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Good evening, everyone. I'm going to officially call the meeting of September 8th,

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2026 here to order and doing a roll call. We are all currently present.

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Tell manager, was this meeting properly noticed? Yes, it was. Beautiful. I'll remind our counselors

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here to please silence your electronic devices. And the first thing on our agenda is Executive

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Executive session one MRSA 4056 a personnel matters to have a motion to go into executive

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session motion by Councillor Wilson. Is there a second seconded by Councillor Ellis. Any

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discussion on the motion not seeing any I'll call the vote Councillor Ellis. Yes. Councilor

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Ecker. Yes. Councilor Anderson. Yes. Councilor Pearl. Yes. Councilor Hicks. Yes.

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Councilor

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passes unanimously. So we're going to enter executive session. We'll be back at 6.30. Thank you, everyone.

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Okay, welcome back. Thank you again for being here at our September 8, 2026 meeting. We already did

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acknowledgment. This was properly acknowledged and roll call. We are missing Councillor Ellis this

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evening. As a reminder, please silence your electronic devices at this point. So if you have

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that, airplane mode is always a good one. And then please rise if you are willing and able

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for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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One way indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

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Thank you everyone.

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As Chair, that I ask that while we hold this space together,

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we treat every person here with respect and compassion

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as we work to serve our town.

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And as part of the adjustments to the agenda,

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I am going to add one item here for folks

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with the consent of the body.

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To add a resolution to the consent agenda regarding 9-11,

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and you have it printed in front of you all.

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So we're gonna add this to the consent agenda

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with the other resolutions.

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Is that okay with everyone?

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Thumbs up, head shakes, cool.

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All right, we'll add that to the consent agenda.

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Are there any announcements of council?

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Councilors have any announcements to make?

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Councilor Weems.

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Thank you, Chair MacDonald.

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Yes, I want to announce an event

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coming up at the Curtis Memorial Library.

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called Community Conversations, Wabanaki, Tribal Sovereignty, in our homelands now called

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Maine.

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It's the name of the session, and it will be led by Bullion Bryant, the Penobscot citizen

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and the Executive Director of the Wabanaki Alliance, and her associate, Sage Phillips.

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He's also a Penobscot citizen and employed by the Wabanaki and Alliance.

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At the Curtis Memorial Library Wednesday, September 16th at 5 p.m.

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Thank you.

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Are there any other announcements of councillors?

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Councilor Perl?

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Just to let anybody know out there that on Saturday the 12th from 4 to 8 out at Wildoats and Flight Deck Brewing is the block party and proceeds from the vendors, the food vendors will go to support Brunswick Community Education Foundation.

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Great.

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Councilor Eckert, did you have something?

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thing? I do. I have two. If you'll grant me that. Go for it. First, I think it'd be...

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I'm on. Sorry. First, I think it's notable that the

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Councillor who is absent tonight, Councillor Ellis, is starring in a

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production at Midcoast Youth Theatre this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday

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called is it called pants or no pants? So he gets to perform in another theater

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and I'm sure people would love to see a counselor in another venue so that's one

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announcement. The second one back to town business I just want to note that

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the long-awaited one and a half mile stretch of repaving from Main Street to

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McQuaid Road, Mirror Point Road is done and with it, the significant bike pedd

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improvements, ADA improvements on the sidewalk, traffic calming measures, a new

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pedestrian crossing at Meadowbrook and Botany Place, narrower

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vehicle travel lanes, and they're designated bike lanes almost the entire

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length. And I just want to give a good shout out to the many staff who worked on this over

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the course of two years. It involved a lot of community involvement. It involved the

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bike ped committee. I'd especially like to recognize Assistant Director Astel and Project

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manager Chrissy Adamowitz for their roles in it. I know others played a role. I think DOT was

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involved as well, but it's really a bit of a pivot point I think in terms of development of our

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bike pad safe infrastructure for all on one of our key network roads. So I just want to make sure

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that people recognize that. Also recognize it may not be perfect. People are going to have to

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get used to where these lines are now, and I think there's some changes coming, but the

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majority of the comments I've heard have all been positive that this has finally happened.

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So thanks, I'd like to thank everyone that played a part in that.

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Thank you, and thank you to our staff and community.

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Without further announcements, I'm going to go ahead and move us to public comment.

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As a reminder, public comment is for non-agenda items only.

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If you wish to speak about an agenda item, you'll have time when that happens.

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You have three minutes per speaker. We'll have 30 minutes this session.

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If we need another 30 minutes at the end of the meeting, we'll do it then.

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Please follow the Code of Conduct that's posted on either side of the room.

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Show your name, town, pronouns if you'd like.

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And if you're looking for a follow-up response,

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we have a sign-up sheet right over on the table that you can fill out.

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Without further ado.

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Jim Truzzini, 149 Main Street, Department 208.

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My first public comment is a little civic lesson of how you go in and out of an executive session.

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Tonight's agenda item says regular meeting agenda.

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The first thing on it says executive session at 5.

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Then it says basically the regular meetings at 6.30.

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I want to make sure everybody understands MRSA, subsection 405, 6A.

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6A, and the most important one is 1MRSA subsection 4053.

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To legally enter an executive session,

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the council must carry out the following procedures

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in plain view of the public.

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Convene publicly.

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The council must formally start an open public meeting first.

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Then they have to make a special motion.

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The council member must make a motion

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to enter executive session.

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motion, this motion must be second, the precise nature of the business to be discussed and

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actually cited the statutory authority that allows it.

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They have to hold a public vote,

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record the vote, and it has to be passed by a supermajority.

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No problem.

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If a council gathers privately without first conducting this open meeting process and

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taken a recorded public vote. The meeting is illegal and any actions of

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consent agreements resulting from it are null and void. I just want the public to

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be aware of that. My next is the sidewalk on Main Street. We're back at it again.

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I've been informed today it's going to take six weeks. You got to be kidding me.

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It's 200 feet. But let's talk about it fact it's still 300 million dollars over

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budget. You already used $1.6 million from Tiffin Couch that's supposed to

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gone for other projects. You still have the major, the most biggest portion of the

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sidewalk not done in front of JJ Cleaners and Mason Road, Mason Street. So the

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question I have to the council, I hope they get back to me because I did sign

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that paper, when are you going to do that project and where you're getting

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the money. You've got to bond it. It's a million dollars. We know we can throw

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$800,000 away. We did that a couple weeks ago on gas, gas tanks, gas pumps.

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Next one is, this is about the fourth time I've mentioned this one. What was the

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total cost of Cressy Road? Why did that dead-end road get all brand new

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sidewalks, brand new curb? And I have to disagree with you, sir, about up the

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Main Street.

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I think it looks like crap.

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There's places where there's six, eight to a 40 of hot top

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that was never milled out, curb to curb.

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Curbs weren't replaced when they did damage to them.

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You've got areas up there with no curb.

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You've got concrete curb and some,

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granite curb on some others, asphalt curb on some others.

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So let's get it fixed.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Hi, my name is Paul Whitcomb.

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I'm from Brunswick.

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I need to speak about the Public Works expansion project.

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There are two critical flaws in the reasoning behind this project

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that show the short-sightedness of it.

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One is the fact that a proper needs assessment was never completed

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requested nor requested. A space needs study is not a needs assessment. The needs assessment

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has to precede the space needs study so that gap identification can be performed. Without

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How gap identification, there is no logical basis, performance basis for this project.

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Number two, conclusive evidence has just been formed in Quebec by a cohort study of children

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in the six digits, I forget the exact number of children that were involved in this study

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regarding the incidence rate of childhood leukemia in proximity to fuel

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stations. The incidence increased as the proximity decreased. Okay, there

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There was a 100 meter threshold identified where children who spent significant time inside

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that distance had a 35 to 55 percent increase in the incidences of pediatric leukemia.

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I sent this information to all of you.

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Counselor Ecker was the only one who replied to me.

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You all have this information, including an Australian study of 2024 that corroborates all of these findings.

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What I would like you to do is to appoint a pediatric oncologist

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specialist or leukemia specialist to inform or become part of the task force, to expand

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the task force.

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In light of this scientifically proven information and a drastic increase, this correlation that

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cannot be ignored and you cannot run away from it. I will make sure that you do

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not ignore it.

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Come on up.

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Hi Jane Champ, I live on Jordan Ave and I want to talk

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about safety on Jordan Ave, particularly the section from Federal Street

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down to Kate Furbish Elementary, which I think you all know houses our youngest

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of students ages four to eight.

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I think that fundamentally Jordan Av is unsafe

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on this end for pedestrians and cyclists.

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Many of our council members and our town staff

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have engaged thus far and for that I'm very thankful.

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And I think we need to keep going.

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The road here as you know is very narrow.

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The sidewalk as well and there's no buffer in between.

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So if you're standing on the sidewalk,

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you might have a car about four inches from you

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or sometimes closer.

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The single biggest issue, aside from the narrow streets and sidewalk, is really the speed.

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People are speeding extremely fast every day at all times,

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and particularly through even the 15-mile-an-hour zone at school times.

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The second biggest issue, which we don't discuss much, is distracted drivers.

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I regularly see people pull out of the school lot looking at their phones.

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They're eating and drinking with both hands.

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hands. They are doing their hair with both hands and last week I saw a guy on his laptop.

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So with that I also regularly see near misses between cars and cars, between cars and cyclists.

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I've had near misses myself and I think the high speed distractions and no physical infrastructure

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in between is a recipe for tragedy and it's a matter of time in my opinion.

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So I'd like to ask the town to provide immediate speed enforcement, more safe crossings at key

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locations and to conduct a full safety study on Jordan Ave to include where the multi-use

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path, which I'm excited about, will connect up with the rest of the road. So it can be

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one full complete thought. I'm really excited our school zone light got turned back on.

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It did take a full year, meaning this important and readily available safety tool was not

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used at all for the 25 to 26 calendar year. I would ask the town staff and

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council take a moment to reflect on what went wrong and what could be improved in

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the future in such instances. I would like to remind the town and everyone

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that these accidents can happen anywhere. We're not immune. There was a

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four-year-old tragically killed in her daycare parking lot two years ago not

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far from here. It's the same age as our students. Last year we lost a five-year-old and a 12-year-old

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in bus accidents. I think all kids in our town and in our state deserve to have

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their adults looking out for them and providing safe streets. I'd like to get our kids walking

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to school and I hope that we're never the town that looks back and says oh we should have

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done something, what could we have done?

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Let's go ahead and get it done.

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And thanks everyone for the support this far.

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Thank you.

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Good evening.

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My name is Connor.

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I am here this evening not only as a resident

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of downtown Brunswick, the Main Street area,

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but also as a business owner in our community.

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And first, I'd like to thank you for your effort and work

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in being a counselor, your public service.

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I come from a long line of public servants

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and I know it is sometimes a very thankless job.

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So thank you for being here

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and your commitment to improving our town.

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I am here about action items 110 and or 111 first with 110 the changing of Main Street overlay

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Conner I'm gonna pause you there. So this is the section for non-agenda items. So I will be back when that item comes up

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You can come on right back. Thank you so much

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Anybody else in the room that would like to speak before I move to zoom

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Not seeing any I'll go to zoom Jennifer Navarro

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Yes, good evening. My name is Jennifer Navarro and I'm a candidate for Brunswick

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Town Council at large and tonight I'm asking the town to act for the for a

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Brunswick family in an immediate humanitarian crisis. The head of this

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household is the United States Marine Corps veteran and a purple heart

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recipient who is now battling stage 4 cancer. He returned to his lifelong

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family after it had been rented out and found it in serious unsanitary

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very disrepair. The family reports mold damage flooring, a broken bathtub, inadequate appliances

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and no adequate heat. This man is now bedridden and incontinent. His family is providing intimate

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daily care, bathing him, managing his basic needs and trying to keep him comfortable.

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He has always been the head of the household and the person who handled these things

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for his family. Right now he is currently not able to do that. He has advanced cancer

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involving his bones. He's gravely ill and he's cold. Yesterday I personally came out of pocket

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a substantial amount because his family needed immediate help and according to his wife she

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had contacted Brunswick and had not received the return call. I also left the voicemail asking

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Salica Sello and Carol LaDonnell to contact either me or Teresa and asking for this family

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to be connected directly to appropriate assistance including Habitat for Humanity.

228
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This request is especially relevant because I spoke on the August 26th housing meeting

229
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concerning habitat, it had habitat in there

230
01:48:49,980 --> 01:48:52,220
and other grants being allotted

231
01:48:52,220 --> 01:48:53,460
for the second disbursement.

232
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And then there's also our human services budget.

233
01:48:56,580 --> 01:48:59,220
Actual human services expenditures were approximately

234
01:48:59,220 --> 01:49:02,700
402,000 in 24 or 25 fiscal year.

235
01:49:03,180 --> 01:49:06,700
The following adopted budget increased that to 601,000,

236
01:49:06,700 --> 01:49:10,440
nearly $200,000 more or 49.4% increase.

237
01:49:10,720 --> 01:49:12,720
Within that budget, social services agencies

238
01:49:12,720 --> 01:49:18,340
funding increased from 20,000 actually spent to 45 budgeted within that budget

239
01:49:18,340 --> 01:49:23,560
social services agents funding increased from that 20,000 to the 45 and where

240
01:49:23,560 --> 01:49:26,740
does the money go during budget discussions we heard assurances that

241
01:49:26,740 --> 01:49:30,360
people in genuine need particularly particularly people needing as

242
01:49:30,360 --> 01:49:34,460
essentials such as fuel would not simply be turned away then where is the

243
01:49:34,460 --> 01:49:37,580
help for this family where is the public benefit from the human services

244
01:49:37,580 --> 01:49:41,800
dollars taxpayers are being forced and required to find where are the

245
01:49:41,800 --> 01:49:46,100
organizations receiving public money when a bed ridden purple heart US Marine

246
01:49:46,100 --> 01:49:51,100
Corps veteran with stage 4 cancer is freezing in his own home. This family

247
01:49:51,100 --> 01:49:54,280
should not have to make call after call and chase referrals, decide for

248
01:49:54,280 --> 01:49:57,760
eligibility requirements and coordinate multiple organizations while providing

249
01:49:57,760 --> 01:50:02,260
this level of care. The system should reach toward them. So I'm making a

250
01:50:02,260 --> 01:50:06,360
special request tonight, designate one responsible point of contact, contact

251
01:50:06,360 --> 01:50:09,060
his family using the information I provided in voicemail yesterday,

252
01:50:09,620 --> 01:50:13,360
assess the immediate heat, fuel, housing, condition and social service needs,

253
01:50:13,780 --> 01:50:16,980
connect them directly, not merely by handing them another telephone number to

254
01:50:16,980 --> 01:50:20,720
Habitat for Humanity and the municipal state, veterans, non-profit or other

255
01:50:20,720 --> 01:50:24,380
programs which they may qualify and follow through. I'm not asking the

256
01:50:24,380 --> 01:50:27,140
town to promise benefits for which someone is legally ineligible. I'm

257
01:50:27,140 --> 01:50:30,140
asking the town to make certain that a Brunswick family facing extraordinary

258
01:50:30,140 --> 01:50:33,900
circumstances does not disappear between agencies. And when the next

259
01:50:33,900 --> 01:50:37,200
budget season comes, if taxpayers are asked for another substantial human

260
01:50:37,200 --> 01:50:41,420
service increase, I will remember this family and this exact meeting. Before asking taxpayers

261
01:50:41,420 --> 01:50:45,440
for more, show us where the money went and show us that when one of our own or desperately

262
01:50:45,440 --> 01:50:48,020
need the system actually worked. Thank you.

263
01:50:48,820 --> 01:50:55,760
Thank you. A reminder for those in the room and those on Zoom that if you are seeking

264
01:50:55,760 --> 01:51:01,920
elected office here in Brunswick, we have a policy in which you cannot promote an

265
01:51:01,920 --> 01:51:07,520
active candidate. So I understand that we have other folks who may be running for office

266
01:51:07,520 --> 01:51:13,320
in this room. And that means, you know, no bringing a shirt with your name on it, saying

267
01:51:13,320 --> 01:51:20,100
what office you're running from, a sign, a hat, a button, any of those things is in

268
01:51:20,100 --> 01:51:25,040
violation of policy participation. So I'll consider this just as a warning because

269
01:51:25,040 --> 01:51:28,080
I know that we have folks that are, we have a lot of folks who are running for

270
01:51:28,080 --> 01:51:32,920
office this cycle with so many seats open on the council. So just a general

271
01:51:32,920 --> 01:51:37,020
reminder to everyone. Is there anybody else on Zoom that would like to speak?

272
01:51:40,840 --> 01:51:41,360
Not

273
01:51:41,360 --> 01:51:44,860
seeing any hands going up. We are going to continue on.

274
01:51:48,840 --> 01:51:50,400
I'm going to close public

275
01:51:50,400 --> 01:51:54,220
comment and turn it over to our town manager to give the manager's report.

276
01:51:54,560 --> 01:52:00,680
Thank you Chair McDonald. So when I wrote my manager's report over a week

277
01:52:00,680 --> 01:52:05,900
ago. We were still in the process of committing taxes. Many of you will have

278
01:52:05,900 --> 01:52:11,680
received your tax bill by now. So taxes for the 26-27 fiscal year were

279
01:52:11,680 --> 01:52:17,920
committed on August 31st. The tax office did a very fast job and got the tax

280
01:52:17,920 --> 01:52:24,500
bills all 10,000 plus of them out the door before the end of last last week

281
01:52:24,500 --> 01:52:30,180
and I received mine in the mail I think on Saturday. So I will just

282
01:52:30,180 --> 01:52:37,200
report that the tax rate ended up being $1350 per thousand, which you will maybe remember

283
01:52:37,200 --> 01:52:39,880
is a bit lower than was estimated in the budget.

284
01:52:40,680 --> 01:52:49,020
And this is because we are the town assessor is now trying to make changes every year.

285
01:52:49,260 --> 01:52:56,380
So we won't be facing these huge drops and leaps in a revaluation time.

286
01:52:56,380 --> 01:53:02,300
So, he is trying to, he is working to keep up with the market and making adjustments.

287
01:53:02,900 --> 01:53:07,940
The adjustments he made were kind of across the board so that they don't affect anyone

288
01:53:07,940 --> 01:53:13,300
in particular, but it did mean that the tax rate could be lower than anticipated,

289
01:53:13,600 --> 01:53:17,600
which is what we expected with this new model.

290
01:53:18,080 --> 01:53:19,680
So, 1350 per thousand.

291
01:53:19,680 --> 01:53:32,580
And if you have any questions about your assessed value and your tax bill, you can call the assessing department.

292
01:53:32,880 --> 01:53:36,220
And if you have any questions about the collection side, you call the tax office.

293
01:53:36,700 --> 01:53:39,840
I will remind everyone that we now have resident access.

294
01:53:40,280 --> 01:53:48,140
And for a dollar per payment, you can pay online with an ACH from your bank account.

295
01:53:49,140 --> 01:53:53,520
So it's a convenience that we now have, we've had it for approximately one year.

296
01:53:56,460 --> 01:54:00,660
So next, nomination papers and this is old too.

297
01:54:01,360 --> 01:54:03,960
Well, it's old in the sense that they're not available anymore.

298
01:54:04,860 --> 01:54:10,240
We, you know, as a town clerk, I always don't care if I have one person running

299
01:54:10,240 --> 01:54:13,460
or 20 people running for an office, I just like to see people involved.

300
01:54:13,980 --> 01:54:19,320
And in this case, we do have a few uncontested races, but we have a couple contested races.

301
01:54:19,320 --> 01:54:25,620
had a lot of interest, so I appreciate all the people who as voters sign petitions, people

302
01:54:25,620 --> 01:54:29,180
who circulate the petitions, and people who are willing to run as candidates.

303
01:54:29,880 --> 01:54:34,160
I did want to say that people can request absentee ballots at this time.

304
01:54:34,540 --> 01:54:41,020
They will not be physically available to issue until October 5th, so kind of mark that

305
01:54:41,020 --> 01:54:43,380
on the calendar if you're interested in voting that way.

306
01:54:44,080 --> 01:54:46,520
We will be having voting at the back center.

307
01:54:46,520 --> 01:54:53,220
And I am asking, we have absolutely wonderful election workers, but what kind of happens

308
01:54:53,220 --> 01:54:56,500
is we have to legally keep a balance between Democrats and Republicans.

309
01:54:57,360 --> 01:55:02,460
And we're lacking some really qualified Republicans, we're actually lacking Republicans.

310
01:55:03,000 --> 01:55:09,060
So if there are any folks out there who are interested in serving our community as

311
01:55:09,060 --> 01:55:12,900
election workers, especially if you happen to be in the Republican Party, we love all

312
01:55:12,900 --> 01:55:13,420
of our workers.

313
01:55:13,420 --> 01:55:20,080
But that's the area that we're a little short in I'm just please reach out to our office and speak with Ali on myself

314
01:55:20,080 --> 01:55:24,240
And we'll get you what information you need to do to get involved and thank you

315
01:55:24,240 --> 01:55:25,140
Thank

316
01:55:27,220 --> 01:55:27,880
You clerk Smith

317
01:55:29,000 --> 01:55:35,500
Next a reminder that two days from now is the up the restoration advisory board day

318
01:55:35,500 --> 01:55:37,320
We're not it's not just a meeting

319
01:55:38,000 --> 01:55:39,880
They're holding an open house

320
01:55:40,660 --> 01:55:47,360
on September 10th, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jordan Avenue Brunswick Topson Water District

321
01:55:47,360 --> 01:55:53,980
site, and this is to see the district's new treatment facility, which was largely funded

322
01:55:53,980 --> 01:56:01,940
by the Navy. So it's 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 159 Jordan Avenue, and it is part of the Restoration

323
01:56:01,940 --> 01:56:08,540
Advisory Board's day here. They will follow that up with a poster session right here

324
01:56:08,540 --> 01:56:15,200
in council chambers from 530 to 615 and this is a chance to just chat with all

325
01:56:15,200 --> 01:56:20,520
the people on the restoration advisory board, ask informal questions and have

326
01:56:20,520 --> 01:56:26,920
more of it back and forth and then their formal meeting will begin at 630, go

327
01:56:26,920 --> 01:56:32,040
to about 8 o'clock and that's the restoration advisory board for the

328
01:56:32,040 --> 01:56:39,620
Brunswick Naval Air Station. So next I have a couple things. I have Economic

329
01:56:39,620 --> 01:56:43,480
Development Director Sally Costello is going to tell us about Cook's Corner

330
01:56:43,480 --> 01:56:46,720
Placemaking and the Visitor Center improvements.

331
01:56:53,420 --> 01:56:54,460
Good evening, counselors.

332
01:56:54,800 --> 01:56:57,900
Thank you so much for letting me come tonight and give you a little bit of an

333
01:56:57,900 --> 01:57:01,860
update on the Cook's Corner Vitalization Plan specific to the

334
01:57:01,860 --> 01:57:06,920
placemaking. As many of you know we've been working on improvements to

335
01:57:06,920 --> 01:57:13,640
Cooks Corner in a number of areas, transportation and connectivity, planning and development,

336
01:57:14,020 --> 01:57:16,960
and then also economic development.

337
01:57:17,520 --> 01:57:22,640
And with the place making, with regard to the place making, we're looking at activating

338
01:57:22,640 --> 01:57:23,360
sites.

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01:57:23,680 --> 01:57:30,100
And that means also sites that are underutilized, sites that are blighted, and sites that might

340
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be a safety hazard.

341
01:57:31,180 --> 01:57:38,640
And so we identified about a year ago three sites in Cook's Corner that were in need of some improvements.

342
01:57:39,480 --> 01:57:49,520
The top left is of a site that's over in Aquifer, and it's also over the flight APO district.

343
01:57:50,440 --> 01:57:56,600
And so nothing can be built there, but it is a very long stretch that takes us,

344
01:57:56,600 --> 01:58:03,860
and we really see this as the boundary where the Cooks Corner area begins, so we are working

345
01:58:03,860 --> 01:58:11,020
on that and where we've got these three sites, we had to get site control and not all of

346
01:58:11,020 --> 01:58:12,400
them do we, are we going to own?

347
01:58:13,100 --> 01:58:18,160
This site is one that we have a lease agreement with MIRA, it's a 50 year lease and so that

348
01:58:18,740 --> 01:58:25,240
we advance the design on that which will have a path, a bike and a ped path that

349
01:58:25,240 --> 01:58:31,260
will connect to the next site, which is on your right, which is the gas station that

350
01:58:31,260 --> 01:58:34,600
is there, the abandoned gas station that's been there for over a decade.

351
01:58:35,860 --> 01:58:39,180
We are working to get that through a donation agreement.

352
01:58:39,700 --> 01:58:46,700
It is a site that has been blighted for a long time and the buildings, there's a

353
01:58:46,700 --> 01:58:52,080
convenience store there that's in not good shape and there's the canopy for the

354
01:58:53,000 --> 01:58:56,040
the former gas station and both of those are in disrepair.

355
01:58:56,560 --> 01:58:59,020
The tanks have been removed and we've done a phase one

356
01:58:59,020 --> 01:59:01,000
and we're about ready to do a phase two,

357
01:59:01,100 --> 01:59:02,860
but we're hoping that we're gonna bring that agreement

358
01:59:02,860 --> 01:59:05,680
to the town council in October

359
01:59:06,200 --> 01:59:08,500
upon getting the results of the phase two.

360
01:59:09,360 --> 01:59:11,860
And then the bottom site is what I'm really gonna focus

361
01:59:11,860 --> 01:59:14,820
on tonight to update you because that is one

362
01:59:14,820 --> 01:59:16,880
that we are hoping to move forward with

363
01:59:16,880 --> 01:59:17,840
in the next few weeks.

364
01:59:18,920 --> 01:59:22,580
That is a site that's right outside of Brunswick Landing.

365
01:59:22,860 --> 01:59:24,940
It is what we refer to as the jug handle.

366
01:59:25,140 --> 01:59:27,000
It's a site that MDOT owns.

367
01:59:27,800 --> 01:59:31,200
And it's a dangerous site with a curb cut that people jump the light.

368
01:59:31,360 --> 01:59:35,960
It used to be, many of you may remember who lived here a long time,

369
01:59:36,100 --> 01:59:39,460
that that was a way of making a left-hand turn into Brunswick Landing

370
01:59:39,460 --> 01:59:41,020
or what was the former Naval Air Base.

371
01:59:41,960 --> 01:59:45,260
There has always been a plan to close that curb cut because it's dangerous.

372
01:59:46,040 --> 01:59:54,180
and we wanted to do a little bit more there and infuse some green space because part of things we're trying to do in Cook's Corner,

373
01:59:54,260 --> 01:59:59,840
not only the transportation and connectivity, but we're also trying to beautify and again, like I said, activate sites.

374
02:00:00,680 --> 02:00:13,100
This would be a site we did get approval in May from MDOT to go ahead and move forward with this and they've seen our concept to close the curb cut but also to beautify the site.

375
02:00:13,340 --> 02:00:21,800
This is an early concept that had just some plantings and trees and that sort of blob in the middle was actually a pine cone that was a piece of artwork.

376
02:00:22,360 --> 02:00:28,840
It was for illustrative purposes. We were trying to say there could be some kind of a neat public sculpture there.

377
02:00:28,840 --> 02:00:34,880
Since that time, we thought that because you have to have so many feet from the right

378
02:00:34,880 --> 02:00:41,520
of way that it could be a deadly fixed object, and so we rethought that, and what we'd like

379
02:00:41,520 --> 02:00:45,780
to do now is move forward with the landscape plan, which has plantings from all different

380
02:00:45,780 --> 02:00:46,160
seasons.

381
02:00:46,360 --> 02:00:47,240
It was in your packet.

382
02:00:48,320 --> 02:00:49,660
We'll go to the next slide, please.

383
02:00:50,980 --> 02:00:54,260
Just a little bit of the work that needs to be done.

384
02:00:54,320 --> 02:00:56,720
We need to close the curb cut, but we don't want to cause any flooding.

385
02:00:57,480 --> 02:01:08,380
We've been working on the placemaking interdepartmentally with the planning and development, with engineering, economic development, and others to make sure that it's designed appropriately.

386
02:01:08,820 --> 02:01:21,820
Laura Smith, our assistant town engineer, designed this so that we have kind of a catch basin that will collect the water and we are going to be obviously putting in some new curbing and reusing some curbing.

387
02:01:21,820 --> 02:01:29,540
So that part will happen first and we hope that should be able to happen in the next couple of weeks.

388
02:01:30,040 --> 02:01:39,020
What we're trying to do is have that happen in a timely way so that we can get our town arborist to help us with the planting plan and hopefully get this done.

389
02:01:39,800 --> 02:01:44,160
So we're kind of TBD on whether we're going to do that because we have to get the planting done in October.

390
02:01:44,880 --> 02:01:47,580
So we'll keep you posted on where we are with that.

391
02:01:47,580 --> 02:01:54,680
Next slide please. So I'm going to call Dennis Wilson up here to talk a little bit about the the planting plan and

392
02:01:59,790 --> 02:02:05,450
Dennis Wilson, town arborist. So my past life I was a landscape designer as part of

393
02:02:05,450 --> 02:02:10,350
also an arborist so I volunteered to do the landscape design for this jug handle

394
02:02:10,350 --> 02:02:15,830
and basically the design was kind of given an aspect of trying to get a

395
02:02:15,830 --> 02:02:19,730
flowering aspect of it from the spring all the way till first hard frost in

396
02:02:19,730 --> 02:02:20,030
the fall.

397
02:02:20,690 --> 02:02:25,170
So this design is basically showing where it would be flowering, something flowering there

398
02:02:25,170 --> 02:02:28,630
at all seasons, you know, design-wise anyway, like that.

399
02:02:30,010 --> 02:02:35,810
And because this is what's called a heavily impacted zone, which in the wintertime a lot

400
02:02:35,810 --> 02:02:39,710
of snow gets piled up on it from plowing, salt spray, sediment from the road and everything

401
02:02:39,710 --> 02:02:42,970
like that, the plants were chosen to be really hardy and low maintenance.

402
02:02:43,630 --> 02:02:46,630
And so it doesn't necessarily mean all of them are actually native, they're

403
02:02:46,630 --> 02:02:48,090
native cultivars for the most part.

