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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AC - 09/14/2017 Town of Cohasset Advisory Committee Minutes, September 14, 2017 Place: Cohasset Town Hall—Downstairs Meeting Room Attendees Other Attendees Nancy Adams Roth Christopher Senior Tanya Bodell Mary McGoldrick Richard Fitzpatrick Russ Bonetti Leland Jenkins John Chapman Ralph Tulio Michael Dick Helane Lieb 7:00 pm—Nan started the meeting by recapping the status of the articles reviewed on the last meeting: • Articles 7, 8, &9 are pulled out from the warrant. • Articles 5, 11 12& 13 are in tonight's continued discussions. • Articles 1, 2, 3,4, 6& 10 were voted and approved by the Advisory Committee on Sept. 12,2017. Per Chris Senior, Special Town Meeting is pushed back to either November 27,2017 or December 4,2017. More than likely it will be in December. Chris is currently waiting for the moderator's availability so he can firm up the date. Article 5 discussion. Nan recognized Mary McGoldrick(THRAC) and Chris Senior to open the discussions on article 5—Cohasset Town Hall. Nan mentioned there are four topics the committee has on this project. They are as follows: • Question on how the internal design was conceptualized. • Are there geothermal grants or other grant money we can tap into? • Need to look at our funding capacity. • What is the moving plan? Per Mary M.,the internal design and layout was based on 100 hours of study made by THRAC. They collaborated with all department heads and town employees in the building to identify collaborative needs, space, accessibility, and privacy requirements. The scope of this study also includes analysis on the department's functionality an how to optimize the space more efficiently. Departments'location in the building will be re-organized based on public accessibility(i.e.back office departments will be upstairs; departments with public interactions will be on the first floor.) The design also took into account moving of walls in the future if required. All windows and doors will be capable of withstanding storms. The exterior of Town Hall will be re-painted since the exterior is in good shape. Nan asked if it could be re-painted now since the exterior paint is flaking. Chris will have to look at that. The building will be heated by natural gas. THRAC can provide the mechanical engineering plan if the committee needs it. Paul C. asked about LEED certification eligibility. Chris mentioned it would be determined within the next three months. Advisory Committee Minutes—September 12,2017 Page 1 of 3 Chris is also looking ways to fund the project(i.e. thru private funding)in addition to possible grants this project may be eligible to. Chris mentioned they are currently looking at five supplement sources: 1. ADA Compliance grants 2. MA Cultural Council 3. Energy Efficiency grants 4. MA preservation Projects Fund 5. Cohasset Preservation Committee The remaining shortfall will be the town's responsibility. The question will be whether to pay the shortfall in cash or issue a 20-year bond. The town's bond rating will not be affected since bond rating is based on the town's payment practice and not the cumulative amount of bonds outstanding. Chris estimates a$200 per year tax increase per average household if he were to issue premium bonds with 4%coupons. John C. expressed concerns on other buildings'capital improvement needs in the near future and how this project will affect meeting those needs financial wise. He asked for a five to ten years projection that includes this project. John hopes this will be available in a couple weeks so the committee can study it. The question was also raised whether using the debt rollout is an option. Chris anticipates having concrete numbers by end of October. Helane L. asked about the relocation plan. Chris is looking at town owned buildings to house the town employees during the construction phase. These buildings may include: 1. Teen center 2. DPW building 3. Water department building 4. Community Center Nan suggested the need to peg down the cost and firm up the temporary locations of these departments/personnel. Chris wants to look at these buildings before venturing into leasing spaces from commercial owned office buildings. Mary M. cautioned that if the project is delayed from its current timeline,the $12M price tag might increase a factor of $250K for every six months of delay. In closing,Nan asked for a full disclosure of the project in order for the committee to properly vote on this article. Article 11 Discussion—Granting of Easements for Solar Array Chris provided a background of this article. This was brought to light when National Grid asked for a permanent easement on 2 to 3 poles feeding the array. Chris response to National Grid that the BOS will be the governing body to grant such easement. However,the BOS is currently not empowered to do so. Hence,the purpose for this article to be voted by the town residence. National Grid proceeded with the completion of the Solar Array project with the thought of receiving the easement at a later date. The current lease and power purchase contract is 20 years with the option to buy after 5 years. Tanya B. requested a revision to the wording of the article not to grant any perpetual or permanent easements fearing potential loss of future revenue should should there be a bankruptcy and ownership be transferred to a new owner. Chris has no problem removing the phrase"... perpetual and..."from the first sentence and add"... for the benefit of the town."On the last sentence. Tanya B. further recommends the verbiage to read: "to grant easement only for the life of the array for the benefit of the town". Nan and Rich F. would like to see the revised article prior to voting. Chris will revise. Advisory Committee Minutes—September 12,2017 Page 2 of 3 Article 12—Drainage and Access Easement to Sandy Cove off Atlantic Avenue Chris to provide the committee with more verbiage and information regarding this article. There article currently has too many blank fields. Additionally,the committee request additional background on the re-channeling of drainage pipe. Chris mentioned this article would only allow BOS to accept easements. There are no monetary requests on this article. Article 13 Discussion—CPC—James Island 8:25 pm-Nan recognized Russ Bonetti, Chairman of CPC. Russ provided some background on this article. This article requests a$300K funding from the CPC to cover the shortfall on purchase of James Island, a 6.7 acre property,by the Trust for Public Land. The purchase price is $3M and is currently appraised at$3.4M. Should the town approve this article, it will dissolve the current litigation against further development of this property and thus,remain its current natural state open to the public. The title will be held by Trust Republic Land,which will have conservation restrictions allowing public use and access. Currently,the group advocating this proposal has raised the following: • $1.2M of private donations. • Another$1.4 from J. Steinmetz in exchange for carving 3/4 acres of easement next to his residential property. • $100K pledged by the Cohasset Conservation Trust Rich F.pointed out that this proposal seems to benefit the adjacent residential property owners since public access is not well known. Currently,there is only a small area for parking. Helene L. asked if this could be expanded to accommodate more parking spaces for the public. Russ mentioned this request surfaced recently and need to gather more information. He will forward the information to the Advisory Committee as soon as it becomes available. He will also reach out to see if more parking spaces can be incorporated to the deal. Nan asked for any upcoming projects. Russ mentioned there are but not ready for presentation: • Sandy Beach's potential request to rehab the building. • The Historical Society may ask the CPC to cover$45K of the $50K needed to replace the current heating and ventilating system. • Affordable housing—anticipated funding request of$500K from the CPC. Advisory Committee Minutes—September 12,2017 Page 3 of 3