[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, this is the Medford historical commission today is Monday, March 13, we will get started. I'm going to read our disclosure here, so we can get going. And then we'll call the meeting to order. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, this meeting of the City of Medford Historical Commission will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so by using the Zoom link provided for in the agenda. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted. Any participation in any public hearing during this meeting shall be by remote means only. Okay, we have a full agenda tonight so we're going to get started. I'm off the top is 28 Grove Street. Tonight we're going to be having a preferably preserved hearing for this property. Just to recap how we got here. Two months ago, we accepted an application for partial demolition at 28 Grove Street. Last month, we had a significance hearing. And just to remind everybody what significance means, it means that the property is either importantly associated with one or more historic persons or events, or with the broad architectural, cultural, political, economic, or social history of the city or the Commonwealth, or that it is historically or architecturally important in terms of period, style, method of building construction, or association with an important architect or builder, either by itself or in the context of a group of buildings. Last month, the board found that 28 Grove Street was historically significant. So tonight we are going to have a hearing to determine whether or not there should be an 18-month demolition delay put on the property. for the project. And just to remind folks what preferably has preserved means the designation preferably preserved means that the commission has determined after an open public hearing that the demolition of the building under review would be detrimental to the architectural or historical heritage of the city of Medford. And just to remind everybody, the Medford Historical Commission does not and will not consider the building's condition or any safety issues when determining whether a building is to be preferably preserved. Only the building commissioner can address those issues. So commissioners, I will take a motion one way or the other for this property and then we'll start the discussion. Go ahead, Ryan.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Motion to make 28 Grove Street declared preferably preserved.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, that motion has been made. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay, thank you, Kit. All right, so we'll go around. We will do commissioner comments first, and then I'll open it up to any public comments, and we'll kind of circle back from that. So Ryan, why don't you start us off since you made the motion?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure, this is a what I perceive to be a really a building with integrity remaining. You know it requires some work but that's outside of our purview and, of course, it seems like the owner is going to renovate this building. rather than totally tear it down. But I just want to point out the reason for my motion is that in looking at the building, it seems to maintain a lot of historic fabric that provides a detail and a direction for this building. It's got its original wooden siding, windows, doors. It's got a beautiful front porch, and more importantly, it matches the existing surrounding neighborhood. This is a part of a large development that was put up in the early 20th century, and it's vital to the streetscape. And it seems like there's a number of buildings in West Medford around this one that have been rehabilitated over the years. So I'm interested in seeing this building rehabilitated to some sort of new use that doesn't destroy its integrity.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Ryan. Kit, I'll come to you next.
[Kit Collins]: I think Ryan just gave a really nice summary. And I also feel like the conversation that we had about this at our last meeting was pretty comprehensive, actually. And I remain convinced that it is preferably preserved.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Kit. Doug, I'll come to you next. Oh, Doug, I can't hear you. Is it just me?
[Adam Hurtubise]: No. I can't hear. There's something funny on your sound there, Doug.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Doug, I'll come back to you. Peter, you want to jump in?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think Ryan summarized it quite well. I don't have much to add to that. I have done some work in other houses, a similar house in the neighborhood. And I can just echo what he said about, it was just a block or two over. There's a number of houses similar to this one in the neighborhood. And the neighborhood itself maintains quite a bit of integrity. And, you know, it would be great to keep that continuity going. So.
[Unidentified]: That's all for me. All right, thanks, Peter.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Jess, I'm going to come over to you.
[Jenny Graham]: Sure, yeah, I think my fellow commissioners have mostly covered it, you know, the Warren B says right in the first line there that there's deferred maintenance, but that's definitely acknowledged. It also goes through and talks about all the architectural elements that still remain and I think really could be preserved. So I agree with my fellow commissioners.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Jess.
[Unidentified]: I think Doug is still having technical difficulties. Doug, are you able to speak? Okay, I'll come back around from you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So I'll reserve the ability to have Doug pipe in any comments that he would like to make. In the meantime, I'm not sure if the property owner is here. I don't see him on here, but certainly if there are any public comments to make with regards to 28 Grove Street, please feel free to raise your hand. or make yourself known, and I will call on you if you'd like to comment on 28 Grove Street. Okay, I don't see anybody making themselves known for 28 Grove Street. So at this time, I will close the public comments for 28 Grove Street. Although, excuse me, we did get a couple of emails, so let me read those into the record as well. Okay, from David Bortone and Barbara Caluti. I'm gonna butcher this. Peter, for the minutes, the David Bortone, B-O-R-T-O-N-E. Okay. And Barbara Caluti, C-A-L-A-U-T-I. They are at 41 Grove Street. and their email says, hello, we live at 41 Grove Street, and we're very much in favor of preserving the historically and architecturally significant property at 28 Grove Street. Even in its current state, it is something to be admired. As an example of what could happen, take a look at 38 Grove Street. The house is completely out of place in this neighborhood, whereas the home directly across from 28 Grove Street was beautifully restored. And then we did get another email from Daniel Connor at 63 Tyler Avenue. I'm a resident of the Brooks neighborhood for 10 years. I want to express my support for maintaining the current house at 28 Grove Street. It is a beautiful house and it is a shame it wasn't able to be maintained. It would be a further shame if it was torn down instead of rehabilitated. I remember the house vividly as a kid when we would visit my great grandmother that lived in the nursing home that used to be in the Brooks house. I always thought what a beautiful house that was and I wish I could live in one so grand someday. Okay, let's see. Are there any other public comments for 28 Grove Street?
[Adam Hurtubise]: There was another email.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, did I miss one? Sorry.
[Adam Hurtubise]: It's from David Keer, K-E-I-R.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ah, okay. Thank you. All right, so David Keer, 25 Grove Street. I live across the street from 28 Grove Street. I'm genuinely confused about the content posted in the notice of demolition review public hearing. The notice includes a description of work stating what is planned is interior and exterior renovation, but the statement to the right of that text describes the action as an intent to demolish a significant building. I suppose one could infer given the stated description of work that the planned demolition must be selective and partial, but that is not 100% clear. If that is indeed correct, however, then it seems appropriate as, for example, the porch of the house at 28 Grove Street is clearly not salvageable and should be demolished down to the stone foundation. Other exterior elements would also require removal and replacement. On the other hand, if there is an intent to demolish the building entirely, that would be troubling. I'd be opposed to the full demolition and replacement as rehab of the existing structure seems far more appropriate and likely to preserve the character of both this property and the surrounding community. That was David here at 25 Grove Street.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Are there any more public comments with regards to 28 Grove Street?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Doug is coming back on. You may want to give him a second and then of course, it seems like the owner is here for 28 Grove or for, yeah, 28 Grove. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Let me just, I will get to you, sir, the owner. I'm just gonna see if there's any public comments further first, and then I'll come back to you. So with regards to 28 Grove Street, are there any more public comments for this property?
