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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-07-24 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting July 24,2007 The meeting convened at 7:05 p.m. in the Senior Center, 49 Pleasant Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman James Bonazoli, Vice Chairman Stephen Goldy, 'Secretary Ben Tafoya, and Selectmen Camille Anthony and Richard- Schubert. Also present were Town Planner/Community Services Director Carol Kowalski, Elaine Webb and Chuck Robinson from the School Committee, Andrew Grimes from the Finance Committee, David Tuttle, Nick Safina and George Katsoufis from the Community Planning and Development Commission, Russ Graham from the Economic Development Committee, State Representative Patrick Natale, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director Bob LeLacheur and the following list of interested parties: Ted Tye and Scott Weiss from National Development, Rosemarie DeBenedetto, Joe Zimbone, Nathaniel Finley, Adam Duchesneau, Bill Brown, Christine Brungardt, Lori Halligan, Jean Neary, Peter Salkins, Heidi Bonnabeau, Angela Binda, Sheila Spinney, Frank Touserkani, William Pike, Lori Doughty, Marilyn and Harry Simmons, Joe D'Alessio, Arthur Daiopulos, Marianne Downing, Dennis Collins, Justin Martel, Nancy Graham, Mary Richards, Jay Lenox, Mary Avery, Carolyn Whiting, Paula Perry. Discussion/Action Items Advance of Funds in Lieu of Borrowing(AFLB) Request—The Assistant Town Manager presented an updated $300,000 cost estimate of the Fairview/Sunnyside sewer repair project, lower than the Town Meeting authorization of$365,000. He also reviewed the status of $910,000 in previously authorized AFLB, and any other possible funding needed prior to an expected November 2007 permanent debt financing. Schubert moved and Tafoya seconded to approve the advance. of funds in lieu of borrowing in the amount of$300,000 for the purpose of sewer infrastructure repairs as voted in Article 23 of the April 23,2007 Annual Town Meeting, with a repayment date deadline of December 31,2007 The motion was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. Addison-Wesley Update— Chairman.James Bonazoli gave an overview of the Addison- Wesley project to date, and then introduced Ted Tye and Scott Weiss from National Development. Mr. Tye gave an extensive overview and history of the project in 2007. He remarked that the presentation today would not be much different than the one from last March. He clarified that Pearson is the current property owner. National Development would buy the property from Pearson in December of 2007 only if it were rezoned to meet the needs of their proposal. He briefly mentioned the need for a Special Town Meeting in December to vote on the proposed zoning changes. He also gave an overview of National Development. Board of Selectmen Meeting—July 24, 2007—Page 2 Mr. Tye mentioned an August 30th deadline for submitting a 40R proposal to the State, and then a November 13th deadline to close the Warrant for a December 10th Special Town Meeting. He reviewed the broad changes to their March proposal. The Town House component decreased from 20 to 16, the Senior Housing component changed from 120 to 140 units, the Apartments decreased from 250 to 199 — and would consist of two four-story C-shaped buildings, and the last component would be 160,000 square feet of office space, with no retail planned at this time. He also described pedestrian access from South Street near the senior housing section which would also serve as an emergency access. Mr. Tye noted that some of the senior housing would,be assisted, and some would be independent, with an expected average age in the 70+ area. The Townhouses would be 2 to 2.5 floors high, and line the street on the way into the property. A Town green would be in the center. Walking paths would connect the four planned components .to each other and to the neighborhood. The apartments would be 80% market rate and 20% affordable — allowing the entire amount to count against the low-income housing needs of the Town. The Town would receive a $200,000 payment from the State under 40R guidelines for 199 units, this would increase to $350,000 for 201 units so the Town might want to revisit these numbers. In addition, a $3,000/unit payment would be made (approximately $600,000 -under this proposal). Mr. Tye stated that their www.arborpoint.com website would be helpful to show their apartment conceptual designs. The two four-story buildings would be made of residential materials and not concrete. The office building would be one structure, Scott Weiss described his background as a traffic engineer, and presented estimates of traffic flows with these uses as outlined. He compared the so-called Park Square (100% retail) concept to the current zoning if fully built out to the current proposal. For morning week day peak, the numbers were 360-940-400 one-way trips. For the evening week day peak, the numbers were 1330-925-420. The Saturday mid-day peak numbers