4.24.2024 Redevelopment Authority

uh pers sequent to the open meeting L any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recording or transmission are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible uh roll call John Erikson Lonzo Ron rusen M also joining us are

Sarah paage executive director Kenny fola administrative service consultant and Karen Martin project manager um an Keane is not present tonight uh first item guys is approval the Open Session me minutes from uh March 27th any comments on those if not I'll entertain a motion to approve those motion to approve said minutes second second John Ericson yes Lis Gonzales yes Ron rusen yes madas yes okay thank you uh next

item is the warrant which totals tonight $61,800 62 any questions on any of those items if not I'll entertain a motion to approve that warrant motion to approve warrant of $61,800 19562 second second John Ericson yes whoc yes Ron Ren yes yes thank you uh Karen's going to give us an update on the docks uh it's the doc kind of City here update so we are in the process of opening for spring the water meter was

installed um this week and the irrigation he started working on that he's set it up the water is Flowing the back flow was installed um he still needs to do some testing and repairs and um he's hoping to have that done within the next two weeks and the landscaper I met with him out on site and he's going to be probably planning to be out there kind of miday to do the mulching to do a

good cleanup so it looks really good for um our dock opening in June uh for the for the ceremony and everything um I spoke to the Harbor Master finally yesterday and he is going to be lowering the the uh walkway next week and bringing his boat over and installing that sign that says reserved for Harbor Master uh he's going to be working on putting some buoys out around the you

know that spit that comes off the north Pier that so so just so people know that it's you know a low um you know just to be cognizant of that the depth in that area and then we're going to work on I'm on vacation next week but when I get back I'm going to meet with him and we're going to work on finalizing the signage and everything for out there so

um and I also met with our lock um company to look at the the lock that's on that gate um there's a couple issues with um the way it's installed and we got to replace the batteries the batteries there's a battery pack that that activates that lock so we're replacing the batteries and he's calling the company and he's going to um talk to them about what we can do to tweak that

lock and get it to operate as we want and I should hopefully I'm going to reach out to him tomorrow and see where we're at with that we can't we can't change that key cylinder to match the master key so we're always going to have to have a separate key for that lock so that is what it is so um that is um hopefully will be resolved shortly and the information kiosk they're going to

start installation tomorrow the small three-footer that's up on the main Pier part is going to be installed tomorrow and then the the larger unit is um going to be placed next week out by the the dock Gates there and um youth builds really excited about the project and they seem to be pretty much on top of their game with everything they got all the materials so that should that should hopefully go

smoothly um and then we have the grand opening is scheduled for June 1st um invitations are in process they're going to be mailed tomorrow and emailed tomorrow so they're going out to all the dignitaries the mayor is going to reach out by email to all the the federal and local delegation and Saturday right Karen what was that it's a Saturday that's a Saturday yeah and they've got

the the bands been picked and so I think now we just have to rely on mother nature to cooperate the rain dates June 8th so uh we're we're going to keep our fingers crossed that we get it off on June 1st and there'll be a press release going out next week from the mayor's office and then there'll be social media postings and so forth also so hopefully that's going to be a pretty well

attended event where it's you know we're hoping to um to get a good good turnout for that will be open before that or yeah he's G yeah so he'll open it next week it'll be the you know just a soft opening with the game play he'll move his boat over and um so we'll see okay you know they like he said he said technically boating seat like most boers

start getting out on the water May 1 he said I have no idea you know if people will know about this utilize it who knows he says as the weather gets nicer and more boers are on the water he feels that that's when you know there'll be more of a demand or people will start realizing it's there is that part of the water taxi or no it is supposedly part

of the water taxi we're still waiting to get some Det details on um how that's going to work when it's going to start and all of that so it it's supposedly one of the stops yes do we have signs on there signage signage for the water taxi no for the uh P like ours um this says dawn to dusk on the sign that's on there right now so so the lock locks at D so

somebody's boat St they have to wait till the next day to get it well yes there's no other way to get out so well you can call the har the Harbor Master numbers on there and you can call him and he can um he could unlock it yes do you want to um the the aul for the the environmental closer yes so the environmental close out on City Pier um as part of the board

package that went out to you guys was the language for the final um activity and use limitation we had already approved the actual site layout of that aul limit so um assuming that that gets approved tonight when when we vote after this um we'll get that Sarah has to certify the vote Johnny needs to to sign the um the form and then I'll let Joe McGlothlin know tomorrow from beta and

he will need to sign his part and all those wet signatures will go to John um Coughlin so that he can electronically file it and then once that's electronically filed it kicks into a process where um Joe has 30 days uh to provide that recorded aul to the local officials and he has to publish a newspaper ad and um also provide um uh a filing to masty EP with a check which is part of the

warrant um tonight and then um once there's within seven days after it's been published and we've shown proof of published then they can file the permanent solution so if all kind kind of goes as planned and assuming John can get this filed Friday or early next week we should probably the permanent solution should be able to be filed early June and then that would close out hopefully the environmental at um City