[Unidentified]: Okay, I'm going to close the public comment portion for 28 Grove Street.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Haoxiang, if you'd like to speak regarding 28 Grove, you are more than welcome to do so now. Thank you for coming.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_04]: Good evening, everyone. So I'm glad to see all of our neighbors have responded to the hearing post in front of the house. And just a few things I want to highlight. So the intent of this The intent we have for this house is not torn down the house and build a super modern one. So the intent that we have is basically restore the house. I can give it a refresh and basically bring everything to the code. So the only exterior change we are proposing is to have a tiny kitchen extension at the back of the house. and a slightly bigger dorm at the back of the roof. Basically, all other three sides of the building, it remains largely untouched, I would say. Even most of the window openings remains the same. And as some of the neighbors mentioned, And also, I don't know if the commissioners have a chance to review the letter from one of the structure engineer saying mentioned that the front porch of the house is really in a bad shape. So that part I was proposing to rebuild, but it will stay in the same style and the same footprint. So in my mind, my goal is to actually make this house to shine again within its original, I would say, footprint or original style. So I think my goal and the goal of the historic commission is pretty much aligned. So and the current house is really in a bad shape as everyone may have chance to see it. And from the structural engineers report, the recommendation is to have it repaired or renovated as soon as possible. So I sincerely hope the commissioners can give me the chance to really actually make the project happen as soon as possible without further delay. That's all I need to say. Thank you so much.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you so much for your comments. Doug, I would like to come back to you since it looks like you're ready to go.
[Doug Carr]: Can you hear me now, Jen?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes. Thank you so much.
[Doug Carr]: Yes, switching computers that you get a new computer you have to actually spend a lot of time shaking and I appreciate the opportunity to comment this was a great I echo what Ryan said originally several the other commission as well this is a great house we want to make sure. per what the owner said, that it's restored properly. I think the property is significant given its context, given its architecture, its detailing, but we do not want to slow down the process as much as possible. We're very developer-friendly here in the commission and we want to continue to do that as much as we can, especially when products are done in a sensitive manner. I concur with the other commissioners, but we want to move this process along as quickly as possible. Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Doug. Okay, so we have heard from all the commissioners, we have heard from the public, we have heard from the owner. So at this time, I would like to call for a vote for this property. We have a motion on the table to find for preferably preserved status that has been seconded. I will go around for a vote. And I will call you as I see you on my screen. Peter?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan. Yes. Kit. Yes. Jess. Yes. And Doug.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, so the motion passes. I was five to zero right if five zero. So how Shane just so you know next steps. We are going to put you into subcommittee so we can discuss your plans to get you moving along. While there is an 18 month demo delay placed on the property as of tonight, is our goal never to hold somebody 18 months if they don't want to be held 18 months. So we're going to take this conversation offline so you can meet with the committee. We'll get that set up in the next week or so. And we'll work on getting you lifted as soon as we can.
[Unidentified]: Thank you so much.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you.
[Adam Hurtubise]: If he won't, he's gone. Oh, I was just gonna say, if he had if he had plans, architectural plans,
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, if you, Haoxiang, if you want to email the most recent version, I'll distribute them to the subcommittee and then we'll get a, we'll get a meeting set up.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_04]: That's fine. Yeah. Luckily myself as an architect, so I can have the plans. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great. Fantastic.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Haoxiang. All right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you so much. Okay. Moving on to the agenda. Next up, we originally had 91 Winchester Street on for a preferably preserves hearing as well tonight. That is tabled until next month, we never received a check to pay for their legal notice, nor has a sign been placed at the property for that for that project as well.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_01]: So we are going to Oh, excuse me. Hi. Hi, Emily. I'm the owner of 91 Winchester. I haven't received any, any notification of anything.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Um, I sent a couple of emails to the email that was on the application that came before our commission.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_01]: Okay. They must've spelled it wrong.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Um, okay. Um, no, I think it, hold on. I can tell you. It was. Hold on one second. Sorry. I think it went to your contractor.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_01]: Oh, OK. They've been telling me they don't have any news. They've been telling me to tell them when I get to them. I'm like, I have nothing.
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, I sent them a couple of emails about the next steps that came. It probably came a couple of days after the last meeting of what you needed to do in order to be prepared for tonight.
[MCM00001105_SPEAKER_01]: OK. Okay, I guess, so I will, well, I'll call them, but I'll write you to see if I can get a copy also. Please do, and we will get you scheduled for next month for sure. Okay. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thank you, Lee. Okay, bye. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, so we will continue 91 Winchester Street till next month. Okay, next up we have a couple of significance decisions tonight. We are going to start with One Clematis Road. Last month, we took an application for, sorry, Ryan, I'm sorry, remind me, that was full demolition on that property.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Full demolition, yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you. Full definition for the property at One Clematis Road. Ryan, has anything changed since this morning?
[Adam Hurtubise]: No, so commissioners, the consultant failed to deliver the form on time. He did it. He just forgot to send it. So we can discuss how we can hold him accountable. But we have no information to determine a significance on this project. So I'm I'm I've had a loss of what to do other than simply just say it's not it's not significant and let it go.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I think the prudent thing to do, since this was, you know, something that I guess, for lack of a better way to say that it's our fault. And, you know, we should not put that on the property owner or the applicant. So with regards to One Clematis Road, if somebody would like to make a motion for non-significance, we will vote.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'd like to make a motion that One Clematis Actually, actually, I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna recommend that maybe we, we vote to pass on review. And I'm saying that because, not that they, the current owners wouldn't go through with demolition, but if in the off chance If in the off chance the owners do not go through with demolition for whatever reason that determination of significance would stand. So if we pass on review, then we've made no determination this time.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I actually do think that's a better, that's a better way to go.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So I would make a motion to pass on review for lack of information at this time. Second.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you, Ryan, and thank you, Peter. Okay, so we're going to, we have a motion on the table to pass on review for 1 Clematis Road, and I will take, that has been seconded, I will go around and take a roll call vote. Peter?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan? Yes. Kit? Yes. Jessica? Yes. And Doug?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, so the motion passes five, zero. So at this time, the owners, I think that property is in the middle of being sold. So the applicants will be able to go on their merry way with their project. So apologies to the property owner for that one, but you will be on your way as of tonight. And thank you for participating in the process.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: Chair Keenan, this is Paul Simcata. We're the only family that has a property under agreement. So does that mean then that the form B doesn't get, it just does not get completed?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, we don't have it. So as far as we understand, it did get finished, but we never got a copy of it to read and vote on tonight. So, For yeah, I mean, if Ryan, are we going to get it from what?
