e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can you hear me I can't hear you there we go got it I got you now okay okay I did but it worked thank you y that as go straight to the directory the directory perfect so then in that case for your url purchase that on Go Daddy so you already have that all set up then we'll just use that as a boarding address to the actual directory like so that's exactly what I want so so that we don't have to minimize the clicks to to get to the actual now is that URL available that's the huge question well there's not unless it's South Quake England I don't think there I can look right now go ahead it might be shop South ma or something like that to make it a little bit more designated uh for location but um what about the dining guide did you want that as a separate link as URL well no that's that's going to just be a QR code so we don't need we're not even going to promote a URL for that we just okay well okay so right now for like our dining guide um it's just a link on our site so sbc.com our dining guide so what we're going to do is create the URL that goes direct not the URL the QR code that goes well the QR code yes based off that link yes yep yep um right so cool and again right now I just did a low reses uh uh capture of the PDF um just to put it on there as a example that's all um that you can see there here all right so that way now you can see and yeah but um and then would you rather have that as like a JPEG or that's okay a PDF great just because the PDF is laid out a little weird it's laid out in a brochure work form don't worry I I just to this super quick so what I'll do is because I can make the PDF into um individual panels so you know the the the southw eating and drinking establishment would be on top the Northeast would be underneath that and then it'll be colonized like that and so no worries so that'll be higher but the design is nice so that's cool I like the imagy for here um what you question it'll be a higher res than the it'll be um so it'll be a higher res so that the the text would be um not fuzzy not fuzzy it's fuzzy right now but it'll be so that it can still load quickly uh the PDF will still be a download on on the site so that if you so it'll open another window yes yeah and if you want you can download it to your computer or download it to your um device you know so yes um so question about that sure um regarding Spotlight graphic that M when will I be able to tell them that they can log into this site to to create that QR code to that page I make you a QR code and send it to you perfect then I can send it to them exactly right great so so um the C codes I make uh it is uh I have the option of high res vector and all that so uh if it's going to go onto a large Banner that's the kind of format going to want so that it's expandable and W lose qu perfect so I could have that when so um for the dining guide right now I have it as uh let's see I'm going to have to do a test because the site is still in um construction mode I'm just want to make sure that there's no extra links or code in there that will make the QR codeing for that when it goes live okay all right um so yes but yeah um but right now it would be sou edc.com our dining guide and is that okay sure yeah I mean if it's quicker just send that to them and they can make the QR code well once the QR code is made you can't alter things so but if you know that's the URL exactly right that so just got to do a test to make sure that because it's not the site isn't live yet I don't want that link to be what the care Cod is basically reading and trying to go to a construction you know like coming soon site so that's the only I got to try to test all right U but it should be pretty easy to do anyways um so yeah and then yeah um so again right now uh what other information will be on here other than just the uh the jpegs and the PDF and whatnot because one of the things like when you're looking at the information for DJ's Hash House it has the Facebook link so will those be able to be live or um from a jpeg no no I know from a PDF they should be but I don't know so from so basically for the PDF what would then be done is I would take the cover make that the jpeg image put that on top the rest of it can basically be um the actual live website being searchable and interactive so that all of these uh entries here again if someone types in um searching for D&J Hash House maybe our site will come up um in the search query so that will all help the sites longevity anyways um and of course the links can be real uh to to go to their Facebook page um these would also I'm assuming going to be in the actual directory anyway so be redundant but it's okay you know it's utilizing it in another link that again I just want eating and drinking I don't want to go through the other part so you're saying it'll be live in the website so it'll be editable too yes that'll be important things change yeah right now we're on the C for four new restaurants in town wow cool so yeah so and and the way to setup is easy enough I can pull the text from the PDF and just popul so that it's all searchable and editable yeah um that's gonna be much more flexible than if it was just a PDF yes definitely um you want me to send you like the text so that you don't have to you don't have to type that in no I don't have to type I'm copy and pasting from the PDF so you're okay okay all right thank you sure um all right so um going back to the directory section um again right here I just started doing some uh tests where you know categories based off of your survey so you have Auto and trucks and then underneath that you have auto parts accessories and setting all this up super easy um and again like if you were to click on it you know I just did a little test here um that's where I got the Napa one from okay because I you that got sent to me the what the Nappa test how did a Napa test sent to you oh no I got it in my personal emails earlier today I didn't do that oh it was through the economic development commission well I'll send it to you when I get home sure uh be interesting to see uh um that but yes um and with this particular directory so I'm just open another uh page here uh and I go here so in the actual directory portion of the program uh it's basically plugin I downloaded to this the first one I started using just cuz I just wanted to try one and fairly simple when you are like adding a new listing and it's of course all you know ready for you to U take a look at so let me um uh so let's go with um uh wow that looks nice no no no this is this is just Google oh that's why it looks nice looks great so we have JD Auto so let's say we just go here and add a new listing