were 1640- 370-220. He went on to describe that previously discussed traffic mitigation measure would be continued,*even though there would be far less traffic for this use than the 100%retail use. CPDC Member David Tuttle asked about the structured parking for the office space. Mr. Tye replied that it was three levels, with the top about even in height to Route 128 so it was not really visible from the highway. This allowed for more open space. Vice Chairman Stephen Goldy asked if any of the senior housing would be affordable. Mr. Tye replied that it would not qualify towards the low-income housing requirement, but that the 199 units would take care of the Town's immediate needs. Vice Chairman Goldy also asked about a federal program run under Section 202, and stated that the residents' needs for affordable housing is beyond the intent of the Town. Board of Selectmen Meeting—July 24 2007—Page 3 _ Selectman Ben Tafoya asked if they had estimates for the acreages of the four different uses. Mr. Tye replied that he had some estimates - a bit under four acres for the Town Houses, a bit over four acres for the senior housing, a bit less than 10 acres for the apartments (40R minimum requirements are 20 units/acre — therefore -199 units), and over six acres for the office (including parking). The center village green would be about 1.2 acres. Selectman Richard Schubert asked about expected tax benefits. Mr. Tye stated that they had no analysis on that yet. As to costs, he stated that about 5-7% of*the apartments would be 3+bedroom, and this is where school children would typically appear. Selectman Camille Anthony asked if the office parking would be made available on weekends to the residential use, as this was often a problem in other high-density areas. Mr. Tye stated that it would, and that there was no gating the different parking uses. Vice Chairman Stephen Goldy noted that Archstone has added about 14 school children directly. He asked that if market rents declined, would more school children be likely. Mr. Tye stated that market rents in the area rarely decline by very much, if at all. Vice Chairman Goldy also asked if a new parking/traffic study would be done, and Mr. Weiss replied that it would be by late August. Vice Chairman Goldy asked that they consider building a gateway appearance for both the property and the Town. Chairman James Bonazoli asked for an estimate size for the dwelling units. Mr. Tye replied that 1,000 square feet would be about right for all of the housing mentioned (356 units in total). Economic Development Committee Member Russ Graham stated that this had really turned into a housing project, and he had no comments from the economic development viewpoint. CPDC Member George Katsoufis stated that the plans needed some local retail elements in order to reduce trips in and out of the site. He asked about 40S. Mr. Tye replied that they had studied retail at length and concluded that it would not work at this site. He did allow for the possibility of a cafeteria-style restaurant in the office building, with dry cleaning type services. Bill Brown expressed his support for this good project. Joe Zimbone from 22 Milepost Road noted that he had broad traffic concerns with the changes at 100 Main Street(`Reading Crossing') in addition to this project. A discussion of Main Street traffic ensued, with the impacts on nearby streets such as Hopkins. Vice Chairman Stephen Goldy and Selectman Ben Tafoya agreed that a broader review of the traffic was required. Mr. Weiss stated that he would incorporate any other traffic data the Town had on other projects into his work. Board of Selectmen Meeting—July 24, 2007—Page 4 David Tuttle pointed out that Pearson had purchased some land already from 100 Main Street for traffic mitigation purposes. School Committee Member Elaine Webb spoke on behalf of the School Committee and the School Department. She asked what the effect of 40S would be, and asked for an estimate of additional children from this project. Mr. Tye-stated that it should be 12-18 children, spread out among Grades K-12. Ms. Webb stated that the Town had an overcrowding problem already, and described how Archstone and Johnson Woods children are placed among several schools depending upon class sizes. State Representative Patrick Natale asked about the secondary effect of other empty nest residents selling a Reading house in order to move into this development. He had concerns that a 40R would not be approved in this location since it was not in the Downtown area. He mentioned that the 40S program was basically unfunded at this point. He urged that sidewalks be considered on South Street, and that there be no left turns leaving the development and onto South Street. He offered legislative assistance from Representative Brad Jones, Senator Richard Tisei and himself as needed. Angela Binda from 10 Orchard Park Drive liked the proposal, and noted that it was very respectful of the neighbors. She still had concerns about overall size and particularly about the amount