##VIDEO ID:SUN3bfFFcXI## no I know overflow I can whatever you Al I imag record okay um guys we can hear as no no but you can hear I can hold on a second me oh hello there we go what's that it's it's a table matters at the bottom of the page y good evening welcome to the housing committee meeting today is Thursday October 10th 2024 it is approximately 6:00 p.m. um voting members uh present with me today is our city council president and councelor at large joavan Rodriguez to my right to my left it is our uh Vice chair and councelor for district a fidelina Santiago and our counselor for district F Mar La plant uh pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of housing committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen to or view this meeting while in progress May either attend in person at the location above which is 200 Common Street at Lawrence Mass or they're able to use any of the following access locations which is our Facebook Lawrence city council page and our YouTube Lauren city council page um if we could please stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance before [Applause] proceeding I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all okay so there is no minutes for city council approval um I'm looking for a motion to table item 42924 under tabled matters which is new ordinance in compliance with the Mass general laws chapter 40a section 3A allowing multif family as of right the MBTA communities act we have our land use planner Mr McCarthy along with um I'm sorry I didn't catch your name sir um but you have the floor please proceed and do you need us to shut off the lights um maybe in a moment um first I I introduce myself Daniel McCarthy from the planning department I also Mr Frank cillo from the economic development dep and Kenny lash who's been working our project officer working on his programs also with me is Mr Ian burns from the mar MAAC Valley Planning Commission so he's going to be presenting a slide PowerPoint uh project um for you you also have two documents uh in front of you one of them is a vote from the Lawrence planning board from last week this matter uh by law has to be reviewed and voted on by the planning board they gave it a favorable recommendation this has also been to the Lawrence um ordinance committee uh the council ordinance committee and there was given a favorable recommendation as well the other document have in front of you is the actual the copy of the law itself the statute itself you can see it's a it should be a one page but I think it's two pages um so I I'm going to let Mr Burns take over now and uh do this presentation and I'll looks good thank you Dan and thank you counselors for having me here today as Dan mentioned my name is Ian Burns I work with the marac valley Planning Commission um for those that aren't familiar with our organization although I think you may have seen us in other Realms um we support the 15 cities and towns of the Mary ma Valley region everywhere from here in Lawrence to the coast in Newbury port that is the region we cover um in my role at mvpc I oversee the community and economic development department and as part of that we've been assisting cities and towns in our region with compliance with the NBTA communities act so I'm just going to do a brief overview of what the ACT requires and why we're here today to talk about it and then the the plan that the planning department has worked on to put forward to hopefully have the city comply with the law this is for you all to take in ask questions I'll pause completely at the end to take further questions um but uh for now I'll run through and feel free to interrupt me as things come up so a quick background on the law U many of you may have heard about it I know here in Lawrence we have a little bit of a different approach than other communities you all have a lot of multif family housing and have been building multif family housing for decades so you don't need a primer on what the importance of these types of housing structures are but really the state was looking at the housing shortage across Massachusetts and was seeing that there was a lack of production in multif family housing a lot lot of that due to restrictive zoning practices across the Commonwealth which did not allow multif family housing and so the challenge here being with less housing production we have higher housing costs that has huge economic implications and so wanting to look at ways to increase housing stock the state enacted this law which requires City and cities and towns to create a zoning District that allows multif family housing by right what exactly does section 3A require and so the the first piece up top is that communities have to have a zoning district has to be of quote reasonable size as it says in the statute and it has to allow multif family housing as of right the law only requires the creation of a zoning district and this is probably the most important piece to think about and is the most common misconception about the law is that it only requires zoning to be in place it does not matter what housing units currently exist or what housing units may be built in the future the law itself only requires a zoning District so all we're talking about here today is the establishment of a zoning District that allows multi housing by right and so right now in the City of Lawrence the vast majority of your zoning districts uh only allow multif family housing by special permit which is why we have to do a bylaw Amendment an ordinance amendment to change some of that zoning in order to be compliant with the law communities that do not comply with the law will lose access to certain state grants and also May face litigation from the state attorney general so just to give you an idea of what this looks like across this region here um in Northeast massach Metts on the right there is a map of the different Community categories so what the state did was with that um statutory language requiring a reasonable size District the state executive office of Housing and livable communities split up communities according to their size and access to Transit so the different colors on the right there the dark teal the mustard yellow and the lighter yellow correspond to a community category and your category determines the amount of uh the size of the zoning District that you have to create and how much that zoning district has to theoretically accommodate so Lawrence kind of in the middle left of that map there is designated as a commuter rail community and that is because you have a commut rail stop as opposed to other communities which are considered