- Okay, we're just

waiting for Tom and Beth

and then we can return to open session.

Hi Jim, how are you?

- It's great to see you Colette. I'm well.

- Good to see you. Hi Brian.

Thank you for coming tonight.

- Happy to be here.

- Okay.

- Hi Jim.

- Okay, got Tom. Just one more to come.

Okay. I think we'll, we'll get started

and we'll get through Citizen speak.

Here's Beth. Okay, so it is seven 14

and we are returning to open session

and the next item on our

agenda is Citizen speak.

So Megan, do we have anyone

here for Citizen Speak tonight?

- There is no one on the line Colette,

and we have not received any

requests for Citizen speak.

- Alright, great. So the

next item on our agenda is

executive directors update.

So Megan, I'll hand off to you

- So I don't have a lot

to update in terms of

upcoming matters this

week including except

to remind people about the

early voting that's going on

with town clerk's office

currently in the library

for the presidential primary.

But I have two agenda items

that I would like the board to take up.

The first is to vote

and approve the change

of manager of record

for the all alcohol

license at Babson College.

So, sorry, I'm just gonna scroll

to my notes on this.

So we have with us tonight

Athena Juli. There you are.

Who by the way, we went

to high school together.

Athena, we sure did. I remember that.

Took Spray finest.

So the Athena's been with

Babson College for many years.

The current manager of record is retiring

and so Babson has put forward Athena

to take over the position

as the proposed manager

of the Babson Club.

Kay has done her due diligence

and reviewed all of the application

and we'd be seeking the board's approval.

- Okay, thanks Megan. So welcome Athena,

it's nice to meet you on virtually.

And I think at this point do

any board members have questions?

This is fairly straightforward item. Okay.

I'm not seeing any. So with

that Tom, can we have the motion

- Move to approve the change of manager

for the Babson College Club

all alcohol license at Babson

College Executive Conference Center

and to name Athena Guila

as manager of record.

Pardon me if I mispronounced that

- Second.

Okay Marjorie Aye Tom

- Aye.

- Beth Aye. Lisa Aye.

And I vote Aye as well.

So Athena, I hope that's the

most efficient thing we do

for you and your and your role

and I welcome, look forward

to having you managing that

and hopefully we'll see you about time.

So thank you so much for coming tonight

and thank you Kate for your

work and getting that ready.

So Megan, I think another

you, you're welcome.

Thank you for coming tonight.

You're welcome to stay but

you're also welcome to leave.

So Megan, I think you have something else

on your vote tonight.

- We do. So we wanted, the

board is well aware of this

that we've been working

with the the fire department

with regards to at a settlement

agreement with regards

to a fair Labor Standard

Act correction.

So it's come to the town's

detention several months ago

that there has been an ongoing

fair Labor Standards Act

violation that under the,

the fire department's contract

as the board knows, is

updated through union bargaining.

But there's a provision in the contract

that predates the

establishment of the FLSA that,

so it dates back to the early 1980s,

which basically states that

if you work an overtime

shift you get paid at one

and a half times your rate.

But if you do, if you

work an overtime shift

and instead of choosing to

take financial compensation,

you choose to take

compensatory time off within

that it's a one, it was a,

you work one hour, you get one hour.

So we failed, the town has

failed for many years to look at

that half hour increment in

terms of the overtime use

for compensatory time.

So working with the

union labor council, Nat,

former Chief Soar HR

director, Dolores Hamilton

and New Chief Steven Elli, the

town has come to an agreement

with the union on how to correct that.

So that includes both a

three year, we looked back

to January, 2022.

So under the FLSA,

there's a look back period

for corrective measures.

So we took a look at all of

the employees who worked,

who took chose to take comp time.

They also had to, within

a seven day period,

look have worked 40 hours

and then taken comp time.

And so you know, if you took vacation

or personal time that sort of

gets excluded from the count.

And so with that we have,

and I'll show you the chart

momentarily, a list of

firefighters that have

triggered both things

that they have worked over

the 40 hours they had overtime

and that they did not

then receive the full,

that extra increment in terms

of compensatory time off

as part of the settlement

agreement, the town

has given the option

to the fire department

to either the individuals,

they can either take the time

that would be allotted to them

or they can have the

financial contribution.

There's seven individuals

who are have either retired

or no longer work for the town.

That would be a straight payout.

The maximum exposure to

the town is $132,000,

$357 and 14 cents.

However, within that,

if people choose hours,

that amount gets diminished

as part of the settlement agreement.

So the town has paid sort

of that one hour, right?

'cause people have gotten that time off.

The town has to pay liquidated

damages on the half hour.

So all these payments are

based upon one hour rather than

half hour so that the

doubling of the time owed

to the particular individuals

this time period would run

from January, 2022

through the end of FY 24.

So June 30th, 2024.

Moving forward, obviously

compensatory time would be paid at

a time and a half rate.

And we've also put limitations

on compensatory time in the

contract so that it would be limited

to each individual firefighter to 10

hour 10 shifts, which equates

to essentially 15 shifts in in

terms of the time and a half.

So the board has reviewed

the language, I'll just,

lemme just gimme one moment

and I can share my screen.

And Nat Brady is also here.

Chief Elli was unable

to attend tonight exceeds

at the HR board meeting.

So our assistant fire

chief Nat Brady is here

to also address any questions.

So this is the language, this is something

that would require town

meeting action in terms

of funding this settlement agreement.

And I'm just gonna, we will ultimately,

once this is signed off, so this is the,

the calculation in terms of payout hours,

what the payout would be in

hours versus payout with regards

to cash, the individual

firefighters will need

to make that determination.

Sorry there's a spacing issue here.

And each individual

firefighter who is listed

above would need to sign an

individual involuntary release

as part of this release

regarding the compensatory time

that this would basically

release the individual

because claims for FLSA

go to the individual, not

to the union per se, each

individual has to sign off

on releasing any legal, legal

implications with regards

to the settlement agreement

or taking future action.

So this has been a, I know the

board is well aware of this,

but this has been something

the board's been discussing for

really since February and

executive session after that

and Chief Soar

and at the time Deputy Chief

Elli ran the calculations.

We have worked very closely with the union

and I really wanna thank

Scott Smith and his leadership

and his efforts to work

with us on this to make this correction.

It's, it's, I think as the board knows,

we've been working diligently

to look at operations

at the fire department.

This is something as part of

that work that is important

to correct and you know, can

certainly answer any questions.

- Okay. So thank you Megan.

And I just want to outline

again, and you've said this,

but just to clarify for the public

that the board has met several

times in executive session

to understand the issues

undermining under underlining the

settlement and the legal

factors involved in the matter.

We are grateful to staff union leadership

and union membership and

fire department leadership

and staff for working through this issue

and coming to a good faith agreement

and settling the matter.

So we have, as I said, we've

discussed this several times

so board members may have

questions but may not

because we've essentially

talked it several times over.

So are there any other questions

that board members have at

this point and entertain them?

Okay. I'm not seeing any

so I think now at this point

we're ready for the vote.

Tom do you have that motion

- Move to approve the settlement agreement

with local 1795 IAFF

- Second

- Beth?

- Aye

- Tom

- Aye

- Marjorie

- Aye

- Lisa Aye.

And I will, aye as well.

So Megan Miro set now to take that

to time meeting and take the next step.

Okay. All right, thank you.

So the next item we have on

our agenda is a public hearing

to approve the transfer

of all alcohol license

and the new CV license for

KK Katara LLC at 1 51 Linden Street.

Megan, can you take that up?

- Actually I'll turn to

Kay who can give a brief

update on the application.

- Do we need to open the

public hearing first?

- Oh, sorry, yes, I'll open,

I'll open the public hearing on Kay.

Thank you for keeping me on my toes.

- Thank you. So as you all

read in your Friday night mail

Takara located at 1 51

Linden Street has been sold to Kitty Suen

and so it is a change in

ownership and change of name.

Along with that license,

not much else has really

changed for the restaurant.

They haven't done any

interior design changes,

it's really just signage,

which they've already

worked their way through.

DRB Kitty's actually been

with Takara for many years

and as you can see she has

made it her own by changing it

to Qatar, which of course I love.

And we look forward to working with her

for many more years to come.

I will say that she, she's been

a mainstay at the restaurant

and we've dealt with her

for a number of years

and the health department has

relied on her for many years.

The health department has no issue

with the board approving

these changes for licensure.

And again, as a reminder for the public

and any other licensees

that may be watching,

we do not transfer our CV application.

So we are asking for the board

to approve a new license

in the name of Qatar.

However, we would keep the

license number the same

for the business Changing

hands should a board the,

should the board approve this application,

the next step is we

send it off to the EBCC

for final approval

and we have performed all the

necessary background checks

and we are asking for

the approval tonight.

We did send out a butter notifications

and we put the ad in the paper

and we didn't receive any comment.

- Right. Great. Thank you so much key.

So thanks to Key and thanks

to all our town

department's board of health

that helped us get here tonight.

And thank you to Kitty and

Derek for being here tonight.

And I have been doing my own

due diligence since sampling

the food at your restaurant

on a fairly regular basis.

I live dangerously close.

I'm happy to report that

it's spectacularly good.

So we're delighted

to have the restaurant

continuing, love the new name.

And I don't know Derek

and Kitty if you had anything

you wanted to say tonight,

but we're very, we're

delighted to have you here and,

and, and do this work tonight.

- Well thank you so much.

You know, chairperson

and a board member and Katie

have been in for 13 years

and she been serving and

alcohol with no incident

and she have in deep knowledge

of you know, A, B, C,

C rules and regulations.

So we looking forward the

board to approve, you know,

what the transfer or the legal license.

Thank you so much. And

Kitty is online too.

Yeah, if you have any question

you feel free to ask us.

- Thank you. Welcome Kitty.

Is there anything you'd like to say?

- Nothing. Thank you.

- You're welcome.

And board members, are there any comments

from board members tonight?

- I would just like to second

our appreciation to Qatar

for their excellent food.

Kitty knows my husband Len well

and we are huge fans, so congratulations

to you both and best thank you.