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: I'm not going to ask any more questions.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think the commission will need to decide what to do, but we're not going to hash that out in the middle of making all these. We'll do that.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We're going to try to not get charged for it, frankly. And we might with that, if we do that, we might not receive a copy of it.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: Right. But but to be clear, it is a it is a decision of no significance. So it's not it's a pass on.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It's a pass on review. So we'll give you a letter that says we have that we took your application and the decision has been to pass on review. So the B, it's not significant. It's not significant. It's just a pass on review.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: Would it would allow for a demolition permit to be issued?
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: And is there any kind of a time period associated with that?
[Jennifer Keenan]: As long as you're, if you apply for a permit, it's granted to you as long as you act on that permit before it expires. However, whatever the building department's time limit is on that. You're you're good as far as we're concerned.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: Great. Thank you for that clarification.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Thank you so much.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: Have a good evening. Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right. You too. Okay, an interesting evening here at the commission tonight. Okay, moving right along. Next up we have three significance hearings for parcel. That's a grouping but we're going to take them individually. We have 67 North Street, we have 222 Boston Avenue, and we have 236 Boston Avenue. So just I know we had some new people come on the meeting so just before we go down. That road I will just refresh everybody with the definition of significance again. If a property is voted to be significant, it means one of two things. It means it is importantly associated with one or more historic persons or events, or with the broad architectural cultural political, economic, or social history of the city or the Commonwealth, or that it is important, excuse me, historically or architecturally important in terms of period, style, method of building construction, or association with an important architect or builder, either by itself or in the context of a group of buildings. So let's take 67 North Street first I'll go right down the agenda here and commissioners if somebody would like to make a motion.
[Doug Carr]: And if I could ask before you do that, it might be useful. Is it possible we could put on. maybe a cover of the page of the form A so people can see which buildings we're talking about. Because the numbers, unless you live in that neighborhood and you know what they are, it's a little hard to tell which building we're talking about.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, let me. I can share my screen.
[Doug Carr]: Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Someone else is going to have to monitor things because I won't be able to see. Let me just pull it up.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I have it up too if you want me to.
[Unidentified]: No, it's OK. I can do it. Okay, can everybody see the form? Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, so let me scroll down. So if we're looking at the map here, this is 67 North right here. And then we have 222 Boston Avenue, which is behind it. And then 236, which is adjacent to it. So let me scroll to 67 North is the Rudy's building.
[Unidentified]: If I'm not mistaken, right?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think you might've gone past it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Did I go past it?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think it was at the very beginning.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It was on the first page. Sorry.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right here. Okay. Okay. So this, this, this little unique, these three properties, we have a form a, which is an area form, which covers the whole site. So that is what the commission is using tonight. For their determination. So commissioners, I'll take a motion one way or the other on this property when someone is ready.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'll motion to find the building significance with the caveat that I'm going to shoot it down.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Thank you, Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Peter.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, Ryan, why don't you jump off the discussion.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure. I'm just going to leave the discussion as if I were talking about all three buildings at once, just to save ourselves some time. If I look at this site in the broad context of itself in the sense that I'm looking at the whole picture here. And I find that the American woolen companies commercial area that is inclusive of these buildings and 200 Boston Ave and some buildings over in Somerville is a really important landmark to Medford's industrial history. there's a lot of accessory buildings to the factory buildings, which I find the factory buildings are really the definition of the industrial site, and everything else that was built around it, including that stuff that was owned by the American Woolen Company, was just incidental to their use on site. So for example, this corner block is, you know, was put up by the American Woolen Company But I don't feel that it's really the character-defining feature of the industrial site. Really the factory buildings are what I'm drawn to in particular, and there's only one of those under consideration tonight. I'm not really inclined to define this or the adjacent garage as being significant at this time.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thanks, Ryan. Thanks, Peter, you want to jump in.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, I think I have a similar feeling to Ryan. I thought the history of the site was very interesting and the kind of way that the uses of the buildings evolved over time and And just in the development of Medford's commercial sector and stuff, but I didn't find this particular building as radically altered as it is. I think it's lost a lot of its integrity and I don't find this building rises to the level of significance for me. So, I think I'd be more interested in the large five-story building in the back, but that's my take on it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Thank you, Peter. Do you want to say anything now about the other two structures? Or do you want to save that?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think the The building adjacent is kind of interesting, but, you know, as an industrial building, but I also think that one doesn't quite rise to the level of significant. I mean, unless somebody was, I think it's, compared to the good that could be done with the site, you know, I don't think that that building has a significance for me. I would be more inclined to think that maybe the larger building 222 there could maybe be integrated into any future project. And I feel like that building has a lot of its integrity intact and a lot of its architectural detail. So I'd be interested to see what others said, but it seems like that building could be more easily used in a redevelopment. It seems to have pretty high floor to floors. It's been modernized, it has an elevator. Anyway, so, and it retains a lot of its integrity and character, so. I think that's what I'm saying.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great, thank you. Okay. Kit, I'm gonna come to you next. I see you next on my screen.