um let's say for the images here do they have anything that we can utilize nope that's from the map all right so there's the map right M well would that be an option as at least a yep temporary till we get a in the long run I just took a screenshot I just took a screenshot so we're good [Music] um just got to save the screenshot that's all yeah in one sense that's a very good initial thing because it helps people recognize if they're trying to find it yeah know is Js so then here again going to my new listing here um so again I like how it's very modular so this simple thing right here is basically just media and text I'm just upload that image Bo and then for the text information that is right here so one of the things is [Music] um here open that up of grass in the side [Music] people so one of the tricks here is like if if you are if you're going to you know take do some of this part of it I always like to take the web data that's here and put it into like notepad what happens that it eliminates all the code behind it and format it so it's easier to copy and paste it into the actual um editing tool there's not a past value function correct so that's a good a way to get a pce value yes we're going to be bringing it in from a spreadsheet yeah um because I'm going to have it in the spreadsheet and the answers to the survey okay the Google yeah so it is an Excel pile yeah so let's just say um you know I just popped the information there and technically um we what could be put there is actually the um let's say uh story like you know a little story about that particular business but if I wanted to um bold this's right there it's all yeah you can format very easily yeah we'll have a description field where they're going to provide a description that's where you can definitely put the description cuz when you go down here this is where okay they have a website you put the website there the phone number the phone number right and we have all of those fields that y that we're going to provide so like because the actual um so what you show here in this block is not the preview image um that is being displayed so here and but these these fields need to be filled because when you use the search functionality of the directory now you can okay search by ZIP code and then search by something something they're all going to be one ZIP code sure is there a mapping function in there um this one I have not found a mapping function for this yet um but this particular plugin can be upgraded to a paid version and that might have a mapping function it's not it's not as senseful so basically from here I can just push the publish button if if we have this on our on people bring it up on the phone can the the phone number be dialable yes okay good so um that is a and you don't have to do anything special or any kind of special coding for you can still just copy it right from uh even from that plain notepad text and put it into its field and it's a phone field is automatically dialable basically yes excellent um websites have come a long ways um so yeah um now here's the thing is that to and this one part that I found with this particular directory that is um a little bit cumbersome um but selecting its category and subcategory so from here I've already published it but I would need to go to right here quick edit and now I can select auto and trucks and auto repair shop and okay so your whole directory tree is is all populates in there yes now that I press the update button that shows there and if I go to here and refresh and all and it's already automatically in alphabetical order which is nice excellent but so that's here your listing category phone and address this one here was my first test and I only copy and paste in the text field and I didn't fill up the form at the bottom that's why it doesn't show that information here so that's why this is important to fill in at the bottom okay um now everything is ultra searchable so when you are again this more I guess kind of technical but your search engine optimization is again all based on the text that's in there so here SEO title meta description these are were more items that you could customize it even further to to add some people going into Google looking for Southwick businesses we might appear pretty high in the listing right excellent um the so talking about that part uh the longevity of your website brand new websites are um they're there but it takes time for them to really you know so um sites through WordPress and GoDaddy it's already going to start uh indexing uh once it goes live and when changes are made to or updates are made to the website those are indexed and sent back to the um through your search engines um so let them know hey the data has been updated right just refresh um and all of this information here all this SEO analytics all this stuff as you see like that but um like premium SEO and Analysis so this this the site already has a built-in SEO it's just everything is out of cart if you want to add more stuff so yeah now is this is this connected to G4 not yet so that is something I have to look into so the G4 um is what is replacing analytics analytics is going byebye in like a month or 3 weeks or something like that I it eventually would be is or is that a premium feature um I have to look into the G4 plug-in for WordPress so Google analytics has always been free um so the G4 is the updated version and basically they're discontinuing uh Google analytics but they're still going to be tracking uh information since the site's brand new there's nothing to transfer from the old system so this will be a brand new install of G4 on to it I just got to look into see how that's done um because it's usually an extra plugin that you just install so like we were to we just want basic we want to know visits and ideally where they're going oh exactly and that would be built into here so that let's say we go to plugins um and just take a look here add new plugin and then search um well Google do Google G4 no Pok sty okay so Google analytics so yeah so that's gonna take a little research to do um okay but yes but we will definitely want that um I do if we go right now yast SEO is what is built into your site right now okay another that is exactly we we can report on traffic y we want to we want to build traffic we want that'll be an important metric to justify to the town whether people are actually using this right and on the pages um like there's just basically again the backend directory of pages uh you can see all the different SEO things that yast has already provided okay to really uh tailor and this is all backing stuff that the public doesn't see but it helps oh yeah so yeah um I'll help so traffic