Forward.

- Great, thank you. All right, so with

that I think Tom if

you can make the motion

- Move to approve the transfer

of all alcohol license from

Takara Japanese restaurant

located at 1 51 Lydon Street to KK Katara,

DBA Katara Japanese restaurant

located at 1 51 Lydon Street

and the name Kiten as manager of record.

Further moved to approve a common license

for KK Katara LLC located

at 1 51 Limited streak

all license expired December 31st, 2024.

Second

- Lisa.

- Aye

- Beth

- Aye

- Tom

- Aye.

- Margery

- Aye.

- And I see aye as well. So Len

and I will be back at the table.

Table and no time at all. Thank you.

- Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome.

- You're welcome. Okay,

so the next item on

our agenda tonight is a

transportation update.

So I have to say I am

delighted tonight to introduce

to the board and those

watching Brian Cain,

who's the executive director

of the MBTA advisory board,

and Jim Nee who's the

administrator of the MWRT,

which is the Metro West

Regional Transit Authority.

And given the work that we

are doing in transportation,

housing, and the environment,

I felt it was really important

that the board gets to hear

more from these leaders

of these organizations and,

and also about the amazing

opportunities on the horizon,

but also the significant

challenges we face,

particularly in funding for the MBTA.

I'm gonna give a very brief introduction

and then we'll hear from Brian and Jim.

So Brian is the executive director,

as I said at the MBTA advisory board

and that's a bo the body

that represents is it 146

cities and towns, Brian

- 178 as of July 1st,

- 178.

I'm gonna update my notes. 178 cities

and towns that are served by the MBTA,

Brian's our voice at the table.

And Brian held a number

of positions at the MBTA in

managing the operating budget

and later in policy performance management

and process re-engineering

and operations analysis

before he then rejoined

the advisory board.

He spent, he had a, a career as an intern

or a, a junior at the advisory

board before he was the big boss.

It often feels to me

that Brian has a PhD in all

things on the TI literally,

it's like a bottomless

reservoir of knowledge.

His knowledge is really extensive.

So that's Brian's introduction.

So we, Brian is going to talk

with us for about 10 minutes

and following Brian,

we're gonna have Jim Nee

and Jim was recruited

to join the M-W-R-T-A

as administrator just about two years ago,

coming from a very experienced background

as a principal manager of

Masco Transportation System

and along with medical area.

And prior to that,

among many other things,

he was a general manager at first transit

with significant paratransit

experience working across the country.

So that, with that, I'm

gonna hand over first of all

to Brian for his presentation

and following that, we'll hear from Jim.

And just in the interest of

managing the meeting tonight,

I would ask members to hold

their questions until we've had

that, you know, the, the

presentation from both, both

of these great members tonight.

And then we'll have 10 minutes

for question and answers.

And you know, with that, Brian,

I think you've got some slides.

You're more than welcome to

share and we'll get started.

- Thank you, Colette.

I I do appreciate the, the

very kind words you said.

One of the fun things that I

get to do in this job is I get

to talk to lots of

different cities and towns.

Colette mentioned there's

178 of, of communities and,

and I, I, I am very serious in

saying that Wellesley is one

of the best managed towns

I've seen out there.

You're, you're not town manager,

your executive director

is one of the best.

And, and Colette, I can't

say enough about the work

that you've done with me on the advisory

board and and in general.

So thank you. I'll be really brief.

I know time is short and it is August.

So Colette asked me to just

talk a little bit about the tea,

sort of past, present, and future.

So folks often sort of wonder

how the tea is paid for

despite this depiction on the right,

or I guess it'd be your left.

It is fairly simple.

It's, it's basically funded

by a portion of the sales tax.

So every time you buy something

that sales tax is charged

a little piece of that goes

to pay for the MBTA.

And then there's a few other,

a few other sources like

assessments and federal

grants and stuff like that.

But basically it's the

sales tax, the budget

for 25 is just over 3

billion in expenditure,

2.7 billion in revenue.

It's not balanced obviously.

And that's mostly

because if you can sort

of see the, on the,

on the revenue budget pie chart, the piece

that says fares 403 million

is the budgeted amount

for 25, 5 years ago in 2019,

that was 700 million before covid.

So it, this is really

a tale of two things.

So revenue decline

and expenses going up, which

is the same for every city

and town that I've been talking to.

And I just wanna call your attention to,

on the other side the

operating expense budget pie.

If you look sort of in the bottom corner,

you'll see debt service is four is about

15% of all expenditure.

You'll note that that's

greater than faires.

So another way to think about

that is every time your

ticket gets punched,

when you get on the commuter rail,

you're not actually paying for your trip,

you're paying off old T loans.

And I'll talk a little bit

more about that in the future.

So that was the operating budget side.

There's a whole other side.

There's their, their

capital improvement plan.

I know every community

has one of those as well.

The is incredibly complicated and large.

And the important thing to note

here is that you'll see that

after fiscal 29, any state support

for the teas infrastructure

ends, that that's some money

that was programmed several years ago.

And there is no plan for

that to be sort of extended

beyond fiscal 29, which

means the t will have

to basically rely on its own borrowing.

So it plans to borrow $600

million a year every year forever

to fund its CIP.

And the, the remainder of that will be

money they get from the federal

government through grants

and things like that,

through program funds.

That's about a billion dollars

a year that they'll have

to spend on, on their

entire capital program.

Folks might have heard, and

I'll talk about it a little bit

later, that the current gap,

just to get the system back

to a state of good repair is 24 billion.

Obviously if you only

spend a billion a year

and things continue to age,

you're never gonna get yourself out of

that state of good repair hole.

So this is, this is a big

challenge. So how do we get here?

If you are like me, if you

were here in the eighties

and the nineties, you might

remember we had some good years,

we had some bad years,

but we had some good years

and the sales tax at the time was really

growing quite remarkably.

So prior to the year 2000,

basically the tea went out

and, and spent what it spent.

And if there was a deficit

at the end of the year,

it gave the bill to the state

and the state paid it

forward, funding came along

and basically thet was

given its own budget,

it was given a piece of the

sales tax that I mentioned earlier.

And at the time the sales tax

was growing like gangbusters.

It, it was projected to

continue to grow like that for,

and that happened.

Everything would've been great.

Now, one of the, one of the

other issues with the fact

that the state just picked

up the bill was the fact

that sometimes the state

sort of told the t what

to do is we would go out and borrow money

and sort of say the t you you

pay for this, knowing really

that it would pay for it

at the end of the day.

So that's another reason

why there's a lot of debt.

I'll talk about that a

little bit more in a second.

So sales tax, unfortunately

right when forward funding sort

of happened in the year 2000, 2001,

sales tax sort of stopped growing.

It was really terrible timing.

So instead of the 6.5%

that the t had, that the,

the Commonwealth had seen

in the nineties, it grew

by about 0.03% in the first

decade of this century.

And it's been about 2.3%

average growth year over year,

or sorry, from 2001 to today.

And the difference

between what was expected

and what they actually

received was between nine

and $16 billion.

So as you can see, the folks in 2000

that were doing this did it in good faith.

They, they saw the revenue

that, that they sort

of had historically and they

thought it would continue forever.

Some dec some decisions

were made based on that

and unfortunately the

sales tax just didn't grow.

So the tee's principle revenue source

unfortunately just, just didn't make it.

Now this is complicated

but I'll try to explain it.

So this is tee's debt. This

is the MBTs debt since 1991.

And if you look at, it's

just going up linearly.

So I mentioned earlier that

the state could sometimes tell

the t borrow money for it.

That's what's called

prior obligation debt.

And when forward funding was

what happened in the year 2000,

the estate took all this debt

that it had that were related

to public transportation

and gave it to the T

and said, you pay this,

you're gonna have this

amazing sales tax.

You, you can do it. And long story short,

they ended up with about, I think it's, I

forget the exact number, a

little over six $5 billion in

debt, about 1.7 of that was

related to big dig permitting.

So the t is still paying that off.

That will be about $8 billion

just for big dig stuff.

By the time it's all done.

And by the way, there's

no plan for these numbers

to ever go down because as I mentioned,

their needs continued to only go up.

So what happened with

forward funding, okay,

so they had all this

debt, the sales tax didn't

work fair increases.

There was one fair

increase in the nineties.

In this century we've had

seven cash fairs are basically

tripled since two th between

the 30 years, between

99 and 19.

And obviously cash fairs

are the ones that folks

who can at least afford it usually pay.

Now the legislature, I, I've

been fairly harsh on them,

but I I do, I I I'm sort of

starting to revise that they,

there have been multiple

interventions over the years that,

that they deserve credit for

including some very hard votes

to, to raise the state sales tax

and to raise the state gas tax.

Unfortunately it just hasn't been enough

in the first part of this century.

They focused a little bit too

much, in my opinion, on reform

before revenue, which was

never gonna get us the six

and a half billion

dollars they promised us.

But the, the point is

that the interventions

that have been made have

not been enough here to four

and we're gonna have to

figure out what else to do.

The tee is broke, that's the,

the, the story of this slide.

So what are the numbers? So for fiscal 25,

the current fiscal year,

they're, they'll be okay,

they have some money saved from

federal grants from from the

covid era that they'll just be

able to squeak through, they think.

But then starting in 26,

you're looking at about a

$700 million deficit followed

by 7 40, 7 80 and 8 63.

And then it just keeps

going up from there.

You're, you're, you're at

a billion dollar deficit

very early into the 2030s.

Now what is that in perspective?

So 700 million for 26.

Well in 2021 to close $142

million deficit, they proposed,

oh sorry, I went, I

went up instead of down

they proposed pretty draconian service

cuts on the commuter rail side.

It was ending all weekend

service, ending all service

after 9:00 PM You have

frequency reductions on all your

lines, closing multiple stations,

including a few in Weston,

et cetera, et cetera.

So the current deficit is five

times greater than the amount

of money that these service

cuts would've closed.

The point here is that you,

the t cannot cut its way out

of the deficit that it's in.

There is no amount of service

that can be cut for the MBTA

to do and still be considered a public

transportation agency.

