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CPC Meeting 08-18-2022 Minutes FINAL Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes *DRAFT* PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES CITY OF BEVERLY BOARD OR COMMISSION: Community Preservation Committee SUBCOMMITTEE: N/A DATE: August 18, 2022 LOCATION: Beverly City Hall, 3rd floor Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Heather Richter; Vice Chair Derek Beckwith; Danielle Spang, Suzanne LaMont, Christy Edwards, Robert Buchsbaum, Marilyn McCrory, Nancy Marino MEMBERS ABSENT: Thomas Bussone OTHERS PRESENT: Victoria Healey (City of Beverly Planning Department), Rani Jacobsen (City of Beverly), Dean Berg (Green Beverly), Mayor Michael Cahill (City of Beverly) (partial attendee from 7:20 pm—7:30 pm) RECORDER: Brandon Kubik 1. Call to Order Chairperson Richter calls the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and welcomes all committee members and attendees to the meeting. 2. Welcome and Remarks Victoria Healey of the City of Beverly Planning Department was introduced as the new liaison to the committee and Brandon Kubik was introduced as the new recorder. 3. Community Outreach: Means of Sharing Information about Success Stories Chairperson Richter invites Ms. Rani Jacobsen, the Social Media Consultant and Special Coordinator for Constituent Services for the City of Beverly to discuss her position within the city and how it can assist the Community Preservation Committee in the creation of its own social media channels. Ms. Jacobsen stated that she is currently managing a selection of the city's social media channels and assists other departments and city organizations with the generation and management of their online content for various social media outlets, and that she would be happy to assist the committee with their upcoming need for assistance in this matter. The committee discussed several potential outlets that they would like to utilize moving forward, including Facebook and Instagram, what would be appropriate content to present, and how often it would be presented to the public. After review, McCrory suggests that the key targets for announcement criteria should be focused on announcing and promoting community attendance at the committee's annual meeting, presentation of various application deadlines, announcements of awards and recognitions for selected projects, inclusion of periodic moments 1 Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes throughout the year for key Community Preservation Committee engagements and general announcements, and acknowledgements of significant or successful projects approved and funded through the committee. The committee as a whole agreed. Vice Chair Beckwith voiced his concerns for generating a brand new social media account for the committee and its potential lack of following at the beginning, and stated that while the committee as a whole could share it amongst their personal networks, coverage across the typical city channels may be difficult to establish without having a very active presence. Ms. Jacobsen stated that while certain entities within the city have their own accounts, there are several that utilize the city platform with a shared account style in order to get their information spread to a wider audience. After discussion, the committee agreed that this format would make more sense for their new account to start with, and as it grew they would reanalyze the need or want to make it stand alone. Spang inquired how long in advance would Ms. Jacobsen need in order to generate content to be shared, to which Ms. Jacobsen stated that a minimum of one week would be ideal in order to prepare, but if there were items that were to be queued for future posting opportunities that the committee could share them upfront for her to work on, and then a schedule could be established as to when general posting would occur. At this time Mayor Cahill entered the committee Chambers, and the committee expressed their desire to establish the accounts and briefly recounted the conversation that was just had amongst the attendees. Mayor Cahill stated that Ms. Jacobsen was an ideal person to assist the committee with this endeavor and that he was willing to assist the committee in whatever way the city could to get their platforms up and running. The committee thanked him for his input, and he left the meeting to attend to other business. The committee discussed what would be their potential first posting material, and LaMont commented that the upcoming I Oh Anniversary press release and associated information would be ideal as this event was quickly approaching. Chairperson Richter agreed and reviewed the logistics with Ms. Jacobsen to start her on the ability to prepare said release documentation. Chairperson Richter also stated that any and all social media posting information should be reviewed by the committee as a whole before being shared publicly, to which Vice Chair Beckwith and the other committee members agreed. The committee as a whole thanked Ms. Jacobsen for her time, and her upcoming commitment to assist. Ms. Jacobsen thanked the committee allowing her to be in attendance, and provided her email address, racobsen@beverlyma.gov, so the council could contact her with any questions and future content. 