Town Council - Regular Meeting

Time being 6:00. Recording in progress.

It gets me every time. April 1st, 2026, 6 p.m. I call a Franklin Town Council meeting to order. I like to have a moment of silence. Please stand for the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Note to residents, all citizens are welcome to attend public meetings in person. To view the live meeting remotely, citizens are encouraged to watch the live stream on Franklin Town Hall TV YouTube channel or live broadcast on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 29. To listen to the meeting remotely, citizens may call in using the number 1-929205609. To participate in the meeting remotely, citizens may join the Zoom webinar using the information below which I will give you. Meetings are recorded and archived by Franklin TV on Franklin Town Hall TV YouTube channel and shown on repeat on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 29. The Zoom webinar detail number is 854 387901 09.

Any participants who wish to speak must enter their full name and address when joining the webinar. All participants will be automatically muted upon joining the webinar. In order to speak, the participants will need to select the raise hand function to request to be unmuted. All speakers will be required to state their full name and street address before commenting. Announcements from the chair. This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 9 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting may be recorded by others. Couple announcements. Uh council morangelo will be uh is on zoom tonight and councel callaway trip is under the weather and will not be with us today, but I know she's watching. So hopefully she gets better soon. Jane, upcoming town sponsored events. The finance committee budget hearing dates on are as follow. Monday, April 6th to discuss general government. Tuesday, April 7th to discuss schools. Wednesday, April 8th to discuss public safety and DPW. Thursday, April 9th 9th only if necessary. If they if they get through everything on Monday and Wednesday, they will not need to meet on Thursday. The Franklin 25th annual Earth Day cleanup will take place on Saturday, April 18th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. join the rec recreational department and be there at 9:00 a.m. to pick up gloves and trash bags in the site map. I'll show you where to

go before heading out to the assigned areas. And thanks everybody for participating in that event. Citizens comments. Citiz Citizens are welcome to express their view for up to three minutes on a matter that is not on the agenda. In compliance with chapter 38 section 20, the open meeting law, the council cannot engage in a dialogue or comment on the matter raised during citizens comments. The council may ask the town administrator to review the matter. Nothing herein shall prevent the town administrator from correcting a misstatement of fact. Is there anybody please just stand up and your name and address please? Hello, Selena Cousin, 114 Beach Street. Good evening. This is only my second time in over 20 years of living in Franklin to come to speak before the town council. I usually stick to education. That's my things I understand related matters. But as in my previous one time speaking up about the potential trash burning facility that was supposed to be put onto Pawn Street about back in Jeff Nutting's days, um that was quickly rejected. I also feel compelled to speak up again on another potential environmental hazard that would negatively affect a large number of Franklin citizens, namely the recent proposal for a battery energy storage system by the town of Bellingham and the Zero Point Development Corporation. This land is was an APS Brownfield site and is located on my street directly next to a very highly populated Franklin neighborhood and the Charles River. It poses health risks by disturbing the contaminated site, fire risks, especially given our ongoing water drought status, and significant noise

and traffic concerns. counselors, I am very concerned about this perose battery energy storage system being um at the site abuing the Charles River on the old mill on pond Pearl Street. As you know, Pearl Street in Bellingham becomes Beach Street in Franklin when the road crosses over the town line. This is a densely packed residential neighborhood that includes all of Hawthorne Village, all of Dover Farms in addition to Beach Street, Plain Street, Pawn Street, and the dozens of sty streets that branch out. I don't know exactly how many Franklin families live within a half mile radius or a mile radius of this site, but is surely in the hundreds if not thousands. Adults, children, and pets all stand to be negatively impacted. In fact, there's even a traffic sign posted right in front of the mill that says thickly populated area. Okay, hold on before I continue. I want to publicly thank the counselors who took the time to read and respond to the email I sent. Thank you. I especially want to thank Ted Cornier Ledger and Max Marello who did some research into the issue as well as Jean Callaway Trip who I understand has been in contact with the woman spearheading this concerned group of citizens. Thank you all. As you may be aware, the town of Bellingham only notified people living within 300 ft of the proposed system. So, you can only imagine how challenging it's been to get the word out to everyone who will actually be affected if this comes to fruition. These large batteries are going to pop up everywhere. I get that. I understand that. However, a large, densely packed residential neighborhood is not the place for this. It poses great disturbance and safety threats to residents of both towns, especially with regards to noise, traffic, health, environmental, and potential fire hazard issues. I beg you all to drive by the location if you're not familiar with it and see

how close it is to many Franklin neighborhoods. So, what are the concerns? First, there's the obvious noise issue for families living in the area. We can already hear the noise and feel vibrations from the recently built monstrosity in Bedway. Um, this site is significantly closer to us. There are fire risks and as you may know, these fires are often too dangerous for firemen and women um to fight. So they are left to burn on their own, destroying whatever is in the vicinity. A recent battery system fire in California involved evacuating homes 2 miles around and upon return all homes were uninhabitable because of toxic particles and debris. A retired local fire chief has publicly spoken out against the safety of this proposal in the area in the congested area. In addition to fire concerns, there are many other issues. Can I continue?

Okay, I'll talk faster. Wrap it up.

It's a very It's a complicated issue. Um, in addition, this is an EPA brownfield site of the highest level of contamination. In the two decades I've lived here, the town of Belling has proposed a variety of other potential uses for this contaminated land, including senior housing, a park and playground, and bike bike paths, and then determine that the area was too contaminated and dangerous to be used for these purposes. Why then would we now want to dig up God knows what to send into the environment in nearby neighborhoods? Moreover, the site directly absuts a part of the Charles River. Any contamination from this site will directly leech into our water system. This lid also directly abuts the town of Franklin's conservation land on Plain Street. This is a protected habitat of endangered species and delicate ecosystems that will surely be disrupted should this large battery be placed adjacent.

And then there's the traffic. All right. All right. We only have 3 minutes. We're already I mean that's May I continue? I think it's worth it. It's something that's going to affect how long do you go? Two paragraphs. All right, here we go.

Thanks. So, why is this even being proposed? In short, there are politics, corporate greed, and conflicts of interest. That would be enough for the makings of the next Aaron Brockovich movie. But without going too far into the underlying politics, I'll say the town of Bellingham has legal and financial reasons to participate. There's a history of legal issues, special permits, bylaw issues, and more. In addition, the politicians that are supposed to be advocating for these towns have received donations from the 0oint Development Corporation and are connected with um the lobbyist who lobbies on behalf of large battery storage facilities. And finally, the Charles River Wershed Association also received a large donation from Medway Power Plant Endless. So, what does Freri get out of this? Just the repercussions and the negative impacts. What can we, the town council of Franklin, do to advocate on behalf of the hundreds or thousands of residents who will be directly negatively impact proposed system? At the very least, I ask that you please write a letter signed by the entire town council expressing your concerns that this will negatively affect citizens of Franklin. I beg you request that any such battery energy storage system be built no closer than a half mile from the nearest Franklin residential homes. attend the meeting on April 2nd at 7 p.m. at Bellingham Town Hall to express your concerns. And for a town administrator and chair of town council, please make the time to talk to the woman, I'll give you her information, who has researched these issues and hear about the many other issues and political implications of this proposal. And finally, please take the time to talk with our fiery and emergency personnel and see how this will play out in the event of a fire in Franklin. There is legislation pending that would require these student be placed no closer than 2,000 ft from a nearest residence.

And I'm hopeful that that will send me her name. Solve it. I'm going to give Jamie um a paper that has the I'll call it. We can talk. Okay. Thank you. something else. Go ahead.

Um Susan Susan Robbach, 38 Filamino. Good evening, councilors. Um this is just a public service announcement from the port porchfest committee. So if you don't mind, I just want to read some prepared remarks here. Um, on behalf of the Porchfest committee, we wanted to make everyone aware that Porchfest is returning on Saturday, June 6 from noon to 6:00 p.m. The rain day is the following day on Sunday, June 7th. Uh, Porchfest is a great event. If you don't know about it, it's an event where the town is filled with music as community members graciously host bands on their porches. Um, we're excited to announce that registration is now open for both bands and porches. Band and porch hosts can sign up by going to our website, franklin.porchfest.info. Uh, this year's event is shaping up to be uh the biggest yet. Um, featuring opening and closing ceremonies on the town common, food trucks, and porch performances throughout the cultural district. Uh thank you for the cultural district for organizing porchfest and to the town for supporting this event uh which highlights the cultural assets in Franklin. Stay tuned and keep checking our website for updates. Uh we can't wait for the town to come together and joy porchfest. Thank you.

Thanks Gino.

Name and address. Gino Kuchi one Tony Lane. I'm here on behalf of uh Quattroy Lodge Sons and Daughters of Italy uh which was the our lodge here was founded in 1926 and the name Cuatroyo is Italian for four heroes named after four Franklin residents three of whom were immigrants one was born in Franklin who were all killed sadly at the very end of World War I. And in celebration of our 100th anniversary, we have three events upcoming um that I think they're they're going to be really really great. First, uh thanks to the historic museum for hosting an exhibit of some of our artifacts and archives dating back a hundred years. Most of them are more recent, but there's a couple of old ones, including a spectacular uh picture of the four heroes that we were named after. Uh second, the the author and historian Steven Pulio will be speaking at the historical museum on Sunday, April 12th. Both of these event the the ex the exhibits and the speaker are both free if so um if anyone's interested in coming. And finally, uh we have a celebratory dinner that will be held at the VFW Hall on May 16th. And um tickets are available if any anyone is interested. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Gino. Anybody else? Dave, go ahead. Uh Dave Callahan, 30 Plain Street. Um actually right down the street from that proposed uh site. If you do happen to visit it, just pop on by, say hi afterwards. Cookies. I guarantee you there'll be some cookies for you. We'll get gluten-free, Jamie. Thanks.

So, uh here with school committee update. Uh there's been we had two amazing presentations from the last time I was here. uh one with our food services uh that provides all of uh the breakfast and lunches for all of our kiddos and also lifelong learning that provides afterchool care, amazing enrichment opportunities, things like um high school experience, ready set kindergarten and also uh some great adult classes as well. They kind of announced they provide over thousand um they had a thousand adults kind of enroll in their services. uh lifelong learning really also stressed and and talked a lot about the daycare center uh that was has been uh piloted and is going to launch this coming fall. And again, this is something for uh starting out with Franklin teachers, but uh with the potential to be expanded to town employees as well for their kids to be able to have a daycare facility right on Pawn Street where former uh Kennedy was. Uh you know, such an amazing recruitment and retention model, but also a revenue stream as well. And uh that was something where both uh lifelong learning and the food services and this is not an April Fool's Day prank. Uh those two organizations entirely self-sufficient. Uh what they kind of take in within their revolving account is how they operate and that all expenses the employees the benefits entirely within their own revolving accounts. And that also uh the food services talked about the way that they reinvest themselves that over the past three years uh they've been able to make over a million dollars in capital improvement projects funded right through their own revolving accounts right through their own self- sustaining mechanisms. Um, you know, obviously that's that's amazing whenever we can kind of do that. But I think even a higher point, you know, that's that's a million dollars that isn't coming before FINCOM. A million dollars that's not coming before the town council to kind of have to make those hard choices. When we look at our capital improvements, we we know this was a conversation not that long ago. It's a finite number of of tax

dollars that's available. And so when we're able to kind of have through their self- sustaining revolving account a million dollars that isn't now having to kind of be dictated about is can we spend this in the schools in the police in the fire DPW the food services is completely managing all of those expenses on themselves and providing some amazing opportunities and some delicious ones as well uh that they brought to our last meeting and and we'll uh see what happens in the future as well. So thank you all so much for your time. Thanks David. Is there anybody else in council chambers about anybody in Zoom land? No.

