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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-12-20-BOS-min _ 3 SELECTMEN'S MEETING December 20, 1971 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men' s Room, Town Office Building, on Monday evening, December 20, 1971 , at 7:30 p.m. Chairman Cataldo, Messrs Kenney, Bailey and Buse, and Mrs Riff in; Mr Legro, Town Counsel , Mr O'Connell , Town Manager and Mrs. McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were present. Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Com- pany and the New England Telephone Company to relocate one pole on Theresa Avenue Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioners and owners of the property as listed on the petitioners' plan and also filed with the Town Engineer Mr Dunn of the New England Telephone Company, and Mr. Kelley of the Boston Edison Company were present. Mr Dunn explained that the Theresa Ave pole has been relocated, to the satisfaction of the property owner Pole Re- No one appearing in favor or in opposition, the Chairman declared location the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the re- quest of the Boston Edison Company and the New England Telephone Company for the following location 111 Theresa Avenue Relocate pole 127/4, sixteen feet southeasterly, one ( I ) pole; also remove one ( I) pole. Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Com- pany and the New England Telephone Company to relocate one pole on Marren Road, northwest of Middle Street Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioners and owners of the property as listed on the petitioners' plan and also filed with the Town Engineer Mr Dunn of the New England Telephone Company and Mr. Kelley of the Boston Edison Company were present Mr Dunn explained that the pole was to be relocated 5 feet to enable the owner to have more room Marrett Rd. at the driveway. Pole Re- No one appearing in favor or in opposition, the Chairman declared location the hearing closed. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the re- quest of the Boston Edison Company and the New England Telephone Company for the following location: Marrett Road Southwesterly side, approximately 460 feet north- west of Middle Street, one ( I ) pole (one existing JO pole to be removed) Mr. Legro requested the Board to rescind the vote of December 6, 1971 and to vote to sign a new deed to convey a parcel of land on Waltham , Arts ;4 Street to the Arts and Crafts Society, eliminating a small 4 ft strip of Crafts land. Land 174 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to rescind the vote of December 6, 1971 to sign the deed to convey a parcel of land on ` Waltham Street to the Arts and Crafts Society, subject to the restriction on the rear parcel that it not be paved for parking or used for parking for a period of 99 years. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the deed to convey a parcel of land on Waltham Street to the Arts and Crafts Society, subject to the restriction on the rear parcel that it not be paved for parking or used for parking for a period of 99 years. Mr. Legro requested the Board to sign the deed to convey the parcel Lexington of land to the Lexington Housing Authority to enable them to have a 55 Housing ft. frontage. Authority Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the deed Land to convey a parcel of land on Waltham Street to the Lexington Housing authority. Mr O'Connell requested the Board to approve the following Requests for Transfers from the Reserve Fund. I . $4,000 to purchase additional fill at the sanitary landfill, During budget discussions, there was an indication that we would require Transfer substantially more fill under the State standards but we agree to try to DPW run within the budget. We now find we need a transfer of $4,000. ' Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Account 5850 in the amount of $4,000. 2. $5,000 for the sewer maintenance account We reduced Myrtle Transfer Street from $15,000 to $10,000 in operating costs; to continue to Sewer operate at the old operating level, we incurred a cost of $5,000. Maint Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Ac- count 5700 in the amount of $5,000. 3. $150 request from the Comptroller for Article 10 of the 1971 Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Money was appropriated for payment of Transfer pensions to retired members of the Police and Fire Departments and Pensions their dependents, and the Comptroller had estimated a lower cost of living increase; therefore, funds would be $150 short Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to -request the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Arti- cle 10 of the 1971 Annual Town Meeting, in the amount of $150. Chairman Cataldo requested the Board to approve a request for a Transfer transfer from the Reserve Fund to the Town Report Account 1760 for Town $450 for out-of-pocket expenses incurred. Report Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Ac- count 1760 in the amount of $450 II/ 11 tit Chairman Cataldo informed the Board that a request has been re- ceived from the Town Celebrations Committee for a transfer of $800 to Transfer cover expenses incurred because of the increased cost of Town parades Town and activities connected with holidays Celebra- Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to request the tion Appropriation Committee for a transfer from the Reserve Fund to Account Committee 2400 in the amount of $800 Mr. Mollo-Christensen met with the Board to discuss the Regional Technical Vocational High School . Mr Mollo-Christensen Arlington is asking our cooperation in their efforts to change the representation of the Regional School Com- mittee. The Regional School Committee appointed a subcommittee to report tomorrow on the course of action. As a member, I can only speak for myself that the Regional School Committee take the following action to order its secretary to request the Board of Selectmen in each of the 12 member towns to put an article in to change the agreement so that in a sense the representation of the different towns be changed, as re- quested by Arlington That means the School Committee will request the towns to put an article in. The School Committee will not take a posi- Regional tion on the merits of this but feels the committee will