Okay.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the select board meeting
for August 11th.
We are gonna start our meeting with
this notice about this meeting being broadcast
by the Needham Channel for the Town's YouTube channel,
and recorded for later viewing.
I think the Needham Observer
and the Needham Local are with us recording.
Is anybody else in the room recording?
Time to tell the chairs now?
Okay, then apologies for the late start,
just working out some technical difficulties.
And now we will move to our first agenda item
with which is public comment.
And I will ask Avery Newton to join us here at the table
for our first public comment.
Just introduce yourself, remind us of your address,
and we're gonna ask you to wrap up in about three minutes.
You can do great. And apologies for the noise outside.
I had thought this was seven.
I set up childcare accordingly. So
No, the noise is The noise Is the light?
Good, good. Good evening and good to see you.
Members of the select board.
My name is Avery Newton and I live at 69 Howlin Street.
For those of you in this room who may not be aware,
basala Art in the heart of Needham Center
and staffed by my next door neighbors will soon be home,
become home to the Town's 18th Bank branch.
I know I'm not alone and feeling frustrated
and a little defeated by this news, but
before I go further, I want to be clear.
My concern is not with Village Bank specifically.
My concern is with the systems
and structures that allowed us to get
to number 18 in the first place, not
who number 18 happens to be.
Restaurants, cafes, small businesses, markets,
and third spaces are destinations.
They bring people downtown, encourage them to stay longer
and support neighboring businesses.
Banks provide an important service,
but they are not destinations, they're institutions.
They generate far less foot traffic
and far fewer opportunities for people
to shop, dine, or linger.
In other words, it's not just a destination we're losing,
but also a meaningful portion of the customer base
that neighboring businesses rely on.
The supporting research is remarkably
consistent and available here.
If anyone's interested, independent local businesses
recirculate substantially more
of their revenue within the local economy than national
chains and large institutions up to two to four x.
As we approach the critically important Pollard vote,
this is the type of revenue that we all depend on
to sustain our schools, our parks, our tax base,
and ultimately the community itself.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly,
there is a profound irony here.
Landlords generally view corporate banks
as safe low risk tenants,
but in chasing that short term safety,
they actually risk hollowing out the very foot traffic
and business diversity that makes Needham commercial real
estate so valuable in the first place.
With all that said, I want to look to the future
and encourage the select board
and other town leaders to consider some solutions.
Knowing that no one can control who a landlord decides
to rent to first zoning
and land use, I'd ask the select board
and planning board to explore ground floor use restrictions
or conditional use permits for banks
and other large financial
institutions in our commercial core.
Cambridge did exactly this in Central Square back in 2017
after realizing that bank Oversaturation specifically was
negatively impacting both the retail diversity
and the overall economic health of the of the area.
Second, financial incentives for commercial properties.
I'd encourage the town to explore vacancy fees
for storefronts sitting empty, unleaded paired
with a split rate to commercial tax exemption for landlords
who lease to local merchants.
I understand that a small business popup program may already
be in the works for this space,
and I'm eager to see if that
arrangement could be scaled as well.
Third and finally, policies supportive
of small local businesses to help lower the cost
of doing business in Needham.
This could include establishing a BuyRight approval process
for independent shops or cafes under a certain size
or raving first year permitting fees
for local entrepreneurs.
My overall point is this.
We don't need 18 different places to store our money.
We need more places that make this
wonderful town a community.
I humbly ask that town leadership consider exploring one
or several of these policies to help promote some
of the vitality that we have continued
to lose under these current practices. Thank you.
Thanks, Avery. Spike, the
Appreciate it and hopefully within within three minutes.
Perfect. Thank you for your time. Perfect.
All right, so we're gonna invite Cory Wilke, come on up.
See? Thank you. Hi, Corey. Nice to see you.
Nice to see you. Thank you. Members of the board,
my name's Corey Wilke.
I live at six Wayne Road in Needham.
I have two children in the school system,
and I am speaking as a member of the Needham
and Baseball softball, Needham Baseball
and Softball Board as both the director of RSB, which is one
of our baseball programs
and is the Vice President of baseball operations.
Having assumed that position when Chris Gerstel resigned
from the board a year ago.
I submitted a letter today to you guys on top of a couple
of emails, but I'd like
to just touch briefly within three minutes
or less upon the urgent need that we have,
which is the renovation repair memorial field
with a turf in field grass Outfield
Needham currently has only three big diamond baseball fields
down from four several years ago when McLeod Field was
converted to softball, a decision never presented
to the NBA sport for input, despite Chris Gerst.
Then simultaneously being the Parks and Rec commissioner
and the VP of baseball ops
and being involved in that project from inception
to completion, most members
of the board did not find out about it until it was done.
We face a similar problem at a greater scale
because Warner Field, one
of the three remaining big diamonds, is slated to serve
as a staging area for the Pollard Middle School Project,
which we support, and we could go offline within 12
to 24 months, leaving only two big diamonds, one
of which Walker Gordon doesn't meet dimensional requirements
for varsity baseball
and immemorial is typically unusable
as it cannot handle adverse weather.
As an example, varsity was only able to practice on
that field approximately 25% of the days
this PA, this past year.
So we desperately need assistance from the town.
With respect to field maintenance costs,
MBS spends significant amounts of money on
outside contractors to maintain our fields.
This was an arrangement initiated seven years ago by Mr.
Geral. We surveyed 15 period communities only Weston's Youth
Baseball Board contributed in any meaningful way,
and then at a significantly lower scale than us.
We have paid on average $70,000 a year towards fields over
the past five years plus user fees.
We've only been able to find one town
that contributed more than 5,000 on average.
We also pay a higher user fee than most
or almost all other towns,
and we receive significantly fewer services in terms
of town raking lining, game prep, or wet field prep.
Currently, our middle school team does not have a diamond.
Our freshman are often canceled
because varsity needs to go to Warner
and JV then to Walker Gordon.
Without Warner, we'll have four teams competing for two
and without a memorial rehab, often one diamond
that's not taken into account, the 10
or so little league big Diamond teams.
The two Legion teams are the four Rocket selects teams
that all play on the big diamonds.
This is an urgent need
and we really hope that the town can complete the Memorial
Field Project in 2027.
We're also hoping
to find a short term third diamond while Warner is offline,
maybe through town connections of Babson or St.
Sebs, ensure
that Warner will actually be brought back online as soon
as possible when staging is done,
and identify a location
for a fourth diamond in the long term,
because three hasn't been sustainable for us.
The letter today includes more detail then I can express in
these three minutes, which I think just ended.
So I'm happy to do anything further.
That would help. Thank you. Thanks.
Thanks, Corey. And the
we'll be reaching out to you to get Okay. Thank you
Very much. To put
Some discussion Together.
Thank you. Okay.
All right. And the last public comment that we're aware
of tonight is Bill Looney.
Come on up. Thanks for being here tonight.
Thank you. Your name and your address, please.
Good evening. My name is Bill Looney.
I live at two 13 Garden Street in Needham.
I'm joined by mini neighbors here tonight,
and we ask that the select board not endorse a 1 93 Garden
Street Project as it is proposed.
We attended the April 28th select board meeting
with the same request and with the ferry.
Same concerns. We've had communication with Mr.
Aldi since the last select board meeting,
but there have been no changes to the proposed project,
and there have been no other actions taken
to address the neighborhood concerns
since this process began.
It's been frustrating to say the least.
I believe the neighborhood is supportive of a sensibly sized
friendly 40 B project at the development at the site,
but the developer proposes to build ten five bedroom homes
on a single family lot in a single family neighborhood.
Simply put, the size
and scale of this proposed project is grossly oversized
for the lot and outta scale for the neighborhood.
This unreasonable scale raises numerous environmental
zoning, safety and neighborhood deficiencies.
Late last week, a number of neighbors submitted letters
to the town manager
and to the select board outlining our serious
concerns about the project.
These concerns include the following, numerous building
and zoning issues focused on density, building height,
parking, adequacy, and circulation,
and lack of disability access, safety issues,
including first responder access
and fire safety, accessibility,
serious environmental concerns.
The property is adjacent to conservation areas and wetlands.
The project will require substantial grading,
vegetation removal, expanded impervious areas,
intensive habitat disturbance into the wetlands area
and its buffer zones.
And in order to expand the lot's buildable area,
the developer proposes
to construct a massive retaining wall adjacent
to the wetlands to fill in the gully
that drops down into the wetland area.
And fourth, there's a lack of detail and review.
We ask that the select board be cautious in considering a
project with so many concerns
and very little information to address those concerns.
We know Mr. Aldi builds nice homes,
and we ask that the development at 1 93 Garden Street be
appropriate for the neighborhood, the neighborhood.
Ask that the select board please not endorse the project
as it is proposed.
There are so many serious deficiencies
that it's not possible to come up with a list of conditions
that could remedy this proposal.
We believe the developer should go back to the drawing board
and submit a pro and submit a project that's suitable
for the lot for the neighborhood
and for the town. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay.
Is there anyone else in the room who came with the intent
of making public comment?
All right. Anyone online? I don't see any hands. No. Okay.
Thanks everyone. All right.
So the first item on our agenda is the 2026
International Overdose Awareness Day proclamation.
And for that, we'll turn to the vice chair,
Certainly.
Whereas International Overdose Awareness Day aims
to bring communities together
to remember without stigma those who have died from overdose
and acknowledge the grief of the family
and friends left behind.
And whereas observance of this day is an opportunity
to raise awareness about the risk of overdose,
promote discussion about prevention,
and share information about support services.
And whereas addiction is a disease
that touches families in every community,
the epidemic has claimed the lives of thousands
of Massachusetts residents
and affected countless other family members.
And whereas those affected by overdose are our children,
our parents, our siblings,
and deserve our compassion and support.
And whereas the town of Needham, Massachusetts does affirm
and acknowledge the pain
and hardship caused by drug overdose, now
therefore be it resolved that August 27th, 2026,
be declared International Overdose Awareness
Day in the town of Needham.
Madam Chair, I would move
that the board votes will approve
and sign the 2026 International Overdose
Awareness Day proclamation
Second.
All right. Any discussion? Okay.
All of our votes will be roll called,
because we have a member remote.
So Kathy, I'm gonna start with you. Oh,
Wait, I just, one thought there is overdose
awareness night coming up.
Thank You. On August 27th. Seventh 27th.
At Memorial Park. At Memorial Park.
Thank you.
So we have a, a motion on the table
and we'll go to a vote.
Kathy? Yes. Bill? Yes.
Josh? Yes. Kevin.
Aye. And I vote yes as well. So the motion passes.
Thank you. All right.
Next we have a public hearing, a Eversource grant
of location for 77 Wellesley Avenue.
I imagine we're gonna be joined by Joanne Calendar.
And is Mike Bakari in the room? I believe he's online.
We're online. Okay. Fantastic. Thank you.
Mike Bakari from Precision Contracting.
Hi, Joanne.
Okay, Joanne, just say hello.
I'm not sure we can hear you. Oh, no, we're not hearing you.
Hang on one sec. Try again.
Hmm. Nothing yet. Nothing yet.
Nothing. Hello? Everyone good?
I heard him. Oh, there we go. Okay. Fantastic.
Hi, Joanne. You
Can hear me now?
Yes, we can hear you now. Thank you. Okay.
Can, can you tell us about this grant of location?
Sure. So let's see. Try that again.
We actually sent an updated package yesterday
because there was some changes to the poll
that Eversource will be providing service from.
Okay. So, and I noticed in the packet
that the clerk sent out,
she did not include the newest plan.
I sent it over minutes ago.
I don't know if you received it,
but at, so at this point,
Eversource is seeking the grand location to install,
install approximately 17 feet of conduit
into Wellesley Avenue.
And that's from Pole 61 11.
And that is to provide underground service
to the new home at 77 Wellesley Avenue.
Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Joanne.
Okay, so yeah,
it looks like quite a few changes, Madam Town Manager.
Is everything in order here?
Unfortunately, the work was completed.
Well, initial work was done
before the grant location, and that's why we have Mr.
Bakari here. And just to note for the board in your packet,
you do have the most updated that Ms.
Calendar just referenced. Okay.
So you're looking at the updated requests.
I Think the poll is four,
not a different poll in the packet.
Yeah, I think when the clerk sent it over yesterday,
she sent the engineer sketch, not the actual plan.
So I don't know if you have the plan in your packet
that shows the 17th feet of conduit coming from 61 over 11.
Yeah, I see a sketch, I think.
Yeah. So you didn't get, I I emailed it, like I said,
around five 30, but I wasn't convinced you would receive it.
Sure. I can pull it up on my screen if, if you can see
that I, yeah.
Can you, can you see it? I
Think I, I mean, for me,
the sketch is adequate personally,
but I, I guess I do have a question.
So if we've changed polls,
but some of the work was already done, can,
can you help us understand where work was done
and if it has to be undone or redone?
No. So the, the customer did install the conduit from the
correct pole from 61 over 11.
So it's, the 17 feet of conduit is already present. Okay.
We just had it wrong on our sketch.
We were coming all the way down the street from a different
pole, and we were looking for over a hundred feet
of conduit, which just was not correct.
Okay. So I'm glad
that the work was done correctly.
However, Mr.
Bakari, perhaps you can help us understand
how the work was done ahead of the grant
of location that's required.
So, truthfully, it was an oversight on
my end and the,
the electrician's end as well.
We were under the impression that we were supposed
to lay the conduit down, bring it to
the handhold before the pole.
The hand hole is just basically a, a box
before the pole, get it inspected,
and then get in touch with Eversource to come out,
do the survey, and then have this grant of, right.
Now, obviously we understand that that is the wrong order.
Have you done, have you done work in Needham before?
I've done plenty of work in Needham before,
but truthfully, this is my first underground,
my first underground service that I'm doing.
Typically, it's always overhead.
Okay, thank you.
We were about, I think we're about,
I think we're about five feet short, so it was kind
of last minute that we had to decide to
do an underground service as opposed to an overhead.
Okay. Thank you for that explanation.
Do any of my colleagues have any questions
or comments, Jill?
So, so if Joanne, the, that one 15 feet
that was originally proposed,
not none of that was ever done.
Right?
That was not, they only, they came from
the private property, if you will, of over
to the pole 61 over 11. Okay.
Thank you. The pole is right at the end
of our property, if that helps with you.
I don't know if you have the, the slot plan in
front of you. Yeah.
Okay. I'm gonna open this.
This is a public hearing, so I'm gonna open this up.
The public comment, if there's anyone in the room
who came here in order to discuss this matter.
Okay. It appears not, is there anyone
online who's here for this matter?
No, there's not. Okay. All right. So Mr.
Bakari, what? I thought I saw something.
Oh, Mr.
Bakari, the, we, we need to ensure that you are,
that the grant of location is taken care of prior
to the work being done in all cases.
You know? Yes. It ensures safety, it ensures
that the work is gonna be done properly.
It ensures that there's no property issues.
So I just, mistakes happen. Yeah.
And I, I hear your explanation
that this was your first underground one,
but I just wanna make sure that you understand
that in the future, this is the first stop
and the work has to come second.
Yes, definitely. And we just, just to
reiterate a little bit too, it was,
we did have the electrical inspector come out
and inspect it as well just to, you know, solidify
that all the, the work was done properly.
I think the biggest mistake for me was the process
coming to you first and then feeling involved.
This, we just always wanna make sure that, you know,
the neighbors have an opportunity
to weigh in if there's anything
that they're concerned about, et cetera.
It's just public access and engagement. Absolutely.
That's required. So, alright, so I guess
the work has been done
and in done on the correct poll,
so we can all be glad for that.
Does anyone have any comments they'd like to make?
It seems like we've seen this a couple times now.
And do we publicize well or why, what?
I don't understand why it keeps happening.
I guess I, and I guess so that's my question.
Then the other question is, you know, do we keep track
of people who do the work before they come here?
Because if they ever come back a second time,
I really would not be that favorable.
Yes. But I don't know what we can do.
That's a good question. Thanks for the question.
So maybe three years ago we had a whole slew
of work being done before a grant of location.
And so the board at the time had asked us
to make operational improvements to figure out
how we can better educate all of the parties.
I'd say part of the issue is that
each party is losing sight of the other piece of the puzzle.
So a contractor has a building permit through the town,
sometimes an electrical permit, they have
to request from Eversource, an Eversource field agent
to go out on the scene.
If they wanna do underground, the Eversource team goes out,
does the initial sketch.
And a lot of times what we're hearing from contractors was,
well, Eversource came out and they gave me this sketch
and so that's the work that I'm gonna do.
So we instituted a lot of process improvements,
understanding that that was maybe giving contractors
and not a clear understanding that then the, the grant
of location comes to the select board actually
through Eversource, not through the contractor themselves.
And that then the work should continue from there.
So some of the improvements that we made from that time was
we met with Eversource, we became fast friends
with Miss Calendar, and one of the things
that we requested is when the Eversource team goes out on
site, that they let us know
that they've been out in the field with someone so
that we could just give a call to the contractor
and say, Hey, we know that you met with Eversource,
but you should know that, that there's more steps to come.
But the other piece is making sure we educate on our
own materials.
So when you apply for a building permit, now you have
to indicate whether you're going overground
or underground overhead or underground.
And on our building permit page, there's language on there
that says, if you're going underground, here's the grant
of location requirement.
So it's built into our permitting system
and you know, the obligation at the end
of the day really is on the permit polar.
So I'll, I'll note that on the, the plans that we have,
I mean, it is highlighted in bright yellow
that says the electrician to wait for grant of location
before completing work to pull. So
It, and I wanna acknowledge Eversource made
that change at our request from a few years
back. They added that text
To the, which is, which is great.
But yeah, maybe, maybe, I mean,
it it seems pretty, is this what they're giving to the,
okay, so then, then I guess the folks aren't reading.
I mean it, you know,
'cause it, it, it's on both pages highlighted.
Right?
Put it in red. It did. I mean,
It, it's actually, I mean, it's actually yellow.
It's outlined in red and highlighted in yellow.
It's hard, it's hard to imagine how someone could,
could kind of miss it, honestly. Well,
In, in this situation, when Eversource went out there,
the work had already been done.
So we, we didn't have the sketch to hand to the customer
'cause the work had already been done. Oh,
Okay. Good. Good
Point.
Could I, could I, could I say one thing just as the Sure.
Help Us kind of Yeah.
Just to kind of get real life scenario please.
I, I, I do think that there is a disconnect
from the contractor slash electrician
to the permit pulling process
where I, you know, when we pull the permit,
there isn't anything that, you know, really is like,
not in your face, but showing you, hey,
you have to go through this step.
You know, like when we, when we go to pull a permit, we have
to upload a bunch of requirements, right.
You know, we have to upload the site plan,
the permit drawing, I mean the architectural drawings.
And there's nothing that really says, Hey, you need
this plan from Eversource to move forward.
Okay. So it was, I I will say like it, for me, doing the as
as this being my first time doing a underground service,
I was a little confused, taken back, I guess
with the process because it wasn't
really straightforward for us on our end.
Once I spoke with Eversource, it was very easy
and very straightforward, but I did not know
that process beforehand.
Okay. Well I appreciate that perspective.
We'll have to discuss this internally to see if there's any,
I hate to, I hate to belabor, but I'm madam chair,
but I'm wondering if we have, on the permit, we say,
are you going overground and underground?
I don't know if it says on that permit, if it says next
to the underground, if you're going underground, you need
to get the grant of location.
I Believe it does, but I'm gonna triple check now
and if not, we can definitely update it. Yeah,
Yeah.
Sorry to pull on.
No, no, I, I mean it's,
we wanna figure this out, so I appreciate it.
Okay. So
With all that said, I would move that, thank you.
Sign a petition from Eversource Energy
to install approximately 17 feet
of conduit in Wellesley Ave. Second.
Okay, great. Can I just reconfirm at the town manager
so we have that documentation, the correct, the,
the, the correct book
that has been done in the correct location.
'cause I, I'm, I'm fine with approving it now,
but in 10, 15, however many years from now,
we wanna make sure that yeah, we know
where the work is under our street, our sidewalks.