Doesn't look good. Okay. Thank you. Council comments council a blank please. Thank you.

Um so I had a chance um to look at the to watch the prior meeting. So, I thought um it was necessary for me to read into the record an absentee note for me not being here. So, to whom it may concern, please excuse Michael's absence from the town council meeting on March 18th. He had a previously planned trip and was scheduled to be in London during that week, too. He would be happy to complete any assignments or responsibilities he had been missed that may have been missed during his absence. Sincerely, Michael's mother. So, I blunt that right into the record because I did hear comments of why did I not have to be here. So, um maybe a little bit of a road trip. Um, second thing is, um, I wanted to thank, uh, Corey Shaer, director of arts and culture and economic as it relates to, uh, working with the Metro West in Marboro in securing uh, one of 17 grants for the World Cup. I know we talked about that uh, about a month or so ago and um, I know the total combined was 120. I have reached out to Cory. I don't know how much of that 120 we're getting, but um I think that obviously the World Cup event is going to be very impactful in this area and to have those uh two days for those two events and to have um that grant help finance part or all I still don't know all the details, but that that is was a wonderful effort and I think it'll bring obviously other people other uh from other communities to Franklin for those two days who can't afford a $700 ticket to go to the game down the street. So, I want to um give

kudos to Corey for working on that. Um third thing is is um we've all talked about outreach. So, one of the things I'm going to start doing is probably every other month I'm going to go to a local restaurant on Saturday or Sunday. going to park my little caboose there for an hour and a half, eat some breakfast, and I'm inviting people listening to this or however you want to get it out to just come on by and sit down with me and have a cup of coffee or have a meal or whatever. So, to start that off, uh this Saturday from 8:30 to 10:00 at Jimbo's uh New York Deli up on where the Liquor World Plaza is, I will be there from 8:30 to 10:00 in the morning. So, anybody who would like to stop in and like I said, have a little breakfast, have a cup of coffee, talk about what's going on, I'll be there to to listen to you all. Uh, and the last thing that I wanted to do tonight is I wanted to read something uh again into the record. Um, I want to take a moment tonight to talk about someone who is not a Franklin resident, but who had a profound impact on one, that's me. And after hearing this, I hope that impact extends to others here in Franklin. The person I'm speaking about is my dad, Edward Leblanc, who passed away a couple of weeks ago at the wonderful age of 94 years old. The night before he passed, many of our family members were gathered in his hospital room. One of his grandchildren, and he had 13 of them, asked, "What is your favorite memory of Grampby?" That's what they called. When it got to me, I said my favorite thing about my dad was that he didn't do it, he taught it. And that's where the lesson is, especially for today's parents. My dad never did my work for me. He had a way

of asking questions instead of giving solutions. He was patient even when I wasn't. He would guide me step by step, helping me understand the process rather than just the answer. Sure. He taught me how to tie my shoes and how to play golf and baseball and basketball and just about every other sport. He even taught me how to drive a car. Well, I don't know if really he did a thing. Maybe that was my mother who taught me that. But the most important thing he taught me were life skills and independence. By not doing things for me, he showed me that I was capable of doing them myself. Every small victory, solving a problem, fixing something on my own, learning a new skill, felt earned. Those moments built confidence in a way that simply being helped never could. I began to trust my own abilities because I had proof that I could figure things out even when it was hard. He also taught me resilience. When you're not given immediate solutions, you learn how to feel uh you learn how to deal with frustration. You learn that failure isn't the end. It's part of the process. And he taught me the value of effort, that success comes from being willing to work through challenges and keep improving. Looking back, I see that his approach required patience and restraint. It would have been easier for him to step in and fix things for himself. It would have saved time and prevented frustration. But he chose the harder path because he understood something important. Doing things for me might help me in the moment, but teaching me how to do them helped me for a lifetime. When I was in 8th grade, he taught me how to run a political campaign. I was running for class president and he

showed me how to make my campaign stand out and even had a neighbor come take professionals photos of me for my campaign sign so everyone know who I was. I lost that election unfortunately. But looking back now I realize something important. He didn't teach me how to win. He taught me how to try, how to learn, and how to keep going. And in the end, those lessons mattered far more than the outcome. So while my dad may not live in Franklin, his impact lives on through this Franklin resident. And I hope in some way, some small way, after hearing part of this story, it will impact some of you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Awesome. Michael, may you rest in peace. Council,

thank you. Condolences, Mike. Well done. That was great. Nice tribute to your dad. Um, I don't have too too much other than really just to kind of wish everybody. It's a big holiday week. Happy Passover. Happy Easter for everybody who's celebrating coming up. It's going to get real for us now with budget committee and subcommittee work and everything else going on. So, looking forward to getting engaged in all that and starting to really get into the to the meat of a lot of work that we got to do. So that's it for me. Um you know first uh moving so I appreciate it and uh appreciate you sharing that so much to say that. Couple of comments uh from my from me. First I wanted to draw attention to uh the Franklin first newsletter. um our uh new communications director, Liz Colligian, um you know, shared that I think a day or two ago. It's fantastic. Uh the the first edition uh captures a lot of what we've done over the first quarter of the year. For those who like many of us don't have the time to, you know, to to listen and track everything, it's a very good summary. It's a great place to start. and and so I wanted to just kind of throw that shout out there uh to um to let people folks know that it exists. Go out there, subscribe, get information, and just kind of know what's going on in the town. That's first. Um, also wanted to just again another shout out uh reminder, we're having our first ever restaurant week, uh, the week of May 31st to June 6th, uh, which is fantastic and really a great way to continue to advertise and promote Franklin. Um, restaurants who have not signed up yet, I I should have checked to see who you who you have to email to sign up, but you can find that information in the

Franklin First newsletter. And uh thirdly, just to reiterate a comment, you know, that uh council Moy just mentioned, we we you know, our primary job is to make sure that Franklin continues to function at least as well as as it as it does today and continues in the future. Uh a a large part of that, I think everyone would agree, is is around budgeting and and uh and finances. um next week kicks off the Franklin uh sorry fix kicks off our finance committee meetings where they actually discuss the budget for so for those who are concerned or just unaware. It's a really good way to get up to speed as we go into uh this uh this period where we start where we're trying to make plan. We're trying to figure out our our our path forward. Um, I was, my wife and I were chuckling this this week because uh I was watch I don't remember what the heck I was watching, but uh a a saying stuck with me. They said uh you know in the show plans are hard, chaos is easy. And we're at a place now where we need to make plans. And that means we there's a lot of work that's going to go into it. Not everybody's going to be happy with anything we do, but folks in in front of you, we're we're willing to do the work and uh we're asking uh for we're asking you to, you know, come along with us um and trying to give you opportunities to make sure that you know what's you are aware of what's going on um so that as we try to find the right direction forward in in what I think most would be is a really tricky time economically that we're setting a strong foundation for the future of Franklin. That's all I have.

Great. First of all, Michael, thank you for sharing that tribute. That was beautiful. I appreciate you sharing your dad with us. Um he sounds like really special guy. Sorry for your loss. Um secondly, I would like to address the battery storage. Um I know, you know, we received lots of emails about it from Franklin residents. Um, and also interestingly from Bellingham residents who felt like reaching out to us was um, a way that they could be heard when they didn't feel like they were being heard. Um, I know that if we were to attend the meeting tomorrow night, we cannot attend as representatives of the Franklin Town Council. Correct. Um, so I I guess I want to clarify what it is that we are and are not allowed to do. um considering this is something in a different town. Um you know, are we able to write a letter? I know that there are residents who feel very strongly about this. Um I actually live nearby too. Um not not psyched about it. Um but I we've received probably a dozen emails in the last couple of days and um and we've seen a lot of uh concern over it on social media. So, I think that if there are things we can do um at least to just express the concerns on behalf of Franklin residents, then we should do that. So, I guess I'm trying to find out what it is we are able to do.

Yeah. Uh you Mr. Chairman, I'll uh talk a few more points uh to Selena's comments uh during TA report, but um all of you, I believe, are welcome to go to Bellingham. Um you can certainly cite that you're a town counselor or an elected official or a board member um over there. You can talk as a resident. Um, you know, obviously it's a continued public hearing tomorrow night. Um, you know, I would encourage any interested parties, you know, I understand that there are a lot of concerns and some of the concerns that people have may be valid. They may be true, they may not be true, but I think it's really important like any hearing during for our planning board, our zoning board of appeals, um, conservation commission. It's really critical that citizens go to those actual hearings and listen to the applicant, the peer review, the engineers. Um, you know, I I firmly understand that, you know, there's a lot of fear out there from a lot of different things. I mean, I think we all are familiar with that, but I think it still is really important to emphasize that to people. I I know there's stuff on the internet and I know people, you know, seen other examples of these things maybe not going the way that they want, but I think we're dealing with a project right here right now. And so I think it's really important for anybody that's out there that's interested, they should attend these hearings and read the documents that are being proposed. Um, so you all can go over, you can write letters, um, you can join up as one. Whether or not the zoning board of appeals in Bellingham is going to uh allow you to comment, I can't that I don't know um because it's in their jurisdiction and the chair of that committee can either ask people or it can either allow people to speak or they may not allow you to speak. Just depends on that chair in those circumstances. But um as I've said to other counselors and other folks, all of you can write letters. I mean, you can write as counselors a letter saying, "Here are the 12 emails we've received. Here are the feedback. We'd enjoy if you know, as a neighbor, you take this under consideration while you're permitting

this, uh, facility or maybe get a response back to whatever those concerns are." So, you actually do have a fair fair wide amount of latitude. Um, I would note, um, I think that was noted earlier, um, while we're on the topic, um, you know, a couple quick clarifications. Um, the 300 foot of butter, just to emphasize for people that have heard Selena's comments. I mean, that's just Bellingham doing what every municipality does. That's the law. The 300 foot of butter. I know many of you are probably familiar with that, but maybe people in the audience or at home aren't. Um, it's not from a lack of trying to attempt to let everybody know what it is, but at some point we have to draw the line on the abutter notifications, and we always draw them at the line of whatever um of whatever uh that uh state law applies to. So, in this case, it's 300 ft. They posted the meetings 48 hours in advance. And I know that that doesn't always feel like it's engaging. Um, but once you start doing more, then you're expected to do more everywhere. And um, and with social media and word of mouth, I think these things generally get out to people. Anyways, um, I would note that this was a proposal just for the publication. This is a proposal by the town of Bellingham. So, the town of Bellingham is actually the applicant. And the reason why the town of Bellingham is the applicant is because town meeting three years ago in Bellingham, which is their legislative body, they approved this. So this was a decision by the voters of Bellingham who showed up at that town meeting 3 years ago and they prioritized specifically the battery storage facility to approve. So the town went and applied for this. So that does add a little bit more complication to it. um just because I'm I'm assuming but I'm not sure um cuz I have the same documents from the town manager that I forwarded all of you that I know are all over the internet. Um you know the the town itself is the applicant. So you'd like to believe that the town of Bellingham has done their due diligence on whatever the concerns may be on that

parcel. In terms of the rivers protection act is a mandatory 200 foot um delineation away from the river. I'm assuming that they've they've done that. So things that are I think some of the concerns that I've heard from residents and certainly Selena earlier I think a lot of those questions um can be answered by the town of Bellingham at their ZBA hearings. And the last quick thing I'd mention is um these facilities are generally as everybody knows in very high demand and they're in high demand because we're using an insane amount of electricity. So we as citizens and as communities and it's basically put so much pressure on the grid that the state of Massachusetts has essentially made this a by right thing at the state level. So um you know it's going to be very hard to obstruct the facility I think but I think addressing people's concerns um having questions answered maybe resting some of the concerns that residents have um and some of their fears maybe through that educational piece and that back and forth with the town of Bellingham. Hopefully we can, you know, make people feel a little bit more comfortable that um, you know, that some of the things that people are talking about hopefully won't happen. So, I hope that's a little bit of an overview and I'm certainly uh, other folks have questions, happy to answer them.

