[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, this is the Medford Historical Commission. Today is Monday, July 8th, and we will open up the meeting. I'll read our governor's statement here. 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, and public participation in any public hearing during this meeting shall be by remote means only. We have a fairly light agenda this month, but we will get started nonetheless. So just to update folks on 18 Wedgmere Road, the owners have asked us to table that case. They are trying to decide what they want to do with the property. So until we hear from them, we will table this one. Moving forward, Wackling Court. Ryan, I know you wanted to talk about this one. You're muted.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Marklingport put in for their demo permit, but I saw no sign of documentation or contract for archaeological supervision during demolition. So I intend to reach out to the, via the permit system to ask for those two things as a, before signing off on their building permit for demolition.
[Doug Carr]: So, so do we write a letter. Do you want to throw a letter.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think just a simple email because I think our section 106 letter. The other thing I'm going to do is ask if they've completed the section 106 review through HUD, because the Massachusetts Historical Commission actually noted that they are not the entity that is I'm not sure if that's what's required for this because it's the federal level that it's actually hot that needs to make that determination that they haven't concluded that process of the section 106 review process. So I'd like them to provide those three things, evidence that they've completed that process and received permission from HUD to move forward and that they are going to fulfill their requirements of documentation before the buildings are demoed and then the archaeological monitoring during demo. So.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So what do we need to document anything?
[Adam Hurtubise]: So I'm going to put that in the permit system so that it goes right over to the applicant. And then from there, it will be up to them to reach out to us and get us that information. There are scans of the original blueprints of the original buildings. That's not documentation. That's not what we asked for. So.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We, did we officially review this? We did, right? I mean, did we review for demolition, for demo delay purposes?
[Adam Hurtubise]: We did. It's not old enough for demo delay. Right, okay. We reviewed it under section 106 review.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right, okay. So, okay. So we can't really hold up their permit.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Oh yes, we can. They've they've asked us for a sign off and they've they've they've asked us to do something and this is the point where you make a determination of whether or not they fulfill that or not. So I'm we will not be signing off on that building permit until we get the information that they. Said that they would provide us.
[Jennifer Keenan]: But it's not under demo delay.
[Adam Hurtubise]: It's not under the order of their demo delay, but it is section 106 review.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I just want to be clear that the permit hold is not for demo delay. Right.
[Doug Carr]: Ryan, are you suggesting there's some bad faith or unwillingness to comply with our previous requests?
[Adam Hurtubise]: No, I just don't want it to be forgotten.
[Doug Carr]: OK.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Because as soon as they get the demo permit, they can go and demo the buildings.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Um, I did go in today and cleared out some other permits, but I didn't touch those. So, um, okay. So you're going to upload a document and we're going to put their permit on hold and pending, um, you know, the contracts and whatnot for, um, the proper documentation that we agreed to in the section 106 review.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I can do that tonight.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Does anybody else have anything as it pertains to new business? No? Okay. Moving on to old business, properties under demo delay. I don't know that we have any updates.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Hey Jen. Yes. Sorry, I was muted there. Sorry, I'm sorry Peter, go ahead. The only thing I did was I attended that meeting for the fire department headquarters.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh yeah, how was that?
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: It was good. I mean, they had suggested that people who weren't involved with traffic uh, come an hour later and I had to go to awake anyway. So, um, I joined a little bit late and it would have been better if I'd have been there at the beginning because I really didn't get to see the architectural plans because of that. I saw the site plan, but I didn't really see the architectural plans. It's under flux anyway. They're mostly talking about curb cuts and parking, bus stops as it pertains to the building. The existing building will be demoed, and then there's gonna be parking where the existing building is, and then the new building is gonna go, let's say, closer to Dunkin' Donuts, if you will, further away from the measured square. Yeah, further away from the, so there'll be, essentially, the police station will be at one end, and then, Further along after the kind of where the, where mystic wise off. And further to the right will be the, the new fire department headquarters, and then there'll be kind of parking in between. But they were talking about an additional curb cut. They're talking about what's if it's better for. the fire engines to back in or pull through. So those were some of the, you know, kind of higher level stuff that still seemed to be in flux. But, and unfortunately, I didn't get to see if they had any building elevations or not. It looks like a sawtooth building in plan, but.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I wonder if that's something that we can request, or will they send around, Dennis, do you know, will they send around, like, does community development still need to get involved in this? And will there be some other reviews once plans are a little bit more formal?