[Kit Collins]: Yeah, I guess I have a, it's just a question and point of clarification first. So, the, the form, a gives us the essentially the historical information about the entire area but we're considering these buildings one at a time is that correct. Yes. I mean, I think in and of itself, 67 North Street is, there's nothing all that significant about it. It looks like a lot of sort of American four square kind of buildings that we have around Medford that has lost a lot of its integrity. And while I agree that the sort of overall area and the other buildings are- If I call up and do like... make it an interesting and perhaps significant historical part of Medford, I don't see the point of finding this particular building preferably preserved. And I actually, I agree that 236 Boston Avenue is far more architecturally interesting and significant.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great Kit, thank you so much. Doug.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, I concur that these two buildings along Boston Avenue, just there's not a lot there. There's not a lot that we would want. You know, we found building significance of this of these era of this building. But these these just wouldn't fall into that category based on everything that we've seen in our track record for, you know, important buildings that we think they just don't rise to that level. But I do agree that there is a The back building is certainly something we want to take a closer look at the thing I would say about these front buildings, which I think is kind of something worth to think about is that. They are a smaller scale, they are a little bit, you know, they're only one is a one story building one is a two story building right there on the street right on the sidewalk there's no setback at all. And so the scale of that actually helps you know if that if the five story building were literally right on the street, it would be a dramatic change to that to that, that site in that neighborhood so it's something. We don't know what's coming down the pike for the proposal for what's for place these but there's a lot of opportunities here to be creative, I think, and we'll have to get into that as we as we get further into the process, but for the first two buildings, there's something that I would definitely there's nothing there for me.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Doug. Jessica.
[Jenny Graham]: Yeah, I was thinking about these as a group as well, but this one I don't think rises to the significance. You know, I think it's definitely worth pointing out that in the Form A, you know, the area was recommended for National Register of Historic Places. But, you know, I do think there are several well-preserved kind of commercial blocks in Medford, and that this one just doesn't rise to the significance of, you know, even many of the others that already exist. And there's well-documented history of the area with Clemson cited a really wide array of different sources that talk about the businesses that used to occupy these buildings from like a variety of different sources, not just the Form Bs and the state historic commission's records. So I thought that was interesting that it was fairly well-documented. And it's really interesting that the garage maintains a considerable amount of its original architectural integrity, I'm not concerned about preserving probably any of these buildings, but I know we're talking about the one by one so definitely for this this first one.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great. Thank you, Kit. Jess, sorry. It's been a day, let me say. All right. So unless any of my commissioners have any other comments on this, I'd like to take a vote. We have a motion on the table to find 67 North street significance, significant with a second. So I will go around and take a roll call vote as I see people on my screen. Kit. And this is only for 67 North. We'll vote on each one individually.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Want a clarification before the vote?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes, Ryan, go ahead.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So I made the motion for significance with the caveat that I'm shooting it down. So a yes would mean significance. A no vote shoots it down.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Correct. Significance for 67 North Street. So I would vote no. Thank you, Kit. Jess?
[Unidentified]: No. Peter. No. Doug. No. Ryan. No.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK. OK, so 67 North fails for significance, 0 to 5. Let's look at 222 Boston Avenue.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I would say 236 Boston Avenue.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, all right, we'll do that one next.
[Unidentified]: I just want to scroll to the picture so that we all make sure that we're... 236 is this one. The garage, okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, would someone like to make a motion for 236 Boston Avenue for significance?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I make a motion to find 236 Boston have significant with the note that I'm going to shoot it down.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right. Thank you, Ryan. Is there a second?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Oh, Doug, you can have this one.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I'll give it to Doug.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thanks Peter.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Would any of my commissioners like to say anything about this one or we can go to a vote?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Just go look in block garage, but that's about it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Ryan.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, it's a utilitarian building. I think it's past its prime. There's certainly better uses for this. So I'm going to say not significant.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK. Would anybody else like to make a comment before we vote on this one? OK. Motion on the table for significance for 236 Boston Avenue. A yay vote finds it significant, a no vote finds it not significant.
[Unidentified]: Kit? No. Ryan? No.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Jessica?
[Unidentified]: No.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Peter?
[Unidentified]: No.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Doug?
[Unidentified]: No. Okay. All right. Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And then lastly, we will talk about 222 Boston Avenue, which I don't think there's a picture of it in here.
[Unidentified]: It's not that one.
[Adam Hurtubise]: No, it's not that one. It's in the background of the first picture. Right. If you were so inclined, you could
[Jennifer Keenan]: It's this one.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Do the street view, but.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I can do that. Hold on. Let me, I can stop my share.
[Adam Hurtubise]: It's got a pretty good street view on it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Let me, let me just pull it up real quick.
[Unidentified]: Okay, let me just share my screen again. Okey-doke. Okay. All right, can everyone see that? This is 222 Boston Avenue.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So commissioners, I will take a motion on this building when someone is ready.
[Unidentified]: I can make a motion to find 222. Boston has significant. Okay, thank you, Peter. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Doug.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, Peter, floor is yours.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Well, again, I just think This building seems like a viable building that could be pretty easily redeveloped for any use from housing to whatever. It is more of kind of the factory building that seems to be sort of, they added that portico on the front there, so that could go. It seems to be more the kind of heart of the factory mills aesthetic, and it appears to be in pretty good shape. It has some nice detail visible from the train and from North Street. It's a solid building. It has a lot of its detail, although it's a simple building. And it appears to already have been renovated into an office. But, so I think this one deserves a second look as compared to the other two, unless someone has, fellow commissioners have, say otherwise, I'd be willing to listen to other arguments.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Peter. Doug?
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, I generally concur. I'm not 100% on this one. I want to think about this one a little bit more, but I feel like, you know, the building, I think it's important, as was stated earlier, that there are four basically factory buildings along here. There's 200 Boston Ave, there's 196, there's the U-Haul building, and there's this one strung out along the commuter rail tracks. And we saw right next door at 200 Boston Ave that there was just about, I think, five or six years ago, maybe there was a nice addition done to that building to expand its footprint and to modernize it and to bring it along. And I thought that was a good precedent here in terms of kind of expanding. This is a campus really, a campus of buildings that can be used for you know, light industrial use, lab use, residential, mixed use. I think there's a lot of great potential of the whole site. We've seen, you know, there's still a lot of thought that the Green Line extension that was to Tufts would ultimately go to the U-Haul as part of its phase two, which would dramatically expand the capabilities and the economic potential of the site and these buildings. So I think there's a lot here to look at. I think it's important to look at it, not in a vacuum, but kind of holistically. So I think I want the city to be part of this conversation, obviously, and the developers and the owners to think about it in a bigger context. But right now, I'm leaning towards, you know, this building being significant so that we can try to develop a clear vision that will unlock the economic potential of this site.
[Unidentified]: Thank you, Doug. Kit, anything to add here?