Thank you, Jamie. Um, one other comment I just wanted to make not about that. Um, is that I want to encourage people, especially if you park outside of your garages to please lock your cars at night. Um I've seen reports recently of people I I don't know whether they are locking their car doors or not but of um people who are losing valuable items out of their cars. Um I have not here in Franklin but in you know previous life somewhere else I had left my car unlocked and one night only night I ever did that and luckily I had nothing in the car. They took some change, but um it's it can be very disconcerting to get into your car and realize that someone has been in there. I know our um police force is on the case, but I just encourage everyone to lock their cars and just um try to give most of the time I find that people who are willing to do that are not willing to go any further than trying a door. So if the door is locked, then they move on. So wanted to um just encourage you to think about that at night.

Thanks. I'm going to go to Max. Now, Max, council call, you hear me, everyone? Yeah, we got you, Max.

All right. I wish I could be with you in person all tonight. Unfortunately, I'm dealing with one of the 10 plagues, so I'm joining you from home. Um, first, I want to thank you, everyone who came forward citizens comic engagement. It's the foundation of everything we do here. Before we get into it, I want to acknowledge that it's a special week for many in our community. those celebrating Easter this Sunday and those beginning Passover tonight. I wish you and your families a joyful and meaningful holiday. I want to build off with uh what Ken said about the finance committee hearings next week. Um they're going to be right here in council chambers. In the last decade, only three people have spoken during citizens comments at a finance committee budget hearing. Steve Sherlock, Mark Mcklly, and me. Three people a decade. That's it. So if you think there's waste in the budget, show up and tell us where it is. This is your money. use your voice. Um, you know, it's we need people to show up. If if you know, if you show up, if you if you don't show up, you can't complain. So, um, uh, I do want to acknowledge and take a moment to recognize our our fire department and our DPW. Um, they've been serving our town when we needed when it matters the most. Last week, the DPW prepared a water main break on West Central Street overnight and restored service by midday on March 26th. They were working long hours doing that. Um the other thing is the fire department uh just responded to a working structure fire on Willow Street. They rescued two uh two pets were rescued. Mutual aid come from five neighboring departments. There's no loss of life, thank goodness. Um and then we had another response on I495 uh where firefighters freed a woman trapped in a rollover and they called uh you know offduty members to keep both station covered and they uh landed a medflight helicopter on the highway and we wish her a full recovery. We had three calls, three responses that were fast, fearless, and exactly what this community deserves. So, I want to thank all of our first responders. Uh, separately, I just wanted to note that the legislature is currently debating

300 million in chapter 90 funding for road infrastructure maintenance. Um, so I think that's we need we need some of that money to prevent some of those things that we're having with the water main breaks. Um, I wanted to have a chance to um talk about what I did the past two weeks. Um, you know, showing up, listening, learning. I attended the 250th anniversary committee meeting where the committee has developed a strong logo and connected with folks from Easton about their celebration for a road mapap for ours. I also sat down with Corey Shay, our director of arts, culture, and the creative economy to dig into uh working on talking about public art and how important that is. Uh we have installations across Franklin. We're having welcome the world's campaign this summer which is building some some really great stuff. Um, on a personal note, I wanted to say I was glad to see Franklin represented in the uh MMA's April Beacon newsletter this month, which covered the legislative breakfast meetings in Sharon. It's a good reminder that the work this community does gets noticed well beyond our borders. Uh, I'd like to recognize three members of our town team who earned recognition this month. Everyone matters. Deputy Fire Chief Jim Click completed the Massachusetts Professional Emergency Manager program, earning his MIMA certificate, which makes this entire community safer. We have senior senior center director Sarah Amarall who is selected to serve on the Massachusetts Council's on aging legislative committee giving Franklin seniors a statewide advocate at the table as well as Daniel Mashado who joined the police department as our new co-response clinician bringing deep experience in crisis and behavioral health to a role built around meeting residents in their hardest moments with both compassion and skill. Congratulations and welcome to all three. Uh Franklin also has been showing up beyond our borders. I want to name some of the people responsible. Kim Carney received the National USA Field Hockey Globe the Game Award recognized

in a career built on lasting impact. FHS senior Gavin Warren uh sorry Warren Kos sorry I apologize um was named a national merit scholarship finalist placing him among the top 1% of high school seniors in the country. FHS freshman Marina Zakai uh placed third in the poetry Massachusetts poetry out loud state finals competing against students from across the state and doing so as the ninth grader makes it all the more extraordinary and f and we got the la the live uh arts spring course which received a grant from the Massachusetts cultural council which only just 14% of applicants statewide uh receive. I think we should be very proud of community for all the accomplishments that some of these these high schoolers and our arts have all done. Uh speaking of grants, we were awarded a $250,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for the demolition and cleanup of the former new style site on Grove Street. Um and that's in addition to a $500,000 grant from the EPA from 20 uh FY23. So all that money is money that taxpayers don't have to pay from the property taxes. So that's great because you know we're trying to keep taxes low and we're trying to you know remediate some of these issues that need to be remediated. Uh I want to thank welcome the four employees who joined the town this March. Sandy Moore as administrative assistant in the town administration. Joe Een as a deputy director of facilities. Danielle Machido as co-responsible clinician with police department as mentioned before and Patrick Rose in our sewer division. We're glad to have each of them on the team. And finally, tonight marks, as I said before, marks the beginning of Passover. Now, if anyone is wondering about the empty chair in council chambers, it's not a vacancy. Every Passover seder, a chair is set for the prophet Elijah. So, consider it reserved. I'm sure he has better attendance than I do tonight. So, to all the friends, residents gathering for the

seder with family and loved ones, I wish you a meaningful and joyful celebration. Jake Pesak, Sam, thank you.

Thanks, Max. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Max, you're a tough act to follow. You covered you covered a lot there. Thank you for all of that. Um I guess Corey Shay's making her rounds. Uh cuz I had a great breakfast meeting with her as well and talked all about the projects that she's got going on and the grants and all the exciting things coming up. Uh she's truly doing wonderful work. Um, first I want to say congratulations to the cast and crew and everybody involved over at the Franklin Performing Arts Company for a wonderful run of Into the Woods. You guys did a great job. Um, let's see. Michael, so glad your mom excused you from the meeting. Um, cuz you know, I was concerned. Um, but I'm glad I'm glad you're here tonight and also thank you for sharing um that beautiful tribute to your dad. Uh, you'd be happy to know that he was channeled through me today on the way here as I got into my car with 10 minutes to spare to get here and there was no gas in my tank. And that was because my teenage son, who is 17 and thinks he's invincible, didn't think he needed to put the gas in the car until it was literally blinking E. So, your dad somehow looking down on me, kept me calm and kept me from using all sorts of inappropriate language and uh got me safely to a gas station where I let my son know that this would be coming out of his allowance and we deal with it later. But it was one of those life lessons that I think uh will hopefully resonate with him uh in the future. Um, thank you to our Franklin Police Department for their incredible sense of humor for posting today on Facebook that they were buying a whole new fleet of $140,000 trucks. And I was reading through the Facebook post. It had

quotes. It had all kinds of attributes about why this was the right thing. It had photos. And they got me. I I was I got all the way to the bottom and I said, "I don't remember that ever coming up. I I don't know where this money I don't know where this money's coming from. Oh my god, we're going to get killed. And then at the bottom it's like April fool. And I'm like, okay, you know, so congrats. I'm glad they're still able to laugh uh at uh at apparently everyone's expense. And uh let's see what else did I have? Certainly want to wish everyone a happy Passover and a happy Easter. And uh with that, I I yield, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Uh first off, um condolences Michael passing your dad. That was a excellent tribute. Um also happy Passover and Easter to everyone. Um my only other comment is regarding the um the battery storage. I think that that's I think renewable energy is great um that we should encourage it as much as we can but not at the cost of public safety and so where public safety runs into renewables we have to be on guard for the public safety. So I would support um a letter from the town council that would um you know object to building that um battery battery storage facility. That's it. Thank

you kind of took it. I was going to say, Jamie, why don't you you guys get your minds together and draft up some kind of letter and we'll

we'll do our due diligence and you know, I I don't know if we can speak tomorrow night, but we can go over say something, I guess. Um, Mike, thank you for that tribute at uh uh 15 years. you didn't, nobody brought tears to my eyes, but that brought my father back a little bit. So, I just uh started to tear up a little bit myself. So, may he rest in peace, and he did a great job. So, uh and uh and to piggy back on Max, uh the fire department just had another fire on Dean Avenue, I just saw. And uh one uh the fires knocked down, but one person had smoke insulation in you know in inhalation and

she had to go to the hospital but I think uh Chuck said she should be okay. It's just minor. So I think it was more precaution than than anything. So they do a great job along with our police and DPW. So we should be very thankful. Uh with that we can move on. I think Jamie, we're going to do the proclamations first. You want to do that? Um, subcommittee reports. Subcommittee reports. Joint sub April AP April 16th at 6:00 p.m. EDC is going to be April tomorrow night 7:00.

Where's that? Is that in here or is that up above to the council chambers in joint subcommittee? Is Ken, is that going to be 16th? I think 16. 16th. Where's that going to be? Uh, the training room. The training room. Okay. Communications. We're scheduling it now. We're looking at next week. Yeah, we're going to be scheduling town shadow one too. So, in the police station, I don't think we have any and we don't have a comm we don't have a meeting scheduled for that. Do we? You don't. It's still an active committee, but they voted already. But I think I'm trying to figure out a time when they can come in to do facility stuff that was brought up earlier. So, I'm going to do the proclamation and recognition. only have one tonight. Council call me a ledger. It's

Chloe Bowser. I don't So this must be club. Thank you so much.

