Planning Board - June 16, 2026

States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Per Massachusetts law, we are being recorded and sent out live. Valerie?

Uh yeah, it's being recorded and on YouTube.

Right.

Okay so the first action item is Francis Estates, file number 24-037C -SPA-LID.

Uh they want us to endorse the Homeowners Association Trust.

Is there somebody here for that?

That was our project, but I wasn't even aware. They didn't tell us to come represent for it.

We didn't put anything together for the HOA. That must have been the attorney.

Mhm.

Yeah, that's our our counsel and their attorney has worked everything out and it's all been approved. So, we just need your signature. Is that all?

Uh planning board planning board's end of the HOA document.

So, we had our attorney check it out?

Yes, of course. And they've signed off on it.

I don't like it.

You don't like that?

No, I don't like the Homeowners Association the way it's worded.

Uh Um because the applicant or owner [clears throat] Um retains complete control of the Homeowners Association until 100% of the lots are sold.

And once that threshold has been reached, uh the homeowners only appoint one trustee.

Mhm.

That doesn't make good common sense to me, both things.

Is there something else you'd rather see represented in the HOA?

I would I would like to see it how it maybe it's in a stepped way that once you reach 50% of the lots sold uh that somebody from that group can be a trustee and have some say on to what happens because otherwise the owner can say well we need to plow the thing and it's going to be $200 a piece.

And there's nobody there to say what.

Okay, we can take it back to council if you And I'd like you to take that back to our attorney and see what he thinks.

And then only one trustee just seems This is not a family trust where you might have one trustee. It's it's a homeowners association.

And I think there should be probably three trustees.

So Anyway.

We will take it back to council but your guidance on what they say.

I'm sure they want to Or maybe they can come back with some reasoning that it's fine the way it is but it just doesn't seem right to me.

And I'm not the only one. I mean You are.

It is It is strange compared to the the homeowners associations I've been I don't You know, we we were members and all of the owners were officers in the trust.

Mhm.

Yeah.

And I've been a president of a homeowners association for 38 years.

Certainly.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

So And I made made the homeowners association document that we are living under. So.

Next, 435 Old Harbor Road, file number 26-004 PAC, continued from May 19th, 2026.

Continued discussion regarding flexible frontage and shared driveway subdivision concept.

I second.

Okay. Good evening. Tom Morris with Zenas Consulting Engineers.

So, we just wanted to come in front of you one more time for this.

We did presentation plan as requested showing a little bit more clearly the stone walls existing and what's going to be preserved, the tree line, what's going to be preserved, and the edge of field vegetation that's called out in the regulation.

And then also when you you pointed out last meeting the 20% reduction rate for storm water, that does apply to this. So, we made some minor adjustments to make that work.

The biggest adjustment was adding a new basin which is essentially a swale along this section to catch the roof and the yard area from this lot that comes down this way toward culvert three, I think is what we call it in the analysis.

And it also takes this flow instead of kind of running through the abutter, it comes down to where the stone wall is and will run down by the edge of the lot line to that culvert instead of through the lot.

So, it does make for a better design in that case.

So, we We meeting all the design requirements for the drainage now.

Um so we have here existing those two fields front and back. Um the only place there is any edge of field definition um is where the field meets the tree line here in the back.

And we're proposing to keep that tree line, so that edge of field vegetation will remain.

Um so none of that will be disturbed.

And the reason there's no edge of field vegetation around the rest of the fields is because it's cleared right up to the wall all the way around. It's clean.

There's no unkempt um vegetation along that.

Okay.

And then with the tree clearing um I mean we show I think it was something like 40% retained.

Um it's in the the box right there.

But we're really we're minimizing clearing as much as we can for the number of lots that are allowed.

And the drainage that's required.

So we just wanted to make sure that you're in line with our with our thinking on that this is minimal impact.

It's minimal impact then.

Retained. So a little over half of the trees is retained.

Which means about half of the trees are cut down.

Correct.

But the alternative like to go with what you're coming up last time with the subdivision, it's more lots and it would essentially be clear cutting to get all those lots and the drainage that would be required.

So it's far less impact than the conventional layout for the lot.

Yeah, I think it also says in the bylaw that uh you should preserve uh as much as possible the views from the public way, Um I believe so, yes. Um and And so, the southernmost lot it has the large wastewater stormwater uh basin Yeah.

right on the road.

Uh and so it the map I hear doesn't have delineated figures, but um you're clear-cutting the trees all the way along the road, basically.

And you're going to have a structure that's pretty steeply goes 13 ft above the grade now.

Mhm.

All above the road. But it won't be 13 ft of fill where that berm is. I think we discussed that last time because the existing grade goes up pretty significantly.

So, as we're coming down from the top of the berm, we're chasing that existing slope, and that's why it's 13 ft.

But I believe at the berm, it's something like 6 ft of fill.

From the existing grade up to that top of the berm.

Right, but I'm talking about the sight from the from uh Yeah, and we're not going to be blocking So, you're So, as you're driving down the road, you're going to see something that's 13 ft high that is basically a very steep bank, probably with grass, as opposed to [clears throat] what was there and now trees and everything.

Right.

Um my thought of the intent of that regulation is kind of if your level or maybe your lot drops off and you're not putting a house that's blocking a view.

Um beyond like through or beyond the lot.

Um in which case we're not doing here because it's a hill right now. You're not seeing anything. It's just the trees you're looking at the trees that are right on the side of the road.

So we're yes, changing what you're looking at, but it's not impeding a view in my eyes. I don't know if you see it the same way.

Uh the the other issue um is you have Is there three places where the storm water um basins are going to discharge?

There's five different design points.

There's four culverts on the road and then going back off the lot toward Rhode Island on the conservation land in the back.

And the ridge is sort of in between the top houses?

Yeah, it's basically right here. It's just a little bit further back than the halfway point in the lot, I would say.

And um it is my understanding that there's an ancient way or an easement over the southernmost lot that goes to a property in Little Compton.

Are you aware of that?

No.

I don't believe so. There's I know there is one for a property and a budding property north of us. I've seen that on a plan.

It's in the It's It's owned by uh a gentleman named Jim Smith.

Okay. [clears throat] There is a separate lot here that is like a rear lot, but that's off of our property, too.

I'm unaware of anything on the lot through the lot. And we We had the surveyors put everything together. They did all the research.

And I have all the confidence in the world with the surveyor who did it.

Because I know that Mr. Morrow, when he bought the property from Reverend Lawrence, uh was made aware of where it was on the property. And this isn't all the property that he bought, but it's the majority of it.

Um and they were going to relocate the easement.

But I don't think it ever happened.

So, I think it may still exist.

And if it does, if it's an ancient way, um I don't know if your surveyors have found anything that looks like one, but um the the bylaw also requests that you use that uh as opposed to abandoning it.

Yeah, the only path or anything like the sort is the existing driveway, um which is actually in a newer location than the original driveway for the existing house, um which we are keeping this driveway in the exact same spot as that existing.

Um there's no other paths on this side, nothing that goes all the way through.

It's just that existing driveway that goes to the house and the outbuildings.

So, you're you're pointing to a lot that abuts the southernmost lot to the south.

Mhm.

Is that still Mr. Marrow's land?

I'm not aware, but it's not part of this project.

It's a It's a separate lot.

Yeah, it's a separate lot, but you don't identify who owns it.

Uh it should be on the site plan, which we provided you last time. I don't We didn't update it.

We just did the presentation plan for this one.

So, any other comments, questions from the board?

If I may, Mr. Chairman.

Provide this affidavit from the abutter they directed me to.

This affidavit speaking about this ancient way or easement that runs through one of the subject parcels of involved in this project. I can't speak to the veracity of the information that's included in this affidavit. However, if it is determined that that is an ancient way that runs through the property, as you had mentioned, per the flexible frontage bylaw, it should be designed One of the

One of the portions of this development should be designed around that laneway.

