the properties as per our City attorney just stated uh and and I believe that the mayor should be on board with the city council when it comes to this plan uh and not necessarily uh signing at n security order to um to produce and transfer those property without the city council's approval um this is the intent once we actually U get to to talk about what what what we have in front of us which is the transfer of the property uh we be more than happy to talk about that uh by all means uh each property each each plan and the intents of the plan to see if we can we can agree upon since uh it could be a difference of opinion but since the plan didn't didn't allow any acquisition uh during when uh when it was approved uh we should we here to to actually discuss this and be able to develop a an advanced conversation regarding to the transfer of the properties or perhaps it could be that the council do not want to entertain uh this motion and uh withraw the item that those those are options that the city council have I believe that we shouldn't go that way I think that we should keep it uh here and and open the discussion up but understanding the importance of each of the bodies the city council uh portion of the of of the transfer of the properties and as well as the mayor's office transfer of the properties that's the intent I move alone what the city council desire we we did in combination with that late uh members uh here present we did what the city council want uh members of the city council which is basically having this informational section about the urban renewal plan Council Lon thank you coun president my understanding is that um Mr SP visor uhan Spiner made a um a comment about the major uh willing to withdraw no no he okay work together no as a matter of fact what that uh they they I asked that and and they say no no okay however council president I like to make a uh based on the conversation tonight I think it went pretty well I I didn't feel there was no tension that was was basically because I can speak on behalf of the the board they came here nobody knew what was going to happen and I think it was very civil I I think it was uh something that we can this is a new city council we had a previous city council that we started with but it was during an election it was kind of difficult uh my recommendation to to the uh to the body uh to the city council uh is to for us to table the item let's wait for the um the response that the L would submit so now we can move forward we could submit the minor Amendment and also initiate with the major Amendment correct and then but we in terms of the the minor Amendment we will submit it to the state get a response from the state once we have a response from the state then we will uh bring that to your attention or bring it to the attention as a as a committee report I don't know if the mayor's report L report and then we can um untable it again and then move progressively as the but however the process would not continue we still have the RF uh the the letter of interest then at that time we can say how many how many response we receive uh what were the comments uh all of that and we can create a citizen in the meantime um when we untable the the uh agenda item uh you will have an opport opportunity to whether adopt accept that the the committee of uh the citizen advisory committee we will inform you that you know we created and give you the opportunity to select or present two candidates from each district perfect the intent is great but the reality is another one the reality is that we have an executive order that is currently signed by the mayor and the the the the space of uh us working together going to directly impact the confidence between this body that we can move forward on that until that executive or is being withdraw I believe that the that that sense of working together I think it shouldn't be it shouldn't uh it shouldn't happen uh counselors uh for the sense of a a good a good sense for the sense of the a a good intense of working together I'll entertain a motion to send correspondence to the mayor to withdraw the executive order if that's the desire of the council council president Council so I just wanted you council president with all due respect you are really going pretty close to expressing opinions from the chair which is prohibited by rule four and I would just caution the president that that you're you're you're um I would like to make a motion I like to get on the record um because there's already been questions asked and I had the same problem Professor Caris has I can't remember the name of that new state agency Department of Health livable communities is that that very agency is where I would like to send a a sense of the city council with the following that the city council believes in in after reviewing its legal opinion that it has the authority to dispose of any City Parcels uh throughout the city regardless of whether it's minor or major and I want to be on the record so that at least they know that we have an opinion on that so that's my motion there is a motion the the motion is in order to send correspond to the state through um we have a motion on the table properly second we're going to open it for discussion in a second I want to hear the city but before yes yes we will get to that point uh the motion uh Council mama would like to CL U some clarity on the motion when it comes to names and stuff like that do you mind uh Madame CLA um repeating the motion from Council law plan I have have a motion made by Council plant seconded by Council Aras to um send correspondents to the executive office of Housing and liable communities um expressing the city council's opinion that transfer of real estates would have to come for are required to be disposed of by the city council okay approval of the city council so the transfer of real estate of all real estate requires city council approval all right uh there is a motion on the table properly second discuss disc and I want