City Council

City of Salem, Massachusetts “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Committee on Committee of the Whole____________________________________________ met in the Council Chamber on __Tuesday July 1, 2025________________________ at _______6:00 PM________ for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on _________________June 27, 2025_____________________ at _________7:52 A.M.__________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE Prosniewski (president), Hapworth, Cohen, Morsillo, Jerzylo, Stott, Davis and Merkl. Prime Group et al – Patrick Schmidt, Katie Davis, Sean Selby, Robert Moser ABSENT WERE: Harvey, Varela and Watson-Felt. SUBJECT(S) #356 Meeting with Prime Group, their representatives and consultants to present their most current plans for Shetland______ Park____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Prosniewski – This is an informational meeting only to update the council of the proposed plans. These plans are expected to continue to change as input is being provided to the city by Prime Group. There will be no votes tonight. The permitting process has not begun and there haven’t been any zoning changes yet. We will have a presentation by Prime Group, then a question and answer period for the council. If time allows, we will take public comment. Patrick Schmidt – Tonight, you're going to see a lot about the potential of Shetland Park, what we can achieve and what's possible. A lot of this isn't possible without a change in zoning. This is an informational meeting to bring the Council and others up to speed to where we're at and what's possible on the site. Katie Davis - I am part of the onsite leadership for Shetland. I oversee all commercial leasing and property operations at the park on the day to day. I have been with Shetland Park and the property in some capacity over the last 10 years, so I have a very intimate knowledge of everything there is at Shetland Park. Shetland has been a landmark on the Salem waterfront for over 100 years as a hub for business and community. Shetland Park is home to 119 different businesses. Without any rezoning or repositioning and significant investment, both publicly and privately, the site is going to become obsolete in use, infrastructure, and sustainability, making it more of a liability than the economic resource that it deserves to be. The site is approximately 29 acres of predominantly paved, impervious landscape. Deteriorating underground utilities is something that we face all the time. It’s a challenge for us and for our tenant base. It's a 100-year-old property located along the waterfront, so it is a recipe for recurring, unique and often complex maintenance issues. The buildings generally energy inefficient and environmentally unsustainable. There are also many economic and marketing challenges from the commercial leasing side. There's a limited demand for large scale space and the space is difficult to subdivide. There is also a lack of modern amenities such as community space, outdoor green space, on-site restaurants and other services that attract quality tenants. There are limited pedestrian paths, no sidewalks which creates a safety hazard for the tenants and the visitors. It has very narrow roadways, challenging roadways, as well as being cut off from the neighborhood. The site, as it exists today, is underutilized. Shetland Park is an asset that's not meeting its potential. Sean Selby - This presentation seems like it is the beginning of a long process between now and whenever shovels might hit the ground, but we started this process 5 years ago. In early meetings to discuss plans, we found out that there were problems with storm surge, water breaching the berm that surrounds Shetland Park, flooding issues in the park. In the last 5 years, we have had over 250 meetings with many groups/interested parties. The Point Neighborhood is colorful, warm, inviting and the people are the same. This is a neighborhood that is not shy about expressing itself through art and music. We want to take that flavor and build it into the proposal for a new master plan. Early on in our exploration of the project, we came up with a few objectives. The first is reconnecting the neighborhood. There's that black iron fence that runs along Pingree Street and Lynch Street. The fence separates Shetland Park from the neighborhood which made a lot of sense back in 1914 because it was a factory. There is also the Atlantic Ocean and right now Shetland Park turns away from the waterfront. The Point Neighborhood has essentially no direct access other than Palmer Cove Park, but we feel that Shetland Park is a great place to reconnect with the water. And lastly, we want to build for tomorrow. We don't want to do those first two things and then fail to build it so that it could withstand the elements of rising sea levels and challenging environmental issues. If we build it right, then we can make it last for generations. Our plan is to remove the fence and create a walkway, so Palmer Street, Levitt Street, and Lynch Street go right through the property to the water's edge. We want to build harbor walks, parks, playgrounds, etc., along the waterfront. We're going to rebuild the seawall tall enough to withstand any storm. We have plenty of space to make room for stormwater storage, so that the water that comes over the berm and floods the parking lot would instead empty back to where it needs to go. We're going to reconfigure the commercial square footage so that it's on the north end of Shetland Park, closest to the Congress Street Bridge, closest to downtown. We're going to build purpose-built commercial space so that we can attract new tenants. We're not bringing back the textile mills from 100 years ago. We are planning to build a new school for Salem Academy at the southern end of the site. It will