Um so, I think that's something we could just give some consideration and come back to the board Yeah, I can have the surveyor take a look at this.

Yeah, I can have the surveyor take a look at this.

Yeah.

Yeah, so even I don't know without going through this where this is saying is, but like I said, there's no other path that's there. So, there's really nothing to maintain.

So, perhaps there's enough information on this application where you think you can find it.

Yeah, we can once we know where this is pointing to, we can take a a second look at it. Make sure there's nothing there.

Okay.

Comments? Questions?

Okay.

So, I I think uh I I think what you're have done is okay if it conforms with the bylaw, but this issue you need to address to find out if there is an ancient way, Yeah.

and then you have to if if there is, and your surveyor and everything will confirm it, then you need to incorporate that somehow into the plan to preserve the easement at least.

Sure.

So, do you want to come back for another pre-app, or do you want to I don't think so. I think we were mostly concerned just because some of these things with the preserving stone walls, preserving trees, the maximum setback tool, it's kind of subjective um a bit. So, we wanted to make sure you were in agreement with that.

Generally, we're meeting the intent of the Well, generally, but we have no idea if you have trees that are 24 in in diameter and test height which it calls out in the bylaw.

Mhm.

Uh they should be flagged and preserved if if possible.

Um I don't see any of that here, but you're going to have to figure that out when you make your application.

Sure.

So, I think um unless you want to come back or in the interim, I think you should be back in touch with the planning office about your your thoughts on the affidavit.

Yeah, we can send an email for sure about our findings.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Next is Inheriting Lane, file number 23-010C, form 80 surety reduction.

So, they're pretty much almost there. We just got correspondence today that those items have been addressed, so we'll probably release the full surety at the next planning board meeting.

Okay.

I'll make a motion, Mr. Chair?

Um sure.

I move to approve this surety reduction for Inheritance Lane, reducing the surety by 55,550 from 65,550 while maintaining the surety balance of 10,000.

Second.

Okay discussion?

Uh In today's dollars, is $10,000 enough to get somebody to come back and do something that But you're saying they're they're done already.

Right. It is typical that we would want to hold a larger surety. I think we've discussed maybe around 45K to see through the finishing of developments, but for Inheritance Lane, it it was just like installing riprap and checking about their signing, so.

All right. All those in favor?

I I Uh next is 431 Fisher Road, file number 20-002C, also known as Stacy Lane.

Release consultant review fees.

So, Stacy Lane was accepted at this past town meeting. We just hold a couple um a little bit of CR fees, about 1,500 plus interest, so we're going to release that back to the applicant.

That doesn't require a signature or anything, but a motion would be great.

You want a motion?

Sure.

I move to release the remaining consultant review fees of $1,517 plus interest for 431 Fisher Road.

Second. All those in favor?

I I Does this have to be in blue ink?

John signed it in blue, so I think it should be okay. Yeah. I have a blue pen if you want it, though.

No, it's

Next is the 6:15 public hearing for 222 State Road file number 26-4141 SPA-LID- MH MHA dash MOD. The applicant is requesting an after-the-fact low-impact development approval for paving over 40,000 square feet of land and site plan review.

Good evening. My name is Alfonso Spoke with KBM Design Group, 102 State Road, Darien.

Uh I am a civil engineer uh for the project representing the Emerald Bus Company.

Uh so uh we uh I was retained by the applicant uh to assist them in with the site plan review and fill out the application for the project.

Uh we submitted the application package and we uh proposed storm water improvements and any improvements that could affect the water quality in the area. Uh we received uh peer review comments and staff review comments uh from our project and then we are working uh to address those. Uh so we have asked for the uh continuance of the meeting till August 11th, but in the meantime we want to be here, introduce

ourselves, present the project uh to you guys.

And uh to the board, I'm sorry. And uh uh I have with me the owners. Uh they want to uh introduce themselves and explain uh the project uh how we got the Emerald Court.

Okay.

Good evening. I'm Joey Emerald from 10 1090 State Road, Westport.

And this is my son, Eric Emerald.

Eric Emerald, 1090 State Road, Westport.

Uh we purchased this uh property in uh June of uh '23 and the intent for this property was to uh give us a more room to park our school buses that we operate here in the town, and to get a uh certified course for uh a CDL road test uh for the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the State Police.

And uh when we purchased the property, one thing that we were attracted to was the uh property uh already had plans that were approved, and already had a permit. So, uh we paid a premium for the property, and uh we went ahead and uh continued the project cuz at this time the uh owner fell into a hardship because of we're still dealing with the whole COVID uh situation, and uh for his

type of business, he was running a uh a car dealership uh from the facility, trying to run a car dealership from the facility, and uh he just lost interest, and uh ran out of funds.

So, uh we obtained a uh local contractor, and uh we started moving forward uh with the work on the property. And uh depending on the time of the year, and uh depending on the contractor's availability, um you know, it progressed something that I thought was going to take uh 6 months to a year, here we are almost 3 years later, and uh it just finally um from my impression, I thought we were done.

When uh the property uh was done, uh we received uh a letter uh stating that uh we needed to do an as-built, that we didn't have a permit uh to do the uh the work on the property, and uh I was referred to uh an engineer.

Um the engineer told me that they were going to work on it. Um so, months went by, and uh nothing got done. Um I then reached out uh to him again, and uh, he told me uh, he wasn't available, too busy, and uh, recommended another engineer. I then worked with that engineer, uh, and they were telling me they were working on it.

Uh, one day I got a letter, uh, from the building department saying that, uh, the as-built was still wasn't done, and I was subject to some fines. I then reached out to that engineer, and they referred me to Mr. Alfonso.

Uh, Mr. Alfonso uh, then got working on it right away, and uh, you know, here we are today.

Uh, the property, uh, for us is very important for it being paved, and it's the dimensions for the registry and the state police. They they approved that as a certified site.

So, anyone that goes to our driving school and is going to pay a detail, they can go there and get their, uh, road test done, uh, right there on the premises. Uh, and that probably takes about, uh, 60%, 50% of the property. And then the other half we have the school buses that we operate here in town, uh, that we park.

Well, it seems like you've been through a lot. So, Yeah, a little bit. That's not, uh, my expertise.

It is Westport, though.

Westport's great.

Everything happens in Westport, CT.

I love being in Westport, CT.

We we were hoping that, you know, the permits and everything that we did was actually doing the right thing to do, and everybody would be happy with it. And then when we think that we're done, we're finished meeting the minimum requirements for the state police and registry of motor vehicles, and meeting the needs that we have, because we outgrew the 1099 staple on this main location. We outgrew that very

fast. We ended up renting another property in town that we paying rent at.

It doesn't allow us to do what we need to do.

And we were spread all over the place in documents and equipment and here and there.

We trying to stay in our location, which is Westport, and we think we doing the right thing.

Then we were told that the permit has expired. Actually, the permit expired after we finished all what we about finishing with the project.

And we about to address that. We want to correct what needs to be corrected.

Okay, so uh planners, can you So, the applicant has requested a continuance because we've sent over the staff review and the consultant peer review that um was sent over. So, I can read out the findings. I can read out what other departments have said, but um I think the intent is to pick this up going to have a an extension of time.

Um Are you disputing any of the findings that Um we So, we are working uh We want to uh address as many as we can. We have requested a few waiver uh two waivers uh from the uh from the performance standards, section 20.26 20.20.E for the parking uh for the visual impact of the parking, and then section 20.811 on landscaping and buffer and screening. Uh we'll we'll now try to do as much as we can.

As uh the applicant uh uh mentioned that the uh the site the size of it it wasn't an arbitrary pave everything as much we can. It wasn't a requirement for them at the time knowing they had all the permits when they built this. Uh we're going to work with the peer review and the uh the staff comments on the storm water.

We are working on getting the test bit scheduled. Right now, we use record test bit data from the septic that was done in 2018.

When it was approved.