yeah and then um again all the SEO stuff is at the oh I am not in editing go back to the editing uh we should help our local businesses if we our side peers I in the Google listings it'll send more people to local stuff because that's the only thing we have right as opposed to you know popping up something in West Springfield or some other Town yeah okay why want to go to all right so basically my whatever is getting crossed and it's keep on going back to the to the preview page rather than to the editing side okay all right but um so yeah that was that little um demo on the uh the directory uh so regarding the directory um is the URL code that we were wanting to use available I don't know uh what did you find I I actually think I already bought that one I I just have to forward it to okay you I think I already bought that one bed it directly to Martin no no no no no no it'll be boring to the to the GoDaddy it own it so um that's great if you're yeah I think that's the only one that I bought if I recall good good that's the most important one yeah I don't even know if we decided on what the business side of URL should do yeah right excellent okay all right was not clear I thought we talked about five so see the um so once we have that code then that will be able to be linked to the shop Southway right so once the um once the code has been transferred to the main EDC account um I can then log in and then just basically redirect it to um to that link there is nothing special that needs to be done it's just forward okay so it's easy to do so once that happens how soon can we get those business directory Letters Out to the community so the um only thing we need we really have to test is uh the form so we're is it is it a link that I'm sending them to for the form that I gave you two options I give it to you again we can put a link on that site that people can go to shops south. time we're talking about for the survey click on that button I also sent you the code where you can actually embed it embed it in the site as opposed to that then sending them to Google forms okay if you can resend that one that would be great um yeah all right so let's see it's it's in one of the emails that I for to you all right and that was to my which Cloud one right yeah it was just a um a snippit of HTML that okay that generated the the [Music] survey uh what was what's your email address dialing home d e i l y h o n e e i y h at comast here we are oh cool got it so you got it all y y all right so let me yes [Music] okay I [Music] cool let's [Music] [Music] see oh um Ser oh no the servy it own link um what we to the name of the survey um free business listing okay we had this as free listing free listing free listing free listing that yeah that's what we're going to promote it as we're not going to promote it as a survey uhuh right it's a benefit the survey is at the end of their listing business listing um so now let's see what they'll give me for embedding the code all right code and here is this boring like just the the visual looking at what's on the screen or exploring is the last thing we're worried about we're excited because it's happening it's happening yeah that's cool all right let's try the frame one first right Craig right I'll just do this every now this is how we're promoting your preis list and go to shops.com okay all right well let's see what happens okay all right got um that's something you can play with yeah something to play with least I have if it doesn't work to embed it we can use the link yeah all right cool so to just wrap up what I wanted to us to accomplish tonight Martin was that the shops the the URL yeah so we'll work on that um the website design itself pretty basic I don't think you need basic right now but vote on that at this point um you've got the restaurant guide y make that we'll make that clean and we'll make that clean and the page for the listing connection is being created so we're timing now getting those 480 some letters out okay so um is it going to be mailed down the letter it's going to be mailed and also hand delivered it's going to be a blend of both what about email well we don't have their emails sure this will be the hopefully the only mailing we ever need to do once we get the responses we'll have their email and permission to email right okay but for now we've got it we're doing the initial contact either in person or by mail okay and the reason we need to know when the site's ready is because I want to put a deadline in for to you know respond in the next ideally about two weeks um and we don't want to then have it be delayed for two months s we want it to be ready to start when is the cross um they've already started trials it's a bunch of events over yeah it's throughout the whole season it already started and ends in December okay but I would like to and it's a like a it's a large Banner that's going to be displayed three of them okay throughout the track area go there to go to the 4T by 8 ft or bigger than thatt by yeah cuz that's your typical fencing panel yeah okay lifting um let's see uh and how often does this meeting meet it's been every two weeks for the past two meetings I believe everyone would like to go to once a month but right now this is critical right so um right and and for the the letter we don't need to have the whole site we just need to have the the L on the shop Sou AC and and to soon after that be able to populate it because I'll I'll start getting responses right away and I want to be able to enter them okay cool so um well does the does the whole Community need to meet for the or like so let's say we say hey want to meet next Wednesday um to hammer out some of the like technical stuff we can meet with you one onone yeah I can meet with you so you can show me how to how to end the listing sure that's that's I just wanted you to come in tonight so that everybody can see where we are in process okay and to get an idea as to the time frame as to when we could coordinate the letters um visits to because we want to also visit to the restaurants there's like five of us that have said that yes we want to be able go door to door to the restaurants and tell them what we're doing at the 3:38 and give them D here thank you signs right right along with also hand delivering the survey te okay so it's all hinging on when this can be semi the um and I can meet with you whenever you're you know SP notice whatever okay I'm retired so I have a lot of flexibility see we we would have done it by the day we had yeah January there'll be a little bit delayed there um so um when can you just do the transfer to um the main EDC account then for the you stop South I can send it to her tonight perfect so um just let