Tufts University presented plans to replace two existing properties with new student dormitories to increase housing capacity for upperclassmen. Officials discussed sustainability goals, architectural designs, and management strategies to address neighborhood concerns regarding parking and noise.
[Rocco DiRico]: Okay, good evening everybody. My name is Rocco Dorico and I am the Executive Director of Government and Community Relations at Tufts University. Wanted to let everyone know that tonight's meeting is being recorded and we will post a recording on our website after the meeting. We are here tonight to discuss two new housing projects that will be located at 50 Winthrop and 24 Capon Street in Medford. These projects will be part of our coho development that we started in 2019 and the goal of these projects is to create more on campus housing opportunities for juniors and seniors.
So the agenda for tonight is I will introduce the team. I'll then talk about some of the other housing projects that Tufts has done over the last five years. I'll then pass it on to Ruth Bennett who will talk about some of our decarbonization efforts and how coho fits into those. And then to our architect, Jerry Frank, who will walk through both projects, and then we'll take questions and answers. This meeting is scheduled to go to six o'clock. If for whatever reason we don't get to your question tonight, you can always call our office at 617-627-3780, or email us at communityrelations.tufts.edu.
And a reminder to submit your questions tonight, please use the Q&A function. So housing is a top priority for Tufts University. Over the last five years, we have added 485 beds to our Medford-Somerville campus. And we've done that by adding beds to existing dorms like Miller and Houston. And we've done it by converting some buildings to dormitories like we did in the first round of COHO. and a variety of other projects all across campus, as you can see from this map. We currently house 100% of freshmen and sophomores on campus. So with projects like COHO and the other housing projects that we have coming up, we're really trying to focus on creating more beds for juniors and seniors. I'm going to turn it over to Ruth now, who will talk a little bit about our decarbonization efforts and how this project plays into that.
[Ruthie Bennett]: Great. So, Tufts is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. I will tell you that we are working to achieve that goal before 2050, particularly with our wood frame housing, we are working really diligently in terms of building and renovating buildings to become airtight. We are exceeding the IECC thermal resistance requirements. These particular projects will be utilizing super insulated prefabricated panels. Not only does this help in terms of insulation but it also reduces production debris and material waste. We'll be having triple pane windows permeable pavers, there will not be irrigation systems we're working intently on having very escaping so drought resistant plants on all of our new projects. And for all of our buildings, we always put in bike racks. So that's a little bit about decarbonizing.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Ruth. And as I mentioned before, these two projects are part of a project that was approved. A few years ago back in 2019, the houses that are shaded in blue are the 14 existing coho houses, the dark blue are the two that we're proposing tonight. and the other blue structures are properties that are already owned by Tufts. So as you can see, we tried to pick two properties that were majority surrounded by Tufts, both on Winthrop Street, both adjacent to campus, and both within this kind of coho zone that we identified back in As part of these, Tufts will own these properties and operate them. Tufts will continue to pay property taxes on the properties. The students who live in these two houses will be required to park on campus. Each building will have a graduate resident director that oversees the buildings. These properties are not going to be used as fraternities or sororities. They'll be used as dormitories. And they'll all feature new lighting enhanced security and bike racks and to PD does patrol this area and will continue to after the project is complete.
For these two buildings, we are proposing to build two new buildings after we tear down the structures on the current sites. So I wanted to give you an example of one of the houses that we built new a few years ago when we did the first phase of this project. 12 Bellevue on your screen here in dark blue was a new construction house and 14 Bellevue was an existing house that we renovated and as you can see whenever we do do new construction we try to make sure that it blends in with the character of the neighborhood and it's the same size and scale of what's in the what's already in the neighborhood and that's certainly our plan going forward with these two projects. So next I will turn it over to Jerry Frank who is our architect for these projects.