[Kit Collins]: Yeah, I have to say I'm on the fence about this a little bit. I think, I mean, it is, it looks, I know we're not supposed to take condition into account, but it is a recognizable industrial building of the age. And I'm struck by Doug's comments about sort of the campus of the industrial buildings along that corridor. And it strikes me that, I mean, of all the ones in this particular grouping, this is the one that actually could be representative of what this area was, which was an important part of Medford's history, and particularly backed up as it is in the form A, the comment about proximity to the train tracks. I think it is indicative of the industrial significance. So I'm inclined to find this one preferably preserved. Significant. Sorry. Yeah. I don't want to get ahead of myself.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It's okay. We're all over them. There's a lot happening tonight. Don't worry.
[Kit Collins]: It's Monday.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes. And it's Monday after the time change. All right. Thank you, Kit. Thank you for those comments. Ryan, I'm going to come to you next.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure. In looking at the greater Medford. This is a rare example of a factory, a large scale factory building something that you typically find in larger industrial cities like Lowell and Lawrence, there's virtually none in Medford. And where they do occur, they all occur in the 20th century right along the rail corridor. And just doing a quick flyby along the corridor, there's less than 10. So there's eight. So, you know, I'm inclined to study for its rarity that the building's significant and hopefully it can you know, we can maybe if there's a reuse plan that there'll be something that can be done about this building to help kind of rehabilitate it into the use, you know, future use for the rest of the site.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great. Thank you, Ryan. Jessica, anything to add here?
[Jenny Graham]: I just didn't really think that the Form B pointed to a whole lot of historical significance here, but, you know, I appreciate the comments of fellow commissioners who focus more on the architectural aspects. So thanks for giving me something to think about.
[Unidentified]: You're welcome, Jess.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Attorney Desmond, I see your hand is raised.
[Kathleen Desmond]: Yes, the owner is here. And there's been some discussion about the context of the use of this parcel. And I, you know, before the board I'll vote on it. I think that just to bring to light and I'm sorry, can I just stop you for a second.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Are you representing the owner here.
[Kathleen Desmond]: Yes, I'm here with the owner, Mr. Okay, I thought you were here for.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I apologize I didn't realize that you're on this case as well.
[Kathleen Desmond]: So, Mr. Walsh contacted me and he's got this property under agreement presently with a life science company. The intent is, is to, and actually, this property and has gone through a map change from industrial to an office two, which would allow for life science buildings. And that was done in anticipation of being able to attract a business that wants to use this site for purposes of a life science building. Mr. Walsh does have an interested purchaser, for that. He's on the line and he can explain to you if the board wants to consider what the benefits are that the city would realize. It certainly goes with the community development plan to have this area become something of a of a collaboration between Tufts, which is there, and businesses such as this where life sciences businesses are looking for space. The client, the buyer has indicated that if they can't do this expeditiously, that they're going to look for another site in Waltham along the 128 corridor. And that has been occurring Boston Globe had an article, probably about two months ago, that, that, you know, the, the focus has been Cambridge Somerville, but but they're looking at the 128 belt, which is Walt Hammond and Burlington. So, I just wanted to alert the commission that there, there is a purchaser there's an agreement, they've done their due diligence, but that, you know, this is, The transaction that exists is a vacant lot and allowing them to start from scratch and building their life science building. I understand what the board looks at, but I thought it may be of value to bring to the board's attention that this has been changed and zoned from industrial to office to attract this type of a business. And there is someone who is willing to invest in this building. And Mr. Walsh, if you wanna... provide.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I'm going to stop you because we don't take public comments during the significance hearing. So I'd like to my I see Doug has his hand raised. So I'd like to just come back to my commissioners here. Doug, go ahead.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, just briefly. Commissioner. I'm sorry. I appreciate the context. This is the process we're in now is part of that due diligence. That's what this is, right? Where I know everyone wants to get moving as quickly as possible. I know time is money, but this is our process. We have to go through this process to evaluate properties. This one clearly falls in the purview of this commission, and we're going to move as fast as we can. But if the developer is saying, you know, I'm going to do this in one meeting or I'm done, they're going to, that's not the way, that's not our process. That's just not how we operate. We're following the city's process and we're going to do it as quickly as possible. And I agree, there's a lot of life science out there, but there's a, that article you referred to for a couple of months ago did say that more than half the life science buildings proposed in the last couple of years have gone on hold in the last couple of months. The life science lab market is really starting to tank around here right now. outside of Cambridge, obviously, and maybe Boston in certain areas. But we want to evaluate this as quickly as possible. I appreciate your patience, and we'll do our best to do it as expeditiously as possible.
[Kathleen Desmond]: I understand. And I was just in response to the comment that you had. You'd like to kind of know what the process was for this property. So I wanted to let the board know that that's what is pending.
[Doug Carr]: Thank you. Appreciate that much.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Attorney Desmond. And I just would like to reiterate as well that, you know, anybody that wants to demolition a building in its entirety, you know, Cambridge has a demo ordinance, Somerville has a demo ordinance, Newton has a demo ordinance. These are not things that, you know, they're out there and these developers know about them and they have to understand the process. And this is the process going through this. And if they don't like the timeline, you know at this is how this is the process as it stands so. They need to know that going into these projects because it wouldn't just be happening here in Medford it would be happening in other communities as well we're not in a vacuum when it comes to our ordinance in that respect.
[-8Uy-JvGvpg_SPEAKER_30]: This is John Walsh and the owner of the property may address the committee.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So we typically don't take public comments during a significance hearing that is reserved if there is a preferably preserved hearing. So this time I'm going to ask you to reserve your comments. Okay, commissioners, we have a motion on the table to find for significance for 222 Boston Avenue that has been seconded. I'm gonna go around for a roll call vote as I see people on my screen. Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Jessica.
[Unidentified]: No. Doug. Yes. Kit. Yes. Peter. Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, the motion passes four to one. So next month, there will be a preferably preserved status hearing for 222 Boston Avenue, and we will email out the information to the applicant and their attorney. Okay, moving on, we have next up on our agenda, we have applications to take this evening. First up, we have 12 George Street. Commissioners, I will take a motion to accept or reject this application when someone is ready.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'd like to make a motion to accept the demolition application for 12 George Street, Redford.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Peter. I'll second that. Thank you, Jess. Okay, motion to accept the application for 12 George Street. I will take a roll call vote. Peter?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Kit?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Jessica? Yes. And Doug?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right. So 12 George Street is accepted. We will have a significance hearing for that property next month. Next up is 28 Winter Street. Commissioners, I emailed you the link to the application.
