Loading...
ECDC mtg notes from 3-11-2021-approved 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 MARCH 11, 2021 ECDC members in attendance: Neiland Douglas; Richard Marino; Michael O'Brien; Richard Vincent; Michael Collins; Darlene Wynne; Denise Deschamps. Darlene Wynne and calls the roll. A quorum is established. Wynne, acting as the Chair of the ECDC, in the absence of City Council President Paul Guanci, begins the meeting by reading a statement regarding revisions to the Open Meeting Law allowing for remote meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meeting Minutes from February 11, 2021 Wynne then invites a motion to adopt the ECDC meeting minutes from February 11, 2021. Richard Vincent makes a motion to approve the minutes. Richard Marino Seconds the motion. The roll is called. The motion passes 7-0. Update regarding Request by Mayor Cahill to postpone the start and end date of the previously granted Special Tax Assessment (STA) on behalf of Beverly Restaurant Associates, LLC Mayor Cahill is on the Council agenda for next Thursday. Expects it will be approved. The change in the start and end dates of the Special Tax Assessment (STA) was requested since construction had been delayed as a consequence of the pandemic. Having the STA commence before construction is complete would deny the applicant the full benefit of the STA that had been originally promised. The five year term of the STA would remain the same. Update Regarding Spring 2021 Outdoor Dining/Shared Streets Grant Wynne explains that the City plans to offer the same outdoor dining option to the restaurants as it did last year. The City did survey the restaurants. There were about twenty respondents with likely an additional ten restaurant owners who are interested. If they plan to have the same set-up as last year then they don't need to submit a plan but they do need to submit a letter of intent to Wynne. Wynne would like to see outdoor dining restart as soon as possible. Mike Collins will need to determine when DPS can put the jersey barriers in place depending upon weather and paving on Cabot Street. The City did receive a Shared Streets grant. The funds were to be dedicated to the purchase of outdoor heaters as well as some decorative lighting and other items that would be of the appropriate scale. The City will also use some items on Park Street near the commuter rail station to test out components of the mobility hub concept such as using planters to shorten crosswalks. At this time, only three restaurants want heaters. The Shares Streets grant budget had called for seventy-five heaters so Wynne will explore the possibility with the State of re-allocating the funds. Richard Vincent asks how outdoor dining had worked out for restaurants on Rantoul Street. Wynne notes that on Rantoul outdoor dining is a bit more of a challenge because of the bike lines. However, the restaurants FRANK and SOULL Viet Kitchen both have outdoor dining available on their property. They do not need to sue the sidewalk or take parking spaces. Old Planters used their parking lot and Channel marker used Fayette Street. Although there were some complaints, it worked. Neiland Douglas asked about the status of Cabot Street paving project. Michael Collins commented that they are holding off National Grid for another year. Their project starts at the Beverly-Salem Bridge and extends to Federal Street. As for the City's repaving of a portion of Cabot Street (Pond Street to Federal Street) DPS has decided to use a different method of construction that will shorten the process. They will provide and excellent finished product. There was a follow-up question regarding work at the intersection at the base of the Beverly- Salem Bridge. Collins confirmed that the intersection was one of three being addresses. The underground work at the "Bridge" intersection is complete. In the next few weeks they will be redoing the sidewalks from the bridge to Rantoul Street and also coming up Cabot Street a short distance. That project will be completed by the end of the calendar year. Richard Marino compliments Collins and the DPS on all of the work that they do. Wynne adds that they hope to make outdoor dining available to those restaurants not impacted by the Cabot Street construction as soon as possible. Marino asks if there are certain restrictions relative to decorative items that can placed in the outdoor dining areas. Wynne responds that umbrellas are allowed, as are twinkle lights to improve the aesthetics. The City will be using the same jersey barriers as last year that were painted by artists. Restaurants do need to tie up their furnishings at night and keep the area clean and they need to abide by any social distancing requirements. As for outdoor events that typically take place in Beverly during the warmer months Wynne said that Beverly Main Streets and the Homecoming Committee continue to plan although Beverly Main Streets is not working on any block parties right now. Development Scorecard Update Wynne reviews Development Scorecard: • SEDNA- Construction completed on both buildings. Move-ins have taken place in one building. The Engineering Department is awaiting some additional information before move-ins begin for the second building. • Depot 2-Construction to start this spring. The City's parking and Traffic Committee reviewing the plans. • White Hall almost done. • Dunham Ridge, #44-seeking to convert space in the garage into high bay manufacturing space. They would lose 76 parking spaces but have an alternative on site plus they don't need all spaces they built; • Briscoe-process to secure financing continues. • Sunnycrest-units built • 2 Hardy Street-complete and occupied. • 108 Bridge Street-starting construction soon. • Hickory Hill-moving slowly doing infrastructure work • Enon Street-no activity • YMCA at 245 Cabot-construction underway • Anchor Point phase 1-construction to start in spring. This project also includes a MassWorks funded redesign/construction of Tozer/Sohier intersection. • Police station moving along with move in anticipated for August, 2021. Douglas asks what will happen with the former police station. Collins responds that once the building is vacated the City will begin the renovation. • Coastal Group-more application were submitted than licenses available for retail marijuana