I'm gonna skip the piece about headcount.

I mentioned that the

backlog is about 24 billion.

We recently learned in June

that even they projected,

even if they spend $2 billion a year,

the backlog will not start

to, to bend, will not start

to head back the way we need it to go.

The need is really two and

a half to 3 billion a year.

And that's just to get the

system back to, to operating sort

of, not even at peak performance

but just within specification.

So the need, you know, this

is constantly revolving.

I think it's at least 2.6

to 2.8 billion a year every year.

I have no idea where that

money will come from.

That's a huge number.

I know I'm gonna stop sharing

and come back to you here.

Don't save. It's, it's a huge number.

Now I, I serve on the Governor's

Transportation Financing task force

as the MBT advisory

board's representative.

We are working on this.

I've spoken to the governor

and the lieutenant governor about this.

They take this very seriously

and they need this task

force to, to be, to be real

and to be honest with them.

And that is certainly something

that I am trying to do.

And while these numbers are daunting,

they are not insurmountable.

I believe. I mean this is Massachusetts.

We have some of the smartest

people in the world who live here.

There's nothing we can't do

if we put our minds to it.

And I think we can do this

because we don't have a choice.

Our housing crisis and our

climate crisis are not gonna get

solved without a robust

public transportation system.

So we have to do this

and we will do our best.

But you know, you have some

great legislators there in

Wellesley, my state Senator,

Cindy Stone Cream as well

as Alice Pike and, and pa,

excuse me, and several others.

It's not to say that they

haven't done their job,

but they need to be reminded

of the importance of doing this

because this is going to come

to a head very quickly in

calendar 25, sort of within

the first three or four months.

The tea's gonna have to tackle this.

And when I say the TI mean all of us.

'cause this is a Beacon

Hill problem at this point

and the tea can't solve it on its own.

So with that Collette, I hope

I got you what you needed

or wanted and I'm happy to

hang on until after Jim's done

or I can answer questions,

whatever works for you.

- That would be great if

you could hang on Brian,

because I'll definitely,

we're gonna come back to both

of you, but some of these

questions may be interlinked.

So Jim, I feel like Brian set us up with,

we're on the staring on the

face of a fiscal cliff here.

I know that we've got

some quite joyful news

to share at the MWRT, so I'd

love you to to take off now.

- Sure thing. Do you mind

if I share my screen?

- Wonderful. Please do.

- Can you all see my screen

okay? Yes. Wonderful.

Let's see here. So thank you again Colette

for introducing me.

My name is Jim, I'm the

administrator for the M-W-R-T-A.

This is just a quick overview

of our current system map.

One of the things that we're

gonna be undertaking in the

upcoming fiscal years is

sort of a modernization

of our graphics and our sort

of communication materials.

At the M-W-R-T-A we're the youngest

regional transit authority in the state.

Many of the transit authorities

have existed either in their

current form or in a historical

form since either the 1970s

or in the case of like the

T, the predecessors to the T

actually date back to the 19th century.

So the M-W-R-T-A has existed since 2007.

So we have a lot of services

that we're looking to update

for the Metro West area and

especially for Wellesley.

One of the recent

modifications that we made

to fixed route bus

service in the Wellesley

Metro West area here was

to the route one last year.

We were able to add a few bus stops in

the downtown Wellesley area.

If anyone knows the

predecessor to this route,

the way it used to run, it

would stay on route nine

and go express down Route nine.

But as anyone who knows Route nine

knows it's not necessarily the

best place for a bus to stop.

And there isn't a whole ton

of bus stop infrastructure in Metro West

because of the age of our system.

So we looked for some really

key bus stop locations sort

of in downtown Wellesley.

And we used some of our ridership

data from other services

like our catch connect micro

transit service to determine

where the best locations would be for

that fixed route service to run.

And so those modifications

were made last year

because of the funding

that we have received under

the Fair Share Amendment,

the RTAs generally received

a little bit of an increase.

Some RTAs received more

of an increase in funding

from the state legislature due

to historic underfunding

compared to our peers.

And the M-W-R-T-A was one of those RTAs.

So it allowed us to sort of

normalize our service compared

to our peer RTAs

and to put RTA service

into context with the T.

For example, when it comes to revenues

and operating budgets, it's

about 1% of the T relative terms

of order of magnitude.

So during FY 24

and in calendar year 24 here,

with that parody of funding,

we've been able to sort of normalize a lot

of our services compared to our peers.

So we were able to start

offering fixed route

and a DA service on Sunday.

Something we weren't

able to do previously.

We were able to provide

fixed route bus service

after 7:00 PM something we

weren't able to do previously.

We've been able to increase our service

frequency on our fixed

routes prior to FY 24.

Average frequency on our fixed route

as a system was once every 71 minutes is

how often buses would come.

We've been able to get that

to the high fifties now

and we're targeting about

once every 45 minutes

for our fixed route bus system

with some routes may be

averaging about once every hour.

Other routes may be every 15

to 30 minutes depending

on demand and location.

Some of the really exciting

news for Wellesley is actually

that upcoming in the month

of September, we're going

to be able to expand the hours of service

for our Wellesley Catch

Connect Micro transit program

currently ends at 6 45.

We're gonna be able to

extend that to 8 45.

And then there are other improvements

for later this year as well.

One of the programs that was

funded by the state legislature

for the RTAs, this wasn't for the T

but it was for the RTAs,

were these one year and

or shorter time period grant

programs to allow the RTAs

to basically pilot the

concept of fair free sort of,

you know, this, you know, trial basis.

What does fair free public

transportation do to ridership?

What does it do to demand?

We've seen pilots like this with the T

with individual bus

route in certain areas,

but as Brian showed,

fair revenue is a very large

part of the teases revenue.

It's, it's a moderately large part

of the RTAs fair revenues as well.

So in order

to go fair free having these

offsetting grant programs from

the state, we're really

critical to to try that out.

And we're anticipating doing

that further into FY 25.

As many of you might

know, we are piloting,

or actually no in Wellesley,

it's no longer a pilot in some

of our other areas it is,

but we have an established micro transit

service there in Wellesley.

And for those who don't

know, micro transit is sort

of like Uber and Lyft for

public transportation.

But with some very clear differences.

One of the key differences is

that it's geographically constrained.

If you wanted to book a trip

to Buffalo, New York right now

and Uber or Lyft and you're willing

to pay $500, you could do that.

You couldn't do that with

CATCH connect, it's restrained

to certain geographic

areas in certain times.

Like I mentioned earlier,

it's gonna be extended a

little bit later in the evening

for FY 25.

We also have some of our first

capital investments at the

M-W-R-T-A with more traditional

bus rolling stock at the M-W-R-T-A,

we have used almost exclusively

cut van style vehicles,

even for our fixed route.

So not just for our A DA service

where cut vans are more traditional,

but also for our fixed routes

because there wasn't the available funding

for any sort of capital investment.

So in FY 24 we're gonna see some

of our first heavy duty transit vehicles

that there's an image of sort of what

that will look like

over here on the right.

And we're also gonna try some replica

trolleys on some of our route.

They have higher capacity

than our cut vans,

but they're far less expensive than the

traditional heavy duty transit vehicles.

So we're gonna be trying

some of those out.

In addition to that, we are

moving towards greener technology.

If you see in the bottom left here,

that is a fully electric

Ford Transit vehicle being

tried out on the Wellesley

Catch Connect service.

We are moving towards

zero emissions as fast

as the technology will allow.

This is a little bit of a, just

a brief infographic on sort

of what our current situation is for

drivetrain technology, sort

of for the types of emissions

that we're creating in public transit.

Public transit when it's

a per passenger mile

evaluation is much cleaner

than people taking their single

occupancy vehicles.

Even if the emissions type of the vehicle

is worse than a passenger's vehicle

because there's 3, 4, 5, 10,

20 people on that vehicle,

the per person emissions is much lower.

Right now we're using gasoline and CNG.

So we have sort of half

of our fleet is traditional

greenhouse gas emissions

and CNG is a lower emissions

than traditional gas or diesel.

We're in the process right now

of converting our

gasoline fleet to electric

and we're inve we're

investing in a lot of sort

of electrification infrastructure over

the next five to six years.

And we're competing for a number

of federal discretionary grants to help us

with the infrastructure for that.

On the CNG side, we're looking

to increase the efficiency

of those services by increasing

the capacity on the vehicles

rather than transitioning

the fuel type immediately.

And then over time we'll

also be transitioning

the fixed route fleet from CNG

to another zero emission standard.

That standard will be determined

over time based on what's

available on the market.

Battery electric buses

that are available right

now are quite expensive

and they're having a

number of range issues,

especially in those larger vehicles.

So we might be going battery electric,

we might be going hydrogen electric.

We will definitely be moving

to a fully emissions free fleet,

but the market will sort

of help us determine what

that path is a little bit later on.

So that's the grand total of

my presentation here today.

But just like Brian, I'm

happy to take any questions

and talk about anything. Transportation.

- Okay, great. So I just wanted, I,

I feel like I spent a lot

of my time in this world,

but I wanted to share the joys

of transportation with everyone.

And one of the great meetings

that Brian had hosted for us

with representatives from

the board of the T you know,

basically said to us, we are

facing a real fiscal crisis at

the T here and we need, you know, the,

the decision makers in our state

to really know about

this, understand this.

So I really wanted to

bring today, Brian, to come

and share a picture of, you know, the,

it's really quite a

dire picture for the tea

and what the consequences

are if we can't come

to an understanding on the budget front.

Because I do feel that we

as a town are gonna want

to have conversations with our legislators

and we need to be educated as to what the,

the stakes really are here.

They're high stakes and the

TEA has really wonderful plans

to transition to electric,

to do more service,

to have more rapid service

so that we can get out

of our cars onto the, onto trains,

have more high density

housing near transportation,

but it does need a financial

commitment, you know, as,

as you hear on the other hand,

the MWRT budget is finally

on an equitable footing

with its sister RTAs

and it has funding to

allow for growth, you know,

and combine that with the

outstanding administrator.