[Unidentified]: I'll take a motion when someone is ready.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'll make a motion to accept the demolition application.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, for 28 Winter Street. Thank you, Ryan. Okay, motion to accept the application for 28 Winter Street that has been seconded. Peter?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan? Yes. Kit?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Jessica? Yes. And Doug?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you. Next up to receive the application 17 green road. I'll take a motion from the commissioner when someone's ready.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Motion to approve application.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. Kit motion to accept the application for 17 green road heater.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Unidentified]: Okay. Yes. Jess.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes. And Doug.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, the application is accepted for 17 Green Road. That one will have a significance hearing next month as well. Ryan, we need Form Bs.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, there's a, I believe there's a Form A that covers the area around George and Pearl, but I will I'll do a Form B, have John do a Form B, or somebody do a Form B. So I'll make a motion to spend $500 for a Form B for 12 George.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, are we, should we bundle them?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure, I'll motion to spend $1,500 on Form Bs for 12 George, 28 Winter, and 17 Green.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, someone second, Jessica, go ahead.
[Jenny Graham]: I just noticed after voting on 12 tours that I didn't see any photos. Are the, like the architectural drawings of the different sides of the property considered photographs, I guess?
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, there's photos there. Oh, okay.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think they were in a separate file.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, they might be in a separate file. Okay, thanks. Thanks so much. Okay, motion on the table for $1,500 for three form Bs. 12 George Street, 28 Winter Street, 17 Green Road. Is there a second?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Second.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Give it to you, Jess.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you. Okay, motion to spend $1,500 for three Form Bs. Jessica? Yes. Ryan? Yes. Kit? Yes. Peter?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Doug?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, motion passes. And Ryan, whoever we hire, can we make sure we get them one week before the meeting?
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And I'll put a note in my calendar to remind as well.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We're still working, moving on. We're still working on the annual report. Ryan, I sent you my comments. We should be able to wrap that up by the next meeting. Yep. Awesome. Does anybody else have any? Oh, go ahead.
[Jenny Graham]: Do we all get to review the annual report?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, Doug had done a draft. Ryan and I were just looking at it. I made a bunch of comments. We'll kind of shore it up, and then we'll circulate it for everybody to review before we vote to approve it.
[Unidentified]: Sounds good.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I look forward to reading it. Great. I look forward to you editing it.
[Doug Carr]: God bless you both.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right. Does anybody else have any new business before we move on. Oh, we had the site plan review. Sorry this did not make it to the agenda. I emailed to you all. We received a site plan review for 200 Boston Avenue. You can see in the email, we had originally reviewed this site plan project a couple of years ago, about 18 months ago, and the project was stalled. Doug, can you remind, it was a zoning issue. They did not make it as zoning.
[Doug Carr]: I believe the CDA in Medford did not accept the, HAB-Michael Leccesereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that they basically rezone this area to allow it to happen. That's my understanding. I know that the city was going to head in that direction. If there's anybody who has more detailed information about that, it'd be helpful, but that seems to be what's happened. which would allow additional construction on this site, consistent with what we've been talking about, this campus approach, et cetera, to possibly happen. In addition to what was proposed tonight, at least some demolition. So there's a lot happening here, and it's exciting. And we are obviously seeing that. We should revisit our comment letter from, I guess, about a year ago. see if it still applies, see if anything's changed, see if any of the drawings have changed.
[Adam Hurtubise]: We should see. There was a note on the explanatory letter that said that the proposed design materials had not materially changed, did not change. But we should probably verify that. And I probably wouldn't Having looked at it, you know, I did scroll through the drawing again and it seemed pretty, I didn't, you know, on first blush, it seemed to be pretty much the same, but take a peek at it. I think probably the comments will be, but since we have a new commissioner, they might wanna look at it as well, so.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, what I'll do is I'll find the letter that we submitted and I'll circulate it to everybody. It's in the package.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, it's already in there. OK. Yeah. Yeah.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Great. All the department head letters are in the, if you follow the link.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So let's take a look at that and make sure that if we have changes, if we wanna submit new comments or updated comments, the deadline is April 13th, which is a couple of days after our next meeting. So between now and then we have time to gather our thoughts and submit comments back on that project.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right, so moving on to old business properties under demo delay. I know we did receive, I know they've gone back and forth on 31 South Street. They're working with the architect. The owner emailed today saying that their architect was gonna take a second pass at the comments that Doug and Peter had made. So that one is moving along and we still have not heard anything from 33 Third Street. So there's no new update there. Doug or Peter, did you have anything to add on?
[Adam Hurtubise]: No, I did. I did mark up that, you know, we had an interim set of drawings where they made an attempt. And I just had some further comments to try to push it a little further that I put on there. So just so the balls in their court, he acknowledged that.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So, yeah, I saw your comments. I thought they were good. So. Hopefully that one we can move along. Okay, permits are moving along. We are going through them as the building department assigns them to us. So not really any new update there. CPA projects, Thomas Brooks Park, the tree work has happened. It's looking pretty good over there. Right, it actually looks like they cleared out some more stuff. As I drove by, I went home today and I said, oh, it looks even a little bit more open than it was. The city went over there and did a pass.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Possibly, we may have shamed them. I did say to Tim that maybe it'd be good to just follow up after we're all said and done, but maybe he did it sooner than later. Or maybe they cleaned up all the stuff that fell off. Maybe they felt bad about leaving all the stuff that fell during the ice storm.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah.
[Adam Hurtubise]: If it prompts more work, that's awesome.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, it's the northern end, probably from Oak Ridge up. It looks pretty nice and open there now.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, they did have to thin out a lot of the stuff in the back because they didn't want to be driving right up against the stone wall. And that basically creates the pathway for the new path on that side to bring people away from the peak of the park and down because they won't be able to cross the Grove Street Bridge anymore. They'll have to use designated entrances. There will need to be a sign there that indicates that they should not cross the stone wall because they will try.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, it's going to be a little tall there, so it would be a little bit excited to try to hike themselves over it.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, it'll be a good 30-inch wall, but somebody will try.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Somebody will try, but yes, jump it at your own risk. Yeah. OK, anything on survey projects, Ryan, Jess? Any update on those?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, we're, we're going apparently john john submitted his invoice, because he delivered phase three A and B, less than a week apart. So they're basically caught up. We have MHC comments. I think Jess is reviewing forms, but we don't really have that much comments. So we're going to have a phase meeting and I think they should be able to wrap the project up within the next month.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yay. Great. And then we yeah Fulton Heights is after.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah then Alicia gave us money from community development to fund Fulton Heights so we're just waiting for a state contract extension so then I can execute the local contract and adjust the dates and then we should be good to go. Great. Hopefully gonna be April 1st start date that's the plan.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay great. Does anybody have anything else before we review our minutes from last month?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Just curious, because we play a major role. What's going on with the Brooks Estate? Anything fun?
