Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Lowell Planning Board for Thursday, January 22nd, 2026. First matter on the agenda for this evening is the approval of the minutes of January 5th, 2026. Do the board members have any questions or comments about the minutes?

Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as submitted.

We have a motion made, we have a second? Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Chair votes yes. Any opposition? Hearing none, those minutes are approved. Okay, first matter on the agenda is a definitive subdivision and special permit, 165 Nelson Ave and 33-113 Addy Way. The Lowell Planning Board will hold a public hearing to all interested persons relative to an application by Residence First Development Cooperation to amend the definitive subdivision in the special permit for the planned residential development known as River's Edge. The amendments pertain to the area of the PRD, which is the planned residential development at 65 Nelson Ave and 33-133 Addy Way as indicated. The applicant seeks approval to create 16 additional lots within the residential development and increase the approved number of units from 181 to 187. The subject property is located in the traditional two-family zoning district The project requires a redivision, excuse me, a revision of the definitive subdivision approval from the planning board on the Lowell subdivision of land regulations and a special permit revision under section .82 from the Lowell planning board. We did receive a letter from the attorney, attorney John Gary, in short, requesting Mr. Orrell at this time. It is addressed to the planning board and dear chairman Linehan. I'm writing to request that the applicants for residents first development cooperation relative to its development known as rivers edge on the concrete, which is currently pending before the planning board. He was drawn at this time without prejudice. It is the opinion of the city of low law department that this matter must go before the City Council for issuance of a special permit on issuance of a special permit in the City Council. I anticipate that this matter will come back to the plan aboard in order to amend the previous issued defendants of division approval. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I don't know if anybody's here for them. the plan residential development, but we have requests from the lawyer requesting withdrawal because the law department tells them they have to go before the council before they can come before us. So, with the request from the applicant, I will make a motion to allow the applicant to withdraw at this time without prejudice. Second and that motion second all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Hearing none. Motion carries. This matter is withdrawn. Moving along on the agenda. The next matter is a site plan review 463 and 281 Moody Street. The little planning board will hold a public hearing to hear all the good persons relative to an application by new not canal LLC to redevelop the 2 sites located. Yeah, 4.63 Moody 3 into 81 Moody Street from a 116 units of affordable housing into 160 units of new construction affordable housing the subject property located in urban neighborhood multifamily zoning district the proposed development at 4.63 Moody Street will be a 4 story building containing 100 senior restricted affordable unit. The proposed development at 2.81 Moody Street will be a 5 story building consisting of 60 units of affordable housing. The proposal requires site plan review approval from the plan aboard

the creation of a residential development with more than three residential units may we hear from the applicant please good evening attorney catherine flood here on behalf of new north canal llc for site plan approval for the creation of a residential development with more than three residential units for property located at 463 and 281 moody street My client intends to redevelop the properties currently consisting of 116 affordable units into 160 affordable units. The first phase of the project will create 44 additional affordable housing units within the city. The project seeks to modernize two aging, affordable housing sites with energy-efficient construction, provide additional green space, on-site services, playground, outdoor fitness area, community programming space, and strengthen community health through improved outdoor space and walkability. and creates a more livable residential environment than the existing conditions. The subject properties are in the UMF Zoning District. 463 Moody Street currently consists of eight buildings with 75 units of affordable housing. It will be converted to a one four-story building consisting of 100 senior restricted affordable housing units, all one bedroom units. The buildings will also have a trash room, water room, electrical room, and a community amenity room. 463 Moody Street will be used for senior housing. 281 Moody Street currently consists of 41 affordable units and will be redeveloped into one five-story building with 60 affordable housing units with garage parking under the building. The building will consist of one, two, and three bedroom units and will provide housing for families. The project will assist in meeting state and city affordable housing goals, provide additional green space to the downtown area, and provide updates to the current living conditions. The project meets all zoning requirements except for parking, which we received a variance for from the zoning board a few weeks ago. The project is also located within the Historic District, so we will need to appear before the Historic Board for approval. I am going to turn it over now to Mara Comos-Sangas to talk about the applicant and how they've worked with the current residents prior to filing.

Good evening members of the board. My name is Mara and I'm working with Coalition for a Better Acre on the redevelopment of North Canal. I'm here tonight on behalf of our team and most importantly the residents of North Canal, many of whom are here tonight to show their support for this redevelopment and their community's future. In the 1980s, residents at North Canal were living in deteriorating conditions when they learned that a developer planned to demolish the property, forcing them from their homes to make way for the new construction. Instead of accepting displacement, the residents, with the support of CBA, organized for five years to fight for control of their future. In June of 1989, they acquired the property themselves, preserving 267 units of affordable housing. It was the first time in history that residents purchased an expiring HUD property, setting a precedent for incidents and preservation and activism across the country. That day in 1989, CBA's founder said, there are a number of other communities throughout the state and the country that need this kind of effort. And the message we send to the people is that they can't be done unless the tenants themselves and everybody in that community have control over their destiny. He also reminded us that day, we have the guts and we have the reason for succeeding. And this is what drives our work today. Since that time, CBA, with the leadership of our property management partner, Maloney Properties, have worked to maintain North Canal to the best of our abilities. But these buildings, constructed in the 1960s during urban renewal, poorly designed and built with the materials that were not meant to stand the test of time, have limited our ability to maintain the buildings. Over the past three years, in partnership with the North Canal Tenants Council and the residents themselves, we have explored every possible path for this site. Together, we have concluded the best way forward is a phased, full redevelopment of North Canal that preserves affordability while dramatically improving living conditions. The project will improve handicapped accessibility, enhance indoor air quality, expand access to laundry facilities, activate green spaces for community use, and above all, create homes that match the dignity and resilience of the residents who fought to save North Canal over 40 years ago. We bring this proposal forward at a time when Massachusetts has set ambitious goals to address the housing shortage goals that the city of Lowell also shares. This redevelopment directly aligns with those goals by adding critically needed affordable housing while preserving and improving an existing community that residents have built and protected for decades. This is revitalization without displacement, designed and shaped by the residents themselves, and embodies the same spirit that saved North Canal decades ago, that residents know what is best for their community when given the resources and the voice to shape it. On behalf of CBA and the families who call North Canal home, I respectfully ask for your support to move this redevelopment forward, ensuring that North Canal remains a vibrant, affordable community for the next generation in Lowell. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

But who can see this? Because it's not showing up there. We have a presentation. And let's just see if I can change the slide. All right. Oh, yes. Do you guys have to look up there to see it? No. Oh, okay. Perfect. Beautiful. I'm Michelle Piggy and with Icon Architecture. Thanks so much for having us tonight. I think we will just kind of... No. Now what did I do? Does someone know what program this is in? Can I drag what down? Sorry. I mean, I could, is this a PDF? Oh my, so apologize. Okay, so sorry. Here I am. We're starting again, fresh. So I'm with Icon Architecture. We've been looking at the North Canal property for a number of years, trying to understand what's possible as we did here about its conditions being challenging and really, after a long process, frankly, of trying to see if it was possible to work with the buildings as they are, we determined that it really made more sense to come to a new construction approach. And so the three parcels here, as you are all intimately familiar, are amazingly located along the length of the canal. and Moody Street, with amazing access to the community and the neighborhood. Let's see what I can do. Oh God, I did that again. Let's see. The intention between the two sites, Sites 1 and 2, is to have 100 units, again, the senior housing property on Site 1, and the second site would be a family-focused site, 60 units. And as you heard, we've got zoning approval for the parking relief that was requested recently and are excited to be kind of sharing with you a little bit more of the details of how we designed the building and how it's gonna feel and function in the neighborhood. So at the beginning of our focus, we really wanted to understand the history of the neighborhood. I think most importantly, we don't know this community like you do. It has a long and remarkable history, frankly. We've done a lot of work over the years in different parts of Lowell. And it's always important for these projects to be grounded in the context. So that is really finding ways to connect to what has been there in the past. And of course, what we're trying to accomplish for the future at the same time. So looking at the history and the character of what was there, I know with the lighting, the nuance and the detail of our immaculate research, may be lost, but we were trying to understand sort of the scale of the buildings that had been along the canal and in this neighborhood before, both in size and width and height. And we were also really looking at photographs to understand that texture and how we might be thinking about that texture as we come to these larger buildings and try to think about that as a way of breaking them down and integrating them and relating them to what had been there before. And in that texture, we observed some very interesting nuance, most significantly from our perspective, that the buildings that were really fronting the canal those canal-facing facades tended to be exceptionally flat and clean and simple. Of course, the mill buildings we can envision have that function, but even true for a lot of the smaller-scale wood-framed buildings with clabbered facades. And then we also observed that Interestingly, on the opposite sides, the street-facing facades where the pedestrians would tend to be operating, those same facades tended to have much more texture and a little more dimension. And in particular, at the ground level, there was a distinction between what was happening above and below. I'm going to definitely find that. Okay. We also looked then at, okay, as we look at these sites along the canal, we have primary streets really running east-west with the Parkway to the north and Moody to the south. Those streets really begin to articulate a way of accessing these sites. and really seeing those northern facades as being more of a kind of a broad facing through way and the southern facades being more textured in keeping with what we were seeing historically on the facades but also how the street network was working. The cross streets, of course, are important, and they don't all run all the way through, which is quite interesting, but site one in particular has Aiken running through, and that's a very important intersection for us, so that corner and the way the different street faces function and how access works off of them is important. That's also true for the other two sites, and of course will be a focus for us as we move down the line. Oh, sorry. And then the tree canopy, the existing trees, is really wonderful, particularly along the parkway to the north. And there's some really nice mature trees. And we also heard quite at some length from the residents how much the character of the open space and some of the view corridors and that's that connection with the existing trees means to people so really wanting to take that into account as we cite the buildings And pulling them to the south so that there's a little more relief to the north for those trees We also know that there's work going to be done on the street part streetways there And so just trying to be thoughtful about that and then In our study, really trying to understand the height, the Site 1 building is intended to be the four stories, the residential building with that community and kind of adjunct building as a one story piece. The Site 2 building will be five stories. And so we were really looking at what are the four and five story buildings in the community. Clearly, a number of them, you've got quite a broad range. It's a really diverse community. community of buildings from history and kind of in use with your cultural downtown right here. And so then as we looked, as you see to the left, at some of the character, again, those more planar canal-facing facades and those more articulated and kind of dynamic pedestrian-focused facades, and really, again, what happens at the street level when you want to engage the pedestrians. We looked at the history and then we looked at some contemporary iterations of some of our own projects and how those have treated facades similarly at the top. That more planar, very simple, but punctuated facade. And below that, a more crenelated facade. Again, seeing sort of a four over one where there's a change in the character of the first level and the upper levels. and a change in materiality as well. And then on the bottom, really thinking about how that kind of community center building might interface with the residential building. And so in the middle, what you're seeing is a series of diagrams, but they really show this residential building that is a long linear element along the canal. with the community building here adjacent to it and directly connected from the interior, but kind of speaking to the community more broadly and a southern facing large open space that kind of speaks to the broader neighborhood and brings everyone together. Site two has a kind of similar character on the northern-facing facade. Again, the orientation is just the same with Moody to the south. But here we've got the canal to the east, so we're opening up to that canal. It's a more compressed site, certainly. So we've got an L-shaped building that can kind of create a courtyard experience that we imagine that canal is a part of a pedestrian network and really opens a relationship up to the street through this site and really allows community to experience the water in that thruway. And we looked at some really exciting examples of how that might be done. So as we come to the phase one site building, we have, again, this is the 100-unit senior residential building. It's a linear building, very similar to some of what we were looking at as some of the precedent studies along the canal. And it has a very planar facade along that northern edge and a slightly more dynamic facade facing south. Access is only off of Moody, and that is definitely by design. We understand that the east-west traffic to the north needs to keep flowing, let's just say, and also the fire department and others did not feel good about having street cuts there. So coming, but with a full access, which everyone seemed excited about in terms of safety, And then from a functional perspective, residents would be able to come in and park their car directly in front of the building, walk directly into kind of this central lobby space, and move into residential units on either side or take either one of two elevators up to the other three floors. Each floor is punctuated by these small breaks that are a little bit more obvious on the upper levels that bring light directly into the corridor. We feel strongly that that's important in these longer residential buildings and even more so for a senior building where wayfinding is important. And of course, natural light is always helpful. And that building at the ground level has this direct access to the community building, which, of course, offers the senior supportive services and seniors and staff, but also have gathering spaces beyond the ones that are inside the residential building that can be opened up to broader community you know, things that are going on. And this building has direct access to this private for the use of the building only kind of exterior patio space. It kind of helps us with grading to kind of make it private to the building. and also really reinforces this large open space that's intended to really speak to the broader community and give something back to the neighborhood, and is really disconnected from the building so that it can feel hopefully like part of the community, but easily passed through. It's not as obvious in the site plan, but there is a park immediately adjacent to the site as well. And the demolition of the buildings as they sit today opens up this direct exposure to this existing building, which is quite handsome and has been historically kind of cut off from the canal in more recent years. So we're excited about that. And I will turn it over here for the engineering details. Thank you.