We are really poised for

some incredible service

improvements here and there's

a link between transportation

and everything that we're

doing in town housing.

The next item on our

agenda, the, the timing

for this discussion works really well.

So with that, I'd open up to

board members for questions.

This is a great opportunity to ask away.

Lisa,

- Thank you so much.

I, it's, it's really great to

get it straight from the horse's mouth as,

as dire a picture as you can. I'm glad

- I'm the mouth,

- But I,

I wonder if you could talk a

little bit about the timeline

for the task force that you mentioned.

I mean, I, I can only imagine that trying

to address these issues is daunting,

to put it mildly,

but yeah, can you just give

us a sense of what your,

what the expectations are for time timing?

- So the governor has made,

given us a very clear mandate

to report out to her with recommendations

by the end of this calendar year.

So we will do that.

There's been some talk

amongst the sort of powers

that be exactly about how we'll do that.

And I don't know if

that's been decided yet,

but we will continue to meet monthly

and there's a lot of work

going on in the background

by lots of different folks as well.

But we owe it to the governor

to give her our best advice

and I, I strongly believe that,

and you can be sure that

I, I will not be, be quiet

and, and and asking the

governor for what the tea needs

because I just think it's

too important to let it fail.

- And Tom, before we move to

that, I think there's a number

of strategies that other towns or cities

and there are big transportation

organizations have taken.

So whether it's a

smorgasbord of many things

or some big ideas, I think

that we're really looking

for Brian and that that group to come

and bring lots of ideas to the table.

So we are looking forward

to hearing it. Tom,

- Gee, I can report to the governor now.

You need to send cash.

- IIII - Find this to be

an incredibly constructive

and important presentation

and incredibly disappointing

in terms of the Commonwealth's

response, not yours.

And I'm just stunned.

I I don't understand how the,

how the Commonwealth can be

pushing for all of the

sustainability goals that we have.

MBTA communities,

we're pushing people within

walking distance of what,

and you're talking about

one solution being a cut in

service, one solution being

a cut in state funding it,

it makes absolutely no sense.

We have the controversy

that we do right now

with mayor wool over bike

lanes on Boyleston Street.

How else are people supposed

to get to work if the tea isn't

reliable and clean and on time

through no fault of yours?

Nothing I'm saying is, I, I'm not,

you know, don't worry about it.

Tom, I'm good putting on your show.

I've heard, I've heard it before, but,

but I don't understand this conflict

that our own state government is creating.

And one thing that makes

me wonder is if, if,

if we have a federal

government that can fund arpa,

if we have a federal government

that can come to the,

to the assistance during

covid that it did nationally,

I I think we may need to be looking

to the federal government as

sources of funding for the kind

of significant infrastructure repairs

and changes that we have

in mass transportation

because certainly a lot of the

sustainable efforts start at

that or requirements

really start at that level.

So I I I mean this is

balanced by the very good news

on the M-W-R-T-A

because to the extent that

you're driving, you know,

that our lots remain, our

commuter lots remain empty.

It's because people are working at home.

People need to be able to get around here.

Colette has been a real advocate

for the M-W-R-T-A as a way

of getting around here in town.

And I think that's one thing we can see.

Now, I, you know, I'm a

walker, I find it amazing

as our others at, at

how close things really are in Wellesley,

how you can get there, but you

can't do a week's worth of,

of grocery shopping and

get home and, and walk.

You, you need something like

the M-W-R-T-A if you want

to stay out of your personal vehicle.

But I I I'm just flabbergasted at,

at the conflicting demands

that the state government

is putting on all of us.

And you can't have it both ways.

You can't reduce carbon

emissions and strangled heat.

You've gotta have safe,

reliable transportation.

And we haven't even gotten to the question

of crosstown busing.

I mean the, the whole reason

why it works in London is

because you have the t

going in one direction

and you have absolutely

reliable buses going

across those routes.

And so you can get anywhere at any time

for a reasonable price.

In, in London, for example.

It's, it's one of my favorite

transportation systems.

So I'll, I'll stop there,

but I I I'm terribly glad to

have heard this presentation.

I mean this is, this is

frightening in terms of

what it really, the message

that it's really sending.

- Yeah. I wonder, Brian,

if it'd be worthwhile just

touching, I know Tom mentioned

the commuter lots are empty,

but could you touch on a little

bit the ridership return at

the T and how, you know,

actually successful it's been

and then we'll get to Marjorie's question.

- Yeah, you're absolutely right.

I mean, so our commuter ale

system leads the nation in terms

of its rebound in terms of ridership.

Our ridership for our commuter

a has come back faster than

anywhere else in in the nation and,

and it also in North America.

And, and it's not the same ridership

that it was Tom as you mentioned.

It's, it's folks who are

working from home and

and doing different things.

It's weekend riders, it's

folks going at night,

it's folks going to see us a ball game.

It's, it's a different

ridership than it was

four or five years ago.

And that's a wonderful thing.

If we can get more folks

moving around the region and,

and sustainably it's, it's better

for all of us, including drivers.

If there's fewer people on the

road, it's better for drivers.

That's what I keep telling

folks, especially when I,

when I drive to the

cape on a Friday night,

I wish there was lots more people

on that train, including me.

But our, our commuter rail

is, is doing very well

and they're actually a, a,

a bright spot right now.

And as Colette mentioned,

the electrification is

coming on the Fairmont line

and that will be the, the pilot

that will expand hopefully

regionwide within the next decade.

- Thank you. So Margie,

I saw your hand was up and

then I'll get to you Beth.

- Yes, thank you. I just, Brian

and Jim, I just wanted

to thank you so much

for all of that information.

I've tried to follow Colette's work,

but the specifics

that you gave us tonight

are really helpful and

because we are working on

the issues Tom mentioned on

housing and climate

and all of the interrelated

things, we know that they have

to work in tandem

and it will be very helpful

for us in our conversations,

not only with legislators

but with also with

residents to spread the word

that we need more advocacy

for these issues than we may have been

bringing to light before.

So I just wanted to thank you both.

- Thanks Marre. Beth.

- So first thank you.

It was a crystal clear presentation of the

situation and I think, you

know, as a regular globe reader,

you see lots of pieces

but you added it up in a way

that really is very stark

and makes a lot of sense.

And Jim, thank you for the

more positive side of the news.

I have two questions

and I don't know the

first one's for Brian.

I don't know your level of

engagement with the third rail

discussions that have

been going on in terms

of commuter access.

And so I don't know if

it's relevant to ask you

what the timeline's looking like there.

- The, the number one expert on

that project is Colette o Frank.

So I would defer to her.

- Thank Thanks Brian.

So I'm just gonna say

before I answer that, if

there's, we have a new,

a couple people that just

joined, if you could mute your

microphone just so that we

can hear the conversation.

So, so Beth, so what's your

specific question on the triple track?

- Just, I, I just thought since we had,

and I mean Colette, we can

cover it later just in terms

of the timeline because if people tuned in

to hear about transportation,

they might wanna hear

what the timing is for the third rail.

- So, so very briefly on

that, it's eight to 10 years,

but it's all funding dependent.

It's funded the 25% design,

but the rest of it's

really funding dependent

and the capital as, as Brian laid out,

the capital gap is just enormous

and so big funding question.

And so I I you had another question, rabbi

- Did, I had a, I had more of

an idea for Jim to think about

as we approach the holiday season,

I'm wondering if you ever

partner with the chambers to help

move our residential

members across the different

small town shopping districts

in this area to kind

of keep people shopping local

and use that as the way to

educate people about the

regional transit system

and also as a way to

boost our local economies.

- Thank you so much for

that recommendation.

We do partner with a number of the local

and regional chambers.

Not necessarily, we don't, we

haven't necessarily focused on

that mission of like, you

know, holiday season specific,

keeping them local

but making sure that we

share the information

and making sure that they're aware of the,

the public transportation

for local bus routes that are available.

We do that. But absolutely we,

we developed some

seasonal routes this year

during the summertime for access to public

open spaces and when it

comes to the holiday season

and shopping, we can

definitely take a look at that.

- That would be terrific. Thank you.

- Thanks. And I'm just gonna

close out with one question

for you, Jim, we're the next

item on our agenda is talking

about a potential land taking

and an intersection which

is close to a train station

and potentially for a bus amenity.

Can you just give us a quick

highlight about why it's

so important to have a

reasonable bus amenity

and what that looks like and just any

sort of words of wisdom on that?

- Absolutely. So when

people think about bus stops

or train stops, train stations,

they, they have these images

of, you know, curb cuts or bus shelters

or a TRA underground train station

or an above ground train

station on the green line

at the M-W-R-T-A.

Because of our age of our

system, we don't have almost any

of those for almost any of our

bus stops, with the exception

of a handful at sort of our hub location

and some of the shared

locations like the Framingham

commuter rail station,

those investments take time,

they're truly generational investments.

The reason why the, the t

or some of the other RTAs

have more extensive station

or bus stop infrastructure is

because the planning process

that takes place that says

where should we put a bus stop

or where should we put the infrastructure

for this takes place maybe

once every 20, 30, 40 years.

And many of these agencies

have had those opportunities

over the past century.

Now the M-W-R-T-A hasn't even

existed for an entire cycle

of sort of infrastructure

investment when it comes

to streets and curbs.

As we all know, when you're

redesigning an intersection

or redesigning a curb, that's usually

what it's gonna be for quite some time.

So we are looking for all

the opportunities that we can

to sort of invest in that infrastructure.

Whether, and the infrastructure

takes many forms.

Sometimes it's just a

bus stop sign on a pole,

other times it's a full

station with multiple bus slips

and large bus shelters

and there's sort of everything in between.

But these sort of investments

and these sort of opportunities

when they come along,

when whether it's a a roadway, a curb,

an intersection is being

redesigned, we really like to try

to take advantage of those opportunities

because they won't come along

for another 20, 30, 40 years.

- Great, thanks so much Jim.

And so I, I, I know that I

could talk about this all night

but we are officially

onto our next agenda item,

but I will see both Jim

and Brian, you're welcome to

see for the first item, you

and I, the three

of us have been on some NPO

meetings together when we've

discussed this intersection and

what we could do to improve it.

understand we've got the things to do.

