##VIDEO ID:lCXUDW94iis## on and uh I'll bring a meeting to order it's uh September 12th at uh 7:31 uh in uh the room with us today is William Lloyd and Nathan Lockwood Richard McGrath is joining us uh by cell phone he's on the speaker and he will be hopefully joining us uh after his journey from uh from from Boston he's in out um I don't think we have any public comment I know we don't have anybody online with us at least why is not that I see um we just have the one participant which is me um let's start with uh minutes approval uh I just passed that to uh to Nathan and William Richard the 9 May 2024 meeting minutes um unfortunately William Lloyd had problems with his computer so we don't have the 8 August meeting minutes and hopefully at our meeting in October we'll be able to um to to get those um I'm just going to pause for a moment to let uh William and Nathan take a look at the me I I brought hard copies since I didn't have a chance to email this to everybody and while they're reading I'm going to just jump ahead to the last item on here which is our next meeting 10 October I'm going to be in Seattle on so I'm going suggest we just do a zoom only meeting and uh I think that'll work for everybody but don't don't come to the rer B on the 10th of October because there won't be any way getting in since I have the key and I will not be here so um all right so is there a motion to approve the 9 May meeting minutes motion to approve okay Williams moved I second second okay Nathan any questions or comments about the meeting if not all those in favor say I hi I I hi okay so meeting minutes are approved um the next item on the agenda is correspondence and I wanted to give you um a little rundown on conversations I had with Carter here in zeni um regarding the verer building in town hall uh and this is uh my my correspondence with Carter uh started uh via email shortly after the August 20th um select board meeting because there was discussions at the select board meeting about obligating arpa funds by spending I think 225,000 um there's actually a couple copies there so if You' pass that one of those off and then pass one back to me um so at the select board meeting August 20th the there was a lot of discussion about obligating to $225,000 uh of ARA funds to pay for uh scoping work and preliminary design for the lunenberg municipal building uh design committee and when I heard that I thought wow it be really nice if there was some way that we could use that money to make sure that we get the both town hall and River funded so that we can get to repair work done on these two projects as you know um Town Hall when I forbids I want to say um late 2023 maybe early 2024 January time frame and bids were way the single bid was way over the the amount appropriated by the time meeting from 2021 so uh I sent Carter a note uh I said uh I think it would be better to spend money on projects that are designed rather than spending project money on projects that are in a scoping phase and could perhaps um and I said uh you know the time needed to get cost estimates result revise for both of these projects because even after Damon McQuade presented his information to us a year ago in August for this building for the CTA that we approved um they didn't revise the cost estimate so we're still dealing with the same cost cost estimate that was generated basically in 2018 and um it was the the basis for the Appropriations that were done at special time meeting I believe in 2021 um Carter said I need some time to sit down with uh the players and I'll get back in touch with you so I had not heard from him um we were supposed to meet by phone yesterday that didn't happen I texted him the day and he called me back and he basically said that a number of capital projects that the town has in deep trouble uh he says there's not enough money to do the capital projects for things like the library things like Ritter things like Town Hall he says uh in my meeting with Chris Ruth I directed him to go back and start creating um a way to get some of the work done but probably not all of the work done for the library and he says and I also want to convene a meeting with uh the school committee people uh with the linenberg municipal building design committee the about the RIT building because I don't want to do anything that has to get undone you know with with the r building I said to Carter I says I think that um both town hall and rder are really exterior envelope projects that repair roofs scutters paint Windows it says um and I don't think that there will be any real interference with um the plans for the lunenberg municipal building uh design and you know and and and we once again we met and I'll I'll update you a bit here on on the design committee activity we had our first meeting in months uh on Monday which was truncated because we lost the Quorum so the lmdc uh didn't complete its business on on Monday so I says Carter I says I think that you can go out for bids for some of this work and uh you know create a bid schedule for particular for the Ritter building I think tan Hall has issues but I think Ritter have much more critical and much more critical need for repairs to the exterior envelope so he said that um he still wanted to have that meeting with the broader the broader group and and I says uh I says well I says you can do that I says but once again I says I think um it it behooves the kind and move things forward for both of these projects particularly for R the way the conversation ended was that uh he says well tell me what you think really needs to be done on the Ritter building and on Town Hall you know kind of break it down I said well I can tell you right now for the Ritter while it would be great to have the handicap by ramp build that's and that is a separate project from the exterior repairs I says that can probably wait I says you know it's been a long time since we haven't we haven't had a you know handicap access ramp here I says and I think that that's something that could weigh I says then any other thing that I think would be you know not on the bid schedule as a priority item are the windows I says except for one or two windows particularly the window that's in the main conference room and the addition which was built in 1965 I believe I says that window you know needs to be replaced it says it's literally falling apart I says so that might be one of the windows I says but the bulk of the older Windows the ones that you know were installed probably when U the addition was done in the 60s based on information we got from Damon McQuay last year in