Pier okay so uh I'll I'll entertain a motion to approve the a activity and use limitation as presented and authorized the chair to sign the document so move second second John Ericson yes lcon yes Ron R yes J madas yes thank you uh Sarah are you going to talk about the North Field I will so we're talking um later on in the meeting about the RFP results but what I want to

talk about is the fact that um Mike loosier our local Forester who works for the city uh connected us with the aabon um the local aabon society and um they came out and met with us at um Northfield point because they are doing a um nature in the city program in the schools that's really active and they are taking the kids out to the bio reserve and the youth in the classes

really would like to be doing projects on the river and the aabon society has a lot of resources and a lot of interest in um protecting the environment along the river and because this is going to be really a naturalized environment and it's also one of the only places you can really walk down and actually touch the water which is interesting they said that the youth have been really

advocating for somewhere that they can actually you know get in touch with the river itself rather than being up on um kind of a bank of the river and so um they came out and talked with us about the invasive species and strategies for holding back the the Shor line that's been deteriorating which is one of our projects in the whole um Engineering Process but they have a lot of interesting perspectives on um the

vegetation and they've worked in a lot of similar areas around Boston that are kind of protected parklike areas and so they're interested in having a relationship with us and being able to bring youth out there once it's redeveloped and so I just wanted to let you know that I'm hoping that um whatever consultant we pick is um you know ready to kind of engage with them and get some input from them

because I think they're very um knowledgeable about how to get rid of invasive species and then manage keeping them out because that's going to be a key issue here if we get rid of all the poison ivy and all the um you know weeds like um uh you know there are all kinds of vines and things that could easily come come back if we don't figure out how to um really manage keeping them out so um

so I just wanted to let me know about that so F FYI you can touch the water at the bottom of Kennedy Park get rock down the boat ramp right yeah yeah you can walk down the boat ramp also at the bottom of keny Park there's also we can get right to the Shoreline now behind the uh Carousel no Kennedy Park the carousel you can go right down the floor Carousel you really can't cuz it's all

rip wrap so oh I you ever found a good path down to the river from Kennedy Park is there a good one yeah okay you know where the Overlook is yeah yeah you go through the go over the bridge go through the homeless encampment and it'll take you right down to the no that's where they OD St right yeah uh Sarah do you want to talk about uh Pleasant Street Flint so the draft urban renewal plan

has been sent to um the housing agency um hlc housing and liable communities and um the screening form for our environmental justice communities uh has been sent out by tyan Bond the consultant that's been working on that so that's been sent out to lots of environmental advocacy groups and groups that are on mea's list that we're required to send it to and it basically summarizes what our project is and tells

them that they can provide input so those were two real milestones in moving this project along and now we're doing some focus on implementation um there are people who have either purchased there's some people who purchased some of the vacant buildings and and they always come to us and say well do you have grants how are we going to fund this and it's a little worrisome that they didn't figure out

how they were going to fund it before they bought it um but they are excited about their new buildings and want help thinking about it so I've been telling you for a while that I wanted to put an application in uh during this State OneStop process where you can apply to housing um to hlc or you can apply to mass development and you can start with a letter of interest basically that says

this is what we're thinking we would like to apply for you know what do you think about this idea what part of what agency would be interested in it so I'm working with the city's grant writer to um put in this simple um you know two-page form that says we're interested in applying for funding for our implementation plan in the Flint and what do you think what amount of money

could we ask for and then we would apply um in the beginning of June with an actual application and that's what we went through um last year when we got the funding for um the master planning so so what I'm looking to ask for is funding under a program the state has called District revitalization Redevelopment technical assistance and you can apply to do uh to have a consultant work with you on District

Redevelopment strategies and Corridor studies and so while we have our urban renewal plan and our road map for neighborhood revitalization it doesn't get really specific about what you might want to do on certain blocks and how to really um create vibrancy along the Pleasant Street Corridor so what I'm hoping we can get some funding for our strategies for uh Redevelopment of the vacant buildings including funding

strategies and Ken had um suggested that we really need to look at which buildings are on the national register and if we need to get more of them on because we're imagining people will need to use historic tax credit so that would be one piece we would be looking at and then just you know what funding sources should these developers be looking at that they could get from the state and and what that what would that

potentially look like for the commercial portion and the residential portion and then we have our $1.6 million earmark that the city received or has been allocated from the federal government and so this study might also look at some of the infrastructure that could um really work with the buildings to make it a more vibrant Corridor so one opportunity might be to get a consultant to do some

visuals about you know on this block you could redevelop this building you could have a restaurant um with some outdoor dining and you could have some trees over here and that wouldn't be um there still will be a need to have a real consultant um hired to develop a plan for the infrastructure um you know the infrastructure development with the 1.6 million but it would we've been talking

with um some of our folks involved in the urban renewal plan about how it would be helpful to have more specifics about how to revitalize Pleasant Street was that 1.6 million streets and sidewalks or is it more for that than just that well it's pretty much trees um uh I think some of it will get used for for um uh crosswalks because a lot of uh feedback we've gotten is that it doesn't

feel safe um there are intersections where people feel um there's really you know real difficult visual um uh issues when you're turning onto Pleasant Street so there would be a number of things that it could be used for that uh but it's basically infrastructure so has to fall in that category and you know 1.6 million is a good um a good commitment but it's not going to go right too far on redoing Pleasant