For the record, Brian Goodrow with Hancock Associates. We're the civil engineers and land surveyors on this. So we're going to walk through parcel one. If you look at the existing development, basically Moody Street sits up at about elevation 96 and Father Moore sits down at 92. So topographically, the site slopes from the bottom of the page to the top of the page. And what we've done with the buildings is we've tried to set the specific elevations to create access as well as retain existing vegetation and contouring. So the large residential building along Father Morrisette is kind of set at that Father Morrisette elevation. And then the amenity structure, which is on Aiken Street, we set that in an elevation to create pedestrian access. So it's at the same as the sidewalk on that side. The existing stormwater condition, right now, There's not a lot of records out there. So we can understand that it is not current to standards, and we kind of have a general idea that stormwater flows out to the Merrimack. We've had a number of conversations with engineering and Lowell Regional Wastewater, the stormwater team over there, to understand where we can tie this particular development into. Maintain existing connections, create new connections to the separate storm sewer, And basically what we've identified is our approach to create an underground infiltration system which will capture and treat all the runoff from the roof, from the parking lot, and then connect it into James Street. So that's all the way on the left hand side of the page to the left. Now James Street has a separated sewer. So this particular parcel is going to tie into that separate sewer. With respect to the other utilities, obviously there's sanitary that's out in Father Morissette. We're going to maintain one of the existing connections to the building for the new building. And then water service is kind of surrounding. It's on all the streets. So we'll be making new connections out into Moody Street. As a part of our due diligence in supporting this design approach, we've had meetings with the fire department, we've had meetings with the police department. As Maura and Michelle indicated, it's been a number of years in the planning stages of this. So when we met with the fire department, their concern was making sure that they had access. They like access surrounding the entirety of the building. Well, we've created this horseshoe to really get the ladder into the site, get it adjacent to the building, and they were satisfied with this configuration and how to do it. We are in receipt of comments from the city in the planning board summary letter. There's a number of transportation improvements that we committed to in the TIA, the Transportation Impact Assessment. as well as a couple of site items that I just wanted to touch on quickly. Under the engineering comments, engineering had asked that we replace the asphalt sidewalks on Aiken Street with compliant concrete sidewalks. We can commit to that. So that would be, we would welcome it as a condition. as well as taking a second look at the curb cuts on Moody Street. So what we had proposed currently are, it's an elevated sidewalk crossing, basically. So the sidewalk goes across the driveway entrance up at the sidewalk elevation instead of coming down to the pavement elevation. Engineering had a concern that the width of that might not, or might make it difficult to be compliant because there's 48 inches of clear width So we'll look at that and make sure that we can provide that clearance that's being required. And then there was one comment regarding wastewater that I wanted to just provide a little bit of clarity on. So the comment was, if the increase of flow exceeds 15,000 gallons per day, and this is new flow, a four to one ratio of removal would be required. We've crunched the numbers on parcel one and parcel two, and we do not exceed 15,000 gallons of flow. So going from the 115 units to 160, you count all the bedrooms at 110 gallons per day per bedroom, and we're not exceeding that capacity. In full disclosure, parcel three, which is not part of the current application, it is intended to be redeveloped at some point in the future, that we will have to address. So we'll be looking for solutions and discussing with wastewater how to go about doing that before we come back before the planning board. And with that, what I'd like to do is turn it over to Terry with Offshoots. He's our landscape consultant, and he can dive into kind of more of the passive and activated pieces of the site.

Hello, everyone.

Let's see if I can do this.

Yes. All right. So with the building and the circulation for a vehicular route, we're left with a pretty great landscape. As was previously said, there's what we're calling the central kind of green space that's bordered with parking on three sides as a place for both community as well as residents. So we're maintaining three trees along the sidewalk of Moody, creating a seating area off of that that would have a variety of different seating options, picnic tables, fixed tables, things like that. CBA actually has a development right across the street that has no outdoor space, and so this is kind of a great connection for them as well as the rest of the community to come over and have more of a quasi-public park space. Along the edges are additional kind of smaller gathering spaces, so this would be kind of maybe more resident focused where you can have smaller groups and then you know this is senior housing and so there is a lawn but that's not to say that the residents couldn't throw the frisbee or watch grandkids play in the lawn in spaces we're really trying to shield out all that parking around on the surroundings so that's we're concentrating all of our planting on the edges um be a mixture of more pollinator garden, so we're trying to, and native species, so we're trying to bring kind of the ecology back into the site, whereas right now it's just larger mature trees and lawn space. Off of the amenity space, we do have both hardscape and softscape. And we're creating that edge to create that separation as more of this is the more privatized amenity space for the residents. thinking cantilever catenary lighting and things like that really want to energize the space keep it free and clear of clutter but also and make it so that you could have a tent in this area you know larger space that the lawn and the paving could be activated in a variety of ways As you know, the ground level living will be somewhat affected by cars coming in, so the idea is that we would be providing planting along that front facade and that four foot range to keep headlights and things like that from having direct shine into the first floor living. And then really trying to accentuate the main entrance to the building with accessible spaces, accessible walks. What's really wonderful is off of the top left of the page is kind of a variety of options up there. So hearing feedback from the residents, they wanted opportunities for community garden, fitness area, and kind of a smaller dog park. So we're able to get all these places in here. The community garden can grow over time. So we could have a kind of phase one, see how it's used, roll out, and expand it. This also makes it a really nice connection to the existing cul-de-sac off of there. So it's kind of more framing back to garden space, community space, and just being a softer texture for the adjacent housing and parking there. The fitness area would be a little bit more programmed, so you could have either like an open yoga kind of area, or it'd be more like outdoor fitness, bikes, things like that. So everyone seems to be very excited about that. Along Father Morissette, as was previously mentioned, a lot of trees along this area. There is a problem with some of these trees is that there are a lot of invasive species and some of them are in kind of declined or beyond declined health. And so one of these is to maintain existing trees that we can that are viable. and add to this for long-term better canopy growth and so we are doing that by you know selectively saving the trees that we can that are not invasive that are in decline or beyond decline and repairing this to create a much better edge along here so one of the planting strategies that we do we have trees that grow fast for that kind of short term 10 years big impact but but then the oaks and the big maples grow up behind them so we look at both short-term solutions for getting canopy as well as long-term you know sustained uh growth over you know 50 plus years i'll be back yes

