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ECDC meeting minutes from 01-21-2021-final-approved�M h i 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 M EEn NG OF THE ECONOM IC AN D COM M UNITY DEVaAPM ENT COUNCI L (ECDQ M EETI NG NOTES FROM AN UARY 21, 2021 M EETI N G City Council President Paul Guand, as Chairperson of the ECDC, begins the meeting by reading a statement regarding revisionsto Open Meeting Law allowing for remote meetings due to the COMD -19 pandemic. City Council President Paul Guand callsthe ECDC meeting to order with a roll call. ECDC members attending are: Neiland Douglas; William Howard Richard Marino; Michael O'Brien; Richard Vincent; Michael Collins; Darlene Wynne; Denise Deschamps, and Council Resident Paul Guand. Rchard Vincent movesto accept the minutesfrom the December 10, 2020 meeting of the ECDC and Nei land Douglas seconds the motion. All are in favor. The minutes are accepted. DRAFT OUTU NE OF ECDC STRATEGY Council President Guand introduces the first agenda item, the review of draft ECDCstrategy as proposed by Nei land Douglas. Guand asks if the EMCmembers would like to offer their commentson thedraft document. Douglas suggests that hetakeafew momentsto summarize the document before mem bers com ment. Douglas not esthe breadth of the new comprehensive plan, which offers sixty -six separate policies and actions. He wanted to embrace the findings of the master plan and incorporate them into the (EMC) strategy. He believesthat the Strategy needs to begin by addressing four overriding issues that influence the economic strategy: climate change; 0OVID -19; police violence; misrepresentation of these issues by national leadership resulting in deep divisions among Americans. Douglas calls attention to the newly proposed Green Development arategy (included in the draft ECDC strategy) which has 12 goals. He moves on to highlight the implementation of programs critical to economic and community development including new housing programs; new transportation infrastructure, sustainability and remediation; incentive programs such asthe Opportunity Zone program and other incentive programs; critical importance of the quality of education. Quality education makes possible workforce development. Douglas states that given the importance of education and well as the healthcare sector to Beverly's economy he would like the ECDC to include representatives from the fields of education and health care as part of a reconsideration of ECDC's membership. Douglas states that the ECDCstrategy, in its current form, needs to have a concluding paragraph inserted. He believes it should be positive and hope - filled view of Beverly's future. Beverly is a welcoming community that embracesthe centrality and quality of education and that is entitled to a green development strategy. Douglas concludes his summary. Following the review Guanci asks if it is possible to condense the content of the draft Strategy and make it more digestible for members of the general public. Douglas does not believe it can be further condensed. He notes that the Green Development Strategy, as proposed, is condensation the strategies proposed in the master plan. Wynne notesthat the City isworking to create an implementation matrix, asthe next phase of the master planning process. The matrix will lay out the strategies proposed, related action steps. It will identify partnersand priorities. Associate Planner Chelsea Zakas has been assigned to this project. There will be action itemswhich the ECDCwill play a role in effectuating. Wynne continues, noting that the priorities presented in the Strategy have been priorities of the City for several years. The housing developments identified in the Strategy have been in the pipeline for several years and were proposed by area non - profits. TIF's have already been applied successfully. The City can certainly add information about successes in this area to marketing materials. It is clear that if the quality of education in Beverly were compromised iswould have a significant impact on Beverly's attractiveness. Wynnewould welcome the ECDC's support of the new comprehensive plan. There will be opportunities for the ECDCto support actions that take place in furtherance of the comprehensive plans goals and objectives. She notesthat there is overlap between the comprehensive plan and the proposed strategy. Wynne will share the draft implementation matrix with the ECDCmembers. Although the matrix isstill being drafted Wynne believes it would be helpful to share it with the ECDCmembers at this point in itsdevelopment so that they become familiar with the process. Wynne notesthat Chelsea Zakasand Denise Deschampsare working on revising marketing materials for the City that includes a fact sheet about Beverly. The City is very concerned about recovery. Douglas notesthat each of the five priorities described in the proposed strategy are embellishments of what is in Plan Beverly. Rchard Vincent notes the effort on the part of Douglasto develop the draft Strategy. He says that there isa lot of overlap with the master plan. He agrees with its content. He asksabout who talksto the Zoning Board about getting things rezoned -or some of the other actions steps in the comprehensive plan. Douglas states that the items in the Strategy are mostly initiated by the new comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan sets a broader strategy. Douglas is focusing on community and economic development. It is important to underscore that the comprehensive plan has the overriding set of strategies. Vincent agrees that some of the City's zoning is antiquated. Industry has changed. Housing has changed. Let's take advantage of those changes. Guanci statesthat the master plan has identified zoning changesthat need to go before the City Council. The ECDCcan certainly write a letter of support to the City Council. Wynne agreesthat the City will look to itscommitteesforsupport of initiatives. Guanci asksthat the ECDCmembers review the Ordinance that definesthe role of the ECDC Wynne agreesthat isalwaysgood to revisit. Guanci asks Deschampsto share it with the ECDC members in anticipation of the next ECDCmeeting. Douglas notes that the comprehensive plan looks at every issue that could be addressed. He would like to look at how to address these issues strategically. How can the ECDC become effective advocates. Michael O'Brien acknowledges Douglas's comprehensive view and his work on the document. He asks if other Boards and Committees might be interested in reading the draft Strategy. Deschamps offers that she considers the priorities in the draft strategy as being positioned under the umbrella of the new comprehensive plan. Perhapsthe strategy could make the relationship between the two documents more visible. Sle also stated that she considers the last section of the draft strategy, relative to the role and composition of the ECDQ as separate issue that the ECDCmay choose to discuss in more detail after they have had the opportunity to revisit the City's Ordinance. Douglas restated his strong interest in adding a member to the ECDCwho will represent education. He stated that there isa need for partnershipswith stakeholders in the community and that it is of particular importance to have a relationship with the medical/ health care community. He added, regarding education, that the school curriculum needsto address the changing needs of business and industry. William Howard thanked Douglas for his work on the draft strategy. He noted that the comprehensive plan should be considered a long -term plan which includeswithin it action steps that will be taken in the short term in order to bring the goals of the comprehensive plan to fruition. He notesthat it is important to seethe implementation matrix first before the ECDC adopts any priorities. Vincent notes that he is excited about Douglas's work and believes that it has uncovered some items that the master plan has not covered. Douglasstated that he partly agreeswith Howard's statements. This is not an either /or proposition. Several constituencies must come together and forma consensus on the strategiesthat will be pursued. Wynne reiterates that although the implementation matrix has not hey been finalized she will share the current version with the ECDC Ebe does recall that the ECDCwiII be identified as partner with an active role under various priorities and action steps. Descham ps wi I I share the Ordinance defining the role and composition of the ECDCwith members. O'Brien asks if there will be a (ODMD -19) vaccination site located in Beverly. Wynne responds that if that does happen the community will receive notice via the City's website, social media accounts, and likely a robo call. Guanci invites a motion to adjourn. O'Brien makes a motion. Howard seconds the motion. The meeting is adjourned.