me know when that's done I'll log in to see and then uh so when you say when that's done when this is so when I accept it exactly um so when the domain name is accepted by you um there's going to be a transfer of data from GoDaddy to GoDaddy it should be pretty quick this with go within the same so um so the same process you can just let me know as soon as it's actually in the account then I can log in and take a look to see if when I can actually make it a foring link that's all okay um so we can literally look at that within like by Friday this like tomorrow or Friday yeaha wasin and then if and that's all good on that side do the foring link to here then the QR code can be made very instantly so it yeah so we could maybe in theory have the revised letters I can change those dates for the restaurants we can get a new deadline date for the survey get those printed and then and of course I need to get the test done or the form so maybe within two weeks or before that or before that okay so we could have three or four weeks from now could be the deadline deadline well the deadline should be two weeks after we actually get them in their hands so you know 3 weeks at the most beyond the delay years so maybe May 15 be the deadline we'll see I don't like to have the idea of the deadline is you don't want it so far out that they say oh I got lots of time they you want it fairly urgent maybe even in one week don't do it today make sure oh you know well I would say do it now but if you don't give him a deadline I agree just like coupons you know there's a deadline the deadline is not we'll still but they won't be in the first listing right so it's it's in a sense real but it's a little bit just is there any other incentive to inter information now um they get their free listing that's it be it first um you you don't explain too much so they're worried if they delay they might miss out you know okay they might not get it free they might uh not get on it at all you don't have to be too specific just give them a deadline uh and we'll follow up with the important restaurants and businesses we want to be in there for sure if we don't hear from them we'll call them we'll visit them okay right same thing with a lot of our key businesses so in theory then by the end of this month our site should be at a live I would say so and we'll be able to start getting the directory built up we'll have the QR code for the restaurants then next month we could add that tab or go to the tab is created for job opportunities right right those can just be start building on that but right now the two most important things is the shop South and the restaurants want to focus until we get that Direct you pully ped out I'm going to spend my all my web time on that perfect so then we'll we'll make a time you come in you know 9:00 or so and then that way I can go through the directory tutorial if you you sted my card you want I still have okay just you know text or call or whatever so I I guess at this point then unless there's anything else you want to share with us Martin maybe an invoice no okay on that part so okay so I can yeah I can try getting out to you tomorrow but yeah okay we're you know where we are we've got the money in our budget so so we're good for right now um we're good for it we're good for it we gotta get eaid too that's on my agenda with Jack so we're working on that too so um so I guess at this point I'd like to make a motion that Greg has our approval to work with Martin one onone not in a public meeting on the technical aspect of the website which will soon be going live so okay I'd like to make a roll call then vote um Ina hotelling i j qby i ham Sani I Greg Sanders I Greg ey okay eye oh oh Amber you're with us I'm Chris on here I didn't realize my husband's computer has his name on it oh yeah okay so and Amber said I perfect so it's unanimous okay great thank you so much Martin for coming Y and you're going to reach out to Jason in regards to the copyright P yes yes inde Jason's on the call yeah okay great Jason I am here oh hey Jason um Martin's here from um Southwoods printing um do you want to just ask her yeah um so Jason the um uh I gra some of your photos from uh Facebook and I added in the data of the photo um copyright information that leads that goes to you um is that okay yeah that's perfectly fine as long as they're as long as uh they say Jar's photography on them that's perfectly fine fits in the copyright those are there but within the data of the photo basically it has um so if someone were to like steal the photo and try to um manipul manipulate the photo and erase your name inside the actual document that you can't see actually has copyright information that goes to you so no that's that's perfectly fine I know how the metadata works all right awesome I used to own a web hosting company so I used to have same thing cool beans okay great thank you man okay so we'll give you a few minutes and Martin to pack up all right check me out don't don't forget yes the cookies I put in my bag already okay all right oh and by the way Pam what did you think of the video I mean I liked it and I did I forward that to the video I have yes Mar I I brought it to Martin myself oh okay okay yeah that's something I'm gonna you do beautiful work we're happy to be working with you yeah absolutely time being for the time being I'm not going to be flying drones though because I sliced my finger with a machete the other day oh that hurts just thinking of that there's got to be a story behind that maybe we should not listen to at a public recording so okay perfect so oh I think I left my agenda over there where here's another one oh no I got it got it got it got it okay so we' got Martin with Southwoods and Jean's gonna give us an update regarding the planning board meeting that he went to on March 26th um basically the architect Lees gave us an update on primarily the plantings Springs and moving of the storm water renion Pond and and this is for the property where the projected Dollar General Dollar General on so but basically it's just a recap of that okay plus uh from the gallery there were a number of people who uh stood up from the neighborhood saying it's out of character raised all sorts of questions as to uh not really fitting in with the character of the surroundings and that sort so it's all pretty much the same a couple of letters were submitted to the chair they were read but it's basically the same thing you know people in that area do not want it they talked about the bage of the store and they said they could have uh more change the the architecture of the of what you would see it looks like a Bass Pro Shop essentially typ format uh for the architect architecture