##VIDEO ID:djPkkANE-VU## good evening welcome to the committee of the whole subcommittee it is December 16th please rise to salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all rooll Club the members councelor agenzio here here councel janino here here councelor greo SAA here here councelor house here here councelor Haro is absent Council Kelly here here councel McKenna here here councel noeli absent councelor sylvestri here here Council zambo here here and council president cogliandro here here cor Miss president there's two items on this evening's Committee of the whole agenda that is a communication from the chief of planning and Community Development requesting adoption of the city's housing production plan and also a communication relative to the Housing Development incentive zones good evening sir name and address for the record please good evening Tom scosi 281 Broadway I am here to talk on both of the items uh here tonight but I'll start with the housing production plan as discussed in our November meeting um and I we don't need anything up on the computer for now I guess for the folks of rier TV great um the housing production plan is a A Five-Year Plan to create the right kind of housing in the right locations across various income spectrums um it was created with a working group of 12 professionals it was composed over a period of 18 months we had two public meetings an online survey of almost 300 Riv residents um and ultimately crafted the plan that's in front of you um this evening this plan is not time sensitive it's not anything where our hair is on fire and we need to approve this tonight um I understand that it's a lengthy document and one that requires more deliberation and discussion that's certainly why I'm here tonight and why I'll be here both for the city council and anyone in the viewing public who has questions about this project I'd love to talk with you all through um the implications of this housing production plan and I just will start with a few brief remarks much more brief than my last presentation I promise and then I'll open it up to any questions you might have so approving this housing production plan would basically create a road map for how we're going to produce the right kind of housing in the right location across income spectrums um but it is just that it's a road map it gives us a toolkit with various Tools in our toolbox by approving this plan what we would be doing is showing a good faith effort to the state that we're working to meet our 40b requirement of having at least 10% of our housing stock be deemed affordable today we're at 7% um by some estimates and projections in our plan if we're going at our current Pace we'll actually dropped to roughly five five and a half% in a few years so approving this plan would show the state we're taking a good faith effort to close that affordability Gap and in at least year one this would provide for Safe Harbor from any 40b development in the city um and then in subsequent years the plan would have to be certified and basically this would be us showing we're actually starting to close that Gap with affordable housing production and for years two through five if we certify the plan we'll continue to be sheltered from 40b developments this plan just by adopting it the council would send this to the state for its approval okay that's what this plan does what this plan does not do and here I'll particularly reference a misleading flyer that went out this past weekend this does not dismantle our zoning ordinance no votes that you take whenever this is approved would dismantle our zoning ordinance okay this would not require the city to purchase properties from certain people to be held aside for affordable housing development that is not the case it would not impose a property tax search charge on Riv residents approving this plan just gives us the tool kit that we can then use at our discretion we can choose not to use some of the tools in the toolkit altogether we can choose to use some of them and use them intelligently um and use them in a way that will still serve the interests of the city and one um particular note on that regard I'd mention is with regard to the Central Avenue parking lot okay so there is a suggestion one of the tools in the toolkit if you will to redevelop the Central Avenue parking lot for affordable housing and there's been a lot of discussion and and concern in the community that in so doing we would take away parking from Seniors you could in conceive of a plan where we're redeveloping that lot and still preserving parking for seniors and that would be our intent to do so but we also might just not redevelop that lot altogether it's just a tool in the toolbox um so nearly every single tool in that toolbox for us to use it it would require further vote and authorization from the city council this vote just approves the plan and this road map it does not improve every individual action item it does not dismantle our zoning ordinance or any of the other sort of alarmist things that we saw in that flyer and the property tax search charge in particular that was mentioned in the flyer would not only require Council action it would require a ballot referendum it would require all the citizens in rever to approve it so just wanted to clear that component up um and the flyer also mentioned something about us trying to push this through while folks are distracted for the holidays um that's not the intent the only reason I want to get this approved is because I want to move on from the plan and I want to start getting stuff done contrary to popular belief some of us in government like to actually get things done and and move things along and not just delay and delay and delay I happen to be one of those people and so does my team um but we don't need to approve it tonight we don't need to approve it anytime soon and it certainly was not our intent to push it through in the holidays it just happened to fall on this meeting so before I get to questions um I wanted to just go over a few pieces of uh Miss information that I saw on that flyer that I think are just worth putting out because I think what really bothered me about seeing that flyer go out is I knew there would be people at tonight's meeting who would be worried and upset by what they saw and worried by what fundamentally were just mischaracterizations of what this plan is and what it represents so first of all the plan uh the flyer noted that our plan proposes to eliminate the minimum lot size requirements in the city that's patently false um the plan suggested that in certain areas we would reduce the minimum lot size