[LaD96QjuMPs_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you Rocco. Good evening everyone. Thank you for letting me join in. The slide that in front of you is 50 Winthrop Street, the first project. Our participation has gone back a full year where we spent a lot of time analyzing the two properties and investigating all the utilities, all the structural elements on it. The 50 Winthrop Street, the slide here, if you notice in particular, the top two images on the right-hand side shows a lot of work that's been done and has compromised the structural integrity of the house. That's not uncommon, but there are areas where you can tell that things are in really rough shape. The slides below those two, the bottom right hand side, have beams that are split. You see that the foundations have been perforated and water and air and all sorts of bad things are really coming into there. it became very clear that their structural integrity is a problem here and really does not meet the building code as currently exists on there. Another issue is a goal that we talked about or mentioned was to really increase accessibility to Tufts housing. And this house in particular has three or four different levels on it. It makes virtually, making it accessible near impossible, as well as the other goal that Ruth mentioned was meeting sustainable goals, sustainable goals for Tufts. And we would have a hard time even meeting any zoning, you know, the basic energy code that is now part of the international building code and the state of Massachusetts building code. So those are three, the number of things that are in there that really is really troublesome, I should say. There are a couple of elements we want to point out on the bottom left-hand side of the house. There are a couple of interesting elements to the building that we want to bring along. You notice the brackets that are above the main entry in there, and there's actually at the rear addition piece, there's a stained glass window. We're looking just to be able to you know, fix them up, bring them along, and really try to really bring the history, have the history serve the present day. Next slide, please, Rocco.
This is giving you the after view. You can see on the top right-hand corner is the way that the house currently looks on it. Our goal here is to really create something that fits into the neighborhood fairly seamlessly. You know, Ruth already mentioned the issue of drought-resistant plants, which, you know, we really work very hard and know a lot about in there. But you can see, again, that the brackets are replaced. You know, we're putting in, you know, breaking of mass, not unlike the building that you see up the hill on the left there. Next slide, please.
Again, this is to give you the difference of character. The top left-hand corner is the existing house. Here, we've kind of even broken the mass down to something that really fits very much so with the houses you see across the street, which are Tufts-owned coho houses in there. Again, bringing the character that should fit in the neighborhood. It shouldn't look like something that's arrived from outer space. Next slide, please. Just a couple of things that are in here, noting about the structure. The structure currently has 10 bedrooms that are in it. There are four units. We are keeping the same number of units. We are including a resident director that each of these houses would have, which would be fully accessible, and 21 student beds. A big thing to note is that we're staying at the same number of stories. We're actually making the building a little bit smaller instead of 35 or 32 and a half feet tall. And one other big note is that in terms of the lot coverage, we're respecting the current zoning tech code, whereas the existing house on one side does not. So it's an existing condition. Next slide, please. Thank you. A quick view inside of the interior, the light green shows you the, The living room and kitchen areas that we've set up for each floor, each of the units has that. The dark green is the resident director, close by the main entry. There again, on the ground floor, we're able to make this accessible. We have a total of 21 students, as I think we mentioned before. 24%, you know, are gonna be ADA compliant, which is a really nice move. And you get a quick view of what a typical room looks like there.
please. Much of the same story that we have in here. Going through and doing the analysis through our feasibility study really showed that there were huge violations of building code in terms of safe egress. The foundations and structure are really in disrepair. It was made very clear to us that roof structure was really both because of water infiltration, farming, the quality of its job to support really would have to be totally replaced in any case. It just doesn't meet code, it wouldn't withstand the usual snow loads for very long. So again, the same conclusions came to us is that, yikes, somewhat scary. The other issue, as you can see, is very traumatic on the two photographs. The building is completely inaccessible. There's no way that we could have, without lifts and very, very long, very large amounts of ramping, getting people inside and even ones inside the multi-levels really just Again, the before picture on the left-hand side, top left, and on the right, what we're doing again, not unlike what you saw in Winthrop, is taking mass and breaking it apart to really feel much more in scale with the buildings in the neighborhood. That's really our goal. Next slide, please.
