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ECDC Meeting notes 9-10-2020-APPROVEDCITY 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 William Howard Richard Marino Alichael O'Brien "Brien Richard Vincent City Council President Paul Guanci Darlene Wynne Michael Collins Denise Deschamps DRAFT M EEn NG NOTES FROM SE11 BER 10, 2020 AOCEPTED BY THE BCDCON 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 as consequence of the 00VID -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 Street -site visit in process. They are hoping to get their occupancy permit for one of 2 two buildings by end of 8zptember. 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 00VID -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 Fdoad- Located behind business named Harmonic Drive, it is under construction. They received their permit last year. The owner has a tenant 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 City 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 City 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 City will maintain ownership of the open space. • &Annyc rest- it is progressing slowly. A couple of units. • 2 Hardy Street- It is almost complete. • Bridge street -not sure where stands • Trask Lane- no status to report today. • Airport self- storage- no update today. Nothing to report. • Canvas building is complete. • YMCA project on Cabot Street- construction expected to begin in next few weeks • Anchor point- approved and has received funding through the City. They are awaiting approval of state funding. The City has applied for a M assWorks grant, which would support improvements to the adjacent intersection at S)hier and Tozer roads. • Cabot Street complete -They are renting their units to residents of the YMCA for a year 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 is expanding into the former apparel shop next door. • Police station going up quickly • Coastal Group sought a host agreement with aty but not yet granted • Thaxton -No updates to report. • One Water Street- still working through the DEP permitting 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 a new 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 Street- Permit issued for two residential units only. No commercial units. A building permit has not yet been issued. • Dodge Street -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 V ncent asked what the plans are for the building that is located across from Anmol India restaurant. It is currently being rehabilitated. City will have to check and get back to Vincent. Rchard Marino mentioned that the parking garage associated with the new construction on West Dane is complete and that the framing for the apartment unitswill be completed in a month. M ICROENTUT RISE GRANTS PROGRAM Wynne summarized a description of the Microenterprise grants program for which the city received a net award of $280,000 for businesses that meet eligibility requirements. It did take time for the State to establish procedures/ process to receive and evaluate applications and select recipients but applications are now open. There is a training for grant administrators tomorrow. Neiland Douglas inquires asto when businesseswill 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 process of 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 Streets and 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 is trying to wrap up the edits to the draft. Mayor had targeted early fall to complete the document but given the many issues related to COVI D-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 BERS I NMTED TO S-tARETHB R PBRCEFMONSOF CURRENT CHALLENGES I N EDONOM I CAND COM M UNITY DEVB_ORM ENT IN CURRENT E M RONM ENT Wynne notes that the Restaurant Subcommittee of the ODMD -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 owners sustain themselves through the fall. The Oty 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 Streets 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 Shared Streets grants program now gives the City an opportunity apply for funding for something that would directly help the restaurant community such as outdoor heaters. Increasing foot trafficto restaurants would also help nearby businesses. M RA BERS I NMTED TO SJGGLSf TOPICSON WHICH THEY WOULD U KETO FOCUS I N FUTURE M DTI 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 is a surrogate title for the preservation of ecological resources and sustainability. Under this umbrella, there are several potential areas on which to focus. One is the 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 Oty of Beverly. The Oty /I3 DCwould identify approaches that 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 Fiver but others aswell including ponds, small inland waterways. Athird category would be to develop a strategy for preserving and upgrading waste removal facilities, recycling facilities and the like. A fourth 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 expertsthat exist in areaeducational facilities. Sat up presentationson relevant topics. BevCam could assist. LCDCcould 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 city is starting to develop a climate action plan, in collaboration with Salem. The city 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 of the 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 LCDCwith 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 states she will look at list of activities associated with the project in order to suggest different opportunities for E3DC members to 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 thistopic. He not esthat the Mayor did stressthe importance of addressing dimate 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 dimate 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 may beworth revisiting the BMCstrategy document that was created several years ago and in that document address the long and short term consequences of dimate 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 metrics that were discussed earlier in the year as the BMChad interest in determining Page 4 of 7 goals that had been achieved. Douglaswould support this approach and asks if Howard is also 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 Strategy and the metrics measuring success related to each priority within the Strategy. Rchard Marino also agrees that the situation is always evolving and that the document likely needs to be updated. Vincent suggests identifying a long 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 a 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 City $20- 25,000.00. The DPSbudget absorbsthese costs which iswhy the DPSbudget needsto remain somewhat flexible because theweather isso unpredictable. Michael Collins notes that the City 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 pushbaclk 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 seriousness of this problem and the impact on Cumming's property. Cummings Properties had not publicly acknowledged the seriousness of this 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 City had creatively addressed problems in the past but their approach was ultimately criticized by an individual at MA DE. Although M EPA and FEMAwere 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 DEPhas gone so far asto amend state regulations to ensure no other municipality will replicate Beverly's approach. REVI S T OONVERS ON REGARDI NG ECDC M EEn NG TI M E 9D -I®ULF- VAC4Na ES GOALS ECDC Wynne begins the discussion by stating that she cannot imagine having a seventeen - member Council. She prefersthat boards and commissions have a range of 5 -9 members with twelve being the largest number of members. Although the City 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 Mayoras to what the composition needs to be. Vincent asks if there is an increase in the number of memberswill 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 suggests that the current conversation shift to identification of Council priorities before a decision is made regarding the frequency of meetings. She notesthat it is a difficult time of day for the ECDCChair (city Council President Guand) to attend a meeting given that he is a restaurant owner and would need to leave his restaurant at a very busy time of day. However, she says that the issue of meeting frequency and time of day can be taken 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 meetingswith 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 is frustrating 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 ECDCmeetings as they 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 meetings that need to take place annually. Douglas recommended that the City staff poll the ECDCmembers asto their preference for the number of yearly meetings that should take place aswell as the 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 askswhat the processwould be if the ECDCwishes to 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 a monthly basis via email to augment information discussed at quarterly meetings. Wynne suggested that the Oty 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 Oty handle the situation? Wynne notes that Governor Baker was allowing outdoor dining until November 1. Wynne would need to think about whether or not the City will extend its outdoor dining program if the State changes its date. M BVI BER ITRA S None stated. ADJOIJRNM ENT Douglas makes a motion to adjourn. Marino seconds the motion. Meeting is adjourned. Page 7 of 7