Let's bring it down. Okay. Phase two, site two. So where the last building was all one-bedroom units focused on seniors, this is a family building, and so we've got a mix of ones, twos, and threes, predominantly twos and threes. And in this case, we are much more site constrained. And so we are tucking the parking underneath the building. So we've got four stories of residential sitting on top of a podium level, as we reference often, that we will carefully think about shielding. And we've got many examples of that that we've done on other projects over the years. As I mentioned previously, the orientation and the sort of approach to the site are not dissimilar from phase one and frankly won't be likely on the third site as well in that Father Morris said is more of a planar facade, an edge to the north with those nice long broad views. And then the building opens toward the south. This site also doesn't have a side street like the first site does. It doesn't have an Aiken, if you will. So we really do have Moody for our access points. And this was a careful dialogue with the fire department in terms of their ability to get adequate access to the site. And I know we can speak more to that. But we do have a modest access off of Moody, which allows the cars for the residents parking here to get in and under the building and then park in that podium structure. and also allows the fire department to pull in with a truck to get a little bit deeper into the site. But otherwise, we're able to open up the site to open space, and we'll hear more about that, but really connecting back to the canal. And so here you see the purple element is really where the energy of this building lives. That's where the entrance and the community, you know, the lobby spaces will occur. So that the moody street experience is an energetic one, one of pedestrians coming and going, one of an exciting building, really hiding, shielding the parking that's tucked behind it. And then the parking also has the ability to come and go off of that cul-de-sac in theory, but it really is more – we're not anticipating that as a need. We're accommodating – we're recognizing that there's sort of a proximity there. These sites I should have mentioned, we are expecting trash to be collected within the building and we'll have to be thinking more carefully and we can talk more carefully as we develop them about how all of that gets handled appropriately. But otherwise, it's a pretty tightly packed, efficient building with not a whole lot, frankly, of programmed amenity space, much different from the phase one building where we've got that sort of built community space that services not only the residents, This building has some community space on the ground level, again, fronting Moody, but not a standalone building of nearly the same substance. And once you're up above that elevator up to the second floor or above, you're in the residential buildings for the next four floors, and they all stack up one over the other. And I think I will turn it. Did you? Ah, I learned how to do it.

Thank you. So the engineering design of this site is a little bit more compact because the site is just simply smaller. So both Moody Street and Father Morissette around this parcel are about the same elevation. So where parcel one topographically, this bottom of the page of Moody Street was higher and Father Morissette was lower, kind of went south to north. On this parcel, it's more the canal is higher and then Race Street to the left. So topographically from the right of the page to the left of the page where we're sloping downwards. To create access to the garage that is off of Race Street, and there are a couple parking spaces on property right around that cul-de-sac that exist today that we will be maintaining. And just to reinforce what Michelle said about fire department access, this was a number of conversations were had on this particular parcel as well. And the reason why we have the curb cut on Moody Street, one is for the couple of guest spaces that we have there and just parking access to the amenity area in the Moody Street facing side of the building. But really, it's to allow a fire apparatus to get into the crook of the L and then access the upper level floors with the ladder truck. Now, for utilities, same as parcel one, we have sewer that exists out in Moody, we have power, we have water, and then our stormwater approach is generally the same. So we're collecting both the roof and all of the impervious surfaces via catch basins and downspouts, and we're putting it into an underground infiltration system. that's located over by Race Street, and then that tie-in to the municipal system is out in Moody. So we are bringing a site that is currently not in compliance with stormwater management into compliance. So full recharge, full treatment for that. And with that, I guess I'll turn it back over to Terry so he can talk about landscape.

So as mentioned previously, the canals are just absolutely incredible here. And so one thing to mention on this particular one, our site of the canal actually has a very nice naturalized slope and landscape to it. And that's one of those things that we just really want to preserve. If you look at the canal on the other side, which is also our phase three site, there is some structure that's associated with the canal itself. And so having landscape all the way to the edge on the other side is going to be problematic. So we really wanted to focus more the kind of softer feel of what we can bring with that natural landscape along the canal onto our property and really stretch it across, which is why the building is set further away and is more street facing along the side street. What's really nice about this is that on that lawn, you're seeing a U, I believe it's a U8 soccer field kind of dashed in there. So there could be, you know, nice yard games, pickup games, things like that for soccer for within this community of families. And then a playground associated just north, page north of that. All this is then having, going to have a pedestrian network along the canal that both pulls in and goes back to the edge to create kind of a variety of that walking space. More thinking this is like a stabilized stone dust kind of pathway, so it's a lot more gardening, a lot more slow walking and encouraging people to pause and take in the canal. As before, all of our plantings are native that we're proposing, maintaining much more of the tree canopy on the site. There's an incredible amount of London Plains along Moody Street in this area, so we very carefully have found where the curb cut could be and to preserve those existing trees. off the amenity space which if you remember is at the bottom of the l to the left of that is a patio that would be more focused just for residents as well as visitor bike parking along the stretch it's a nice connection with the walk that brings you back to the cul-de-sac and then again to the entrance for a vehicular route into the building but very excited about this project as well

All right, now for a little of the visualization. So we spent a lot of time looking at the history of the neighborhood. And I think we talked about some of the reference points in terms of the texture, the character of the historic blocks, the kind of heights and proportions before the next building. And this, so in this long linear building, we felt it was really important to break that down into something that felt more like a series of buildings that were interconnected, much more in keeping with the history. And so what you're seeing here is sort of those three segments connected together. On the bottom, you're looking from Moody Street, so this is the main entrance is the larger break on the left side that will draw you in off of the parking lot, but you're looking over the park, actually both the existing park and the future park that's on the left. this phase one property, and you're seeing to the right the community building that fronts on Aiken Street that is much more diminutive when you look at it frontally in scale like this, but you'll see in perspective, we're working on that. And we think that can be a really fun little gem of a building. So up above you're seeing as though you're standing on Aiken looking at the end wall of the residential building and the front entrance from that side of this community building. And so we want it to be a little bit more contemporary and glassy and distinct from. But I'm going to pivot and then we'll come back to this facade. The long facade to the south is the canal facade, and here you're really reading that plainer, simple geometry and proportions, just the punched windows kind of rhythmically down the facade, very similar to the mill that's across the way, just a little down the way across the canal. And again, in keeping with the simplicity of what we saw historically. We materially, we certainly know that Lowell loves its brick and has a strong history relationship with brick and the durability and the warmth that comes with that. And so we felt that it was important to sort of ground this building with that masonry. So that is what the first floor is articulated with. is a full masonry facade. And then up above, really drawing on the historically more clabbered, but a different type of material that is not so masonry. And in this case, we're thinking of a fiber cement. It's panels, not clabbered, which we don't feel is really the right kind of proportions for the scale of these facades, but a panel that can come with some texture and we can work on getting the right level of texture to it. And those facades, as you're reading hopefully here, are intended to sort of float a little bit over that ground level, that more solid ground plane anchoring the building, and then are broken or interrupted by the recess planes that represents the breaks I referenced in plan, which are the laundry rooms on each floor, two per floor for this 100-unit building. building so that as residents want to come down and do their laundry, it's convenient, it's well lit, and right outside that door there's a nice spot to sit while they wait if they don't feel comfortable leaving their things be alone. And so those help punctuate the facade both on the exterior from a distance for that kind of broader scale of the canal level, but also on the interior for the residents. And up above, you're seeing the end facade, which is looking from Father, yeah, but I'm going to move to the elevation. I think it's going to be more helpful, rather the perspective. So here again, we're standing on Moody Street, and you're seeing the entrance elevation of this building now with its kind of two, well, you see all three of the sort of primary bodies, but two of them flanking that entrance, a more broad opening on this facade to really help identify where folks are hoping to come. And you can see the parking forecourt as well as the park that we'll be making to the right and the existing park kind of just peeking in on the left. And you also see sort of the open space that's being alluded to to the left that we talked about earlier. And the building importantly opens to that edge with one of the two main primary staircases along that edge anchoring the facade. And if I go back for a second, this is actually what you're seeing at the top. in that red tall form is the staircase that lets you directly come out into the open space off to the left to where the community gardens are and the dog park and kind of access directly to CBA's office just kind of down the way. I see that I've disoriented you. I'm going to go to another one because maybe it'll be more helpful. So here we're at the corner of Aiken and Father O'Brien, and we're seeing the long facade from Aiken and also the community building opening up to Aiken. And again, you see the rhythm of these three forms. And what I haven't spoken of, but of course you can see, is the roof forms, which are sort of a playful nod to sort of the plainer approach to different things that we saw happening historically, and also take advantage of drainage that needs to be happening at the roofs anyway, that we could be hiding behind a parapet. this is a flat roofed building, but in actual fact, we all know that there's some pitch there. And so rather than sort of hiding it really, just we noticed a lot of simplicity in the facades historically and just a lot of purity. And this is one of the ways that we could just be true to what's actually happening and acknowledge that there is water that will come down when it's raining and it'll come down those downspouts. You might be reading that one of the verticals where the two roof lines come together. Here we're now seeing the community building in the foreground, so now you're at Aiken and Moody, and you can see a peak of the residential entrance in the distance, and this is how the community may often be approaching the building, whether they're coming to visit a friend in the residential portion or coming to use some of the community facilities. And here maybe the stair is a little more clear where I disoriented you before, but here we see again on the canal facing facade, but the stair at the end wall that opens up to the open space and the community gardens. And what you're also seeing in this facade as we look down the parkway is sort of the existing buildings of the North Canal, the other North Canal phases, or other buildings, rather, that are happening between this and the Site 2, as well as the ruddier building in the distance is the form and frame and mass of the site of the Phase II building, its five-story building. So sort of just seeing it in context and understanding its scale and mass and planar qualities in context with what we're doing with this building. And the expectation is that the character would be quite similar with that grounded base and that kind of upper facade that helps bring it in line with this and also kind of reminiscent of the historical forms. I think, one other thing I just should say is that we We really are focused on quality buildings at the end of the day. That's something that the community just hasn't had, not for lack of interest or effort. And so fundamentally, these buildings will be high quality. They will be healthy to live in. They will be comfortable to live in. They will be efficient to operate for the long haul. And, you know, they will ultimately be sustainable for the residential community that's there now and for the broader Lowell community of the future. And that's always been an important priority to CBA, and it's definitely an important priority to all of the team members. So it almost becomes an afterthought at some point, but it shouldn't. And that is baked into everything we're doing and all electric building, using passive house level standards to achieve very low energy and high levels of comfort. Um, you know, we're looking hard at geothermal, um, to achieve that high performance and that all electric approach and how we put PV on those roofs and doing everything to make sure that for the long haul, these buildings are able to endure. Thank you.