be all under one roof next to Palmer Cove Marina instead of the 3 separate locations that they have today. There will be lots of green space around it with a park, playgrounds, etc. We are proposing 1,200 residential apartments, of which 20% would be affordable housing units. Almost all the parking will be below ground. We're going to add 400 plus trees to the site where there are currently no trees. We want to work with local artists and local art groups to provide public art throughout the site. Bob Moser - For over a hundred-year Shetland Park, in the 30 acres that it encompasses, has been closed off from the city and the residents because of this fence that outlines the property. Our goal is not only to integrate Shetland into the neighborhood like we've seen in the diagrams this evening by extending the roads to the waterfront but integrating Shetland into the lives of the citizens of Salem. You currently have this beautiful piece of waterfront that has been closed off for nearly 100 years. My goal is the opposite of what you see across the country, where everybody's trying to make private developments. I want to open this up to the public, so they have access to the waterfront and to add a lot of green space. I would like to set up an incubator program for new startups within the city where they can apply, and we would provide them with the office space, the back office needs, and all the support staff needed to grow their businesses. In addition to that, our company wants to start a scholarship program for the children of Salem for the kids that grew up in this area. We don’t want to be just a developer, but we want to make sure that we improve people's lives. We also want to put in a 9-acre recreation area that's open to the public. The project at Shetland will employ over a thousand construction jobs, then there would be hundreds of jobs that would continue to operate at Shetland. Our goal would be to offer those jobs to the citizens of Salem before we went outward with them. These jobs would range from managerial jobs to office, to white collar to blue collar, to technicians straight up through the whole job chain. They would be high paying jobs that will be at their doorstep, where they won't have to commute to. We also want the community input on what to call it. Merkl – I appreciate your outreach to the community and community groups. There is a lot of room for improvement at Shetland Park. It is not pedestrian friendly, and I like many of your ideas. I have a concern about the rents increasing for the non-profits and government agencies that lease space. You said that you are planning for 1200 residential units with 20% being affordable housing but I would like to know what the AMI will be. Finally, you mentioned that there isn’t an accessible grocery store in the neighborhood, so I wanted to know if you have any plans to put one in with reasonably priced staples. Patrick Schmidt – As far as a grocery store, we have heard that we should put one in, and mostly what is being requested is an Aldi’s, but it depends on how big the store should be. I already reached out to Aldi’s, and they are interested in discussing it. We have 13 non-profits leasing at Shetland Park and we know that we can’t raise the rent for those organizations, and they need to be in Shetland Park. On the AMI, we are currently at 10% at 60 AMI and 10% at 80 AMI. We are also exploring a partnership with the North Shore CDC in which we would give them a lot on Congress St. where they can build at the AMI that they think is appropriate. Cohen – I have many questions. My first is about sustainability. The area that you said could have access to the water, which looks cool, but will you be raising the berm there? I didn’t see that designated on the slide. Sean Selby – We want people to have access to the water, but we are in the zoning change phase of developing the property so the details of how to get people access to the water are still being worked out. Cohen – We adopted a specialized code and being all electric qualifies, and I know you have a lot of Solar PV, but have you considered passive house design for the buildings? If the building is not all electric, then it must be passive house design according to the new code. Are you planning to do a combination of air source and ground source geothermal? Sean Selby – We are considering passive house design, and we have done it successfully in many projects. We have been talking to a company about geothermal. We aren’t sure if it will be the whole campus or if we will do it building by building. Cohen – SSU is doing a geothermal project which is the largest geothermal project in Eastern Mass. And St. Peter’s Church is doing a geothermal project, and they have found that the more buildings you have in the system, the more efficient it is so if North Shore CDC is across the street, maybe you can combine with them for geothermal. Also, I would ask you to have as capacity as possible for EV charging stations as well as lots of spaces for bikes. I am also happy that you plan to have a shuttle. I think it should go to the ferry, the current MBTA station as well as the new MBTA station, because we will have one at some point in the future. We are also considering a program for property owners to be able to keep their stormwater on site. Have you talked to Crowley regarding wind programs? The affordability is very important, and I think the percentage should be higher. The non-profits that are leasing there are very important to the city and, I know you said you won’t be raising the rent, but it has been raised since the property has been owned but it is private property so you can do what you want, but those non-profits could be a way to market this project. Sean Selby – We are planning to work with the planning department to determine how much parking we would