of the Ving when what you'd see on the road I was actually surprised that L came back with different Renditions of what they had originally proposed yeah so they're really wanting to be as accommodating as possible uh past that I did get up and speak and said that uh because I've seen this so many times in the past at prior meeting lest had said that thank you Mar College Highway is a major artery you know through Southway and my point that I brought out is simple to L there's no soft shoulder on it essentially the three laning you know uh that we have do have terminates at the South End of the Tractor Supply but past that it's all two lane road and once you start introduce a building there now you're talking these left-hand turns are going to cause backup in traffics and things of that nature so as the development goes forward with the with the highway we don't know I don't know if it's on anybody's uh that's Transportation Improvement plan typically held in out of Boston I would imagine okay and from Highway Department near state road department but or pet I think is also a term that's used here I heard it in the master plan and I don't know how that relates to but either way there's a list of priorities of Road Plant and of course you know the response from the Department of Transportation is is we haven't heard anything that's going to be a typical type of response but moving forward that road will get widened at some point okay may not be 5 years could be 10 years we don't know or it could not be till the next master plan going up but eventually it will happen I've been in situations where they happen very rapidly but before you know it you got a three-lane road maybe now with a soft shoulder I'm seeing see more and more electric bikes on the road okay won't can't count that out plus a sidewalk and next thing you know all your screening is is gone and your and the entrance to the to the business is right on the road okay uh so I mentioned that and of course uh it that does would not fit with the master plan uh that came out clearly in the development of the master plan I don't know many who here attended any of those but you know that is you can confirm that is not what the residents want okay a kind of a a strip retail from one at the town to the next it's just not in character and yet Levesque says it would be in character kind of doubt that you know but he's the petitioner you know he's representing that he's representing so exactly but that is a major point to be considered there's other things to be considered uh that came out or at least wise what I was told later it is what about a um uh environmental impact statement because they do you know they're bears that come through the neighborhood this facility is uh promoting itself as being having groceries and produce and things of that nature food wastes end up in the containers and then the Vermin and the Bears and else so there's a a risk there okay and it's real quite frankly because last year you know within the last 18 months out of bearing the my neighborhood you know next door neighbor okay right there on feeding dev's phone right up from the school so that's an issue Bobcat bear and whatnot so I don't know that they've assessed that as such but did somebody bring that up at the at the meeting they brought it up afterwards okay okay so it's an issue that needs to be addressed okay um but as far as the safety is really the major concern because once your Highway goes on you know once that setback you know it goes to nothing okay with a with the widening of the road and anything else that goes into it and plus the screening goes away okay and again it's right on the road and now it's the safe and so that's that's the major thing that I tried to bring out I'm going to go back and I will reiterate it because eventually it's going to get widened and whatever goes in now you know as that's widened that setback keeps getting shorter and shorter and shorter yeah so that's when it's going to go in correct it's there's nothing that's Concrete in regards to College Highway being widened at this time guaranteed it will be on the tip or pet program uh listing at some point you know it just as businesses grow the demands on the road go as the population grows the demands on the road go and you got two lane from really yeah it's terrible for biking there's no shoulder till you get to the line you got a shoulder I mentioned that well there is no soft shoulder period you know and I also mentioned that I've seen more and more pedestrian traffic in that stretch of wood from raised Family Farm yeah you know toward what was the Bay State uh the Bay State U clinic yes I don't know healthare now advance so I'm seeing more pedestrian traffic on there I've seen it just about every time I've travel that R not today but last well last Sunday day was when so so but that that is a major issue again I did mention that the screening you know they did a better job of it because originally they had wanted to put a stockade fence around the entire property not exactly ey appealing so they agreed to move it within the um screening so Landscaping the screening surrounding that and the stock c f kind of buried within that so it has its advantages and benefit I mention that you know uh but again my the major concern that I have is is that you know the screening that should be pushed back and the screening should be pushed back in the entrance way because as soon as all that's gone now it becomes a hazard to ex enter an exit facility particularly if you're going north on College Highway and you have to wait on traffic and then it backs up so it just it is what it is okay so it is a safety concern and then they agreed that they were going to push it out another two weeks to address some of the other things so the next public meeting on Dollar General with the planning board and other issues is going to be on Tuesday April 23r uh 7 7 o'clock that's up in the L use I cannot remember the gentleman's name uh who uh I guess was on the planning board at one time Marcus F Marcus he did stand up and state emphatically that this is what we need in South Lake and sight set for it one of the other things that was discussed in this is uh that leest brought out that said well they had tried to put in some form of of U multif family and that didn't go something else they wanted to put in there but that didn't go and this R kind of fits the bill but in fact if it had been a Trader Joe's or something like that little more high-end you I don't know we do that much objection to it but something needs to be developed for that site what did you just say what was last I said you something a little bit more high-end than you know a Dollar