requirements for building in the city and that's because the plan showed that if you look at the vast majority of the parcels in the city 68% of the parcels in the city are currently non-conforming which basically means you couldn't do the same thing you couldn't build the same structure that's there today because our zoning prohibits it so all we're saying is maybe we need to write size our zoning to uh account for the reality on the ground and again this is just a proposal that would require further Council votes in the future to actually get approved the second thing and noted we would allow apartment buildings by right across the city um that's also not true um it would though allow for if the council authorized it at a later date two and three family um units to be allowed by right and that actually came from our rigorous Community engagement process that we underwent through this project where we had a lot of folks in the community that were um disappointed that we are strictly talking about building affordable housing which means deed restricted affordable housing that is set aside for people that meet a certain income Spectrum they're worried about what happens to the people in between right you have these people who are eligible for affordable housing on the one side you have people that are eligible for the luxury housing that's being built on the other on the other hand and what about the people in between frankly what about the people at City Hall what about our teachers our firefighters our police officers who are getting increasingly priced out of this market and one of the best things we could do is permit two and three families by right in residential neighborhoods because that is really housing for working people I live in a two family um and I think a lot of folks in my generation and particularly in in the younger Generations that's going to be their first foray into the housing market so that was taking into account the feedback we heard from the plan and looking at the ways we could find that missing middle is what we call it housing for middle class people another thing that was mentioned in the flyer was um that we allow would allow for a zero lot line building um what the flyer neglected to leave out was the keyw in certain places in the city and in particular that Plan called for zero lot line buildings in places like Broadway and Shirley Avenue where historically that's what you see and it was just calling for the zoning again to be aligned with what's on the ground today but again if we wanted to do that it wouldn't get done by passing this plan it would get done by passing zoning ordinance changes much further out into the future with Council approval the fourth thing um and this is you know I think a particularly troubling thing because it took what could be a positive and turned it into a negative which was it suggested that certain Property Owners would be required to First give the city their right of first refusal to purchase a property for affordable housing development and that couldn't be further from the truth of what that plan is it makes it sound like it's a requirement but it's actually an opt-in policy and so how this would work again I'm going to be a broken record here but if the city council approved it at a later date after approving this plan if they wanted to use that tool in the toolbox the way it would happen is we would actually put out for sale um a right of first refusal to Property Owners so we basically say hey if you might be interested in giving the city the ability to consider purchasing your property for affordable housing development at a later date would you allow us to buy that right from you for $4,000 let's just say let's pick a round number but somewhere around there and that's I think what Salem around what the Salem figure was so if a prop proper owner wanted to give the city that right of first refusal they would get $4,000 from us and then at a later date when their property's up for sale they would first ask us how much we wanted uh or if we were interested in purchasing it and we would utilize the same valuation method as anyone else would we couldn't buy it for below Market in uh below Market rates we would have to buy it at the current market price so that's only for those people that you know bought that right or uh allow the city to buy that right and then again they they would just have us exercising that right of first refusal it doesn't even mean we would buy it we probably wouldn't but it's really about keeping our options open because I think one of the really difficult things in r r right now compared to other communities you know like say Boston Cambridge or Somerville we actually have a lot of housing that's still affordable for working people but with each and every sale of new properties that's coming down the line those properties get converted into new hands often hands of um landlords who might be looking to raise the rent significantly and without deed restricted um supports we have a lot of housing that's affordable for working people that will not be affordable for working people in 5 to 10 years so again that's just a tool in the toolbox that we could use wait for it with further Council authorization at a later date much later than after this plan is approved and then finally the raising of property taxes that it was in bold and red and underlined on the flyer if we wanted to adopt the community preservation act which again is a small property search charge 1 to 3% of a property tax bill and just for for reference looking at the average tax bill in R about $5,400 a year that that would be $4 to $10 a month okay and that would be used for parks open space Housing Development and historic preservation and in addition to that property tax search charge it would be matched by state matching funds of anywhere from 20 to 50% it varies every year um that the state would basically give us additional money to help support that property tax search charge but voting on this plan today will not create a property tax sear charge for the city that would require you say with me a future Council vote following the passage of this plan and then a citizen referendum that the citizens of Riv decided that they wanted to put a small amount of their monthly tax bill towards parks open space and Housing Development so those are just a few of the things in in a nutshell I wanted to address from the flyer I'm happy to answer any other questions you have both tonight and for what hope we be a continued conversation about this plan into the new year thank you thank you Mr scosi for the [Music] uh thank you for the explanations