Municipal Affordable Housing Trust
Regular MeetingFranklin, MA · December 12, 2023
Minutes
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust
December 12, 2023
Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order, members present: Maxine Kinhart, Susan Younis, Kimberly Mu-Chow,
Chris Feeley, Chris Vericker.
Also present: Bryan Taberner
Meeting called to order by Chair Chris V. at 10:00 AM
1. Approval of minutes of August 15, 2023 – Motion to Approve the meeting minutes of August 15
by Chris F. SECOND by Susan
Discussion: Questions relating to August 15 – Maxine mentioned that Susan had asked for an
update on the General Business Item regarding the friendly 40B apartment complex off of
Pleasant Street. She contacted Chris F. who stated that he had talked to Jamie about this and
thought it was in his hands now. Action Item Added: Have Maxine contact Jamie to determine
what is the status of this matter.
Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-Abstain, Chris F.-Yes, Chris V.-Yes VOTE: 4-1-2
*Chris F asked who had abstained and Kim said she had because she was not at the meeting. He
added that you do not have to attend a meeting to vote on the minutes. Maxine agreed saying
that as long as you have read the minutes, you can vote on them.
Re-VOTE/Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-Yes, Chris F.-Yes, Chris V.-Yes VOTE: 5-0-2
Motion to Approve the meeting minutes of October 10, 2023 – by Chris F. SECOND by Kim
Discussion: Amy Frigulietti listed as member of the Trust in the October 10 minutes. Technically,
don’t think she is a member. Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-Yes, Chris F.-Yes, Chris V.-Yes
VOTE: 5-0-2
2. Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Dates – (taken out of order) Motion to Approve the
schedule by Chris F. SECOND by Susan. Discussion: None. Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-
Yes, Chris F.-Yes, Chris V.-Yes VOTE: 5-0-2
3. Affordable Housing Financing Update - Chris V. wanted to confirm the dollar amount of $954,031
in the Trust Account and does that include the $500,000 that we owe to the Franklin Ridge
project? Maxine stated that $954,031 is the amount we have in the account today. We have not
paid out the $500,000 that we owe to the Franklin Ridge project. We have paid out the $30,000
we voted to the project. After we pay out the $500,000, we will have $454,031. That is the
amount we have available. Final comment was that we have in the bank, $954,031 in the Trust
and $22,391 in the Administrative Account. Chris V. is not clear who is responsible to pay cost
overruns on the Franklin Ridge Project. Maxine and Chris V. would not be in favor of spending that
account given the unknowns of the project.
Maxine wanted to share that 144 Grey Wolf Drive that has been vacant for a couple of years now
will finally close in the first week of January at the price of $250,824. 90 Palomino closed in
August. 67 Palomino has also closed. We have no more houses available now, but we have a lot
of affordable apartments coming. We have a friendly 40B off of Pleasant Street behind the St.
John’s church and another one at Grove Street and three more units in the second Taj
development across from Honey Dew donuts. This is the second Taj development. This
development adds 10% affordable so we only get the 3 units and we do not get credit for the rest
because of the program it is built under.
4. Update of Franklin Ridge Project – Bryan Taberner
We did utilize $31,172.50 of the trust funds on site planning and things of that nature and for the
roadway improvement project. Bryan stated that he had wanted to have a design of the project
that we came up with and had asked Mike Maglio to send the most recent diagrams. They have
been changed multiple times due to wetlands issues over the last few months. A couple of
months back the trust was shown where the actual roadway will be. We have some wetlands
issues and we have two lots that will be on either side of the road which will be subdivided and
will be buildable lots. One lot is larger but has a lot of wetlands so is actually smaller and is up the
hill to the left. On the other side of the road to the right will be another good sized parcel. The
design of road improvements will be completed very soon and the breaking ground on the road
improvement portion of the project will be sometime in the next year. It’s not clear if Jon Juhl will
have all his funding to begin his portion at the same time. Bryan will have updates at the next
meeting.