adjacent communities those cities and towns do not have a commut rail stop like North Andover but they're next to a community that does so their regulations are a little bit different than Lawrence and Andover which have a commuter rail stop the map on the left there is just a status of where some communities are with their approval Lawrence uh about a year ago submitt an action plan to the state to receive the status of uh interim compliance that action plan submitted by the planning department essentially detailed that the city was intending to comply and and detailed their route towards compliance so what does this all mean here in Lawrence so as we said before the city has to create a zoning District that meets the following reasonable size criteria um the first thing up top is that you have to show that your zoning District could and we'd like to say theoretically accommodate 4,500 multif family housing units what I mean when I say theoretically accommodate is that the dimensional standards that are put in the district we have to show that should there be nothing on that site in existence today if it was a blank sloper came in and they knew they had three stories to build and 20 foot setbacks and 50% lot coverage could you fit that amount of units on that blank slate um should uh the zoning allow it and so that's the difference between housing construction versus zoning when we're only talking about zoning so we have to show the zoning District that we create here in the city could theoretically accommodate 4,500 units we also have to reach a minimum land area of about 40 acres so we have to find 40 acres of land and the law also requires that that uh unit capacity be shown it could be at a density of 15 units per acre across the district um that's nothing uh out of character here in Lawrence where there are many many areas of the city much higher than 15 units per acre density in addition because Lawrence has a commo rail stop we're required to have at least a chunk of the district within a half mile radius of the commuter rail station that map right there that orange circle shows the half mile radius around the commuter rail station we have to put 40% of the district within that half mile radius and so as we talk about one of the plans and the proposal we have here tonight you'll see that the vast majority of it is located within that Circle in order to check that box towards compliance so if the city is not compliant it risks losing a whole slew of Grants obviously the text is small but the takeaway here is there's a lot of GR grants on the table that the state has offered up um to cities and towns historically and if you are not compliant with the law then you lose access to all the grants that are on the left and then you're less competitive when applying for all the grants on the right when taking a look at just a few of these grants we saw the past few years Lawrence has been awarded uh about 5 million in funding from things like Mass works and housing choice so this is real money the city has received in the past the city's deadline to comply with this law is December 31st of this year which is why we're here tonight to talk about it and hopefully get to a a vote with the city council before the end of the calendar year so that we can be in compliance and maintain Lawrence's access to these important Grant programs I'm going to show uh the uh the proposal tonight and then pause for questions after happy to answer anything that you all are wondering about so the potential compliant District that both the planning board reviewed and I believe the ordinance committee reviewed earlier um this week is to look at one area of the city and determine how can we get to compliance um but concern isn't necessarily how to build a ton of housing because of this as we know there's a lot of multif family housing in Lawrence you've done a lot of great work of creating housing and turning the mill buildings for example into new units and so thinking about what do we have to do to check the box here essentially and make sure that the city is complying with state law um a little bit of History uh a little over a year ago the city was awarded a grant to create a Transit oriented development overlay zoning district and that was aimed for the marac street Corridor the city is currently working on procuring a consultant for that work and is trying to create a very large mixed use uh Transit oriented development overlay District kind of along marac Street all the way from 495 uh to Broadway however that work is going to take at least another year and if you waited until that zoning District was done You' be out of compliance because your deadline is this year so the original intention was to have that larger District be the compliant District to say we've done this but because that's going to take so long we're trying to help the city identify at least a small subset of that to create a compliant zoning district and then down the line the potential is to replace that with the larger District the city is looking at over the next year so we're trying to create almost a stop Gap here to have the compliance box checked for the city so the map of the area we're looking at in the city this is uh marac Street Riverwalk area extending all the way all the way on the far left there is the New Balance property so 495 on the right duck bridge in uh the middle there and New Balance just to the left of that so looking at all of these Parcels together you get your minimum acreage requirement and given certain dimensional standards if we create an overlay District here then the city would be in compliance because we're able to prove that you could theoretically have 4,500 units on that land area again we do not need to build 4500 units on that land area and it does not matter what Apartments already exist on that land area some of the strategy and looking at this District came out of the fact that there's already substantial development there so for example the the chunk of the middle portion of that district is already multif family housing it's unlikely that's going to be torn down and redeveloped anytime soon so really just maintaining the status quo but having the zoning reflect what is already there right now in enacting this overlay District I should note this is being proposed as an overlay District so it does not change the underlying zoning on the site it's just an additional option if anything were developed there so we uh built out this zoning zoning District thinking about the conditions that exist on the site right now and what historically has been the zoning in the area so a maximum Building height