Yes. Based on the plans, the updated plans
of the 17 feet. Is that what you're asking?
And from the correct pole? Yes.
Okay. Yes. Engineering's fully in the loop. Yes.
Thank you.
All right. So we have the motion on the table then,
and I will start with Kathy.
Yes. Bill? Yes. Josh? Yes. Kevin? Yes.
And the chair votes? Yes.
So hearing I already, I already, we already did that.
Didn't forget. Thanks Bill.
All right, so the motion passes and we can move along.
Thank you both. Thank you for joining us. Have a good night.
You all have a great night. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, the next item on our agenda is
Steven Palmer jurisdiction update.
And for that we'll turn to our town manager.
Thank you Madam Chair.
At your last meeting, we discussed a recent vote
of the school committee regarding their interest in
retaining jurisdiction over the
Stephen Palmer property and Building.
And the copy of their exact vote is in your packet.
But from there, based on the board's discussion
in at your July meeting, I drafted an initial MOA to try to
kind of codify some of the responsibilities that were
articulated or requested in the school committee vote.
So I won't review the where as is, which tries
to just put the history and the facts down clearly.
But the commitments in the MOA
for the board's consideration,
and I'd be looking for your feedback, is an agreement
that the select board would agree to assume responsibility
for supporting existing Stephen Palmer tenants in
relocating, winding down the current residential use
and managing the Stephen Palmer Building
and Parcel until the building is vacant.
Item two, the school committee
through the superintendent will prepare
and submit capital requests for the property for FY 28
through 32 capital improvement plan based on the
anticipated use of the building.
Item three, the town manager,
I would request funding in the fiscal year 2028 operating
budget that whatever is needed to maintain,
operate, and ensure the building.
And I would say a lot of that will also be driven by,
if the select board is making decisions under item one about
the wind down of the residential use
and how we're doing that, that would inform
that operating budget request.
And item four, if town meeting appropriates funding
for a town wide facilities master plan, which I've expressed
to the board, I would ask that be a priority
for the board in the coming year, that the school committee
and the select board would agree to include Steven Palmer in
that, along with all the other town owned assets so
that we can take a look at our assets holistically.
So this is for your discussion and feedback
and happy to make any edits the board sees fit.
Okay. I'm gonna open it up for discussion.
Does anyone, any of my colleagues want to, yeah,
So manager, thank you to the
town manager for putting this together.
I think this reflects the discussion
and I think this in my mind,
will help us manage the property in
uncertain circumstances.
I guess we can say it that way on, on the fourth one
with the, the facility master plan.
I, I agree with this as well.
I think I've heard talk
of potentially demolishing the building.
I mean, if it's gonna be in the facility master plan, we,
I think that would be a decision that's held off
until that occurs.
That's my understanding. At least
A request for funds to demolish the building would come
under item two from the schools as a,
through the capital process, I believe.
And I'll discuss that further with our deputy manager,
director of finance and the superintendent of schools.
But I think the timing of when the school committee wants
to submit that request, I think
that would be a conversation with them.
If we do move forward
with the town wide facilities master plan, would that
impact which year they'd be looking for funds to demolish?
But again, that, that's for, for discussion.
Yeah, I guess we have to discuss it more.
'cause if it, if it's gonna be demolished,
then why have it in the cap in the master plan.
But, but either way, if, if it was demolished, I mean
that would be after this, the period specified in the MOA.
Right? Right. So I
think intrinsically sort
of putting it off any other,
To me it just seems too, I,
it's gonna be hard to work with two and four.
'cause if the schools all of a sudden say we want the blank,
but then we're putting in a facility study master,
are we gonna say, okay, we're giving
what their blank are we gonna make suggestion
based on the facility study?
So it's just something that I think we need to look at.
Just like if you were to tear it down almost, you know,
if they had made a decision, I'm not saying
that it's terrible,
I'm just saying it's something we need to think about.
Agreed. Agreed. Okay. Kevin? Yeah,
Katie, this is fine.
It's great. I appreciate that, considering
that circumstances have changed,
considering this co codifies it. Well, so
Thank you Kathy.
Yeah, just, just Katie confirming here that
what this agreement does is that we will handle the building
until it is empty and then we will turn over an empty
building to the school committee.
Yes, that's correct. And then the second question is,
in terms of the town wine facilities master plan,
I'm assuming other school buildings are also
in that plan, right?
That would be my intention.
And it's something I've discussed
with the superintendent as well.
So we haven't scoped anything.
You know, this would be a budget request submission
through the FY 28 budget process.
And we could scope it, but I would recommend that all town
and school facilities be included.
Yeah. Okay. So then it's nothing
special about this, right?
If if every single facility
and building, whether school, town,
whatever is all included, then this wouldn't,
that would make sense, I guess.
But understand that that has not yet been scoped.
All Right. Okay.
All right. Yeah, I, I'm, I'm glad that
this MOA will help us settle this issue of governance,
you know, who, who's making decisions here
for the short term so that it will allow us to explore
what, what our plan should be.
So there's no vote on this this evening, we're just,
just considering and we'll take this up
presumably at our next meeting.
Thanks. Okay. Alright.
So we'll move on to our next agenda item.
This is the MWRA,
the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority project updates.
And we're gonna welcome a whole, whole team up.
So come on up. I'm just gonna ask you, join us here.
We want to make sure that when you're speaking,
you're speaking into a microphone.
Doesn't have to be like right up against it,
but we wanna make sure that everyone on TV can hear you.
And I'll ask you to start with some introductions.
So I think we have two items on the agenda.
The first one that we'll talk
to is a Needham dewatering drain line.
Great. And then we have another set
of people, another set of, okay.
Speak to the csl. Great. Alright.
So my name is Paul Sbar,
I'm the acting director for the Tunnel program.
We appreciate the select board meeting with us today.
We've met you a few times in the past on a tunnel program
with some updates today.
It's about one specific piece of construction
for a drain line that we need to start
before tunnel construction starts.
But it's gonna help us get the tunnel construction so
that when the tunnel contractor's on
board, he's ready to go right away.
So that, that's the first point.
And I think we add some slides.
Yes. But before you get started, just guys you
Wanna introduce yourselves And I'm David Apt.
I'm the design manager for the tunnel department. Great. I'm
Ka Combine.
Dean Maria, I'm the community relations coordinator.
Excellent, thank you. Yeah. Okay,
so we are starting our slides.
Wonderful. Getting shared.
Super Right. So next slide.
So I'm just gonna give a quick update
of the tunnel program just in context.
That leads us up to the drain drain line
that we're here really to talk about.
And then Dave's gonna walk us
through some specifics about the drain line
so you'll be aware of what the work is.
Great. And then we'll just cover some
additional questions at the very end.
So the next slide, we've shown this figure a number
of times, but within that black circle is most
of the metropolitan area that VM already serves water to.
We need to provide redundancy for
what you can see listed there, which is our city tunnel,
city tunnel extension and Dorchester tunnel.
That's what we call our Metropolitan water tunnel system.
There are a couple incidences
that happened in the past back in May of 2010
and more recently in 2024 that brought us to the, the need
for redundancy to the city tunnel system.
We had a boil water order back in 2010
because the, there's a water main break on the city
tunnel or just upstream of that.
That led us to the tunnel program.
So I'm not gonna go into a lot
of detail about the tunnel program,
but it's about providing redundancy to
that metropolitan tunnel system that we have.
Can I ask why is break in quotes? Sure.
Oh, we, we just, it, it was a water main break
so it was a significant break for us.
It wasn't a run of the mill type thing.
There's no real sub reason
to putting into quotes other than just
to draw some attention to it. Okay,
Thank you.
I think we've talked about before some of the purposes
for the tunnel program.
And the main point here is
that we wanna make sure we provide unin uninterrupted
delivery of our high quality water to all the communities
that we serve at any time
of the year without any service interruptions.
So that's why we need the tunnel program in order to be able
to do that so that those similar incidences
that have occurred in the past, if they happen again,
we have ways to direct water around them to,
to continue the service that we need to do.
Next slide. So this is really a slide showing the
overall tunnel program.
And we've shown this one to the board before.
We have two tunnel systems, one's in green, it's called
that north tunnel that's gonna go from the Mass Pike
and head up north five miles.
The one for today that we're really concerned
about is the south tunnel.
And it's shown there are two colors, blue and a red stretch.
And it's gonna also start at the Mass Pike in Route 1 28
or on I 95 interchange area.
That's where our halman aqueduct supplies the water into
these tunnel systems and it'll deliver it all
the way down to Mattapan.
But to construct that tunnel,
we we'll be using a tunnel boring machine
and the tunnel boring machine will be starting at the I 95
Highland Avenue interchange right here in Needham.
And then it's gonna go construct in two different
directions, one along that red path
and one along the blue path.
When that tunnel gets constructed, there's all the material
that comes out, comes out path,
those launch gas gets taken up
and loaded onto trucks and taken away.
But during construction, there'll be water groundwater
that infiltrates into the tunnel
and that water needs to also be brought back to the shaft
so it can be pumped up to the surface treated
to meet permit discharge requirements.
And then, so the purpose of today is
what we need is a pipeline to get from
that interchange area over to the Charles River.
So we call it a Needham dewatering drain line.
It's what we call an early enabling work.
So it's a piece of construction we need to do ahead
of the large tunnel construction contract.
So when the tunnel contractor comes on board,
there's a place for that water to go to and get discharged.
And so for the next slide, we're still on, just
so we're aware that tunnel construction is still on schedule
to start in 2028.
And this is a piece of work that we need to do
essentially next year so that we're ready for
that 2028 timeframe.
And now I'm gonna pass it off to Dave
and he's gonna talk more specifically about
what the need drain line will do.
Yes. So the Needham dewatering drainage line consists
of approximately 1,250 linear feet
of 36 inch diameter pipeline.
It starts at our Highland Avenue
I 95 Northeast Cloverleaf shaft site
and crosses underneath the I 95 Highway ramps
and then falls along Brook Road, Arlington Road,
makes a turn on Charles Street
and then turns into the 1 63
Highland Avenue private property to
where our outfall location will be
at the bank of the Charles River.
When you say falls along, do you mean under Underground?
Underground, thank you. Yes.
The purpose is to discharge treated construction water
during South Tunnel construction.
It will also be the point where we discharge the water used
for disinfection flushing
and commissioning at the completion
of South Tunnel Construction.
And it's the low point for the South tunnel system.
So in the future, if we need to take the tunnel offline
for maintenance, inspection
or repair, we would un water the tunnel at this location.
So on the next few slides, I'm gonna walk you
through the alignment, go over the construction methods
and our work hours.
Let's have question before go. Yeah.
You say 1 63 Highland is a private Yes.
So have you already had discussion,
I'm guessing with them or?
Yes, we're finalizing our permanent
easement through their parking lot. Okay,
Thank you.
We, so we start at the Highland Avenue Northeast
Cloverleaf, where we'll do about 150 feet
of trenchless construction underneath the I 95 ramp.
This is to not impact the traffic on the ramp.
We're anticipating constructing this through pipe jacking.
It's a figure on the bottom left hand of the slide.
We are anticipating this work will be done during the day.
Moving on to the next slide please.
This is our alignment within the Needham right of way.
So there's about 850 linear feet of cut
and cover construction in Brook Road,
Arlington and Charles Street.
We will construct the work
and stages to reduce our footprint in our impact on the
surrounding area with discussions between DPW
engineering and the police.
And given it's a dense commercial area,
we think night work would be the least impactful to buts.
And there are Needham sewer mains running parallel
to our proposed drainage line in Brook
Road and Charles Street.
So we will rehabilitate or replace those.
Next slide please.
So just, can I just ask Yes,
this is gonna be in place throughout
the entirety of the project.
So this is all gonna be fixed to standard, like
the regular Needham standard after the tunnel's in place?
Yes, yes.
And timeline,
how long will the trenching take Brooke Road to?
So our target is
to start construction in the spring of 2027.
Okay. And reaching substantial completion by spring of 2028
that recognizes Needham Street moratorium in the winter.
Okay. Okay. So we're targeting one construction
season. Okay,
Nice.
We got a slide coming up on that. Yeah, sorry.
Next slide please. And when we turn onto
the private property, 1 63 Highland Avenue,
we have about 250 feet of cut
and cover construction, installing our drain line leading up
to our outfall that will be on the bank of Charles River.
We'll have a temporary coffer dam for construction
and then the excavation will be
conducted from the riverbank.
The work on the private property will be
during daytime hours.
Next slide please. At the 1 63 Highland
Avenue alignment, we cross
below a Needham 12 inch sewer main.
We will remove
and replace the portion
of the sewer Maine from the manhole at 1 63 Highland Avenue
to the next manhole downstream at 60 Charles Street.
It's about 300 linear feet of sewer.
This work will take place within the town sewer easement
and the work hours will be during the day.
Next slide please. Upon completion
of our work in the right of way,
we will pave throughout the limits
of disturbance, curb to curb.
You can see it on the figure in the green shading.
Next slide please. So, coordination
with Needham, we've met with Needham, DPW
and engineering to review our 60
and 90% contract packages.
And then in April we met with DPW Engineering police
and fire to go over our construction zone safety plans
and our proposed hours.
And then for outreach, we held a public information session
for Abutters to the alignment.
Our designer distributed notices door to door.
And then we had a session on July 16th.
And then we are presenting at the Conservation Commission
hearing for our notice of intent on Thursday.
Next slide please. So here's our schedule.
We are targeting going to bid this fall with the goal
of onboarding a contractor in late fall, early winter,
and starting construction in the 2027 construction season
with the target of having the drain line ready for use
for a South tunnel contractor when they come on board in the
spring or summer of 2028.
And with that next slide please,
I'll hand it over to Carmine.
Alright, so this is a contact page.
We have a robust web webpage for the Tunnel,
pro Tunnel program.
Once you get on that tunnel tunnel program, you'll see
that it has a table of contacts,
introduction about the program, community updates,
frequently asked questions, resources, contact us.
This will navigate in there, answer many questions.
As you can see the community update,
that's where we find the Needham.
I'll notice there's any work that's in particular to need.
And then other communities have the same set up.
It's pretty user friendly.
Then we have ways to contact us
through the tunnel info@mwa.com.
Or you can contact myself at com, maria@mwa.com
and tell us how wonderful job we're doing.
Wow. Excellent.
That's it. All right.
What questions or thoughts
or discussion points do we have? Kevin, you wanna start?
Sure. Okay.
You talked about this is the lowest site in the, in the,
so you would de-water from the Needham site.
And this would be used not just for construction,
but if you ever had to, if
We ever had to maintain the tunnel in the future.
Okay. Yeah. It gives us a way to,
to release some water if we need to.
Thanks. So, you know the tunnel, like our existing tunnels,
they've been in service since the 1950s
and we haven't been able to take them outta line.
Sometimes you wanna be able to take the water out
so you can go inside and inspect them to make sure
that they're not, there's no cracks
or something that you need to fix.
Okay. So it's for that purpose.
So it's very, very rarely that we'd have to do it,
but we're constructing the pipeline for construction.
The idea would be to leave it in place so
that when in the future, if we needed
to, we could use it for that purpose.
If we ever had to release some water
to do some future inspection.
Okay. It would be all be permitted, you know,
every time we used it we'd have to get for the right kind
of permits and we notify the town every,
all sorts of notices like that. Alright.
Can you explain a coffer dam to me?
Sure. Yeah. It, so to construct in the river, you know,
the water's flowing by,
so coffer dam basically creates a little bit of a dam Okay.
So that they can construct inside there.
So it'd be constructing within the dry. Okay.
So they can get that out outlet outfall pipe
and then they can backfill that properly
and restore the, the slope so
that all can be done in the dry.
Okay. And they'll pull the, the copper dam out
and then the water will be restored.
Okay. And then best guess, during construction,
how much water do you imagine is going through this pipe?
And we, and the Charles River is basically a plume going
across the river of like thousands of cubic feet of
Whatever.
Yeah, no, I think, you know, we have the, the
for during construction.
Yeah. The flow rate that's coming construction.
Dave, you, you've got the number, I think it's
5 million gallons a day. Yeah.
So we need to permit this through DEP
and EPA through their Nip DS permits.
I've heard of that. So what we did
for the Metro West Water supply tunnel was
5 million gallons per day.
Okay. That's what we'll target perverting for our tunnel.
That would be unmitigated.
So the target would be
to mitigate the water and flow into the tunnel.
So you're discharging less than that rate.
By mitigation mean, how much is that grouting
and probing grouting inside the tunnel. Okay. How
Much is that?
I mean, what's that look like? 5 million gallons?
It's a good Amount. What amount
would you even compare that to?
I don't know. I'm a tank At
The aquarium inside the tunnel.
You know the of 5 million gallons inside the tunnel? Yeah.
You, you'd be able to walk through it.
It'd be down at the surface.
The contractor will pick that up into a pipe.
The pipe's probably on the order of six
to 12 inch diameter, something like that. Okay.
Alright. And then this pipe is a
storm drain, essentially.
So it's flowing by gravity. So the pipe itself here is 36
inch, but it's could be flowing by gravity,
like it's open channel flow. Okay.
And then finally, I'm sorry, the section of sewer
to be replaced along Charles Street.
Thank you. But why
So Oh, go Ahead.
Along the Charles River Bank, so that's vitrified Clay pipe.
Okay. So that was constructed well over 50 years ago
and it's a very brittle pipe.
So just by crossing underneath it,
we are going to impact that
Pipe.
Okay, sure. On that note, can I just follow up?
You said, I think you said 300 feet.
300 feet. That sounds like a, a lot at once.
How's that gonna impact the sewer service for the area?
So we would work, well we've been working with DPW,
we would have to bypass the sewer from manhole to manhole,
but that 300 feet is dictated
by the nearest manhole upstream, which is at 1 63 Highland.
And the next one downstream, which is at 60 Charles Street.
Okay. So if we tried to do a connection closer than
that 300 feet, we might not be able to get a good connection
to that brittle clay pipe.
Sure. I guess I'm just wondering
what the interruption will be for those commercial
and residential customers downstream from the,
There, there won't be any interruption during the bypass.
They'll pump out of the upstream manhole discharge
in the downstream manhole.
Okay. So they won't notice any,
won't notice any interruption flow. Yep.
Excellent. Did you have more?
I thought that's enough. Alright, interrupt.
Okay. Okay, Josh,
Just one question.
It sounded like, so this water pipe is gonna be very close
to the, the Needham sewer pipe.
And is that the reason the 300 feet that,
that the Needham sewer pipe will have to be replaced?
So, well we're, we're crossing the, the need
that 300 feet we're crossing.
So that's the, the brittle pipe
that Dave's talking about. That's
Along the bank.
That's along the bank. Yeah. And then
one, the other ones are close.
Within the trench, you have to create a trench
to create the 36 inch pipe.
There's other sewers that are close by.
So we're expecting that we might have
to impact those when we're installing trench
box to, to get through that. So
If the town ever has to maintain our own sewer pipe,
Would it impact this MWRA pipe?
No. No. That's why we're providing the space
and then restoring it so that the,
the pipes will have sufficient separation distances
so that they can be maintained.
Thank you.
Great, bill? I'm good. Thanks.
Very interesting and detailed. Thank you.
All right. Kathy, anything? No questions.
Okay. I just have one question. It's about noise.
I can see that you've thought through
the daytime versus nighttime work,
but this is, this is a reasonably small area both
with commercial customers and,
and residential neighborhoods just outside the perimeter.
So I guess I'm just wondering,
I'm not really clear on the scale of the disruption
that these machines will cause.
I just, I guess I just wanna check in on how
Yeah. So
If, if it's gonna be a destruction for those folks.
It, I don't, no, it won't be.
It's typical pipeline construction in the streets.
So you'll see it many times. You know, they'll have a,
a trench that they have to excavate.
Sure. The pipe is 36 inch diameter, so that's three feet.
But it will be to what, 10 to 15 feet? 10 to 15 feet deep.
And when they bury the pipe and then they backfill the pipe
and they, they move it along.
So they'll be excavating a section
and moving their way along the 1200 feet.
