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ECDC Meeting notes 9-10-2020-APPROVED (1), CITY of BEVERLY ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY ,t DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Beverly, Massachusetts 01915 Phone (978) 921 -6000 Fax (978) 921 -6187 Mayor Michael P. Cahill Members Neiland Douglas City Council President Paul Guanci William Howard Darlene Wynne Richard Marino Michael Collins Michael O'Brien Denise Deschamps Richard Vincent DRAFT M EEII NG NOTES FROM SEP11W BER 10, 2020 ACCEPTED BY THE ECDC ON 10 -8 -2020 Members participating: Neiland Douglas; William Howard; Rchard Marino; Rchard Vincent; Darlene Wynne; Michael Collins; Denise Deschamps. Darlene Wynne, acting in the role of Chair, read aloud a statement relative to changes in the Open Meeting Law that provide opportunity for remote meetings given the limit in the number of people that may gather in one place asconsequence of the MMD -19 pandemic. The meeting was recorded. Wynne called the roll. With a quorum established the meeting was called to order. Wynne proceeded with a review of significant real estate projects in development: • Congress Elreet -site visit in process. They are hoping to get their occupancy permit for one of 2 two buildings by end of Saptember. National Grid work may not be done yet. The second building is dose to being finished. it will be important to receive the owner's affordable housing trust fund contribution (once an occupancy permit is pulled) since the "Trust" will be allocating approximately $300,000.00 to the Briscoe Village for the Arts project. • Depot 2- a lag in progress is expected due to MMD-19 impacts on construction. Not sure of their schedule. The owner has experienced some difficulty in leasing up retail space in their other building, named Canvas. Good portion of residential units in Canvas have been rented to Endicott College students. • Chapman's corner — approximately 2 -3 lots remain undeveloped. • 44 Dunham Fbad- Located behind business named Harmonic Drive, it is under construction. They received their permit last year. Theowner hasatenant for at least part of the building. They are seeking Conservation Commission approval to create a storage area for construction materials at the rear of the site. Page 1 of 7 • Assisted living project - applicant pulled out some time ago. The special permit issued has now expired so if anyone wanted to propose an assisted living facility on that site they would need to obtain anew special permit. • Briscoe Village for Living and the Arts -offer approved by Qty Council. The project has been granted funds from the City's Affordable Housing Trust and a recommendation of funding from the Beverly Community Preservation Committee has been sent to the Qty Council for review and approval. It will have 85, affordable one bedrooms units for seniors. There will be 6- artist live /work space to be rented at market rate. The developers, Harborlight Community Partners and Beacon Communities, will keep the auditorium. They will also improve open space on the property and the Qty will maintain ownership of the open space. • Sinnycrest- it is progressing slowly. Acouple of units. • 2 Hardy Elreet- It is almost complete. • Bridge street -not sure where stands • Trask Lane- no statusto report today. • Airport self- storage- no update today. Nothing to report. • Canvas building is complete. • YMCA project on Cabot Elreet- construction expected to begin in next few weeks • Anchor point- approved and has received funding through the Qty. They are awaiting approval of state funding. The Qty has applied for a M assWorks grant, which would support improvements to the adjacent intersection at Sbhier and Tozer roads. • Cabot Elreet complete -They are renting their units to residents of the WG'\for ayear so that construction may begin on the "Y" building. As for the retail space in that building some of it is still in the build -out phase. The bookstore isexpanding into the former apparel shop next door. • Police station going up quickly • Coastal Group sought a host agreement with Qty but not yet granted • Thaxton -No updatesto report. • One Water Elreet- still working through the DEPpermitting process. Likely to request building permit by the end of the year. • Livingstone - Original request for three lot subdivision denied. The owner came back with anew proposal for a two lot subdivision which is currently before the Planning Board. An owner of another lot on Livingstone received permission for a lot. • 0 Everett Elreet- Permit issued for two residential units only. No commercial units. Abuilding permit has not yet been issued. • Dodge Elreet-some bldg. permits pulled • West Dane project- under construction Page 2 of 7 • Back Beat Brewery opened in March but despite the timing appears to be doing pretty well. Adapting to new requirements. Rchard Vi ncent asked what the plans are f o r t he building that is located across from Anmol India restaurant. It is current ly being rehabilitated. City will have to check and get back to Vi ncent. Rchard Marino mentioned that the parking garage associated with the new construction on West Dane is complete and that the framing for