You, you can leave. But with

that Megan, I think it's time

to move on to the traffic

and parking update

and if you want to kick us off on that.

- Sure. So Lieutenant

Ted is here, the chair

of our traffic committee

and I see Dave Hickey

is here as well.

Scott has prepared a memo

addressing several of the items

that we wanna take up tonight,

but the first one we'll take

up is that takings at Linden

and Weston Road.

So I'll turn it over to you Scott

and I can share the plan

and walk through it.

You just let me know where

you want me to put up.

- Okay. So everybody hear me okay? Yep.

- Yes, yep.

- Yeah. All right.

So Westin

and Linden, the intersection

there has been a topic

for traffic committee

for a number of years.

It was originally redesigned

when they redid the big Lydon

Street project when Roach Brothers moved.

And the complex is the original

new complexes were put up

there and they put in,

well it looks like a real traffic light

but is constantly on flash

and the only time it goes to red

is when a pedestrian pushes the button.

Now under the current M-U-T-C-D-M-U-T-C-D

standards, the National

Standards for Traffic Control,

they wouldn't even let us put that in.

Now it actually is against,

against the current standards

to put in a what looks like

an active traffic light just

for a pedestrian control.

And what we've noticed say is

the number one issue over the

years is that it doesn't work.

People think that it's

either just always on flash

to notify you, somebody's there,

nobody thinks it's a real traffic light.

And consequently we have

tons of cars that go through

what is an active red light all the time.

We get a lot of pedestrian

complaints about pedestrians

who are crossing the street,

who have the right of way,

who have a walk sign, the lights turn red

but people are still going

through the intersection

'cause they're not realizing

it's a red light either they're

halfway in a turn, they're under the light

or they just literally come

over the bridge from Central

Street and don't comprehend

that there's an actual red light there

'cause they're not used to seeing it red,

they're used to seeing it flash.

Like I said, we've had many, many, many,

many complaints over this for years

and it's something we've

always wanted to address.

The issue with it has always been

that there's not enough town

owned right of way there to do

what we believe is the correct thing to do

to fully signalize that intersection.

So this has always kind of

held us back from completing

or moving forward with a project there.

Recently we had, we had

two studies done outside

of us both OS the Boston

MPO did a report on the

intersection and also MAs dot came in

as a safety audit of the intersection.

And both those reports agreed that

that light is not functional

and that it should be a

fully signaled intersection.

And fortunately traffic lights

have have moved forward to a

state where we would be able

to tie that intersection in

with the one on the other side

of the bridge at Central Street so

that the two could communicate

and control traffic together

in conjunction with one another

so that we wouldn't have

issues on the bridge

where obviously it's a

short space of traffic.

When I talk about the fact

that we don't have enough right

of way, 'cause one of those

big issues is if you're coming

from the West end inside of

town coming down Westin Road.

So you're heading southbound a lot

of cars wanna wanna turn left onto Linden

and a lot of cars want to go straight

and there's not enough

width in that roadway

to allow both to happen.

So when it's a heavy traffic

season, we get a backup,

cars are trying to turn

left, they can't go left.

And consequently all

that traffic backs up.

So in our ideal design for that,

we put in a left turn

lane that allows a Q lane

for left turning traffic

and allows the traffic

going south into the square

or through the square to continue without

backing up Westin Road.

In order to do that, we would

have to acquire some land.

So Megan and I had talked

with Haynes Management

who owns the property on the

corner of Linden and Weston

and they are amenable to an agreement

to purchase land from 'em.

They actually did it previously when

that original Linden

Street project was done

and we got a piece of land on

the Linden Street side from

them to put in the two late turn lanes

there that are currently there.

Now. Originally it was

just a single lane, so

by acquiring this land it

would give us the opportunity

to put in heading

southbound a straight lane

and a left turn lane and widen the road.

And this actually also lines

up the lane coming over the

bridge from the square to be straighter.

Because if you come over the

bridge from the square right

now heading northbound,

you kind of jog left

to stay in a lane up west

in, when we move it over,

it'll be more in line to be

a, to be a straight line,

which is always preferred

in a roadway design.

So if we, if we're able

to acquire this land,

we can put in a fully

functioning traffic signal,

which will be safer for the

pedestrians crossing there.

'cause there won't be the

confusion that there is now.

And it will also be safer

for the traffic there

that's moving through.

Just to give you an idea for

background, both the studies

that were done, the Boston,

I believe it was the Boston MPO study,

they pulled data from 2015 to 2019,

which had 28 crashes, one of

which included a pedestrian

during that timeframe.

That was the most recent

collected full mass DOT data.

I was also able to pull internally

from us more recent data.

So from 2019 to 2024,

we had 21 crashes and one

of those involved a bicycle.

So it's obviously an intersection

that has this, you know,

a history of crashes over

a long period of time.

And this is mostly due

to this, the confusion

with this light, but

what I think shows it even more

is we do a fair, fair amount

of traffic enforcement

at that intersection.

So I just pulled some

quick data to look at that

and if you look at that same

period from 2019 to 2024,

when we were set up in that

area to watch it, we had, we,

we stopped 120 cars for violations at

that intersection over that period.

So again, it's clearly

that people, the, the light

that's there is not functioning

how it's supposed to

and it causes confusion.

And I, I've been there myself

and seen people go straight

through the red light when I'm

right behind them and when

you pull 'em over, they,

they just don't even realize

there was a red light there.

So ultimately that's, that's

our goal is to fix that.

To kind of attach that

to the previous conversation

you guys were having

regarding the WMRT, the

Metro West Transit Authority,

they had expressed interest

to us separately from this,

that they were looking for a

bus stop at that intersection.

So when we started doing our

rough look at what we

could do here, we decided

to incorporate the possibility

of putting a actual bus stop there.

So whether we put a bus stop

or not does change the amount

of land that would need

to be taken, you know, a,

a significant amount more land would need

to theoretically put a stop there.

Now this is all just based on very initial

rough design drawings.

There's no full design hasn't been done.

And I can explain a little

bit about full design in a

minute, but we were able to do enough to,

to get a good estimate of

the land that we do need

to take in order to do that.

So at the same time,

all this was going on,

mass DOT opened up a grant opportunity

through the bottleneck

grant, which we think is a

almost a perfect fit for this.

We're, we're pretty confident that we will

re receive the grant

or in the process of

applying to get to it.

The only thing the grant will not do

is acquire land on your behalf.

So we would have to do a

land purchase separate from

that grant, but

after that the grant

will fund both the design

and the replacement of those

lights at the intersection

and connecting them and

upgrading the intersection at

Central and West end as well.

So that can be become a fully

functional intersection on

both sides that's user

friendly to both pedestrians

and vehicles and improves

one of the, you know, most,

most complained about

intersections in town.

So that's really why we're

here tonight is to ask

for your support in moving forward with

that land acquisition so

that we can move forward

with this project at a very

minimal cost of the town and j

and overall and fix this thing.

- Well thanks so much,

Scott, for that presentation.

And I, I think I'll, I'll just start off

by saying I'm certainly

very strongly supportive

of this improvement at the intersection.

It's the intersection I get

get the most feedback about

and most consistently from

residents all across town.

It's not just important to

that neighborhood, it's,

it's such an important connector.

It's a, it's just such a broad impact.

And I have followed with

anticipation mass OT and,

and the Boston NPOs interest

in improving this intersection.

And as I mentioned before, Jim

and I gave testimony at the MPO

before on this intersection.

And you know what we would

like some support on it.

I I do, I I'm just gonna

touch back a second to

what Jim had said is, you know,

we only get an opportunity

every, you know, 30

to 50 years maybe to, to make these kinds

of investments in safety

and public, you know, transportation.

And I think it's, I'm certainly

very supportive of doing

what we can to make the,

the bus stop amenity there

as we are, you know, this

is adjacent to two very new,

pretty big dense sort of

multifamily housing developments

and you know, the, the, the,

the first comment on every housing project

that we do is the traffic,

the traffic, the traffic,

and what are we gonna do about that?

And one of the things we say

we're gonna do about it is

what I'm working as hard as I can

to improve public transportation.

I, I really feel, and I think

that what you just said,

the very last moment there,

Scott, is this is a really a,

a relatively affordable price.

I know it seems like a lot of money,

but in the, in the scheme of things

for the safety improvement

and what we can do here,

this is a very good rate

that we are, have been lucky

to get from Hanes on this,

on this proposed purchase.

I, I really think that we really

should be investing in this

and I'm a very, very

strong supporter of this,

this proposition with the bus amenity.

This is our time to put our

money where our mouth is

and really support public transport here.

And Western Road is

one of our third fears.

If, if we have ridership it's off Western

Road, the potentials there.

But I will at this point open up

to comments from other board members.

- Colette, if I could just add,

so the cost per square

foot is $65 a square foot.

So the minimum taking here,

which would not include the bus,

so the initial 25, slightly

over 2,500 square feet,

you know, is in the vicinity of $162,825.

And looking at the, the larger taking,

which is estimated here at, you know,

just under 3,650 square

feet, that is roughly

$237,000, 237 50 $5.

So, you know, the cost

of a Scott would have this

information more than I,

but the cost of the ma arm

and the signal itself

is going to be more than

$240,000.

Wow.

- So Beth, sorry. Thank you.

- So thank you for thinking

outside the box on this one.

It is a very difficult

intersection on its best day.

So I am supportive of

moving forward on this.

I have a couple questions. One

is, will there be a sidewalk?

Because I could, I, I couldn't

tell if it was to scale

and whether we were

expanding the roadway enough

to allow for a sidewalk.

So that, that's one question.

And my second question is the role

of the developers in this,

because my understanding

is that our agreements

with the two developers on Linden

and on Weston Road was that

they would share the cost

of traffic improvements given

the additional pressure on

these intersections.

And I believe that conversation

is happening at this

moment or is going on.

And so am I correct in

assuming that this would be

part of the conversation

with the developers in terms

of costs that they would help with

- Megan or Scott?