of six stories which the mill buildings in that area already are maximum lot coverage of 80% and the list of setbacks and parking minimums there as well reflect what it already exists in some other areas of the luren zoning code and the conditions that we see on the site right there so just trying to make sure the district reflects or the zoning parameters reflects what's already there with all those zoning parameters we use a model to demonstrate to the state that you're in compliance so we plug all those numbers in along with the land area to say see with this zoning if that was just a blank parking lot they theoretically could put that many units there at the density required so next steps with it the city has done a good amount of work um trying to get this to this point um really what we need to do is uh m is is get feedback from the council we received feedback from the planning board they uh approved the district to send it along here to the council if there are uh tweaks or changes or requests the council have about us to take another look at anything here happy to do that and then once uh we hear that feedback eventually bringing this to the full Council for approval after the full Council approves it we need to submit what's called a compliance application to the state so we it would be uh unwise for the council to vote let's say on December 31st because there's still a full form that the city's planning department will have to fill out so giving a couple weeks buffer of approval of the district before submitting that full compliance application to the state to maintain Lawrence's good standing with the state law and access to programs um I tried to speed that through that pretty quickly so I'm sure there's questions happy to answer them and toggle back to any slides um as you all wish thank you yeah unless you want me to show any go back to any slides just for clarity then um this specific project pertains to the river like uh the corridor at Riverwalk which is on MAR MAAC Street correct that's where the overlay district is proposed okay so I'll open up the floor for discussion um but can I get clarity well when this item was unted did we have a proper motion and properly second do you have do you have that on record not yet okay can can I I thought I had requested I'll make a motion for the purpose of discussion I'll make a motion to approve to send it to the full Council with at a committee report for the purpose of discussion okay so there was a motion of committee report or approval yes to send it as a committee report to the full Council for the for the purpose of discussion so we have to have a motion so the motion I need to untable is is it's untable matters we didn't make a motion to no that's why I wanted to double check the first thing we need to do is motion that's a motion to on table motion to table can I get a second second okay okay all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it so now I'll will make a motion to send it to the full Council as a committee report for the purpose of discussion can I get a second second all those in favor say I I I and the eyes have it disc first discussion for for the purpose of discussion yeah the eyes have it for the purpose of discussion we not okay there because the purpose is to discuss no but you made a motion for the purpose of discussion yes just a second and that's it okay okay my apologies discussion I'll actually uh would like to ask a few questions but before I ask those questions I would like to ask for from the uh city council that is from that district and also the chair of the uh of the ordinance committee which they have an opportunity there to discuss so if they can align us if they can C of planing us about what was the discussion so we had the very same um presentation a couple nights ago councilor Santiago and I are on the ordinance committee and so we we heard uh this and uh we voted it up by a 3 to1 vote as a favorable recommendation of the ordinance committee and uh so that's what happened there we had a lot of different kinds of questions um that we asked um not sure what else to say I did have one of there was some uncertainty on one of the questions I think listening to this discussion I think I've got a better handle I'm going to try to make this quick I don't want to be here talking about this all night and I already made my comments at the other place so um can you just make sure that 451 is the magic number that's the bogey that's the target that's where we're trying to get satisfy so the question that I had and I just want to get your reaction is we currently in that space that you're looking to reone how many how many units are already in place there now several 100 I don't know the exact number so we're short by a multitude of maybe 4,000 it doesn't matter what exists there so we don't do the math based off of the apartments that already exists there it's not that you're short by it it's that your zoning does not allow multif family buy right in that area and so if there was a complet if there was still um manufacturing happening there we'd still be in the same situation it doesn't matter what units exist there okay so that's good to know so marac Street on both sides so one side you're obviously you're familiar with it it's all Mill buildings essentially Y and I don't think it would take a Herculean task to tear those things down and put multif family units over there however that's not the same on the other side sure on the other side that's open game you could easily see easily see that going forward and having um multi-units so could they get 4500 units across the street you may be able to however the intention here and it's Up For Debate if you all think this is the right approach or not was to ensure that we or to try and find an area that would not see rapid Redevelopment in the immediate future because the city is already looking at a larger overlay District in addition to this and we wanted to provide some time to establish better criteria and so in the larger proposal the city is working on they're working on things like design standards um and other guidelines to ensure proper types of development so if we had done the uh south side of marac street there there's a lot of properties that are right for redevelopment and the concern was that if we put the zoning district there it could be that next month the proposal comes forward to build something if you all want to see it there that's a discussion we can have and if you want the approach to be allowing housing in the immediate future that's the approach we could take yes I'm sorry just the green area yep yep apologies