I want to welcome everybody to the meeting of the Amherst Design Review Board. My name is Catherine Porter and I am the chair of the Amherst Design Review Board and I'm calling this meeting to order. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, GLC 30A section 18 and the governor's March 15, 2020 imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place. This public hearing of the town of Amherst Design Review Board is being conducted via remote participation. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but the public can attend tonight's virtual meeting by using the Zoom login information provided on the meeting agenda listed on the meeting calendar which provided on the town of Amherst website. We will begin with a roll call of the members of the Design Review Board who have been impaneled for the consideration of the items on tonight's agenda. Board members please say aye or yes to acknowledge your attendance for the record. Lindsey Schnarr. Hi. Okay Janet Markward. Yes. Erica Zekos. Yes. Tom Long. Yes. Okay also in attendance is Marine Pollock planner and staff liaison to the Design Review Board. The Design Review Board and its accompanying zoning regulations were created by town meeting on in October 1983. The charge and purpose of the Design Review Board under section 3.2 of the zoning bylaw is to preserve and enhance the town's cultural, economic, and historical resources by providing for a detailed review of all changes in land use, the appearance of structures, and the appearance of sites which may affect these resources. The Design Review Board exercises this responsibility by providing design review and recommendations to private applicants and permit granting boards within specific overlay zoning districts in the town center. The Design Review Overlay District and the town common design review overlay district. Design Review is also provided for town departments and permit granting boards with respect to town projects anywhere in Amherst which will result in substantial alteration to the form or appearance of a structure or site. All design review boards are open to the public and are recorded by town staff. Each meeting recording will be uploaded in the town of Amherst YouTube channel for public viewing. The procedure is as follows. The petitioner presents the application to the design to the board during the meeting after which the board will ask questions for clarification or additional information. After the board has completed its questions, the board will deliberate. If the board feels it has enough information and time, it will decide upon recommendations for each respective application. Once the board has voted on its recommendations, the staff liaison will type up the recommendations for distribution to the applicant board and applicable land use board and building commissioner. And so we have tonight's agenda posted there. So shall we, Marina, we're going to start with the DRB-2020-08 town of Amherst. Catherine, if you don't mind, we staff and I were talking a little while ago. We have a consultant that is present. And we were wondering if the third item could go first, which is regarding the North Amherst library extension building. All right. Why don't we just go ahead then. Okay. So let's see. Oh, Chris is here, Chris Farley, and Chris Brestrup from the planning department. Chris Farley is an architect with Cune Riddle and is working with the town regarding the site plan review application for this project. It's the planning board will be opening its public hearing in the next couple of weeks. I don't know the exact date. But, Chris, if you, I can certainly share my screen for you or if you want to share your screen, let me know. And if you could walk the DRB through what, you know, obviously what is there now and what are you proposing? And, you know, as Catherine said in her opening statement, you know, the design review board is here to look at exterior changes. And I just lost the page, hold on a second. And, you know, at minimum, they're looking at design review standards of the zoning bylaw under section 3.2041, which gets into height proportions, relations to structures and spaces, shape, landscape, scale, directional expression, architectural psych details and science. So just wanted to remind everyone of that. So cool. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Thanks very much for letting me come and talk about this project. Maureen, I think I'm going to ask you, are you, do you have queued up the site plan review application and or the PowerPoint presentation I sent today? I don't have any, I, did you email me that? I did, but I haven't queued up here. I'm happy to share that. Yeah, that would be great. Okay. I think what I'm going to suggest is we have a fairly simple PowerPoint presentation. It's about eight or nine images. And I think it gives a pretty good overview of the project. And if necessary, we can get into more detail. But I think that's a good starting point. And it'll just take, I think a few minutes to give an overview of the project. So let's see here. So I am going to, I think I'm just going to stay here on this, I'm not going to actually do the full slideshow if that's okay with everybody. I mean, I'm not going to do the full screen slideshow rather. So this project is something that came about a couple of years ago at town meeting. There was a sum of money that was dedicated to a feasibility study to make the library accessible and to provide some community meeting space. So we've been working with the town. Cune-Rudel has been working with the town for, for about two years. We actually just finished our schematic design phase. And we're now in the town permitting phase where we're going to be doing site plan review, accessibility review, the design review, board review. And then hopefully if we get all the necessary approvals, we'll be moving into design development and construction documents later this year. So this is a view of the southern facade, the main entry of the North Amherst Library. One of our goals with this project is to really maintain the integrity of this building as much as possible. And certainly one of the goals is to keep this main entry facade as unchanged as possible. And the next few slides we'll show you a little bit about how we're planning to do that. I will say that in order to achieve the accessibility of the library, which as you can see here is up about six or seven risers, about four feet from the existing walkway, existing grade, what we're proposing is to make a fully accessible entry around the back on the north side. So this front facade will be, will remain unchanged, but the main entry to the library will be around the back. Just for some context and some history, this is a photograph, historical photograph of the library. This is Montague Road on the right and Sunderland Road on the left. This is a little blacksmith shop that was there at the time this photograph was taken. But it's, the library has really remained virtually unchanged from the exterior since it was built in 1893. So here's a proposed site plan. You can see on the right here is Montague Road. On the left is Sunderland Road. It's a triangular shaped lot. The existing library is this white rectangle here in the middle. And then this cross hatched or this hatched area is the proposed addition. And then we also propose that the existing parking area, which is quite informal, that it be more formalized and upgraded so that we can provide full accessibility to accessible parking spaces and an accessible path that would come up onto a walkway and in the new accessible entry to the building and ultimately bring people into the existing library. One other thing I would mention, because really the only buildable area is on this north side just because of the setbacks and the narrowness of the site, the idea is to really not change the front or the sides of the building at all. We're going to try to maintain as many of the existing plantings around the front and the two sides and really just concentrate the construction on the north side of the building. So this is a floor plan of the existing building kind of in gray here at the bottom and the proposed addition. So one of the goals of the aesthetic goals of this project is to try to maintain the integrity of the existing building and to really let it stand on its own as much as possible. So what we've done is we have provided the addition here in the back and then connected the addition to the existing building with a narrow connector is what we call it, to try to minimize the area of the existing building where the new building connects to protect and maintain as much of the existing fabric as possible, to maintain as many of the existing windows as possible for natural light and some views. And really, as I said, to maintain the integrity of the building and to try to make the addition really a secondary and complementary structure. So we certainly think we've achieved that pretty well. So there were three main goals of this project as given to us by the town. One is to make the existing library level which is about four feet above grade fully accessible. Number two was to provide a community meeting room that could be used during off library hours or off hours. In this particular plan, there's a set of double doors here in the middle. Those doors could be locked when the library is closed and the public could still have access to the meeting room and the accessible bathrooms. And then the third objective was to upgrade the systems and the existing library to LED lighting to a fully electric heat pump heating and cooling system and also to make sure that the addition is zero net energy ready. We are not providing a zero net energy building. The proposed cost of this project doesn't require it, but we have been directed by the town to try to make it as efficient, as practical, and to make it zero net energy ready. So we have really quite a good envelope, insulation, air sealing, again electric heat pump systems for cooling and heating, triple-pane windows, etc. So we do have a very energy efficient building. This is a simple section through the new entry which is here on the left. The parking area would be on the left-hand side, a covered entry at grade coming into an entry lobby, and then the connector provides that connection up to the existing library level. Actually, I'm going to go back here for a second. The connector has a main staircase on axis that goes up to the library, and then to the right of that is a wheelchair lift. So that provides the full accessibility to the library level. The wheelchair lift also goes down to the basement level, but that's really only for staff. And then there's also a stairway that goes to the basement, but the basement is not open to the public. It's just the main library level and then the new addition. I'm not sure there's too much more to say about this, but simply to reiterate that because the existing library floor level is so much above grade, we didn't really feel it was feasible to try to provide full accessibility at the front of the building, because it would really be quite intrusive to provide that to the front of the building. So the new entry will be on the north side on the left of this drawing. Then there's a couple of series of renderings of the existing building here on the left, the connector here in the middle, and the