A view from the front. We do, Ruth had mentioned, bike racks, which we are providing. We actually have an accessible parking space and also a drop-off area so students can load and would be able to upload and unload. There is no parking for students, really based out. It would be on-campus parking areas. Again, you get a feel for this. That's perfect. You definitely can go to the next slide. The same pieces to point out is that You know, our building is currently being designed one foot lower than the existing house that you saw on the screen on the slide before. And, you know, we are basically looking at, instead of six bedrooms, you know, we're able to get a resident director and 28 student beds into this building, which is huge. And then from the next slide to a view of the plan, similar, light green for the common areas, the kitchen and living rooms, as well as the dark green for the resident director for the building, again, right by the main area in it. On this ground floor, again, we're able to make several of the bedrooms fully accessible with the accompanying bathroom as well.
Yeah, it's a quick view.
[Rocco DiRico]: Great, thank you, Jerry. And then just to walk through the project timeline. Tonight's it tonight is our pre application community meeting. This month will be applying to the historic commission to demo the two buildings. By late summer we intend to apply to the Community Development Board for site plan review, and we are hope to start construction, this fall, with a project completion date of August, 2023. We have a number of pre-submitted questions. Please, if you'd like to ask questions now, please use the Q&A function. If for whatever reason we don't get to your question or you have more questions after tonight, you can contact our office at 617-627-3780 or at Community Relations at tufts.edu. You can also go to our website to sign up for our newsletter and receive monthly updates from our office. I will now turn it over to Leah Boudreaux, who will go through the questions that have been pre-submitted for tonight by neighbors. And then we'll go to the questions that have been submitted tonight.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks very much, Rocco. As Rocco mentioned, folks have the opportunity to submit questions when registering for this meeting, so I'll just take a few minutes here to read through those pre-submitted questions, and folks on the panel here will address those questions. So our first question is from Norell Marr, who asks, how is it determined who gets notifications on projects like this, and is there a way to get proposed plans emailed prior to the meeting? Rocco, could you address that question from Narelle, please.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Norell. Tufts University contacts the city of Medford and gets an official abutters list from the city. That is typically everyone who lives within 300 to 400 feet of the project. For this meeting, the city also did a robocall. We mailed the neighbors on that abutters list and the meeting was posted on the city's website. And I believe the city emailed people as well. The proposed plans that we're showing you here tonight will be on our website, communityrelations.tufts.edu after tonight's meeting.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Rocco. We've got a couple of questions from Justin Raymond. We'll start with this first question. Capen Street is a major cut through for local Medford residents. What are the suggested traffic pattern updates for the neighborhood? Rocco, could you address that question also?
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Leah. Yeah, Tufts is not proposing any traffic changes to Capen Street. Capen Street is a public street, so any changes need to be proposed by the city and approved by the Traffic Commission. And as we've noted tonight, students are not going to be allowed to park at these properties. They'll be required to park on campus, so there shouldn't be an increase in vehicles in the neighborhood.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Rocco. Justin's next question is about utility work and vehicles and equipment. With utility work being completed by contractors, where will trust be storing equipment and vehicles? Neighboring side streets should not allow for contractors and equipment supplies to store anything along the side of the road or sidewalk. Some recent utility work completed in the neighborhood by both the city of Medford and Somerville resulted in damage to the sidewalks and roads. Ruth, could you address Justin's questions about equipment and vehicle storage and any damage that may be, you know, a result of any kind of utility work?
[Ruthie Bennett]: Right, so all the construction material will be stored on Tufts property and any of the contractors will be parking on Tufts property on our parking lots or in our garage. Any utility work that we do, we will be connecting to existing utilities. Any work that we do, we will repair the sidewalk and the street.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Ruth. Next question from Justin is about rat control. How are we planning on mitigating the current problem and not adding to it with more housing and trash being generated by student housing? Rocco, could you address that question about rat control and pest control?
