8.27.2025 Redevelopment Authority

At the August 27th, 2025 meeting of the Fall River Redevelopment Authority, personally to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or transmit the meeting through any medium.

Attendees are therefore advised that such recording transmission are being made, whether perceived or unpersceived by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

We're going to do a roll call. Um, John Ericson, Ron Rousen, Ben Fuddleberg, Joan Mader, gang team.

Uh, also attending John Coughlin, legal counsel, Sarah Page, executive director, Karen Martin, project manager, Bill McGreth, project engineer for the Beta Group, and Eric Galley, project LA, landscape architect from Beta Group. Uh first item is approval of our uh open session minutes for July 23rd, 2025. If there's no comments, I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes.

A motion to approve the July 23rd, 2025 open session minutes.

Second.

Second.

Jen, yes.

Ron Ren, yes.

Fleer, yes.

Joan, yes. And Keem, yes.

Thank you. Uh, next item is the warrant, which Joan has gone through.

So this war current total is $191,540.77.

There's no questions on this. I'll entertain a motion to approve that more.

A motion approves. All guest warrant in the amount of $191,540.77.

Second.

Second.

John Harrison. Yes.

Ron Rousen. Yes.

Fleber. Yes.

John Maderas. Yes. And Keane. Yes.

Thank you. Uh, okay. Admin, the 2024 audit update. Karen's going to speak to that. Um all of our uh financials have been uploaded to the um the auditor's platform and they've started going through everything and now I'm responding to some of the things that they want to see. So we should hopefully be in good shape with that within, you know, a month or so. I mean, they have pretty standard um things that I have to

show them um copies of some invoices and things like that. So, that seems to be moving along and we're just waiting for the um the um audit report from the state on the retirement board. So, hopefully um we'll get that wrapped up soon. Um they will forward that to me as soon the retirement board will forward that to me as soon as they get it and then I'll forward it on to the auditors.

So, that'll probably be the last piece before they finalize the audit.

That's kind of it for the update on that insurance. Um, the only reason I kind of bring this up is because um, we're looking into um, this is our our annual renewal of our directors and offices insurance and um, our expiration date is September 21st on the current policy.

Um, we're looking into um, um, moving the policy from our current provider to a potential um, get all our insurance with um, Bay Coast Insurance. Um, and we're just going through some of the finer details. Ben's helping me out looking at the policy. I do have the policies now I can send you. Um and um I bring it up because it would have been nice if I had been able to put the

premium into this month's um uh warrant, but I'm probably going to need to um cut a special check before our next meeting and get signatures on it um just so we can pay um the policy prior to expiration. So I just wanted to give you that heads up. So Okay. Um Sarah's going to speak briefly to the uh truck stop neon gas station innovation way certificate of completion.

So you uh got the certificate of completion in your packet. John uh drafted it. We talked about it and this is a project that really preceded some of us and it's um basically the the owner is going to lease the facility to Cumberland Farms and so um they needed a certificate of completion and had never gotten one. And so this one has a lot of uh qualifications in it saying you have

to meet NEPA and all these other requirements and it just says that we're um approving the building as built based on the LDA.

So does that mean that it won't be a neon anymore? It'll be a couple of farms. You think so?

That's what we think. The sense I got is that they're leasing a bunch of sites to company farms. This is just one of many as one package.

So they're represented by attorney Tom Karen. I reviewed the certificate with him. They're good with it. So I think they're waiting for this so that they can complete the lease and do the trans.

Okay. Uh so uh you guys do have that in the package. Um, and I'll entertain a motion to approve the certificate of completion for DevCon at Innovation Way Fall River and authorize uh me to sign the certificate. Did you know what the motion was?

It just gave me a lot of words.

You stole the thunder.

Second.

Second. Yes, Ron. Yes.

I have it right. Oh, you just did. Jeez.

All right. I need a copy of that then, John. Please.

Okay. Thanks for that, guys. Next.

Next item is cathotic protection, Karen.

All right. Um, so cathotic protection is essentially substantially complete as of the end of July. Um we just received um we did John Catillo the um uh cathodic engineer went out and he tested everything. The system is operating as intended and we did a dive inspection on August 22nd and um we're going to be getting a 4hour video of underwater inspection. It should be lively. Um and

um all the anodess are installed. There is one that um needs the bottom tab welded. Um and there um so that's the only real issue on the the anodess. And then there are a couple of spots that we've listed out that they want the um the contractor to go back out and touch up just cuz it it looks like it ran a little bit and um the stuff the stuff

was tough to handle in the hot weather.

So, um he's going to go back and recode some of that and um hopefully um we'll pay him his retainage at the end of September and um that will wrap up the contract work. Now, the next phase of um work which is the remaining sections of the um the bulkhead I had sent in the board package um this diagram. So as part of the base contra as part of the base contract and

base work with um Kavanaaugh, they did 700 lineal feet of the um the bulkhead.

And so the next thing would be to finish that same Denzel 525 coating on the remainder the remaining amount of the bulkhead which is roughly a little over 1100 feet. I think it's 1130 ft to be exact. And um there is money in the EDI grant to cover that. We will use most of the contingency fund in that grant, but um in talking with um Mike, that's not a problem. And we still aren't sure the

rest of that grant covered um a parking lot, which um we still don't know how that's going to um come to fruition.

Like where are we going to put it? What are we going to do? Um so um I wanted to um get approval to potentially not potentially to um do a change order to Kavanaaugh to complete the remaining sections of the pier. It's like 1130 lineal feet of the same denzo 525 and then that would be that would make the bulkhead completely protected in the splash area.

So you don't have to send out RFB on that.