[Denis MacDougall]: I believe it's going to have to go through community development board because for site point of view, I would imagine it has to. I'll check tomorrow. I'll check when I get in tomorrow. Cause when I'm not sure Danielle's out. So whenever she gets back in, I'll check with her. I'll check with Alicia just to see. And then if it is, then yeah, you'll absolutely get it. Um, if not, we can, we can work on getting you, you all them, the plans when they're, as they're going.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, that would be great. And I think, Ryan, what's the age of the fire headquarters? Does it even fall under our purview?
[Adam Hurtubise]: 65, I think.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, OK. So we're just giving comments as a courtesy. OK. Well, thanks for doing that, Peter.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, they were all wondering who I was. Who are you? They were everybody was very nice to me. And so it seemed like they have a good dialogue going on, a lot of good ideas flowing. And so it should be a good, great project. I just didn't really get to see the architect Peter of the project. I didn't catch that. Um,
[Jennifer Keenan]: Is it the same people that did the library? Is it is it Burtex?
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: I don't think it's the same architect. Oh, OK. It could be, but I didn't catch that and I wasn't sure there was a. A civil guy there. I wasn't sure who everybody was because I missed all the intros at the beginning.
[Doug Carr]: To be honest, Peter, I don't think I want to wait for the final site plan when everything's baked in and it's basically done to be able to have some comments if we can see anything about massing circulation. Even a draft would be, I think, useful because at that point, it's hard to change anything if it's been going on for a year or so.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I don't know if those plans are available, Dennis, the ones that we were looking at.
[Denis MacDougall]: They should be. I mean, yeah, I would assume so. Again, I can check tomorrow on our drive and see what's available and what's not. And if I get something, I'll shoot you all a link to it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, that'd be great. Was the meeting recorded, Peter? I wonder if it's on. I'm not sure.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Probably. Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah. Well, if we can get the plan, so either way. OK, thanks for that update. Yep. It looks like it's the architect was the Galante Architecture Studio.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, Galante, that's right. I wasn't sure if he was the. Civil guy or the architect guys?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Has it actually been awarded? Or is this just, like, I wasn't sure how far.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: It seemed like it. They're trying to, like, they're kind of, it seemed like they were trying to settle the footprint, like, you know, lock into the footprint, because they were kind of saying, you know, if it's here, well, wherever, you know, and there's another curb cut, I mean, I don't know if it's totally set in stone, but it seemed like it was pretty close. engines are getting in and out of the building yet though, then I don't see how it could be set.
[Jennifer Keenan]: But, um, I'm curious how much land they have, like to the right.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Cause there's basically all the way down to that point, like between, um, mystic and union. And they have a flagpole at that point. I don't know if you guys know where Bulsar Motors is, but right across from there and the filling station. So they were trying to figure out like, is it gonna be more disruptive to traffic, you know, to like have people back in and they're talking about the number of signals and stuff like that.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, and I don't suppose they're having conversation because they're, I think it was at MassDOT or somebody like they've opened up the conversation about that whole intersection coming on South Street.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: MassDOT definitely going to be involved if they're not already. I think that was one of the players they were talking about.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Because if they're thinking about that South Street intersection, then they need to, that, you know, the police and the fire, like that whole situation there, that's an opportunity to bring all of that in, let alone the other, you know, the main street.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: uh, intersection with mystic and it's, it's pretty complicated, you know, the traffic flows in there. And so they were trying to figure out what's the best way to come. And then, and then there, there's still this, another curb cut up in the air, you know, like this, they want this other curb cut, uh, which will cost them parking spaces and stuff like that. Seems a little bit like it's not totally gelled yet, but it sounds like they were on a schedule and they needed to make it happen pretty soon.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right, well, it'll be good when we see those plans, we can provide some comments. Okay, does anybody else have any new business? Yes, Joan, I see you raise your hand. Can I get your name and address for the record, please?