addition on the right. You'll have to forgive the colors. They're not quite as accurate as they could be, but they are approximate. So let's see. So what we really wanted to do was to take our design cues from the existing building. So in terms of massing, in terms of materials, in terms of fenestration, we've really taken our main cues from the existing building, but we've treated the materials and the colors a little bit differently. We wanted to use the same materials. So for instance, this bottom band, this kind of reddish band at the bottom of the existing building is wood shingles, painted wood shingles. So we really have pulled that material into the addition, but in order to not be an imitation of the existing, but to connect it, we've chosen to propose that they be natural shingles that are just sealed. We also felt that that helped to make this addition really secondary to the primary structure. We've imagined that the darker green trim all around, that will help tie it into the existing green trim. So it's not the same color, but it's in the same family. And then the standing seam metal roof, while different from the existing library, it certainly lends the addition that same sense of permanence. The roof of the existing library is a slate roof. So this is the north side. This is the new entry level. So there's a gable here, a very steep gable. We've taken this gable pitch directly from the existing gable at the south side, the existing entry to the library. And we've really tried to replicate. Well, replicate is the wrong word. We have tried to take our cues from the existing building to create a new entry that has a connection to the existing entry. And then there's also a secondary gable here on the left, which is a kind of a bay window and a gable structure that is part of the meeting room to the left. As I said, this is going to be fully accessible from the north. And then the west side elevation, again, is quite similar to the east side. It's the same materials. One of the things that I'm sure you can tell from this, because the addition is at grade and doesn't have as much of a full attic as the existing building, the form of it is also going to be quite a bit lower. The peak of the roof is going to be quite a bit lower. And so that's another way in which the new addition will not overwhelm the existing. And then we have a couple of high-level perspectives. This is from the north side, the new parking area. It shows the existing building kind of peeking out here on the right. And it shows an approximation of what the plantings will be around the building. This view shows the two accessible parking spaces. We'll have a walkway here that goes east-west that connects in with the existing walkways on Montague Road to the left and on Sunderland Road to the right. And I think that's about it for the overview. Can I describe anything else or answer any questions that anyone might have? Any questions? Hi, Chris. Thanks for the great introduction to the project, and it looks very exciting. Thanks, Lindsay. Nice to see you, by the way. You too. It's been a while. Yeah. So I'm sure you touched on this, but I didn't hear you talk much about the site access from Montague versus Sunderland Road. Can you go back to that for a moment? Sure. So I believe from what I reviewed earlier that the access is being cut off from Montague Road, correct? That's correct. Okay. And is there anything proposed in terms of right now? There's like some really lovely cinder blocks that line that side of the road. I'm curious to hear what is being proposed for that edge along the parking, the new parking edge in the street. Well, so Lindsay, that's a good question, because when we first started working with the town on this project, Guilford Mooring, the head of the DPW, told us about the proposed realignment of Sunderland Road, where Sunderland Road would be coming, they would be realigned just to the north of this site and would join Montague Road. There are a number of different options there. It might be a roadery, it might be a traffic light. However, we were instructed very clearly by the town to ignore that realignment for the purposes of this project. So we did feel it was most prudent to have the access to the parking area from Sunderland Road and to cut off that access to Montague Road. The intention from a design point of view is just to continue the existing sidewalk that comes along here. There'll be just a grass planted area between the sidewalk and the new parking area. But aside from that, we haven't proposed any more extensive plantings to some degree because we have been told that even though the schedule of the realignment is not known, that the realignment will be moving forward. I think that we anticipate that a more extensive landscaping plan will probably be developed as part of that realignment. Okay, that sounds good. Thank you. Other comments? Erica, yeah. Thanks, Chris. I enjoyed that presentation. I have to say I'm really really appreciating how this building does reference, kind of take its inspiration from the existing, which is so unique and full of character. It finds its way to be a good partner without trying to take over, even though it's square footage is larger, you've done a nice job of finding that home, that secondary position for it. Thank you. I am curious about two things. One is when you talked about it being net zero ready, I didn't know if you'd done a solar study to see if panels could eventually go on that new self-sloping roof that you've designed. And if you gave any consideration to that, are the locations of the bathrooms an issue? Because there will be penetrations on the roof? Like, what does it mean in your mind to be net zero ready? Okay, well, so that's a very good question. Well, I think being net zero ready, I think first and foremost means that we design a building that is as energy efficient as practical. I don't say as possible, but as practical given the real life considerations, budget considerations. So we're trying to make a very well insulated tight envelope. We're trying to use very energy efficient systems. We did explore the idea of somehow utilizing PV on this site. And then we were instructed by the town that if this were to become a zero net energy project, that it's likely that the PV panels would be located off site. So we haven't really explored extensively the idea of putting PV panels on the roof of the addition. I do think it would be probably fairly easy to do. We haven't done solar studies to understand whether the existing building would be a barrier to good energy production. But we have a wood truss roof system planned. We could certainly structure it so that it could support panels. And there would be enough space in that interstitial space between that south facing roof slope and the ceiling of the of the meeting room and the bathrooms to be able to maintain any electrical or other connections to those panels. But again, we were instructed by the town to really not delve into the idea of putting PV on this site. Thank you. And then I was wondering, my second question is about the entry sequence for differently abled folks. I see that there's a planter zone directly in front of the entrance, which I actually like because it extends that line of symmetry out into the parking.  What was the inspiration there? I think it's mostly because of the issue you just mentioned. I think we didn't want people to necessarily come out of the building and be faced immediately with a loading zone or parking spaces. We thought that it was a way to really help provide a greener, a little softer sequence, mostly a visual sequence. And our feeling was that moving the two accessible parking spaces off to the side by 15 feet or so, that that was not going to provide any great hardship. It wasn't because of grading issues or elevation issues. It was an aesthetic and an experience decision-making process. Yeah. And then I just worry a little bit about the tree and your rendering that's located in that spot might do a great deal of masking of the entrance from a distance. It might call attention to it, but I think that working, I guess you're working with Berkshire Design Group to choose that species just right. So it's not, it'll only be so low for so long. Right. Now, Erica, that's a very good point. And we've talked a little bit with Mike Lu at Berkshire Design Group about exactly what those plantings on that little island, that little peninsula will be. But your point is well taken. I think that if we do end up with a tree there, I think it does need to be a species that can really not get too big because it would easily overwhelm the entry and just also provide kind of a maintenance and shading issue, I think, for the parking spaces on either side. So your point is well taken. And we'll definitely study that a little more. Jan, do you have any comments? I agree with Erica that you've done a great job of subjugating the new portion to the main building. And I like a lot of the decisions you made about how to attach it and where things go. I'm just, I'm a little uncomfortable with the way that the appearance of the addition both takes the pitch and the gable of this Victorian kind of neo-gothic original. And then with the natural siding and colors and those peers, those columns and bases on the porch, I just feel like it suddenly throws it into craftsman era or something. And I don't know, I feel like at the point that you've put those and the natural shingles, it stops coordinating smoothly with the original building. I'm just wondering if they weren't painted more like the original or at least the same height bands of separation between the lower, that red base and the yellow upper. I don't know. It's in the windows with the little panes at the top and the way that there's wide moldings. It just starts looking to me like more like arts and crafts than the, I mean later craftsmen. Then the pure style of the original. It's just my first impression. Having never seen this, it's just, you know, how it hit me. Okay, well, that's, I certainly appreciate that comment. I mean, I guess to be quite honest, I think that, you know, our intention was certainly not to try to pull in, you know, a craftsman style or an arts and crafts look and feel. We did try to, you know, to pull the details and the proportions of trim, etc., from the existing building, the massing of the building. But we are, as I said, we just finished up schematic design. Once we get through the permitting phase with the town, we will be looking at some of these details a little more carefully. And I'm happy to make a note of that to our design team and to study that a little more and, you know, to maybe to do some adjustments to try to make sure that our goal, our intention, which is to have this addition really feel like it is a compliment. And to some extent a reflection of the existing building and the existing style to make sure that we do achieve that. So I think your point is well taken. Could you show me the, show us the south entrance again, just to see how the other side of the door is handled there? Oh, yes, it's really different. Okay. Yeah, I, we did have a discussion, you know, as we were designing this addition. So there are these, you know, smaller round columns here with, and then with the shingled piers at the corner of the addition. So the, you know, the new round column certainly is kind of drawing from these, but obviously the proportion is quite different. We do have, we do have a concern that this building not feel postmodern. And so if we need to look at reproportioning or modifying some of those details, I think we're certainly open to that. Okay. Also the upper lights in the new windows in all the small panes, I don't see them in the old one. It is hard to, hard to see, but this double window here, or well, or single window is, this is what it looks like. Oh, okay. So there are these, you know, four clear stories that we pulled directly into the existing building. And then it's two over one. It's the same. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, some of the other details you can see in the dormers here in the attic with, you know, the very large, you know, trim around the arched window with the keystone, et cetera. We pulled some of those details in as well. Keystone, I noticed on the north side to echo that. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess it just struck me. I think it's mostly the unpainted shingles and that color with the green, and then just the fact that they're a natural shingle along with those larger posts or columns, whatever. Just, yeah, it just started to look much later in terms of style dating. No, I, as I said, I think your, your point is well taken. And I think we'll definitely give this another look and, and we'll, you know, we'll talk about refining this to, to to reflect the existing building. I mean, I could, those two just becoming rather fat, simple Doric columns without those bases that expand at the bottom that just make it look so much later. I don't know. But I'm sure you'll want to play with it. So otherwise, I think it's great. Okay. Well, well, thank you. Thank you for the, for the comments. I appreciate it. Sure. I think my only, which I just think it's a beautiful building and how lucky you were as a designer to have the space to do something like that, to put it on the back, it's supposed to have you to stick it on the side. And then you'd be hopeless trying to capture that iconic North Amherst library look.  And I don't maybe this goes along with what Jan was saying, but I wondered if there might be a consideration to make, to stain those or paint those more in a similar color to the library, as opposed to standing out, because it really is a very beautiful sort of standalone building with the shingles the way they are. So that was, that'd be my only suggestion that it's unfortunate that it couldn't be blend in with one of the colors on the original library, but others may feel differently. But other than that, I think it's a wonderful design and kudos. It's going to be amazing. The color thing is just throwing me a bit. Sure. Well, well, thank you very much for that. I think that one of the main driving points of keeping these shingles natural, and I will say that because this is a computer envisioning, the colors are really not quite right. They're a little more garish than they are or would be in real life. But I think that we intentionally did go to the natural shingles so that we were not, that the addition did not appear to be trying to imitate the existing building. Right, yeah. But having said that, I can understand your comment and I will say again that because we are in the early to mid stages of design, we do have flexibility to look at some alternatives and we definitely want to get it right. We want to try to strike that balance between imitation and something that feels foreign. We want them to work together. And if that means exploring different options for either staining or even painting the shingles, I think we would be willing to do that. Okay. Tom, did you have any comments? I know you're going to see this again at the planning board. Tom there. Yeah, I said a couple of quick comments for the first question. Well, actually, let me just say I really enjoyed the presentation. I think you guys did a really great job. Thank you. Across the board, I've been studying the elevations and the renderings were unexpected compared to the elevations because I found the elevations really clued into a lot of the nuance that I think is being raised here. And obviously when you come to these meetings, everyone pickpiles onto the issue that's being foregrounded here, which is the color of these shingles. And so again, when I look at the elevations, I see a really powerful continuity, but not a copy. But when I see the renderings, I don't hate it. I don't like, I'm not sure. I'm sure maybe when it's actually built with the right materials, it might look different. But I do think it is something to experiment with because like I said, the drawings really tell a story that I think the renderings aren't doing at the moment. But again, I really like the form. I like the massing. I like a lot of that stuff. One of my questions was about the existing entry. Is that being fully shut out? So if you wanted to enter the building through the traditional entrance, you could not experience that anymore? Yes, that's the idea. So the architectural access board and the accessibility requirements, for good reason, don't permit some people, but not all people to use this existing entry. We do intend to maintain it as an egress, as an emergency egress. But the intention is to make sure that everybody enters the building equally. And that really the only way for that to occur is through the new North entry. Okay, good. That's a great answer. Thank you. The other thing I think that Jan brought up is the entry for me. I really think there's something beautiful happening. Again, I'm looking at the elevation. So when I see the renderings, that's why I'm a little bit surprised because I think the renderings do that facade justice. But when I look at the elevations, and I see from the west side, I see the south entry and the north entry. I feel like there's a missed opportunity there just in terms of some of the language that's there. It can be built in a contemporary way and designed in a contemporary way, but there's some really nice nuance. Again, you can't see it in the rendering, but in the elevations you can see it. But anyway, I like the elements like the railing and the posts that they're using there are interesting and they don't feel like you'd be copying them by stealing some things from there. And then my last super nuance and strange question is I was truly thrown off by the scale of these windows. There are two sets, one on the new front facade and one on the west elevation. And they just feel out of proportion to me. And the rest of the windows across the entire project are clusters of smaller windows with larger tops. Those larger windows just feel out of proportion. And I'm wondering, based on what you see in this elevation, for instance, the existing building, the clustering of those larger smaller windows into a larger set to produce, I want more light. I see why they're bigger. But I'm wondering if clustering them and doing something clear story might, you know, another level of clear story in the same language might allow just as much light, but not seem out of proportion to the kind of larger, seemingly Anderson style kind of window that I see here. So again, those are just things that were very nitpicky, but, you know, design like this where nuance is everything, those things just kind of jumped out at me. But overall, like I said, the whole project looks really great. And it's super exciting to see this come to life. Well, thank you, you know, for the positive feedback and for the, you know, for the comments about the shingles and the difference between the, you know, the kind of black line elevations and the renderings and the windows, I totally get it. I see your point. And I do think that we, we chose the larger windows primarily for connection to the outdoors and for bringing light in. But I totally understand what you're saying about them really being a different element than the other windows and certainly different element than the windows in the existing building, different proportion, etc. So I think that's something that's definitely worth another look as well. I have a couple more quick things, hopefully. One is, I didn't hear you talk much about signage. And I know this is, you know, in addition, so perhaps there isn't a plan for adding any, but I wanted to just at least ask that question. You know, I wish I had a good answer for that. I assume you're talking about exterior signage. Yes. So we, I'll be honest, we have not fully addressed signage. I think our intention is to have a some sort of kind of a monument ground mount sign. Perhaps that would be on this west side over here where the vehicles come in. Maybe it would be in this island.  And we certainly need to do that. And we need to do it as part of our site plan review. So okay. And then that's fine. I just wanted to touch on it. And then I have two other really basic comments. One is it concerns me a little bit having the sidewalk, right, where people are pulling in. And I wonder if you've talked about having like a curb in the paving in the parking spaces as a separate element from the curb that goes up to the sidewalk or some kind of buffer there. That's not something you necessarily need to answer, but it's just maybe something to discuss with Berkshire design, just as an additional kind of safety feature. Yeah, that's a good point. And then my only other question, and I don't want to believe it was too long, but I don't know if we talked much about the kind of connector roof. They see that there's, you know, I know that there's some height restrictions to deal with in terms of kind of like you're stepping up and then you're at the, you're really at the original building level in that connector, right? Well, yes. So the roof here of the connector shown in this view is really just about at the, I think it's at about the eight foot level. Okay, so it's as low as it can go. It's just about as low as it can go. Also the other thing is, and I apologize, I should have had probably a different view, but we did try to align this fascia of this connector roof with some of the trim on the north side of the building so that there's a stronger connection. Let's see that. And then I assume there's a window and that gable above it, so you're limited by that height, right? Well, so this gable is into the attic and there actually is not, and there's not a window. The attic is unfinished and unoccupied. I think I don't have a photo available. I think that there's a similar treatment. There's some sort of a trim treatment. Oh, you know, so one of the things I neglected to mention is, let's see here. So in plan right here is a fireplace. Oh. And there's a chimney that goes all the way up to the roof, through the roof. Right now it's being used as a ventilation for the furnace. Now the chimney, none of that masonry is exposed on the exterior of the building. It's all on the inside of the framing. So the only piece of the chimney that shows on the exterior is the two or three feet that extend through the roof of that gable. Mm-hmm. You know, it's right here. But the intention is that that entire chimney in the fireplace all the way down to the basement is going to be removed because that it's a barrier to this point of access for the accessibility for the stairs and the lift. Interesting. Yeah, I guess where I was eventually going was just questioning the flat roof there. And again, I don't we don't need to have a long discussion about it. I'm sure there's reasons why that, you know, is the strategy that was chosen. But I guess I just that's kind of the one place where my eye is is just curious if having an intersecting gable there might help to would just be I would be curious to see it.  