What you did? All right. So, this is a proclamation from the Town of Franklin honoring Chloe Bowser for winning the USS Massachusetts Historic Essay Contest and thus earning recognition for the town of Franklin by having a birthing room named for the town on the submarine USS Massachusetts SSN 798. Whereas Franklin High School student Khloe Bowser was one of 12 winners of the USS Massachusetts Historic Essay Contest. And whereas the USS Massachusetts SS SN798 was commissioned on March 28th, 2026. Whereas Khloe Bowser was recognized for her accomplishments by placement of an entering the town of Franklin sign affixed to tone of the submarines 12 birthing rooms. That's pretty cool, huh? Yeah. Um whereas she received a commemorative plaque bearing her name, school, and hometown with a duplicate plaque being installed on board the ship. Whereas she was recognized in the official USS Massachusetts commissioning book where her essay has now been published. And whereas Khloe Bowser has brought recognition and honor to the town of Franklin. So we honor her here tonight. Now therefore be it known that Khloe Bowser is hereby commended and recognized by the town of Franklin Town Council for the occasion of winning the USS Massachusetts historic essay contest and earning recognition for the town of Franklin by having a town of Franklin birthing room named for the town on the submarine USS Massachusetts the SN SSN 798. It's signed by Robert Dorco, our chairman. It's dated tonight, April 1st, 2026. Congratulations

While we don't go anywhere, we have a response from repres. Uh, yes, I'm uh here to represent um Representative Jeff Roy um in the House of Representatives. Um likewise for everything Ted just said. Um citation congratulating Chloe. Um so on behalf of the House of Representatives, thank you so much. YOU'RE WELCOME. UM,

MR. CHAIRMAN, thank you. Um, Chloe, if you may, um, just share briefly with everyone a little bit about the essay contest and where people can read your essay online. And congratulations. So, uh, the essay that I wrote is a historical fiction about, um, a family and its generation in the Charles Town Navyyard. And it goes through, um, a woman's, um, great great-grandfather, great-grandfather, and all the way down. All of the ship's information should be correct. I tried to do my best research on it. Um, and it goes through it, and it's almost like a tour as you go through the Navyyard and what it was put through. Um, and I believe uh it should be up on the website of the USS Massachusetts that people can read. YES. And in addition to congratulating Chloe tonight, I want to thank all of our veterans in attendance here. if you can stand up. And Chloe's parents and there thank you so much everyone. Thank you Chloe. Can you hang around for a couple seconds? We like a few pictures if you don't mind. So I'm going to take a two minute recess.

Recording in progress. 655. I call the Franklin Town Council meeting back to order. We're going to go to the town administrator report.

Okay. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, uh, kudos to a bunch of folks. um you took a bunch of the points off which means everyone's reading the newsletter which is fantastic to hear. Um just uh offer my similar condolences to council blank and his family on a very beautiful tribute to his dad. That was wonderful Mike. Um couple points. Uh number one, obviously the town uh my filing of the budget for FY27 is now out. Um for anybody that wants to read it, go to franklinme.gov. Um there's a tab right in the middle of the website with town budget. go to FY27. And um I would note that um the required piece is the town administrator's budget message. So that's a long document with a lot of narrative in it um and a lot of graphs and charts and variety of things. Appendix A is actually the recommended voting document and the uh budget book. Um if people go into appendix A, at least for the town, um we have in there itemized line items for every budget. We also have personnel sheets in there with every salary of every employee for our custodians, DPW, police, and fire. We have their base salary in addition to all the other detail salary. We've broken all of that out to be very transparent and clear about where every dollar is going for every municipal staff member. Um, appendix B in the document is also the school uh the public schools uh district budget book. And then there's endless amounts of other appendixes in there with historical data on new growth, local receipts, assessments, um, free cash balances, and a variety of other things. People can also go to our budget site um, and see all of our audits um, that we post online. We also have all of our bond rating. Uh, we have all of our capital plans. And you know, this is a site uh when I got here about 10 years ago and we revamped the website, we really tried to put up a lot more information and detail for people who at the time really wanted a lot of that detail. Now I understand people don't want the detail, but um nonetheless, um

you can keyword search everything. Um so if you're looking for a particular name of exactly how much a certain person makes or if you're looking for a department, you can go right into the budget book um uh or the budget message and be able to search all that right in there. Um, and uh, also thank you very much everybody for noting the uh, Franklin Forest newsletter. Um, I would also make a plug um, and Liz is going to continue to push out a lot more of this. Um, but having encouraging all of your social media networks, all of your contacts, all of your friends and family, um, all of the elected officials that are listening, all of the other board members who are listening, anyone listening right now, uh, at home on YouTube, um, or on on cable TV, go on to the website, you can sign up for the newsletter. This one was a little longer edition than normal. It was six pages cuz it covered three months as I think a couple of you mentioned. So, uh, we hope to get it out monthly and it'll probably be around two pages. Um, but with so many good things happening, it might be a little bit longer than that. Um, one other point that was in there, uh, just to announce restaurant week, uh, May 31st to June 6th. We saw Sue up at the mic earlier coordinating with Porchfest. Um, thanks to Corey and Julie in my office and Marina, um, and Liz for working on that. Huge announcement for the Rail Trail Bellingham Franklin Rail Trail Committee. Um, I just met with the folks today. Uh, the track is actually coming up. So, the the firm who's hired by C CSX to come remove all the track, Mike Magio and I today met with them at 1:00. It should be totally ripped up by the end of the month. Um, they're going to grade it just a little bit. Um, and then we're looking at uh I'm going to try to get a kind of ceremonial ribbon cutting or something um to commemorate all this hopefully over the summer. I'm trying to get the commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation um and other state officials. As I've mentioned before, once the track is up and we can enter into an agreement for an easement with the state, they'll

be giving us a million dollars um to replenish either some of our land use costs that we did to purchase it or uh we can use the money um to hopefully do some of the work. I have formally, as all of you know, but along the SNET, I did formally ask Rep. Roy to file an amendment um to the environmental bond bill for a $3.5 million state appropriation to the SNET trail. Um so we won't have any finality on that, but when Jeff and Becca come before the council later this fall to do their annual legislative update, hopefully Jeff will have some good news um there on on uh on the SNET trail. So we're moving really fast on this project and it's certainly uh moving a lot quicker than I thought. Um another couple quick announcements. Um, Franklin Fire Department announced today a $21,000 grant um to purchase a battery powered scene lighting and structural firefighting gear to enhance onseene visibility and improve safety for um all the areas around an actual fire. So, congratulations to them. And to Conor Leank's point earlier, $120,000 for the entire Metro West visitors region. So, that's from uh Framingham, NICT to Malro, South to Franklin. and it's kind of that Metro West corridor. Um the visitor center, Stacy David, a Franklin resident by the way, um who's the executive director there, um put in an application and I don't think it's any shock to any one of you that all of a sudden when Foxboro got the permit, all of a sudden the domino started falling and all of a sudden the grants started coming out, right? So that really was a big deal. Glad for Foxro that they got that fixed and thank you to Corey and the rest of the staff um for working on that. that will help uh pay for um the uh the watch parties um which we needed this grant. So the region is prioritizing Framingham, Malboro, and Franklin, which is great to be in that um class of communities that are hosting these events. So hopefully over the summer people will be able to have a good time. So uh that concludes my um my town administers report and the budget

um is an item on the agenda. So if folks have any questions, uh I can certainly answer them under this uh action item now. Okay. And if you don't, there's going to be endless amounts of meetings coming up to go into this, so it's okay. Do we uh any of the councils have any questions? No, sir. Hey, does Max I I can't see if his hand raised. It's not. No. All right. All right. Thanks, Max. If I don't text me, Max. If I don't see a hand, buddy. So, all right. Uh, we have no approval of minutes. open the three.

We're going to open up the three hearings because uh zoning board bylaw amendment 26-946 and zoning bylaw amendment 26-947 and zoning bylaw amendment 26949 are all together. Uh so I open the hearing for all three zoning bylaws. PS4, but we're going to do it. So, this is have to do with the MPA. Start off. Yeah. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, just to be clear, um um item on the public hearings, items A, B, and D relate to the MBTA communities zoning uh changes that are required from the state to comply with the statute. These all received a unanimous approval from the town planning board at their hearing a few weeks ago. Um, and what the council will do tonight is just walk through a very short slideshow on MBTA communities from uh, Marina. Um, and then the council will take up those votes. These are first reading. Your second reading, if approved tonight, will be May 13th, so it'll be about a month away. Um, and then um, and then the second bylaw proposal is item C. which is basically a cleanup generally around the Franklin Crossing zoning. Um and then you'll have a second hearing technically and a vote on that one um after you're done with MBTA communities. So, I just want to lay that out there um for everybody so that it's a little clear. Um and now Marina, if you want to take it over and walk through MBTA communities um and then we'll be available for questions and public hearing comments.

Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, counselors. Morena Sallaya, the uh director of planning and community development. So, as Jamie just mentioned, we're going to walk through um the zone the proposed zoning bylaw amendments uh related to MPT communities. Um just to give you sort of a quick update or a background on um chapter 4A section 3A. Um you'll hear me potentially call it MBTA communities or 3A. It's the same thing. Um but it was passed um and signed into law in 2021 by Governor Charlie Baker. Um and it requires that all MBTA communities um zone for as of right multif family development of at least 15 units per acre. Um and how many units you have to um essentially zone for depends on what type of MBT community you are. So you've got the list of the different types of MBT communities up there. rapid transit, commuter rail, an adjacent community or an adjacent small town. We are a commuter rail community. Um so we were required to zone for 1,883 units. Um that doesn't mean that 1,883 units are, you know, going to pop up um in the next few years. It just means that we have to zone to allow for them to be by rate. Um we also are required to provide um at least a minimum land acres of min minimum land area of 50 acres and 75% of that area has to be within a half a mile around a commuter rail station. Um so the act I'm sure people have heard about it a lot in the news. Um it has been challenged by some towns. It's gone up to the um Supreme Judicial Court and was upheld in January of 2025. Um and a lawsuit claiming it was an unfunded mandate um went before the Supreme Court and was dismissed in

June of 2025. Um I know there are still some towns out there that are are still trying to um to to fight the act, but um every sort of every time it's gone up before the courts, it's it's been struck down. Um, and failure for us to comply with the act puts a lot of funding at risk. So, a lot of state funding is contingent on whether or not you're in compliance with EPA communities. Um, currently we are considered to be in conditional compliance. Um, given the proposed amendments that are before you tonight, um, we were in initial compliance, but because of the proposed amendments, we've moved up in category to conditional compliance. um and they have um written us a letter and sort of assured us verbally also that this is it. Once we get these done, as long as we get them done, um that we'll move into final compliance. Um and I just have some stats for you. Um on the right hand side, 177 communities are subject to the act. 166 of them have complied um as of March. And um the town itself has received $7.9 million worth of state grant funding um since 2020. So not all of this money would be sort of in danger, but a decent chunk of it would be in danger if if we didn't comply. A lot of um grant applications currently are asking you what your status is. So they are tracking it. They are um you know keeping that in mind when they're awarding funding. Um so just walking you quickly through

can I just have a question go back to the other slide please through the chair. Um I appreciate the the stats on the on the right. Do we have kind of a breakdown of uh the community those 166 communities you know which ones are in initial compliance which aren't conditional compliance. Um, and you may have it later or you may not have it even for today, but it'd be great to see kind of that breakdown so we have a better sense of where Franklin sits compared to our Pearson. Yeah. Um, you can send them a map. Yeah. Right. Because I think there's a map. There's a map on the on the HLC website. HLC website. Yeah. Um, and that shows you where where everybody lies. Um, but yes, that is publicly available.

Great. Um so quickly just want to run you through um our road to compliance. Um so just as sort of background on the right hand side you'll see a map. All the colored areas within the map those are the districts that have been designated by the town to be the MBTA communities districts. Um so this is an old map from prior to the crossing neighborhood being developed. So you'll see that commercial one and what is now the crossing which is the lower left side um pink area um are both the same color that is now broken out but the the designation as an MBT communities district hasn't changed. Um so um these districts already um had substantial compliance towards what MBTA communities required. So when um Franklin first started working towards um becoming compliant, these were chosen for that reason. So everything that's come before the council um in the years since we started trying to comply have been these sort of tweaks. Um there hasn't been any major overhaul. um changes have actually um you'll see in the first bullet um one of the the first changes that was um uh made actually decreased the number of units by right that was allowed um in commercial one and in general residential 5. Um so you know we used to allow for even more density than what we allow now and we're still complying with MBTA communities. Um, so these were already neighborhoods that are sort of meant to be more dense, meant to promote that multif family housing. Um, and so we sort of just piggybacked on that. Um, I I I think I know the answer, but I just want people out there because I think I know what they're saying. So this is where where we are now, but I know we have two commuter rail stations.

