Wilber School Redevelopment Committee

Approved Minutes of November 8, 2004

Attendance: 

Committee Members: Jim Goldsmith, Chair, Bob Levin, Melissa Mills, Marcia Liebman, David Gordon, David DePree, Craig Edwards, Jim Glaser, Marilyn Kahn, Reese Schroeder, Joel Tran, Michael Baskin.

Guests: David Grasfield.

The meeting was called to order at 7:40 pm.

Corrections of the meeting of November 1 were made. A motion to accept the minutes as corrected was made and voted.

Joel Tran spoke about the current zoning of the site. It is Business C. This allows a number of uses, but not retail sales. It also falls in the Groundwater Protection District which also limits its use. Beaver Brook aquifer is down gradient from the school.  Joe Kent, Building Inspector, is the zoning enforcement officer, and would determine the final interpretation of the by-law. The by-laws are on the town web site. There are Post Office Square design guidelines that can have an influence.

Reese Schroeder  spoke about available grants, passing out some material about them. Many of these grants are small, and would not be that helpful. Historic Preservation, Banc of America and National Trust were discussed. We need to find out if we are eligible for some of the larger grants.

There was discussion about tax credits as a possibility of getting a developer to work with us on a mixed use proposal. Could grants to used in an intergrated plan, ie. tax credits, library expansions funds, etc.?

David DePree said that a developer may be interested in the project if they could be assured of town renting back some office space, since the town has a very good credit rating. It could be helpful in getting banks to put up funding.

David Gordon presented a memo urging us to proceed with caution in pursuing grants from private foundations. Some foundations will only make grants to certified charities known as 501(c)3 organizations. Applying for a 501(c)3 can be time consuming and may not be worth it if the grant money is not that large. Those he feels most worthwhile are: 1. Boston Foundation for Architecture, 2. Historic Boston, Inc. and 3. Mass. Historical Commission. A 501(c)3 is not needed for this last one.

Jim Goldsmith feels we should work toward a product and something concrete for town meeting next May.

Joel did speak to one developer to test the waters. We would need a better idea of what we want. We would need to maximize revenue.

Eric Hooper came to the meeting with pictures of problem areas of the school.  He gave the impression that most of the building is structurally sound, but the center portion is not in good shape. There is a lot of junk and debris and some hazardous waste which should be removed. Right now hazardous waste could be removed at a reasonable cost. If the building collapsed the whole material would be hazardous waste and would be very expensive to remove. He feels this committee should tour the building. We set up a date for the November 21 at 10 a.m. We will meet in the parking lot in the rear of the building. Bring a flash light. There is no lights, no heat and the windows are boarded up.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Marilyn Z. Kahn