404
02:02:48,090 --> 02:02:52,970
Some of them were chosen because I didn't have a native that would probably fit

405
02:02:52,970 --> 02:02:59,230
there that survived long term. These are also plants that will attract pollinators

406
02:02:59,230 --> 02:03:04,310
like bees, pollinating insects like that, hummingbirds, other birds and stuff

407
02:03:04,310 --> 02:03:09,150
like that. Some of these plants actually will host the butterfly larvae and also

408
02:03:09,150 --> 02:03:11,830
attract certain butterflies as well. So I kind of tried to integrate

409
02:03:11,830 --> 02:03:14,890
everything I possibly could into this kind of little pocket park which

410
02:03:14,890 --> 02:03:18,770
give it some little pop and flower for the whole season as I possibly could.

411
02:03:23,950 --> 02:03:25,190
Next slide please, Larry.

412
02:03:27,480 --> 02:03:32,420
Okay, so we, this is the cost that we have for the project,

413
02:03:32,660 --> 02:03:36,140
and most of it is related to the engineering as I discussed.

414
02:03:37,040 --> 02:03:41,480
The landscape plan, it shows a $5,000 estimate there,

415
02:03:41,540 --> 02:03:44,800
although I just was informed tonight that that may go down by $2,000.

416
02:03:45,960 --> 02:03:48,060
So that is not the final price.

417
02:03:48,060 --> 02:03:56,040
We hope it's more around 29,000 and yeah so the next slide please if there's any

418
02:03:56,040 --> 02:04:01,840
questions I'm happy to take them and so is is Dennis if you want to have more

419
02:04:01,840 --> 02:04:08,280
details. Councillor Hicks. Thanks for presenting this question about just the

420
02:04:08,280 --> 02:04:12,540
functionality of it as a you called it a pocket park is it how does it get

421
02:04:12,540 --> 02:04:17,360
how is it accessible to it's not really going to be accessible there's

422
02:04:17,360 --> 02:04:23,420
there is a road that a drive there's a there's a credit union there and

423
02:04:23,420 --> 02:04:26,960
they're gonna still need to have active you know they're gonna need to be get

424
02:04:26,960 --> 02:04:30,920
going through that right because their parking is to the side and then they'll

425
02:04:30,920 --> 02:04:34,580
come out they'll still be able to come out so that's what another reason why

426
02:04:34,580 --> 02:04:39,980
we decided against the the public art piece and so it's really just a

427
02:04:39,980 --> 02:04:43,740
pocket part it's a beautification but it's not we're not really inviting the

428
02:04:43,740 --> 02:04:45,580
public in to hang out in the park.

429
02:04:49,480 --> 02:04:50,100
Councilor Ecker?

430
02:04:50,580 --> 02:04:54,060
Yes, directors Costello, what's your best guess

431
02:04:54,060 --> 02:04:58,020
on timing on when the mobile station will be gone?

432
02:04:58,760 --> 02:05:02,660
Well, we are trying to get the donation agreement to you

433
02:05:02,660 --> 02:05:03,620
all in October.

434
02:05:04,200 --> 02:05:05,700
And then I'd like to move on that.

435
02:05:06,080 --> 02:05:07,160
We've got an estimate.

436
02:05:07,420 --> 02:05:09,140
We'll have to firm up that estimate.

437
02:05:09,260 --> 02:05:11,260
But I'd like to move on that this winter if we could.

438
02:05:12,240 --> 02:05:14,620
And then we're designing the pocket

439
02:05:14,620 --> 02:05:21,900
Park now with the with the CTO landscape who's our consultant. Okay so I'm hoping hoping to get

440
02:05:21,900 --> 02:05:27,640
the at least the structure taken down you know fairly quickly. So hopefully this winter. Yeah

441
02:05:27,640 --> 02:05:35,060
great thank you. Yeah. Councilor Timi. You mentioned that we had done a fees one and

442
02:05:35,060 --> 02:05:40,420
fees two is coming is that regarding environmental cleanup of the site? We just do not recommend

443
02:05:40,420 --> 02:05:44,460
And we do not ask the town to take on anything until we know what we're taking on.

444
02:05:44,580 --> 02:05:46,200
So there was a phase one that was done.

445
02:05:46,900 --> 02:05:52,060
And then the phase two is that we just want to make sure there's no asbestos in the building that we're taking down.

446
02:05:52,240 --> 02:05:53,280
So we need to be aware of that.

447
02:05:53,780 --> 02:05:56,460
We are getting a gift of services.

448
02:05:56,660 --> 02:05:59,380
So it's a grant from our mid-coast council of government.

449
02:06:00,600 --> 02:06:03,480
So we're getting those gift of services.

450
02:06:03,760 --> 02:06:05,520
And that's not something that we pay for.

451
02:06:05,640 --> 02:06:08,200
But it is something that we're getting a good value on.

452
02:06:08,200 --> 02:06:11,080
and we don't want to close on any even receipt of a property

453
02:06:11,080 --> 02:06:12,120
until we know what we're taking.

454
02:06:13,000 --> 02:06:15,700
And did the phase one, does that like talk

455
02:06:15,700 --> 02:06:17,340
about like soil contamination?

456
02:06:17,820 --> 02:06:19,700
I know the tanks are out of there at this point,

457
02:06:19,760 --> 02:06:23,160
but it was a gas station for quite a while.

458
02:06:23,460 --> 02:06:26,500
Right, yes, and they were taken out and certified

459
02:06:26,500 --> 02:06:29,480
in the appropriate way, but it is a more fulsome look

460
02:06:29,480 --> 02:06:32,900
at everything that could possibly be

461
02:06:32,900 --> 02:06:34,620
that we would then have to do a secondary,

462
02:06:34,780 --> 02:06:36,560
and that's why we're doing the secondary with the phase

463
02:06:36,560 --> 02:06:38,220
to on the asbestos.

464
02:06:38,780 --> 02:06:39,120
Thank you.

465
02:06:42,880 --> 02:06:43,860
Other questions?

466
02:06:45,300 --> 02:06:47,020
Question around the financing.

467
02:06:47,640 --> 02:06:48,900
So you brought forward a number.

468
02:06:49,180 --> 02:06:50,080
What does that number mean?

469
02:06:50,400 --> 02:06:54,440
So that we have some money in the Cook's Corner of

470
02:06:54,440 --> 02:06:58,460
Vitalization, you know, I guess account.

471
02:06:59,080 --> 02:07:02,300
And we have plenty of money available for that.

472
02:07:02,620 --> 02:07:05,020
So I don't know if you want to know any more than that.

473
02:07:05,700 --> 02:07:06,220
Yep.

474
02:07:06,560 --> 02:07:07,220
That's good for now.

475
02:07:07,760 --> 02:07:08,180
Yeah.

476
02:07:08,180 --> 02:07:08,680
Thank you.

477
02:07:09,280 --> 02:07:09,880
Thank you.

478
02:07:11,340 --> 02:07:15,880
So if I can just clarify, that money had already been previously appropriated by the council

479
02:07:16,400 --> 02:07:19,140
from TIF revenues for the Cook's Corner re-vetalization.

480
02:07:19,560 --> 02:07:24,620
And it's been used for a variety of things to enhance Cook's Corner.

481
02:07:25,820 --> 02:07:27,760
Hopefully a lot more will be used.

482
02:07:28,580 --> 02:07:31,620
I remember the CIP presentation, so I was going to say that.

483
02:07:31,880 --> 02:07:35,000
So do you also want to talk about the Visitor's Center?

484
02:07:35,380 --> 02:07:37,100
I can talk a little bit about the Visitor's Center.

485
02:07:37,100 --> 02:07:43,880
We are doing kind of a joint project with the Brunswick Downtown Association.

486
02:07:44,940 --> 02:07:48,180
We are the fiscal sponsor. They have been very helpful.

487
02:07:48,900 --> 02:07:52,760
They actually brought us in. It's called a, it's not really a grant.

488
02:07:52,860 --> 02:07:54,820
They're calling it a reimbursement from NEPRA.

489
02:07:55,880 --> 02:08:03,500
And that is, they run the Amtrak and they would like to improve visitors' experience.

490
02:08:03,500 --> 02:08:10,460
And so they made this reimbursement grant available to various towns.

491
02:08:10,700 --> 02:08:18,100
We applied with the BDA and we received approval to have that.

492
02:08:18,220 --> 02:08:20,440
We have to basically submit and we get reimbursed.

493
02:08:21,300 --> 02:08:25,340
The town council did agree to pay 20% match of that.

494
02:08:25,620 --> 02:08:29,160
So originally it was 100,000, so it was about 20,000.

495
02:08:29,160 --> 02:08:31,260
Since then, the budget's gone down a little bit

496
02:08:31,260 --> 02:08:34,900
because we actually had a lower cost on the lighting.

497
02:08:35,120 --> 02:08:36,280
So we're replacing the lighting

498
02:08:36,280 --> 02:08:38,040
with all efficient LED lighting.

499
02:08:38,760 --> 02:08:41,060
There's gonna be new seating benches.

500
02:08:41,780 --> 02:08:45,140
There's new flooring, a new poxy flooring.

501
02:08:45,280 --> 02:08:48,260
There's gonna be painting, a new reception desk.

502
02:08:48,580 --> 02:08:50,760
If you've been in there, if any of you have been in there,

503
02:08:51,180 --> 02:08:54,140
everything was all paper, you know, even schedules.

504
02:08:54,520 --> 02:08:56,400
And so that's all gonna be,

505
02:08:56,520 --> 02:08:58,360
they're gonna have TVs with the schedules and everything.

506
02:08:58,360 --> 02:09:02,440
So we're trying to get it more modern and better for the user experience

507
02:09:02,440 --> 02:09:07,660
There's even going to be like a little sort of bar area with stools where people can plug in and do laptop stuff

508
02:09:07,660 --> 02:09:12,720
And so that's basically what it is. It's kind of just an update on what's there

509
02:09:13,460 --> 02:09:14,200
Yeah, great

510
02:09:14,980 --> 02:09:17,960
Any questions from Council on that one and that is starting quickly too

511
02:09:18,680 --> 02:09:20,640
So that should start the end of September

512
02:09:21,580 --> 02:09:22,060
beautiful

513
02:09:25,480 --> 02:09:26,520
Councilor Timi.

514
02:09:29,790 --> 02:09:39,670
So once stuff like these in TVs and whatnot are installed, who's responsible for like replacement costs when things like just inevitably stop working like everything does these days?

515
02:09:40,330 --> 02:09:49,330
Well, we have, we're the ones that have the lease with the, I forget the name of the management company now maybe, maybe Jay can help me with that one.

516
02:09:49,510 --> 02:09:50,790
But we have the lease agreement.

517
02:09:50,790 --> 02:09:59,570
So I think the town would be responsible for that, you know, we pay the BDA to staff, but it is ultimately the town that has the lease.

518
02:09:59,850 --> 02:10:00,550
Thank you.

519
02:10:04,660 --> 02:10:05,880
So, thank you.

520
02:10:06,060 --> 02:10:06,640
Okay, thank you.

521
02:10:07,840 --> 02:10:11,560
So just a couple more things we've been hearing a little bit about infrastructure.

522
02:10:12,460 --> 02:10:13,120
Thank you.

523
02:10:13,320 --> 02:10:15,620
Councilor Eckert Main Street is finished.

524
02:10:16,580 --> 02:10:18,760
The Le Mans block is starting today.

525
02:10:19,100 --> 02:10:22,460
The other thing that is starting today is the Parks and Rec parking lot.

526
02:10:22,460 --> 02:10:28,380
That's going to be a few weeks of repaving both the front and back parking lots.

527
02:10:30,760 --> 02:10:35,960
Let's see, what else? Old Bath Road was going to start this week, but it's starting next week.

528
02:10:37,500 --> 02:10:44,060
Jordan Avenue, we are still fingers crossed, but we're waiting for two things.

529
02:10:44,160 --> 02:10:49,720
One, that the culvert will be completed and that the Army Corps permit will be extended.

530
02:10:49,720 --> 02:10:55,500
So it's not a no yet, but it's not a definite either.

531
02:10:55,840 --> 02:10:58,700
So keep all your fingers and toes crossed on Jordan Avenue.

532
02:11:00,740 --> 02:11:05,220
So the other thing some of you have seen, exit 28 southbound.

533
02:11:05,400 --> 02:11:11,820
So this means if you're coming south on route 295 and you want to get off at Brunswick at exit 28,

534
02:11:12,220 --> 02:11:16,040
it's going to be closed starting Thursday, right?

535
02:11:16,880 --> 02:11:22,520
and I believe it's said for two weeks so this is people coming southbound will

536
02:11:22,520 --> 02:11:27,320
have to get off and top some doesn't affect the northbound exit but just the

537
02:11:27,320 --> 02:11:32,060
southbound so that's gonna be a little interesting we're trying to publicize

538
02:11:32,060 --> 02:11:37,740
it as much as we can and that's all I have on infrastructure and I will

539
02:11:37,740 --> 02:11:41,680
remind everyone again but October 7th so this is after our next council

540
02:11:41,680 --> 02:11:44,740
meeting so I'll tell you about it again the fire department is having their

541
02:11:44,740 --> 02:11:53,500
open house so and that's all I have great okay moving right along here we're

542
02:11:53,500 --> 02:11:57,600
going to move to new business some of you on council maybe like what new

543
02:11:57,600 --> 02:12:02,460
business this item we've had a public hearing on so how's the new business the

544
02:12:02,460 --> 02:12:05,160
way that it works because we didn't vote on it last time it comes as a new

545
02:12:05,160 --> 02:12:09,940
business item so that's why it's under there so item number 110 the town

546
02:12:09,940 --> 02:12:12,840
council will consider adopting an amendment to his owning ordinance

547
02:12:12,840 --> 02:12:19,420
Appendix A attached draft additions and changes for the Main Street Overlay District and we'll take any appropriate action

548
02:12:19,420 --> 02:12:24,600
I'm going to turn this over to the Planning and Development Deputy Director Dielman to introduce. Thank you.

549
02:12:27,530 --> 02:12:32,130
So again tonight we're returning to continue the public hearing on the proposed Main Street overlay

550
02:12:32,790 --> 02:12:34,510
the overlay intends

551
02:12:34,510 --> 02:12:43,570
Overlay is intended to prioritize active commercial uses enable higher density and well-designed development along the downtown Main Street corridor

552
02:12:43,570 --> 02:12:49,630
Staff previously presented this proposal at the August 3rd and August 17th council meetings.

553
02:12:50,250 --> 02:12:59,870
So I'll keep my presentation tonight brief and try to start by summarizing some of the changes made in response to the last council discussion.

554
02:13:00,670 --> 02:13:01,090
Next slide.

555
02:13:04,300 --> 02:13:09,240
The three key updates included in tonight's packet are first,

556
02:13:09,240 --> 02:13:17,440
First, the response, in response to concerns about the overlays potential effects on the downtown parking supply.

557
02:13:17,920 --> 02:13:21,900
Staff have removed the parking reduction provisions from the draft,

558
02:13:22,400 --> 02:13:27,340
realizing that the council could always revisit the downtown parking policies in the future.

559
02:13:28,080 --> 02:13:34,300
In the meantime, if an applicant is seeking parking relief for a particular redevelopment project,

560
02:13:34,300 --> 02:13:37,180
such as the one at 53 Main Street.

561
02:13:37,820 --> 02:13:42,780
They could still request relief through a process known as contract zoning,

562
02:13:43,220 --> 02:13:48,540
which is a separate process, which would be reviewed on a case by case basis by the council.

563
02:13:49,980 --> 02:13:54,120
Second, the open space language in the draft was clarified,

564
02:13:54,840 --> 02:14:01,580
requiring open spaces to be accessible to the public from dawn till dusk.

565
02:14:01,580 --> 02:14:09,340
Descended seating areas serving an on-site business would be limited to patrons during business hours,

566
02:14:09,740 --> 02:14:14,920
subject to any required town license for installations in the public way.

567
02:14:15,760 --> 02:14:23,740
And finally, staff have also included a map showing where the existing Village Review overlay exists,

568
02:14:24,640 --> 02:14:29,000
where there's demolition protections in place that would apply,

569
02:14:29,000 --> 02:14:31,220
which I'll cover more in my next slide.

570
02:14:35,470 --> 02:14:41,010
So again, this map illustrates where the Village Review Overlays existing demolition protections apply.

571
02:14:41,730 --> 02:14:49,510
As shown here in pink, only a limited number of properties would not have any protections in place.

572
02:14:50,530 --> 02:14:57,090
For a protected structure, again, demolitions may only be approved by the Village Review Board

573
02:14:57,090 --> 02:14:59,850
when the proposed replacement or

574
02:15:07,480 --> 02:15:08,200
So this is a strong level of protection for the historic downtown. That's already in place.

575
02:15:08,200 --> 02:15:18,880
And I think it's important to make sure that the public's health and safety, or that its condition prevents it from being adapted to another permitted use.

576
02:15:20,020 --> 02:15:22,420
That would provide a reasonable economic return.

577
02:15:24,300 --> 02:15:29,080
So this is a strong level of protection for the historic downtown. That's already in place.

578
02:15:29,080 --> 02:15:32,820
and would not be removed or weakened by the proposed overlay.

579
02:15:34,120 --> 02:15:39,000
Instead, the overlay would provide a regulatory backstop for future redevelopment.

580
02:15:39,520 --> 02:15:50,780
If and when a protected structure that meets the village review overlay standards to be demolished,

581
02:15:51,220 --> 02:15:56,860
the Main Street overlay would ensure that the replacement is subject to more specific requirements

582
02:15:56,860 --> 02:16:01,260
on building form and design and make it more compatible

583
02:16:01,260 --> 02:16:02,500
with the historic downtown.

584
02:16:03,520 --> 02:16:04,240
Next slide.

585
02:16:07,250 --> 02:16:10,490
So now to just transition into providing a general overview

586
02:16:10,490 --> 02:16:14,210
about the proposed overlay, it would only apply

587
02:16:14,210 --> 02:16:16,790
to new buildings in additions, fronting Main Street

588
02:16:16,790 --> 02:16:19,250
between Mill Street and Noble Street.

589
02:16:20,490 --> 02:16:24,490
It uses a form-based approach, meaning the zoning standards

590
02:16:24,490 --> 02:16:27,870
focus primarily on how the development is designed

591
02:16:27,870 --> 02:16:30,810
and its relation to the street.

592
02:16:31,830 --> 02:16:36,150
The standards address building and parking placement,

593
02:16:36,770 --> 02:16:38,850
height, frontage, architectural design,

594
02:16:39,130 --> 02:16:41,130
open space, and enhancing the public realm.

595
02:16:42,350 --> 02:16:43,850
The underlying zoning requirements

596
02:16:43,850 --> 02:16:46,390
and village review overlay would continue to apply.

597
02:16:47,290 --> 02:16:50,990
The new overlay would supplement those existing requirements

598
02:16:50,990 --> 02:16:53,830
by expanding standards more than

599
02:16:53,830 --> 02:16:56,710
the village review overlay currently provides on its own.

600
02:16:57,870 --> 02:16:59,010
And next slide,

601
02:17:01,200 --> 02:17:04,420
moving on into the more of the specifics of the proposal.

602
02:17:05,220 --> 02:17:10,620
The standards primarily address the building placement,

603
02:17:11,080 --> 02:17:16,880
height, higher quality architectural design and enhancing the pedestrian experience.

604
02:17:17,980 --> 02:17:24,840
The existing GM6, Growth Mixed Use 6 zoning district currently allows a maximum building height of 40 feet.

605
02:17:24,840 --> 02:17:35,580
The proposed overlay would allow up to 55 feet for flat roof buildings and 65 feet to the peak of a pitch roof and for permitted non-habitable roof features.

606
02:17:36,540 --> 02:17:48,980
Portions of buildings above 40 feet would also be required to step back at least 15 feet or the abut single or two family residential uses along the side and rear property line.

607
02:17:49,940 --> 02:18:00,700
And to help illustrate what additional height could look like downtown, the images shown to the right were prepared by an urban design firm that the town consulted.

608
02:18:01,380 --> 02:18:08,100
They show how taller buildings with flat or pitched roof could fit within the existing context.

609
02:18:09,640 --> 02:18:16,400
Beyond height, the overall eye would also require ground floors to be designed as store fronts with commercial uses,

610
02:18:17,400 --> 02:18:23,720
visible entrances, substantial windows, and sufficient depth to create functional commercial spaces.

611
02:18:24,700 --> 02:18:30,600
Buildings would need to closely front the sidewalk and occupy at least 80% of its frontage,

612
02:18:31,040 --> 02:18:34,440
helping to create a more continuous building edge to engage pedestrians.

613
02:18:36,280 --> 02:18:41,240
Buildings would also be required to use high quality durable materials and incorporate pedestrian

614
02:18:41,240 --> 02:18:46,580
scaled elements such as awnings, canopy lighting, seating planters and display windows.

615
02:18:48,000 --> 02:18:53,100
Additionally, a 5% open space requirement could be met through providing a plaza,

616
02:18:53,620 --> 02:18:56,040
pocket park or active sidewalk area.

617
02:18:56,940 --> 02:19:02,340
So overall the intent here is to ensure new development contributes to an active

618
02:19:02,340 --> 02:19:06,760
and more comfortable downtown environment experience at the street level.

619
02:19:07,940 --> 02:19:08,420
Next slide.

620
02:19:11,300 --> 02:19:16,460
So these draft amendments, staff have reviewed and found them to be consistent with Brunswick's

621
02:19:16,460 --> 02:19:21,020
comprehensive plan, which is required for any zoning amendment process.

622
02:19:22,100 --> 02:19:27,800
The overlay is located within the town's designated growth area as identified in the plan,

623
02:19:27,800 --> 02:19:33,440
which directs reinvestment towards areas where infrastructure and

624
02:19:33,440 --> 02:19:35,760
services can support more concentrated growth.

625
02:19:36,540 --> 02:19:42,600
Second, the plan identifies downtown as one of the areas that has opportunities for

626
02:19:42,600 --> 02:19:47,440
additional housing, revitalization, and infill development on underutilized properties.

627
02:19:48,460 --> 02:19:51,960
There are also several strategies that directly support the proposed overlay,

628
02:19:51,960 --> 02:19:57,040
including one that calls for prioritizing active commercial uses and

629
02:19:57,040 --> 02:20:01,040
higher density development near major commercial corridors and within mixed

630
02:20:01,040 --> 02:20:05,820
use zoning districts and another that recommends considering

631
02:20:05,820 --> 02:20:11,100
form-based zoning within the growth area. Additionally, other strategies speak

632
02:20:11,100 --> 02:20:15,440
to creating beautiful streets and beautiful streets with active

633
02:20:15,440 --> 02:20:20,220
ground floors and other standards that also support shops and pedestrians

634
02:20:20,220 --> 02:20:26,780
they serve. So for all these reasons, staff believes that amendments are consistent with the comp plan.

635
02:20:28,160 --> 02:20:28,800
So

636
02:20:31,040 --> 02:20:36,400
in summary, the overlay would allow additional building height in exchange for stronger standards,

637
02:20:36,800 --> 02:20:41,100
governing building form, architecture, open space, and the pedestrian environment.

638
02:20:41,860 --> 02:20:46,460
It's intended to support additional housing, commercial activity, and long-term reinvestment

639
02:20:47,160 --> 02:20:50,420
while providing a predictable framework for future development

640
02:20:50,420 --> 02:20:52,480
and how it should relate to Main Street.

641
02:20:54,240 --> 02:20:59,020
Again, in July, the planning board found the proposal was consistent with the comprehensive plan.

642
02:21:00,480 --> 02:21:09,320
Followed by that, the Village Review Board also endorsed the draft and recommended that it is compatible with the existing Village Review Overlay District.

643
02:21:10,460 --> 02:21:16,680
And at tonight's hearing, staff are requesting the Town Council to vote and adopt these proposed amendments.

644
02:21:17,280 --> 02:21:19,520
And Julie and I are happy to answer any questions.

645
02:21:19,900 --> 02:21:20,840
Thank you.

646
02:21:22,380 --> 02:21:23,840
Questions of Council?

647
02:21:28,390 --> 02:21:32,410
Councilor Ellis is in here, so I'm a force of habit looking over in this direction.

648
02:21:32,610 --> 02:21:33,110
Councilor Ecker.

649
02:21:34,270 --> 02:21:36,450
Thank you, Deputy Director Diehlman.

650
02:21:37,390 --> 02:21:49,430
I'm wondering if you could go back to the slide that showed the overlay and the buildings that would be protected.

651
02:21:49,430 --> 02:21:53,050
So explain the colors, yeah, that one right there.

652
02:21:56,880 --> 02:21:57,600
So which colors?

653
02:21:58,340 --> 02:22:05,060
So what you're looking at is parcels that have a protected structure on them.

654
02:22:05,500 --> 02:22:08,260
So in orange, there's a lot of colors going on.

655
02:22:08,480 --> 02:22:09,460
So I apologize.

656
02:22:09,880 --> 02:22:11,400
The orange is contributing.

657
02:22:12,060 --> 02:22:18,780
So the highest degree of protection or essentially very historic structures

658
02:22:18,780 --> 02:22:23,140
that are contributing a lot by way of their historic character.

659
02:22:24,180 --> 02:22:27,380
And then non-contributing is kind of the secondary class,

660
02:22:27,660 --> 02:22:33,380
both of which are given protections under the Village Review overlay.

661
02:22:34,540 --> 02:22:36,500
And then you'll see just dashed lines.

662
02:22:36,660 --> 02:22:40,380
Those are just historic district boundaries, but for the purposes of this,

663
02:22:40,880 --> 02:22:46,200
it's really just those two colors that have the protections orange and blue.

664
02:22:46,200 --> 02:22:55,080
And then we tried to point out in pink any properties within the proposal tonight that don't have those protections.

665
02:22:55,380 --> 02:22:59,860
So you're looking at about nine properties with a mix of uses on each.

666
02:23:00,680 --> 02:23:01,640
In pink.

667
02:23:02,520 --> 02:23:04,960
We might have to really zoom in to see it.

668
02:23:05,020 --> 02:23:08,180
I probably should have used a different color, but I had limited options here.

669
02:23:09,060 --> 02:23:10,060
Yeah, where's pink?

670
02:23:13,520 --> 02:23:20,720
You see there's kind of a line going to those like circled areas. Those are parcels being circled that are without protections.

671
02:23:23,410 --> 02:23:34,470
Alright, and can you just give real quickly layman's what's the highest degree of protection for the ones that I see as yellow?

672
02:23:36,490 --> 02:23:38,550
It's yellow orange ones.

673
02:23:38,550 --> 02:23:42,010
So the ones that aren't contributing or non-contributing?

674
02:23:42,410 --> 02:23:43,090
For contributing.

675
02:23:44,740 --> 02:23:47,610
Well, the protections in place would apply

676
02:23:47,610 --> 02:23:48,910
to contributing and non-contributing.

677
02:23:49,110 --> 02:23:53,090
So the ones that aren't within either of those two camps,

678
02:23:54,000 --> 02:23:57,250
they would just be held to the standard zoning requirements

679
02:23:57,900 --> 02:23:59,350
and property development standards

680
02:23:59,350 --> 02:24:02,990
as a project might trigger them.

681
02:24:04,010 --> 02:24:06,230
So everything in orange slash yellow

682
02:24:06,230 --> 02:24:08,930
and Lou is protected, hypothetically.

683
02:24:10,070 --> 02:24:13,950
There's a fair bit of protection in place, except for those nine properties.

684
02:24:18,480 --> 02:24:19,240
Further questions?

685
02:24:20,900 --> 02:24:21,580
Clarification?

686
02:24:23,780 --> 02:24:29,040
When we say protected, does that mean that the overlay does not apply to them?

687
02:24:29,440 --> 02:24:35,460
I'm trying to understand, because looking between here and the picture that was in our packet,

688
02:24:35,460 --> 02:24:39,900
it looks like almost all of downtown is covered by that,

689
02:24:40,020 --> 02:24:43,840
by the yellow slash orange and the blue.

690
02:24:44,520 --> 02:24:49,580
So I'm just trying to understand like what does this all mean?

691
02:24:50,160 --> 02:24:52,720
Right, so there's essentially the protections

692
02:24:52,720 --> 02:24:55,240
we're talking about here that are under

693
02:24:55,240 --> 02:24:56,520
the village review overlay.

694
02:24:57,320 --> 02:24:59,700
It's just a higher bar to be able to,

695
02:25:00,480 --> 02:25:03,820
if a developer or if an owner wants to develop

696
02:25:03,820 --> 02:25:08,320
help upon that property and demolish an existing structure that's contributing or non-contributing.

697
02:25:09,080 --> 02:25:13,420
There's a higher degree of standard that needs to be met.

698
02:25:13,620 --> 02:25:19,800
So they need to essentially show that what they're proposing would be compatible with

699
02:25:19,800 --> 02:25:23,300
the surrounding streetscape and contributing resources in the vicinity.

700
02:25:24,140 --> 02:25:29,200
And then they also have to meet one of two additional criteria where it has to either pose

701
02:25:29,840 --> 02:25:40,000
imminent threat to public health or safety or they have to demonstrate that the existing

702
02:25:40,000 --> 02:25:45,960
or the condition or use of the property would not provide them, reuse of that property would

703
02:25:45,960 --> 02:25:48,040
not provide them a reasonable economic return.

704
02:25:48,440 --> 02:25:53,760
So essentially like a hardship test and that's kind of a high bar to meet for a developer.

705
02:25:54,040 --> 02:25:58,360
They'd have to really provide a lot of documentation to be able to demolish a structure.

706
02:25:58,360 --> 02:26:06,320
So just to recap, an existing building within all of that area has to meet all of those criteria

707
02:26:06,690 --> 02:26:11,280
if it's contributing and a lower bar if it's non-contributing.

708
02:26:11,740 --> 02:26:22,280
But if they met all the criteria then they could go under the new ordinance to allow for

709
02:26:22,280 --> 02:26:23,500
the redevelopment.

710
02:26:23,700 --> 02:26:24,240
That's right.

711
02:26:24,240 --> 02:26:29,500
I think the best way to see it is it's what we're proposing tonight is you know

712
02:26:29,500 --> 02:26:35,380
it serves the purpose of being a regulatory backstop if if ever a property

713
02:26:35,380 --> 02:26:39,300
needs to be developed needs to be demolished and they're able to

714
02:26:39,300 --> 02:26:45,280
demonstrate that we have much more detailed set of regulation in place to

715
02:26:45,280 --> 02:26:51,760
ensure that a future development is is done well and designed well. What if one

716
02:26:51,760 --> 02:27:00,580
One of those pieces wants to do an expansion to their existing building, because you're

717
02:27:00,580 --> 02:27:03,760
just talking about demolition and building new here.