Street so that's that it unpleasant Pleasant stre okay um you want to talk about about the the vmb the map mhm so I'm going to pass out um the land disposition agreement um for vmd has um buildings that are designed basically as long rectangles and what the vmd thinks he they have someone interested in developing a building that really is sare and would have all of the truck parking on the side and so I sent that

in the board package and then realized it would be helpful for you to see this original plan so we're looking at the first building on Innovation Way is in Freetown and the second one is Lot number two that's the one that we're um talking about here and if you look at what's in the land disposition agreement it's this long rectangle and if you look at what we sent you in the board package

you've got a big square and a lot of truck parking and so so they want to know a couple of things are we willing to accept this new configuration and then we would the road amend the um land disposition agreement and what they are showing on that plan is that they'll be carefully screening the truck parking and the um covenants for the park require that if they're going to put truck parking on the side then they

have to get approval by the Redevelopment Authority and specific approval for the screening and so it's not we're not showing you enough of a plan to really approve their project and so the vote that we're asking you to take is that you're in agreement to this General reconfiguration and then we'll actually take a vote to approve their plan once they send a plan to the city and to the Redevelopment

Authority so this building is where is is this one right here that was the one originally okay and then the square one is what would go there instead you know what that is um I think it's the door don't we think that on this oh maybe it's like a generator or something it maybe we're you know we're not really sure and I know it's really difficult to ask you we're not asking

you to approve this plan we're just asking you to approve the square versus rectangle well the reorientation of it yeah the reorientation of the layos just kind of spun around just kind of spun around in the parkings now on the side of the building instead of behind it okay it goes right up the Innovation Way pretty much but they put some shrubs in front of it yep is that against our

bylaws the parking that close Innovation way as long as you screen it it's got to go through all it's got to go through site plan review yeah you know um and it's also got to be an amendment to the LDA and there's probably other Covenant release that they're looking for so that's all I'll say matter what we say plan site plan review is going to have the uh the yeah this whole govern

yeah this what it could change it could change that's why I'm not sure why we're you know I think you're having a general agreement on this without a vote would be would be okay as well as opposed to a formalized vote y mhm that's fine they just don't want to go through the whole design process and find out that this reconfiguration is not acceptable and you know Ken and I both agree would

be surprising that you would really not approve a reconfiguration plan but they want to make sure that um there's General agreement about it so we agreeing on it so I think you can AG agend in site plan review I think the minutes can the minutes can reflect that you are in agreement General agreement with without the the orientation subject to further plan review and site plan review by the

um by the city so what we were asking was that you agree to a change to the building and parking layout of vmd property Lot 2 at Innovation Way is shown in the site layout presented tonight recognizing that a future Amendment to the LDA will be qu required once the full set of plans for lot two are submitted to the city and the Redevelopment Authority and approved by the Redevelopment Authority at a future

meeting and site plan review that's a city that submitted to the city for their full review andal approval yeah it doesn't say it didn't say approval by the city so I mean at this point B sounds like they want us to we don't have any serious objections to it and we can't really do anything at this point right so I can I think we agree to pass the B to continue planning I don't think there

a vote necessary right but I I say I think it's we're okay with it but you still need the future planning we got to see what's going to go there and also site plan review has to go through it before we can say yes or no M okay um excuse me chair makes a finding that an open session would have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body purpose of

the executive session is to approve the executive session minutes from March 27th 2024 discuss strategy with respect to potential real estate transaction for property located at assessor map 22 lot 9 in theal street at the corner of Turner Street and report on proposals and vendor selection response to RFP number 24-7 improvements to Northfield point and moring field excuse me I will

entertain a motion to enter an executive session and we will return to open session for that vote open second did you oh I'm sorry I didn't hear you okay John Erikson yes Lis conzo yes Ron R yes Jo madas yes okay thank you okay okay um after further supposed to make a motion to go back to open session yeah we did you did make the motion okay no I did yeah um after after

review an executive session we decided to table the vote we were going to do um at this point and uh further review some information and and uh hopefully accomplish that vote on our next meeting if everybody's in agreement I just need a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second second John Erikson yes lisc yes Ron R yes John M yes thanks everybody thank