to hear from the attorney where I went wrong this motion where did I go wrong and a much more festive [Laughter] mood I can save you the trouble okay the answer is going to back and I think coun agree the answer is yes you need the city council approval to transfer the property that's not the question okay they're saying you've already given the permission I'm saying you need to do it again so the answer to your question question is going to come back yes it doesn't answer the question so I will I will retract that and I'm going to make this motion please don't go anywhere um the motion will be motion motion has been withdrawn the motion been withdrawn I like to make a new motion that this city council uh this city council believes that the vote that was taken in 2016 does not reflect the transfer of any Parcels to the L as per section four uh 4.1 of the um of the plan uh sure that's it I'm fine with that I'm fine with that Amendment that's the motion and that and that we send that to the Department of the communities and livable Life Community whatever that communities uh that executive office and that we make sure that they're aware that that we believe that that's the important thing here the important thing is that we get on the record to a state agency that's already been communicated with from the administration or through its through its uh border commit that we do that so I want to make sure that we're on the record with them they know that can I hear a second before we entertain a discussion second it's been properly second discussion um Mr uh attorney hon again I I I hate to be the one but um we're going to ask the governor for say that we believe that cows live on the moon okay the governor doesn't care he's not going to respond to that so you're asking an agency who might have no Authority whatsoever what you believe your rights are they might not respond they they might not care I understand in the meantime we need to be on the record that we at least did that and uh and only I would I would and not to confront my own City attorney who I've got a lot of respect for through you but we also understand that through a a previous part of the conversation this evening somebody said not sure who could have been Professor Caris could have been the chair could have been Mr spanner who said that or may have been Corgan Mr Corgan who said that they if there's if if they you know if they don't believe there's a problem that the city council and administr everybody agrees on it then they're going to let it go but as soon as they hear that there's a a bit of a a question then they're going to maybe cause that's the only reason why I'm bringing this up it's because of that comment my my my then request would be that you inquire of the agency whether the adoption of the urban renewal plan in of itself is an Ascent they believe an Ascent by the city council or as you believe there is a further Ascent needed to transfer properties understood um any other questions in regard to that the motion that was made on the Motions we're discussing the motionr motion yeah the motion needs to send correspondence to uh the state uh in regard to um saying our opinion when it comes to um when it comes to the the transfer of the properties do you have any opinion on that so listen I just digested with the city attorney I'd like to withdraw that motion no wait why well listen I I'm trying to get to a good place because the City attorney we pay him we ask him to give us good advice and that's what he does so I am going to pay attention so what we're going to do is this according to the advice as far as wording is concerned we are going to ask there two two parts we're going to ask the this I want to say the state agency the state agency so the motion has been withdraw you making a new withw new motion we're going to make a we're going to we're going to ask the state agency whether or not by the vote in 2016 whether or not the state agency in their review believes that it's been um the transfer of properties contained in there specific properties right is approved by the adoption of the urban renewal Pro um plan plan or it requires a new any individual transfer of lots require further approval of the city council yeah that's that's the motion and that's the motion and the second part is I think would it be I'm I'm sorry to to interject this but would would it would it also be do you think effective attorney if we also issued our opinion on what that answer should be or do you think that's irrelevant well I mean you can word it in in the fact that again that you the question is whether the they believe the adoption of the um urban renewal plan signifies a a um a consent by the or approval by the city council or as the city council believes there needs to be a further vote that's my motion right there all right uh The Madame CLA do you have the motion correctly not really um um um what I understand the motion to be um definitely work on with Council um Council in the other sense Council um City attorney in the drafting of it but um that there would be an inquiry to the executive office of Housing and livable communities inquiring whether the adoption of the urban renewal plan in of itself as an Ascent to the transfer of the properties or as the council believes is a further Ascent needed to transfer these properties is that's the motion can hear a second second it's been properly it's been properly second discussion council president in thank you quick quick question for um to you council president for the exe senior advisor spanner as we heard all tonight we want to work together like you mentioned and I and I agree with you this discussion went great is there is there there some way perhaps not a guarantee but there is there's some way that that we can at least feel confident that the mayor is not going to go and try to enforce executive order when we're trying to work together I I think you raised the right question because we contacted and so we contact the the