And I think our, well, two things. One is we did explore it and our feeling was that it called more attention to it in a way that that seems inappropriate. And also that it it covered up more of that fabric within that that gable that north facing gable. The second thing is and it this these these elevations these renderings don't I think fully tell the whole picture but our intention is that these plantings here will perhaps be a little bit taller. And the idea is what we would like to do is we'd really like to screen that connector so that it totally sits back and becomes the least important element. Yeah, that makes sense. And if you know if you if you look at the plan here so you know the existing east elevation and west elevation of the library, you know, it does it sticks out quite a bit from that connector as do as does the the addition. And I think our intention is that the plantings will really help screen this connector so it will become much less important and much more much less visually present than the existing building in the addition. Is there anything that's going to be housed on the roof of that flat area? No, the only thing we have there is a skylight. I see. Okay. But no equipment all the equipment will be ground mount. There will be a a you know a fence and some plantings that will shield the ground mount heat pump equipment on the west side. Well, it looks like a really exciting project. It is it's a it's a fabulous project. I we we've really been having a lot of fun with it and yeah it's a it's a it's exciting to be working with such a beautiful you know gem of a building. Catherine I just wanted to mention we probably should move on to the next topic in a few minutes before but before that it looks like Ms. Breastrup has raised her hand. All right.  Thank you. I just have a few things to mention and you don't need to answer these now but you will be coming to the planning board on March 17th. So one thing that came up when we talked about this project internally was that the building commissioner thought there would be a good opportunity to get a variance from the architectural access board to allow the the current front entrance to remain as a use a usable entrance even though you have an accessible entrance on the other side. He thought that it's possible that you may be going after other variances with the and you could bundle them together. So that's just a thought but you know I think we in the planning department would love it if you could keep that that main entrance that currently exists open. Second thing is I wondered when you look at the picture of the front of the building which we're looking at now it's you know very sort of I don't know old-fashioned and it's going to be really different in terms of the landscaping. I'm not even thinking about the building. I'm thinking about the landscaping and the benches and I wondered if there's going to be some effort to tie in the benches that you're going to use on the other side. I think you are proposing a bench on the other side. So is there any thought to have the benches be compatible or is there any thought to sort of refurbishing these benches and making them look more inviting? So that's a thought. Again you don't have to answer it and I think you've got a bike rack and a bench at the new main entrance so the planning board will want to hear about that. And then the other thing is I think this existing building was recently painted. Is that right? I believe it was. So I guess that's just a question I was thinking are you going to be repainting this building when you do the work on the other building or you know there may be more of an opportunity to make the colors more compatible you know if you think about doing something with this building as well as the other building. So again don't answer just think about those things. Thank you very much for that Chris. I had not heard the idea of the variance for the front entry but it's an intriguing idea and we'll definitely talk about it. Okay so I think we've gotten some good suggestions for Chris and now Maureen would you like a motion or you know where we can. Sure do you mind if I just kind of go through my list? Yeah go ahead. Okay. Kind of comments. Yes. So there are you know comments about shingles and whether you know maybe they should be stained or painted. The larger windows feel out of proportion. Perhaps the Chris Farley and his team can explore that some more. There was a discussion about signage where you know what kind of signage is a monument sign where would that be located on the property? Could there be a buffer between the walkway and the parking spaces? There are questions about the color of the trim and just coloring in general and then Chris Brestrup had just commented about you know if possible keep the style of the the benches consistent you know throughout the site and you know provide I think the site plan shows the bike rack you know right yeah so for the planning board you would want to show you know the that's that's back or or a like a sample photo and the question about will you be repainting the existing building exterior and if you know if so that could help sort of make make this project more coherent coherent with the the color the coloring. Did I miss anything? May I clarify something I said? Oh sure. I didn't necessarily mean that the benches needed to be the same. I thought that they needed to be brought up to the same level of sort of looking good. I mean I would understand that the benches that exist there may be memorial benches and may mean a lot to somebody who gave them so I'm not suggesting that they be thrown away and new mentions be brought here but just that these be made to look as nice as the benches that are as the bench that's going to be put there if it means painting it or putting new slats in or whatever it means that's all. And also I mean Jan had made some comments about the character of the building. Oh sure. Yep and about whether you know could it be the post yes yeah the post and the the pillars the post yep. And the other really quickly throw one little thing in and that's the decoration on the gables makes a sense in terms of sort of simplifying and modernizing what's on the other end but that the circle inside that arch over that window doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever it doesn't fit. They're using the the arch form even inside their their gables and the circle doesn't doesn't fit either style so that's just a little thing to maybe look at again that's it. All right that's that's that's a that's a that's a very good comment and we've received that comment actually you know from members of our team as well so thank you for that. So given all of that can we have a motion that we have reviewed the North Amherst Library Project and offered our suggestions and I guess we want to say we approve it.  Okay Jan would you like to make that motion? Okay I guess I'm usually the one who makes motions. You are. Okay I move that we would like to positively reinforce the proposed redesign of the North Amherst Library with multiple suggestions for thinking some details and that's it. Good okay I thought it through you. It's a rough one to do because it was I never quite know how to word them but I know. Is there a second? Second. Okay it's been moved and seconded. Okay I'll go through the list and for the vote. Lindsey. Hi. Janet. All right. Erica. Erica. Are you there? Erica. I am I'm sorry I was on mute. Hi. Tom. Hi. Okay and Catherine. All right so thank you Chris. Thank you all very much for taking the time and for giving me the opportunity and thanks very much for all your comments. It's really very helpful. They've been helpful. Good. Yeah and as I believe Chris Restorpe had mentioned the planning board will be opening the public hearing for the site plan review of this project at their March 17th meeting which starts at 6 30 and the agenda and zoom information can be found on the town of Amherst calendar. Good. All right. Everyone's interested. So now where are what are we going to? Thanks very much. Oh thanks. Bye. Bye Chris. Nice to see you all. You too. So next we're going to well I guess before we move on to the next item which will be the bank center in the grant that's related to the bank center in in in that sort of vicinity. The third item on our agenda is regarding the Pomeroy village intersection and I heard earlier today that if we if we run it out of time this evening that's okay and we don't have time to review that. The town council and perhaps the the TSO they had originally given us a shorter deadline for boards and committees to review it but it seems like we might have a little more time so if we need to hold off for that item that's fine. All right. Good. So let's do the bank center then. Sure. And yeah so we have Ben Breger here. He's one of our staff planners who wrote the grant and and we successfully were given the massive DOT grant for this project so he'll pull up his screen and and walk you through this proposal. Great. Thanks everyone. Thanks Maureen. Yeah so like Maureen said we were the recipients of a $192,000 grant from Mass DOT as part of their shared streets program. The focus of our grant here I'll pull up the screen now. The purpose of our grant was to address mobility concerns in the bank center in the area around the bank center specifically with a focus on the Moussanti Community Health Center which is located in the back of the bank center in this area here and so not only is the rear section of the bank center fairly inaccessible to those who are mobility impaired but also the Clark House Apartments and the Anne Wayland Apartments are out of the screen here but they're you know to the west and north yeah sorry no east east and northeast of the bank center and many and predominantly seniors live in those facilities and this proposal also addresses a need for seniors and people living in those apartment buildings to be able to access downtown through this area so the grant proposal which we are now in the midst of implementing early stages had three main kind of project projects focus areas and I think only two of them the ramp and the outdoor dining area are applicable to the DRB but I can mention the crosswalk as well so the first and just to orient everyone we're in the Boltwood parking garage you know to the west is you know we'll be back here the Judy's Art Bar, Matt's Barbershop, you know Buena Uesanas to the south and so the bank center you know is home to the senior center I believe LSSE offices as well as the community health center so it's a fairly busy building many people coming in and out deliveries coming in right now there's also the vaccine clinic is happening there right now however the to get to the rear of the building there's these crumbling set of stairs right now that are you know burdensome even for those who are able-bodied but very dangerous for anyone who has his handicapped and so for people in wheelchairs they have to access the most anti-health center they have to go through the bank center and then get down the