718
02:27:04,720 --> 02:27:13,780
What would they have to do to be able to expand the height or whatever?

719
02:27:14,920 --> 02:27:15,120
Sure.

720
02:27:15,360 --> 02:27:21,100
I think expanding on top of an existing structure would carry quite a bit of cost

721
02:27:21,100 --> 02:27:27,960
to do that to make sure that the in existing structures structurally sound that said it's

722
02:27:27,960 --> 02:27:33,720
not impossible but the again the requirements of the village review overlay would apply

723
02:27:33,720 --> 02:27:38,200
as well as these these requirements so how whatever their design looks like would still

724
02:27:38,200 --> 02:27:43,680
need to be contextually appropriate designed well quality materials you know you name

725
02:27:43,680 --> 02:27:47,360
it all the standards would be applicable in that case.

726
02:27:48,820 --> 02:27:49,700
Councilor Anderson?

727
02:27:51,320 --> 02:27:53,660
One other quick question.

728
02:27:54,100 --> 02:27:54,360
Yeah.

729
02:27:54,500 --> 02:27:54,700
Okay.

730
02:27:54,880 --> 02:28:04,320
Question summary is the cumulative effect of this is that there will not be a drastic

731
02:28:04,320 --> 02:28:12,480
change to the main street look as it stands now because assuming all the buildings are

732
02:28:12,480 --> 02:28:17,380
in good condition, they're not going to get torn down because a developer comes along and

733
02:28:17,380 --> 02:28:21,960
says, I want to put in a four story apartment building.

734
02:28:22,520 --> 02:28:23,880
I think that's a good way to put it.

735
02:28:24,060 --> 02:28:28,540
I think staff didn't expect this to be an all at once type of deal.

736
02:28:29,120 --> 02:28:33,280
It would be very incremental and clearly the amount of protections currently in place

737
02:28:33,280 --> 02:28:40,280
would make it very difficult to change the downtown fabric very, very quickly.

738
02:28:40,280 --> 02:28:41,740
Thank you.

739
02:28:44,220 --> 02:28:51,260
To throw out a question here as well, so our current standards, do we have them?

740
02:28:52,040 --> 02:28:53,320
What does that look like?

741
02:28:56,120 --> 02:29:01,760
So we have zoning standards for the GM6 district, which this is in.

742
02:29:03,940 --> 02:29:11,240
There's a max height of 40 feet and a build to zone between zero to five feet.

743
02:29:11,240 --> 02:29:17,980
So that that requires basically you have to bring your building to to be within that zone. Can I I'm gonna I'm gonna

744
02:29:18,560 --> 02:29:26,860
Edit my my broad question a little bit. Are there current standards on the appearance of structures in that area?

745
02:29:27,240 --> 02:29:28,560
like besides height

746
02:29:29,760 --> 02:29:35,220
There are there are more general standards laid out in the village review overlay district

747
02:29:37,200 --> 02:29:37,840
there's

748
02:29:38,520 --> 02:29:39,780
for instance, there's a

749
02:29:39,780 --> 02:29:45,460
a range of fenestration that developers would need to meet.

750
02:29:46,060 --> 02:29:49,460
But under our proposed overlay, there's

751
02:29:49,460 --> 02:29:53,300
a much harder requirement, a higher number

752
02:29:53,300 --> 02:29:54,800
that developments would have to meet.

753
02:29:55,720 --> 02:29:59,660
So in many cases, the proposal tonight will expand.

754
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:04,900
And specify in greater detail those components that are required.

755
02:30:05,260 --> 02:30:14,960
Great, because I guess what I'm looking at, so orange slash yellow on this map feels like things that are probably never going to change,

756
02:30:15,180 --> 02:30:19,980
where the blue is a little bit more iffy and the pink is for sure something that can be addressed,

757
02:30:20,740 --> 02:30:24,600
where I'm assuming, because what I have in my mind when I'm thinking about these at least,

758
02:30:24,600 --> 02:30:30,120
This is the right on Pleasant Street on this map, that blue corner that is the 7-11.

759
02:30:30,820 --> 02:30:35,420
And so hypothetically, if a developer came and was like, because I know that that fuel,

760
02:30:36,560 --> 02:30:40,360
former fuel station can't be used there, the permits are expired or whatever it is.

761
02:30:41,120 --> 02:30:45,120
But a developer could come purchase that building and put essentially anything that

762
02:30:45,120 --> 02:30:46,940
fits in GM 6 there.

763
02:30:47,880 --> 02:30:52,980
They don't necessarily have to follow, like where this would put specific main street

764
02:30:52,980 --> 02:30:57,920
requirements for it. Is that, is this an accurate summary? If this, so this

765
02:30:57,920 --> 02:31:06,820
overall is, it is completely, it's entirely applicable to additions or new

766
02:31:06,820 --> 02:31:12,220
constructions, so for that example they could still technically do a permitted

767
02:31:12,220 --> 02:31:17,600
use within that existing structure under the current zoning ordinance, but

768
02:31:17,600 --> 02:31:26,980
But I think this framework does provide much more incentive to build the highest and best

769
02:31:26,980 --> 02:31:27,820
use on a property.

770
02:31:28,680 --> 02:31:35,080
I think certainly that the Council can always revisit in the future the protections in place

771
02:31:35,080 --> 02:31:36,480
on contributing structures.

772
02:31:37,500 --> 02:31:44,840
I think it's quite a bit, it's potentially onerous for folks to develop on those, the

773
02:31:44,840 --> 02:31:51,880
Blusheted parcels so that's always something the council can return to examining at a later point, but yeah right now

774
02:31:53,160 --> 02:31:56,200
Projects would be subject to the existing zoning

775
02:31:56,880 --> 02:31:59,020
Requirements got it. Thank you

776
02:31:59,020 --> 02:31:59,800
counselor pearl

777
02:32:01,200 --> 02:32:07,280
Apologize if this was talked about at a previous meeting, but just curious like what the

778
02:32:08,620 --> 02:32:11,040
The neighbors down on Main Street

779
02:32:11,040 --> 02:32:17,120
how they're feeling about it like the businesses and stuff have you guys heard

780
02:32:17,120 --> 02:32:24,980
from them is it been positive like did their concerns anything like that we have

781
02:32:24,980 --> 02:32:30,640
not received any comments or written comments on this I know that the town

782
02:32:30,640 --> 02:32:35,440
has reached out to the Brunswick downtown Association and and heard general

783
02:32:36,700 --> 02:32:40,720
general feedback expressed through a few business owners is my understanding

784
02:32:40,720 --> 02:32:43,160
and it was generally positive.

785
02:32:43,460 --> 02:32:45,480
I don't think we received any concerns.

786
02:32:45,740 --> 02:32:48,460
And I know earlier, I think we have at least one

787
02:32:48,460 --> 02:32:50,280
business owner in attendance who might be,

788
02:32:50,340 --> 02:32:52,420
was interested in speaking tonight.

789
02:32:52,700 --> 02:32:55,520
So I'll, I think the question may be better answered

790
02:32:55,520 --> 02:32:57,420
later in the session.

791
02:32:59,280 --> 02:33:01,240
Any last questions before I do public comment,

792
02:33:01,360 --> 02:33:01,940
Councillor Teemee.

793
02:33:04,060 --> 02:33:05,720
Yeah, first of all, I just wanted to say thanks

794
02:33:05,720 --> 02:33:09,140
for the changes to the, like the public space

795
02:33:10,300 --> 02:33:11,900
requirements, I think that's a lot more clear

796
02:33:11,900 --> 02:33:18,740
and just make sure that people will have access. Regarding parking, which now has been taken

797
02:33:18,740 --> 02:33:25,880
out, I kind of support these changes for housing, but I wanted to know a little more about how

798
02:33:27,560 --> 02:33:34,100
those parking requirements impact businesses on Main Street, because I know that we have

799
02:33:34,100 --> 02:33:38,000
current parking requirements, and I believe that the change that had been proposed but

800
02:33:38,000 --> 02:33:43,480
that is now removed was to allow them to count on-street parking towards their minimum.

801
02:33:43,960 --> 02:33:44,480
Is that right?

802
02:33:46,060 --> 02:33:51,580
Whether or not that's right, what are the current requirements that are in place?

803
02:33:52,380 --> 02:33:57,500
How would those changes have impacted existing businesses

804
02:33:57,500 --> 02:34:03,340
or new businesses opening in existing storefronts, if that makes sense?

805
02:34:04,160 --> 02:34:04,420
Sure.

806
02:34:05,180 --> 02:34:12,700
So, the previous draft, the language had talked about allowing parking demand studies to count

807
02:34:14,500 --> 02:34:16,580
on-street parking for commercial uses.

808
02:34:17,260 --> 02:34:26,520
Typically, parking demand studies look at the base needs of the uses within a proposed

809
02:34:26,520 --> 02:34:34,880
development and looking at what that need is and putting it on the site,

810
02:34:35,180 --> 02:34:38,840
typically you can't count on-street parking when you look at that, so this

811
02:34:38,840 --> 02:34:44,740
would have provided a little bit more flexibility for commercial uses. That

812
02:34:44,740 --> 02:34:47,620
said, there's still the parking demand study that's available to

813
02:34:47,620 --> 02:34:53,400
projects. The other component flexibility that was provided was to

814
02:34:53,400 --> 02:34:58,480
to kind of lower the number of spaces for residential units with more bedrooms.

815
02:35:01,340 --> 02:35:10,740
So we've kind of just, it'll default to the standard of two parking spaces per unit if

816
02:35:10,740 --> 02:35:11,980
it's two bedrooms or more.

817
02:35:14,080 --> 02:35:18,060
I mean, ultimately the standard parking requirements would need to be followed.

818
02:35:18,060 --> 02:35:26,400
So there are currently exceptions in the zoning ordinance for I believe really can correct me if I'm wrong.

819
02:35:26,540 --> 02:35:33,880
Structures that are 10,000 square feet or less or lots of parcels that are 10,000 square feet or less.

820
02:35:34,060 --> 02:35:35,580
So they're exempted from parking already.

821
02:35:36,440 --> 02:35:43,140
So it's really the relief that we were kind of embedding into the earlier draft was for

822
02:35:43,720 --> 02:35:46,260
uses that potentially would be greater than that scale.

823
02:35:46,260 --> 02:35:53,580
So that's the only kind of thing we were potentially revisiting in the future, but not now.

824
02:35:55,300 --> 02:36:01,100
So just to confirm, like, this is just talking about newly created commercial spaces.

825
02:36:02,220 --> 02:36:04,580
So like an existing commercial space of a business closes,

826
02:36:04,720 --> 02:36:08,120
new one comes in, they don't have to do any sort of parking studies or anything.

827
02:36:08,340 --> 02:36:08,380
Great.

828
02:36:08,620 --> 02:36:08,640
Yeah.

829
02:36:08,640 --> 02:36:12,260
Well, so that's currently in our zoning ordinance under a certain scale.

830
02:36:12,260 --> 02:36:12,360
So

831
02:36:14,790 --> 02:36:21,050
without further questions, I will go ahead and open the floor to public comment.

832
02:36:21,310 --> 02:36:25,670
If you wish to speak on this item, please come to the microphone, say your name, town of residence.

833
02:36:25,990 --> 02:36:30,010
You have three minutes, follow the code of conduct, all of those steps, please.

834
02:36:30,330 --> 02:36:35,990
Jim, through the 8208 Main Street, 149 Main Street, Plymouth, 208.

835
02:36:37,510 --> 02:36:41,430
First of all, I'm kind of glad now I can see that this is going both sides of Main Street,

836
02:36:41,950 --> 02:36:46,910
up to Noble Street. When this first study was on a very short part of the main street,

837
02:36:47,770 --> 02:36:48,930
I didn't think that was right.

838
02:36:52,050 --> 02:36:54,450
I don't have a problem with the height and all that stuff,

839
02:36:54,790 --> 02:36:59,690
but I honestly think, because right now we've got a planning board meeting going upstairs

840
02:36:59,690 --> 02:37:03,730
about contract zoning for a piece of property that we're talking about down here tonight too.

841
02:37:05,130 --> 02:37:10,210
This is all about allowing somebody, I believe, a developer to be able to develop

842
02:37:10,210 --> 02:37:15,450
up a little bit bigger in the JJ's cleaners lot in that area to pay for the sidewalk.

843
02:37:17,310 --> 02:37:22,930
That's how I see it. This is all about allowing him to be able to go a little bit higher so

844
02:37:22,930 --> 02:37:27,310
he can justify doing the project and part of it is going to be either through the contract

845
02:37:27,310 --> 02:37:32,450
zoning upstairs that's going on now or through this process that they're going to have

846
02:37:32,450 --> 02:37:35,370
to pay for the sidewalk. So the best thing to do is we're going to find out who's

847
02:37:35,370 --> 02:37:40,070
going to pay for the sidewalk. Going forward, I think this is what happens when you

848
02:37:40,070 --> 02:37:45,050
towns when you've got too many overlay zones. You've got an overlay zone on a regular zone,

849
02:37:45,250 --> 02:37:50,750
on an overlay zone, on a regular zone, this different zone. Parking, what are we talking

850
02:37:50,750 --> 02:37:56,010
about parking for? You gave away 15 parking spaces for the fire station. There's no parking

851
02:37:56,010 --> 02:38:04,330
problem down Main Street. You did a sidewalk project and nobody can convince me that

852
02:38:04,330 --> 02:38:12,050
we added parking. Nobody. You took five places away from Social Goose and Portland Pie. You

853
02:38:12,050 --> 02:38:20,570
took three away from Richards. You took one away down by Joshua's. You didn't add too

854
02:38:20,570 --> 02:38:25,090
many. So I don't know why parking is part of the problem. But the biggest problem I

855
02:38:25,090 --> 02:38:29,860
have with this, it just makes it more confusing for anybody to understand what can and can't

856
02:38:29,860 --> 02:38:37,520
be done in a zone. If you had a simple zone that allows something to be done or not, you

857
02:38:37,520 --> 02:38:43,720
now have what? Four, five, six different overlay zones. You've got a historical district zone,

858
02:38:43,860 --> 02:38:47,440
you've got this zone, you've got the regular zone, and now you're going to add this to

859
02:38:47,440 --> 02:38:51,000
it, and this is going to be added to it, and we're going to use it if we have

860
02:38:51,000 --> 02:38:55,140
to. We might not have to do it in this case, but we're going to do it over here.

861
02:38:56,140 --> 02:39:02,460
I think this whole thing needs to be cleaned up so everybody can understand it, but I also honestly

862
02:39:02,920 --> 02:39:07,280
I'll leave this the only reason this is being done is we're trying to find somebody to pay for the sidewalk

863
02:39:07,280 --> 02:39:10,020
And I think that's totally wrong. Thank you.

864
02:39:24,720 --> 02:39:27,200
Hello again start with confusion earlier. My name is Connor

865
02:39:27,200 --> 02:39:31,680
I live in downtown Brunswick as well as I'm a business owner on Main Street in the middle of this overlay

866
02:39:32,700 --> 02:39:35,020
Again, thank you for your service and being here today

867
02:39:35,680 --> 02:39:40,980
Seeing now that the parking change has been removed from the previous bill, I have less

868
02:39:40,980 --> 02:39:44,460
things to say except that I am in support of the general protections for downtown historic

869
02:39:44,460 --> 02:39:49,360
buildings and making it more difficult to demolish buildings as well as strict requirements

870
02:39:49,360 --> 02:39:51,480
for what they must look like should we rebuild them.

871
02:39:51,600 --> 02:39:53,380
I think those are good things for downtown Brunswick.

872
02:39:53,660 --> 02:39:58,400
We are the heart, blood and energy around Brunswick as much as we are building up

873
02:39:58,400 --> 02:40:00,080
the landing in Cook's Corner and what have you.

874
02:40:00,620 --> 02:40:04,300
Currently at least downtown Brunswick is kind of the energy and lifeblood of

875
02:40:04,300 --> 02:40:08,420
community and I think it will be for some time. That being said, I'd like to then also

876
02:40:08,420 --> 02:40:13,320
really strongly support not changing park requirements. If anything, making them even

877
02:40:13,320 --> 02:40:18,720
more strict for any building that comes in. There already is a lack of parking in

878
02:40:18,720 --> 02:40:23,620
downtown Brunswick. I have no umbrage with making buildings taller, providing another floor.

879
02:40:24,140 --> 02:40:27,120
Again, it's kind of the way things are going as this gateway region. Again,

880
02:40:27,220 --> 02:40:31,600
Brunswick, the gateway region, say it with me, is a future of our state and we

881
02:40:31,600 --> 02:40:33,040
We need taller buildings, and that's incredible.

882
02:40:33,700 --> 02:40:37,000
However, if we can assume that this building

883
02:40:37,000 --> 02:40:40,180
is going to have 32 units, most places

884
02:40:40,180 --> 02:40:41,740
or especially in this economy are not

885
02:40:41,740 --> 02:40:44,040
going to be able to have one occupant for a one-bedroom home,

886
02:40:44,080 --> 02:40:45,180
let alone a two-bedroom, is going

887
02:40:45,180 --> 02:40:46,300
to have a minimum of two people.

888
02:40:46,580 --> 02:40:48,680
In most cases, it'll have a couple and another person.

889
02:40:48,820 --> 02:40:49,860
And the way the economy is going,

890
02:40:50,200 --> 02:40:53,020
the way affordable housing in our area is not affordable,

891
02:40:53,540 --> 02:40:54,460
which is no one's fault.

892
02:40:54,640 --> 02:40:56,500
It's the way materials and everything are going.

893
02:40:56,780 --> 02:40:59,020
But if you have 32 units, that's 48 cars.

894
02:40:59,020 --> 02:41:05,820
If half of those, if only half have two cars per unit, 48 cars, if we need enough parking

895
02:41:05,820 --> 02:41:08,120
for those people, you need more parking in downtown.

896
02:41:08,440 --> 02:41:12,880
Whether this developer builds a parking garage in addition to parking for their unit, I really

897
02:41:12,880 --> 02:41:13,780
don't care how it happens.

898
02:41:14,200 --> 02:41:18,960
But this project aside, as we continue to move forward in the development of our glorious

899
02:41:18,960 --> 02:41:24,200
gateway region of this state, we really need to be focused on parking as we move forward

900
02:41:24,200 --> 02:41:27,240
or public transportation or something else, whatever it may be.

901
02:41:27,240 --> 02:41:30,360
But as long as you're not removing those things, I'm happy.

902
02:41:30,680 --> 02:41:33,980
Thank you for your public service and I look forward to a robust gateway region.

903
02:41:34,740 --> 02:41:35,760
Thank you.

904
02:41:42,090 --> 02:41:43,970
Hi, I'm Stephanie Braun from Bronzewick.

905
02:41:44,890 --> 02:41:51,250
So my biggest concerns about this are that we're giving away the sidewalk that we just paid for to these private businesses.

906
02:41:51,750 --> 02:41:57,710
The 5% requirement also meets a 100% usage requirement of their zoning that they have.

907
02:41:57,710 --> 02:42:02,770
So, with that, we're just kind of handing over our sidewalks, saying they're only for

908
02:42:02,770 --> 02:42:06,070
private use in these specific areas and the developers get to use them.

909
02:42:06,510 --> 02:42:07,390
We just paid for those.

910
02:42:07,930 --> 02:42:12,870
So, giving them way to private kind of companies, developers, I don't really understand.

911
02:42:14,290 --> 02:42:17,570
The other issue that I have is that there's nothing stopping short-term rentals.

912
02:42:17,830 --> 02:42:21,530
So, what is showing that this is going to benefit downtown Brunswick?

913
02:42:22,130 --> 02:42:23,690
We can have a short-term rental market.

914
02:42:24,330 --> 02:42:27,270
People can just buy them and not kind of stay there.

915
02:42:27,270 --> 02:42:32,350
So, how are we kind of maintaining that it will actually benefit the downtown.

916
02:42:32,810 --> 02:42:35,570
There's no fiscal kind of report on this.

917
02:42:37,770 --> 02:42:42,470
And so, there's no like owner occupancy requirements.

918
02:42:44,010 --> 02:42:47,370
We're also talking about bringing in more people to downtown.

919
02:42:48,230 --> 02:42:50,170
The developers have talked about privatizing.

920
02:42:50,330 --> 02:42:53,170
They want us to take Waymo's and taxis in to our downtown.

921
02:42:53,690 --> 02:42:58,610
We're not talking at all about improving the bike infrastructure or our pedestrian infrastructure.

922
02:42:59,150 --> 02:43:01,730
And yet we're going to bring in all these private businesses.

923
02:43:02,410 --> 02:43:06,010
So really it's really about making sure that we're closing all the leases loopholes.

924
02:43:06,590 --> 02:43:11,110
This is again being pushed by a developer before some other initiatives are coming out.

925
02:43:11,590 --> 02:43:18,610
So I want to make sure our downtown stays, you know, we're voted the cutest downtown, I think, fourth in America right now.

926
02:43:19,570 --> 02:43:24,610
So making sure we stay that way, bringing tourism in, it's a big part of our town.

927
02:43:25,590 --> 02:43:28,170
So let's not let the developers bring in the modern infrastructure.

928
02:43:28,830 --> 02:43:30,030
That's going to take that away from us.

929
02:43:30,890 --> 02:43:31,310
Thank you.

930
02:43:31,770 --> 02:43:32,110
Thank you.

931
02:43:36,170 --> 02:43:36,450
Hello.

932
02:43:37,650 --> 02:43:38,730
Hello, everyone.

933
02:43:38,950 --> 02:43:41,550
My name is Sarah Braiman and I'm a resident of Brunswick.

934
02:43:42,030 --> 02:43:43,670
And I spoke on this last time.

935
02:43:43,950 --> 02:43:48,890
I love seeing the changes in the map.

936
02:43:49,090 --> 02:43:50,330
I think the map is very clear.

937
02:43:50,330 --> 02:43:55,250
is very helpful, it helps us understand, helps me understand better sort of what the dynamic

938
02:43:55,250 --> 02:44:01,370
situation going forward could be. And there's some other changes that I also think are great.

939
02:44:02,010 --> 02:44:07,650
However, I would, I am a bit disappointed that we did not look more closely at what

940
02:44:07,650 --> 02:44:12,690
the public is getting in terms of sort of public amenities. We are increasing, we're

941
02:44:12,690 --> 02:44:17,830
moving forward to, I think the form-based codes are great, I understand the increased

942
02:44:17,830 --> 02:44:24,870
massing. There's a lot of attention to detail. And at the same time, I think only requiring

943
02:44:24,870 --> 02:44:34,110
the 5% open space is very low. We want a contemporary urban scape that is activated, as we talked

944
02:44:34,110 --> 02:44:39,010
about for pedestrians, but we really want to activate it in a contemporary way. And

945
02:44:39,010 --> 02:44:44,010
all over the country, I see public art going in, plazas, really creative stuff that's

946
02:44:44,010 --> 02:44:49,530
happening and I'd really like to ask for more for the public on that, if we're doing that.

947
02:44:50,150 --> 02:44:57,050
So I wish there was a way, could we get a little bit more than 5% and also that has been alluded

948
02:44:57,050 --> 02:44:59,890
to previously that 5% can.

949
02:45:00,000 --> 02:45:06,720
We'll include the sidewalk, which we already own, and yes, it would be an improvement so

950
02:45:06,720 --> 02:45:12,800
that helps our budget process, which is great, but I would just encourage you all to think

951
02:45:12,800 --> 02:45:16,380
more about what the public can have, and I know we've talked about affordable housing,

952
02:45:16,520 --> 02:45:21,340
but I think public space and whatever are good things to consider, if possible, at

953
02:45:21,340 --> 02:45:24,740
this state phase of that process. Thank you.

954
02:45:24,740 --> 02:45:25,440
Thank you.

955
02:45:30,300 --> 02:45:32,660
Hi, my name, excuse me.

956
02:45:33,480 --> 02:45:37,360
My name's Phil Carey from Hatwood Lane.

957
02:45:37,940 --> 02:45:42,820
And I've been concerned with the downtown for over 40 years.

958
02:45:43,600 --> 02:45:49,080
And during that time I've been a patron of the downtown businesses.

959
02:45:49,920 --> 02:45:54,180
Spent 15 years as town planner staffing the Village Review Board.

960
02:45:54,180 --> 02:46:02,340
board, and several years as a member of the BDA's design committee and facade improvement

961
02:46:02,340 --> 02:46:02,920
program.

962
02:46:03,980 --> 02:46:10,620
Currently, I'm chair of the Village Review Board, and over that span of years, I think

963
02:46:11,700 --> 02:46:21,460
I can count maybe two new buildings, and then a major addition to the Tontine Mall.

964
02:46:21,460 --> 02:46:27,940
So the pace of development downtown is not, by any means, overwhelming.

965
02:46:28,760 --> 02:46:39,200
We do have protections in place for the important buildings, but we have other sites that if

966
02:46:39,200 --> 02:46:50,200
the council adopts the proposals, can provide incentives to redevelop some of those sites

967
02:46:51,800 --> 02:47:01,860
into something that would contribute more to our downtown, and so, you know, speaking

968
02:47:01,860 --> 02:47:10,540
for the Village Review Board, we unanimously are in favor of the proposed amendments.

969
02:47:12,000 --> 02:47:18,420
Clearly as things move forward, assuming it's approved and some developments can

970
02:47:18,420 --> 02:47:31,700
happen, the council can revisit any issues surrounding it, parking, public open space.

971
02:47:32,520 --> 02:47:36,140
These are things that can certainly be tweaked.

972
02:47:36,540 --> 02:47:42,900
Given the modest pace of development we've been experiencing, I think the town will

973
02:47:42,900 --> 02:47:48,320
have plenty of time to react and make adjustments.

974
02:47:49,820 --> 02:47:52,800
So I thank you very much for your attention.

975
02:47:53,740 --> 02:47:54,340
Thank you.

976
02:47:55,680 --> 02:47:57,140
Anybody else in the room that would

977
02:47:57,140 --> 02:47:58,920
like to speak on this before I move to Zoom?

978
02:48:01,460 --> 02:48:02,820
Going once, going twice.

979
02:48:03,820 --> 02:48:05,740
All right, I have Sean Hogan on Zoom.

980
02:48:08,850 --> 02:48:10,270
Good evening, Town Council.

981
02:48:10,530 --> 02:48:11,810
Sean Hogan, Brunswick resident.

982
02:48:13,590 --> 02:48:15,870
Couple thoughts on this.

983
02:48:15,870 --> 02:48:22,630
I don't recall there being any great outcry for changing the zoning overlay

984
02:48:22,630 --> 02:48:29,790
downtown until we had a developer who wanted to redevelop the JJ Cleaner

985
02:48:29,790 --> 02:48:34,650
property and I've seen the plan and it looks beautiful but apparently it

986
02:48:34,650 --> 02:48:38,530
won't work financially for the developer unless they could add that top

987
02:48:38,530 --> 02:48:46,810
floor and the zoning didn't permit for that so suddenly we have before us this

988
02:48:46,810 --> 02:48:52,050
what we're discussing right now and I'm not so sure that's a good precedent to

989
02:48:52,050 --> 02:48:56,510
set where a developer comes in and drives the need for a zoning change as

990
02:48:56,510 --> 02:49:01,410
opposed to the town organically wanting to change this I'm going to

991
02:49:01,410 --> 02:49:07,730
respectfully disagree with the previous speaker yes there has been very

992
02:49:07,730 --> 02:49:12,790
very slow development downtown until all of a sudden we've got apartments over the old

993
02:49:12,790 --> 02:49:19,190
fire station. You're going to hear later on tonight about I believe 22 or 24 possible

994
02:49:19,190 --> 02:49:24,510
apartments being proposed for the Hawthorne school area. And then of course you've got

995
02:49:24,510 --> 02:49:28,890
this what we're talking about here at the JJ Cleaner possible development with

996
02:49:28,890 --> 02:49:36,270
apartments over that. Nobody again has talked about the fact that we do not have the

997
02:49:36,270 --> 02:49:42,310
infrastructure, at least in terms of transit, necessary to support this influx

998
02:49:42,310 --> 02:49:49,330
of people and the cars or other means of transit that they require to get around.

999
02:49:50,850 --> 02:49:57,530
I said this previously, our downtown is a jewel and the recipe as it is

1000
02:49:57,530 --> 02:50:05,590
works and you are playing with fire if you start tinkering with it and I think

1001
02:50:05,590 --> 02:50:07,530
this is a mistake to approve this.

1002
02:50:07,650 --> 02:50:09,950
I think we should wait until we find a developer

1003
02:50:09,950 --> 02:50:14,270
who can make it work fiscally with the limits,

1004
02:50:14,510 --> 02:50:15,750
the height limits that we have now.

1005
02:50:15,970 --> 02:50:18,350
This is really all about just adding height

1006
02:50:18,350 --> 02:50:20,450
so that way we could add additional departments.

1007
02:50:20,630 --> 02:50:23,010
And I hear what the planning department is saying

1008
02:50:23,010 --> 02:50:25,230
about this fits with the comp plan

1009
02:50:25,230 --> 02:50:26,970
and this is within the growth zone.

1010
02:50:27,450 --> 02:50:30,490
But just because it fits within the comp plan

1011
02:50:30,490 --> 02:50:32,950
and downtown is part of the growth zone

1012
02:50:32,950 --> 02:50:40,390
does not necessarily mean that we have to make it even more advantageous to grow by growing

1013
02:50:40,390 --> 02:50:47,810
up in height. Yes, downtown's in the growth zone, but it doesn't necessarily have to be

1014
02:50:47,810 --> 02:50:54,150
on Main Street that we do the growing. I think that we've already got problems. We know

1015
02:50:54,150 --> 02:50:58,430
we've got problems with transit. We're just going to have more problems with that. Additionally,

1016
02:50:58,430 --> 02:51:04,210
Personally, I would just like to ask that any zoning that you make here, when we talk

1017
02:51:04,210 --> 02:51:08,710
about doing a traffic study, every time we have a development and they refer to a traffic

1018
02:51:08,710 --> 02:51:14,290
study, all they talk about are trips generated, and the number of parking spaces allotted

1019
02:51:14,290 --> 02:51:15,170
for that development.

