HomeMy Public PortalAbout2021-06-3-Draft-CPC-MinutesTown of Watertown
Community Preservation Committee
Administration Building
149 Main Street
Watertown, Massachusetts 02472
Tel. (617) 972-6417
Fax (617) 972-6595
Committee Members
Mark Kraczkiewicz, Chair
Jason Cohen, Vice Chair
Jonathan Bockian
Bob DiRico
Dennis J. Duff
Allen Gallagher
Jamie O'Connell
Susan Steele
Elodia Thomas
Meeting Minutes: Thursday, June 3, 2021, Remote Zoom Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
Committee Members Present: Mark Kraczkiewicz, Chair; Jason Cohen, Vice Chair; Jon
Bockian, Dennis J. Duff; Allen Gallagher; Bob DiRico, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele joined
at 7:13 pm, and Elodia Thomas.
Others Present: Lanae Handy, CPC Coordinator; Leo Martin, Conservation Commission;
Michele Waldman, Ernesta Krackiewicz, Janet Buck, Jessica Grimsby, Chris Penland, and
Anne Fitzpatrick.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mark Kraczkiewicz, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. He read the
Governor's Executive Order suspending certain provisions of Open Meeting Law,
allowing remote meetings.
Lanae Handy called the roll. Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis J. Duff,
Allen Gallagher, Mark Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, and Elodia Thomas were
present.
2. Acceptance of 4-15-21 and 5-20-21 Meeting Minutes
Mark asked if there were any amendments to the meeting minutes. There were no
requested changes to the 4/15/21 minutes.
Motion: Allen moved to accept the 4-15-21 meeting minutes and Dennis seconded.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
Mark noted he had two corrections to the public hearing minutes and Jamie pointed
out the link to comments gathered through email was incorrect. Mark asked
whether to include a capsule of the exchange with Ellen Rothman about individuals
or ad hoc groups coordinating with the town on a project application. Elodia
thought it was too detailed to include and Mark agreed. Anne Fitzpatrick added
that her address is Standish Rd., not Dandridge Rd.
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Motion: Dennis moved to accept the 5-20-21 minutes with the proposed corrections
and Allen seconded.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
3. Allocation and Transfer of CPA Funds - FY2022 Budget
Through screen sharing, Jason displayed the FY2022 CPA budget and financial
statement (as of May 6, 2021).
Motion: Jason moved to request the Town Council appropriate and transfer from
the fiscal year 2022 Community Preservation Funds, totaling ($3,051,210) the
following funds: 5% ($152,561) for the administrative expense of the Community
Preservation Committee, 10% to the affordable housing reserve ($305,121), 10% to
the historical preservation reserve ($305,121), 10% to the open space/recreation
reserve ($305,121), and 65% to the undesignated fund balance ($1,983,287).
Dennis seconded.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
4. Additional Graphic Designer Fees
Lanae told the CPC that she spoke with Marcia Ciro about changes to be made to
the plan. Marcia explained that if there were minor changes that did not affect the
layout, she would not charge the CPC. However, if the changes were more
involved, she would charge the CPC. Lanae suggested a $500 maximum to ensure
there would be no need to vote on the issue again.
Motion: Dennis moved to set a maximum $500 for additional designer fees. Allen
seconded.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
5. Adoption of Community Preservation Plan - 2021
Jason shared the comments from the public hearing via his screen. Mark suggested
going through them to decide if any warranted changes to the plan. Jon was curious
about the correction of facts. Lanae described the two corrections to the history
section of mislabeled names and Elodia added one in the open space section where
the Greenway was mislabeled in a table.
Mark stated that Jennifer Van Campen had some criticism of the application
timeline and thought applications should be accepted on a rolling basis. Mark
remarked that while the CPC would accept eligibility forms on a rolling basis, the
full funding application deadline should be kept. He read from the Department of
Revenue regulations that the CPC evaluates projects and makes recommendations
based on other projects competing for CPA funding. Mark indicated that assumes
reviewing and evaluating project applications as a group.
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Jon shared his screen and following up on Jennifer's comment. He researched the
NRPA performance review and the ratio of governmental land per person. Jon
believed the plan should accurately represent the town and provide a full picture.
He declared the NRPA points out the ratio is not meant to be a basis of comparison.
Jon thought the Watertown ratio should not be compared to the NRPA number 9.9
acres/1,000 persons because that figure was presented as a median number derived
from survey responses from municipalities. Jon also suggested including publicly
accessible open space to give a fuller picture of the Watertown ratio. He proposed
showing the ratios for both town -owned and all publicly accessible land.
Mark proposed changing the text in four places to replace the word standard with
median.
Elodia pointed out that when DHCD did their calculations for Safe Harbor they did
not accept any open space land that was not owned by the municipality because
those privately owned areas may be developed at any time. Elodia also noted that
the language in the plan comes from town planning documents and the CP Plan uses
the same language as those documents. The latest wording used by the NRPA is
level of service —what people can play on and use for recreation.
Mark responded that we need to use the most up to date information available and
that the NRPA language moved from standard to national median. Elodia said the
plan is evolving with changes such as the completion of the housing plan and the
development of a municipal affordable housing trust. She further stated, Leo spent
a lot of time putting the figures together and consulting Gideon and Laurel.