It was probably within a year. The septic was approved for the public department.

Under the previous owner before they purchased it, there were soil testing was different septic design done for the trailer that's there.

And again, we're working very close waivers for the staff that we would be looking at.

For example, for some side screening due to the fact that we are surrounded by construction yards. And for the front, we'll try we're going to work with the applicant and try to provide the town some visual screening at least on that area. So, we're definitely working but we're not disputing anything. We're just going to work through it and respond in kind and uh would our intent is to meet as much we

can without compromising the the use of the site.

Mhm.

So, what you have done to finish the site, does that is that the same work that was approved with the previous owner for his car lot?

Very similar.

Similar but not exactly the same.

Correct.

He was basically parking automobiles, [clears throat] vans, and trucks. He's parking the school buses.

Uh I'm sorry. I think from the record plan I got for the record because it was submitted, they got approval for parking for vehicle parking for sale. I think the extent of the paved area is a little bit more.

Now, it's a little bit more. Yeah.

What What percent of the lot is asphalt.

Right now uh uh I the lot is 71,000 sq. ft. I believe we have about a little bit over 45,000 sq.

ft of pavement. Is that So, we are a little bit more than 50%.

More than 50% of the area. It's I'm sorry I forgot to mention. So, this is the uh It's from this point to this point is paved. This is gravel and this is granite. This is grass area and this is wooded area.

So, uh but State Road is on the left, correct?

is over there.

Correct.

So, uh there really isn't any uh buffer from uh for people driving on State Road. All all of the uh It's asphalt until you get to the back.

Uh there's no shielding or anything on State Road.

Correct. And that was on the staff report. That's and then we're working on providing some of that in front.

It's about 2 ft from the curb.

Uh grass and then the rest is asphalt.

Do you have a Do you have a building on there?

It's a mobile office.

It's a mobile office.

Yeah.

So, it's I think it's the same as the the [clears throat] the car lot.

Same Exactly the trailer that was there.

Same thing.

And they explained that we had to have it there and that's why the septic was there. Uh it was a requirement on the approval of the permit.

Well, that's where they said they wanted to put it, so that's where it went.

And if you want to mention about the use of that.

This is not a site where people visit and use a trailer or us Is it used as an office or what's the use for that trailer?

Uh we we don't use it at all. Um pretty much people just show up there. Uh they jump in a bus and they go do their route and then when they're done with their route, they park their bus, they jump in their car and they go home. And uh if someone uh is interested in doing uh the road test uh at 222, then uh they show up there uh in their car, uh state

trooper shows up there in their cruiser, uh they drive between the lines and the cones, they go on the road briefly, and then they get a pass or fail result.

So, do you keep all your buses at this location or across the street?

Uh across the street is a different company.

It's a different company.

So, um we're not doing anything tonight except for continuing this till What did you say?

August 13th.

August 13th.

11th.

11th.

At what time?

6:15.

6:15.

So, I entertain a motion to do Can Can I just be I'll make the motion, but um you say the existing uh a fringe or buffer on state road is about 2 ft.

Uh I think uh when you're asking for waivers, um I I would urge you and and we appreciate your coming here now.

And uh uh as the chairman said, you know, what you've been through so far.

But on that layout, I don't know what kind of impact it has if you widen that.

I'm not even going to call it a buffer, 2 2 ft of grass cuz really isn't If you widen that to a point where you could actually achieve some buffering, I don't know whether that's 8 ft uh I'm not sure, but uh if you could just look at that, do you lose one parking space or two parking spaces or not not any?

But, that's that's what I you you may not need a waiver if you can figure that out.

One of the the reasons why we asphalted that was when we were there on the construction, there was a lot of people walking up and down Route 6, and um there was no sidewalk. So, we said, "Hey, well, you know, since we're asphalted the police, and you know, there's no place for people to walk, why don't we just put some asphalt right up to that 2-ft, which I figured was the

the state line property, and the front of our property will have a sidewalk for people to walk down Route 6, and then if anyone ever did anything on both sides of us, I would assume they'd want to put a sidewalk as well, because right now it's very very industrial, very um a lot of materials, you know?

Yeah.

And uh we try to clean it up and make it look nice.

Well, um I appreciate that. I don't know whether it's possible to I I think the idea of trying to find a way uh to get a sidewalk or something that serves as a sidewalk on your property uh is is a good effort, and Eric and I uh commend you.

But, I still I still think um we're looking at an awful lot of asphalt.

And um uh if if there's a way then you do that sidewalk and a buffer, and just see if there is, you know, and come back. If you can't figure out how to do it, then you'll be asking for a waiver, but if you can figure out how to do it, you won't be asking for a waiver.

Understood.

Yeah.

Um I I I would make a motion, Mr. Chair.

Yeah.

I would just mention one thing that, you know, we're looking at re- visioning the Route 6 corridor, which this is in, and trying to make more sense out of it as opposed to car lot after car lot. And so anything you can do, as John was saying, to create some green buffer, maybe some bushes, a tree, two trees, you know, but all those things would be great. And it's it's the it's the way we're headed.

Okay, now I'd entertain All right, so um I would move that we We never opened the public hearing, did we? Do we need to do that?

Do you want me to open the public hearing today?

I would move we open the public hearing on 222 State Road.

Second.

All those in favor?

I.

I.

I don't know if there's any other comments.

No, no, no. We just need to continue.

All right, so I would move that we continue the public hearing that we just opened to uh August 11th, did you say? August 11th at 6:15.

And then what are they supposed to provide between now and then?

Well, there's a whole list of staff comments, Right.

We'll work with the rest of us.

All right.

The best of our ability and our consulting engineer And if there are any waivers that you're requesting, if you can add it to the cover sheet, as well as provide the board a narrative for them to understand why you're requesting a waiver.

Um for any of the things that are not related to a waiver, if it's just kind of the routine review of the site plan standards and the zoning bylaw standards, because we're continuing out to August, we can work with you on the trying to tighten up those details. So that way things are pretty much ready to go to the board.

Um we just have a couple, you know, those waiver items to discuss with you.

So so before we do this and continue it, uh do we have to get their signature on an extension of time?

No, because you've opened the public hearing.

Okay.

Now we did that.

Okay, so all those in favor?

Aye.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Taylor.

Okay, planner's report.

Um do you actually want to skip to the old high school? We have Selectman Mundy here to talk about that, so we can Sure, unless he wants to hear the planner's report.

Well, I don't want to hold up the meeting.

And then I don't know if there's any issue with that.

I don't mind going out of order.

Yeah, we'll go out of order.

So why don't you come up and have a seat?

First off, thank you for having me.

Thank you for coming.

I'm John Boland. I've met you.

Great to meet you, John.

I'm Jim White.

Hello, nice to meet you.

It's always a pleasure, Jared.

Always a pleasure.

Um I think one of the failures of the long-term building committee in regards to the old high school Could you uh get closer to this mic? Or you could pull the microphone closer to you.

Yeah, I'm not good with the mics. I apologize.

I think one of the failures of the long-term building committee's um efforts was not adequately involving stakeholders and having discussions amongst the stakeholders.

And I feel like that led to a lot of thrash where things didn't happen and things didn't happen well.

I saw the um, planning board letter to the select board for the next select board meeting. And I figured as potential stakeholders, it'd be valuable to come and listen to your perspective.

And I'd like to give you my perspective of how I see things and what I'd like to see that uh, old high school look like.

I'd like to caveat that I'm not speaking for any of the members of the board other than myself, but just kind of how I see things.

Um, I don't know if you want to start with by I I can start with with where we have tried to participate in the Yeah.

in the thing. So, I don't know how long ago it is now, probably 9 months ago.

Um, we we voted to um, to have a meeting with the affordable housing trust and talk about um, getting their approval and our help to write an RFP for some housing in the high school.

Um, and this is after I've attended, I don't know how many of those those meetings before in the public meeting where everybody talked and there was a lot of discussion about housing.