No, because it would be an extension to the existing contract.

Okay. So the blue is where the pink the addition the the blue is what was completed as part of the base contract which is like 700 lineal feet and then the pink is the proposed to be um done in the um change order.

All the same in the same Yes. It'd be all the same. Yeah. It'd be all the same.

Okay.

And it'd be like an $83,000 change order.

Uh so I I uh a motion to approve before you say that.

Go ahead.

Motion to approve change one to be issued to Marine Inc. Why is it red?

For a price not to exceed 8,112 and to extend the contract completion date to November 30th, 2025 to complete the denso code of the remaining section of bulkhead at city pier and to authorize the chair to sign the order.

Second.

Second.

I get a second.

Second. Yes.

Ron, yes.

Yes.

Joan, yes.

Okay. Thank you. I should just mention that the um reason I asked for the November 30th extension is just because hurricane season is upon us and choppy water makes it really hard to paint and and do all of those things in choppy water. So, um he just said if we can just extend it to the end of November just because he'll have to play that chop and everything. So, that was the

only thing I figured I'd throw in.

Uh okay. We need to uh renew Tim Dilva's yearly landscape agreement.

Yes. So he had an initial contract um to do the landscape and this is his final year that it was um renewable up to three years and this would be the last year of that initial agreement and he's holding his price which is 237 and um we'll have to um re rebid it next summer but you know the whole landscaping thing could be a little different you know with Northfield Point and everything

anyway so it would it's a perfect time to um have him end and then rebid it next year. So So what's the time period, Karen? Is it September?

It's September 1st to August 31st. 30 days. Yeah. 31st. Yeah.

So next year we'll do the prices on the new North Point and this the other Yeah. It would be all the pretty much the property. Yeah.

Okay.

Motion to approve a one-year renewal of the landscape maintenance agreement to the Silver Landscaping and Construction amount of 23,700 and to authorize the chair to sign a renewal.

Second chair. Yes.

Vonen. Yes.

Fleber. Yes.

Joe Maderas. Yes. Ian Kee. Yes.

Thank you. Uh, next item is um potential modifications to the chapter one, sorry, chapter 91 licenses for the dock reconfiguration and events.

Karen, you going to talk about that or I'm going to talk about that.

Okay. Um so I don't know if you can remember but um a couple months back we had got when we had put in for the initial chap um initial um uh permit requests for um the improvements at Northfield Point, we were putting them in as minor mods and then a maintenance on the um on the um revetment. Um and then we were also putting in a minor mod on the uh dinghy

dock for the um the new mooring field that were being put in. And as part of them approving that minor mod for um the dinghy dock, the state um would you say highly suggested? Highly suggested. Yes. that um encouraged encouraged that we actually submit um a new permit um getting all our lineal footage of dock space back around the entire um perimeter of city pier.

Basically what they did in the minor mod is we took the 60 ft of new dinghy dock space from another section of the um approved dock. And so they said, "Why don't you just we'll give you the minor mod for the 60 feet." But in essence, why don't you just put in a new application and get that back and you'll have dock space all around city pier around city pier. So in order to do

that, um we'd need beta to um send in another um another permit request for that to chapter 91. And then it has come up on the events for city pier. Our current existing chapter 91 permit only allows for public event public free events on city pier. Walkways have to stay open. We do not have authority for private events. There is starting to be a lot of requests coming in for private

events on that site. Whether we will be able to actually get that or not is unknown because it's all filled tide land and the state has some pretty strict restrictions on that. But Laura from Beta has is trying to set up a meeting with Mass D for the week of September 8th so that we can have a discussion with them about permitting of um private events out on city pier. And um hopefully they'll be amendable. I'm

not really I'm not really sure and Laura's not totally sure how they're going to react to that. So that's why we're going to have this call and then if they think that it's a fairly, you know, good shot, then we will um ask for a modification to our existing license and then that will allow us to have private events out at city pier. And in the meantime, we will need to, you know, develop some type of

an application as you'd say to actually have any type of private events. And it appears that um DW White is going to be substantially complete with the work on Route 79 this fall, which means next year that whole waterfront area is going to be a lot more accessible. There'll be parking on Deval Street and um I think there may be more demand for things down there. So, um that to in order to do

both of those um those permitting events, um it's like $9,500 to beta. Um, and I was just wondering if we could get approval to give them a not to exceed agreement for that work.

Okay. Motion approve agreement with Betty Group in the amount of not to exceed 9500 for the work associated with chapter 91 modifications to our licenses for event and dock reconfiguration and to authorize the chair to sign the agreement.

Second, yes.

Ron Rousen, yes.

Garrett yes.

uh invasive species management bid results and update.

Yes. So um uh after our last meeting we had the um bid opening for the invasive plant management out at Northfield Point and um the uh we had previously approved uh that as long as it came in under $60,000 we could issue the contract and Johnny could sign it. So, we um did get a bid from a legitimate invasive species management company called Graford Land Management for 45754

and 3 cents. Um and uh we did issue that contract and they have submitted their um vegetation management plan. We met out on site and we had a uh pre-construction meeting. So, we're just um tweaking some of the comments on that uh their initial submitt and they're hopefully going to get out there very soon. We don't have an actual start date, but they anticipate that it's only going to be like two weeks of work once

they start.

So, that's the bid results. Um, so we did, um, we had agreed at previous meetings that we would put the Revetman out for bid and we had a a target budget of $500,000 and based on that, we were going to see where the bids came in and determine whether we were going to proceed with the work and award the contract. We had the bid opening and you guys um had the um bid results in your

um uh bid package and Dilva was the low bidder at um $447,000.