of impervious surface. Paula Perry from 40 Beaver Road asked for someone to clarify 40R and 40B. Town Planner Carol Kowalski stated that some describe 40R as the carrot, and 40B as the stick. She and Ted Tye went on to describe the elements of local control present in 40R versus 40B. Selectman Ben Tafoya stated that with a 40B, you need a good relationship with the developer and a lot of luck to end up with a good project. Mr. Tye added that the 40S requirement was a very difficult hurdle -that the costs would need to exceed more than 50% of the tax'revenues which, in his view,would be unlikely for this proposal. Mary Richards from 50 Pinevale Avenue asked if Jacob Way was a public street. The Town Planner stated that it was. Ms. Richards also asked if there would be any gates or restricting walls within the development, and Mr. Tye stated that there would not. Frank Touserkani from 21 George Street asked if the office portion could be connected directly to the Route 129 ramp, at least for one-way exits from the property. Mr. Weiss stated that the expected volume of traffic would make this impossible to get the State to do that. With the amount of traffic from a full retail use,they may or may not consider it. Representative Patrick Natale said to consider carefully the order of doing any zoning changes versus the status of the project. He was concerned that if the developer pulled out, the new zoning may not be suitable for the next conceptual land use. The Town Planner stated that the reason for the Town's overlay approach would be to exactly avoid that situation, and there was no risk of any of the issues raised by Representative Natale. Board of Selectmen Meeting—July 24_2007—Page 5 Rosemary DeBenedetto from 74 Haystack Road stated that she was concerned about the j traffic impact on Main Street, the water runoff, and asked if South Street would -be changed to one-way. Mr. Tye replied that he had not heard that South Street would be changed, and Chairman James Bonazoli agreed. Chairman James Bonazoli thanked the audience and the developer for their time, and stated that a public hearing would be scheduled in the early Fall for further discussion. He moved to take a five minute break at 9:30 p.m. Selectman Ben Tafoya reviewed the upcoming Board of Selectmen's schedule of August 7th and 21 st—with a meeting added on the 28th to review this proposal. He stated that a September public meeting would be essential to the process. Selectman Richard Schubert spoke in favor of hiring a consultant for the OR application. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that this would be paid for by National Development. Selectman Camille Anthony asked each member to state an opinion on this proposal. Vice Chairman Stephen Goldy stated that he agreed about the consultant, and liked this project. Chairman James Bonazoli stated that he preferred retail components and restaurants but in light of the many discussions, he liked this project with some details that needed further work. Selectman Ben Tafoya liked the framework of this proposal — subject to getting the acreage discussed in writing. He reminded the Board that a zoning change was creating real economic value to the owner, and that the Town should receive a portion of this benefit above and beyond any annual tax benefits, perhaps in the form of mitigation money. He mentioned the additional costs this project would bring to public safety, the schools and other areas of Town Government. Selectman Camille Anthony agreed that this was a good proposal, and a great relief that they had met a developer who listened to the community. She liked the village green concept. Selectman Richard Schubert stated that this process has let the community have a much better idea of how we all see ourselves as a Town. He liked this proposal, and thought the key to success was ongoing cooperation between all parties. He expressed strong support for the affordable housing component of the proposal. Chairman James Bonazoli stated that he believed the Board should play a very active role in the coming months on this project. Selectman Camille Anthony agreed,and stated that one or more public meetings would be a good method to use. Mr. Tye stated that they would be ready anytime after mid-September through November to hold any number of public meetings. Board of Selectmen Meeting—July 24, 2007—Page 6 Selectman Ben Tafoya asked when the detailed traffic study would be ready, and Mr. Weiss replied that late August was a reasonable timeframe. Mr. Tye added that the economic impact study would also be complete by then. Schubert moved and Tafoya seconded to approve a motion to authorize the Town Manager to sign a letter of agreement with National Development "as soon as possible" to reimburse the Town for the cost of obtaining a OR consultant. The motion was approved by a vote of 5-0-0. On motion by Anthony seconded by Tafoya, the Board of Selectmen voted to adiourn_their.meeting of July 24, 2007 at 10:05 p.m. by a vote of 5-0-0. Res t submitted, s Res