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: I'm Joan Keene, and I actually live in Acton, but I'm a member of the Medford UU Church. And I'm here because you had invited me to attend in case you wanted to discuss our CPA application in progress.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. I think I forgot.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: I'm not on the agenda. That's fine. I just I'm here from you with your invitation.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Did you?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: What can we help you with? Did you need a an explanation of the project? The breadth of it? The details? I'm not sure what you had mentioned, perhaps describing the project. and being open for any questions anyone might have. So that's the information I have. I don't know how useful it is at this time, but.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, yeah, why don't you, thank you, and I'm so sorry. Why don't you let us, if you could just describe the project and, you know, then with the board here, we can at least kind of chime in. And if you're looking for a letter of support, we can talk about that.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: That's mainly what it is. Okay. You're probably familiar with Liz Ammons from our church. She has spearheaded many previous projects, very instrumental in helping with the big Osgoode House project from 20 to 21. We got a wonderful grant of $132,850. So basically this grant is to re-shingle get rid of all the rotted wood on all the surfaces around the building. Some more urgent than others. For instance, the ceiling of our portico on the western side is currently held up by chicken wire. The back door is about to fall off. Many of the shingles at base level to be expected are rotted. So all of that has to, the shingles have to be replaced as well as the supporting beams, many of the windows. around the building, half the framing is rotted, that has to be replaced. And then the whole place shingled, the front doors painted, et cetera. And we had an estimate of about 80 to 85.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, so is this considered historic preservation?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Is that where you're? Yes, it is. And we had we're getting all the documents. I'm new to the congregation and new to all of this. It's very different where I lived before. So I know one of the major things was making sure we're in the registry. And the Massachusetts Historical Commission did, excuse me, issue us in 75 a document nominating us for the National Register. And that was documentation used for the Osgoode House and two previous CPA grants.
[Doug Carr]: Uh, Joe, let me jump in here. The, um, I, I serve on the TPC representing the commission. So where. Um, we're meeting, I think it's tomorrow, um, tonight. Um, but they just announced the schedule for the round, right? So it hasn't actually, um. really started yet. Nothing is actually due until the end of this month, I believe. You're well aware of that, I believe. And you have all the dates of when the application is due, when the presentations are, and when the deliberations are. Is that correct?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Yes. Oh, yes. Yes, we've already downloaded the application. It's mainly completed. I'm in the process, as with Liz, getting the letters of support as required. for the registry documentation, proof of insurance, et cetera.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, and I think because you've received a grant before, a lot of the paperwork should be cut and paste from before, you know, so there's not like a lot of, you have a track record, which I think helps you as well, of a successful project. So I think, you know, I'm sure knowing we all are, broadly familiar with the building, I think. If there's any questions, we can certainly answer that.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Okay. I thought this might be superfluous at this point, given the invitation. Sure.
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, we're happy to have you. And yeah, and this is something that we do for many folks putting in for CPC. So we're happy to have you. I think one question, and I don't know if this is really appropriate, and maybe Ryan and Doug could kind of jump in here. But I think with CPC, we're always careful to toe the line of, maintenance versus restoration or historic preservation. So obviously, we want to make sure that this is not considered maintenance. And how is that delineated?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: I'm sorry. That's a good question. I would say because the structure is 1894, it's prominent right there on High Street as a historic presence. And it's gone beyond just maintenance. And I looked through all those documents to try to define it. And that's as close as I can tell being new to the project. It is so urgent. And these are things that we cannot fund and are urgent to the integrity of the structure. In the past two years, we have spent a fair amount of money for a small congregation. In 23, we did shingle and rot mediation and replacement, especially around the windows, the stained glass windows, which then had plexiglass covers put on, which allowed moisture transfer so it would not impact or exponentially increase future rot. That was 16K. Then this last year, we mortared all the granite around the church, and that was 22K. So we are using funds as best we can to maintain what we can do. But this is a sizable project, not only because of the amount, but given the condition of the deterioration, which is some urgency that we cannot fund.