elevator and that's not always possible when the bank center is closed because they have different hours there's also a route from to from the back here and down the sidewalk but that's not always you know there's two handicapped parking spots here so you want to be able to get you know to the entrance of the Miss Anti-Health Center as close to the handicapped parking spots or as as possible and so luckily there's this kind of town-owned parcel that sits between Johnny's Tavern and the bank center that's a you know sloping grassy hillside right now and the town has applied twice for a grant to build this ramp it was always something we intended to do ever since the health center opened in 2016 or 17 I believe and finally we have the money now to build this ramp which kind of completes the the project and so I will show you some you know construction drawings of the ramp and some of the details you know we're not architects like Hugh and Riddle so we can't show fancy renderings like that but we can give you a sense of what it's going to look like and then second part of the grant is to really activate the Boltwood Plaza we're calling it I'm not sure it has a formal name but Boltwood Plaza seems to make sense as it's in Boltwood Garage and as many of you know you know this is the area you know situated in the middle of the parking garage there's a structure here that I believe has elevators and stairs to go down to the bottom level of the parking garage and then there's kind of just this three-quarter circle area with some plantings around it that doesn't you know we we we placed picnic tables there this summer as kind of efforts to promote you know socially distance outdoor dining a place for people to bring their takeout and we felt you know there was frequently people there I would go there on my lunch breaks often from town hall and there was almost always someone there eating if not a few people I believe that the picnic tables were only there temporarily or meant to be there temporarily I believe they were taken from a park somewhere else in town and they've been moved or they plan they will be moved and so we wanted to do something to build on the effort momentum of that first grant that we got to place picnic tables there and to make something that's more permanent in this area so we're proposing or we got money at this point to buy permanent furniture for this plaza and I will show you just some very early ideas of what we're thinking for furniture I will say the our first priority is to get this ramp built we need to get the construction out to bid and the details finalized for the ramp and then you know so we're a little bit more vague on kind of what we're proposing to do here because it's kind of the second step so and then the third piece is just this crosswalk as some of you know it's it's a dangerous intersection because this there's this building here that I believe is associated with the funeral home I believe in it as people come down from downtown on the sidewalk it's a blind corner for cars that are coming down this way and so you know there's I don't know if there's been any accidents but there's a lot of near near misses and you know there's only so much we can do we can't take this building out but we're proposing to just place what's called like ladder ladder painting on the uh road to better denote the crosswalk and also relocate the stop sign which should have been done originally relocate the stop sign before the crosswalk so that people cars know to come to a stop before the crosswalk as opposed to I believe it's right here right now so um I'm just gonna quickly let's see next is um details on each of the three projects um you know there's uh this is the construction uh I guess it would be the plan for the ramp you know at this it's fairly simple um you know it's proposed for a you know one to 12 slope with with landings um you know midway through the first slope and then where the uh you know it's an L shaped ramp so at the you know turn we're proposing a sitting area um with uh four benches a light pole to provide illumination at night and then some uh landscape plantings around I believe there will be two trees that need to be removed so we wanted to replace those um and add some shrubs as well the uh you know up here um they're proposing two bike racks a directory sign mostly just to call out the Missanti Health Center because there's a lack of signage right now um I'm trying to think what else that's pretty much it for the ramp it's going to be concrete um with with uh railings with a uh black polish I believe metal um so fairly standard you know we're a lot much of downtown has that brick banding that meet that has cement coming up to it and that often causes issues with heaving um because they freeze in thought at different rates and um there's um creates an issue for for mobility so we're sticking to purely concrete um poured concrete and no kind of brick banding at all just to keep it simple Ben are you rebuilding those steps so yes good question the the steps will be rebuilt um we the town has money to do that that they've set aside so it's not going to be part of the grant it's not going to be grant funded but it will be part of the same construction that happens this spring and summer the the steps aren't my understanding is that uh they're going to be resurfaced not totally rebuilt so essentially you um they place they pour another level of concrete over each step and basically build the whole set of stairs out one's one step um and then I believe there's a retaining wall here that's uh I believe I think it's made of wood wood um wood planks and that is having some issues right now as some there's kind of like the soil from the planters are coming through the wood and it's kind of rotting right now um so that um yeah what does it say 12 yeah 12 12 foot concrete retaining wall so that's going to be taken out and replaced with the concrete retaining wall just to sturdy that that edge up so that's the ramp proposal um I think that's about as much as there is to it the proposal for the sitting area an outdoor dining area and I will say uh we we worked with uh stand tech a technical our technical consultant for this project they're a landscape architecture and engineering firm that's I think worldwide at this point that we worked with their base Boston office so they put these drawings together um so for the boltwood plaza area um what we're thinking is placing a combination of high top tables with stools and uh some low top tables that have you know movable chairs um the idea is that this is you know we we want furniture that has more of an urban plaza feel as opposed to picnic tables which are more appropriate for parks and our recreation areas of which we have plenty in town but this is kind of what truly one of our only urban plazas in town um and so the idea here is yeah there's a combination of high top and low top tables uh the three existing benches will be also replaced as they're in rough shape right now and oh we're gonna match those with the kind of standard Amherst bench um but the and then the the you know I'm not sure how this will look quite yet but the our consultants did recommend placing wind wind breaks um within the uh sitting area to obviously break the wind um there's planters here um that do do some of that already um however they're recommending some additional metal wind breaks um when I first looked at this I thought it was due to COVID they were placing barriers in between the chairs but um that's not the case and so I'll show you a rendering or a spec for what that looks like this is a kind of what yeah this is um just like a conceptual plan at this point obviously it's meant to kind of like sell the project to the to the state and get um get their approval it's it's uh done by a landscape architect shows you know way many much more plantings than we have now and it's kind of just like a vision for for what the space could look like we're obviously not proposing bright orange tables um and the these benches are just kind of like um long rectangular pieces of wood that's not what we had in mind but it's just that kind of the idea that this place really could have a lot more life than it currently does um and really could be a place where people gather you know grab their slice of antonios their bueno burrito and come sit downtown um and with the plantings it really does feel like a refuge separated from the parking lot and here is more of the details on the types of furniture um I don't think any of this is relevant uh this is all standard but for the bike racks you know this is all taken from the Amherst downtown design guidelines um which is I think from early 2000s so the you know you bike rack the black finish is standard downtown the acorn light um is also standard for downtown and I believe the DPW has some extra ones already because they're replacing a few this summer um the yeah this is the uh I believe this is something similar to the standard bench downtown that has black railing black kind of like armrests and a wood planks for the sitting area and backrest so that's what we would propose for the three benches that are being replaced and then for the uh bistro table so these would be the high tops with uh these would be fixed in the ground the the stools and the uh table itself you know this is an option that the that stand tech our consultants found just a an idea and I believe you know this is a variety available in a variety of colors and then lastly um you know we could potentially get umbrellas for this area we had some mixed uh results with the umbrellas in the outdoor dining areas over the summer just because you know there needs to be someone there who's going to uh bring them in when it gets windy um and if this area is not really assigned to a specific restaurant it's it's more just a public area you know it would be a staff person for the town who needs to run over there and wind the umbrellas and bring them down every time it's windy otherwise they could you know get severely damaged and so I think we're a little bit you know wavering on the umbrellas if we can find some really nice sturdy ones then that would be great but it's not totally necessary we don't think um obviously I do provide nice amount of shade and protection from the rain so there are certainly benefits and then lastly for the movable chairs and tables um you know these are some examples that the consultants found for kind of that have more of an urban feel you know we I think um there's some research in in the landscape architecture field that's like you know people there's there's something that people really enjoy about just being able to grab a chair and even if they move it only like a foot just to like be able to adjust it slightly if you're a taller person sit a little bit further from the table if you want to scoot in have a conversation you can do that but I think you know we're we're really wanting to move in this direction of movable chairs and tables and also it allows some flexibility and kind of group group size obviously there's always the risk of the chairs and tables wandering off and being taken which is certainly a risk and you know I think we could buy some extra to help replace them if that does happen but you know that um I think UMass has been experimenting with that a little bit and I haven't heard of too many issues with the tables and