General or a Dollar Tree whatever dollar you want it Trader Joe's be a something else but for the for the vision that or for the master plan uh to be implemented what the people want in South Lake you Dollar General do Family Dollar Dollar Tree Ocean State it just doesn't present sou Lake really what the Conor hoods were say yeah and also it's an issue about saturation oversaturation um that was brought up the first first meeting I went to about this is that we've got the ocean state the Dollar Tree the Family Dollar Do Me Now a Dollar General Dollar General is picking Southwick because we got the land for sale even though they have one in Russell they have one in Westfield they have one in Feeding Hills aam why not so um so yeah so April 23rd public meeting if anyone wants to attend I know I'm going to be going with uh I'll be there that night Jean just to be able to so I'm trying to understand when we talk about the master plan um what specifically do we look at when we say it doesn't fit the world character I'm not playing Devil's Advocate I'm just I'm trying to understand what the point is that I I guess that's my first question the second question would be um how many things do we need to go up against a project before it's voted down if in fact one is enough that it doesn't fit our rural character or what we're shooting for I mean how many things you have to have okay no I understand what you're saying I don't know how the master plan you know from a legal perspective can dictate what can and cannot come into town you the planning board and select board eventually will decide that as far as uh maintaining a bucolic nature to the town that's not a really a legal term that's more of a concept if you would okay of what the people in South would hope that this town develops into I've heard the term more new englande I don't know if that's necessary definable okay but understandable because we live here okay you travel to other towns and that new Eng character but uh as far as objection we have a zoning ordinance in place and if it meets all the requirements and the citizenry has some kind of input okay and the developer is willing to listen to the to the citizenry and get that incorporated into the site plan which is all the approved okay the planning board really doesn't have any legal stance to block it now the issue of safety is huge okay it really is huge uh and again it goes back to uh what's I mentioned issue of motorcycle traffic okay and you have a business there all a sudden you're going from you know rural if you go Rural and uh farmland and things of this nature and all of a sudden you got business cars pulling in and out of a business it creates a different safety issue okay but if the building ends up right on the road that becomes serious safety issue and so that would be an area that really needs to be addressed yeah and it goes back too where we yes we have this proposed and I want to emphasize that word master plan for 2040 it's not been approved so the master plan we hear it in every almost every meeting we go to somebody will mention well it's not going to fit in character of the master plan well we don't have a master plan right we have one in process right but it's not been unanimously voted on that would have to go to a town meeting yeah um because we have the purest form of government here in this town so as long as a piece of land is zoned for business that's the prerequisite and if we go back um over three years ago when the community filled the auditorium at the at the school and it was in regards to carvana and carvana withdrew without prejudice that evening one of the questions that was proposed to LEC who was on that stage was well what do we do to prevent this from happening again and levette's response was change your zoning right it zon that whole Corridor where the Farmland is where that rail rail trail is now which used to be a rare road back in the day that was all zoned industrial product in product out so that's where we have to attempt to look at how do we change the zoning what's you know what do we do about that this is actually a a very good Avenue of what's happening right now with the those res the homeowners associations that's the most grassroot level you can get to if you get individuals one or two individuals here one or two there but has a collective group when they start working together okay and I know they have a homeowners association over there but it's not public that would be Winfield that um Jean is referring to right uh as soon as you have a group of people okay now you have voting power you have a mass mass people and those people reach out across the street to the condo association and then you go down and and you can even pull the farmers and land owners into it to a degree you know if they're locally owned okay if it's out of state own or something okay then you bring more into it now so the next development now the golf course development if there's HOA there you bring that into it now you have some voting power okay as to you know to affect change yeah I think one of the bigger issues that Winfield and S uh the green is looking at is property values how will this Howa their property value exactly that's a big that's concern so so yeah once again April 23rd is their next public meeting and I welcome the community to show up absolutely when Jean speaks he's speaking as Jean the private citizen if I choose to speak it be ingga is a private citizen we're not bringing in the EDC into this I did I did represent EDC in you know ISS you know instating my concerns with respect to you know the widening of the road okay I did because it is also understanding the master plan what we went through what it's in the process Levesque brought it up okay so that I did represent that as private citizen I have my own site too right so we just have to be real really super cogn yeah very cognitive with that one i' like to be able to do at some point is to do it U Revenue analysis anal Revenue you know what what the assessment would be and what the tax benefit to the town is right that should be a not something that enters into this goes to town meeting we should have that piece of it that piece should be part of what we could offer along with us so we can't really focus on the fact that it's going to be a big employment Boom for the community because um the most part they have one to two people um they're right now in the middle midst of a pretty good lawsuit out of California because of expectations for their employees and um repercussions because of that so um but that's where that's on the back of my mind Greg that once we see more about what's happening with these public hearings to do an analysis that's