Um and everything looks legitimate. Bill can talk about they've checked their references and he's he's actually looked at stone and he's actually talked to um Tim. So you can probably let them know what you found in recommendations.

Uh yeah, so um doing our due diligence on the bid. Uh we did talk to uh Tim Dilva's references. Uh they were all excellent. Um very high praise for for his diligence in doing the work, his attention to detail. Um he does have a pretty substantial stockpile of existing stone um that can be used for the revetment work. uh available um up by the DPW or landfill the transfer city transfer station.

Um so uh we've looked at that. Our our geotech engineer from GEI consulting is going to look at that as well, but we're confident that that rock can be used for the reventment work. Uh I did have a conversation with Tim yesterday uh just to walk through the work to make sure he understands uh the scope. Um it was a good conversation. Uh he's he's already got a a good plan of how he's going to

attack the work. Uh how he's going to bring the material in. Um he has the equipment to do the work. Uh he's going to be out there himself. He said probably 95% of the time overseeing the work. Uh he plans to have have two excavators, two large machines on site with operators to to move the stone into place. So, um, after checking his references and talking to him, we're we're confident

that that he can do the work. And, um, I think we're prepared to recommend to the board that if they choose to award the contract that they can award it to to Silva and he was the local He was the local. Yes.

And this is the same company that does the landscaping at City Pier, right? So, that we're familiar with.

Oh, yes. Yeah.

When will he be done?

It's a 90-day project. Um he can't start though until the invasives are done and the Army Corps permit um is in hand. But we've already got um comments back from them and we're hoping maybe September we should get that.

Yes.

Yeah. So we're hoping that so once he starts it'll be 90 days. Um and Bas said he'll be done by 9:30 2025.

Yeah. If you um done by that then we'd be done hopefully by the end of uh December.

I'm hoping to be done by before that, but we shall see. I don't think so.

We'll see how it all goes, but he's he thinks that he can get get it done a little bit sooner than that, but we'll see. Um, I will also explain this is probably a good um interlude. I put this on everyone's seat. It's just a little kind of chart of, you know, the whole big Northfield point and how we've kind of broken everything out. So the first two phases, the first two design and

engineering and the invasive plant management, that's all being done by the FY24 SE port economic council grant and that'll all pretty much be wrapped up by September 30th. Um the next phase that we want to enter is this st the stone revetment and embankment stabilization.

This work is is the 447 for Tim to do the revetment and we would also need to add Beta's um uh construction admin and and man um site uh engineer for that. Um we don't have a formal proposal to review tonight. We've kind of figured the costs could go up potentially to 100k for that just because they're going to have to be on site for as long as Tim's on site just in case something

comes up and decisions need to be made.

Um but depending on how the work's going and where we are, you know, if if the resident engineer isn't needed, the resident engineer won't be needed. So, but in a worst case scenario, you'd want to figure the full extent of the 90 days of the job and um that he'd be needed pretty much daily to help make field decisions because some of the there is some debris that has to be scraped away

and removed. There can be stones that are going to be um uh discovered. Then the decisions can be made. Do they qualify to go into the revetment? Do they not? um do we have a good um solid, you know, toe for putting in the revetment stone and that type of thing.

And those are all things that, you know, if the resident's not on site and you have to wait for decisions like that, that just extends the time frame of a job and you don't really want to run into that kind of situation. So, I think we should plan for the fact that um we'll have a full-time resident for the duration of the project and um and you know, I'm going to I'm hoping to bring

to the next board meeting in September a final proposal for that.

Okay.

So, for this meeting, we'll only do the uh contract by Tim Dilva.

Yes.

Okay. But understand that that component is still um needs to be added into the total cost and these this money that we spend on this and Sarah will go into this in much more detail. Well, not much more but more detail when we talk about the seapport grant that has now miraculously opened and we're applying for.

Okay.

Okay.

That was a nice question I was going to ask how we paying for this.

So this this would come out of our um this would come out of FRA funds. Um the other thing that we need um Representative Fiola did um secure a $125,000 airmark for us for this project that we could use towards this but it has not been funded yet and um so we would have to you know we can't say we have it till it's funded so it's pending.

Okay, other questions. Motion to approve proceeding with the revet network at the and award the contract associated with the IFB number 26-04 to the silver landscaping construction for the amount of 447,000 and to authorize the chair to sign the agreement.

Second John Ericson. Yes.

Ron Rousen. Yes. Yes.

Wait a minute. I have a question.

Yes.

Do we need to include money for beta on this? Well, we're not going next month.

We will. We have to understand that it's probably going to be could be upwards of $100,000. Um Okay. Yes.

Okay.

So, we're just doing Tim next contract now.

Um did you all right and Ken? Yes.

Okay. Great. Uh next, uh Bill and Eric are going to uh discuss the uh scope of the final phase of work at Northfield Point.

sort of presentation.

How do you want to give an introduction or QU?

You want to drum just so this is so picture this as being all the invasives are done, the revetman's done and then this is the final site work and landscaping and this is what you would see once the fence is down and everybody's enjoying life out on Northfield Point.

Yeah, I don't see this most.

Um, so this is Have you seen this? I'm sorry.

I haven't.

You haven't? Okay. So, I'll give a little bit of overview. So, the the Norton Pierce here. This is the the spit. We call this the spit. And this is kind of the triangle, the piece to the north. Um, Eric, just point Gloria is is right at the the top of the the page. here.

So, this adds another about a thousand a little over a thousand feet of shoreline to the the land that the redevelopment authorities improving. So, city pier was about 1,800 ft all the way around. This is another thousand. So, this you had about a mile of shoreline that you've invested in and improved. And so, the revetment when that's done um the concept here is to um rework the spit

and the triangle in a naturalized landscape. So, it's going to be it's going to be different than City Pier into its aesthetic and its appearance.