chairs taking off so we're we're comfortable making that choice um and these are just some ideas that the uh consultants sent us um and finally yeah here are some of the more steel cafe chairs and sorry yes finally here this is the idea for the windbreak that could kind of either go up in the planters or and or between the tables to kind of provide a little bit of screening privacy maybe and um protection from heavy gusts of wind so again I'm not I would I would want to kind of see what it looked like go out there and kind of measure what that what it what that would look like you know these are six feet high I believe so you know it's a fairly big thing to put in the plaza where there's already not a lot of space so I think that's also something we will think about further so um I believe that's basically it um and I think we only have a little longer if um I believe some members need to leave at 6 30 so um oh that is let's uh open it up to board discussion yeah that sounds great thanks comments well I'll just throw out one that whole area is such a mess that probably anything you could do with an improvement and I mean uh and for years the landscaping in that in that whole area has just been so pitiful so uh I hope whatever grant you get can bring in some professionals and really do some good landscaping because it's an embarrassment to Amherst to have that area back there and I don't know so much you're thrown out here I'm not sure we can make a big decision about yeah all of that but uh any rate others may have comments so and I think having dining in that area has to be completely dependent upon plantings because if you don't have attractive plantings and you don't have some screen from all those cars pulling through in and out of the parking lot nobody's going to want to sit there um it just it isn't it it it doesn't have anything to it to attractive other than it's near a couple of those fast food restaurants that's bad so I think plantings are essential um also can't you change the chairs to the tables so that if somebody wanted to take it they'd have to take like all five pieces at once rather than planning to replace them which is almost impatient to you know furnish the frat house with them I would you know I would just suggest we find some solution that keeps them from being totally you know liftable yeah I don't think we can have portable chairs really done any other comments Lindsay Tom I do have a few comments um I mean I think these are great improvements and I'm excited to see them happen I know we can't magically wave a wand and fix everything about this area like we'd like to but I think these are some really great improvements so I appreciate you know the effort um I think my first comment is about the crosswalk um I wonder if you could also consider doing um in addition to the stop sign like some lights um at the crosswalk I know there's a few locations where that's been done um by kushman there's kind of a blind crosswalk there um and on pine street so I think you know there's some precedent for having that in Amherst and I might just if nothing else make people more cautious before crossing because they see that light there um so that would be one suggestion my other is is kind of around lighting at the ramp um because such a dark area um and I I get concerned that people will feel nervous about that area at night especially it's just it's kind of even during the day it's just very tucked away it doesn't feel like there's a lot of eyes on it in general um so I'm wondering about just kind of trying to make it more visible I don't know if it's with plantings or maybe even like in an ideal scenario like raising something above the ground level so it draws attention to it like a pergola structure of some sort over that seating I mean I'm not trying to complicate it but I just think something that kind of makes it feel more visible um both so that people know it's there and so that so that people feel seen I think those are the two key points and I don't need to necessarily like draw out like how to do that I just think yeah I some something to kind of address that hidden nature of that location I had a similar comment if I could layer on to Lindsay I'm really appreciate that you brought that up Lindsay and I whether or not you bring in additional light or something overhead I think those are great ideas I do suggest that plantings remain low and I think you know there is a perception of this is around the back and so you want you know bodies on that ramp to be as visible as possible and not be screened by plantings that are tall exactly and I would be mindful of that in addition to what Lindsay said yeah there's already I think some pretty tall plantings around um so I don't know if there's maybe yeah about how to pull those back a bit or even I know there's like a I think they're at least used to me back when I used to go out to dinner um some like trash area on the on that um the north side of Johnny's and so it just feels very hidden so anyway um and then I think around the I'm just going to pile all my stuff on because I'm going to leave at 6 30 so um around the seating I I like that idea I think it's a question a little bit more of like long term like you know it's right now we're in such a position of desiring any outdoor seating space we have available um I think Jan's point is well made that like how do we make this a desirable area not just like some tables but I I guess more um in thinking about like is there a way to to be imagining like how to make this plaza a space that even hopefully if there ever could be a post-covid era um which I don't think we all hope what there will be um that it's still you know it's still a place that people really want to go and hang out um so again I don't have any necessarily like perfect um examples of how to do that other than you know the more kind of like integral the ideas are to um kind of long term design the better um but yeah it's a question kind of of like when we no longer care that much about sitting sitting outside um I mean I think we always care about sitting outside but is there a way to just make it feel more um more long term I guess that's all but I think it's a I think it's a great idea and I love it I love using that space for something that we do need yeah I think it's worth a lot of consideration because um we just don't have many niches like that yeah I mean just Tom I think you know one of the things Ben that's really interesting about that particular location is that um and I know I know Bob from Bueno you know through a couple picnic tables out there and all of a sudden people are eating burritos on a picnic table out back in the summer and I think that there is a lot of potential in that but I don't um I don't believe that these four or five tables are going to do it and and I do believe that the space across the way where the brick pattern kind of connects that plaza to the back of the little pathway from Antonio's and the back of Judy's and the the rear of Bueno has a lot of potential as a public space a larger public space that can be activated as the kind of you know the backside of all these restaurants that don't have a lot of indoor seating so there's something really interesting about what you're doing here but I think it needs to be a slightly larger project and your illustration that your um you know landscaper did where they again I don't love everything you're doing but I wanted to come forward to this foreground right really connect to this foreground area where the back where the tunnel underneath Bueno or near Bueno and the back alley that's very popular pathway that brings you to this place you know it gets activated and you there's a lot of space there so I think that that's that's where the opportunity lies in like connecting this zone that I think you're saying could be used to the big plaza on the other side so again the brick is doing that for me it's stopping cars it's doing a lot of connecting already so I think there's a little bit bigger of a budget and you've got a few more tables out there across the way organized in the right way and it could be really active I agree with the other um I think that would make a big difference to coordinate on either side of the drive area also could the pedestrian crosswalk in front of the bank center could that be elevated like some of the other ones that you're forced to slow down because it becomes a sort of home yeah um we we looked into that I think uh budget wise it was uh we were kind of reaching our maximum with the ramp on itself um and yeah we looked at narrowing the street there as well to kind of pinch cars a little bit and improve sight lines but uh because of all the delivery trucks that come in and out of this area that wasn't possible either right any other thoughts uh yeah I will say I think Tom I totally agree there's a lot of underutilized space in the foreground here and I believe some of it if not most of its private property so it would involve a bit more um yeah I guess number 10 here says potential property owner contribution so we told them oh you can keep that there for illustrative purposes but you know that it would involve a lot of outreach and work with uh the adjacent property owners which we're certainly willing to to do and would love to do but it's it would yeah like you said it would be a bigger bigger scope yeah yeah I also like the bigger scope I have to say it feels a bit like a an island yeah of goodness um I am not as worried about the movable chairs but I just I do wonder if you're in conversation um with the planning department in Northampton where they have movable chairs at Pulaski Park um if those have been walking off if they have a replenishment system um um you know I think it's it's entirely possible that with good lighting and um you know that civic a well maintained civic space will continue to maintain itself I yeah aspirational there um I'm not a big fan of the windbreak so I understand their purpose but I think that they're super heavy yeah relative to the scale of the space here I feel like they're a lot and you know to have something amidst the plantings may make sense but they're between the the tables yeah I would agree um I'm not sure I think if they if you feel that they're necessary if the designer feels that they're they're necessary then you know to look for the appropriate product this is critical yeah I'd rather see that money spent on better plantings that serve as windbreaks because if I look I'm sure you wouldn't have these big hunks of muddle yeah right okay you're not going to make a motion yes yeah let's hear it okay so design review board approves the um proposed downtown what is it called downtown senior mobility improvement project um for boltwood walk um with a caveat to consider some of our suggestions and concerns yeah around the picnic table area particularly right well but they also talked about the lighting on this group yes okay all right in general all of that yeah very good because hopefully okay is there a second okay I'll uh let me go through read the list here um um all in favor Lindsey hi Janet hi Erica hi Tom hi hi and Catherine hi okay because it seems like we could really talk more about this uh picnic area and because it's a great idea we just need to get more details on it okay anything else so I think Maureen we won't uh take up the uh rotary right yeah that's fine um then