The subdivision plan has to be approved by the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board
but before it goes to them, he would like to give the Trust the opportunity to look at them. A 3.2
million dollar grant to the town will cover all or most of the road improvement project, build the
road underground infrastructure, pump house needed for the water system, and lights and
sidewalks. Then Jon’s funding will take care of his site. Once we have the subdivision plan done,
he will take ownership of that property. Town of Franklin currently owns the property. The Trust
has the authority to donate a portion of the two subdivision lots for the purpose of affordable
housing. There is the portion that you have already promised Jon, plus two other parcels. Once
we have final lines on the subdivision we are working on, then it can be donated to Jon’s project in
conjunction with Jamie and the Town Attorney who would like to have input on the actual timing
of when it goes to Jon. Once subdivision plan is approved, it goes to the registry. We then can
have the parcel divided into pieces. The other two lots stay with the Town.
The trust is not done just because the money is running down. You still have land. Susan asked if
the Trust has the ability to get more money. Chris F. stated that there is another way to fund the
trust. He knows of a potential 40B project that might be an appropriate project to allow a buyout.
The condos could be up to $800,000 to $900,000. We allowed both Eagles Nest and Palladini
Village to buy out because the unit selling prices were too high. We did this before when we
utilized those funds to buy houses that needed repair. We bought them at $300,000, fixed them
up, and then sold them for $165,000. Gus was very instrumental in that project to get them fixed
up and ready for sale. Don’t think he would be available in the same capacity now.
Chris V. asked Kim what was going on with her committees. The Housing group you stated you are
working with for the last few years. Do you have any further update? Kim stated that the hospital
(Milford Regional) is in the process of doing a Community Health Assessment. Three years ago
they did a really big one. What happened during Covid was food insecurity and
housing/homelessness really rose to the surface. As a result of that, when we actually did the last
Community Health Assessment, it rose to the top or near the top of the Hospital’s priority list.
Milford Regional has the normal mental health and substance issues and they have access to
health care. They’re looking at health outcomes in Worcester County and also homelessness and
food insecurities came up. When the hospital has done all sorts of improvements in the past,
they’re expected to put a certain percentage of what they spend back into the community. That
goes to what we call a Community Health Network and we are area 6 and Kim is currently the
chair (but soon will not be the chair). Our priority areas are mental health/substance abuse and
then food insecurity and homelessness. We do health care grants to non-profits to be able to try
and improve health. With housing it is difficult for us. We actually did a homelessness panel
discussion and we have a fair amount of money, but when you start looking at construction, it is
not even a spit in the bucket. If a non-profit was looking to try to do a social services project and
they wanted to have startup funding to do that, we could because our fall grants are about
$10,000 and our spring grants are up to.$75,000. It is a fair amount of money. There is a sub-
committee on homelessness that is actually between the hospital and CHNA6 and we are
currently trying to figure out how we can do a campaign to make people a little more aware of the
problem. We have people who live in the woods. The fastest growing segment is the elderly. You
have a woman who has been a homemaker and the husband dies and she loses the house and
now she’s living in her car and she’s in her seventies. So we’re trying to figure out how we can best
bring more attention to that and to whom we want to bring that whether it’s the different towns
or the actual communities, etc. We have been working on that for several years.
Chris V. had no idea that food insecurities and homelessness is right up there as part of the health
initiative. Your spring grants of up to $75,000 for the right project could serve as seed money
perhaps for something. Housing is such a long term issue. It is easier to put money in the food
pantry than it is to think about construction which is longer term housing. Kim stated that it is
hard to put money in the food pantry because we view ourselves as doing infrastructure and we
are having philosophical discussions on the food pantry. We could give our local food pantries our
entire amount and they’ll spend it all and will still want more. It is not sustainable. We kind of try
to do more infrastructure such as, for the Medway Village food pantry, we bought them a $75,000
refrigerator/freezer that could be stored outside and that actually increased their capacity to
serve families.
Chris V. asked if there was anything to discuss for our next agenda. Bryan is going to be back on
the Franklin Ridge project and Maxine is going to contact Jamie on the affordable project on
Pleasant Street at St. Johns.
Motion by Maxine to Adjourn, Second by Susan. Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-Yes, Chris
F.-Yes, Chris V.-Yes. Vote: 5-0-2 (Submitted by Maxine Kinhart)
Agenda
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust
Agenda
December 12, 2023
10:00 AM
Virtual Meeting
To all residents, this meeting is available to be attended in person and via the Zoom platform. In an
effort to ensure citizen engagement and comply with open meeting law regulations, citizens will be able
to dial into the meeting using the provided phone number, or citizens can participate by using the Zoom
link provided on the agenda.