uh we're going to open it up to the city councilors now I've uh heard from a lot of you that want to speak so we're just going to go from my right all the way through down to my left starting with councelor arenia thank you Mr President and thank you Mr scosi that was an excellent presentation and it cleared up a lot of misinformation and I'm glad you mentioned the flyer um I just want to speak briefly about this flyer it was distributed to certain neighborhoods uh over the past week and it discussed the housing plan but one of the things that irritated me it painted the city council in a very poor light and it made some accusations I I'll read one thing here the city council is now readying to strike another devastating blow to our zoning code by adopting a housing production plan while residents are distracted with the holidays and it goes on down here to say that the council is self-serving and among other things so it was very disturbing and I got some calls from residents some were very nice um we spoke very intelligent intelligently some were I rate thinking we were pushing something through underhanded and that's not the case and I just wanted to clear up and this flyer is anonymous um the a legitimate flyer should have somebody's contact name email address phone number where you could contact the person who people that put this flyer out if you wanted to discuss so anything that comes anonymously has to set send up a red flag to anybody that reads it uh the author of the flyer could have very well called you or called one of the city councils and we could have cleared up a a lot of this uh uh information and it needlessly worried and angered and agitated residents um on Saturday afternoon I bumped into a couple of gentlemen who were uh delivering this flyer and I had a discussion uh one person I've known for years um and we had a very intelligent discussion about housing and and development and they said you know we're out here passing these flyers out we should be home uh wrapping Christmas presents and what have you somebody put this thought in their head that this needed to be done because tonight we were going to uh do something underhanded so I I just thank you for addressing it and as a ward counselor you explain this very well there there are a few flash points here um that I I'm not ready or prepared to vote on this tonight um with your ex explanation I'm a lot more comfortable um but things like legalizing rooming houses and the reducing lot size and uh two or three family homes by right uh you know I would like to clear up some of those flash points before the plan is adopted by the council so I'm not prepared to vote on this tonight but you certainly uh made me a lot more comfortable uh with this housing plan thank you very much thank you and um available to talk with you all through those particular points both here and in the future and just to address the elf in the room because it was anonymously written I was not the author of the flyer put that out there thank you counselor councelor Janina Tom thank you for explaining this a lot better than it was I'm over in w six and my neighborhood got hit with the Flyers unbelievable my phone's been ringing off the hook Friday Saturday Sunday from 9:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night I've going over I've going over over the story over and over again at least three four hours each day you clear a lot of stuff up with us I'm not comfortable voting on it yet I like a lot more discussion to be done on it to go back to the residen of award 6 and bring it to them and how it affects them directly but I'm well to work we want it thank you counselor councelor Gino SAA if possible I'd like to hold my comment till the end very well councelor H thank you Mr President Tom thanks so much for being here and for your explanation on the um the the housing plan but um like my fellow counselors here I received a number of calls regarding the flyer and I will say I was disappointed in the message that the individual passing out the flyer the message that they were delivering to Residents um I got a call from someone last night I'm in ward 3 and he was talking about how the individuals two of them were dropping off flyers they know this man they spoke with him at length and um you know they had some interesting things to say about the current Council and um I will just say I was very disappointed in their comments um talking about character and and the overall makeup of the council but I will say that but I did also have a few great conversations with residents that did indeed get the flyer and you know we shared the same concerns um regarding the lot lot lines the boarding houses and as we talked about before there's a ton in this packet I think it's over 100 it's over a 100 pages but um you and I had talked about this before and there's some good stuff in there and some stuff that we would like to have cleared up if possible um like I said I had a great conversation with the resident last night and you know when you talk about this this type of Housing and looking at this amount of housing that would be possible it's one of the things that gets lost in this is the strain that this amount puts on the schools and puts on emergency personnel and that's just something we have to think about with something like this but thanks so much for your explanation and hopefully we can learn and talk a little more thank you thank you counselor councelor yo hi Tom how are you um so I just have a few questions for you Tom Tom what would compel a city to create a housing production plan so it is was created by state law to help cities comply with their 40b requirement to produce at least 10% of their housing stock to be deed restricted affordable and deed restricted affordable means that it is restricted by a deed for a period of 30 years or greater um at affordability levels of at least 80% of the area median income so again we're at 7% we're dropping to about 5 and a half so we need to close that Gap so we're not making ourselves liable to get a 40b development which means a developer can basically circumvent our zoning and do what they want as long as they produce 25% affordable housing so for folks at home who may be watching or for those of us here who don't know what 40b means can you explain what a 40b development is sure a 40b development is basically uh a development where a developer can bring a proposal that's at least 25% affordable and they can make a case through What's called the comprehensive permit process to the state um that they do not need to conform to the local zoning ordinance because the local zoning ordinance