need for residential and commercial and if we can reduce the amount of car parking and add areas for bikes or EV charging. We would welcome that. Davis – Affordability is my main concern, so I am wondering if there is some wiggle room on the 20% because given the current AMI in that neighborhood, it really needs to be higher than 20%. I like a lot of the ideas for this project, the walkways, energy efficiency, sustainability, waterfront access, etc. Eric Halverson, RKG – We know that there is a need for more housing in Salem as well as across the country and we have looked into the AMI of the neighborhood and that is why we are considering the 10% at 60 AMI and 10% at 80 AMI instead of just 20% at 80. Davis – I am happy that you are planning to have a shuttle, that is important. I would like to hear more about the idea for a grocery store in the development as well as other amenities that will help the neighborhood to be less car dependent. I would like to see other things, like a barbershop. Anything that helps the residents and not clog up our streets. Patrick Schmidt – We are not looking to add any big box retailers, but we are looking to include a grocery store, barber, etc. We have also heard from Salem Main Streets, and they have asked that we not compete with the downtown and steal the businesses for leasing. That is not our intent and that is not what the community needs. We aren’t looking to create retail, just the service retail that is necessary for the people that are there. Morsillo – I think this is a beautiful area with a lot of potential. It reminds me of the Seaport District in Boston. Have you looked at that project and researched the challenges for that project and taken those into consideration as a part of this plan? I am really struggling with the affordability and keeping this affordable and not a high-end complex that the people in that neighborhood can’t afford. Sean Selby – The Seaport has very wide streets that are difficult to cross. This project is in a neighborhood, so that won’t work here. We are looking at this as more pedestrian friendly/focused with narrower streets and pathways that are only intended for pedestrians, and we want very little car access other than to get to the parking garage. We are having lots of conversations with those in the community and in the neighborhood to get an idea of what they need for this space. The Seaport is very different from this project. The neighborhood is different, the demographics are different, and the architecture is different. Peter Tam, Counsel, Prime Group – This is a different project than the Seaport because this project is a single master plan, which wasn’t the case in the Seaport. There won’t be luxury condos, even though the zoning doesn’t designate the difference. There will be a development agreement with the city that will designate the residential space as rentals. We will continue our conversations with the Neighborhood Association and the CDC as well as commitments to the neighborhood and the community. The rentals will be a mix of income and there will be deeper affordability than the state requires. This will not be an exclusive community. This project is meant to enhance the community rather than exclude. When we get to the zoning, it is going to be very intentional. It will specify where the uses are and what they will be, like affordability and open space. This will include at least 240 affordable units that will be available to Salem residents first. We take all your comments seriously and these are the types of conversations that we want to have. Hapworth – I think this is potentially the biggest project ever in Salem, so it is potentially the most important project that has come before the city council, and we are entrusting it to one developer. What other similar projects has Prime done in the past? Bob Moser – This project will be done in phases. That allows us to manage the project better and not over or under build. We have about 40,000 rentals across the country, and we have built 10,000-15,000 multifamily units along with building these large commercial projects. Prime and its subsidiaries are a $8-10 billion company. We have built projects that are this large but are scaled in. That is why I wanted to mention that this will be a phased project. There are only one or two companies that would build everything at once and those would only work in large metropolitan areas. We are currently in the planning phases of a large project in FL. Hapworth – Why Shetland and why Salem? Bob Moser – I love New England, and we like to work on waterfront projects. 10 years ago, when I was discussing purchasing Shetland, I discussed the vision with the seller, and he had a lot of the same ideas on how this area could be better utilized and go with the community. I love the area, and I love that there is a school there. Hapworth – Can you send a list to the council of the projects that you have worked on? Will the non-profits have a right of return? I assume during these projects, they will need to be temporarily relocated. Patrick Schmidt – Our intent through phasing is that the tenant will not have to relocate outside of the area so they can continue to operate. It is important for all tenants to continue to operate so we don’t lose them as a tenant. Hapworth – Can you give us more detail on the Salem residents getting the affordable apartments first? And is it legal? Peter Tam – The concept is that affordable units within the master plan, once constructed, would be under a regulatory agreement. The agreement would require that they stay affordable in perpetuity. Within that regulatory agreement there would be an obligation to seek out eligible local residents to the extent consistent with the law. This is a customary obligation that you would see in many 40R developments. To touch on the