[Rocco DiRico]: Yes, thank you, Justin. Yeah, we have hired a private pest control company. That company is already working on pest control on the site, and they will continue to do so before, during, and after construction.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks. And finally, one last question from Justin is about Tufts Police. Will Tufts Police now be completing rounds in the neighborhood to help with the student body? Rocco, could you answer that as well?
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Leah. Yeah, so Tufts University does currently patrol this neighborhood, as we do have other properties on Winthrop Street, and they will continue to do so after these projects are complete.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Rocco. Our next question is from Susan Dunn, who raises a couple of concerns about overcrowding within the units and security issues. Rocco, could you just address some of those concerns that Susan brings up?
[Rocco DiRico]: Yes, in regards to parking, students living at these properties will be required to park on campus. To prevent overcrowding, each student will have their own bedroom and each unit will have its own kitchen and living room. And the properties will be secured by Tufts University Police Department. And each house will have its own graduate resident assistant that is supervising the property.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Rocco. Finally, our last pre-submitted question comes from Mike Mahoney in a similar vein to one of the earlier questions about Capon Street. Will this project be blocking Capon Street? Ruth, could you just speak to that a little bit more in terms of vehicles brought up or construction that may result in blocking Capon Street?
[Ruthie Bennett]: Sure. So I mean, there will be times where we probably will have some construction vehicles on Capon Street as they drop off materials. Anytime we do that, we have a police detail. So it would not permanently block Capon Street, if that's the question, but there will be times where we will have, like I said, some construction vehicles on that street will have police details, and it'll only be for certain periods of time that's necessary.
[MCM00001540_SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Ruth. That's all the questions that we had pre-submitted. I know that some folks have been submitting questions via the Q&A chat function. So I'm going to pass it back to Rocco to moderate some of those questions. And Pam will address some of those for us.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thanks, Leah. And we have a number of questions from Randy Baker. So I'm going to try to break these up a little bit. And I'm going to, I think I'm going to toss the first few to Adam Dash. Randy asks Adam, what is the zoning status of these properties? And were zoning variances required? If so, describe.
[Dash]: Thanks, Rocco. Yeah, I'm Adam Dash, by the way. My office is in Davis Square in Somerville, and they're in the general residence zoning district, both of the properties. As far as variances, no, no variances are required. Site plan approval is required for these projects under the new Medford zoning ordinance. And we will be going through that process, which is a much lower level than a variance or a special permit.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Adam and Ruth if you could help answer these next two. What is the increase in headcount for these properties, and what city infrastructure upgrades are needed and who pays for those.
[Ruthie Bennett]: I think if Jerry can help us with the increase in the headcount but in terms of upgrades, we are connecting to existing utilities, we might need to upgrade our electrical connection, but anything that we would do in terms of electrical connection the project would pay for. But otherwise we're generally connecting to existing utilities. So I think the increase in headcount, Jerry, you had them.
[LaD96QjuMPs_SPEAKER_06]: I do have those right in front of me. So the existing structure on Winthrop Street has 10 bedrooms. We're increasing it by 11 to 21. At Capon Street, there are two units. There's total of six bedrooms. We're proposing we're going to four units, a resident director and 28 students. So that's a net increase of 22.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Jerry. Randy's next question is what is the duration of the projects and what is the plan completion date. As we stated earlier, we host our construction in the fall and hope to have it completed by August of 2023. Ruth, if you could help with this next question, what are the, or Jerry, what are the expected dates when street closures and restrictions will be in effect? And what are the expected hours of work?
[Ruthie Bennett]: So the expected hours of work are sort of standard Medford hours that you're able to do construction, which is 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. In terms of the dates of when street closures and restrictions, you know, we'll know that better once we're ready to start construction. So, you know, the first thing we'll do is demolition. And then, you know, we'll We'll excavate for the foundations, pour the foundations, and then bring in the structure. So we'd really know better once we have a construction start date, but that's kind of the general schedule of what happens when we build. We'll demolish, we'll excavate for foundations, we'll pour the foundations, and then we'll build the structure.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Ruth. And are there any tasks that could be reasonably expected to generate loud noise for hours at a time?