is making it difficult to produce affordable housing um so if a state if a a city does not have a certified housing production plan and they're below 10% um a developer can basically submit a comprehensive permit application to the state that says hey we're looking to build at least 25% affordable we don't need to pay attention to local zoning and it starts almost like an arbitration process between the developer the state and the city um and it's one that takes a lot of local control away of what can be built thank you Tom and would it be safe to say that the state is enacted this law to try to preserve or create more Workforce housing yes or no yes now Tom I have a question to you what do you do for a living I'm a city planner did you get trained in City Planning I did where um first at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and then The Graduate School of Design at Harvard so this is what you do you help cities plan their cities this is what you do that's that's what I do to my understanding no offense to any my colleagues but I don't think any of us here are city planners so I happy to Value the work that you're doing here now this is about Workforce housing and when we talk about Workforce housing um you could imagine why a state is concerned about this where our state has been losing population for a long time over the last few years which means we lose Revenue dollars which means we don't have a bant economy which mean businesses have to close down and people get out of business and people don't have jobs now I know you were here last week for something maybe we were celebrating one of your co-workers um can you tell me why we're celebrating that coworker because they are moving to North Carolina because this is an unaffordable place to raise a family oh Texas that's right North Carolina was another story of a different city hall employee but yeah Texas they're moving to Austin Texas they're actually the number two on this project that was helping me create this plan so now this person live in the city of river yes did they grow up in the city of river they grew up in East Boston they their family has roots here and owns a home and from the area yes so how old is this person do you know C can we please move this along how old is this person excuse me you can take the mic away if you want Mr President I'm going to finish my on question then I will absolutely take your mic away you can challenge the chair if you like you can get to the point by counselor excuse me everybody communicate through the chair please absolutely not counselor you're asking questions that are not relevant to this the the person Prett relevant to me the personal information of an employee is not relevant to this okay ignore the question about the person's age so what I'm hearing is a resident of river who seemed rather young maybe my age may be younger can no longer to live in the city of Riv and uh there's a reason for that and you're telling us here on this Das that this housing production plan which allows us to maintain our control of our zoning law because what you're telling me is that 40b development takes away our control um that this this plan would help us do do that yes thank you Tom thank you counselor councelor Kelly thank you Mr President thank you Tom and thank you for the explanations that you provided they were very helpful um there's some things in this plan that I really like um the section about reutilizing the space at uh coolage Street and Adam Street and trying to redevelop that to better utilize the land I think that's great um giving tenants an option for to rent to own I think that's great down payment Mortgage Assistance I think that's great so those are the tools in the tool boox that you mention that I could fully support um the other ones are concerning to me um even with the explanation that you gave tonight because I understand that Somerville and Cambridge both um did not um vote favorably on a similar plan with the right of first refusal in it and organizations like small Property Owners associations stepped up and felt like it was an overreach by the government um and they felt the need to protect those Property Owners so those programs in Somerville and Cambridge at least failed there was also and I'd like your opinion on this and correct me if I'm wrong with any of this um but there was a similar plan at the state level in uh Senate Bill 890 and House Bill 1426 are you familiar with those I'm not okay they also included a right of first refusal um went through but it was ALS it was vetoed by the governor at the time again for similar overreach and it almost like a soft eminent domain taking um in some respects so I know that you said it would be an op in I'm unclear as to how it would all work because the scenarios that I researched at least wasn't clear and I guess this is a little too vague for me um to support anything like that so I would like to slow this down I would maybe even like to see some of these tools in the toolbox omitted from the plan and then maybe come up with something that we all feel um good about thank you and um with the that particular item I try not to model ourselves off of Cambridge and Somerville um and you know Salem is the one that did adopt it which I think feels a bit more like rever than Cambridge and Somerville but we can be a little bit clear about what our program would be and what it wouldn't be I would also say again by adopting this we would then get into more detail if that's something we wanted to pursue further but hopefully I can clear up some of that misunderstandings before we make a decision to take it in or keep it out or whatever the case I'd appreciate that because I think there is a lot in this that is vague I think that you can give us that explanation because you're familiar with maybe how you would like to see these things go in the future but I don't think that those perceptions may be thoroughly as portrayed in in the document so I think maybe we need some more clarification to come through here understood thank you thank you thank you councelor councelor McKenna thank you Mr President um thank you very much for the clarifications of some of those items on um this document I the um you know this week was this weekend was crazy um but I had a lot of great conversations with with residents that were really disturbed about the flyer and um it was really nice to have you know get to know some residents that aren't on in my ward that are on other Wards so that was great um my concerns just like the other counselors there are some really good things in this in this package and then some of things that I'm