Open Space & Recreation Committee

CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES BOARD: Open Space and Recreation Committee SUBCOMMITTEE: None LOCATION: City Hall Council Chambers and Virtual through Google Meet DATE: November 3, 2021 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: David Alden-St. Pierre (Chair), David Brewster (Vice Chair), Alison Dudley, Elizabeth Dunne, Charlie Mann, Marilyn McCrory, Wayne Miller, Todd Callaghan, Gregory Sharp BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Chelsea Zakas, Associate Planner OTHERS PRESENT: Dean Berg, Greg Power RECORDER: Sharlyne Woodbury 1. Call to Order Alden chairs and opens the meeting at 7:00 p.m. 2. Members of the Public Opportunity to Address the Committee a. Dean Berg, Executive Director of Green Beverly Dean Berg presents to the committee. The main purpose of Green Beverly is to promote and teach about sustainability. Green Beverly encompasses everything that residents or home owners have control over. Items such as heating, cooling, water, transportation, what is consumed (food), as well as what is bought from a goods and services perspective. Their mission is to inspire action although they do provide educational material. The bar in Beverly has been set very high for a resilient community to confront climate change and for reduction in carbon footprints. Berg provides examples of eco-friendly approaches to be resilient. Berg acknowledges that many people ask where to start and how to begin. He notes that the solutions will be specific based on where one lives. Therefore, these actions and plans will be Beverly specific. Berg gives information on the membership requirements and revenue resources. Alden inquires if there are any specific items the Committee can be of assistance with. Berg asks the committee to please keep them in mind for future collaborative events and to spread the word about who and what Green Beverly is. Mann asks a few questions of Berg. They discuss carbon neutrality and the collaborative efforts between Beverly and Salem. Berg explains what net zero and carbon neutrality is. Mann asked if anyone is meeting with National Grid. Mann explains the power capacity of converting projects from fossil fuels to electric requires more on behalf of National Grid. Members are concerned about the energy grids expanding and keeping up with demand. There being no further comments or concerns. No action required at this time. 3. Approval of Minutes  Open Space & Recreation Committee November 3, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 5 Callaghan moves to approve the September 1, 2021 minutes as presented. Mann seconds. The motion carries 9-0. Callaghan moves to approve the October 6, 2021 minutes as amended. Mann seconds. The motion carries 9-0. 4. Open Space and Recreation Plan a. Discuss next steps Zakas provides the updates. The public forum was a success as well as the online survey response. Zakas will synthesize multiple lists for the members to review main points and recurring comments. Alden suggests having the lists before the December meeting if possible. Alden asks for a few item examples. Per Zakas the survey responses are varied. Parking, public restrooms, maintaining current open spaces, maintaining tennis courts, spaces for pickleball, trash bins, dogs, etc. She will establish common themes to organize and itemize topics of discussion. Zakas discusses the survey timeline. Outreach efforts are still ongoing. The ADA evaluation report is outstanding. Zakas will coordinate with Bruce Doig to see which parks and open spaces already have an ADA evaluation. Zakas will provide the follow up information for the members. Members congratulate Zakas on a job well done for the Public Hearing. Sidebar: Callaghan discusses the composition of HMA and notes that a common complaint of this group is the impotence in authoritative execution and follow up with the city. Callaghan discusses how HMA has 2 ward councilors and a member of the Engineering Department. The current composition permits for better follow up and response with the city. Callaghan asks if there a member from city hall or another department that can provide a link back to city hall. Zakas provides updates on a representative from the Park and Recreation Committee to also sit on OSRC. Jon Paddol is a staff member of the Parks and Rec Department who agreed to sit in on meetings. Miller suggests a Parks and Rec member to also sit OSRC. 5. Discuss Principal Items of Business a. Community Preservation Committee – Representative Report McCrory provides the updates. There are eleven pre-applications. Nathan Currie submitted past the deadline. There is a workshop on December 16, 2021 for the applicants. The full application is due January 11, 2022. The total award amounts to be distributed are $1.2 million. McCrory inquired after the letter in support of Moraine Farm. Zakas replies the letter was sent to Denise Deschamps. Mayor Cahill joins the meeting. Cahill provides additional parcel updates for CPA funding. The City Council has four more meetings scheduled. If there is a need for special meeting in order to facilitate action on the trustee reservation request it can be done. Cahill comments his office, CPC, and the City Council all need to feel good about what is presented to the tax payer on what they asked for. The mayor notes it must be the right set of benefits to the tax payer and the right dollar amount in order for this parcel to be approved. Cahill provides updates on the two parcels for the Housing Authority on Simon Street. The appraisals are $200k each and there are RFPs being prepared for the parcels. Dudley is more than  Open Space & Recreation Committee November 3, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 5 willing to submit a CPC application for the larger and smaller properties on Simon Street. McCrory inquires if the city could provide a list of priorities for the funding requested by parcels discussed. Alden inquires about the meeting with Haney from NSMT. Cahill will follow up with his office about the meeting update. Mann inquires about the Endicott trails. Mann could not figure out what the high, medium, low trails are. Mann asks the mayor is they can mark a map to determine those trails. Cahill provides an update from a meeting with Wynne and