Okay. Most of the areas, industrial, commercial kind
of area, the specific streets we're going through,
there's no residential homes
or anything in that along that route.
And that's when we talked to this, the town
and the, the police and the feeling of doing
that work at night, probably better
because then the industry, the commercials are open
during the day, so it won't impact them during the daytime.
We'll be there at nighttime when they're not working. Okay.
Alright. Great. Well appreciated.
Sounds like you've answered all
of our questions, which is great.
I'm sure you will get more from the public.
So, so with that maybe we'll swap teams or add teams.
Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. Welcome.
Thank You. Just two. Okay. Just two. All right.
So we'll start with introductions.
I'm Steve Este, I'm interim executive director
at the MWRA.
Colleen Zi, director of Environmental
and Regulatory Affairs for MWA. Thank
You for, for being here.
We're here this evening. There's been a lot
of publicity about our combined sewer overflow plan update.
Yes. You've probably heard from
various folks over the many months we thought it's, we're,
we're offering an opportunity to chat
with communities about the plan,
provide some clear information from our perspective about
what the plan does and doesn't do.
We are in the middle of a comment period.
Colleen, I'll talk a little
bit more about that in the middle.
And we're looking for folks to, you know, provide sort
of fact-based comment from your perspective to the,
to the DEP and EPA so
that they make a good decision coming out.
It's a very expensive plan. Community share is pretty large.
And the delta between the plan that's on the table
and what some are recommending is very substantial
and substantial increment for the, each of the towns
that are paying both sur bills.
So we wanted to be careful to make sure that folks are aware
of this while there's an opportunity to comment so
that we don't have a situation the
after DEP has locked us down
and then folks realize the expense and the disruption.
And there are, that's, that's sort
of the wrong way to do public policy.
Excellent. Best to have him pretty early.
Yeah, we appreciate that. And so before you begin,
'cause I know you have slides, can you just remind us of
how long the comment period lasts
and then what's the decision making timeline?
Absolutely. Because I,
I think people will be wondering about that at the outset
and I want them to be able to pay attention
Here. No, that's process.
I don't first to our notes. Okay, great.
So actually we are in the middle of the common period.
So we submitted in April 30th
and comments were due September 30th.
We actually just got an extension from DEP in response
to some requests from the watershed associations.
So October 30th, October is the deadline for comments.
And we are, and I'll share the website for the program.
There are multiple ways to comment.
We can accept, we have a portal that's online.
We have email, regular snail mail to the MWA address
as well as two public hearings
that will be held in September where people could come
and get verbal public comment as well.
Okay, great. And then, so the deadline
for comments is, is October 30th,
but then there's some period when, so
We will That's right. Decision
Making occurs.
So we will have a final plan
that will be due in spring of 2027.
So we'll be accepting comments from the public.
We'll also get comments from DEP
and EPA, which will inform the final plan.
Okay. That gets submitted.
And then when that gets submitted to EP
and DEP in the spring, it will simultaneously be going
through the MEPA process.
So the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act,
which will offer another opportunity for public comment.
Okay. Great. Alright, thank you. Of course.
And so actually before we get into the formal
presentation, but certainly please bring the slides up if
you can, just taking,
I guess a step back in making sure people are on the same
page with what A CSO is for those
that might not be familiar either here or in the public.
Many older cities in the US have a single pipe
that takes both stormwater, so runoff from streets and veils
and all that, as well as the sanitary flows into one pipe,
it was put in place to offer kind of a relief mechanism so
that there were no backups into homes businesses.
The flip side of that is in larger storm events,
you can have that discharge into the receiving water body,
which will be, and I do wanna stress
that this is a combination of storm water
and sanitary flows.
It is not just straight raw sewage going
into the receiving water body.
Just to make sure, so as I talk
through this presentation tonight about the combined sewer
overflows, use the acronym CSO, just keep in mind
that is a combination of both stormwater
as well as sanitary flows.
Like many decisions in infrastructure
and land use planning made decades ago, we are living
with the consequences of that
and looking to improve those situations.
So the plan that we lay out tonight that's currently in
for public comment does just that it improves water quality,
reduces the discharges of CSOs.
So if we can go to the next slide please.
So just starting with a review of what's been accomplished
for CSO Control to date and where we are today.
MWA and is for CSO member communities.
So, Boston, Chelsea, Cambridge,
and Somerville have been working
to reduce CSOs in the region for decades.
Under the Boston Harbor Project, which most
of you're probably familiar with, the long,
the first long-term control plan was implemented,
35 separate projects,
CSO control projects highlighted in the figure
to the right little tough to see at this scale.
These are all completed by 2015,
but the work really hasn't stopped.
MWA along with the CSO communities continue
to implement CSO reduction projects.
Overall investment to date on CSO control is over one
and a half billion dollars.
Next slide please. So over the past
35 plus years, CSOs have been reduced by approximately 88%
from the late eighties.
And 94% of what is still discharged
as CSO is actually treated prior to discharge.
It gets disinfection and then dechlorination
before it gets discharged to a water body.
So there is a bacteria removal for that
as shown on the bar chart chart on the right, the volume
of CSOs has dramatically decreased,
resulting in significant improvements
to water quality in the metro Boston area.
Next slide please. So the next piece
of the kinda CO story,
we've been operating under approved variances since 2004,
the A Life Brook, mystic River,
and Charles River Water, water bodies.
These variances are issued by DEP and EPA
and they allow CSO discharges to continue while the work
to address those and reduce the volumes also continues.
The most recent variance requires an updated CSO control
plan, which is what we're presenting tonight.
Those that requirement was alternatives
to evaluate alternatives up to including full elimination
of CSO discharges to the three water bodies here.
Next slide please. So, as I mentioned, a lot
of work has been done.
A significant number of O falls have been closed.
Those are indicated by the orange dot with the X through it.
Those are CSOs that have been closed.
The updated CSSO control plan is really focused on the
yellow dots on this plan, which are the L falls
that can continue to discharge to the free water bodies.
So again, a lot of progress has been made to date,
but still some work to be done.
So MWA is partnered with the city
of Somerville and the city of Cambridge.
On this initiative, we submitted a joint plan
to DEP and EPA.
So that was coming from the three partners in one plan.
Next slide please. So looking at the draft plan, the plan
as it currently stands in its draft form,
it does account for climate change.
More specifically, the impact
of future increases in precipitation.
We know we're gonna get higher annual rainfall
totals, more intense storms.
This plan is the first in the nation that we know of to
estimate the future rainfall events.
Most CSOs plans look
to the past when they're estimating their rainfall events.
We are looking into the future to mitigate those.
This plan eliminates CSOs in the 2050 typical year,
which I will note does include a sizable over three inch
storm and a 24 hour event.
So it does have some larger storms in it,
and it does reduce the volumes in the larger
storm events over that.
It also incorporates green stormwater infrastructure or GSI.
Next slide please. So the partners evaluated
39 alternatives across the three water bodies across
different levels of control.
And that included a combination of tools
at the different outfalls.
And I'll note that the evaluation really focused on
balancing the important
and sometimes competing considerations like the ones
listed on the slide.
I'll note though that the resulting water quality benefits
from the work and the protection of existing open
and recreational space,
which we already know is really limited in these areas, were
key considerations through the evaluation.
So next slide please.
So looking at the Alewife brook,
and you can go to the next Thank you.
So this is the recommended alternative in the Alewife brook.
There's a total of six outfalls owned by Cambridge,
Somerville, and MWA that currently discharge to the alewife.
The draft plan that was submitted includes a combination
of CSO control tools at those different outfalls,
including storage tanks, storage conduits,
and sewer separation.
I will note, as you look at the durations on these plans,
these are really kind of high level planning estimates of
what it would take to construct these different projects.
They're not intended to be timelines from today.
There's still a bit of work to do
before we get to that point, but I will note,
because these plans do include a series of smaller projects,
there's the opportunity
that we can get some interim benefits.
So as individual projects come online, we're seeing some of
that reduction in the CSOs while other projects are
still in the works.
Next slide please. So looking at the Mr. River. Thank you.
So there's actually only one outfall
to the upper Mystic River and it's jointly controlled by NRE
and the city of Somerville.
The draft plan here includes a combination
of sewer separation and a really large storage tank
that would be located in the parking lot of the assembly row
shopping center for those that are
familiar with that location.
Next slide please. And you can actually skip
to the alternative.
And so this is lastly looking at the Charles River.
Again, this is a combination of multiple outfalls.
The CSO controls here are a combination of sewer separation
and storage tanks, both MWA
and the city of Cambridge control out falls
discharging to the Charles River.
It Ms. Probably noting that all
of those CSO outlaw falls are downstream
of the Watertown Dam.
Yeah, correct. For a sense of geography.
Thank you. That's right. That's the next slide.
So this is just a high level summary
of the three alternatives that we just looked at.
Total cost estimated to be about $1.3 billion.
And I will note
before we go to the next slide, as noted earlier,
with the implementation of these projects
as currently proposed in the draft plan, we do see
that elimination of the CSOs in the 2050 typical year,
the reduction in the larger events,
and as compared to the projects
or looking at kind of the higher levels of control,
those five year, 25 year storm events,
this plan offers some additional
benefits in the earlier reductions in the CSOs, right,
bringing those smaller projects online.
So we're starting to see those kind of interim benefits,
less disruptive construction impacts, including
construction noise, less truck traffic as compared to some
of the higher alternatives.
And then the reduced loss of the open space.
I mentioned this earlier, including Parkland, both
during construction, but also
for the new permanent infrastructure that's going going in,
which is a high priority in trying
to preserve some of that open space.
You know? Next slide please.
So looking at the costs,
this slide focuses on just the MWA share of that
$1.3 billion.
So the MWA share is right now estimated at $763 million.
The remainder would be allocated to the city
of Cambridge and the city of Somerville.
Note that the costs that we've been talking about going
through the presentation are in today's dollars,
not in future, but when we escalate those costs
by the two point half percent annually,
which is our standard for the next 15 years
or so, that $763 million today
becomes just over a billion dollars in future spending.
And I'll note, I'm de borrows for almost all
of our construction projects,
and we would do the same for the work associated with this.
So we're issuing long-term debt
for these construction projects.
The total rate payer costs, then
that 7 63 turned into 1 billion goes into $2 billion.
When you incorporate the interest on the long-term debt,
that 2 billion is what's shown
as the green line on this chart.
So that's the draft plan as currently submitted.
As you move up in levels of control, the cost
of horse increase that top level at the 5.6 billion is
that 25 year storm event.
It's the largest event that we looked at.
So using the same methodology
that 2 billion is 5.6 billion in the larger storms,
these costs will be paid for by the MWA sewer communities,
including Needham, right?
And including Chelsea Quincy, all of the 43
MDA sewer communities would partake in these costs.
And we recognize that these sewer rate increases will be in
addition to other financial pressures
that the communities I'm sure including Needham,
are already facing the households that pay these bills.
So the MWA advisory board
who represents our member communities,
they created a dashboard that allows individual communities
to see what the impacts, what those increased costs are
for each of the levels of control that we looked at.
The three plans looking out to 2072, which is the tail end
of the projected debt service using that dashboard.
I'll give you guys kind of the bottom line of it tonight,
or the punchline using the head dashboard.
NEEDHAM'S cost for the draft plan
that is currently under review is about $28 million over
between FY 29 and 2072.
So that's for just the plan that's currently on the table
to go to the highest level of control, which is
that 25 year storm event
that is about $85 million to need for Needham.
Yeah. So adults are about $57 million from that
zero CSOs in the typical year up to that,
that 25 year storm event.
And do you know, sorry, may I ask a couple questions?
Do you know, you know, in the peak year
or the average year, what the impact would be
to a typical rate payer? So
That one's a little bit harder
and I don't know, Steve, if you,
I think there's a couple different
ways of thinking about that.
Each community needs to take their piece.
And so the advisory board's chart shows
how much the incremental cost would be to need them,
for example, in each year.
Each community needs to take that
and assume how that's going to move from their
rate structure to their rate payers,
including any other costs.
It's a fairly substantial sum of money.
The hard thing on all these things is you can always find a
way to make it a tiny little number,
but it's one way or the other.
It's a large number.
It's a couple billion dollars across the region on top
of all of the other projects we're working on, one
of the things that we've heard some of the advocates say is,
well, deer Island's being paid off.
So of course you have a lot of money.
Well, that would be true if in fact
what you built in the late 1990s could go forever
without being maintained.
We're in the midst right now of beginning to make sort
of major renovation projects on Deer Island.
We have a $300 million project looking at the clarifiers
that the treatment vessels, there's a series of projects
that are between two and $300 million on Deer Island
over the next few years.
So basically the bills
that we paid back to build the Boston Harbor project
have been mostly paid off,
but we're spending actually a pretty much the same amount
of money over the next decade or so.
Keeping that facility running, keeping Boston Harbor clean.
The same thing is true for facilities upstream of that
and in at your level, at each individual community,
there's continued investments in the wastewater pipes
to keep them from degrading
and bringing more clean water into those pipes, sending it
to Dry Island and raising your local
share of the total cost.
So that's a lot of money on the table. Yeah.
Can I ask another question? I, I guess I see this
as a public benefit project.
Like it, it doesn't benefit only the communities within
the MWRA system.
So, I mean, I almost see Needham as a much of a beneficiary
as Worcester, but
because they're not part of the MWR system,
they're not being, they don't bear any
of the costs, correct?
Yeah, I mean we would, it would be wonderful in a,
in a world in which the Commonwealth
or the US government felt
that this was a high enough priority for them
to not just require it,
but to, the reason we're doing the project is it's required
by the state and federal government,
but it was a high enough priority for them
to not just require that the 43 communities do it,
but contribute to the cost.
Most of Deer Island was paid for by the cities
and towns that fund the MWRA sewer district.
The same thing is, is likely to be true here.
I would say if you could send us a letter on this plan,
you might wanna also wanna send a letter to your, your
Senators and representatives and suggest that they do that.
The state provides us a token payment each year,
a few hundred thousand dollars towards
our almost a billion dollar water and sewer budget.
You've got a couple of more comprehensive
plans here on the table.
Can you help us understand the qualitative difference
between the plan that costs
well will cost Needham $28 million versus the plan
that will cost Needham $85 million?
Like what, what is, what are we getting
for those, don't you?
The technical one? Yes. Yeah. So those larger,
Because we do have, we do, we have had folks come in
to advocate for the larger plans.
So I wanna understand like what are we giving up? Yeah.
Or what are, what are we purchasing if we
Yep, no, that's absolutely right.
So the larger, so that $85 million plan is
for the upper level, that's the 25 year
level of control, right?
So in a 25 year event, you would have no CSO discharges
to any of the three water bodies to do that.
We are looking at a large deep tunnel
that would collect the flows and kind of carry it.
So that's where some of that large cost comes from, right?
You're building extremely large infrastructure to do this.
But I will say even with that, I know
'cause one of the talking points, which is the, you know,
fishable swimmable days in the Charles for example,
that doesn't change as you go up in the levels of control
because until
or may have heard sewer separation as one of the kind
of gold standards as well is until the stormwater
piece is really taken care of
and treated, you aren't gonna see any additional days
of swimming in the Charles
because every storm event, storm water, which is,
has pollutants in it, right?
It's not clean that goes in every storm event.
Whereas a CSO is discharged periodically
depending on how large a storm was.
So I think from a, taking the step back from a,
what you get from it,
you may see less CSO discharges in the ongoing events,
but you aren't gonna see that increase to water quality
to make that so bowl fishable the entire year
until you rarely start treating the storm water
balloons that go into it.
So that was the kind of technical part.
Yeah. One of the, one
of the difficulties in being the folks who have
to engineer the projects is you're required
to actually look in great detail at all of the issues
and think of it comprehensively.
So as I think about it, if we,
if over the next 30 years the communities in the,
the 35 communities that feed into state
of Charles River all spent many tens of billions of dollars
to com completely treat the thousands of stormwater outfalls
that go into the Charles at
that point then not having the CSO volume in a larger
storm would yield benefit.
But until all of those storm water
dirty storm water discharges into the river are res are
cleaned up, you're still on every single storm going
to have pollution in the river,
which results in it not being meeting, meeting the fishing,
the swimming bowl standards.
Now River does meet swimmable standards on quite a few days
in the year, but it doesn't meet it
for any significant rainfall, primarily in most cases
because of flows that are coming down upstream
of the Watertown Dam, which are, it's dirtier upstream,
can causing a lower portion of the river
to be not meet those standards.
The river doesn't meet standards after rainfall.
If this, even on days when the CSOs are all, when
combined source all heading to Deer Island
and none of it's making to the river,
the river's not swimable.
We really, this is a, I think that it's a, it's a long,
long, long term issue.
Nothing we're doing in this plan prohibits us
or from being able to come back
at a point when the rivers cleaner
because of all the storm water and deal with this.
But it seems like a reasonable effort to reduce the impact
that the CSOs have on the river
even without necessarily making it swimmable.
One of my things I've said at all the meetings is
folks are saying it's gonna be swimmable.
They're gonna be in an awkward spot
when we build whatever project we build.
And it's not ought
to be something more than a bumper sticker
as you're doing these kind of investments.
Okay. Bill, any questions? No, I'm good. Thank you.
All right, Kathy. Yes,
I thank you.
This has been really helpful and interesting.
I'm just looking at the list
of all the different communities
and I'm wondering how is the cost allocated
amongst those 35 communities?
So the, the MWRA sewer charges are based
primarily on flow to a, a complicated format
that includes monthly flow averaged over three years,
peak month flow averaged over three years.
Some factors for population in each community
and all the communities.
We sum all the costs
and we divide it up by your share of flow, your share
of population in essence.
So it's essentially a flow based
or impact based charge.
Each community pays their share based on those numbers.
So in that case, does Needham benefit from having some
of our water come from our town wealth?
No. Is wastewater flow waste water,
waste water flow, of course, yeah.
Your water bill is lower,
your water charge from us is lower 'cause you buy less water.
Yeah, but the sewer flow is
wastewater is based on wastewater flow.
We do meter that flow,
of course that's what leaves the town.
Okay. We would be happy to over the next couple months
provide an input your, your staff needs
as they're thinking about trafficking this
and getting a letter to you
to send off any additional information we can provide.
We'd be happy to do Thank you
for the opportunity to be here. Certainly.
And I'll just note there are two more slides in there.
I don't think they need to be pulled
up, but you have 'em in your packet.
It just shows the next steps,
which we've already touched on and then the project.
So yeah, so the next slide steps,
the comment period now is extended to end of October.
So this is a little bit outdated
that was fresh off the presses this afternoon.
And then project implementation going between the, you know,
say 2027 to the 2050s.
But noting during that timeframe some
of the smaller projects will be coming online.
And then the next slide if you could, is just the,
has the link to the joint CSO planning site that we share
with between the three partners
and folks that are interested in this program can look,
the draft plan is there, past public meetings are all
recorded, the slideshows are there.
So if anybody needs more information
and certainly we're always happy to answer questions
And that's where the the, for any cities who wants to
comment the portal
to the provide comments electronically is on that site.
All the ways to comment are there. So.
Okay. Well we, we appreciate your time.
This is a very significant project
Come In here.
So thank you much
Madam, if you apologize for having a little
trouble finding out why this won't go away.
Okay.
I give everyone a little extra time to jot it down.
Ma'am, check. Can I move the consent agenda?
Please do. Yes. All right. I move the consent agenda
Second.
Alright, so we'll
vote on the consent.
Kathy, we'll go to you. Yes. Bill? Yes.
Josh? Yes. Kevin? Yes. And I vote yes as well. Thank you.
Okay, the next item on our agenda tonight is the local
initiative program at 1 93 gar,
the Garden Street Proposal Gardener's
Nest Condominium project.
Hello. We're gonna welcome Mrs.
Toulie. Yes,
George Junta And is Mary au as well.
Okay, come on up.
So it's good to see you all back. Thank you. A joint summer.
Thank you. Thank for your time today.
So I will turn it over to you guys to present on
the project as it stands currently. Alright,
Great.
Thank you very much. George Center junior
attorney representing Mr.
Oli and his entity that own owns the property is proposing
this 40 B project.