Mhm. So the second commuter rail station up by Forge Park. Mhm. Are we going to have I I don't we don't have to, but I people are going to think I've got a lot of complaints. Are they going to Are we going to have to do the same thing up there? And I I know it's No, but I want it publicly out there.

Yeah. No, I appreciate the question, but no, we won't because by coming into compliance using these districts, we'll be in final compliance. So, we'll have met our minimum land area, we'll have met our minimum uh mixed um uh multif family units that we have to provide. Um, so once we get these done, then we'll be we'll be sort of good to go. Um, so before you tonight, um, we've got some, uh, proposed amendments to the zoning bylaw. Um so on attachment seven um and these essentially the reason that these um are being proposed and these are necessary is because what um the executive office of housing livable communities did is they went sort of parcel by parcel and figured out how many units each parcel could contribute. So they had this very cumbersome um Excel sort of formula calculator that you had to just put in all this data. Um obviously with an Excel spreadsheet I'm sure we're all familiar can't account for everything. So as they've reviewed it sort of more um different tweaks have come up which is what we we're proposing here but essentially um what they discovered and they discovered this um under the previous director but decided that they since he'd retired they waited until I had um started before approaching us with these changes necessary changes. um what they discovered is that some of our lots no longer um produce the necessary number of units because of some of our use table requirements. So that um in particular is um for attachment 7 there is a requirement that lot area must be 25% greater than that required for a single family dwelling when it's talking about

multif family and mixed use. Um, so that makes the potential for how for what lots can become multif family. Um, it sort of struck a few different parcels and I've actually got the parcel list. Um and then for um attachment nine, there's confusion because um one of the notes reads that um uh multif family housing with three housing units. Um and that just made it confusing for eight for um housing livable communities because they felt that the the what note 7 was was allowing or what note 7 was requiring actually um only applied to three housing units. So even though it said multif family, it wouldn't apply to anything that was larger. Um so they um and then we also had to um set a minimum frontage requirement for 50 feet for mixed use and multif family. again, um that made it so that a lot of the lots that were there that uh wouldn't be complying ended up complying and so we we were able to use um they were able to produce the number of units that that HLC was requiring. Um and then um for zoning bylaw amendment 26-949, that one goes into attachment 9. Um and that one um specifically for an addition is we're changing the um the minimum oh sorry let me just bring up the here uh minimum lot width uh to 45 ft for mixed use and multif family dwellings for general residential 5 and also um the that's the same minimum continuous frontage of 50 ft for mixed use of multif family. Um, so

with these changes, and then I won't go into number four since we'll we'll go into that later on. Those are sort of the cleanup amendments. Um, they are they do affect some of the MBT communities districts, but they're not part like specifically related to the act. Um, and um, apologies. So, I can go um sort of cell by cell here if you'd like. Um we have here we're showing you sort of where the notes were struck from um the the districts that are affected. Um and I can't hold this up. Um so this is the lot area must be at least 25% greater. So you'll see that um note two was struck in um general residential 5 um and C1 um and then here we've got the two um oh that's very small. I'm sorry can't see that. But this is adding in the um the notes the 16 and 17 about the minimum frontage and the minimum lot width um for the mixed use and the multif family. Um, and this is the actual language and it's also um striking the language about the three housing units. Um, and I know that was a lot. So, I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has. We'll

go to the council. Go ahead. Council U Marina. Uh, I saw that our our requirements were 50 acres and 1883 multif family units. I think you have a sheet. We submitted 2. Mhm.

And but we submitted 1955 units, but they only approved 1740. So technically, we're under their requirement right now. So I guess the first thing is is what 200 plus units did we submit that they're not saying now is applicable? Um so those um the downtown commercial district is part of the districts that have been submitted but those are a separate um mandatory mixeduse district. Um, so it's it was an allowance made by Housing Livable Communities um after the act was first um signed into law. And those units are sort of kept separate um for whatever reason. They're still counted towards our minimum um but they they just treat them separately because it's a mandatory mixed use. Um so that's where those units sort of went. Um, so even though it's not really showing it in the letter as um in the letter from housing and local communities that you're referencing, they are still counted. They do exist. Um, and I know it gets confusing. It's just because they break it out because it's a it's a mandatory mixed use.

So we So we have met the requirement. We have met the requirement. Yes. Okay. I know. I know. Don't tell us that we didn't meet the requirements and in the letter that that was number one confusion. Um and you already answered the I should say sorry with with the proposed amendments we are meeting the requirements tonight. Tonight. Yes. Of of what we need to get them. Yes. Correct. Okay. Um and I was just going to ask and you kind of clear it doesn't it doesn't help us or hurt us that we have two um MBTA stations in town. Mm-m. No, they took that into account.

Okay, that's it. Thank you. Did you have any other comments? Thank you. Uh, thank you for doing this. Just to clarify it, I read it 10 times and got 10 different answers every time I read it. So, this this is helpful. Just help me with the minimal uh minimum um lot size, 45 ft versus 50 feet. What was it? What is it now? And where would that apply? What I'm trying to get a sense of what that actually means. Um so for the um for are you talking the frontage? Yes.

Okay. So for um general residential 5 currently the frontage is um 100 ft and the lot width is 90 ft. Um and um essentially what that does is one there's a lot there's actually a number of pro of parcels um in that area that do don't meet those minimum lot size requirements already. So, one, they don't get counted. Even though there's actually a decent number of 4 to 8 unit buildings um in that area, they end up not being counted by the calculator that HLC uh created because um they're not big enough

because they don't meet our current standards. They don't meet um MBTA standards. That makes sense. And so, they um or I should say, yes, I'm sorry. So, they don't meet our current standards. So they're out of compliance and they can't um they can't be made compliant unless we change what's allowed for multif family in those for those um so we narrowed that to allow more density maybe one day and it would allow existing facilities. It allows existing facilities to be compliant and it allows for future um uh multif family at a higher density. Yeah. Okay. And we say frontage that's the front area of the property at 45 ft or 50 ft. 45

45T the uh No, I'm sorry. The front edge is 50 and the lot width is 45. Okay. So, it's pretty small. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yep. So, they could get rid of people could join together and get rid of houses and then just build stuff is what you're saying, right? because this is a highly densed area right downtown, right? You're saying they could combine? Yeah. Yeah, they could if they wanted to, right? Yeah. I think through Mr. Chairman, uh, yeah, I mean, you're going to see that likely over the next 10 or 15 years, you're probably going to see a couple smaller lots torn down.

Um, I would say this though, when the council first took up MBTA communities, you had 20 lot 20 units per acre. Yeah. So you actually the first vote we were already 90 plus% compliant with the statute when they put it through which is why this has been a tedious process with the state and some of it just seems like it's an algorithm or a spreadsheet pumping out some of these tweaks. It's so you know, but we used to have greater density in GR5, but when you guys voted the first I'm looking at the two of them. When they voted the first wave of tweaks when the um law was put out, we actually went and densified the amount of units you could get per acre. Mhm.

So even though a tear down series could happen, um it's still fewer units and less dense than what it was than what it was 3 years ago, which sounds funny because to your point, the state's trying to obviously cluster things around transit centers, which is a great thing. Um but Franklin zoning was actually had more density 6 years ago. Mhm. I hope that eases some of the concerns for people in the community who who who think we're getting too dense, right? Or too big or too developed, you know. So, I built my first house on a 40 42 by 100. I was a city. Uh, can I ask a question?

Sure. Um, this is just more of a clarifier to especially for people that are watching. So all this passes and goes into effect. It's it doesn't require a single family home that's already existing to make changes. No, it simply says if down the road that person decided to make it bigger or sell it to the next person, they have the option Yep. to make it bigger. Right. It's not

there's no financial district any watching might be like wait a minute what does all this mean and you know what's it going to cost me right so it's just nice to just clear it's actually helpful to some of the property owners down there that might be out of compliance currently with the zoning it's bringing them into compliance it's making a lot of these um lots be compliant um yeah it is it is tight Yeah, Max, I can't see if he has his hand up. Julie, just tell me if he has his hand up because I can't see. It's hard to see that time for some reason. Mr. Chair,

uh I I can I just wanted to ask um you know, Max is then I'll go to the public.

Okay. I just had a question in regards to like you know assuming you know uh in your view as a public planner um you know in terms of you know if you there if there if there was let's assume there was a need for public housing if you were to where in town out of all the places in town would you say that downtown is the best place to have slightly more dense uh you know development compared to other parts of town if you had to choose between all you know the whole town town as a whole. Yeah, I think so. I think I'm I mean these areas, these districts have specifically been chosen historically by Franklin to be the more dense neighborhoods, to be the areas where you've got a lot of commercial business here. You want sort of the people, residents living here, residents being able to just walk to the restaurants, walk to a bar, go to the grocery store. Um and so and then having it close to the commuter rail, you know, encouraging more use of public transit, having those um being able to densify these neighborhoods as they've been intended to be densified, um I think is is is a good um goal to have. And in terms of like, you know, the average taxpayer, you know, talk about the character of the town, that kind of thing, but losing that grant funding, would you say that the average taxpayer would be harmed if we were to um not be in compliance with the MBTA Community Act?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, we've got, like I said earlier, we've we've had $7.9 million worth of um state grant funding um since 2020. Obviously, that's $7.9 million that taxpayers in town have not had to pay. Um, so that right there, you know, there's been lots of public works, there's been um the Franklin Ridge project has received state funding. Um, these are all things that are a benefit to the community. So, you know, sort of achieving So, you would say you would you would think that that this this legislation before us would be a huge public benefit. Yes, definitely. Thank you. Are you all set? I'm all set.

You're okay, buddy? Then I'll go to the public. Is there anybody out in the public who would like to speak? Nobody in Zoom land out there? No one on Zoom. So, I'll declare the Oh, Mark, did you want your hand up? No, make sure that I'm sure you went to the public.

All right. So, I'll declare the public hearing for zoning bylaw amendment 26 tax- 946 and 26947 and 26 949 closed the legislation. Okay. So, I'll have to read each one and do a roll call vote on each one. Correct. You can still do a motion to wave, but you'll have to have a roll call vote on that.

Yeah. You can read the reading. So, so it off. So, zoning bylaw amendment 26-946 zoning bylaw amendment to the code of the town of Franklin at chapter 185 attachment 7 part six use regulation schedule first reading. Clerk will read the zoning bylaw. Motion to wave the reading. Second. Do we have a motion and a second? Roll roll call vote on the reading. Councelor,

yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leank, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. She is absent. Myself, yes. Councelor Gella, yes. income and chairman. Yes.

Okay. Motion to wave the meeting pass. Motion to move zoning bylaw amendment 26946 to second reading. Second. I have a motion and a second. Discussion. No discussion. Clerk will do a roll call for that also. Give me one second. Ready this time. 26- 946. That was to wave the reading. And now, Mr. Chairman, we are going into zoning bylaw amendment 26-946. Roll call vote to move it to a second reading.