ig's office inspector General's office uh first conversation that happened was with myself Carlos uh the OPD director acting OPD director Carlos Matos uh Mr Frank sillo and we also had um uhis re presid did you invite the City attorney that was a question staff calls the agencies all the time I mean we we the City attorney has been working alone since for a long time so can you can you ask my question please yeah I know but you know it's a comment that has been made I need to it's my colle I's going to determine how I'm going to vote so I please answer question yes the the issue is that uh the mayor has is within his right it is our opinion the the mayor is within his right as the mayor as by the exemptions of 30b to do so okay we calleded uh in a letter that was signed by uh the L attorney and during the L board they met they receiv received the opinion and the same information that was given by the the Inspector General was given by our attorney is that was on writing they don't provide in writing how you provide it to the members no you can't council president may I interject for one one one second if I may sure by all means um I I know we're all stating opinions but I think I have a resolution to the problem at the meeting we came to an agreement with the L that regardless of what the mayor wants to do the lra will not accept any Deeds from the city until this matter is resolved I think if you get thank you that's the answer to my question we can move that's that's all I'm looking for thank you I'm confused with that statement though because you said until this matter is resolved or until we have this meeting until this matter we have when that they will take no action until we have the next meeting with the answer from the Department of Housing and not Urban okay whatever the agency is thank you attorney I rest my case Council inant have the floor I I am all set I just wanted to ensure any other councilors would like to speak on the on the motion all right at this time I call the motion all Us in favor please say I I any knows the eyes have it so now councelors um we have other other any other motions to you president councel coun Maro um as mentioned several times in this conversation you guys have mentioned um the L and the the mayor's Administration wanting to work in conjunction with the city councilors um in order to make this happen and I think that the only way that you guys could demonstrate and in good faith on and and honor this this partnership that that you guys are speaking of is by withdrawing the executive order to begin with and then and then we could continue to work on the issues that we're having and continue to have a healthy debate um so with that being said I propose to make a motion on sending correspondents to the de mayor um to withdraw the executive order um in order for us to proceed there's a motion on the table properly second discussion counselors discussion council plan uh help me understand what an exe I think I know what an executive order is an executive order is something that does not require any any action by the city council right so we're not voting on an executive order right so no and you're V you're voting on a request sending correspondent to the mayor to withdraw his secutive section okay thank you that's the motion discussions councilors Council Lon thank you council president and I was going to make that same motion because I what I see here is the willingness to work together uh and I think with that uh with that if the mayor decides to withdraw that that will seal this this commitment that I think we make tonight willingness to work together uh for the benefit of the residents of Lawrence any other comments uh or questions counselors at this time I hear no comments so I I'll I'll call the questions all Us in favor please say I I any he knows the eyes have it um counselors I will entertain any other motions at this point can Mo make a motion to table there is a motion to table properly second no no discussion on the table matters all USV please say I I before we unjoin I have an announcement uh we um motion to pass 10 o' there's a motion to pass 10 properly second discussion I motion to pass then uh properly second all in fav say I hi the eyes have it uh councelors we discussed last night that uh during the discussion last night we have we made an uh well I would like to make an announcement of that U uh ad Hub committee that was asked for that uh council members uh to be formed um on that Council we decide to go with uh three members of the school committee three members of the mayor's office and two members of the city council for the total of eight members uh to the help committee uh the the mayor's office will be sending three people and we would like to announce their names the first person that we like to join that would like to join that committee is Octavian spanner the senior advisor uh Carlos Carlos Matos uh the U acting director of planning and development and and the chief of staff U Santiago Matias out of the school committee there is going to be three people that is going to be joining us that uh or join the high hob committee uh that the first person is um school committee member district a m Ortiz the school committee uh member district F Jonathan Gusman and the school Committee Member uh uh District e uh Patricia Mariano uh from the city council we have two members that would like to join the help committee the first one is council at large uh Anna Levy which is the proponent of one of the proposals and the second counselors that we would like to uh to that committee is Council vice president Council District e Stephanie fante with that said that a how committee has been for and going to be working uh diligently and for the next uh time for the next few weeks uh to give us some uh some resolution out of the item from last night thank you councilors I entertain a motion toj there is a motion to adj properly second all those in favor please say I I there I have it thank you how