1020
02:51:15,790 --> 02:51:20,310
And I've said this before and I'll say it again, Title 29A, Main Statue, which

1021
02:51:20,310 --> 02:51:26,950
covers motor vehicles and traffic, defines traffic as a variety of means of locomotion

1022
02:51:26,950 --> 02:51:33,430
to include pedestrian traffic, bicycle traffic, scooter traffic, whatever you want to call it.

1023
02:51:34,110 --> 02:51:39,110
And if we're only talking about a traffic study that looks at trips generated in parking spaces

1024
02:51:39,110 --> 02:51:46,410
allocated, you're really doing yourself a big injustice. So any traffic study that is done has

1025
02:51:46,410 --> 02:51:51,150
to include all those other modes of transportation, especially in a town that claims to really

1026
02:51:51,150 --> 02:51:56,110
value alternative modes of transportation. Sean, I'm going to interrupt for a second

1027
02:51:56,110 --> 02:51:57,510
I can just let you know your three minutes

1028
02:51:57,510 --> 02:51:58,470
if you could wrap up.

1029
02:51:59,030 --> 02:52:00,190
Yes, sir, thank you.

1030
02:52:00,850 --> 02:52:05,210
I'll just highly recommend that you do not approve this.

1031
02:52:05,490 --> 02:52:06,250
Thank you for your time.

1032
02:52:06,670 --> 02:52:07,190
Thank you.

1033
02:52:08,670 --> 02:52:09,890
Anybody else on Zoom?

1034
02:52:12,290 --> 02:52:14,210
Not seeing any hands go up.

1035
02:52:14,350 --> 02:52:16,870
I'm going to bring it back to council for a motion

1036
02:52:16,870 --> 02:52:18,870
as a reminder, motion, and then discussion.

1037
02:52:21,140 --> 02:52:21,880
Councilor Timmy.

1038
02:52:22,400 --> 02:52:24,060
I have a procedural question.

1039
02:52:24,360 --> 02:52:24,500
Yeah.

1040
02:52:24,500 --> 02:52:30,820
So, we have had one public hearing last time, and then there were other changes.

1041
02:52:31,100 --> 02:52:32,940
And now we're at the second public hearing.

1042
02:52:33,460 --> 02:52:38,640
Do we have to suspend our rules because it's changed since last time?

1043
02:52:38,660 --> 02:52:42,800
Or are these changes not considered important enough that it does that?

1044
02:52:43,180 --> 02:52:46,640
Two answers to that question and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

1045
02:52:47,400 --> 02:52:50,980
One, because we've made it less restrictive rather than more restrictive,

1046
02:52:51,080 --> 02:52:53,320
it's not something that needs to be publicly re-held.

1047
02:52:53,320 --> 02:53:00,740
So like the we made the parking less restrictive because it's more spaces that they would get rather than less spaces in that way

1048
02:53:00,740 --> 02:53:03,960
And the second part of it is that this is technically not a public hearing

1049
02:53:03,960 --> 02:53:09,460
It is a new business item because it comes back as a new business item for us after the public hearing

1050
02:53:10,680 --> 02:53:12,220
Just did I miss anything?

1051
02:53:12,820 --> 02:53:13,800
No, okay

1052
02:53:13,800 --> 02:53:16,060
Questions answered. Yeah counselor Wilson

1053
02:53:17,120 --> 02:53:18,240
Go for it

1054
02:53:22,210 --> 02:53:25,890
I'll make a motion to amend zoning ordinance appendix a

1055
02:53:25,890 --> 02:53:30,250
attached draft additions and changes for the main street overlay

1056
02:53:30,990 --> 02:53:34,610
MSO district motion by Councillor Wilson, and I'll get that a second

1057
02:53:36,750 --> 02:53:37,350
Discussion

1058
02:53:43,210 --> 02:53:43,930
councillor team

1059
02:53:45,230 --> 02:53:47,390
Yeah, I just want to say I'm very

1060
02:53:47,950 --> 02:53:55,350
appreciative of the changes that have been made to this since it first came forward. I

1061
02:53:55,350 --> 02:53:59,510
I think I agree that it would be nice to have more public space.

1062
02:54:02,210 --> 02:54:05,450
But as has been stated, I think it is very possible for

1063
02:54:05,450 --> 02:54:08,210
the council to make changes like that after the fact.

1064
02:54:10,170 --> 02:54:16,850
Other than that, I mean, I think I am supportive of this as is at the moment.

1065
02:54:17,570 --> 02:54:18,070
Great.

1066
02:54:18,650 --> 02:54:19,430
Any further discussion?

1067
02:54:19,890 --> 02:54:20,490
Councilor Ecker.

1068
02:54:21,110 --> 02:54:23,110
Can I just ask a question of staff?

1069
02:54:23,250 --> 02:54:23,770
Go for it.

1070
02:54:23,770 --> 02:54:41,030
Um, is it my understanding that if we leave the parking requirements, then as they've been revised to that, if a developer wants to less parking, anyone in that zone would have to come in with a contract zoning application to do that so it would get its own review.

1071
02:54:42,190 --> 02:54:45,390
That's right. Yeah. The council could review that on a case by case basis.

1072
02:54:46,150 --> 02:54:47,350
Okay. All right. Thank you.

1073
02:54:48,650 --> 02:54:49,370
Councilor Hicks.

1074
02:54:49,910 --> 02:54:50,710
Well, you're up there.

1075
02:54:51,350 --> 02:55:00,890
A question about, I know that there's limits to how much open space can be created on some of these properties.

1076
02:55:01,810 --> 02:55:06,010
Is there an opportunity to create a fund, almost like a mitigation fund,

1077
02:55:06,390 --> 02:55:12,830
so that the funds they would use to create an open space that they can't because they don't have the space,

1078
02:55:12,830 --> 02:55:19,270
could be applied to somewhere that's a priority for the town in the main street area?

1079
02:55:20,770 --> 02:55:24,750
That's always a possibility that could be explored in the future.

1080
02:55:25,790 --> 02:55:39,530
I think for smaller sites, smaller parcels, they're going to be likely proceeding with using the sidewalk to meet the requirements.

1081
02:55:39,530 --> 02:55:48,230
But that said, there are some strings attached, they need to make it an active sidewalk with

1082
02:55:48,830 --> 02:55:55,850
features such as benches, street trees, plantings, lighting, bicycle racks, or other elements.

1083
02:55:56,370 --> 02:56:05,570
So there is some requirement beyond just having a sidewalk in front of a property, but certainly

1084
02:56:05,570 --> 02:56:11,190
you know potentially a fee in lieu could be an option we could consider more in

1085
02:56:11,190 --> 02:56:16,250
the future. Great and so with if they're using the sidewalk would they be

1086
02:56:16,250 --> 02:56:21,990
actually contributing funds towards its maintenance or they're just pointing

1087
02:56:21,990 --> 02:56:24,910
they're going to just say we're going to make sure that we have the space

1088
02:56:24,910 --> 02:56:28,570
available we'll provide those amenities and then that will be that if the

1089
02:56:28,570 --> 02:56:31,490
amenities are already that I guess they can add more amenities I'm just

1090
02:56:31,490 --> 02:56:34,830
saying we already have benches we already have a lot of amenities there

1091
02:56:34,830 --> 02:56:44,410
I'm just wondering, it sounds like we can actually create another way of getting support for those

1092
02:56:44,410 --> 02:56:49,130
amenities, for the open space in the future that we can create that out of the fact.

1093
02:56:49,350 --> 02:56:54,770
I think, I mean, a lot of the, a lot of where the proposal will head will be at the discretion

1094
02:56:54,770 --> 02:56:59,210
of the planning board if they find, you know, what's been proposed is appropriate and, and

1095
02:56:59,210 --> 02:57:06,470
sufficient to meet the intent of the standard, I think it really is kind of driven by each

1096
02:57:06,470 --> 02:57:13,190
case of redevelopment providing a more active streetscape and engaging pedestrian experience.

1097
02:57:13,630 --> 02:57:17,430
So there are options laid out in the ordinance.

1098
02:57:17,810 --> 02:57:22,370
So there's certainly a whole palette that folks could consider to meet the requirement.

1099
02:57:26,940 --> 02:57:29,560
I'll jump in here with just an emphatic.

1100
02:57:29,980 --> 02:57:31,200
I'm excited about this.

1101
02:57:32,440 --> 02:57:36,040
I know that folks aren't maybe saying that.

1102
02:57:36,560 --> 02:57:44,360
I think that this is the perfect complement to the world growth ordinance that we just

1103
02:57:44,360 --> 02:57:48,020
passed where we limited a lot of development happening in our rural areas.

1104
02:57:48,360 --> 02:57:52,280
It aligns with the COMP plan because we're now focusing on the very limited growth area

1105
02:57:52,280 --> 02:57:54,380
that we have just approved in the COMP plan.

1106
02:57:55,180 --> 02:58:13,320
Also, by virtue of it being a height and incentivizing density of apartment buildings, it's also giving us affordable units because even though the mainstream overlay does not call out specifically affordable units, we have a town-wide overlay that is called an inclusionary zoning district.

1107
02:58:13,760 --> 02:58:20,940
And that mandates that any, I believe it's 15 units or more have to then include affordable units in their buildings.

1108
02:58:20,940 --> 02:58:25,320
buildings. So if people are going for density and people are building up, that by virtue

1109
02:58:25,320 --> 02:58:31,220
is just going to create more affordable housing in our town. So I think there's a lot better

1110
02:58:31,220 --> 02:58:36,040
uses of some of those buildings that are downtown, especially some of the more abandoned

1111
02:58:36,040 --> 02:58:40,820
ones that could use some love. And I think something that wasn't necessarily brought

1112
02:58:40,820 --> 02:58:45,700
up in the presentation here but was put in our packet was a conversation we have

1113
02:58:45,700 --> 02:58:50,340
around tax time every year. The amount of added taxable value that this would

1114
02:58:50,340 --> 02:58:52,420
to bring to the town is could be pretty staggering.

1115
02:58:53,060 --> 02:58:55,720
Some of the examples you give is the Taunton Mall in 2020.

1116
02:58:56,900 --> 02:58:58,920
The taxes, the value of that building

1117
02:58:58,920 --> 02:59:01,540
was about a million dollars, just over a million dollars,

1118
02:59:01,700 --> 02:59:03,960
and now it's current value is just under six million.

1119
02:59:04,520 --> 02:59:07,600
So that taxable value, like we talk a lot about,

1120
02:59:07,740 --> 02:59:09,760
especially during the revaluation about that pie

1121
02:59:09,760 --> 02:59:12,580
and how the corporate side of things

1122
02:59:12,580 --> 02:59:14,160
keeps shrinking and shrinking and we need

1123
02:59:14,160 --> 02:59:16,440
to add more businesses and now we're building

1124
02:59:16,440 --> 02:59:18,040
the infrastructure to add more businesses

1125
02:59:18,040 --> 02:59:21,820
and be able to hopefully start to shift that pie back

1126
02:59:21,820 --> 02:59:25,680
where the tax burden isn't as much on the residential side.

1127
02:59:26,180 --> 02:59:29,860
So I personally, I think it's wise for us

1128
02:59:29,860 --> 02:59:33,600
to take a more comprehensive look at parking as a whole.

1129
02:59:34,320 --> 02:59:36,760
So I appreciate that it's not necessarily part

1130
02:59:36,760 --> 02:59:40,260
of this overlay because I do think

1131
02:59:40,260 --> 02:59:41,540
that there's a more comprehensive look

1132
02:59:41,540 --> 02:59:42,580
that should be part of it.

1133
02:59:43,300 --> 02:59:46,760
I also, to address one other piece of this,

1134
02:59:46,760 --> 02:59:54,240
I also think that while this is something that has come up rather suddenly, it's not

1135
02:59:54,240 --> 02:59:59,720
something that has been rushed, and I think that that's an important clarification because

1136
03:00:00,000 --> 03:00:06,940
A lot of these overlays and zoning and planning work has been all in preparation for us to do

1137
03:00:06,940 --> 03:00:12,180
our large recode based on the comp plan that we just passed. So we're going to, we've already,

1138
03:00:12,420 --> 03:00:17,260
I know the planning department's already been looking at how are we going to align all of,

1139
03:00:17,880 --> 03:00:22,560
you know, our zoning to match what the comprehensive plan that we passed, you know,

1140
03:00:29,700 --> 03:00:29,980
which we've

1141
03:00:29,980 --> 03:00:33,340
like a developer came and we're like, okay, we're going to quick put together something

1142
03:00:33,340 --> 03:00:37,460
so that way they can do this, like this was a, you know, we have this in the back burner

1143
03:00:37,460 --> 03:00:41,740
and it's kind of in weight waiting for this opportunity when we do the bigger overhaul

1144
03:00:41,740 --> 03:00:46,200
but it makes more sense to do it now and that to me all feels like wins.

1145
03:00:47,360 --> 03:00:49,280
So I wholeheartedly support this.

1146
03:00:50,180 --> 03:00:54,220
I did want to just quickly clarify the IZ, you may have mentioned it, it does

1147
03:00:54,220 --> 03:00:58,040
apply to rental specifically, but I think what you're going after was that just

1148
03:00:58,040 --> 03:01:02,520
increase the supply it uses demand principle that a lot of housing planners

1149
03:01:02,520 --> 03:01:06,640
believe. Correct or if one of the developments that's down there does all

1150
03:01:06,640 --> 03:01:10,380
rental then it would have to be a percentage of that rental. Yeah that's

1151
03:01:10,380 --> 03:01:17,660
right. Councilor Weems. Yes thank you Chair McDonald. Just a few comments here

1152
03:01:17,660 --> 03:01:22,720
I'm definitely in support of this change and I'll be

1153
03:01:22,720 --> 03:01:28,480
supporting it. I think it's like we might have a classic case here of of not

1154
03:01:28,480 --> 03:01:31,260
making them perfection be the enemy of the good.

1155
03:01:33,920 --> 03:01:35,420
First there's some really good

1156
03:01:35,420 --> 03:01:40,420
ideas floating around here that I like in terms of increasing the open space or

1157
03:01:40,420 --> 03:01:45,440
community space and I'm not exactly clear which it is but I think that's

1158
03:01:45,440 --> 03:01:49,860
good. The greater focus on public art would be excellent. I have some

1159
03:01:49,860 --> 03:01:55,720
different views about the parking but I'm gonna revert to my comment about not

1160
03:01:55,720 --> 03:02:01,860
making the perfect the enemy of the good. I think the value of this is it first of

1161
03:02:01,860 --> 03:02:08,120
all it will not transform downtown Brunswick at least in my lifetime and

1162
03:02:08,120 --> 03:02:13,900
maybe long after it in it will provide some progressive guidelines for

1163
03:02:13,900 --> 03:02:19,200
incremental development and improvement directly in alignment with the

1164
03:02:19,200 --> 03:02:20,820
principles of the comprehensive plan.

1165
03:02:23,280 --> 03:02:26,860
So I'm wholeheartedly in support of this and we're voting accordingly.

1166
03:02:28,280 --> 03:02:30,440
Any further discussion before I call the vote?

1167
03:02:33,060 --> 03:02:34,220
Not seeing any.

1168
03:02:34,520 --> 03:02:36,000
We'll start with Councilor Ecker.

1169
03:02:36,700 --> 03:02:37,200
Yes.

1170
03:02:37,520 --> 03:02:38,080
Councilor Anderson.

1171
03:02:38,520 --> 03:02:38,620
Yes.

1172
03:02:38,940 --> 03:02:39,460
Councilor Perl.

1173
03:02:39,700 --> 03:02:39,920
Yes.

1174
03:02:40,380 --> 03:02:40,920
Councilor Hicks.

1175
03:02:41,160 --> 03:02:41,260
Yes.

1176
03:02:41,460 --> 03:02:41,900
Councilor Teeme.

1177
03:02:42,460 --> 03:02:42,900
Yes.

1178
03:02:43,200 --> 03:02:43,700
Councilor Weems.

1179
03:02:43,920 --> 03:02:44,120
Yes.

1180
03:02:44,380 --> 03:02:44,800
Councilor Wilson.

1181
03:02:45,080 --> 03:02:45,340
Yes.

1182
03:02:45,580 --> 03:02:46,260
The chair is a yes.

1183
03:02:46,360 --> 03:02:48,260
That is unanimous of the council present.

1184
03:02:48,460 --> 03:02:49,140
The motion passes.

1185
03:02:49,820 --> 03:02:50,820
Thank you.

1186
03:02:53,610 --> 03:03:04,610
Moving on to item number 111, the Town Council will consider awarding the Hawthorne School Redevelopment Project and will take any appropriate action.

1187
03:03:04,730 --> 03:03:13,070
I'm going to turn this over to the Economic and Community Development Director, Costello, to introduce, or Project Manager, Adam Owitz.

1188
03:03:13,070 --> 03:03:13,990
Thank

1189
03:03:16,420 --> 03:03:18,160
you. Good evening, Town Council.

1190
03:03:19,600 --> 03:03:23,380
Christy Adams, Economic and Community Development Project Manager.

1191
03:03:24,300 --> 03:03:33,120
I am here to provide you an update and make a recommendation from the Hawthorne School

1192
03:03:33,120 --> 03:03:34,300
Redevelopment Task Force.

1193
03:03:35,820 --> 03:03:38,200
Can you come just a little bit closer?

1194
03:03:38,340 --> 03:03:38,640
Oh, I'm sorry.

1195
03:03:39,000 --> 03:03:39,320
Thank you.

1196
03:03:39,420 --> 03:03:40,700
I'm a little scared to get that close.

1197
03:03:42,780 --> 03:03:49,700
I have a brief presentation that to provide an overview of the process to jog everyone's

1198
03:03:49,700 --> 03:03:55,900
memory about where we are, where we are, where we came from, and the recommendation from

1199
03:03:55,900 --> 03:03:56,760
the task force.

1200
03:03:57,260 --> 03:04:00,340
So if next slide please.

1201
03:04:00,780 --> 03:04:09,000
So on June 16th, 2025, the town council appointed the Hawthorne School Redevelopment Task

1202
03:04:09,000 --> 03:04:13,840
class course after accepting the Hawthorne School Building from the school department,

1203
03:04:14,240 --> 03:04:18,440
which had vacated the building, and no longer had any use for it.

1204
03:04:20,600 --> 03:04:25,660
The town thought as part of us to support the comprehensive plan and all of our growth and

1205
03:04:25,660 --> 03:04:30,440
visioning for a vibrant downtown as an opportunity to redevelop it in a way that

1206
03:04:31,390 --> 03:04:36,680
met a community vision versus allowing the school department to sort of put it on the open market.

1207
03:04:36,680 --> 03:04:41,580
So that is the two-second history of why we have this building in our possession.

1208
03:04:41,940 --> 03:04:44,020
This is just a picture of where it is on the map.

1209
03:04:44,400 --> 03:04:45,240
Next slide, please.

1210
03:04:46,700 --> 03:04:50,700
And here is a snapshot of the process that the town council,

1211
03:04:52,180 --> 03:04:58,200
and the responsibilities that the town council gave to the Hawthorne School Task Force when it was formed.

1212
03:04:58,700 --> 03:05:04,660
Four basic tasks were to conduct community engagement, create a request for proposals,

1213
03:05:04,660 --> 03:05:09,100
and then review those proposals once they were received and then make a

1214
03:05:09,100 --> 03:05:13,500
recommendation to the town council based on evaluations and that is why we are

1215
03:05:13,500 --> 03:05:20,940
here today. Next slide please. Just briefly the community engagement outcome was

1216
03:05:21,520 --> 03:05:27,380
pretty it was positive not too many large surprises. The survey was opened

1217
03:05:27,380 --> 03:05:31,740
for about a month in February and March. We had really great response we had

1218
03:05:31,740 --> 03:05:33,000
We had 925 responses.

1219
03:05:33,640 --> 03:05:40,000
We had some in-person opportunities with a neighborhood meeting and an open house and both of those events were well attended.

1220
03:05:41,960 --> 03:05:48,160
Then the outcome of that survey and that community outreach was that affordable housing was a top priority, no surprise.

1221
03:05:48,760 --> 03:05:50,900
Historic preservation was also a top priority.

1222
03:05:52,020 --> 03:05:58,260
Respondents favored two bedroom units, followed closely by one bedroom units that was very, very similar.

1223
03:05:59,100 --> 03:06:13,580
And 67% of respondents supported some commercial use of the commercial uses allowed by zoning daycare facility was one of the highest ranked uses and preservation of the playground was a very high community priority.

1224
03:06:14,040 --> 03:06:26,360
So that's just a brief crash course in what the vision of the building was and how we structured the RFP to guide developers to respond to that vision.

1225
03:06:26,360 --> 03:06:32,000
next slide please and again just the top public benefits very similar historic

1226
03:06:32,000 --> 03:06:39,500
preservation increased housing supply job creation green space so we with that

1227
03:06:39,500 --> 03:06:45,560
community input the task force drafted the RFP I was approved by the town

1228
03:06:45,560 --> 03:06:53,380
council on May 18th and proposals were due in July July 2nd next slide

1229
03:06:53,380 --> 03:06:53,580
Next slide, please.

1230
03:06:55,080 --> 03:06:56,960
We received seven really,

1231
03:06:58,130 --> 03:07:01,060
we received seven great and complete proposals.

1232
03:07:02,850 --> 03:07:05,320
Those proposals were scored by the task force

1233
03:07:05,320 --> 03:07:07,560
based on project consistency with the vision,

1234
03:07:08,040 --> 03:07:09,620
qualifications of the project team,

1235
03:07:10,140 --> 03:07:12,580
evidence of a financial capacity and project feasibility,

1236
03:07:13,160 --> 03:07:15,380
acquisition price, tax generation potential,

1237
03:07:15,800 --> 03:07:17,200
project schedule and sustainability.

1238
03:07:18,570 --> 03:07:19,540
Next slide, please.

1239
03:07:21,240 --> 03:07:28,520
And when we did those evaluations, two proposals came out on top.

1240
03:07:28,660 --> 03:07:29,820
They came out on the very top.

1241
03:07:30,360 --> 03:07:33,420
There was Bowdoin and Doaryard came out in essentially a tie.

1242
03:07:34,060 --> 03:07:39,520
Doaryard had a total score of 399 points and Bowdoin had 398.

1243
03:07:40,800 --> 03:07:48,880
And the third place, the third place developer was around 360 and then everybody else was

1244
03:07:48,880 --> 03:07:49,580
below 300.

1245
03:07:49,780 --> 03:07:55,000
So they really were up at a higher level at a time and then the other proposals were

1246
03:07:55,000 --> 03:08:00,260
farther down based on a mixture of their response to the affordable housing piece or

1247
03:08:00,260 --> 03:08:06,120
the demographic piece or just their funding structure and the timeline.

1248
03:08:06,120 --> 03:08:10,660
all those things sort of bumped those other candidates down.

1249
03:08:12,740 --> 03:08:13,700
Next slide please.

1250
03:08:14,020 --> 03:08:17,360
So I'm just gonna go to give you a high level overview

1251
03:08:17,360 --> 03:08:21,280
of the two proposals, and I'm happy to sort of answer

1252
03:08:21,280 --> 03:08:23,940
questions along the way, if you have any confusion.

1253
03:08:24,380 --> 03:08:27,460
We also have, actually we have the two proposal,

1254
03:08:27,920 --> 03:08:30,540
the two developers here, Bowdoin and Doryard,

1255
03:08:30,600 --> 03:08:32,660
if you have any really specific questions

1256
03:08:32,660 --> 03:08:33,920
that I can't answer for you.

1257
03:08:33,920 --> 03:08:37,820
So, and we also have members of the task force here too.

1258
03:08:38,340 --> 03:08:41,580
But let's just get started with Doryard's proposal, really high level.

1259
03:08:42,240 --> 03:08:49,620
So their concept is 26 housing rental units at 80 to 100% AMI area median income.

1260
03:08:50,180 --> 03:08:54,820
18 units will be affordable and the rest would be about market rate.

1261
03:08:55,180 --> 03:08:56,400
And there's no age restriction.

1262
03:08:57,360 --> 03:09:00,900
They propose a daycare on the ground floor serving 50 children.

1263
03:09:00,900 --> 03:09:06,680
But they have expressed in their proposal that they are open to negotiation on that.

1264
03:09:07,040 --> 03:09:11,380
And they do say in their proposal that that could be potentially used as community space instead,

1265
03:09:11,460 --> 03:09:14,880
if that's something that the town council and the community feels more strongly about,

1266
03:09:14,900 --> 03:09:18,960
because both of those things came out in the RFP as top priorities.

1267
03:09:21,020 --> 03:09:25,320
They do propose to keep the existing playground and enhance it with new equipment

1268
03:09:25,320 --> 03:09:28,940
and also refurbish that existing playground because it does need work.

1269
03:09:28,940 --> 03:09:33,580
but it's still a very sturdy playground and could be refurbished.

1270
03:09:34,940 --> 03:09:41,760
That playground would be open to the public and that's something that would also be negotiated in the purchase and sale process.

1271
03:09:43,880 --> 03:09:47,820
Let's see. They also proposed to expand some green space.

1272
03:09:49,200 --> 03:09:50,660
The financial picture.

1273
03:09:50,660 --> 03:09:59,100
Sure, so the financial picture for all of the proposals were reviewed in depth with the by staff and the task force and in the executive session.

1274
03:10:00,300 --> 03:10:06,780
All of the proposals had a preforma, development, budget, sources and uses in a rent role.

1275
03:10:06,980 --> 03:10:11,260
And those were all the documents that sort of came into the evaluation process.

1276
03:10:11,760 --> 03:10:16,260
And that's something that we can't really talk about in the open because it's confidential information.

1277
03:10:16,260 --> 03:10:20,940
But if the council wanted an executive session, we'd be happy to do something like that if you needed to.

1278
03:10:22,500 --> 03:10:27,480
But high level here, Doryard's acquisition price is essentially $925,000.

1279
03:10:28,180 --> 03:10:32,700
They do in their proposal say $1,025,000, but

1280
03:10:32,700 --> 03:10:36,760
there is a $100,000 land discount proposed in there.

1281
03:10:37,480 --> 03:10:40,280
Their estimated tax generation is 93,000.

1282
03:10:40,780 --> 03:10:44,660
They do ask for a 80% TIF for 10 years on the eight unit building.

1283
03:10:45,400 --> 03:10:50,060
They do have an affordable housing support fund grant request of $100,000.

1284
03:10:50,880 --> 03:10:56,340
Their total development cost is around $10 million and their year of completion is $28.

1285
03:10:57,260 --> 03:10:58,280
Project manager?

1286
03:10:58,580 --> 03:10:58,720
Yes.

1287
03:10:58,940 --> 03:11:04,820
Do you want to also just level set with us on what the appraised value of the current

1288
03:11:04,820 --> 03:11:07,000
building in Slashland just so people have contact?

1289
03:11:07,080 --> 03:11:07,880
My apologies.

1290
03:11:08,180 --> 03:11:08,260
Yes.

1291
03:11:08,540 --> 03:11:10,720
That was appraised at $705,000.

1292
03:11:13,430 --> 03:11:14,210
Next slide, please.

1293
03:11:15,450 --> 03:11:24,410
And so to just have some visuals now for you from the proposals, this is door yards, we

1294
03:11:24,410 --> 03:11:30,990
have the smaller eight unit, I'm sorry, eight unit building over on the left there, and

1295
03:11:30,990 --> 03:11:34,650
the main building, the Hawthorne building, we have the majority of the units.

1296
03:11:35,310 --> 03:11:40,930
They do propose sort of some flex parking in the back, they do propose to keep the

1297
03:11:40,930 --> 03:11:47,490
playground where it is currently they have they are proposing to shrink this

1298
03:11:47,490 --> 03:11:52,850
the parking area in the turnaround area for the daycare drop-off I think that is

1299
03:11:52,850 --> 03:11:57,130
sort of the high level of that and then if you next slide you can just see some

1300
03:11:57,130 --> 03:12:02,030
of the renderings that they I'll ask you also to remember to stay close I'm

1301
03:12:02,030 --> 03:12:10,850
sorry and next slide please and then just another picture of

1302
03:12:10,850 --> 03:12:12,370
of their eight units.

1303
03:12:14,530 --> 03:12:17,590
And then next slide, we'll go on to Bowdoin's proposal.

1304
03:12:19,190 --> 03:12:22,190
So Bowdoin proposes 14 rental units

1305
03:12:22,190 --> 03:12:25,330
at 100 to 120% area median income.

1306
03:12:26,050 --> 03:12:28,510
The units would be restricted to Bowdoin faculty and staff,

1307
03:12:28,670 --> 03:12:29,810
but there would be no age restriction.

1308
03:12:30,990 --> 03:12:33,370
Community space located on the ground floor

1309
03:12:33,370 --> 03:12:35,210
available for public use for free

1310
03:12:35,910 --> 03:12:38,690
and they would provide a new and expanded playground

1311
03:12:38,690 --> 03:12:43,390
and expand a green space. Financial picture the acquisition

1312
03:12:43,390 --> 03:12:52,170
price is that $705,000 with $505,000 for the site and $200 as a donation for the

1313
03:12:52,170 --> 03:12:58,390
Affordable Housing Support Fund. Estimated tax generation is $41,000

1314
03:12:58,390 --> 03:13:03,090
approximately and they are not tax exempt. We checked with the tax

1315
03:13:03,090 --> 03:13:06,730
assessor and because of the nature of the building and it's not for

1316
03:13:06,730 --> 03:13:09,430
educational purposes is for housing, they will not be tax exempt.

1317
03:13:11,010 --> 03:13:13,390
The project will be fully financed by the college.

1318
03:13:14,110 --> 03:13:18,050
Their total development costs is estimated to be $13 million, and

1319
03:13:18,050 --> 03:13:19,910
also a 2028 year of completion.

1320
03:13:21,170 --> 03:13:26,350
Although I should go back to, I forgot to mention that Doryard's proposal

1321
03:13:26,350 --> 03:13:29,630
does include a 2027 completion for the smaller 8-unit building.

1322
03:13:30,030 --> 03:13:31,470
I've neglected to mention that, sorry.

1323
03:13:33,730 --> 03:13:34,610
Next slide, please.