it's the green overlay there the north side of marac street it's that area that we're talking about yes yes it's only so it's every it's the New Balance building it's the Riverwalk building yep right there there's the parking garage y yeah and so then all the way down you can see that goes all the way to where AG span and 49 year5 is at the end of the uh shaen River that's my question that's it for my question you've answered I feel good about it now my comment and I'll probably be quiet for the rest of the night at least on this topic so um and I'll say more probably the full Council I just I just think that this is bad policy uh for this city number one we have done a lot already we cannot single-handedly take care of the and I know this is not your this is not your fight this is a fight with the legislature and the Governor from whatever four years ago three years ago whatever it was and so they decided to go forward with it but I don't think it was the intent on a city like Lawrence we do our share this was trying to get communities that don't do their share to through carrots and sticks at them to force them now we're being forced to be put in this position um and as a point of principle I hope Milton succeeds frankly so that we don't have this I know that sounds kind of crazy because I think a city like Milton should get because they probably don't do what we're doing in the City of Lawrence so I suspect they should pick it up a little bit but um but I'm kind of hoping that we we don't get this jamm down our throat because I don't think it's going to be nuanced and they're not going to cut slices off and say well cities like Lawrence are going to be okay but Miltons and the way myths and the Norwoods whatever we need to do that so that's one two couple that with the new Adu regulations that are coming down the pike that's really going to affect those of us who represent single family Property Owners throughout the city so you've got an additional possibility of increased growth going on in in in single zoning zoning one throughout the city of which I've got a significant part and I think all of us have some of it but we've got it right so that's that's a concern we also have and I saw the council president's email today regarding the L I have not looked at the 12 proposals that are there before us and I'm on The Advisory Board to take a look at that but I'm going to be looking at it starting this weekend but my understanding is that there are multi-units that are housing units that are involved in multi-use sections so we keep adding and adding and potentially adding and I just don't see where we are working toward providing support for their current residents today throughout the city and I just think well I'm going to say the words is an assault on the city this is something like that it's an assault on the city especially with regard to housing and I think that you know I think that we're being essentially we are being um not taken advantage of but um being held hostage if we don't do this you had an entire graph showing all the money we could potentially lose through various grants coming forward and a city like Lawrence when we are so reliant on those monies but we can't afford we don't have the capacity to be building like this you're putting us not you we are put in a very difficult spot that's that's my comment I'll stop there and I'm for the rest of this evening on this topic I'm listening thank you but uh like council president mentioned I I thought your your opinion on this matter is super valuable so I'm glad that we were able to hear you out councilor llant um council president Rodriguez you may proceed thank you through you man chair um essentially I have a few comments that I would like to know to get um some I mean I was I've been looking into other uh City councils uh when they debating this topic because it's extremely important to a lot of communities uh one of the comment that was uh that was brought up it was some type of like you know getting presentations over and not concrete information as of uh how we can actually be able to share and inform our our constituents so essentially I would like to ask formally to provide us information uh that you present tonight uh to us so we can have that information uh for more clarity to people like when it comes to this type of topic but that's that's not that's not a question I mean if you guys going to send it that's fine uh please provide it to us that's that's going to definitely uh provide us with more information as of how we can educate um our Community another thing that I would like to bring up is that when things like that come to lawrens um sometimes it's difficult to think of like you know okay how I mean Lawrence was created to provide housing uh one of the main reasons as of how Lawrence was uh created was to provide housings to workers and not the main but I mean essentially that was one of them and knowing the fact that we have over 2,000 uh 12,000 units I don't know the EXA number but uh looking into having more uh multif family homes uh and LS we also need to look into like uh perhaps what is it that it's going to be required for people to provide when it comes to parking spot and parking requirements I read that you said that for Studio One parking spot and then uh 1.25 or sing of of um a duplex or something like that something around two family or something something something around there but those type of requirements need to be like up front because I mean we currently have a situation in the city of L is that most of the multifamilies uh around the city when they buy the property they have driveways but they don't provide parking spot uh to those that rent so everybody goes outside to the street because it's off the street parking when they rent and the other hand when we have a new develop de new Developers we require them to have parking but when it comes to reality they don't provide parking to the renters uh most of the time so that's an issue that we have in the City of Lawrence those are particular issues that we have and when we have the opportunity to discuss these type of things uh that is going to provide more housing it is essential for us to have some type of start creating those policies that allow the city of L to actually be in a position that is different than today when it comes to housing when it comes to multifamilies and stuff like that um requirement for parking and so far so on ordinance that are going to help us and policies that are going to help the city onls in general as how we can actually provide that those those uh parking spaces that people have but use it