[Doug Carr]: Sure, Joan, if I could chime in here. Do you have a preservation architect who's doing drawings or describing the scope of work for you?
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: You know, that's a good question that I asked people who have been doing it before. I do not think so. We have a contractor that is familiar that we've been using before. He did work somewhat on the Osgoode House, but not that I know of. Is that going to be required?
[Doug Carr]: I think to a degree it might be, and I think, Ryan, I think it's probably a good idea because I remember what you had on the Osgoode House. You had a preservation architect who understood all the standards at the federal level, and I think to make anything that firm did drawings that showed It wasn't just a contractor's quote because even if the contractor has experience, if they did the Osgoode House, they have qualified experience for historic properties, which is a good thing. But contractors don't typically do drawings. If you have even existing drawings or you can mark up photos, Something physical that talks in the language has to be about restoration, not about maintenance, just the way you presented, I think, is half the deal sometimes in terms of making sure, you know, all restoration at some level can be portrayed as maintenance, but when it's going back to the original. materials and wood and the siding and all that, it's an easier sell. There are people on the CPC board who will be, as Jen was, looking pretty hard at that line because we've drawn a pretty bright line between one and the other. I think you'll be on the right side of that line, but you have to prepare it that way.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: This is what I presented when we, having been in real estate and done historic restoration in different towns, being on the commission, These are all things that I discussed. However, I think this is unlike the Osgoode House, which had the extent of renovation required would impact current codes. This is just replacement in kind as was we described to me. It wouldn't involve any codes because I know there's hazardous materials issues and when you're doing the extent on the Osgoode House, but we're just doing it in kind. And given that we have been able to do this before, gotten grants to, if you want to define it as maintenance, okay, but at what point do you call it preservation if you're trying to save something? I don't know. Yes, I was wondering about that too. So I could not find anywhere on the site exactly what would be required. I saw the historic documents from wherever, whenever, but I couldn't figure out exactly. I was told it would be simpler than this. And I've gone through everything that we've had on the Osgoode, et cetera, and the thing from the state, and the lawyer had to sign off. the preservation restriction agreement. I went through all of that at trying to define what constitutes maintenance versus preservation.
[Doug Carr]: I just think you'll need something more than a contractor's quote. You'll need something that describes the scope. Ideally, it's more than photos marked up, but there are ways around it. Again, I think we can It might be worth going back to, I think McKinley-Kausau is no longer a firm. I think he retired, the folks who worked on the building across the street. But some of the people who worked on the project, I think, have started their own. You might want to look into that and just maybe buy some of their time to make sure your package just looks like a preservation architect is involved, just because it's more than I think it's probably better that it's more than just a contractor. This is the only set of eyes on it, typically.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Okay. This is in addition, the contractor we've had that they've used and he's done a lot of historic sites. He was able to draw the permits, understanding the codes or what would be involved, but this is another level that you think is required?
[Doug Carr]: I think it would help your case if there's this is not a code issue. This is you're restoring architectural features of the building. There's virtually no codes that I'm aware of what you described, but it needs to be clear layers. Yeah, right. need to be clear to the CPC board what the scope is. That's usually drawings, and photos, and something. So I think there's plenty of time to pull this together, I think. And it doesn't sound like it will be a huge investment, but I think it might help your application to have, I guess maybe you could work on it and share it with maybe Ryan, and myself, and Peter, and we could give you some feedback. Happy to do that offline, you know, to make sure that you're heading in the right direction. And if you look at all the CPC grants, they're all online. You can see the type of things that are presented, you know. It's usually a contractor's quote is not enough, but try to see what you can pull together.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Okay. Although we all know what the timeline is. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Sure. And I will see what we can do. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, and then Ryan, do we need? We would need to see all that before we can do a letter of support.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes, you know, just just a basic summary and then some detailed information would be super helpful. To see it to get the letter of support rolling.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So Joan, when you have that information, if you want to send it to our email, then we can get a letter of support out to you for your application.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: And now that would be for the final. We can still apply. which is through this month, right? We can make an initial application, but to do a total presentation, we need all that documentation with the letters of support. So that gives us a little more time, like until September.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, it's not going to impact the project determination. That's a, that'll be, you know, you would include your letters of support with the larger project.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Right. Okay. Thank you very much for your time.