the apartment units will be completed in a month. M I CROBNT13:4:9 ,�E GRANTS PROGRAM Wynne summarized a description of the M i croent erpri se grants program for which the ci ty received a net award of $280,000 for businesses that meet eligibility requirements. It did take time for the Stateto establish procedures/processto receive and evaluate applications and select recipients but applications are now open. There isatraining for grant administrators tomorrow. Neiland Douglas inquires as to when businesses will receive their award. If the deadline for applications is in late September he expressed concern that businesses may not find out whether or not they had received an award until late in the current calendar year given the potential time - consuming processof reviewing applications, conducting the lottery and disbursing funds. Wynne responded that she believes there is some incentive to wrap up the process because other opportunities for businesses maybe made available in the not too distant future. Denise Deschamps described the City 'seffortsto communicate thisopportunityto as many businesses as possible. The City has used multiple social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and it has sent an email to businesses using addresses available through the City Clerks' office comprised of business that have pursued business certificates. In addition, Beverly Main Elreetsand the Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce have also sent out notice to their respective constituencies. Bill Howard suggested that the City might consider sending an email directly to the banks given their frequent contact with businesses. MASTER PLAN UPDATE Wynne istrying to wrap up the edits to the draft. Mayor had targeted early fall to complete the document but given the many issues related to COVID -19 that have intervened it may take longer to finalize the document. Much has happened since the project began including major changes in both economic and social conditions. Instead of rewriting the plan, since its recommendations remain valid, there maybe a letter or an addendum inserted into the plan acknowledging changing economic and social conditions. ECDC M EM BLRS I NVITED TO SCARE THB R PEFC13= OF CURE ENT CHALLENGES IN B30NOM I CAND COM M UNITY DEVD_OPM ENT IN CUNT ENVI RONM ENT Wynne notesthat the Restaurant Subcommittee of the COVID-19 Emergency Business Support Task Force has regrouped. Another meeting will be held to talk about how they will continue to offer outside dining in the fall. Governor Baker just allocated an additional $5 million to assist businesses. The goal is to help restaurant ownerssustain themselves through the fall. The City did not apply for funding to a previously announced grant opportunity named " Shared Streets ", out of the MA Department of Transportation, because it wasvery difficult to identify a project that met their eligibility requirements that would not be disruptive to the businesses, particularly the restaurants downtown. Vincent inquired further asto why an application was not submitted. Wynne explained that the previous Shared Elreets Page 3 of 7 applicant would need to propose a project that could be implemented in 7 -14 days, the installation would be temporary. There were some possibilities discussed but none were fully engineered. The revised 8hared Streets grants program now gives t he City an opportunity apply for funding for something that would directly help the restaurant community such as outdoor heaters. Increasingfoot trafficto restaurants would also help nearby businesses. M BVl BERS I NMT®TO SUGGEST TOPI CSO N WHICH THEY WO U D U KE TO FOCUS I N FUTURE M EEn NGS Douglas expressed a strong interest in focusing attention for the remainder of the calendar year on a single overarching priority, climate change. Climate change isa surrogate title for the preservation of ecological resources and sustainability. Under this umbrella, there are several potential areas on which to focus. One isthe use of fossil fuel and committing to a strategy that would lead to the ultimate replacement of fossil fuel energy systems in business, industry, housing, transportation and recreation in the City of Beverly. The City /ECDCwould identify approaches t hat are possible and seek assistance from experts in the field, ideally those persons that have a relationship with the region and /or the City. A second focus could be the creation of a strategy to develop regulations intended to preserve our water resource system utilized for sanitary as well as production purposes, particularly such significant resources as the Ipswich Ewer but others as well inducting ponds, small inland waterways. Athird category would be to develop a strategy for preserving and upgrading waste removal facilities, recycling facilities and the like. Afourth category would be to look at the provision of medical and mental health services, the demand for which has been heightened by the pandemic. The City could take advantage of experts that exist in area educational facilities. Set up presentations on relevant topics. BevCam could assist. ECDCcould sponsor and introduce on a schedule that has been well thought out. Climate