August when we were reviewing his his updated design I says I think those buildings those windows could probably weit I says I think that the real issue is the roof the gutter you know and some of the uh the the water damage it's taking place with the exception of maybe the window in the addition he says look at look at the project tell me what you think he says but I'm not going to present that to the select board until I've had a chance to get other people's input and I says that's fine I says but you know once again I says I think that I'm I'm looking at how can we get moving on some of this stuff I says you know particularly the RIT building I say these this work is identified in 18 He says you know we've been talking with Chris Ruth and the former time manager for quite some time and nothing's happening I think he know he didn't come out and say he says directly but he basically said you know there's been a lot of issues with the capital project he says and I'm not sure why so many of these projects haven't moved forward he goes my objective right now is to make sure that we lose no arpa funding he says that's my number one driver he is not to lose any arpa F arpa's money has to be committed by contract doesn't have to be started but it has there has to be a signed contract by the 31st of December to do the work for arpa I said well you know from my standpoint from my perspective I says I think these two projects represent your best option to get something obligated I says because these projects are designed I says there just isn't enough money to do them and he says well you tell me what you think are the priorities he say because you know we may end up having to use arpa funds on other projects so you know tell me what you think um so what what I'd like for us to do is and I'll I'll dig got the the uh eile that we got from Chris Ruth last year that we used to um make the decision on the CTA and I'd like for everybody to take a look at it and decide what are the things that you see in that design we we should do first second third fourth I mean I think that that um you know and and I will also uh give you what the amount of money that was appropriated for rder and for Town Hall and I know for Ritter it was broken down into two pieces it was a project for the handicap ramp and I want to say that was estimated at $120,000 and I think that the exterior repairs were estimated at $127,000 so you basically have about a quarter of a million dollars for these two U two projects combined but I'd like for us to take a look at those and then uh send me your your input I want to go back to Carter if at all possible by Monday evening so that he could have something to think about before he presents any kind of information to a broader group and maybe the select board and I and and I would also like to once and I told him I says I will not go to the select board until you've had a chance to uh to discuss um with the broader group I says but I but I still want to make sure that you know that the select board understands that we have designed projects here they've been sitting here on the shelf for over two years and they need to move forward and the work is desperately needed so we got to prioritize what desperation looks like get that to Carter and then have him present that hopefully in in uniform we we'll be in lock step I think we can I think we can convince Carter these are the things that you need to prioritize and get some money to to go off for bids and get that AR funding obligated you know I'm a former federal employee and uh the the the mortal sin in the world well you understand this too the the mortal sin in federal Contracting is to leave money unspent you know and I I would not do anything even if it meant that maybe the rder project doesn't move forward I would do anything to make sure that no Archer funds are left unspent so I spent my entire career getting evaluated by how much money I spent not how much money I saved when I work for the federal government so any comments uh Rich i' start with you since you're you're kind of traveling and then we'll we uh ask William and Nathan if they have any comments it sounds good to me I think it's a good good way to go okay um I'm gonna I'm gonna like I said I'll send you out the draw the most recent set of drawings and the cost or the amount was appropriated and I I'm going to try and come over and just kind of walk around the building take a look at the drawings and what I see here if and it's not going to happen tomorrow but maybe on uh Saturday or Sunday I can do that just to kind of take a look and if anybody wants to do that I would encourage you to do so and maybe I'll decide what time I'm going to be here and we could do that together um being either like I said Saturday or Sunday not tomorrow Bo any comments no I think it's a good plan is to break it down to something we can squeeze into this year's funding Nathan yeah that something gooded me I think um yeah it was really in a pinch I would say the one project that probably doesn't require a lot of design and pre straight Bo would be like the end I'm not saying if you have other ones go for it but worst case scenario the you know repair or removal of the chimneys on the uh town hall is probably like something that's you know pretty easy to get a comparatively easy to get a contract for and what not yeah and and and it it is those are needed because the brick work on that is deteriorating deteriorating even more so than what it was y so all right um so we'll proceed look for an email with those uh those e files and uh and the appropriated funds um any other comments about that if not that's good to current business I want to bring up the date on the lunenberg municipal building design committee activity uh Michael Ray Jeffrey has called the committee um meeting for this not this past Monday not last uh not for this past Monday the uh what was that the 7th or 8th of uh September and U it was kind of interesting because we have not met as a group for some time uh the the commission the committee was supposed to report to time at the November meeting of 2023 and uh that didn't happen because of other issues it took way too much time for the special time meeting but what Michael was trying to get at that meeting was Tom Bay in to the what they call the hybrid model which focuses on building an addition here at the Ritter complex modifying the interior of the Ritter so that school committee offices can move out of TC basos into here and then uh renovating Tom Hall to become a meeting room and then uh TC paos would be used as surge space you