And as the board knows,
'cause we've been here a couple of times before,
this is an ongoing process
and one of the aspects of a lip,
a local initiative project is
that it is a cooperative project.
It essentially is a form almost of a partnership
between the town and the developer.
So here we are at the next,
the next check-in if you will on this project.
So we last met and discussed this back in April.
So it's been a little bit of time
since we last talked about this.
Since then there's been a couple of things
that have taken place that directly address some
of the comments and concerns that have been raised.
First off, probably most important is the survey has been
completed, the land survey of the property,
which we hadn't had before.
We only had sort of preliminary plans and so on.
But now the survey has actually been done.
So we now know the exact dimensions of the property.
The boundaries have been fixed and most importantly the
topography has been surveyed.
So we now have the topography of the property set.
And with that I'll just mention basically
it's roughly what we thought.
That the property is relatively flat
for about three quarters of the way back ish.
And then there's a slope basically from there.
Now in addition there was a wetlands
delineation that was completed.
So Mary Trudeau who's here with us this evening, went out
and flagged the wetlands, the surveyor went
and I then located where those flags were
and that's on one of the plans
that I think you have in your packets.
So we now know with a reasonable degree of certainty
where the wetlands line is and that
therefore informs us where the buffer zone is.
The two buffer zones, the 50 foot and the a hundred foot.
We also have advanced our design.
So the prelim, the design is still not final,
it's still a bit preliminary but it's been advanced
and is still in keeping with what you have seen previously.
But basically the location of the houses
we're still proposing 10 units in five duplexes.
But the exact location has changed a bit.
The shape has changed a bit.
If you remember on one of the earlier versions there were
these little sort of cutouts where the garages were
and those have now been disposed with
and it's just a flat kind of garage face.
Instead of having cars have to come in
and negotiate these little cutout areas,
we've had discussions with the fire department
and they have given us feedback that they're looking
for a 16 to 18 foot clear space to be able
to get in with their vehicles and equipment.
And so we've taken that into account when we,
when we located the houses.
And then, let's see, yeah,
and then we've basically just tweaked the design a little
bit to sort of take into account
the information that we now have.
We still, there's still sprinkled, there's still, oh
and most recently on the fire department
they have advised us that they would like
to see the building sprinkled
and we're perfectly fine with that.
And so that's something that we'll be incorporating.
It's not in any of your materials yet
'cause we just, that was just learned that recently.
So we'll incorporate that in
and that will be a part going forward.
So as I indicated, the project remains 10 total units in
five duplexes
and while it is not a cast in stone standard,
it has generally been the rule of thumb for the board
of appeals when they evaluate 40 B projects as well
as in a general zoning context that you look
for roughly 16 units per acre as your sort
of your target maximum density.
If you do the math based on that, then you wind up
with this site would support roughly 12 units
and we are at 10 units below that.
So we, we still think
that this is an appropriate size development based on that.
Now as I said, it's not a cast and stone thing,
but it has has been a standard that has been used
to evaluate I think pretty much every 40 B
that has gone through the board of appeals.
And certainly a lot of other projects
that have come through the town as well.
30% of the units will, units will be affordable.
This is something we have now defined
and that is in excess of the 25%
that is required by Chapter 40 B.
So we're going over and above on that.
Now with the wetlands having been delineated said,
we now know where the 50 foot
and the a hundred foot buffer is for the,
for any board members that aren't aware
of the way the wetlands bylaw works
and the way the Wetlands Protection Act works,
generally speaking, towns have discretion over how much
they wanna regulate
and condition work that's done within a
hundred feet of a wetlands.
Some towns are, are sort of lenient
and they let you basically go right up to the line
and other towns are more strict.
Needham is on the stricter side of the scale.
Generally speaking, they don't want your,
they certainly don't want you touching anything
within the first 25 feet.
They really don't like anything within the first 50 feet.
But then once you get further out, basically sort of,
you know, 70, 75 feet plus you can do certain work
but you have to go through a process
to get an order of conditions from them.
And so that is something we do anticipate that we will need
to do and we're comfortable doing that
and working within the ordinary wetlands program.
So nothing, so we don't expect anything sort of
beyond the scope of what any other project
would necessarily require.
But we will be going into the buffer zone a bit up
to about 70 feet from the wellins.
So there's about 30 feet
of the buffer we'll be doing some work in.
And we now know that because of the wetlands, alienation
and the survey, we also now know based on the
information from the fire department
that they want 16 to 18 feet clear.
We've located the buildings so that the, the separation
between the wall of the building
and the property line generally is at least 18 feet,
but it's really functionally 20 feet.
So we've got adequate space there.
So we now know that previously we didn't have a set number
on that at 20 feet it is well in excess
of the 14 foot minimum side yard setback in the,
that applies in the district. So
It says 18 feet here.
Are you saying that that's changed to 20
Feet?
So it's, it's 18 feet at certain points,
but like at the garage portions it's 20 feet
with that and, and with the survey having been complete,
although we don't have a finished drainage design
that's still a bit off, we do now have a good idea
of the topography and the likely grading of the site.
So we are confident
and we don't expect needing any waivers
or any extraordinary relief when it
comes to stormwater control.
We think that we'll be able to manage that on site.
We can't say that for absolute thousand percent certain just
yet because we do have to do some test pits on the site.
But as the board is aware, I think Mr.
Toi did do the project next door,
which was substantially similar.
So he has some working knowledge of what the,
the underground conditions likely will be based on that.
And if they do turn out to be what we expect,
then we should be able to meet
and comply with the applicable stormwater bylaw
and not have to get any special relief on that front.
And then we also, now that the survey's been done
and we know the grades and the slope
and we have our sort
of first preliminary projected grading done, we know
that we likely we won't need to bring any fill to the site
and in fact we'll probably have
to remove some material from the site and take it off.
'cause there's probably gonna be too much there. All right.
Now, now that we've got all this done,
we also have a better idea of what sort
of waivers we might need.
And this was one of the questions
that the board had for us last time.
And now that we've gone through this,
we know we can cite the buildings to comply
with setback requirements.
We know that we can, they will comply with a number
of things but there are, there are a few waivers
that we definitely will need.
Three of the waivers are sort of part
and parcel with the nature of a project like this.
They're just, this is just
what you get when you have a multi-unit sort of dense
or some somewhat dense project.
So first off, we are gonna be needing a waiver on use
because this is a single family residential zoning district.
So we obviously we'll need a waiver with respect to use
in connection with that.
We'll also need a waivers for percentage of lot coverage
because in the SRB district you're limited
to only 25% and we are over that.
We'll also need a waiver from floor area ratio.
And both of those sort
of are tied part and parcel with the nature.
'cause obviously you're doing multiple units,
multiple buildings, you're gonna be over the,
the single family threshold.
And then we expect, we think
that there's a reasonable possibility
that we might need a waiver on height.
We don't know that for sure yet
because we're still working with the design on the buildings
and also on the final, the sort of the fine points
of the grading and the way height is
calculated in the bylaw.
You know, it's based on, there's a couple
of different ways you can do it
and we need
to do final calculations based on the final design
of the houses to know whether we're above the height or not.
If we are above, we don't think we're gonna be above
by a huge amount, but we may need a waiver on the height.
We just don't know yet. So I'm putting that out there just
so it's not, if we do need it,
you can't say we didn't tell you,
but other than those waivers, we don't expect
to need any other zoning related waivers.
Alright, so unlike other projects that need a laundry list,
so Chestnut Street comes to mind
that needed quite a few zoning waivers.
We really won't need a lot.
And in fact, really three three
of the four waivers we will need are, are
really essential part of the project itself.
And you would need almost regardless of size
or scope, if you're doing any sort of project like this,
you'd need those waivers.
Then we technically will also need
waivers for parking design.
Each unit is proposed to have a two car garage,
so there's adequate parking spaces.
But the way the parking design guidelines work,
there's certain things that, like the spaces are supposed
to be configured in a certain way
and having them inside a garage just they automatically
don't comply with certain aspects.
So we will need a waiver from that.
But I'll point out that an ordinary project
can ask for a waiver under the zoning bylaw anyways.
So, so needing a waiver under
that is not a unusual condition.
Many commercial projects actually request
and receive waivers for design
because the design requirements are specific.
And for example, one of them is you have to, you're supposed
to illuminate all of your parking areas,
a one foot candle per inch
and invariably many parking areas, if you do that,
you're gonna have, they're gonna be actually two bright
or you're gonna have lights where you don't want 'em.
And so typ, that's a typical waiver
that is often given in connection with projects.
And then finally a project
of this size would typically require major project site plan
review with the planning board.
And so that's a waiver that we would need more
of a procedural waiver than an actual
substantive zoning waiver.
So now we've identified sort of our base waivers.
We've got, we've, we've, we've fine tuned our project a bit.
We know what the property is, we know the grading,
we know the wetlands and so on.
So now we're at the point where we're teeing up to do more
complete drainage design and getting into that
and fine tuning our design of the houses.
So this was, this is a very good time to meet with the board
and ask for your continued input.
We know that this is a process
and it will continue to go on.
Michael has had meetings with the neighbors.
He just hit another one recently
and I expect we'll have several more as we go forward.
But we do wanna make sure to touch base with the board
because as I indicated at the outset,
this is a lip is a cooperative joint kind of project.
And if the board is inclined to support us on this, it,
it's sort of, I mean it has to be kind of a two way street
and we have to be giving the project
that the board wants on behalf of the town.
So we would love to hear your input
and any questions that you might have at this point.
Excellent. We're just gonna go down the line here
'cause I'm sure that everyone has things to say.
Kevin, do you wanna get us started?
Sure. Okay. Garages, are they underneath?
Yes. Are they? Okay.
So as I look at it, how long are these dry?
What's the, the driveways look short.
What's the pitch on them to go underneath?
Michael, do You wanna answer?
Yeah, I'm not clear on your question.
Okay. So as I'm looking at,
there's a access road coming in on either side,
then there's a proposed driveway that looks,
I don't have a measurement on the length of it.
Are we talking about the from front street
to back of property or? No, from
Side to side?
From side to side. So you gotta turn into your garage.
You have a proposed driveway
that looks like maybe it's five feet,
The, And it goes down.
So what's your pitch to clear a garage door?
So the garage floor is about four feet below the street.
Okay. So it's not, it's a,
So the rise over run is what?
But is that below?
So he's asking the driveway that comes down the side
and then the garage that comes off of that.
The difference between the, the driveway
on the side and the garage,
That's fairly level.
It'll be pitched enough to force our water to go
to our collection basis,
but it's, it, it's insignificant.
So it's not a full garage under, it's not a full floor
Under No, it, No, it's a full garage under,
but it's the, so what we're proposing is
going down four feet Yeah.
With the garage floor from the street
and then we'll be four feet above
that gives us our full eight feet.
Yeah. Underneath from the grading.
And maybe it's time to show, I don't know
if this will help any working at this.
Our grading here,
the floor is at 2 2 73.
I'm sorry. First floor is
2 73, 2 64.
We're 2 64 here.
And the street is at 2 67 above grade.
I'm sorry, what is that number? Three feet difference.
Got it. Variation of three feet from the street.
So that's a very reasonable pitch as it grades down
and as it comes down, it will
always be pitched away from the garage,
four from the garage floor.
So we'll maintain our swale on the, on the road itself
or on the, on the driveway itself
and push it to our collection basins that we'll have
Right on the driveway.
But now for a motorist going into the drive,
into the garage, they're gonna take a hard turn.
Right turn. Suppose what's the rise
over run on that driveway?
At the driveway level?
It's gonna be fairly, we will drop quickly Yeah,
from the street down to our 2 64.
Okay. So that's fairly, that's fairly flat.
So and then going into the, and going into the garage.
Yeah. So basically from the street drops down and then it's,
Yeah, it drops on essentially
At the garage level, but so there's not another Yeah.
So you're envisioning like a drop and then a drop and
No, I'm a road drop.
But I'm wondering what's our angle,
because this seems really tight. I,
It's, to answer your question, it's fairly level through.
It will be pitched. Yeah. So we can control the water. Okay.
But it'll be fairly pitched, it'll be very easy to maneuver.
You have much tighter spaces around town.
Okay. Speaking of water, so we're collecting an inch
and a half off the roof and all hardscapes, right?
Correct. So has to be, it'll be treated
as well right off the hardscapes.
Right. Okay. So in the bylaw it's three
before each S-C-S-C-M that you have,
and I'm counting, I'm just looking at them in precise map.
Okay. The plant is 36 SCM chambers. Right.
That you have on here.
A again, we haven't done our test pits,
but I know it's gravel and it's probably a one minute perk.
And if that means anything to you,
the water just basically goes through
it, it drops a foot in a minute.
Okay. And our water table, when I dug next door,
we dug down 12 feet and saw no water and no staining either.
So I'm very confident in what,
what our soil conditions are Right.
As well as our water level.
And we can contain whatever water volume we need to,
to pick up the roof and any of the hardscape.
Yeah. So, and the design right now is 36 s scms right?
On this? Yeah, that's an estimate. Okay.
It's, but there'll be calculations that we'll have
to prove out to prove exactly
what we have to do there. Alright,
So then there'll be three,
two inch cper trees per chamber, correct.
As by the bylaw.
So those, you will have by this,
you're gonna have 108 saplings on this property.
That might be a lot.
I, I could tell you we had to,
we we did a double lot in Wellesley.
Yeah. And we probably put that many on less than a half an
or about a half an acre.
Okay. Okay.
But I think you're gonna have to,
that'll be the standard to go.
There's there were also alternatives to
that if it gets too crowded, I mean we can
contribute to funds and
So let's check that out.
I'm not sure.
Okay.
Anything else Kevin? Well actually I gotta say
ultimately if you want my editorializing, I mean,
I'm interested in that part.
This just feels too dense.
It feels like five feet between buildings is too dense.
I, my, as I look at this now,
I'm really not in favor of this.
If you took out the, I don't care what you do,
but you build what you want, what you're,
what you think you can sell.
But I would remove one, the one
of the buildings and spread the other ones out
to make something a bit more breathable.
I mean, but I think it just feels for the
location for the neighborhood, it feels too tight.
It's just too dense.
And then you don't have to plan as many saplings
because you won't have, your algebra will change.
But that's my sense. I think it just feels too tight.
Okay. Josh, Thank you.
I guess I, I've said before, I'm not a fan
of the, the 40 B process.
I mean, I think we have zoning
and that that's how I'd prefer to do things.
I guess it, you know, if we,
if we do end up using this process,
I I would really first want
to get comments from town departments so that we have,
I know you've spoken with the fire department,
we haven't seen those comments
or comm from other departments.
So that, that would be something important to me
because there are a lot of tech technical aspects that I,
I'm not an expert in and I can't evaluate.
I mean, I, I do look at this map
and I see that nearly the entire
back building is within the a hundred foot wetland area.
I, I don't know how to evaluate that,
but I know that that is something the Conservation
commission would, would flag.
The other thing that that is concerning is, is the waiving
of site plan review because that is the mechanism
for the town to, to protect its interests.
I mean, we talk about, you know, the MBTA zoning
that we just put in place, even that has site plan review.
So I would not be in favor of a project that,
that seeks a waiver of all site plan review. Can,
Can I just address that one point?
Yeah. Just, just so the process is clear
and I know not all the board members have followed a 40 B
through all the way through, but it's a,
it's almost a technical waiver
because even though we ask for the waiver
of major project site plan review, what ends up happening,
we file with the board of Appeals, board
of Appeals conducts their full hearing.
And as a part of that,
the planning board issues their opinion.
And typically, especially on a project like this, we appear
before the planning board and we have a whole presentation
with them essentially in substance almost exactly like
what we would do with the major project site plan process.
Except we don't submit a site plan
application to the planning board.
They review it and they make their recommendation
to the board of appeals and then board
of appeals makes the decision.
So it doesn't technically go through site plan review,
but it, as a matter of practice, it does, you know,
in all practicality, it goes through the planning board
and it goes through engineer
and goes through all the departments.
So they comment and they review it
and that, so the concern that you're talking about, yeah,
it, that, that gets addressed in the process.
It's just in 40 bs it gets addressed a little bit
differently than it would in your
customary commercial project.
Rather than having to go to three or four
or five different boards, you go to the ZBA
and the ZBA is sort
of the collecting point for everybody else.
I, I guess, but maybe this, this goes to Kevin's point.
The reason why it triggers the major product site plan is
because of its mass, because of its scale.
And, and I guess an easy way to,
to avoid it without asking for a
waiver would be to reduce the scale.
The reason why we have that trigger is
because large projects demand more scrutiny.
I I don't disagree on that point,
but essentially anything other than a single
or, well basically certainly four units are
above would likely trigger major
project site plan review here.
'cause the threshold is low enough,
it's 10,000 square feet of area.
And so basically at,
so these units are roughly 22, 2300 square feet per
unit, four units.
You know, you're rough almost there. Right.
So probably, you know, any development
that would be in, in keeping with the size of the site
and for example, in keeping with the project
that was done next door is gonna trigger major projects like
Plan Rio just 'cause of the size.
So I'm not sure that scaling it back, like you'd have
to scale it back to like a duplex
or a single, you know, maybe three, which is kind of
almost the opposite of what the concept is here.
If I could also have Mary, maybe discuss a little bit
with the wetlands issues.
Yeah, good evening. I, as George had noted,
I had gone out and done the wetlands delineation,
which is an evaluation that looks at both soils, hydrology
and wetlands vegetation.
The wetland area is located on an adjacent property,
but that doesn't matter under the Wetlands Protection Act
because it's, it takes a holistic view of it.
In Needham, the Conservation Commission typically has a very
strict zero to 25 foot no disturb zone.
And that's just blanket across most projects
that are in front of the Conservation commission.
Because this project has a naturally wooded,
albeit filled with invasives
and non-native species slope, I believe
that the Conservation commission will impose a 50 foot
no disturbed zone on this property.
So in light of that, Mike has pulled his unit back
to about 70 feet from the edge of wetland.
As you may be aware,
the buffer zone is a regulated area.
It's not a resource area like the bordering vegetated
wetlands down at the bottom of the hill.
Those are one of the most highly protected
resources in Massachusetts.
Buffer zone is regulated
and it is protected in the sense that it is protective
of the down gradient wetlands.
So it doesn't have a strict set of performance standards
because it's supposed to be unique
and it, it looks at what's happening here.
The plan that we have proposed on this site plan,
I think is approvable
by the Needham Conservation Commission under both the local
bylaw and the State Wetlands Protection Act
that we wouldn't necessarily need any waivers at all from
their traditional book.
See, at a project like this, we will have
to meet stormwater management under the mass DEP regulations
because we're more than four units, which is an extra level
of protection above what your local bylaw has,
that it looks at several different interests
that towns typically do.
But it makes for a fairly rigorous review
by your local conservation commission.
My guess is that they probably would go out
for a third party review depending
who is on their commission right now in terms
of engineering expertise, you know, so
that you would be getting part of that site plan review
from the commission as well in their permitting process.
No, thank you for that. I, and I respect your expertise.
I think I would want to also ask for the expertise
of our director of conservation.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.
No, I'm, I'm a hired gun. You know, you can talk.
All right, bill,
As you may know, we're getting a lot of comments on this,
you know, and, and some of the things that we've just heard
recently is, you know, the, you know, neighbors
and people who are nearby are concerned about you're gonna
have to build some retaining walls.
How are we gonna do that? How how's that gonna be done?
So it'll look good. It won't
infringe on the properties next door.
And the other talk about the 132 trees, that's a, that,
that all goes into screening, you know,
how how's the screening gonna be done
because, you know, the, the driveways are on this side
and that your other previous project, which is great
and you know, has been great for a long time.
You know, how, how we, how are we gonna be able
to screen some from that with, with, with some
of the concerns that, that I see.
So the, we would not require a, a retaining wall
above four feet under any circumstances anyway.
We can always slope from the other property.
I've also had some comments from one of the neighbors
that maybe we share some space in between and,
and do some landscaping in between,
which we'd be more than happy to do
the, I'm sorry, your on the,
The screening that you said.