It's actually one of the things that we've heard, you've probably heard it too, is people think City Pier's great, you know, the Norton Pier's great. It looks nice, but it's very a steer and kind of open. Can't plant trees because of the contamination and and so on. So, it's really great for events. What this does, it gives you a different type of landscape, a landscape that's better for

pollinator species, for migratory birds.

It gives you a more intimate landscape, and I'll talk about that a little bit more. So it's it's a complement to everything that you've done so far. And so once this edge is stabilized, the idea is to formalize the pathway out to the um to the point and to create some seating out here. We've picked out some granite blocks from the stock pile at I said Dery School. Is that where the Yeah. the granite is?

It's all it's all natural um hand cut granite from quaries here in Fall River.

Yeah. So again, it's it's a different look than the the pier that everyone's used to. So, more naturalistic kind of landscape with native grasses, granite blocks for seating along the way out.

Um, some supplemental landscaping for maybe some shade trees along the way.

Um, and then this pathway loops around and comes out to the point here. And again, some seating tucked along this edge uh with some seating in this area.

And the idea is that maybe we create right now there's a fence along this edge. I'm going to open that fence up, take that fence out. It creates I'm gonna call this like an outdoor classroom, but like a little space where people can gather. School groups could come. There's pieces of salt marsh down here. There'd be native landscape, native plant material. Um, and the ability to sort of interact and have

this little classroom space, outdoor classroom um adjacent to the pier. So, there's this little loop that brings you brings you through there. Um, some of the other elements that we have in the project, we thought about an osprey pole um somewhere out on the spit would be interesting. Maybe the redevelopment would have a camera on the on the osprey nest. We've seen things like that happen.

Name the Osprey baby.

Um, ideas about uh some solar powered ballard lights to provide some illumination of the pathways. It wouldn't be the tall fixtures like you have on the pier, but something that's a little more lowle and a little more subtle. Um, some of these images you may or may not have seen before. This is a what is this one? This is just a perspective view sort of looking out on the peninsula. So, in a walkway cement,

um, we're proposing to use what's called stabilized aggregate. It's like a stone dust material, but it has a binder in it. We've been using this a lot for um, DCR, some of the state parks that we've been working on. Um, so it's a more natural look. It's like gravel uh appearance or stone dust appearance, but it's ADA accessible. So, uh people with mobility challenges, wheelchairs should

be able to go across it. Um even though it's more natural appearance. So, that's a view looking out. There's kind of a before where it is today and then a concept for after with the pieces of granite along the way out.

And how long will that last that dust?

Is it like a 10 year lifespan? You have the That's a That's a good question. I don't I don't know that it has a lifespan per se. It depends on storm events, you know, if it's overw washed by a storm, you know, that would change it because of the polymers. So, what we'll talk about this, we were talking about the sample that I brought in the other day, but the the polymers are like

um organic and they bind the stone dust together. So, in the winter, it might you might see some little fishering or micro crazing, but in the spring it all just kind of comes back together and you can rake it and sort of reheal itself.

You can wet it. If you had to cut a trench through it, you just take it up and then put it back down and reuse the material. So, as long as it doesn't get contaminated with other material, it should have a good life. And DCR, we've been doing a lot of projects with them.

They've been having good success on. And your application's great. When it's really steep, sometimes it's hard to use that material, but here it's relatively flat. And so, um, that's what we're thinking anyway for the the pathway treatments.

And then this was maybe just a this is kind of an illustrative view but this idea about some of the pollinator species some of the plants that might be you know I think primarily would be grasses but then we'd have accent areas or drifts of different um species of of flowering perennials that would be good for migratory birds and would be good for pollinator species as well. So very

different appearance, very different look, um very different set of amenities I think than what you have at the pier.

I think it starts to activate this space as well. I think a lot of what you have is like leftover highway land. You know, it was always edge of the highway and now you're sort of waking people up to the idea that this is this is all part of an active waterfront. I think with the redevelopment and so on, um this is going to attract a lot of people just because it's different. It's a different

type of seating, different type of views. um than some areas other areas along the pier and I think it's a nice complement to what you've done there.

And this is the one you think you have done in 90 days.

The revetment piece. So this kind of brownstone is the piece that was a 90day. So this would be a follow-up contract in the in the spring. What if we think this around the edges?

Yeah. You can see the idea is they get the rock cuz the equip the equipment is really going to pretty much tear this up, you know, to bring in this volume of rock and reset the rock. And this is either sort of a restoration of what's there or it's an enhancement. And the way we're seeing it is is when it goes back together, it kind of looks sort of like it looks

today, but it's enhanced to be this more of a public um amenity.

What would you say the angle is of the rocks going down?

That that varies generally about a 2 to1 slope.

2 to1.

Yeah.

Okay.

How wide are those pathways?

Yeah, we it's a good question. 6 to 7 ft. You know, we have them right now at at at six. There's some areas where we may see how it kind of bows out a little where the seating is. We may belly the path out a little bit to make it a little wider. Um you could drive with the clearances, you know, you could drive if you had to like a a small gator

or a lawn tractor out there. It's not really sized for um like big vehicles. A fire truck normally wouldn't go out on that type of system.

If you had people running in opposite directions, they could cross path without having to damage that that on the side. That's a good that's a good point.

I think in that six seven foot range, you know, you have a single single person passing. Yeah. One of the things we wanted to be, you know, balanced and how much green we have around it. So, not get too too wide, you know, like the the pier has wider paths. Um, but that's a good comment and we can look a little more closely that may head just a little more towards the seven foot side to make

sure you know there's there's good passing clearances on your way out there.

