The Fall River Planning Board convened on August 10, 2022, at 5:30 PM. The meeting began with the approval of two Form A applications for plans believed not to require approval, both of which had previously received special permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The first, for 542-546 4th Street, and the second, for 370 and 376 Linden Street, were both unanimously approved. The board then discussed a proposal to amend the city's zoning map by extending the Housing Development Overlay District (HD zone) to include the vicinity of Gold Mills Avenue and surrounding areas. Ken Faiola Jr., Executive Vice President of Bristol County Economic Development Consultants, presented on the benefits of this extension, highlighting its role in attracting market-rate housing development through state HDIP tax credits. He explained that these credits, typically ranging from $800,000 to $1.5 million per project, are crucial for offsetting high construction costs in Fall River, where rents are comparatively lower than in other regions. The proposal, which aims to facilitate the conversion of several mill buildings into 150-200 market-rate units each, was unanimously supported by the board and will proceed to the City Council and then the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for final approval. Other items included placing on file a MassDOT correspondence regarding a meeting for a proposed static billboard at 171 Pleasant Street, and the unanimous approval of the minutes from the July 13th meeting. The meeting concluded with a citizen's input from Colin Dyas, who called for the suspension of board member John Ferreira pending an investigation into the sale of the old Atlantis Child School, citing alleged conflicts of interest and connections to organized crime. The board voted to file this correspondence without further comment, and the meeting was adjourned.
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uh it's the meeting of the florida planning board and it's august 10th 2022 it is now 5 30.
0:10and pursuant to the open meeting law 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 recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible the city charter section 9-18 mandates that all public member bodies
0:39develop and adopt rules or policy for public comment we have adopted such a policy which in short provides for citizen input on planning board specific matters at the end of the meeting there is a sign up sheet that's located at the back of the room and today's meeting we have a boy elizabeth andre mario luciolo here john ferreira here gloria pacheco president i'm cynthia cevigna we also have our
1:15city planner dan aguiar and our recording clerk nina pavo and four river government tv is recording this craig salvador okay so let's start with new business form a it's an application for endorsement a plan believe not to require approval it's file number 22-15-36 own applicant back in the game a little safe the property location is 542 5446 4th street assessors map 1-12-0044 board members if i may with regards to
2:06the property pursuant to 86 423 b and the zoning bylaw an applicant has the ability to appear before the zoning board of appeals to to separate two existing residential dwellings on a property if they've been in existence prior to 1954.
2:21the applicant appeared before and received approval from the zoning board of appeals on june 9. that information with regards to that special permit has been inscribed on the on the mylar plan and paper copies that you have meeting those requirements beyond that there is nothing with regards to frontage or area requirements that this plan needs to meet beyond that special permit so this plan um under that section of
2:48the zoning by one is afforded endorsement do i have any comments do i have a motion i make a motion to approve a second that was beth all in favor all right item number two for me it's an application for a plan believed not to require approval it's file number 22-15-37 own applicant is hyped on holdings hello property location 370 and 376 linden street assessment map m26-12 again similarly as the as the previous
3:44petition the applicant went through the zoning board of appeals process again on june 9th and received the the appropriate special permit and also like the previous one which i didn't read in what the zoning board of appeals has been doing on these as we've been getting through more of them and the board has had some questions about some of it they've been putting specific conditions of approval and you have
4:05copies of the zoning decisions one of them is that permanent boundary markers are to be set along the new dividing property line no fencing is to be installed along the interior lot line all utilities need to be separated in an affidavit signed under penalties of perjury that needs to be recorded at the registry prior to a sale and then again whatever easement it's for parking or access need to be provided on the a r
4:31plan as well which they've done so again as uh as in accordance with the previous application this plan is afforded an endorsement by the planning board any comments do i have a motion make sense a second i emotionally accept the uh second all in favor all right item number three is to amend the city of fall river zoning map this was referred to the planning board from the city council on june 28 2022
5:10proposing to extend the housing development overlay district to include the vicinity of gold mills avenue and the surrounding areas and are you here to speak on this yeah i'll give you just a quick little presentation first in your packets probably at the end of that packet you're going to see a little colored map which is the same uh larger scale drawing that uh mr fiola has that hope that he'll present to you
5:38so as you may know the city does have uh two different housing development overlay districts which is really a state statute it's not a local zoning ordinance this petition before you now will extend one of the hd zones as this map shows to encompass a number of potential market rate housing developments and what this does is provide some financial assistance through the state process