Uh, and yet they didn't want to pursue that that path. And so, in the interim, I have met with people in the business of affordable housing and affordable housing use out of old municipal buildings.

And there are at least two of those people live here in Westport.

Yeah.

And other people who are uh planners in Boston uh have were part of that committee and and just stopped going because it was useless.

Uh and I don't want to look back. I just want to look forward.

So what I'm going to just tell you what I think.

You know, we haven't discussed it a lot here is that I think we need to make three decisions. One, we want to keep the building.

Two, we don't want to tear it down.

And three, we want to use it for whatever we're going to come up with the best efficient money-wise way to do it over time and not make a quick decision about things. I think that the COA could go in there and use it and the question is is it uh a use that's allowed in the old building.

Uh and the reading on that has gone back and forth. I don't understand.

Um and talking with with people that have dealt with this in Boston um said well, if it's a code issue you don't want people in the building if it's up to code, and then we're allowing school kids to be there after school.

We're using the gymnasium for voting.

We're doing all these things.

Are we breaking the law?

No.

So.

It's crazy. But anyway, I have a lot of ideas about what to do with the building.

I believe, and I think uh I've talked to Bob about this, that if we want part of the building to be used for housing, there are ways to do that that doesn't cost Westport money.

That you lease part of the building to one of these companies. They come in and do all the renovations.

And then they're a taxpayer, which is I think a great thing.

Community use, I think, would be great, like a YMCA type or a community center.

That could be done by a nonprofit.

It would have to be created.

But that way, you know, for instance, the rec department here is half of one person.

And most of these community centers, there's one in Northbridge, they have 100 employees. Now, granted, most of them were high school kids that do things.

And they have 5,000 paying members.

And I think that if you could figure out how to do that, I think that would be great.

But the real key to me, and talking to Bob, is to figure out do you have water?

And we should be able to figure that out fairly inexpensively.

We can test the well or wells that we do have.

Test it for how much water is available.

And that will tell you how much of of the uses you're planning can be utilized.

If you can get enough water for 40 to 50 housing units as well as the community center as well as some of the use for municipal uses, you're good to go. If you don't, then Westport has 100 acres around there.

There should be a way to find out if we have water.

And I think that we have applied recently for a grant to to the housing.

I put in a It's a grant. It's a technical assistance request from the Mass Housing Partnership to get some of their advice on how to proceed with reuse of that particular structure or we could even talk about reuse of the Council on Aging, the town annex.

I think we need to be Whatever happens with that building, whether it's, you know, becomes municipal offices, a community center, whatever, there's going to be a loss in one part of um Westport I expect with some office moving over there. And I think we need to be anticipating reuse of that structure as well.

Um and I think that's a good opportunity. It's a good opportunity to have some of those conversations. Maybe not necessarily about the high school, but any other structures that we may need to reuse.

And uh I think that we've been in touch with the housing trust and they have money in the bank that they believe could be used for this effort to scope out first what is the water situation.

So, I have spoken to the housing trust um a couple of weeks ago.

And there's a couple of pieces of information that um I think are valuable to the discussion.

So, there's 91 acres of town-owned land there.

Um 31 in the back are totally unusable wetlands. If you look at the overlays with the 100-ft and 200-ft um exclusion beyond that, it's it's not usable at all.

The 60 acres including the property and the ball fields, um one of the reports talks about how the way the septic and the wells are set up, you cannot develop that portion of the property without uh demolishing the building or incurring an expense where it doesn't make sense to to do anything other than demolish.

So, for anything that is planned around the building itself, would require, as I said, a substantial expense or demolition.

The ball fields themselves are used consistently by the um West Boylston Little League so the Little League in town use the ball fields.

And then the soccer field is used um almost every day by the high school, so they would lose that and they would have to build a field somewhere else due to a lack of uh adequate uh space, I guess.

Um additionally, the um long-term building committee did all of their plans based on an assumption that I felt was an incorrect assumption where we would spend greater than 30% of the assessed replacement value of the building on renovations, which worked out to $5.1 million in 2023. It's about $5.3 million today.

If you stay below that number, there is no requirement for a updates whatsoever in the building.

Um, I pushed to test that with the Council on Aging going through our um uh um whatever we use for the um code analysis, and they came back with a report last week that said we can move the Council on Aging to the cafeteria spaces for zero cost, and I would assume that it'd be similar for the gym downstairs and the auditorium.

And then we'd be looking at near zero cost to go to a building to a business use over education use in the classrooms.

Um, and the concern I have is if we find another entity to start doing um constructive reuse in there, we're going to very quickly hit the 5.1 million, which is going to or 5.3 million, which is then going to trigger the $20 million in quota credits that the Long-Term Building Committee had talked about, and I don't expect that passing the debt exclusion.

Um, my thoughts, and I've talked to multiple stakeholders, and part of the reason I'm here is to make sure that every stakeholder has uh a voice, cuz I think if we can get the municipal uses out of this building, the municipal uses out of the town hall, as well as move the Council on Aging, then it opens up this property, the town hall, and the Council on Aging for um some sort of reuse, whether that's a

housing component here um with adaptive reuse or maintaining the town hall's um facade and having that be a housing component.

The Council on Aging's property is only 4 acres less than the um housing that we did on 177, and it's all dry. So, that is a potential housing aspect that I think has not been looked at adequately.

Additionally, with the excess square footage in that building, if we can move town municipal services as well as recreation services on the outsides and work toward the middle, at that point we can then discuss the possibility of getting a um outside entity construct firewalls or fire barriers to make it one structure but have separate buildings within the structure and then maybe go down the avenue of a

housing component in the middle of the building.

That's just kind of how I view it and I'm trying to see if other stakeholders view it in a similar way.

Yeah, Mr. Chair.

Yep.

Um for John Bullard again. First of all, I'm really glad you you came here. Thank you very much for taking your time.

Um I think um I I love the way that you're thinking not about one building, but you're thinking about the old high school and this building and town hall and the Council on Aging because we really have one problem or one opportunity, not four.

Mhm.

And I think if the Select Board says, "What do we want to achieve with all these buildings at the same time?"

then we're more likely to get a doable answer.

I think uh there were two reasons that um for why I agree with Jim that housing should be looked at.

Uh one is uh it's an obvious need.

But the second one is that people in apartments or condos or whatever it is, pay money, which services debt.

All public uses, they're wonderful, but they don't provide income.

And so, you know, saying we're going to do 64 million or 44 million or whatever it is is just never going anywhere.

No.

Uh and so I I think uh the idea and you know, my background I did about 60 renovations of old buildings in New Bedford a long time ago.

Um is that uh figuring out what the use is and what the town wants is step one.

And um and what uses uh pay.

Uh makes sense, you know, because it does have to pay and you're not going to ask town meeting for 60 million bucks.

But I I think the other thing that Jim mentioned is that if the select board says, "This is what we want out of these four buildings."

Is there a developer who can give us what we want?

Um even if because when you talk about moving, even if it's staged over time, you have to do one thing with the high school before you do something here, but you have the potential for an income stream if you look at all four buildings and if you look at housing.

And that income stream might be able to help support the the town uses that are that could be improved um and by being located in one place. So, and and if we got a developer doing that, um uh thinking it's not going to cost the taxpayers of Westport as much in either money or uh work. Um but it's starts with the select board saying this is what we want to see as an

outcome, not for one building. But that's why I'm so glad that you're here saying, "No, we got to think about all four of these."

We're moving checkers around the table.

You know, how does it work and what does it look like at the end?

Yeah, I think everybody deserves a piece of the pie. What scares me is that, like I said, you have all stakeholders that necessarily aren't playing the same sheet of music.

Mhm.

I kind of want everybody to get on that same sheet of music and then understand, like, hey, you might get your slice of the pie later, but there's enough of it to go around.

Yeah.

And I would hope that, um, any search you all do focuses on all the town-held properties because it may be a better solution in another town property than in the old high school.

