The Fall River Planning Board convened on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, with members Gloria Pacheco, Mario Luciola, Roger, and Cynthia Cevigne present. The meeting began with the decision to table MassDOT project number 609434, regarding the Jefferson Street Bridge over Sucka Brook, until the next meeting to allow for a full board and input from Planning Director Caitlin. This motion passed unanimously. Two Form A applications for endorsement of plans believed not to require approval were then considered. For Ashley Machado's property at 79-81 Plain Street (file 22-1532), the board took no action, citing a lack of complete information, which meant the plan would be automatically approved after 21 days. Conversely, the application for Karen M. and Raymond C. Sebastian at 632 Tucker Street (file 22-1533) was unanimously approved, noting a variance previously granted by the ZBA on March 17th. Chris Parano, Director of Cemeteries and Trees, presented a request to approve a planting plan for the 2022 Tree Planting Implementation Grant. The city is applying for a DCR grant between $20,000 and $100,000 to plant 175 to 200 trees in areas such as Second Street, Williams Street, South Main, Government Center, Dr. Fratkin Green, Turner Playground, and Eastern Avenue, with a grant deadline of June 6th. The board unanimously approved this planting plan. The meeting concluded with the unanimous approval of the April 13, 2022, meeting minutes and subsequent adjournment.
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we're good okay we have the public hearing of the fall river planning boy it's wednesday may 11 2022 and pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit this meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those
0:49present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible and today we have with us gloria pacheco mario luciola roger i'm cynthia cevigne elizabeth andrade and john ferreira are absent this evening we also have nina pavo as our recording clerk and craig salvatore as representing the fall river government tv item number one we have a correspondence review and discussion of mass uh dot project number 609 434 that's the
1:39jefferson street bridge over sucka brook this was table from the april 13 2022 meeting and we're going to continue it on the table till the next meeting yeah i make a motion with tablet to next meeting so we get the full board and we have the planning directors uh caitlin's perspective if we need to comment back okay one second all in favor hi we have a new business we have a form a
2:10application for endorsement of plan believe not to require approval file number 22 15 32 owner applicant ashley machado the property location is 79 to 81 plain street on assesses map mo 90022 okay nina you want to give us an update on this caitlyn didn't have any comments on it no comments so this is approval not required that's correct so lot one is conforming or is there a variance of record i'm sorry that one it's
3:00is anyone here regarding this request um i understand they're here for the tree plant okay so this meets all of the requirements okay so there's a special permit granted by the zba waiving requirements and multi multiple family so special apartment is for use not regarding dimensional setbacks because division okay so this is like grandfathered in that's what it says note 7 note 7 on the plan 10 notes
3:54note 7.
3:56this note the slot does not constitute a subdivision for a mass general law chapter 41 section 81 l on which two or more buildings were standing when the subdivision control law when in effect in the city or town in which land lies into separate lots on each of which one of such buildings remains standing shall not constitute a subdivision so we still have an existing family on lot one and exist in fourth family
4:38on lot two and so we are cutting out
4:51i would like more time to review this i would like to to get a copy i think nina you emailed us a copy maybe of the zba special permit you probably emailed it to us but i didn't print it i don't think i did no i think i'd like i'd like to review it a little bit closer do you have any comments mario cynthia no i call what you said if there's not
5:18enough information and these things are there i'm not too sure maybe there is maybe it is fine but i i don't feel comfortable and considering we need all three of us to vote correct um no the only thing with a and ons though is approval not required so after 21 days when it's stamped downstairs it automatically gets approved so we would have to have a special meeting next week or we'll automatically get approved yes
5:47but without our correct i don't mind letting it go i just feel funny advocating for it without all of the information in front of me i don't know i mean if it's if that's the law it'll be it but i feel funny motioning for it if i don't have all the pieces in front of me okay
6:17we went through this before so on item one of new business we are taking no action right all in favor aye aye hi was there a motion no i i i make a motion that we do not i i make the motion that we do not make a decision to approve or not approve this plan one way or the other one yeah that's my emotion that we don't approve nor reject okay uh
6:58okay that's the first time this that happened so it's legal right after twenty one days of credit after 21 days it's going to be legal that doesn't have cynthia's signature on it so with it you have a chance to call a special meeting or we can just let it go just let it go okay okay if you're not comfortable with that yeah i don't i'm not comfortable putting my name on it
7:20i'm not saying it's not right it could be perfectly 100 great within the scope of things but because if i say if i don't vote one way or the other there's no quorum that's true so oh we're taking the watching right yes okay there was a second and all in favor all right item number two form a application for endorsement of plan believe not to require approval and again we have file
7:52number 22 1533 owner applicant karen m and raymond c sebastian location is 632 tucker street assesses map e08-0066 now this one here appears to be a little bit more complete we have lots one and two
8:34what are your thoughts mario what do you think there's a variance granted by the zba on march 17th waving requirements so they should change the one that i had the little one here see on the bottom that have the zba okay variance so i'm okay with it okay you don't want to go first this time i'll make a moisturizer my second i'm safe okay item number three tree planting implementation grant
9:12it's a request to review and approve the planting plan for 2022 tree planting grant application can you pass these up you may thank you very much thank you oh i wanted this one about my house yeah okay my name is chris parano i'm the director of cemeteries and trees here in the city of fall river the city is planning on applying for a tree planting implementation grant through the dcr the opportunity is for
10:00funding of either 20 000 to a hundred thousand dollars um eligible expenses include the purchase of trees planting material site preparations and then some community outreach and education the requirements include a formal and executable tree planting project um plantings within the dcr planting zones or environmental justice neighborhoods and approval from municipal planning awards which is
10:30why i'm here this evening so in considering the city for our plan we looked at the tree equity score which is from the american foresters they compile a bunch of different data points to uh to score census block tracks in the city um so they look at tree canopy cover population density average surface temperatures health ah race and things like that to determine a tree equity score to help planters
11:06decide where to plant trees within the city so considering that information we've selected these planting locations the first is second street from rodman to boarding there's a small green at williams street south main in washington empty tree pits around here government center the dr fratkin green at ellsbury and president avenue the turner playground at the very end of locust street
11:36and eastern ave from county street to pleasant street and i've provided information on the equity scores city hall and 2nd street we have an equity score of 34 and you can see the tree canopy goal is 40 we're at 3 so we can have a pretty impactful planting in this area by just planting a few trees turner playground has a equity score of 67 again a canopy cover goal of 40 percent we're at 8
12:08currently eastern avenue 64.