6:04with tax credits that that ken can explain uh to these developers that develop these larger larger projects so i would say mr fiola would like to give a quick presentation it could be an educational experience for us all uh good afternoon uh director my name is ken faiola junior i'm the executive vice president of the bristol county economic development consultants and i'd like to thank you for allowing me the
6:33opportunity to speak on behalf and in support of the creation of this new htips hd zone so as you can see from the the map that's contained in your package and i'll just hold this up for uh florida government tv what we're proposing to do here is to extend and create a new zone that abuts the hd zone over here hd one zone the housing development zone uh one essentially runs from this point
7:04uh here all the way down through the north end of the city and incorporates that area throughout the um the waterfront uh this new zone that's being created is a zone that's going to take in the area south of this particular zone and pick up those mill buildings located along chase street which is the dural property glow mills as well as the end of middle street uh which is another another large
7:31mill building uh complex over here the importance and the purpose of having an hd zone established within the city is it allows potential development of these properties for market rate housing we're not talking subsidized housing we're not talking about um any other family uh subsidized housing we're talking about pure mockery housing of which 80 of the units in these particular potential developments have to be
8:01market rate uh from a development perspective this is a very important tool because it allows developers to participate what they call housing development improvement program zone tax credits h-dip tax credits and they can developers can submit an application to massachusetts department of community and housing development for the securement of these tax credits which helps to offset some of the cost of the
8:35development of the rehab of these of these particular properties so for instance the h-dip tax credits have been used for such projects as commonwealth landing it's been used for adam's house it's been used for the residences at river's edge the new development along dubal street it's been used for the new conversion of the obcc property on diverse on durfee street so in each of those projects that sell
9:08and it's also been used for projects on troy and pleasant as well as third street so in each of those projects the developers have received anywhere between 800 to 1.5 million dollars in tax credits when they secure these tax credits what they do is they sell off these tax credits to the private market and so there are people out there corporations that are out there that buy these tax credits so
9:32let's say that you are awarded a million dollars of hd or hdip tax credits that private developer may be able to sell those tax credits on 85 cents on a dollar so they'd get 850 000 that they use to help offset some of the overall development cost of their their project itself people in corporations buy them to lower their corporate tax exposure that they may be paying to the commonwealth of massachusetts so it's a
10:00win for the purchaser of the tax credits because they're buying a million dollars worth of value for 850 000 and it's a win for the developer because he's selling a million for 850 so both of them both of those parties achieve their objectives in this particular area you know you have three large potential mill conversions uh two of which are already in design or undergoing environmental analysis
10:26um the mill at the bottom of middle street um which is an old dura mill that's been recently purchased and the developer there is going through his due diligence with regard to phase one environmental analysis identification of asbestos and lead paint and getting a better understanding as to what the remediation cost of those pro of the project will be in that particular instance the developer is talking
10:55about placing anywhere from 150 to 200 market rate units there uh the mill along globe mills ave right across uh right adjacent to the uh the cusp school um that's the old again that's an old dura mill uh they're looking at the potential conversion of that mill complex into 200 mockery units and then obviously there's the large remaining uh piece of property owned by durham on chase street that also may or
11:22may not be used for for residential use but because it's located in the zone it keeps the window opportunity for the potential utilization of tax credits if in fact they do decide to utilize that mill property for development so what these with these projects are doing it in in accordance with the other projects that already have been uh converted rehabbed or constructed from the ground up there what they're
11:51essentially doing is creating new housing opportunities for people we're not displacing people we're not you know going into free family or you know multi-family units and raising rents these are creation of new units okay new tax revenue for the city and new living opportunities for people within the city as well as outside outside the city what we're seeing in terms of the occupancy of the units is this three
12:15different constituency of people that are attracted to these new mockery units the first constituency are empty nesters people that may have been born and raised in the city they moved out of the city to the suburbs raised their family at a larger home now the home is too big for them they don't want to maintain the home they will sell off their home they want to move back into the city to be closer to restaurants
12:38doctors appointments you know shopping uh grocery stores what have you pharmacies and they would like to have live in a rental type of unit with the amenities that they become accustomed to hvac elevators hardwood floors security off street parking things of that nature the constitution the second constituency is young professionals uh then they you know decide to take a one or two bedroom unit