Should you share that basic?
We, we have most of these comments
that we're hearing now are the same comments we heard when
we did Brown Whitney 24, 22 years ago.
And after it was done, everybody thought it was beautiful.
Change is always hard for people to visualize
and it seems impactful.
These buildings are only a few feet higher than the
brown Whitney buildings.
And in volume they're, they're on the first
and second floor are probably less than 15% Difference.
Times have changed. Demands have changed.
People want different things than what,
we can't just build something
and hope somebody's gonna want it.
We have to listen to the marketplace.
And we've all seen that the changes
that have come in the size of construction
that's happened over the years.
We have not led that charge on bigger properties.
We've, if you look at most of the things we build,
we build undersize
and we get punished a little bit for it financially,
but it's what we try to do.
We tried, we care about the town, we like the town, we want
to drive by something and be happy that we built it.
It we're, my family has been in this town
for a very long time, and if you drive around
and look at the different properties
that we've built over the years
and there's well over a hundred, they, the ones
that are well taken care of, which is most of them,
most people appreciate.
We, we won an award for building, for doing Brown Whitney,
and a lot of the neighbors that opposed us
ended up coming up to me later
and apologizing for all the, of what they put us through.
Now we wanna work with the neighbors
and we wanna work with the board.
Our hope was,
and the reason we came in with the five buildings
as we were trying to get that extra affordable unit for
some family that, you know, would benefit for it.
And we're in a position where, you know, if the board wants
that extra room, we're willing to do that.
If they're not, we're willing to listen to the concerns that
as well as with the neighbors on, on
how to go forward with this.
Are you all set? I I don't think the, I mean,
of course we wanna follow up our housing for everyone,
but I think the density is more important
than the affordable housing.
And we're here asking for that feedback too.
That's just my personal opinion.
Sure. Kathy?
Yes. Actually, on the point of the affordable units,
I'm interested in, in the pricing.
So the market rate units
targeted at 1.75 million
and the affordable at seven to 800,000.
Does that track to a percentage of
median area income
or how, how does that affordable number come about?
It's built around the median income of Needham.
It's designed and the, the regulation determines what
that we don't determine the price we have
to fit into whatever the town.
And, and so I put a range in there only
because I don't, I did some quick math,
but that's gonna have to be approved by right
by the, the powers to be on that.
Okay. Anything else Kathy? No, that I'm all set.
Okay. Well, for, for myself, I would say
my concern is not density.
I think that density in particular places is,
is not only okay, it's good for the town
and specifically good in this kind of configuration
where you have the sort of the central grassy area.
My concern is about the size of the buildings.
I think that there's, these houses are, are quite large
and I I do think
that they are a bit unrealistic for the space.
I guess my question is really that the,
a lip profit is limited by state statute to 20%
of the development cost.
So it seems to me,
and I'm not a real estate mogul,
but I will say that if, if you are, if you are basing
all of the, the math on your development costs
and it seems as though it might be worth your while
to consider reducing the size of the buildings,
I think personally that that would bring you into
competition for some of the folks who would like to downsize
as well as new families.
I note that the previous, the Brown Whitney development,
those, those buildings are much smaller
and we received letters from families
that moved into those houses and remain in those houses
and were able to comfortably raise families and stuff.
I do understand that modern living
perhaps has some amenities that we've all become used to,
but I do think that these do seem to be
quite large given that your profit
is hinging on your development costs.
I do wonder if, you know,
if your development costs were reduced, that
that might make it easier for you.
I think it also might make it a little easier to,
to gain this board's approval
and to gain the approval of the neighbors
because many of the letters
that we received actually indicated support for the concept.
But a feeling that the mass
of the buildings was just too much.
I mean, I I hear you about the height.
I think that height is an issue across town
and that it doesn't make sense to necessarily replicate,
you know, that we have a, a height, a,
a warrant about amending our heights across town, coming
to our special town meeting in October.
So I guess I would say that generally speaking,
I would be supportive of this project,
but I would like to see the size more
in line with what the rest of the street is.
You know, the development that you've already done next door
and the single family residences.
I mean, that would allow you a good deal more spot
for all your trees, for example.
So IIII will also say that I do have
confidence in the ZBA to run the process appropriately
to manage all the oversight that is required
and is mandated by state law.
So that to me is not an issue.
I think for me the issue is just the size,
but again, the density I think is as demonstrated
by the development next door.
Not really the issue. It's really the, the mass.
So does that give you the kind of clarity
that you need across
The board?
If I, if I could talk a little bit about the,
now we're staying under, we, we do
anticipate there's a potential of a height
adjustments coming.
We are staying under that with these buildings.
So just so you know, we did take that into consideration.
Again, we're only about 2200 square feet on,
on two floors.
The Brown Whitney doesn't have a third floor dormers
or any, there were a lot of the zoning issues that came up
that, that have have evolved since then.
And one of the things that we were trying
to do here was have a first floor bedroom
and that takes up space in footprint.
So it becomes problematic in trying to shrink it too much.
But we will take a look at it.
I'm not saying that we won't,
I'm just giving you an explanation
of why Sure. We did what we did.
I mean, I wonder if you could make that
a flexible floor plan.
So a young, an older downsizing couple could use it
as a bedroom and a family could use it
as an office, for example.
I mean, you know, it seems like there's ways to, but
That space itself, in order to include
that on a first floor
and still have a family room that works for,
for most people, we need, we need that extra space now.
We can, we can take a look at our design, we will do that.
Sure. But we're, we're just trying
to accommodate those things.
And we also saved a space for somebody
that might want an elevator coming up from the basement
to the, to that first floor level.
So if somebody wanted, they could, with the garage under,
knowing that a lot of the people
that are gonna buy these have a potential of being retirees,
don't wanna walk those stairs
or bring groceries up those stairs.
Sure. But I mean, generally I think the location is,
is terrific for this kind of development
and I I hope that you'll find a way
to make it just a little bit more palatable. Okay.
Thank you. Okay. Thanks very much
for coming in. Thank you all.
Thanks. Thank you.
Excuse me. A
I'm sticking to the chair too.
Okay. Now that it's seven 20, we'll move on
to the proposed installation of the, the Accidental Artist,
A public mural at 1299 Highland Avenue
and subbing in for Abby Bernstein
who couldn't be here Tonight will be our Deputy town manager
and our director of Economic Development.
Welcome. Thank you. Thank you.
So As you mentioned, Abby couldn't be here tonight.
She's the chair of the Needle Council for Arts
and Culture due to a family emergency.
So I just wanna be clear at the outset
that I'm very much here relaying Abby's sentiments in the
work of the NCAC.
John is our current liaison to the council,
but I had the privilege of serving as the liaison last fall
and into the early winter, which overlapped with some
of the formative steps of this project.
So I bore witness to the tremendous amount of thought, time,
care, and effort that Abby
and the council put into getting this right.
We didn't want Abby's absence
to delay the board's presentation.
Tonight, the artist is prepared to begin almost immediately,
once the remaining accounting
and administrative documents are wrapped up.
So we wanted to keep the project moving.
You have Abby's very detailed report in your packet,
which walks through the artwork.
Its symbolism, the site, community feedback,
and the evolution of the design.
So if you're looking for the artistic interpretation,
I will direct you there because I'm
decidedly not the artist in the room.
The report does a wonderful job explaining the many Needham
references incorporated into the final design,
which I think John has larger versions for you,
and the ways that the design evolved in response
to the tremendous community feedback.
What I do wanna emphasize tonight is the process,
because I think that it is an
important part of this project.
It was new territory for the NCAC.
It's their first public private partnership in public art
with the town and the Grossman company sharing both the
investment and the project and
the participation in the process.
So that meant the NCAC was trying
to apply a traditional municipal call for artists framework
to something that frankly wasn't a
traditional municipal art project.
So there were challenges along the way.
After the initial call for artists
and first round of public input, it became clear
that the process needed to evolve.
So rather than simply pushing forward the NCAC sought
guidance from the town and from the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, and they pivoted, the process was reopened.
All three original finalists, artists were compensated
for the additional work in a second round of design,
development and public input was undertaken.
I think that it's worth emphasizing
that when the original process didn't quite fit the
realities of this new partnership, the council adjusted,
they worked hard to ensure the artists
were treated equitably.
The property owner had an
appropriate voice as a true partner.
And importantly that the community's voice was heard
and reflected in the ultimate design, it went
through several iterations.
The second survey alone generated more than 50 pages
of written public feedback.
The result before you tonight is really the product
of that iterative process.
The NCAC sees this as a pilot
and hopefully a starting point.
They learned a tremendous amount about how
to navigate a public private partnership like this.
And they hope those lessons can provide a framework
for similar projects in the future as budgets
and opportunities allow.
And with that, I'm happy to answer the questions
that are within my non-artist lane.
All right, well, colleagues who,
Who owns that building again?
Grossman Companies. And so
what if they sell it tomorrow?
Is there anything in it that says you have
to keep the mural for a while or anything?
There is not in the agreement between the three parties.
No.
That's a bummer. I think that's
The same for other murals in town too, right?
Well, they're on public property.
No, if they're on private property, right? They're private.
Yeah.
So that would be like the side of the
Crest, The side of the building with the alley,
the Chapel Street there.
Yes. Thank you. Yeah.
Kathy, any comments? I, I think it's cool.
I'm excited that it's getting done.
Great, Josh. I think it's great. Yeah. Kevin,
You know, it's interesting reading
The stuff.
I understand the Grossman company didn't want a colorful
or more matic,
and this is kind of interesting to see the two,
someone tried to marry them together and it kind of works.
I get that they didn't want the brick
and it creates a weird optical effect,
but it, the color punches are kind of like,
this is what you can do with color.
And the monochromatic is of an interesting effect too. So,
And the orange is from like their logo color too,
so it makes it all work nicely. Yeah, that's
Pretty good.
All right. So it's is an interesting solution.
Well, I, I guess I'd just like to say thank you
to all of the folks involved.
I, I, you and you in your roles with the committee.
The committee obviously, and the artists.
But I, I guess I want to just
especially say thank you to the property owner.
I think it's, it's really, it's really fantastic.
I have, I feel a great deal of appreciation
to our private property owners who acknowledge
and embrace their role in bringing art into our public
spaces and acknowledging that their property as part
of the town's public space.
So their support of the arts is part of what makes
this town and towns like it.
Awesome. So I just wanna acknowledge that without the side
of the building, we wouldn't be able to do this.
So thank you to everyone involved.
Thank you. If I could, looks great.
I just add one thing too. It's great that it's right next to
that math place because there's so many kids
that are gonna be going, you know, you'll drive
by in your car and you see, but they're gonna
be walking, they're gonna be there.
It's great that it's right there for, and they're
Gonna have a little scavenger hunt type thing
that they can find the different images in
The, that's awesome.
Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Yay. Thank you. Great project.
Thank you.
Alright, so next up we're gonna joined
by Amy Helson, our director of communications
and community engagement
to talk about a whole bunch of stuff.
So fill us in. Hi, nice to see you. Nice
To be here.
Thank you for having me.
Okay, so we are gonna start out talking about
the national community survey.
May, are you running the slide deck? I am. Okay, thank you.
So the National Community Survey,
it's basically a report about the livability of Needham.
So we've done this every two years since 2008,
with the exception of 2020
because of the pandemic we skipped that year.
So a livable community is basically a place
that's not just simply habitable, but it's desirable.
It's a place where you, where you wanna live.
And, and so the questions
that were in the National Community Survey,
this has really been perfected.
They've been doing this for so long,
and there are benchmarks.
So Needham is compared to 400 other communities nationwide
that also participate in the National Community Survey.
In addition, there are local benchmarks.
There are six Massachusetts communities that have also
done the NCS.
And so as we walk through the results,
and it's a pretty dense report.
I've already uploaded it to the town's website.
So if you go under our government
and under publications reports, it's already there.
So you can walk through
and I'm just gonna touch the highlights because
otherwise I'd be here for two hours
and I know you have a long agenda.
So, so without further ado, we'll sort of walk through
the, the key pieces of this.
So the study method, so 3000 Needham residents were invited
to participate and they are randomly chosen.
And so people received a postcard in the mail, inviting them
to participate, and they had a special URL
that they logged on to.
So that was open so that those were targeted for two weeks.
And then after two weeks, the rest
of the community was invited to participate.
Out of the 3000 residents, 562 responded to the survey,
and there's a margin of error of 4.1%,
and the response rate was about 20%.
So it's a little bit lower than it was in 2024.
And then it's also important to note
that the survey results were weighted.
So the demographic profile is more indicative of Needham.
So what that means is, if we got a glut of responses
from a certain age population,
what they would do is they take the demographics of Needham
and sort of, you know, adjust them so
that it's more representative of the demographics in town.
As I already mentioned, 400 communities
and six Massachusetts communities.
So let's jump right into the results.
So the overall highlights, good news is
97% of those responded say,
Needham is excellent
or good place to live, 93% rate,
the overall quality is excellent
or good, 81% rate, the quality
of town services provided is excellent or good.
And we'll get into how that compares
to previous years in the next couple of slides.
But there's a few things that jump out.
At first, safety, the majority of residents perceive Needham
as a very safe place to live.
And not to jump too far ahead and,
and sort of take away the, the excitement announcement,
exciting announcement is that the storm water management,
all of that hard work
that you all put into storm water management,
12% increase in satisfaction in storm water management.
So, yay.
And I'm also excited to share that with public engagement,
there was an increase from 2024 in people attending
or watching public meetings,
contacting elected officials or the town.
So overall, from those four categories,
there was a 23% increase in people's engagement
with the town, which I think is awesome.
You know, the fact that folks know how to reach out
to the town
or to elected officials, how to share their opinions
and make their voices heard is really tremendous.
So inclusivity continues to be both a strength
and an opportunity for continued growth.
Housing affordability continues to be a concern.
And governance confidence in government, local
and federal has declined.
But this is a national trend.
So it's not specific to Needham,
but it's certainly something we
of course wanna keep an eye on.
Okay, so we're gonna go to the next slide.
I'm just gonna highlight a few of these things here.
Under quality of life, as we discussed, as a place to live,
overall quality of life, those ranked very high.
So what these numbers mean is when you is the percent
positive is that 97% of the respondents said
that Needham was an Exeter a good place to live.
But what the national percentile means is that
we ranked higher than 92%
of the 400 communities.
Okay? So that means that we're on the top 8%,
which is pretty tremendous.
And then you'll see the, the changes from 2024,
because even though it's interesting to compare ourselves
to these 400 other communities, what we're really wanting
to do is compare ourselves to two years ago to see,
you know, how are we measuring up to
what we did back in 2024?
So versus the local benchmark, you can also see
how our results were.
And all of these results are, are similar
to the local benchmark, but higher in areas of overall image
or reputation is in its quality of life.
Next slide, please. Okay.
Public safety need
and ranked much higher than the national benchmark.
So we ranked higher than 98% of the communities,
which is pretty terrific.
And also, versus the local benchmark,
we also ranked higher crime prevention.
Also much higher in that,
that actually increased 4% from just two years ago.
So all of the great work
that the Needham Police Department is doing
is certainly being noticed.
And then fire prevention
and education is also higher than it was a couple
of years ago, as well as emergency preparedness.
So that's pretty, pretty interesting to note.
Okay, we're gonna go to the next one.
For governance, I was particularly excited about
public information services.
The change from 2024 was an increase of 7%.
And so we're also higher the national benchmark similar
to local, but
that's certainly trending in the right direction.
So that was great to see overall quality services
by the town, that did go down a little bit,
4% lower than it was in 2024.
The overall direction Needham is taking
was also lower than it was in 2024 by 9%.
And generally acting in the best interest of the community
also decreased by 10%.
Jumping down to towards the bottom, contacting the town
for help or information, again in an increase of 8%,
which is, which is really nice to see. Can I, yeah,
Does that mean that the, whether the respondent had
ever contacted the town,
It didn't ask if it was the first time.
It just means did you contact the town?
You know, have you contacted the town
to get more information or ask questions?
Okay, so that was an increase
of 8% from 2024.
And then the overall quality
of services from the federal government,
you can see a huge drop.
It, it's 27% in 2026,
and it's, you know, that's, that's trending nationally.
So again, while we wanna, I think keep an eye on, you know,
the results here, the acting in the best in sort the
community and the, and the, you know,
how folks feel about local government, that's, that's also
a nationwide trend.
So something to keep an eye on,
but just so that you know, it's in context that that
compared to other communities,
they're experiencing the same, that's a
30% drop on federal government,
Correct?
Yes. All right. So we're gonna jump to the economy.
The overall economic health of Needham,
it's higher than the national benchmark.
It did change a little bit from 2024,
but also versus the local benchmark, it's, it's higher.
Needham is a place to work that increased by 6%
and is is higher than the national national benchmark.
Similar to local cost of living,
you know, that continues.
That was, you know, the area,
the concern about affordability of, of Needham, it continues
to resonate in all of the surveys
that we've done in recent years.
And then health and wellness continues
to rank very high versus, you know,
in the national benchmark, very high scores on those.
Next slide please. Under mobility,
I just focused on a handful.
As I mentioned, this survey is very dense
and you can see every single one of the questions
that was asked in this survey on the report that is uploaded
to the town's website.
Interestingly, where we compare to local,
the other six local communities, the ease of parking, ease
of travel by bicycle and walking,
all ranked higher than the six communities in Massachusetts.
Stormwater management, again, 12% increase.
Kevin is Josh obviously very excited about
that, which he should be.
That's, that's terrific. And
That's perception.
I mean, like in reality, we, we passed a bylaw,
but like the actual act
of improving storm water comes a little later.
But they know you're working on it.
They know we're working on it. Exactly. Yeah.
The other thing, the overall quality
of utility infrastructure ranks higher
than the national benchmark as well.
And our drinking water ranked higher than the other six
local communities.
So next slide please.
So we go to education, arts and culture.
Not surprisingly, this is trended this way
for the last several years.
In fact, if I went back to 2008, I'm,
I'm sure it would probably show very similar results.
But the quality of K to 12 education
is much higher than the national benchmark
and higher than the six other Massachusetts communities,
community support for the arts,
it's also 68%.
So we didn't have a change from two years ago.
Public library services, again, 97%,
which is terrific.
Everybody loves the library
versus the national benchmark is also higher.
Next slide please. Okay. So community connection.
People generally feel a very good, you know,
very close sense of community.
Needham is a place to raise children. 95%.
That's pretty extraordinary.
You know, I would say a,
a change in 2% really isn't significant.
So it's not anything to I think be concerned about.
Neighbor, I loved this one.
The neighborliness of residents in Needham
higher than the national benchmark.
And it's, it's trended very similar
numbers in the last several surveys.
And then opportunities to participate in community matters
also higher than,
than the national benchmark.
Openness and acceptance of community towards people
of diverse backgrounds is also,
it, it that increased as well.
7%. And then this also, this, this last one here got me,
you know, very excited that residents campaigned to advocate
for a local issue cause or candidate that
that increased by 9%.
So I think, you know, we're,
we're seeing it trending in the right direction
that people are feeling informed
and are feeling that they have an opportunity
to be involved.
Okay. Custom questions.
So the national community survey allows us
to ask custom questions
before custom questions at the end of the survey.
So there's, because they're custom to us,
we can't compare them to any other community.
But that was interesting that the town's website actually
is the largest source of information for folks
to find out about what's going on
with the newsletter coming in behind it at just under 50%.
And then the, the, the alerts, the alert need, you know,
that's the sort of the reverse 9 1 1 and the notify me texts
and emails where folks can go to the website to sign up
for notifications on anything from a public meeting to,
you know, the, the water restrictions
or if their building is closed because of a snowstorm.
Those types of things.
So can gonna continue to push that
because I think those are really effective ways
to continue to communicate with folks.
I feel like this may be showing the bias
of the sample a little bit
because, so I mean,
all the percentages add up to more than a hundred.
So, so people are using more than one system in town.
Correct. And I wonder if that that's
how they learned about the survey to get involved.
I, I, I think sampling people
who didn't, I mean, this is hard.