for something else other than parking um because that's going to help them overall in general when it comes to the overall situation um I would like to know more like how many uh multi family units we already have from the city of lens within the buffer of that uh of that hub um have my radio from the uh train station how many multi family homes we already have there uh and and is is is is is like the Council of plan mentioned uh that's within his district I I represent the entire city that's also a concern to me because we have a reality here in La we provide a lot of uh housing uh multi family housing and it does an over kill to the city to be honest with you the overlaying that is been proposed is is already a development we we got it I mean we I I kind of get it like you know that is not going to increase more but knowing the fact that it is it is an overlay something might change in the future and that's a concern so going from there to another overlay eventually that just increase the overlay limits that's something that sometime is is not even up to up to up to the city because depend how we how you know the different Loop would in different laws so it's kind of like you know it's like always concerning as of we accepting this today this law that is a law uh Massachusetts General law but how that going to my increase in the future uh that my affect or benefit all the areas I'm not going to say I'm not going to be the one that says benefit or or or or not but at the end of the day what I would like to know is like through data that represent the ceny situation of the city of lawence amount amount of multif family homes around that uh that area that District going to help out tremendously within 2055 m radio uh to talk about a specifics that are uh asked on the law on the M law but also what we currently have in the city of L um back in 2017 I believe 201 16 17 we approved in um a housing uh project I don't remember specific the name but that on that project I think it was through through the your organization that talk about different housings uh percentage that is around the mar mar Valley and and Lawrence is is was always on top when it comes to providing affordable housing to other to uh to the community uh but we've seen other seas and swns rounds that not necessarily even get to 1 2% uh when it comes to uh affordable housing so we do our shair and and and you know the rest of the state need to know like yes we we we are responsible for doing what we're doing but we also need to be taken into consideration when this the bah come in front of us and actually uh my affect when it come when it current situation also my benefit perhaps whatever you want want to see it but those are data that we need to that we need to have um adapting this law uh and also for people to like for us and for people to to know like what is what is the reality how this specific law might uh might interact with the current situation we currently have so those typ of things please provided to us uh because I mean it will be essential to take a boat but to take a boat responsibly as what we currently have and actually U what what we what we foresee LW to have or what what might happen in the future so that's something that we definitely need to work um you know into agency approach to be able to work and accomplish something that is essential for the city so essentially multi family units that are within the half a mile radio uh um that uh that is from uh from uh from the MBTA transation right now and also the type of the type of housing we currently have the percentage when it comes to single family double uh multif family that we have in the city of lawence within that radio and also in general because you have you have good data when it comes to that so and that will give a perspective to anybody from around just to see how we really uh truly were was built and uh and and areas that are single family homes today might be uh forc to actually um have those in laws as those multifamilies and and double in the backyard maybe become a multif family home and stuff like that bringing more congestion in the quality of life of a lot of people that choose to uh live in a neighborhood that is a single family home yeah so we can get that information for you about the the amount of multi filming units in that area to your point and to council pl's Point uh about the impacts that it could cause if these areas are developed um that was you know from the planning Department's perspective when they were first talking to us they wanted to find a place that could minimize that uh concern as much as possible which is part of the reason we're looking at this spot there are other areas we could consider as well um so you both are right on the money with that concern about what does it mean if all these units come in that's kind of the the reason for coming going here in the first place um the one other thing that I will mention to keep in mind and it goes back to this theoretical unit capacity number this 4500 number um the enactment of this zoning District does not automatically mean a developer can come in and build that many units um you're not actually approving or permitting um that amount of units it's a it's a theoretical zoning calculation that we have to run so if a project comes forward they can't use any of those numbers to propose a project in the future either so there's no way that someone can say you have this District we want to put 4,500 units there they can't follow that number it's just separately to prove compliance it has nothing to do with on the ground permitting scenarios just just a background one more question share through you yeah could we wrap it up CU we have um let's say perhaps that we currently have a development there that that is you know five story building five or six uh currently six depends on the elevation you're standing at the street so if if if if the vment want to go 10 story high on housing they going to be able to do that right we no so we have capped the set six stories or 75 ft so looking at the current conditions there to make sure they could not build that high okay if there is no uh further questions from the other counselors I'm looking for a recommendation there's already one of the four oh okay um properly second by uh councelor Santiago so then uh all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it um okay you're all set thank you very much um I'm also going to need a a a recommendation to untable no untable 42824 that would be addressed with all the new um the new business items as it's under the same project so I'm looking for a recommendation to untable