City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Good evening and welcome to the regular meeting for the Lawren City Council. Today's day is Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026. Uh pursuant to chapter 20 of the act of 2022, this meeting will be hybrid. Allow participation both in person at the city council chambers as well as remotely. uh anybody that have requested the zoom link uh it was done through the city clerk's office. This meeting is also been transmitted live uh through the Lawren City Council Facebook page as well as the L city council YouTube page. Uh roll call madame clerk. Councelor Gonzalez present. Councel Miguel present. Councelor Marmal present. Council Fonte present.

Council Reyes is noted as absent. Council Del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Lant present. Council Vice President Levy present. Council President Rodriguez present. Um and I would like to uh please uh join us for a moment of silence. At this moment, I would like to pass uh the word to Council La Plan for a few words.

Thank you very much, Council President. um a member of our neighborhood and and a longtime Laurentian Phyllis Tyler passed away last week. Um and she was actually very active in in in much of a city's um civic involvement and helped many many candidates out running for office and was a treasurer of the neighborhood association and like I said a lifetime member and she actually ran for district B for city council at one time. Um so she had tremendous roots in the city. So if we wouldn't mind council president if we can just remember her during this moment of silence that'd be great. Please. Now join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Councilors, can I get can I get a motion to approve minutes from uh January 20, 2026 and February 3rd, 2026?

Motion to approve. Second. There is a motion to approve properly. Second discussion. I hear none. All those in favor, please say I. I. I.

Nobody soon. Uh the eyes carries. Uh public participation. We have a few names here that would like to that would like to express public participation. Speak on public participation. The rules are as follows. You're going to have two and a half minute to speak. At the two minute uh mark, you're going to hear a beep indicating that you still have 30 seconds. Uh please refer to this council as a whole. Uh the first name that we have is H. Mali. Name and address for the record, please. Mali 53 Chester Street. Good evening honorable me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me members in this important year we the citizen are proud to support Lawrence police officers union. Thank you for excellent job. Lawrence police department with the impeccable leadership by honorable chief Morris Agler doing excellent job to protect our citizen. Lawrence police because of your excellent job. You're the best example of protectance. Sir Lawrence is a safe city. Lawrence police one of the best police department in the nation. Million thanks to our hardworking DPW workers and the service. Because of you, Lawrence is a beautiful city. We support our inspection department employee and their union. Thank you for excellent job. We must hire more inspector. Lawrence public school with the impeccable leadership by honorable superintendent Raf Guerrero. Moving forward, we the citizen are grateful to honorable director Wu for helping Lawrence children. We support Lawrence Teachers Union. Because of your excellent job, Lawrence will rise again. We are proud to support our brave veterans. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your sacrifice. So this

great nation become the land of free and home of brave. We must hire more to position for the veterans department and create the best commission for all elders. In this new year, we pray for the safety of all police officers and the first responder. Rollins fire department under impeccable leadership by honorable chief Delaney doing excellent job. We pledge in this great new year to support Lawrence police officers union. Because of your dedication and sacrifices, we have the best police department in the nation. In this year, we pledge as a citizen support Lawrence Police Officers Union, the true shining star in the sky of Lawrence. Uh, the next person that we have is Rich Russell. Councelor Rosel.

No, he's uh he's third. done. What's the difference?

Good evening, councilors. Rich Russell, 34 Cross Street, regarding agenda item 5526, the making of Cross Street one way from Manchester to uh Broadway. Please refer to city ordinance 10.36.01 01 regarding no parking on the northeasterly side across street and 10.36.220 regarded restricting restricted parking on the southwesterly side across street. Proper LPD enforcement of traffic regulations would negate the making that portion of cross street a one-way street. Uh in front of you is a map of the blue lights in Lawrence and my suggested locations of more of them to give the citizens a better blue light uh closer to their home. Why can't the red alert system from years ago be used for notification purposes? Between January 25th and February 21st of this year, the LPD tagged 4694 vehicles for obstructive parking during snow removal. These uh fines were obtained through a public record request brought in $434,500 in fines that will be placed in the city's general fund. Why can't a portion of those fines be used for the installation of more blue lights at locations denoted on the map by the green dots surrounded by red circles? Or have the powers at be already lined up that money from the blue light violations for their own pet projects? It's unfortunate that the MGL requires those fines to go directly to the city instead of being used in a manner to eliminate help eliminate the fines. We know city city city city

officials are selling their souls for more housing, but they're using an extremely outdated parking requirement for building codes. A minimum of two parking spaces per vehicle per uh per dwelling unit should be required. Lack of parking for city residents in the wintertime should not be used as a money-making operation when the city offers no solutions other than to hire more cashiers to count the incoming fine money. In conclusion, it is a shame more money wasn't spent on the welcome on that welcome to Lawrence sign adding thank you. Don't know where you're going to park once you get here.

Thank you. I'm pretty sure some councils will blow off my comments as coming from an old guy with white hair, but I'm willing to bet the 4600 94. Thank you so much. You already got the time. I couldn't have. No, you already have the Do I have minutes? Thank you. Uh the next person is uh Jeffrey Petillo. Yes. Hi. Good evening council.

My name is Jeffrey Petrillo 341D South Broadway. By now at least 10 plus city officials have received my email regarding the owner of&m auto body sale of parcel number two which is also referred to as lot number 18. I'm not presenting myself from the perspective of trying to interfere with the sale, but we know we are correct in standing our ground by protesting the sale on the grounds that for 78 years uh that lot was a non-buildable lot and prohibited from receiving any commercial or residential building permits and special variance permits for any type of building. We don't we don't quote these uh assertions from hearsay, but rather in accordance to the email you received the city and state fire and safety laws uh zoning laws that were in effect 38 years ago in 1988 and 1989. Uh, and these quoted city and state fire and saf safety zoning laws uh because these uh they're still the same as they were voted uh by the city council and and they were put into effect by uh for everyone, not just for the benefit of one land owner or one uh builder to accomplish doing building on a lot that was deemed prohibited. Uh that was the reason why our family made uh the final decision to purchase our home and property. Um excuse me. Um and until now these laws uh still remain the same and they're unchanged. It is our understanding that some builder with over 50 years of experience has received some handshake deal where he has been assured of actually receiving all building and special variance permits. In accordance to all applicable city and state zoning laws, our family which uh we came here from a uh construction, we come from a construction and building

family. We are thinking that in advance that the uh alleged builder is going to eventually go before the ZBA and planning board and eventually come before the city council. It is at that time the patrol family requests that the various boards and city council to vote no and deny all building permits and any special variance permits in accordance to these state and city zoning laws and applicable fire and safety laws. Thank you. Thank you. The next person is Mark. Councel plan. The next person is councelor plan. Mark name and address of the brick

29 mark 29 DO in Lawrence. Uh just a reminder counselors, the uh Lawrence Square project is still ongoing. Uh the weather has not been very cooperative lately and I'm not sure that we're going to be able to do something this Thursday because of the snow that we're getting tonight. Uh but if we do have it, and I'm hopeful that we that we will, it'll be for firemen, thirdclass Joseph W. Darnuse, um whose square is at the corner of East Harable Street and Prospect Street. Uh his very short story is he uh served in World War I. He got gassed in World War I. um when the war ended, he still wanted to serve the country, got out of the army and went to the Navy. Uh he was actually out in the China Sea for a while before he had to come back. Uh and then he died from the wounds that he the gas exposure that he gotten. So there's a square there named after him. That's this Thursday, March 5th at Hil Street in Prospect Street. Everyone is invited. That's your district, right? All right. Um next one is Major Lawrence J. Pirelli Square. Um, his square is at the corner of Lawrence Street and Bennington Street. And Major Felli was a Vietnam veteran and died in combat in Vietnam. As a matter of fact, he got struck uh doing um some reconnaissance, not reconnaissance, but mind sweeping. Um, and was killed in in in action doing that. Um, and his, like I said, his his corner is on Lauren Street and Bennington Street, and his is at March 12th. And both of these are at 400 p.m. And they last no more than 20 minutes. is very brief uh but it's a nice way to remember these individuals and it's and the signs are superb and they have a lot of information so I invite you all to to come. Thank you.

Mallay please call the role for councelor Reyes. Councelor Reyes is present. All right. All these names are going to be submitted for the record. Um councilors uh we would like to take a few things out of order. I'm going to start with councelor uh infante in relationship to item 7926 if it is no objection. Councel infante.