Well, I think if you want us to help Oh, absolutely.

what the chairman's saying is, "Yeah, we want to we want to do that."

Absolutely.

Yeah.

You know, in in the work that's been done today the the piece that was nobody wants is the majority of the building.

So, all the classroom space and everything the no nobody wants that.

And so and in the the last scheme, they were going to tear that piece down, leave the auditorium, leave the gym, leave the counseling and aging pieces. And I And I think that's, you know a $54 million price range or something.

That's nonsensical because all the, um, utility stuff is on the right side of the building.

Yeah, but they can duplicate that.

You can just put it in cold storage at that point. It's substantial use.

no logic.

Yeah, there was no there was you know who rightfully I think people said that that doesn't make any sense.

Um So the thinking is if you look around I I can think of a half a dozen a couple of towns.

I've lived in Braintree and Milton and Newton and each of those communities redid a junior high school or a high school and and put housing in the classrooms.

So it's a it's something that has worked and the developer did it. The town didn't do it.

Um And it's it's the only way to keep the building [snorts] for the municipal uses that we want.

And um and bring someone outside money to make an investment.

So that that was my thinking in the about we have this resource that could work for housing.

Nobody else wants to use it.

Let's see if we can integrate that into the public uses.

Now in the ideal world would be to enter into a lease with a developer to um you know for over a 20-year period manage the entire property.

And not not run Council of Aging programs, not run after school programs.

But but just provide the space as as a landlord. So, the town would keep ownership.

Enter into this agreement. Or or the idea is seek an RFP to say here's what we want.

Is is anybody interested?

I know it's difficult as one of the piece of paperwork from our long-term building committee discuss that it was about $12 more per square foot to adaptively reuse that building compared to comparable buildings in neighboring municipalities because the square footage is a liability based on how big the building is. So, like my my key points, I guess, is I just I'm afraid to bust the $5.3 million because

I feel like the town is going to be on the hook for those upgrades for their portions of the building.

And I just want to ask the board to look elsewhere for other town properties as well when they do the RFP.

If if we if we if we bundled all the properties that are in the play this building, the town hall, the old high school, and the Council on Aging.

Um what what do you what are you thinking?

What does the RFP look like? We we I'm not sure. Like I said We could we could go to rent all these buildings.

I I just saw the letter going to the select board and I wanted to make sure that I came here and fully understood and that um you know, people are talking. That's the big thing. I think communication is important.

Uh we don't we don't know what the the right answer is, but it it clearly can't be spending tens of millions of dollars in the town.

And and the idea is is if if if if we can't find an answer, then the answer is tear it down. I mean, it has the property is zoned 60,000 sq. ft.

It's only a school because they're they're exempt from zoning.

If if it if you tear it down and sell it as I mean, you don't want to give up the playing fields. You don't want to give up the Little League ball fields. You don't You don't want to lose those things.

And and and the wetlands may or may not be For instance, if we if we did a new well, having tributary area to the new well being wetlands may or may not What We don't know any of that works, but but that's the kind of thinking that we we need to to be able to look at.

That's fair.

And and uh And and I and I think it it The idea is we need to We need to bring out- outside money, investment money into these things. Whether it's a reuse of this building or the sell the Council of Aging property, whatever it is.

Some somehow that revenue has to happen.

But the idea that the Council of Aging function and the functions of this building and possibly the function of the high school gets moved there.

You have to make that space usable. You have to lay that money out before you get to sell this place.

Absolutely.

So it's it's really complicated when you start to look at well, how how can you do that without laying out millions?

Nobody's found the answer to that yet.

Yeah, like I said, the big piece that I said the long-term building committee didn't focus on was that if you keep the renovation costs below 30% appraised replacement value, then it's going to be cheap.

So, I All right, you said it. Good.

So, I want I want to thank you for coming and and you know, we're just four people here.

But, we think about these things. So, what I would uh if you if you go [clears throat] back, uh everybody said you can't do housing there because there's no water or there's no place for the septic.

It may be the case for the little piece that where the high school is, but there's as you said, there's 90 3 acres around or 97.

And I'm not suggesting that we build anything on those acres.

I'm just suggesting that it could be a source of water.

And I don't think wetlands is a is a is preclusive to to that.

Um and secondly, like that decision everybody thought that that's a given.

And so, nobody would even consider using part of the building for for housing.

And then they said, well, knock the building down and sell it for house lots.

There's not that much land there to to do it on.

And so, you're going to spend $5,000,000 to knock it down.

Maybe have $1,000,000 worth of land. I mean, that doesn't make It's not economic. That's what they said in the studies.

It's not economic.

It doesn't make economic sense.

And so, I would like to suggest that the one of the ways is to go to the people who know how to do this and not make presumptions.

Like you're talking I think you're team thinking that up about the $5,000,000.

Uh half which which is half of the value of the assessed value of the building.

These people that are going to get a RFP know about all this stuff.

And if we say this is what we want, we want you to do it.

We're not putting the money out to do it. They're doing it. And then then they get the property to rent out to uh for housing.

And we get to tax it. So, I mean the there has to be a way that those people who do this for a living know more than we do about how to do this and they won't respond to the RFP unless it makes sense.

So, what we're asking is permission from the select board to work on doing an RFP on a building that we don't control that that you do.

So, I think to me number one we can do fairly inexpensively find out how much water we have.

I mean I don't remember seeing that in any of the Yeah, I would agree with that and that's a fair thing that especially if we can get the housing trust to pay for it. I think that's a fair as you think.

And two you know, today with compact sewage treatment plants, I think there should be room somewhere over there to handle 40 or 50 housing units plus the municipal uses without a problem. It may be expensive to put in.

I don't know.

But it's probably cheaper than individual septic systems.

And so, you know, we have a pretty good team over here that gets things gets grants and everything else.

They know how to write stuff. They know how to research how to get those things done.

Um and we need to utilize them to do this.

They are a very good team. That's a pretty good team.

Do you do you all know any idea about what timelines would look like for that as far as getting the data back?

Getting the data back from Like submitting the request through the housing trust to get the the money to find that information and then providing the RFP.

So, I've never written a housing RFP before. So, that's that's why I engaged the help of Mass Housing Partnership and their timeline is 2 weeks from the request they anticipate getting back to folks.

Jim and Bob are going to the Affordable Housing Trust tomorrow night to discuss potential Tomorrow night. Tomorrow's Wednesday.

Thursday Thursday?

Is it Thursday Tomorrow Okay, tomorrow at 4:00.

At 4:00 at Town Hall.

Um to discuss potential to use some Affordable Housing Trust funds to start doing some of the initial pre-site work investigation for the water.

And potentially for the sewer capacity.

I'm sure you know, the Affordable Housing Trust can spend the money without appropriation without going to the select board. They can spend what they want to.

Jim, can I can I back to you?

Sure.

When I made uh and and Mr. Seligman, you made it part of your presentation that, you know, it's four buildings.

Uh I have haven't done an in-depth analysis, so I'm just going on experience that if these four properties are put into one RFP, we may find that the developer looks at this building and town hall and the Council on Aging as a lot more attractive venues than the high school.

So, I think it's important to put all of those in one package because if you just put the high school in a package, you're just asking them to solve the most difficult problem.

100% what I was advocating.

Yeah.

I agree with that statement.

But if you say, "No, we want all four," then they're going to look at these other three properties and say, "Oh, wow, that's going to I I now know what the town wants, you know, in terms of public uses.

But I've got a lot more uh ability to provide that if I'm looking at all four."

Now, I agree with that statement.

Yeah.

[snorts] And so, we could we could work uh to try and do such an RFP and certainly work with the select board in terms of what do we want to you know, what does this look like when what does victory look like?

You know.

Yeah, like I said, I'm not speaking for the other four members. I just thought it would be wonderful to pick your old brains. I really appreciate the time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Are any of you all going to be at the meeting on Monday or Select board's meeting?

