ECDC minutes from 4-8-2021-final-approved l
� $ CITY of BEVERLY
ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY
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
MEETING OF THE ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL(ECDC)
MEETING NOTES FROM APRIL 08, 2021
ECDC members participating: City Council President Guanci; Darlene Wynne; Neiland Douglas;
Richard Marino; Michael Collins; Denise Deschamps.
Other participants: Mayor Michael P. Cahill
City Council President Paul Guanci calls the meeting to order and reads a statement regarding
revisions to the Open Meeting Law allowing for remote meetings due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Council President Guanci calls the roll and establishes a quorum.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Approval of March 11, 2021 meeting minutes
Council President Guanci invites a motion to approve the draft minutes. Neiland Douglas
makes a motion which is seconded by Richard Marino. A roll call is taken and the motion
passes 6-0.
UPDATE ON ONE WATER STREET
Guanci then introduces Mayor Michael Cahill. Mayor states that he is just listening in to today's
conversation. Guanci confirms with Mayor that restaurant owner, Martin Bloom, has secured
financing for the restaurant to be constructed at One Water Street. Cahill elaborates, saying
that banks had been very cautious about lending for this type of project during the pandemic
but they have started lending again. Bloom predicts that construction will begin in July and will
Page 1 of 4
open late spring of 2022. Bloom was asked by the City Council, when he appeared before it, if
he planned to hire women and minorities and Bloom responded in the affirmative.
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Darlene Wynne states that there are a variety of different funding opportunities available
through the State's Community one stop application process. There are ten different grants.
The City has applied for some of these grants in the past such as MassWorks but there are
others that are new to the City such as the underutilized properties grant. All ten programs
have been rolled under the Community one Stop umbrella. The City has completed the initial
step in the application process by submitting a Letter of interest which details four separate
projects which the City would like to apply for funding. The State will review the LOI and
provide guidance as to what grant funds the City might access and it will identify any other
resources they believe may be helpful. The City should receive feedback in about two weeks.
The four projects are:
• Phase 2 overpass
• Phase la-Brimbal and Dunham intersection
• Mobility hub
• Bass River overlay district
Depending upon feedback received from the State the City will review and determine priorities.
The City will also apply for a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant to support an artist-in-
residency program. The City has also been working the Metropolitan Area Planning Council
(MAPC) to determine what funding dollars it may be able to access through the US Economic
Development Administration (EDA).
ONGOING ZONING PROJECTS
Wynne speaks to the various zoning projects that the City is considering.
Bass River Overlay District-the City had been exploring the possibility of a Bass River Overlay
District but shifted its attention to developing a master (comprehensive) plan. The City has also
pursued free technical assistance though the Mayors Institute on City Design. When consider
potential regulations there are a variety of factors and trade-offs that need to be evaluated
including climate change, resiliency, design standards, zoning, reasonable development
potential. Wynne has follow up calls scheduled with experts in the fields of architecture and
planning and hopes to have something before the Council in March.
Cahill commented that there has been a lot of dialogue around the master planning process
and the development of Depot Square 2. The Depot 2 plan calls for a more conservative
approach to height than was originally considered. The design is being emphasized. In
considering potential residential development closer to the bass river there is a desire to have
structures compliment the character of the community, satisfy the need for housing and also
provide affordable housing per the Inclusionary Zoning ordinance. Hopefully, the City will be
able to capture a sweet spot that the City council will feel good about supporting.
Mayor Cahill leaves the meeting.
Page 2of4
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU's)- Wynne shares that MAPC asked if the City of Beverly would
be one of their case study communities developing an ordinance. It is a data driven approach
that allows the City to test out a lot of different parameters. For instance, if you allow ADU's in
these areas of the City what will be the impacts of parking demand on a neighborhood. During
the master planning process when various methods of creating additional housing was
discussed, that isn't considered multi-family housing, people expressed interest in this type of
housing. New legislation from the State related to zoning promotes ADU's. Wynne notes that
there may be some fears that allowing ADU's would open the door to ADU's being constructed
on every parcel but she notes that they are expensive to construct so that would be one
controlling factor.
Neiland Douglas notes that both the City's comprehensive plan and the ECDC draft strategy
both highlighted the importance of workforce housing. Demand for that type of housing by
members of the workforce was perceived to be fundamental.
Vincent asks how ADU's will be defined and Wynne responds that the process in which they are
engaging with MAPC will result in a definition. She continues that in some communities ADU's
are required to be attached to the primary structure or they could also be an out building. In
Beverly, currently, they need to be attached to the primary structure. AARP (American
Association of Retired Persons) is a big proponent of ADU's as it gives an older owner of the
primary structure the option of renting to someone that could help to maintain the property.
Wynne predicts that an ordinance won't be available for review until late 2021 or early 2022.
Sign ordinance update- Wynne stated that the City has been talking about an update to the
sign ordinance for quite some time. The Design Review Board and Planning Department look at
too many applications that propose signage that looks very good but because of local
regulations requires a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Ultimately, the
regulations prevent some very good proposals from being implemented. The City does want to
allow people to be creative, and create attractive signage, without having to get a special
permit. For instance, the artwork formerly displayed on Bonefish Harry's windows was very
interesting and compatible with the nature of their business but did violate signage regulations.
Vincent asked about billboards and advertising. Wynne responded that the City will review
digital signage as well. It has come a long way since the signage ordinance was written.
Generally, the city doesn't allow digital signage but gave The Cabot permission for its marquee.
The process of revising the signage ordinance will require review of case law, focus group(s),
public meetings.
Douglas asks about any studies on the effectiveness of billboards. Douglas things they are a
nuisance and unnecessarily distracting, perhaps to the detriment of road safety. Wynne was
not sure about local rules regarding billboards. The City of Beverly does not have many. She
continued that the City wants to tread lightly with digital signage although the large billboard
along Route 128 is interesting.
Marijuana ordinance-The City may have four marijuana retailers. The retailer proposed for
North Beverly has permitting in place. There is another proposal before the Zoning Board of
Page 3of4
Appeals next month with a proposed location at 352 Rantoul Street. The State now allows
delivery but the City does not allow it in its ordinance so the City needs to revisit that issue and
how it will align with the State's regulations. Emily Hutchings can put something together if you
would like more detail.
Solar ordinance-The last revision was in response to a large scale solar array being put in place.
It didn't envision current efforts to put solar arrays over parking lots and so didn't contemplate
requirements for canopy. So the ordinance needs a few tweaks.
Hoping that revisions to both the marijuana and solar ordinances could get on the City Council
agenda before summer recess. The City will try to package them together.
ECDC MEMBERS INVITED TO SHARE ITEMS OF INTEREST
Douglas and Vincent both mention that since the Mayor has had an opportunity to review the
latest version of the draft ECDC Strategy perhaps the Mayor could attend a future ECDC
meeting, or through Darlene, share his thoughts regarding the draft and whether or not it
charts a direction that the City should be embracing. Douglas would like it if the outline
distributed to the Mayor could be shared with all ECDC members given that it has been
updated since they last saw it. Douglas also wants to ensure that the other ECDC members
agree with what is proposed in the draft Strategy. Vincent agrees with this approach.
Guanci requests that Wynne ask the Mayor to make comments about the draft Strategy
before the next ECDC meeting, if possible. Wynne notes that, as of yet, she and the Mayor
have not spoken about it in great detail.
ADJOURNMENT
Guanci states that a lot of work has gotten done in the last 10-11 months and the City continues
to work hard. He invites motion to adjourn. Douglas moves to adjourn and the motion is
seconded by Vincent. The meeting adjourns at 5:15 PM
Page 4of4