I think we I think we do have to be concerned about the width in regard to the coastal bank uh um lines that run along this property which was something that when we got the concom permit that they were very cognizant about. So we do have to take that into consideration for width.

Yeah. Balancing the green.

Yeah.

The the the edge of the path can extend beyond the coastal bank line.

So that's part of how the the alignment was set as well. The other thing I've talked with Eric about is the rendering you have there shows kind of high grasses and um he's looking at having lower grasses right along the um pathway for two reasons. one that way if people get up against the grass, ticks aren't a concern. And the other is if people need to go off the pathway, you've got just a

not too high grass to be walking on.

So you do like a six foot thing and maybe a foot on each side of a lower grass so you could move over a little bit. Yeah, we we talked about sort of just having u still a naturalized egg but just a lower brass selection and it it wouldn't be straight and make wavy be you know variable width just to kind of blend in.

That's another contract. We're only talking about the revetment around it tonight.

I think what you just processed was for for the revetment but I guess this sets the stage for you know what happens next because the revetment like I said the equipment and the size of the rock will really tear all of this up. And so the project that you have about to underway really is the invasive plant management.

So be taking out the the non-native plants, the invasive plants which is already starting to improve the habitat.

Revetment will disturb a lot of this when that's done. But then this park would put that you know take advantage of the pieces that we're keeping like we're keeping some pieces in some of these areas. We're keeping material down here would take advantage of the stuff that we're leaving behind and then enhance it with the improvements. So, Eric, that diagonal existing concrete path there that that has some of those

existing um Washington lights, doesn't it?

It does.

So, are we going to tap into those or are we talking all solar on the balls?

Yeah, that was a good question. So, I think there was a miscommunication at one point in time. We had a couple of lights out here and someone said, "Oh, there's the Washington light. We'll just repeat that." But, you know, I know that the fixture that we advised you to use and the one that you have at the pier is a much nicer fixture. It's dark sky friendly. Um, after talking last week

with Sarah and Karen, sort of came to the conclusion that maybe we just keep everything low and just use the solar I say low, the solar powering.

Right. Right. So, that's the advantage there. And I think on this site, it's a pretty sensitive site and the realities of flooding and overwatch are out there and like the less infrastructure you have in the ground probably the better, you know, and so it just saves all the conduit and and wiring and everything else if we can um look at a solar powered option. And and just to kind of

characterize these, we should have brought one if people are interested in the ballards, we can bring and share some catalog cuts, but they're they're like waist high. They're not They're not like you might see. Yeah.

Well, there's some details on the drawings. Yeah. The full set, but we were talking like waist high, you know.

Yeah.

Yeah. They're they're they're high enough to throw the foundation in the ground.

The idea is to kind of illuminate the path enough for for people to walk, but not illuminate the entire site.

What about safety around the perimeter?

Are we looking fencing like cameras? We're going to put cameras out there. I mean from people you know to people who are out there from a safety like we have fencing all around city pier is there anything contemplated this city pier is so much higher we really needed to there but this is a gradual slope of rock that you know people could walk on. Hopefully that doesn't happen much but um it's not you know it's not

considered a dangerous edge. It' be like walking along Point Gloria right now.

Their revetments right there and there's not no fence or anything along there.

It's It's not a not going to be a vertical drop off where you can kind of fall off of it. It's going to be more of a a slope and and the rocks won't have a a smooth face. It'll be kind of a a jagged face so that if somebody chose to, which like Sar says, hopefully not, um you wouldn't slide down the rock. You could you could step onto it. So

would prevent fishermen from going out there fishing or you think that'd be somewhere?

Yeah, that's my that's one of the thoughts in my that's an issue for the dam.

I I thought one time we were going to make that a fishing pier.

We had thought about it but then the city's looking getting that national the pier and they're going to intentionally make that a fishing place and we never envisioned it being a pier that would allow you to get up high and fish. It would be kind of sitting on the edge growing your beautiful.

Yeah, I'm pleased to have a chance if you have because you haven't seen it is just to explain a little bit about you know the invasives and the revetment and you're hearing about these pieces of sort of what's the vision and where is it going you know and I think it adds value to the redevelopment sites because it's a it's a different type of landscape. It's a more intimate landscape. If you wanted to have, like

we said, an outdoor classroom, if you wanted to have a smaller function there, talked about if you wanted to do a public art or sculpture exhibit, you know, you you could do something along this path where you could have some sculptural pieces that come up or sculpture pieces that come here. You could you could host something like that. What's interesting about the way this path is is you can it's a little

bit different than the pier where you can almost see this site being managed differently. should you decide to do something more active there. It's very easy to sort of control this point or control the the spit going out. So for programming and you said there's a lot of interest in a pier now developing in the future you could you could more intensively manage or do things here if

you wanted to um pretty easily. This gives you a pretty flexible footprint to do that.

Did Beta work on the greenway in Boston that kind of runs alongside the north end? Oh, the Rose Kennedy green. The Rose Kennedy. Yeah.

Yeah, that's kind of what I It sounds like there's there's pieces of that. Yeah.

You know, when you walk through some of those spaces, you see like the pollinator houses, you know, and yeah, we didn't work on it. Although we're big fans of it, we walk that corridor a lot. We have a project with BCR that's actually right under the Zikum Bridge. And I walk through that area a lot, but you could see like birdhouses, pollinator um houses or bug hotels as they call them sometimes. I

mean, I think you could really do a lot here. That's a nice compliment and like foil to what the pier is. The pier does a ton of things in a certain direction and this does a complimentary thing as far as engagement, nature and and uh really more intimate spaces.

