Taunton Redevelopment Authority

TAUNTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING MINUTES August 24, 2022 at 4 pm Taunton City Hall, 15 Summer Street, Taunton City Council Chambers, 2nd floor Members Present: Ed Correira Chris Coute Larry Silvia Members Absent: Jeff Pagliuca Manuel Spencer William Roth, OECD/TRA Ex. Director, was also in attendance. Dennis Ackerman, Consultant to the TRA, was also in attendance. Call to Order at 4:02 pm: A quorum was present. Item number 1: Review and approve the minutes of July 27, 2022. Mr. Coute motioned to approve the minutes of July 27, 2022 and was seconded by Mr. Silvia. There were no corrections. Motion passed unanimously. Item number 2: Urban Renewal Plan Update: Mr. Roth updated the Authority on the last working group meeting, which was held via Zoom on August 18th. In addition, the Citizen Advisory Committee meeting will be held on September 12th at the Broken Chains Church. Mr. Roth indicated he would post it as a TRA meeting just in case a quorum of the members showed up. Item number 3: City Vacant Lands Discussion Mr. Roth reviewed the Harvey Street lots included in the packet of information he provided on possible City land that could be turned over to the TRA for future development. Discussion on the Harvey Street lots occurred by the members. Mr. Coute felt that the Harvey Street property could yield 3 single family lots, plus the large conservation lot. He mentioned that any development proposal should include public access to the conservation lot. He also recommended that the TRA should pre-permit the project and sell it as one development package. The TRA was in consensus with the concept. TRA – August 24, 2022 Meeting Minutes Mr. Roth reviewed the Fremont Street property included in the packet of information he provided on possible City land that could be turned over to the TRA for future development. Possible uses would be single family residences or a small multifamily project. Discussion on the Fremont Street property occurred by the members. Mr. Coute felt that the Fremont Street property was more complicated, especially since the neighbors have encroachments and would require up front legal work and negotiations with the adjacent neighbors and the encroachments. He also felt that single family would be the better use versus a multifamily project. It was the consensus that the TRA should investigate the Harvey Street lots and work on a proposal to present to City Council. In addition, Ed Brennan, TRA’s, legal council should be brought in to assist with presenting it to City Council once the proposal is ready. Item number 4: Other Business Mr. Coute asked about Bacon Felt property and felt that the TRA could be a useful partner in the future to getting it redeveloped. Mr. Roth discussed that the City has taken the property and was securing the site and conducting a Phase I environmental assessment. He also mentioned that the owner has a 1 year right of redemption; therefore, the City will not have total control until after the one year period. Mr. Roth reviewed the meeting held on August 16th with Ted Landsmark from Northeastern to discuss future planning projects that his students could work on for the TRA. 25 proposals were submitted and 12-15 will be selected. The TRA submitted a project for Reed and Barton. Item number 5: - Next Meeting The next meeting will be September 28, 2022. A motion was then made and approved to adjourn the meeting at 4:45 pm. Respectfully submitted, William D. Roth, Jr., Executive Director, TRA TRA – August 24, 2022 Meeting Minutes