Good evening. I'd like to call the select board meeting of October 29th 2018 to order at 632 p.m Just a quick opening remarks announcements and a gender review We'll take our our agenda pretty much in order. We have a couple of public hearings this evening at 645 and 7 We'll do public comment before that we may depending on how much could public comment be able to to sneak in a couple of small items before that but one thing that I want to make sure that we do for public comment and There were significant events over the weekend particularly in the Pittsburgh area and if we could I would like to take a moment of silence To onto the victims of that tragic event. So if we could just take a moment, please Thank you It's you know, there are lots of those kinds of events that happen, but it's You know When people are at their house of worship, it's a little more difficult So I'd like to know if there's anyone here for public comment other than an item that's on the agenda Yes so if you would like to come to the mic and Tell us who you are and why you're Here we usually limit our public comment to about three minutes or so and then We usually don't necessarily just general rules of thumb. We don't generally respond to that It's not that we don't want to hear what we absolutely want to hear what you have to say But we also just want to You know take it into advisement and we'll go from there Okay, may I have permission to just share? Absolutely It's after me to one person May I have permission to share this hammered out with all of you? Absolutely. So just hand it to our person our clerk and We'll pass them around So good evening, I'm here as Claudia pos money resident and Board president of big brothers big sisters of Hampshire County Hi, everyone. I'm Jesse Cooley. I'm the director of big brothers big sisters of Hampshire County We've just shared with you some photos of people in our program who are involved in Amherst matches here And we're here to advocate for our program to receive some of the funding committed to community services in May of this year The motion at the May 2nd town meeting raised a community service budget by $60,000 it is our understanding that the money has to be spent for community services The intent on May 2nd was clear That the motioner and the town meeting members voted for that money to be put to use Into an invested into use services The motioner referenced the fact that while two youth programs in towns had applied for funding in 2018 through the community development block grant process both were left out The town meeting members voted strongly in favor of this additional 60,000 in funding showing clear support for youth services in Amherst We ask that you consider making some of this funding available for big brothers big sisters of Hampshire County In order that other youths in the program and other youth programs in Amherst as well I'll let Jesse talk about what we actually do and where that money goes So at big brothers big sisters we match children with mentors who provide friendship and guidance and support as well as new Opportunities for their mentees our mentees or our littles get to experience athletic events music and art performances They try new things like cooking and hiking with their bigs and they spend time on the college campuses Exploring and becoming comfortable in the higher ed setting They have someone in their corner and this has a powerful impact our littles are far less likely to skip school or engage in other risky behaviors They're significantly more likely than their peers to graduate from high school and go on to higher education They are seventy eight percent more likely to volunteer regularly and a hundred and thirty percent more likely to become leaders in their community So this is a true community service and benefit that our program provides and our town businesses and the community as a whole Benefits from this program. We have bigs who are business owners here in Amherst Who've been matched multiple times because they experience firsthand the importance of this program and They've received the one-to-one support from our staff to ensure that the match is a good fit And our staff connects with them regularly throughout the match To make sure that we have the best possible outcomes and I just want to share proudly that our Match support is really second to none here in our Amherst program We far exceed the national average for the length of our matches and for their high quality So we're lucky I'll keep going to have the community allies that we do many of you may have come to our daffodil run in the spring The community really comes together and rallies behind our program to make sure that the young people in our town have the support They need we're really grateful for that in 2017. We were awarded $37,000 in funding from CDBG. We were very thankful for that We served 101 Amherst children in that grant period and we have strong partnerships with the Amherst regional public schools And with UMass Amherst and Amherst College that help make all of that possible So we intended to do the same thing this coming year serving the same number But as we mentioned, we didn't receive any funding for the 2018-2019 cycle. We have 69 children Currently on the wait list in Amherst and more are being referred by the schools each week It's a true hardship for us to have lost funding for this year And again, we hope you will consider making some of these additional community services funds available to your community youth programs Thank you. Thank you very much Is there other public comment? Not related to an agenda item All right I think we have a few moments before we start our our 645 hearing or continuation of a hearing we had last week So I think it's an opportunity to do a couple of specific licenses in public way types of things and so I believe I'll ask miss LeCour to come up and talk about the Mary Maple Street closure and parking reservation and the district holiday parking Including the pack the sacks Saturday parking reservation. So if you'd like to to give a little advertisement for both of those And also just tell us about you know the sort of need you have specifically which I think you've articulated in there In your request, but Great. Thank you very much Sarah LeCour executive director of the Amherst business improvement district and with me Claudia must pause money with a different hat from 10 seconds ago Yes, we have made a couple different requests Mary Maple this year is a little bit earlier. It's Friday November 30th This year the 1st of December fell on a Saturday so but it's our usual request with the Chamber of Commerce that the parking lots the Spring Street lot and the Main Street lot be closed for a period of time for The Spring Street lot would be for the money book farm wagon rides and the Main Street lot would be for people to gather and have donuts and hot chocolate and Listen to music and wait for the actual lighting of the tree and wait for the marching band with Santa in the firetruck So all of those wonderful events will be taking place again. So that's our usual request for that event Do you want me to speak about the other okay all at once so then Also, we have made the bid has made a request that we have made in previous years for Saturdays for free parking on Saturdays We have requested this year to start with the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is small business Saturday And then the following Saturday December 1st is our pack the sack event, which is now an annual event this is our third year of that event and It's the former greeting card day if anybody's familiar with that so it is a little bit different We took that event over and called it pack the sack. We actually will have sacks associated with that event this year Which will be available at the visitor center and some other locations. So that's five Saturdays from Saturday the 24th of November through I believe it's the 22nd of December That we're requesting free parking on Saturdays I Think I think was that the request yet. Thank you very much Do we have questions for the folks that are Bring this miss Krueger, please So parking on Saturdays, this isn't just for this year, but over the last few years I've never understood What the free parking does besides say you can park here for free I is there any data that says that people come here more for free parking or that you can't find a place to Park because people have decided to park in those spaces for free all day So I feel very conflicted and not just this year it's here when this comes up. I don't understand the purpose The effect of the free parking in some real way besides We're deferring parking revenue, but I don't really see what the benefit is besides saying hey come down Or sits free parking, but I don't think it helps people find places to park so We do not have data, but what we are working with is a perception issue at this time of year the malls are free parking with lots of it and There are other communities Northampton has the first hour free in their parking garage things like that So it is a perception issue that Yes, there will be folks that perhaps day all day, but generally that's not common and we believe that it is Sort of giving us equal playing field with the malls and getting folks downtown I'd like to try to get some more data on it and perhaps this year we can do that I know parking is a hot-button issue But that said for this year, we would like to have the perception that we are open for business and that parking as Sort of a gift to shoppers if you will Is is free at those times so I I I understand completely and You know I'm with you that it's it's a it's a double-edged sword, but That's our request and that's that's why we're why we're doing it So of course, I'm compelled to note that the gift you're giving is the town's revenue not your revenue So Understood that that phrasing is just a little bit difficult and we've Tried to collect data associated with this in the past But there has in terms of what we would be losing over that period of time that was done many years ago But of course one of the things is since we've been doing it for a long time We don't really have a baseline to compare it to because those holiday weekends are different to than any other time of year From that standpoint one thing that's also come up in the past is the idea of Whether or not we would still enforce the time limits on the meters And so I just like to get a sense from the town manager what our plan is associated with that I don't necessarily feel one way or the other about it. It's just I worry when it's not clear to people what the expectation is So I think what you said is precisely true because when we advertise free parking people interpret that as free parking not free time limited parking I I honestly don't know what I don't think we've enforced time limits in the past in previous years And that resulted when you talk to business owners They will tell you that employees are parking right in front of their stores for long periods of time So I think that's what mr. Kour was pointing out was that it may not be a practical good thing But that percept from perception and for advertising it does Convey a more welcoming approach to free parking downtown But the question would be do we enforce the time limits, and I don't think we have in the past Because I think that was sort of You wind up with a ticket and people to think hey I got free parking I think creates confusion for people I Understand what you're saying completely But we have actually tried to do it in the past and it's been really unclear to people because there was a miscommunication Where some people assumed that it meant free but still limited in order to ensure that turnover which? While on the one hand what you said is totally logical. It's free It's free on the other hand parking is limited by time normally and so to assume that it's okay to park there all day is Yet another issue so hopefully this is something that can be looked at more strategically in the future But in the meantime, it doesn't feel like this is the year to make a change to any of those policies to me But I think we have shared These concerns repeatedly, and we don't really seem to have a way forward of dealing with them At least we're making it trying to make it clear what people can expect Mr. Simer yeah, I guess is a general matter, and they'll say this for both the bid and the chamber you Know we're Going forward the town not the select board, but the town as a whole is going to have to look again at the question of just general parking policies and how we balance the goals of getting turnover in spaces in order to Make sure that when people come to town that they can find a space and then there's this perception of freedom and They don't go together necessarily And there's a lot of data collection that needs to take place in order to really see what is happening And they have an understanding about that so Or making a motion on the first of the two items and just Urge that we find a way that we can get help from your organizations, which are Really the key communicators working with the business community to help us as being the town Work with the business community to assess those things With that I'm going to at least start on the first of the requests and make a motion regarding The merry maple event if the chair so wishes Okay, I moved to approve The Amherst Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District's request for Reservation of metered parking and street closure for the merry maple tree lighting ceremony on Friday November 30 2018 as follows Close the main street parking lot from 2 p.m. 6 30 p.m Close the spring street parking lot from 1 p.m. To 6 30 p.m Close boltwood Avenue between the Lord Jeff Make sure we get that between the Lord Jeffrey and the main street from 2 p.m. The 6 30 p.m Close spring street from boltwood Avenue To Churchill Street including the spring Churchill intersection 2 p.m. The 6 30 p.m. To allow for horse drawn carriage rides Second a motion in a second. Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye So that's unanimous with one member absent I'd entertain the other motion if you'd like to make that as well Yeah, I moved to approve the business improvement district's request for free parking throughout the downtown Amherst area at all Meters and in all the parking lots with pay-by-space parking machines Boltwood garage Amity Street spring Street lot Main Street lot Town Hall in the town portion of the CVS lot on Saturdays between Saturday November 24 2018 through Saturday December 22 2018 Is there a second a second and then I will come in go ahead one of the things We've we've wordsmithed a little bit in the past although. I really appreciate that staff pulled out exactly what we did last year That's incredibly helpful is the idea that you know Do all the meters that we have and all the parking machines we have count as downtown and now that we have some on Olympia Drive That makes things a little more complicated So we don't want to make those free and so I guess I appreciate that it says downtown Amherst But what it really means is basically everything other than what's on Olympia Drive is my understanding Just so it's clear that if you want to park way down in front of Emily if you're willing to park that far and walk It's free there too and not everyone considers that as downtown as parking in front of this building And all the way down to pray Street, etc. So just be clear. We're all on the same page there Is there further discussion? if Ms. Brewer Thought it advisable we could amend the motion very slightly by saying Throughout downtown Amherst area comma South of triangle Street That would work comma if we added those words that would Address the one vagueness that you were pointing out Then I would With the seconders agreement proposed to amend the motion I made to add those words That's agreeable to seconder, which I believe it is then we'll have that as the motion that we're Considering is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye. Hi and opposed Staying Staining okay, so we have a three to one abstention one absent. Thank you both very much. Thank you very much So we've just passed 645 so I think we'll take up our We'll resume our public hearing from from last week I guess we formally reopen it I guess Still open It's just been continued See but you can still deliberate Motion to continue So we should rewrite whatever that says because that was our clear intention so Four of us are remembering Hearing so we'll reopen the hearing at 6 52 p.m. And So if the miss bone would like to come forward for us and we had a few questions and that sort of thing and I have revised plot plan Floor plan and elevation drawings I was not able to get these in digital format the architect was trying to get them into PDF and her technology failed her So I have one set of full-size drawings for you And I can send you electronic versions of these but you're gonna have to share Actually, I've got one set for myself and one set for you. So I could give you two if you want one for each side You want to just give it to mr. Yeah Do you like to look at it? Because you know who usually finds the details for us We'll prove the paint color with some reservations and Yes It will be reviewed in coming years and the color may be toned back a little bit, but first that's later. Well Yes The other thing I have multiple copies of for you is the manager application section of the Application I emailed this earlier today, but we have detail on mr. Anunziata's And then we pass them yeah, just give them to me and then I'll pass them around for you so you can continue on And the other thing I made multiple copies of Is this is the guts of the application itself because the floor is the Square footage and occupancy numbers have finally been taken off of the drawings that we have in the floor plan So that's been revised The lease information has been modified just a little bit The contribution cost is at $50,000. He miscalculated it when he first submitted it and Other than that there aren't any other changes, but it's just it's tights parts that So I believe when we were here before you had concerns about his employment history those have been Hopefully being addressed and the The seating plan was your other concern This plot plan shows the outside seating and the only access I just finished doing the ZBA application So the only access to the outside seating areas is from inside the building those areas are gated And the management plan for the ZBA You know will require that that be policed and very heavily monitored so that there aren't problems with alcohol going places other than the premises where it's licensed to be What other Although we got some additional things in our packet. We did not get the employment history We're just looking at that now for the first time. So we need some reading time In addition to that we should obviously look at the plans whatever mr. Steinberg and Miss Krueger just found But I want to clarify something you just said I was familiar with the previous seating along the side that was gated But we're talking about adding additional seating. No, so gated because it says new exterior seating It's it's it's different tables, but it's the same area It's the same part of the building that Bertucci's have been permitted before He's just putting picnic tables in instead of the type of tables that Bertucci's had. It's exactly the same space I'm confused by that because I only remember there being seating along the parking lot Not on the end of the building and there are tables here that say there are tables on the end of the building I don't believe that was previously it was permitted by the ZBA in 1994 I don't believe it was alcohol licensed by this. Okay. I don't know that that's where the difference Lies wow, this is really confusing Okay, it wasn't the licensed premises for alcohol At that time the side is because of the way the gating works, but this side Is going to have Okay, so I'm confused so the end of the building which Does not did not under its most recent iteration have seating where people were being served alcohol That was simply the outside of the building the side part was the part that was gated That was the part on the parking lot was nice long stretch. You got in from the inside It was clearly controlled as we talked about ZBA. That was a licensed premise We're talking about adding tables now on the end of the building if I'm looking at this map correctly That's that's on the Pleasant Street side And I'm trying to understand if those are there new gates around there that you are taking to this evening That's been a gated area since the building was built. It was originally built as a bachi court There's no outside access in there. There's a gate. I think there's an escape gate But you can't just walk into that part of the building There's about a four-foot high or three-foot high brick wall surrounding it And you can get at it from inside of the dining area, but you can't get at it from the street So it's a controlled area. I don't know I didn't I don't have access I didn't have access to the former liquor license So I can't tell you what if it wasn't permitted under the previous liquor license I wasn't aware of that But it was it was permitted by the ZBA as as outside seasonal dining area so and it is it is You know is and it as a practical matter I don't think for two cheese ever actually used it for outside seasonal dining because I don't know why but they Didn't that being my point. Yeah, we've never actually had Food in the 20 years. I've lived here served on that end of the building nor alcohol because nothing's been served on that end of The building outside. That's what I'm trying to get at. I appreciate that the ZBA may have allowed for it in the past And potentially the old liquor license did too even though we never thought about it because we never saw it being used Because it wasn't being used so it is a different To us in terms of at least practical experience even if the original liquor license did show it as license premises, which we don't know It's going to be clear in our own process since this is a new liquor license application. Does it really matter? It's new to me. It wouldn't matter. I wasn't here in 1994 or whatever What we're looking at is whether it's appropriate to have the alcohol license include Alcohol service for an outdoor area and questions about whether it can be separated and Not accessed from You know any point on the sidewalk, but I mean looking at how it will be Kept for people who have come in and have had their IDs checked and not just people wondering about so I don't Well, I appreciate your point I'm not sure it matters to us because we're looking at everything before us and deciding if it should be included in the liquor license that we're Being asked to grant Right. I simply obviously but I can't perceive that it works the same way as it currently did because it doesn't That what's being proposed is different and that's what I'm trying to understand because I I cannot envision those gates And I did not drive down there because I did not know that that was going to be part of the plan Me that's a little that's just maybe the applicant could point out the gate How that functions because I can't really see it on the plan like where the door and then How it's secured off? I can't tell this is more secure than the front I can tell you having been this is more secure than the front patio area in front of the spoke But could you point out how how it functions so this plan? No, you don't have boards or slides, but Elevation drawing the last sheet that you have Yep, if you look at the last page of the lower drawing. Yep Add it There's a brick wall That runs practically the entire width a low brick wall that runs practically the entire width of the building That encloses that whole patio area The only way to get in there is through the doors outside coming from the inside of the building going out You cannot access that area from the sidewalk and there's plants in the brick wall So it's actually pretty well screened from the street And can you are the doors the ones that have the the hatched diagonal lines? Yes Yes, those are the exit doors coming out of the restaurant going into the into the so there's two of you Yes, and either side of those posters. That's one is one is just being familiar with building There's a small like private party room not anymore as you walk in and that's got one door to that and then There's one that's in the Lobby area, but the waiting area in this previous restaurant. So was that private room is now more integrated I believe The second sheet which is the floor plan shows very clearly how that area Constructed this was Thank you. That's really the floor plan in the far left side of the floor plan it shows that That outside patio area With the two doors from the inside of the building going out there. There's an emergency exit Off that patio, but it's not it's not open to the public It's only if you know there's a fire and then people need it because otherwise you have to climb over the brick wall to And am I reading this? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, please am I reading this correctly that where what was what we were calling the Private dining room that that wall that wall being removed. That's the dark hatched line that goes through the table that's actually because See if that yeah, it says existing partitions to be removed So there's really more visibility that places wide open we need to be walked through some of this Yes, we just got this I I understand I did too. Just get it And the outside you know the the parking lot side outside dining if you will shows there's two Two entrances from the inside and then no, you know outside access How tall is the little birth mall? Three feet four feet. It's close to 42 close to 42 inches. He thinks yeah It's not something you could hop over easily without I'm asking. Yeah, okay. Yeah Other questions and the entrances, you know, there's only really the only one way in Just like a couple more minutes to read the other short. Absolutely That's why I'm not really pressing to move ahead I'm just because if you folks need a moment to to read through some of the newer stuff. We got tonight Do you fellas on the end want to look at these or you? I'm imagining it from the description I can give you my set, but then I don't have anything to Take a gander Yeah, the floor plans probably got the clearest depiction of Yeah, so it's just slaughter. Yes, I Mean it's my general observation that there are other restaurants in town without proceeding areas Won't name what they are but they serve alcohol and they're in the downtown area and I don't think that they have any better separation and sometimes it may be less secure separation than is being proposed here and I decided to say it now and not wait until a close of the hearing because I noticed that the police chief is present and I'm not I haven't heard that there are any problems that exist with alcohol being passed between people who are being served after being properly identified for qualification for purchase and other people because of those locations proximity to passers-by on the street and So if my perception is correct Then I'm not sure that we should be treating this restaurant differently than we've treated other restaurants Right. I would agree. I think that you know the the questions we raise I think are just in Getting a sense of it, you know to to see if it has a similar setup or a different setup Then then some of those other restaurants that you you identify actually if the chief could come to the mic And I'll ask you guys to separate a little bit so that he can step up I think we did have a question or two for him But I also just to that question in particular sort of what's the experience you've had Relative to other outdoor dining spaces that serve alcohol if we had any issues with those That you're aware of or any, you know control or or other kinds of issues relative to those outdoor circumstances nothing Mr. Slaughter nothing that I can think of recently It was an issue maybe 20 25 years ago with a location called twisters tavern Which occupied the patio kind of adjacent to Johnny's it's no longer uses that type of Facility or nobody's actually using it as outdoor dining or service of alcohol But the other locations I can think of that as I have outdoor service The spoke the pub high horse the hangar No, no issues there It's good to know we have other questions for the chief Since we've got him at the mic. I think there were Some questions we had posed last week relative to can you just you know for paint the picture of your process, you know So we had by virtue of you know the application having some places that Didn't have things filled in we were sort of curious as to how Your piece of the of the application process had gone ahead without having that information So we've kind of heard bits and pieces about how that happens without the you know The sort of ABCC forms being filled out fully and so can you just kind of paint that picture for us a little bit about how you Guys do your due diligence on these kinds of license applications sure so The information that we need is typically you know name obviously names dates of birth locations of addresses social security numbers and then we have a one two three four Software Companies that we use to do background investigations on liquor license checks Doing one state police information networks, which is New England wide of course we do everything locals and statewide as well We do board of probation checks, which would bring up any kind of criminal history throughout the country we do Interstate identification checks Which again is nationwide and some international and we do Cleary reports, which is a software company We utilize it give its background histories and background Red flags if there are any red flags on financial stuff If there are any red flags on any of these types of checks that we do we contact the local law enforcement agency request reports And any information they would have on that individual or that previous Location of where they've done business You know we do social media checks It's pretty extensive We don't usually go to locations to check you know Job applicant job Previous job employment unless they're really we've done it locally before we had an applicant who was from the Springfield area that was denied Based on a board of probation check, but typically we wouldn't send somebody to New Jersey or Florida that look type of location Okay Any questions for the chief? Yes, one of the things I was trying to understand and Mr. Bachman may have explained this to you is that because there is a phrase in ABCC law that About good character, but yet it's never been clear how the local licensing authority is supposed to establish that We do heavily depend on the work of your force and one of the things that we were concerned about or certainly I was was that without having provided any employment history it made although certainly Data birth that's SSN could lead you to those things It was not as likely that say for example where this the only restaurant experience recently is 2017 to present that you could feel easily able to call up the local licensing authority or the police authority in that community and say Have you had any issues with this individual as a liquor license holder if that was true And so it was confusing to me that without having that information how you