12:12another canopy goal of 40 and the current cover is 12.
12:18so the preliminary project ideas include the purchase and installation of 175 to 200 trees we would undertake those installations in-house with the tree division and partnering with the department of community maintenance removal of imperial surfaces including concrete sidewalk panels or stumps to bring those back as planting locations and replace those trees and then do some community outreach we have ideas to
12:51do door hangers in the neighborhoods that we're planting and provide sideage to mark where future trees will be planted as a means to build awareness of the importance of tree canopy in the city and let people know that we are planting and if they have any interest in planting trees near or around their home they can reach out to us to do so so that's the basic project and i'm happy to answer any questions
13:18you have questions board members let me let me be naive um the type of tree they were planting are they small medium so the the type of tree hasn't been determined yet um we have a city arborist we contract with david resource group and they provide contracted arborist services to us so we'll be working with that certified arborist to make sure that we're planting the right tree in the right
13:43location that is also a requirement of the grant so we would consider the site location um how much soil there is in the area to make sure that it can support a tree and then also making sure that we're plant if we're planting under power lines we're planting trees that aren't going to grow and interfere with those lines second question um let's stick present avenue we have it divided and on that
14:09street don't have a divider where actually these streets will be planted in a sidewalk for sure so some of these areas will be in sidewalks so 2nd street for instance does not have a median strip so we'd focus on the sidewalks and we predominantly focus on the sidewalks that don't have any overhead power lines in areas where there are median strips we'd plant in the median but we'd also look for
14:35areas that we could plant in the sidewalks the most impactful as far as average surface temperature is the removal of sidewalk panels to install tree pits and then plant trees um because it removes a heat sink and then also shades of those areas so if you look for example um i think it's on here the second street um location the average surface temperature around city hall and 2nd street is 85 degrees and that
15:07includes your winter temperatures so you can imagine in the summer the surface temperature is very very high in this neighborhood which just increased cooling costs and has significant health impacts okay the last question then i'll leave it to my colleague it's straight that has dual power plant power wires whatever on each side so they're not able to get a tree or something you
15:42could plant trees under power lines as long as they're not growing over 20 feet tall so national grid and eversource as well not that they're in the city but they provide guidance as to the type of trees that can be planted under the power lines and then the state also has recommendations of trees that would not encroach on the power lines to make sure that you can still plant in those locations okay and last one
16:12in a sidewalk okay you'll be able to plan this three would be um more or less visible for to grow in the near future to limited someone with the walker or someone with a baby carriage are they not many years ago as we used to they had three growers up and then of course the asphalt or something closer with them right yes that is um i'm not thinking right now because i'll
16:43be back in my next life and be able to see it that's a that is a significant problem in the city the wrong tree was planted in sidewalk panels so that's why the state has really made an effort to educate um local tree wardens to make sure that we're planting the right tree in the right location and we also have that that certified arborist who's familiar with how these trees grow um so that we
17:07when we're putting them in sidewalk panels um that we are providing adequate space and um maintaining ada uh requirements you answer all my questions i try good job thank you good job i'm done is this replacing any trees right now i mean are we replacing trees or all of this in new areas new trees so some of these will be new trees in new areas right here around city hall there's a
17:39few empty tree pits they still have the steel grates over them i can think of two off the top of my head there's one at the corner of of maine and uh jeremiah sullivan boulevard so we would remove the stump in that location and plant a new tree so there's already existing tree pits but we wouldn't necessarily be taking down existing trees to plant new ones it would be more if there's a stump in a
18:03location that we're going to plant a tree we'd remove the stump and plant a new tree and the amount of trees are going to be determined by the amount of the grant that you receive correct so we are going to apply for the full 100 000 um and based off of some preliminary budget estimates we think we can purchase somewhere between 175 and 200 trees with that money so if you get
18:28fifty thousand you're down to ninety or so so it's gonna you would adjust based on the award and that is going to include the site preparation which is going to be the removal of the the um roots to any previous trees that are there okay do we have any other questions now and when are you applying for this the grant deadline is june 6th monday june 6th okay board members sounds like a great idea
19:11don't okay and it's everybody's smiling so so far so good so make a motion i second the motion to approve the planting plan all in favor hi hi good luck very much good luck thank you okay we also have approval of the minutes of april 13 2022 and we all were here for that meeting okay i am accurate i make a motion to approve the minutes of april 13th all in favor aye aye
19:57okay that has passed citizen input i believe we've taken care of that item number six is adjournment yeah i'll make more than two into a journey a second emotion all in favor aye what to smoke a big smile