[Ruthie Bennett]: You know, I guess the noisiest thing is the demolition when we take down the houses. Amazingly, it actually doesn't take that long to take them down, but that's probably one of the noisiest things that we'll be doing.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Ruth. Randy's next question is, will Tufts provide a single point of contact for residents to bring forward problems as they are occurring? And the answer is yes, that is my office, the Office of Government and Community Relations. We can be reached at 617-627-3780 or at communityrelations.tufts.edu. What is the off street parking plan for these properties? Again, these students are not allowed to get a parking permit or park on neighborhood streets. If they choose to bring a car to campus they'll be required to park on campus is next question is about what is the urgent complaint process neighbors can follow to contact stuff student tough student housing for example. noise after 11pm for any issues. After normal business hours. You can always contact Tufts University Police Department. And then what is the non urgent complaint process for neighbors. Trash and parking. And again, for those issues you would contact my office, 617-627-3780 or community relations at Tufts.edu. So those are all of Randy's questions.
Moving on to Patrick Snyder. This question is for Jerry. How many egresses are there in the number 50 building. I think that's the number 50 Winthrop Street.
[LaD96QjuMPs_SPEAKER_06]: We have one main entrance, all of the bedrooms have what refers to as egress windows. They're sized such that for emergency egress, a person would safely be able to depart, which is all very much in line with the state and international building code.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Jerry. And I think it's going to be the same answer, but could you give- For Capon. For Capon, correct.
[LaD96QjuMPs_SPEAKER_06]: Right, very much so.
[Rocco DiRico]: Okay, thank you. Um, Francis Mitchell asks. So you circumvented Medford, only three unrelated tenants living together. Adam dash wonder if you could take this question and explain why we're allowed to have more than three unrelated people in these units.
[Dash]: Oh, sure. Well, they're not tenants. This is more of a dormitory with students under the co-housing program that's being done with Medford, as you all may know. This is an ability for the student body to be housed in these buildings and the other side for Tufts to renovate these old buildings and keep them in a high degree of repair. So that restriction does not apply to us. So there are various legal Legal protections that universities have, I won't get into all the details, but this is not technically a private apartment in the traditional sense. And they all have separate bedrooms, as you heard, and they were all lockable. So whether it's living as a household or not, it's not really a household in the conventional sense.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Adam. And the next question is from Francis Mitchell who asked you, you know and I know there will be more cars, Tufts can accommodate so where will they go. As we've stated all students who choose to bring a car will be required to park on campus we do have. capacity at Dowling Garage and in our surface lots for student parking. We're also hoping that by the time this project is complete, the Green Line will be open and many students will choose to use mass transit or blue bikes, which I know are coming to Medford, and other modes of transportation. Um Norell asks, thank you for this presentation. I have a question on 50 Winthrop Street. It's on the corner of Emory Street, a one-way street, hoping the driveway load unload area will be on Winthrop Street to minimize the unnecessary traffic and discourage wrong way driving down our little street. Um Jerry or maybe Ruth, could you answer that? I know that I believe that the but there are reasons for that.
[LaD96QjuMPs_SPEAKER_06]: Ruth, you want to do that? You want me to start to do that? Again, the main goal is to really, there's truly some grading issues on 50 Winthrop and kind of looking back at the existing house and the grade, it actually has this fairly steep sloping grade rising up to it. The side street was good. Again, we're not looking at parking in the driveway that you have in there, but a place where something could be loaded or unloaded max in there. It's usually restricted in times in which people would use it. So I think it was it was done, I think, best to working with
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Jerry. And Maria asks, how will the parking be monitored? It sounds good to say that they can't park. However, this is an issue with construction that has happened in the past. So Tufts University can monitor all parking on properties on our property. So if anyone is violating the 15 minute parking rule for these properties, we can enforce parking there. In terms of street parking, that's enforced by the city of Medford, but obviously we can have TUPD coordinate with Medford if that becomes an issue.