1324
03:13:36,110 --> 03:13:43,190
Here you go with the site plan from Bowdoin and you know no building in the

1325
03:13:43,190 --> 03:13:49,170
backs, keeping the parking lot about the same, expanded green space, no parking in

1326
03:13:49,170 --> 03:13:53,310
the front of the building so completely sort of restoring that historic lawn

1327
03:13:53,310 --> 03:14:00,110
that the building used to have and if next slide please you can see more

1328
03:14:00,110 --> 03:14:05,410
details of the proposed playground so that it's fairly large and would be it

1329
03:14:05,410 --> 03:14:13,510
would be an expansion of what is there now. Next slide please. Here's a rendering

1330
03:14:13,510 --> 03:14:22,590
of the front of the building. Next slide. An interior shot and then the proposed

1331
03:14:22,590 --> 03:14:30,750
community space in the ground level. Next slide. So the task force, you know, they

1332
03:14:30,750 --> 03:14:34,290
evaluated, they felt that both of these proposals were excellent. They're

1333
03:14:34,290 --> 03:14:37,470
different and, you know, they have their differences. They both have great

1334
03:14:37,470 --> 03:14:42,170
strengths. They both have drawbacks and we felt like it was appropriate to

1335
03:14:42,170 --> 03:14:47,470
bring both proposals to the town council for your consideration. And

1336
03:14:47,470 --> 03:14:54,390
And after you make a decision, staff would then move on with the purchase and

1337
03:14:54,390 --> 03:14:56,370
sale and development agreement process.

1338
03:14:57,230 --> 03:14:59,970
So that is what the task force is.

1339
03:15:03,340 --> 03:15:23,540
Thank you for the presentation. Clarity on next steps. So if the council chose one of the two proposals today, you would go as staff to negotiate purchase and sale, and then that would eventually come back to council for review before anything were to happen.

1340
03:15:23,540 --> 03:15:30,140
Right, so the staff would work with the town attorney to craft that draft purchase and sale agreement

1341
03:15:30,780 --> 03:15:36,020
The vision of the proposal would be fully embedded in that purchase and sale

1342
03:15:36,620 --> 03:15:41,220
You know with some negotiations, but we would absolutely bring it back to you for your final approval

1343
03:15:42,580 --> 03:15:44,640
Great other questions of counsel

1344
03:15:46,810 --> 03:15:47,870
council teamie and

1345
03:15:47,870 --> 03:15:49,750
All right counselor Hicks

1346
03:15:50,330 --> 03:15:54,190
Just on the door your proposal. Maybe this is a question for them

1347
03:15:54,190 --> 03:16:00,470
But when it says it's 26 units are 80 to 100% AMI,

1348
03:16:00,670 --> 03:16:02,350
and then it says 18 units will be affordable.

1349
03:16:03,070 --> 03:16:07,190
So what's the definition of affordable in that context?

1350
03:16:07,570 --> 03:16:09,710
So that would be under 100% AMI.

1351
03:16:11,310 --> 03:16:17,110
So the 26 is 80 to 100, and then they're coming to the mic.

1352
03:16:17,190 --> 03:16:19,330
If you'd like to come up to the podium

1353
03:16:19,330 --> 03:16:20,530
to answer the question, feel free.

1354
03:16:20,890 --> 03:16:23,410
Make sure to say your name or identification

1355
03:16:23,410 --> 03:16:24,730
and the town of residence.

1356
03:16:28,000 --> 03:16:29,240
Hi, I'm Melissa McHugh.

1357
03:16:29,440 --> 03:16:32,140
I'm the COO of Doryard, live in Falmouth, Maine.

1358
03:16:33,060 --> 03:16:38,920
So the 18 proposed units that are in the school itself are 80% AMI,

1359
03:16:39,280 --> 03:16:42,180
and the eight unit would be 100% AMI.

1360
03:16:43,140 --> 03:16:45,540
Okay, so there's a total of 26 units.

1361
03:16:45,860 --> 03:16:45,980
Correct.

1362
03:16:46,260 --> 03:16:47,020
Okay, got it.

1363
03:16:47,180 --> 03:16:47,420
Thank you.

1364
03:16:49,660 --> 03:16:50,740
Councillor Teeming, questions?

1365
03:16:53,200 --> 03:16:53,920
Yeah, I have two.

1366
03:16:53,920 --> 03:17:03,360
So first of all, in terms of like the procedure of like negotiation, we would be selecting

1367
03:17:03,360 --> 03:17:05,720
a project potentially tonight.

1368
03:17:08,160 --> 03:17:14,720
And that selection is authorizing staff to enter negotiations with the developer.

1369
03:17:16,440 --> 03:17:23,730
If we, you know, if we have things about these projects that we really like but like

1370
03:17:23,730 --> 03:17:28,830
would only really support it with a particular negotiation succeeding.

1371
03:17:30,130 --> 03:17:33,930
Is that the sort of thing that the council could decide to request?

1372
03:17:34,170 --> 03:17:39,210
And if so, and that negotiation doesn't work out, does selecting a project

1373
03:17:39,210 --> 03:17:45,150
commit us to that project and whatever the negotiation ends up sort of being?

1374
03:17:45,270 --> 03:17:48,050
I assume not, since it's coming back to us for approval, but.

1375
03:17:48,670 --> 03:17:52,570
So what we did with the fire station was that the negotiation period had

1376
03:17:52,570 --> 03:17:58,290
an expiration date and so during that time there was back and forth and you

1377
03:17:58,290 --> 03:18:02,650
know we with the fire station we did come back to council for extensions when

1378
03:18:02,650 --> 03:18:06,890
we passed that date so it could could look like that if we got into that sort of

1379
03:18:06,890 --> 03:18:10,690
back and forth phase but I don't think I think that these are fairly straightforward

1380
03:18:10,690 --> 03:18:15,390
I don't imagine that it working out the same way the fire station did as far

1381
03:18:16,710 --> 03:18:24,930
And the other question, and it kind of connects into what Councillor Hicks asked about the

1382
03:18:24,930 --> 03:18:32,430
affordability piece, you know, our zoning code defines the 80% or under AMI de-restriction

1383
03:18:32,430 --> 03:18:38,390
as like how we define zoning, I'm sorry, how we define affordability.

1384
03:18:40,150 --> 03:18:52,850
But the 80-100% AMI range that is given, is that income limited locked in or is that their

1385
03:18:52,850 --> 03:18:55,530
goal window and it's actually market rates?

1386
03:18:56,210 --> 03:18:58,770
I'm just trying to understand that piece of it better.

1387
03:18:59,310 --> 03:19:02,590
And I guess one more little question I'd like to tie in there, which is, do you happen

1388
03:19:02,590 --> 03:19:04,050
to know the survey results?

1389
03:19:04,050 --> 03:19:07,730
What number of percentage of people said that they wanted market rate housing?

1390
03:19:08,270 --> 03:19:09,770
I would have to pull them up.

1391
03:19:09,970 --> 03:19:10,930
I don't know off the top of my head.

1392
03:19:12,070 --> 03:19:13,230
The survey results.

1393
03:19:14,010 --> 03:19:21,110
And then the first part of your question was basically like what's the range of units that would be between 100 and 100?

1394
03:19:21,550 --> 03:19:28,750
No, like do they stay like 100% AMI going forward?

1395
03:19:28,750 --> 03:19:32,530
or is that just like the what the price is that they're introducing at but

1396
03:19:32,530 --> 03:19:37,390
they're actually just marketary units? Like is it descriptive of the units or

1397
03:19:37,390 --> 03:19:42,310
are they actually locked in as units that are like deed restricted or in

1398
03:19:42,310 --> 03:19:49,710
some way required to stay 100% AMI you know income limited? So you're asking

1399
03:19:49,710 --> 03:19:54,050
if the 100% AMI would be deed restricted? Or in some other way

1400
03:19:54,050 --> 03:19:57,350
required to stay that way. Yes. Do you want to answer that question?

1401
03:20:02,420 --> 03:20:03,160
Again Melissa

1402
03:20:03,160 --> 03:20:09,040
McHugh here from Doryard. So for the 18 units we would be using the main rural

1403
03:20:09,040 --> 03:20:15,100
affordable housing program so they are required to stay at 80% AMI for as long

1404
03:20:15,100 --> 03:20:20,160
as the property exists. So I think ongoing we have it goes on for 42

1405
03:20:20,160 --> 03:20:26,560
42 years I believe it's but they are de-restricted and to answer your

1406
03:20:26,560 --> 03:20:34,680
second question, 69.7% wanted affordable housing in the survey.

1407
03:20:35,620 --> 03:20:41,520
My question is actually how many wanted market rehousing, because I did remember that it was

1408
03:20:42,140 --> 03:20:42,660
70%.

1409
03:20:43,280 --> 03:20:46,440
Well, maybe, yeah, maybe the 30% that didn't want it affordable.

1410
03:20:47,320 --> 03:20:47,840
Maybe.

1411
03:20:48,140 --> 03:20:52,280
I think there was, like, luxury in there too or something, but anyway, not very much.

1412
03:20:52,280 --> 03:20:57,600
But the piece that I was asking about was not what the deed restriction was of the 18 units.

1413
03:20:58,120 --> 03:21:00,020
I was asking about the eight other units.

1414
03:21:00,620 --> 03:21:05,900
Are those income restricted at 100% AMI in some way or

1415
03:21:05,900 --> 03:21:10,280
is that just kind of like the range you're targeting and it's actually just market rehousing?

1416
03:21:10,940 --> 03:21:17,660
So that's the range that we're targeting because we're not working within any government program.

1417
03:21:17,660 --> 03:21:22,820
There's not any specific, like, government restrictions from an income perspective.

1418
03:21:23,560 --> 03:21:28,940
I think we'd be open to having that conversation if that was something that the town really wanted.

1419
03:21:29,520 --> 03:21:35,480
But as of right now, we're just, our rents are a little bit, I think, below 100% AMI.

1420
03:21:36,000 --> 03:21:37,960
And we intend to keep them there.

1421
03:21:41,040 --> 03:21:43,180
Further questions of Council Councilor Weems?

1422
03:21:44,080 --> 03:21:46,920
Yes, thank you. I have two right now.

1423
03:21:46,920 --> 03:21:52,980
Now, I'm going to say what the second one is before I ask the first one, then ask the

1424
03:21:52,980 --> 03:21:55,680
first one just to give a little warning here.

1425
03:21:56,240 --> 03:21:57,500
Whatever order you'd like.

1426
03:21:57,800 --> 03:22:02,660
The second one is, could we have each, I notice that there are representatives from

1427
03:22:02,660 --> 03:22:07,680
each of the two entities here in the audience set up, my second question is, could we have

1428
03:22:07,680 --> 03:22:15,160
each of them, give them each an opportunity to kind of summarize their own proposal

1429
03:22:15,160 --> 03:22:17,840
rather than the summary that we've been given.

1430
03:22:18,740 --> 03:22:21,920
And the first question while we're thinking about that one

1431
03:22:21,920 --> 03:22:24,280
is, I'd like an explanation on the difference

1432
03:22:24,280 --> 03:22:29,720
in the estimated property tax revenues,

1433
03:22:30,620 --> 03:22:35,360
where a $10 million project was close to $100,000,

1434
03:22:35,560 --> 03:22:38,700
and a $13 million project was close to something

1435
03:22:38,700 --> 03:22:40,220
around $41,000.

1436
03:22:40,340 --> 03:22:41,760
What's going on there?

1437
03:22:41,760 --> 03:22:51,340
Yeah, so that, you know, it's all based on assumptions, you know, it's real estate development and, you know, those numbers are, you know, estimates.

1438
03:22:51,700 --> 03:22:58,580
I think that if you wanted to really look under the hood of those, we would invite, potentially invite the candidates to executive session,

1439
03:22:58,700 --> 03:23:05,360
because that once you start digging into that financial information, it starts getting into confidential territory.

1440
03:23:06,800 --> 03:23:10,800
Well, that's just a normal rate and a cost of building, I think.

1441
03:23:11,400 --> 03:23:15,320
Is there a simpler explanation or is it something more complicated?

1442
03:23:24,120 --> 03:23:32,120
I think both of them have different business deals that I think have specific details around that

1443
03:23:32,120 --> 03:23:34,240
that we weren't going to get into the specifics.

1444
03:23:34,240 --> 03:23:42,240
But, you know, I think Chrissy did say that there was going to be a TIF request by Doryard,

1445
03:23:42,320 --> 03:23:45,340
so that reduces some of what we would have there.

1446
03:23:45,420 --> 03:23:48,980
And it's a pretty robust, 80 percent, I think, 75 or 80 percent?

1447
03:23:49,280 --> 03:23:50,140
80 percent.

1448
03:23:50,380 --> 03:23:53,360
So that, right off the top, there's a reduction there.

1449
03:23:56,200 --> 03:23:59,340
But, I mean, these are some of the questions that you asked previously.

1450
03:23:59,340 --> 03:24:07,340
Obviously we can negotiate, you know, to Councilor Timi's question about affordability, you know,

1451
03:24:07,400 --> 03:24:12,380
we certainly, some of the things that we do, it's a process unfolds in the purchase and

1452
03:24:12,380 --> 03:24:15,820
sale agreement based on what the Town Council directs us to do.

1453
03:24:16,860 --> 03:24:21,220
Thank you for that and hold that thought about negotiation for later.

1454
03:24:22,080 --> 03:24:26,660
So my second question, I'll leave that to the Chair to opine on.

1455
03:24:26,920 --> 03:24:27,080
Yeah.

1456
03:24:28,240 --> 03:24:34,880
I know we have some questions over here are would they be potentially answered by some proposal presentations?

1457
03:24:35,720 --> 03:24:42,260
No, I need a clarification. Okay. All right. Let's do councillor Perall and then councillor Ecker, and then we'll revisit the presentation. Okay

1458
03:24:46,800 --> 03:24:51,720
Just want to clarify the TIF in the in our information

1459
03:24:52,660 --> 03:24:58,300
The 80% TIF was only going to be on the eight unit building not on the whole so that

1460
03:24:58,300 --> 03:25:08,860
$93,000 of tax revenue, there's only a portion of it that would be going to TIFF, not 80%

1461
03:25:08,860 --> 03:25:10,200
of the $93,000.

1462
03:25:10,560 --> 03:25:11,780
Yes, for 10 years.

1463
03:25:14,630 --> 03:25:20,970
I had a TIFF question too, so this is included in the downtown TIFF, okay, so there's no

1464
03:25:20,970 --> 03:25:22,090
changes needed there.

1465
03:25:24,350 --> 03:25:30,470
My next question is around, it's around the scoring and just trying to help me understand the scoring.

1466
03:25:32,770 --> 03:25:40,630
So, as I look at it, the Bowdoin proposal has about half the housing, and I might have some of this wrong, so correct me if I'm wrong here.

1467
03:25:41,410 --> 03:25:44,950
It's targeting a higher HMI.

1468
03:25:47,610 --> 03:25:51,250
It's housing is limited to Bowdoin faculty and staff,

1469
03:25:52,430 --> 03:25:56,950
and it shows at least in this analysis less financial benefit to the town.

1470
03:25:58,010 --> 03:26:07,270
So what in the scoring criteria, I guess, tied these two proposals,

1471
03:26:07,270 --> 03:26:14,110
proposals. How are they different in that regard that I mean you would have to look at,

1472
03:26:14,330 --> 03:26:20,990
I mean you would want to compare each task force members score to dig into that. I mean I

1473
03:26:20,990 --> 03:26:25,890
think they're like I said at the beginning both proposals they're quite different but

1474
03:26:25,890 --> 03:26:30,810
they do have a strong you know they have strong benefits and they do have drawbacks

1475
03:26:30,810 --> 03:26:36,530
and I think that they kind of washed out, you know, as they both rose to the top because

1476
03:26:36,530 --> 03:26:38,550
of those unique proposals.

1477
03:26:40,350 --> 03:26:48,010
But I couldn't point to one particular thing, I think, to say, like, what the difference

1478
03:26:48,010 --> 03:26:48,710
was there.

1479
03:26:49,330 --> 03:26:55,310
Yeah, maybe just in terms of the aggregate scores, I guess, were there certain categories

1480
03:26:55,310 --> 03:26:59,050
that Bowdoin just knocked it out of the park on versus some of these others?

1481
03:26:59,050 --> 03:27:04,050
I would say the financial category, they're very low risk, they're not asking for subsidy,

1482
03:27:04,370 --> 03:27:07,370
they're not asking for credit enhancement agreement, they're self funding.

1483
03:27:08,070 --> 03:27:15,650
And when you have multiple sources of funding, and not to say the other team has high expertise in being able to get those sources of funding,

1484
03:27:16,330 --> 03:27:20,830
it's just a higher risk to have to cobble together more sources of funding.

1485
03:27:21,270 --> 03:27:23,070
Okay, thank you, that's good.

1486
03:27:23,070 --> 03:27:29,590
The the only other thing that I'd add into is that during that council meeting in which we approved the RFP the council

1487
03:27:29,590 --> 03:27:32,950
Gave more weight to more play room

1488
03:27:32,950 --> 03:27:38,990
I suppose in the mission and vision section so that allowed for more subjectivity for these bigger swings

1489
03:27:39,570 --> 03:27:40,090
Yeah

1490
03:27:41,410 --> 03:27:44,090
For the community values section

1491
03:27:44,090 --> 03:27:49,770
Yeah, for the for the section where we went from 10 points to 20 points right that that creates a bigger swing on

1492
03:27:49,770 --> 03:27:53,570
on where people, I guess the subjectivity of where people see that value.

1493
03:27:54,330 --> 03:27:59,830
In those different proposals. Yeah. Yeah. Between individual people scoring. Yes.

1494
03:28:00,310 --> 03:28:02,070
Okay, thank you. Between task force members. All right.

1495
03:28:03,230 --> 03:28:08,750
Okay, so I want to see, look into the audience for potential thumbs up.

1496
03:28:09,030 --> 03:28:13,310
Are our two proposals interested in giving like a,

1497
03:28:17,210 --> 03:28:17,730
I'm going to,

1498
03:28:17,730 --> 03:28:19,470
you know, talk on your proposal.

1499
03:28:19,730 --> 03:28:21,010
Is that something you're interested in?

1500
03:28:22,210 --> 03:28:25,450
Yep, I got thumbs up over here, over there.

1501
03:28:27,340 --> 03:28:28,920
I'm giving them a second to consult.

1502
03:28:29,520 --> 03:28:30,420
I'm giving them a second, yeah.

1503
03:28:30,700 --> 03:28:32,860
Just a little five minute, just, you know, brief.

1504
03:28:33,420 --> 03:28:37,560
We have the, we have the, you know, proposals themselves,

1505
03:28:37,720 --> 03:28:39,400
but I want to make sure that you each have

1506
03:28:39,400 --> 03:28:40,320
at least five minutes.

1507
03:28:40,440 --> 03:28:42,200
We'll allot it that way, so that way it's fair.

1508
03:28:43,500 --> 03:28:45,340
Okay, so let's go alphabetically.

1509
03:28:45,400 --> 03:28:46,060
We'll start with Bowdoin.

1510
03:28:59,960 --> 03:29:00,880
Good evening, Councillors.

1511
03:29:01,560 --> 03:29:03,300
Matt Orlando, I'm the Senior Vice President

1512
03:29:03,800 --> 03:29:06,320
for Finance Administration at Bowdoin College.

1513
03:29:07,160 --> 03:29:08,680
And thank you for this opportunity.

1514
03:29:09,000 --> 03:29:10,880
Councillor Weems and Chair MacDonald.

1515
03:29:11,340 --> 03:29:12,860
I didn't really come prepared with like,

1516
03:29:12,980 --> 03:29:14,120
normally I'd have like a slideshow,

1517
03:29:14,240 --> 03:29:16,420
but I can at least sort of hit on

1518
03:29:16,940 --> 03:29:18,680
a few of the highlights of our proposal.

1519
03:29:20,400 --> 03:29:22,280
And I first want to also thank you

1520
03:29:22,280 --> 03:29:23,920
for giving us your consideration

1521
03:29:23,920 --> 03:29:25,720
and thank the task force as well.

1522
03:29:25,820 --> 03:29:27,800
There was significant effort put into this process

1523
03:29:27,800 --> 03:29:30,720
and just really appreciative of the work and the time.

1524
03:29:32,360 --> 03:29:34,880
Just as far as the origin of the problem,

1525
03:29:34,980 --> 03:29:37,820
we're trying to solve and how this building makes sense for us.

1526
03:29:38,100 --> 03:29:40,760
We have a workforce housing issue at the college.

1527
03:29:41,020 --> 03:29:43,720
It started to emerge about six or seven years ago

1528
03:29:43,720 --> 03:29:48,240
and has become acute and sort of core to a small residential college

1529
03:29:48,240 --> 03:29:53,140
like Bowdoin is having faculty live and work near the college.

1530
03:29:53,140 --> 03:29:59,960
And we're finding that the newer tenure track faculty that we hire can't find affordable housing in.

1531
03:30:00,700 --> 03:30:11,640
Our stock is limited in terms of what we can provide, particularly vis-a-vis other peer colleges who guarantee housing for up to seven years until those tenure-track faculty get their tenure.

1532
03:30:12,280 --> 03:30:18,280
We can only guarantee, we can't really guarantee that we try to house them for three years and then they're sort of off into the market like everyone else.

1533
03:30:18,400 --> 03:30:27,980
But what we're finding is those newer, higher tenure-track faculty are moving 40, 50 miles away because that's where they can afford to buy.

1534
03:30:27,980 --> 03:30:31,120
And that's not the kind of environment we want to boat in.

1535
03:30:31,240 --> 03:30:35,220
We've for 200 plus years, we've had faculty who have lived on the fringes of campus,

1536
03:30:35,380 --> 03:30:39,080
participated in not just the classrooms, but also the social life,

1537
03:30:39,100 --> 03:30:41,180
the cultural life of the college, attending sporting events,

1538
03:30:41,320 --> 03:30:43,640
seeing your professor downtown having coffee.

1539
03:30:44,160 --> 03:30:47,200
We don't want to lose that, and that was sort of the origin of this.

1540
03:30:47,660 --> 03:30:49,840
And really the location of the Hawthorne School,

1541
03:30:50,340 --> 03:30:53,180
first of all, it's a fantastic landmark building.

1542
03:30:53,920 --> 03:30:57,200
We feel like you could not get a better location.

1543
03:30:57,860 --> 03:31:01,620
In terms of the property that Bowdoin owns, you might ask, like, why don't you just build

1544
03:31:01,620 --> 03:31:02,300
this somewhere else?

1545
03:31:02,500 --> 03:31:07,100
We don't have anything like this that is such convenient access to downtown and to the college.

1546
03:31:08,120 --> 03:31:12,780
And we see it as an opportunity to revitalize an area of the Federal Street District, the

1547
03:31:12,780 --> 03:31:14,720
downtown district, in an extraordinary way.

1548
03:31:15,120 --> 03:31:19,200
This is really a fantastic opportunity to help sort of a win-win between the college

1549
03:31:19,200 --> 03:31:19,800
and the town.

1550
03:31:19,960 --> 03:31:24,120
And we feel like, Councilor Eckert, that there are substantial public benefits

1551
03:31:24,120 --> 03:31:25,020
in our plan.

1552
03:31:25,020 --> 03:31:28,320
And so in addition to the 14 units that we would price,

1553
03:31:28,540 --> 03:31:32,480
we would target at up to 120% AMI.

1554
03:31:32,620 --> 03:31:36,760
That's typically the range that we hire tenure track faculty

1555
03:31:36,760 --> 03:31:37,780
in, so they fit that.

1556
03:31:38,480 --> 03:31:41,220
And I see these faculty are at the highest level of their,

1557
03:31:41,600 --> 03:31:43,660
they've achieved PhD master level.

1558
03:31:44,180 --> 03:31:45,380
They don't want to move into a little studio.

1559
03:31:45,820 --> 03:31:47,220
They want one and two bedrooms.

1560
03:31:47,480 --> 03:31:50,260
And that's why we got a portion 14 units.

1561
03:31:50,420 --> 03:31:53,420
We felt like that was an appropriate alignment

1562
03:31:53,420 --> 03:32:00,360
of units in the building and we would, they would be subsidized so they would be

1563
03:32:00,360 --> 03:32:07,520
below market rate at that 120 depending on the household configuration. The

1564
03:32:07,520 --> 03:32:11,880
playground, those of you have seen what we did at Longfellow that as this

1565
03:32:11,880 --> 03:32:16,260
playground that we'll do here is in that same vein playgrounds are not cheap.

1566
03:32:16,580 --> 03:32:20,680
You can tell you we spent $450,000 on the Longfellow playground. This one is

1567
03:32:20,680 --> 03:32:24,560
300,000 so a little bit smaller but we want to use the same designer we want to

1568
03:32:24,560 --> 03:32:28,200
have the same impact on the community and just think about the opportunity for

1569
03:32:28,200 --> 03:32:32,860
families either in the neighborhood or families visiting Brunswick spending the

1570
03:32:32,860 --> 03:32:37,620
day downtown and having such convenient access to a playground right

1571
03:32:37,620 --> 03:32:41,080
down the street. We didn't want to overcrowd things so we want a full

1572
03:32:41,080 --> 03:32:44,200
green space in the front so you can imagine picnic tables next to the

1573
03:32:44,200 --> 03:32:48,700
playground rather than parking and exhaust from a drop-off. We looked at

1574
03:32:48,700 --> 03:32:57,080
daycare center there. We did not see the circulation was sufficient to fit that in. And certainly

1575
03:32:57,080 --> 03:33:01,280
you have all that parking in the front and the back, but we have operated a daycare center

1576
03:33:01,280 --> 03:33:06,520
at the college for 40 years and we know how crazy it can get on drop-offs. So we just

1577
03:33:06,520 --> 03:33:10,500
didn't see it working. We kept the parking in the back. We kept the green space in

1578
03:33:10,500 --> 03:33:15,280
the front, kept them separate, keep the students, their children safe. There's

1579
03:33:15,280 --> 03:33:17,640
There's a community space in the basement that would be rent-free.

1580
03:33:18,360 --> 03:33:22,220
You might remember that when the college owned this building, this space was

1581
03:33:24,120 --> 03:33:27,740
reservable by the community for whatever, for meetings, for nonprofit meetings,

1582
03:33:28,220 --> 03:33:33,020
for book clubs, whatever, we would do the same thing at no cost.

1583
03:33:33,340 --> 03:33:38,020
And we would fit up these spaces so there'd be a community meeting room as well as a makerspace.

1584
03:33:38,740 --> 03:33:44,220
Fit it out by the college and reservable on an as needed basis by the community.

1585
03:33:45,640 --> 03:33:51,940
At the end of the day, it turns into sort of as Sally was alluding to sort of a burden

1586
03:33:51,940 --> 03:33:53,340
hand versus two in the bush.

1587
03:33:53,560 --> 03:33:54,260
We are ready to go.

1588
03:33:54,400 --> 03:33:54,980
We're shovel ready.

1589
03:33:55,660 --> 03:33:58,400
We have the commitment of the board behind us.

1590
03:33:58,580 --> 03:34:01,120
We have the financial capacity to do this.

1591
03:34:01,400 --> 03:34:02,720
We have a definitive schedule.

1592
03:34:03,720 --> 03:34:07,240
We want to break, you know, we would go into design mode and then do the construction

1593
03:34:07,240 --> 03:34:09,260
and get this done by the fall of 28.

1594
03:34:10,480 --> 03:34:13,560
And with no reliance on any outside soft funding.

1595
03:34:13,560 --> 03:34:16,940
This is fully backed by the financial credit of the college.

1596
03:34:17,400 --> 03:34:18,620
Thank you so much.

1597
03:34:18,620 --> 03:34:22,720
We'll move on to Doryard.

1598
03:34:32,790 --> 03:34:37,330
Hi, my name is Cara Wilbur, owner of Doryard, and nice to see you all.

1599
03:34:39,270 --> 03:34:46,810
We're really excited about this project and the opportunity to breathe new life into this amazing building.

1600
03:34:47,790 --> 03:34:49,070
That's the Hawthorne School.

1601
03:34:49,830 --> 03:34:55,310
And also, we're really excited to try to figure out a way to meet the community's goal of

1602
03:34:55,310 --> 03:35:00,730
adding more housing, but in a way that sort of fit the fabric of the neighborhood.

1603
03:35:02,070 --> 03:35:06,750
And so, you know, seeing the parking in the back, we thought there was an opportunity

1604
03:35:06,750 --> 03:35:12,730
to add more units in a way that sort of was sensitive to the neighborhood, maintained

1605
03:35:12,730 --> 03:35:18,610
a good amount of parking spaces and that also provided community space in the basement.

1606
03:35:19,530 --> 03:35:22,410
As mentioned, we're really flexible on what that looks like.

1607
03:35:23,250 --> 03:35:33,290
The 50, you know, person day care, child day care is really the capacity that the space can afford,

1608
03:35:33,390 --> 03:35:38,030
but it's really a conversation with the community about what is the best use for that space

1609
03:35:38,030 --> 03:35:43,870
and we're very open to going in many different directions on that. We just

1610
03:35:43,870 --> 03:35:48,570
know that the numbers generally can work with a variety of options.

1611
03:35:50,610 --> 03:35:53,430
And you know

1612
03:35:53,430 --> 03:36:00,070
we've talked a little bit about taxes. We looked at this as an opportunity to

1613
03:36:00,070 --> 03:36:05,110
to help the town generate more taxable income from this site.

1614
03:36:07,530 --> 03:36:13,730
We've estimated that over 30 years, we're looking at 2.5 million in taxes generated for the town,

1615
03:36:13,790 --> 03:36:20,990
which is helpful and supports, I think, some of the goals we've heard tonight from the community.

1616
03:36:22,790 --> 03:36:31,770
Along with the housing at 26 units, which we think meets that goal of the community.

1617
03:36:32,330 --> 03:36:37,170
So I don't know, Melissa, if you have anything else you want to touch on.

1618
03:36:37,350 --> 03:36:41,510
But that's sort of the high level picture.

1619
03:36:43,190 --> 03:36:44,290
I'll just add to that.

1620
03:36:44,390 --> 03:36:45,990
Again, Melissa McHugh, CIO.

1621
03:36:45,990 --> 03:36:50,870
So I want to mention that we're totally a main company

1622
03:36:50,870 --> 03:36:53,990
and everyone involved in this is going to be main related.

1623
03:36:54,350 --> 03:36:57,050
So architect is in Portland, engineers in Bangor.

1624
03:36:57,450 --> 03:37:01,130
We're utilizing the modular plant in South Portland.