would Be able to decide if you wanted to do that level of check and from what you're saying it sounds like The connections are extensive enough between the different software programs that the employment history would have popped up with that And so if you were to choose to follow that up you would have had that available to you. That's correct I mean if there are red flags, I mean I Mean I don't want to generalize but in the restaurant field. There's a lot of individuals in the restaurant field That's the field they're in for extended periods of time. So there may not be an extensive History of employment I guess to check on but I'm more concerned. I'm more concerned when I signed my name off on a liquor license About criminal history is not so much as the labor history part of it so but if there are red flags that would Usually kick in for things like bankruptcy or money fraud laundering or fraud Those would be the types of things that we would do extensive investigations on that Follow up on that so I Don't recall if a liquor license is even held at this other restaurant But if it were I don't know that any red flags would appear anywhere. They may not and so That that was one of the questions I had is this one thing when you know people in Springfield and right call them up and say what's what's that happen? But it's always trickier out of state. We understand that and we understand that That may not appear, but I appreciate that you've indicated that you're you're focusing generally on criminal history and specific financial right Problems that would flag and the various softwares exactly Any other questions for the chiefs since we haven't Thank you, you wet What is the public hearing is there anyone from the public that wanted to offer any comment or or Information for us. No one's required obviously. I want to give that opportunity to folks So has everyone had an opportunity to look through the the newest materials or do we want another minute or two to kind of So someone needs to figure out a different to how to add all the material to the motion about the licensed premises Yes, because that's not that's not you don't write our motion That may be well described somewhere that we can just lift it from but it's not currently in the motion that someone would have made if they the description and premises on the revised application contains that Are we to a place where we're ready to close the hearing or shall we Close the public hearing. Thank you The further discussion about the closing of the hearing Hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And so the hearing itself is closed at 715 channel note and so now We can Fine-tune our motion Someone's found the appropriate So why don't I just read it off and see how it flows and then we can fix it because I'm looking at the description of premises on page one Numbered one not actual page one of the replacement that we received tonight So I moved to approve a new all-alcohol license for VMS pizza one doing business as Porta LLC 51 East Pleasant Street Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. To 1 a.m. The following day and Sunday noon to 1 a.m. The following day the premises and Somebody can stick it in a different spot because it's been a while since we did a new one like this Being a single-story building with bar and table seating dining area kitchen storage and restrooms interior dining area 2850 square feet exterior seasonal outdoor dining on two patios 1027 square feet Richard and Seattle manager It's DBA Porta not Porta LLC Okay, we had it as LLC in our motion. So thank you for noticing that. Thank you for that. And so that was a second So we have a motion and a second I just asked the applicant to clarify the square footage in the interior dining area Interior dining area is 20 20 850 square feet total square footage of the building is 7607, but that's not all dining area. Okay kitchen. I was just going with the text description double-checking that the text description is That is the dining area with seating Yes Now that I'm looking again at the business entity information Should I have set because the business entity information says VMS pizza one LLC? We done so the LLC needs to be in the other spot BMS pizza one LLC doing business as Porta. Yes. Thank you I would make sense that we get so I'll take that as a friendly amendment so Is there further discussion or do we think we've wordsmith this and tortured our applicant? No, we're just I would just say that we're you know a lot of this about our own process and our own sort of due diligence Not necessarily about you per se So, you know, there are things we want to know about you and your business and we hope you have the best of success there But we do want to make sure our I did I didn't tease across and we've done our due diligence and served our the public well for ourselves. Is there further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Post that's unanimous with one member absent Okay Thank you, I just the last time there was some questions about the food Any questions his name's Ray's got a resume The question came up during the other license that we grant which is a common vigilance license Because that's where we talk about the food this time. We're talking about the alcohol Thank you Gluten-free vegan a lot of stuff keep it all Excellent. Thank you So now We'll move on to our 7 p.m. State Street traffic load changes puffer fond parking changes public hearing so There it is So this public hearing relates to the following the emmer select board will hold a public hearing on Monday, October 29 2018 beginning at 7 p.m. Town Room Emmerstown Hall to solicit public comment on parking regulation changes and street directional traffic changes on State Street offers pond the select board will be considering changes to parking regulations including but not limited to the addition of parking Restrictions tow zones and one-way traffic flow Changes to be voted one addition of parking zone signage to addition of tow zones to no parking areas Three conversion of State Street from two-way traffic to one-way traffic for a distance of 2400 feet beginning 150 feet from Sandhill road So so that opens our hearing at 721 And so mr. Moring and mr. Zomek are here to help guide us through We might also mention that in our yellow folder we have a letter from the conservation Commission So another hot off the press sort of thank you for Noting that But we haven't had a chance to read yet right so we'll take a moment to read that so hold on just a second Well, we shuffle our papers a bit and are we ready as everyone found their appropriate maps and documents So I'll turn to you mr. Zomek to get through This but there are no additional slides for this I'll be very brief I think the board has all the information that mr. Moring and I discussed last time with you There should be three letters one from chief Livingstone one from chief Nelson and Just a recently received letter from the chair of the conservation Commission, Brian Angus. I Believe the letters from the two chiefs were sent out earlier to the board last week The fire chiefs is not in here Receiving an email we got links to maps. That's all we got We didn't get memos You have one from the police chief There's also a letter from the fire chief which I apologize. You did not get stick it in the copy machine Assistant chief Olmstead actually has the letter from chief Nelson wonderful. So he's gonna make some copies Both the chief and the assistant chief are here behind us tonight, and I'm sure if the board has questions They'd be happy to answer those Mr. Moring and I conducted our second walk with residents on 1025 It was attended by about a dozen people that was on the afternoon last Thursday afternoon Afternoon well attended we had a lively discussion out on State Street walk the entire length from Sand Hill Road Almost up to the train trestle a very good exchange with Those folks some of that whom live nearby on State Street at least two residents of State Street and then some other folks who are just interested in the proposal by and large I think mr. Moring and I would agree that Overall the comments were very positive There were questions about implementation there were questions about Some of some of the comments that you all had made about Potential impacts to other streets. We talked about that. We talked about peak times during May and June Before the colleges get out when the pond on those warm days does receive, you know hundreds of people visiting but by and large I think The one-way one-way proposal and the parking was well received So are there and those to mr. Steinberg could I Thank you. Just add one thing Elizabeth Hammond who Elizabeth Hammond who was the chair of the Puffer spawn 2020 group Had intended to be here tonight. Unfortunately. She is under the weather She did just moments ago. Send me an email I'd be happy to read that to you later in the hearing if that would be appropriate I'll turn it over to mr. Moring or one of the two chiefs So mr. Moring if you want to There's not much more to add it you've seen the proposal everyone pretty much is an agreement It's something that probably should be tried and try to make an improvement there And then again most of what we're doing is paint and some signage, which is easy to turn around There's only one piece of this project, which is actually some hardscape at the very end towards the railroad bridge So if you have questions, that's probably the best time So I'll ask one relative to that sort of turnaround spot on the Eastern end of the of the project how much Construction and how long will that take for you? I mean obviously it'll happen some sometime in the spring because it's a little late this fall to do That is is it a very fairly extensive project or fairly simple and how quickly do you think once you decide to sort of implement that? We'll take you to do that It's not gonna be that very difficult It's we've actually kind of toyed around if it doesn't freeze very hard We might start working on it this this year before it actually gets colder. So we And it's probably less than a day of paving them. I've got to pay let people read the Action mr. Steinberg. Sure. Yeah, I did actually have a question. I thought about when I was looking at the appreciated enclosures with the Packet that we received and One of them and I don't know how to identify it It shows the section that is from mill street close mostly mill street and then it has a little bit of the Pat road going up towards the pond and I'll hold it up like that So that you can see what it is and that what I was thinking about what I was looking at it is the 300 days out of the year. It's not going to pose a problem at all, but For the room for those peak days. I was wondering about people coming out of the driveway From the house at 112 State Street and taking a right turn and going against traffic flow that everybody else is going to begin to assume is one way and Whether there's any risk of misunderstanding that it's actually a two-way street and Conflict and Potential danger problems just for that even though it's a very short distance It would be confusing to the greatest part of the public who will assume that the entire thing is one way So that little piece will probably be a double yellow line at that point So it'll be line and striped as it was a two-way road and that will end the double yellow line I'll end right before their driveway, so it'll be You won't be able to miss it. There won't be anything that's not there and then there's question to the flows from that Which is you have a double yellow line that looks like a two-way street People who turn in there not? Guess it's not are gonna be a problem. There wouldn't be any turnaround problem because they'll be going that way. Okay Answer that part other questions assuming there's no one from the public that wishes to speak Would it be possible for me to just quickly this is a brief email from Elizabeth Hammond these like so many people in Amherst and surrounding towns I love the pond and the whole conservation area around it while it may feel like puffers is a town park In fact, it is a conservation area and thus ecological goals are important It is a gem, but it has suffered in recent years from a lack of investment and management I appreciate that the town is getting ready to take action on it I support the design recommendations put forward for the puffers pond area It is an alignment with the puffers pond It is in alignment with the puffers pond 2020 plan Developed by a subcommittee of town members I chaired the improvements to the parking situation on State Street Indicated in the plan makes sense and are long overdue the one-way designation will keep traffic at appropriate levels Having fewer cars on the side of the road right by the water will improve water quality Encouraging people to park in designated areas as the plan does will also help manage Ecological impacts of extensive human use of the area. I believe this will benefit be benefit to one of Amherst's best-loved conservation areas I hope that in coming years We can phase in bigger changes for parking near the pond and use some of that revenue for pond area maintenance Which is really an unmet need at this point in time The town also needs to plan for dredging the pond if we want to continue over the years as it has But the proposal before you tonight is a good first step Elizabeth Hammond 75 State Street Thank you, and if you could make sure to share that with us so we can put it into our electronic packet Included amongst the materials from tonight's meeting Are there other questions or comments we need to make within the hearing? Yes, I don't know if it needs to be within the hearing, but we've never known where those lines are drawn So why not talk now? When the motion is made I would like us to clarify that Where it talks in the fourth line about as shown on a plan entitled State Street proposed one way It's at least four pages long So it's not just five So just to say a multi-page plan or Something like that Would be helpful because it's not just one piece of paper and we appreciate the detail on it So it's a multi-page plan and the other part. I wonder if we might include in the motion Reference to the memo from mr. Zomek dated 1025 because in some ways I think The just the verbal not verbal obviously the text descriptions here they talk about the culverts the areas of high activity I think are hopeful to go with the actual motion and I wouldn't want us to lose sight of it I mean it's it's it's specific and yet gives us a broad enough envelope to work within that I wouldn't want to add it to the motion all the words to the motion But I would just like to also reference the memo dated 1025 as well Mr. Chair Yes, we've had this sort of back-and-forth on a number of things I don't see the need to clutter the memo of the motion with those facts I think our discussion in the minutes do that adequately I think adding these things to our motion. We are Accepting a plan and sometimes the plan can be printed on one page or four We're accepting a plan dated blank date. We don't really have to say multi-page one page The plan could exist in one big sheet. So this is for our convenience to see it Generated that way, but it's whatever the bot whatever that plan dated is for the Puffer's parking So I would resist adding Extraneous things to the motion that refer to these other documents I think the minutes and the list of documents for the meeting that go with the minutes are Adequate, but that's just my more minimalist approach to motions And so it makes the motion probably but yes my concern has been that Typically, we are not particularly well Disciplined about including that level of detail and the list of documents that were available And we've only recently started