uh item number 428 d24 accept amended recordable easement and layout alteration plan for amsbury and lawen Street area so city council president council at large uh Mr Rodriguez will be recusing himself so we should receive a copy of this electronically um but this is oh this is all one Madam Secretary I just wanted to make sure that we have for the record so uh everything else is related to the same project right yes I have this one City much better job so that's that's I so Madam chair just just so you're aware um the ordinance committee dealt with this matter a couple nights ago and and send it up to the full council with a fable recommendation it was unanimous from my perspective I don't need to hear much more about this but it's here before you and and Council Santiago of course can ask questions or whatever but I'm I'm all set I'm on tabling for the purpose of it's under the same project with all the other items so if we're going to make a motion to sent a full council with a favorable recommendation I would like to do that as one block second okay um so I do I need a Okay so we've we were uh able to untable this so do I do a new motion now um not a new motion you want to call the question Madam chair sure oh okay I need to learn that piece all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it um so at this point do I need a new I think that was motion to one table to one table make a motion now so I'm going to do it as a block so am I able to do that me block so along with item number 42824 I will be um this is 428 yeah on the table matters which we unted and we did it for the purpose to be able to address it with all the new business items so what I'm going to do is um the next order of business um is um and I will be addressing these as a block so item number 46324 taking by eminent domain temporary temporary easement 78-82 amsberry Street uh te 48 for the term of 5 years uh item number 4642 4 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 100 Asberry Street te12 for term of 5 years item number 46524 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 101 Asberry Street te-13 for term of 5 years item number 466 24 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 120 asbery Street t-14 for a term of 5 years and a permanent easan E5 uh item number 46724 taking by eminent domain temporary 122 ansbury Street te23 for a term of 5 years item number 46824 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 125 Asbury Street te-5 for a term of 5 years item number 46924 taken by eminent domain two temporary easements 130-24 amsbury Street te-2 and t-38 for a term of 5 years a permanent easement E6 and a permanent utility easement p [Music] -3 item number 47-24 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 14 141 amsbury Street te2 24 for a term of 5 years item number 47124 taken by eminent domain temporary easement three Bradford Street t-16 for a term of 5 years item number 472-2488 number 4732 24 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 401-403 Canal Street te-1 for a term of 5 years item number 47424 taking by eminent domain two temporary easements 417 Canal Street t-2 and te- 49 for a term of 5 years and a permanent easan E9 item number 4752430174 number 4762 24 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 316 Common Street te9 for a term of 5 years item number 47724 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 335 Comon Street te-10 for a term of 5 years item number 4784 taken by eminent domain two temporary easement 356-360 Common Street t-3 and t-4 for a term of 5 years item number 479 4792 24 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 3 61 ex Essex Street te- 46 for a term of 5 years and a permanent EAS e-11 item number 4824 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 362-366 S6 Street te-5 for a term of 5 years and a permanent easen E-2 48124 taking by eminent taking by eminent domain permanent easen 363-373 sx3 e-10 item number 48224 taken by eminent domain two temporary easements 370386 ess6 Street t-43 and t-45 for a term of 5 years and a permanent easement E-3 item number 48324 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 267-269 havil Street t-21 for a term of 5 years item number item number 4852 24 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 70 lawen Street te 26 for a term of 5 years and two permanent utility easements p-6 and p-7 item number 48624 taking by eminent domain 2 temporary easements 109 lawen Street te28 and te 39 for a term of 5 years and a permanent utility easement p-4 item number 48724 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 123 laen street t-3 one for a term of 5 years uh item number 48824 taken by eminent domain two temporary easements 131-135 lawen Street t34 and te35 for a term of 5 years item number 48924 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 170 lawren Street te36 for a term of 5 years and a permanent easement E-8 item number 49024 taken by eminent domain temporary easement 61 Maple Street te 32 for a term of 5 years item number 49124 for taking by eminent domain temporary easement 189 Maple Street t-33 for a term of 5 years item number 49224 taking by eminent domain temporary easement 235 Methuen Street t-44 for a term of 5 years and adding is uh item number 428 d24 accepting amended recordable easement and layout alteration plan for amsbury and Lauren Street area uh Mr McCarthy you have the floor I thank you um um I begin by saying that the the 30 documents that just went wi went through all um dovetail with the plans you just approved so the plans that you indicated are document the easements and how the way they're going to affect amsbury Street uh the city um has part of the mass transportation Improvement plan uh as is a recipient of a a grant in the amount of $14 million to reconstruct asbery street from a oneway to a two-way street it's a project that's going to be constructed by the state the Mass Department of Transportation will do the work they'll bid out the contracts and do it the city's responsibility is to prepare this land for construction and for the bid documents and the primary um job for the city is to acquire the easements that uh are needed to construct this mainly the main portion of this project is side walk installation and that will affect these properties um to pour a sidewalk it's necessary that the contractor has to stand on the land of the abiding persons in some cases and that's primarily where the easements um the easements are these the temporary ones construction easements some of the permanent easements that we're getting are actually pieces of sidewalk that appears to be city land