Dr. DeSalvo regarding the trails. Cahill notes they are waiting for a response from Endicott board of trustees. Mann confirms Wynne asked for his input on marking the map. If Wynne used his mark up, Mann already has the information. Mann seeks clarification they are looking at the same map mark up. Mann suggests it might be easier to negotiate one trail easement with the liability waiver in place. McCrory inquires after any inhibiting factors with the Moraine Farm project to Cahill. Cahill replies they are asking for a lot of money and the city is trying to understand where the need for the additional funding is coming from. Looking for an agreeable value to support. McCrory notes the city was asked to retire the development rights on 3 disconnected parcels. Cahill comments there needs to be value the city derives from to justify the money. Mann praises the Trustees and their work at Long Hill. The Trustees are contributing a lot to the project for the public benefit. The mayor exits the meeting due to a dropped call. Members continue to discuss Long Hill membership and fees as applicable to the public. Callaghan inquires if the committee should make a motion to negotiate free public access for the residents. Members would like to see what the mayor’s office negotiates before they draft a letter in support of free public access. Brewster suggests coordinating with Green Beverly to see if this is an entity that could be a contributing partner to Moraine Farm. b. Planning Board – Representative Report Miller, no updates at this time. c. Harbor Management Authority Updates – Representative Report Callaghan provides the updates. HMA continues to work on improving public access signage to the waterfront. HMA sent a letter to the city in support of HMA findings that a number of public access ways had integrity concerns for safety. Callaghan noticed the city was out repairing a few of those public ways after sending the letter. Callaghan reviews some of the public ways and pocket parks that are not truly under city jurisdiction requiring regular maintenance. HMA is discussing options for a pre-app to see what compensation could be applied for to improve the areas as well as discussing legal options with the city solicitor. d. Conservation Commission – Representative Report Alden provides the updates, none at this time. The October meeting was interrupted by the nor’easter with members experiencing power loss. e. Parcel Updates – additional details outlined in Zakas’ staff report. i. Green Street update  Open Space & Recreation Committee November 3, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 5 Mann provides the updates. It was agreed that five benches would be installed. Materials are on back order. Fencing materials are ordered. They met with Mike Collins about the fencing and discussed the neighboring property. ii. Project Adventure update Members discussed during the CPC update. iii. Congress Street – “Pocket Park” No further updates at this time. iv. Gloucester Crossing Updates discussed during CPC update by Cahill. Members advise Dudley to provide the mayor with past meeting minutes as a reminder of previous discussion and enthusiasm for the city to purchase the spaces. McCrory suggests Dudley compose a narrative for the pre-application. v. Bass Haven update There are no updates at this time. vi. Norwood Pond update a. NSMT Discussed under CPC updates with the mayor. vii. Congress Street parks There are no updates at this time. viii. Endicott college trail Discussed under CPC updates with the mayor. ix. Pole Swamp There are no updates at this time. f. Encroachment Updates Zakas provides insight to other advisory boards and committees expressing the same frustration for follow up or repercussions with individuals and entities not compliant with city ordinance or conditions attached to project development. Many advisory boards and committees are inquiring the best way to achieve enforcement and action capabilities. Zakas suggests coordinating with the city entities who have the authority to take-action on those that are non-complaint. For this committee, continuous follow up with the mayor’s office and the solicitor’s office regarding encroachments on protected open space would be the preferable next step. Zakas suggests sending a monthly update to the mayor’s office and solicitor’s office with a parcel list. Callaghan comments that the HMA having ward councilors has been a tremendous help in moving agenda items along as well as receiving responses from the city. Members suggest creating a list of the properties by ward and involving the ward councilors. Sidebar:  Open Space & Recreation Committee November 3, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 5 Mann discusses unknown owner properties. He sent a list to Alden for review. Mann notes that someone acted on some of these parcels and inquires after the status and updates. Specifically, which ones the city acted on. Callaghan and Mann discuss some properties along Bass River. Callaghan notes there is no public awareness the city owns some of these parcels. Members agree to look into the list of owner unknown properties and continue to further discuss city acquired property along Bass River. 6. Trails & Open Space Discussion a. Trail Safety & Trail Guidance i. New trail at Sally Milligan Alden provides brief updates item mostly discussed under CPC updates. ii. Subcommittee Update Dunne provides the updates. She has connected with interested EMS responders regarding trail safety. Dunne suggested to those who responded a quick meeting to discuss the most common trails, and their experience with search and rescue efforts. Dunne identified that EMS responders need updated accurate maps of the area. Dunne also invited the EMS responders to attend an OSRC meeting. 7. Other Business a. Greens Hill/CPC grant Updates discussed above. b. NOI for trail work – discussion on next steps No updates at this time. Continued to the next meeting. c. OSRC Charter i. Discuss process for filling vacant committee member positions d. Discuss OSRC 2022 meeting schedule Members agree the first Wednesday schedule is acceptable. 8. Adjournment Callaghan moves to adjourn the meeting at 9:04 p.m. Brewster seconds. The motion carries 9-0. Next Meeting: December 1, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.