Well maybe I, Scott maybe do

you wanna address the sidewalk

and then I can address the second part?

- Sure, yeah. So as far as the sidewalk,

yes there would be a sidewalk

there just as there's now,

it essentially would just be

moved over a little further,

but it would remain on

the same side and connect

and then depending on what kind

of bus stop facility there was, whether,

whether there was a bump out

or not, it would either

just go around that

or straight, depending on

how the design ended up.

But it, the sidewalk essentially

would continue as it is now.

- Thank you.

- And then the,

so yeah, sorry Megan, go ahead.

So under the road safety,

oh let me just stop

sharing this for a moment.

So under the road safety

audit, there was a number

of measures that were required

from the two projects.

So Terraza and the Bristol.

So as part of that they have

to post bonds to do the work.

So they have to do that work

that does not involve the

taking and the bottleneck grant.

And that does not include

the signalization.

'cause at the time we weren't

contemplating signalization there.

There's other, I'm forgetting

off hand exactly what some

of it had to do with the

timing of the lights at Crest

and London, the timing

of the lights at Westin

and Central Street, I

can certainly send along

to the board the, the recommendations

from the road safety audit.

So those funds would definitively pay

for those additional costs in terms

of upgrading the various

intersections impacted

by those two developments.

But here, that would not

go towards the taking

'cause that was not

anticipated at the time of

the road safety audit if

there's additional funds

that could potentially be

brought forward to this.

But there, those two projects

are not the, the issue tipping

the safety of this

particular intersection.

- But, but what I'm

hearing you saying is they

are making contribute contributions

to improvements in that area.

They're just not targeted

at this particular thing.

They're targeted at other

issues in the same area.

Okay, great. Correct Lisa,

- Thank you.

So I had asked a few

questions earlier in the day

and Scott I appreciated and Megan

and I appreciated the, those answers.

It sounded like the sidewalk changes

and crosswalk changes would

actually provide better geometry

for pede pedestrians.

So I, I think that's a, an improvement

that everyone will look forward to.

'cause it, it's, it's kind

of a scary intersection

for anyone on foot.

I, I'll also just say the

concern I hear most often from

people is about traffic.

So I, I think this is a great opportunity

for all kinds of reasons.

I do wonder if you,

Scott could talk a little

bit about going forward

what the process will be.

So, so people might, if

who might have comments on the plan,

could provide input

and you know, just what those

opportunities might look

like going forward.

- So, so once we apply

for the grant, if we,

if it were accepted, like I

said, which we feel strongly

that we will be, they will

assign a traffic consultant

to work on the plans on our behalf.

It likely will be an existing

traffic consultant of ours

who do does work for mass DOT already.

So during that design process

then there would be a period

of public meeting where people

could give, give input to

that actual design before

it moves to construction.

- Great. Okay. That's good to know.

And, and you know, if we,

if we put out any information about this,

I think it's important to include

that so people kind of get

a sense of for when that they'll be able

to provide feedback.

I also just wanna express

enthusiastic support

for the bus stop idea.

I I just think that would be

so amazing to have that stop,

you know, Wellesley College

could then get access to

the a bus route going

out toward Route nine

and maybe onto Natick Mall

or wherever they wanna go.

I, you know, but it's

just such a great location

for all kinds of reasons in addition

to the multifamily housing

developments there,

it's also right by the college

and I'm sure it would be

helpful to people coming

to work in Wellesley Square

to have that as an option.

So I I'm thrilled that that was,

that you all had the foresight to include

that in the design.

- Thanks Lisa Marjorie.

- Thanks Colette.

The timing of all of this

seems quite propitious

and I think relatively

speaking, the cost is

certainly less than you would expect to cr

to solve as many problems as

we expect this will solve.

It's a very dangerous intersection.

Nobody really knows who goes first

or who goes which direction.

And you approach it with

trepidation every single time.

It'll also be a big help as Hardy,

the new Hardy school opens, especially

because we only have two

through north south roots

in town, Western Road and Cliff Road.

And this will really help the

traffic move more smoothly at

school times and rush hour times.

So I just wanted to thank Colette

and Scott for all their work on this.

I support the larger taking of the land

to have a safe and secure

and visible bus stop

and best of luck with

the grant application.

- Thanks MoVI. Tom,

- With regard to the cost per square foot,

how have we confirmed

that that's an accurate

fair market value for that property?

- So in talking with, well we know

that Landon Wellesley is more

than $65 per square foot.

I mean this particular land area, sorry,

they're they're talking amongst me.

Sorry about that. So the land value itself

would be a higher value

than $65 a square foot.

And I should note this is also

a general residence parcel

that allows for multifamily.

So it has a higher density

used than single family

also increasing the value.

So, so Mary Butler of Haynes

management looked back at

what was paid for at the,

the time we did the takings

with regards to Lydon

Square and she escalated it

'cause it was about 17 years difference.

And I think she went from,

you know, 47, 40 $8 to 65

based upon cost escalation.

These properties are gearing

up to sell, they're part

of the Hanes management portfolio.

So that was also a timing

standpoint where Scott

and I really wanted to

make sure that we worked

with Hanes in terms of this taking rather

than a new potential owner.

- Thank you. And what,

what would happen if

we don't get the grant?

What, what would our plans

be for this proposal?

- Scott can correct me if I'm wrong here,

but our plans then would begin

to put this into the capital plan.

So the land acquisition,

we would still continue to own the land.

We would then have the capability

within the right of way

to put it forward potentially at a later

date within the capital plan.

- And do we have, I mean I'm

thinking about what the cost is

of that light down at the Hardy school.

The, the rest of this

project's significant.

I mean this grant is very

important to, to this project.

- The grant's value is in

the vicinity of $500,000.

- My last question is,

would would you all be

watching the coordination of the

light at Linden and Crest?

I can imagine that the wrong timing on

that light could release a, a volume

of traffic when you had a red light

stopping the traffic at Linden on Weston

and cause a backup there.

So I, I would assume that there,

that technologically it

isn't logical to link

that through adaptive

technology, that light,

but I would think that

you'd want to pay attention

to the timing sequences on that light.

- So Yeah, that's right. I,

I can take that if you want Megan.

So that's certainly something

we would look at when we did

the, when we did the adaptive

control system for that.

And also looking forward when we get

through square redesign, part

of the square redesign project

is gonna be putting adaptive

controls in all those

lights in the square from

Wellesley Ave at Washington all the way

down to west and at Central.

So the crest light, depending on

how the design ends up

coming out, will be part

of looking at that as well

that probably following following year.

So all those will get looked

at probably two different times

to tie them in the best way possible.

- Thank you.

- Any, any further comments or questions?

I, I think we've kind of

given a strong voicing

of support on, on that one.

Scott, I hope you've got the

feedback that you need on

that issue and if so with

that I would release Jim

from attending if you,

you're welcome to stay if you want to,

but I'm sure you've got

other things you'd like to do

and I hope that was helpful for you

to see where we're going with that.

- Absolutely. Thank you

all for having me tonight.

I really appreciate it. Thanks

- Jim.

Okay, so next Scott on your list is the

update on the crosswalk?

- Yeah, so I know everybody's eagerly

and waiting for the installation

of our test crosswalk,

Washington Street and Church

Street on both sides there.

We just had to, we had to wait to get

through the big paving season at DPW.

So that is, that's complete now

and we expect in the

next couple of weeks that

in Sep beginning of September,

beginning to mid-September,

that DPW you will be able to get out

and remove the existing crosswalks at

that location on both sides.

Once that's removed they

will repave it so it's flush

with the rest of the roadway

and then it needs about 30 days to weather

before they can put the, the coating down

for the new crosswalks.

So we'll have about a

30 day window sometime,

we'll call it mid-September

to mid-October, at which point

our vendor will be ready to

come in and, and put that down.

So we're hoping mid-October

ish that they'll be in

and we'll have the test crosswalk down

and we'll see what everybody thinks.

- That sounds great and I

think I would definitely want

to give it plenty of time to

weather so that we can see

what it looks like and give it

a good thorough driving over

in Wellesley and give it a a good test so

- It'll get a full winter.

- Yeah, for sure. Any questions on that?

And I think we're all excited

to look for that Beth.

- Yeah, so is there two questions?

Is there a plan to notice the merchants

and the residents in that area of the work

that will be going on

and is there a temporary

marking of a crosswalk

or signage that, that's

where the crosswalk is that will go in?

- So the one crossing Washington

Street there has an RRFB

system there, so it has

the flashing light so

that will still still remain there

and we should be able to put

down some just temporary white

paint to market

but it won't be a real crosswalk

per se there, like I said

'cause we need that, we need

that section of roadway to be

clear for the adhesive process.

So we can't put a bunch

of stuff down there.

So there will be a little ambiguity to it,

but we can leave one of the

delineators out there as well.

We can put an additional

delineator on Church Street

potentially depending on the turn

radiuss, which we can check.

So we'll make the marked

as best as we can.

- Thank you. And the notification

- I will

- Find the residents

and the merchants in that area.

- So certainly once it's

down there'll be a lot

of notification for

everybody to look at it.

As far as I'll have to coordinate with, I,

I think Dave's on here if he's still here,

whether DPW has a letter,

a specific letter going out whether

when they're ready to or not.

But we, that's certainly

something I can coordinate

with them if, if they don't

already have it in the plans.

- All right, that sounds

great. Thank you so much Scott.

Okay, so I think then,

unless there's any other

questions on the crosswalk,

we can hear about the no

parking on Rice Street.

- Okay. So as we all know,

there's field lights going in

at the, at the high school,

which will increase night

activity at the fields

when the original high school was

or not, the original high school,

I guess the new high school was, was

built back in 2010 or so.

Part of the agreement

obviously was with a lot

of the neighborhood there for

school restricted parking.

This section of Rice Street

between Washington Street

and the intersection with Payne Street is,

has its own set of rules and

it's the only street like this.

That section is currently

posted no parking from 7:00 AM

to 7:00 PM The reason behind that is

because it directly abuts the fields.