Please click on https://zoom.us/j/91409108148 or call on your phone at 1-929-205-
6099, meeting ID is 91409108148.
1. Approval of Meeting Minutes – August 15, 2023, October 10, 2023
2. Affordable Housing Update – Finances - Maxine
3. 2024 Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Dates
4. Update on Franklin Ridge Project – Bryan Taberner
5. Future Agenda Items
Comments: This listing of matters is that reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at
the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought
up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.
This agenda is subject to change.
TOWN OF FRANKLIN
MUNICIPAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST
August 15, 2023
Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order, members present: Chris Vericker, Susan Younis, Maxine Kinhart, Chris
Feeley, Jamie Hellen
Guests: Bryan Taberner
1. Swearing in of the members. Deputy Town Clerk Dyan Fitzgerald swore in the members of
the Trust. Members present and sworn in for the one year term of office were Susan Younis,
Maxine Kinhart, and Chris Vericker. Chris Feeley was sworn in prior to this meeting.
2. Election of Officers. Motion to approve the appointment of Chris Vericker as Chairman. Roll
Call vote: Susan Younis: Yes, Maxine Kinhart: Yes, Chris Feeley: Yes, Chris Vericker: Yes.
Vote: 5-0-0. Motion to approve the appointment of Susan Younis as Vice Chairman. Roll Call
Vote: Maxine Kinhart: Yes, Chris Feeley: Yes, Chris Vericker: Yes, Susan Younis: Yes. Vote:
5-0-0. Motion to approve the appointment of Maxine Kinhart as Clerk. Roll Call vote: Chris
Feeley: Yes, Susan Younis: Yes, Chris Vericker: Yes, Maxine Kinhart: Yes. Vote 5-0-0.
3. Approval of Minutes – August 15, 2023 – Motion by Susan to Approve the minutes, Second
by Maxine. Roll Call Vote: Maxine: Yes, Susan: Yes, Chris F.: Yes, Chris V: Yes, Jamie
Hellen: Yes. Vote: 5-0-0
4. Affordable Housing Update - Maxine
1. 67 Palomino Drive – Has closed and the new owner has moved in.
2. 90 Palomino Drive is scheduled to close on August 30.
3. 144 Grey Wolf Drive. Spoke with the owner’s daughter via email. She was interested in
what the condo would sell for. As of August 2, the value would be $250,824. This figure is
subject to change as the State is the entity that sets the sales price but it should be the same as
it is as a result of a calculation found in the Deed Rider. She also mentioned that she is
dealing with the state over a MassHealth Lien on the property and she is waiting for them to
contact her. Maxine wanted to update the members on something that was mentioned at the
last meeting. You cannot transfer the property via a will. The property will be sold via a
process established in the Deed Rider. Once sold, the proceeds will go to the heirs. The
property could be transferred to an heir but they would have to qualify under all the terms of
the Deed Rider. I don’t believe the daughter is considering this option.
5. Franklin Ridge Senior Housing – Bryan Taberner, Director Department of Planning &
Community Development
1
Franklin Ridge is the senior housing project planned for Veteran’s Memorial Way behind
Eaton Place, the current senior housing. Bryan reported that the Department of Public Works
funded preliminary site studies while keeping grant money to be used for other purposes. The
Franklin Public School department donated an easement for the pump house to be located on
school property. Funding from the town includes a local match to the FY 21 HC Grant, a
commitment from the Trust for project engineering/project design for $30,000 and DPW
engineering consulting of $10,000, a FY 23 DHCD-ARPA funding contract with the state of
$280,000 and a FY 2023 MassWorks Grant of $3,200,000, and finally a commitment of
$500,000 from the Housing Trust and $320,000 from the CPA for a total current funding
amount of $4,556,235. Additionally, the Town has promised a 7.5 acre land donation for the
location and staff assistance from Administration, DPW, Engineering, and DPCD. Previously
unknown wetlands were discovered as a result of a site study. These wetlands will reduce the
property previously identified as buildable lots. The Town has spent funds in direct spending
and in-kind sums that will be helpful when seeking matching funds from the state. In addition
to the senior housing, an additional use for the property will include trails and existing
footpaths that are currently used as a shortcut to the high school and middle school by the Daily
Drive neighborhood students.