change has bearing on both economic and community development issues. Douglas offers these as thoughts. Wynne states that the Oty is starting to develop a climate action plan, in collaboration with Salem. The Oty has hired a consulting team to support this effort. Mayor Cahill had expressed the City's intention to create a plan during his inaugural/ state oft he city address. Wynne suggests that given Douglas's strong interest in the topic perhaps he should be plugged into the group working on this project, continuing that any member of the ECDCwith particular interest in the topic could participate in the group. Wynne notes that they are working to develop a public engagement strategy and have already completed a greenhouse gas inventory. Vincent suggests that Douglas could be the ECDC's liaison to that group. Wynne statesshe will look at list of act ivit i es assod at ed with the project in order to suggest different opportunities for ECDCmembersto participate. 'She will suggest the project team that Douglas participate in a role to be further discussed. Douglas is very pleased by the prospect of becoming more actively involved on this topic. He notesthat the Mayor did stressthe importance of addressing climate change in his inaugural speech and recalled reviewing a draft of the speech. He also noted that the comprehensive (a.k.a.master) planning process did not directly address dimate change issue yet it has very significant impact on land use- related decisions. Wynne responds that the Oty deliberately did not address climate change in great depth because they were anticipating the creation of a climate action plan and so the findings of that plan would be inserted into the master plan when they became available. Howard suggest it maybe worth revisiting the ECDCstrategy document that was created several years ago and in that document address the long and short term consequences of climate change. Also, look at the priorities identified in that document to determine what has been accomplished and what needs to be accomplished and what other priorities might be considered. Deschamps asks if it would be worth it to revisit the metricsthat were discussed earlier in the year asthe ECDChad interest in determining Page 4 of 7 goalsthat had been achieved. Douglaswould support thisapproach and asksif Howard isalso in support. Howards agrees and states that the document (Strategy) may need to be revised based on current conditions. Deschamps confirms that she will provide copy of FY19 ECDCStrategy, list of action steps that emerged from the Etrategy and the metrics measuring success related to each priority within the El rat egy. Rchard Marino also agrees that the situation is always evolving and that the document likely needs to be updated. Vincent suggests identifying along and short term strategy. Wynne suggests committing to revisiting the document on an annual basis and identifying one or two issues on which to focus. Douglas requests any written materials that are currently available regarding the climate action plan. Wynne states that there is press release. She will also look for other materials that might be helpful in giving him a feel for the goals of the plan. Vincent asks if the damage resulting from more intense storms is exhausting the City's funds. Wynne responds that in last October's storm the City lost approximately 100 trees. In some years there is more snow than others. A microburst can cost the Oty $20- 25,000.00. The DPSbudget absorbs these costs which is why the DPSbudget needs to remain somewhat flexible because the weather is so unpredictable. Michael Collins notesthat the Oty had received a$2 million dollar grant to provide resiliency in the face of sea level rise. The scope of work supported by the grant would have served to protect the Cummings Center from flooding. However, the Oty is close to pulling the plug on this project because every state and federal agency has lined up in opposition to the project. There is frustration expressed by Collins because while there is recognition at all levelsthat climate change is real the state and federal governments are unwilling to consider creative solutions to the problem at hand. Douglas asks if opposition is coming from those who do not believe climate change is an issue. Collins responds that pushback is actually coming from program administratorswho are concerned with perceived environmental ramifications that amount to esoteric excuses. Collins notes that Cummings Center isa foot beneath the 100 -year flood plain elevation. The non -local governmental agencies involved have not acknowledged the seriousnessof this problem and the impact on Cumming's property. Cummings Properties had not publicly acknowledged the seriousness oft his problem until recently sending a letter of support for the project. Meanwhile there had been multi -year efforts leading up to project implementation Douglas expressed his great concern for this situation in light of the role Cummings center plays in the local economy as an employment hub and the home of many important businesses. Collins notesthat the Oty had creatively addressed problems in the past but their approach was ultimately criticized