doing minutes close to the time that we actually have the meeting So it's been it's a work in progress and I can appreciate that And would understand that all these things would be listed as long as they are listed saying things like October 25th memo not just memo from mr. Somek. So as long as we are putting that level of detail in the list of Attached in the list of documents used at the meeting then I'm fine with that It was just a way of Circumventing any possible delays associated with that Mr. Simon, so I do note In my role of clerk the open meeting law does specify that minutes contain a list of all of the documents considered by the body that's acting at the time of The meeting where the motion was made in past and they don't always and that I know and I think that that's That's a matter of our Discipline in minutes as opposed to our discipline in motion writing Yes, please so and referring to the plan I know we have these different sheets because we asked for the more detailed engineering But looks to me like this is the pros proposed plan dated October 22nd No, that is not correct. That is my point No, that is simply a smaller version of what we had last time this five-page document is the one that's referred to What would be the plan of reference The planner references actually the five-page plan Yes, and how would you describe it five-page plan dated Something if I may the title of the pipe five-page plan is in the motion, right? state straight proposed one way exactly and But not not it's not dated or it is really tiny October Yeah, it's also mentioned in the motion you print out 12 are alone by 17 is much better That's why I was referring to the multi-page because it's not necessary as long as it's referenced So one of the other things just since we're wordsmithing here one of the things that We did in the motion was to to offer Distances and feet to sort of articulate this because we don't have property boundaries that we're dealing with and that sort of thing I might suggest that we use the word approximately That way that gives them a little attitude if it's not exactly 900 feet or 930 feet So I think that might be a wise component because we talked about some flexibility in the motion So we'll put that in there. I guess the other thing I'd just like to ask is you know should are we ready to close the Hearing so we can actually take up the motion There aren't other questions. I would entertain a motion for for closing the public hearing if that's if we're so ready I moved to close the public hearing second All right emotion in a second putting all the approximates in here We might be able to put one single one that covers the ball Is there further discussion about closing the hearing during not all those in favor, please say aye So the hearing is now closed at 737 And so has anyone sufficiently crafted Motion I don't think there have been any changes other than the idea of all distances being approximate Would someone like to off the motion? I? Move to approve the following new traffic flow change and parking regulations for State Street from Sandhill Road to the railroad trestle all distances Approximate and measured from the intersection of State Street and Sandhill Road as follows and as shown on a plan Entitled State Street proposed one way by town of Amherst Department of Public Works dated October 25th 2018 North side of State Street no parking tow zone from Sandhill Road for a distance of approximately 900 feet handicapped parking tow zone from Just throw approximately in there every place from approximately 900 feet to 930 feet emergency vehicle parking from approximately 930 feet to 940 feet drop-off area from approximately 940 feet to 960 feet no parking tow zone from 960 feet to a 1190 approximately 1190 feet parking from approximately 1190 feet to 2,000 approximately 2330 feet and South side of State Street no parking tow zone from Sandhill Road for a distance of approximately 120 feet Parking from approximately 120 feet to approximately 830 feet and no parking tow zone from approximately 830 feet to approximately 2330 feet Emotion is second is there for the discussion Hearing yes More of a comment. I mean I support the one way and I think it's you know time to do this There's compelling safety concerns, but I think both the email that was read to us by miss Hammond and the one from I think chief Nelson talked about And for myself To bring some attention to the need for additional staffing and maintenance to this area So you know quibble about whether it's a conservation area or park It's a it's a major recreation area and conservation areas often do double-duty as public space in all kinds of ways but you know just kind of you know sending a You know one of those little Virtual missives to the future board. I think attention in next year's budget to making sure that really looking at staffing levels for this area and maintenance I Won't go into my own, you know my own experience there last summer But I think it's really time to put some attention there in terms of our resources because it's used a lot and Would serve the residents well to have that kind of attention so I know resources resources are always tight But I really think this deserves another look when we do the budget Thank you, just I'm right. Yeah, so I Didn't ask Chief Livingstone to step forward during the public hearing But I did want to just sort of note that For good reason we are making changes for both public safety and Preservation of an tremendous asset of the town conservation asset by doing this Change in traffic flow and parking it is going to substantially reduce the parking and On those busiest days of the summer at particularly this First spring as it takes forward and while the university is still in session And we get those extraordinarily warm days that sometimes you get during late April and early May. I Do have a little bit of a concern that we're putting a lot of stress on our Police department because there could be a lot of unhappy people going to the pond with the vision of prior years and thinking that oh I'm in that kind of any problem finding a parking space now I'm going to go out and lie on the beach and do whatever I do whether it's legal or not like drinking beer or not but it is going to have that potential and So I guess my my one A Little bit of concern was is that there could be some points of extreme tension which will require added Attention from our police department. Did you want to offer any comment relative to that, Mr? So probably true in the initial You know once whenever we just or if this gets approved and it goes into effect in the DBW does their thing When everything is completed there is obviously going to be an educational component and then some enforcement the good part about The days when we expect the highest potential Students to be you know if it's a really warm day in May before the students leave the area We typically have additional police officers hired anyways because North Amherst being North Amherst So, you know wouldn't be too difficult to have some of those officers being that Puffer's pond area anyways, which we've been doing for a couple of years now because it has become such a Popular student hang out with specific warm days in May And quite frankly sometimes in the summer too if students tend to hang around a little bit more So yeah, there's definitely going to be Additional we're gonna need to have additional officers in that area either as part of their regular patrol or we're gonna have officer Laramie as part of his community outreach be up there I volunteered Eric be able to he doesn't know that until probably right now But you know officer Casey Nagel who's assigned to downtown when it's a little bit quieter in the summer downtown We'll also be able to go up there on his bike and stuff And I've also reached out to the Eops people our executive office of public safety where we get a lot of our traffic Enforcement grants to see if it would be legal to actually Send officers up there on state funded grants to do enforcement and they're we can stretch the rules They're okay with us stretching the rules on that so As it pertains to additional staffing at least from either the parking enforcement people or the police department We'll be able to accomplish what we will need to accomplish with the current manpower that we have now I agree. I think whoever made the last statement that down the road Probably would be a great idea to have seasonal employees up there That would be kind of the eyes and ears for the police so that you know by the time we get up there It isn't just you know 300 people on the beach with open containers and stuff. So that would probably be a great idea Thank you. Is there further comment hearing none All those in favor, please say aye Opposed so that's unanimous with one member absent. Thank you all for coming sharing that with us So next on our agenda Is our action discussion items we're going to head into That section our agenda, which is the change of lighting for Fearing Street neighborhood Philip Street and Allen Street So I believe we're asking mr. Zomek. No, it's gonna be the chief. No chief Livingstone and Mr. Bill a piece of paper on We did get a new with a fancier market of the poles, right? That's I've got a really clear copy here if you guys Well, I might have given you the wrong one. That's okay. We've got one that was built as mills did. Yes Yes big Stars on it or something like that. That's right to this part Finding old I know you're Digging up all these paper wonderful papers that we have a number of which we had in our packet There's a note here that looks like it's copied out of a book that I have no understanding of the provenance Do you know what that represents? Yeah, so in my memo? I reference that memo as being the product of the police department Mr. Laramie So that's why there's a cover memo that it's attached to that memo well By the time I looked at my packet And it's but that's what that's representing is okay Sure so Thank you this was this is the kind of the next phase in town where our Sept head people are crying prevention through environmental design This is the next area of Concentration or concern that they've been studying and making recommendations for improvements You probably all remember that we came before you in the summer of 2017 to request some improvements including lighting to Hobart Lane We've done some additional work up in the townhouse area Through this the sept head people as well And now we are at the Phillips and Allen and Nutting Avenue location So these requests are kind of the final phase of what we've already accomplished in that neighborhood There was an awful lot and I'll read officer Laramie's little note on it But the lighting requests are part of an overall strategy to decrease Disturbances noise other unruly behavior that already includes community outreach and education the landlord engagement University messaging and conduct and other site changes improvements and maintenance Community policing efforts and enforcement all of these elements are already in place for Phillips nutting and Allen and the lighting and improvement infrastructures are the final pieces So it's kind of where we are with that specific location You know with our crime prevention through environmental design people and certainly Eric be always part of that as well I can tell you since the 2016 improvements that the board Voted on up on Hobart Lane The most recent statistics on the quality of life calls is that those calls are down about 60% so that's pretty significant overall through all of town Our quality of life calls are down about 25% total. So This is just a small part of kind of what we're doing and this was the next logical location to concentrate our efforts so Both Eric bill officer Laramie myself have met with a number of residents there They did a student survey and Arab for the most part except for the residents on Nutting Avenue Everybody agrees that lighting we did some shrubbery trimming and tree trimming and stuff like that But lighting is the final phase. So that's why we're here tonight. So the Should we go to Mr. Moring to Sort of share his thoughts on this matter as well thoughts You have my memo I just pointed out there is is a policy for this The only thing I'm I support the police in doing this and getting things squared away I just don't want to kind of turn into People just ask for lights and get lights all over town some type of rhyme or reason The police have a very good rhyme and reason to do in this and I support that you have the price for it Roughly, it's 12 to $1,300. I believe is what I said for each each light There are some new poles that have to go in They won't be they won't need pole hearings because there will be replacement poles and they just go in where the old poles are So we're we're in support and just want to make sure it gets approved and we can move on move forward with this Great, just a quick question about the poles that need to be replaced is that? Where they do for replacement anyway, and this is a convenient opportunity to actually execute those those replacements Or is it you know something else about them that needs you know attention that requires the poles to be replaced? There's two things one is one co is our ever source. Sorry ever source is converting over to taller poles You'll notice they're going much taller. They're about 10 more feet to each pole So the poles that need to be replaced are very old. They're much shorter They look like they've been cut off or had an accident once or twice So they've been shortened a bit, so I'm sure when we actually try to fit the light in it won't it won't fit in our space We actually are allocated a space on the pole and that light isn't going to fit So they're gonna have to put a bigger pole in so we have appropriate space to keep our light away from everybody else Everybody on the pole has a space. You got to stay in your space Other questions for mr. Mourning Yeah, none of the question particularly for mr. Mourning, but I just wanted to make a general comment as one of the two members of the select board who's a member of the campus and community coalition The whole sub-ted program really would came out of present work that was done with the CCC and presentations that were made to that group and I Lermy being among people who made very good presentations about what the history of the program is what the goals are and what the accomplishments are and the first effort was I think townhouse and You know these have been Proven strategies elsewhere, which is why it was then Something the Police department at both the town and at the university were very interested in exploring and it is from all of the reports that I have Is a member of the CCC The first two efforts have been successful and that was the reports I believe that we have received at the community campus and community coalition It's clever Well, mr. Mourning. I'm glad you clarified that the this Request had a rhyme or reason to it because in your memo to us you say the number one The select board has policy concerning the placement of streetlights Which we've seen a number of times and was included in our packet as well And then you go on to say this area currently has more lighting than recommended by the policy Which is a little contradictory to what you've just said because my reading of the policy says that other locations deemed appropriate as well as downtown streets and Other streets with heavy pedestrian traffic such as in the vicinity of schools in commercial areas. So my when I read reread this policy I thought that this request fit perfectly within the policy. I I understand it goes on I mean this policy was generated in 2001 sort of We don't want Resonance to think that we're going to resume paying for streetlights