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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-06-04 Eastern Gateway Priority Planning Steering Committee Minutes0 Town of Reading Meeting Minutes (iNFCEIVED 0VVN CLERK R= r.�:� MA. Board - committee - Commission - council: 2025 JUL -2 AN 9: 32 Eastern Gateway Priority Planning (EGPP) Steering Committee Date: 2025-06-4 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Town Hall, Conference Room Location: Hybrid Meeting - Zoom and Conference Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Open Session Purpose: Hybrid Meeting Version: Final Attendees: Members In person: Kyle Tornow; John Sullivan, Finance Committee; Karen Rose Gillis, Select Board; Kyle Vangel; Rob Tedesco Members Present on Zoom: N/A Members Not Present: Corrin Wolf; Melody Yue Yin; Guy Manganiello Others Present in person: Andrew MacNichol, Community Development Director; Olivia Knightly, Senior Planner; Kevin McCarthy, Economic Development Planner; Michael Wang, Architecture and Urban Planner Consultant; Present on Zoom: Austin Smith, JM Goldson Community Engagement Consultant Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Olivia Knightly Topics of Discussion: Eastern Gateway District Vision Plan MEETING HELD IN THE TOWN HALL CONFERENCE ROOM AND REMOTELY VIA ZOOM Mr. MacNichol called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM and provided an overview of the hybrid meeting procedures. Austin Smith, public engagement consultant from JM Goldson, presented priorities from the 2019 Eastern Gateway Redevelopment Study planning initiative and the 2024 open house event. Mr. Smith presented the recent survey results, stating that some of the overall priorities that respondents reported include new mixed use and pedestrian oriented streets, publicly accessible open space, and resilient community -scale design. They added that potential concerns include congestion, the current limited car access, and future Impacts of density. Mr. Smith stated that some of the priorities identified for the North Side include creating a human scale with vibrant streetscape, architectural details and scales that fit Reading, a traditional neighborhood and lifestyle development style with mixed -use and ground Floor retail. Priorities for the south side include landscape screening and buffering, greater building setbacks to distance from residential neighborhood. Smaller scale mixed use development, access and through connectivity to the north side. The committee discussed thoughts related to the survey feedback and how best to incorporate the public comments into future project considerations. 0gTown of Reading Meeting Minutes Mr. Tornow asked if property owners have been engaged and Mr. MacNichol said that focus groups are going to be held and will include property owners and residents of nearby neighborhoods. Mr. MacNichol said that they plan to conduct direct outreach to share survey feedback and discuss draft layouts with the focus groups. He added that the town plans to share all the compiled feedback with the community in the fall at an open house. The steering committee discussed the intentions of potential zoning requirements for the northern district in the future. Mike Wang, urban design consultant and architect of Form and Place, presented on the southern district of the Eastern Gateway and RMLD. Mr. Tornow asked what RMLD's plans are for the future and Mr. MacNichol said that RMLD is experiencing an increase in electrification demand and is seeking to expand staff and storage and to Improve overall facilities on site. Mr. Wang presented test fit build out scenarios for the north side of the district based on the desired alternatives expressed by the steering committee and survey respondents. The committee discussed levels of development intensity that may be fitting on site. They continued their discussion by talking though alternatives for site layout, traffic, and circulation that could be encouraged on side through future zoning. Mr. MacNichol said that the next steps are to further refine the north side district strategy, engage focus groups, update town boards, and continue to collect steering committee input to further the process. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.