[Doug Carr]: Anything fun?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah. What are we planning? Are we planning there's a drive moving forward? What's going on? What's going on there?
[Doug Carr]: I believe that there's a meeting on Wednesday to firm up and solidify the CPC grants for this cycle that's on that's happening now. And that includes I think one or two from the Brooks estate, and that includes the additional scope of work for the access drives, because there was some changes that were made. in consultation with the fire department and the police department. So there's some redesign work and some additional work that the civil engineer is going to need to do for the access drive based on the input we received from the city over the last year or so. So that's one of the things that's going to happen going forward. And I believe the stone wall on the Grove Street, Jen, is beginning again shortly. Tom sent an email about that I think the past week or so.
[Jennifer Keenan]: He did. Although, you know, depending on how much snow we get in the next 24 hours, that could get delayed. But yes, that the phase three of the stonewall is going to be, which should be finished, which will be all the way up to the Winchester line. So that is coming. And then you saw the email from Zach about the ARPA money.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, is that is that confirmed and locked into?
[Jennifer Keenan]: I mean, I got the sense from his email that it was so that would be very exciting.
[Doug Carr]: And how much was that fortune I forgot to 250,000.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So, yes. So yes, though, and then I know it's our anniversary this year for 80, is it 80 years? 25th, no, 25th anniversary of EMBEL, I already forget what we talked about.
[Unidentified]: Yes, I think that's right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, so there'll be some festivities happening the second half of the year around that. So yes, there should be all kinds of good things at the Brooks Estate this year. And that reminds me that I need to update the website.
[Adam Hurtubise]: But you can do now.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Barely, I might be calling on you for help.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Okay, still a work in progress of my well be able to do it, you'll be able to do it it's very easy. OK, that's good. How do we want to handle John's? I don't want to say John failed. So it's the consultant's responsibility to deliver forms on time. And he knew. The issue here is that he got delayed because he wanted an actual street picture and to go over and photograph. But he didn't quite have the time. So he sent Claire over to photograph it. And then there was a breakdown in communication. after he basically finished the form. So, you know, the form is done, it's just sitting on his desktop and unfortunately we can't do anything about it, but so I'm just to clarify, this is for one comatose. Yeah, this is for one comatose. So I'm inclined to give him, this is the first time it's ever happened, for ever missed a deadline that he can't deliver. And, you know, so I'm inclined to say that we'll give him this one freebie and that we will pay him for this one. But if it happens ever again in the future that we're gonna decline to pay him for the form, even if it's been done, because he's done the work, it's done. And, you know, but in the future, he should be aware that if it happens again, that he's not going to get paid. I think that's fair rather than to say now, no, you're not getting paid, but you guys tell me it's easier. It's easier if I have a vote for the entire board saying, no, we're not going to pay because we didn't have anything. And that's that. But, uh, I'm inclined to, to kind of negotiate here halfway.
[Jenny Graham]: I think everybody deserves at least a pass. So I second your motion there, Ryan.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I concur as well.
[Kit Collins]: It's not like we've got a dozen people who can do these things for us on the timeline that we need them. Right.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I would say that for me, you know, slightly off record, but I don't think that one would have raised to significance for me anyway, but so it ended out being kind of no harm done, I feel on this one, but I felt, I feel like if there was a more significant property, you know, it would be really bad. So maybe, just maybe like, you know, remind him of that in some very gentle way or something. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. And, you know, he explained to me what he remembered for research, which was not that impressive. I mean, it's a George McCormick. He's everywhere. We've dealt with him, his developments before. But, you know, and a guy built the house. lived in it for 10 years and then left, and then a bunch of families owned it. It's on the, it's not like a weird paper street. It's, it's on a, it's on a street, but then the street next to it is a paper street that has a bunch of lots that are kind of half owned by the city, half owned by private development, but they can't do anything because there's no street. So it's kind of a mishmash of weird things.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, I think it's going to be developed. It was sold as a double lot.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Well, it was, but see if somebody gets creative. Well, it's in the process of being sold. Right. But if somebody gets creative, there's a 30 foot right of way immediately to the right of them and nearly 30 lots to the on that paper street that if somebody gets creative and figures out a way to blast that street through, all those lots are going to become buildable. So. Might be a good use in the future, might be in the good use in the future for CPC funding to acquire all those currently unbuildable lots because they currently back up to car park. So, might just be a good extension of car park.
[Doug Carr]: Ryan is there. You and Jen deal with the, the timing and sequence of the form bees more than the rest of the commission.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Are we, do we typically cut it close, a lot, and we just have not missed it ever before or is it is it sometimes sometimes it can cut close but usually I, I, the next day, Jen does the whole bunch of paperwork and I follow up by doing a few other things. While it's fresh in my mind so I usually either tonight or tomorrow morning will generate the contract, send it over to john and john. John will get it done. John actually had the form done in less than 24 hours, but he asked me if he could just put a Google Street View in there. And I said, sure. And then he said, no, never mind. I'll send Claire over to photograph it. And then I didn't follow up. So he has done the forms in less than 24 hours. And the more I can front load, the easier it is for him to do. But for some of the more advanced properties, it's taken a full 30 days.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I mean, whatever you guys decide I'm cool with. My position is we have hired somebody to do a job. It's not on us to check in with them. They should deliver the product that we hired them to do on time. And if he knew he was going on vacation, he should have sent it to us last week.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Agreed. I do write the deadline in there so that he knows when we need it by.
[Doug Carr]: But I do want the form B, that's the thing. I don't wanna, if we don't pay him, I don't wanna not get the form B. So I think a probation is what's called for here in some fashion.