that were eliminated in 1991 And I understand your fear of Wamp it request for streetlights everywhere, but it would seem to me that this request fits squarely within our policy I'm glad you said that Which part but it fits within the policy Might I just helpfully helpfully point out that until we got it in our packet two weeks ago No current member of the select board even remembered this Streetlights policy existed from 2001 so that's that it when we did the Hobart Hobart We did so we did we don't have it handy And so we saw it when we dealt with Hobart you are correct You want quick access? It's on the DPW drive under streetlights for when people call and ask for streetlights the policy You send them that excellent So if I could just add to what mr. Steinberg said, I think we've seen real success. It's a real quality of life issue It's a public safety issue and actually I would want to go further in general and I've talked about this a couple times that the Municipal strategy subcommittee and at the CCC I would love to see this kind of analysis done throughout the downtown because I think we have some other Kind of what lighting deserts or back dark spots There's some other safety Public safety things UMass every fall does a I forget the name of it now But mr. Beal probably remembers where they do they walk through the campus It's kind of like a kickback the night kind of focus like what's safe, you know Where where their hazards and where might there be? things that need either lighting or a safer and And kind of environmental plan and I think we're long overdue to look at the whole downtown in that regard Do you remember the name of that More work to be done. Yes, did you want to offer comments? I would just simply out I'm of course Eric Biel and one of the co-chairs the campus community coalition along with Captain Jen Gundersen As mr. Steinberg and Miss Krueger pointed out and this is an effort that's been years In the making and I'm very deeply grateful for the the partnership with with the Amherst police and in the chief and really enjoyed Having the emmerselect board have representatives on this coalition with with Andy and Connie and Very very grateful for their service. Thank you. I do note in that regard that we have notified the coalition that The November meeting is our last meeting as select board representatives and if the town manager is going to designate other representatives to be substituted for the role that we played that's Be his decision That's interesting since elected officials might potentially or it might be other people because I know obviously staff participate already Yes, and so limiting it to staff main Hopefully not be under consideration One of the things we've talked about before when we see proposals like this is cost Which is outlined here the source of funds and the timeline neither of which I see So what's our what's our theory associated with that? Mr. Morgan, so this is approved. It'll come out of the street light budget So we have money in the operating funds for street lights We also have money in the capital for street lights for replacements They'll come from those funds the timeline is up in the air because we do have to get ever sourced to actually make the polls ready As soon as it's as soon as it's approved. We'll Procure the arms and they go up first and then we wait for ever sourced and give us the The pigtails from the electrical line to hook to the light Thank you Yes, miss bro. So do we imagine and I know obviously you can't control ever sourced and if you did we'd be ever so happy but We've had that issue before but In terms of do you expect this would be done prior to next spring? I actually expect it might be done by the end of the year every source has been really cooperative lately And we've been able to get things in and prioritize it and work with them really well with that So from that standpoint ever sources working really well, but if we put a request in we get it taken care of like Very quickly usually I Don't motion. Yes, please. I move to approve the installation of five new street lights as follows Poles three five and seven on Phillips Street poles one and three on Allen Street Is there a second second the motion in a second is there for the discussion? Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Hi And so that is unanimous with one member absent Thank you all very much So next on our agenda is the South Amherst common traffic study update mr. Moring He'll take us through where we are because things have happened in that end of town that complicated the circumstances. So if you want So we've placed the traffic study on hold because the station road bridge closure There's actually a substantial amount of traffic that comes in station road into the common with the bridge closed Doing a count right now will skew the numbers. So we made the recommendations the Transportation Advisory Committee actually thought about it molded over and actually concurred that yes We should probably put off the counting it till the bridge is open again They did make one recommendation that we put a stop sign at the cut-through across the common and that that stop sign be installed Whether it would be called a temporary stop sign or just to install a stop sign at the cut-through across the common Which is comes out on Southeast Street between the library and one of the residences, which I had the number in my head And I forgot but that's all that they thought would happen We should be recommended to accommodate and maybe help the situation if we mow over what's going on It's in them. It's in your memo. And actually it was a little I apologize for the size of the Okay, there was a memo So it was the stop sign be on Two stop signs one on each end are you talking about one stop sign and if so which end and why only one only one Well only one stop sign on the east end of the cut-through not on the west and east end The more the issue is more at the people who are cutting across and making the left turn from that way People who actually are coming back They're heading back across or heading south excuse me They don't actually can use the cut-through that often if you're coming from a station road You usually go all the way up station road you make left Instead of it's kind of Should I give you a map real quick or would be a good plan If you can pull one up that would be helpful I think I know what we're talking about because we're talking about the Longer cross-through that is not the one that goes into station road with the one that's farther to the south Because people can actually make that Maneuver that was being described at either of the cut-throughs So here we have the common south common This is the cut-through we're talking about we're met recommending putting a stop sign right here at this side So most of what happens is people are coming down Shays Street they cut across and shoot all the way across over to Southeast Street and People who are on Middle Street who are coming north they cut across here as well People are really trying to avoid this intersection at the very north end of the common because It's hard to look back over your shoulder because of the way the skew is to see the traffic is coming So when people are heading back to the south if you're going down Middle Street You've already made the split here because it's an easy it's an easy just go to the right and if you're going down Southeast Street It's easy to go this way So there's not that much cut-through in this area going towards Shays Street because you'd already have gone down The west side here and then you do this little cut-through here So we were recommending this right here, which is the one that gets the most most bikers are going up and down this side of And they're the ones who are having the problem with people not yielding to them Does that make sense? Yes, it does So the other part of my question, I suppose because you were looking for the map That problem doesn't exist at the one to the north that goes into Station Road because people cut there And then make the left turn there too for the same reason the people going the station road Well, no when they're people who come who are going north on Middle Street They have actually two options to cut off the one that you're talking about and then the one that goes into Station Road And they can make left turns at either one and I'm Asking whether our track accounts indicate there's no need for stops on there, too. There's already a stop sign. There is one Okay, thank you. It's cool. Somebody who traverses this area on a multi many times a day I Didn't I've heard people talk about adding stop signs But I thought we had a whole procedure and analysis before we threw in a stop sign someplace I'm a little surprised that we're actually considering that tonight I Know a couple of people have written emails with perceived problems. I don't see a real issue with cut through the way it is now and with the Station Road Bridge out. It's hard enough to navigate all of this and I'm kind of not really thrilled about adding anything to any any of this I think people do need to learn how to drive and we need enforcement of good driving, but I don't see I Don't really see the compelling need for the stop sign and what data that we usually ask for when we're going to put in Stop sign how what we have to back that up because Similarly to people wanting street lights people always want stop signs and we had this issue up at Henry Street So what would make us want to do a stop sign now? The transportation advisory committee was recommending that we put a temporary stop sign there and they were basing it on the information they've gathered from More discussion with the residents of the area So the item on the agenda is not for a new stop sign It's to update on the traffic study and mr. Moring was updating you on everything that's been talked about for this area Including you know the status of the study which makes sense to put on hold and then as the Transportation advisory committee is discussing that they had thought about this idea of a stop sign But that's not not a proposal in front of you. It could be at your next meeting during our normal process Just as a question regarding that would we have to This would be a change to the public way do we have to do a public hearing relative to that? I don't think we do but not first stop signs You've never done a you could you I mean they serve in the policy of the board to do a public hearing for a stop sign request our yield sign and There's no formal requirement in the state rules that you do that like parking parking requires that you do a hearing Okay, just want to clarify that for my own We might get a formal request about that but right now it's just an update right right So you had a question I Believe and I may be Misinterpreting but I believe that the tack is requesting us to do a stop sign So I'm not saying we do it tonight, but I'm not saying that they haven't done it because they haven't given us a memo yet I'm saying that that could be done if we sound are you looking as the second part of this The first part was the update as the second part I assume you might be looking for some direction as to whether or not we do want to deal with this anytime soon Well, because the tack voted this we will bring this back to you Even even if we said Even if some parties indicated they were not particularly interested the tack was and is in fact going to write something up and ask us for it Didn't you already gave us the preliminary coming our way just to go back to the traffic study for a moment Would you? Suggest that it's likely we should wait until the bridge at station road is back Functioning again, which would delay this by a considerable amount of time Or do you think there's some value to potentially doing some? Some counts even with the situation as it is now. I'm curious your thoughts about that and You know for where we are and what you think might be advisable I believe that the the attack is gonna Transportation advisory committee is gonna want to look at more things. They've already as they started to play with this and actually This is actually probably the second time This is the second time since I've been in here the public works department has looked at the center this common And before that it was looked at by the town engineer Jim Smith when he was here And what we've found out every time is as we look at this you start seeing there's more problems than just one problem here The biggest problem says Kruger already came up with is that people just don't obey the rules And don't want to drive the speed limits and don't want to They don't want to be They don't want to do what they're supposed to do So there's a large group of there's a group of those people who are doing that and then there's issues with sight There is issues with sight the most biggest one is the north end This is a very hard spot. I can I can't even turn my neck to see I mean, I'm inching out Yes, I've had actually a whole group of people who are in this area and drive through here a lot Gave me their demonstration how far they can turn their neck and so it doesn't even match I apologize to them and and yes It's a very acute angle and as actually drivers get to a certain point under driving career Yes, it gets worse and I agree with that nicely put For other drivers in their driving career who probably don't even look that direction they just threw and it's all set And they're probably the ones causing the issue So this little corner here really does need to be looked at and what really comes down to it is how do you get rid of that? You got to sacrifice something do you Move the roads and move get rid of one of these roads and put one down the middle Do you get what a one and keep this one? Do you get rid of this one and or keep this one to get rid of that one?  