Wilber
School Redevelopment Committee
February 6th, 2006 Meeting
Minutes
Approved February 27th, 2006
Committee
Attendees
Jim
Goldsmith – Chairperson
|
Marilyn
Z. Kahn
|
Michael
Baskin
|
Marcia
Liebman
|
Craig
Edwards
|
Melissa
Mills
|
David
Gordon
|
Joel Tran
|
Guests
Paul
Lauenstein – Planning Board
|
Lynne
Sweet – LDS Consulting Group, LLC
|
Scott
Horsley - Horsley Witten Group
|
|
Meeting
Initiation
Meeting was
called to order at 7:45
pm by Jim Goldsmith.
Meeting
Minutes
Approval of
the meeting minutes of January 9th were deferred to the next
meeting.
Discussion
- Goldsmith
informed the committee that we were not awarded a grant by the Riverway
Grant Committee, but came in second place. We now have the basis for the
application and other grants. We created visibility with the Conservation
Committee; the Board of Health supplied a letter of support for the grant
as did the Selectmen. The project provided visibility to the community.
- Scott
Horsley of Horsley Witten presented a drawing of his conceptual waste
water treatment facility plan for the Wilber site. He stated he looked at the
site and the hydrology. He wants the design to have a positive impact on
the development to make the site better. He suggested that the site may
need to take in neighboring properties in order to lower nitrogen levels.
His design is to put treated waste water in the ground. He stated, this is
not a standard waste water treatment plant that is proposed but rather he
is thinking outside the box by creating this cutting edge proposal. The
effects of his plan would include a net reduction in nitrogen loading; it
would add more water to the river and won’t exasperate basement flooding.
He indicated the treated effluent would be pumped to a facility under
ground and there would not be odor problems. A wide variety of plants
could be grown in the greenhouse which would also afford educational
opportunity. The greenhouse would need a heating and ventilation system
which could be built in stages.
- Gordon
questioned Horsley about whether the proposed water management project
could be done in stages. This was a concern, since the committee had
talked about doing the redevelopment project in two stages -- rehab of the
Wilber itself, followed by new construction along Station Street (perhaps
a new library or some other use TBD). Horsley replied that his
proposed approach could easily be done in stages. He added that the
specifics of the approach will need to be engineered in accordance with
the Weston and Sampson study and any further hydrology studies that are
conducted over the next few months.
- Baskin
stated he had received information regarding a company in New Hampshire which produced a variant on
the septic system with treatment of waste water and asked Horsley how his
concept would sell in the development community. Horsley stated the
advantage of his system is that it is a transpiration evaporation system
which provides the best treatment and can remove pesticides. Tran
questioned the cost and Horsley stated it had not yet been estimated. Horsley
stated that his calculations would include 5781gpd on the site with an
additional allowable flow of 4200gpd for offsite. He also stated a full
hydrology study would need to occur at a cost of approximately $10,000.
The Weston and Samson report would be a good start for the hydrologic study.
- Lynn
Sweet of LDS Consulting stated she has a client who is interested in the
Wilber property. She represents Great Bridge Properties which have built
similar developments in Haverhill
NH and Attleboro, MA. They generally like to build
30 – 40 units with their focus on affordable housing. The company funds
the projects by using tax credits and for every dollar put in they get
credit, which is the equity. She stated they have a 3rd party
management company. They use the same architectural firm, lawyers and
contractors for all of their projects. She estimated that it takes a year
to a year and a half to get in the ground and obtain financing setup.
- The
committee discussed that the next steps after updating the RFP is to post
it in the Central Register as well as Banker’s and Tradesmen. Goldsmith
will discuss the process with the Selectmen as well. An updated RFP was
distributed to the group for review.
Future
Meetings
Committee to determine (via email) if February 15th
is a viable meeting date.
Meeting
Adjournment
Liebman/Gordon
moved to adjourn meeting at 9:30 pm; passed
unanimously.
Respectfully
submitted,
Rachelle
F. Levitts