I just wanted to say that the applicant put a lot of thought into this project prior to filing with the boards. They took input from the tenants that are currently residing in the properties as well as all of the departments within the city. They did their due diligence prior to filing.

So does that complete your presentation? It does. Okay. Thank you. At this point in time, I'll open the meeting up to the public. So if anybody wants to speak in favor, they can come to the podium, state their name and address. And then after I hear from whoever likes to speak, if there are people here who... I don't want to speak, but in favor, I will ask for a show of hands at that point in time, and then the people can just put their hands up, and then I'll recognize them, and I'll take a total head count. But therefore, sometimes I know people want to speak. Sometimes I just prefer to put their hands up. But either way, I'll make sure that you're all recognized.

I have a list of a lot of people that have signed in support of this project. I also requested that the people that are here did sign.

OK. Can you give it to Peter so he'll have it for the record? Thank you. So at this point in time, we'll open it up. But anybody here like to speak in favor, just come and give us your name and address, please.

Hello. Tiana Lawrence, 652 Merrimack Street. I'll be translating Jaime's statement.

Thank you. Buenas noches.

My name is Jaime Alcántaro and I live in 166 Faden Morissette Boulevard, here in Lowell. I am the president of the Council of Inquilinos of North Carolina and a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for a Better Acre. CBE has worked with the Inquilinos and the Council of Inquilinos. It has held numerous meetings with the Council and the Inquilinos to find out our opinions on what we wanted for the project. Los residentes están contentos de que Maloney, quien mantiene la propiedad de North Canal, la haya administrado lo mejor posible, pero la propiedad necesita una nueva vida. Las condiciones actuales están mal. Edificios internos y externos antiguos. poor air quality, poor temperature control, lack of visibility, lack of enough laundry, lack of community space and lack of union. The Inquiry Council has met with the CBA, the team of the project of various en varias ocasiones para analizar sus comentarios, los cuales se tuvieron en cuenta y se implementaron en el diseño, como la civilidad, el estacionamiento, el acceso a la lavandería y los diversos espacios comunitarios y de servicios. Nos encanta el nuevo diseño que ofrece a los inquilinos, dignidad para los residentes a través de vivienda de calidad, Thank you, sir. His statement in English.

My name is Jaime Alacancharo. I live at 166 Father Morissette Boulevard here in Lowell. I am the president of the North Canal Tenants Council and a member of the board of director of Coalition for a Better Acre. CBA has worked closely with the tenants and the Tenants Council. They have held many meetings with the council and tenants to get our input on what we wanted for the project. The residents are glad Maloney, who maintains the North Canal property, have managed it as best as they can, but the property needs a new life. The existing conditions are old internal and external buildings, poor air quality, poor temperature control, poor accessibility, poor access to laundry, extreme lack of community and gathering space. The Tenant Council has met with CBA and the project team on a number of occasions to discuss their feedback, which was heard and implemented into the design, such as accessibility, parking, laundry access, and the various community slash amenity spaces. We really like the new design it offers the tenants, dignity for the residents through quality housing shaped by resident input. On behalf of the tenants, we support the project and the application before you. We would ask for you to approve the site plan as presented and support the tenants of North Canal. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Anybody else like to speak in favor? In favor? In favor? At this point in time, can I see a show of hands who is in favor? I'm going to start over here if I can. I think I have approximately 21, 22 people in favor. Can you put that up, Peter, 21 people? Anybody else want to be heard in favor? In favor? At this point in time, I'll turn it over to anybody in opposition. Anybody like to speak in opposition? In opposition? In opposition? Or a show of hand in opposition? No opposition. At this point in time, I will turn it over to the board members for any comments or questions or concerns.

Mr. Chairman, if I may.

Yeah, Mr. Fichette.

First of all, I... I have to say, I'm impressed by the amount of care that went into the process of coming up with the design and looking at the historical patents of the development that has taken place over the years in that location. And I wasn't going to get into this, but actually, my father lost an eight-family to urban renewal at that time. It was taken by eminent domain. I believe he got a total of about $8,000 for it, but it was the early 60s. And he actually, the offices where the CBA are located, that was the nun's convent. And he actually designed and built the addition that's on that property. And my mother grew up in a three-family on Moody Street. The history of that area, I am familiar with. So I really appreciate the care that went into coming up with the design of the buildings. In getting the resident input, that's unusual. It's an unusual situation where you have current housing that you're taking down, and then you're rebuilding. So you have residents that are there right now. And I know, I guess I'll just ask the question, because I am curious. because it is going to be it's going to cause the relocation and disruption of the residence what's your construction timeline you i'm curious i believe it'll be um

Within five years, right? Yeah, within five years. And they have a relocation plan for all the residents while they're doing the construction.

I did see that in the package. Yep.

They have been working with that to how to structure it to move people so they're not disrupted. And then they'll move them while they construct, and then they'll put them back in.

As they phase in.

Yep, as they phase them.

Okay. So getting a little bit more into the technical aspects of the site plan, I know there was some mention, and again, safety is an issue. We've got the Western Canal right there. I'm just curious, there was some discussion about safety and fencing, but I didn't really see any detail on the plan. So has that been determined, how that is going to be handled as far as

um how is that's going to look and how is that going to be designed excuse me so yes there will be fencing along we would have to have a guard rail along that edge um how transparent that is would be you know we'll be iterating designs on that Ideally, though, there's areas where people can perch and look over the canal safely with the guardrail separating and then also having planted areas to kind of pull people away and kind of preserve that existing.

You haven't designed it yet, is that correct?

No, those are details to come. But, you know, as the amount of The amount of time and effort going into looking at historical context, we'll be doing the same thing for the landscape for that fence as well. And making sure that it kind of knits within the fabric.

Oh, understood, but site plan review, when we're looking at safety and we're looking at how that lays out, obviously, just as I read the packet, that was the impression I got, and I just wanted to, how we would condition to at least make sure that that's addressed. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously.

So, you know, another thing with safety, you know, we look at, like, not having spaces where people can hide behind vegetation and things like that. so we always are cognizant of making sure that there's not like places where people could get pulled or hidden you know things are well lit and even where things aren't as well lit there's good sight lines through so ideally you know this will be safe day and night

thank you and then um i did look at uh i didn't print it because the traffic study was 600 pages but uh but i i did uh you saved a few trees yeah i did i did um but there was in the conclusion in jeffrey dirk we have a i i'll speak for the ch i will speak for the chairman and myself because we we probably go back in calum now many years but we go back probably 18 years with mr dirk coming before this board and actually his firm being hired for peer review on several larger projects for the city. So I have a lot of respect for the work that he does. And when we look at developments where there is less than, And again, we can argue with what the zoning requirement is for parking. You did receive your variances. But even in the MBTA zoning, what we're looking for is a transportation management plan, because that's very important. Because we recognize in this world there is going to be a demand for cars, but then we're trying to find and make it easy for residents to have alternative forms of transportation. And so there's several different points that he makes. But in the presentation, I didn't hear anything as far as how that was going to be handled. Are you looking to incorporate all of the elements that he had suggested in the Transportation Management Plan?

um i in my narrative i pulled out some of the suggestions right right that he said favorably that we didn't need the parking that we were

understood and i'm in in and so but uh what i'm looking for is where what i would be looking for is a transportation management plan that would include and i guess i'll go through the following um is first of all i'll ask the question is there going to be a transportation coordinator as part of or somebody designated that uh with that role It was on page 47 or 46 of his report.

On the decision from the zoning board, we incorporated all the comments from the traffic engineer pertaining to the traffic study. There were four points in the comments.

And so the traffic. At the end. Right. And the traffic engineer didn't incorporate, well, in her suggestion.

And those were all pertaining to the traffic.

That was more of the off traffic, off site. off off-site issues that were cited by mr dirk right so those were um in matter of fact they're more like working with the city just to solve those issues so what i'm looking for is is uh more within the traffic the a transportation management plan um and whoever's managing if you're managing the building um you don't have to have an official Title, I guess, but who is going to be designated? Because then there will be elements. They're suggesting even a pamphlet or in the lobby available for what forms of alternative transportation, bus routes, timings, those types of things. So that's in a welcome packet they're suggesting for residents to come in and, hey, look it, I don't have a car, but what's available for me?

Yes, and that will be a part of the property management team, which is run by Maloney Properties, will be able to incorporate that into the packets. There's a lot of information that the residents get when they first move in, and so that can be incorporated into that very easily.

Okay. I mean, I would be looking for

um because the residents should know you know it should know well even if somebody new moves in um is who do I see about yes transportation yeah there's a property manager and that part of that amenity space will be an office for the property manager who's going to be on site okay there also be a service coordinator so those people will be able to handle that information and get that to residents

Now, one of the items that was suggested is a central mail room or package station. Again, I think they're looking for, to try to manage that process.

Yes. Yes, the amenity space or the lobby area, there is already a mail room that is...

Designated.

Yes, that is already designed.

And then... And I might have missed it in the plan. There's a lot there, and I had a smaller copy than what was here tonight. I hope I could blow it up on screen. But is there any provisions? And the gentleman mentioned the seniors throwing a Frisbee around. I'm in pretty good shape, but I don't throw a Frisbee around that much anymore. But is there any provisions for bike racks for bikes? And it may be in there. I just didn't see it. If you could point that out, I would appreciate it. Either one of those buildings. I'm thinking more on the building for, you know, with the two bedrooms and three bedrooms.