but the the surveyor came back and said no they actually own 2 in sidewalk we're going to be taking that two Ines back and pay them for that the other U major easement is the pues which are public utility easements that means there might be overhead wires Crossing that person's property they might have to put electric conduit under a sidewalk and into some of uh space those those um easements those um um encroachments are going to be permanent and the people get compensated for that as well um we hired a um a licensed Market appraiser to handle this it's a person we've used in the past very competent um the numbers came back um I'll tell you surprisingly much higher than I expected um almost twice as much as the rail trail which is a much bigger project but it show I think it reflects the value of the property um as opposed to the property where the rail trail is um it's based on the market values and the the size of the encroachment um a couple of these over $100,000 um and the city is responsible for paying that so the we we've some of the agencies there are actually 36 easements and only 30 of them are on part of the taking six of them were easements that read the city property want to the Essex company or the launch Redevelopment Authority or the launch housing authority and we've all negotiated that they will be donated to the project there's three other projects in on this plan here that I might be amending in the next couple weeks that um that may also be donated one is from um one is from the state of Massachusetts one is from Mass electrical company that the state one is 46324 4762 24 is Mass Electric and 4224 is a greater law Community Action Council so we've asked them to donate as well they're not sizable so we're not saving a lot of money but they are agencies that we work with and I think it would be Equitable for them to donate rather than have us take them and pay them but that's the remains to be seen for the for the state it's a matter of timing this is the last construction project on the fiscal year 24th calendar they've already gave us the the red light the green light for this and they've gone forward with this on the on the presumption that we'll get these easements done um the state's been working with us we have a meeting every Wednesday we've been very successful with that we Kenny myself and Frank and some of the other people have met with the property owners and all these every one of the property owners is in agreement that the Project's a good project they're all cooperating with us so there's been no push back on this um I met with one today we met with several others over the weeks and we still have others scheduled um the the the properties range from um the Essex company which is the the canal the North Canal and the furthest one down is Mary Immaculate so that's so the spreadsheet that's before you shows you the value the names of the the agencies a lot of them are llc's but you know I can put names on them Dunkin Donuts is one of them um there's several doctor's offices uh dentist's office something like that you're all familiar with the asbery street Corridor and it affects almost every property owner on that caror so they're all there they they're all being compensated they've all been done um and again we're take doing this through the the the um the process of Emin domain which is what the State wants us to do so and we've been working with them very closely um I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have on this process I know he's done we've done it three times in the past six months so you I think you have some familiarity with the process and these projects you've seen I think You' see Maron Street's already under construction uh marry ma Street and South Broadway will begin soon and the rail trail is going to begin in the spring so these are Big developments for the city and it's good for the city improves the transportation cars oh when when you say that um you've already talked to you spoke with one recently but you still have to speak to others what do you mean by that they call us up they get we we send them several Letters by return re seat they contact us and they say well what is what what are you doing we explain it to them he send when they get the letter it's got a copy of the map and explan what it's doing it's got a booklet with them with the federal gu guidelines that's that tells them that they're entitled to be compensated they're entitled to an appraisal our apprais goes out he sends them a letter he meets with them and talks to them then we send him another letter asking them if they were um interested in meeting with us again so they got a letter several months ago and we met with dozens of of the people then we another letter went out after the appraisals were done that told the property owners the information that you're seen in front of you and they were told how much their easement was worth so lot called said well come and explain to me why I'm getting x amount of dollars or why am not getting are they required to respond they are not did everybody in this list respond I don't I don't believe so I'm curious I'm just wondering if everybody on this list responded like like 90% still set up meetings most of the time when they call us to set up a meeting I give them a SP of the project over the phone and says listen we whenever you're available we can come down and explain exactly what the easan is and point it out we do send them images of the uh the plans uh with the E highlighted but we always want to to go in person them onite so for those that have not responded do do they ever so like do they have to respond in order to get compensated the state the state creates this this statutory process for doing this to make sure that if some person just doesn't want to respond they're not going to hold up the whole process so we send these letters return receive mail we get the cards back we have proof of that we keep all the records shown that so the people have't notified we assume they the letter even if they haven't read the letter under the law that's upon them that in and we need to set we we're required to set aside that amount of money for that person the the last letter he got had a W9 form with it we asked him to fill that out bring it down and we explain to them as soon as the city council approves this you'll have a check waiting for you within a week and we send back a letter on the notice are taking that'll be the third letter they get saying come down and get your check if you said it if you hadn't if you you have to come down in Phil W9 it'll take two weeks to get your check but we have to