2010-09-08CITY OF BEVERLY
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
BOARD OR COMMISSION:
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RECORDER:
Economic and Community Development Council
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Beverly City Hall Conference Room
Chair Patricia Grimes, Vice Chairman Neil
Douglas, Bill O'Hare, Tina Cassidy, Don Fournier,
Frank Killilea, Bill Howard, Ed Cahill (at 6:20)
None
Bill Luster, Executive Director of the North Shore
Alliance for Economic Development
Tina Cassidy
Grimes calls the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
1. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the ECDC meeting held on June 2, 2010 were presented for approval.
Grimes asks if there are any changes /corrections that need to be made. There are none.
Howard: Motion to approve the draft minutes of the June 2, 2010 ECDC meeting,
seconded by Cassidy. All members in favor, the motion carries 7 -0.
Douglas wonders aloud whether the minutes for this meeting will be anywhere near as
good as Eileen Sacco's. Cassidy states that she will do her best to adhere to that
standard, though she fully expects to fall short.
2. Update of "Development Scorecard"
Cassidy summarizes the changes and updates made to the scorecard since the last
meeting. Amendments include the following:
a. Aero Manufacturing has now received all necessary permits to construct a 79,800
sq. ft. addition to its existing facility on Sam Fonzo Drive. Members discuss the
likelihood of this addition being constructed and the value of Aero's jobs to the
community. Members suggest that the Mayor consider contacting Aero's owners
to see if the City or the ECDC can be of assistance in any way with respect to
Aero's continued use of the building, or to repurposing it.
b. Two bids were received in response to the RFP the City issued for a 3 -acre lot at
the corner of Sam Fonzo Drive and Henderson Road. The City has sent an award
letter to the high bidder, Cicoria Tree Service, authorizing them to proceed with
permitting.
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C. A proposed OSRD subdivision is now being formally reviewed by the Planning
Board for property at 875 Hale Street.
d. The Black Cow restaurant on Beverly's waterfront was granted the one permit
that remained outstanding (Chapter 91 License) but the issuance of that license
has been appealed by Beverly Port Marina and its owners Frank and Sue Kinzie.
Douglas asks Cassidy if she thinks there is room for compromise and settlement.
Cassidy states there does not appear to be, given what she knows of their position
and intent.
e. Construction of the subsidized elderly housing project at the corner of Cherry Hill
Drive and Conant Street has started. Completion is expected sometime in 2011.
f. The ICC on Rantoul Street has received permits for a small expansion to its
facility.
g. The MBTA has hired a consultant who has prepared conceptual drawings of a
new garage on Rantoul Street. The MBTA is expected to hold a public hearing on
the proposal mid - October. Cassidy will send a meeting notice to ECDC
members.
h. The City received one response to its RFP for the sale of the former McKay
School, from the Cape Ann Waldorf School. Waldorf s bid proposed a purchase
price of less than $1 million and did not guarantee annual payments at least equal
to the taxes that would have otherwise been applicable if the school was not tax -
exempt. This last provision was a fundamental requirement of the RFP which
Waldorf refused to meet, and so the bid was rejected.
i. The City applied for a $16+ million Federal TIGER grant that would fund
construction of the Brimbal Avenue interchange improvements envisioned by the
City. The State committed $3.84 million as the local 20% required match.
Announcements are due later this year.
j. Initial OSRD discussions and steps are underway with the Planning Board for a
15 -lot subdivision at 232 -234 Essex Street.
Fournier suggests that the list be revised before the next meeting to exclude projects
which are already completed, such as the CVS project on Rantoul Street.
3. Discussion: Update on Brimbal Ave. area study
Luster updates the committee on the mapping and data gathering done to date. The
meeting of property and business owners in the study area (the "stakeholders ") was
originally envisioned to take place this summer. Due to several circumstances outside of
anyone's control, this meeting will instead be held on October 21, 2010 at Beverly City
Hall. He distributes a copy of the invitation letter that has been drafted and says they will
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be mailed out as soon as possible. Cassidy says she will send a reminder update to
ECDC members about this meeting as the date nears.
4. New or Other Business
Howard asks Cassidy if she can make a brief presentation to the members at the
December meeting regarding the TIGER grant that was submitted. Cassidy says that she
will.
Fournier mentions his attendance at a meeting the previous week hosted by Beverly Main
Streets. The meeting brought "stakeholders" in the downtown together to hear recent
Main Streets activities and accomplishments and included a presentation by Ms. Kennedy
Smith of the "vision" report for downtown prepared by her firm, The C1ueGroup.
Fournier states he was very impressed with the presentation, the ideas in it, and the group
of people who were at the meeting and actively participated.
Members generally discuss the initiative and Cassidy promises to send an electronic copy
of it to each member and the matter will be placed on the December meeting agenda for
further discussion. Douglas, Fournier and Grimes voice their belief that the ECDC
should do whatever it can to support the efforts of Main Streets generally, and
specifically on the implementation of this report's recommendations.
Cahill asks for an update on the effort to reshape and update the City's website. Cassidy
states that "phase one ", consisting largely of the migration to a new host server and
general revamping of the website's structure, is complete. With respect to the specific
changes to the ECDC web page and in particular those developed by the Chamber of
Commerce's intern earlier this summer, it is her understanding that those will be
implemented as part of a second phase of revision to the web site. She promises to
contact the City's Director of Information Technology and provide the committee with an
update on this subject in December.
Grimes reminds members that the next two meetings are scheduled for December 1, 2010
and March 2, 2011 respectively.
Grimes asks if there is any other business this evening. There is none.
Fournier: motion to adjourn, seconded by Howard. All members in favor, motion
carries 8 -0.
The meeting is adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
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