Norell asks a follow-up to the traffic question answered. You are significantly increasing the number of people in the neighborhood. This will increase car traffic by means of pickup, drop-off, Uber, Lyft, taxi, et cetera. Yes, we are increasing the number of people in neighborhood but where, again, we have put a drop off spot at each resident, so we're hoping that they that that's where they'll be picked up and dropped off so it'll minimize the impact to the neighborhood.
The next question is from Francis Mitchell. Why can't Tufts police arrest underage and or public intoxication. I don't have anyone from the Tufts University Police Department on the line tonight so I don't want to answer that question for them but I can certainly say that whenever a neighbor has an issue, whether that be underage drinking or a noise complaint or anything. They can contact Tufts University Police Department and they always respond within minutes. They always notify Medford Police Department if it's an off-campus issue and they joint respond to any issues there. So if you are seeing any of that behavior, please do not hesitate to contact the Tufts University Police Department.
Next question from Narelle, trash dumpster or city be picking up the trash? Sorry if this was already asked. That's a great question, Narelle. I don't think it's been asked and we will have private pickup of the trash. So this will not be a burden on the city. We have these properties, we have a private company that picks up trash at all of our coho. properties. Next question is from Maria G. Also, when you say the students will park on campus, is there a lot or is it going to be on Capon Street? So the students can park in Dowling Garage or on the surface lots on campus, not on Capon Street on this side of Winthrop.
Francis C asks, those are significant numbers of new people to add to the current water and sewer systems. How will you address that.
[Ruthie Bennett]: Yeah, I mean we will have these plans reviewed and approved by the city. And if they're currently in our engineering studies there is no need to increase water or sewer. Like I said there's a chance we will increase our electric connection but we're still looking into that.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Ruth, and favorite ask why are you choosing to put more students into the community when there are issues with tough students not respecting the neighborhood regulations, such as noise and garbage ordinances and to answer your question for you that's exactly why we're doing. this project. We're trying to get these students into Tufts housing that's supervised by Tufts University Police that have graduate resident directors. The issue with off-campus houses is that they often have landlords that don't live in the neighborhood, and it's difficult to address these issues. When it's a Tufts property, you can pick up the phone, call my office, call TUPD, and we can respond immediately. And I think if you look at our other coho properties, you'll find that they're very well maintained compared to some of the other landlord-owned properties.
Michael A. asks, why do your snow removal crews typically run front loader cats on Capon Street between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.? ? on during a snow event and will these properties increase the noise we have to endure during snow removal? You know, I wish that all snow fell during the day, is I think the answer. Unfortunately, when the snow does fall at night, we are obligated by the city and by being good neighbors to clear that snow. And sometimes that means we have to clear the snow in the early hours. So we always, our contractors always try to delay it as much as they can, but the snow must be removed so that the sidewalks are clear and safe for our neighbors.
Narelle has a comment here. I strongly disagree with the driveway placement. I'm sure you are more than able to work with the grading and any other issues very easily. I think that the driveway placement on both properties is the existing driveway Harmon Zuckerman, PB – He, Him, His.: : placement so we're not moving it and they've seen it seems to be working. Harmon Zuckerman, PB – He, Him, His.: : And again, the rel is another follow up to that is there any way we can discuss the driveway placement and more detail more disruption to the neighbor in short term is much better than longer term disruption. The entire street and around I would be happy to meet with you or talk this over with you on the phone and see if there. Something we can do to to lessen that impact, and you can just call our office and i'd be happy to meet with you.
I have a few more follow up questions will there be an in person meeting where we can discuss our concerns further. Again, or I'll be happy to meet with you at any time just contact my office and we can set up a meeting, but the meetings that I listed before the historic commission, the Community Development Board, those are all going to be public meetings, those will all be advertised and, and people can go to those meetings as well. And then Norell says, but you are increasing the beds, people, and the driveway has always been an issue.
