Town of Sharon
Community Preservation Committee
Meeting Minutes of 9/19/13
Approved on 9/26/13
Sharon Town Hall
Filmed by SCTV
Committee Attendees
|
Corey Snow, Chair |
Jane Desberg, Treasurer |
|
Keevin Geller |
Susan Rich - absent |
|
Stephen Rabinovitz |
Anne Bingham |
|
Marc Bluestein - absent |
|
Others
|
Alice Cheyer |
Peter O’Cain |
|
Karen Friedman |
Carl Gladstone |
|
Larry Seggelin |
David Straus |
Meeting Initiation
Chair Snow called the meeting to order at 7:50 PM. Chair Snow welcomed new member Stephen Rabinovitz to the Committee. Mr. Rabinovitz was appointed by the Selectmen as an at large member.
Sacred Heart
Chair Snow said that an application was being received tonight from the Selectmen and the Sacred Heart Reuse Committee (SHRC) for funding to complete work at the Sacred Heart site.
Karen Friedman, Chair of the SHRC said that it has been a four year process to determine the demolition/new use for the Sacred Heart School and land.
In the past the SHRC and Selectmen turned to the CPC for funds to demolish the building, level the ground, hire a landscape architect to determine layout and meet with the towns people by hosting 3 charettes to determine what they wanted.
Initially, $315,000 was requested and approximately $107,000 was expended for this process.
M.s Bingham asked if the work performed by the DPW was charged back to the SHRC requested funds and Mr. O’Cain said it was not charged; i.e.: seeding.
Chair Snow stated that approximately $205,000 was unspent and would be returned to the appropriate category of monies in the CPC account.
Ms. Friedman said the building was demolished and the town hired Beals and Thomas for the community input gatherings. They worked with the audience to create a plan for the space. Their full plan had a cost estimate of $400,000. Mr. O’Cain and the DPW reviewed the plan and found where the Town could save monies by making a few aesthetic changes. The SHRC and Mr. O’Cain just met with the Board of Selectmen and they agreed to submit a plan for $70,244.90. Mr. O’Cain reviewed the plans specific details for the Committee.
Ms. Friedman said she would forward the detailed application document to the CPC later on in the evening.
Mr. O’Cain said that to pave the entire parking space would cost $193,000 which the Selectmen did not approve thus reducing the cost estimate. Picnic tables will be added, a trail will loop around to increase the field size.
Ms. Cheyer expressed that the field’s purpose is for informal recreational activities. The Recreation Department will schedule youth sports practices but should leave adequate time for public use. She expressed the need for bike racks. Mr. O’Cain said the DPW has extra racks and will place them on the site.
Ms. Bingham said she is concerned with traffic flow. Mr. O’Cain commented that it will be painted with arrows.
Mr. Geller suggested offering benches for sale to the public as memorial benches.
Mr. O’Cain said the boy scouts could volunteer as well to save money.
Ms. Cheyer stated that the CPC funds are for the purpose of improving the Town and they should be used for the project.
Chair Snow said there are benefits for the boy scouts participating and if people purchase memorial benches it provides for community ownership.
Ms. Bingham suggested that a nice “welcome to the park “sign should be incorporated. She also stressed the importance of ingraining the traffic pattern in the area.
Mr. O’Cain said he will prepare the presentation for Town Meeting.
Chair Snow said that the article for this has been drafted without the dollar amount included as of yet. Details of the motion need to be worked on.
Chair Snow said he would like to look at the details of the request before taking a vote.
Chair Snow asked for a sense of the public interest benefit. Ms. Freidman said that there was a great turnout for Beals and Thomas. They received good input; they did a lot of listening, put everything together, discussed the impact to the wetlands and brought their technical knowledge to the process.
Mr. O’Cain said they also brought objectivity and as a third party the process is not tainted.
Ms. Cheyer agreed that the participants were satisfied with the output from Beals and Thomas.
Mr. Gladstone said that in the first meeting Beals and Thomas listened to opinions. In the second meeting they presented three ideas and took a vote and in the third meeting they fine-tuned the input. It was outsourced so there were no hidden agendas.
Chair Snow reiterated the process for Mr. Rabinovitz regarding the original $315,000 project. He said the demolition was not controversial, the planning was not controversial but the reuse was controversial. The new request is the end game of the plan. He said the demolition bid was low and cost much lower than expected as the materials from the building were recoverable materials and were sold by the contractor.
Mr. Geller asked what happens to the unused funds and Chair Snow said that anything allocated and unspent becomes freed up for other allocations.
Minutes
Ms. Desberg moved to approve the minutes of 4/4/13 as written. Mr. Geller seconded the motion and the Committee voted 3-0-2 in favor of approval.
Attachments
None
Next Meetings
9/26/13
Adjournment
Ms. Bingham moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 PM and Ms. Desberg seconded the motion. The Committee voted 5-0-0 in favor.