Absolutely. There'll be places for anyone to visit with a bike to drop to have a bike stored temporarily. And on the family focus site in particular, we'll definitely have bike storage that is lockable and covered.

Is it in the plan right now?

It probably isn't highlighted in the plan.

Our guess is that some of it's going to be in the garage, but we have to get into the details of how it's all being, you know, located and secured as we get into the nuance of how the parking is.

I would be looking for that as a condition as well.

Okay. Yeah, that's a good point to make. And I will say, I didn't mention, but We are emphasizing enterprise green communities for both of these projects, and they also have sort of a holistic design standard, not dissimilar from LEED, that also kind of targets some of these pieces about bike storage and other things. So healthy materials, you know, sort of broader holistic goals. Great. Thank you.

And I understand for the design, you still have to go before the historic board. So from that perspective, I really like the concept. And I like the bricks at the street level, the pedestrian experience. And that's important with a larger. That's actually going to bring the scale down at the street level. So I think from a pedestrian experience, I like that approach. And that's not unusual to approach it in that form. Love love the green space the the activity space is really special in a downtown area with in the the plantings and If you could just point out, because there is limited parking, there is green space, so how do you envision the snow storage? And I know you said if there was going to be unusual amounts of snow, it would be removed, but I'm just curious as to how you would handle that.

Great question, especially with the storm approaching.

Let me go back to this.

So obviously, the edges of this kind of central green are going to be piled with snow. And plants that we pick will be snow-tolerant, right? So a lot of woodies that can break off but grow back, grasses and forbs, perennials, and things like that. So low maintenance and snow storage is what we always think about, especially for larger projects like this. Projects that may or may not, you know, depending on budgets they have for exterior maintenance. So low maintenance of plantings in general is just a high priority for most projects, but particularly a project like this.

So just so I can understand, though, if you're plowing this, I mean, is it going to be curbing around here? How is that going?

Yeah, so everything is curbed for safety reasons. Correct. But, you know, People get thoughtful and plow up and over. So there will be consideration. And I worry more about the plantings than anything. And so I think it'll be covered. So if you plow past the sidewalk, then there's just, you know, sidewalk cleaning.

And I'm sorry, I got to ask the question again because I'm having a hard time visualizing. So where would you be putting the snow storage at that point? If you were plowing it, just so I can understand that from a... That's part of site plan review. I just need to understand that. And we're in New England.

I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question one more time?

Well, I still wasn't sure. We were saying where this, where would, so if you're going to plow it, say we even have just a smaller snowstorm, where would you, are you going to take a parking spot? So you're going to, how is that going to?

The idea is that snow storage would get pushed into the central area, right? So all this edge can take on as much snow storage as possible. Okay. All right.

And you would just plow it in from each section into that central location.

And so we just look at plantings that can take those snow loads. Right. And, you know.

You've got some larger trees around the perimeter there, quite a few.

We do, yeah. And luckily, those can take, you know, plowing. Or snow buildup around them. Okay.

Yeah, no, it's definitely a timely question. Dan Rivera, the executive director of CBA. I would suggest two things. One is that we have a partner, Maloney Properties, have been doing this for many, many years, and they would lead this effort into ensuring that we put the snow in places that are appropriate, both not to damage just the... the trees and the grass and stuff, but also to ensure that the walkways are safe to get through. And if it's not clear in the report, we'll make sure we put one in there that does have a snow removal and storage plan. I always like to show, when we talk about North Canal, I like to show how big the site is. And even this site is not giving it really its due. There's a lot of space. I guess my concern, Mr. Ribeiro. We do it in a way that, and if we have to take some offsite, we'll figure that piece out. Sure.

I guess my concern is because you've got walkways all around there and from Moody Street, you're cutting across. I'm assuming those would be all shoveled and cleared during the wintertime. Because you're going to have a lot of people that are going to be pedestrian, that are going to be walking, not having cars.

They're going to definitely have to do the way the schools do it to the clerk from building to building so that all the sidewalks and all that stuff will wait. But let us get you the details of it.

Okay, I just... Oh, it's important. Yeah, and I think you'll have a little bit of a challenge there. I just want to make sure that that... At least for the record, you're telling us that you're going to be placing it in that middle area. But again, I'd be looking to make sure that the sidewalks are accessible. Otherwise, you're forcing people to be walking through the parking lots or going from one end to the other. But that was the whole idea of making this... accessible. So I'm assuming during the wintertime, you're still going to clear those walks during that, you know, that space. Correct. I'm assuming.

So we'll get you one with more detail. All right. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, that's questions I have at the moment.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Caleb, any questions, comments?

Can I just take a second? Because you did ask a question about the, you know, how we do these buildings, what happens with folks and their families. And there's actually state law that guides us in relocation process that we have to hire a specific consultant to do the state, to do the relocation process. And it is really important in a place where Little Canada once stood that we get this piece right. Our founder, Charlie Gargiulo, and his family went through that process and never again, right? So we, the state enforces it. We have to have a consultant on staff. Every family has a plan. And the goal is to do the reconstruction, the redevelopment in a way that has the least amount of impact on families. And so if you're in phase one and the building you're leaving is going to come down, but maybe in the interim there's an opening in phase three, you'll get temporarily put in there. And we'll do this later. orchestration of things to have the least amount of impact on families, including, you know, strategic demolition of buildings so that we don't have, it's not like everybody in one shot, we've got to get them out. Right. It would be a strategic orchestration of it because we want to make sure people have that. And we have to, by the way, they pay zero for it. We make sure that it's all paid for their moving and their storage and transportation and the like.

I guess, you know, my heart sunk a little bit. I think it's an ambitious project. It's large. And that's why I thought the timeline was going to be pretty significant in five years. I'm just hoping, again, some of the older residents will have a chance to, you know, move in.

I think the number is about 95 elderly residents across all three properties right now. And then they're all going to be able to be in that first space and open up a lot of spaces for families. And then when we do the family piece. So it is going to be... but we have Judy Cohen Group, it's a statewide, they're not statewide, they have done a ton of these statewide. And so we hire them, but they really work for the tenants to make sure that they get what they need. And if we do this right, because we just got invited to submit an application to around a funding that would give us shovels in the ground spring of 2028, and the construction timeframe would be 18 to 24 months. That's just for phase one and phase two. And we'll be back on phase three.

Let's hope funding stays available. No, they've been really great. Good. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Caleb?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, I'm very impressed with all the logistics and planning that goes into it, and also the community engagement as Member Frechette have shared. I fully concur with him that It seems like everything is thought of by the applicant, and so I'm very supportive of the project. Member Frechette have covered a lot of points already. I just have one or two clarifying questions. So, Some of the energy efficiency and sustainability features were mentioned, so I want to just hear more about maybe just featuring the green buildings or energy efficiency and what is maybe under consideration and what might be certain that you'll implement in the building design.

Great, thank you for giving me the chance to come back and do it right. So we are fortunate, depending on your perspective, to live in a state that demands pretty high energy performance at this stage for a new construction project like this. So fundamentally the code is going to drive a very high performance building. We have a couple of compliance paths and we haven't frankly chosen it, but either way, we will be talking about an enclosure, a building envelope that has got continuous insulation on the outside of the building, it's airtight, it's got triple glazed windows, we will have you know, excellent insulation values at the roof and be ensuring that we can use all electric heating and cooling systems that really don't break the bank and can be right sized for the whole building. We will be using all electric hot water systems and we're currently And we will have an ERV continuous ventilation system running through the entirety of the building. We are looking at geothermal. It's certainly we'll have to keep pushing at it. But so far, it keeps looking promising. And we will be solar ready for certain. And hopefully, we have the opportunity to put the solar on the building. Off the record, no. I will also say, you know, there's a lot of great site things going on from a sustainability perspective, more holistically speaking, in terms of permeability and stormwater management, treating of runoff, native species, et cetera. You know, even thinking about universal design and the way people move through the site, both in terms of grade changes and way finding and colors and lighting, ultimately, when we get into that. And I think comfort and health will be paramount. So inside the building, materials that are not off gassing and all of those simple and basic things. But durability at the end of the day, long lasting, low maintenance, healthy.

No, it sounds like a great place to live. One question on the stormwater. So I understand, I heard that it's going to have an underground cistern or a retention cistern, and then tied to a separate storm drain on James Street. And as you mentioned, there might be some consideration for stormwater retention or other green design, are there any thoughts about reusing some of the rainwater or that kind of considerations? Can we talk about that now?

So we haven't looked at rainwater reuse. You think irrigation cisterns, things like that. We'll certainly take a look at that when we go to that building permit construction level. I see. Right now we are, it's not rainwater harvesting, right? So we just capture what's coming off the roof, what's coming off the parking lot. We're mandated by state and local regulation to recharge a certain amount based on soil type. We are providing that. Currently, there is none. And we're also matching our pre-development to post-development condition, meaning what's coming off of the site right now is going to be more than what's coming off of the site once construction is complete. So we're bettering the condition that's out there right now.

Thank you. Next question, I understand you engaged all the city department, including the fire department, but I know the fire department have some comments just to ensure that the project will comply with all the national fire safety standards and codes, and also for their vehicle access. So in regard to vehicle access, I know parcel two have that jogging there is likely for the fire engine, but how about the horseshoe parking space in parcel one?

So that's one of the first things we did with the fire department. They require a sweat path analysis. So we basically, we get the dimensions of the city of Lowell's largest apparatus, the tower truck, and then we put that into a CAD model. We show all of the maneuvers. So the vehicle, the tower apparatus can pull into that horseshoe on parcel one and um turn all the way around so they can make all of those maneuvers on parcel two where we have the dead end aisle there's very specific fire regulation about maximum reverse maneuvers and then that same sweat path analysis is done so essentially the apparatus pulls into the site can set up their their staging and then they can reverse maneuver and again all compliant with that state regulation state fire code

Yeah, because I don't recall seeing the sweat puff analysis, but I mean, I just want to make sure the fire department has it.