People who didn't take the survey,
I think necessarily are probably less
plugged into the news channels
and so didn't know
to take the survey in the first place. It was mailed in your house
Though.
Well, yeah, 3000. The, so
what you're looking at actually are the, the,
these results are the, from the 3000 postcards Okay.
That were mailed. Okay.
So, okay, that's good then. Thank you.
And then the barriers the residents currently perceive
to living in Needham age being, you know,
the, the top one at only 31%
and you can see the rest there.
So that, that's a lot of information to share.
Again, i, I picked sort of the highlights
because there is a lot of data.
Does anybody have any questions?
Yes. Actually, just a comment.
First of all, thank you very much.
Yes, this is great about the stormwater
real credit goes to DPW.
They've done so many projects to work on this
and address issues project by project
and talk to neighborhoods.
So they, they're the ones who push those numbers up.
Good for that. Agreed.
Great. Anything else?
Anyone helpful?
You're hanging out. We have more stuff to cover.
Yes, we do, we do. Done, I'm not done.
I I have a question. Sure. For a comment.
I guess one of the worst
marks on here actually I think directly reflects on the
select board, which is the governance,
the overall direction that Needham is taking.
And generally even worse than that, I guess in my mind,
the generally acting in the best interest of the community
that we lost ground
and that our numbers are lower here than in other places.
Do we have any ideas?
I I, were there,
do people write anything or just check a box?
Do we have any ideas what this is about? So
There is no open response
ability in, in this particular survey.
So it, it was basically multiple choice.
So to expand upon that, all I can comment is that again,
this is, this is trending not only locally, but nationally.
There's a decline in trust in government across the board.
I think we see that Every, I guess putting the national
aside for a moment, I mean if we look at the six
peer communities in Massachusetts,
did they go down on these measures?
They did. They're, they rank similar
to, to where we did.
But were they lower last survey as well
That I can look into?
I can't, I don't have that date in front of me,
but I can, I can check on that for you.
Thank you.
Anything else, Kathy? No, that was it.
Okay. Okay, Moving along.
So as everybody knows, the New Town Seal was adopted
by town, meaning in May of 2026
and the New Town Seal is being rolled out.
Town manager and I met with the town clerk to
discuss and review what constitutes an official document
because the Town seal should only be used on
official town documents, whereas the New Town logo is going
to be used on other things, you know, like vehicles
and trash cans and clothing, that sort of thing.
So with the New Town Seal, one of the things
that does go on is our Town flag.
And the Town flag, as you may all know, is actually hung,
there's 351 flags from each municipality in
the Hall of Flags at the
Massachusetts State House in Boston.
And so we are going to need to replace the flag,
which I actually have here to show you,
but there's two different versions of it.
And so Katie
and I thought it would be a nice exercise to go through
to show you what the flags look like,
and then you can decide which one.
But I'm in touch with Representative Taki's office to see
how we might be able to schedule some type
of ceremonial flag raising of sorts to replace,
because, you know, in, in our lifetime, this will
probably be the only time the flag is replaced.
So, So there are two different versions.
There is the version on a white background.
This is a completely white version.
So that's What that looks like.
Front big screen TV you can talk to.
Okay. And then Her
Selectman themes request, we put it on
a Navy background
and I'll add that, you know, Kevin chaired the town branding
and Town Needham branding and Town Seal committee,
and it was many, many months worth of
conversations about the Town Seal
to, to bring us to this point.
And so now we have two options here for the flag
to be raised at the State House.
Kevin, why did you choose Blue?
I think there's a joke somewhere that a lot
of them just do the bed sheet, like, yeah, so many flags.
There's, oh, it's just another bed sheet
with a seal on it. So it's like, let's,
Let's try Blue.
IIII go to haul the flags every year for an event
and it's very hard when there's 351 flags up there
to find the flag because they're all white.
Yes. So it would be helpful, I think, to be a blue.
I mean, they have a little interactive thing
where you could press button and they say, look at,
you know, the third row up, the 12 flag down.
But even with that, when there so many white
that I would, I'm down with blue.
That one blue. All right. Yeah. Yeah.
I think blue's got my vote too.
It seems like it's got more gravitas.
I don't, you can kind of see through the white a little bit.
It, yeah, I, I'm not, I don't think it,
this is also just more our colors blue and yellow.
Gold. Gold, yeah. You know, that's good. You agree? Yeah.
Done all well, thanks. Just fix a tight Thank you, Jackie.
Kathy? Kathy, do you have a, oh, we lost Kathy.
No bed sheet. No bed sheet. All thank you. All right.
No one will also go in Powell Hall, right? Yes,
Correct.
Yes. Excellent. Okay.
All right, so moving right along
and I will try to be brief about this.
I know you have lots still on your agenda.
Just wanted to walk through some communication highlights
over the last year.
I was here just one year ago giving you an update.
So as we just talked about, worked with a need and branding
and Town Seal committee developed the new
town branding of the Town Seal.
The logo had was rolled out about a year and a half ago.
And so everything that needed to have the logo on it is,
is already does, including all of the big belly trash cans
around town, the vehicles, et cetera.
So the other highlights increased outreach
to stakeholders of the last year.
Social media followers grew by 8%.
It's so fascinating to me to, to watch, to see
what gets people excited.
One of the, you know, every,
anytime we have anything about veterans
or there's any kind of ceremony
that gets a lot of engagement.
But then last summer we actually had our new conservation
specialist saved a snapping turtle in
the reservoir along with the assistant town engineer.
And that just blew up and it was shared a million times
and people love sort of the heartwarming feel good stuff.
So any opportunity I have to be able to share sort
of the human side of,
of local government, I, I try to do that.
Our newsletter subscribers grew by 8%, which is also,
which is also great, heading in the right direction.
We still have the popup screen when you go to the website
that asks you if you want to subscribe.
If you're sick of seeing it, you could, you could hit close
and do not show again.
So it doesn't keep popping up.
And then continuing to increase the number
of social media posts
and news flashes, poco surveys
beyond the national community survey.
We, I also worked to publish
a few other surveys that, which
we're gonna get into in a second.
And then continuing to cultivate
relationships with local media.
So Needham is viewed as a valuable resource
for local news outlets.
So because we're fortunate to have, you know, NBC 10
and also WCBB Channel five here locally,
they often will call
and if they, you know, it's, it's convenient for them
to just come down, you know, Highland Avenue to
find somebody to interview.
So we often, I often get phone calls saying like, oh,
you know, we need to local sha and Carig is always wonderful
and, and in and accommodating requests for interviews,
especially during storms.
But they, they love to have the need and perspective
and also, not just because we're convenient, but also
because we're a respected source for information
and, and expertise.
So the public health department has been interviewed a lot.
And even most recently I get a call
during the first heat wave of the summer from
the assignment editor at Channel five
and said, can we do the weather broadcast
from the Rosemary pool?
And so I called Stacy Mulroy and she said, send 'em on down.
So, you know, as long as we don't have,
you know, children in the background.
So they, they just wanted a nice background
and they've also done the reservoir.
So I like to be accommodating whenever possible,
but that's a great opportunity to,
to get Needham on the map.
Alright, so jumping to communication tools, the website,
we did a re I did a refresh last September,
moved things around because I can see the Google analytics
and I kind of nerd out sometimes
and see what people are searching
and what are the most frequently visited pages.
The calendar section continues to be one of the tops.
So having it now in the top right hand corner allows people
to get the information right away that they're seeking.
So new photos, fresh graphics, we have, you know,
the hot topic buttons at the bottom
that change occasionally depending on, you know,
what is considered a hot topic at the time.
And then the how do I, you know,
letting folks find the information
quickly that they're seeking.
Like, how do I get an RTS sticker?
How do I register to vote?
How do I get a license for my dog? That sort of thing.
How do I sign up for the Memorial Park line board?
Okay, next slide please.
Okay, so newsflash and notify me.
So newsflash, I can post
newsworthy items
that we wanna get people's attention right when they go
to the website and, and folks can sign up for notifications
for, for newsflash, in fact.
So let me jump to the next thing.
Notify me if you go to the,
if it's just needham ma.gov/notify me, you can sign up for,
as I mentioned earlier, you know, public meeting notices,
water restriction alerts, that sort of thing.
But when I do news flashes to let folks know, for example,
yesterday that the
water restrictions were downgraded to level one.
I did that as a news flash and it it went out.
Okay, next slide please.
The newsletter continues to be very popular
and I, you know, check every week to see
what the open rate is
and I can tell whether or not people open it.
So if you don't open up your newsletter, I can actually
tell, I don't, I don't spy that closely.
But it, the analytics actually are, are pretty fascinating.
And I posted also to social media
and we get a lot of readers through,
through the posts of social media as well.
So we're up to about 8,000 subscribers now, which is,
which is again really awesome.
It's heading in the right direction. Okay.
Social media, we're up to about 5,700 followers.
Instagram about 3000.
Anybody who likes anything on our page, I immediately check,
it's a slight obsession of mine
to see if they actually already follow our page.
And if they don't, I immediately invite them.
So I can also see how people like our page
because they saw one of our reels or they saw a post
and then I can see actually how they came to us.
So that's kind of fascinating.
And in Blue Sky and Threads I've been asked about
that They don't currently have the ability
to be backed up on our social media archive software.
That is actually through Civic Plus.
I've asked when they're gonna do that
and I, there's no definitive date, so we don't use those
as platforms to post to because they cannot be backed up.
And so if there was ever, you know,
a FOIA request specific to that.
So that's why we don't use it. But we have handles saved.
So should, should they be integrated into social media
archive, we can start using those as well and test.
Okay. Poco surveys. Next slide please.
We just talked about National Community survey,
but we also, I also did surveys
through large house envisioned center.
That was a huge, that was about
2,800 responses to that survey.
The mural design for Highland Ave that John
and Liz were just talking about and the street design guide.
So we had about 4,200 responses through the survey,
through surveys this year.
Next slide please. In community engagement, I continue
to try to connect with local nonprofits.
They reach out to me all the time asking me
to include their information on our community calendar,
the website, and also in the newsletter.
I love to go out
and visit with the residents whenever possible.
I've now been to Wingate a couple of times
and have spoken to residents there just to talk
to them about the town, how to volunteer opportunities
or how to stay informed and engaged.
And they, they were a really, you know, excited group
of folks and they had some really great questions.
So very interested in, in, you know, projects and
because, you know, the,
the former Muzzy site is right across the street from them.
They wanna know what's going on,
but they, they have a lot of questions
and they're very well informed.
So that's been, it's been really rewarding.
So hope to do more of that in the year ahead.
So other things in process, I am working on a template
for a town wide mailing
that we are talking about doing twice a year in the
fall and in the spring.
And so it would be information that would be a preview
for folks On major initiatives, how
to stay informed, how to get involved,
how to provide their feedback.
And also if there is public, you know,
public engagement sessions coming up, it's really important
to, you know, try to get that out.
And so speaking of community engagement,
when we do have public engagement sessions,
public information sessions, it's not just the usual,
you know, throw it up on the website
or put the newsletter, it's sharing flyers, you know,
going over to the Ham housing authority
and sharing them there, bringing 'em over to the library
to cath, trying to get people, you know, where they are
and so they, they know what's going on.
So that is it in a nutshell.
I tried to be brief,
but if anybody has any questions, I am glad to answer them.
Thank you. This is quite a lot of activity. Yeah.
Much appreciated and takes some time to digest,
but much appreciated.
Great. I look forward to looking at all
of the information on the grape site. What,
What communication challenges
or hurdles do you look to overcome in the coming year?
I often say I, I don't ever wanna hear people say,
I had no idea that was going on.
So that continues to be, you know, my, my biggest challenge.
So I try to think through, you know, if you're,
if you're not on social media, if you're not subscribed
to the newsletter, you know,
how are you gonna find out about what's going on?
And we're fortunate to have, you know,
two local news outlets here in Needham that,
that folks are very well informed of,
but constantly sort of thinking outside of the box.
So, you know, doing a lot of sort
of the grassroots outreach, I think is, is effective.
So connecting with nonprofits and,
and building rapports with, with folks like that.
And, and I think generally just providing sort
of a, an opportunity for, for people to, to connect.
I, I get responses all the time from the newsletter I've
got, I've gotten suggestions on things, you know,
to improve the newsletter and I appreciate the feedback.
So I just, you know, I wish there were more hours in a day.
I would love to be able to do more, more with video, more
with, you know, feature stories.
So
Thank you.
We'll get there. Thank you. Of course.
I would just, you know, local government is a communications
business and so thank you for doing it
'cause this is a big part of what we do.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. Alright. Excellent. Terrific. Thanks very much.
Thank you. I'm gonna propose a five minute recess
or at least I'm going to take a short recess.
So,
so we're, we're resuming our meeting
and we are here with our traffic regulation amendments
with our director of DPWK SIG
and Justin Cullen who is the chair of the
traffic safety committee.
Thank you. Traffic safety committee.
I can remember which one all.
So tell us all the things, maybe
We'll start like an overview
and then we can go into each one.
Yes please. But these are all items that have been brought
to the town through the Traffic Safety Committee.
The Traffic Safety Committee has vetted
through all these items, all the abutters have been notified
and communicated with to see if there's any concerns
about these regulations.
And relatively speaking, they're sort
of small incremental changes.
The first one you have in front of you is this a change
to a small portion of Grove Street
where there is an island in the middle of the road
and it is just delineating that the side of the road
that would typically have outbound traffic will be one way
and not two way traffic.
Okay. There Been incidents,
No specific incidents,
but then it was brought to the attention
of the TSC by Abutters.
Yeah. So there it was anecdotally it wasn't,
we didn't confirm through police
or any sort of accident data,
but it was anecdotally brought up to us
with regards to that anecdote.
It did lead to potentially
increased conflict between vehicles.
Kind Of. I see on the proposal
that you gave us property one, you know
where you're gonna place the one way signs
and if you've spoken to that homeowner,
that homeowner is who's on both sides of, he agreed
because it almost looks like he's, he if he comes outta
that driveway, I don't know whether the blockage,
but it won't matter that much
because he turned him right onto one way.
So I don't think it'll matter that much,
but I just don't know whether you've spoke the him
They're aware and they're aware of the location of the,
Just quick question on,
on the other side of the island, is that two way
or is it just, so it's, there are two ways to go on
to Charles River Street, correct?
Correct. Correct. Okay. Yes.
I mean I'm not suggesting we do a project where you just
combine the island with the other side
because that costs money but this is a sign change. Right.
I do know and obviously cares can disc it.
I know there have been talks about future project
that maybe would some sort of road improvement be done there
to either eliminate that island or do something,
but I think that's kind of like a blue sky Okay thing.
But it had been touched as that could be some sort
of geometric improvement in the future. Okay.
Seems considerably lower cost.
Yes. Right.
Yeah. Okay great.
I definitely always feel like a
dork when I come up to one of these intersections
and realize that I could have taken the two lane
but I took the one lane and now I have to go.
But it's worth it to reduce potential conflicts
between vehicles so people will learn their way
around it. Quickly enough
Madam Chair, I would move that the board vote to approve
and sign the notice of traffic regulation permit number R 26
dash oh eight dash 11 requiring that the rest,
the West fork portion of Grove Street southbound
of Charles River Street be designated as a one way street.
Second.
All right, so we'll take a vote. Kathy? Yes.
Bill? Yes. Josh? Yes. Kevin. Aye. And I vote yes as well.
So excellent.
That one is disposed of as they say next.
The next one is at the intersection of Forest Street
and Central Avenue and you'll see from the rendering
that you have, it would be adding a no turn on ri,
a red sign from central onto forest.
This is a, a crosswalk that is heavily utilized I think
oftentimes by families who are utilizing the farm next door.
We have talked to Valante about the change
and they are aware of it as well.
Okay. Does, does this walkway have one
of those lights light that light up or no,
This is a fully signaled intersection
but the issue is, is if somebody,
in theory you have a red light you can pause
and then you can go and take a right hand
Turn.
Like if it's flashing you're not gonna go.
There's no indication when you're at a typical signaled
intersection if it's for a pedestrian phase
or if it's for the opposite lane of traffic.
So there's no distinction.
It's just a regular red light that you would have
as if forest had a green light.
I mean my own and I and I haven't done traffic study
but I've seen Central Avenue in the afternoon
how far backed up it gets
and I don't know whether it's gonna back it up
more because you can't take a right turn.
It probably would be minimal. But
I do know that our traffic engineering
has taken a look at this and I know it did not send any
concerns through our engineering division.
Okay. I also know that
because of the bump out at the curb, you have to,
if you were to take a right, you have
to go into the center of the
Correct.
That was one of the concerns of why we would do this change.
Yes, you're
Given its proximity to the farm
and then I, I think the school kids,
this is a school route so I mean I think this makes sense.
I, I agree I would be worried about the backup
but for pedestrian safety it strikes me as worth where the
Trade off, if engineering did not bring
that up then it wouldn't be a concern
'cause they would probably have brought it up.
Usually when it comes to right turn on reds,
it's not like a major right congestion reducer
because you have to have the vehicle
that's teed up at the intersection at
that time wanting to take a Right.
As soon as somebody wants to go straight, forget it,
you no longer have that benefit.
Right. Okay.
So would anybody like to make a, a motion Madam
Chair?
I make a motion to the board vote to approve
and sign the notice
of traffic regulation permit number NTOR 26 dash
zero seven dash 21 requiring
that a no turn on red restriction be established
for Central Avenue southbound at the intersection
of Forest Street second.
Okay. And we'll vote again. Kathy? Yes. Bill? Yes.
Josh? Yes. Kevin Aye And I vote yes as well.
Thank you. Okay. And then the last,
The last one that we have is a parking restriction on
Greendale Avenue towards Webster Street.
The butters actually came to the TSC with a petition
to request that one side
of this section be limited for parking.
The town evaluated which side would be the least impactful.
And this side was indicated the temple has been made aware
of this particular request
and the, they've indicated that they're supportive of it.
We do know that we've talked with them regarding sort
of high holiday events or high function events when they
often engage a police detail officer anyways.
And that would be at the discretion of the detail officer
how to manage that intersection during those events.
Okay. I mean this isn't
gonna reduce the number of cars, it's just gonna move them
to park different places.
I think the concern was people getting out
of their driveways and then maneuvering, you know,
between cars staggered on either side as opposed to Correct.
Limiting the number of cars.
Okay, so if they're all parked on one side then you
have more space to go through.
I know people yeah. Yeah people on my street all the time.
People park on both sides of the street
and then you're like trying to squeeze through,
which is, can be challenging
And I think from a, you know,
an emergency vehicle access perspective, just like it was on
across from Dio Georgia jacket.
Yeah J yeah there was concern there of, you know,
cars on both sides just as like, like it came in front
of the, the select board here before this is kind of
that same scenario where you have a very narrow road
and you do have potentially a lot of cars that do park.
So for both residents as well
as the A Temple overflow. Okay.
So that makes sense Madam Chair would move
that the board vote to approve it silently notice
of traffic regulation permit number R 26 dash eight dash 11
requiring that parking be prohibited on the east side
of Greendale lab between Webster Street and Davenport Road.
Second. Thanks Bill. Thanks Kevin.
Okay, any, any more discussion?
I, I anticipate that this is going to lead to other,
like there may be knock on effects that people,
because people can't park here,
they will park on other streets
and people on those streets will come
and ask for no parking signs and,
And we'll monitor.
'cause that was actually, that was something
that came up when I think the town probably 10 years ago
started to do no parking
around commuter rail stations in order to reduce the amount
of cars that we parking during the day.
And I don't think it really manifested too much.
I think it was just like, you know,
it's the other guy was saying change is sometimes
hard, but I don't know.
We'll, we'll carefully monitor that.
But yes, that's something that I've always said at the,
at the TSC for like the 10 years that I've been on it is,
you know, we can't just put signs everywhere
but this is, you know, something that made a good case
and obviously with the temples, with the, an officer
who would be able to at least allow
that if in fact they needed overflow parking
during the high holidays
and to, to be able to manage that on,
on those few days a year I think is appropriate
And hopefully the temple can help to inform their,
The congregation Yes. Their
Congregation about the need to make sure
that emergency vehicles can pass. So
Yeah, I think the main concern that came
to the committee was really on the regular work days
and related to the childcare facility that's there.