Thank you for you council president. Um I just want to provide the council a quick update on how this year's budget process is going to look like. Um, I want to start off by saying that last Thursday I met with our caffe pertaining to this and what we experienced last year and we both agreed that this year we want to well not just this year but every year we want to make the budget process um as efficient and transparent as we can. Uh so as we look forward to the FY20 uh 27 budget process and how our city's finances are evolving um I made a comment to our CAP about other municipalities and city councils and one in particular for example is the city of Boston where they have uh working budget working sessions that leads up to their to their official budget hearing um process. And that was brought up because we noted that a majority of our time during these budget hearings are taken up by the gradular details of the day-to-day uh budget operations of the current fiscal year. And um to alleviate some of that, we thought it was a good idea to try out a budget a working budget um uh working budget session with three departments. the three major departments which would be the police department, fire department and um DPW which you you all saw as as new business that we do have a current yeartoday uh police department um year-to- date budget uh budget audit. So in doing that um we will be we will be starting that next week for the first budget here u budget meeting then we will be scheduling the the fire department and then lastly the the the DPW and depending on how this goes um if

and if time allows it we will be adding other departments strictly to discuss the details of current um budget activities and also I do want to make it clear to uh budget committee members that you still will have the option to ask additional questions etc. um if you didn't have the opportunity to do so during these budget working sessions or maybe if something came up later on uh that you wanted that you want to address. Additionally, we also um discussed Lawrence public schools. Uh last year we spent almost three hours discussing Lawrence public schools when we had a night full of of um other departments as well. However, considering that the Lawrence public schools is the majority of the budget this year, we are deciding on giving Lawrence public schools its own evening. That way, we won't have the pressure of um well, me as chair at least, um of seeing other departments waiting for their turn while we're discussing important details and asking important questions to the Lawrence public schools. And additionally, and lastly, the CAFP will be submitting the budget on May 15th, which will then start the 45day clock. And the last um May 15th, and that will start the 40-day review clock for us, which will end on June 30th, so that this year there will be no confusion on when the last day of of the budget of approving the budget will be. And um lastly, we will officially begin the budget hearing process on May 26th. And that is all I have as an update so far. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.

No problem. uh continuing with a few uh with a few items before we go into an update from the C20 Chenny. I would like if it's not objection with the council would like to take item 4626 which is the authorization to spend $3.1 million for mass work infrastructure grant from the executive's office of economic development. uh then McCarthy uh he's here with us and uh with that madame madame chair from the bal finance committee

thank you for you council president item 46-20 46-26 authorization to expend $3,100,000 of the mass works infrastructure grant from the executive office of economic development was sent up to the full council as a committee report and I make that as a formal A motion. It's a motion uh on the floor uh properly second. This is for the committee report. Any discussion on the committee report? I hear none. At this point, I'll call the questions. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any nays? Guys have it. Madame chair.

So now counselors, we have this item uh as a committee report at this level. Uh at this point, I will entertain a motion. Counc motion for the purpose of discussion. I'm going to do motion to approve for the motion for the purpose of discussion. Second is a motion for the purpose of discussion. Second uh discussion. Uh do you mind allowing them to introduce and then ask questions?

Yes. I actually I just have a concern about the district counsel. and the district council of this area I know couldn't be here tonight and I'm curious to know his stance on this and and if he has any questions or concerns. Yeah, we have at large counselors as well. Well, I I know we have the at large counselors too, but the district counselors, we get the majority of the calls, the concerns, all of that. So, I definitely want to hear from the district counselor speak that way. Oh, me too. We do. have fun. We got a lot of focus. All right. No, but to but noted council president.

Yeah. Yeah. Um at this time I would like to u Yeah, of course. Um we would like to spend an opportunity to the McCarthy which is here with us as well as the organization uh u uh that is u going to be spending the money on uh on the infrastructure. Mr. McCarthy,

good evening. Daniel McCarthy, uh, planning director, city Lawrence, uh, work out of an address at 360 Marrammax Street. Um, here on behalf of this document, um, I have several people here supporting me. I have members of the launch community works, uh, the project manager and the director. I also have Mr. Peter Ellison, who's an engineer with TEC Engineering, who's the engineering company that, uh, assisted with the filing of this grant. Uh the grant is a $3.1 million infrastructure grant is from the the state department of economic development to assist the city with some of the development costs associated with this project. The project in in in uh I know you there was some a number of questions that were profered at the last uh meeting. Um I I do know that Mr. Spencer Bukultt who's the project director uh gave a very detailed response last week. You should have received copies of those answers. Um also there was um uh I can briefly go into the details of the project or or or entertain anything else you like. Um again this is an infrastructure project. It is it is a design in construction. The money is going to be used to reconstruct Stafford Street, a public way in the city of Lawrence. It's the last street before you reach Methuan. We're also doing new sidewalks, parking, lighting, uh, and storm water management for this area around the, uh, city. Again, this is on the very, uh, northern edge of the city just as you enter uh, from Athuan. So, in some ways, this is we refer this as a gateway property. Um much of this project, the development of this project will be um a parking area that will be for the development of the Mariner Mill. It's a mixeduse development of both commercial and residential uh zoning means uses. Um

again, I have the project developers here who can speak in more detail on that part of the project. Uh again, I'm here to answer any questions about either the grant or the city's uh infrastructure aspects of this.

Yep. So that's So again, it's a $3.1 million grant. The match funds, none of this money will be borne by the city. Um there is no uh city deposit or match for this. The match is going to be made by uh Lawrence Community Works as a part of this. Um they put up their own money, own funding. How much is the match? $3.1 million. No, the match. The budget. The match. Oh, the match is the exact number. 750 $750,000. $750,000. Uh the organization is going to be putting that money up. The city is going to be putting C money.

Correct. That is correct. Uh so and this is for the development of the parking at the parking uh the parking lot located at the address on the item right and also the street behind it sidewalks uh and and the road correct hot top

it'll be it'll be all infrastructure aspects include landscaping it include storm water design uh new new um catch basins um and a new underground structure for storm water. Uh so it's a comprehensive um infrastructure plan for that entire portion of the city. Any questions? Council Lor. Thank you. I I So this as I'm reading uh Mr. Buck Holtz's um email to us has 148 units. That's going to be the ultimate end goal. It's mixed, but the the residential portion is is 148 units. That's the largest space will be residential. Yes. So, I just want to confirm that I'm reading that correctly. And Mr. Bosto's here, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask him directly.

Certainly, since he's the applicant.

Good evening, counselors. Good evening. So, I I just have your email that you sent um and the in the attachment um the Mariner Mill unit max and size. There was a there was a chart inside there and I just went to the uh to the total number uh you have studio 1 2 3 and four bedrooms and combined um if I'm reading this correctly is 148 units. Is that accurate? Yep, that's correct.

Okay. Um so my my I'm not going to you know how I feel about the additional units and the impacts that it has on on on parking on schools on city services in general. and we're adding beyond that. There's a lot of other things going on as well. I'm sure you're aware with it of of it. So, how this grant, this infrastructure grant, how important is that infrastructure grant to pull off the 148 unit housing project? Um, I mean, so Lawrence Community Works and our partner, the Community Builders, we've raised over aboutund $13 million for this project. And um, this is a this is an important this is an important piece. This 3.1 is one of those things that helps us get this project over the finish line and develop critical infrastructure for the project itself. Um, as I said at the budget and finance committee, and I should just clarify that there are other city funds, there's city home funds which are used for the development of affordable housing that are in the project. We currently have um 825,000 of those um in in the project. Um and uh you know the the the city doesn't have quite the same access to resources that other cities do to support housing development and in infrastructure development. And so we've found that one way to partner with the city um to bring these housing developments uh to life is to leverage the mass work infrastructure grant which is state funding um for the project. But it is critical. I mean it is providing uh a majority of the parking for the residential and commercial space. So I should also just note that there is uh 50,000 square ft of commercial space that's a part of

this as well. And that commercial space is specifically designated as community service facility space which is meant to serve the folks of Lawrence um specifically uh you know with the idea of serving folks who make under 60% of the area median income or less. And um our kind of anchor tenant for that space is the community group who's going to be opening up a new child care facility there that's going to serve 170 kids have 26 new jobs. Um and so this parking is providing 60 spaces for the commercial space as well as um a bulk of the the the parking for the residential as well.

So can you tell me how many total parking spaces there are for units uh for the for the residents that are there as well as that was that in your graph? If it is, I'm sorry I didn't see it.

Um no, I don't think it is. So there's a and this is this this does get confusing so just let me so bear with me and feel free to ask lots of questions on it. So there are 30 spaces that are dedicated solely for the commercial use. There's 137 spaces that are dedicated solely for the residential use and then there are 60 spaces that are common and so those spaces will be open to the commercial space during the daytime hours and restricted for residential use only overnight. So the residences has 197 spaces for those units.

Sure. Um, council president point of clarifi point of clarification council. Thank you. To add coun um councelor the plant there's also eight spaces parking spaces that are dedicated for the public including and included in in this parking um project.