Yeah, it might not be part of the plan set, but we have issued that to the fire department.

Okay, great. Thank you. And that's all the questions I have, Chairman. Chairman Tenzai?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I first want to thank everybody for coming out. It's important to stay involved, especially given this day and age and everything that's going on. Please continue to stay involved. The democracy depends on it. I was very impressed by counsel and the speakers, the thought and the dialogue that went into this project. I have taken a different approach as I'm learning here on this board to not just fixate on what I don't like. What I want to first is talk about the things that I do like. Love the project. Love the fact that we're reinvesting in this area. It's important. I like the fact that Mr. Rivera mentioned that there's a state process to protect the tenants. It's important. I wasn't aware of it, and it's great to hear. What I don't like, hate the parking. paid it. We're looking at this. We're adding 44 units and we're looking at parking that should be 320 spaces. That is going to be a third of that. So I'm troubled by that. But I'm optimistic. I'm optimistic that the market and all of you folks and all of the tenants will raise cane. Because that's important. I'm optimistic that maybe the neighborhood can absorb some of this parking. I'm realistic too, this is Lowell. We have limited space, but we have been informed that there is a variance for parking. And so I'm just gonna sit here and say, I like the project, hate the parking, wish there was more because I think, I think the tenants deserve more parking. I would say, I'm going to follow up on a couple of things that the assistant chair mentioned, Mr. Frechette. When I looked at the, and I have to, he probably doesn't have to do this, but I have to look at site plan review. There's a section of code and what is required. And one of the things that's- Should I stop now, Mr. Chairman? No, keep going. You want to roll. Is that the phase out, like the Golden Globes, you know, you're done? One of the things that the site layout indicates is it's supposed to show snow storage. It's supposed to show it so we can see it, and we can make a determination whether it's appropriate. We're also supposed to see where the trash dumpster is going to be replaced, and I know Member Frechette always mentions, oh, is there going to be fencing? Is there going to be screening? Is there going to be those things? I didn't see either of those things. And I think that should be one of the conditions that Member Frechette brings out is that, one, there should be an indication of what areas these things are going to be held and how they're going to be fenced in, if at all. And if not, why not? But I truly like the project. There are always things that can make a project better. That's one of the things I'm learning on this board. I hear the other members mention certain things, and I'm like, I never thought of that. And it's great to hear. So keep doing the good work, and thank you, Mr. Chairman.

If I could just mention on the trash, while CBA does have some properties that have dumpsters, this will not be one of them. The phase one property has interior trash chutes that deliver to a trash room, and that room will be able to wheel stuff straight out to be picked up by whomever, whatever service is doing so. So we won't have any open trash corral on the site, much to my pleasure.

That's why, Mr. D'Anso, I didn't bring it up. Alicia, any questions, comments?

All of my questions have been addressed, trash being the major one. I just want to say that I grew up in the acre, and when we were kids, we referred to Moody Street as bedrock because there's very little vegetation and a lot of concrete. I applaud the presentation that was given here today, and I appreciate it. All of the thought that went into it, you're adding 40 plus affordable units. You've managed to accommodate seniors and families of all sizes. and a lot of open usable space and made the units more energy efficient. So it was mentioned that this will provide dignity for the residents, but I think that it's something that we as a city can be proud of as well. So I support this project.

Thank you. Mr. Sao, any questions, comments?

All right, yeah, I like the project as well. And let me ask you a question. Each of the units, how many bedrooms are there? Have you decided?

Thank you. The phase one is 100 units want single bedrooms. And then phase two will have family units with more than one bedrooms.

OK, thank you. I like the project, and I think the board A member had asked, you know, address those concerns, and I hope that we get some of those more answers in the future as well. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I also think it's a good project. I did receive the comments that was given to us through staff and I believe a lot of the comments you addressed and I know like the main ones I first had was the transportation comment. I know they were approved by the ZBA but when people go back and look at the minutes for this meeting, They have a concern whether we address those comments as well. So even though the ZBA might have addressed them, I think it's our opportunity to address them as well. So I think, and I know you're willing to incorporate those, so I'm happy to see those being incorporated. And I'm glad that how Jerry brought out for the Transportation demand management plan which We've been doing lately on any big projects. I mean you look at this 60 units here 100 units here. I think it's it Especially when you shot the cars, it's really important Especially where it's downtown, you know how they can get that other avenues downtown and how they can alleviate the concern that they don't have a vehicle or where they can bring in and where they can have a ride share of parking that comes to the site somewhere. But by looking at the site, I've been there a couple of times since we received the application. I think it's going to be a great improvement to what's there. Obviously, you've had all these people come out and speak in favor, and I thank them all for being here. It's well needed development to be addressed. So I'm in favor of the project. Like I say, I do want to concur with the engineer's comments as well as the wastewater. So obviously, This is going to be a big project. Obviously, we're going to need, as you said earlier, cooperation with the city to make this an excellent project. So that indicates I'm in favor of the project as long as we address it with some of the concerns that were raised by staff. Thank you. So at this point in time, we need a vote for a just for this site plan. Yeah, it doesn't trigger a special permit if it's a site plan.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion with the following conditions to approve the site plan. Again, with the following conditions that a Transportation Demand Management Plan be incorporated in this approval. That the elements of the plan will identify a transportation coordinator the plan will be accessible and be provided to tenants as part of a welcome package as well as Information will be available for the tenants regarding transportation services maps schedules fair information It will be all incorporated into the into the plan and that's pretty much a standard plan But we certainly want to see those elements the The applicant will provide secure bicycle parking within the site in the building for weather protection. The applicant, she'll design a buffer zone, walkway area between the site and the canals, taking into account public safety. I would have liked to have seen that design here, so I just want to make sure we've incorporated that. That is not something that we have not addressed. that the applicant's snow storage will not, snow storage on the site will not impede sight lines for vehicles entering and exiting the site, and that all internal pedestrian sidewalks will remain clear. and that the applicant will continue to work with city engineer and the city's stormwater management team. I believe there's anything else anybody would have on that.

Transportation.

Transportation. The elements, obviously, the elements that were referred to from the ZBA, those were off-site. Those were off-site items that were identified by Jeffrey Durer, so separate from what our intent is here.

Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second?

Second.

Motion made and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Chair votes yes. Any opposition? Hearing none, the site plan is approved. Five in favor, none against. Wish you well. Good luck, everybody.

Okay.

Yeah, you put it on the record with everybody, you know. Back in the day. Right. Are you sure it's still there? At night, at night. That's what he's supposed to drive us, right? Yeah. Okay, moving along on the agenda, we have a site plan review.

Oops, I'm sorry.

Moving along the agenda, we have a site plan review, 104 Mariposa Ave. The Lowell Planning Board will hold a public hearing to hear all intents and purposes relative to the application by Solak Hong to split the existing lot and construct a new single-family home on the above address. The subject property is... Located in the Suburban Single-Family Zoning District, the project requires definitive subdivision approval from the Planning Board on the Lowell subdivision of land regulation. May we hear from the applicant, please?

Good evening. Attorney Catherine Flood here on behalf of Solak Hong. The applicant is seeking definitive subdivision approval pursuant to Lowell subdivision land regulations. the property is located in the suburban single-family zoning district the subject property currently consists of a single-family home sitting on 17 300 square feet of land the applicant appeared before the zoning board and received variance approval for minimum lot size lot area per dwelling and frontage the variance approval created two lots one consisting of 7 300 square feet with 73 feet of frontage and the other one with 10,000 square feet with 90 feet of frontage. The subdivision of the existing lot would enable the applicant to construct a single family home on lot two. The single family home will consist of three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and a garage under. The lot has access on Mariposa Street and sufficient utilities to service the proposed home. We received comments from the departments and the plan was revised to address all the comments. It was submitted back to Stormwater and we received confirmation that it was sufficient. Matt also met with the engineering department. The plan was sent back to them. I received email confirmation that all of the issues in the comments were addressed. I have here, as part of the application process, I encouraged my client to meet with the abutters on the abutters list. I have signatures from 10 of the direct abutters. One of the abutters said that they were okay with it. They didn't care either way, but they didn't want to put their name on that. So I believe there were 13 abutters, and we have support from 10, and one was indifferent. I'm going to turn the mic over to Matt so he can show you what the plan looks like.

Good evening, members of the board. My name is Matt Hammer with Lamplex Engineering, 60 Fletcher Street, Lowell, Mass. So there's an existing dwelling here. The subdivision line is here. The new dwelling is here with a driveway in a garage within the structure itself. There's grading a deck on the back drainage in the rear. and then drainage along the driveway. As the attorney flood outlined, there was some questions on the sewer connections. We made some revisions, met with the engineering department and resolved those yesterday. But besides the change on the sewer line, the plan has essentially stayed the same from the initial submission. You turn over to Catherine.

Anything further.

No, not at this time.

OK. So, as indicated, we did receive a piece of paper with people who signed off on it. In favor? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. People signed off. And then we have a letter that was submitted to us. They're members of the zoning board. Please accept this letter in support of the above reference subdivision as the owner of Apostle 104, Mariposa Ave. I support the subdivision of the new single family dwelling because it is not creating a detriment to the neighborhood and the house design fits the character of the street. The new house will be home to a Lowell family which eventually will continue to the economy of the city. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to all the neighbors who signed the petition in support of this project. Please read this letter for the record and I hope that you will grant the variance to Soklak Hong so she can build her new home in Lowell. Thank you. Jose Negron, owner 104 Mariposa. So at this point in time, I'll turn it over to anybody here in this evening. I'd like to speak in favor of this project. In favor? In favor? In favor? Hearing none. Anybody in opposition? In opposition?