concerned about especially in Beachmont um Beachmont near a train station um I fought nine years to get permit parking uh so residents wouldn't have the carry the burden of people coming from Swamp Scot and parking in front of their car houses for eight hours um I have a problem with that uh I right now I'm uh next to an illegal apartment house which really they really can't do anything they've done what they could the guy got fined $67,000 but it's still running and I have a real problem with that because it's it's a nightmare we have a a really nice neighborhood and then we have this in the middle of it um the other thing I have a problem with is it's Beach Mod's so dense um building taking a single family house and making it into a two or three family house for affordable housing I have a problem with that because a beach M is so dense you can't get you can't even get in and we had this discussion you can't even get in and out of Beachmont now the traffic is brutal so um I would like to see you dissect this piece by piece um I do like some of the um things that you talked about tonight but I'd really like to uh you to dissect it so I can understand it better and the people can understand it better thank you very much welcome thank you counselor councelor noeli thank you Mr President Mr President uh Tom thank you for all your information and clarification uh and as all my other counselors have spoken before me I agree with every single thing that they've said you know it's just too much too fast and it almost sounds like not personally but you're trying to shove it down our throats to make this thing happen and I know you have thoughts and ideas about doing things and it's it's great that you do that that's your job uh but I think we ought to do a peac meal uh we ought to take things as we go along as we accept them then take it up rather than one big package I got calls from people that were so irate just on this flyer all Li just on this flyer which I knew right away if someone's going to do a flyer like this number one they have no clue what they're talking about and they don't understand what they're reading and they they're wannabes so you I have no clue who it was or who it is but you know I just think we ought to take a step back look at it as a big picture take individual pieces that we like and vote on them at that particular moment but I'm not prepared to vote on it tonight so but I appreciate all the work you put into it thank you thank you thank you counselor councelor sylvestri thank you Mr President um Tom thank you for your explanation and like everyone said you know there are there there's actually a lot in this that that I'm okay with and then there's certain things I would need more clarity um and with your explanation tonight I think we can get through that I don't want you to dissect this I'm asking you to dissect this with us as counselors and residents I'm asking you to let us help in the process because I think we get to an any game faster than an idea comes we are got to cut it apart go back to the table an idea comes back and forth and really nothing ever gets done um and I know it's your job to come up with the plan and I know you you stated clearly that a even passing this we would still have to come before us again and get everything else passed we all understand clearly I believe because many of us campaigned on it we need affordable housing we need affordable housing ASAP I love the idea of allowing someone to add an addition on their home how many homes have we been taxing at two and three families for decades and then we made people to go around and rip out their family Apartments how many times and now we we're saying okay well that was wrong well now we're saying well we don't want to give them that apartment back I say give it to them back I say let's come up with an idea because May maybe if someone put a in-law and then only went up one unit that would work and usually those are families and I know everyone has fears of big developers coming in and buying single families the money is not in it it's not going to their their benefit is going to far need to for them to get into that game I I think these are going to be done by families that that need the extra space that could use the extra income and and we could use the extra the extra people in the city and like councilor J Miller said we are losing talent in D because we can't afford it and I know when everyone hears affordable housing they think of some poor guy living on the street no 80% of City Hall could afford affordable housing they would they would get it in a heartbeat 70% of the city of Rivier would qualify for some of it that's the reality and we all want to sit up here and and come up with ideas of why we can't but please bring us to the table so we can come up with a reason of why we can thank you I can't vote on this tonight but I am willing to get you to the table and vote with you because we need to make this happen now thank you and I appreciate the note of partnership and and the role that you all have to play and everybody here with us tonight and people watching on R TV have to play I was uh asked to invoke the HW today um which is something that I see as uh a Scarlet Letter not a badge of honor um just because I'm trained in this work doesn't mean it's not something we can all talk about and work through together um although I I appreciate the point um you know it is something I've I'm trained in and have a lot of experience in and can talk with you all about best practices but at the end of the day it's about the community we live in and the community we're trying to build together and I think we all play a role in that we can have that discussion as a as a collective so I appreciate that thank you John thank you counselor councelor is zbo thank you Mr President uh couple things here first off uh uh the flyer actually was a a benefit I got a lot of calls I got to talk to a lot of people I I think there's a lot of misinformation in the fly that's okay um um bottom line is I I told the people I spoke to there's no way I could vote for this tonight anyway there's a lot in it that I can't support there's some in it I can't support uh I appreciate you Tom I appreciate your your uh passion for your job I think you're I think you're a great city planner I I'm happy I when I first saw your resume and I heard and talked about people from where you came from and and I was thrilled that you were coming a rever and I still am however there are we have differences and and we got to work them out and uh uh hopefully this ends up eventually in zoning and and we and and we do work on it one