Correct. There's eight spaces that are for the use of the city to have any um but just to clarify like those public spaces the public that are visiting the commercial space will have access to those to 90 spaces. So just so one of the things that I've been seeing is that there time when if you had if you lived in a place you the the family would have one car and and now we're at a time where the family would have two cars maybe three maybe four and if you're living in my house five because you've got three older people are willing to are able to drive. So the numbers are crazy. Um, so if you just be conservative about it, you have the you've have the 137 spaces that are residential and a good thing you got 60. There's the common, so they can say 190, but you have 148 units. If 148 units has two cars, that's almost 300 vehicles. I don't know where these folks I mean, that's not a crazy thought to think that people have got two cars, a husband and a wife have two vehicles, or they may have someone that's 17 years old and whatever, they may have a vehicle. So it's not a crazy thought to think that that would happen.

Yeah. I mean we do so I mean we this and I I understand the the point. I mean we do have to restrict the number of like of parking uh stickers that we give out um in all of our properties. We do that and so usually it's you know the residents will get at least one per unit and then based on need and family size they may get additional ones. So, some of those units will have access to more than one space, but all of them will have access to one.

And so, what happens because I have this in my district um on South Broadway where you have the Princeton properties, for example, there's X number of residential parking. But what's happening there is they are they've exhausted all of the parking and now there's overflow and they're going on into the streets. Now the folks that are living on this whatever on the streets I'm thinking of wear street for for instance in my district they don't have enough park I mean they're on the streets and people can't get parking so the concern that I have here clearly is is parking and I want to know what the infrastructure improvements if it was tied in and the other thing I want to find are you getting any kind of waiverss or any kind of zoning or z or planning has anybody had to give you any kind of permissions on this or just no by right everything by right

yes everything by right so this is a 40r district and I should just point out. So, it's a smart growth district and I can't remember,

Peter probably knows and Dan would know the exact parking parking, but it's probably like one 1.2 one one parking space for one unit, 1.25 for a two-unit apartment, 1.75 for or 1.5 for a three, I can't remember exactly, but we are developing by right under the parking regulations. I would say that because it's also a 40R which I did put in those notes that that does there are an incentive payment that comes from the state and that's $3,000 per unit. So, this project will be bringing in $444,000 for the city to spend on additional infrastructure needs. Um, with the idea of that incentive payment is to help offset, you know, the the uh the use um that comes with with development.

Sure. Just name my address for the record.

Yeah, sure. Uh, good evening, counselors. Jess Andor's um three Jackson Terrace in Lawrence. I'm the executive director of Lawrence Community Works. Um so, councelor, just a couple of points I would like to make. One is um what we typically see in our developments, even though I acknowledge the problem you're describing is a real problem. we in our developments, partly because they're income limited, um we don't necessarily always even fully utilize the parking that we have in those developments. Like I would point to um we have an 18-unit project on um Newbury Street, Casadana, 108 Newbury Street. And as part of the parking requirements for that, we actually um acquired and developed parking in a separate lot like across the street and a block away from the project. And it the tenants are fully aware that there's overflow parking there um which we were required by zoning to provide and it's almost never utilized. and in our other developments as well. Um I would say it's getting more to the point people are close to but not quite maximizing the parking that we are providing but they're not overflowing with it. And I do think that one of the things that you see in other like residences in Lawrence is when it's a situation where nobody can control what is happening within the building. There are folks who are renting out one unit to three families, right? And every family is living in a room and so things are really overcrowded and that is not the case with our housing which is you know pretty tightly managed and highly regulated. So it is one it is really one family per unit. Um which you know and we take pride in the way that we manage our developments. So, I think that that mitigates some of the parking requirements or the the parking drama

that you see in other parts of the city.

And and I don't, by the way, I I don't doubt at all that your organization is means what it says. It says what it means. Um when that happens, you've got a good reputation and there's no doubt in my mind that this going to be you're not going to be subleting these things. You're not going to see three families in a one family thing. I that's not even a concern. Uh the the concern that we're facing is I don't think and I'll be very candid. I don't think our ISD is capable of going ahead and making sure that we have that we're doing what we need to do with unlawful apartments in the city. And so that was a you mentioned it and I agree with you that is a problem and we don't even know what the numbers are. We know it's large. We don't know where. We don't know how many. And now I don't need to go to the ADUs and we need to go talk about that. But there's all these things that are happening. And so when there's good folks like yourself who are going to do things by the book and we don't have an arm in our city, the ISD arm that's actively doing what it's supposed to be doing for whatever the reasons are. And maybe during the budget time, maybe we can have that kind of conversation. And I do something for the chair to the chair of the um ordinance committee on on the on the thing on the on their agenda about the ADUs. But the reality is that we can continue to add and add and add. But if we're not doing one thing on one side, all I'm expecting phone calls tonight. I got no place to park. You've we have all heard this. Tonight's a great night for having this discussion because I know I'm going to get my phone's probably ringing off the hook, right? Because what are you guys doing? Because the blue lights are it's all that stuff, right?

Um and I'm not going to beat that horse anymore. But I do know there's going to be impacts and right or wrong. And I it's it's going to impact. It's not my district, but I know what that's going to be like in my district when these things kind of happen. Let's talk about schools. I rarely rarely rarely hear when a developer comes in that they've talked to the school department about what impact it's going to have to our school system and the number of seats that are going to be required. I don't know what schools they'd be going to. Have you had that kind of discussion to make sure that the residents you have there, I'm going to guess their families, school age children are going to be able to go to a place and not be jammed in?

Yeah, I mean when I we haven't in a while, but I will say that this project has been we purchased this mill in 2018 and around that time I think we talked about this um but we had a lot of conversations. We we provided the school district with not only uh an analysis of what our what our projected developments were going to be in there so that the school could properly plan for the different um the different developments that were coming online. But we also like made a list and and of other developments that were coming online so that the schools could be aware and properly plan for that. I have I've been like very Okay, go ahead.

I'm sorry. I I've I actually have also talked to Superintendent Carrero about this project probably about 6 months ago now. like I'd have to check my calendar for the exact date, but just to talk to him about the fact that this was gearing up to come online and we wanted to talk to him and give him a heads up about that and, you know, also to offer him the opportunity to see if there, you know, was some way that we could uh deploy some of the commercial space in Mariner to maybe meet any some overflow if if that was something that the school department budget was, you know, able to absorb at any level. And so that that is a that is a conversation that we've had and that we intend to continue.

And so what was the result of that conversation? I mean, you said you offered did he say, "Yeah, let's do it. I'm all on board and we got plenty of space for your students." I would say candidly he was super interested in it. um and it was uh delegated to Miss Hernandez at that time and I think that there's been some changes that have happened internally around that position and so it's a conversation that we have to now revisit.

Thank you council. I we can say thank you for your time and I appreciate it and I have a lot of respect for both of you and for your organization for all the stuff that you've done. You understand the concerns that I have. It's not just that it's an aggregate. It's all of these confluences that are coming together that's causing the problem. So, it's not just one organization, it's a bunch. It's a lot of things that impacted and you're you're in front of us tonight. So, I get to ask these questions and and I do have some concerns regarding going forward with this because I think that we if we go forward even though at first blush this seems like a really good idea, improving the infrastructure. Who does not want to improve infrastructure? I mean, that's that's a really good thing. But my concern is we start moving this process and making it easier. My concern is we're not doing what we what we as a city ISD for example and I'm really harping on them because they are the they have got the jurisdiction on this and not the police department fire department a little bit but they have done some stuff on it but it's really ISD I need to we need to get them to get be more active on these unlawful apartments because it's impacting organizations like yours and what you're trying to do the right way.

Can I just and I and I completely agree with that. I would also just say, and this is like we got to kind of take our word on this, but like we are so heavily regulated as an organization because of the way that we get the funding for these projects. So, it's primarily through the low-inccome housing tax credit program, which is a federal program, and all these state subsidies as well. But, so we have to and so living in our properties, I would say, is not always easy for those who live there because they every year they have to be income qualified. You have to you have to be able to prove that there's no one living in your apartment that is not on the lease. There's a certain number of people that can be in a certain apartment size. Those all of these buildings are inspected by the tax credit investor annually. They're also inspected by CTI community teamwork in LOL which manages a lot of the section 8 and and mass rental voucher program. So we get like the number of inspections plus I mean ISD as well. So there's at least three different inspections that happen annually plus we're at risk of you know we could we could lose our certification there's like huge risks if people are I mean it does happen and it takes we have to but we have to be very very vigilant about making sure um that there are not people multiple families living in the in an apartment. We also work really hard with our tenants on the front end on the parking thing, managing their expectations about what they can get and I mean we just we've been having multiple multiple meetings island street with residents around parking because yeah there is a certain amount of expectations but it is also like well you live in this building and this is what is available to you. So we do spend

a lot of time making sure that we're we're mitigating that possible. Any other counselors? Do you cons? I don't have question just comments. Okay.

