Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-11-19 MINUTES: MASTER PLAN IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE: November 19, 2020 In Attendance (via Google Meet and telephone): Members Kelly Cormier(Chair), Stan Limpert (Vice- Chair),Jay Dowd, Meredith Barnes-Cook, Sean McDonough,Jon Strauss, Hollie Williams, and George Koehler Absent: Member Chris Nobile Staff: Andrew Shapiro (Director of Community and Economic Development),Jean Enright (Planning Director), and Dan Beckley(Staff Planner) Immediately prior to calling the meeting to order and taking the roll at 5:02pm, Kelly Cormier read aloud the following statement: Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Master Plan Implementation Committee will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and/or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town's website, at .n o rth a n d o ver.m.a..g.gy. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to watch the meeting may do so on their televisions by tuning to Comcast Channel 99 or Verizon Channel 28 or online at www,northandovercam,o.r . No in- .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time,via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts,we will post on the Town of North Andover website an audio or video recording,transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. If the public would like to participate in public hearings please email your question/comment prior to or during the meeting to asha..................... ........................!�........................... .............. . ............. ................................................!. ...............�.............................The question/comment will be read during the proceedings and responded to accordingly. Approval of minutes from the ...... and meetings ............................................................................. ............................................................................... .................................................... Motion made by Stan Limpert, seconded by Jon Strauss,to accept the minutes from the September 24, 2020 and October 22, 2020 meetings. Vote: 6 in favor, none opposed (George Koehler and Hollie Williams had not yet arrived to the meeting). Discussion regarding , i ,,,,,,ri i i ,,,,,, ,,,,, r i 1. P ri rite n ,,,,,I,,,,r 2. Vote regarding approach to prioritization A presentation prepared by Stan Limpert was shared with the Committee Members; Mr. Limpert led the discussion. Mr. Limpert remarked about how the strategies are broken out by element and how the Transportation element contained the most strategies. He explained how a third of the strategies are "standalone" in that they do not relate to more than one element, and that more than half were related to one or two other elements. Mr. Limpert noted that approximately two thirds of the strategies were assigned in the Master Plan to either DPW, Community Development, and the Planning Board—this would need to be taken into consideration while prioritizing the strategies in order not to overwhelm certain Town staff or departments. Mr. Limpert then went through four slides that presented different ways that he thought of how the Committee could prioritize the Master Plan's priorities—looking at factors like elements, cost, benefits, and leadership. Issues that the Committee needed to consider moving forward and potential next steps were also covered. He concluded by expressing his feeling that the Committee might be better suited in focusing on whittling down strategies under each element to two or three to focus on, so as to not overwhelm staff capacity, rather than trying to focus broadly on the many strategies in the Master Plan. Jon Strauss remarked that it would most likely be helpful to be having conversations with Town staff and stakeholders regarding the status of projects, to determine whether or not it should be a high priority to complete within the Master Plan. Ms. Williams agreed, noting that it would be important to understand what each relevant department's priorities are; where they are in certain projects, because that will determine whether and how the Committee should prioritize them. Along those lines, Ms. Cormier questioned how and how often the Committee might engage these stakeholders in order to better understand progress of certain Town projects, in ordered to make informed decisions on prioritization. Mr. Shapiro explained that conversations with Members and stakeholder(Town staff) could occur on an individual basis to better understand the status of projects and to formulate what priorities should shift to the top. In turn,the Committee would be in a position to go before the Board of Selectmen to provide feedback on which strategies/projects should be prioritized. Ms. Enright added that the Board of Selectmen routinely craft goals around the Town budget and staff are tasked to take on projects that meet these goals. She provided examples such as the Planning Department working toward developing a small cell technology policy and corridor plan for route 125, respectively. She also noted that timing is fortuitous because budgets are starting to be crafted, so any prioritization of Master Plan strategies could better inform how departments could budget in order to make further progress on these strategies. The Committee, along with Mr. Shapiro and Ms. Enright broadly agreed that meetings should be set up with departments and Committee Members who represent different elements of the Master Plan so that strategies, progress, and prioritization can be discussed. Mr. Shapiro will have the Town Manager send out a communication to relevant stakeholders to give them a heads up that this is happening. Continued discussion regarding ittee's Mission Statement anduti Ms. Cormier asked for feedback regarding the mission statement and Committee duties. Among items that were previously discussed were whether the Committee would involve itself in review of projects before other Boards/Commissions,to score them against the Master Plan, and whether the Master Plan itself was a changeable document. Mr. Limpert expressed that he feels that many projects being considered at other Boards/Commissions are complex and questioned whether the Committee should wade into those matters, but if asked, it could certainly provide feedback. Mr. Strauss said that he would caution against doing anything to change the Master Plan in any way because of the extensive nature of past community input that went into development of it. Ms. Enright noted that the document has been adopted by the Planning Board by statute;thereby calling into question whether it could easily be amended. Mr. McDonough noted that the document calls out the Planning Board as having the authority to amend the Plan when it sees fit. Others expressed agreement in not amending the Plan, but potentially providing such feedback to the Planning Board if it felt it necessary. The Committee Members continued to discuss whether or not the Committee should be scoring projects being considered by Boards. Mr. Koehler noted that the Committee has a Mission Statement and he feels that although it is somewhat broad, it should be adhered to. It does not speak to review of individual projects. Mr. McDonough expressed that it could be advantageous for Boards/Commissions to hear feedback from the Committee about these projects. Ms. Cormier spoke to the "public education" piece of the mission statement and noted that project review could be a component of that. Mr. Dowd noted that he does not feel it's within the Committee's purview to do that given that the Committee is advisory in nature. Ms. Enright pointed out that all agenda materials for Boards/Commissions are publically available and the Committee has access to all information if it wants to review it to determine applicability to the Master Plan. A discussion ensued about the appropriateness of various Members of the Committee commenting publically as Members at Planning Board or Conservation Commission meetings. This issue would need to be looked into further—staff will speak with Town Counsel to gain clarity. With that, the Committee ended the discussion without reaching full consensus on the issue of whether it would provide comment to other Boards about projects that come before them. Continued discussion regarding communication plan/public education Ms. Cormier said that she has been working on this issue and would need to soon meet with Mr. Shapiro, Ms. Enright, Mr. Beckley and Sarah Brush (Town Communication Coordinator)to further develop a plan; after which time, a plan would be presented to the Committee. New Business The Committee agreed to, at least in the near term,try to meet more frequently in order to make more progress. It agreed to schedule its next meeting on December 8, 2020 at 6pm. Adjournment Motion made by Hollie Williams, seconded by Jon Strauss to adjourn the meeting. Vote: 9-0 Meeting adjourned at 6:32PM.