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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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. 
  6. 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