[Jennifer Keenan]: You're welcome. Keep us posted and anything we can do to help. We're here to help.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: Okay. Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Okay. Is there any other new business from the commissioners? No. Okay. Moving on to old business properties under demo delay. Ryan, were you guys able to meet with all Mon Street folks yet?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Not yet. No, I saw Nelson sent over some additional thoughts about his property, so I gotta get back on the train here. Just been swapped with work.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Which one was that?
[Adam Hurtubise]: That's Pearl Street.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, OK. I don't think I connected that that was him. I knew Kathleen was working on that. Yeah. OK, good. All right. So that will, those are kind of in progress. And then Wareham, have we heard from them?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Uh, we did hear from them. I did send comments around to Peter and Doug who made comments that we have to get back to Yale.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. All right.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Do you guys want to set up a meeting with them? Because they're far enough along. Doug and Peter. Yes. Okay. So we'll set up a meeting with them.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Um, And then we don't have, there's nothing on Winchester Street, so that one's probably just gonna ride it out at this point.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Probably. We should, maybe I'll try again, given that the CPC is applying for stuff, maybe I'll try again and say, hey, now's the time to apply.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, that would be a good kind of last effort, I think. Okay, good. Permits subcommittee and processes, nothing crazy there. We're sitting to get permits assigned to us again now that I think the building commissioner is settling in. So Ryan and I have been on that and I've sent around a few things for them to look at. We've passed on a couple of things the past week. So I feel like we're in a good rhythm there again. Would you agree, Ryan?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, they're assigning stuff to us.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, which is good. Ryan, any update on the cemetery project?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, I have lots of updates. After much battling, I finally got City Hall to set up the financial accounts necessary to move the assessment project forward. And even though it didn't happen in this fiscal year, I think this following fiscal year will be fine. So I have the contractor, their contract. and they will be moving forward with assessing the headstones and doing some excavation work there to document what the headstones are laid in. We suspect that they're laid in a bed of concrete, which will make preservation of the stones infinitely more difficult, but I'm hoping to have something prepared by them relatively soon so that we can apply for CPC funding. But if we miss the round, there's nobody to blame but the city itself for delaying for nearly six and a half months that I've been begging them to create financial accounts to get that project off the board so that I could have everything in place by CPC. So if we miss the mark, it'll just delay that project by 365 days. Nothing that I can do there. On the other front, I put out to bid today the RFPs for the archaeological fieldwork at the former Cross Street Cemetery site, and for the excavation services, the archaeologists will need an excavator. Basically, we put that out to bid under a separate contract. So I'm giving people two and a half, three weeks to put together bids, and as soon as we have those back, if we get something back, we'll award the project accordingly. So that will also be going. That work, if all goes according to schedule, the contract would be signed at the beginning of August, and actual excavation work in the ground would be late August, early September. That is to confirm whether the original cemetery site is intact or not. That will impact the development that takes place at Bedford Square.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Will they be seeking community volunteers on that one?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Okay, I didn't think so. There certainly will be the availability to watch. I certainly will be down there supervising. But no public participation on that one because of the sensitivity of it. It is a cemetery. Um, so that's the that's the major project update with those 2. so they are crawling, but I. I put my foot down and said, nothing else will move forward until the cemetery assessment project moves forward. And now that that's moving all these other projects can just kind of roll right along.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great, thank you for all your work on that.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep. Don't worry. I got more good. Keep going. Okay, well, so I guess I'll roll right into Thomas Brooks Park is sort of on hold until I get those other two projects off the board. But as soon as those happen, I would like to meet with the city department heads to get specifications together for preparation for bidding the. the various projects on that front. There'll be the archeology work and tree work and the sidewalks, crossings, et cetera. I will need help with that. Doug, I saw your hand raised.