I'm just gonna take that off um yeah that's fine and we can um res or we can schedule another meeting um probably in the next couple weeks I'm not exactly sure what the sort of new deadline is for the TSO but uh I feel like we could we could hold a meeting in the next couple weeks all right may I make a suggestion yes that in the meantime you take a look at the um PowerPoint presentation that then put together about that intersection I think it explains what we're trying to do and then the other thing is I think what we're gonna ask you first is what do you like about that area what don't you like and what would you like to see there and there's probably a lot more don't you like than there is like at least in the public realm but there may be things that you like as well so if that that's what we want to hear from you next time we meet okay and and just to um um say one other thing about that there are so in the the link that I provided you there are two PowerPoint presentations uh related to the intersection the ones with images is the one that uh you can look at them both but the one with the images is obviously the one that you'll you'll get to see the visuals and that's the one that Chris was referring to yeah the other one is really just about schedule and permitting and all of that so okay yeah all right can we have minutes to approve I do not I I have been straight out so I'm sorry uh I I I do provide memos to the applicants and the building commissioner and whoever needs it but I I I uh I don't have the the the I just want the time we're into working night and day on zoning yeah test to that yeah she comes to the planning board every okay if nothing else do I hear a motion that we adjourn we didn't take public comment I just wanted there's sorry I just wanted to make sure that we acknowledged it and I don't know that there are any but there are nine participants and I only see eight of us on the screen so I was nervous yeah I forgot all about that okay so if anyone wants to make a public comment they could raise their hand using the raise their hand feature doesn't look like Hilda has a comment all right okay all right good I forgot about public okay so do I hear a motion that we adjourn I so move okay is there a second all in favor say I to adjourn I okay all right we are adjourned okay everybody thank you gonna give you thanks see you all nice to see you


This may be one of the most important narcissist videos on YouTube. This video may be of great significance and value to you. It may help to awaken you to the truth of what you are dealing with. The narcissist wants to control you. They want to keep you in a box. They want to tell you what to do and how to do it. They want to tell you how to spend your money. What to eat and how to dress. They want to tell you how to live your life. Whenever you try to make your own choices. They will try to guilt-trip you. They will try to make you feel like you're selfish for making your own choices.  They want to label you and everything that you do good or bad. Right or wrong. They want to keep you in a box. There is nothing wrong with making your own decisions. There is nothing wrong with practicing self-care. They just want to make you think that there's something wrong with that. Because it means you have less time or energy for them. They want all of your time and energy. And that is why they guilt-trip you. That is why they try to make you feel like you're selfish for making your own decisions or practicing self-care. If you do not follow their agenda. They will label you. They will assign you to a category in an inaccurate and restrictive way. They will define you to yourself, your family members and friends. But you have to accept that this really has nothing to do with you. Narcissists have a sense of entitlement and a lack of gratitude. Nothing you do will ever be enough for them. They will never be satisfied. It does not mean that there is something wrong with you. It does not mean that you are not enough. You are enough.  Because they train you to see yourself in this way. They have to do that. Because otherwise, you'd start to realise that they're not about anything. You'd start to realise that they're not bringing anything to the table. And that is why they have to keep you in a state where you are constantly doubting yourself. Constantly questioning your own worth. Because then it keeps the focus off of them. This may be one of the most important narcissists videos on YouTube. Because there is nothing more important to protect yourself against narcissists than knowing your own worth. There is nothing more important than the level at which you deserve to be valued and treated. The narcissist may never value or treat you in the way that you deserve. Because one must first possess something of value before they can see the value in others. And that is why they cannot value you. That is why they cannot treat you with the love and respect that you deserve. They cannot do for you what you can do for them. But rather than you giving them what they're failing to give to you, you should give it to yourself. Make your own decisions. Practice self-care. Treat yourself with the love and respect that you deserve. Because you know your own worth. You are enough. Your value is not dependent on the perception of someone who can't even see it. It is dependent on how you see yourself. Self-worth depends on you.  You know how you deserve to be treated. And that is why self-worth is one of the greatest ways to repel the narcissist. It gives you the freedom to make your own decisions and practice self-care. It gives you the power and right to act, think or speak however you want. Thank you for watching. I hope this video resonated with you. Please like, comment, share and subscribe. Click the bell icon to receive notifications for my future videos. If you would like to donate, my PayPal link is in the video description. Coaching and inquiries you can email me at askforthercoaching.com Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you soon.


and construction wastes are some of the enormous waste generated in India and most of this waste goes in dump yards and water bodies harming not just humans but wildlife and aquatic life too. A young innovator named Kunjpreet has come up with a unique solution for it in the form of Angiras. Angiras provides eco-friendly and sustainable technology to make bricks and paver blocks. Its products are made from 100% recycled plastic waste and industrial waste using their patented green waste management technology to convert non-recyclable plastics into bricks. These high quality bricks are damp proof, lightweight and require no water proofing. They are durable that means no cost of repair involved. Also it reduces the overall cost of construction by 20% as their material is derived from the waste. With thousands of brick kilns darting the skyline across the country, brick industry has become a large source of air pollution. It consumes and degrades tons of soil, fuel and water. This is one set of problem. Another set of problem is the waste emanating from construction or demolition coupled with other solid waste like plastics ending up in dump yards and even water bodies harming our environment in a big way. It takes a very ingenious mind to put together two sets of problem and turn this into a solution. Today we have with us one such person who did just that and came up with a functional eco-friendly building material. Welcome Gunshpreet Arora co-founder CEO of Angeris. Please tell us something about you and your startup. Yeah. Hi Selvarani. Thank you so much for having me here. My name is Hanswath Arora and I'm the co-founder of Angeris and we private limited. Angeris is a circle economy startup that makes light weight and dam proof press using 100% recycled waste material. Me and my co-founder Lokesh, we both are civil engineer graduates and we started this working on this innovation since we were doing completing our graduation and currently we are at flood validation stage at Palate State and moving towards the growth stage. Yeah that's great. What are the problems that you are solving or addressing through your innovation and why the name Angeris? Yes. So with our innovation we are targeting to solve two major problems. One is the problem of single use plastic waste which ends up in the water bodies on the roadside or further in the landfill or in the cement factories for burning. When many of us are not aware of the another big problem is of the brick and industry which contributes to up to the 9% of the carbon emission produced in India and this is highly dependent upon the natural resources like fertile soil, water and coal and highly feasible dependent labour requires a lot of labour and exploit child labour as well. So we have developed a technology to replace this brick and use these recycled waste material as an alternative to these natural resources to manufacture building materials like bricks and paper blocks. Why name Angeris? Because Angeris was the name of the stage who invented bricks in India and this is even before the Mohenjo-Daro era and we here we wanted to revolutionise this industry and we dedicated the company after his name. That's really interesting. How did you get drawn towards waste management sector and what was the motivation behind your startup? Right. So startup was not a career plan for us. It just happened to be like that. So we come from a city called Udeppur. It's such a beautiful city surrounded with Arawali hills and lakes. It's also called the Leeds city of India. But growing up in this city we used to observe lot of plastic waste such as like plastic bottles, plastic wrap, poly bags lying around these lakeside or on the roadside or either ends up in the landfills around these between the Arawali hills. So that was the motivation that we started with. We thought why what if we use this waste material such as for making let's say walls. So I'm coming from the construction background. We understand the procedure, the problems, challenges and the standard practices of making us a civil structure. So we thought like let's try making something and you'll be lining these weeds into building material and we started with eco-bread small cube which gives us very good results and validated the product throughout the process which gives us the promising result as well. That's really inspiring. You started working on this product from Smart India Hackathon. Please share your experience in participation in Smart India Hackathon and how the participation in SIH helped you in development of your idea? Sure. So we developed the first prototype into 2019 and then when it's participated in Smart India Hackathon in hardware edition under the waste management sector and my experience was tremendous. It was our first experience of validating the idea, validating the solution with these stakeholders who were present during those five days or six days of the program and we were in NIT 3G for the program and there were industrialists, mentors, professors, academics from the academia background and we were given the access to the laboratory and the industrial experts to validate the idea and do the continuous improvement throughout the those five to six days and also it was because coming up from the technical background we lacked some business knowledge and we were given the opportunity to interact with the