1625
03:37:03,250 --> 03:37:06,170
We have, in terms of the tax component,

1626
03:37:06,370 --> 03:37:11,070
I think we took a look at the neighboring assessments

1627
03:37:11,070 --> 03:37:13,770
and I think the difference in taxes that you're seeing

1628
03:37:13,770 --> 03:37:17,870
is we're creating this second building that, you know, creates a lot of value.

1629
03:37:19,370 --> 03:37:24,370
And I just want to mention, I think, you know, the Bowdoin really put forward a thoughtful

1630
03:37:24,370 --> 03:37:30,850
application and, you know, they really identified a real need, which is that we have a big

1631
03:37:30,850 --> 03:37:32,430
housing crisis that we need to solve.

1632
03:37:33,070 --> 03:37:40,690
And part of our proposal provides housing for the people that, you know, like the

1633
03:37:40,690 --> 03:37:41,490
teachers at Bowdoin.

1634
03:37:41,490 --> 03:37:50,670
So the 100% AMI 8 unit that we'll be creating is really, like, perfect for those teachers who are looking for space.

1635
03:37:51,290 --> 03:37:53,490
And we'd love to help solve it either way.

1636
03:37:55,290 --> 03:38:03,550
And I guess just in terms of what the community was specifically asking for, we really wanted to center our proposal around addressing each one of those.

1637
03:38:03,670 --> 03:38:08,610
So I know Kara touched on it a little bit, but, you know, we really wanted to maximize the affordable housing.

1638
03:38:08,610 --> 03:38:14,010
you know really you know the they asked for a community space and we are

1639
03:38:14,010 --> 03:38:19,090
providing that keeping the green space in the playground and has saving the

1640
03:38:19,090 --> 03:38:24,850
historic building so we sort of wrap that all up and in terms of our sort of

1641
03:38:24,850 --> 03:38:30,170
financial risk I just want to mention that we have a ton of experience

1642
03:38:30,170 --> 03:38:36,970
already we have closed for and about to be six rural rental projects in New

1643
03:38:36,970 --> 03:38:41,090
Newcastle and Rumford and Yarmouth, we're working on one in Brunswick now.

1644
03:38:41,830 --> 03:38:46,750
We have deep history working with TIS and getting the financing that we need.

1645
03:38:47,190 --> 03:38:52,410
In terms of the eight-unit building, we'd be able to move forward quickly in terms

1646
03:38:52,410 --> 03:38:55,550
of utilizing our own neighborhood investment fund.

1647
03:38:56,710 --> 03:39:02,310
So we can, like she mentioned, that would be done in 2027 while the rest of the financing

1648
03:39:02,310 --> 03:39:05,770
would be in progress for the 18-unit.

1649
03:39:05,770 --> 03:39:10,350
So, I appreciate all of your time and happy to answer any questions.

1650
03:39:12,620 --> 03:39:13,080
Good.

1651
03:39:13,900 --> 03:39:14,200
Great.

1652
03:39:14,480 --> 03:39:14,760
Thank you.

1653
03:39:14,980 --> 03:39:17,780
Any last questions from Council before I open up for public comment?

1654
03:39:18,140 --> 03:39:18,600
Councillor Timi.

1655
03:39:21,080 --> 03:39:28,640
So, staff said earlier that the Doryard project has an improved playground, which is talked

1656
03:39:28,640 --> 03:39:34,000
about in the proposal, but it's kind of a little vague about it.

1657
03:39:34,000 --> 03:39:41,500
I think it says like additional equipment and so it's you know like improved but

1658
03:39:41,500 --> 03:39:44,640
also a lot of it is staying the same and

1659
03:39:47,140 --> 03:39:49,020
like possibly repaired because I know

1660
03:39:49,020 --> 03:39:52,620
that there's like a section of it that's just blocked off with zip-tied fly

1661
03:39:52,620 --> 03:39:59,560
wood right now but I kind of wonder about like the plausibility of that

1662
03:39:59,560 --> 03:40:04,940
approach because it's pretty old playground and the like insurance to

1663
03:40:04,940 --> 03:40:07,320
have a playground like that could potentially be an issue.

1664
03:40:07,460 --> 03:40:12,700
So I just wanted to get a little more information about what

1665
03:40:12,700 --> 03:40:15,240
you all are thinking about the playgrounds, ideally.

1666
03:40:22,680 --> 03:40:24,000
Hi, I'm Patrick Booth.

1667
03:40:24,180 --> 03:40:26,120
I'm an architect with Wood Hall, architect

1668
03:40:26,120 --> 03:40:27,460
in the project out of Portland.

1669
03:40:28,520 --> 03:40:30,500
So the reason why we noted that is

1670
03:40:30,500 --> 03:40:32,180
that it was presumed to be designed

1671
03:40:32,180 --> 03:40:33,720
for elementary school kids.

1672
03:40:34,180 --> 03:40:39,160
And so the daycare was our primary use in the building.

1673
03:40:40,060 --> 03:40:48,120
So we presume that the equivalent should be designed towards those ages of 1 to 5 or so as opposed to 5 to 12.

1674
03:40:48,700 --> 03:40:54,280
So that was part of it. It would be evaluated to more detail later, but we imagine it would be modified to that age group.

1675
03:40:57,990 --> 03:40:59,030
Any further questions?

1676
03:41:02,090 --> 03:41:04,470
Not seeing any. Let's move on to public comment.

1677
03:41:04,650 --> 03:41:06,890
If you'd like to speak on this item, you have three minutes.

1678
03:41:07,150 --> 03:41:10,550
Say your name, town of residence, follow the code of conduct, all of the good things.

1679
03:41:10,670 --> 03:41:12,570
We'll start in the room and then we'll move to Zoom.

1680
03:41:14,370 --> 03:41:23,310
Jimt was named 149208 Brunswick, Maine. There is no choice. There's only one. That's the

1681
03:41:23,310 --> 03:41:29,790
Doriad proposal. One, they're willing to pay more for the property. The housing they're

1682
03:41:29,790 --> 03:41:35,350
going to provide will be for people in the town trying to live and provide housing for

1683
03:41:35,350 --> 03:41:40,830
everybody else. For Bowdoin, you have to work for Bowdoin to live there. If you

1684
03:41:40,830 --> 03:41:45,730
look at the cost of their willing to pay for, what is it? A couple hundred thousand

1685
03:41:45,730 --> 03:41:49,790
dollar difference? Whenever that's because we're going to get both in to pay

1686
03:41:49,790 --> 03:41:53,410
two hundred fifty thousand dollars for that multi-purpose field down to a rec

1687
03:41:53,410 --> 03:42:00,170
field later on. There's no choice here. Douya proposal is the right

1688
03:42:00,170 --> 03:42:03,650
proposal. I get a lot of concerns because earlier this evening you heard

1689
03:42:03,650 --> 03:42:09,010
the Economic Community Director talk about making sure before the town took

1690
03:42:09,010 --> 03:42:13,910
over a piece of property. They wanted to make sure there was no hazardous materials, asbestos

1691
03:42:13,910 --> 03:42:19,010
and all that. So they did a phase two somewhere down in Cooke's corner. I'm assuming the town

1692
03:42:19,010 --> 03:42:22,270
is going to do the same thing on this property before they even think about selling it.

1693
03:42:23,050 --> 03:42:28,710
Phase one, phase two. Didn't do it on the fire station. Didn't do it on the fire

1694
03:42:28,710 --> 03:42:31,370
station. No, you didn't.

1695
03:42:33,800 --> 03:42:36,680
You also, you heard all we're a little concerned about

1696
03:42:36,680 --> 03:42:43,500
the finances from Dorian. The fire station had federal, state, local, whoever else gave

1697
03:42:43,500 --> 03:42:49,640
grant money to do the proposal. It took seven extensions, almost two years delay.

1698
03:42:53,470 --> 03:42:53,830
If you're

1699
03:42:53,830 --> 03:42:57,030
going to go forward with this project, I also want to make sure that everything that they

1700
03:42:57,030 --> 03:43:05,140
have to do is brought up the standards, including while Al Pac and Stormdrain has

1701
03:43:05,140 --> 03:43:09,440
these materials, ADA, flyer codes, sprinkler system and any other codes have to be brought

1702
03:43:09,440 --> 03:43:11,940
up the current standards they weren't on the fire station.

1703
03:43:14,590 --> 03:43:15,930
But going forward I think there's

1704
03:43:15,930 --> 03:43:22,510
only one deal and that is door yachts. Yes, Bowdoin College has a reputation in the town

1705
03:43:22,510 --> 03:43:27,830
but we got a chance to get somebody else in town willing to do something for possible

1706
03:43:27,830 --> 03:43:33,550
working people in town. Bowdoin's proposal is for Bowdoin's employees. That's not

1707
03:43:33,550 --> 03:43:40,690
what this proposal is about. If you're going to do affordable housing, you're going

1708
03:43:40,690 --> 03:43:45,030
You want to work at some of the places that you're talking about on Main Street, the restaurants, the stuff you want to bring in.

1709
03:43:45,770 --> 03:43:47,370
You're going to have places for the end of the live.

1710
03:43:49,110 --> 03:43:51,370
Bowdoin could put it on their own land, they've got plenty of it.

1711
03:43:52,030 --> 03:43:55,290
So my recommendation is the only one, let's do it yet.

1712
03:43:56,310 --> 03:43:56,870
Thank you.

1713
03:44:00,790 --> 03:44:02,290
Hello, I'm Lucas Lincoln.

1714
03:44:03,170 --> 03:44:06,450
I sent you all an email, a few emails this weekend actually regarding this proposal.

1715
03:44:06,830 --> 03:44:10,450
I agree there's only one choice, although I believe it's the Bowdoin choice.

1716
03:44:11,470 --> 03:44:17,050
And hopefully I can answer James' question a little bit about why it was scored so high,

1717
03:44:17,090 --> 03:44:21,550
at least from my point of view and what I think it brings to the town.

1718
03:44:21,750 --> 03:44:25,270
Now the previous speaker mentioned that the housing is limited, it's only for Bowdoin.

1719
03:44:25,670 --> 03:44:30,570
But they compensated more than compensated for that by what they offer to the community.

1720
03:44:31,350 --> 03:44:36,390
The playground in the doryard proposal is non-existent and poorly thought out.

1721
03:44:36,530 --> 03:44:38,410
There's the issue with the equipment.

1722
03:44:39,110 --> 03:44:41,510
It is not a public playground of its use for the daycare.

1723
03:44:41,750 --> 03:44:45,890
I don't know of a single private daycare that allows the public to use their property.

1724
03:44:46,010 --> 03:44:47,150
There's a liability issue there.

1725
03:44:47,610 --> 03:44:48,970
Bowdoin has addressed this in their proposal.

1726
03:44:49,170 --> 03:44:51,250
They mentioned that they lease the playground back to the town.

1727
03:44:51,590 --> 03:44:53,710
Therefore, I assume, absolving their liability.

1728
03:44:54,550 --> 03:44:55,690
They do this with Longfellow.

1729
03:44:55,970 --> 03:44:56,410
They're established.

1730
03:44:57,410 --> 03:44:59,830
Bowdoin also has an established track record.

1731
03:45:00,000 --> 03:45:04,660
Historic preservation. And if you look through the documentation of both proposals, they are

1732
03:45:04,660 --> 03:45:12,800
very explicit about what is historic and what will remain. They in general are an excellent

1733
03:45:12,800 --> 03:45:19,520
steward of that building and that property. There was a, I hadn't seen this before, but

1734
03:45:19,520 --> 03:45:24,800
earlier during the last discussion there was this flower with one Brunswick, I believe.

1735
03:45:24,800 --> 03:45:28,760
I believe it was sort of a, each petal had a representation.

1736
03:45:29,100 --> 03:45:32,760
One of those was active recreation and public facilities.

1737
03:45:33,400 --> 03:45:35,160
The Bowdoin proposal provides both of those.

1738
03:45:36,320 --> 03:45:39,960
The green space touted by Doaryard is behind that eight unit building.

1739
03:45:40,100 --> 03:45:41,000
That's not a public space.

1740
03:45:41,380 --> 03:45:44,640
That's, this is similar to the public space at the fire station,

1741
03:45:44,760 --> 03:45:46,040
which is their beer garden.

1742
03:45:46,280 --> 03:45:47,260
That's not a public space.

1743
03:45:47,480 --> 03:45:48,900
That's a part of that development.

1744
03:45:50,960 --> 03:45:53,400
The Bowdoin proposal, however, has public space.

1745
03:45:53,400 --> 03:45:57,960
It eliminates the parking lot in front, there's green space, there is a world-class destination playground.

1746
03:45:58,720 --> 03:46:04,820
When I'm a long fellow, I talk to people from Augusta, from Lincoln County, from Portland, from all over,

1747
03:46:05,240 --> 03:46:08,260
who come to Brunswick, who spend money in Brunswick to visit that playground.

1748
03:46:08,900 --> 03:46:12,500
Likewise, the community members in that area have a chance to interact.

1749
03:46:13,960 --> 03:46:18,540
Playgrounds are a place where parents of children, grandparents of children,

1750
03:46:18,540 --> 03:46:23,700
and local people of all ages and neighbors can interact and strengthen community bonds.

1751
03:46:23,920 --> 03:46:25,060
This is something we are lacking.

1752
03:46:26,500 --> 03:46:31,320
Affordable housing can be created by the Brunswick Council and has.

1753
03:46:31,500 --> 03:46:32,600
There are tools for doing this.

1754
03:46:32,680 --> 03:46:35,940
There is already a given percentage of units that will become affordable.

1755
03:46:36,940 --> 03:46:39,500
We just are discussing increase.

1756
03:46:39,740 --> 03:46:44,560
Well, we just passed, you all just passed this increase on the height limit downtown.

1757
03:46:44,920 --> 03:46:46,500
That's going to create a lot of new units.

1758
03:46:46,500 --> 03:46:51,740
and we can drive those to be affordable units or whatever the mix may be, we will not get a

1759
03:46:51,740 --> 03:46:56,900
world-class playground. We will not get a free-to-use community space downtown. We will not get a

1760
03:46:56,900 --> 03:47:02,160
makerspace if we do not take advantage of the Bowdoin proposal. I recognize the importance

1761
03:47:02,160 --> 03:47:08,600
of affordable housing. The high net worth areas are not the most culturally rich,

1762
03:47:08,800 --> 03:47:14,600
rewarding places to live worldwide. However, in this case, the opportunity

1763
03:47:14,600 --> 03:47:19,080
to create these community assets is greater than the housing.

1764
03:47:19,940 --> 03:47:22,460
I have more points. I recognize my time is up. Thank you.

1765
03:47:22,700 --> 03:47:23,040
Thank you.

1766
03:47:28,530 --> 03:47:30,450
Hi. Jane Champ, Jordan F.

1767
03:47:31,590 --> 03:47:34,510
So for something completely different, I don't actually have a vote,

1768
03:47:34,990 --> 03:47:36,930
but I do want to thank the task force.

1769
03:47:37,090 --> 03:47:40,690
You know, it's a lot of work, and I think both proposals

1770
03:47:40,690 --> 03:47:42,970
showed a lot of respect for the building,

1771
03:47:43,130 --> 03:47:44,810
and they'll look beautiful either way.

1772
03:47:45,690 --> 03:47:48,070
I do have a few things that really stuck out to me

1773
03:47:48,070 --> 03:47:49,710
and the doryard proposal.

1774
03:47:50,670 --> 03:47:52,950
It seems like it's a notional daycare.

1775
03:47:54,010 --> 03:47:55,490
Brunswick has done daycares.

1776
03:47:55,710 --> 03:47:58,450
My son was one of the first through the door at the rec center.

1777
03:47:59,310 --> 03:48:04,450
And while we had a great experience there, daycares are really hard and they fail.

1778
03:48:05,770 --> 03:48:11,790
And I wouldn't want to see the space sort of attempted to be built for a daycare,

1779
03:48:11,890 --> 03:48:13,450
which then does not succeed.

1780
03:48:13,450 --> 03:48:16,930
and we've sort of lost out on an opportunity to do something different.

1781
03:48:17,930 --> 03:48:21,750
In particular, the drop-off space I think is way too small.

1782
03:48:22,330 --> 03:48:26,290
You can't make a left turn out of there in any case in the mornings.

1783
03:48:27,150 --> 03:48:29,490
See my previous comments on Jordan Ave.

1784
03:48:30,070 --> 03:48:32,090
Right at Jordan Ave. and federal is super hazardous.

1785
03:48:32,450 --> 03:48:34,410
You've got buses and walkers and cars.

1786
03:48:34,930 --> 03:48:35,510
It's crazy.

1787
03:48:35,790 --> 03:48:38,250
I don't think we should be putting any more traffic coming in and

1788
03:48:38,250 --> 03:48:39,690
out of that part onto federal.

1789
03:48:39,690 --> 03:48:44,870
In that area, I think the Bowdoin proposal really excels on the overall outdoor plan,

1790
03:48:45,090 --> 03:48:50,010
returning the front into green space, putting in a really nice playground that's truly accessible.

1791
03:48:51,590 --> 03:48:57,010
What did stand out to me on the Bowdoin proposal is just that, you know,

1792
03:48:57,090 --> 03:49:01,010
if a Bowdoin professor can't live in Brunswick, is there hope for anyone else?

1793
03:49:03,150 --> 03:49:06,690
And I don't say that to be funny. I really mean that.

1794
03:49:06,690 --> 03:49:13,730
But I do worry that the Bowdoin proposal could increase the actual housing disparity or

1795
03:49:13,730 --> 03:49:16,330
at the very least the perception of it in this town.

1796
03:49:17,490 --> 03:49:19,510
And that's a problem in the perfect world.

1797
03:49:19,650 --> 03:49:26,390
I'd love to see the affordable housing from Doaryard combined with the actual outdoor site plan from Bowdoin.

1798
03:49:26,510 --> 03:49:27,490
The playground's awesome.

1799
03:49:27,810 --> 03:49:29,050
I think people really use it.

1800
03:49:29,490 --> 03:49:32,790
I agree, you can't use the playground that's assigned to a daycare.

1801
03:49:32,790 --> 03:49:37,870
and no kids want to hang out at daycare for one to five-year-old like playground.

1802
03:49:38,670 --> 03:49:43,250
It's not very fun. You can put out a sandbox and that's okay. But again, I

1803
03:49:43,250 --> 03:49:48,470
don't think the daycare space works because four drop-off spots and a

1804
03:49:48,470 --> 03:49:53,910
little turnaround is just going to be pandemonium. So that's pretty much it

1805
03:49:53,910 --> 03:49:56,810
for me. My one other kind of comment on the bone proposal, I think the

1806
03:49:56,810 --> 03:50:00,610
makerspace is cool. I hope if that happens that it's being done in

1807
03:50:00,610 --> 03:50:06,930
coordination with our library, with the mix, which is right next door, and I do

1808
03:50:06,930 --> 03:50:13,010
hope that any public space at Bowdoin isn't sort of subject to creep, where

1809
03:50:13,010 --> 03:50:16,890
people feel like it's not a public space, but it becomes a Bowdoin space, like make

1810
03:50:16,890 --> 03:50:21,490
sure it really is public and really is available and feels available and is

1811
03:50:21,490 --> 03:50:27,130
clear that it's available. And that's about it. You guys have a tough

1812
03:50:27,130 --> 03:50:30,730
task. I think they both have great things in different ways. So thank you.

1813
03:50:31,190 --> 03:50:31,510
Thank you.

1814
03:50:35,950 --> 03:50:40,870
Good evening. Jessica Factor, I live on Green Street. So I am a member of

1815
03:50:40,870 --> 03:50:46,530
the Hawthorne School Redevelopment Task Force, living directly across the street to the

1816
03:50:46,530 --> 03:50:52,070
back parking lot on Green Street. So I have a very vested interest in the redevelopment

1817
03:50:52,070 --> 03:50:58,550
of this very special building. My home, my grandparents built the home and our

1818
03:50:58,550 --> 03:51:03,450
children are the fourth generation of our family to live in that home. So you

1819
03:51:03,450 --> 03:51:08,750
could say I have very deep roots in Brunswick. I am very appreciative for

1820
03:51:08,750 --> 03:51:12,650
the opportunity to have been a member of this of the Hawthorne redevelopment

1821
03:51:12,650 --> 03:51:18,110
task force. I want to thank each of you the town council. I also want to thank

1822
03:51:18,110 --> 03:51:23,510
manager Hensie for the opportunity to be part of this. I'm also grateful to

1823
03:51:23,510 --> 03:51:28,070
the town employees, the counselors and all of the task force members. We

1824
03:51:28,070 --> 03:51:30,070
We have given many hours to this task.

1825
03:51:31,650 --> 03:51:38,790
I very much have a different lens as a resident on this project.

1826
03:51:39,730 --> 03:51:45,690
I want to clarify that I am in no way opposed to the redevelopment of the Hawthorne Building.

1827
03:51:46,070 --> 03:51:47,410
I am very interested in it.

1828
03:51:48,110 --> 03:51:50,510
It's tough living across the street from a vacant building.

1829
03:51:51,230 --> 03:51:53,430
And it's a beautiful historical building.

1830
03:51:54,230 --> 03:51:56,230
We have one opportunity to do this well.

1831
03:51:56,230 --> 03:52:08,200
I respect the need for the redevelopment. I also want to see the return of property taxes to that building.

1832
03:52:09,260 --> 03:52:16,300
What concerns me is the back parking lot and the redevelopment of the back parking lot.

1833
03:52:16,940 --> 03:52:24,660
I see each summer the number of cars that fight for parking spaces to attend music on the mall,

1834
03:52:24,660 --> 03:52:32,100
to attend the barbecues to attend any of the functions on the mall and parking

1835
03:52:32,100 --> 03:52:40,900
is a premium there are about 30 maybe 36 spots I'd say in that parking lot so what

1836
03:52:40,900 --> 03:52:48,740
concerns me is to add a building to that small lot I am more interested to see

1837
03:52:48,740 --> 03:52:52,840
the building be in the back part the upper part of the lot but as I

1838
03:52:52,840 --> 03:52:56,540
understand by ordinance it would need to be connected to the building. I'm

1839
03:52:56,540 --> 03:53:03,160
concerned about as I say parking but also snow removal. I am also very

1840
03:53:03,160 --> 03:53:08,120
concerned of the amount of traffic that happens on Green Street. It is a

1841
03:53:08,120 --> 03:53:13,680
significant amount. We are a small three-home one-way street in Brunswick

1842
03:53:13,680 --> 03:53:19,300
and so adding more traffic from another building in the back parking lot

1843
03:53:19,300 --> 03:53:25,640
is difficult. It's a tight squeeze so I am really concerned with how building will

1844
03:53:25,640 --> 03:53:29,520
fit there and my colleagues on the task force are aware of that. The

1845
03:53:29,520 --> 03:53:33,980
intersection at Jordan Avenue is a dangerous area, significant traffic

1846
03:53:33,980 --> 03:53:39,400
between buses and the area. So I ask that you please consider the

1847
03:53:39,400 --> 03:53:43,480
neighborhood in your deliberations this evening and what fits into the

1848
03:53:43,480 --> 03:53:47,300
neighborhood. But thank you for your consideration of the redevelopment of

1849
03:53:47,300 --> 03:53:49,040
Thank you. Thank you so much.

1850
03:53:50,800 --> 03:53:52,660
Anybody else in the room that would like to speak?

1851
03:53:52,780 --> 03:53:55,480
Oh, there's people behind the pillar. Didn't see you over there.

1852
03:53:55,940 --> 03:53:57,920
I was trying to stay out of sight.

1853
03:53:58,680 --> 03:54:02,780
My name is Charles Juever. I lived out on Jordan Avenue, 8 Jordan Avenue.

1854
03:54:04,780 --> 03:54:09,440
I just want to echo a few of the other things that have been said here already.

1855
03:54:10,880 --> 03:54:13,700
The traffic on Jordan Avenue is horrendous.

1856
03:54:13,700 --> 03:54:21,800
And there's at least two hours a day that my wife and I don't even think about going out.

1857
03:54:22,120 --> 03:54:29,220
And that's in the morning and in the, I would call it the early evening when school's getting out.

1858
03:54:31,000 --> 03:54:35,400
That intersection up at Ferro and Jordan is horrendous.

1859
03:54:35,980 --> 03:54:40,300
And the school bus is coming around the corner, it'll pick you out.

1860
03:54:41,500 --> 03:54:45,120
I'm just amazed that we don't have more accidents there already.

1861
03:54:46,100 --> 03:54:47,120
At any rate,

1862
03:54:49,780 --> 03:54:52,620
I have children that went to Hawthorne

1863
03:54:52,620 --> 03:54:57,620
and it is kind of a deep rooted thought in my heart

1864
03:54:57,620 --> 03:55:00,880
that we would preserve that building

1865
03:55:00,880 --> 03:55:05,540
and make it of good use to the town and to people.

1866
03:55:05,540 --> 03:55:17,100
And the other thing is that the traffic again on Green Street is really bad, no matter how

1867
03:55:17,100 --> 03:55:20,800
you handle it, no matter what you put in there, it's going to be hard.

1868
03:55:21,820 --> 03:55:29,880
So I would think that the voting proposal is the better way to go for the town and

1869
03:55:29,880 --> 03:55:33,140
for the residents and the people that live around here.

1870
03:55:33,880 --> 03:55:35,720
And that's all I have. Thank you.

1871
03:55:35,940 --> 03:55:36,280
Thank you.

1872
03:55:45,030 --> 03:55:53,770
He's quite a bit taller than I am. Carol O'Donnell, Brunswick resident and chair of the housing committee.

1873
03:55:56,090 --> 03:56:03,230
So I really commend the task force for bringing both of these proposals forward.

1874
03:56:03,230 --> 03:56:10,370
I can see why they were interested in both of these, or why they surfaced to the top.

1875
03:56:11,310 --> 03:56:15,210
And we need both affordable housing and workforce housing.

1876
03:56:15,450 --> 03:56:20,370
I think that's been pretty clear to several of us.

1877
03:56:23,170 --> 03:56:31,130
And I'm not going to weigh in on favoring one over the other, just to start out here.

1878
03:56:32,370 --> 03:56:42,610
I mostly have questions. So on the Bowdoin project, I just want to verify that I saw this correct.

1879
03:56:43,190 --> 03:56:50,330
That they are actually proposing to donate $200,000 to the Affordable Housing Support Fund, correct?

1880
03:56:55,190 --> 03:57:03,330
If the real estate market changes such that their faculty and staff have an easier time

1881
03:57:03,330 --> 03:57:10,330
finding housing in the future, would they be open to then opening up some of the apartments

1882
03:57:10,330 --> 03:57:15,650
for the general public instead of limiting them to faculty and staff?

1883
03:57:17,430 --> 03:57:26,310
Have they looked at any other sites, is that a major, are there any other sites that would be suitable for what they'd like to do?

1884
03:57:30,170 --> 03:57:38,330
And the community space and the use of the community space, community spaces are hard to find in this town.

1885
03:57:38,790 --> 03:57:44,190
Whenever you want to hold a meeting with a number of people, it's hard to find a space to do that now.

1886
03:57:44,190 --> 03:58:05,550
For Door Yard, my question is, would it at some point make any sense to consider 100 to 120% AMI for the 8-unit building if that might accommodate Bowdoin faculty staff?

1887
03:58:06,670 --> 03:58:15,090
And as far as the community space or day care, what I heard from you folks was flexibility.

1888
03:58:15,950 --> 03:58:24,790
That if day care didn't make sense, community space maybe you'd be open to looking at options for that.

1889
03:58:25,230 --> 03:58:26,610
So that's all I have to say.

1890
03:58:27,930 --> 03:58:28,770
Thank you.

1891
03:58:33,980 --> 03:58:35,560
Just making sure that is registering.

1892
03:58:35,860 --> 03:58:36,140
I think it is.

1893
03:58:36,360 --> 03:58:37,840
Hi, I'm Kristen Haynes.

1894
03:58:38,000 --> 03:58:39,560
I rent on Columbia Avenue.

1895
03:58:39,560 --> 03:58:45,300
And I'm also part of the Brunswick Renters Organization, so you might imagine that affordable housing is very important to me

1896
03:58:45,300 --> 03:58:50,880
and something that I really think is truly lacking in town, especially in the downtown area where folks

1897
03:58:51,360 --> 03:58:56,240
would love to be able to walk about and just can't afford to live in the places that, you know,

1898
03:58:56,260 --> 03:59:00,200
you have to drive to get into downtown from almost any of the affordable units, like in the rest of town.

1899
03:59:00,780 --> 03:59:04,460
So I would love to see something affordable here, which I think

1900
03:59:05,500 --> 03:59:08,300
begs some negotiating to both projects.

1901
03:59:08,940 --> 03:59:16,640
I would love to see the door yard limits be closer to like 60% AMI to reflect true affordability

1902
03:59:17,260 --> 03:59:25,520
because our AMI in town is skewed by Bowdoin faculty, no disrespect, but it's something to consider.

1903
03:59:26,100 --> 03:59:32,280
And yeah, the fact that the other building is also going to be on the higher range of things is just a bit concerning.

1904
03:59:32,880 --> 03:59:37,300
I think someone else said that this is like a rare opportunity to do something great with this site.

1905
03:59:37,300 --> 03:59:41,720
So we do need to think about that really hard which I know everybody has done at the task force

1906
03:59:42,220 --> 03:59:45,580
They actually allowed public like the public to come into meetings

1907
03:59:45,580 --> 03:59:50,160
So I was able to go to one and I think really tremendous work was being done the task force

1908
03:59:50,160 --> 03:59:52,200
So thank everybody who that was a part of that

1909
03:59:53,460 --> 03:59:59,880
So that's one negotiation. I think also if we're looking at Bowdoin's proposal that also needs to be lowered a lot there

1910
04:00:00,000 --> 04:00:04,960
There are a lot of staff, not just faculty that work at Bowdoin and would love to be able

1911
04:00:04,960 --> 04:00:11,120
to live here and engage in the community and not commute an hour for their 9 to 5.

1912
04:00:12,160 --> 04:00:17,760
So if there can be negotiation there about the use of that space to consider the staff,

1913
04:00:18,020 --> 04:00:23,560
the rest of their employees and the housing that they need, especially the way our weather

1914
04:00:23,560 --> 04:00:26,080
is, it's very difficult to get to their work sometimes.

1915
04:00:26,080 --> 04:00:31,880
And I know they have some like mediating factors, they're able to rent, you know, hotel rooms

1916
04:00:31,880 --> 04:00:33,880
in town whenever there's weather emergencies.