Um so sorry, go ahead. You know, I'll add to that when we originally conceived of this. I we got the Ottabon Society involved and they came out and looked at it and said, "Yes, there's a flyway of birds along the Taton River and it would be great to have this be a place where you're really welcoming the birds. You have um plants that um have seeds and berries and things that would support

the birds. And then the people from that. Oh, and the other thing about that is that at that time, Fall River had the Ottabon Society in the schools running a nature in the city program. And so the other thing they said to us was the kids in the schools want to be able to go out and actually test water or, you know, look at plants, look at birds. And they

didn't have a good easy place to go. and they would love to bring them out there.

Then they lost some grants and the people who came um are no longer there, but we reconnected with Audabon and we're hoping they're going to reactivate the nature in the city program in the city, but they are doing things in the city. So, we're waiting to hear back what they'd be willing to do with us out there. And then I've contacted the Taton River watershed and that group does all kinds of things

on the Taton River. So the thinking about this outdoor classroom is that at one point we thought maybe we'd just have it all tall grasses, but we got encouragement to make that smaller air, that area a place that would get mowed and could be a place where kids could sit and talk about the environment.

And we're thinking we might um include um instructional um boards that would tell you what birds come there, what flowers are there, and um the Seapport Economic Council grant proposal and the proposal that we um we put in to actually get the money for Beta to do all this design specifically says they want you including an educational aspect. So at that time we had talked quite a bit about that aspect

of it and I think it's a great addition to really think of it as an environment that kids can learn about birds the and animals and whatever. Um, and the other thing that kind of supports that concept is the city's been having uh bird watching adventures in the Copa Cut Woods or the Bio Reserve and um they've been unbelievably well um attended. So families can be picked up by a trolley

and taken out. And the Ottabon Society brings um binoculars and I guess they saw 20 species in the spring and people were so excited about it. So there clearly is an interest among families to be getting out into the nature areas of the city and you know exploring nature and um this summer they had kayaking on the Quicoan um pond and um that I guess was really successful. So um so the thinking is

we'll get conservation groups involved and you know have that a piece of this.

Is there like a specialized landscaping company that would need to service an area like this or is it something where the solo landscaping could kind of maintain? It seems we would need to put that out for bid.

All this work would have to go out for public bid. So um for construction for the for the maintenance has to do too.

Yeah, that's a good it's a good question. So um companies next year next year it might not have to special expertise but we might prepare like an O andM manual that gives you guidance on for construction. We do certain types of year to mow the grasses and things like that. So there may be a couple of different practices that um are unique to a more natural landscape, but a lot of people in the area would be

able to help you with that. It's it's not too much of a niche, you know, situation, but you would want we probably do a manual to kind of guide how it should be maintained.

It's a good question.

And we have was any type of due diligence regarding any type of environmental issues? Um you know, we know what we went through at city, right? Is this pristine or has do we know if there was ever anything that occurred on this property?

Yeah, that's a that's a good question. I don't know the full details. I know some of our environmental folks, well, Joe Mclofflin was involved in living.

It's all clean as far as I Yeah. Yeah, it was remediated. There was some contaminated soil found, but it was removed and remediated.

So, it's a considered a clean site now.

by also by somebody else by Joe Mccclofflin. Is that LSP? Yeah, an LSP. Yeah, but going that's going back ways.

Yeah, I was going to say, you know, it's a it's a good question. I think I think it was 2012 they did that work.

I think they did it in 2012.

I don't know. When you said pristine, I don't know if this was considered.

Well, I think that the whole site, I believe, was was tested.

Um, and following the remediation, all the levels of the soils that were tested were below any levels that would indicate contamination or or concern.

Oh, concern. He said there what you know it it doesn't need an AUL is one thing he said because um there is contamination under the ground but it doesn't reach a risk of harm to humans and that's based on a 2012 report.

That's nothing has been done more recently.

No, I don't believe so.

It would change. Well, the site's been fenced off since though.

I I for the kind of investment that we're probably looking at, I think that it's just a prudent thing to do to update it just so that we know all is good.

Are you not removing any soil? No, you're just keeping everything on site.

Yeah. Was it basically keeping everything on site and moving some of it around? There's some debris that's asphalt and concrete we'd have to remove, but that's You knew what that is.

But that's basically on the surface.

That's on the surface. Yeah.

Nothing going deep.

Nothing going deep.

Well, we could not with the revetment.

That might not be.

The revetment won't go deep. You just need solid.

Well, Ron, this is a lot of money that doesn't get invested here.

We have no idea on the price of that road and everything, all the work there.

No, but that's what we're that's Sarah's going to talk about the grant that we're going to apply for for this.

Um I mean I guess what we could have Joe I was going to say we can talk to Joe and get his opinion on all of that. Joe Mlofflin come up Joan a long time ago we had a map that showed the different colors and and I remember him saying that's all clean that we don't have to remediate anything because it didn't have the you know city pier had PCBs and all kinds of things.

They did remediate like if you look at the south part well the bottom part of that um of that thing. Yeah. Just like where Eric is right. They went into they went into that part of the triangle there.

We could have Joe I would just feel better to have it updated and know that we touched it when we were doing all that. I think it's in the um the permanent solutions permanent the permanent solutions addresses it but we could have Joe um weigh in on this yeah what I would suggest Sarah is yeah exactly that we can have our LSP Joe Mclofflin who who was involved with the work

provide a summary of everything that was done and his opinion of whether there's any risk that there's additional contamination out there given the time that's passed.

So, we can certainly do that.