Jamie thanked Leo and committee members for their hard work on the plan. She
found Jennifer's comments useful, although she disagreed with her conclusion.
Jamie was not clear on what was included in the 3.25 acre/1,000 persons ratio in
the plan. She thought Jon's comments were helpful in comparing the different
ratios detailing exactly which open space is included in the ratio calculations. She
agreed that that the NRPA figure it is not a standard, but it is useful for
comparison, showing that Watertown's ratio is low compared to the national
median.
Jon disagreed with using the NRPA median in the plan and stated that the CPC
could consider proposals from the owners of private open space. He thought
privately -owned publicly accessible space should be included in the ratio.
Mark declared the term national median term should be used in the plan and the
committee needed to decide whether to reference the NRPA median or not. Jaime
said she likes the median terminology.
Jamie supported clearly conveying what land is included in the ratio. Jason
emphasized the data should not be cherry -picked to advocate for one category over
another. Jon pointed out the ratio of 10.29 acres/1,000 persons that he proposed
adding to the plan does not include the country club.
Mark asked whether the term NRPA median or standard should be used or not used
at all. Susan said there was real clarity in Leo's argument against using a ratio that
included privately -owned open space. She thought the plan's text was clear and
the modifications would make it more confusing.
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Resident Comments: Anne Fitzpatrick thought the plan was very good as written
since it was done in consultation with planning department staff. She thought the
town needed to make a concerted effort to preserve land because there is a
shortage of open space and available land is rapidly being developed. Anne voted
for the CPA to preserve open space and for historic preservation. She disagreed
with not using the NRPA figure simply because it does not include privately -owned
land.
Chris Penland said that he concurred with Anne. As a resident he understood that
town -owned land is what is represented in the plan. To Jamie's point, the plan may
add a footnote to explain which land was used to calculate the ratio. He further
added that if the town gave up all town -owned open space, one could argue that
the ratio would still be 7 acres/1,000 persons, though that land would not be
protected from development or preserved for public access.
Motion: Allen moved to adopt the plan the way the plan was written and Dennis
seconded.
Discussion: Dennis found Jennifer Van Campen's statements insulting and
offensive. Elodia said the work by staff and Leo needed to be respected. Jon took
offense at the idea that no changes could be made to the draft plan because
people worked so hard on it. Jason agreed and thought that to function properly as
a committee, the group must be able to accept changes without being so
defensive. Jon felt obliged to vote against the motion on the table because it shut
down the conversation.
Leo pointed out that he put tables together, including acreage of publicly -owned
and privately -owned land. Jon suggested amending Allen's motion so that wherever
the ratio of 3.25 acres/1,000 persons is mentioned, the text should clearly state
that its town -owned open space. Mark proposed striking the word standard and
changing it to median.
Susan said changing the language to "NRPA median" sounded like a good change.
Allen amended his motion to include town -owned open space where the ratio is
mentioned. Dennis seconded.
Motion: Mark made a motion to replace standard with NRPA national median where
it occurs. Jon seconded.
Discussion: Mark said the word national could be dropped if needed for layout
reasons. Elodia wanted to be cautious about language and wanted to use the
language from the town planning documents. For example, the town changed its
language to "levels of service per acre". Jamie asked whether it was appropriate to
update the language to NRPA median when the town documents are still using the
word standard. Elodia stated the 2021 National Recreation and Park Association
Agency Performance Review document would be added to reference the national
median ratio. Elodia read what she understood would be the revised language,
"Watertown's low ratio of town -owned open space (3.25 acres/1,000) is far below
the NRPA national median of 10 acres/1,000 persons." She said that similar
language would be inserted in four locations in the plan.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
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The committee then voted on Allen's amendment to accept the final plan with the
changes noted.
Vote: Jon Bockian vote no. Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher,
Mark Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted yes.
Dennis asked if the plan included the application. Jon agreed that there should be
a motion to accept the application.
Motion: Dennis moved to accept the application and to forward the plan and the
application to the Town Council. Allen seconded.
Jon said he was glad to approve the application packet but did not want to vote yes
on sending the plan as to the Town Council. Elodia stated the plan had to be sent
to the Town Council and that he would not be voting to approve the plan because
he already voted against that.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor.
6. Adjournment
Motion: Dennis moved to adjourn the meeting and Allen seconded.
Resident Comments: Anne as a novice, said she understood the plan when she read
it. When she made her statement, she was not worried about offending the
authors, but rather her point was about listening to the professionals. Anne thought
some of the amended language clouded the issue, making it seem like the town has
more space than it does. Anne appreciated the hard work and is thrilled the CPC
voted to adopt the plan.
Jessica applauded the adoption of the plan. She said as a resident, she found it
clear. Jessica hoped the CPC would be open to hearing feedback.
Vote: Jon Bockian, Jason Cohen, Bob DiRico, Dennis Duff, Allen Gallagher, Mark
Kraczkiewicz, Jamie O'Connell, Susan Steele, and Elodia Thomas voted in favor
Meeting adjourned at 9:06 PM.
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