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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20210106 - Growth Study Committee - Meeting MinutesTown of Hopkinton Growth Study Meeting January 6, 2021 Present: Finley Perry, Chair Michelle Murdock, Vice Chair Tim Brennan, Member Fran DeYoung, Member Jenn Devlin, Member Chuck Joseph, Member Muriel Kramer, Member Shahidul Mannan, Member Wilson St. Pierre, Member Amy Ritterbusch, Select Board Member Rachel Rossin 1.Finley Perry calls the virtual meeting to order at 7pm. 2.Minutes of October 26th accepted unanimously 3.Fran makes a motion to accept the November 18, 2020 meeting minutes. Muriel seconds the motion after discussion. A recommendation to the minutes was to change treasurer to assessor. The minutes were accepted with all members accepting with the exception of Fin who dissented. 4.Working Group #1 (Wilson, Chuck, Michelle, and Rachel) compared Hopkinton to Medfield, Acton, Westford, and Westborough and all examined the spreadsheet and presentation by the group. Michelle stated that she will change total revenue to the percentage of the operational budget. Fin spoke of pie charts and bar graphs for presentations and comparison. Rachel asked about ratios and Michelle spoke about the land use information and where Wilson was able to find it. Fin asked if the day’s email he received could be linked to Tim’s (O’Leary) model. 5.Fin, Chuck and Fran discussed mapping of vulnerable pieces of property for development. They stated that Town Planner John Gelcich has software that can overlay open parcels with acreage that can be developed. They were able to put the color coded map on the screen and discussion ensued. Tim asked about State owned land parcels and if they ever get developed. Chuck replied it can happen but it is rare. Wilson showed large parcels that owe back taxes. Muriel spoke of the color schemes on the map. Chuck commented on the surprising amount of land owned by the State and Town. Fin stated that he would circle back with John. 6.Fran spoke of the master plan on the Planning Board’s agenda. Fran and Jen spoke about the 5-10 year plan with trends and changes. Muriel spoke of the fact that Legacy Farms is an outlier in terms of growth. Chuck spoke of the history of Hopkinton being the last Town inside the 495 belt to develop and that its hard to prepare infrastructure to accommodate that growth. Fin commented on the 40 year development history of Hopkinton. 7.Group #3 talked about the Economic Development Officer. Fin explained that he had submitted the plan to the Town Manager and that the Chamber of Commerce had signed off as well as the Planning Board. Fin explained that ™ Norman Khumalo had been appointed to the 495 development committee. He added that Norman was non committal to the Economic Development Officer. Further discussion centered on getting the EDO position in front of the Select Board. Shahidul asked about the process to get on the agenda for the Select Board. Chuck spoke about changes in zoning possibly occurring on South Street and Hopkinton trying to maintain 16% (or hopefully grow) commercial tax base. 8.Fourth working group consisting of Jen, Fin and Amy spoke about being more specific and the Planning Board being more decisive with data??? Jen spoke about the downtown overlay district and Muriel spoke about the EDO to do the work and push for changes. 9.Wilson spoke about using volunteers and the benefits and drawbacks of same. Chuck summarized his perception of Norman and the EDO position, South Street development and downtown changes and development(s). Rachel added that we need to manage the growth and articulate same to the Select Board. 10.Next meeting was announced to be February 3, 2021 at 7pm. 11.Fran made a motion to adjourn just before 9pm and Muriel seconded it. All were in favor.