know to move people out while remodeling what's going on and um maybe to do some repairs to TC Passos and as we've been discussing with regards to the Brooks house Brooks house is we didn't even talk about the Brooks house on Monday but the brook house is kind of like the lowest priority of all the discussion that the lindenberg municipal building design committee has had and I think that will continue so the focus is let's hire an architect to do um scoping and conceptual floor plans some elevations uh a couple of cost estimates for an addition renovation of pan Hall and um maybe uh and interior Renovations here at River um the first comment that came from Mad helison uh who left because he had a planning board meeting to go to was that he didn't remember us talking about doing that and he thinks it's premature uh Greg Roy said that he thought it was relatively pre uh premature but he'd kind of go along with the idea providing we could get the money get this get a decent scoval work set and get some things uh moving forward with regards to the project David black uh who's also a Committee Member he said that he thought it was okay to you know put a proposal on to get an architect engineering firm would come in and tell us you know what what it would cost to do those three things give us some floor plans give us some elevation so that's the three things are convert the Ritter into uh space that the school can use and other office uses MH meeting space at the Town Hall yeah and no no long-term plan at the uh paos but use it in the interm for you know T TC pasos is like number four of the three projects but what's the third I guess the first is the addition interior renovation okay there's two of the rter got it okay yep okay now what's what's interesting is uh there was two people people who joined the call um two members of the public um one was Dave Paso and another one was a woman who I whose last name I don't remember but she shows up at Town Hall always or shows up at Town meetings and always talks it's very long hair and she said don't spend any money on TC pasio or TC P school I don't think building deserves any attention it's going to fall apart um Dave Pao says you can't do these projects with talking about TC pass because you need money to fix that up to do this and he says and I think that's that that's outside the budget so um we we have we had some public opposition to doing anything at DC pasos and and a description of there's no money to do work at DC Paso so how could you move forward with these three projects um so we had a couple members of the committee that were in suppor of for the uh the RFP and then we lost then we lost the corner the meeting was over quick question so what's that is is there any realistic Prospect of funding for those three projects not that I know okay and in fact one of the one of the things that Matt Allison said which I believe is critical to this discussion and one of the reasons why I think he's right this may be premature is that he says hey I thought we were going to talk about you know moving forward with this stuff after the school committee makes its decisions with regards to what improvements or what they're going to do at Turkey Hill school you know because there's been a lot of discussion since Turkey Hill is in air condition there's been a lot of discussion um about uh replacing Turkey Hill and would you replace it with a new building would you put that new complex where the TC Fus is and there has been there were joint meetings with u the uh lunenberg Municipal Building design committee and school committee now Brian uh Leighton is on the committee representing the schools and he didn't say anything at our meeting Monday night but I believe that you know that's a big issue because you know the town is you know struggling right now with how they're going to pay for you know everyday things let alone another Capital project the size and scope and you know we're estimating based on just kind of gut feel from up square footage $15 million project for the addition these interior Rena and Rena of town hall oh 15 million for the yeah for the and and I and I'm not sure whether that's a valid number or not and I think that's one of the reasons why you know part of the scoping effort would really tighten up that that number so um that's a that's a really good question you know like where's the money coming how how would we pay for this I mean hey Richard would you mind going on mute um so uh yeah I mean if it's uh Richard are you still there yes um could you go on mute we're getting background noise okay all right um it if we could I mean it sounds like it's good to have plan I mean this something the town scared about while I think uh understanding how the town would Finance it would at some point you gota you can't pay for it anyt and you got to just kind of put on the shelf and wait but uh seems like good thoughts I mean make it makes sense I I mean I personally yet I don't think uh I mean the point about Turkey Hill and having this Bas at patio is to figure out out what's going on there who's is there anyone so the school committee looking at that or who's looking okay school committee has not really done a lot of detailed work I think what they what they're looking for is um for this committee to kind of mve forward with some more details about what would happen here inside here as an addition Anon Hall and now we're waiting on them to decide well well it it is it is a bit of you know you know which which comes shorts the chicken of the egg I think that there is it's kind of like well get your get your plans and then then we'll sit down together and figure out how those plans would impact something that we the school committee want to do so um the one thing that I did I did review The Proposal um that Michael Ray Jeff had pulled together and I I stipulated um one thing on re propos that's the yeah he done a draft and that was the purp project yeah okay yeah he did a draft and that was the purpose of the Monday night phone call which we unfortunately didn't finish because we lost cor um but the two things that I added I says that as part of qualifications is that the architect engineering firm that's hired has to have exper has to demonstrate experience with projects that involve the Secretary of interior standards for historic preservation and then um uh in the evaluation piece I included language similar to that and said that the that the uh that the proposal has to demonstrate uh experience with historic preservation and it has to the proposal has to reflect how it incorporates both the