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, go ahead, Doug. Yeah, Ryan. I've noticed much like the Brooks Estate stone wall that you guys just built along Thomas Brooks Park is being devoured by neighbors. And we've tried to attack it on our own, but we think it's not really sustainable. So we feel we need to come up with either DPW or a city landscape. There's a couple of different ways. I think Zach mentioned something to you and I, Jen, about this. He talked about the park grounds, the landscaping contract, or the DPW as two potential City agencies who could do a quarterly and maintain that wall, because if we don't do it, like, all that works going to be. It won't take long. We've 2, some 2 winners and 2 summers and. You know, a 1000 feet of the road street wall on the Brooks estate is is was was really starting to get covered with some trees and binds and and weeds and. It's a lot of work and you know that. And since we're obviously setting this up to make sure we well maintained, I think the solution for one is the solution for the other.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I think. I mean, it's a little crazy that Thomas Brooks Park wall hasn't been at least weed whacked because they go in there to cut the grass in the green space. So I actually been meaning to email. I was going to shoot an email to like Teresa and be like, hey, can somebody like put in? I don't know if we have to put in C click fix or something to just be like somebody needs to get over there and trim it.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, yeah, agreed.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Hi Jen, yeah, maybe we should do that and reach out to the DPW director and say, you know, hey, we CPC funded this project we spent. $300,000 and had a lot of expertise to do it. Now we just need to maintain it. I haven't been by to look at it, but I'm assuming that it's a lot of grass and that's some invasions.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It's bad. Some of the stuff is taller than the wall, the growth. It's insane.
[Doug Carr]: It's more than grass.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of weeds and just random.
[Doug Carr]: It's shrubs and weeds.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah.
[Doug Carr]: And trees.
[Adam Hurtubise]: And trees. Yeah, the trees are going to come back.
[Jennifer Keenan]: They are. I'll draft an email, Ryan, but I think we should draft it and say, if you're doing one, you got to do both. Yeah. It's Thomas Brooks Park wall and it's the Grove Street wall at the Brooks Estate. They put them on your maintenance schedule.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right. Because technically, the Brooks Estate is city land.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So, I mean, you know, it's not just because it's managed by Ambel doesn't mean the city can abandon it.
[Doug Carr]: I beg to differ. That's what they think.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Speaking of the Brooks Estate, our picnic is Saturday. So anybody, we would love to have you all from 12 to 3. You can meet our new president, Carly Nessen, who's amazing. We have live music. We'll have raffles. We'll have food. Thank you to Wegmans for your generous donation. It's fingers crossed for good weather. We have games. I have yard games. So please come hang out with us and have a hot dog at least. I'll be driving the shuttle up and down the road. Anything else on Thomas Brooks Park?
[Adam Hurtubise]: We sent around the archaeological cap to city department heads, and I will hound Teresa tomorrow to see if there's any other feedback. We should set up a meeting to go public with that proposed project to get public feedback. And we can let people know that the sidewalks and crossings and all the things that they've been clamoring for are actually coming now that the CPC has awarded the project and that if there's anything else that they would like us to see in the future, that now would be the time to tell us.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Should we plan that meeting for September after the summer? Yeah, sure, just so we don't get accused of burying it in the summer schedule.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sure. Sure. It can't hurt. I just Peter's under contract and he's not going to want to stay under contract forever, but maybe that will be the end of his public meeting. And then he does final revisions and then he's done. And then we basically incorporate that as a supplement to the master plan.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I mean, I'm just throwing it out there. If we think we want to do it in August or pick a date, you know. But we need to do. We need to probably have at least 30 days notice.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. At that point we're in August, so we might as well. Might as well throw it out there for September and get it on the radar. And then we can get neighborhood.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, I was going to say, can we ask? Can we get a, you know, I always want to say Captain Barry, even though it's not Captain Barry anymore, like Captain Barry call and get, you know, I would love some sort of mailing to go to at least the immediate neighbors. Is that possible?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I mean, we can see what we can do. I mean, there'd be no reason why we wouldn't be able to do something similar to like a zoning board meeting where you just plug in an address and then get everybody within 300 feet and you do a mailing.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, or maybe we can grab a water bill that's coming. I don't know what the water bill schedule is, but maybe we can do an insert with the water bills.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I honestly don't know. I've had my meter replaced, so I got a sizable credit back. So I don't get a water bill right now.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, I got one of those cards, too.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I'll work with Dennis on that. So Jen, with the water bill. Oh, yeah. Thanks, Dennis. Go ahead.