Correct. Councelor Rejuko. Yes. Councelor Morangelo, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leblanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Councelor Galloway, Trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Uh, vice chair, yes. And chairman, uh, yes. Motion passed. Moving on. Zoning bylaw amendment 26-947. a zoning bylaw amendment to the code of the town of Franklin at chapter 185 attachment 9 schedule of lot area frontage yard and height requirements clerk will read the byar amendment

motion to wave the reading second I have a motion and a second clerk will call the role going too fast for me here I'll slow it down we're on 94 47. Correct. I'll revisit those. So, this is a a roll call vote to wave the reading. To wave the reading. Yes. Okay. Councelor Rajuku, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Blank, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Councelor Callaway, Trip is absent. Myself, yes. Vice Chair, yes. And chairman, yes.

Okay. Motion pass. Motion to move zoning bylaw amendment 26947 to second reading. Second. We have a motion in a second.

Clerk will call a role. This is Mr. Chairman. This is for bylaw amendment 26-947 to move to a second reading. Councelor Ajuku, yes. Councelor Mangello, yes. Councelor Mallaloy, yes. Councelor Leblanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. The Callaway trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice Chair, yes. And chairman, yes. That passes.

Okay. So, we're going to zoning bylaw amendment 26-949. Zoning bylaw amendment to the code of the town of Franklin chapter 185 cadet 9 schedule of law area requirement. This is the first reading cler motion to w the reading. That's second. I have a motion and a second. Cler will read the I will do the roll call on the waving the reading. Wave the reading. I appreciate my keep up,

Mr. Chairman. This is to wave the reading on resolution 26-949. Correct. Councelor Rejuker. Yes. Councelor Mangelo. Yes. I have a question later, but yes. Councelor Malloy. Yes. Council Leblanc. Yes. Councelor Griffith. Yes. Councelor Callaway Trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice Chair. Yes. And chair. Uh, yes. Motion passed. Motion to move zoning bylaw amendment 26949 to a second reading. Max. Oh, yeah. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. Discussion. Max. No.

I I just wanted to clarify. Uh, do we need a public hearing on each one individually? No. Cuz we only had one public hearing. No. No. We we there is a bundle, Max. That's why we didn't do C, Max. We're going to do C next. This is A, B, and D. I have a motion and a second on by amendment 26-949. Clerk will read the roll call. And Mr. Chairman, this is for resolution 26-949 to move to a second reading. Correct. By law amendment

bylaw two. This is a motion for bylaw amendment 26-949 to move to a second reading. Councelor Ajuku. Yes. Councelor Morangello. Yes. Councelor Malloy. Yes. Councelor Leelank. Yes. Councelor Griffin. Yes. thinks the Callaway trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice chair, yes. And chairman, yes. Motion passed. Okay. Now, we'll go back to C.

C the public hearing. I'll declare the public hearing open on zoning bylaw amendment 26-948. zoning bylaw amendment to the court of town of Franklin at chapter 185 use regulation scheduled attach attachment two attachment three attachment four attachment seven and attachment eight I declare the hearing open bleed in there kid

good evening um so the amendments that are before you or proposed amendments that are before you now are generally federalally um cleanup amendments. So these came up um as we were doing the MBTA communities amendments. We realized that um with the previous submissions that um created the crossing neighborhood district and um created the allowance for residential commercial kitchens um we had been using either old tables um in those submissions or the tables we've been using um had uh future proposed um bylaw amendments. So, we just want to essentially a lot of these are to correct the record um to um go back to what the existing zoning was um or to um add zoning where it's missing for um the crossing neighborhood. So, um this is going to get into a little bit of minutia. I apologize. Um but and it's a little bit hard to see up on the screen. Um but the first one before you tonight is for um uh amendment or attachment two, I'm sorry. And here um the option for um a parcel with poultry, a parcel under 5 acres with poultry. This poultry line was missing um from the crossing neighborhood um submission when the district was created. So there's no zoning allowance for it. there there's nothing um on that use the cell is just blank um and so um we are proposing um that we just match what's in commercial one um as I mentioned earlier the crossing neighborhood was essentially carved out of commercial one so a lot of the zoning that that we proposed in this um in these amendments just matches what's in commercial one just to keep the the um the similarities between the

two. So, this one is um to not allow for um poultry in um parcels under 5 acres. Um the next attachment before you is attachment three. And here, oh, I've got to find it. Um here we had um in a in um a previous submission this note um note six not allowed on sidewalk level in multif family development um should have been um called to the the planning board's attention and to the council's attention because it was being struck but it was not bolded. Um so this is sort of just creating the record that um the note was struck. Um we we do agree that the with the um previous um submission that it should be struck. We just want to sort of create that record to show when it happened. Uh because currently you don't really see the the movement um when you look through the history of the zoning bylaw changes. Um so we're just calling attention to that. Um for attachment 4, we've got a couple um of changes here. Um, so here you'll see that in um, and I'm here I'm just going to go through the district. So for right here, you'll see all of these bolded boxes. If you look on um, the use tables online right now, they're blank. So, these were going to be proposed amendments um that should not have been part of the previous submissions, but because again, they were sort of struck um and included um they they were removed from from the use table. So, right now they're empty. We're just putting back um what was there before. So, disallowing um all of

these uses um and it doesn't make any changes. it just sort of um memorializes that nothing has changed. Um and then here um we've also got some changes that um that happened inadvertently. So um this uh these two hold on I'm trying to get this both so that you can see it but also see what neighbor what districts are affected. Um so for um industrial the industrial district and the light industrial district um these were changed inadvertently. Again these were part of the submission and they shouldn't have been part of it. Um so we're just putting it back um to needing a planning work special permit um for mediumcale um solar energy systems and um and in the indust I'm sorry I said I said the wrong district. The business district um is for planning board special permit um for mediumcale solar and in the industrial district it's allowed by right for medium scale solar. Um so again just putting um what should have been or should what was there back?

Can I ask a question? Yep. Um because this actually came up on the ground mounted solar. So I realize that solar energy is a by right in Massachusetts, but is there any um like sort of best practice or recommendation or maybe requirement to to talk to a neighbor before you construct one of these gigantic structures or is it just allow? So, um I think I'm going to defer to Mark.

So, it depends uh where they're proposing to put it, but if it complies with setbacks or it's on it's going to be on something that sets back a requisite amount, uh you may not need any kind of approvals at all. Um there's uh been uh chapter 48 section three which is the original zoning exclusions including solar and wind largely protected as of right as you said there's been some court decisions at the higher levels uh which has expanded that it's a public policy thing uh set at the state level. So, uh it's uh pretty much as of right unless it's it's an extreme situation. Now, we do have dimensional requirements which we uh when we adopted solar um back when Brian Tabernet was still the head. We went through at that time because that's when the focus really was and the focus really was on the large scale projects where they would be providential but on the other hand that they be uh there'd be enough area that uh we wouldn't be have our zoning nullified. So we set a balance on those and then we tried to restrict it more when it came down to the areas where it didn't seem to be either that they had the space or that it was consistent with the character of like a largely residential neighborhood

through Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through you. Um, if councelor, if all of you looked at the second row up from the bottom under medium scale, um, you'll see footnotes 8 and 10. But if you look over to the use chart, you'll see PB, PB, PB, N7, N, N7, and PB so forth. The only allowable district where that's by right is industrial. So for residential neighborhoods, most of these smaller scale solar ground mounted facilities actually require a special uh special permit from the landlord. So that's like a check and balance. If you're talking about neighbors and residential areas, it's not a given that they'll get it. And if you notice down on the footnote um uh for some of the no for some of the more dense areas like GR5 um where it has an end there where it's not allowed it is only allowed as an accessory to another permitted use. So, so that's really where you get into they're really, you know, obviously small scale solar you can see is a Y across the board in residential districts, but then when you get to large scale, it's all N, which is not allowed. And that mediumsiz one does have some constraints. So to Mark's point about setbacks, about a variety of other property use requirements, a mediumscale ground mounted facility or solar panel like that is not going to be something that's, you know, very large. And it's not even guaranteed that it would ever get approved in a residential district without a special permit from the planning board, which those residents I would I think we I think I stand with you. I hope neighbors would be neighborly and let their neighbors know what their intentions are before it has to all come spill out on camera at a planning board meeting and get hot really and then get like chippy and latigious and and whatever. But there are protections in here for those residential homeowners with that special permit criteria for a medium scale. So

that should be enough, you know, check and balance for for at least any any neighbor that wants to put in something um larger than they should. I hope that I hope that helps a little bit. Go ahead. And also the focus again, it's groundmounted. This does not address roof installations or installations on other structures at all. So yeah, I I I only asked because of a particular for the benefit of those particular piece of property in town that you know the neighbor wasn't notified and the structure is quite large right next to their home and

you know I would I would like to think neighbors would be neighborly Jamie right but that doesn't always happen and

you know I don't know if there's a way uh you know maybe not with this bylaw but maybe something for the planning board to think about going down the road is maybe we require a fence or we require if you're going to do that and approve it, you got to put some large arbors or something, some sort of barrier so that your neighbor when at one time they're looking out on a beautiful yard and next time they're looking out on a giant solar field next to their house. It's not really fair. Um, but I understand uh solar by right and there's not a lot we can do about it. But I'm just trying to look out for, you know, the people of Franklin who are like, "How does something like this happen?"

Okay, that's all I had. Thank you. I actually have a question. Um, because I've been getting a lot of phone calls on does this affect cell phone towers at all? Cell phone tower, it has nothing to do with cell phone towers. No. No. Cell phone towers are regulated by the federal government. By the federal government and also pretty much an as of right. As of right. Yeah. Well, that's true. Yeah. Hold on, Max. Hold on, Max. Sorry. Does that answer your question, Council Delico? Yes. I just I've been getting a lot of phone calls about the people down on Raymond Street and I had I I kind of didn't have any answer for them. That's why I kind of wanted to bring it up.

There's nothing in our code. Well, we have an we have an antiquated cell bylaw that we hope to update later to conform to federal laws. Um, you know, obviously the one on Pawn Streets kind of unearthed that, which is, you know, tough to hear, but um, you know, ultimately it's a it's essentially a buy right use at the federal level. So, there's really it's very very hard kind of like liquor license, it's very hard to to stop. It's possible but it's very difficult. Go ahead. Okay.

So, so the burden under the uh telecommunications act which is a federal legislation is that uh if the uh uh wireless uh provider shows a significant gap in coverage, then they're entitled to uh address that. Okay. and you you can uh mitigate to some degree in terms again of fencing and visuals and things like that, but they're going to ultimately probably be allowed to do it. No, that's what I thought this morning. Max,

thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh I had a question regarding so some people who know me know I have have a little pet project trying to bring our kids back to Franklin and make our downtown a little bit more familyfriendly. Um, and I know that the last council they changed one of the wiser ends around uh coin operated amusement devices to allow that in the downtown crossing district. But I also am aware that there's a separate bylaw in addition to the Y's and the ends that completely ban arcades. And so is that first off does this amendment change the arcade thing back from the previous council? And two, does that bylaw still be have to be repealed so they don't conflict with each other? that would be marked. Yeah.

We we we have addressed options for uh revising that bylaw. It's a definition as I recall such a certain number and that certainly can be amended, but that's not what's in front of you tonight. You you're basically taking what exists in as you permitted uses or especially permitted uses or whatever, not creating new definitions. So, I just want to clarify um because I think the previous council changed the the allowed uses for arcades for the downtown crossing district. So, is that if this isn't being changed, is that currently are those two bylaws in conflict with each other currently, even if nothing, you know, regardless of how we vote?