architectural preservation District uh bylaw and the village District bylaw requirements you know because pH District bylaw requirement says you can't have a two-story building in the you know it of a certain size of a certain size you know that you can have you can have a two a footprint you know the footprint has to be relatively Compact and not uh you know like a mam 10,000 square foot a square footage restri it has it has a square footage restriction but you know there are other things too you know so that was that was my two cents worth um um in terms of the RFP to make sure that we hire someone who understands history preservation especially since both the Ritter exterior and Town Hall uh exterior are historic buildings that need the right kind of treatment and then to say don't forget we have internal bylaws that affect how your work is done so um that was uh now we were supposed to get an email from Michael R establishing a new meeting night so we could finish this review now this is kind of connected to the conversation we started with regards to um the arpa funding because the $225,000 that Michael Ray wants to use is arpa funds and I know from the conversation that was held in the at the August 20th select board meeting is that there was some concern by other members of the select board as to whether this A&E project could be obligated by the thir 31st of December you know so if this doesn't move forward quickly and there's not an indication that these These funds can be committed by the 31st of December then once again that would make those dollars available to help with the Ritter project in time Hall so I mean I think that there's a there's a reason reason for expressing skepticism about getting an AE selected by the 31st of December uh yeah that sounds yeah pretty ambitious and you of course you're heading into the worst possible time to have meetings yeah and then all right and then say they you get it someone accepts a contract you pay them to do these plans and then you can't fund it look it doesn't I don't you know um I mean I think it's good that you're putting plans together but um I I don't I don't know when do you you know um what point can you ask the town for do you need to do this next level of of design to ask the town for no not not use of water fund no not to not to pay for the the planning but to uh understand you know have a conversation with the town manager or whatever to figure out like conceptually how would a $5 million project fit into the to Town's budget borrowing limit and all that fun right that's actually a piece I think for the budget task force which is is continuing to me which coincidentally my son's jar and uh you know as a school board a school Committee Member I think I think that um and and of course their perspective is on day-to-day stuff and on um you know things that would impact the potential you know another override both in the spring you know they're trying to keep that from happening but you know that that's something that may actually take place again all right so that's the latest on on the two if you can think of I'll send you the RFP and if you can think of anything else that you think feeli should be in there we still have plenty we have time to to to say to my boy I just add that I'll get that out to you all um any any other comments uh thoughts Richard from you and remember you may have put yourself on [Music] mute no comment okay all right um you know my uh my desire to get a uh mailing out to all the property owners and the APD uh that's gone nowhere because I can't get anybody to tell me from the time how toh to do that I sent notes to an auy um I guess I'm going to have to go back to her current boss which is I was trying to avoid that you know but now I I'm going to have to do that because I've sent her a couple notes and she hasn't responded so but we we're we're no further along than sending that letter out than what we were at our last meeting which is really kind of sad because I think it would be helpful to have that done um postage what that was pay for Post Yeah pay for post like I said to her I says you know we have money in our budget we we would intend to use the money from the budget can you tell me how to get the labels can you tell me how to how you know how to get the uh you know the postage procured I mean do I have to go to the Post Office and buy you know 350 stamps you know I I was pretty specific as to what my requirements are and I've gotten no response so um now I know she's busy I mean she's got a lot going on they not being a permanent manager all right and then the last items on current business is the historical commission and the apdc overlap potential for merger I have scheduled a town council meeting to discuss that with him on the 25th of September at 1:00 and you any and all are can join me for that meeting it's the 25th of September at 1M and we meet over at the library with Council and I'll tell you I absolutely positively think that we got way too many organizations doing the same thing and if there's a way to get this Consolidated even if we call ourselves the historical commission and not the architectural preservation District commission but have the responsibilities of enforcing the bylaw I think we would be or you know we be really ahead of ourselves here you know the the the issue of having people be participant in this we're still missing a member and uh the historical commission was missing members and it's my understanding that Dave pasos who was recently appointed to the historical commission that he's now announced that he's leaving lomberg so you know that one ad to the historical commission is now once again a vacancy so I think that you know there's not a lot of people out there that want to do this kind of stuff and I think if we had one group that had a nice robust membership rather than two groups with not such nice robust membership we would be far far we would be much far better off okay so that's it for current business um preservation of the Brookside Nathan have you had a chance to do any scoping on on that yeah I uh I think the more could be so if we would like to get something on the November warrant I drafted something that could definitely use some other revision I drafted it pretty hastily but it's a start like we could start shopping it and um you realiz warrant close September 16 yeah Monday yeah so we' have to get in I can read it to you absolutely all right so the the warrant article is to see if the town will vote to direct the board of Selectmen to take the following actions related to the Brooks house