It's actually even less of an issue But this needs to be cleaned up a bit too But you can't just put a road all the way through the center of Fiddler's green that would be a That would be a not acceptable. I believe and we've been told that So there is some other things that have to be looked at these intersections here People have talked about squaring these these up so that you don't have to you just have one You just have one here. There's been all sorts of discussions of making it simpler and making less Points of conflict So there might be more discussion as we go along even though the bridge is closed So just to follow on that idea is is all of that sort of Fiddler's greens or South Amherst Common All part of the town way. It's all town owned property. It's all public way It's not set aside as a separate parcel as town common or town park. It's all public way That gives us a little latitude to rearrange the roads in ways that are helpful potentially I mean obviously it's a green space that we're all common and familiar with and have emotional ties to or whatever but From the standpoint of just sort of the strict rules of what governs those areas. It is a public way. It is Well actually tell the truth It's really just southeast street and when you look at the way it was laid out This is southeast street and this is southeast street middle street ends here It's a boulevard at that point. Yeah, it's like a bold large green space in the middle Street and in Boston right then the solutions make each side one way To what mr. Moring said I And I think you already know this but you talked about the other little intersection problem area with Pomeroy and Middle and something which it is also like You're like can I go now? There's there's a lot of conflict there. So you're right There's a there's a myriad of problems and changing something that's part of a historic pattern is Like in a historic green gets dicey it does I should be embarrassed to even say this But I'm surprised you haven't suggested a dog bone roundabout there You actually look at move it around if you actually look at the the way we had it set up and one one of our options The first time we looked at this back in 2004 or five there are two roundabouts here with the possibility of third in the north so it was Kind of around about this end around about here or here and one here But they were too close together. So that kind of came down to being Possibility of one roundabout and one roundabout. So yes, we've looked at roundabouts here as well Stop start. That's so hard for people. Oh Yes before we let mr. Moring know I just want to note and this is just an announcement that we have a public meeting tomorrow night At the Fort River School, which is a different location than was originally advertised and we sort of put that out to everybody as far as we can And we'll be talking about the station road bridge. The chair has agreed to MC the event moderate the event whatever to help us be able to get information out to people and Comprehensively as we can so mr. Zomek mr. Moring and I will be at this meeting At 6 30 on Tuesday, October 30th at Fort River School in the cafeteria I'm gonna I'm planning to attend to since my part of town, but if there's three of us Do we need to worry about posting ourselves? Luckboards not gonna get to deliberate on anything So makes no difference But but I did want to just ask while we're on that topic if it Which was such a perfect segue is If you could just read I know that none of this is simple But I've been frustrated by some of the input We've been receiving that says why haven't you gotten a temporary bridge where I thought you made it Extremely clear why we didn't get a temporary bridge because we are not allowed to do so under the law That in fact we went off looking for one thinking we'd be able to do it until the state said no So that is still correct, right? Well temporary bridges is available, but we still have to go through the entire permitting process And maybe mr. Moring you can give a preview to tomorrow night Well, the way I was gonna answer that is we're not allowed to do a temporary bridge the way we've done temporary bridge is and other Non-public roads or areas where the roads or the bridge is not been as long as this and we've done other temporary bridges on Watershed land and wells roads out to the wells that we just basically Vendors come to and we go to and we've been able to do those rather quickly But because of the process we have to follow We can't do it as quickly as we would like to do it I would also just suggest relative to the meeting for night is that at the Original location, which was the community room with the police station that you post a sign Pointing people to go down the hill and yes go to Fort River school And I would point out is North Hammers person that we suffered Meadow Street Now you don't feel bad for us. Well, no, but I understand the problem Understands both the problem from both sides So thank you very much this morning. Thank you very Information on the on what traffic study is and some other topics about South Amherst Common. So you're always welcome See you tomorrow night Yes, we'll see you tomorrow night So next on our agenda is the downtown recreation working group fields and facilities preview capital plan request Mr. Zomek is going to take us through some materials that were shared with us That's a meeting said the the rec working group had thank you very much I've asked Ms. Mills to advance the slideshow and I'll try to go through these quickly because I think the board Is generally aware of this project I've come before you with kind of a first look at this project but I think we're well along now and When I get done the quick slide set here, I'd be happy to answer questions So as the board is aware the downtown recreation working group has been meeting for well over a year It has been focused on the area that you see up on your screen and those folks watching at home see on the screen And this is a great aerial view for those of you who don't recognize it This is the high school what we consider community field You can see War Memorial pool right here the track complex here high school the middle school This is the the tennis courts over at the middle school Wildwood and then the the so-called Hawthorne property So our overall focus area is really what we consider the core recreational facilities for the town which encompass high school middle school Wildwood and Hawthorne and using funds from Community Preservation Act and Regional schools we were able to hire this wonderful company Weston and Samson to help us create a master plan for these fields next slide It's good. It's a PDF. So it's going to be a little bit slow here as we We change the slides so this just outlines our process as I said We've been working for well over a year. We've had a number of public meetings. We've engaged a number of sports teams leagues Students and and athletes have come to our various meetings. We've gone through a number of iterations I'll show you later in the in the slide set here that we have a couple of plans And there is of course a preferred plan next slide As I said the core sites are really the high school middle school Wildwood Community field and Hawthorne But we did have Weston and Samson look at all the fields in town from Mill River to Kiwanis Park to Golf Park, but the core set is really right in our downtown We feel and the the conclusion of Weston and Samson and the rec working group is that if we can make changes positive changes to the condition and the efficiency and use of our core fields We can make a Many-fold increase in the usage availability and efficiency of how those fields are used for both Middle school sports high school sports and community sports And as you you all know these fields are all also used by the three hill towns as well in the regional school System, but also on an informal basis when people come from lever pellum and shootsberry Just to passively recreate or throw a frisbee or throw a football or use the track next slide as I said, this is just a An overview of the core properties. I want to make a really clear distinction here because the rec working group This was news to some folks and I think it's new to some people out there in the public what we're looking at here is the high school complex and What people need to recognize is that in the yellowish orange that color there is community field That is a town asset in purple We have regional assets and of course many people because Varsity football and varsity baseball and varsity softball are played on what we call community field People often have a misunderstanding that that's actually regional school land So our group was very careful to look at uses on the town property as well as the region For many many years We have shared the use of this space and that's one of the outcomes that we'll talk about in a few minutes but as we look at a report coming from Western and Samson in December they will make recommendations on how we can better care for these fields and better share those fields and We'll also look at some of the costs of sharing and and maintaining those fields over time next slide So I'm really gonna talk tonight because we want to talk about costs and we want to talk about phasing and Really what the group working with us and in Samson determined is that if we really want to make change And we want to achieve efficiencies and we want to look at some of the most urgent needs They are really at the high school and community field So although the middle school and Wildwood are part of our study They will be included in the report that we get from Western and Samson The main focus here is on the high school and community field next slide So needs there's a lot of needs out there Western and Samson and our group went out on multiple site visits We photo-documented we met with Alan snow from DPW when we met with staff from the high school Including rich Farrow we talked with coaches and what became clear both a community field and at the high school Is that we have many many unmet needs? years of I would guess I would call it neglect and lack of Investment in these resources have resulted in fields and facilities that are in I would say fair to poor condition And one of the emphasis points of tonight's presentation is really the track and the field that is in In the middle of the track and that field is primarily used for varsity soccer this fall the Soccer field was actually closed by the athletic director because it was in such poor shape And there were great concerns about Safety the track as most of you know has been on the capital list for a number of years and is in poor condition And may need to be closed as early as next year And we may need to look at holding our track meets Elsewhere at other facilities either at the institutions of higher ed or at away meets next slide So suffice it to say Western and Samson documented all the Needs they they Created charts graphs We we created collected data from LSSE from the schools on usage So the report is the first Comprehensive report that I'm aware of that will look at our core facilities and also be able to tell us how many hours Are are being played on each one of the fields in the core of our recreational Resources, which I think is very exciting to know how many varsity sports how many JV sports and how many community sports teams use these fields a Main acts a focus point is obviously Safety was number one and the second piece was access all of our fields in this core area have been identified as having great Unmet needs for accessibility when you think about how do people get to? The soccer field how do people traverse? Heels like this how do people get from parking lots downstairs to get to an ultimate game out back? Of the high school and for the most part all of our fields do not meet ADA standards next slide again great photo representation The field the varsity baseball field there is no way to get to the bar Varsity baseball field From an ADA standpoint. We have great drainage issues behind the field Even the stands we talked to a lot of people who have children in the sports Leagues and and in varsity sports and we we are even lacking in our Areas for people to sit and areas for people to observe games next slide Again on the community field side. We know that we need to upgrade the area around War Memorial pool. We invested many hundreds of thousands of dollars some years ago fixing the pool but we did not fix the bathhouse and we know the the Playground there needs quite a bit of work and and that will be addressed in this plan next So again, let's keep going next slide So I'm going to go through these very quickly because really what we want to do is get to the preferred option, but Let's just say this through a very Deliberative and very thorough process Weston and Samson presented a number of different options to the group I would say the most significant in option one The most significant change is actually creating a track and field a Layout that is right to the west of the high school and having a multi-purpose field in the middle of the track And I and I think The main point here is that the track and and the the current soccer field is actually East-west which is the incorrect layout and placement of that kind of facility So in option one the main change here is that we go to a north-south option with a six or eight lane track So we immediately address the issue of a failing track and we create a Multi-purpose field that can be used by every varsity field sport with the exception of baseball Which requires a 90-foot diamond But even in the spring the athletes in the baseball program softball program could use that field for working out, etc next slide Option two is slightly different And again a lot of things pivot off the track because that the track and the field in the middle are the major investment here And so what this option does is it moves the track farther west? We we we Considered this there are certainly some issues relative to how close it gets to the neighboring houses We also added an option to a very Thorough look at the area around War Memorial pool. We added a a Playground a small spray park We also added some all throughout the plans. You will see this tan Walkway system, and that is a multi-purpose path that it can be used for running for jogging for exercising It really connects the whole area. You'll also see that this plan makes the baseball field the girl softball field completely ADA accessible next slide and Then finally an option three. This is a little bit more radical of the plans and actually ultimately was was not recommended by the group What this does is eliminate the entire 90-foot diamond where it currently sits and creates a track and multi-purpose field and Takes all of the available space on what's called the upper tier here of community field and moves the 90-foot diamond Over to the western portion of the regional land So we looked at all of these plans and we next slide we came back to the elements of Basically plan number one and the core of that plan as I said was to site the track and a multi-purpose field just to the west of the high school and then We we cost it out a phased one Scenario where we would create this this facility and then grade and create drainage and Set the stage for another phase of work to the west and to the north of the high school So in phase one, we let me back up. We believe that all of the phases of this plan Will probably take 10 to 12 years the purpose of this report is to really inform upcoming capital planning For the schools for the regional schools and also for the town So in our preferred master plan the potential phase one is what you see before you this Immediately addresses issues of safety with the track It creates a multi-purpose field for all sports to use Many months of the year were very limited now by the drainage and the fact that For instance the the varsity soccer field the ad rich ferro reported that there are times that the The varsity soccer field is either so wet or so dry that the varsity soccer team can't even use it So they're left playing away games or to go to other facilities So phase one would be what you see before you next slide And so what we asked Weston and Samson to do now granted this plan of this slideshow that I'm Taking some slides from is about a month old now We asked Weston and Samson to come up with kind of a high and low of a potential cost For phase one and what they came up with is before you on the screen a low Roughly 3.9 million to a high of 6.2 There are many elements to this the size of the track The the number of amenities that you include all of the ADA improvements, etc etc What we've asked them to do since this slide deck was created and this presentation was given at a public meeting We've asked them to hone in on these numbers We've also asked them down in the lower right here to give us a hard number For what it would cost to simply recreate the track and a multi-purpose field natural turf where the track is today in the the the Substandard orientation of East West their initial cost was estimated at 2.5 million just to do that So here we are today. I've made a presentation to the regional school committee A couple of weeks ago. This was well received. I made a presentation to the capital Planning subcommittee of the of the region And we've talked with Sean mangano. We're beginning to really Hone in on these numbers to see how these might plug into the capital plan So again phase one. We all believe should be Track multi-purpose field to serve multiple sports both girls and boys sports There is no determination that has been made on whether this is a natural turf field or an