I don't know what it says for arcades. I can't read it, but the So, the the allowance for arcades, that's not being changed tonight. Um, that was something that the council did for Crossing Neighborhood. Um, I am not, I will say, not familiar. I can't call it up off the top of my head, the arcade bylaw. Um, so I would have to look to see um, how that actually reads. And

there's the number of units that you have. You have the co uh, the the coin operated uh, amusement devices and they're not addressed. You can have a couple perhaps, but if you go over a certain number, then you've you're meeting the definition of an arcade and then it's regulated by the zoning bylaw and in many cases not allowed.

And just to close the loop, just uh we can talk about this offline, council morangello, but um there was one person who was possibly looking at a vintage style arcade. Um and I'm not sure that that party is interested in that anymore. Um, we did meet with them at tech review and it seemed like there were some other issues with their proposed idea project about commercial kitchen because they wanted a restaurant. Like I don't remember all every single little detail, but we haven't heard back from that proponent in a while. Um, so if you have a contact, you can certainly we can get looped in again and see if they're still interested. But um,

there's a little more to it than just an arcade. You know, there's a little bit more to it than just like allowing an arcade or not. Yeah. Okay. No. And thank you, counselor. Um, I think that we will probably have a few more sort of cleanup amendments coming towards you all the wireless bylaw we're working on right now to bring it into compliance. So, there might be a couple of of um amendments, you know, coming down the pipe. So, I'll look into this one and if we need to address it, then we can sort of take advantage um with the next round of cleanups. Great.

Yeah. It's funny I I picked up on the solar as well. I think one of the things we should do, not tonight, but as we say cleanup, we should define what is small scale, medium scale, and large scale. Like small scale is 300 ft, medium scale is 300 to 700 because I do not anywhere there where it talks about light, medium, heavy, those are very ambiguous terms somewhere. Yep.

There's a definition section in the post. It's obviously zoning and I I know this is gets complic it's not like zoning is all perfectly organized. There's a whole section of definitions that do do that. So we'll have we'll send it around to folks if they want as long as there's a definition that's I don't see it. I'm thinking it's not on cuz I see in other places it said 5,000 ft more than 5,000. So yeah, that's all. So thank you. All right. Are you done? Uh no couple more attachments. Keep going.

All right. Um, so this one, um, just to sort of clarify this, this combines, um, the MBTA communities changes and, um, this, uh, C changes 948. Um, so you can sort of um, see what it would all look like together. Um so for um the current um a proposed amendments we have um so the the crossing neighborhood submission didn't you didn't um include uh as part of a mixeduse development um which is a big missing ticket for crossing neighborhoods. So we're just adding it into the table and then it's it is currently blank. are proposing um the same that exists for commercial one um which is allowing it um my own submission earlier this uh year um to you all um inadvertently didn't include the crossing neighborhood because I was using the residential kitchen submission. Um so uh I am adding it back in here and then again just matching it to C1. Um and then um one of the amendments um that was meant to be proposed in uh I want to say residential commercial kitchens which is 6.3 um B in commercial one um which is changing it from special permit from the ZBA to an allowed use um wasn't clearly reflected um in that submission. So just here creating the record. It's already sort of in the um in the bylaws but creating that uh record of of the change. Um and almost done.

Um here uh the submission for the crossing neighborhood district did not include residential commercial kitchens. These two um changes the the amendments came through essentially at the same time. So, um, we're just adding in, um, some some regs on on the allowed use. And so, we're matching that again to C1 to commercial one. Um, and, um, here we are striking this note that refers to um, just refers folks back to the accessory structure um, section of the bylaw. Um, it's just it's not necessary. So, we're just uh that was included in the submission for um for the crossing neighborhood but wasn't called out. So, calling it out now and I believe

that's it. That's it. Yeah. Can I ask a quick question? Sure. Agricultural with poultry. Yeah. Because I mean to me poultry is the aftermath. That's the what you buy at the store. We're really saying we're letting people have chickens. We're letting people have chickens. Yes. Like if they want them for eggs or they want to raise them for future slaughter, either one or as pets for pets, right? But they have I mean there's I know there's rules around containment and you know all of that and noise and the rooster and all that stuff. But that's what we're essentially talking. Yes. Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah. I want to just piggy back off that. So, it looks like we're saying that in attachment two, we're saying that under five acres in the crossing neighborhood, they can't have chickens, right? Do we know if there's anyone over there on a lot that's under 5 acres who has chicken that we are now saying they cannot? Do we have they'd be grandfathered anyway? Yep. All right. just that's kind of was my question or whatever the term is that they're now using in lure that would shut but that was my I know that has chicken yeah I just wanted to make sure we weren't making anyone get over there

no I chickens are safe um so uh if there's no other questions from the council I'll go to the public there any questions Please public Zoom land. No one on Zoom. I was lost.

That's it. All right. So, I'll declare the public meeting for zoning bylaw amendment 26-948. Closed. Legislation for action. Zoning bylaw amendment 26-948. the zoning bylaw amendment to the code of the town of Franklin at chapter 185 use regulations schedule attachment two attachment three attachment four attachment seven and attachment eight the first is a first reading mot uh clerk will read the reading

motion to wave the reading second right I have a motion and a second clerk will call roll call on the motion one Second, Mr. Chairman. This is a motion to wave the reading for bylaw amendment 26-948. Uh, councelor Rajuku, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leblanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Councelor Callaway, Trip is absent. Myself, yes. Vice Chair. Yes. And chairman.

Yes. Motion to move zoning bylaw amendment 26-948 to second to a second reading. I have a motion in a second. Discussion. Discussion. Clerk will read 26 948 bylaw. This is to move it to a second meeting. Correct. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a motion to move to a second reading bylaw amendment 26-948. The roll call. Councelor Ajuku. Yes. Councelor Morangello.

Yes. Councelor Mallaloy. Yes. Councelor Leblanc. Yes. Councelor Griffith. Yes. Councelor Callaway Trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice Chair. Yes. Chairman, yes. The motion pass. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You can stay if you want.

Talking solar, talking chicken, tons of fun. Thank you. All right, moving on. Legislation for action. Zoning bylaw amendment 26-950 bylaw amendment to the code of Franklin Town of Franklin at chapter 139 section 139-14 sewer system map this is a first meeting y

yeah uh sure you Mr. chairman. Uh items E and F are both um intertwined with uh the same issue. One's a sewer map amendment uh for public sewer connection and one's a water map. Um just for background, these require a first reading and a second reading. So they require two votes. So if um if approved tonight, the second uh vote would be on May 13th. Um the proponents are here tonight. I think represented by attorney Ketta and uh Mike Magguire, our town engineer, is here to answer any questions. There's a just by standard process. So everybody knows when folks work with the DPW um as after a planning board subdivision approval or house lot approval, ANR lot, whatever they may be, um they typically work through the DPW and we all get a comment feedback letter from the town staff on what exactly is going on just so that all of you have the background information from the town staff. So that letter is incorporated in here. That's a standard practice. Um, and I'll just leave it to maybe the attorney and G. I don't know if you guys want to come up um just to answer any questions.

Mike, if you come up and give us a little background, please.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, so the um the applicant is um is applying for a water and sewer map um extensions for a proposed sub five lot subdivision off of Union Street. Um it's gone through the planning board and been approved already. Um so they're looking for water and sewer um map amendments. We've met with the applicant a number of times over um past couple months in addition with the fire department to go over the proposal. Um with their um one of the issues that we were having is that that section of um Union Street in front of where the proposed development is going to go. There's a 6-in cast iron uh water pipe there. It's an older pipe. And so, um, as we were looking at that, we've, um, you know, working with the developer, we came up with a plan for them to replace about maybe 50 feet or so of that, um, existing main with a new 12-in main, which will eventually be upgrading the rest of that main at some point in the future. Um, and they're going to reconfigure the connection with Delta Drive, which is immediately across the street. So, in the end, they're going to basically reconfigure all the border pipe and valving in front of their development to um, which they'll be connecting to. the value of the work that they're going to be doing is about $60,000 which will, you know, save the town from doing that work in the future when we replace that ourselves. Um, in addition to that, they're also um the applicant also agreed to contribute another $35,000 on top of that which will be used by DBW for future system improvements that we deem um you know we deem important in that area or elsewhere in town. Um so for about a value of about $95,000 that the the uh developer is going to be contributing to DBW for that work and the cash uh donation will um we'll get those improvements done there and we you know we feel that that's a significant for uh significant value for the town and meeting and working with the fire department also allows them to provide the um necessary fire protection on the uh new subdivision too. So the fire department was happy about that. Um the applicants are here if there u there are any other uh questions but in addition to that they u they will still need to go

through regular process and um file for all the um applicable uh permits and pay all the applicable fees to go with that in addition to what they were contributing. Yep. Does any questions? Be happy to

questions. So Mike uh septic was not is not not able to be done on these sites. Um they could be I mean there was an option they got approved by the planning board. So one of the things they were going to look at in the beginning was septic and and private wells but then there was the issue of the fire protection which fire department really wanted to see some hydrants and fire protection for that new development. So by working with the developer we came up with this plan to make everything work and they're providing that contribution to um to make it worthwhile for the town to actually allow them to do that.

Okay. And actually that was my my next question. Do we have a formula? Have we ever come up with a formula as it relates to this? I mean, like for every lot that you're getting out of this, you're going to pay $20,000 as this. We don't have a specific fulling, but this is in line with the past couple of um map amendments have um is basically an equal value for per house. We had one up on um Symphony Drive maybe a few months ago. Um they're going through the planning board process now. It was just for two lots, but they end up um they they they agreed to um I think it was about $30,000 or so for the two lots basically to accommodate um some um uh a booster pump station uh pump upgrades. So, we there was something we needed up there. They agreed to pay for that and that kind of provided a benefit to the system. So, what we've been doing is we've been doing this for a lot of years now. It's like it's it's changed over the years, but this is in line with what we've been recently um seeing. I mean, I I'd like to see us come up a little bit more standard approach to this. I don't know if Mark's going to raise his hand say you can't because I saw his hand go up like maybe we can't do that because I would like to see kind of a more standard. I mean, you're talking about the person who wants to grow economic development. So, I don't want to stifle it, but at the same time, uh if there is some uh a a formula as it relates to remediation, like someone's taking one lot and being able to build seven lots, I'd like to say, okay, it's $25,000 per lot or something like that. So, that way there is a it's not it's not an arbitrary, and to your point, it's it's probably been fairly consistent, but I would like to see us come up with a formula for that. Um because again I'm not trying to stifle development but at the same time I'd like to put some money into the coffer so that way it's kind of planned you cuz a lot of these little subdivisions are coming up. There's one off of um Partridge Street that's coming up. So all these things should have a should have some guidance around it. So

a big one coming off a king too and a big one coming off a king. Correct. So so there should be some I'd like to see a formula around that. So it's just not arbitrary. That's awesome. Thank you. Uh Mark, you had you.

So, this was an attempt by uh earlier council to address runaway development. Uh and basically what was proposed was uh to basically freeze existing public utility, water and sewer. And in order to extend mains, which not the individual services, but the mains that are usually in the street, uh, a developer would have to satisfy certain specified criteria in the bylaws. There's two separate bylaws, but they're kind of parallel. Um and then if they're unable to meet those specific criteria to extend there's a catchall that's allows more flexibility so that on an individual basis as as Mike has suggested he can work with the developer for a win-win situation. So, it's not intended to open up vast areas of the town for further for water and sewer. I mean, if if you can if you can either do a well or a septic anyway, it doesn't apply really. So, this is kind of a default situation either because the bad soils or whatever. And on the case in the case of water, the fire department will tell you that that from a public safety standpoint, there really needs to be more flexibility to extend the water rather than a well because when you're talking firefighting, they need that capacity. So anyway, it it's basically to extend the existing system short distances or to pick up lots here and

there or a few lots. It's not intended to to service an entire subdivision uh because as I said it's a it's a it's to the extent the state will permit you to regulate uh growth and development it's was an attempt to do so

good was good no probably not for this just Mike. Can you just for the purposes of the public tell us where on Union Street this is being proposed? Sure. This is at uh 543 Union Street and this is um you may know the the Blueberry Farm out there. So the one of the um there's two separate properties. One of the property owners sold the farm to the developer and the developer is looking at building that and he already has the approved subdivision already um approved by the planning board. And just so everybody knows, when we say subdivision, we're talking single family homes. He's proposing uh five single family homes. Yes.