Yeah, I I think that's a good idea.

So, the other reason we brought this tonight is that we're applying for a Seapport Council economic council grant to have this work done. So, we wanted to be sure that you had a good sense of where we are with the design at this point. It's helpful to visualize to actually see it.

And what are we thinking this this uh would cost, right?

We have idea any I know we're going for grant of 290 281 and 93, but is this a million dollar project? Is this $100,000 project? What do you think?

No, the 281's already a different grant.

That's a the that Yeah. And I'm not sure that we were so reluctant to believe that this federal money would come through that I want to confirm that the federal money is being awarded to us and we are going to be able to do this work of putting the dinghy dock on and putting 15 warrings in.

Okay.

And um Beta also worked with GEI and had that designed. So when you come to this work, um, Bill, do you want to talk to it or do you want me to because I have your numbers here. Do you want to What do you No. What do you What do you What do you want me to say?

Well, the 800.

Well, we're not really going to I mean, the the grant's probably going to be somewhere between that and a million, right?

Right. They're asking how much this is.

And so the the actual um work is around 800,000 and then you get higher because um there will be um the work being done by beta and um the supervision on the site the so it'll be contract management and contract um the supervision on the site. So that's how you get up to close to a million and in this seapport round you can apply up to up to 3 million and but in the past it's

been a million and we think for this kind of project it's important to keep it in that range.

We say match that means we have to do half they do half or what do we mean by that?

Okay. So, so the seapport council requires a 20% match and what we had talked about and agreed on is that with the Fall River Redevelopment Authority funding the revetment, that's a significant match, okay, to this. So what we're doing in the grant proposal is saying this is a threepart project.

It's the moorings and the dinghyd dock and we've gotten that federally funded and we have matched that to get those federal funds. So that's a $375,000 match to the seapport grant we're applying for. And then the revetment is another match. And so um the revetment piece um will also be considered a match. And so we will exceed the 20% which will make us more competitive and we wouldn't be doing any other match.

will show that there's the revetment commitment, the mooring and dinghy dock, and then we're asking you for the final piece, which is this, you know, 900,000 a million for all of that work.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does.

Yeah.

And this contract won't be until the spring, right? So, we're applying We've been telling you that we thought we could apply in the spring.

And um then they said, "No, you can't apply till the fall." And we were concerned. I think Joan and I both had thought, "Oh, is that really going to come through with all the federal cuts to the states and things. So all of a sudden in, you know, a couple of weeks ago, we were told that it had opened and it was due September 10th. So, we've all been working really hard to get

everything together for a good proposal for September 10th. And um that's that's what so we'll be putting some of the plans in um the budget and um you know explaining that we've already put we're already putting in this significant investment as the match.

So we can have like a 31% if if we went up to a max a million and we did a 447.

We got like a 30 31.3% uh maxed one. So that's over the 20. So that that look well.

Mhm.

Well, but they're going to consider the federal.

So the the dinghy dock project is 375,000.

So that will be considered toward it.

And then the 447 will also, as Karen said, we're waiting to get the number for the um construction administration, construction management. So that project is more like 512,000.

Okay.

So that will be the other piece. So we would be exceeding um you know we we could be um more like 45%.

Okay.

The other thing that they're looking for is project readiness and we're going to be really ready to go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right. Motion to authorize the executive director to submit a grant application for the final stage of work at Northfield Point to the Seo Economic Council for year 26 grant program provided that the FRA investment associated with preventment work course construction and construction administration of onsite supervision along with the big one federal fund grant awarded 281,250 and FRA match of 93,750 shall

constituent to match for this grant proposal.

Second.

Second.

Joan Ericson. Yes.

Ron Ren. Yes. Yes.

Joan Mader. Yes.

King. Yes.

Thank you. Uh Sarah's going to talk about the Bo infrastructure grant program.

So, the grant is um being funded by the division of marine fisheries of the state and they basically had us apply to them and then they applied to fish federal fish and wildlife and they were waiting and waiting to see if the federal grant would be approved and it was and So, um, we're working with them now on contracts, and I want to talk with you about the contract and some of the stipulations.

Um, but they're saying that we can um get most of the work, contract work done so that they could give us a uh notice to proceed with the project.

um probably in October, which may mean that we could get the um piles driven by the end of December, which would mean that um we could then proceed well with the um the rest of the work in the spring. Um the issue with the piles was what we went through when we were putting the dock in that there's a time of year restriction for spawning of fish in the Totten River that goes from

January 15th to the end of May. And so if we can get the piles in in the fall, early winter, then um we'll be able to be ready to put the dinghy duck and the warnings in first thing in the spring.

So that's kind of the the plan. Um John and I have gone through the uh document that they require for us to sign. We're not bringing it to you tonight, but um we'll bring it at the next board meeting, but I wanted to go through it because um I want to make sure that we're all in agreement that we'll accept this award and then I can tell the seport council that we are um you know,

we've been awarded and that we're going to be getting this grant. So we're we're propos so we had a great meeting with the mayor about this yesterday and there are many things that the city has to do as part of this. And so we're deciding that we want the redevelopment authority and the city to both um be signers on this.

And the um you get my other notes here. Here they are. So that involves the some of those items that you're talking about with the city that involves that system with the u the pump out.

Yeah.

Yeah. So the harbor master does pump outs for the um the boats that come in and and this grant is for boats that are 26 feet or larger and they stay for no more than 15 days.

So, it's designed to be transient moorings and the grant is designed to encourage people to go up and down the eastern seabboard and stop and enjoy the harbors on the way. And so, the city runs a program of this nature now. And so, we were asked to go after this to expand that program.