artificial turf field However, there's has been discussions in the group I I think it's fair to say that the group favors looking very strongly at an artificial turf field There are many benefits including efficiency Playability length of the playing season and the list goes on and on but we're well aware of some of the Health related issues that have arisen and have been raised across the country But I think the the group is moving toward a strong recommendation in that direction I believe that's the end of the slide deck So I'm happy to take questions. That was a very quick look at over a year's worth of work And again, we are asking weston and samson to also outline The other phases and I said we're talking four to five phases over 10 Perhaps 15 years, but we believe this is the highest priority So does the board have questions Or comments mr. Stein. Yeah, I'm going to go with a comment as opposed to a question Um Early on in the presentation mr. Zovec mentioned the need to build This discussion into the capital planning process I actually think that's absolutely right It's almost more of our issue than it is the regional school committees issue because in the end Um capital expenditures by the regional schools get presented back to the town And it is divided up according to the regional agreement Proportionate to the eqv in each town and we know that therefore we're talking about Probably close to 90 percent being from Amherst so that if this Or to go forward as proposed Um There would be significant Capital expenditures even on phase one When we have four major projects already identified as our top priority Projects and we have Other entities including the senior center that have been Putting placeholders in Um, so I think that it's important as going forward that There'd be some understanding about that and that we come to grips with what Is our Policy on it and I have to go back to the regional agreement to see to recall exactly what the mechanics are of the Presentation because when the capital expenditure is proposed by the region Then we have a period of time that we've usually just waived and allowed to go forward Um, I think that it was uh, the select board under the current Refers to the Can make a determination to refer to town meeting Um, but it may be incorrect. I haven't looked at it for a while Uh, but whatever it is we need to make sure we understand how this works with our new charter That's an excellent point and Not both points on how the town reacts to a proposal from the region But also how this fits into the larger capital Scenario for major capital projects one of the things that has been discussed some of these meetings is whether cpa funds could be used By all four communities to address some of these things You cannot use it for an artificial turf field But you can use it for other recreational facilities And so there's some legal opinions about that It's something that we would have to get our town attorney to weigh in on to be clear And each of the four towns would have to have their attorneys weigh in on whether cpa funds could be used for As a source to address these recreational needs or not Uh, there's an additional piece and I'll pose it but not look at her and answer today of course and that is that The if the mechanism is that it is a proposal from the regional schools And because it's a four town Proposal therefore it's a regional proposal And then it comes back to the towns with the mechanism in the regional agreement Can towns use cpa funds to pay a part of their Obligation for capital under um the regional school Agreement and I think that that requires some research like Several questions One is I appreciate that you gave us a curated version of the slideshow We don't have all of them in our packet And so it there might have occasionally been a point where I was like Where's mine with the purple and green and orange section because that's that wasn't in our packet So you may have intended us to get it, but we didn't get it and I'm betting you're going to tell me it's available on the website I believe you in the in the electronic version you have more slides than I even showed Excellent 30 some odd slide deck. So and is that deck available? Where is that deck available that we can point people at because I know you've been doing a great job with Getting people engaged in your meetings. It's about where do we point people to as well as on the rec working groups on the rec working group site Thank you. That's what I want to share our presentation is in both locations Terrific and then since you probably answered this 50 or 100 times already Two of the labels that you have here one is shade shelter support buildings and shows three little three cute little monopoly type buildings Over here on the side. What are what does that mean? um I don't have that right in front of me, but no, I think I can we need to Yeah, we need to um, there we go. We need to account for Any areas both for people to observe sporting events in the shade? But also we need to make sure that The region and dpw have places for storage for equipment So we're looking at different options for how that could take place on the site You will notice if you look closely at Um, well this plan that is right in front of you now phase one would not do anything on the town land It would only be on region land, but you'll notice that the dpw parks and and trees and parks um headquarters if you will which is uh Right under where it says basketball courts. We have we have uh in this plan removed that building and moved it elsewhere It assumes that they will move somewhere to a central location and we've repurposed that site, but in any event we need to have Uh equipment mowers, etc to maintain what is happening out there We also need to provide bleachers on one side or the other and then shade structures And whatnot for people watching the events track and field for teams, etc One thing I will add just to that to point out in general regarding all of these, uh Various options that are laid out the longer and that Very much on the conceptual side um So the kinds of you know, so they indicate the kinds of things that would go in these places Uh, but they're not you know specific designs by any stretch So that's why they say shade shelter slash support because it could be either or or both And so and there's a few places you'll see things like that or even you know Where the paths specifically go or the particular You know like in the fitness circuit and that sort of thing the sort of layout is you know An idea of what could possibly be there that's not a detailed design by any stretch But I just want to point that distinction out for the folks Thank you And then um something that I know got a a moment's press when we knew it was fine But sometimes people think of the pool as war memorial, right? And so when you say you're relocating the war memorial You're relocating the space that most people in town have never actually looked at In terms of the ceremonies that we hold there But so you're just talking about basically shifting that space of the flagpole. There would be a gathering area That that's the actual war memorial part. There's not Statuary there for those of you who haven't been there Um, but but that's what you mean. You've never intended It's I mean the pool house needs to be renovated pools already been renovated But it's just that little pocket that would get shifted Yes, we need a new pool house. We're not going to renovate that one. Um, but yes in in one of the plans it actually shows Yes relocated war memorial and it's really more a much A much more well designed. It really celebrates You know those people who have served in in our armed forces And it would be located on or just off of mattoon street As you all know, there's a flagpole and a very small Stone there now. It's very hard to gather there. There's just It's not a da all of that would be accomplished in this new plan Ms. Krueger Well, thank you for you know, bringing this to us We've we have been following it both as a board and as individuals at different meetings. We've gone to and It's really exciting to see the possibility of making this kind of improvement And having it in phases. I think is probably necessary. It's nice to do all of it. Um, so I'm also looking at the capital planning aspect, which is going to go beyond the tenor of tenure of this board, but How to plan for it. So we know we have as mr. Steinberg alluded to we're all very aware That we have sort of the stacking up of major capital projects On the other hand, none of those have enough movement to go forward right now and You know The longer we wait on this the closer we're going to get to the high instead of the low. I would just guess um, so I'm wondering how to how to Keep this moving so that we have a chance of fitting this in among some really big one big expenditures and Often out in the community people are well, I don't want to spend any money until we get a new school. So not have to and we we could probably do this with our That service capacity we have now, but there's the politics of balancing what we do for a second and third but It would be really nice to keep the momentum to get phase one Done and hopefully then people get enthusiastic about following with the other ones because it just um The few sessions I said and what we have now is unsafe and unworkable and kind of good comparison You know 2.5 million to fix what we have now to just make it, you know useful versus something between four and six million It's easy to talk about millions as if they were just like, you know $10 bills or something other people's money, but it just seems so critical to upgrade These facilities and it is complicated because there's the regional agreement and the other towns have to buy in But I guess I would just say I'm really excited about this plan and would like to see it Keep going keep going so we get to the point where we can make a financial decision about it So yeah, just in conclusion, I mean just Following up on that. Um I just wanted to commend the group the rec working group and in all the town the hours and meetings that they put into this I mean as a community What More are we looking for we often say we don't have enough information to make an informed decision? I'm really excited that we Are very close to that by the time western and samson gets done their work in early december We will have a plan with cost estimates with design concepts But we will be in a very good and very well informed position To help the region to help the town To make all of us Help us to make good decisions moving forward. So the timing I think is very very good I will say that the region will need to do something Um the track Will not last we can't fix it. We can't patch it and the field in the middle is Not no longer safe. So I think our timing Um Be it unfortunate is probably pretty good that we have the plan done I think the other piece of this is that there has been talk both about cpa funding But also about private fundraising. We have been doing some informal outreach to other communities and I will say um Umbly we are well behind most other communities in western massachusetts in planning for our recreational facilities When you talk to coaches when you talk to rich fairer our ad And you visit other Recreational facilities in north hampton in agawam in south ad You mean athletic director When you visit south adley east hampton agawam north hampton Um, you will see that most of them did invest in these facilities something similar to this some years ago So we have time. We'll have a plan and I think it'll inform our future decisions It's bro. I was going to see if somebody gave me a nice segue for this what's Has there been some discussion amongst your group just because you have a bunch of different people with a lot of different interests around Yeah, the current philosophy on corporate sponsorship Because we don't do that in amherst as a general rule. We're very cautious very very very cautious Especially in the schools. We had some associated with lighting many years ago or by the schools and I know that that's The reason I bring it up is not because you didn't think of it But because I know that some members of our community will ask us to be thinking about that So I hope that you can figure out a good way given all the different partners. You've got talking to each other About and again looking to some of our neighboring communities as well Not that i'm really excited about the idea of the bank of america war memorial or the you know, etc But at the same time It's something that does Happen some other places and so we've been really cautious about not hanging up banners for things absolutely everywhere, etc. But In our caution, we perhaps don't want to overlook Maybe somebody's come up with a good middle ground associated with that It has come up, but very informally. I think it's a very early conversation I do know that you know at mill river the emmerce baseball league was granted Permission to have some modest banners out on the Mill river one and mill river two the two fields up in north emmerced But i'm not aware that we've gone much further than that So but I think it could certainly be part of this and as I said private fundraising is being discussed and has been Successful in other communities in partnership with town capital and cpa dollars So the the other thing I would add is actually the tennis courts at the middle school Which you saw in one of the photos which have been redone It's probably in three or four years ago But you know there's a fairly significant grant from the usta and really the only requirement they had was to paint the court To particular color scheme So that was pretty you know a fairly low threshold for us to meet So I think there are a fair number of grants around the country in various You know sport Associations, you know lacrosse football field hockey I don't know about ultimate, but you know a fair number around the country, you know that you know long-standing Programming That have some grant programs that are also a possibility now whether or not they then require an appropriate I think I saw one for usa football, which is an organization In some ways a partner with the the national football league that that had a I think it was $50,000 But you have to put their logo on the field. It was for like a field But you have to put their logo on the field and that might be a bit too far for us But I also think in the fundraising that you know, there there could be Potentially, you know local businesses that would be willing to to have their Band more permanently, you know put in place And I think I'd be more palatable people if you know there was the atkins farms, you know Whatever, I mean I'm just picking a business to pick business. It could be, you know, one of the banks could be bank America Could be the black sheep. It could be, you know, pick a business in town Porta perhaps since they're new to town will leverage them right away But you know, I think that there are some options there I think we have to get creative and and I think there's what's going to be the tricky part of that I think in regard to trying to fundraise is how to to do that Actively and coordinate with, you know, the sort of things the town needs to do to do diligence around procurement and You know, that sort of thing So it's like the town's going to have to go out and borrow X number of dollars and then how do you mesh that with You know a fundraising you know component that that You know a isn't organized at present, but if it does get organized, you know, how do you Sort of make sure that there's a certain promise that they can keep Um, I think those are some of the Interesting and complicating things that we have to to look at but I think it's certainly