13:07uh typically one bedrooms and these in these types of developments are anywhere between thirteen hundred to fifteen hundred two bedrooms are going from anywhere between seventeen fifty and twenty two hundred and three bedrooms are going over 2400 so if you get a young professional and a single you know a single bedroom uh rental unit uh they may use this as not only a place to live but a place you know it's an
13:31invocation point to work anywhere as far north as the 128 split uh in the providence metro area aquidnic island uh quitnic island or down towards a new defense in the cape so from a geographic position folder is strategically located to accommodate that and then the third constituency is fall river people that are looking for better rental accommodations that you know may be tired of living in a rental apartment
13:58where they have to walk up to the third floor carry their groceries not have all street parking not have a secured facility those that constituency of people are also looking to relocate to these units here so this type of tax credit is essential to these projects because the cost of construction is so high these days right now what i'm seeing in the market and it's this is all in including hard cost soft costs and
14:26purchase of the property and developers fees and everything else you're probably looking anywhere between 350 to 375 000 per unit so these are not inexpensive construction projects so if you just you know if this list if you just look at easy math and i'll just if you had 100 units uh at 37 at 375 000 that'd be 37 million 500 right so if you get a million dollars worth of tax credit it's
14:52not a lot but it helps offset that and there's other incentives that they add to that so again what we're doing here is just keeping the opportunity open for the potential redevelopment of these properties for residential purposes we're not displacing anybody we're not creating you know so we're asking jacking anybody's rents up we're just affording the developers the opportunities to take advantage of incentives
15:15and potentially utilize those incentives to create uh these market rate units and these market rate units will enhance the city's tax revenue in terms of overall development value and also you know provide much needed living accommodations to people that are looking to locate to the area area or relocate to another build apartment within the area you got to keep in mind that eighty percent of four
15:41of us housing stock was created and constructed before 1940 so there hasn't been a lot of new construction taking place or a lot of rehab so the demand for these units are exceptionally high when you know when the project is coming online it's you know typically these um these projects are leased out within 30 to 50 days of them becoming available at the prices that we previously uh discussed
16:10so again the demand remains strong again not to to continuously uh beat this horse to death this is just another incentive in the toolbox of potential incentives that developers could use to rehab these properties so i'll be happy to answer any questions you may have i have a question yes sir um how is the amount of the tax credit calculated and i'm sure there are variables involved but just just
16:38generally so how do you get maxed out to whatever that matters so typically under the existing rules of developers a developer could um secure up to two million dollars in tax credits it's all based upon the qualified expenses within the project itself and the qualified expenses uh consist of hot and soft cost as well as some construction costs it doesn't you know doesn't um pertain to
17:05bank financing those types of things so even though a developer may be entitled to two million because there's a finite amount of money that's available they typically never i've never seen anybody get the full 2 million the most i've seen developments get is 1.5 million and then most you know nine times out of ten these securements anywhere between the 800 000 and 1.5 and this so the amount that the state has
17:31in this program that's capped and so so right now the state so right now the state's oversubscribed there's a 10 million dollar cap uh for these uh for this type of tax credit the state because it's been oversubscribed so we just did one project on de ball street where the it's the tax credits uh don't don't take place until the end of calendar year 2024 even though the project is so they're
18:00playing catch-up they're playing catch-up there's been recent legislation filed as part of the state's economic development bill that has 57 million dollars in it for this fiscal year which would take care of the backlog of projects that are currently there and then 30 million dollars a year for each year after for the next five years which would be then made available for new projects coming online
18:24unfortunately that bill is stalled in the legislature right now we're hoping that it'll be um it'll be approved at some point hopefully this fall if not this fall it might be in the first quarter of 2023 but there seems to be a consensus amongst the three branches of the legislature to get something passed up there where what actually threw it off costs was the the tax rebates the three
18:47billion dollars that the state had in excess money that they have to give back to the uh citizens as a result as a result of having excess money as surplus so that threw everything off otherwise it would have been approved uh this pas by july 31st so it must be i mean it's fairly competitive then for these guys to go get this money it's competitive very competitive it's only been made
19:08available to gateway cities um so that's the fall of the brocktons the you know springfields the holy oaks the lawrence's the lowells and a few others um the other aspect of it is you can't if you start your project before you know securement of this tax credit uh then you're you're not eligible for it so it's a it acts as an incentive as opposed to a reward so which slows down projects sometimes