thing I I will say I've been here a long time I I you know I don't like to keep saying that as if I'm not thrilled to be here I am I'm thrilled to represent the citizens I'm thrilled even when I get these calls when people are screaming at me how can you how can you be thinking about this I said well you know this is a proposal that's before us and we're looking at it and and and but uh my point is that I'm not one that's threatened by 40b and I'll tell you why I've been here a long time and we've been threatened by 40 B for a long time and it doesn't come and and I don't expect it to but uh again this is a uh a proposal that I think in the end we may be able to come to some sort of an agreement at least on my end uh but uh I'm I'm not I'm not willing to take a whole package to get a couple of things that I think are good and and I think you know there's going to be a give and take here if we're going to come to a a solution that I think is is good for everybody and I mean everybody I mean a lot of those angry people that called me I want I want to make them comfortable uh and I I hate to say it but I didn't get any I didn't get oh no no no I got one email from somebody that was a positive email in favor of the the package as is uh so again uh to everybody that's called me and everybody that's at home uh we will do what's best for the city at least that's what I intend to do and I'm sure my colleagues feel the same way so um this is I I I'm sure this is going to be either put in committee or tabl or somewhere tonight but it'll be it'll be taken up at a later date and again I appreciate you and I appreciate what you do thank you thank you councelor and I appreciate the sentiment and just for what it's worth for the record I'm less concerned by a 40b development um as well then I am concerned at the prospect of losing our young people and our seniors on fixed income um with the rising costs of of housing in this city thank you councelor councelor Gino SAA thank you Mr President thank you Tom um thank you for all the hard work that you put in to this um I'm also not ready to vote on this at all I've received numerous phone calls uh some were in favor some were completely against some were wanted to pick it apart which is what I think this Council all wants to do as well uh we all need to have a say in how this is written and how it's going to impact the residents but right now um I really want to talk about the flyer that went out it's really troubling and the person who wrote the flyer really needs to wake up I sat down and last night spent about 3 hours writing a very very long um letter that I wanted to read I'm only going to read part of it today because I think it's best that I not say what I want to say but as a Rivia City councelor it's our responsibility to uphold the principles of respect collaboration and integrity that this council is entrusted to embody the flyer that went out made residents very very upset yesterday because it was making a su ions and presumptions about anticipated votes without the author engaging in meaning meaningful conversation or understanding the perspective of others such assumptions do not represent the values of thoughtful governance nor do they allow for an in-depth debate that is essential in addressing complex issues we face at any given Council or subcommittee meeting I am troubled by the attempt to arouse Division and fear among the residents of the city of Riv with statements that seem intended to provoke unrest rather than provide Solutions we are Le leaders we are chosen by the people of Rivier to guide the city towards progress and stability instilling fear or distrust undermines our roles and stir unnecessary chaos in the community that we serve I agree with everything my colleagues had said tonight my last point will be let us continue working together for the betterment of our city putting aside all personal grievances for the sake of the common good to our residents please open your eyes and see the total picture not the lies and innuendos that somebody wants you to believe that person would have signed that letter I assure you that our Focus remains steadfast on representing your best interest and our best interest since we live in the city of Rivier as well and fostering a council environment that reflects the best of what we can achieve together let us not be defined by division but by our shared dedication to this city and its future thank [Applause] you thank you councelor permission to speak from the chair thank you um so it looks like the only thing that was correct on that fly were our phone numbers they did um I are we tied for longest last name counselor no but the yes so with that said it just you know I agree with uh Council zanuto 40b has been used for nothing uh but more than a bargaining chip uh for developers yeah it's a it's a cur word yeah um so I agree with that as well um there's this image that's been portrayed of the council that we rush everything um I I wish I was the type of person that put the work that I do out in the public every single day but nothing gets rushed up here there's a lot of collaboration we work with the clerk we work with City departments we work with the mayor we work with each other there's a lot of conversations that happen and um I understand the public wants to know that stuff and it does happen guys um I also want to thank the people that that um decided to call us all of us that shows trust and I appreciate that even if you called to yell which I think the majority of those phone calls were um but thank you for at least calling us and hearing us out um Tom I do have a question uh First Rate of refusal are we going to be landlords are we going to be developers are we going to be house flippers what are what's the city going to turn into if that is a part of the the plan that stays together that's a great question so I think there's a few different ways that this could be done um I think it it wouldn't be the city in anything I think it would either be working with the affordable housing trust fund to purchase th those properties and and work with a consultant to be you know sort of a a a leasing agent of sorts and and making sure they're managing the process but the more likely scenario could be something that we're going to be bringing in front of the council in January with a few different Parcels of tax forclosed properties where we're actually doing an RFP for affordable housing purposes I don't think the city should be in the business of property development or Property Management I think we should put it into the hands of those that can do that more effectively than our thank you um