a significant factor and But I think there'll be some some folks that'll be interested in sort of reaching out and writing grants Grant applications starting to get some funding in much the way we did for the dog park Good cool. Thank you very much It's our timeline I'm sorry. What's our timeline? I mean you have this beautiful timeline and then the last one doesn't have a date Final recommendations and master plan report. There's noticeably no date on the last part What's your goal? Our goal is to have the report done by december 1st. Wow And then that way I can go into you know into the capital plan, which has a horizon The new form of jcp seawolf Thank you Strawberry. Thank you. David. Thank you very much All right So next on our agenda, uh budget policy guidelines for fiscal year 20 So at our last meeting I think it was our last meeting We discussed this a little bit in your packet should be a sort of edited version Of fiscal 19s turned into fiscal 20. So I made a few edits based on our conversation. Hopefully I have Captured our conversation appropriately One thing I will point out on the on the front page there where it says october and it looks like the four There's actually a cross out, but it happens to coincide with the bar at the bottom of the Four there. So that has actually crossed out On that it does look a little odd. I looked at that on my own computer about six times and I was oh, it's just crossed out It looks like it's just Not taken care of but it actually is But I'm I'm Hoping that if there are any edits or or changes that people have that we can Take them into consideration now Mr. Steinberg, so I did first of all, thank you for capturing our last conversation so well So I don't really have any comments on what we did as I was rereading it I thought about one additional thing And that is on the second page under What is roman numeral one subsection g? um And of course it reads as it starts. Thanks to town staffs good planning fiscal discipline and current projected revenues we Have no need to consider a pro opposition two and a half override then the In the third sentence Here's what I thought about since then important economies and providing for health care reasonable contract renewals Efficiencies in operation This is where I'm adding Besides starting at the end and regular new growth that allows new taxes in addition to the um Loud two and a half percent increase in the levy limit That is actually part of the things that have made us be able to avoid an override Mm-hmm, right. I think that's really important to put in the new growth So I can I will read again what I have knock out the First where it says uh, you have a contract renewals comma efficiencies and operations comma And regular and I didn't prems new growth, uh, not prems quotation marks, excuse me That allows new taxes in addition to The allowed two and a half percent increase in the levy limit comma have all Been an important part of keeping it within the two and proposition two and a half requirements Because I can hand this over to My copy and give it a way of uh, that would be helpful to the Manager I do think that's a critical. Uh, thank you for noting that because I think that's a pretty critical piece we've noticed in the last couple of years. I mean matter as a matter of fact just to be Put a little finer point on it I think I I was certainly noticing that last year the new growth relative to some buildings today had come online as far as taxes essentially Picked up the the health insurance increases. We were covering for the for that filter gap They basically were a wash and so that new growth essentially kept us from having to Cut Decidedly more from our budgets No doubt this screw I totally support that addition. Um, what I was wondering and the other You know new red text in h. Um, I think that's important. I know it was based on the conversation last time About the four major capital projects needing Grant support such as msba or mblc I wonder if we would be willing to go as far as to be clear that we're talking about One elementary school I know in the four boards meeting that came up in a kind of roundabout way about whether We thought it would be wise to be talking about Two two new schools are one and how we would pay for those this talks about how We would pay for them, but we it doesn't clarify a position maybe premature, but I Kind of inclined to also give a message that it's one not two Just putting that out for discussion I hadn't thought of us being so bold as to do that But this is a great recommendation to the way we see the this is the lay of the land as it is right now and While I know there are many different opinions out there in the world about this I believe that we've made it clear as a board up until this point that We can't conceive of a financial plan that would enable us To adequately repair two separate elementary schools not even counting crocker in the situation that that's How do they phrase that in the movies inconceivable? Um, so I realize it's not inconceivable to the entire public But the entire public has perhaps not been looking at it as long as we have so I see that it would Be more of a political statement than perhaps has been Assumed that this was before But I think along the lines of including the new growth which we have Not made clear in the past. We've just known that it makes such a big difference I tend to agree with you So you want to go bold on this? I don't have wording made up though. Yeah, it would have to depend on the phrasing So because again, it's the idea of you know, we can't afford to execute without significant support from these things We can't afford and it's along those lines as opposed to saying it's a philosophy It it's literally there's no money reality Right one school not to hear what you're saying. I think mr. Steinberg is Yeah, how to craft that you could just say an elementary school the jones library a south fire station and a public works One could be an Or one I mean, this is this is our document. It doesn't make anyone do anything right Although if we just say If we just say one there will be people who assume we mean one than the other And then someday we'll do the second one as opposed to it will only happen once A single new Because there are people who believe that it's okay to just go ahead and do one elementary school And someday we'll do the second one and that's not been the belief system of this board It's not the assumption. We've been operating under no state that i'm Well, I have an opinion I'm going to keep it to myself because this poses one of those circumstances where it runs into a bit of conflict for me So i'm going to try to steer clear of this as far as wording is concerned, but I almost wonder whether instead of Working around the one and and if we're really meaning what we're saying Whether though, we should just come up with an entirely additional second sentence additional sentence after the long-term capital projections and before the new underlined sections and saying financial analysis has This isn't exact I because i'm just making this up off top of my head financial analysis has determined that It is only feasible to build one elementary school Building to replace the two Existing structures or something like that if you're going to be bold you might as well be bold I i'm in favor of it because that's how we all feel and that's the premise we've acted on throughout the whole school discussion We've taken positions on it informed to positions And I like the way it talk you talk in the phrasing about Being clear that we're not just talking about one school and then someday another school in school. I keep listening. It's one replacing two Okay, so are you actually saying that ultimately you want to get to two elementary schools in town versus three? rocker and one new We cannot do a wildwood project separate Fort river project that the town Finances and the number of capital projects that we have make that financially unfeasible that's I think our wisdom after having struggled with this problem for Many years So that's our guidance and until proven otherwise so What I would suggest at this point Boring other changes to the document. I mean We don't have a lot of meanings left, but we have more.  So what I might suggest is that I take the edit that mr. Steinberg suggested relative to the new growth and I'll take the phrasing that he offered relative to the comments of of the three of you relative to that In the elementary school building and in sort of fold those into this document And we'll we'll revisit it on the 13th. Is that Okay, or do we want to I think we can dismiss we can dispose of this item I think we've you know pretty happy I think the manager has the Text it made just when you see it written out and we need a grammatical correction or something or a period or a comma But I would love to if the board is happy with that. I'm I'm certainly fine with that as well And so we could Three four times recently right as an FYI in our packet when it's done as opposed to we're going to revisit Is that okay with you mr. Chair? It's absolutely fine with me. I'm happy to to handle us in either way. I I didn't want to presume we could Just edit it and and you know make the motion with with evidence, but I'm happy to do Are you suggesting another sentence? Yeah, he knows where it's before the red it's before the red Yep, right and I made notes as so it's in between And I'll I can I've made notes on that and I'll make those Yep, we didn't work on that and share those with you So is there are there other comments or suggestions Everything else looks good. I mean it actually could come in at the end after because We had reasons it is clear the process for major projects coupled with the ongoing capital needs of the town Then it talks about MSP and a and mblc and then say In addition The financial costs Of constructing More than one elementary school Are not an advisable plan For addressing the problems in the two Existing buildings. I liked what you said better before. Yeah, I liked it better before. Yeah, it's getting you're trying to Yeah, I would I would put it in the middle part and maybe have to yeah, you know, but Because if I may the the part that we're trying to get across To belabor this completely is that we believe that there can only be One building that will meet the needs of both those two elementary schools right now wild and fort river We're not saying where it's gonna be from a financial but from a financial point of view It's going to substitute for both of them And so it just has to be super clear to the reader that we're not saying Do one and someday do another one we're saying there is there is only one it's only enough money for one In an ideal world and some other and we should probably we should specify fort river and wildwood I think in words Because those are the two that are clear. Yeah, and then we've done it So so you would say something like One elementary school To replace fort river and wildwood Something as simple as that. Yes All financial indicators are or something the phrase Only feasible to build one elementary school building to replace the two Existing fort river and wildwood or or to replace Fort river and wildwood right right so you get financially feasible at the beginning and you work with smith, but you did and it was helpful So I will I will do that But and so we do have a motion sheet if someone would want to offer that The motion is to approve the f y 20. I'm going to insert that in there The f y 20 budget policy guidelines stated october 29th not for fiscal year 2020 the f y 20 budget policy guidelines stated October 29th as amended Is there a second second? The motion is second. Is there a further discussion? Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye All right And that's unanimous with one member absent Good work Make those edits and we'll Accept the changes it's thank you for all the work on that. It's just And I apologize I didn't proofread it until this afternoon, so I didn't think of it until this afternoon So next our agenda is chart transition and any updates Um, I gave you a fairly detailed update last week The the bylaw review committee meets tomorrow and they're meeting with former senator rosenberg They're still open to meeting with members of the board if they're interested if you are interested in meeting with them um our Sort of planning group is meeting tomorrow as well We've had good success in securing um the sort of Some pluses in mind Some good success, but some disappointments in terms of who we're able to engage in the in the event Still working on some elements of it. For instance the am in the amherst gospel choir It's a little bit too early for them because some other members are still in church So we're trying to think if there they can come later in the Program and still be a part of it because we feel that that's a very important part of our community And wants them to be involved As you can see in here the room continues to take shape the the work Right now has been done at most of the work is tech is technology and electrical work The finished carpentry will be done Think later this week and again, I am really really proud that The construction that you see and the finished carpentry Will all be done by town employees who have Offered to provide to do the work because they really want to participate and be part of this Creating what's going to be in this building As they continue to do the work it makes this room More and more off limits because there's a lot of construction during the day They're sanding and things like that. It creates more debris And it becomes a challenge for us to find rooms Especially because we also have lost the first floor meeting room because of early voting So but this room will be You know Not Will be in shaping for the council's first official meeting on december 3rd We hope So we're still driving towards that Those are the major things since last week and I'll keep updating you So actually this will return to the item that I raised previously and I just wanted to See that some thought is given to it I had made the comment about the campus and community coalition and That it really is a matter for the town manager and the reason I said that is that We're really venturing into new territory for the town because we um the elected body is labeled in the charter as the legislative body and the executive is Labeled as the manager and when we've been In our Current format because the select board was the executive First miss okif for many years and then followed by miss kruger and myself after miss okif left the board Have been members and That has been so that the executive elected executive would be represented in that coalition In addition to the staff who are present at times The public health directors are sometimes assistant fire chief is frequently there and the deputy police chief is there virtually all the time As well as officer larry So, you know the the executive is represented by staff, but Now Thought is going to have to be given Not just on this particular matter, but on a series of matters as to how you deal with the fact that the elected body Will be expected to participate in some things And it's good to have elected people participating in some things But it is the legislative body not the executive body that's doing that and how that comes about and How that appointment is made It's something that I think is going to be a Matter that's going to require some consideration and not discussion by us I was just going to say I actually think you two ought to talk to the town manager about that and talk about You know as things have unfolded over the years and before miss okay There was actually another select board member who was Involved in a very different variation of the ccc,