business mentors as well. So it was really a great experience, learning experience and I'll also say it's an eye-opening experience because we are only focusing on the technical aspects but also now we started focusing on the business aspects of the part and we again went back to do the more product validation, interacting with the customers and continuous improvement in the product. Okay, great. You are the winner of the Smart India Hackathon edition. Other than prize money, what other support have you received from Smart India Hackathon? Right, so when we after winning, we won the second prize in the SAH hardware hackathon, when we went past, we realized there's something that we still lack, there's something still needs to validate in the market and with continuous validation we got selected for the another feed funding for the SAH only which was at the end next dance and through our incubator only. With the help of that initial funding, we continue with the development, the building of the technology to convert this waste into building materials and after a certain period of time, I applied to a lot of funding programs and created programs and got shortlisted in some of them which was the DST, the startup India seed fund support as well and also a couple of corporate CSR funding as well and last year we also raised the seed funding which was led by CIE and Tabat and couple of angel investors. So far we have based around once a year of seed funding and in couple of months, like the four or five months, we will be opening for the next field round as well. That's interesting. How have you done your product validation and what suggestion will you give to budding entrepreneurs for the importance of product validation? Sure, so definitely we have done the product validation continuously with developing the product, talking to a lot of potential customers, industrialists, stakeholders who are in continuous in touch of these products and at an early stage, it's important to create a working product rather than the best product in order to quickly validate your hypothesis and without wasting a lot of time and resources and I see young entrepreneurs who are filled with energy thinking that they are going to create best product without working on idea validation and platforms like SIH is a perfect way for young entrepreneurs to build something meaningful in short span of time and also continue while eating it and yes, I encourage your budding entrepreneurs to participate in effort on and SIH programs where you learn the vital skill of idea validation, rapid food typing and which are very important if you have just started. Yeah, that's right. As you said, the product validation is an essential step so that if the innovator is doing at early stage, they can avoid the potential losses as well as their failures. That's right. And what is your USP like unique selling proposition? How do you stand apart from others in the sector? Right, so if we compare with a traditional clay brick or in some other brick in the market, we see that our product brick is up to 20-30% lighter in weight that has been reducing the overall structural cost and that ultimately saves the construction cost for the end customers and also one of the major challenge that it solves is the water leakage, the eclorescence and the dampness issue that are being faced in the coastal areas or in the agricultural land and the common people like us end up spending thousands of rupees in the repairment and maintenance. So this brick particularly does not allow water to pass from one end to another and that saves a lot of dam proofing and expensive water proofing cost as well. So these are the two major benefits, the value proposition that we provide and given this value proposition bricks saves up to 20% of the construction cost in the whole construction project. Yeah, that's great. You said about a lot of fun you raised from different departments and other sectors. Can you just brief about how much fun do you have raised so far and brief about the process of fundraising? Yes, so the process of fundraising is not very easy because not also getting very competitive as the government is encouraging a lot of startups as well. So there are still a lot of programs by the stranger government on the state government and also the CSR funding by the corporates where startups who are just have started can apply to these funding programs, the grants, small grants to do the pod validation initially and these are the programs such as like Nivea Priyas or the startup India has covered with recent funding programs, startup India seed fund support as well. So these are a lot of programs which are coming up as well and we have to raise more than around one tier of PC funding which is both equity grants and also we have on couple of price money as well. Congratulations on your successful fundraising. Your innovative ideas and vision have captured the imagination of investors and I have no doubt that you will continue to make waves in your industry. Goonshpirit, please tell us what impact does your product make in achieving sustainable development goal? Right, so the per unit break it by talking unit, the per unit break recycle or upcycle up to 20-25% of the single use plastic waste and the rest is the industrial waste. So till date we have recycled moon and 6 ton of plastic waste by manufacturing 7-8000 of units of bricks and also 16-18000 of the industrial waste and this aligns with the SPG sustainable development goal number 12 that says sustainable consumption and production and also by replacing bricks with by replacing clay bricks with the bricks it also reduces the carbon emission because the clay bricks are responsible for the emission of up to 400 grams of the carbon emission. So this also aligns with the sustainable development goal number 13 which says the climate change and in near future we also plan to create to generate more and more employment in tier 1, tier 2 cities by setting up our manufacturing plants in these areas and create lively good as well. Your ambitious goals for the future are truly inspiring by aiming to recycle more than 190 k tons of waste and reduce carbon emissions by 30.4 k tons while also creating direct employment for over 2000 people. You are setting an example for others to follow. Thank you for your dedication to sustainability and for your commitment to making a positive impact on our planet. I am sure you must have received a lot of accolades and recognitions. Could you please share a few? Sure so we have received a lot of recognition and have been featured on the national and international platforms as well. So the recent just yesterday only we have been featured by the POPS India as well. So this is one of the most recognition that so far that we have achieved. Last year we were the winner of the Global Plastic Challenge by the Uplink World Economic Forum and we are also their top innovator as well. We also won the Sustainable Consumption and Production Award at Asia-Pacific Housing Forum by Switch Asia and Habitat for Humanity. Also I am the winner of the Thai University Global Witch Competition where more than 1400 startups participated across 30 countries. So these are the few of them and we are looking for more such platforms who can support us. Great great congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. May your success continue to grow and your future be filled with even more achievements. What do you consider to be your greatest strength as an entrepreneur? How do you leverage that strength to benefit your company? Sure so I feel at early stage when you are such a young entrepreneur I feel like your team is your greatest strength when you don't have that much of skills and experience and you just started after your college. So the team that you are supporting you is your greatest strength because that are the one who will support you in your hard times and also in your best time as well and these are the people you are building such a big that will going to be a big organization in the future. So I feel like yes the team and also the family support is one of the greatest strength for me so far. Thank you for sharing your perspective on your greatest strength as an entrepreneur keep up the great work. Can you tell me about a challenge you faced as a new entrepreneur and how you overcame it and what advice would you give to someone who is considering starting their venture? Sure so one of the challenge that we faced is the lack of the business knowledge that we coming from the technical background always faced that. So I feel like because I have been part of such programs the accelerated programs and other cooperates so that gives me after some period of time that helped me building the growth strategies doing the business model validation and all other business aspects of the whole product the solution and another challenge that I faced initially was raising some small amount of funding programs or equity initial levels and you don't have that much of data to validate your products right. So I would advise to the budding entrepreneurs to young generation to keep applying to such programs and definitely like one of them you can definitely convert and that will help you in your success journey and also doing the product validation when you are you have you are especially at ideation stage. How do you think the environment has changed in the country for women entrepreneurs? Is it friendlier? Are there are still some obstacles or stereotypes? Sure so I have been in this industry since three or four years now and initially I have also faced some challenges especially for the women in the business and especially in the construction industry but now I have seen like a lot of programs that are coming up by the government and the private organization which are only women focused and in fact there are venture capitalists who invest only on the women like startups or the companies which are benefiting the women in particularly in rural and creating livelihoods. So I feel like these all stakeholders coming up together there are things now changing and we as a woman who just have started can can open the path for the for the next generation to follow it and solve that challenges that we have faced so that they don't have to go to the same challenges and issues. Yeah that's great to listen from a woman entrepreneur. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights on the challenges you face as a new entrepreneur. Your story is truly inspiring I wish you all the best for your future endeavors and hope your story inspires many others to take environment friendly initiatives. Thank you Gonshpreet. Thank you once again. I wish you all the best. Thank you so much Selvanani and I'm really grateful to SIH and AICD because this is the one of the beginning of Angiras and for ASAS as well when we started with. Thank you so much for having me here. Reusing non-recyclable materials, reducers, demand for new resources and helps to reduce the amount of waste in landfills. It also helps to reduce the amount of energy used to create new materials as recycled materials typically require less energy to produce than new ones. We wish Gonshpreet and her team all the best and hope their story inspires many others to take environment friendly initiatives. That's all for now. We'll be back with another edition of Changemaker. Thanks for watching.