And the um the way it works is the moorings are advertised on this program called DACA. It's kind of like um VRBO or one of those that we might go on to rent rooms or uh houses. And so people um sign up to come for certain periods of time. One of the reasons that this is needed is that Fall River has had um yacht clubs and touring groups come with

lots of boats and have a riata. And when they've done that, they've had to put three boats per moing because they had more boats than our moorings could handle. So this will allow that kind of group to come to Fall River and have adequate moorings.

And um so what the harbor master offers it are pumpouts so that um you know people can uh keep traveling and so that's a service that goes along with this Dqua program and the pumpouts are done at the Bordon Light Marina right he brings it to a sewer system that hooks up there and So down the road that may need to be looked at, but that's um how it works now. And um

the there are fees associated with signing up and and renting these moorings. And so in the past, the fees have gone into the general fund of the city. And this grant program requires that those funds go into a special account and that that be managed in such a way that they could audit it and we could report on it. There is an annual report required because this then becomes a specific program

and the city the mayor said that that was fine. We met with the mayor and Mike Dion and um there already is an ordinance and there's a state law that allows cities to get these kind of funds and have a special fund for your harbor and um to segregate funds that are raised through this kind of fee program. So that all will work fine. Um, and then the whole process will be

supervised by the Department of Marine Fisheries. And so we've been working with someone who's been really helpful helping us go after this grant. He's really excited that the federal money came through. And so he'll come maybe once or twice during the period when we're installing everything. and he may come over time, but um he does he wouldn't be coming very often. Um but one of the rules that we'll have to

continue to be aware of is that these moorings and our dinghy dock are supposed to be used primarily by this program. And so we're not supposed to allow othersized boats and other people to be using this dingy dock.

And then the last piece of this is that we need to comply with all of these rules. And um if the city if we and the city did not comply, the ultimate um the ultimate um um problem would be that this the feds and the state could expect us to pay back what was invested, but the chance of that happening is very very low. And John said that there are lots of programs like this that say

that our lawyer wouldn't let that happen, right?

We'll find a way out.

He's going to put on his skipper hat and go down here and any questions about that?

So, who's going to be responsible to manage the fees? Us or the city? So the city now manages those fees and it would be the harbor master who would manage them because the harbor master now manages this DACA system and takes fees. The difference now is that those fees just go into the general fund of the city. And here they would have to go into a special um fund that would be

dedicated to maintain and support this program which is something that we have been advocating for anyway that the city should be taking fees that come to the city through the harbor and use them to maintain the harbor master's boat moorings you know various things. So by this program requiring that, it may be a good model for the city to use for the rest of their mooring program because

they already have a serious mooring program.

And you did say that we're going to be required to provide them reporting around this.

Yeah. So once a year there's an annual report, but the city needs to maintain the fund with the fees coming in. Mhm.

So my advice was to what's a little bit unique about this is we applied for the grant install, but a lot of the obligations are on the city.

So we we're going to have the city join in the agreement with us and it sounds like the state was okay with that.

Yeah. The state's okay and the city's okay.

So the mayor agreed that they'll sign it along with us so that they have their obligation.

Okay.

Pleasant Street. Um Sarah.

Yes. So next meeting we'll be signing we'll bring in that contract.

Yeah. This is just a draft. Like this isn't even the final version.

So I don't really have um much of anything to report on Pleasant Street. We're still waiting to decide what to do with NEA. Waiting for NEA to um get back to us about this whole um special review procedure that they're designing that we might be able to use.

We did have someone from Surfhead, the planning agency for this area, come and walk the street with us and look at some of the things we might want to do with the $1.7 million that's been allocated for Pleasant Street. So, that was helpful.

Where is that? No, that's Yeah. Yeah.

The city has it.

Um, thanks. And um yeah, it's federal money.

I'm sure.

Thank you.

Thanks. Thanks. Um and then the last item was the the meeting got delayed, right?

Yeah. So where we are with NMA, I want to give out this um taste of NMA. So the group is still um planning various activities and um we're creating a steering committee because you know our fellow from TDI is no longer going to be with us at the end of October and so we need a new process and so um so our new process um is to create a steering committee and

we have Katherine Dylan from uh Bank Five willing to serve on it. Uh Alan Mayomeber um Joseph uh from Time Blossom uh someone from um Peter from People's Inc. who was involved in the TDI for a long time and we're um I believe including uh Tracy Barbosa who's the new director of Frack and we probably will invite some others to join us. Um but that steering committee will meet once a

month for about 45 minutes probably on Zoom and we're asking them to help prioritize the various ideas that have come from the larger group and then the larger group will meet um every two or three months and so we'll have a steering committee working on this and um then have the larger group. There's definitely thinking that we may as a whole uh.nma group need to hire somebody maybe 10 hours a month or

something to help just keep all of that moving forward because we've had a full-time person doing that and um the steering committee will probably need support. So that will be one of the first agenda items for the steering committee will be does anyone have a staff person that they could volunteer for this role or is everyone going to chip in some money to be able to have someone work like that probably as a

independent contractor.

So Johnny do you want to add to that?

No.

Oh you said it all. Oh, and Johnny's on the committee, too. He's on the steering committee.

Um, so if uh there's no further matters for the open session, the chair is finding an open session would have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body. The purpose of the executive session is to approve the executive session minutes from July 23rd, 2025 and discuss strategy with respect to the potential real estate transactions for property located at 45

Anaman Street, Fall River and the Deval Street Carter Fall River. I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session and we will not return to open session.

So move second.

Second.

Chen, yes.

Ron, yes.

Final, yes.

John Mcarris, yes. in Kenya.

Thanks everybody.