1917
04:00:34,100 --> 04:00:37,880
I know they make an effort to, you know, sort of accommodate that, but I think we could

1918
04:00:37,880 --> 04:00:38,180
do better.

1919
04:00:38,480 --> 04:00:40,600
So just wanted to remind everybody about those two factors.

1920
04:00:40,860 --> 04:00:42,060
But again, thank you for your work.

1921
04:00:42,580 --> 04:00:43,160
Thank you.

1922
04:00:51,760 --> 04:00:59,020
Nat Shed, Cedar Street, a member of the task force on the Hawthorne revitalization.

1923
04:00:59,680 --> 04:01:02,960
My sense about the survey was affordability.

1924
04:01:02,960 --> 04:01:08,700
We didn't do a great job of defining affordability, but I always made a case that I felt that

1925
04:01:08,700 --> 04:01:11,040
it meant low income and it meant low income.

1926
04:01:11,400 --> 04:01:17,120
People who need to work downtown and work in our stores, work in the cafeterias at Bowdoin,

1927
04:01:17,560 --> 04:01:20,060
and that that was the essence of the survey.

1928
04:01:20,860 --> 04:01:25,720
There wasn't a lot in survey around work for housing, as I remember.

1929
04:01:26,500 --> 04:01:28,000
The primary was low income.

1930
04:01:28,560 --> 04:01:33,740
So, as much as I like the Bowdoin proposal in a lot of ways, and I appreciate the need

1931
04:01:33,740 --> 04:01:41,100
for faculty housing being a spouse of a faculty member, another college I will say, but Colby

1932
04:01:41,100 --> 04:01:43,900
did do a 1% reduction on your interest rate.

1933
04:01:43,980 --> 04:01:46,640
You might want to consider that for your faculty, give me a little break.

1934
04:01:47,200 --> 04:01:48,780
It's a big deal over 30 years.

1935
04:01:50,240 --> 04:01:55,640
So I would hope that you would follow the guidelines of the survey, look at affordability.

1936
04:01:55,640 --> 04:02:02,940
The door yard has more numbers, more affordability, also has flexibility with the other units in

1937
04:02:02,940 --> 04:02:06,960
terms of that so that meets some of those needs and I think that's a big priority.

1938
04:02:07,700 --> 04:02:12,680
The comments about the playground and the daycare are very well thoughtful and I think

1939
04:02:12,680 --> 04:02:16,420
that's a criticism of door yard and I would hope you'd renegotiate that.

1940
04:02:17,020 --> 04:02:21,940
I understand we have a daycare center space that's totally empty out at the recreation

1941
04:02:21,940 --> 04:02:22,480
center.

1942
04:02:22,480 --> 04:02:26,680
We have a playground that we paid for that doesn't get much use because there's no daycare next to it

1943
04:02:26,680 --> 04:02:32,520
So I would hope that they would look at community space or maybe efficiency units in those areas

1944
04:02:33,480 --> 04:02:34,200
and and

1945
04:02:34,200 --> 04:02:38,600
Re-change the playground design for make it more of a community

1946
04:02:39,460 --> 04:02:46,600
Playground not a preschool playground and maybe put something else in the basement. So those are my two cents. I think that

1947
04:02:46,600 --> 04:03:07,340
But it doesn't qualify under our guidelines and I know that's not the consensus of the committee, but it's my personal opinion it doesn't qualify so I would hope that maybe you consider bumping up the number three slot and that that one is a very you'd be very impressed with it if you saw it so don't write them off just because they didn't make the top two.

1948
04:03:09,440 --> 04:03:10,460
Anyone else in the room.

1949
04:03:12,600 --> 04:03:16,580
Not seeing any going to go to zoom Larry could you switch me over to the attendees view.

1950
04:03:17,780 --> 04:03:18,300
Thank you.

1951
04:03:18,320 --> 04:03:18,920
Thank you.

1952
04:03:19,000 --> 04:03:20,020
We're going to go with Sean Hogan.

1953
04:03:22,900 --> 04:03:23,420
Yes.

1954
04:03:23,620 --> 04:03:24,760
Good evening, Town Council.

1955
04:03:24,880 --> 04:03:26,300
Sean Hogan, Brunswick, I'm a resident.

1956
04:03:27,760 --> 04:03:34,700
I actually would support the Bowdoin College proposal for a lot of the aforementioned reasons,

1957
04:03:34,700 --> 04:03:36,800
which I'm not going to rehash here.

1958
04:03:38,480 --> 04:03:44,660
One thing I would like clarity on is at the beginning of this topic, it was mentioned

1959
04:03:44,660 --> 04:03:48,120
and that Bowdoin College is not exempt

1960
04:03:48,120 --> 04:03:51,020
from paying property tax on this property,

1961
04:03:51,100 --> 04:03:54,120
even though the material said that after 15 years,

1962
04:03:54,420 --> 04:03:56,220
they were interested in doing that.

1963
04:03:56,320 --> 04:03:58,840
So I would like some definitive clarification

1964
04:03:59,620 --> 04:04:02,320
that even after 15 years, that can't happen.

1965
04:04:02,460 --> 04:04:07,300
Another concern would be is Bowdoin capable

1966
04:04:07,860 --> 04:04:11,560
of changing the use of the building at some point in time

1967
04:04:11,560 --> 04:04:17,020
where it would then be used for scholastic purposes and then tax exempt.

1968
04:04:17,740 --> 04:04:23,180
Is there some kind of a rider where it remains housing in perpetuity or something to that effect?

1969
04:04:24,140 --> 04:04:29,440
So I would be curious to get answers to that and I really hope you pursue that so we could all hear that.

1970
04:04:30,220 --> 04:04:36,880
But I do overall prefer this option for a lot of the reasons previously presented

1971
04:04:36,880 --> 04:04:44,120
and it will have a smaller impact on the number of vehicles and people downtown.

1972
04:04:44,860 --> 04:04:51,140
14 units as opposed to 26 units, you know, and honestly I imagine the Bowdoin

1973
04:04:51,140 --> 04:04:54,380
professors are probably going to be maybe some of them parking their cars

1974
04:04:54,380 --> 04:04:59,120
maybe up at the by the arena and biking on and off the campus or things of that

1975
04:04:59,120 --> 04:05:04,520
nature, whereas the people downtown if you went with dooryard a lot of them

1976
04:05:04,520 --> 04:05:09,660
might be commuting out of town for a job and there's going to be more cars and more traffic.

1977
04:05:11,220 --> 04:05:14,220
Twelve units or so, it could make a big difference.

1978
04:05:14,740 --> 04:05:16,900
So I would be in favor of the voting proposal.

1979
04:05:17,100 --> 04:05:17,620
Thank you for your time.

1980
04:05:18,160 --> 04:05:18,600
Thank you.

1981
04:05:19,240 --> 04:05:20,060
Anybody else on Zoom?

1982
04:05:23,580 --> 04:05:24,980
Not seeing any.

1983
04:05:25,260 --> 04:05:29,620
I'm going to bring it back to council for a motion and personally I would like to

1984
04:05:29,620 --> 04:05:36,140
make this motion because it was one of the reasons I ran for council was to redevelop

1985
04:05:36,140 --> 04:05:41,520
up this building and so we have to have a motion to have discussion so personally

1986
04:05:41,520 --> 04:05:44,900
oh I'm gonna have to choose one okay got it didn't realize I was gonna have to do

1987
04:05:44,900 --> 04:05:48,840
that but I'm gonna make a motion to award the Hawthorne School redevelopment

1988
04:05:48,840 --> 04:05:52,880
project to Doar Yard is there a second on that seconded by Councillor

1989
04:05:52,880 --> 04:05:57,500
Wilson discussion. Councillor Timi.

1990
04:05:59,940 --> 04:06:03,180
So I was also on the task force and there

1991
04:06:03,180 --> 04:06:09,200
There was not a perfect proposal, and there probably never really is, but I had some thoughts

1992
04:06:09,200 --> 04:06:10,160
that I wanted to share.

1993
04:06:11,960 --> 04:06:17,140
Regarding door yard, I agree that the daycare seems like a waste of the space considering

1994
04:06:17,140 --> 04:06:19,380
that we have an entirely empty daycare.

1995
04:06:20,560 --> 04:06:24,040
Admittedly, it's nice to be able to walk to daycare, so there is some benefit to

1996
04:06:24,040 --> 04:06:32,840
having it downtown, but the front lot on that building is it was a mistake and it's

1997
04:06:32,840 --> 04:06:35,560
is atrocious and it needs to go, it is making,

1998
04:06:36,120 --> 04:06:37,920
even now where people just park there,

1999
04:06:38,040 --> 04:06:40,380
sometimes it makes traffic work worse on that street,

2000
04:06:41,560 --> 04:06:45,460
the intersection of green and Jordan and federal

2001
04:06:45,460 --> 04:06:48,260
is already a mess, and if you make it now

2002
04:06:48,260 --> 04:06:50,460
kind of technically a five-way intersection

2003
04:06:50,460 --> 04:06:52,280
with all the traffic coming in and out again,

2004
04:06:52,860 --> 04:06:55,380
like it used to be when it was more in use

2005
04:06:55,380 --> 04:06:57,800
as a building, it's just gonna be worse.

2006
04:06:59,260 --> 04:07:01,100
The Bowdoin proposal is beautiful.

2007
04:07:03,500 --> 04:07:11,180
Part of me would really love to have that proposal if it had been responsive to the idea of affordable housing.

2008
04:07:11,300 --> 04:07:17,240
It's really a bummer because I know that there are so many staff at Bowdoin that are under 80% AMI

2009
04:07:17,240 --> 04:07:19,480
and could really use affordable housing in Brunswick.

2010
04:07:19,480 --> 04:07:29,820
But even then, I feel like the Bowdoin proposal is mixed for me because of the

2011
04:07:29,820 --> 04:07:35,000
problems of having your employer control your housing. I'm sure Bowdoin isn't the

2012
04:07:35,000 --> 04:07:39,600
type of institution to hold housing over somebody's head, but it really makes me

2013
04:07:39,600 --> 04:07:43,760
think back to the like three and four story tenements that used to be all

2014
04:07:43,760 --> 04:07:46,420
over Brunswick with like a hundred people packed into each of these

2015
04:07:46,420 --> 04:07:51,700
buildings that were owned by the mill and if you went on strike they would

2016
04:07:51,700 --> 04:07:56,780
gotten to kick you out if you like lost your job for some reason you had to go

2017
04:07:56,780 --> 04:08:01,060
find more housing the laws to protect tenants were also a lot worse at the

2018
04:08:01,060 --> 04:08:06,700
time but conceptually I think having your employer control your housing is

2019
04:08:06,700 --> 04:08:10,040
not a great idea we kind of all know how bad that is with health care

2020
04:08:10,040 --> 04:08:19,340
already. To just talk to the experience on the task force, some of the questions that it left me

2021
04:08:19,340 --> 04:08:26,200
with that I knew I was going to have to grapple with once these came to council were

2022
04:08:27,580 --> 04:08:34,100
the concepts of who the affordable housing is for. There were quite a few proposals that were

2023
04:08:35,140 --> 04:08:43,140
It was all affordable housing and I would have loved to see a proposal advance that was all affordable housing.

2024
04:08:44,620 --> 04:08:50,260
But among those proposals some were limited to just seniors and others were open to everybody.

2025
04:08:50,400 --> 04:08:56,980
I think definitely given the location it would be great to have it open to everybody so that downtown workers could live there.

2026
04:08:56,980 --> 04:09:03,860
But the other part was the AMI ranges that were targeted in these different proposals there.

2027
04:09:04,260 --> 04:09:08,160
Mostly were proposals looking at 60% AMI.

2028
04:09:08,500 --> 04:09:16,980
There was, I think there were two that were a mix of like 60 and maybe 50% AMI,

2029
04:09:17,060 --> 04:09:22,740
both of which is sorely needed in our housing space right now.

2030
04:09:23,540 --> 04:09:34,700
The doryard proposal has a mix, you know, so only part of it meets our zoning definition of affordable housing at 80% or less for rental units.

2031
04:09:35,960 --> 04:09:47,340
So I think if we do choose to award this to doryard, I would really want us to push very hard to try and figure out if there's some way,

2032
04:09:47,340 --> 04:09:53,200
either by like eliminating the daycare or whatever to make this project entirely affordable.

2033
04:09:54,700 --> 04:10:00,800
Ideally at less than 80% AMI, but you know, if it had to be 80% AMI for the entire thing,

2034
04:10:00,820 --> 04:10:04,200
that would be a lot better than having a mix like this.

2035
04:10:04,320 --> 04:10:08,500
I actually, to answer my question earlier, I looked up the results of the survey

2036
04:10:08,500 --> 04:10:13,280
and it was 25% of people who said that they wanted market rate housing,

2037
04:10:13,280 --> 04:10:21,260
housing, which was presented as, you know, the opposite of affordable housing in this

2038
04:10:21,260 --> 04:10:29,300
question and nearly 70% of people said that they wanted affordable housing. Also, of note,

2039
04:10:29,460 --> 04:10:35,360
only 41% of people said that they wanted to take care, so that's less than half. That's

2040
04:10:35,360 --> 04:10:36,620
kind of just generally where I'm at.

2041
04:10:38,940 --> 04:10:46,540
Thank you. I will say that I have a very strong affection for that building. My mother graduated

2042
04:10:47,300 --> 04:10:52,540
high school when it was a high school, and I actually went there from subprimary through

2043
04:10:52,540 --> 04:10:58,920
third grade and the principal at the time because of something I did nasty to call the

2044
04:10:58,920 --> 04:11:07,940
name. Anyhow, the principal, Mrs. Schofield, punished me by making me dust her books in

2045
04:11:07,940 --> 04:11:12,480
her library, and she saw me staring at them. Anyhow, it turned me on to reading. It was

2046
04:11:12,480 --> 04:11:18,820
the best thing that ever happened. But what I would like to say as I go with Doryard,

2047
04:11:18,880 --> 04:11:26,380
because I really want to see it stay a Brunswick, and I appreciate Bowdoin College and I understand

2048
04:11:26,380 --> 04:11:31,520
the need for the staff and stuff like that but Brunswick has a huge need. I like the

2049
04:11:31,520 --> 04:11:37,160
extra house in the back and I know there's always a problem with traffic and parking

2050
04:11:37,160 --> 04:11:42,660
and that's never going to end and the next council ahead of us has got to figure that

2051
04:11:42,660 --> 04:11:52,380
out. Meanwhile the growth is not going to stop. We know that and I just really would

2052
04:11:52,380 --> 04:11:59,820
like to see it focus on Brunswick and as far as the day care, yes or no, it'll go, we

2053
04:11:59,820 --> 04:12:05,100
need housing and I love the place. I'm done.

2054
04:12:05,900 --> 04:12:06,340
Great.

2055
04:12:08,820 --> 04:12:09,820
Yeah, Councilor Weems.

2056
04:12:11,140 --> 04:12:11,740
Go ahead.

2057
04:12:12,180 --> 04:12:15,480
Okay, yeah, I'll throw something out there and then I'll go to you, Councilor Weems.

2058
04:12:15,620 --> 04:12:21,540
So I also was on the task force. Personally, I think that the door yard, I appreciate

2059
04:12:21,540 --> 04:12:27,100
Jay Bodin's thoughtful design of it, but I do think that the doryard proposal is the

2060
04:12:27,100 --> 04:12:31,180
only one that fully answers the survey that the community reached out for.

2061
04:12:31,620 --> 04:12:39,320
I understand there's some questions around the playground and questions around the mobility

2062
04:12:39,320 --> 04:12:44,920
of the daycare, but something that you, unless you were deep diving and looked on our website

2063
04:12:44,920 --> 04:12:50,240
and saw all the proposals that were made, there's already a daycare center that wants

2064
04:12:50,240 --> 04:12:51,540
to move into the Hawthorne building.

2065
04:12:52,360 --> 04:12:58,420
They signed up with another proposal, like they had an MOU with them and they were ready

2066
04:12:58,420 --> 04:13:00,820
to go as soon as that facility was done.

2067
04:13:01,280 --> 04:13:06,420
So for me, that says that there is a need for a daycare facility downtown because there's

2068
04:13:06,420 --> 04:13:09,200
already daycare facilities that would go there if they could go there.

2069
04:13:09,460 --> 04:13:14,080
And just because they didn't choose one of the seven other proposals to sign MOUs with

2070
04:13:14,080 --> 04:13:21,000
every single one of them. It makes me drawn to the daycare response because also the other

2071
04:13:21,000 --> 04:13:26,000
piece that I'm kind of weighing in this, when we're looking at the survey results and people

2072
04:13:26,000 --> 04:13:29,080
are asking like what type of housing do you want this to be? What type of housing do you

2073
04:13:29,080 --> 04:13:34,300
want this to be? And one of the options is residence hall. What is the first thing

2074
04:13:34,300 --> 04:13:39,880
you think of when you hear residence hall? You think student college? Bowdoin. Of that,

2075
04:13:40,440 --> 04:13:42,100
172 people said that they wanted that.

2076
04:13:43,340 --> 04:13:46,500
More people said that they wanted efficiency units,

2077
04:13:46,680 --> 04:13:48,220
double the amount of people said that they would

2078
04:13:48,780 --> 04:13:51,200
rather have an efficiency or micro unit,

2079
04:13:51,360 --> 04:13:54,580
so something under 400 square feet, 381 people said

2080
04:13:54,580 --> 04:13:56,620
that they would rather have that over a residence hall.

2081
04:13:57,240 --> 04:14:04,070
So for me, it's hard to justify awarding this to Bowdoin,

2082
04:14:04,090 --> 04:14:06,050
because I feel like if we put the question on here,

2083
04:14:06,390 --> 04:14:07,730
like would you want this to be used for,

2084
04:14:07,770 --> 04:14:09,130
exclusively for Bowdoin housing,

2085
04:14:09,130 --> 04:14:11,590
housing, the resounding response would have been no.

2086
04:14:12,430 --> 04:14:17,870
And so I feel like to honor the actual results of having affordable housing, yes, daycare

2087
04:14:17,870 --> 04:14:19,610
center was the highest secondary use.

2088
04:14:19,910 --> 04:14:23,190
We know that there's a daycare provider that would want to operate out of that space.

2089
04:14:23,570 --> 04:14:24,650
We retain a green space.

2090
04:14:24,990 --> 04:14:26,030
We have affordable housing.

2091
04:14:26,230 --> 04:14:32,910
And personally, I'm not offended by the eight units as part of the 26 being at

2092
04:14:32,910 --> 04:14:34,030
100% AMI.

2093
04:14:34,030 --> 04:14:41,710
My 100% AMI is still less than market rate housing because we know that market rate housing is kind of through the roof right now.

2094
04:14:42,110 --> 04:14:51,030
If it was restricted to 100% AMI, it still would be a lot lower than any market rate housing that you would get today because it's based on area meeting income.

2095
04:14:51,170 --> 04:14:57,830
It's not based off of what you can get from that property, which is how most rentals in town operate.

2096
04:14:57,830 --> 04:14:58,390
great.

2097
04:15:00,000 --> 04:15:04,880
I personally like the fact that there is this target because, A, in a lot of affordable housing

2098
04:15:06,700 --> 04:15:12,380
developments, there is this siloing effect of like, yeah, we'll do affordable housing, but

2099
04:15:12,800 --> 04:15:16,860
we're going to smush it all into this area and we're going to put all the low income people

2100
04:15:16,860 --> 04:15:21,860
together, and by saying, no, we're not going to necessarily do that. We're going to have

2101
04:15:21,860 --> 04:15:24,980
affordable housing that is income restricted, and we're also going to have this other

2102
04:15:24,980 --> 04:15:30,860
affordable housing that is at 100% AMI that opens the door for these two populations to

2103
04:15:30,860 --> 04:15:31,360
be together.

2104
04:15:32,020 --> 04:15:35,380
Yes, it's in a building right beside it and they're at a shared parking and they're in

2105
04:15:35,380 --> 04:15:37,420
a shared playground and all these other spaces.

2106
04:15:37,860 --> 04:15:41,460
So I think that that's more of the culture that we're striving for as a town or at

2107
04:15:41,460 --> 04:15:46,660
least personally that's how I see it because that's my biggest I suppose concern when

2108
04:15:46,660 --> 04:15:47,860
it comes to affordable housing.

2109
04:15:48,580 --> 04:15:52,840
My biggest disappointment was that there was no fore sale side of things, nothing

2110
04:15:52,840 --> 04:16:00,220
that people wanted to look at doing condos or anything like that, or else that probably would have been my prerogative, I suppose,

2111
04:16:00,400 --> 04:16:03,140
because I know that that section's missing from our town.

2112
04:16:03,460 --> 04:16:09,340
But I think of the proposals that were there, this one most fully answers the brief.

2113
04:16:11,510 --> 04:16:12,170
Councillor Weems.

2114
04:16:13,730 --> 04:16:15,510
Thank you, Chair McDonald.

2115
04:16:16,070 --> 04:16:20,330
I guess this discretion to me is just telling me what a complex world we live in.

2116
04:16:23,830 --> 04:16:29,570
And apropos something I said earlier, I definitely don't want to make the perfect the enemy of

2117
04:16:29,570 --> 04:16:34,150
the good, but I might get accused of this shortly.

2118
04:16:34,830 --> 04:16:43,590
And I definitely salute the Department of Economic and Community Development for putting the

2119
04:16:43,590 --> 04:16:54,430
a pedal to the pedal, all of the above, and saying we want to get on a time frame here

2120
04:16:54,430 --> 04:16:55,470
and get something done.

2121
04:16:57,210 --> 04:17:01,530
But I have several problems that I just got to get off my chest here.

2122
04:17:01,570 --> 04:17:04,850
I don't know if this will take us anywhere useful, but I just got to get them off.

2123
04:17:05,850 --> 04:17:08,730
One is I think the motion is miscast.

2124
04:17:08,730 --> 04:17:15,030
I don't think we're even remotely ready to award anything to anybody.

2125
04:17:15,430 --> 04:17:26,290
We might be ready to select a preferred vendor to negotiate something that we could award,

2126
04:17:26,730 --> 04:17:33,310
but I think award is just a term of art that is inappropriate for the stage of development

2127
04:17:33,310 --> 04:17:34,010
we're in.

2128
04:17:37,890 --> 04:17:42,770
Consequently, and for other reasons that I'll get to in a moment, I think we're really premature

2129
04:17:42,770 --> 04:17:50,790
tonight by saying we're going to pick somebody, whatever word you use, award, select.

2130
04:17:53,520 --> 04:18:02,710
So I'll be at the appropriate moment offering a tabling motion, and if that makes any sense

2131
04:18:02,710 --> 04:18:08,810
anybody else so be it if it doesn't I'll be voting no on whatever is in front of

2132
04:18:08,810 --> 04:18:14,010
us tonight as a as a proposal to select somebody because I just don't think we're

2133
04:18:14,010 --> 04:18:23,490
ready and that'll be my protest on that specifically I think that we're we're

2134
04:18:23,490 --> 04:18:30,350
really rushed this evening and this is place back to my comment about both the

2135
04:18:30,350 --> 04:18:34,770
perfectly in the enemy of the good and liking a timetable.

2136
04:18:34,970 --> 04:18:37,530
But a timetable isn't something to worship,

2137
04:18:37,670 --> 04:18:38,910
and I think we're really rushed.

2138
04:18:39,150 --> 04:18:44,390
Because this came to us the week before Labor Day weekend.

2139
04:18:45,450 --> 04:18:46,930
We had the Labor Day weekend.

2140
04:18:47,030 --> 04:18:49,550
And here we are the day after the Labor Day weekend

2141
04:18:49,550 --> 04:18:55,210
asking to make a really significant decision.

2142
04:18:56,030 --> 04:18:57,070
And there are questions.

2143
04:18:57,450 --> 04:18:59,150
They've been coming up all over the place,

2144
04:18:59,150 --> 04:19:04,790
whether there are questions with the proposals or whether there are points that could be negotiated.

2145
04:19:05,850 --> 04:19:09,230
There's just a lot of whether it makes sense to have a daycare.

2146
04:19:09,470 --> 04:19:14,290
There's lots of examples here of just questions about what's in front of us

2147
04:19:14,290 --> 04:19:19,070
and what's possible to emerge with at the end of the process.

2148
04:19:20,070 --> 04:19:25,110
And I think we need just a little time to gestate on that.

2149
04:19:25,110 --> 04:19:32,970
and let the process develop a little bit further.

2150
04:19:34,450 --> 04:19:39,570
Secondly, we've got two really radically different proposals

2151
04:19:39,570 --> 04:19:43,530
in front of us with clearly different strengths and weaknesses.

2152
04:19:44,890 --> 04:19:48,110
And there's a third proposal within shouting distance

2153
04:19:48,110 --> 04:19:50,450
and a ranking system.

2154
04:19:50,990 --> 04:19:53,770
And that's the one from developers collaborative

2155
04:19:53,770 --> 04:20:00,070
which we have a high regard for as a town, I believe, has done good work for us.

2156
04:20:00,190 --> 04:20:02,590
It's in range of the top two.

2157
04:20:03,430 --> 04:20:20,390
I would like to look at their proposal a little further, particularly because it's by far the strongest proposal for true affordable housing.

2158
04:20:20,390 --> 04:20:25,750
It has limits, obviously, because it doesn't have certain things that are in the other proposals

2159
04:20:25,750 --> 04:20:26,810
that we want.

2160
04:20:27,650 --> 04:20:34,510
It was limited to senior housing, but it's a lot of units at a very affordable number.

2161
04:20:35,490 --> 04:20:42,810
And it is in the neighborhood of what people are collaborating for to get something to

2162
04:20:42,810 --> 04:20:44,730
be affordable, which is small units.

2163
04:20:47,290 --> 04:20:47,770
So,

2164
04:20:50,030 --> 04:20:51,290
I think we should table.

2165
04:20:52,090 --> 04:20:57,970
I think we should look at a third proposal and come back and talk about it some more.

2166
04:21:01,260 --> 04:21:02,160
Further discussion?

2167
04:21:03,440 --> 04:21:04,200
Councillor Aker.

2168
04:21:04,820 --> 04:21:06,380
Yeah, just a couple of comments.

2169
04:21:06,580 --> 04:21:08,000
I think a lot has already been said.

2170
04:21:10,440 --> 04:21:11,940
Three areas that are coming in.

2171
04:21:12,080 --> 04:21:16,860
One is the work of this task force has been exemplary.

2172
04:21:16,860 --> 04:21:25,540
It's really how a task force should work in so many ways from start to finish and I just want to acknowledge that

2173
04:21:26,620 --> 04:21:33,880
And what came out of it were seven proposals. So it's it's fantastic. We've got seven choices to look at so

2174
04:21:34,780 --> 04:21:39,600
but compliments to the task force on on running a great process and

2175
04:21:39,600 --> 04:21:41,460
And getting us to this point

2176
04:21:42,120 --> 04:21:51,560
Second thing, big picture, I just remind people in the public that our council retreat back

2177
04:21:51,560 --> 04:21:52,840
in January was right.

2178
04:21:53,620 --> 04:21:58,220
The number one issue we agreed to as a goal was housing and housing affordability.

2179
04:21:58,860 --> 04:22:05,260
So that's something to keep in mind that what we're focused on here.

2180
04:22:06,520 --> 04:22:13,960
second from our comprehensive plan that we've approved is it's working it's in

2181
04:22:13,960 --> 04:22:20,260
place we wanted to densify housing in the growth area so that has

2182
04:22:20,260 --> 04:22:24,740
complications traffic's one of them there's other things that are going to

2183
04:22:24,740 --> 04:22:28,100
come up but we're going to have to deal with those things if we want to

2184
04:22:28,100 --> 04:22:32,020
follow through with that plan so I'm not trying to push those or minimize

2185
04:22:32,020 --> 04:22:38,020
those things, but traffic is sometimes relative, sometimes it's critical. We'll

2186
04:22:38,020 --> 04:22:46,160
have to deal with it at some point. Third is I really like the doryard proposal.

2187
04:22:47,600 --> 04:22:53,500
To me it hits the mark in many ways. I think Councillor McDonald mentioned all

2188
04:22:53,500 --> 04:22:56,740
of them. That ring true to me.

2189
04:22:59,520 --> 04:23:01,200
There's definitely some points to

2190
04:23:01,200 --> 04:23:04,980
negotiate on. We've heard from public comment and from other things tonight. So

2191
04:23:04,980 --> 04:23:12,440
there's, I'm not in favor of any award. I'm in favor of negotiation. And as far as

2192
04:23:12,440 --> 04:23:17,400
Bowdoin goes, you know, I appreciate and I respect the effort that Bowdoin put

2193
04:23:17,400 --> 04:23:24,280
into this proposal. I think it's great that they stepped up. But clearly they

2194
04:23:24,280 --> 04:23:33,240
have, you know, the resources, the staff, the track record to just you almost can't

2195
04:23:33,240 --> 04:23:38,260
compare them to the other six proposers. So it's really they're in a league on

2196
04:23:38,260 --> 04:23:42,800
their own. And you can call it an unfair advantage.

2197
04:23:45,000 --> 04:23:49,640
But I think that for me, I'd

2198
04:23:49,640 --> 04:23:53,680
like to see as much affordable housing available to as much of the community as

2199
04:23:53,680 --> 04:24:00,300
possible rather than limiting it. So I would not like to consider personally the

2200
04:24:00,300 --> 04:24:05,980
Bowdoin proposal any further. I wouldn't be against just in the spirit of

2201
04:24:05,980 --> 04:24:12,960
narrowing this down and having something to negotiate, you know, parties to

2202
04:24:12,960 --> 04:24:19,320
negotiate looking at the third proposal. It wasn't that far off. I've heard

2203
04:24:19,320 --> 04:24:22,940
some good things about it, but I don't know it like the task force members.

2204
04:24:22,940 --> 04:24:31,960
So I'll just, I'm on the fence about that, but I'd consider it, and if we wanted more

2205
04:24:31,960 --> 04:24:38,740
time to narrow our scope or staff or the task force to be looking at those two and coming

2206
04:24:38,740 --> 04:24:43,240
back to us with recommendations and negotiated recommendations, I think that might be a

2207
04:24:43,240 --> 04:24:43,640
way to go.

2208
04:24:48,390 --> 04:24:50,130
There is some discussion in here.