Yeah.

Is there anything on the agenda that we should be there for or is it going to be I think just the weather Yes.

You'll be on.

You'll be there.

I'm on the agenda. I guess I'll be there then.

You and Bob and I'll be there for some other stuff.

I'm up for a CPC appointment so I probably will be there as well for that portion of it. So I think a bunch of us will be there.

Thank you all for your time again.

Thank you for coming in. We really appreciate it.

Okay, next up is the planner support.

Yeah.

Okay.

So the first thing I wanted to talk to you all about is the aquatic organism passage grant and I don't have any things [clears throat] to bring up for this one.

Um if you remember this this was a federal grant that myself and the Buzzards Bay Coalition collaborated on.

Um it was 3 years ago now and we never heard anything back. There was a lot of disruption in the federal government and um things kind of just fell to the wayside. But the Federal Highway Administration has just re-released this grant program and they're releasing all of the funds that were previously committed through the last 3 years.

So there's $800 million available um I mean nationally for this grant program.

Um but it is quite a bit and they and they were supposedly significantly underbid when this was initially released in 2023.

So when I myself and Buzzards Bay Coalition we met with one of the program representatives and their one of their concerns is that this is going to be significantly under bid again.

Um, and so we have a number of different culvert projects that are in various planning stages that we would like to submit applications for.

Um, and all of these Well, these four culverts I'm going to talk about, they're all undersized failing culverts.

They're all um, habitat areas for anadromous fish, which are fish that live mostly in salt water, but then they migrate to spawning grounds in freshwater areas.

Um, and so these There are four different culverts we're going to apply for.

There are three that we applied for in 2023, so those are Cornell Road at Angeline Brook.

Um, and then on Drift Road, Snell Creek and Lyons Brook.

All of the And then the other one is um, Drift Road at Kirby Brook. All of these culverts facilitate Well, they don't really facilitate because they're the culverts themselves are a barrier, but uh, without the culverts there, they would facilitate movement of sea run brook trout up those streams to colder water areas where they um, they need to um, to get to their spawning grounds and

they require deeper cold water to survive high temperatures.

They're listed species, which is good for the the purposes of the Federal Highway Administration. Um, uh, for the for the grant competition.

The Snell and Lyons Brook culverts, those will be actual culvert replacements. They won't be bridge structures.

Cornell Road will be a small bridge structure and Kirby Brook, as you all know, um, on Drift Road is also a bridge structure.

These are all at similar engineering phases. Kirby was left off at 25% and the other the other three locations were left off at 30% engineering.

So, all together we're looking at potentially a $5.3 million grant request to pull all of these culverts through final engineering and design and then construction.

Um And that includes construction? The 5.

That includes construction.

Wow.

Um this is based on 2023 figures, so it's Out the window.

to be higher.

Yeah.

Um as you might imagine. But that's, you know so we'll update those figures when we submit the application, but So, Michael, when you say they're under bid, what do you mean by that? They don't ask for the all the money that's there. All the applications don't total the amount of money available.

Really?

Yeah, I think in 2023 there was $200 million available and they did not for the national competition and they were not close to meeting that.

So, So, they didn't ask for more?

Free money.

Yeah.

Well, And now it's $800 million instead?

It's $800 million and they have to get all of these funds out the door because it's um was earmarked from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. And so, if this money is not dedicated this year, it's It's gone.

Yeah.

Is this through and it's Department of Transportation?

Federal Highway Administration.

Okay. Federal Highway.

Yeah.

Um so, yeah, to your point, Jim, we have a culvert on River Road that we know needs to be replaced, but we've never done any sort of formal assessments for it. Um so, we're going to pull that one into I don't know what that will take to bring to final design and construction.

I don't know that dollar amount. I have Kleinfelder Engineering working on that right now.

Good.

Um but we will bring that into the phrase well because there's $800 million available. Let's just, you know, if we have projects, let's get them Or and it has to be for migratory fish species. So you can't just do any culvert.

So this is separate and apart from the funding that the federal highway does for highways and roads.

Yes. This is And it's through the tip or any of this stuff.

Exactly. This is a special program or that will have and the aquatic organism organism passage grant will exist after this year just with substantially less resources. I've not nothing near to to enough you know, the $20 So we're trying to is you know, these four locations are are I think the the four locations that have come up in prior planning documents that have been identified as in need of

replacement. Um so we're going to prepare applications for all of these in July.

Is there some here one that goes through the old high school?

So we So do we have a survey of all town roads or any of these culvert culverts that that we've talked about in the past but ones that we haven't even looked at that we should be looking at right now to potentially given the breadth of federal funding and the ability to bypass the state and all that where we can maybe have we have a little bit more control on the design and development so we're not

dealing with uh DE, you know, DOT MassDOT and all of their nonsense that we saw for some of the stuff on Drift Road and everything.

Yes. So the the small bridge ones would still have to be designed to Mass small bridge standards.

Um however, we're going to build into our federal grant applications some of the aesthetic considerations, so that way we know up front whether or not the Fed is going to let us move forward with some of the things that came up in the Kirby Brook Bridge, for example.

Um, cuz that was really the sticking point was that not that MassDOT wouldn't Well, I guess there were some guardrail issues, but they wouldn't fund some of the design considerations for the bridge on Kirby Brook, so we want to build that in the application. Um, we do not have an inventory of all the culverts in town. Um, most towns in Massachusetts don't really have a great handle on the

condition, um, sizing of culverts in the community. There is a national inventory for it. I looked online the other day.

Unfortunately, we don't have any culverts in the national inventory, um, for culverts, which is also something that the state uses, so uh, that is something we do need to develop.

So, Mass Fish and Wildlife, they wouldn't have a directory?

There there may be some that are on their radar already because we've applied for different, you know, programs, but they don't have an a statewide inventory of all the culverts.

You There's some Some communities have been very, um, ambitious in mapping and classifying their culverts. Um, I think part of it in Westport is we just don't have the staff to go out and do the field work, so So, I don't know how far I don't know how far the fish come up these streams, but there's two culverts on Adamsville Road. They're part of the Angeline Brook system.

And I know that the Mass guy tests the brook that's closest [clears throat] to here by walking down and charging the water and the fish float up to the top. So, at least they're coming up south of that on the road. What kind of fish are those?

Huh? Do you know what kind of fish they are?

Uh sea run trout.

Yeah.

I My goal is I think this is great and there's two points I I'd make. One uh I've been involved with the Buzzards Bay Coalition for a long time and uh they they're going to bring a lot to the table. You've worked with them before so you know that.

Uh they're excellent at identifying funding sources, federal, state, private. You name it. And um and so I think I and they've paid they've invested a lot around our cold water streams.

Uh so it may be that they're quite familiar with the most important culverts that impede fish fish fish passage. Um the second thing is you mentioned that sea run trout are a listed species and that is certainly something that ought to be in the first paragraph of the application kind of thing.

Absolutely.

I but the other thing and I always forget the percentage but Westport has a very high percentage of the cold water streams in Massachusetts.

And I think that is also something to highlight.

Yeah.

Yeah, we also have um I mean river herring are not listed species but we can work in species that prey on river herring and so we have roseate tern in Westport which is a listed species so that's another thing we're going to highlight in our application.

Yeah.

In addition to the fish I did a lot of dam removal. Everything.

I did a lot of dam removals at NOAA and one of the points you always made is you might be featuring salmon native salmon in eastern Maine because it's uh very important uh species, but when you do it, it benefits all the other species. And so you identify whether it's herring or what the other species are. It's It's not just the one that you're getting a benefit to.

But But Michael Lloyd, particularly if there's a lot of money looking at the Angeline Brook, the Colonel Road Crossing.

There's There's a long [clears throat] a long uh uh down slope in both directions to where Curry Brook comes across.

And And where Angeline comes across.

And And we want to think about raising that grade and extending out since we have this down slope as opposed to fixing the culvert and then you got a little hump and you got the same low spots.