have a few more Vocational members, like two more from Arlington, one from Lexington and one from Technical Belmont If it went beyond sixteen members, it would be a rather un- School wieldy body. Also, tomorrow night we will have a cost analysis showing Committee net costs to towns when the school is open, taking into account the state support and new interest on bond issues. It looks like Arlington will have the largest net cost, the next town is Sudbury, etc. Lexing- ton is number 5 or 6. My personal opinion is that this will not give the suggested change in representation; it will not give a representa- tion proportional to the cost to the town, as expressed in the letter from the Arlington Board of Selectmen. It is suggested to be based on population; when the towns grow, that means the School Committee will have to grow with, the population, and we would have a large and un- wieldy school committee We will recommend that the School Committee take no position; there are strong feelings about the issue The reason to put it on the ballot now is to attempt to have the matter settled so it will not be cloudy or delay the construction of the school by having pending problems on representation or other portions of the agreement when we go for authorization You are aware of the fact that it requires that Town Meeting of each of the member towns approve this proposed change before it can take effect I think it is rather likely that at least one town will vote it down and so the issue may already be Moot, but it should be put to the voters or to the Town Meeting for them to decide Chairman Cataldo What happens then if one town turns it down? Mr Mollo-Christensen The agreement stays as it is unless it is changed by each of the towns. Chairman Cataldo 1 understand that To go a step further, if the appropriation comes up and one votes down the capital appropriation, what happens then? 176 Mr Mollo-Christensen Then there is no capital appropriation. Mr Cataldo You say to settle it once and for all, but why don't you want to take a position? Mr. Mollo-Christensen I think we can work as it is now; I don't think it will make much difference Chairman Cataldo To your knowledge, for Arlington to have the change in attitude that they agree to, is there any change in the people there involved, in their attitude and thinking? Mr Mollo-Christensen I don't think so. 1 think some of the proponents of the agreement have been fully aware of the consequences as proposed, and pushed and circulated it to the voters Chairman Cataldo As I read Arlington' s Warrant, this was in- serted at the request of the Town Manager r Mr. Mollo-Christensen I don't know the details. I spent some time with members of the Arlington Board, the School Committee, School Facilities Planning Committee and the League of Women Voters and we now feel the understanding of the knowledge of the clauses, in the agreement as. it exists is much more widespread, and we have man- aged to clarify some of the questions which, perhaps, were put too late in Arlington. -Chairman Cataldo I ,just wondered what prompted them to change- their minds Mr. Mollo-Christensen It was suggested to me by public officials that the Arlington voters didn't know what they were voting on at the annual town election Mr Busa If Arlington refuses to appropriate the money, it means you have to go back and start all over again? Mr. Mollo-Christensen I do believe in working with them as intensively that they understand better and we have managed to re- move a large number of misunderstandings and misconceptions and we would have a good chance to proceed. Mr. Bailey I have heard they can do this with three or four members, as they can do now That' s all I wanted to hear. Mr. Busa Do I understand you are not going to make a recom- mendation? Mr Mollo-Christensen Whether the School Committee recommends or not doesn't matter Mrs. Riff in How many of the towns are under 10,000? Mr. Mollo-Christensen Concord, Wayland, Sudbury, Boxborough -is the lowest. When you specify three representatives of each town and make up this agreement, that sets the tone of the agreement. Chairman Cataldo Do 1 understand that you are asking the Board to insert an Article? Mr. Mollo-Christensen We request you to insert an Article through our secretary, as specified in our agreement Chairman Cataldo How far have you gotten on the designer or architect? Mr Mollo-Christensen We expect to vote tomorrow to pick an architect and expect to vote on the site because we have an engineer- ing report on a site and we expect to vote on the educational plan tomorrow. I 177 I Chairman Cataldo thanked Mr. Mello--Christensen for meeting with the Board. Mr. Mollo-Christensen retired from the meeting Mr. Mark Moore met with the Board. Mr. Mark Moore This is a joint venture with Spaulding and Slye I would like to introduce Mr Kreutzjan of the development team with Spaulding and Slye One of the reasons for my being involved with them was they are the first in Massachusetts to produce a condominium and it is in Wellesley We tried to analyze the reactions of Town Meeting members and the reaction of the town itself which vetoed MHFA, and tried to come up with a solution and a social benefit. We increased the area of 12.9 acres by an addition andit is planned for 75 condominium units, plus 16 for elderly housing, to be subdivided into two pieces, one being an area of an acre for elderly housing next to the Lexington Lumber Com- pany and a larger subdivision for condominium units. We will have an area for two tennis courts and a swimming pool and will install a fence, and two and half acres will be left for conservation. In addition to that, we have taken surface parking and put it underground; every unit wi• II have a garage facility, and a small amount of parking on the sur- face ( 16) will be for visitors The attempt is to try to produce some- thing that will pay taxes and take care of the elderly and end up with 8 units per acre, and to put all parking that we can underground. We Mark have retained Royal Barry Wills to design it in traditional colonial Moore' s with fireplaces and large chimneys and the total concept will be attrac- Project tive and look like single units. People will pay taxes and have mortgages, Like in Wellesley, it will be 75% of the people Of Lexington& We have discussed the elderly feature with the Housing