19:35because you want to get going and then you have to wait to get this award so yeah it's you know there's some minor details associated with that fall river has been very successful in getting in getting them i think we're amongst the uh the leaders in the commonwealth as to the number of eight steps we've received which i think speaks volumes for the city's pro development environment that is created as well as
20:00the sophistication of the developers and a hiring of a good consultant so the i mean if we don't make more opportunities this money is going to be handed out and potentially in other communities this money will definitely be handed out in other communities and these projects will probably not get off the ground the projects are so expensive that you need incentives with the existing mill
20:23builders that you have you marry these incentives with the historic tax credits which gives you a significant leg up on the overall or your offsetting of your your project expenses so again you know it's a much needed tool here because the rents that we charge here are significantly lower than you charge anywhere north north of here right so the cost of construction for a project is the cost of construction cost of
20:49construction doesn't change right your turn on investment is determined by the amount of rents that you're able to secure to offset your cost now in a market area where the rents are higher you have more profitability because the rents are higher here we don't have that window of high profitability as at this point so that's why the incentives are even more important for a community like fall
21:13river than it is for other communities you know north of here thank you question is it such a limitation in time before these projecting sun in the city any other city as well the city of florida so you guys so you you again you can't start the project until you get the award and then you have to complete the project within the two issue uh two years of the issuance of the award so
21:40once you get the award you got to move forward very quickly to uh you know to complete the project so you can take advantage of the tax credit thank you the rental of these properties if it goes through how many of those are going to be on to say section 8 or you know assisted living so the the law states that 80 of the units a minimum of 80 percent have to be used for market rate
22:1420 percent of the units could be subsidized units in fall river we with the exception of the um the durfee street property who's the the cloud i've tried to get the name of the property the class i can't think of the name of the property but the goal bcc on durfee street the old jerky tech the old durfee tech that's the only project that has subsidized units in it all the other
22:39projects are 100 market rates so there's no subsidized units in them typically you you could you wouldn't probably you could see section 8 but section 8 is a there's two section eights right there's project-based section eights and there's mobile section eights right so you have one building and they have a bunch of section eights and all those section a certificates are applicable just to that building
23:03if you have a mobile section eight you can take that section eight and live anywhere in the country with it right now not even massachusetts so i wouldn't see these units being utilized by section 8 occupants because section 8 certificates are only worth x amount of dollars and the rents that they're being charged here that that particular person would have to come up with the money in addition to whatever
23:26is afforded him or her by the section 8 certificate so um again i don't see that where does this go if it if it is approved by this board where does it go from here it goes to the city council city council for final approval if they approve it it then goes on to the commonwealth department of housing and community development for final approval so there's two more stages beyond beyond this approval here
24:01board any questions comments no is there a motion i make a motion to support and approve the proposal
24:24thank you thank you very much appreciate it okay and now we have item at number four uh review and a discussion of a meet and to be held tomorrow for the proposed construction of static billboards and we have a correspondence from sdot um so board members what this is um it's a normal notification i get one personally the mayor gets one gets a bunch of different notifications so the zoning board of
25:08appeals probably about a year ago granted a special permit for a billboard to be constructed at 171 pleasant street which is uh anthony cadero insurance it's adjacent to the highway um so this is the process with the outdoor advertising board where they have a zoom meeting um that you could um attempt so they send this out to a butters within 300 feet municipalities and anybody that wanted to uh to be able
25:37to give comment has the ability to do so where this is a a project that's already technically received approval through the zoning board of appeals through the special permit i would recommend that you just place it on file um do i have a motion i'll make a motion let me place this on file second second all in favor all right and item number five we have approval of the minutes of the july 13th meeting
26:10i make a motion that we approve the minutes is presented i believe everyone was yes i attended everyone was present second all in favor all right and we have item number six citizens input and we have a correspondence it's considered an external citizen's input from colin dyess to the planning board members and it would it states i would like to call on mayor paul coogan to immediately suspend member
26:47john ferreira pending investigation into the sale of the old atlantis child school the fact that mr ferreira has not submitted any conflict of interest form or has not resigned from the planning board is inadmissible the former owner of the building has connections to the mob the city should have absolutely no connections to the mob we need to do what is right for this city thank you colin dyas do i have any comments
27:25oh should you receive him place on file i'll make a motion to file file uh
27:45and we have adjournment motion to adjourn my favorite item every night i make a motion that way for journey second all in favor