experience, Bob owns this property which is a unique situation. Mostly you see developers without much skin in the game, so they can’t make the commitments to the city and the community that Prime can make. It is an important differentiator as the owner and one of the largest taxpayers in the city. Hapworth – My biggest concern is the affordability and 10% at 60 AMI and 10% at 80 AMI isn’t something that I would consider even though the concept and design look great. I don’t want to see $800,000 condos spilling into the Point Neighborhood. That is not what the city or the neighborhood needs. Jerzylo – Can you talk about the project timeline and the phasing plan? And when you did the traffic study, did it include a seasonal pattern to look at our biggest tourist season? Patrick Schmidt – I can give you a broad outline. If the zoning were to move forward, we would need to go through a MEPA process which takes 9-12 months, then we have Chapter 91, which is another 9-12 months. The way the site lays out and to keep everyone up and running, the charter school would have to be built first and that would be next to the Palmer Yacht Club. That would allow us to have space to move the non-profits and other tenants. Then we would continue to build in phases over a 5–8 year period. Jeff Dirk, Vanessa – The traffic study was done in the summer, and we would not want to build around the seasonal traffic, we would work with the city on managing the traffic as it relates to the project. Cohen – The affordability is the most important thing to me. I don’t care that it will be more than what is required, we need to look at this neighborhood and make the affordability fit with this working-class neighborhood. So, we really need to mandate affordability. Morsillo – The streets that you will be extending to the water, will those be city streets or will they be private? Patrick Schmidt – More than likely, the city will want them to be private streets so we would maintain them, but that would be part of the development agreement. Public Comment – Resident 1: I have questions on the infrastructure. Where is the toilet waste going to go and where is the water and electricity coming in from? It is a big space so it will need a lot of infrastructure to support it. I would also like to see a paid art consultant who does it for a living bring the art into the project. Resident 2: Will the berm that is created along the shoreline have any environmental effect because we already have a flooding problem down there so where is the extra water going to after the berm is up? Resident 3: What about affordable homeownership instead of just affordable rentals? Homeowners have a vested interest in the city. It is very difficult to get ahead if you don’t own a home. Resident 4: I am concerned about adding more art and murals to the Point Neighborhood. It already is obviously a different type of neighborhood and there are enough murals already. Resident 5: The concern I have is about the structure of 40R zoning. The planning board has 120 days to review the project but with a phased project, I don’t see how that works. Over 5-8 years, the planning board structure will change many times so the 120 days review, will be much more difficult. I also have concerns with the size of the project. Resident 6: I was under the impression that this project includes a hotel, if that is true then it should be part of this discussion. Also, this project is so big, is the city prepared for it and for rebuilding the infrastructure? Resident 7: As the president of the Point Neighborhood Association, we have had many discussions with the team about this project. There are still questions and concerns, but I am confident that we will be able to get through them. I think this project will be important and beneficial to the city and our neighborhood. Resident 8: I am a new condo owner on Pingree St. in the Point. I was excited to hear about the shuttle that they are proposing but I am concerned by the size of the project. I know that my condo view of the water will change once they start building the new campus which affects the value of my unit. I am also concerned about the increased traffic and activity in the area. I live on a quiet street which is partly why I chose this area to buy my condo. Resident 9: I work in Shetland Park, and I am on the Housing Authority Board. I care deeply about expanding housing in Salem. There are a lot of things that they haven’t shown us yet on this project, like how the seawall will affect the nearby flood zone and I would like to see the anti-displacement study. I think a full MEPA review should happen before we start discussing zoning changes. Also, will the building be donated to Salem Academy or will they be required to pay rent? I am afraid they wouldn’t be able to afford the rent. Finally, our community desperately needs a new elementary school in that area, but I am not sure if the developers have considered adding one. Resident 10: Even with the affordable housing requirement, the other high-end units will drive up the rent in the community. The rent is already very high and driving some out of the city. Resident 11: Given that this project will have almost a mile of waterfront, I am hoping that the developers are working with the city on a plan for resiliency and sustainability. I like that there will be lots of open space, but I would like to know what kind of plantings are planned and will they be resilient to fresh and salt water? Resident 12: Salem is continually losing businesses, and we need businesses because they contribute to the taxes, and they don’t use as many services. I think we need more retail/commercial space and not as much residential space, especially luxury housing. It has been said for years, if we increase the supply of housing, then the prices will go down, but we haven’t seen that