Do I have to sign in?

Yeah, just state your name and address for the record.

My name is Alicia Payette. I live at 84 Mariposa Ave, so directly next door to where this is proposed. I did come to the zoning board and I spoke at that. I feel like I came in with a lot of arguments and numbers about how it compared to the things otherwise in the neighborhood. It's a much larger house than all the other houses that they're comparing it to. But I really have two questions that I'm not even sure if this is the right place to be. trying to get answers for them, but two questions I felt like I didn't get any answers from at the zoning board, so I'm really, this might be the last chance I get to ask anyone, so I had to give it my shot. In their narrative that they proposed to you guys, they obviously asked for a variance based on hardship, based on the size of the lot, but I did a lot of research and I thought that I heard that just the lot being too small does not They also proposed, they justified the variance of a lot that's too small compared to our current zoning laws based on a map from 1898. But our current zoning laws were passed 20 years ago, so I'm not sure why, and they were actually thanked by the zoning board for justifying it with this map from 1898. I'm not sure why that was changed. supersedes the zoning laws that were passed 20 years ago. That's a big frustration. I know that I'm not a professional in this field. There are multiple building inspectors of bordering towns involved in this, including the person who's selling the land. He actually worked in Lowell's building department in the past. So I'm sure they know much more about this whole process than I will ever learn. But it felt like some of the points made in their narrative were misleading. Even some of the lots they're comparing to in the neighborhood, one of them doesn't have a home on it and is owned by the person who lives in the home next door. So two of these lots actually meaningfully make one larger lot. Also, I didn't say this at the zoning meeting, but I don't know if there's any way for anyone to verify the abutters list. I actually just counted the abutters list on their proposal, and I think it had 11 or 12 names. Mine is on there. I know I didn't sign this because they came to my house like four times asking me to sign it. And I definitely did not say I was in favor of it or I wouldn't be here. So, yeah, at the end of the day, the main questions I'm trying to get answers to, and you may not be able to give them to me, is if a lot being too small does not justify a hardship, what is the hardship that they're arguing for? And why does a 100-year-old map overrule our current zoning laws? Um, I voted in favor of the housing thing that was just presented, and I had never heard about it before. They're putting up a big apartment building right at the end of Stedman Street, which is very close to our neighborhood. I'm all for more housing, but I already feel like our property value has been hurt by the current owner actually moved his house from the opposite side of the lot to very close to our property line. So we already lost a lot of privacy. Their driveway is now basically very close to our property line where we used to have a lot of space between us. So I feel like our actual property value has already been hurt by this. I'm all for more housing, but... Why are we undermining our own zoning rules when maybe there isn't a justification for it? Especially if a lot that's too small, at least in my very basic research, does not justify a hardship. And I didn't see an argument for anything else justifying a hardship in this document. Thank you for your time.

No problem. So I'll try to answer some of that for you. But basically, that all falls before the zoning board. I know. So the only thing before us is, even if we don't like it that it's too small, we're just here for the subdivision.

That's what I figured. But I had to try.

When they went for the variance, they got approval for, Smaller lot size, smaller frontage, and smaller, it was one third one. Yeah, living area per dwelling unit. So that's not the zoning board to give that relief. Yeah. I read what a various consists of and I raise the same questions a lot of times, but I'm not on the zoning board. I mean, a lot of times people come in and say, well, they're creating their own hardship.

That was my argument. Bingo. It wasn't there before.

Now we're going to make a hardship. And now we're going to ask for relief.

Actually, some of their paperwork said that the person buying it already owned it. And that is a self. I did a lot of research. It got me nowhere.

There's no hardship there now. Oh, there wasn't. And so they created it.

Yeah.

Bingo. You're right. 100% right. Now that they've met the criteria through the zoning board, given them the relief for those three things, our question for the subdivision is do they have access on the public way? Smaller details. We can give a special permit relief for the frontage, but they didn't request it through us. They requested it through the ZBA. They know we're a little more stringent that way, so they go before the ZBA.

Yeah. I saw that that was on the, what was being talked about, so.

Yeah, so. I'm sorry, Tanya, I see your question more than definitive, but I thought you already said too much to begin with, but then again, I've been accused of worse.

OK. Well, thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else like to speak in opposition? In opposition? In opposition? Having none, at this time, I'll turn it over to the board members. Any board members have any questions?

Mr. Chairman, I really don't. Again, I think you kind of explained it. They went before the Zoning Board of Appeals. And what's presented to us now is a lot that's been given relief. And they're saying under subdivision standards, It doesn't meet the standards that we would be looking for. I even question for a single lot like this whether this should be an administrative review rather than, you know, it's not a full-blown subdivision. But I understand the frustration. I think if you watch past tapes from me here, I've always said that I still scratch my head how you can create your own hardship, but that's... That's a whole other situation. That's not what's before us. It's before there was before the Zoning Board of Appeals. But from that perspective, from a subdivision perspective, and one of the criteria is, you know, there's a lot conform. But again, the path the applicant took was to get the relief. So that is a those elements have been reviewed by the Zoning Board of Appeals and they were granted the variances. From what I can see, and the adjustments were made relative to the concerns or questions that staff had and engineering had, that's what we would be looking for. Obviously, we want to make sure that there's proper storage and water and access to the site. And so from that perspective, I don't have any questions at this point, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chia.

Caleb, question, comment? On the subdivision, I don't have more questions, but I think maybe Butter mentioned, and also, as I read, the support letter is of the same address, so could you just give a brief narrative about, like, so... What's the arrangement of the applicant versus the current owner? Just who is who?

If you look at the application, the current owner owns the entire lot. He owns 17,300 square feet. The proposal is to subdivide the lot He resides in one of the houses and the other lot will be sold and a single family home will be constructed on it. The single family home conforms in our respect to zoning. The height of it, everything complies with zoning.

The new home?

The new home.

I see. An applicant will be the developer for the home or intended to reside in it as well?

I'm sorry.

So is. Yes, all the homes.

She will be the one who will build the home.

Build the home. I see. Thank you. I do not have other questions. Thank you. Thank you. Tony Tanta.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before we get started, there's a pet peeve of mine. I might as well bring it up now because I'm looking at a two inch by four inch plan. Look, I have glasses. I don't want further glasses. Seriously, all right? I mean, I'm looking at the bigger plan here, and I can't even see that. I mean, that's small. I mean, I think going forward, Mr. Chairman, you know, we're starting to get plans that are sent to us, and they're tiny. You can't even make out what the hell's going on on the plan. For what it's worth, the plan is not really helpful. I would say, though, and with my newfound approach, is I like the project. I really like the project. I would prefer, like we're receiving on, what is it, 202 Barker, we received like a map showing the area and all the different parcels that are very similar. I think that would have been helpful for me. I did see what you mentioned on the application. There's another application that's coming up the next meeting. They actually showed us a map and it was kind of cool like that.

That was with the ZBA. I went to the ZBA package. They submitted it with the ZBA.

Oh, no way. Yeah. Oh, and was it similar to the one we're getting on ? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah. No, that's helpful. I think it is helpful for us. And I think it would be also helpful for the public and people in opposition to actually see that, that there are a lot of lots very similar to what you're proposing. That's why I liked it. Hated the map, the two-inch by four-inch map. But one of the things I didn't see on the map, one, because I couldn't see it, but two, when I went by the site, there's a large tree to the right, on the right side of the property, right on the corner. And there's no indication of whether that large tree is being taken down. But my guess is it is being taken down because there's a tree that looks like it's proposed to go in the right corner.

Yes, that tree is staying. That's in the city right of way.

It's a large tree. That's staying. So you folks are putting a tree right next to it?

okay all right mike mike we could move that tree over to here um i spoke to um joe katie about that location of that tree so we have no problem moving the tree over to here that's fine it might be a good it might be a good thing for your project i agree i agree

yeah uh the only other thing I would say is is um they basically strip mine that of a lot and and as a result of that they could use putting up a tree on that lot as well um and that that that would be a a small concession it's just I mean they they basically took all vegetation down on that of a lot that where that new house is and I understand why because they wanted to get the um uh the driveway in and and the front space but it could use a tree i i can say that the existing driveway is being removed it's being removed and that's going to be all vegetated yeah yeah can you put another tree in there too might help the neighborhood might yeah maybe we should just take the tree and just move it over to here you know you can put a couple of them um Wouldn't seem like a bad thing.

You know, we can put another tree in here. Yeah, yeah. That's fine.

Yeah.

Thank you. You're welcome. I just wanted to say something about the plants. Yep. Your comment about the plants. Yep. Normally, we would provide full-size plants. We've been asked not to.

By who?

By DPD.

Oh.

That's not helpful to me.

I don't know about the rest of the board.

I'll make sure that you specifically get a full-size plan.

I would love to. I have to ask the planning department all the time. I need a full-size map. But this is the map they gave me.

Mr. Tenzar, we will make sure you get a full-size plan. Normally, we do submit full-size plans, but I will make sure we get one for you. I definitely appreciate it. Okay, you're welcome.

I get the idea of saving paper. I get all of that. But when you can't make it out, I mean, literally, I'm looking at a two-inch by four-inch plan that should come in, what, 18 by...

dan we're going to get you a full-size plan specifically because it's not we normally do submit the full-size plans we always have but while i'll make sure that we submit a couple full-size plans in case you need one thank you you're very welcome matt i have a follow-up question on that so is there a reason why the scale of it is

A little harder to read or you pick that scale?

Okay, so on a full-size plan, it's easy to read. I see. Okay, and we're able to put all the other details on one plan instead of creating two sheets. I see. That way we can get all the details on one plan.

Got it.

That's why it made our copy that much smaller because so much detail on that first sheet.

So it is 20 scale, which is an appropriate scale.

Got it.

And... You know, we can scale it up, but what ends up happening is we're going to end up with two sheets. So.