by an individual at MA DER Although M EPAand FBVIAwere initially supportive of the approach they were convinced by the individual and DEPthat they should not be supportive. Collins fervently believes that the City's approach is based solidly on science and logic. However, MA DEP has gone so far asto amend state regulations to ensure no other municipality will replicate Beverly's approach. REMJTOONV F;S411ON RECAMINGECDCME nNGllMESCHEDULE VACANOm GOALSECDC Wynne beginsthe discussion by stating that she cannot imagine having a seventeen - member Council. She prefersthat boards and commissions have a range of 5 -9 memberswith twelve being the largest number of members. Although the Oty ordinance identifies seventeen profiles not all seventeen need Page 5 of 7 to be filled. An ordinance change would not be required in this eventuality. May need to have a conversation with the Mayor asto what the composition needsto be. Vincent asks if there is an increase in the number of members will it be all the more difficult to achieve a quorum. Wynne would hope that with more members there was a greater chance of achieving a quorum. Wynne suggests that perhaps this body could be structured so that there is amain Council and then, as the need arises, various people are brought into the conversation based on their expertise and the issue at hand. Bill Howard supportsthat idea Wynne suggeststhat the current conversation shift to identification of Council priorities before a decision is made regarding the frequency of meetings. Ebenotesthat it isa difficult time of day for the ECDCChair (Qty Council President Guand) to attend a meeting given that he is restaurant owner and would need to leave his restaurant at a very busy time of day. However, she sayst hat the issue of meeting frequency and time of day can betaken up at a subsequent meeting. Douglas notes that it has been a challenge in the past to assemble a quorum so the ECDCmay want to consider quarterly meetings with the option of calling a special meeting as necessary. Also, advisory subgroups could be formed to provide a more in -depth review of certain issueswith an expectation that the quarterly meetings would fully address items on the agenda. Douglas strongly encouraged that ECDCmeetings be placed on the calendar as standing meetings, whatever the frequency, and be respected as such with members setting aside time to attend these meetings. It isfrustrating if a member or members prepare thoroughly for a meeting to then have the meeting cancelled due to lack of quorum. Deschamps noted that although the ECDCdoes not necessarily have a task to perform at every meeting such as some other boards and commissions due to its advisory nature, it does not mean that these meetings are unimportant. Howard asked that both Mayor Cahill and Council President Guand be asked to expresstheir opinion Vincent highlighted the importance of monthly ECDCmeetingsasthey are very informative and that it is helpful to be able to share the information with Chamber members. Wynne notes that there is not any language in the City ordinance that specifies the number of ECDC meetingsthat need to take place annually. Douglas recommended that the Qty staff poll the ECDCmembers asto their preference for the number of yearly meetings that should take place aswell asthe time of day they should occur. They should also be asked to identify potential topics for advisory committees. The agreed upon meetings dates will be standing meetings. Further, the discussion around a particular topic or revisiting the ECDCstrategy should start at the end of this calendar year. Douglas agrees that a 17 member Council would be quite large. Perhaps adding one or two members would be advisable to make sure particular matters of importance are adequately represented by individual(s) with expertise in those area(s). Vincent asks what the process would be if the ECDCwishesto advise the Mayor on a particular topic in between quarterly meetings, if a quarterly meeting schedule was adopted. Douglaswould strongly encourage the Mayor to attend the quarterly meetings if that schedule were adopted. The Mayor could also call a special meeting if needed. Page 6 of 7 Vincent stated his preference for a monthly meeting schedule, finding that they keep him up to date and informed. Vincent asked if there was a possibility of holding informal monthly meetings. Wynne notes that due to Open Meeting Law such informal meetings are not really allowed. Douglas suggests that issues could be brought forward on amonthly basis via email to augment information discussed at quarterly meetings. Wynne suggested that the Qty could provide updates in a newsletter format. Vincent asks about the existingjersey barriers in place to protect diners enjoying outdoor dining and if there will be a conflict with snow removal. How will the Qty handle the situation? Wynne notesthat Governor Baker wasallowing outdoor dining until November 1. Wynnewould need to think about whether or not the Qty will extend itsoutdoor dining program if the Elate changes its date. M BVl BER ITBVI S None stated. ADJOURNM ENT Douglas makes a motion to adjourn. Marino secondsthemotion. Meeting is adjourned. Page 7 of 7