Uh I want to say thank you for this beautiful project through the multiple community meeting. We see the need from our constituent. They is looking forward to have a beautiful night place to living. We know we have a parking spay issue but at the same time I will considering have the issue to find out play for living. So I want to say thank you. I know how much dedication and commitment you're putting on this kind of project. Yeah. I know our community is waiting to have the opportunity to live in one of those apartments. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you.

Any other counselors? Uh anything in the anything else that you want to add to the conversation?

I mean I just wanted to just point out I know some of the uh follow-up questions that we had from the budget finance committee. Um, just around there was a question around like taxes and I know that's often a question about how much Lawrence Community Works pays for taxes on properties like this. So, I just want to say right now the building as it is just a commercial building, it's we're paying over $50,000 a year in taxes, but the estimated taxes once the building is renovated is $265,000 a year. I mean, it's a giant um building and so it will be generating a good amount of taxes. Um and then just wanted to point out the $440,000 that will come as the incentive payment from the state underneath the 40R district. So there are other ways that um there are other funds that will be generated into the city um as a result of this project. So um in another word the fact that you're building within that specific area and you are under the under the some of the requirements of that uh layout and then the city will be um will be granted with fund.

Correct. Uh through the state. Correct. Yeah. And that's amount you you mentioned that that's going to be 400 and something. Yeah. It's 3,000 for every affordable unit developed. It's $444,000. $444,000 speak to that too.

And that money will be to use as a degression of the uh of the city, but usually is for uh park infrastructure or many other projects like that, right? Sometime the money is all going to be um dedicated to the infrastructure. the construction will be overseen by the city. Um we'll make sure that that not not one dime of this money is going to go into the the residential portion or the building itself. Uh it pays for the sidewalks, it pays for the landscape and it pays for I got you understand

again I said we have TC Engineering here who will be working with the city uh to oversee this project to the public bidding procurement project. Yeah, I mean I would like to to hear from them as well. Uh just overall what's the meaning of the actual construction work? Yes. What are they going to be doing? Uh councelor Levy. Thank you. Council President uh through you. Uh how many unit is going to be? Excuse me. 148.

148. How many? One, two, three bedrooms. um three studio apartments, 40 one-bedroom apartments, 74 twobedroom, 28 3bedroom, three fourbedroom and of those 37 are going to be for 30 families making 30% of the area median income earned less. So those are like section 8 units. um 50 our 18 will be for families making 50% of the area mean income or less and 93 will be for families making 60% of the area mean income. So it's going to be like a 3060 30 40 60 30 40 60

30 56 306 Yeah. Okay. And also you said that you have housing um section A beside of the correct. Yeah. So there will be there'll be a certain amount of those 30% airdated income units that will be projectbased section 8 units. Exactly. And um project based MRVP units that will that unit will always be a section 8 unit. Yeah. But then people have vouchers and they are able to come into our apartments as well. And do you have also a handicap unit?

Yes, we do. I don't know how many, but the I was about to say the right amount. whatever we're required by code. I'm not exactly sure how many um ADA units, but there's there's both one of the project funds for this is um community based housing funds, CBH, which has as you know a much higher it's those are the most um there's like type one and type two units and those are even more um

accessible than the just the type one unit. So there are I don't know how many units but we have those in there as well. So we don't need any any any waiverss from the architectural accessibility board. So we have a distribution of those I would say but I can follow up and information. So when do you expect that is uh this going to be?

So the goal for construction start for the housing project would be um is that June July the end of July of this year 2028 within uh about a two two-year construction period we're anticipating. So the mass works work because it's all site related will happen closer to the end. So, uh, we're thinking like fall 2027 and spring 2028. Is that what we said? Yeah. So, is when this work will actually happen to be coordinated with the work that's happening on the housing site. So, practically is that like at the border line with me? No. This is the very border.

Nothing belong to me. No. No. No. Okay. No. Right. This is the very last street. Y I think that not even the other sidewalk is Muan. No, that's probably right. Yeah, because I think the housing I think that the shopping plaza is Methuan the shopping. Yeah, part of the shopping plaza is and a little bit of Adend. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh any other questions? Councelor. No, thank you. You stole my question. Councelor L. I'm sorry. You took my question, but I do have uh concerns mayor.

Yes, thank you. Through you, council president. Uh I do have the same concern and share uh the same concern as my uh colleague uh council La Plan uh in regards to the parking. Um we do get calls every night, especially for by this season with the snow uh looking for parking and they just don't we just don't receive the call. we get the demand from residents that the city is expected to provide them uh I mean that they demanding the parking spaces from the city.

So this uh I noticed in in the package provided to us that there is room for you to um maximize the parking even if you have a another story a parking deck if possible. Will that be part of the option in case that you have to go that route? Um, I mean, I see that you have 148 units and I assume that we have an ordinance that regulates parking for this type of uh large build large building. So, I I'm assuming is 1.5 per uh per unit, which bring me to the math. 222 parking.

It's not it's not 1.5. It would it would it is it's likely one because it's a 40R district. I don't know. It's likely one area. It's likely one for a onebedroom and a studio and 1.25 for a two 1.5 for a three and maybe 1.75 for it's it's a different breakdown. It's not it's not because this is a layout area. Okay. So I I would I would say I I want to add just one more thing just about and this was a question that came up about uh local preference. So there is a you know a question about like are people that are moving into our buildings are they

are they from outside and so I you know for we've done this we've looked at this throughout our portfolio and both within our new the the new developments and the existing um developments. It's about 75% of the residents that live in our buildings had a Lawrence address prior to moving into one of our buildings, which shows us that 75% of the residents in our in our apartments are coming from another another Lawrence are coming from Lawrence. They're coming from internally. We like to set a local preference um when we do our housing lottery. So, this is by a lottery. you have to put your name in the lottery and then you get picked at random. uh we're allowed um under fair housing law to have a certain amount of lo local preference. And so the state has indicated on this project that they're going to allow us that they would be comfortable with us doing 50% of the units, which means that we will be able to say 50% of these units have to go to Lawrence residents, but we also know that historically we're going to do it's going to be way more than that. um it's going to be 75%. And we don't have any way of besides just anecdotal anecdotally but if you talk to residents in our buildings we hear time and time again it's stories of people coming from kind of substandard living conditions overcrowded living conditions were trying for many many years to find a high quality affordable place to live and this is where they ended up and so we we hear about parking and park I I mean I when 20 years ago when I started work working in Lawrence I had no idea how many hours I would spend on parking and I would say I've spent four years of

those 20 years exclusively dealing with parking and so I get it. I totally get it. Um but I would also say that it's not that our developments are adding exponentially more new residents to the city of Lawrence. like that we are just creating more housing for people that are already living here that can move from we know that there are people crowded into you know a triple decker that are I mean that everybody here knows that and like our constituency also like we have you all have been to our annual meeting or you've been to things I mean we put it out there all the time like what are the issues that you want to see like every year we have an annual meeting what are the issues that you want to Lawrence Community Works working on anybody is welcome to come and and to to give us input on that so we can direct our organization every single year. It's affordable housing. How do we develop? we can't get enough housing and we do feel like in the city like we are doing everything that we can to meet that demand and meet that requirement um and meet what our constituency constituency is asking us for and honestly like it still takes us like 10 years to do this. It's not like it does not meet the demand in real time. So, it's a trade-off, right? Like, it's totally a trade-off that it is hard to live in a city where parking is tight and we have residents here who are like desperately in need of housing like this, you know. So,

yeah, I mean, I think but of the 178 parking spaces, you mentioned a quantity that is uh exclusively for businesses, right? So it's 30 30 spaces are going to be and and and not all of these spaces are within the masswork scope. So I'm just talking about the project in general, but there's 30 that are for the um commercial space exclusively. And then it's not 178. I It's a little bit more than that. Um 190. Yeah. So it was

my gosh. and I'm getting older and I need glasses. Um, it is 137 are dedicated for residents only. So, those will be like you get an apartment and you're you get a number. Um, and then 60 are shared. So, they'll be residential only overnight and available to the commercial space and the public visiting the per commercial space during the day. So, that's 197. Perfect. Okay. Thank you, councelor. You're done. Yeah, no more questions. Yeah, councel. Thank you. Um, council president,

uh, to echo what my colleague here said, what you've been saying, we are all very well aware that affordable housing is is a primary is a primary concern um, to our constituents. And I actually thanked you for combating one of that of many issues that we have. Um, but I just I'm I'm going to repeat this. It's it's it goes beyond that um as well. And my biggest concern is the safety component of it, right? When we continue to make these developments, um, Molden Mills fire was a thing and even though it happened a long time ago, doesn't mean that it won't happen again. Right now, we don't have sufficient firefighters. We don't have um the amount that we need for police officers. And I don't know if my colleagues know this, but I know they're not called Lars General Hospital anymore, but Lawrence General Hospital is in the process of eliminating their EMT services right here in our city. So, we have layers and layers and layers of of situations that um I'm I'm supporting you guys, but my concern is is, god forbid an emergency happens if we continue to approve developments. What is the city going to do? Because we're not fully prepared to service the amount of people that we have and the amount of people that are currently coming in. That is that is my concern and it's in nobody's mind right now because an emergency has not occurred to that extent to that level yet and I just want to put that out there. Thank you.