Okay. So, from a you purely value standpoint, they're worth more money tied to sewer and water with the town than with a septic anyway. So, it makes more sense for everybody to make that happen because the developer will get more money for those homes and the town will get more money when they get assessed. So, that that that's all good. Uh my question, I know you guys have done this a million times, but to to keep it um sort of fair and consistent and keep the checks and balances, the DPW hires the companies that do the work to the town and the company is simply paying this as a fee to the town. Not necessarily.

Or is the is the developer hiring the company to do the work and then offsetting that somehow? So in this case, the um the developer will be hiring the contractor to do the the waterline work in Union Street. Um we've met with them, met with the contractor, we know the contractor. I've worked with them before. So we comfort with comfort level with the contractor and the work that's happening. Um and then there'll be a cash contribution on top of that. Some cases there've been other times in the past, I'm assuming that um where the u developer might have made a cash made a contribution and we went out and hired someone. But this is a little bit easier. is probably more economical for the developer because he's not doesn't have to pay prevailing wage. So it kind of helps in that situation too. We'll have inspectors out there. So we'll be we'll oversee the work obviously.

No, that's what I that's what I like to hear. So and the cash contribution Jamie that goes into fees goes into the water sewer funds. Y Oh, okay. It goes retained earnings. it goes into retainer,

but it'll get all reinvested as um as Mike said, you know, when you charge fees like that, whether it's permit fee or contribution or whatever, that stuff that money has to go dedicated towards the infra, which makes sense. I mean, I don't think anybody's disagreeing with it, you know, but they're coming into a public system that might need some bolts fixed or some pipe fixed or maybe some analysis done on that area of town. We've been very successful over the years where a lot of the projects that have been done, you know, usually entail this kind of a thing. So, we try to look at that point of the system and say at that section of Union Street, can this money go to some of the work to betterment that area? And usually that's what happens. So, you know, um it doesn't go to free cash just for anybody watching at home. It can't go into capital, but it will go into capital sewer and capital water into that infrastructure up in that neighborhood. And we have a fairly old infrastructure system on that part of town anyway. So this kind of makes sense. Yeah.

The particular pipe in Union Street is a little bit older. Yeah. So whether it get used there or somewhere nearby or something else that we need, but as an example, I mentioned the one on Symphony Drive that actually, you know, those proceeds are going to go to upgrade um new pumps for the uh water booster uh pump station that's in that neighborhood. So that's something we needed to do anyway. So that was sort of a a win-win. And yeah, it is. It is a total win-win. My my last question, Mike, does this open up opportunities for any uh utters that are not tied into town water and sewer to maybe have that option to tie in or No. Um, no. This would be just for the This is just an extension for the new subdivision, but I'm pretty sure I don't want Definitely. I'm pretty sure that entire neighborhood's already tied in. Everybody already? I'm not certain, but I would assume so. It's an older section.

All right. That's closer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is anybody else? I think Mr. Chairman, go ahead, Max, if you want. I got to use up my four questions for tonight. Um, so I uh wanted to ask um when when this I just want from my understanding, when the senior center has a a gift or a cash contribution, it comes to the council to be approved and it's the same thing for the library. Why is the DPW different when you get a cash contribution? How how comes that doesn't come to us? This isn't a gift. So it's a it's a it's just not a donation essentially a mitigation if you want to think of it like that. Yeah. Okay. That's all I have.

And it's also isolated to you know uh state laws around enterprise funds. Whereas you're right Max a gift of $1,000 from the rough riders to the veterans uh fund you know legally has to come before the council. Yeah. Um, and this isn't specifically about this. I I am for this, but um I wanted to ask um Mark, you said that this is not meant to um allow for like large subdivisions. Do you know where that line is between, you know, a couple a couple of houses you can have a big subdivision? Do we have a like

Well, again, it it depends. It's specific with the proposed project and the proximity the infrastructure we already have. So, uh, if sewer water is going by an unimproved a large unimproved parcel, then they're probably going to have be able to just hook in. That's not going to trigger an extension. If the and the key is mains, which are the bigger pipes that are servicing multiple properties. So, wherever those end or wherever uh manels or connections end, that's what determines it. And again when the bylaw was drafted in the first place they provided a mechanism a logical mechanism they hoped by providing specific stated criteria for being able to extend as of right and if you didn't meet those criteria then there is the catchall term that more often than not uh we apply for properties that are just beyond an existing main or whatever and this give and take that Mike's explained in this case, it hopefully produces a win-win.

So, I hope this I may be able to synthesize that just a smidge. Um, it's not a unit count. If you if you had this application come in on Prospect Street, you can't mandate that all of a sudden now we have to run a pipe from Washington all the way up Prospect to hit somebody who is applying. So, somebody came in from Prospect Street and applied even for five units, right? We wouldn't be able to do that. We're not required to do that. And that's to Mark's point earlier about controlling growth is that there's not water manes throughout the entire town. In this case, the line in the sand is the entire neighborhood already has water sewer. This parcel's been left off. Um, you know, this is a fairly easy connection to make and it doesn't require us to go install a whole another road um of an extension somewhere. So, I don't know if that was more directly to your question, but it's not like five units triggers something or 10 units then you go over. It's not a unit base. It's really more of a geographical issue.

Logistics. It's more of a logistics and geographical issue. Okay. Thank you. Question. Couldn't have said it better myself. Any more discussion?

Moving on. We got a vote. Yeah, we got a vote. Do we have a motion in a second? No, we start. I don't think so. I think we were just discussing discussing So, Bor amendment 26-950 950 a Bor amended to the code of the town of Franklin chapter 139 section 139-14 sewer system map this is a first reading clerk will read the motion to wave the reading second

I have a motion and a second clerk will take the vote the roll call vote. Okay, hold on.

I I started this mess. It's okay. Okay, Mr. Chairman, this is a motion to wave the reading for bylaw amendment 26-950, the roll call vote. Councelor Rejuko, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Mallaloy, yes. Councelor LeBlanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Councelor Callaway, Trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice Chair, yes. And chairman, yes. Motion passes. Motion to move bylaw amendment 26-950 to a second reading. Second. Have a motion and second. Discussion.

There's a typo on the number on the top. I just realized where somebody correct on by amendments. At least mine says 25-950. Should be 26. Oh, it's probably on his Okay. That was for 26950, right? Yeah. So, do we have to make an amendment? No, just somebody correct it. We'll just correct it in the final one. We'll correct the second reading. Anyway, to the second reading. Okay. So, I have a motion in a and a second. Clerk will call roll.

Is this a motion to send it to a second reading? Yes. Okay, Mr. Chairman, this is a motion to send bylaw amendment 26-950 to a second reading and the roll call vote. Councelor Ajuku, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leblanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Cally trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Vice chair, yes. And chairman, uh,

yes. Motion. Moving on, bylaw amendment 26-951, a bylaw amendment to the code of the town of Franklin at chapter 179, section 179-9.1, water system map. This is the first reading. Clerk will read the motion to wave the reading. Second motion second. Can't go fast. We're just trying to Thanks Max.

We could have A1 doing this by next month. You know, AI rather than we can have AI. I'm supposed to join more call me next meeting. I'm going to be in Florida and I was planning on joining. Is there a lot of amendments next week? No, we'll make sure that you'll be in a bad You'll be in a bad coverage area when uh in Florida when that happens. Okay. So, we're This is to wave the right. Yes.

And we're on 26-951. Okay, Mr. Chairman, this is a motion to wave the reading for bylaw amendment 26-951 and the roll call as follows. Councelor Rejuku, yes. Council Morangello, yes. Councelor Mallaloy, yes. Councelor Blank, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Councelor Callaway, Trip is absent. Myself is a yes. Council Gulla, yes. Councelor Dorco, yes.

Motion pass. Motion to move bylaw amendment 26-951 to a second reading. Second. We have a motion and a second. Discussion. No discussion. Clerk will read the roll call vote to move by amendment 26-951 to a second reading. Trying to slow it down just a little. says that this is speed writing in its best motion to read.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a motion to move to a second reading bylaw amendment 26-951 and the roll call vote. Councelor Ajuku, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leblanc, yes. Councelor Griffith, yes. Jean's absent, myself, yes. Councelor Gulla. Yes. And Mr. Chairman. Uh, yes. Good luck. Thank you. Hopefully it goes fast. Yeah. Okay, moving on. We're going to do a future agenda items.

Malloy. I think we have enough going on right now. I think so. Yeah. I will second that. Griffin. Um, just a letter to the spelling. Yeah, we'll get that. That's awesome. Can Can someone send me Can I just have a Can maybe Can you send me the 12 emails or whatever you got just so I've I've gotten some others from other people, but just so I I feel like everybody got the same ones probably just so I can have those. That'd be helpful. So, you can just kind of

Yeah, she'll just forward me this morning. Um, I was wondering if I don't know if I can do this, but to to avoid taking up the time of the whole council meeting past that the Gatra give a subcommittee report a Gatra give a committee report to EDC. Is that possible? Sure. Okay. Yeah, that that'd be great. And and just maybe in July if we can do the sustainability committee after all the budget stuff, that'd be great. Oh, you all set, Max? Yep. Uh, council blind. Nothing. Nothing at this time, sir. Sorry. Nothing.

Say I have nothing. So, tonight we do have an executive session. Executive session executive session is for uh collective bargaining for police patrol to discuss the strategy with respect to collective embing in an open meeting may have a detrimental detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body. And the chair has so declared

clarif and I so declare and I so declare I think okay so I so declare do we need to vote to go into executive session thank god I have this binder with all these pieces of paper a motion to go into executive session right yes It has to be roll call. Yeah. I'll make a motion to move to executive session. No, he's he's going to he's going to go to the mirror the speech that the chair just hold on. And then you then you that will be a motion you can second.

Okay. So don't know. Well, because it's before 10:00. Is Max uh planning to attend the executive session? Oh, yeah. He's staying there. Max here. Max is a trooper. He's staying. He's going to have to make a declaration when we're in executive session that he's by himself, that there's nobody who does not who's not entitled to be in the executive session. We We can keep the Zoom open uh for logistically, I'm not sure about that. I could there be other people on there than we'd host. Yeah, we'll allow the No, we'll either boot people off, but I mean I was just going to kill the Zoom and put Max in on the phone.

Oh, yeah. That's what we doing. Yeah, I understand. So, Mr. Chairman, this is a motion to move to executive session for the purposes of exemption three. Do I need to read the entire thing? You can you can summarize it. Just make sure the ch you said the chair is so declared. Okay. As the chair has so declared, we're moving to exemption three for collective bargaining with the police patrol and we need to do a roll call. We cannot resume an open session and we will not be returning to open session. Councelor Rajuko, yes. Councelor Morangello, yes. Councelor Malloy, yes. Councelor Leank, yes. Councelor Griffith,

yes. myselfia.