There's a bunch of paths,

there's two individual

paths on the road that go

to the fields and some of the

neighbors that approached us

both many times during the

field light conversations

as far as traffic management,

but then separately once

they were in saying, Hey,

could we extend this rather

than just from 7:00 AM

to 7:00 PM from 7:00 AM to

9:00 PM just to make sure that,

that there's continued

non-par there during events at the fields.

So we, we held a public

meeting, we sent out emails

to the residents and we received

no negative feedback about extending

the prohibition from seven to nine.

Everyone we heard from was in favor of it

and we believe that was the

original intention of that

particular restriction.

So the traffic committee also

agrees that it's reasonable

to extend that to 9:00 PM

and it will help us control parking there

and not have to put up as many

temporary signs when there

are actually specific events

and just keep that area as intended

as a no parking zone for field use.

- Okay. So there, I I

would just like to say

that we have received a number

of emails from residents

100% supportive of this.

So all, all the conversations

we've had have been,

or all the feedback we've

had have been supportive.

Do board members have

questions or comments on this?

I mean this one is, it's it

takes a long time for residents

to come to consensus on things

like this generally speaking,

but this one, you know,

the residents were, came

to us fully in consensus.

So are there any questions

or comments on this?

I'm not seeing any, so we are

gonna vote on this tonight.

Do we have a motion for that Tom?

- Yes. Move to amend the

traffic regulations as follows.

Amend schedule one, no parking.

The location is Rice

Street, the side is west

from Payne Street to Washington Street.

The new time will now

be 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM

- Second

- Marjorie

- Aye

- Lisa. Aye. Beth

- Aye

- Tom

- Aye.

- And I vote Aye as

well. So that's the end

of the traffic and parking updates.

Scott, thank you so much for coming.

That was a lot to get through tonight.

So now we're on to our special

10 meeting preparation.

Me, Megan.

- Thanks Colette. I know we

have some visitors here as well.

I would ask that the board

first perhaps take up the,

the, the vote to call

the special town meeting

and set the date and times

of the special town meeting.

And then I might ask you Colette, I do see

that Steve Mahoney

and Ellen Mueller, our

chief assessor here,

we can maybe take them

up first as part of our

STM items. Yes,

- That sounds great.

Thank you Megan. Okay, so do we,

so we are just gonna vote

at this point to open the,

the special time meeting warrant.

And so we open the special

time meeting warrant

for special time meeting 2024,

which we'll close at 12:00 PM

noon on Friday, August 23rd.

So are there, is there

anything in particular we have

to set out for that Megan?

No, it's just a fairly, I

- I have a motion in the packet.

- Yes, but there's

nothing particular we have

to set this up in terms of

Okay, so may maybe, Tom,

if you can do the motion for

the opening of the warrant,

- Move to call a special town

meeting to be held on Monday,

October 21st, 2024 at

7:00 PM at the Wellesley

High School, located at 50 Rice Street.

And to set the following

dates, open the warrant.

Tuesday, August 20th,

2024. Close the warrant.

Friday, August 23rd, 2024 at 12:00 PM

motions due to the select

board office Friday,

September 13th, 2024 at 5:00 PM

- Second

- MoVI

- Aye

- Beth

- Aye

- Tom

- Aye

- Lisa

- Aye.

- And I vote Aye as well.

Okay, so then we would like

to welcome our assessors here today.

So it's Steven, it's nice to see you here.

And then we have Alan Miller,

our chief assessor here,

and Steven's the chair of the board.

Megan, I dunno if you have

introductory remarks, remarks for this.

- No, I'll really turn it over to Ellen.

The, the board of assessors

has made the determination

that they would like to

accept a, a local option

with regards to, to

personal property exemption.

And Ellen is definitely way better at

explaining this than I am.

And it's actually really

straightforward. Okay,

- Great.

I'll make this very brief.

Thank you Megan and the select board.

On July 31st, the board of assessors voted

to adopt the small personal

property exemption.

They voted to exempt $10,000

of fair cash value

beginning in fiscal year 25,

which is the maximum

threshold allowed by law

at $10,000.

That equates to $104 and

10 cents of actual tax.

Some background about this

exemption, it's described,

described in Mass General

laws chapter 59, section five,

clause 54,

personal property tax differs

from real estate tax covers

such items as furniture,

machinery, tools, and equipment.

In Wellesley personal property

is about 1% of the total

assessed value of the town.

So in 2024, the total

personal property value was

173 million of the total

town value of $16.5 billion.

So we're talking one, a very small amount

of personal property

and in 24 there were 743

personal property accounts

that made up that value.

Of the 743 accounts,

152 accounts were under $10,000 in value.

So that's why we're we're

seeking this exemption.

And just to looking at it,

surrounding communities currently 224

of 352,

Massachusetts communities have voted in

favor of this exemption.

So 64%

of the communities in Massachusetts have

already voted this in.

66 of those have adopted

the full $10,000 threshold,

including Natick Lincoln

conquered in Medfield.

Natick just passed this in fiscal year

23 at their town meeting.

So there's a few reasons that the board

and I think adopting this is a good idea.

It makes administrative sense

to avoid using town resources

to capture small tax amounts,

sending out four bills a year

for $25.

We we'll cut down on that

and also the follow

through on the collection

with the Treasurer's office

collecting these small

outstanding bills.

They just go on and on for years

and they'd like to, to clean up that.

So businesses with insignificant

personal property value

will, will not be concerned

with making small payments.

So this is a, a really

positive look that we're giving

to small businesses.

So we found it a typical practice

in our peer group of towns

and cities to formally

adopt this exemption.

So the board of assessors are

respectfully requesting you

consider supporting this exemption

to become a warrant article at the special

town meeting. Thank

- You for your consideration.

- Thanks so much, Alan.

So if I might be so bold as to

paraphrase, can I sort of see

that it's a, it's small dollars?

Yep. A giant headache to bill and collect

and net net It's just not worth it.

And it's on the side.

It's a little bit of a benefit

for small businesses headache

and it's a small, a small break,

but it's not exactly

a, a huge income stream

that we're losing here.

Okay. So with that, does

anyone have questions

for Ellen or Steven on this?

Lisa,

- I really had more of a

comment than a question.

I it sounds like a very sensible proposal.

I don't, I can't imagine

what the argument would be against it

and it just sort of simplifies things

for the taxpayers and for the assessors.

But I, I couldn't let the

opportunity go by with you present

to just say that as a member of this,

the Climate Action Committee, I know

that our committee's been talking

for a while about ways we might partner

with the assessor's office.

And so I just wanted to

flag that we're hoping

to do a little data sharing

to help track progress on

some of our climate goals.

And so we'll just be following up and,

and hoping to start a conversation about

that in the near future.

Not looking for any feedback here,

but I just wanted, I didn't

wanna miss the opportunity since

you were here to, to mention that.

- Okay. - But thank you for

that super clear explanation

of why this is such a a no-brainer.

- Sounds good. And it's,

it's too bad we only get

to see you twice a year and

this is, this is the good news,

Steve, when we're taking

taxes off the table

rather than setting the tax rates.

So any other questions from board members?

No. Okay.

So with that Steven Ellen,

you're more than welcome to stay

for the rest of the evening with us,

but we also are letting you

go if you'd like to leave.

So next up on the item, Megan,

which one would you like to take next?

- Since we have Peter, Tim

and Sarah Ford Rogers here,

perhaps we take up the Linden

Square Development Agreement

and then I can go into the, the,

the other zoning articles.

- Okay, that sounds good. Before

we take that up, I'm going

to recuse myself from this

portion of the discussion.

I'm an abutter to an Abutter

to Lyndon Square South,

and I can see Volkswagen

dealership from the

room I'm sitting in right now.

So I'm gonna turn my video and audio off

and hand the gavel over

into the very capable hands

of Marjorie Fryman for this next section.

I'll join you after it's done. Thank you.

- I'll text you Collette. What? It's over.

- Okay. I'd like to welcome Sarah

and Peter Tam to the meeting.

The town entered into

a development agreement

with the original property

developer of Lyden Square

almost 20 years ago.

Federal Realty is the current owner

and the development agreement has been

amended several times.

The Third Amendment having

been signed in 2013.

The Third Amendment allows

federal to extend the existing

VW dealership lease on

their parcel through the end

of 2028.

Federal is seeking the boards

in subsequently town meetings

approval to further extend

that lease for five years

until the end of 2033.

The terms of the third amendment will

otherwise remain unchanged,

including the $20,000 annual

payment to the town Federalist

considering potential redevelopment

options for the parcel

and requested the lease extension

to provide additional town time

for exploration of those options.

So with that, I'll turn it

over to Peter and Sarah.

- Thank you Madam Chair and,

and members of the board for the record.

Peter Tam of Olson Andto on

behalf of, of Federal Realty

with me, Sarah Ford

Rogers, who you may know,

senior director of development

at at Federal Realty.

I think that was, I'm always

pleased to be before you and,

and because you're one of

the best prepared boards

that I have the pleasure

of of being in front of,

but that, that was a,

a really good summary.

What what federal would like, and,

and Sarah will correct me if,

if I don't capture this correctly,

is they just wanna maintain

the status quo here and, and,

and allow for some

breathing room to negotiate

further extension with his tenant

and to be able to work

with the town on a, a plan

for redevelopment, which

is gonna take years.

And, and we recognize that

it will require work with all

of you, with all the boards

and with town meeting.

So that, that's essentially it.

We're, we're certainly here

to answer any questions you might have.

- Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot

it was, it was to me Lisa.

- So, hi Peter and Sarah,

thank you for coming.

So I, I totally get

the, the, the idea it's,

it's pretty straightforward.

I guess I'm wondering if you

could talk a little bit about

the long-term plans, sort of

what you're thinking about,

and then in that, in, you know,

whatever it is you're thinking about,

what your intentions are

for engaging the

neighborhood at all on this.

I I I can't imagine that

the neighborhood would be,

wouldn't be supportive of it,

but I I just wonder, I, is

there a plan to reach out

to the neighbors and give them

an opportunity to weigh in

- Just to confirm?

Hi. Hi, this is Sarah

Rogers with Federal Realty.