[Denis MacDougall]: Jen, with the water bill. You can do it, but it has to be, A, there's a cost involved. Because we don't, the water bills are not drafted out to send out. And it only goes to the people who get paper bills. So it actually is sort of limiting who gets a lot of these notices if you do it like that. I would actually say what Ryan would have said, we can get address labels like pretty easily. If you just basically grab a point and then just go everyone within this radius, get them all. And then we have plenty of interns in our office this summer. So if you want to send stuff out, if you want to just Give us something and if you have, you know, envelopes or whatever you have, just give it to us and we can do everything and mail them out from City Hall that day. Like, you know, it's OK.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think the sounds of it is that we should take advantage of the fact that they have interned. So let's set up a meeting.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Let's take a date and then we can at least prep the mailing.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, yeah, and then get it out.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Talk to Peter.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, yeah, let me talk to him tomorrow morning.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK and see what his availability is.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, are we going to do it on zoom or we're going to do it in person or hybrid?
[Adam Hurtubise]: We're going to do. We're going to do a hybrid meeting. We're going to do a meeting likely at either the West Medford Community Center or City Hall. City Hall is probably more primed for it, cause they've got the owl and yeah, I don't know the West.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I don't know even know. I mean, I know the West Medford Community Center has Wi-Fi, but I don't know how.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, I don't know how reliable it is. And Dennis, maybe we can have somebody there from staff to help run the digital component of the meeting.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, let's get some availability from here. And then we can schedule that.
[Denis MacDougall]: Do you know you don't have a date?
[Jennifer Keenan]: We'll get some options, Dennis, because we obviously have to check the city calendar to see what is available and rooms and all that stuff. Okay. Anything else, Ryan?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Not for Thomas Burke Park.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, well what it roll into the next one.
[Adam Hurtubise]: So Fulton Heights is done. I'm just waiting for the contractor to finish the final report for the entire neighborhood. We got 20 forms which cover 165 buildings in Fulton Heights. Give a broad overview of the neighborhood. Lots of organic little tiny cottages and a little bit of information about the little commercial district that they have and. The only unresolved question that nobody seems to be able to answer, not even the historians that are in the city, is who Carr Park is named after. Supposedly it's Dutch Car, but obviously Doug Car.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah.
[Adam Hurtubise]: But there's no plaque, there's no dedication in the newspapers, there's no information whatsoever other than his name appearing on a city map from like 1955. So the park was bought relatively late. It's a failed residential subdivision that the city snatched up. And they got it in 1939. So it took it by eminent domain. So it's one of the really early uses of eminent domain. And they must have decided that they would have a you know, you need a good lake location for open space. So, because the aerial view show by 45, there's definitely a park there. There's ball fields. So... Is there some old map on which it's marked car park with one R? Car park. Auto park. Maybe it was an auto park.
[MCM00001807_SPEAKER_19]: It could have been a car park.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah. Could have been a... be cool if it was a... like a movie theater, drive-in movie theater, that would be unusual for its location, but you know, knowing Fulton Heights, all those houses were built in the 10s, 20s, and 30s, so every house probably had a car.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Interesting.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And we do not have a survey project for this current fiscal year that we're in?
[Adam Hurtubise]: We don't have a MHC survey project, but we will absolutely be moving forward with a survey project for the using our city budget match that MHC. Mass historical usually has extra funding, so we're going to poke them because we're certified local government community and see if they have extra funding that they have to expend to to be able to help make that project go further. But even if we don't get a matching grant from them, it just allows us to move forward with our own survey. We can pick a small neighborhood, and it will probably cover 35, 40 buildings, something like that. It's a sizable amount of buildings.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, great.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep.