And again, I think with the existing driveway, the people who live at 50 Winthrop were parking there. The change here that's, I think, going to have a positive impact is that the students will be required to park on campus and not there. Faye Reich asks, Tufts currently does landscaping on its properties on Edison Avenue, which sometimes starts before 8 a.m. Will Tufts assure that this will not happen with the new and old properties? I think landscaping and other work is actually allowed to begin at 7 a.m. in Medford, so I can tell you that it won't occur before 7 a.m., but again, whether it's landscaping The landscaping is allowed to start at seven. So I think we're already trying to mitigate that by starting an hour later than what the ordinance allows.
Michael A asks, the snow removals are breaking Medford's noise ordinances 7am. I don't think that the snow removal applies to noise ordinances. I think there's, I don't want to speak, Victor Trader from the city of Medford is on the line. So if I'm incorrect, Victor, please correct me. But my understanding is that because snow removal is a public safety issue, they are allowed to work overnight.
[Victor Schrader]: Hi Rocco, this is Victor Schrader with the city of Medford. I'm not sure we can look into that certainly and respond to this resident and to Tufts with that answer. Thank you, Victor.
[Rocco DiRico]: Maria just says, thank you. Harmon Zuckerman, PB – He, Him, His): And then, are there any other questions, otherwise I or I would like to give Victor an opportunity if he wants to ask any questions on behalf of the city of medford or making statements.
[Victor Schrader]: Thank you Rocco. Again, economic development director for the city I just want residents to know as Rocco stated earlier that there will be multiple opportunities for input on these projects starting with historical commission which will review the historic nature of the buildings, given their age. And then the Community Development Board site plan review process will be a public hearing that will be noticed. We will also be posting this meeting on Medford Community Media for review in the future. I think it's being live streamed right now, actually.
folks can reach out to the planning office at the city if they have any follow-up questions or concerns about the project where we'd love to hear from you. Thank you, Tufts, and thank you to all the residents that joined this call this evening.
[Rocco DiRico]: Thank you, Victor. There's someone, Faye Reich asks if you could give the phone number for the planning office. Happily, I'll drop it in the chat here. Thank you. And Elizabeth Bale asked if we could please repeat the dates of the coming meetings. Again, we would be going to the Historical Commission in June, I believe that meeting is on Monday. It's a multi meeting process though. So that would just be our initial application. And depending on how long it takes that historic commission, it would be our plan to go to the community development board in the fall. I don't know the exact date because it would depend on how the Medford historical commission goes and how many meetings that takes. But those will all be publicly noticed meetings.
Francis Mitchell has a comment. There have been times when 150 students or more have had rave parties. We have called the police who passed it off the Tufts and nothing is done. Again, you can call either the Tufts University Police Department or the Medford Police Department. There is always a joint response and they always do respond immediately. To answer a previous question, Victor has put his phone number in the chat. The Office of Planning and Development and Sustainability is 781-393-2480.
And finally, from Narelle, Tufts maintains their properties well. I appreciate the meeting, but this will be a sticking point with me. There are a lot of changes being done to both properties that are very different. So claiming the driveway is being kept as it is will always work is not a good argument. So again, Narelle, I'll be happy to meet with you one-on-one to talk about the driveways. look at both sites, and then Victor also placed the email address for the planning office in here. It's ahunt at medford-ma.gov. That's Alicia Hunt's email, or ocd at medford-ma.gov.
All right, with that, I am not seeing any more questions. So I want to thank everybody for joining us here tonight. In particular, I want to thank Victor Schrader from the city of Medford for coming here tonight to answer questions and help things. And again, our office is always available, please do not hesitate to call us. We can be reached at 617-627-3780, or at communityrelations at tufts.edu. Elizabeth Bale says thank you for the meeting. Elizabeth and everybody else, thank you for attending, and thank you to all of our panelists for all your work here tonight as well. Thanks, everybody, and go Celtics.