Lisa, is your question about reaching out

to the neighborhood about

the Volkswagen extension

or longer term redevelopment?

- I, I would say it's both. Okay.

So I, I'm interested in what

your longer term plans are.

I also think that if, if we're going

to put this on the warrant

or support putting it on

the warrant, you know,

I would be more comfortable if

we had some feedback from the

neighborhood before we

committed to doing that.

- So Peter, I'll defer to

you on the noticing of abuts.

I think Peter

and I spoke about trying to notice

abutters within 300 feet

of a Volkswagen property

if we have a favorable vote

tonight before town meeting.

Peter, you can correct me if I'm wrong.

- I think that's right. I so yeah,

and to build on that, I

won't interrupt your train

of thought, Sarah, but I I think

to, to the extent we could

probably go, you know, Lisa,

we could probably go further

than just a, you know,

what would be your typical

300 foot notice and,

and pick up, you know,

all those residences along Pine Tree and,

and Hilltop, you know, as far back as the,

the cross street back there.

Just so that, you know,

with, with an update,

just letting them know

that the proposal is

that the status quo remain

for an additional five years.

And, and, and that doesn't

mean that Elise will be signed,

but it just allows us that flexibility.

Right. But I, I'll turn it back

over to Sarah to talk about

what, what federal is

thinking about long term.

- Long term. I would say, I

think for obvious reasons,

just based on market conditions,

we, we don't think this is,

we're not contemplating an

officer lab redevelopment.

We do think the site would

be an excellent multi-family

residential development long term.

We really have barely begun to look at it.

We're really eager to let the

town strategic housing plan

process play out

and then begin engaging with the town on

what type and what size

and scale of a residential project

we think makes sense here.

It seems like the town's

had a lot of success

with larger units, so

that might be the angle

that we take, which would

certainly drive down the

overall unit count.

But we're, we're, we're

at the very early stages

of even considering it.

Obviously today our development

agreement precludes us from

doing residential, so we

wanna make sure the town has

an appetite and agrees that

this site makes sense long term

for multifamily.

- Yeah, I guess Megan, I, so

are we being asked to vote on,

on this tonight? No.

- So the question would be

whether the board's amenable

to placing this on the

special town meeting warrant.

I will note a couple things

for this to move forward,

actually, when Peter was talking,

so this would require a modification.

So what we would be bringing forward

to town meeting would be a modification

or an amendment to the

development agreement

to allow this to continue.

So that certainly will have

a be a deliberate process

with the board at upcoming meetings.

So I mean, we certainly could hold prior

to the board putting forth

a motion, which must include

a negotiated development

agreement in order

to move forward at town

meeting a public hearing to,

to engage residents.

But the question would

be, since the warrant is,

is now opened

and is closing Friday, whether

the board would be amenable

to putting on placeholder language for

the extension of the,

or would be the fifth Amendment, I believe

to the development agreement. Yeah,

- I guess so.

I, I would be amenable to doing that,

but sort of conditioned on, on, you know,

a public holding a public hearing

and getting feedback

from the neighborhood.

I, you know, placeholder fine,

but I definitely would want

us to commit to the idea

of hearing from people.

- Beth.

- So I agree with Lisa that I think

it's really important that we

hear from the neighborhood.

I I will say I think it's

a really good idea to

maintain the status quo

because the vision of

Lyden Square as a service

corridor with the dry

cleaners, the gas stations,

the dealerships, I, I think works

and compliments our

various village aspects.

So I I am supportive of extending it.

I am, I think it would

be a good conversation to

talk about the lease payment

where it's been the same for so, so long

and I don't know of any lease payments

that stay the same for that long.

So I, I do think that

we should engage with

federal on an appropriate amount of funds

because, you know,

everything costs more

and the town is expanding res

good resources as you've

heard on the intersections.

And so there's many other

things that we're doing

to also support the vitality of

the community.

And I would like to see

that amount addressed

to be more commiserate with today's

spending power of the dollar.

- Thank you. Any other

comments or questions?

So would members be

amenable to placing this,

putting this placeholder

for a special town meeting

with the understanding that we will have

to hold a special public hearing

and that this would be one

of the issues brought up

as a warrant article

for public feedback in a public hearing?

- Marjorie, can I ask

you for clarification?

So we would be placing it on the warrant,

but at a later date would

decide whether we are supportive

or not supportive?

Is that what we're doing?

- Well, I understood Lisa's

comment to, to put a placeholder

with the understanding

that we're gonna have a public hearing.

If Lisa's supportive of

putting it on the warrant, then

that's what we should discuss.

- Right? But we can't

take it off once it's on,

so then it's, we either

support it or we don't,

but anyone could move it.

So we put it on

and then we would decide

if we supported it or not.

But it could proceed

Federal could move the item, which I,

it's all, it's fine with me.

I'm just clarifying.

Well, what we're doing.

So Megan, can you clarify that for us?

- Sure. So it would still

necessitate an amendment

from the development agreement.

So unless the board incurs

with the development agreement,

I don't think town meeting

would move forward with that.

We, we wouldn't have an

executed development agreement

to bring to town meeting.

So the placeholder would be, you know,

that we would negotiate

the Fifth Amendment

to the development agreement

and bring that forward

for the extension of the VW site.

- And once we decide to bring it forward,

it will be included among

the warrant articles

that are introduced at the

public hearing for comment.

- Yes. And the board could

hold a separate public hearing.

We could potentially send notice to hold

that just thinking out loud

potentially on September 10th,

as you know, to, to seek feedback prior

to advisory's public hearing.

- Yeah, I was assuming, I mean,

we're talking about our own select board

public hearing, right?

Yes. On this topic.

- Yes. Tom,

- I, I'm completely supportive of this.

I think this is an

extremely logical extension.

I, I appreciate Federal's wish to wait

until the town has completed

the strategic housing plan

and Sarah's description of a partnership

and trying to determine

in the future alternative

uses for this site.

I am completely respectful of,

of my fellow board members

wish to hold a public hearing.

But I will say I'm a little surprised

where this is just

maintaining the status quo.

We, we have a, a dealership

that's been a good partner

with the community, that

site has been improved

and is maintained.

It's clean, it's attractive

as a car dealership.

We have an increasing market

penetration of Volkswagen

and Wellesley generally.

So it serves an important purpose.

I I I can't imagine

what somebody would come

to a public hearing and object to.

But I, I say that respectfully

if the board members wish to,

to go forward in that regard.

I don't have any problem with,

with placing this on the warrant

as a placeholder at this point.

And, and I, I, I can't imagine

we're not gonna be able,

this is, this could not

be more straightforward.

I can't imagine we're not gonna be able

to work out an amendment

- And, and we may have a public

hearing and no one shows up.

But I, I think, you know, we hear time

and time again that people

wanna have an opportunity

to weigh in on things

that are happening in their neighborhoods.

And I, I just think it's

respectful to, to offer that.

- I, I recognize that

and I, I I hope I express respect for the,

for the wish to do that.

I, I support doing that.

- So what I'm hearing is

that we have a consensus

of putting a placeholder

on the, on the warrant.

Megan, if we are going

to hold a public hearing

on September 10th,

can we ask Stephanie to put it in news

and announcements as soon as possible?

We wanna make sure that

everybody has ample notice

if they'd like to comment

either in on Zoom.

I'm not sure if we're

meeting remotely that one.

We're scheduled to meet

in person. Okay, good.

So that'll give people

an opportunity to come

and express their concerns.

I also support the extension, as Tom said,

it maintains the status quo

and it provides a town

partner with the opportunity

to review what might be the best options

for the future of the property.

So I will take it as a consensus

and we will place it on the warrant

as a placeholder pending

the public hearing.

- I, if I could make one last comment, I,

I do think Lisa's question

about future potential uses

is important for federal to think about

because that's going to,

and maybe you meant it this

way, Lisa, that's gonna come up

as a question at town meetings.

So I think that's the

signal we're sending is

I do appreciate,

and I do know that you're

at the earlier stages,

but you, you might have some visions that,

that you would share with town meeting

because I do think that

question will come up.

- In fact, it's possible it

might be raised at the public

hearing, which is why it's

important to let people know

as far in advance as possible

- And, and also encourage them

to send us written comments and questions.

Yes.

- Any other comments or questions?

- Just thank you for thinking ahead

and letting us know of your

interest to extend the lease.

It's, it's really helpful.

- Well, we, we appreciate

the board's consideration.

I I, Madam chair, I just wanted

to clarify two minor

points as we go forward.

When we look forward to,

and I, I can appreciate the

board's interest in ensuring

that the public is well informed

and that they're aware of, of this.

I tend to agree that there

may not be much interest,

but we'll be prepared and,

and there's no harm in doing so as long

as the board is willing to convene it.

To clarify, if, if the board is going

to actually do a formal public hearing,

which is not strictly

necessary here, this is not a,

a zoning article, then we

won't on behalf of federal need

to extend any further notices,

which might cause confusion,

will defer to the town and,

and your notice of a public hearing.

- I think that's fine. We,

we can work on the language

together, Peter offline 'cause there,

- Okay, and, and,

and so, so the, the, the

other thing to note is to,

to points have been made

by, by members of the board,

this just provides, it does

not extend the lease, right?

It just provides federal

and their tenant the

opportunity to negotiate

and extending the lease, which is,

I think an important distinction

because we don't want

to mislead folks that,

that the status quo will

in fact continue and,

and we will be prepared

to talk about scenarios

and potential scenarios,

but we frankly don't know

what the future holds a few years out.

So we don't necessarily want to tie this

to future development and, and

potentially confuse people.

Meaning this extension

has, is not a direct

correlation to redevelopment for

residential or any other purpose.

What the last point I want to make is

that there is no lease with the town here.

The, the payment associated

with this came under the

original development agreement

as was amended.

And, and so, you know,

absent an extension here, both the town

and the property owner

would be in a pickle in

that you might have an empty store with

potential issues and, and

because even though zoning

allows for certain uses,

we do need to deal with

that development agreement.

So just a point to consider

as, as we go forward.

But we really look forward

to, to working with you