Any other counselors? Any any other counselors? Anything else? So can you do you mind bringing TC so they can explain to us and overall was the project uh when from the engineering perspective? Good evening. Name and address for the record and then you just give us an overall of the project.

Of course. Yeah. My name is Peter Ellison. I'm a civil engineer with TEC and our address is 282 Marramac Street. Um so I worked with Dan McCarthy and the city's planning department to prepare the application to for this grant to file it with the state. Um and the city was successful and was selected. Um I'd like to tell you a little bit more about the Mass Works program if that's okay. Um, so in Massachusetts there's uh 351 different communities in the state. Um, every year the Massworks program rolls out approximately 90 to$100 million in grant funding to support municipalities and private developers for projects like these. Um, it's a very competitive program. So, it's a great thing that the city was selected by the state uh in this case to receive this money. Um, a little bit more about the project. The there's 178 parking spaces that will be constructed in support of the development. So, all of the asphalt, all of the gravel base, all of the storm water infrastructure, uh, catch basins, piping, um, water quality units to treat that water. before it gets infiltrated down into the groundwater. Uh, also Stafford Street that you all have talked about tonight is a is a public way. It's the last street that the city of Lawrence owns in Lawrence before you get into Methuan. Um, so part of my role in this was to go out and evaluate that street. The asphalt conditions are in pretty poor shape. Um, so that's one of the things that this this will directly benefit the city. you'll get that street basically repaved and redone, brought up to modern standards uh as part of this funding through the the grant infrastructure.

It's going to be a full dip. Full depth. Yep. And the uh the sidewalks, we'll we'll take a look at those, but there's certainly there's a bus stop that's proposed. So, a new shelter that will be right on Broadway um that will serve, you know, the whole community, but new residents of the of the building as well. Any questions? All right. Uh if there is no other questions and any other information, I'll call the questions. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any nays? Nay. Alan Clair, please call the role.

Council, no. Council Del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Reyes, yes. Council vice um Council Infante, yes. Council Marmal, yes. Council Miguel, yes. Councel Gonzalez, yes. Council Vice President Levy, yes. Council President Rodriguez. Uh positive. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you. So now we continue with uh Bay Finance Committee. Uh Mr. Mat, you have another item. I understood possibly.

I know. Me too. Positive.

Thank you. Please invite us to the ribbon cutting of all of all of that good stuff. Thank you. Uh item 4726. Uh madame chair for the budget and finance committee. Item 47-26, authorization to expend $110,000 of the municipal vulnerability preparedness program, better known as MVP, grant from the Executive Office of Energy Environmental Affairs was sent up as a favorable recommendation and I make that as a formal motion. Second. I'm sorry.

Uh any questions? A discussion. Madame chair from the Von Finance Committee. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I was reminding you discussion. No discussion. Oh, you you we have director. You don't want You don't want to ask questions? I don't I thought you I thought you were uh discussion, Mr. McCarthy.

Yes. the um municipal uh vulnerability um program. The city's been a participant on this program for since 2016. We are an MVP city. Um the goal of this program is to make the city more um reliable for um storm events to make the um infrastructure and the um um storm water situation in the city more stable. The $110,000 is a portion of called MVP 2.0. It's a participatory grant. It requires that we create some task force uh some committee civic committees that we attend uh meetings with the state and participate in different programs. The uh the end result of this is that we are able to qualify to get planning funds which we were able to get um over a million dollars recently for the river to refuge fund to re rean the lower tower hill um in the Marmac River um area um besides the boy club boys club. We're also going to be getting future funding to pay for infrastructure programs for our water department to put new um new new pipes in the ground, new catch basins, new um areas where the city is in current flooding to prevent flooding. So, that's all part of uh the program. Again, this is just a small portion of it. It's $110,000. uh $10,000 of dollars of that money will be going towards uh bilingual um um bilingual training so that we can do the outreach to the public. Uh make sure that the city participates. Uh again, it's a it's a strong program and uh we we encourage your support.

Any questions? Any questions? You hear it all? I call the questions. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. Thank you.

We have uh communication from uh from communication from mayor, city officials, city attorney, councilors. Uh uh we have item 6126 which is the update from city attorney regarding the litigation with the lounge redevelopment authority. Uh we are potentially need an executive session on this item. Um and we have a couple of items here that uh not yet Tim. Okay. I didn't know if you want you mentioned my name. I come.

We have Yeah, we have a couple of a couple of things that are on the ordinance committee. Uh we have a few people here that are for those items. Do you have any objection of getting that everybody that is here uh for any item related to ordinance or no objection? So let's take u let's take item um madam chair. The vice chair go to the vice chair. All right. Let's go to the vice chair. the vice chair for the budget and finance committee. Uh uh council

ordinance committee I am um no I say my mistake ordinance uh we have the people from Sanana and I don't see anybody else that's anybody else from ordinance you want just yeah yeah we will do it at the end okay turn off the marana got it um can I use your highlighter Yes. Okay. We have item 50 51 uh 52 and 53. Someone that are related to someone's fin. Uh oh, they're here.

Yeah, somebody brought the we'll take we'll take them. Item 51 uh 26 miss um u by chair from the ordinance committee. Uh this is the companion companion common sispana festival July 31st 2026. Um

yes uh council president uh we had items uh 51 26 companion comp uh common sana festival from July 31st 2026 and August uh from the 1st to the 2nd 2026 12:00 p.m. uh to 11 p.m. Uh this item came uh from uh the ordinance committee. Uh the favor recommendation submit as a formal motion. You make that as a form of a motion. Second. Uh it's been properly second. Discussion. Discussion. Discussion. Um okay. Council of plan.

Thanks. So this one right here. So we have three of them. So the first one is 5126. That does not have a carnival component. That's just the festival. Am I right about that? The date you want the dates. So the date is u July 31st. August 1st and August 2nd. It does three days. And that that's just the festival. No, that's that one is for the festival. Okay. Yes. The 52 is the festival is the is the carnival. So but I'm talking about 51 right now. 51 is no carnival. It's just the festival. It does have it. It's just that they were they were uh filed separate. That that's that's what a recreation 51 and 52 are the same event.

Yeah, they're the same event. This 52 is the carnival. 51 is the festival. They weren't filed separately about the festival. So they file it separately. Okay. Yes. Um so my questions were on the carnival weight but um how are you with the police department? Do you have enough police officers? Do you have enough money for the police officers? Everything was settled. Even uh we were talking to Mr. Oliver even thinking of doing a parade if we can get the police officers. That's why the date was moved cuz that what was requested last year.

And how how many police officers are you getting for that event? The police officers are always um required. I mean he said that for the festival they are okay. It's just there was a question for the parade. It's still pending. So do you know how many officers you need for to pull this thing off for for for the for the August July 31st, August 1st and 2nd? No sir. They they council plan they they develop the safety plan and they manage it. So they they decide how many officers they going to have and then they just send the bill. Yeah. And they already came with the bill and everything how much is going to be. Yes. That is settled with the police department.

Okay. What's um what's the bill for that? 65,000. 65,000. Yes, sir. For those three days. Yes. Okay. Crazy. That's a lot. Okay. Thank you. Yes, it is. Uh any questions? And the police department and police department signed off on this. I'm looking for the approvals. Did they sign off? I'm guessing that they did. I think so. On the application. Mhm. Yeah. It's sign up.

The last page is the approvals. The second to last page. I'm not seeing that for some reason on this on this application. Yes, that it's already say yes on the um on the security. The last page. The last page. Oh, it's not the last. No, it's not the last page. It's the one for security. Hey, hey, yeah.

All right. U Yeah. the police the police department signed on it. Um and uh and they all said they sent the bill already. I mean they wouldn't send the bill without $65,000. One of the things also um if I may. So the

and the if you know typically they have this on Labor Day weekend which is also the weekend of the fall festival, the weekend of the bread and roses, the weekend of the um Italian feast. They specifically had it this year earlier um in July so that they're not competing because the police want to be able to focus on the event so that I know in the conversations we had preparing this with the recreation when I was getting the paperwork from recreation they specifically talked about the moving of the date to get it away from Labor Day weekend because the police are so tied up that weekend to make the police more available. So I know the police have been in active communications with the selection of the date on this event.

Sure. Let me just add this. So that that's important and I'm glad that that there's been a change to that and good good for you uh for getting this done in February and not waiting until May or July to get this thing done. And we have and we have a fire drill. So good for you because there's any issues you can fix them all up. So good. All right. Any other questions? I hear none. All those in favor please say I.