4. Consultation and Q & A with the CPC The CPC encourages the public, current or potential applicants, and other interested parties to bring their questions/comments to the meeting during this 15-minute session. Guest: Dean Berg, Green Beverly—Mr. Berg was present to discuss the non-profit organization Green Beverly, their current mission and goals within the city and future prospects. Mr. Berg presented the committee with a short presentation indicating what the current initiatives of the organization were, what their current target audiences are, and what they are trying to achieve, 2 Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes and was happy to announce that as of last year the organization was able to obtain the 5013C status to become a state recognized not for profit organization. Their main focus is on sustainability within the city, with a goal to follow and build upon on the guidelines presented in the city's joint Resilient Together plan with the City of Salem. They are doing so from a grassroots bottom-up approach by interacting with the community and its citizens first and foremost. This is being done through several education campaigns, grant funded initiatives and stakeholder engagement events. He said that the current bar for sustainability is set high in the city, but he notes that while civic engagement will help, its truly the people of the community who live in it that are going to bring about the greatest change for the good, and he and his team are focused on "meeting them where they are" and getting out and spreading awareness and action to the cause. Mr. Berg also stated that a component of Green Beverly's mission is to act as a "dot connector" amongst the various city groups and its constituents, and to find voids, brainstorm how to fix them and prepare and present possible solutions to be instituted to rectify the unfulfilled conditions. At the end of his presentation, Mr. Berg inquired with the committee if they had any questions. Marino and LaMont inquired if Green Beverly had a presence with the local developers within the city, and stated that while the organization's focus on the citizens was admirable, if the developers and owners of the various housing complexes in the city did not offer certain amenities to their inhabitants it was probably less likely for the people living in these units to be aware of and partake in the initiatives championed by Green Beverly. Mr. Berg stated that while they do have contact with certain parties, the focus on the organization is mainly on the citizens of the city and not on privately owned entities, and that the residents of these properties have expressed interest on a personal level with Green Beverly through their outreach channels. Vice Chair Beckwith stated that Mr. Berg and Green Beverly was an organization that could benefit from mutual synergies with the committee, and that it may be possible for future endeavors by the organization could potentially be funded with CPA grant money and recommended that Mr. Berg seek assistance with applying when the time comes in the future to do so. The committee as a whole thanked Mr. Berg for his time and presentation. 5. Review and approval of Community Preservation Committee draft minutes Chairperson Richter moved the group onto the next topic, which was to review the draft meeting minutes from the previous meeting, dated June 16, 2022, and stated that there were minor notes and topics that needed to be addressed. Members of the Committee offered recommended edits to the draft document, and after a period of discussion it was determined that all the discussed items needed to be adjusted and reviewed prior to the acceptance of the minutes as final. Healey stated that she would manage the document and upload for review prior to the next meeting. 6. Community Preservation Plan Spring 2022 Status Chairperson Richter brought the committee to the next topic of discussion, the integration of elements of the OSRP action plan in preparation of finalizing and publishing of the spring 2022 Community Preservation Plan. McCrory stated that she had been making edits to the plan since the last version was reviewed by the group, and had provided the document to Healey for upload to the committees share file location. The group reviewed McCrory's edits and agreed to the changes, and made some additional comments for minor edits to be made prior to finalization of 3 Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes the document. Edwards had inquired if there can be an edit to include Ward locations on the project descriptions as this made it more of a landmark for individuals who may not know the addresses. Chairperson Richter stated that she would like for the committee to present the final document to the public during their next meeting, to which Vice Chair Beckwith stated that the committee should review the edits one last time after the modifications have been made to the document before fully publishing the report. At that time, if all is accepted a motion to approve could be made to memorialize the changes and publish the final. Spang stated that in order to do this in a timely manner, an additional special meeting may be required for the group to gather and review the document, and suggested that the meeting may be virtual in order to accommodate the committee's schedules. The group agreed, and will review potential times that the forthcoming meeting could be set for, and as to allow for required public notification to occur. Ultimately, Healey provided the group with an update of the State's review of the preliminary report submission, and stated that the first draft comments are expected to be delivered back to the City and the Committee by mid-fall. 7. CPA Beverly loth Anniversary Funding Round Chairperson Richter moved the Committee onto the next topic of discussion, focusing the on the upcoming 10'h Anniversary CPA Funding Round, in which the conversation started with an inquiry on outreach outlets. LaMont had suggested reaching out to BevCam as it is easy to get approved for distribution of information and it reaches a large audience. Spang suggested looking into manning a table at the upcoming HarborFest activities, with McCrory stating that having a table with associated graphics and information could be a viable option, to which Marino agreed. Chairperson Richter stated that attendance and interest at this event in previous years was underwhelming, and the effort that the Committee put forth to attend was not worth the return. After discussion, the committee decided to not pursue this