where we can start offering more value get together with the assessment group and get them to tell us how businesses are assessed because we should have expertise in that when we look at econom development right which is going to be its own separate vein almost with the assessment so I'm just curious because of your background not relating to southw here but what in your former life yeah down south um how much of an impact did a group of people have on a business that would otherwise be permitted in that area I think most significant thing that we did I was uh president of the homeowners association for my development and that was just a small part in the Southeast quadrant of of Charlotte okay uh that quadrant I think it was Precinct number five if it had seceded from the city of char it be like the fifth largest city in the state so it's a high density a lot of people there we joined uh I joined with another association called a coalition of homeowners association the southeast Coalition because of what we were able to affect other coalitions started from the East side Coalition the Westside Coalition there was and then we put out information questionnaires when um elections came around and we had candidate debate forums and there was one where we met and it was well over 250 people citizenry showed up and the Fire Marshall had to stop and keep people away and when the candidates got up there and they before the Z and people were asking well what about this and what about that we got a development where School Bus can't even go in and turn around so all our kids got a March out to the highway to get picked up by a school bus I mean you make a big big impact okay now all of that really goes to the select board okay when you have that kind of Citizen showing up saying we don't want this kind of development okay people who get votes pay attention Okay yeah but I mean as far as stopping a business I I'm just trying to understand it there we go ahead unless a business BS out and says you know what we don't want to go wanted or if they're brave enough to say you know we're going to stand up and you know we'll eventually succeed I don't know I it seems to me like it's almost a waste of time no I would not say it's a waste of time you impose safety requirements that are are strong enough they might de no we can't you know deal with that and and I I think that's the strongest leverage point of all them that we brought as a result of all that work and I did a lot of political work but you know Manning phones and all that that stff people that we respected okay there are some people who would rubber stamp anything that came into town that's not what shte wanted that's not what the people of shte wanted that's not what the people of Southwick want okay you just don't rubber stamp what's coming in and there's a way to do it and it's applying pressure you know and you got the people now but we also have to let some businesses in we also at some point have to let some people people in I mean you know are we going to like fight every single thing that comes in are we not going to let people sell their land you know eventually I mean that's you have the freedom to sell your property and and I'm not not I'm not saying I'm for or against this this business but we have to be of the mindset like we're not rubber stamping everything that comes through but we're also not going to just deny everybody because we don't want to see any new businesses in our town you're absolutely right you're absolutely right and some things you're just not going to be able to fight there's no question about it but you pick the battles that you can win and you take a look at the whole the whole picture of where South uh South wants to go so we're going to draw off of that Master Plan part of that master plan though that needs to be developed is a vision you start with a vision you develop a plan and then you implement it oh we don't have a master plan we don't have a master plan right now I know we're getting one but we can't use that as leverage at this point in time we can think about it and we can say this is what we like this is what we all talked about but is not implemented at this moment you know I mean it would be great if things came in and could have a different facade on the outside and maybe like fit a you know even though it's a business we might not all quite want in town but if it looked appealing you know and didn't look you know bright yellow and whatever and like you said floats and everything in the front maybe you know something different but we don't have you know we don't have the master plan we want to have that we've we've tried we everybody spent a long time on that but it has not been implemented so can't keep you know saying we want the master plan agreed that's totally agree with you in that regard it needs to be pushed forward and there's a lot a lot of work to be done on that tremendous amount of work to be done that that so what we can do is what Greg and I brought up at the last meeting or the meeting um two weeks ago was having Rick Sullivan through the western Mass Economic Development Council inform us as to who is approaching Southwick and and be aware of who's looking to develop or look at a potential spot in our community and create some type of a work team that's going to be involved from somebody from say Finance um assessors planning board Economic Development commission so that we can have a voice and be able to do some analysis as to what's the revenues that's going to bring into town what could be the concerns regarding infrastructure or resources that they need because as Amber said and I said it within the past half hour as well we keep hearing about the master plan but we can't leverage a darn thing on it because it doesn't exist you I'll take it one step further and I think this is even um with what Amber said we've all said in planning board meetings where they said they'll say you know we want some AR provide on out here and you know this is how we'd like things so look I don't even know I mean legally does that hold up in court no no it doesn't I've had situations where I mean I like to know where we stand and what we can do what we can't do and everything else doesn't matter if we can go to somebody say you know what this is this is where we like the town ah head we would like it if you would do that but but to make them feel like they've got to do that in order to be able to have a business there I think that we've sort of overstepped our bounds in many respects with regards to how we've done things in the past so I'm just saying I think our approach needs to be different on a different basis as we go to a business and say this this is