2209
04:24:50,290 --> 04:24:55,470
So we had talked about bringing all three to council, and we ultimately decided to

2210
04:24:55,470 --> 04:25:01,950
only do these two. So, personally I don't think sending it back to the task force makes sense

2211
04:25:02,750 --> 04:25:08,470
because what we arrived at is what's in front of you. We did have a discussion on whether

2212
04:25:08,470 --> 04:25:15,650
or not to bring the third one, but given its point rating and the fact that our charge

2213
04:25:16,070 --> 04:25:21,250
or duties was to provide one recommendation, we thought that already providing two was

2214
04:25:21,250 --> 04:25:24,810
much and the only reason that we move forward with it is because they were

2215
04:25:24,810 --> 04:25:30,450
virtually tied in the point system. And so the difficulty that I have like I'm

2216
04:25:30,450 --> 04:25:34,210
happy to amend my motion to I'll give you the language I'm not making the official

2217
04:25:34,210 --> 04:25:37,390
amendment but I'm happy to like do it as you know motion to select the

2218
04:25:37,390 --> 04:25:40,670
Hawthorne school redevelopment project to do our yard to move forward with

2219
04:25:40,670 --> 04:25:44,250
negotiation if that like is a comfortable you know language I've run it by

2220
04:25:44,250 --> 04:25:55,490
friend to make sure it's above board. But I'm a little disheartened to hear some of the skepticism

2221
04:25:56,170 --> 04:26:03,210
around the two that were brought, mostly because it feels as though we were given a task.

2222
04:26:14,110 --> 04:26:14,230
Oh

2223
04:26:15,590 --> 04:26:18,990
It's amazing this meeting is lasting longer than a full length musical though.

2224
04:26:19,110 --> 04:26:19,870
I will say that.

2225
04:26:25,950 --> 04:26:34,290
But it's just heartening to hear the need to revisit the proposals when it felt as though

2226
04:26:34,290 --> 04:26:38,490
the whole purpose of the task force was to give you a proposal.

2227
04:26:38,970 --> 04:26:57,130
And so if we, if you want, if the council wanted to be part of that process from the very beginning to actually go through all of the proposals and give your input on every single one of them, then it feels a little, it feels like what did we do in my opinion as someone who was on the task force.

2228
04:26:57,130 --> 04:27:12,210
And so that's why, like, I do think that Doryard compared to, you know, as aggregated by the varying opinions that we had on the task force, I feel like that was the clear choice that answered the brief.

2229
04:27:15,560 --> 04:27:16,280
Yeah, Councilman.

2230
04:27:16,280 --> 04:27:18,760
Can I just respond to that a little bit?

2231
04:27:18,760 --> 04:27:28,740
But so maybe for all of our benefit, public's benefit, how would we go about addressing what

2232
04:27:28,740 --> 04:27:35,720
at least are voiced concerns with some aspects of their proposal?

2233
04:27:36,280 --> 04:27:40,840
I think it would go through negotiation because ultimately it's going to come back to council

2234
04:27:40,840 --> 04:27:42,060
before anything's approved.

2235
04:27:42,500 --> 04:27:48,420
So we would let staff, staff has heard, the developers have heard, all of the commentary

2236
04:27:48,420 --> 04:27:53,000
that happened tonight and they would go and negotiate on our behalf and then come back

2237
04:27:53,000 --> 04:27:57,060
to council. I'm assuming we can have an executive session on contracts if we got to that point

2238
04:27:57,060 --> 04:27:58,480
to get further feedback.

2239
04:27:59,140 --> 04:28:03,300
So it's called a purchase sale and development agreement. So we're trying to get to an outcome.

2240
04:28:03,580 --> 04:28:07,720
So if you give some direction on this and obviously they're here, those are the kinds

2241
04:28:07,720 --> 04:28:09,360
of things we would go back and negotiate.

2242
04:28:14,650 --> 04:28:15,790
Councillor Ellis in the night.

2243
04:28:16,070 --> 04:28:20,970
So first off I'm going to abstain from an individual vote on the individual proposals

2244
04:28:20,970 --> 04:28:25,670
proposals itself. I did watch a bit of it while I was off stage and actually saw Councillor

2245
04:28:25,670 --> 04:28:31,650
Weems' comments in regards to tabling. And I would say absent, what I did see was a lot

2246
04:28:31,650 --> 04:28:38,050
of questions and two very strong competing proposals. I would support what Councillor

2247
04:28:38,050 --> 04:28:44,770
Weems was just saying in regards to I worry about our processes in general where we're

2248
04:28:44,770 --> 04:28:49,750
being given very substantive decisions on a short, this is the first time the council

2249
04:28:49,750 --> 04:28:54,370
has been presented this information and now we're basically making a call or a decision

2250
04:28:54,370 --> 04:28:58,490
on it. And I know that even, like again, not to always go back to the school board, but

2251
04:28:58,490 --> 04:29:03,710
when we had new policies, for example, we always at least had a first read. People had time

2252
04:29:03,710 --> 04:29:09,770
to absorb the information. We came back for second reads. And, you know, that might be

2253
04:29:09,770 --> 04:29:14,170
similar to like our public hearings as we do them. And then the third meeting was

2254
04:29:14,170 --> 04:29:18,250
where you voted on it. And I just worry that we seem to rush into these decisions

2255
04:29:18,250 --> 04:29:21,290
and so quickly in that, again, this was the first,

2256
04:29:21,410 --> 04:29:22,090
I'm not saying the committee,

2257
04:29:22,190 --> 04:29:23,510
the committee's been working their butts off,

2258
04:29:23,970 --> 04:29:26,570
but I disagree with Councilor McDonald on the regards

2259
04:29:26,570 --> 04:29:28,970
that we delegate responsibility to investigate

2260
04:29:28,970 --> 04:29:30,230
and bring information back,

2261
04:29:30,770 --> 04:29:33,650
but at the end of the day, it's a council decision,

2262
04:29:34,470 --> 04:29:36,170
just like it was with the school department

2263
04:29:36,170 --> 04:29:37,570
when we had a building committee,

2264
04:29:37,930 --> 04:29:39,230
they came back with recommendations,

2265
04:29:39,230 --> 04:29:41,770
but the people who would be held accountable

2266
04:29:41,770 --> 04:29:43,030
for what the decisions were,

2267
04:29:43,570 --> 04:29:44,890
were the school board in that case,

2268
04:29:44,950 --> 04:29:46,130
and I think for this project,

2269
04:29:46,130 --> 04:29:47,550
the people who are gonna be held accountable

2270
04:29:47,550 --> 04:29:50,290
is the council that makes the decision on this.

2271
04:29:50,410 --> 04:29:53,450
And so as I said, I will not vote on either of the two proposals.

2272
04:29:53,670 --> 04:29:56,590
I'll abstain from those, but if the motion does go forward to table.

2273
04:29:57,390 --> 04:29:59,670
For me, the process needs to be.

2274
04:29:59,670 --> 04:29:59,910
Thank you very much.

2275
04:30:00,000 --> 04:30:08,200
Done in a way that affords more time for counselors to consider the information after having been presented in this one meeting.

2276
04:30:09,020 --> 04:30:13,280
The only caveat that I'll give is that the task force meetings are public meetings.

2277
04:30:14,820 --> 04:30:19,640
We don't convene as a body, and so discussions we might have, for example, about it.

2278
04:30:19,980 --> 04:30:27,660
I would much prefer to have those discussions amongst us as a body so the public can see our deliberations on the topic to see what was weighed in.

2279
04:30:27,660 --> 04:30:31,460
But like I said, I'm not weighing in on either of the two proposals, so I'm leaving that to you.

2280
04:30:31,660 --> 04:30:37,500
But just in general on process, I would be in favor of taking more time to make decisions like this in general.

2281
04:30:38,000 --> 04:30:38,700
Councilor Teemee.

2282
04:30:41,700 --> 04:30:48,720
So of these two proposals, I know which one I would pick, I guess is what I'm saying.

2283
04:30:49,140 --> 04:30:54,720
But I do have my strong preferences about what should be negotiated.

2284
04:30:54,720 --> 04:31:00,300
And it sounds like others probably, you know, have additional preferences as well.

2285
04:31:02,710 --> 04:31:13,970
It makes me think that maybe we should have hopefully a shorter workshop on this to allow council to figure out what our priorities are.

2286
04:31:14,210 --> 04:31:24,850
And then at the next meeting, you know, hopefully it was the term select a proposal and then give staff official guidance

2287
04:31:24,850 --> 04:31:29,610
on what we would like them to try to negotiate before it comes back to us.

2288
04:31:29,630 --> 04:31:36,230
I don't know whether that would satisfy the other counselors who are interested in more time on the matter.

2289
04:31:36,650 --> 04:31:44,090
But I also would say sending it, like providing more guidance to the task force,

2290
04:31:45,630 --> 04:31:54,910
asking for more assistance, you know, like that's, we're, we're, we're asking them to look into something for us.

2291
04:31:54,930 --> 04:32:02,970
And if we say, oh, and like we, we're realizing that we want fully affordable housing or we realize we want senior affordable housing or whatever,

2292
04:32:03,950 --> 04:32:11,110
giving them that additional guidance might be a way, you know, we're not, we're not steamrolling over the task force.

2293
04:32:11,110 --> 04:32:16,550
by doing that we are continuing to ask for their advice with the knowledge that

2294
04:32:16,550 --> 04:32:19,810
like Councillor Ellis said at the end of the day we're the ones making the

2295
04:32:19,810 --> 04:32:26,890
decision but I think also at this point it would make more sense to do

2296
04:32:26,890 --> 04:32:34,610
negotiations from my view on the matter. I'm going to turn to staff for a

2297
04:32:34,610 --> 04:32:44,630
Second, if there is a comment that council wants to impart to staff to work on during negotiations,

2298
04:32:44,910 --> 04:32:48,610
what do you feel would be the proper vehicle for that information?

2299
04:32:49,850 --> 04:32:56,170
Well, I will look to the town manager and my director here, but I think, you know, the

2300
04:32:56,170 --> 04:32:58,110
normal avenue is going through the town manager.

2301
04:32:58,450 --> 04:33:01,830
If you have individual comments about things, that's how we receive your comments.

2302
04:33:03,710 --> 04:33:14,150
We obviously open to workshop, executive session, anything you want we can do to sort of make you feel comfortable as if you need to have these conversations as a body.

2303
04:33:15,550 --> 04:33:16,030
Okay.

2304
04:33:18,890 --> 04:33:19,930
Yep, Councillor Perlman.

2305
04:33:20,970 --> 04:33:32,170
I think I've made it clear to everybody in the council that I feel really strongly when we have those discussions they should be as a body and and not that I want to delay everything.

2306
04:33:32,170 --> 04:33:38,010
but if we're going to ask for specific things in negotiation, I think we as a council need

2307
04:33:38,010 --> 04:33:46,850
to have that discussion. And I would be comfortable with the workshop rather than waiting two weeks

2308
04:33:46,850 --> 04:33:51,250
for a meeting. I don't know if we could have an emergency workshop next Monday. I don't know,

2309
04:33:52,690 --> 04:33:59,250
but I don't feel comfortable with each individual counselor sending

2310
04:34:00,170 --> 04:34:08,010
Town Manager, Hensie, our ideas for what needs to be negotiated, I think as a council we

2311
04:34:08,010 --> 04:34:14,050
need to decide as a body, like what we want in negotiation, not individually providing

2312
04:34:14,050 --> 04:34:14,670
feedback.

2313
04:34:16,910 --> 04:34:24,430
A question on a path, potential path forward that I'm trying to, you know, steer ahead

2314
04:34:24,430 --> 04:34:25,610
here through with folks.

2315
04:34:26,410 --> 04:34:45,640
Is there a realm in which we select a RFP to move forward into negotiations with in which you have time to speak with them and then come to our next meeting in executive session to do contract negotiations?

2316
04:34:45,640 --> 04:34:51,620
I'm glad you asked that because I was I did I should add to that, you know with with the fire station

2317
04:34:51,620 --> 04:34:56,620
You know we had those we started those negotiations and then gave you

2318
04:34:56,620 --> 04:35:03,400
gave the council drafts of the purchase and sales to respond to and and that's sort of important because

2319
04:35:03,400 --> 04:35:11,060
Doing workshopping and that kind of thing. It's not like going to be like a free for all or blank canvas because the door yard and the Bowdoin has

2320
04:35:12,260 --> 04:35:15,500
given the town council a proposal that pencils right and

2321
04:35:16,040 --> 04:35:20,640
There are some, you know, there are ways to massage it, but like you can't just blow the whole program, right?

2322
04:35:20,800 --> 04:35:35,740
So I just want to make sure that that's understood that, you know, there's ways to massage it and work it so that it's negotiated to the town's liking, but that's, you know, it's not going to be like a blank canvas.

2323
04:35:35,740 --> 04:35:39,660
And so maybe it's most beneficial for us to bring a,

2324
04:35:40,740 --> 04:35:44,640
we'll start those negotiations with the feedback we've heard

2325
04:35:45,240 --> 04:35:47,060
and then you have something to respond to.

2326
04:35:47,920 --> 04:35:52,440
And that's sort of, that would be sort of the process we were,

2327
04:35:53,000 --> 04:35:55,880
we would go through anyway is you have this thing to respond

2328
04:35:55,880 --> 04:35:57,480
to and you give us the feedback like, no,

2329
04:35:57,640 --> 04:35:59,320
this string needs to be pulled more over here,

2330
04:35:59,380 --> 04:36:02,280
over there and we can come back with drafts in that way.

2331
04:36:08,860 --> 04:36:14,540
I'm thinking about both proposals and hearing what everybody is saying and again sort of

2332
04:36:14,540 --> 04:36:20,400
like there are really good things about both which is why we were very conflicted and you

2333
04:36:20,400 --> 04:36:25,200
know the scoring and I just want to be clear it was all individual scoring and it came

2334
04:36:25,200 --> 04:36:34,680
within 0.10 points, so it was extremely close looking across all of those things.

2335
04:36:34,880 --> 04:36:39,200
And I'm just wondering if we get some direction, we go back on the things that we've heard.

2336
04:36:40,820 --> 04:36:42,140
I'm just throwing this out there.

2337
04:36:42,240 --> 04:36:47,420
Maybe Bowdoin could hold some portion of it for the community at a lower percent area

2338
04:36:47,420 --> 04:36:48,060
median income.

2339
04:36:48,340 --> 04:36:53,300
Maybe Doryard could step up what's going on that they proposed as it relates to

2340
04:36:53,300 --> 04:37:00,820
the park or maybe they rethink the daycare thing because there was a, and you don't have the benefit of all seven proposals.

2341
04:37:00,980 --> 04:37:03,580
But there was somebody interested in moving there for daycare.

2342
04:37:04,540 --> 04:37:06,580
There's any number of things that we work through.

2343
04:37:06,740 --> 04:37:10,720
We had multiple issues on site issues with the central fire station.

2344
04:37:10,920 --> 04:37:15,400
And by the way, I do want to say we definitely had a phase one done on that.

2345
04:37:15,560 --> 04:37:17,820
And we're having a phase one done on Hawthorne.

2346
04:37:17,900 --> 04:37:23,040
So just so you're clear, we don't take over property or we don't put it out unless we know what we're dealing with.

2347
04:37:23,040 --> 04:37:26,500
So I just wanted to be clear that that was, you know, ground truth tonight.

2348
04:37:28,220 --> 04:37:29,020
Councilor Weems.

2349
04:37:30,520 --> 04:37:35,260
Yes. Thank you, Chair McDonnell. First, I want to thank from the bottom of my

2350
04:37:35,260 --> 04:37:39,720
heart, the task force for doing an incredible job.

2351
04:37:40,740 --> 04:37:48,420
I really mean that in particularly for giving us two proposals rather than

2352
04:37:48,420 --> 04:38:00,460
one but they I mean that too so I think that was I have a great deal of gratitude

2353
04:38:00,460 --> 04:38:08,020
for being given a choice at the council level but now we have it and so given

2354
04:38:08,020 --> 04:38:13,860
that the chairs a member of the council noted that the task force almost gave

2355
04:38:13,860 --> 04:38:18,400
us three proposals or at least talked about it I don't know how close they

2356
04:38:18,400 --> 04:38:22,840
came to giving us that but they talked about it I would like to mo I'd like to

2357
04:38:22,840 --> 04:38:30,400
make a motion to table this item tonight to allow further consideration of the top

2358
04:38:30,400 --> 04:38:37,620
three scored proposals motion by councilor weems is there a second second

2359
04:38:37,620 --> 04:38:40,500
I'm going to invite Councilor Ellis.

2360
04:38:40,820 --> 04:38:41,420
I have a question.

2361
04:38:42,120 --> 04:38:43,640
I would like a point of order.

2362
04:38:43,780 --> 04:38:45,200
Yeah, point of order, Councilor Timmy.

2363
04:38:45,560 --> 04:38:48,620
Don't you need to say for what time you

2364
04:38:48,620 --> 04:38:50,040
want to table something until?

2365
04:38:51,780 --> 04:38:53,000
Thank you for a definitive.

2366
04:38:53,560 --> 04:38:55,400
When were you hoping to table it to?

2367
04:38:56,680 --> 04:38:58,400
Either indefinitely or a specific date?

2368
04:38:59,640 --> 04:39:01,880
Thank you for the point of order.

2369
04:39:03,980 --> 04:39:18,560
Table it for long enough to hold either a workshop or other proceeding to answer the questions that have come up, not to exceed a month.

2370
04:39:20,580 --> 04:39:26,480
So, tabling the current item for at most 30 days?

2371
04:39:27,060 --> 04:39:27,420
Yes.

2372
04:39:28,420 --> 04:39:30,100
Still seconding it with Councillor Ellis.

2373
04:39:30,340 --> 04:39:31,360
Discussion on this motion.

2374
04:39:31,360 --> 04:39:34,220
on this motion to the table.

2375
04:39:36,740 --> 04:39:41,000
Councilor Rehm, we're discussing just to clarify my the reason

2376
04:39:41,000 --> 04:39:46,960
I put it as vague as I did initially for further consideration is to leave it to the chair

2377
04:39:46,960 --> 04:39:52,740
and the task force to figure out the right forum for further discussion whether it's

2378
04:39:52,740 --> 04:39:57,120
a workshop or some other forum that do you think is appropriate. Okay,

2379
04:40:00,520 --> 04:40:01,000
discussion

2380
04:40:02,620 --> 04:40:20,320
I'd like to know from staff I hit as I understand it the deadline for some important financing for I guess at least maybe doryards proposal has already been passed for this year so we're not like running up against crunch time on this are we

2381
04:40:20,320 --> 04:40:21,100
Thank you.

2382
04:40:22,240 --> 04:40:22,720
No.

2383
04:40:22,960 --> 04:40:23,620
Thank you.

2384
04:40:25,610 --> 04:40:26,510
Councillor Eker.

2385
04:40:26,690 --> 04:40:26,810
Yeah.

2386
04:40:27,150 --> 04:40:28,250
Just a clarification.

2387
04:40:28,570 --> 04:40:30,850
I want to make sure I heard Councillor Weis' motion.

2388
04:40:30,990 --> 04:40:32,910
It was to look at the top three.

2389
04:40:33,230 --> 04:40:33,810
Is that correct?

2390
04:40:34,070 --> 04:40:34,290
Okay.

2391
04:40:34,510 --> 04:40:34,950
Thank you.

2392
04:40:36,310 --> 04:40:37,050
Councillor Wilson.

2393
04:40:38,330 --> 04:40:40,370
Don't we already have a motion on the table?

2394
04:40:40,870 --> 04:40:41,110
Yes.

2395
04:40:41,370 --> 04:40:45,390
This is to table the current motion.

2396
04:40:45,430 --> 04:40:45,910
Okay.

2397
04:40:46,010 --> 04:40:48,550
I just didn't know what we had to vote on first.

2398
04:40:49,990 --> 04:40:50,470
Yes.

2399
04:40:50,470 --> 04:40:54,730
I got confirmation. Councillor, did you have something?

2400
04:40:55,570 --> 04:41:02,970
No. I'll just say I think we should just be moving forward with negotiations and playing it out through that process.

2401
04:41:03,410 --> 04:41:14,790
I don't think that going back makes sense. Also for some of the timelines like Doryard has the first building ready by 2027 that delays that whole process.

2402
04:41:14,790 --> 04:41:23,890
us. I don't think that it's in the best interest of the town to do that. But I'll call the

2403
04:41:23,890 --> 04:41:31,750
vote. Councilor Ellis. Yes. Councilor Acker. Yes. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Hold on. I need to

2404
04:41:31,750 --> 04:41:39,550
keep tallies. Councilor Anderson. No. Councilor Perl. I'd really love it if you come back

2405
04:41:39,550 --> 04:41:48,630
to me, but I'm very conflicted. I'm going to say yes.

2406
04:41:49,710 --> 04:41:50,930
Councillor Hicks. No.

2407
04:41:51,510 --> 04:41:53,050
Councillor Teamey. No.

2408
04:41:53,990 --> 04:41:55,490
Councillor Weems. Yes.

2409
04:41:56,350 --> 04:41:57,910
Councillor Wilson. No.

2410
04:41:58,450 --> 04:42:05,390
The Chair doesn't know the motion fails five to four. We're back at the motion. I would,

2411
04:42:06,070 --> 04:42:10,230
yeah, I'm going to officially amend my motion just so that way we can get that over with.

2412
04:42:10,230 --> 04:42:15,010
So I'm going to change my motion from motion to select the Hawthorne School

2413
04:42:15,010 --> 04:42:20,230
redevelopment project to Joryard to move forward with negotiation. I believe who's

2414
04:42:20,230 --> 04:42:26,350
my seconder? I did it. Oh, are you still second? Yeah, whatever. Okay. Yes. Still

2415
04:42:26,350 --> 04:42:30,170
seconded. Is there further discussion on this motion?

2416
04:42:33,580 --> 04:42:34,740
Not seeing any.

2417
04:42:34,900 --> 04:42:43,420
I'll call the vote. Can I ask for counsel from the town clerk? From a

2418
04:42:43,420 --> 04:42:47,560
Voting perspective, if I wanted to register no vote, how would I go about doing that?

2419
04:42:47,700 --> 04:42:48,100
No vote.

2420
04:42:48,880 --> 04:42:50,240
No, not a no vote.

2421
04:42:51,900 --> 04:42:52,340
Neither.

2422
04:42:53,340 --> 04:42:54,520
Let me be clear about that.

2423
04:42:54,880 --> 04:42:56,720
Hey Fran, who's on first?

2424
04:42:57,960 --> 04:42:58,860
Apparently not me.

2425
04:42:59,100 --> 04:42:59,760
What's on second?

2426
04:43:00,440 --> 04:43:03,820
But if I wanted to not register a vote, either pro or for this.

2427
04:43:03,980 --> 04:43:04,600
You would have sane.

2428
04:43:04,880 --> 04:43:07,940
You would say your reason for abstaining was that you were not part of the discussion.

2429
04:43:08,220 --> 04:43:08,440
That happened.

2430
04:43:09,140 --> 04:43:09,520
Sorry.

2431
04:43:10,560 --> 04:43:11,280
We ready for the vote?

2432
04:43:11,280 --> 04:43:17,560
Yes, Councillor Ellis. I will abstain. Why? Because I was not present for the discussion

2433
04:43:17,560 --> 04:43:24,080
although I watched you very vigorously on my time off. Great. Councillor Aker. Yes. Councillor

2434
04:43:24,080 --> 04:43:30,700
Anderson. Yes. Councillor Perl. Yes. Councillor Hicks. Yes. Councillor Teeming. Yes. Councillor

2435
04:43:30,700 --> 04:43:36,860
Weems. No. Councillor Wilson. Yes. The Chair is a yes. The motion passes 7-1 with

2436
04:43:36,860 --> 04:43:46,020
one of such. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, wow. Moving on to item number

2437
04:43:46,020 --> 04:43:50,980
112. The town council will consider appointments to town's boards and committees and will take

2438
04:43:50,980 --> 04:43:55,100
any appropriate action. I'm going to turn this over to Council Anderson to report out.

2439
04:43:57,020 --> 04:44:01,880
Well, well, let's take like two seconds just while people clear out. So hold everyone

2440
04:44:01,880 --> 04:44:06,640
hold don't go anywhere. That works. My computer's updating. Oh, beautiful. Beautiful.

2441
04:44:25,280 --> 04:44:34,960
Okay, if please take discussions out to the hallway. Please take discussions out to the hallway discussions empty the building we're getting

2442
04:44:35,780 --> 04:44:39,480
Nat Shedd, can you please take the discussion out to the hallway?

2443
04:44:41,660 --> 04:44:42,980
Please and thank you.

2444
04:44:44,360 --> 04:44:49,720
All right, turn it back over to Councillor Anderson to continue with the appointments, report and nominations.

2445
04:44:50,480 --> 04:44:54,200
Maybe, if you need help, we can provide it.

2446
04:44:54,200 --> 04:44:57,900
Yeah, okay, so we met on August 10th.

2447
04:44:58,100 --> 04:44:59,980
We interviewed two individuals for two.

2448
04:45:00,000 --> 04:45:07,320
Two committees. We are holding off on the Housing Authority committee recommendation until all

2449
04:45:07,320 --> 04:45:14,440
candidates can be interviewed. Therefore, we are recommending Blaine Moore to a balance

2450
04:45:14,440 --> 04:45:22,560
of a three-year term to the Parks and Recreation Commission that will expire July 1st, 2028.

2451
04:45:23,980 --> 04:45:25,120
That's what you got for us.

2452
04:45:25,260 --> 04:45:25,860
That's what I got.

2453
04:45:25,860 --> 04:45:26,760
Yeah, great.

2454
04:45:27,020 --> 04:45:28,420
Are there any additional nominations?

2455
04:45:30,820 --> 04:45:32,120
Not seeing any.

2456
04:45:42,390 --> 04:45:43,270
Okay, sorry.

2457
04:45:43,730 --> 04:45:45,370
Just making sure my notes are right here

2458
04:45:45,370 --> 04:45:47,750
because it's getting late and I don't wanna mess it up.

2459
04:45:49,590 --> 04:45:52,650
Okay, are there any comment before we take a vote?

2460
04:45:53,130 --> 04:45:53,570
To a point?

2461
04:45:54,670 --> 04:45:56,410
Not seeing any, I'll call the vote.

2462
04:45:56,510 --> 04:45:56,910
Councillor Ellis.

2463
04:45:57,170 --> 04:45:57,290
Yes.

2464
04:45:57,530 --> 04:45:57,970
Councillor Eker.

2465
04:45:58,570 --> 04:45:59,010
Yes.

2466
04:45:59,410 --> 04:45:59,810
Councillor Anderson.

2467
04:46:00,130 --> 04:46:00,290
Yes.

2468
04:46:00,510 --> 04:46:00,990
Councillor Perl.

2469
04:46:01,170 --> 04:46:01,350
Yes.

2470
04:46:01,690 --> 04:46:02,170
Councillor Hicks.

2471
04:46:02,310 --> 04:46:02,450
Yes.

2472
04:46:02,450 --> 04:46:02,810
Yes.

2473
04:46:02,810 --> 04:46:03,190
Councilor Teemee?

2474
04:46:03,370 --> 04:46:03,430
Yes.

2475
04:46:03,570 --> 04:46:04,150
Councilor Reims?

2476
04:46:04,390 --> 04:46:04,650
Yes.

2477
04:46:04,790 --> 04:46:05,270
Councilor Wilson?

2478
04:46:05,490 --> 04:46:05,750
Yes.

2479
04:46:06,210 --> 04:46:06,950
The Chair is a yes.

2480
04:46:07,010 --> 04:46:08,670
That is unanimous of the council.

2481
04:46:08,910 --> 04:46:10,490
Moving on to the consent agenda.

2482
04:46:10,590 --> 04:46:12,570
Just as a reminder, we added this resolution

2483
04:46:13,250 --> 04:46:15,010
pertaining to 9-11.

2484
04:46:16,490 --> 04:46:19,370
Are there any questions about items

2485
04:46:19,370 --> 04:46:20,270
within the consent agenda?

2486
04:46:21,490 --> 04:46:22,090
Which one?

2487
04:46:24,500 --> 04:46:25,800
Not seeing any.

2488
04:46:26,020 --> 04:46:26,680
I'll take a motion.

2489
04:46:28,320 --> 04:46:28,920
Councilor Wilson?

2490
04:46:29,500 --> 04:46:31,380
I'll make a motion to.

2491
04:46:31,760 --> 04:46:33,180
I need you to pull down your mic, please.

2492
04:46:33,180 --> 04:46:33,860
Oh, yeah.

2493
04:46:34,220 --> 04:46:34,880
Oh, yeah.

2494
04:46:35,040 --> 04:46:36,360
You can take off your hat, too, I guess.

2495
04:46:36,500 --> 04:46:37,240
Oh, sorry.

2496
04:46:39,520 --> 04:46:40,480
All right.

2497
04:46:40,820 --> 04:46:47,600
Now, I will make a motion to accept the town council resolution if we will ever give it.

2498
04:46:47,600 --> 04:46:47,840
No, no.

2499
04:46:48,020 --> 04:46:50,080
We're a motion to approve the consent agenda.

2500
04:46:50,360 --> 04:46:51,660
Oh, I'm sorry.

2501
04:46:51,900 --> 04:46:53,980
A motion to approve the consent agenda.

2502
04:46:54,500 --> 04:46:55,200
Nailed it.

2503
04:46:55,380 --> 04:46:56,420
Is there a second on that one?

2504
04:46:56,980 --> 04:46:57,540
Councilor Ellis.

2505
04:46:58,140 --> 04:46:59,260
Seconded by Councilor Ellis.

2506
04:46:59,680 --> 04:47:00,660
Any discussion?

2507
04:47:00,660 --> 04:47:05,980
motion. Not seeing any show of hands. All those in favor. That is unanimous of the council.

2508
04:47:06,240 --> 04:47:09,180
I will now entertain a motion to adjourn.

2509
04:47:11,620 --> 04:47:14,980
That's part of the consent agenda. I would like to

2510
04:47:14,980 --> 04:47:19,180
make a motion to adjourn. Councilor Ellis, move to adjourn. Seconded by Councilor Ecker.

2511
04:47:19,360 --> 04:47:23,400
All those in favor show of hands. Oh my God, it's late. That is unanimous. Thank

2512
04:47:23,400 --> 04:47:24,460
you everyone. Good night.