establishments. There are a couple that need to be decided upon. Vincent asks about a potential cultivation site near the airport. Wynne responds that no applications for cultivation sites have been approved. There has only been one entity to express interest in cultivation and the site they proposed was not near the airport. Wynne notes that there is no limit on the number of cultivation sites, unlike the limit of 4 retail sites. • Freudenberg-open. • Thaxton-did tree clearing • One Water Street-has received local permitting • Porter Terrace-3 new single units approved plus one under construction. The latter is a separate project. • Everett Street-two residential units only. Commercial units no longer part of the plan. • 107 Dodge Street-underway • West Dane- almost complete • 143 Brimbal-purchase not complete. Project will need to go before ZBA. They plan to add 3,000 SF. The Veterans Post will maintain a location in building basement, as presently exists, for up to five years as they find a new location. Landry and Arcari, a high end rug retailer, is purchasing the building and moving from Salem. Back in 2016 there was a big push to move retail from overlay district but they may use retail there for over 8 years. Douglas mentions that in the ECDC's 2018 strategy it was suggested that the City look at how to evaluate each significant development project in terms of a cost/revenue analysis. What is the cost of public investment, services to site versus tax dollars received? In addition, it is important to consider employment and other benefits. Is that a matter we might explore? Wynne responds that she cannot envision doing this for all of the projects but that the City could ask developers for assistance. She notes the City does have a fiscal impact tool. They have not rolled it out yet. It could be tested on a couple of projects. There are a limited number of users allowed. It is proprietary. Douglas asks this topic could be added to the agenda at a future date. Wynne asks how Douglas envisions the ECDC using this information. Douglas suggests that it could be used to assess development before it goes before the Planning Board. The scope of projects do change overtime so a project might need to be re- evaluated. However, Douglas does not envision this tool as means to cause a developer distress. The ECDC simply has expectations that projects are contributing to the economic health of the City. Perhaps more conversation is necessary as to how any information yielded from this type of analysis would best be applied. Wynne reiterates the possibility of trying it out on a couple of projects to get an example of the programs' output. Wynne notes that the Airport self-storage proposal is not advancing. The Airport, however, is undergoing its own master planning process. It is looking to expand its runway slightly into Danvers. The Airport intends to take advantage of development opportunities for businesses that have a relationship to aeronautics. Resilient Together Survey Wynne asks if any members of the ECDC took the survey. Douglas suggests the possibility of sharing the draft ECDC strategy with the Resilient Together team. Wynne state that she is reluctant to share the draft strategy with them in a formal action because the draft strategy does not have status at this stage. Wynne states that more than forty action strategies have been developed as part of Resilient Together and she offers to share them with ECDC members. Douglas requests additional detail regarding the agenda for the project moving forward. Wynne comments that Emily Hutchings and Erina Keefe are in the process of editing action statements and Wynne could share those with the ECDC. She continues that there are strategies related to workforce development and business sustainability so she could pull out any that are relevant and share those goals and action items. The Resilient Together team will develop blue prints describing implementation. Wynne shared slides with the ECDC that illustrate the seven overarching themes. Douglas notes the parallels with economic and community development. Wynne will send the presentation to ECDC members. Review of Comprehensive Plan's Implementation Matrix Vincent notes that Douglas's work on the draft ECDC Strategy requires some time for discussion. It needs to be shared with the ECDC members prior to any discussion so they may review. Wynne confirms that she and Douglas have talked about the draft Strategy and that she has asked to meet with the Mayor regarding it. She would then plan to make her own comments and bring it back to the ECDC. However, she believes that the City's master plan has addressed the points identified in the draft strategy. Wynne will make sure the nexus between the priorities identified in the master plan and those in the draft Strategy is evident. Douglas agrees with Vincent's suggestion to bring back the strategy. He also agrees with a plan to meet with Mayor as his input is necessary. Then, the draft strategy, that includes input from the Mayor, could be presented to the ECDC at which time they could decide on next steps. Other Items Vincent notes that the MBTA has removed Prides Crossing commuter rail station from service. He expressed concern about any impacts to be experienced by the cluster of businesses located in that area. Wynne notes that there was a public process around these proposed closings in December and there is further public discussion now. Wynne is not sure of the ultimate status of the Prides Crossing station. Service was reduced so ridership from that location reduced and then the lack of ridership is used as a reason to terminate service to that station. Wynne does not like to see any reductions in service but doubts the businesses around Prides Crossing station will be impacted since most people walk or drive to those businesses. As of now the City is focused on the elimination of the MBTA 451 bus, the CATA subsidy, and reduced service. She reiterated that it is difficult to show demand for a service that no longer exists thus causing people to find alternatives. The City will keep its eye on it. Without more density for that station hard to entice the MBTA to reopen it and development there is unlikely. Adjournment Wynne invites a motion to adjourn. Vincent motions to adjourn and Marino seconds. Meeting adjourns at 5:35.