And so what I sort of heard was it's not parked, you know,
on a regular basis on both sides of the road, it's
that people aren't thoughtful about where they park
so they don't stagger necessarily
and you get these choke points.
So by diverting everybody onto one side of the road,
you're at least creating sort of more
of an orderly system than what we currently have.
Okay. All right.
Well so we'll we'll try it
and if there's issues we'll adjust.
We'll figure Yep. Yeah. Okay. I think that makes sense.
And we have a motion on the table and a second
and so if there are no more discussions then we will go
to a vote and we'll start with Kathy.
Yes, bill? Yes, Josh? Yes. Kevin.
Aye Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, fantastic.
Enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank
You.
Next we're gonna talk about Dedham Avenue intersection at
South Street and improvements.
Excellent. So I am here, Tyler is actually remote.
He had a, a situation that required him to be at home,
but we wanted to update you on the progress of a grant
that the town has applied for the town applied for the
masts local bottleneck grant.
This is the second time we've applied for the grant.
The first time we did was
for the two intersections in the
downtown on Great Plain Avenue.
Just a little bit explaining how this grant works
'cause it's a little different than some of the ones
where you're seeking specific funding.
This is sort of a engineering grant with construction sort
of as a secondary application.
The primary grant is really to look at intersections
that we have within the town that meet criteria
as identified by the state
where we feel like there might be congestion issues
or bottlenecks currently.
And then the state
and get gauges their own engineering's process
to help consult the town on what could be done
to alleviate those congestion items.
So sometimes that results in construction
and sometimes it really results in limited work
like we saw in the downtown.
So when we enter into this process,
we don't necessarily know what the outcome will be.
So when the last round came up,
Dedham Abbot South Street was on our list of intersections
to be evaluated and
because of its proximity to the highway met much
of the criteria that was identified as part of this grant.
We applied for the grant, received it,
and are in the earlier phases of the design process
after alternatives were rolled out for looking at
that intersection, including things like rotaries
or other treatments that could be used.
And we wanted to present where we are
and where we think this project will go as far
as moving forward for funding for construction.
So that I'll turn it over to Tyler.
Good evening everybody. So this project,
as Caris was explaining, is you don't need
to have identified necessarily a solution
before application.
So the, the process is intended to
address congestion issues at intersections,
but it can also incorporate improvements for
safety reasons, upgrading the technology
of the signals as a way to enhance
the performance of the intersection.
So the main changes that are proposed as part
of this project and so far we have a,
it's it's, it's more, more like a 75% design,
but essentially we have all
of the surface level infrastructure is is designed
traffic signal equipment improvements.
A lot of the equipment at the intersection is, is quite old.
You can see that it's more of the basic
technology than some
of the other signals that we have in town.
It has only magnetic loop detection at the side streets.
The side street approaches on, on South Street.
The project would propose installing
traffic camera detection in all direction that
that has 360 degree view traffic in all directions
and can actuate the signal based on inputs
from all four directions.
The other changes are the addition
of a dedicated left turn lane coming out of town
south eastbound on Dham Avenue.
That is primarily
because of the current condition where if there's cars
that are, are queuing to go
north up Dun Avenue into town from the other direction
or they're turning left onto South Street, rather
they queue up in the lane
and that can block sight lines of oncoming traffic for those
that are heading out of town.
So when you're, when you're trying
to make a left onto South Street, you kind of have
to inch into the intersection so that you can see traffic
around the, the line of cars waiting to turn left.
So having a dedicated lane with a dedicated arrow signal
would make that much safer.
The other thing is that the South Street approach coming
north eastbound across South Street to meet up
with Dunham Avenue.
Currently it is not striped as though it's two lanes,
but it functionally is acting as if it is two lanes.
And that's because of the dimensions are just short of
allowing for two standard size lanes there.
So this project would slightly adjust the dimensions, so
to allow it to be striped as a dedicated turn lane for,
for traffic turning right again heading out
of town onto D Avenue from South Street.
So this was, these recommendations were made
after traffic data was collected by the consultant
CHA that we're working with.
So the, the, the changes were modeled through traffic,
data, traffic projection software synchro
to model the,
how these changes would affect the intersection.
The other thing that's important to mention is that the,
the installation of pedestrian signals at this intersection.
So there is a, a sidewalk at the very, the end of
of Dham Avenue right in front of DPW
that currently does not lead anywhere.
This project would install
a DA compliant ramps
and pedestrian signals at that intersection
to both make the existing pedestrian traffic safer.
'cause right now we have observed people
crossing the intersection without any sort
of signal just kind of dodging traffic,
which is very unsafe.
So it would allow for
that exclusive phase when the button is pressed
and enable us to explore future connection
to Edgewater Drive neighborhood over the,
the culvert that exists there.
Those are the, the, the extent of the changes
and how they, what is involved with this project.
Currently we are in a phase where we are negotiating the
utility pole relocations, which are kind of the, the thing
that's gonna determine a lot of the project schedule.
If we're not able to get those poles moved,
then we're not gonna be able to fit all the equipment
in its intended location.
The other thing is that we're, there is a small
overlap on the corner, one of the,
the southwest corner with a property on Edgewater Drive
and we've approached that a but
and explained that this would be a small taking by the town,
so that would require
a town meeting approval of that.
So that's, that's pretty much where, where the progress
that we've made to this point.
So we're still working through those utility pole
relocations and taking,
I just wanted to add too about the
proposed projects developing off of 1 28 and Dham.
So one thing I'll just sort
of indicate is the general overall enhancements
that are gonna be made as part of this project are going
to increase the capacity
that can be processed through this intersection.
And the information that we have so far about
what the intended throughput
through this intersection will be has been conveyed
to the engineer and will be taken into
consideration as part of the design.
And Yeah, they, that information,
I'm under the impression that we also reached out to the,
to the MEPA review with some information about this new
proposed scheme.
Yes. Everything you're getting presented, Tyler asked
that we share with Mepa as an addendum to our comments
to the campus at 1 28 project. And so we've done that
Because this will be done
before that project decision's made.
Correct, yes. Okay, great.
And Tyler, I'm sorry if I missed it,
but I know that South Street is a big cyclist route.
Is there possibility of getting some of those, you know,
four feet signs
and whatever else that might need to go up
to protect those folks as this,
as this is built to carry more traffic?
So I think one of the con we,
we've had this conversation about the signage
and I think South Street's a perfect example.
I think of the concerns we've had
and it's sort of a philosoph philosophical decision, but
because of the forefoot requirement
that you must give a cyclist four feet
of clearance when you pass them,
I would say on many parts of South Street.
So sort of two things. One is you are telling people they
have to cross a double yellow line,
which they're not supposed to cross.
We know they do, but like from a truly
road control perspective, they're not supposed to cross.
And because of the topography of South Street,
which is very curved,
there are very few places where it's safe.
And I think one of the concerns we've had is that if we sign
that and somebody does give four feet of grace
to a bicyclist and they get hit on a head on collision
because there's no, there's not sufficient space
for both vehicles to fit
and also give forfeit of clearance if there isn't some,
some responsibility or liability.
So I know there are many communities
that have installed them and they felt
that this is an okay, you know, decision.
I think we at public works have been concerned about
what the implications would be
because effectively on South Street in many locations you
really have to go at the speed of a bicyclist
because there is not sufficient space to pass.
What is the speed limit on South Street? It
Varies between 30 and 25 miles an hour
30 in this section.
Yeah, I guess I'm wondering if that's appropriate, given
what you said, like the the topography
or the, the curvy nature
or the road, if you can only see far enough ahead
that you can't figure out how to safely pass,
which you know, we should all know how to do
because that's part of driving.
Then I wonder if the speed limit should potentially come
down because at that the kind of cyclist who's on that road
is not like, it's not a child
or a family cyclist, those are road bikers.
They're moving at at a reasonable speed for that
particular road for the most part.
Not all the time of course, but for the most part.
So I wonder if that's something
that we should just think about.
Yeah, the only comment I'll make is
that typically speaking you set
speed limits at 80% of the median speed.
And I'll just say anecdotally from the RFPs
or the feed speed feedback signs we've put out,
many people are going well above 30 miles
an hour in that section.
Understood. But yes,
but I don't know that that
that's something we wanna condone.
So
Other I may, I it's, I think it's just important to note
that changing the speed limit does not
necessarily on its own influence speeding behavior.
So we understood, we, you know, I think we're open
to exploring that and,
and we're not against it by any means.
I think that we just don't want to change a number
and then ev nothing really changes
and then all of a sudden we have a bunch
of non-compliant drivers who are
dangerously above the speed limit.
So we, we want to also do
that in combination with other strategies if
that's the goal is to reduce that, the functional speed.
Sure. I think generally I'm hearing can we integrate
more bicycle safety into this intersection?
Yeah, I mean, I just think that we have to acknowledge
that this in particular is, is frequented by
cyclists and one particular kind of cyclist.
So it's not, it's not like the variability
that we might talk about through other sections of town.
But just as Tyler is saying, just
because you changed the science doesn't
change the circumstance.
I think just because, you know, I mean
this condition exists, they're there,
so we should just make sure
that everyone's can be safe gentlemen,
Hang. Go ahead Bill.
So I have three questions
right now coming down South Street.
I see in the new plan actually that there's no turn on red
onto Tima, whether you're coming down south
and wanna take a right to go to Tima
or if you're coming down south
and wanna take a right into Needham, is that currently no.
Turn on red? It is for both of those, yes.
And then you were talking about the sidewalk.
The sidewalk goes in front of the DPW building
and then it just ends, doesn't it at South Street
or does it go around the corner or?
So it just ends, I'll say there's sort of two things
that are crossing people or causing people to cross.
So one is the proximity
of the boat launch across the street.
There's a lot of people who recreate
between those two locations.
So they end up sort
of having a circuit or a loop that they do.
And then the other one is really from
that community at Edgewater.
We do see a lot of people who will cut through,
they'll walk, you know, sort of on people's yards basically
to get over to that intersection and then they will cross.
One other thing I just wanted to note,
'cause you highlighted already
that we have no turn on red on South.
We do have some frequency of accidents at this intersection.
I can just say from having my building adjacent to it,
it is not uncommon to have have accidents there
and that those accidents have physically impacted the
signals and that they have hit the
signals repeatedly in the past.
And so was the goal though,
to have the crosswalk then have a sidewalk like go up south
to the both lodge or have a sidewalk go up to Edgewater?
I think that's the goal that we're looking,
we're moving towards, there are just a few pieces in place,
the culvert on South Street being the primary obstacle,
trying to figure out how we could either accommodate it in
the current right of way or cantilever it.
And then I would say the same conversation could be had on
the other side of South Street as well.
And then I notice on this map that I have in front
of me right now, it has the little planter where the welcome
to Needham sign is
and it says RET, which I hope that does not mean retire.
I don't know what that means. What? What's it mean?
It means retain. Okay, thanks.
That's what I was Good answer.
Thank you. Okay. Alright.
Alright. Josh, Bill, you answered,
you asked most of my questions.
The other one was, was about biking the,
it's particularly busy on South Street on the weekends.
The, the survey says at most four bikes per hour.
Do you know when the survey was conducted?
I'd have to defer to Tyler,
but I agree with you it's, it's more frequent on weekends,
although it comes in spurts. Yeah,
Yeah, for sure.
The groups. Yeah, there was a memo
that was distributed in your packet
that describes the observation.
I'm afraid I didn't get to
read through the whole thing. Yeah,
I it, yeah.
So the it page,
it's page four of the memo that's appended before the plans
and it says, it talks about the data collection.
It said that the, the counts were conducted Wednesday,
April 15th and April 16th, 2025. Okay,
Thank you.
And I, I know you haven't gotten a chance yet
and neither has Kathy, can I just ask,
does the grant cover the total cost of this work or
I'll have to, it's a, there's a small match from the town
but Tyler, do you just wanna go through
what the anticipated costs are?
Yep. So after the plans in your packet,
there is also a estimate
provided from the, the designer.
The total estimated total
with contingency on this project is just shy
of 700,000.
The project, the grant that we're talking about,
the bottleneck reduction grant will cover the first 500,000
of the construction if the engineer determines that to be
an a, a, an improvement either safety or
or traffic performance.
So the delta of that would would be covered
by the town through either through local funds
or through a chapter 90 allocation.
This is yet to be finalized.
Okay. And then if any
alterations to this intersection were required
or suggested for the function
of the campus at 1 28, that would be,
I'll just say like we And future.
Yeah and we've sort of talked about it internally
and you have a space limited area in which you can only
develop to a certain extent
and we believe that the design
that we're working on will maximize the throughput.
Trying to say, you know, you have a bridge on one side,
you have dead a MAV
and you have property owners on either side, right?
So you only have so much space that you could extend for
alternative turn lanes or something like that.
So we feel fairly conf confident in this design as far
as its ability to accommodate that additional traffic.
Okay, thank you Kevin.
No, this is really interesting.
I spend too much time on maps like these.
I find 'em fascinating and thank you.
This intersection's always been over for
how it was originally laid out.
It's definitely heavily used. So thank you for updating it.
Kathy, any comments? No, no questions.
Thanks. Okay, thank you.
And we'll stay with Kara's Lustig
and move on to our next item,
which is a discussion of win waste negotiations.
For this thank you for,
For this we're we're bringing up more superstars Stars
council, Dave Davidson,
deputy town manager and director of Finance.
Welcome. Thank you.
Okay, so the day that Met DeMare has been talking about
for a long time is finally coming to fruition
and our 20 year agreement with currently with wind waste
is set to expire June 30th, 2028.
That was originally negotiated as part of a large consortium
that consisted over 30 communities, all
of which have executed their own individual contracts, some
of which actually expired June 30th, 2027.
So while it feels like we are talking about this well in
advance of our contract expiring, working
with over 30 communities in order to try to negotiate
with such a large partner, we know we'll take quite a bit
of time in order to secure contracts in the time
that we need in order to have a MSW vendor.
So as I said for a little bit of history,
we have a current contract with When Waste, when we
executed it, it was a 10 year agreement
with 10 option years.
At about year eight the company was looking to sell
and so wanted to get all of its contracts in line.
So they actually opened up that extension early
so they could ex extend it for later.
As a consequence of this,
we saw a significant reduction in our tonnage tipping fee
to the point where the tipping fee last year was the first
time that it matched what our tipping fee was 12 years ago.
So it took us 12 years to catch back up to where we were.
Very few things when you are purchasing do you get to take
that much of a cut and for that long.
That being said, we are acutely aware
that we are likely paying under market value
for our MSW
and that we are anticipating an increase,
which we've been discussing for several years.
About a year ago, all the communities that were part
of the original agreement met to try to discuss
how we wanted to move forward.
We've actually had the addition of about three communities
come into that group who are not part of it and we had one
or two smaller communities leave.
Part of the constraints and the concerns
that we have about the waste industry in Massachusetts is
there are no new landfills.
Most of them are being permitted to close
or beyond their permit.
We have no new waste energy facilities being created
and there's not less trash being generated in the state.
So we have waste and we need to figure out where to go.
The AL option alternatives we have to,
our current contract are really to ship that waste out
of state on freight largely to Ohio and New York.
So all the communities that have come together
have been discussing how we as a group can come together
to negotiate with win.
As I mentioned, it was about 20 years ago,
we lasted our major negotiation
and as you can imagine, many of the players that were part
of that contract to be their transition positions
or are no longer employ, you know, they're all retired.
So we've been trying to figure out
and uncover some documentation about the method
that we used 20 years ago to get this consortium together.
We ended up discussing
and talking to the firm that represented this group
20 years ago, KP Law.
And their recommendation was
to do an interm municipal agreement with Walpole
and have Walpole manage the contract with KP Law
for Legal Guidance.
The group that I'm referring to has created a subcommittee
that consists of seven different communities.
Needham is one of those seven communities
and that subcommittee is gonna be the committee
in charge of negotiations.
So it is intended
that these municipal representatives will be doing the
primary negotiation
and that the legal expertise that we're soliciting is really
to provide legal background and clarity for us.
So with that I am asking the ability
to join in this interim municipal agreement with Walpole
so they can then contract with KP law.
So that as in, first of all, we are trying to figure out
how many communities are really
willing to commit to move forward.
We have given all the communities the deadline
of August 31st to try to start our negotiations in earnest.
And second of all, so we can start engaging
with win wind waste.
We haven't started any formal negotiations with them.
They have given us a tour of the facility so we can sort
of see the condition of, of what they have,
what their capital plans are
and kind of what benefit we have.
One of the things I'll note is
that while when waste is a very large entity
and they have a significant foothold in the waste industry,
this particular contract has a high value to them,
we provide the sort of sta stable waste
in this organi in this entity.
They get a lot of construction waste
or other large commercial waste.
But MSW is sort of that like consistent feed slow burn
for the incinerator that helps them meet their energy
guidelines that they're supposed to to secure.
And I just wanted to articulate,
the two largest players in this group are Newton
and Worcester as in terms of size
and in terms of waste generation.
Needham is the seventh largest community as part
of this consortium, but I will indicate we are the fourth
largest in terms of waste generation.
Part of that is because we have become somewhat
of a regional area for commercial waste.
So we're taking in waste not just from residents,
but we're also taking it from commercial haulers
and source other people.
And many of several of the other communities
of comparable size to Needham have large,
larger apartment complexes than Needham does,
in which they have private entities
that remove the waste and not the town.
Okay. That's a lot of information. Kevin, you could
You all without notes.
Okay. A few notes. No, this sounds like it makes sense.
I'm happy we got the ball going and it sounds reasonable.
So yeah.
Josh, you wanna, So this is just to negotiate,
my understanding is like there would be individual contracts
still between each municipality and wind waste.
Would, would they have the same terms between all
of the municipalities or is that subject to negotiation?
So I think the intent is for them to have the same terms.
You have many different communities
who operate significantly different models.
So you have communities that are fully
municipally run in our transfer stations,
all indicate Wellesley was not part of this in the past.
They are looking to join as part of this program
because of the capacity issues they have at
the landfill they have contracted with.
So you have those, the model similar to Needham,
we send our materials there on oversized trucks.
You then have communities
that run their own collection services
and then they go there and haul.
They usually go there twice a day as part
of their regular routes.
And then you have communities that outsource their hauling
and collect to this location.
So the reason that we would all execute is our
physical delivery is different.
I will say for the original
contract, the terms were all the same. Okay,
Thank you Bill.
Well I think it's great. We're getting ahead of it,
you know, you gotta, I hate wasting time
because it costs you more money.
So I think the sooner we can get ahead of it,
the better off we're gonna be.
Great. Kathy?
Yeah, I think this makes entire sense.
I mean we need the, we need the volume to negotiate.
You know, we've, we've, it's worked for us well in the past
and so I I'm supportive of this.
Can I just ask why, why is wealth the lead?
So interestingly enough, they were the lead 20 years ago.
Whether that's a good answer or not, they have chosen
to sort of take on I guess the administrative burden
of collecting the information.
It is a little bit like herding cats trying
to get over 30 municipalities with different forms
of government in order to all commit.
And they also had worked with KP Law in the past,
as I indicated they were the firm
that represented this group 20 years ago
and have some of the institutional records
that we thought would be useful as part of negotiations.
Okay, Madam Chair then I would move
that the select board approve
and execute the interim municipal agreement between the town
of WaPo and various municipalities
regarding solid waste contract negotiations.
Subject to the additional stipulation
provided by WaPo that went total fees, cost
and expenses bill to all parties under section two
of the agreement exceed $75,000.
The wall poll representative shall notify all other parties,
representatives by email at the email addresses set forth in
this agreement, and the parties shall properly confer
through their representatives by teleconference
regarding anticipated future cost
and continuation of the agreement.
Second.
All righty then. So Kathy?
Yes, Phil? Yes. Josh? Yes. Kevin. Aye.
And I vote Yes. Thank you very much. Appreciate this.
Okay, next up
we have Miles Tucker, our support services manager to talk
to us about digital legal notices, warrant,
article proposal.