Any ns? The eyes have it. Item 5226. Madam chair from the way from the ordinance committee. Okay. Item 5226 is the company Sana Espana Festival July 30 31 2026 and August 1st and 2nd 2026 from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. passes submitted by Fiesta Lopez committee was sended to the council as a committee report. Uh and I do it as a formal motion.

The motion is to accept it as a committee report. Properly second discussion just a committee report and then we're going to discuss it once we have it here. Um any discussion on the committee report? I hear none. Yes, council president. This is the committee report.

This is from the committee report. Yes, that the uh the reason why it was sended as a committee report was because the date um and no setups on the way that they asking for. So it's mentioned in here July 3031 and also August 1st and August 2nd and the day that you wanted or that you submitted was I

yeah they need they need a date to settle. I spoke with the lady and she said that in the application itself it says that that it's just what she was reading in the ordinance committee was just the day for the starting of the machines. Yeah, the machine only need a day for Yeah, that's they need three day before the day. No, I mean comparing the date of the festival they only they started on July 30 and the festival begins on July 31st. So the machines come on the 27th. The baching is coming on the 27 the Monday. That Monday. Yeah, they come little by little. They're huge machines and they need to set up.

Yes. What? Council President, any questions? Councelor, you good? Yes. Councel infant. Thank you. Hi. Hello. I'm happy to hear that we have the rides this year. Um but my question is where are they going to be located this year? In the company. Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that. Okay. I know there's some this controversy around it, but I did know it's it's just the money spawn is not the same without it. So, I'm happy to hear that they're coming back. Thank you. Any questions, council plan? Okay. Committee report. Yes. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any nays on the committee report?

The eyes have it. Councilors, I entertain a motion. Motion. Motion to approve. Second. There is a motion to approve properly. Second. Uh you choose who. Um discussion. Discussion. Councelor plan. So remind me again on on this. The event goes till 11 o'clock. We try to do it on it says 11 o'clock but by 10:30 it's done. Is it always 10:30? That seems later than usual. 10:30 has always 10:30. Okay. And we're also going to be in charge of Dr. um Mr. Oliver is going to be in charge of the decibb. And we already spoke about

I can't begin to tell you how important that is. I mean and I just think here's my issue. I got two issues. want is I don't think once someone is getting that music up at a certain level,

no one wants to go there and tell them to turn it down because it's it's it's the cats it's out of the barn and no one wants to do it because then you have mayhem and things like why what are you doing and it gets crazy. I don't know about other other districts. I know that forget about North Andover, I get calls from them, forget about Andover, they get calls, forget about them. I know that that in the area that I represent, I get phone calls from folks saying, "What is that coming from? That's very loud. It's like it's like next door only because when it's if it was done at 3:00 in the afternoon, you probably wouldn't know. But when there's no other sounds at all and it's 10:00 at night, it is loud. It's like it's coming like your neighbor's house. That's how loud it sounds like. So, I really have a an issue with it going to 10:30 because I think the the ambient levels of sound at that hour is really low and it's much different than than earlier in the day. So, that's my first concern. Second concern is I've I've been doing this for a while now. I voted for the carnivals. I voted against the carnivals. I've I've been on both sides. I've said let's try make I've been on both sides of this thing for so many years. So many years. I've come to the realization after being in our city and going through the the housing, the cars, the the the new stuff on the common the money that we spent over there. nothing to do with Savannah Hispana. I don't think we can do a carnival in the city. I honestly don't think we can do it. That may be controversial. You may all disagree with me on it, but I really don't think to have something in the common like we want to have to make the kind of money based on that. And then we I looked last year I looked for other places to do it. We couldn't do it down by where did we look? Uh

Tomarello's notello. Huh? One can I think canal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. By by General Hospital. They started a building there, right? So they started building the stone mill started building. They had all these parking spots. I was thinking that would be a good place away from kind of but but we couldn't do it there either. So there you go. I am telling you something right now. Love me or hate me. You're probably going to hate me council president. Love me or hate me. But I am not going to be supporting any carnival. It could be recreation. And it could be for the cancer, god forbid, or for the for soldiers who are coming home without whatever. I'm not supporting your call. Please record this. Make sure that you have it when we when we need it. Okay, John, record this part this year and next year. So, listen to me.

Oh, now you're changing it to this year and this. No, I'm sure they're going to be coming again next year. So, make sure you record this. Okay. Is it just this? There you go. And I said it loud enough so I'm not taking it back. Thank you. All right. everything. You're going to say no to every kind of Here we go. You don't you don't have to make a video of it. You don't need to take a video. I've said it very loudly. So, now you know. Yeah, I got you. All right. All right. Counselors, any other questions? I hear none. At this point, I'll call the questions. All those in favor, please say I. I. Yes, because it's the only festival that my kids can call. Oh, there you go. I'm sorry. I said the wrong way and I'm going to support it then. All right. Any names? No.

Okay. Madame Clair, please call the role. Um, councel Gonzalez. Yes. Council Miguel, yes. Council Marmal, yes. Council Infante, welcome back. Yes. Council Reyes. Yes. Council Del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Lance, no. Um, Council Vice President, yes. Council President Rodriguez, abode, yes, of course. Motion carries. Uh

motion carries. Item 5326 man chair from the ordinance committee. Item 5326 is the campan colum sana carnival fundraising June 18 June 19 5:00 p.m. to 11 p.m. and June 20 June 21 from 1:00 p.m. to 11 p.m. show committee that was sended to the full council as a committee report. Any questions on the committee report? Uh can I hear a second? Second on the committee report. Any any discussion on the committee report? Uh council president.

Yes. On the committee report. It's the same that item 5226 that the days are not it's not real. All right. Um, all right. They need time to set up. That's the That's the whole thing. Council Fante, can I Thank you. Um, that was my question. What was this item for? And it's just the dates are diff are No, I mean this is another festival so they can make the money and fundraising to be able to do the event. Okay, got it. So, the ride are coming twice. That's the one that we used to do in May since we moved to August. So, we So, the carnival they come twice. Uh now they're going to have they they get in the department al together. Yes. Yeah.

They become council president. Yes. That the day is June 15 to June 21. Yes. Yep. No. Thank my question was answered the first time. Thank you. Any questions on the committee report? I hear none. So madame cler please. Uh all those in favor please say I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. Um motion to approve. Motion to approve as been made by councelor Infante probably second by councelor Miguel. Discussion discussion councel plan

besides the carnival rides because I'm going to be asking any other group that comes before looking for carnivals. Have you looked at any other way to raise money? I mean there's a lot of groups that raise money that don't have carnival rights but they raise money. Have you thought about raising money a different way? Yeah they do have they do raise money. I have. We have. We have done comedy night. We have done karaoke. We have done every single thing in the books. It's just the community is still the same. I mean it hasn't changed and that is something that brought everybody to the park and that's why you guys do the book as well. Yeah. The book you guys do. Yeah. Yeah. We do the You guys do during the carnival you guys charge to get in.

I mean to put a a canopy to sell stuff. Yeah. and the tables everything else it everything comes at the last minute everything it goes to that year carnival how much you guys raise in total huh how much you guys raised in total I would say the the festival itself is over 100,000 we do 100,0005 let's say we are left over with a little bit of money for everything else that we have to start setting up yep all right any other any questions I hear none. So all those in favor, please say I. I. Any nays? Please call the role. Madam clerk,

council plant, we'll start with you. Um, council del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Reyes, yes. Councilman Fonte, yes. Council Amamo, yes. Council amiguel, yes. Council Gonzalez, yes. Council Vice President Levy. Yes. Council President Rodriguez. Yes. Motion carries. Uh, anybody else from the ordinance committee? Madam Chair, from the ordinance committee that are here in the public. Is anyone here for the Easter breakfast? No. Thank you. No problem. So, do you have any any specific item? Do you have any specific? She's the attorney for the perfect. Okay. No problem. Yeah, she does.

Okay. All right. Uh at this time we'll call for the communication from the mayor, city officials and city attorney. Uh we have the city attorney here that have item 6126 which is an update from the city from the city attorney regarding llegation with the lounge redevelopment authority. You want to clear the room and and session anticipated. We usually clear the room like that. No, I mean we're not not yet. Oh, fair enough. So we're going to

and the way that we have discussed this uh I have a conversation just to be transparent. I have a conversation with the city attorney and we have discussed that we going to uh uh everything that can be done in public will be done in public and anything related to potential litigation strategies or whatever going to be on that uh as per that u um as per the law that's allow for us to go into secularization. Associate Attorney Jon, you have the floor.

Great. Um, what we have tonight, first I have attorney Christopher Perini, who is the attorney that represents the city council on this. As you may or may not know, this is a um suit that was brought by the LRA uh regarding the properties that were the um subject of the redevelopment. Um, and what we have tonight is uh we have uh uh an update in strategy which is one of the exemptions provided under the open meeting law. So for that purposes, we would go into uh executive session. Uh we would return um to open session afterwards. Uh we have received correspondence uh from the LRA. We've also received correspondence uh from uh an attorney who represents the mayor. The mayor has gotten um separate council and we have received information from that council. So I would suggest that uh pretty much everything we have is in the nature of um strategy which I believe should be done in executive session.