situated at 1033 Massachusetts Avenue subdivide a lot of minimally compliant size for the property that includes at least four parking spaces as part of the property on such terms and conditions which the board of Select May determine I think it's called the select board now so I need to fix that I copied this language from some from before we updated so um my bad there okay bullet number two this is still under things uh we're directing the select board to do convey to the owners of the property and their successors and assigns a non-exclusive Perpetual easement for the purpose of using existing driveway and parking lot of the town and library on 1023 Master St for the purpose of access vehicular and pedestrian to the property on such terms and conditions which the board of Selectmen May determine or take any action relative th to and I'll choose that to select board okay buet number three convey to the owners of the property and their successors and assigns a non-exclusive Perpetual easement for the purpose of using up to eight additional parking spaces nearest to the property to accommodate customers of any business located there in from the lot of the town library I'm 1023 Massachusetts Avenue on such terms and conditions which the board of Selectmen May determine or take any action relative th to I'm not getting slight bored um bullet number four place the property for sale by appropriate legal means at the town's disposal the property should be put out for auction or sale no later than October 2025 and should be continually rendered until sold on such terms and conditions which the board s May determine or take any action relative there I think that those are all the right that's all the right language you know that I don't I just don't think we can get get this through the select board by you know do we have to we do well we don't but what What will what will generally not produce hello Richard what will generally not produce any success is for them to say we're not going to support this no that I understand I think what I would propose is that we if we are in general agreement with this and we can you know we smth it here if we want let's get this in as a placeholder let's then begin not not with the not with the intent to Ram it down anyone's throat but you know particularly around we can then have conversation with whatever boards you know select board planning board whoever wants to talk about it um and then if we had to amend we can develop through those conversations develop amended language which we then propose on the floor or perhaps the result of the conversations we decide someone convinces us this is a horrible idea which you know I don't think that's going to happen but if they did we could just request it to be passed over say you're saying move it forward as a warrant and then let the debate take place at no no no that's not what I'm saying but get it on the warrant as a placeholder because this is like we just you know we got to buy our ticket now where we're not going to see the movie you know uh so and then you know have conversations with the people that the most important stakeholders so select board for sure uh maybe the planning board wants to talk about it maybe the historical committee wants to talk about it if anyone else reaches out to us and say hey we want to talk about it then we can talk about it with them maybe the building reuse committee or one of these other you know we should figure that out and and uh meet with them and um in the meantime it'll be on the warrant as a placeholder through those conversation we can also meet with Town Council and have them review the wording because I'm pretty sure it could use a lot of tuning up um and the the goal of that is to to just have uh to you know develop some you know have conversations hopefully develop some consensus and if that consensus involves changing the language you know have new copy prepared and reviewed by Council in time for the town meeting my concern is if we present something by the 16th that it has not been thoroughly vetted that it's going to go nowhere I I mean I I think that I mean I agree with you you have to buy the ticket if you want watch the movie and this is a way to buy the ticket but my my concern is is that is that it it may turn people off if we present a warrant that hasn't been vetted with others like they're going to go would we talk to planning board about this talk about the historical commission about this and we won't have time to do that by 16th of September uh no we won't but we will have time to do it by when uh this special town meeting when November I think it's November 13th November 13th so the point is so once we get it on the warrant because we can swap out the language at town meeting we can have those conversations the deadline for that is not September 16th the deadline for those conversations is basically the town meeting we just add language at the start of the request St stating you know allow networking and you know we used to call them tiger teams to discuss you know way means forward to the Brooks house some possibilities should will could be and then we start listing the subdivide allow use because that kind of gives us the wiggle room of like hey it's here we're g to talk about it these are some of the ideas we want to talk about and then that gives us the time to November yeah I that's the general idea is like form those team like have those teams meet between now and November but yeah put put something on the warrant that's like our best shot at it like I mean but of course we're not going to go for it the town says this is written wrong or whatever we want to update it um you know if and if we talk to these stakeholders and they're like you know I just remember how much Jou we had with the select board trying to to change the dates on review time for the CP and you know we went to them you know we we we spent a lot of time drafting the language for the warrant and then we went to them and they said oh that's not good enough you got to go back and redraft it well the good thing about the select board is they meet every week so yeah um I I mean I think worst case scenario if we don't get where we want to be we pull the plug on it we ask them to skip the to to skip over it and and we're a hell of a lot better prepared it's like a little bit of a fire drill to get us get things moving and then if we if we fail you know we look at it for May and we're just way ahead of the game for May yeah I agree this you know that's I'm you're talking me into this Nathan like you said you buy the ticket it doesn't mean