Authority and have met with HUD on a turnkey proposition where you deed the land over to the Housing Authority and set up a package to take care of the back- log of people who are interested in this kind of unit. We are coming in early to see how we can incorporate suggestions before Town Meeting. Chairman Cataldo You say to deed the land to the Housing Authority, not to build the buildings? Mr. Moore We told the Housing Authority we would deed the land for $1 .00, the best approach is to do a turnkey project under 236 Chairman Cataldo In other words, sell 16 units to Housing; you would build them and turn it over 'to them? Mr. Moore Yes. It is pretty hard to stay within cost limits of 236. We feel we can stay within these, only because we are building other units at the same time. Chairman Cataldo What is the attitude of the railroad? Mr Moore We are checking that out now and hope to have a formal answer for you. Mr Kenney Do you have a projected guestimate of what these units will cost? Mr. Moore The elderly will be rental units, to be turned over to Housing. We are talking about a rental of $101 to $184 a month under the present 236 subsidized program. On the purchase price of a condo- minium, we are planning to subdivide, we will have ten units at $24,000 to $29,000; in addition we will have the balance of the units (65) in the range of $32,000 - $65,000; the average is somewhere in the low $40,000's. 178 Mrs Riff in Tell me about the circulation; will it be 2-way coming out? Mr Moore Yes, because of elderly housing, it must have its own frontage, which it does. Both will be 2-way, inter-connected There will be I6-one bedroom for the elderly; 24-two bedrooms and library, 48-two bedrooms, 3-one bedroom; a total of 91 units. Mr Kenney I can understand the social impact of the 16 units but not the others. Mr. Moore We have increased the density and tried to hide the parking We have talked about increasing the number of units in the $20,000 range; we have 10 between $20,000 - $29,000. There is no question to build a unit to be accepted in this town you are talking about $45,000 to $50,000. We have met with the residents and about 25 came People tell us they are friendly opponents and some were against anything we proposed. We answered a lot of their questions and they liked the concept better-than the one before We hope we might have your interest and support after you discuss it. Mr. Mark Moore retired from the meeting. Chairman Cataido read a letter from Anthony C. Busa stating that he would like to proceed with the plans of purchasing lot 38 Rockvrlle Rockville Avenue to combine with Lot 37 to build one house Avenue Chairman Cataido• This is the lot that Town Meeting authorized Lot us to sell . We should have an appraisal made and then advertise it for sale. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to have an ap- praisal made on Lot 38 Rockville Avenue Chairman Cataido read a letter from the Arlington Board of 4lect- men stating that it had voted to recommend to the Finance Committee a reduction in the requested assessment of the Mystic Valley Mental Mystic Health Association from $37,800 to $31,058 It is suggested that con- Valley sideration be given to supporting a revised formula that would Mental apportion costs to member towns based on use of the Mystic Valley Health Mental Health Association Service. Mr Bailey Mr. Lambie, Mr Bernier and I met with representa- tives of the Association on the budget problem but we can't make much headway until the statistics are in I propose we send a letter to Arlington that we are interested in the approach they take, that we expect a report soon, and will keep them informed as to our action. The Board agreed to write to the Arlington Board of Selectmen. Chairman Cataldo read a letter from the Planning Board on open space acceptance and requesting that Articles be prepared by Town Counsel and inserted in the Warrant confirming the action of the Articles Board of Selectmen in accepting, on behalf of the Town, the follow- ing parcels of land in connection with cluster subdivisions 1 Off Village Circle from Village Development Corporation. 2. In the Drummer Boy subdivision from Oneida Corporation. I 179 Chairman Cataldo to Mr Legro Do you have the descriptions? Mr Legro Yes. The deed in the Village Circle area is all re- corded and deeds are drawn for Drummer Boy subdivision, and I assume they will be executed within the next 10 days. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was votefl to insert two Articles on open space acceptance, as requested by the Planning Board Chairman Cataldo read a letter from the Chamber of Commerce re- questing that an Article be placed on the Warrant to provide additional parking space in the area between Meriam and Grant Streets. Center Chairman Cataldo We will answer that we are evaluating the area Parking and will come up with a decision at budget time. Meriam The Board agreed to discuss the matter when the Superintendent of Street Public Works submits his report on the area Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of the Selectmen' s Meeting held on December 6, 1971 . Minutes Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Common Victualler licenses for the following (Approved by the Board of Health) Common Arno Associates, Inc Old Lexington Restaurant Victualler 32.1 Woburn Street d.b.a. Mario's License 1733 Massachusetts Avenue Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the re- Water quest of the Superintendent of Public Works and sign the water abatement Abatement to Hanscom Field, in the amount of $57 46; billed twice Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Execu- tive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or voting on matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the public Executive security, the financial interests of the Town or the reputation of a Session person After discussion of matters of financial interest to the Town, it was voted to go out of Executive Session and resume the open meeting The Board discussed recycling and agreed to implement recycling Recycling Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to implement recycling and to add $3,000 to the Public Works' budget for this pur- pose. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 9 55 p.m. A true record, Attest J41)- 9/6,e_e4,y Executive Clerk, Selector