Um the other suggestion I might make tonight as opposed to any other night is that um we not move that we go into executive session and kick everybody else out. Uh that way you don't have to leave the room. Uh you can do it either way, but just seems easier tonight since there's no one in the audience uh to to move. That is a few people. minimal. Yeah. Can we all people in the office without council president cancel the plant and then councel?

Thank you. So I I think you can say this in public uh the nature of the just in general so we can all have a fundamental understanding of what the suit is. Uh what is the lawsuit against the city council?

Well very declaratory judge. Basically what happens is that the um there are various parcels that are contained in the redevelopment plan. Um it is um my is the belief of the attorney for the uh city council that it is necessary for the city council to approve um those transfer of that property by the mayor to the LRA. is the position of the LRA that there is no need for the city council to uh approve them. That based on their vote in 2016 approving the overall plan that that was sufficient um enough to uh to allow the mayor just to sign the deeds currently. So what the what basically goes before the court now is that we both make an argument regarding that and then the the judge decides um basically which side uh he believes has the law on their side. So in that point you know obviously if the LRA comes out victorious uh there's no need for the mayor to bring back before you. If the city council position wins, then each time the there wants to be a transfer of the property, the he would need a vote from the city council.

So essentially the the process uh will be clear and uh and we'll be able to proceed once that's uh the ones we got. Yeah, there's many things many things I could talk to you. I believe councelor will talk to you about in right thing we can ask just in general what kind of time frame do you expect the the speed the

it really depends what we're doing what we're planning I mean we could do there's everything from um council for the L has suggested dismissing the whole matter um so it could happen like that to we could go into discovery it could take I believe up to six months um but again these are decisions that you make that determine with timetable Thank you. And it's u councel infant and then councel mama. Thank you. For for the record, um I know we have constituents that watch this and question why we go into executive session on a matter like this is a public matter.

So So I can give you a quick analogy. This is I understand but I want I want to tell the public. So, right now in this room is the attorney for the opposing side. Okay? Let's assume that she was suing us for $10,000. Okay? And right now, I tell you, hey, listen, I'm going to offer her two, but we really have eight in our pocket. Okay? I've just given away our strategy. She's never going to accept two. She's she knows I have eight in my pocket. So the strategy session I've just given away our and that and that's that's an example.

I mean this I was going to put it a lot simpler attorney. I was just going to say that there are certain things in a legal case that cannot be discussed publicly and that's in any situation. We've we've you've come before us with multiple cases that you always say to us there's some things I I just can't because we're it's still in process etc. and those that have been involved in the courts are aware that there's just certain things that you cannot state publicly. Um, with that being said, I want to reiterate to the council because we've had mistakes before. Once we go into executive session, everything that's discussed in executive session cannot be discussed in public until the matter is completely done. which means once whatever course this takes once the court decides or whatever it is that we decide to do once this matter is done is when minutes will be prepared and this becomes a public matter. So I just want to make sure that everyone understands what an executive session is uh because we've had hiccups before and I want to make sure that we are all on the same page that whatever is said during executive session cannot be publicly said afterwards. Thank you council president. Council Lo

I believe the attorney answered my question cuz I did have a question in terms of like us being in executive session if the opposing attorney was going to be No she's not I was just like wondering um no it's just myself and attorney Paridi will be present. Okay. Yeah. I mean that's that's what it is. Yeah. Any other questions that can be discussed in public? Anything that you need to offer that should be discussed in public? I got one more question. Uh before we go to you, let me anything else that want to add that I don't believe so. Okay, councel plan.

So you're I think it's important that we understand what your position is there. We have counsel. L's got counsel, mayor's got counsel. Where do you fit in in this entire spectrum? I for lack of better words, I'm an organizer. I have no position uh that city council is represented by council. The mayor is represent by council, the LA represent council. I represent the entire city, so I'm just co more or less a coordinator. Will you be sitting in on the executive session? Yes. Would you also be able to sit in with the mayor's private or to the OAS um as well? Their executive session? No. Well, if I'm just curious as to

I don't believe party and why you sitting with one party. They don't have an executive session. I I understand that. But but would you be sitting in Would you be sitting in on a meeting with with that that talks about strategies with their attorneys? I would not. I I But I don't represent I represent the city as a whole. I understand. I don't represent the L at all. I understand. But you represent Okay. And the mayor does not have an executive session. No, I get that. So the only thing that separates us from everybody else's executive session, correct? So you can sit in in our discussions to know what our strategy is going to be. Meanwhile, you don't know what the mayor strategy is. You don't know what the L strategy is. Correct. It just seems Why would you just know our one position? I would think you'd be either in or out of all of them.

Well, I'm not advocating on any position. I'm just coordinating. So, if I don't know enough information of where where you want to go then and who work for the city for the city council, well, he would probably differ on that if you asked him that question. works for the city. He says, not the city council. Look at the I refer to the channel on that. Uh at this time at this time, councelor um motion to go into if it is nothing uh nothing else to discuss and then I'll entertain a motion to go into segregation with the purpose of and that city attorney can help us with that. Yes. with

motion to go into executive session with the purpose of strategy regarding litigation. Strategy regarding litigation with motion. You should also make part of it that you will return to open session at the end of will return to open session upon um we finish with the Yeah. Once we're done. All right. Anything else? I'll second. Second the motion. All those in favor please say I. I. Any nays? I believe you need a roll call vote. Roll call. Um, council L plant, yes. Council del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Reyes, yes. Council Infonte, yes. Council Marmal, yes. Council Miguel, yes. Council Gonzalez,

yes. Council Vice President Levy, yes. Council President Rodriguez, now we are going into the secretary section. Everybody that is on Zoom, we are I think that they they' be able to hear me. Uh now we going to execute section. Um anybody that is on Zoom, we are coming back to the public uh public section.

to resume. Second properly second discussion. Madame Clair, please call the role. Um, councelor Leant. Yes. Um, councelor Del Rosario is noted as absent. Council Reyes is absent momentarily. Council um Fonte is also absent momentarily. Um, council Marmal, yes. Council Miguel, yes. Council Gonzalez, yes. Council vice president is momentarily, even better, is here voting yes. And council president, yes. All right. Fantastic.

All right. Uh, committee reports. We have ordin ordinance committee item 47825. Resolution honoring Gustavo Valera, greatest Lawrence Tech, student athlete. Uh can I go a motion to table? Motion second. There is a motion to table. Well table. We need to accept it. Bring it up first committee. Madame uh madame chair from the ordinance committee for item 478 25.

Oh you have to take it out and then yes. Go ahead. So item 47825 is a resolution honoring Gustavo Varela President Laurent school athlet of the estate alltime leading rushing record in high school football submitted by council by President at that moment in uh infante and council Brian Maro uh that was sended to the full council with favor recommendation and I make it as a formal motion. motion.

There is a motion uh there is a motion to table that oversee the current motion properly. Can I hear a second? Second. Properly second. No discussion on the table matters. All those in f please say I. Any ns the eyes have it. There was the motion. It was second by councel rees but it wasn't uh that was the underlying motion. Yeah. And then we have the motion to the table. Yeah. Thank you very much. Item 49325. Madame chair from the ordinance committee. Item 49325

insta underground contracts on SX3 near Ansbury S3 uh that was submitted by national agree was sended to the full country with favor recommendation and I make a formal motion. Second. There's a motion on the table properly. Second discussion. discussion. Um, uh, madame clerk, discussion. Sorry. The motion before the body is to approve and I think we want a motion to order a public hearing. Uh, for 493 on the ground conduit. This is a motion to order to ordering a public hearing. Yes, there is a motion to order a public hearing. Properly second discussion. There is none. All those in favor, please say I. I.

Any nays? The eyes have it. Item uh 3726. Madam chair. Item 3726 is in star and maintained the onground country on Amsbury estanar street also submitted by national agree by David Johnson and was sended to the forecast with favor recommendation a public hearing to order a public hearing and I do it as a formal motion there's a motion on the table properly second discussion I hear none all those in favor please say I I the eyes have item 5026

item 5026 is the oner part is e homes Uh that is this is going to be on April 4 by Jose Davila Instit Puerto Rico incorporation that was the four council with favor recommen recommendation and I do ask a formal motion second there's a motion on the table the motion in front of us properly second discussion yes um this is not going to be uh the O'Neal bar it's going to be on hold Hold on one second. 155 Street. Yeah, the senior center.