you have to go to the movie yeah yeah it's true too you can stay home I think my my concern is is that I just know like when they see this at the select board they so we gota make I think I think the key here is to say that we're looking for like a conceptual buying to do this stuff you know like we're looking for well I think we should write the warrant is something that can be executed yeah and when we go to them we can say you know we're looking for a convers you know we had to get there's a deadline for the war we're a little bit you know late this is not the latest thing that's ever been you know like this I suspect this happens quite a lot um and we're pretty under resource we don't have like a lot of support staff behind us whatever so I think you know I'm willing to you know cut us some slack here uh yeah so yeah we want to talk to you meet about it and let's just see where those conversations go but I think as far as what we're put on war it has to be like an attempted legitimate article otherwise we're going to have trouble amending it to be what we want it to be right well we won't be able to get town counil to look at about the 16 of course not no the point is we don't have to get any of that we just need something on there we just need to claim our seat here okay all right and if I'm worst case scenario I'm wrong and they're like no you can't do that that's crap you know we're not going okay well we're no worse often if we don't try Rich sound good to me doesn't hurt to go for it the one the one thing that I think is in our favor is that there there is no there's really been no real plan discussed as part of the lunenberg municipal building design committee yeah you know and like the Focus right now is on the three projects and then doing something with TC pasos that might make sense you know the Brooks is way out of here you know this is not being discussed so this may be you know a way to preempt and say hey look you know there's not been much you know plot given by what's can how to best use this and this is a way to move forward and find out if there's a better way of of using the property rather than just letting it sit there now you know the other issue is that the building has structural uh issues right now that you know Brian is flaged saying you can't do this you can't do that in that building anymore that's fine so let the new owner of it deal with that yeah no that's exactly right I mean and that actually probably G get a pretty good deal that actually supports you know the notion that hey the time the town isn't going to do this you know you can't get out of yeah I mean the town doesn't okay you know so so let's have a and uh and then let's have see if there's let's just let's make a motion aan that makes that kind of defines what we're going to do okay so uh make a motion for um to make a motion to you know whatever the procedure is I'm happy to do it on behalf of the the committee or if it requires you to do it whatever but the motion is for our committee to submit this item to essentially takes the steps required to put the uh Brooks house for sale as a you know viable property on the town warrant for this deliv second second any further discussion let's do it all those in favor say I okay all right and the worst is GNA happen say no you can't do [Music] it but at least we started I completely agree with that okay all right thank you naan you said it's in the back of everybody's mind some people might just be like we don't want to deal with it yeah let's see what happen I mean I think I think you know when the housing market was just so crazy you know three four years ago there was a grand and glorious opportunity to get someone to take it on or you know a developer you it's that the Market's pretty insane right now yeah it's still is but it's more expensive to do stuff I mean oh yeah oh I see what you're saying yeah yeah yeah I mean it it could have a developer could have taken that house done something with it and made lots of money I think that's still the case because I think the reality is I mean if the town sells it it's not going to be top dollar it would be like the the Burbank house captain Jones house that it was sold at a a price that would would attract somebody like a couple or somebody that was looking for a house and it and had the time to to fix it up according to the standards that uh well that's yeah I hear what you say we definitely want a owner to can get get to because in the village district and the primary use is not single family like somebody could have a a business downstairs and live upstairs well you know the White House cross the way a perfect example of the viability that type of project you know that that was a house you know now it's a business Place yeah and the Burbank house is a house and she has a massage business there that would be a perfect location for like a coffee shop or a juice bar or something that catches all the high school kids oh my gosh coming out totally what a candy store uh the one question I have I do have for you I I I made a decision to not put on this the um in instructing them to put a deed restriction on it just I didn't want to over complicate it no I I would agree with that just because it's in the apdc like we don't it's like yeah okay so and and that's like way down the road any you know it's part of the this like you know the select board has to decide how this is going to happen how that's going to happen Okay that those are discussions that could be part of that okay yeah but conceptually it's like let's it as a part of town property and let somebody come in here and and make the most of it how that for a no Nathan I I think you did a good job of so Ann Aubrey is looking for those she you know you have until like Monday to clean that up and send that to her yeah yeah no uh I'll uh thank you I'll do that yeah she sent out a note um yesterday it says just a reminder 16th September is the deadline for uh be see if I kept that no that um that's Brooks house status is 763 have yeah I think I mentioned last I spoken to one of the owner SL occupants there and he's he told me he was going to reach out I don't think he has I actually did talk to the to the contractor I was suggested for him about some business in my own anyways and uh so I'm going to reach out to him and again him I think I'm just GNA get the guy out there and see what he has to say um and uh you know talk to owner oent I think he'll be open that um that's the Methodist Church sorry then we talked what was 763 that's the oh okay oh so on that we had talked about drafting something to extend