Thank you Madam Chair. Good evening.
Members of the board, I will try
and keep this brief given the hour.
So Last year goals, this board set as one
of its initiatives to study a home rule petition
to permit the town to place legal notices
on a digital format as opposed
to having them printed in a newspaper.
This is a relatively recent option
provided to communities by the Commonwealth
and has been successfully completed by other communities,
Arlington and Lincoln or some of our peers who have passed
a similar home rule petition.
This is beneficial to the town in
that there is a consistently shrinking
printed newspaper market, especially with the recent
limited distribution of the last print newspaper name,
the Hometown Weekly, which no longer
does home deliveries anymore.
They deliver to 70 sites in town,
but it's, it's further limited.
So in your packet is a draft warrant article containing the
text of the proposed home rule petition.
It is nearly identical to two peer communities, Westford
and Wellesley that have recently passed
said home rule petition.
Both of those are still with our friends at the general
court, but the way that the law was updated,
it's pretty clear what this language needs to be.
It would permit the town as well as school department
to post in five specific locations.
Those could be printed newspapers,
a printed newspapers website, a local digital news site,
a statewide legal notice repository, or a town repository.
It's worth noting that the town already has a part
of our website that has public hearings
and legal notices in one central location.
So that already exists. Does not change the actual noticing
requirement time that a legal notice would need
to be placed in advance or anything.
Those time limits are still in place.
Notably, our deputy town manager, director
of finance highlighted to us
that tax takings will still need
to be printed in the newspaper.
So this applies to most, but not all legal notices.
Tax takings are a specific thing that need
to be still printed, representing a
very, very, very, very, very small percent
of our overall legal notices.
A proposed concept for the operating of this
home rule petition, if it were to be passed
and passed by the legislature,
would be using the town's webpage
that exists right now as the default.
However, committees
or the bodies that would be using these that are required
to post these legal notices would solve the option
to post any of the five available other sorts of media
in the event that wider distribution would be
wanted by that body.
And with that, the draft article, again,
is both included in this packet as well as in the draft
of the special town meeting warrant
that you will address later in this meeting
because there's still later in this meeting.
And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.
Miles, what's what happens for the, for the tax takings,
I mean for those that are required to be in a newspaper,
what, what happens if there's no newspaper?
That's a great question. Well, I will say as well,
it's a newspaper that is distributed here.
Past practice has been to go with the local newspapers.
There are also the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.
Those are distributed here.
Frankly speaking, the the price is significantly higher than
the local distribution papers.
So we've, we've gone to the globe in examples where to,
to the point of the time notices not being changed in the
past where, you know,
I'll admit when I was a new staff member here,
I missed a posting deadline.
I believe it was for a cable hearing.
So we had to go out to the globe
because we needed it done soon and it was able to be done.
So there, there are still papers of record
that are distributed with enough distribution in Needham.
Okay. So it it doesn't need to be a local paper?
No, it needs to have, I forget the specific term,
but it's, it's effectively why Definit
Circulation of some, yeah.
Okay. All right.
Well this is, this is really very comprehensive.
I am, I'm shocked to see the cost
spent on printing legal notices in fiscal year 2026 was 30
over $34,000.
So it seems to me like not only is this actually
generally speaking, probably more convenient for folks,
but also considerably less
expensive I would hope for the town.
Do we know what the comparable cost of digital, I mean
presumably nothing
but staff time, which is not insignificant
for the town website, but do other
local outlets charge for digital notices?
That's a great question. I don't know at this time.
For example, we have a few digital only
publications here in Needham.
The town is not permitted to notice with them, so Okay.
That there's not exactly a market. Yeah.
However, to your point and,
and to highlight back on what the director of community
communication and community engagement mentioned earlier,
we do not want people to not know what's going on.
This does not restrict the town
or the schools from posting only to our website.
The other media are still permitted
and it actually increases the scope
by which the town is permitted to communicate,
which would be beneficial, I would believe.
Great. Anyone else? No,
I think this has been official for the town.
I mean it's, I mean coming,
it's bringing the town into the times.
Most people don't subscribe to a newspaper, let alone,
you know, get a free one anymore.
I think because Amy was just here talking about,
you know, how people get their news.
I do think it's really important to have
that central repository to at least have all
of the postings on the town website.
And then certainly we can add other postings
in other locations as well.
Could I suggest like one small change, like to that effect?
So this would allow posting in any of these five could,
could we say it's satisfied by posting it
to the town website plus any of these other locations?
Because that would just ensure that it's always, always has
to be posted to the town website so
that it's in one central location.
Always.
That's a good question. I'd have to confer with council.
Yeah. And, and report back.
And I just wanna say I appreciate town
council for drafting this.
Yeah, yeah. But I think, correct me if I'm wrong,
but you did say that we are currently keeping all of
This is something we already do.
That's correct. It's current practice.
We already have all the ads, procurement, public meetings,
they're already posted on the website
in a central repository.
Okay. So it's something we're already doing.
I, I'm just thinking ahead for the future
because practices can change over time.
All right. Anyone else? Yeah,
Kevin, I used to work for a publisher
who said the legal notices for license to print money.
And I think though times have changed
and the reality of it is that websites replace newspapers
and we have to be and go where people are reading.
So we should, I'm all for this.
This is, I mean it's very sad to see the newspapers go.
Yeah. But the reality is we could
realize some savings
but also reach the people we need to reach better.
Wow,
That's good.
Great. Thank you. Kathy has her hand up.
Oh, Kathy, go ahead.
Yeah, I think that, you know, it makes sense for us
to continue the practice of, you know,
always putting something on our website as, as a way
to have a record and to have it there.
I think in terms of the way we draft the law, it,
it does make sense to model it off of
what has already worked from these other towns.
I mean we're talking about a home rule petition.
These things are a giant pain
and I would just go with what works.
Yeah, I suppose we can always add in practice a,
a secondary if we choose to do that.
But I, I wonder about requiring it as a point of law
that, you know, that seems like they could
be encumbering ourselves.
Who knows what is gonna happen in the future.
Have, have these, I think the ones these,
this is modeled after, haven't been passed. Right?
Have they, the two specific ones, Westford
and Wellesley have not, they're still in the general court,
however extraordinarily comparable
ones in Lexington and Sudbury for example.
Have.
Okay. Now if you could, if you could get
that answer from time counsel, I think that
Would be helpful.
I'd be more than happy to. Thank
You.
Thanks Miles. You're welcome.
Okay, so next up we're gonna look at
the town manager and first on that is referring,
accepting and referring the zoning.
Great. The planning board has been having their
deliberations for articles
for the October special town meeting.
And so what's before you tonight is they have asked for you
to accept and refer back to them
two articles under the umbrella of the large house review,
one on half story attic requirements
and the other on height requirements.
And this is a procedural vote that you have
to take under state law.
Okay. Any thoughts from my colleagues?
I, all right then
I would move that the board would accept all
the proposed zoning articles.
Article one, amen's zoning, bylaw half story in parent
at requirements in the single residence B District article
two, Amen's zoning bylaw height requirements in the single
residence B District for referral to the planning board
for its review, hearing and report.
Second. All right.
And we'll take a vote. Kathy?
Yes. Bill? Yes. Josh? Yes Kevin.
Aye I vote Yes. Thank you.
Next,
Next up is asking the board to call
for an open the special town meeting warrant,
which will be held on Monday October 19th, 2026.
We, you are being asked to open the warrant tonight.
Just looking ahead, you would close the warrant at your next
meeting September 8th.
So at that point we'd hopefully have
no additions after that point.
But there is, you have a meeting September 22nd,
which is your final meeting before it goes to print.
So we could still make changes, withdrawals
or changes to the article, language, et cetera.
I do wanna just walk through the draft warrant.
This is very much first draft, a lot of placeholders,
but just to give the board and the public a sense
and just I'll walk through the articles
and I would love if the board, if there's any
that you particularly would like a presentation on.
Just note that and I can start getting those scheduled
for your next couple of meetings.
And this is the moment, lemme just pause
and say it's August, it's summer, and yet here we are
and we're like headlong into town meeting.
So this is when things start like ramping up at a speed
that no one ever anticipates
until we're in the middle of it.
So walking through the draft warrant,
the first article is appropriate
for the Pollard Middle School.
And this language has been drafted by town council.
We will ensure that MSBA has had a chance to review it
and bond council as well
before we insert the language into the
warrant. Basically there will be
Lots of presentations to come this,
Yes, many presentations to come.
The next handful are placeholders should we need them.
So unpaid bills
and line item transfers if needed within
our FY 2027 operating budget.
And our two enterprise fund budgets for sewer and water.
So we're gathering if any of those will be needed.
We have our public education and government programming peg.
This is pass through funds from cable providers
to the the Needham channel.
And so we have this on every warrant to,
I have a timely expediting pass through.
It is 9 42.
The next two articles are the zoning ones
that you just took the procedural vote on.
And I guess I pause
and see if the board would like a presentation on those.
Yes, absolutely. Yes. Great.
I will work with the planning board planning director
to schedule those under
general articles.
We're on page six of the draft warrant.
There's the home rule petition related to the Article 97
for Warner Field as part of the Pollard project
that we've discussed at your last few meetings.
So this is the continuation of the local approvals
that we would be required to comply with.
Article 97.
Madam Chair, the last time we had an Article 97
article in the warrant, it appeared right
after the, the article that we were voting on.
Oh, maybe that might help with the flow if we made
that article two right after Pollard.
Let me confer with town counsel on that. Yep.
Okay. You had a presentation at your last meeting
regarding the proposed single parcel historic district
for the White House on South Street.
So there's a placeholder there.
One question for the board, the
proposal for a general bylaw amendment
around tree protection and preservation.
I wanted to gauge deferral to May versus
advancing to the October special time meeting.
As much as I would like to see this go to October, I,
I'm a little concerned about the timeline given
the number of big events.
I mean not only Pollard, I'm I, all of the stuff that goes
with that, but also the election.
We still haven't had,
we haven't had a public hearing on the part
of the select board for this bylaw.
And so it just seems like a lot to squeeze in.
But if, I mean, if it's feasible, sure
that would, that would mean I would like to see that.
But if it's, but I think we have to evaluate whether
or not it's really feasible in light of all of the,
the big fixed items on the,
on the docket for the fall.
I would lean towards maybe
'cause I just don't see how it can be feasible
to get everything done that we need to get done.
Yeah, I I mean I'm worried
About it.
I'm not, I'm the same. Not
that I don't want it to be done, but
As we, as we game out like all of the time that is needed
for each one of these things, issues, you know,
I I just worry that this one's
gonna get knocked off the plate.
So as we game it out, I, I mean I'd like
to keep the possibility open I guess,
until our next meeting.
But I, I acknowledge that, I think
that the timeline is really tight.
I'm just thinking of scheduling wise,
your next meeting, September 8th is
immediately after Labor Day.
So if you wanted to hold the public hearing, I'd recommend
to do that your September 22nd meeting, you would have,
if you had the hearing that night,
that would be your last chance to take it off the
warrant right then.
So it's tight I guess.
And I think it just, you'd have more time
to process feedback if you received any, if you defer to me.
Sure. Okay.
I don't, we don't have
to make this decision at this moment though.
I, I can keep the placeholder on Yeah.
Until your next meeting. Let's
Do that.
Okay. And maybe we can, you know,
we're gonna have our goals meeting next week so we'll see
how many things are on our plate for the fall
and once we understand that kind of,
we can game it out, see if there's enough time.
But that seems pretty tight. I'd hate to
To the hearing.
It feels like you're better fit, but if you want hear it.
Yeah.
The next article on the top page seven is the Home Rule
that Miles just presented to the board
and it sounds like support to move forward with that.
So we'll keep that on.
Deputy time manager director finance is working on potential
recommendations for real estate tax exemptions.
So adjustments to our existing programs
to expand eligibility.
Next steps on that would be he'll, he will be presenting
to the board of assessors
and getting their feedback on that.
So my plan for the select board is to wait
for those conversations so then it can be presented
to you in full with that feedback.
There's also an abatement related to affordable housing.
So like if residents rent a unit
to someone who is, you know, below a certain income level
that a homeowner is eligible for residential abatement,
I maybe we can discuss it during the, the board hearing.
I I, if we wanted to opt in, it would have
to be on town meeting timing would have to approve it.
Okay. I'll ask do you To follow up. Okay.
Okay. And there are two
articles related to changes to revolving funds.
I think we discussed briefly at your last meeting.
One to just move the park
and rec revolving fund to a more modern, modern structure
and to replace our current revolving fund
for traveling meals to replace it
with a community nutrition revolving fund
that would just allow it for a broader set of purposes
around food, food insecurity and community nutrition
For the park and record revolving fund, does
that eliminate the existing revolving fund?
Yes, that's the intent. That's yes.
And the fund For the, for the community nutrition,
are we doing this in anticipation of Beth Israel not
participating in that program or is this
an expansion of the program?
So it is not driven by our current arrangement
with BID Needham.
The Public Health Division
and Aging Services has broadly been working on thinking
about expanded community nutrition programs.
A part of that would be if we ever needed
to take on the services that BID Needham provides for us,
how could we or would we,
but it's, the motivation
for this is I think more, more broad.
We'll have the updated kitchen at the center at the heights
after construction's completed this year
and we'll be able to do a lot more offerings in-house.
So this revolving fund is a way to
use the existing revolving fund mechanism more broadly.
I think it'd be great to have a presentation on this
and learn more about the program.
Yep. Great.
I'm actually on the board of the traveling meals
and we get a lot of requests
besides just getting the meals delivered
for things like can, can we bring someone to Cath
and provide them with breakfast to do things like that.
So I think it is basically the expansion of,
of, of the program.
So when we get requests, you know,
we will be able to do more things.
Great. And the last two
placeholders are takings related to
infrastructure projects that you've heard from DPW about.
The first is we have an intersection improvement
project at Great Plain and Central.
A voluntary taking would be
required at the Presbyterian church.
DPW is in touch with the church
and they have expressed their willingness to donate the land
for the improvements that are needed.
But this would require town meeting action.
And from the presentation you just heard that
an easement needed at Dedham Ave and South Street
Can we, is the design for great plan
and central at a stage where it's ready for a presentation?
Yeah, I can follow up with DPW director on that. Okay.
And I do wanna note that I had mentioned this at your
previous meeting, but one of the articles
that you do not see on here is design funds requested
for Great Plain Avenue improvements that you voted earlier.
My recommendation is to have that be for the May 27th
town meeting, given the level of engagement, interest number
of stakeholders in that project.
If we defer the article to May,
that would allow our staff team to be able
to map out the full design process, bring the process
to the board to make sure that we are in agreement,
have the same expectations about how
that design process would run, what community engagement
or stakeholder engagement would look like, what staff
and our technical expertise
and consultants would be working on.
And then we'd be able to have that presented
to the board in advance of Maytown meeting
when the design funds are requested, we'd be able
to answer a lot of questions that I anticipate we,
we would get from town meeting members.
Yep. Sounds reasonable.
Madam Chair, I move the board vote to call for
and open the warrant
for the October 19th, 2026 special town meeting.
Second.
Okay. Kathy? Yes. Bill?
Yes. Josh? Yes. Kevin. Aye. Can I vote? Yes.
Great. Next
The Commissioner of trust funds will have a vacancy
at the end of August and I will be brief
and I think maybe turn it over to the vice chair just
to know procedurally the town clerk
provided the select board
with a letter outlining the available options
to the board relative to filling that position by a joint
appointment process with the commissioner of trust funds
or via special election.
The commission did send a letter
to the board expressing their interest in participating in a
joint appointment process.
And I will turn it over
'cause I think those conversations are underway.
Thank you. So I, we, the chair
of the Commissioner of Trust Hunts
and I have a meeting scheduled tomorrow night
in anticipation that the board wants
to move ahead with appointing.
If not, we can cancel that meeting.
But the, the chair has indicated that she wishes to fill it
as quickly as possible.
I think we could probably accommodate that.
I would propose a, a similar process as the Park
and Rec commission where we notice it
for two consecutive weeks
and then I think that would allow us time to
hold an appointment with a, with a joint appointment
with both boards during our regular September 22nd
meeting if that works.
Sounds fine. Okay.
Okay, great. Okay,
Lastly town manager report.
I just wanna know, we have had two notable retirements
of DPW foreman this summer.
So I just wanna share a little bit about them particularly
because they may be a little bit more
behind the scenes for some folks.
They're well known in our eyes.
But Doug Manje retired on June 30th.
He's a well recognized member
of our parks and forestry division.
He was instrumental in kind of all of the operations of
that division and ensuring
that our fields were are safe and beautiful.
And I'd say particularly in, in talking with the team,
our most visible events where people really get to access
and work be in our
park spaces July 3rd and fourth events
and the Memorial Day tournament being those two big ones,
he was instrumental and had a lot of knowledge.
And I will also note he was our irrigation expert
and kept the town systems going over the years.
So I think, you know, we're, we have a lot of systems
that are different and hand run
and require the expertise of someone like Doug.
Jerry Sharp retired on August 7th
and he is the lead
of the water sewer drains construction crew.
They are responsible for responding in all emergencies to
the distribution systems that we have.
And this is core life health safety work.
They Jerry also, in addition to responding to emergencies
because we have the talent in house, he was able
with his crew to do a lot of proactive projects
that are small, smaller in nature.
So a smaller dia, dia diameter main replacement
and other utility projects that we didn't have to go
contract out because we had the
expertise and the talent in-house.
So over the years Jerry has trained dozens
of staff members on how to manage our distribution systems
and respond to emergencies.
And this is to the benefit
of every single person in Needham
businesses residents alike.
So they both will be missed
and we thank them very much for their service. So
Do we send them a appreciation letter
like we do for committee members?
I don't know why we wouldn't for them.
You know, we haven't had a formal
System.
We talked, we talk about that a lot
with I think that's a great idea.
Can we formalize? Yeah. Yeah.
I mean I know both of them
and they both were unbelievable.
Yeah. You know, so I think they would
appreciate something like that too.
Yep. I mean personally,
but I think it would be better coming from,
Yeah. Excellent.
Congratulations. Both. That's it.
Okay. So thank you.
And the next thing is committee reports expect this to be
reasonably quick 'cause it's a summer.
We'll start with Kathy. No reports.
Excellent. Thank you Bill.
I was lucky enough to go to the Needham night out
that the Needham Police sponsored last week.
And it, it was a great event.
It was great to see so many families there,
but one of the best things was see how many
families had repeated.
They came here after year
and there was a picture on social media
of Eddie Tis on his police, the motorcycle.
And they had brought a picture of when they came nine years
ago with their child and they came back with that child
and put 'em on the motorcycle.
We took it. So it was great to we to see them back there.
And then Kevin and I attended the Purple Heart
event the last Friday evening.
Kevin did a great job
and I wish we could get more publicity about it,
get more people there, but we'll that's for another day.
Good. Great. Thank you. Josh.
We talked about Commissioner of Trust funds.
Just wanted to give an update on Park and Rec.
The interviews will be conducted
during their regular meeting on August 24th.
I don't believe that that at 7:00 PM I don't believe
the location has been announced.
Park Rosemary Recreational complex multi-purpose room.
Thank you. Rosemary Recreational. Okay, perfect.
So ever welcome to,
to watch including members of Psych board.
Yeah. And can you remind us how many candidates?
I believe eight. That's great. Great. Kevin?
Same. I went to the National Night out on the
fourth and it was, it was great.
It was, it was good to see me police
and do you know, community policing and outreach
and then the purple head ceremony too. It
Was great.
It was actually very nice.
Excellent. And I'll just say one thing today was the,
the Red Cross blood drive hosted by the town,
which is usually held cath caths under construction.
So it was up in beautiful powers hall
and really just a spectacular room to do anything in,
including give blood.
And so if you too wanna give blood, you can do
so on November 12th, which is their next, their next
date in Power Hall for that blood drive. All right.
Move we adjourn. Second.
Excellent. Kathy? Yes. Bill? Yes.
Josh? Yes. Kevin, don't start.
Yes. And the chair votes. Yes. Thank you.
And goodnight.