6. General Business: Chris Feeley noted that he had been approached by a local developer of a
friendly 40B apartment complex behind the Church on Pleasant Street asking for support from
the Housing Trust. The sense of the members that they needed more information.
MOTION by Maxine to Adjourn, SECOND by Susan Roll Call Vote: Maxine: Yes, Susan: Yes,
Chris F.: Yes, Chris V.: Yes, Jamie: Yes. Vote: 5-0-0.
Meeting Adjourned at 11:00 AM.
Minutes prepared by: Maxine Kinhart
2
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust
October 10, 2023
Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order, members present: Maxine Kinhart, Susan Younis, Amy
Frigulietti, Kimberly Mu-Chow, Jaya Vijayaraghavan, Jamie Hellen, Chris V.
Member absent: Chris Feeley
Also present: Bryan Taberner
1. Approval of Meeting Minutes:
August 15, 2023 – need more information on the request for funds for a development
brought by Chris Feeley. No Vote taken.
2. Affordable Housing Update – Maxine is in talks with the daughter of the owner of 144
Grey Wolf Drive. She has indicated that she is ready to sell. The owner is deceased. The
condo has been vacant for 2 – 3 years.
3. Update: Community Intervention Team – Susan spoke with Danielle and had a
conversation of what can be done by the trust, what are the conversation points, what
are the talking points, what are the take away points and so forth. We kind of backed off
spearheading something like that as we understand that we cannot fund anything, but
we definitely want to be part of the conversation and to have a seat at that table and be
part of those conversations. Believe that there has been one meeting already.
Kim Mu-Chow stated that she has been member of that group for two years. It was
something that Maggie Gunderson started. She thinks Danielle’s vision is to change it
from that. She gave a lot of information to the group. The group of us has been helping
the homeless. Danielle talked about its time to do fuel assistance, stuff like that. She
thinks Danielle’s vision is to turn it into something else. We did have Danielle’s
component as part of it, but we also did other things and I think she wants to make it
more focused. I don’t think the group has met since Maggie left and that has been a
while.
Chris V. is pleased to hear about this group and affordable housing. We, as the Housing
Trust, have a longer term approach to affordable housing and housing solutions. There
is an immediate need and there are a bunch of groups that are addressing that
immediate need. Our situation is a little different than what those folks are addressing,
but we thought that there was some value in getting together. Kimberly, I am very
pleased you are a part of that. Is that through the Church? Yes, the New England Chapel
and also for the Milford Regional Medical Center. I’m on the sub-committee for
homelessness as part of their community benefits advisory group.
Amy added that Danielle did reach out to her last week about this team. A member of
the fire department is also coordinating with her and they are interested in meeting in
the next few weeks to kind of bring some internal stakeholders together first and then
broadening it out again just to get everyone up to speed. Jaime had asked her to bring
together some of our social service organizations along with some of our departments
and do a round table. It sounds like this is already being done but she doesn’t know
much about it. She wants to get more information from her to understand what the role
of the team is.
Jamie added that an intervention team cannot be made up of just the Senior Center, the
police department, the school district, or individual entities. A community is a
community, it's everybody. We’re trying to bring all those folks together. We already
have in a lot of ways with the migrant related issue, so we’re probably going to have an
extension of that. There is no housing available in Massachusetts anymore and there is
no emergency shelter space. I think everybody is familiar with the migrant issue. There
is no room, literally, no housing and that’s why the hotels are being filled at a pretty
high rate. State wide occupancy of hotel rooms is about 4-5 percent of hotel rooms. It is
thousands and thousands and thousands of rooms. This is an issue that is going to go on
for a while. It’s clear that our local governments are going to be expected to deliver a
certain set of something. The problem is going to get worse before it gets better. We
will include the Trust in that broader effort. The Community Intervention Team was not
the whole community; it was just a few people who were getting together that cared
about social services. The problems that we are facing today are well beyond what that
initial model tried to be and it’s too much for Danielle and the staff to handle somehow
on their own. We have two new mental health clinician case workers at the police
department. We’ve got a lot of things going on. Hopefully, in the next several months,
we’ll be able to roll out a larger profile and we will certainly let the trust know as things
move on.