avenue. Marino made the suggestion that having the Ward councilors in attendance at the upcoming community meeting would be a fine way to garner interest, not only so that they can represent their respective districts and see what the Committee has done and is proposing to do within the neighborhoods, but being able to ask them to attend in public manor could potentially garner attention from other citizens. Chairperson Richter inquired with Healey if an email could be sent to the Councilors, to which she stated that it could, but only in an informal manner and not as a request. Marino asked if a formal letter could be drafted by the Planning Department for the Committee making this request. Healey stated that she would work on putting a draft together in the next few days and send it to the Committee for review, and if approved would forward it on to the appropriate parties. McCrory also suggested attaching a copy of the CPA projects map to the letter to preliminarily show the locations of the existing projects which benefited from the grants. Vice Chair Beckwith inquired if the letter could be read aloud to the City Council in person at their next meeting, to which Spang stated it could be possibly as long as the appropriate procedures were followed to get the item listed on the Councils agenda, which would require submitting the request the Wednesday before the next meeting. Healey stated that 4 Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes she would review with the City if this was something that could be done, and would let the Committee know her findings so they could all act accordingly. The topic of public outreach was revisited, with a focus on a press releases, social media posts and letters to selective parties. Edwards brought up that the timing of these releases for last years event was a little off due to the timing of Holidays, and stated that the Committee should review this year's calendar to make sure it can be presented in a smoother manner. McCrory brought up the date of September 29'h as a key target for this year, with Vice Chair Beckwith also stating that October 6�h was also important. After a group discussion focusing on other potential key dates, and potential conflicting scheduling with other committees involved in the review process, a decision to utilize last years key dates with some minor modifications to rectify date shifts should be sufficient. The Committee also discussed the potential meeting location, and in order to provide the best public outlet that could still be broadcasted digitally for those unable to attend in person the Bennet Room at the City Library was suggested as the final potential selection. Healey stated that she would reach out and see if the room would be available for use, and reach out to the broadcasting agent to set up the digital feed. The committee also addressed key dates for the upcoming application process, determining that the Pre-Application submittal deadline should be Thursday October 27, so that they could be reviewed at the November CPC meeting. It was also noted Determinations of Historical Significance for the projects should be obtained prior to October 20'h so they could be included in the Pre-Application package. The committee came to a determination that after submissions were received and reviewed, that on December I"the formal invitations to submit full applications would be sent to the appropriate parties. The date of January 1 11h was also determined to be the due date for the Full Application to be submitted. McCrory asked if scheduling a workshop for those moving onto the full application would be a good idea in order to make sure the projects were moving forward. Edwards stated that it would, but appropriate invitations would need to be sent out in a timely manner in order to keep the process as a whole moving forward. LaMont also agreed, and was concerned with timing to appropriately allow time and to not have interference by the holiday season. Edwards proposed the date of December 8�h as a potential for the workshop meeting, to which Vice Chair Beckwith stated that the date unfortunately interferes with several other municipal calendar events. The committee discussed as a group potential dates and times, and tentatively arrived at a date of December 8 h, with notification for the workshop being provided by November 30'h. The group agreed to hold the dates pending further review and approvals. 8. Administrative Issues and Proiect Status Updates Chairperson Richter stated that the City Council had approved the additional funds for in the order of$400,000.00 to the Briscoe project. She also stated that she had been in contact with Stewart(Saganaw) from the Coalition, and that the Committee has not given him an updated roster for this year. It was brought up that the City Staff liaison would provide it after tonight's meeting for the record. 5 Community Preservation Committee August 18, 2022 Meeting Minutes 9. Agenda Tonics Shifted to Future Meetings In an effort to efficiently end the meeting relatively on time, the group discussed the outstanding agenda items that would be moved forward to the next full group meeting, which consisted of the Non-Public Preservation Projects (Agenda Item 8), Procedural Issues (Agenda Item 9), and MHP Housing Toolkit(Agenda Item 10). McCrory also reminded the Committee about scheduling the special meeting virtually to focus on the review of the draft plan prior to their next gathering in person. A discussion for publicly owned property, such as that held by the school board, was also brought up as an action item that would need to be discussed at an upcoming meeting, which may need assistance from another agency having jurisdiction on these matters. 10. Adiournment Edwards moves to adjourn at 9:20 p.m. Seconded by Marino. The motion carries 8-0. The next regular meeting of the Community Preservation Committee will be held on Thursday September 15, 2022, at City Hall. 6