Uh I had the experience working on uh flood studies in Boston.

And there was a through an old railroad yard on the Mystic Yards where Shape Up Candy is and all of that.

Right?

Uh there was a low spot on Route 88 that flooded a huge part of the Back Bay.

Billions of dollars worth of potential damage.

And by adjusting that grade, I think there was a a 1.4 ft is something less less than 2 ft.

But but a long decline on Sullivan Avenue through Sullivan Square.

We were able to adjust the grade and end that flooding path.

I think here Cunard Road is a is an important artery.

If if we had a big storm and it would be lovely to change its to keep it open.

In addition to all the wildlife benefits of doing the culvert think about about the road as a flood protection as well.

Yeah, I mean I I suspect when this goes to DER they're going to take a a more critical view like you pointed out with needing an open bottom culvert in some of these locations.

Um and yeah, and this one wasn't wasn't designed that way. It was designed with the two culverts.

So uh yeah, I think what once we It's a little harder in some places like Right.

the Herring Brook cuz you have houses right there, but it's there's some potential, something we should keep in mind about flood flood proofing our roads.

Yeah, I I can't speak for this one. I don't know off the top of my head, but I know that the the structures will have to accommodate at least a foot of freeboard over the the base flood elevation as well, so there very well may be you know, this is a 30% engineering, so once we move towards permit, I'm sure they're going to make us incorporate um some revisions to the design.

Is there any uh thought about looking at the Adamsville Dam?

Because there's a fish ladder there. And I've heard from many people that it's the metal one is inefficient and doesn't it makes the water run too fast and the old wooden one rotted away.

Which provided good access for fish to take across the dam.

But there's a lot of interest in that.

So I don't know if that would be something that would be Cuz there's a Also there's a culvert underneath Adamsville Road.

Yeah, these applications are due July 15th, I believe. So we're kind of going for the more project ready um project ready locations that have been identified. Um and we've done a little bit of background work. I think trying to work with the private property owner on something like that and doing you know, building up the the data that justify the application and demonstrate need is going to be tough to pull

together. Um especially when we already have three locations. Um but yeah, I I hear you. There's there's a lot of need in in this town um outside of these four different locations.

Okay, I'll we'll move on to What's next here? Traffic calming Old County Road.

So last week I met with MassDOT and TEC engineers to kick off our local early actionable planning technical assistance um program that I had applied for a year ago. And we're looking at preparing some engineered designs for traffic calming controls through the head of Westport. This has been kind of a long process. Two years ago, I asked for SERCBED to do some traffic counting and analysis and they

got us a an updated data set showing that most motorists are going at least 10 mph over the speed limit as they travel through that that area.

Um and so I submitted this application to the leap, the local early actionable planning program. It's a new program through DOT that's intended to get kind of conceptual initial engineering designs together to help smaller munici- municipalities advance projects through the grant funding pipeline.

Um and when I met with MassDOT and and TEC, I had asked them if we could work with designs that are more easily piloted with temporary installations as opposed to having more fixed and um fixed installations. And and the reason why I had asked for this is because the the town does have some financial constraints with what we're able to do as we all know. Um but I would also like to um we have a a

we have an outstanding grant application right now um to study the storm water and hydrology of the head of Westport.

And as if that gets funding and it's determined that we need to make storm water uh changes to the storm water network through there, we don't need to go digging up infrastructure that we just installed through the grant. So, we need to coordinate these things um and have one comprehensive approach to making modifications through the area. And so, that's why I wanted to pilot with these temporary installations

as opposed to moving forward with more fixed infrastructure solutions.

Um so, what is initially being considered right now is a series of modular speed cushions, which are like speed bumps, but they have uh you could bring them pretty much actually. They have their spacing in between, so you can get a fire truck through. Um it's wide enough that a fire truck chassis can drive right over top of it, but it's narrow enough that a typical um car chassis is going to have to roll

over one of the bumps to force people to slow down a bit.

Um so, there would be four sets on either side of the head of Westport. Um there would be painted lines with and and painted medians to narrow the lanes. Um and then there would be warning signage. And this is all very conceptual at this point. We're still having some discussions with the engineering firm, but that's initially what what the direction that they're thinking about going.

So, how about motorcycles and bicycles?

They would be able to make fit in between that space.

And if they didn't make the space?

Uh then you'd have to roll over top of the the bump.

Yeah.

And these are used in I've talked to the fire department already. Um they're I told them that these are used in in Providence and uh number of locations um like Main Street or down by Indian Point Park, and uh it works for their fire department. And so, Westport fire said, "If it works for them, it should work for us."

Um so Good. They're on board with that. I mean, it's it's all conceptual right now. I don't have any plans together, but um we do get There's There's a significant issue with speeding. I mean, there are people who we've we've measured going 60, 70 mph through there.

Yeah.

Um it's a real significant problem, and and we wanted to do something that's a little bit lower cost as well, so we can get something implemented sooner rather than later.

Um we don't want to wait, you know, another 5 years so we have the stormwater stuff aligned with traffic calming and you know, let's get something installed sooner rather than later before someone um gets injured in this There's a crash and there's an injury.

I think that's really intelligent and approach. It does the job. It does.

And it's uh pretty affordable.

It gives us time to reassess, too, you know, instead of making a, you know, multi-hundred-thousand-dollar investment, these temporary installations would um if it's funded through DOT, would come to I think it was like 70 or 80 thousand dollars of state funds, and then we would just be on the hook for installation.

Um if it doesn't work, we can reassess.

We're not tearing up the road aside for aside for bolting in some modular um uh speed humps in in the road and some signage and some paint.

Yeah.

You know, so uh I I I think it's the way to go, especially because um again, like it said, we can we can we can test this out and and see if it works, and it's not not permanent, but we can make it permanent if it if it does work out.

When I started working in the waterfront historic district in New Bedford, one of our problems was people driving way too fast through that district.

And we had to figure out how to slow them down. And I said, "Well, an earlier paving material was paving blocks. Why don't we go back to that?

It's a historic district. We'll make paving block roads. And anyone who wants to avoid dentist bills is not going to go over 20 miles an hour."

But that's a lot more expensive.

But it does force people to slow down.

Yeah.

Um so, what I'll probably do next is apply for the Complete Streets program for funding to actually implement this.

That'd be cool.

Um we just didn't because we got things in contract with DOT, kind of really late in the spring, the work plan for the highway department was already built out, so we couldn't have the highway department install these.

So, we'll probably use a Complete Streets grant to actually implement.

Good.

Looks like a good project.

I don't know.

But can you ask these people if they need a form just so that they don't have to wait any longer?

No, just here for public comment.

You are?

Yeah, just here to check for beautiful sentences.

Oh, okay.

Great.

Really? I enjoyed watching you.

Okay.

If we knew you were coming, we would have had popcorn.

We've been here a few times.

Okay, assistant planner's report.

Sure. So, I've got three construction updates to share with you.

Um the first one is going to be from Francis Estates from June 4th. MBL went out there um that morning. Sorry, let me just pull up the report on the big screen for everybody.

Okay, here we go.

Pretty short report.

Um So, there was a temporary construction entrance installed on the existing path.

Um that construction entrance is going to shift um to the location approved on the plans um at the time of roadway construction. So, Tracy's got her eye on that. Silt stacks have not been installed in the catch basins, but um Arnie's going to install them. He's been really communicative. He's the contractor on site.

A 12-ft silt sock perimeter erosion control was installed as shown on the approved plans in all locations except the southerly section of silt rock around infiltration basin number two.

Now, that basin wasn't part of the initial phase of construction, so erosion controls around this area will be installed prior to any clearance or disturbance um for construction of that basin. So, the site's mostly been cleared um within the area of the installed erosion controls, and um they've now started staking out the limits of the cemetery easement.

Um now, this was received about 2 weeks ago, so we're actually probably going to have Tracy go out there again next week.