set aside that money the state wants to make sure that they're all so are there some like the electric company still today hasn't picked up some of their checks is there like a statue of limitations they don't want to is there a statue of limitations in terms of when they're able to pick up the check like a no not that I'm aware of oh okay um any any other questions councelors here just a couple quick questions I go ahead you have the floor so this sorry this all these maps that we have correspond to this list and all the documents that that the chair read off so that's why we're working together that's okay just want to make sure that was clear one two the second thing is the Ws that are on here uh is this when this go when this item goes to the full Council we are going to be paying whatever what's the what's the what's the Del what's the um the sum right now it's 575 ,800 $575,500 correct is is this is this going to be a vote to approve the expenditures of this money as well is that a different vote where's this money coming from the the money set aside so we've used the money out of a an account that's already been approved um it's it's we every year we get money from the um it actually comes from the um the the byright housing lost the smack growth overlay every year when we permit housing we get $3,000 for each unit of housing that gets approved under that statute so last year we had $500,000 next year we're getting $800,000 that money has to be used for infrastructure costs we can use it for any so we use it for paying you know when we need to do a land survey when we need to do a title exam on a piece of property when somebody comes in we can use it for any they can use it for Paving but but we've set this money aside specifically to carry the soft cost because I've been doing this for 9 years and it's only the last three years that we've been having to Bear these costs the federal guidelines have changed the state uh Mass doot enforcement Bureau has become more strict on these rules um I did a project with with 80 easements all 80 were donated on Tower Hill from families who probably could have used the money but when explain the project we donate them we were told we cannot no longer go and try and cono people saying oh you know you're proud of your city they said you got you got to let them you got they want us to give them the money so all right so so it's very clear to me now so we already either the money is automatically allocated to this fund which purpose is to spend it on the soft cost awards for something like this number one so we and we may have all and and is that power some coming from there or is there another so you've already approved the money that we were're spending this year I will be getting another check in January when I receive those funds from the state I'll be coming back before the budget and finance committee explaining them what we use the money for and asking not to be appropriated last question this chair was going down a road that I was interested in the the non the non-responders so this is this is a taken correct they don't have to accept it they don't have to say yes we are taking it right and we are giving them fair market value on those people who have not responded we are all also we to be providing them fair market value we required of that regardless of and they do they have appeal rights or we at all concern about them appealing this whole they do have appealable rights they can't they cannot appeal the taking there's two requirements in the state law one has to be for the public good I think this is clearly for the public good the second one is that we give them fair value so the only thing they can contest well I guess they couldest what the public value of you know with a public good I that's a losing argument but they could but they can contest it on the value of the appraisal now we use all Market appraisers this came up early in one of the projects and I I met with a individual I said talk to your attorney and his attorney told him you'll pay an appraiser more money to appraise it than you'll receive and anything because all the appraisers are going to come back pretty much the same because they're based on sales property sales in the city so that's what the appra does he looks at the last few sales of similar properties and creates an average for the square foot of the property and that's where it comes back at these numbers so the large ones the $100,000 ones it's cuz we're taking 12,000 square feet of their land one of them like is a church which is a very large possible land and we're going to be replacing sidewalk all around it I lied I had one more question did we negotiate at all were there any other did they say that's not good enough I know you say that's fair Marketa we want more money do you come across that or we that just the the Line in the Sand that's we're paying nothing more negotiate yeah um no no no it's okay I was about to like interrupt but um if I could do so now for the next meeting whenever this item is discussed once again the um spreadsheet that um our city clerk Eileen created for us are you guys able to use this same spreadsheet and highlight those that did respond and those that didn't what was that I may because her spreadsheet came out nicer than mine so please mine is kind of hard to read I mean if this spreadsheet could be used and then somehow highlight the ones that did respond and the ones that didn't and just tell us which one is which okay we can do that status okay um any further questions any of them okay I'm looking for a recommendation um what's the motion right now I'm sorry is there a motion on the floor no there there's no motion on the floor no okay the only motion we took was just to include that one document and S that was they on is that what we did say that again yes we just includ to include it as a block correct so now we have a block that's entire including so it's all those that you read plus plus 42 2824 I did I'm ready okay what's your what's your motion counselor I'm going PA the vice chair on this motion to approve entire block yeah motion to approve entire block and send to for coner for favor and recommendation okay can I get a second second question no public hearing on this or yes no no public hearing just direct disposition I mean a direct vote there isn't one required no thank you ma'am okay no problem all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it um any other questions concerns okay can I get a motion to adjourn I believe we should be all set motion to adj second okay all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it thank you guys y for e