councilor Kelly thank you for leeway I just had a followup because I forgot to ask this so the um calculations of the 7% that we're at right now does that include rever Housing Authority vouchers and Does it include vouchers from other cities that are you know the tenants are here that are on vouches from say Malden Housing Authority or Boston Housing Authority are those numbers all calculated into that 7% if a property voucher is being used at a property that has a deed restriction within it then it's being counted so the rever Housing Authority properties are the vast majority of our 7% of the stock right now so if somebody is staying at the coolage Avenue um development and they have a voucher in addition um then that's de restricted but if you just have a a voucher a Section A voucher on a property that has no deed restriction that's not included as part of the 7% nor is it elsewhere in the Commonwealth and the reason is because that voucher travels with the person not the property so that property is not restricted for affordability and perpetuity correct okay thank you and also just the um to follow up with councilor sylvestri I think that mentioned it we do allow um Adu uh units right now accessory dwelling units in the city of Ria correct we do allow them currently today by February of this year we'll actually have to come in in compliance with the new state law that is going to be much more um liberal in its interpretation of where adus can be put and what communities can do to prevent against it right thank you thank you counselor um I'm going to just give leeway to councilor sylvestri and then uh I we're going to open it up to Residents we also have one other item of business can I just get a quick show hands for anyone that would like to speak on the housing production plan tonight okay great um so let me just let counselor yes ma'am um let me counselor sylvestri go thank you for the M Mr President um Tom what happens if we do nothing if we do nothing we will have that 40b issue potentially if a developer comes and applies for a 40b permit but councilor zambuto is not wrong and that that's probably a pretty rare instance what is really the problem is that we're not setting ourselves in a position where we're creating more affordable and more Workforce housing for the population that again the median household income in Rivier qualifies for affordable housing that means the average person in the city of Rivier qualifies for affordable housing and that population is going to increasingly be um further and further away from the rents and the the sale prices in this city if we do nothing thank you counselor I'd like to open this up to the public um when you come to the mic please state your name and address for the record well City employee not sorry I am not speaking as a city employee tonight I'm speaking as the vice chair of the affordable housing trust fund along with another uh board member another trustee Leila Petri uh so I'll speak first I do feel left out I was not VIs visited by the Grim Reaper this weekend so I was a little surprised when I came into work and heard all the Ado uh but I will be brief cuz I know a couple people want to speak uh so like I said I am coming before you all tonight as the vice chair of our affordable housing trust fund and as we all saw tonight we see passionate well researched employees such as Tom who come before this Council time and time again to fight for progress and to fight for opportunity in this city and time and time again we are always met with last minute campaigns of disinformation tonight's topic is singular it is housing and as a volunteer and as a resident of this city I know firsthand the struggles that we face and unfortunately gone are the days of The Quiet Suburbia and long treelined driveways that we like to think of Rivier is one of the fastest growing cities in the Commonwealth we're home to major transportation hubs and a highly popular public beach and with this comes traffic and density perhaps if Boston or the Boston Harbor broke off from Massachusetts we could get rid of our traffic problems but I don't see that happening anytime soon so I want to paint a picture of what modern Suburbia looks like in Riv it looks like popular shopping centers like North Gate it looks like an International Airport it looks like major train stations hospitals condos apartments multif family homes and while we all dream of a sing single family home with a white picket fence I Claire would have nowhere to live if it were not for the two family home that I live in behind Mountain Avenue I'm college educated I make a decent living it is public record what I make and I live on the first floor of a two family home and my landlord the primary occupant a single dad with three children lives on the second floor of my home and because of this two family home I'm able to live in the city that I work in I pay a fair rent to a smalltime landlord and I'm still able to put away a small amount of money for my future middle income housing is desperately needed and the strategies and options key word outlined in our housing production plan is desperately needed you may all recall page 18 it was on the flyer this page suggests that the city allow two and three family homes by right in our residential districts meaning a two or three family project would apply to our various authorities for a permit approval and follow the same building code that all of our other projects have to follow and now I do consider myself easily scared I still have a nightlight in my bedroom but I fail to find any reason to be scared with the options and strategies laid out in this plan the exhausting onslaught of fear-mongering surrounding affordable housing and rever is extremely disheartening to young people who are trying to establish a life in this city I am disappointed to always see emotion and misconception be weaponized against progress as a voter and as a taxpayer I want my tax money to go towards making the city a better place I want affordable housing to be built where an empty Municipal lot sits with easy access to a bus station the Antiquated arguments against these proposals Overlook a fundamental truth housing is a human right it is not a privilege and I urge this Council to remember that pledging to support the hpp's ideas does not mean an immediate and complete upheaval of our zoning code AS subcommittee chairman zambuto knows very well zoning changes require weeks of notice they require many meetings and they often invoke many residents coming to share their opinion and as Tom mentioned one of the biggest and most controversial proposals requires a Citywide