And like we um did before, we'll reach back with the HOA and continue things um on the other end.

So, that's Francis Estates. Next is in Inheritance Lane.

And oh, here are some pictures.

So, Inheritance Lane.

We have a report from Derek from May 1st that he got over to us. Um the roadway remains stable with the crushed stone topping with no noticeable rutting or potholes noted from um either of the previous site visits as well.

Erosion control measures and silt fencing appear to be still in place and are somewhat maintained. The drainage swales are well defined and they're fully vegetated. So there is a small washout from the driveway of the completed residence that's running into the swale, so mitigation is recommended.

The drainage basin and the emergency overflow appear to be working as designed. The basin is fully vegetated and being maintained by the developer.

The site visit back from last October was after a large rain event.

So Derek noted this past May / June that a small amount of water was noted inside the inlet control structure, but no evidence that emergency overflow had been needed.

The roadway shoulder swales are fully vegetated and appear to be working as designed. The as-built plan does indicate the inverts for each pipe and end. And it was noted that no riprap was installed, so that was one of the items Derek highlighted present to complete.

And electric and telecom is being provided via overhead electric utilities, pardon me, from existing power lines.

So for his additional comments regarding the street name sign, Derek was first concerned that maybe the street sign didn't meet standards, but that's been approved by Chris Gonsalves from the highway department. So the Deans are good on that. And then SW Cole was provided the as-built drawing at the time 25. It was noted that the roadway bounds were not installed and then there was a snow delay, so he verified

back in April that the bounds are installed per the as-built. So SW Cole recommends the surety reduction because they consider this project 98% complete. Like I said, we just got update today that the Deans have finished the the items, so keep a up for June 30th when we release the full surety and I'll include those then as well.

But if you want to direct your attention to the screen, Derek's provided some photos that I'll quickly just scroll through before the last um report, which will be on um Route 88 Sullivan Solar.

If you recall, those folks were just in um for their minor mod. Um now Derek's back out there um with ongoing construction.

So let me just get to his report.

Lots of photos from Derek.

Now he's got a couple comments on this one.

The roadway known as Sullivan Drive has been graded and compacted. It's lined with 4 to 6 in of riprap and the shoulders are clearly Excuse me, clearly defined, but seeding has not yet been completed.

Now the asphalt apron that um is to extend um approximately approximately 50 ft from Briggs Road is graded and compacted, but the asphalt hasn't been installed. Um I think it's probably ongoing since this report has been um submitted. So next time Derek gets out there, we'll have an update on that.

Culvert crossings are installed and have a timber guardrail um installed on top.

Riprap is evident both in the upstream and downstream sides of the culvert.

They do show some minimal debris that needs to be cleaned prior to final acceptance and erosion control um remains in place.

Currently, there's no sign at the entrance to Sullivan Drive from Briggs Road indicating the solar array with the required emergency information. So that'll be something to check up on the as-built.

There are some boulders and debris that are piled along the right side shoulder shoulder of the drive and there's a dumpster within the right of way as well. So that'll be addressed um and hopefully moved or just confirmed to be um for the resident. There are a couple residents along the front of Sullivan Drive. Sorry, the northern end of Sullivan Drive.

Um infiltration basins and drainage features are installed and functioning.

They're fully vegetated.

Um and then regarding the fencing, the fencing should have green slats installed or provide screening for Route 88. So, this there is intent to install screening to meet this requirement, but it hasn't yet been completed.

Um there are some boulders and some materials piled outside of the fence line.

Um and Derek just calls out that those boulders should be removed. The status of them is unclear.

Um grass growth is marginal with some bare areas and minimal growth throughout, so the developer intends to re-hydroseed.

Now, the underground electric duct bank duct banks, pardon me, was installed during the winter of 2025-26, but SW Cole wasn't made aware of this work, so they weren't able to inspect or provide comments related to the installation.

It's their understanding that the installation is done in accordance with the utilities' approved drawings, but um let me know if you want me to follow up on that item specifically and see if we can get any further verification from Derek as he was not able to be present.

Dear, one of these photographs shows minimal grass growth within the solar array.

Yeah.

Did we ask for a grass or pollinator?

Um I think it's pollinator mix.

Yeah.

Pollinator mix?

Yeah.

It's been and they did use pollinator mix with the grass seed, but it's just seems to have not taken.

to grow that stuff on topsoil than dirt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

I will make a note.

Yeah, that's I don't know when it was planted, but that hasn't come along very well.

Mhm.

And is there space underneath the fence?

For that for like a wildlife?

Yeah.

That was called out Doesn't look like it.

I don't think so. There is one on a different solar development, but I don't think Route 88 has that feature.

Did we require it?

I don't know if that was required.

Was it required, yeah?

I think that's that was passed at town meeting 2 years ago.

And these guys are free co- a condition on the special permit?

Um I don't know. I'll check the special permit.

Usually a condition on the special permit.

Yeah.

Should I put that pull that up now?

No, you can you can check that later.

Okay.

They'll be They have They have We still have How much in surety do we still retain?

A lot.

A lot.

Yeah, so we can well, verify those those details and obviously we'll have to get back out there to inspect the site for the pollinator mix growth.

Yeah, they're really Well, here's a picture There's a lot of photographs and there isn't any grass in any of them. It's all dirt. Here's a picture there's space underneath this fence anyway.

On What page this is?

156.

Mhm.

And 159.

Mhm.

And on 159 it it goes to the ground.

Mhm. Mhm.

On one photo and it doesn't on the other.

Mhm.

You have 50,000 in surety.

Mhm.

For Ruby and you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mhm.

Recently I planted clover Mhm.

on my property.

It is it needs less than 20% of the water of grass.

Mhm.

Plus it neutralizes nitrogen.

Correct.

Excellent.

And it produces beautiful little flowers. It's drought tolerant and it produces all those little white flowers.

I love clover in my yard. I love clover.

Yeah.

It's just hard to find clover seed.

Other than that, it's We're trying to get all clover.

I love clover.

You do?

We planted micro clover, so it's not It only gets about that high.

What the heck is this machine abandoned on the project?

Looks like a Gatling gun.

It's a post some kind of post hole driller there.

That's a post hole driller?

Yeah, cuz you can tell by the the It's pneumatic.

Hydraulic.

Oh, yeah. So, it flips up and then it goes down.

rotates, yeah, vertically. You know, it's just it's stand-alone versus attaching to a tractor.

Right.

Mhm.

That's it.

That's it?

Yep.

Route 6 Neighborhood Plan?

I don't know.

Yeah, I can talk about that.

In your packets, you have a working draft of the Route 6 Neighborhood Plan.

So, if you have any comments you'd like to provide on that, please send me those by June 26th.

Uh we'll have a complete draft available for discussion at the Planning Board's June 28th meeting.

You The specific sections I'd like for the board to comment on, um are the the the the the draft introduction, which Jim uh Chairman Weiten has prepared.

And then, also the recommendations section.

Um there's a table at the very end of the document with a series of different zoning recommendations or policy recommendations to go along with the the body of the plan. And so, if you could give some particular attention to those two sections and give me any comments, that would be great so we can um start to get this project wrapped up. We will have SERPED come to the board on July 14th to present the

plan, the final draft of the plan, and we'll ask for your endorsement at that meeting.

There are a number of comments that I have given SERPED on the uh recommendations section that have not been incorporated yet Um in the draft that you have before you. So there's some things in there that make you question just call just call them out and I'll I'll let you know if I've suggested it already and if not I'll send it over to them and we'll get that get that revised for the next meeting.

Mr. Chair, you want a motion on the minutes?

Please.

I've read the minutes and there was a lot going on on June 2nd but I think the minutes are really good. So I would move approval of the June 2nd uh minutes meeting.

I second that.

Any more comments?

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Want a motion to adjourn?

Unless there's something else anybody would like to talk about.

Yes, please.

I move we adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.