Approved Minutes

Wilber School Redevelopment Committee

January 17, 2005

Town Library, Lower Level Conference Room

Attendees: Jim Goldsmith (Chair), Michael Baskin, Craig Edwards, Jim Glaser, David Gordon, Marilyn Kahn, Bob Levin, Melissa Mills, and Reese Schroeder

Guests: Walter "Joe" Roach, Ken Michel, Jane Desberg

The meeting was called to order by Jim Goldsmith at 7:30 PM.

Abatement of the Building: After some discussion about possibly engaging the services of an abatement consultant to review current documents and assess the current need for abatement of the Wilber building, the committee agreed to confer with GZA about the hazardous waste section of the 1992 report.  As needed, the committee will revisit this issue prior to drafting articles for inclusion on the Spring 2005 Town Meeting warrant.

Presentation on Tax Credits: Ken Michel, whose firm has been arranging equity financing for affordable housing developments since 1977 (about 250 projects in 40 states), spoke to the group about how tax credits might be used in the redevelopment of the Wilber School building. 

He discussed the pro's and con's of two types of credits: historic tax credits and affordable housing tax credits.  With historic tax credits, the process unfolds in three phases over anywhere from a 2-5 year period, and he thinks that it's "tough" to get them, as developers have to weigh "whether it's worth the extra cost and aggravation" to apply for them.  In the first phase, the State Historical Commission has to approve the project; in the second phase, plans and specifications need to be submitted to the Dept. of the Interior; and in the third phase, the National Park Service has to approve the proposed rehabilitation.  If successful, historical tax credits can cover up to 20% of certain eligible costs.  With affordable housing tax credits (which can be used at the same time as historic tax credits), the review process is quicker (up to one year from start to finish), but developers must get construction financing first and cannot obtain the tax credits until the construction is completed and all units are occupied by eligible tenants.  A developer can recover about 90% of eligible costs over a 10-year period -- unlike historic tax credits, which are provided "up front."

Against this backdrop, Ken believes that "multiple uses can become very complicated and are therefore not feasible" in projects like the Wilber.  While he acknowledged that a project limited to residential development and one other use could be feasible if the building were sectioned off or "condominiumized," he cautioned against considering a mixed residential-retail project, which, in his opinion, would result in "failure."  Instead, he strongly believes that a residential development of no more than 30 apartments (assuming no other uses) could work quite well at the Wilber, and if the residential development were limited to elderly housing (not assisted living or affordable housing), he believes that it could work out especially well for the town and would be more acceptable to the neighbors.

On related matters, Ken believes that abating the building now would make the building more attractive to potential developers.  He also suggested that in any Request for Proposals (RFP) issued to developers, it would be possible to ask the developer to reimburse the town for any abatement-related costs.  He also said that, through the RFP process, the town should advise developers to evaluate the feasibility of using tax credits on the project, "but don't require them to use credits -- there frankly aren't too many people out there with expertise in this area."  He also thought that "if a developer decided to go for the credits, it wouldn't make sense to start any construction until the credits were approved, so it could be three or more years before a shovel actually goes in the ground."

Presentation on Sharon Housing Authority: Jane Desberg agreed with Ken that elderly housing makes the most sense for redeveloping the Wilber School.  The housing authority has its own Affordable Housing Corporation (a non-governmental, non-profit corporation) that could assist with this process.  Jane noted that the Mass. Housing Partnership (MHP) is making available Priority Development Fund grants of up to $50,000 for needs such as writing the above-noted RFP or assessing the financial feasibility of a given project (MHP is getting "a big chunk of money from Bank of America," according to Ken, and he knows Nancy Sampson at MHP).

In response to questions, Jane noted that a mixed-use project involving municipal uses would involve the prevailing wage law and strict bidding rules governing public projects.  Also, Ken mentioned a firm named Peabody Construction in Quincy that might have expertise in putting together projects like this and he suggested that a project called (he thought) Cable Gardens in New Bedford might be an "exemplary" project that we might want to learn about in more detail.

The meeting concluded at 9:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

David Gordon