vote to be taken the fear-mongering that we hear at the meetings halts progress it keeps us divided and as councelor Gino SAA mentioned it keeps us from understanding that we really are all on the same side we all want the residents of Rivier to afford to continue to live here we want our children to afford to continue to live here when they move out as I did a few years ago and along with all of our other community members I was at every meeting that this city held to gather input on this HPP we had interpret ation we had child care we had free food we had a Q&A session I will say I did see councelor hos at one of those meetings and I want you to know that the facts and the research has been presented and I hope these facts emphasize the true scale of our housing crisis we cannot risk losing our teachers our Health Care staff our bus drivers our service workers our city employees or the young people who grew up here and are now trying to live on their own in the city thank you thank you very much just want to let everybody know we have a hard stop in six minutes uh because we have to start our next meeting so uh NE and Lea offered support moral support okay uh I name name and address please ma'am my name is Le petria um I was living on U 2525 Beach Street and I work with the reg stre Moto here in okay and uh also I belong to Chapa and that's one of the things and the governor Haley she sign a a special grant for all the massachusett and Rivia is part of that so I think we have to take and Advance what the governor tried to S to try to help all people on massachusett to get affordable housing so I thinka this is the perfect time to try to be part of that and with all planing we try to do it to get involved on this so that's why we make the affordable housing trust found and we're working with you guys to take an advantage what the governor Haley tried to help for all Massachusetts thank you very much good evening sir name and address for the record please hi my name is Brian Rose 172 Kimble a I'm a proud R resident I'm here to speak in support of the HPP I want to sort of give a face and a name to the crisis that we're sort of discussing um I made $71,000 last year I'm educated and I'm 37 and I'd like to not have to live with roommates anymore at some point I'd like to start a family at some point I'd like that to be here in rever if at all possible and as others have mentioned we're losing people like me we are in a crisis it's not just me there's thousands of others like me who are both younger and older than me I'm approaching my 40s and again I'm feeling the effects of this crisis despite my education despite my work history despite all of this and um it's very scary dealing with the housing market the way it's become and there's others like me who um are bearing the brunt of it and because we only had six minutes left I'll cut it off there but again I just like to speak in support and I've looked over all 149 Pages it's an incredible amount of research and a lot of the um potential Solutions I think could be immensely helpful to people like me um and just thank you for your time and thank you for tackling this this issue thank you sir good evening sir name and address of the record please uh Matthew Terell 215 Crescent Avenue hello I here in front of you today to ask the council to support this housing production plan to educate residents who may not fully understand the importance of this plan and to give a real life example of the freedom this plan gives homeowners when it comes to planning and zoning a city- like Rivier I must say I really do agree with critics of this housing plan I mean we must look at the culture and the history and the fabric of our city unfortunately for the critics of the plan this is where we differ in opinion and in facts when I look at back at the city in the history and the culture of our community is not one of suburban sprawl and restrict family zoning it is not one of parking minimums in unwalkable neighborhoods when I look back on River's history I see that our city was built on a vibrant mix of affordable multif family homes like the triple Deckers you see down Shirley AV I see the single family homes that were once summer cottages right next to turn of the century apartment buildings when I look back on River's history I do not see strip mall after strip mall and Commercial drive-throughs what I see is mixed use neighborhoods with diverse selections of ground floor retail and so many Recreations Apartments I see Stern's department store that once sat at the corner of Beach Street in Northshore road which would not be allowed today because of Frontage requirements same thing goes with the original Riv theater that sat right across from this building would not be allowed without a special permit or even a bit further up Broadway I see rearin which once again would not be allowed without a special permit during Frontage requirements in fact almost all of the amusements in buildings that once sat along river Beach would be non-conforming and require special permits now Riv started its so-called Suburban experiment less than a century ago and just in the last 10 to 20 years we are still seeing and dealing with the consequences prosperous cities require growth this is a good problem to have unfortunately our Suburban s development dug us deeper into this gold good problem hole as R has grown restrictive zoning has limited the options for types of new houses and ultimately hasn't met the demand for housing home prices have skyrocketed housing stock has not increased fast enough to accommodate the growth of the population and longtime residents are being pushed from their homes now you might be wondering with all the developments along Rivier Beach Shirley AV Etc how can the housing stock not rise any quicker the simple answer lies in the fact that parts of the city that are getting these developments only Ure for a very small percent of the buildable area in the land Matthew I'm so sorry I I apologize I have to end the meeting right now uh just so you know there will be public comment at the the next meeting so just sit tight that will not happen it won't take a long time to get there we have one other matter on the subcommittee and if it's okay with everyone I would like to place that on file because we are having a public hearing on it do anybody opposed to that and as far as the housing production plan I would like to to table it and keep it in committee does anyone have any problems with that the housing production plan will be tabled to the next Committee of the whole and we will place the following uh motion on file and this meeting is adjourned