Chris wanted to know what the current situation today is. Do we have folks in the hotels
in town? Jamie added we have one hotel, the Best Western. It’s about half full; about
150-160 people and about 40 school aged children. You have the normal routine
integration issues that you have school bus logistics, education needs logistics, state
reimbursement logistics other than those things the situation seems to be relatively
stable so far. We expect the second half of the hotel to be filled up later this year, this
month, or the fall. As Secretary Augustus and the Governor have clearly stated, there is
just no space. How that all gets dealt with is being dealt with at the state level. What
happens from here on out remains to be seen.
Question of where are they coming from and is this a long term situation? Many have
been coming from Haiti. Some of them have been here for quite some time. They’ve
been in New York or other states or other parts of Massachusetts. Some are from
Venezuela. We have had some from Massachusetts that are in need of housing
assistance or have been in other areas of the Commonwealth and are moving around
because they are part of the shelter system. The state has partnered with the hotel for a
year lease that began in July 1. So we know that it’s at least a year. Don’t know where
people are going to go. This is a question for the Governor. Once these people are on
their own and working and able to pay rent, where are they going to go because there is
such a shortage of housing for people.
Jamie added it’s a fragmented system between the federal government, the state level,
and the local level. At a manager’s conference last week in Austin, I got to go to a
session with the managers of El Paso TX, Brownsville TX, and a couple of cities in
California that deal with this every day. They said the most important thing to do is get a
migrant family connected to another family of the same ethnicity or the same country
of origin. That‘s the way to get people up on their feet quicker and gets them more
comfortable and acclimated to a community. It’s proven time and time again, if we
want to integrate individuals into society and paying taxes, getting jobs etc., we need to
find where their family, friends or folks from their country of origin are to be able to link
them up with grocery stores, and transit services. All these things are a piece of the
equation. There is a world of global unrest happening. People are moving and this is
going to continue for a while. State government and federal leaders need to figure out
a system where we can move people around easier and better and expedite
applications, whatever it is. New York City is busing people out of New York City to other
parts of New York. We’re probably going to see that happen at some point. It is going to
be a long term thing.
Chris V. wanted to know about meeting in person. Can we get together without it being
a meeting? Would it be an open meeting law? Jamie said yes you can, you just can’t
deliberate or take votes. You can post a meeting just to be safe. Chris asked if we
would have to offer zoom. Jamie said there is no requirement to offer zoom. He has
never met Susan, Kim, and Jaya. He would like to have an in-person at some point.
Jamie stated that we have the training room, room 205, or council chambers. Do we
have to have zoom meeting. There’s no requirement to offer Zoom.
Jaya offered to do things for the committee. She could do it offline and provide
information at the next meeting. Chris said that there is nothing at this point. Susan
kind of reported back about what she has learned about the community intervention
team. In the past we have had different properties that have come to market. We may
be asking you at some point.
Chris stated that it was good to see Bryan at the Harvest Fest. It’s always a good event
and thanked Bryan for his services. Bryan stated that a rain date causes stress, but this
year we had a lot of high school and Dean Collage volunteers.
Motion by Susan to Adjourn, Second by Jaime. Roll Call: Maxine-Yes, Susan-Yes, Kim-
Yes, Jaya-Yes, Jaime-Yes, Amy-Yes, Chris V.-Yes. Vote: 7-0-1
Submitted by Maxine Kinhart
Financial Update
29175818 – Administrative Account
$22,391
84175818 – Affordable Housing Trust
$954,031
On December 12, 2023 The Municipal Affordable Housing Trust voted to Approve
the 2024 Meeting Dates.
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust
Meeting Dates – Tuesdays – 10:00 AM via Zoom
January 9, 2024
February 13, 2024
March 12, 2024
April 9, 2024
May 14, 2024
June 11, 2024
July 9, 2024
August 13, 2024
September 10, 2024
October 8, 2024
November 12, 2024
December 10, 2024
Update on Franklin Ridge Project – Bryan Taberner
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