No, no, that's the center. Oh, that's the breakfast. Sorry. Uh yes, but that uh the only part is going to be occupied and they changes. So I make it they said that they already they say Manchester Park or Manchester Park. Yeah. Escarito Park. Oh no. Oh, the Vesta part.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Uh, yeah, we have the yellow paper, too. The approval. Yeah, the yellow paper says O'Neal Park. No, the yellow paper say on your part. Yes. Where does it say Manchester? Oh, it doesn't. No, they mention that's at the meeting. I can make sure you want to make a contingent. Yeah, please. There is a motion on the table to approve contingent the confirmation of the location. Yes. Where'd you get this? This is ground work Lawrence. Oh, okay. Apolog

Yeah. Council LMO 152. Um, did we check with recreation to ensure considering the change of venue? Yeah, that's what the city clerk is going to be doing tomorrow. Um, have we checked with the recreation department to make sure there's no other event that same date at Manchester? Yeah, this is the first time I'm hearing the word Manchester Park. So, um, I did get from recreation approval, but it's from O'Neal Park. So, that's what say make the vote continue upon getting that. Yes. All right. Make sure. All right. U, are you interested in a motion to table? Uh, they still have one time motion to approve contingent. Contingent form, it's approved. We still have a meeting in between. What was that?

All right. Okay. No problem. So with with the contingency of checking out the the specific location and and uh and there is no other event going on at the same time. So move a back here. Yeah. All right. No problem. So the motion is with that properly second. Uh any discussion? I hear none. All those in favor say I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. Uh, item 5126. Oh, no, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Uh, item 5426.

Item 5426 is the campan common Earth Day. Um, this is a citywide cleanup. It's going to be on April 25th, um, 7 from 78 to 3 p.m. by Issa Grun, uh, from Ground Ward Lawrence. It was with favor recommendation and I do have a formal motion. Second. There's a motion on the table properly second. Discussion. I hear none. All those in favor, please say I. I. The eyes have it. Item 5726.

Item 5726 is remove the handicap parking 4815 on Juniper Street by councelor Greg de Rosario and Ganayra Ernnande Guzman. Uh I make it as a form or to with favor recommendation and I make as a formal motion. There is a motion on the table discussion order public hearing to order a public hearing. Uh discussion. Wait, can I hear a second? Second properly second discussion. Councelor uh the chair of the ordinance committee council. item was sended to the full council with favor recommendation and according to

councel de Rosario and it's no need a public hearing because the the sign is already uh remove it because we know the person and the person already yeah the person is moving and the person is uh leaving now they don't want to have any no but the process is the process we need to delete we need to do the delete from the Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He he doesn't want to be send it over here. And I said, "No, we has to send it to the full council. We don't have parking over there." Uh that's why we have bunch of signs because people think that they don't have to come. Same way. We need to remove it. We need to order the public hearing. We need to remove

So motion to do a public hearing. To order a public hearing. Yes. Um properly second discussion. That is none. All those in favor, please say I. Hi. Any have it? So not report from the personal committee, public safety committee or economic development committee. There is no report from the committee of the hall and there is no all business counselors. Any table matters that we need to discuss by O'Brien Dave O'Brien table matters. He was on there for a long time.

Maybe he's there. No, he's no longer there. Document 396-25 is the auto recycling group. The junk dealer. Oh, I don't know. They changed the fencing. He was there. He was not there anymore. Yeah, they changed the fencing. If you guys want to take him out uh the the recycling, he already changed the table. They did. 86 we can move forward because he spend a lot of time to be here. Uh yeah, they were they were they fix the fence. I check it out. I went over it. Looked

motion to motion to unte item 396-25 auto reccles group LLC junk dealer permit at 44850 Medford Street. Second. There's a motion to unt item properly second discussion. I hear none. All those in favor please say I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. Now, counselors, uh, part of the requirements that we have to approve is the license. Part of the requirement, there's a motion to approve. Second,

properly second. Um, discussion. Uh, some of the requirements that we have is to fix up the fence. They have done that. They actually remove all the blocks as we went over with the inspectional services. They have fixed that and they have uh secured and uh make it safe for the pedestrians uh to pass by and walk around. Any questions when it comes to that? That was part of the requirements of the city council as well as many other inspections report that um they have have uh through the different departments uh at the executive branch. So councilors any questions? Just uh a comment councelor vice president Levy.

Okay. Okay. through you. I see. So that they did a very great job right now and it looks very nice. All right. So thank you. And also they said that they going to take at least more than six uh than six month and they direct very yeah in less than a month. He finished he working very hard. So I want to say congratulations if they are hitting us. All right. Any other questions? I hear none. So at this point I'll enterain a motion. I enterain a question. I I'll call the motions. All those in favor, please say I. I.

Any nays? The eyes have it. License has been approved. Any other mo any other table matters that we want to discuss? I hear none. So I'm going to new business. Item 6026, renewal of contract of the city attorney. That's going to the uh Personal Committee item 6226 SBIU Local 8day Supervisor and Administrator Union Collective Bargaining Agreement CBA transfer for the amount of $16,570 from the current year salary uh reserve and other accounts to various uh salary funds that's going to the budget and finance committee. Item 6326, appropriation transfer of 200,000 from free cash AR per account to the Marma Valley workforce uh board for AI uh workforce training for the Lawrence residents. That's going to the uh budget and finance committee. Item 6426 uh propose update uh to trouble reimbursement ordinance. That's going to the ordinance committee. Uh item 6526 propose an update to noise ordinance that's going to ordinance committee. Item 6626 resolution honoring Lawrence High School senior Dinell Rodriguez on his admission to the full scholarship to Yale University. That's going to ordinance committee. Item 6726, renewal of uh of access to Berkeley garage for weekly meal for the homeless and related services. Uh two years requested. That's going to ordinance committee. Item 6826, childc care parking at 40 Mar Street. Ordinance committee. Item 6926 Washington Street,

a traffic duration change. Ordinance committee. Item 7026, one way on Kendall Street. Ordinance Committee. Item 7126, removal of handicap parking at 87 Railroad Street. Ordinance. Item 7226, removal of handicap parking at 203 uh Water Street. Ordinance. Item 7326 uh Jesus transforming uh life of 2026 companion common July 25 July 26 2026 from 3 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. That's going to ordinance meeting item 7426 5 days of worship 2026 at Del Corner Park July 26 to July 30 uh 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. That's going to ordinance committee. Item 7525 uh regaining in the valley companion common August 21st to August 22 uh to August 22 2026 from 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. That's going to ordinance committee farmer markets companion common Wednesday June uh Wednesday uh June 10 to September 30 2026 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That's going to ordinance committee. Item 7736, farmer market at Elon uh Del Corner Park, Saturday uh June 13 to September uh September 20 uh 26th, 2026 from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. That's going to ordinance committee. Uh item 7826 uh yield today budget review policies a polish department that's going to the budget and finance committee

uh councilors uh let's go with the committee meetings we have ordinance Tuesday at seven uh do we have personal we do budget first I want actually ask um oh can follow the question from councelor Miguel. Yes uh I mean for the ordinance because I you were looking this way. Do you want to do it at 6 or 7 for Tuesday for the ordinance? That was a seven. Oh for me is the samara.

Okay. So cvy do you mind changing the time to six? No, I I rather do it at 6:00. Okay. Okay. Okay. Everybody's going to be on time over here. No problem. No, because we want to know CS is conflict with councelor Miguel because I'm comfortable. Yeah, I'm comfortable. Okay.

All right. Great. Um, budget committee. So, we do have on the on the agenda the yeartoday budget review for the police department. That's going to take a lot of time. Um, so I'm asking my colleagues, would you do you do you want me to schedule this earlier or do you prefer two two meetings? One for regular business and a separate meeting for the police department earlier considering that it's only two one meeting earlier. Earlier. All right. Can you make six o'clock on time on Wednesday? Wednesday will be on time 4. Oh, okay.

Council President, not that's not me. I'm always on time. All right. I know. So, Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday at 600 and then P personnel. I I know they they work. Um, we'll do personnel. Can you do Monday? Yeah, Monday at 6. Can you do six? One day at 6. I try not to schedule Thursday, Friday meetings unless it's very like that's my only option. So,

uh, any other committees? Uh, economic development committee. Let's do that. Um, Wednesday, hold on one second. Yeah, it's going to be a long budget. Can you do Wednesday 6:30 for the ban finance? cuz the three of us going to the 30 minute difference is not going to actually that's not going to make a difference for the meeting. 30 minutes. Mhm. Turn that way we don't have to come back another day. All right. So economic development uh Wednesday at 6 and then uh budget and finance Wednesday at 6:30.

Okay. Public safety. Public safety public should because our last meeting we asked for updates but I think it's too soon. Okay. No problem. Whenever you guys decide and then you make a decision and call any business for any other committee there is no other business I believe. All right. Um I understand a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjurnn. There's a motion to adjourn. Second. Properly second. Discussion. I hear none. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any names? I have