the apdc so my from Richard is that the clock is still is kind of stalled on the demolition it's ticking when is it did they submit their paperwork no they haven't filed their necessary report so well every day that they don't do that it extends the demo delay on okay so that's taking it's expanding it's exp exactly all right so I think we I here's so this is what I'm as bold as I'd like to be I don't think we can get this one in for November I sat down to look at it and I realized we we're going to have to work with a planning board on this um it's going to that particular property is I believe also partially in The Limited business district on MTH out there and um I think it would be worth it'll be a stronger proposal if we sit down with them and look at it for either for May basically uh so I think it'd be good to start those conversations though either you're in a planing board right I was oh I mean many years ago not now you were yeah and they have a new planning director they just hire they just hired him which is great um so either whether you guys want to do it after November or in the new year but you know like sometime let's After Time me let's start that conversation I was the last time we talked to Brian about the 763 a few weeks back and he had no no status uh no no he said the developers get a lot of projects going in town he's the guy that's B those four duplexes on a historic home that's on that property that has just been renovated that he's not going to demolish that I'm ass no B retaining W right now oh that's right that's right all right I was getting a little nervous I kept cutting and cutting and cutting and I'm like that's like 8 n foot drop beat off that guy's property okay all right anything else that needs to come before us tonight uh don't think so um did you hear our next meeting is going to be Zoom only yeah did because I'll be in Seattle yeah what's the dat it's the 10th of October uh oh yeah so so just to wrap up on the um 763 Mass app do you want to start the conversations I can do that and do you guys prefer starting in November after town meeting or yeah okay um I think that one of the things I'm gonna get some input back from from Adam CA from our 25 September meeting because I kind of see 7 63 and our involvement with the planning board and extending the APD you know down to that area and kind of see that as being part of this why don't we have a merged operation of historic preservationists and then use the APD bylaw as a way to manage that and that's pretty much how I'm going to present it to Adam Costa to say can we have he's already said the APD can be applied townwide that was but but what I want to say is to him is to say can we have you know bits and pieces of the historical commission's rules and the epd bylaw rules merge together to create something that has you know more impact so I'm anxious to see oh I see you know the other issue it's a bigger project I mean from just like a legal and writing you know extending the the APD down to down to 76 well that would actually what that would simp by making the APD townwide what that simplifies is right now I I you know we have a choice if we were to extend the AP down to 763 I think it'd be it'd be weird I think the planning board would be really annoyed with us if we did not also extend the village District yeah down to 7603 whereas just because you know it' be a little logical like we could do it maybe but and then if we s in the village District down there like that means you have you know mixed use zoning on Chestnut Street which might it might would be the end of the world necessarily but it might be weird I don't I don't know it's a small residential street like they might be like why you know so so what I'm going with this is there could be some benefit in separate you know just having the ABD cover this histor structures everywhere keeping the village District you know where it is um so it might just thinking out loud it might be in based on what I was looking at recently I think that might actually that could make it easier I'm not say it's going to be there's this complications one way the other I mean you always got to work through those things to get anything done right right the the tough thing about what you're doing is you're talking about you know rewriting the historical whatever bylaws govern the historical committee which might be fired into state law and then rewr rewriting the whole thing with the apdc to fit into that like non-trivial exercise like do you you know what I'm saying like do we want to hold up like if we break this into pieces like what's and do it incre incrementally like so that we can if we make it like one spaghetti ball it might be hard to get it done but if we you know what are the pieces that we could get done incrementally I guess is what I would ask what's how do we prioritize those like is it more important to combine us with a historical committee or is it more important to extend the APD is it more important to extend the APD to 763 is it more important to do it townwide now to the extent that one's as easy as the other it's not a tradeoff but the extent that like you know there two comments one is that um the historical commission is governed by regulations that are generated by state law there isn't historical commission bylaw in the town's Charter you know it's rules and regulations like there is the APD and that's my specific question to to council is to say tell me what the historical commission laws would allow or not allow by merging our function together so that's that's going to be my my major task or to to time Cancel I mean maybe is I mean just to Thinking Out Loud here like I one which might be easier to deal with like if if we could delegate the responsibilities of the apdc to the historical so right now the APD bylaw forms this committee and delegates certain responsibilities and authority to them if instead it didn't form the the APD bylaw didn't form the committee but delegated that that Authority responsibilities to the historical committee like I I don't know if that's possible you that's the reason why I said we make the the term architecture preservation District commission may disappear and and it be the historical commission the second point that I wanted to make was that we have lots of historic houses ton wide yeah that need some protection yeah you know and the only way that that protection is offered today is by the like a demo delay or demolition by neglected the historical commission identifies and notes yeah you know we we are fixated on just a small part of the historic town