really who we are and what we like to see but you're free to do what you like to do instead of all this mandating stuff which I don't think would hold up well right now go ahead Craig I was just GNA say I agree with Jean on the power of groups of people that is a leverage point if the whole area everybody around there jackon Rises up that has a big impact I went to one of mytown meetups on Saturday morning and it was walking through the King Street area of Northampton which is basically route five going out of the north of town right there through citizen groups had a huge amount of influence on the development of that area because that that's going to be a walkable extension going north and there's big auto dealer that wanted to come in and build right there and but get enough people and it makes a difference it makes a difference it only takes a few people to inst to initiate a zoning change they made the point about that there people there that that know how to do that you as a result of that and Amber to your point um you're right we can't pi choose who wants to come into town know but we can at the same time have an impact on how they're going to present themselves the screening and things of this nature in Ingress and egress out of a business and I don't know how it works here in the state of Massachusetts but I know down there there were exacts that could be made on widening the road so if you needed a turn lane going in or turn lane going out at an intersection and things of that nature you know that was perfectly legal okay and until that final plan end is to your point uh they can say what they want but not build to it or not adhere to it we've seen that before and so final occupancy was not signed off until everything was done so there was a lot of places where scans were left off and they gave them occupancy and they said well you know we decided not to do that you know and it didn't fit so there are ways that we can I just don't know legally if that can be done here in the state of Massachusetts I just don't know we should have standards for roads for you know safety for turns for traffic for even biking lanes for pedestrian those are essential you can just totally ruin a town if you ignore all that stuff exactly right I don't think anybody's arguing that I I my only point is that I'm not so sure that we can mandate some of the things that we do if there's a way to do that and that's what we want to do then we need to legally find out what that is but in the meantime I don't know it's worth barking up that tree until we find that out so why don't you send me Craig a question make create a posture statement send it to me and then I'll reach out to John the the planning associate for the planning board J theard and ask him well I think we look at our own B law and so forth I mean I'll I'll poke around the find out I'm just I'm just hearing what we're talking about right here and I'm just you know it's but I know that they can make um site requirements through because that was one of the things that was brought up at the previous planning board meeting regarding the specific property would be well can we put a a site restriction that no product is going to be displayed on the outside of their side boock that all their product for sale is going to stay on the interior not the exterior well yes we could make that a site specific plan so that's because they want to work with us they want to come into the community so they're willing to do some of the things that we're asking I'm assuming which would be part of the terms of the agreement right I'm not specific this instance right here I'm just talking in general how do we need to behave that's all I'm looking at yeah so because part of what I would like for us to eventually be able to do and I know we tipped on this a couple of weeks ago is marketing businesses and that's where our site at one point point there will be a tab there for property for sale that's part of the little PI work that we've got Amber doing right now to bring to our next meeting to see what is available out there and then how can we help facilitate that because the select Bo has already said they want us to be able to do more than what we've done in the past so here's an opportunity to look at solicitation but wouldn't it be important as we go to these businesses to be able to say and oh by the way um the planning board is going to require that you look like the okay Corral all right if if this is where we're headed then we need to know these things right understood yeah yeah abely tot agree with you in that regard y so a lot lot of work to go ahead moving forward for sure a lot of work so so okay let's go next on to the agenda unless anybody has any other comments okay so the restaurant reach out for this week uh we're not ready for that in my opinion because we need to have that website active we need to have the um the business survey ready to go at the same time so that when we hit the restaurants we can give them both the Sur survey and also the information about what's going to happen at the track so we're going to move that to uh the next meeting um in regards to Old business um we've already gotten the update for the website on the QR code we already understand what's happening with that and the continued discussion on Facebook um do we want to discuss that this evening or do we want to push that off to another uh meeting where did I can't remember where we left at last meeting last meeting um I had talked to Jason in regards to helping us create a presence on Facebook right and yep so and everybody was like we were gonna look and see how many economic developments had around who had e right in the surrounding towns and see what kind of action they had had anybody taken a look at those wouldn't know how to do that okay so my recommendation is weide bar this to the next meeting then and and why don't we have three people do some research on that um I Pam will okay Pam's agreed to do it I'll do it Amber okay and I'll take a look at as well so not can the three of us shoot an email to each other and like just grab some town like just so we're not all going to have the same town you just took the words right out of my mouth I was going to say let's talk about what we're not both all three of us are in the same town so I'll send an email out to you two ladies and we'll get tell me what I need tell me which ones and I'll do it okay sounds great I think we should do six we'll do two a piece how does that sound okay okay so does anybody have any other comments that they'd like to bring up tonight no I've had way too much sugar okay so then I make a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll second hi hi hi okay