I'm okay with that. Two sheets.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah, I think I am, to add on that, I can read it on the digital version. So, but I understand different other members have.

Well, I'm older.

Preferences.

I'm older. I'm Codyear.

Lucia, any questions, comments? No questions.

Okay. I don't have any questions. Any questions? No. No. I don't have any questions either. No. Mr. Chairman, can I just follow up? Sure.

I did take a picture. Absolutely. Because the cluster of trees, those look like those would be actually street trees that would have to have a street herring, the one that's at the corner, right? So obviously that cluster would be staying right now because that would go through a whole tree herring. You can give me my views on that, but that would be another process. So I just want to make sure that what was agreed upon is that there would be there would be I want to say this. So you're proposing one tree on that on that new lot. But then and then also an additional tree because we're you're asking for subdivision of an additional tree on the other. So I just want to make sure what you guys agreed on.

So so we're going to put in an additional tree.

Yeah.

At the corner here where the driveway is.

Yeah, that's going to that driveway is going to be eliminated. Right.

Correct. Yes.

And then what about the other?

This tree is actually going to get moved over to here. All right.

Okay. I just want to make sure. Okay. All right.

Do you actually move the tree or are you going to replace it? No, it's a new tree.

So instead of it being located here on the plan, it's going to be located here on the plan. We could call it relocated to the opposite property line.

Okay. So that was the proposed tree. Yeah. I got you.

Oh, may I follow up with one question? Sure, absolutely. Would there be any changing to fencing for the current lot and also for the future lot? Or any proposed? Are there going to be... Is there proposed fencing?

Yes. No.

Okay. And no change to all the surrounding lot lines?

No. In fact, we're intending to leave this vegetation.

Vegetated. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, so what's the request of the board for them subdivision.

The subdivision with the only condition that the The proposed new tree planting on the newly created lot is to be moved to the opposite side of the lot along Mariposa and an additional tree will be placed on the second lot, or we're referring to the first lot of the cyclone, but the other lot from the subdivision on the same corner where the previous driveway is being eliminated. What species are you, it may be on here, Matt, what species are you planting?

So at the time we work with DPD, it will be a two inch diameter shade tree.

Okay, so then, so the applicant will work with DPD for finalization of species in size. Okay, all right, thank you.

I second that. Motion made and second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Chair Bochier? Any opposition? I mean, anybody against the motion? Hearing none, motion is approved. Good luck. Wish you well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

You can mail it to his address. Thank you. Okay, moving along on the hope. I put things aside as we get to.

Yeah, there they are.

I think people are losing. Okay, moving along on the agenda, do we have any?

updated comments from any board members mr chairman if i may um last evening being a thursday uh meeting this week uh last evening was the uh meeting of the northern minnesota council of governments and um one of the items on the agenda and it was um hotly discussed um robust discussion all you want however you want to list that it was very um I think it really spoke to the challenges that lie ahead. But the part one of the at home in greater Lowell, the housing strategic plan for the greater Lowell region was presented to the council. And you can access it online. I would encourage everybody to go out there. But this is a plan that really is meant to look at the region, the nine NEMCLAD communities, Um, and understanding that housing is an issue and that, uh, from a regional perspective, and I am very vocal on this Lowell, this can't be a Lowell centric plan. All right. The, the other communities that have to have to do their, their chair here on, they can't just be building McMansions on, on, on two acre lots. This is good. You know, this has to, this has to be addressed. Um, however.

It's a big challenge.

All right. So this plan, the part one, I would encourage everybody to go to the NEMCOG site, take a look at it. It really is meant and it recognizes it's not a one size fits all. And we had a discussion and you have to take this approach. I understand towns don't want to change their character. And I get that. And nobody's asking them to do that. But I think they really need to be looking at their town centers, their business corridors, and whether or not you can do mixed-use housing. Kind of go back to the old colonial town centers, right, where you start to concentrate your population a little bit more. Look at your current land use patents. My day job is I've been lending for 45 years in this region. Most of the communities, there's a ton of non-conforming lots. We talk about that. They've got two acre zoning or acre zoning in a good portion of the homes that are existing. And they're on 10,000 square foot lots and 7,500 square foot lot. Everything requires a variance. And you can't build anything new. There's some challenges. It really is meant to be a tool, but it's not a plan. It's not a NEMCOG plan. And I think that's what's going to be the challenge. It's supposed to be the council working on this. And then they have a tool to go back to their communities. And it has to be a dialogue. of because unfortunately any kind of meaningful zoning change has to go through town meeting in the towns versus a city council meeting and trying to get two-thirds majority or simple majority if it's for residential housing but um it's a tool that i hope um can can provide some um some movement in that direction in the communities, but obviously there has to be a will. And then there's also, and that took on another discussion, there's a segment, a section here about homelessness, and homelessness takes on different, There's different degrees of homelessness. There's families in this economy and in this housing market that are homeless. This isn't what we're talking about from the shelter. These are people that either single parents and had some sort of major life event, lost a job. They may be living with relatives. Some are living in cars. That's the type of situation you're looking at from that end. And then you are looking at the other end of the spectrum as well. People with substance abuse issues, mental health issues, and need wraparound services. And do you concentrate that in Lowell? And some of the communities seem like, well, maybe we can compensate Lowell. Well, no. Maybe we can try to share this burden. So needless to say, it was a very passionate discussion. It went on for quite a while. And this was just part one. I'm hoping the dialogue refines itself and everybody steps back a little bit and sees, hey, maybe we can go back to our communities and look at, we don't want to change the community, and I get it, but there are ways you can encourage and have more housing development of different levels. multi-families a lot of the communities don't want to have multi-family units they don't want to have apartments they don't want to so really how can you have more of that type of housing and have smaller condos we approve all you know one bedroom uh apartments and two bedrooms It boggles my mind how a community can approve four-bedroom McMansions and not complain that it's going to burden the school system. But if you talk about putting some one-bedroom apartments in, two-bedroom apartments in, all of a sudden it's going to overburden the school system. It just boggles my mind. But I'm very vocal about this. I'm standing up for the city of Lowell in this process. And I would encourage everybody to take a look at it. I'm hoping this is going to be a useful tool when all is said and done. But it has to be, the local communities have to work it out themselves. And they have to deal, I get it, they have to deal with their constituents. And that's a challenge. But I would encourage everybody to really take a look at this.

uh through the chair to member frechette how realistic is it based on what you're telling me it sounds like nimby not my backyard and that generally takes decades or generations to change that Unfortunately, I would tend to agree with you. Lowell has taken their fair share of everything. Housing, homeless, everything. I mean, basically the, you know, and maybe that should be the approach, Jerry, is maybe we should tax these other communities and maybe then they'll think about the fact that, wait a second, We have to pay this fee to the city of Lowell because Lowell is taking the brunt of it. And then that may force them to think about You know what I mean? Like it's almost like a sledgehammer to get a job that you need, you know, a ball peen hammer to do. But sometimes it's how do you force them off the position? So maybe that is something that we as a city should look at, you know, as far as making change. And like I said, it's probably going to be decades or generations down the road.

Well, I think one of the things that is is it's becoming apparent to and we know this wasn't new to the group, this has been out there, but this is wrapped up into economic development as well, right? Because your workforce can't afford to live in your communities. So again, we're trying to wrap it in different layers, but the discussion has to start. So I'm hoping that this at least start the discussion and hopefully, it does require some people in leadership roles in every community that They're going to take some hits maybe, but I think it has to be a broader discussion. Because what's going to happen eventually, there'll be more mandates coming from the state level, like the ADUs and the MBTA zoning. And I'm trying to get towns to say, look at, why don't you own it? Own it and you can actually control it, but you can't try to prevent it. Let's try to control it so that you can shape it. I've been very vocal about it, but we're trying to make it, and even myself, we're just trying to, I want to refine my argument on this, because you want to make it a positive approach to have a discussion, right? And so it's a challenge. Please take a look at this document, and there's going to be a part two coming out as well, but what we're trying to reaching out, NEMCOG is reaching out last night was to, even to each NEMCOG council, say, So how can we use this? How can we move forward with some of these elements? So that's what we're trying to figure out. That would be that report, Mr. Chairman. And then I just have, again, on the Rourke Bridge. Well, and I do get the emails. Please. The latest for January, you can see that they are... They've started the vegetation and brush clearing, followed by installation of erosion control measures on the south bank of the Merrimack River and Wood Street. Vegetation removal from tree clearing to prepare to bridge work zones along the north side by Merrimack River and Poteca Boulevard. Excavation of test pits, drilling test borings within the work zone. And then the, this you could see, I saw it today, the mobilization of cranes and equipment to work zone on the north side of the Merrimack River. installation of temporary construction access platform to facilitate bridge construction. So you're really starting to to see on that some heavy equipment and serious crane there that was on site. So it's moving forward. Stay tuned.

thank you mr chairman you're welcome any other board members have any just just quickly community preservation commission that i'm on as a representative of this fine board has had a number of meetings we've listened to i think 11 or 12 different applications i think it's next week we're going to vote as far as what what applications and what amounts should we forward along to the the city council but there are a ton one of the things you realize when you're on those types of committees or boards that you guys probably already are aware of there's so many worthwhile applications, causes, events, projects, and there's not enough money to go around. I think I think there was like five million in requests, and I think we have like a million and a half to to recommend to the city council. So it it is eye opening. And it's also kind of impressive that you hear the Division of Planning and Development comes to mind where they're thinking outside the box as far as how to streetscape and how to incorporate that into skate parks. And there's so many different things that are going on. And so as much as I might complain about being the representative to the commission, I have learned quite a bit and have a new appreciation for it. So that's my update and we'll be forwarding along our recommendations to the City Council next week.

Thank you. Any of the board members have any further comments? Now we can take a motion to adjourn. Second. Say aye. Aye. We have adjourned. Good night. Thank you, everybody.