[Kit Collins]: I get the sense that having made one mistake one time, he'll be pretty attentive going forward.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, he's been he's been relatively good. He did. He's been good about following up, for example, on his billing for the survey projects at the state, you know, with the state grant. And that's been good because his most recent payment actually didn't get processed by the finance department for some odd reason. And so we immediately followed up. And Teresa was able to fix that, and they cut him a check today. So we're trying to nip any of these problems that we have encountered in the past now before they snowball into the disaster that we had to unravel.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, thank you for all that work, Ryan, I know, and Jess, you guys dug into the budget stuff. So thank you so much on all that. And yeah, and we certainly appreciate all the work that John and Claire do for us. And of course we'll pay them, we'll get the full product. And I think if we just back up the deadline, you know, just back it up to the week prior and then we can double check that we have everything. Yeah.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'm going to start putting the deadline a week earlier from now on, rather than just say by the meeting.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah. And then we'll just, you know, we'll do Ryan. We'll, when I submit the agenda, we'll verify that we have everything. Sure. Cause then that's obviously in enough time. That's well before the meeting. So. Great.
[Kit Collins]: Can I ask a question that I should probably know the answer to and don't which is. Obviously, we've got our files and records about the foreign bees, but where else do they exist? Do they go to the library? Do they go to the historical society? Are they a matter of public record?
[Jennifer Keenan]: The paper copies are in our archives at the library, but they also go to MACRS as well. So they do end up in the state database. How often do they update that, Ryan? I mean, it takes a while for them to get on there.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, they, I don't know, let's see. Let's see if which neighborhood they left off that while I have it up. But it usually is a year backlog. Sometimes more.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So in addition to our survey products kit, every Form B that we order should eventually make it to MACRS. And do we send those, Ryan, or John sends them? John sends them. We don't have to do it.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, they are a matter of public record. So somebody asked for them, we can give them to them.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, so they are, you know, they live. So the work that we spend the money on what we spend money on that work lives so that the public accesses that database. which is fantastic.
[Kit Collins]: Somebody from the Historical Society asked me about it just recently, and I was like, you should be able to get a hold of them if people come in and are doing research in the neighborhood. But I realized I didn't know how to tell them to do it, except maybe wait for MACRS for a year.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, no. And I think if they just come, if somebody needs research, they can email us because if, you know, we obviously have it in our drive, so we can share it with anybody if it hasn't yet made it to MACRS. So for anybody watching in the future, feel free to reach out anytime if your property's not on MACRS. We might have an inventory form on it.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Excellent. Yeah, it seems like everything except for Winter Hill is up right now. So great. And maybe when they get regards, they'll do all of them all at once.
[Unidentified]: Great. Yeah. Okay. Meeting minutes. Peter circulated the meeting minutes. They look good to me. Move to approve.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Jess. Thank you, Ryan. Motion to approve meeting minutes from February, 2023. Jess. Yes. Ryan. Yes. Yes. Peter.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Doug.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. That passes five zero. Does anybody have anything else? Otherwise.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Dennis isn't on this call, is he?
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, Dennis had a ZBA meeting conflict, so he left the children to run their own meeting.
[Unidentified]: We did OK. I think we did OK.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Do we know anything more about next month, online or offline?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, I asked him after our last meeting. He said there was a bill in the states state legislature to extend for two years that they were waiting for the Senate to vote on. So it could pass or it might not pass. And then we'll be back to in-person meetings next month. So.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Oh, cause cause March was the end of it, right?
[Jennifer Keenan]: March was the, Oh, the ending was March, 2023. So they're either going to have to act or we will be back at city hall next month, I guess, or somewhere.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Do you know if that was a statewide thing, March?
[Jennifer Keenan]: As far as I understand it, yes. Everything was coming down from the governor's office.
[Unidentified]: Okay, that'll probably happen then. Who knows?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, we'll see. We will see. I mean, we won't be the first meeting in April, so I guess we'll see if, you know, the 12 days before our meeting, what happens.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So I would maybe be inclined to meet at the library, which might have more adequate facilities to accommodate a hybrid meeting.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I mean, that's a whole nother like crapshoot there. So we'll just have to figure it. We'll have to once we know what the decision is, well, we can adjust accordingly.
[Doug Carr]: Right. Has there been a hybrid meeting in that library since since it opened?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I don't know, Jen, they have the owl. So they must be able to do hybrid meetings.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I don't know. I mean, the other thing with the library is they close at nine o'clock.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So yeah, probably have to find a way to get them to stay open for us.
[Jenny Graham]: We're still closed by nine o'clock to nothing.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We have a big we have a big agenda towards earlier. It's a hard it's a hard
[Adam Hurtubise]: Hard ending.
[Kit Collins]: Yeah, it would provide great incentive.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah. Yeah, well, no discussion done. Potentially, it could be a big meeting, you know, with this to 22 thing. Yeah, I think if City Hall is starting to become heavily used with meetings in the future, I think they would find a date to have multiple meetings at once, because there are many different meeting spaces. So the library could say, oh, we'll stay open until 11 on this particular date for these particular instances, especially if there's multiple instances. So the whole library doesn't necessarily have to be open. It only has to be the meeting spaces.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, the well it's just the big room, because the other side of the library would get locked off.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So that was designed that way, so that. You know, there's always South Medford Fire Station, there's DPW, there's City Hall. I mean, there's spaces. It's just a matter of, you know, if we're going to attempt the hybrid meeting, which I think is everyone's preference, are we going to have good Wi-Fi? Are we going to be able to have a good meeting if we're going to promise it's going to be both online and in person? So and I have a yet I have yet to see anybody do it. Besides city council in their chambers where they actually have kind of microphones and a little bit of kind of technology in the actual room. And I don't know that we'll ever I mean school committee typically meets on our night so I don't know that we'd ever have the opportunity to be in that space.
[Doug Carr]: Well, I don't want to be the first hybrid meeting, for sure. And South Metro Fire Station didn't have anything the last time I was in there. It wasn't set up at all. I think DPW could be easily adapted, but I never saw it in action. I had many meetings there for CPC, but they were never hybrid. And they could have been. There was facilities, but no one ever used them. And I'm not sure the infrastructure exists. So if they're going to do this, they can't give us 30 days notice to solve their technical issues.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. And I mean, and how, I mean, there's no, yeah, it's, I mean, it's a bigger challenge than we're going to be able to solve. So we're just going to have to do the best we can and go from there. Okay.
[Unidentified]: Does anybody have anything else? I'll take a motion to adjourn.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So moved. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Jess. All right. Motion to adjourn eight 25. Jess. Yes. Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Kit. Yes. Peter. Yes. Doug. Yes. Good night, everybody.
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