yeah you know Town asset no you're right the lawyers have said we couldn't do it so the next question so it's Le it looks like it's legally feasible is it politically feasible right I think based on some of the things you're hearing the master planning you know public meetings I think the answer is possibly yeah I heard so okay so um I'll talk to the planning board about you know but I'm not going to do that until after I've had a chance to talk to TOA so I won't have that conversation until after the 25th of September but I do think that you know we're lucky that the way the demolition delay bylaw or letter works is that he can't tear the house done you know without breaking seriously breaking the law you know he could anybody you can do anything you want you can break people break the laws every day but I think that he wouldn't do that um so we we don't have the the only issue there is is that the house isn't being lived in there's probably not any maintenance being done you know was deterioration taking place so we don't want that to last forever got to get some resolution there's somebody on Facebook the other day complaining about the grass yeah so as those continue on on Facebook that brings the review of the property back up into the public side yeah literally yeah okay so just kind of summarize I'll send you e files for the ver project so we can prioritize what work needs to be done I'll pay how much money was set aside to do that and then I'll talk to the U to the planning board um about 963 and our desire that maybe extend APD just kind of get to feel for this issue of disability District in not there disil District stay where it's at you know just see what they say and then naan you're going to send this proposed an you want yeah I just sent you uh I just sent you by email Ann Aubrey's note that said hey orange or do 5:00 September 16 okay I just sent that to and you're gonna so I okay so I submit this just question procedurally so um we want to talk to uh the the Committees that like we can talk to whoever wants to talk to us but the ones that we need to talk to are obviously the select board the does is the historical committee gion commission yeah I think we should probably talk to them or do you want to set up when's your next meeting October and then planning board can you get us on the agenda yeah I'll tell you what so I'll take the select board if that's okay no go right ahead uh do you want to take the planning board I will yeah and you take the historical commission yeah is there anyone we forget oh the building re used you want to take them too um yeah I I'll mention that to them I was that was actually on my agenda to talk about at our meeting Monday night yeah but we just didn't get to it because of the truncated meeting yeah so and for what it's worth last time I drove by the Brooks house it looked like they were missing a shingle it's the never ending battle so the topic of discussion will be what um the topic will be the uh Brooks uh the warrant article to instruct the um select board to take the steps necessary to sell the Brooks house okay good definitely getting your money's worth out of that she [Music] okay anything anything else historical commission update um the uh Stone Farm on massab that's I believe that's the same contractor is going to be developing that property too he owns that who is it yeah know who it is Rec name yeah it's not Kevin H I have no idea um Kevin did done far is that GNA be a is he planning to demo that you think or yeah a demo that went through demo delay and that's uh that's beyond it so that's going to be torn down and bar what you put there how duplexes like do how that whole Corner yeah yep it's not a very nice Corner either and so that's that and then um I just uh dropped off the contract for the townwide survey for chairman nunzio to sign uh and return to mass histor commission and then it'll uh once they get that it'll go out to uh to bid free consultant to do the work of documenting uh 85 properties in town all the kilber Cyrus kilber map houses that are still in existence Marshall Park um the uh training ground on the upper common of the militia um I think that's it so that'll be going forward pretty soon uh with the completion date of the middle of next year in total completion on um and on I think it's September 25th we had a uh house was torn down in 1945 Bungalow um that was architecture reflected the time period um the owner had a per permit to put an addition on and decided to tear the house down without a permit um it came to us for a public hearing to see if there was going to be um uh a penalty which could be two years um not to be able to build on that land um but uh the historical commission didn't have a quorum so we couldn't uh vote on it and went back to the building department and um Brian dingis said he thought this should be a the penalty uh was automatic according to the bylaw um even though we didn't vote on it um so he was going to consult cont so um to see what was going to happen and we because we had lost someone did that last year on a bungalow on flat hill road so he was concerned that this was going to be a trend that people were just going to uh blow blow off the building department historical commission just tear houses down without a consequence and say I didn't know uh at our September meeting um I didn't have a quorum there's three members on commission two members didn't show up um so there was no meeting in September so the commission is in badly needing some new [Music] members well you have one group yeah between one group I think you could have a a dynamic organization yeah that would manage preservation of more than just this little thing called APD you know brought all all the assets all assets yeah we used to have seven members um and then we had voted to because we couldn't get a quorum of four a lot at the time that was quite a task we voted and had approved that town meeting to have a commission of five with the hope of um three see more reasonable to be able to get three people to show up by the way that I'm going to put a postcript in our notification letter of the property asking for volunteers to the APD so I was thinking like no that's something we need to add you know and you never can't tell might might might generate some interest from somebody who says Hey I want to make sure they don't do things that are h of my proper okay anything else uh motion to ad motion all right second all right Richard all in favor say We'll Meet Again by zoom on the 10th of October maybe when we enjy those committees if we can also uh get a beer bud