[Jennifer Keenan]: You have anything else?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yep, so I'm working on the paperwork for the certified local government program. So because the fiscal year ended, CLG paperwork is due in September so that that rolled into a couple of different things. So while doing my analysis of the CLG, it came to my attention that the Medford Historic District Commission has not received a single application for. for review for building permits. They get permits, they review permits and are supposed to approve certificates for work in the district. And I find it nearly impossible that no work in the district has taken place in 365 days. So I've planned on bringing that to the attention of the mayor's office to start a dialogue with the building department about making sure that they are back in the loop with building permits. Because, you know, originally the building department would send them to the board. And, you know, it's a much more in-person process. Now it's all digital. So I want to make sure that they are not forgotten in the loop. So.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I've also you could do some spot checks in the permitting system. Yeah, I think yeah, I think I'm likely to find some things that have been, you know, I think there's a there's a there's kind of a. Gap in my opinion, I feel like the way the permitting system is. Like you should. The the property addresses should already be tagged that they're in a district. Right. And anything. Anyway, there's a little bit of a, I feel like technology could help us. And I don't know if it's set up to, but that the assessor's office has to talk to the building department has to talk to and have, you know, all the every house in the district kind of flagged, but I don't know that it works that way.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, I'm not really sure GIS can mark them, so I don't know how much effort's using GIS, but certainly we can, you know, plug in all the inventory forms. I know it came up for discussion during the survey and planning project this year because they have to create maps that show the locations of the buildings, and we chose to omit that this year because it really just is a thing that sits in the shelf on the file, never used. Everybody's gone to GIS, so there's no reason why we can't tag buildings in GIS and just create a digital map that shows not only the projects as they're adding them, but all the existing inventory forms of what's been surveyed.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: How did they get flagged previously?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think the building department had in their office the two maps of the district, so they just knew. And of course, with the districts moving around, and you know, it's the same general two people, Paul Mokie and John Bavuso, who used to just handle what passed down permits. So, you know, I think just making sure that Scott knows that there is.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And there are some new inspectors, like, I mean, there's just people there that don't have the legacy that John and Paul Mokie had.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right. Right. So just making sure. Not their fault. Yeah, exactly. We just make sure that we come bring them back up. You know, and one of the things that I'm talking with the, well, would like to talk to the HTC about is making sure that they notify their residents to make sure that they know that they are the resource available to them to help them with their projects and that they should apply to them first before even going to the building department just to prevent delay in their process. I have heard that they're in the process of, and I don't know where it is in the process, creating a South Street historic district. I heard it went, it may have gotten on the floor of city council. I'm not exactly sure. But the HTC is only met twice, once in January, once in February, to the best of my knowledge. So I have been out of the loop.
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: That's crazy. I spoke to Sharon Guzik about it briefly, just ran into her and she seemed frustrated. So I don't think much has happened.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, I think, you know, I think that you know, the lack of movement from that board will get some attention in the coming weeks, certainly. So we'll see what happens. And of course, with all the stuff that's happening with city council, politically, it may not have been a good time to bring it to the table at that point, so. Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Dennis, do you know anything?
[Denis MacDougall]: Not really, I haven't been staffing them in a while, so. Okay. But I'm pretty sure they're scheduled to meet this Thursday. I don't know what it is. It should be up on the city's calendar, at least what their agenda is, but I don't know what it is.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We will check it out.
[Adam Hurtubise]: All right, I'll take a look.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Does anybody have anything else before we wrap it up with meeting minutes? No, okay. Peter did circulate the meeting minutes, so I can take a motion when someone's ready.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Motion to approve.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Ryan. Second. Thank you, Doug. Okay, motion to approve the meeting minutes from June 2024. I will go around for a roll call vote as I see people on my screen. Doug?
[Doug Carr]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan? Yes. Peter?
[Doug Carr]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Eleni? Yes. Kit? Yes. Okay, motion passes 5-0. Does anybody have anything else before we wrap up?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Move to adjourn.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK. Motion to adjourn, 753. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Kit. OK, motion to adjourn, 753. Doug? Yes. Ryan? Yes. Peter?
[8Sqy8gyjolU_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Eleni?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Kit? Yes. Thank you, everybody.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thank you.
[Jennifer Keenan]: See you next month on August 12th. Happy summer.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Thanks, everyone.