I will hold my monthly office hours at The Center next week on January 9, instead of this Friday on January 2, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM.
Residents are welcome to stop by to talk in person about any town matters. Residents can also have coffee and a pastry.
I can be reached at 508-359-9190 or via my blog about Medfield matters https://medfield02052.wordpress.com/, where any schedule changes will be posted.
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Posted in Select Board matters
The town switched over this month to a new email system, based on Gmail I am told. And as a result, all town side email addresses have been standardized using the protocol of “[first initial][last name]@medfield.net.”
Per the school website, the schools appear to be using “[first initial][last name]@email.medfield.net” as their protocol.
Helpful for us going forward to have email addresses standardized, but for now my emails are getting bounced back to me and I am having to update lots of emails in my computer database.
I just emailed to Mike, Kris, and Evelyn asking them to add to the agenda of the next meeting of the selectmen the issue of whether the town devotes 1.5% of usable land in town to affordable housing, so as to exempt the town from G. L. c. 40B, as Newton has just done. Two of those three emails bounced.
This was the recent article in the Globe on Newton doing so –
Newton reaches Chapter 40B threshold
By Ellen IshkanianGlobe Correspondent December 28, 2014
Calculations made by various city departments over the past several weeks have determined that Newton has met an affordable-housing threshold, and no longer falls under the parameters of the state’s Chapter 40B affordable-housing law, according to the city’s attorney.
The determination was made through sophisticated satellite technology, legal analysis, cross-referencing, and double-checking of figures, said City Solicitor Donnalyn B. Lynch Kahn.
According to figures provided by the Planning Department, 1.88 percent of the city’s land is used for affordable housing, passing the 1.5 percent threshold stipulated in the 40B law.
Kahn said the city is among the first to use the land area stipulation to override the 40B law, but meeting the threshold does not mean the city can automatically reject new housing proposals. Rather, she said, “The need for affordable housing no longer automatically trumps local concerns.”
The Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 18 used the city’s new status for the first time, putting developers of a proposed 150-unit apartment complex off Rowe Street on notice that the city has met the affordable-housing threshold.
“It no longer becomes our mandate to put in affordable units and still make sure the developer makes a profit,” said the board’s chairwoman, Brooke K. Lipsitt. “40B will be a less attractive opportunity for developers. . . . But personally, I hope we can continue to develop affordable housing in the city.”
Developers have the right to appeal the Zoning Board of Appeals’s use of the threshold and challenge the city’s figures, Kahn said, but she is confident the city has used conservative calculations that put it well over the 1.5 percent mark.
The city has calculated the land area coverage as well as the percentage of affordable housing units in the city for every 40B development that has been proposed, according to Kahn, who said this is the first time the city’s figures have showed that the land area threshold has definitively been met.
Ellen Ishkanian can be reached at eishkanian@ gmail.com.
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Posted in Affordable housing / 40B, Technology
Medfield has a new blog! I suggest you keep an eye out for it, as I personally expect great and interesting things.
There’s a lot to love about Medfield, and the slower post-Christmas pace provides many opportunities for exploring open space, wandering around town, and just finding time to connect with friends and neighbors.
But all of this has been a new phenomenon for me. For years, my husband and I would pack up the kids and we’d drive down to the Jersey Shore to celebrate the holidays with my parents and siblings in our childhood home. It was a tradition that seemed like it would last forever, but then my Dad passed away in the summer of 2012, and my Mom died a year later. My childhood home was put on the market this fall, and on our recent trip to NJ, I couldn’t bring myself to visit the empty house.
How does one create new traditions? I’m still trying to find my way, but living in a tight-knit community like…
View original post 142 more words
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Posted in Uncategorized
Currently the town is doing master planning for the redevelopment of the former MSH site, and also needs to also do a town wide master plan. I was recently asking Sarah Raposa, the Town Planner, whether there is an opportunity at present to combine both needed planning processes into one. She suggested that where we have already put out an RFP to select a planner for the MSH site, that it would now be better to complete the planning for the MSH site as a separate process from the town wide master plan. Teresa James who has an employment history with a planning firm, counseled that much of what is developed for the MSH site will actually be useable in the town wide master plan.
As part of our discussion, I admitted my general lack on knowledge about the whole planning process, and so she sent me a link to the Town of Marshfield’s website on its master planning,which contains a nice summary of master planning. This is the description from that site:
A Master Plan:
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The Master Plan is NOT a zoning bylaw, a subdivision regulation, a budget, a capital improvement program or other regulatory document. It is meant to provide the framework for the development of these plan implementation tools.
Information and data are gathered from the other prior planning studies, while current views and opinions are being collected through community events where residents are invited to provide inputs. Other sources include data provided from state census data, and mapping data provided by one of the consulting teams.
Posted in Medfield State Hospital, Planning
David Stephenson pointed me to Needham’s really nice looking town calendar –
Thought you’d both be interested in this: Needham publishes a wide range of iCalendars to which you can subscribe!
— David
W. David Stephenson | Principal | Stephenson Strategies/Stephenson Voice-Overs
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Posted in Information
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
TOWN HOUSE, 459 MAIN STREET
MEDFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS 02052-2009
TO: ALL TOWN DEPARTMENTS
FROM: EVELYN CLARKE
SUBJECT: SELECTMEN’S SCHEDULE FOR FY 2016 BUDGET REVIEW
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR SCHEDULED MEETING DATE OR TIME
TUESDAY DECEMBER 2, 2014 7:00 P.M. TOWN CLERK
7:10 P.M. COUNCIL ON AGING
7:20 P.M. TOWN ACCOUNTANT
7:30 P.M. PLANNING I APPEALS
7:40 P.M. HISTORICAL COMMISSION
7:50 P.M. BOARD OF HEALTH
TUESDAY DECEMBER 16, 2014
7:00 P.M. CONSERVATION
7:10 P.M. ASSESSORS
7:20 P.M. VETERANS’ AGENT
7:30 P.M. INSPECTIONS
7:40 P.M. PARK & RECREATION
7:50 P.M: LIBRARY
TUESDAY JANUARY 6, 2014
7:00 P.M. POLICE DEPARTMENT
7:15 P.M. FIRE DEPARTMENT
7:30 P.M. PERSONNEL
TUESDAY JANUARY 20, 2001
7:00 P.M. TREASURER/COLLECTOR
7:15 P.M. TOWN COUNSEL
7:30 P.M. PUBLIC WORKS
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Posted in Budgets, Select Board matters
Last post contained the the 2013 budget time line from the W&S Board’s budget planning document created last year. Here is the current year’s version.
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Posted in Budgets, Water & Sewer
The Water & Sewer Board has crafted an incredibly detailed Budget Planning and Rate Setting Process document (copy attached). The selectmen met with W&S last night to assist them in getting their process back on track. The selectmen also last night charged the W&S Board with both
This is the chart from the Water & Sewer Board’s Budget Planning and Rate Setting Process document that shows the separate steps required to ultimately get to both a budget and rates.
It would be an admirable town goal to have such a well documented and detailed planning process for all town budgets.
The W&S Board also has created an even more sophisticated and incredibly detailed model that they now use for planning purposes, in which all possible W&S variables can be entered and manipulated in order to plan for the future of its budgets and rates, assuming a multitude of various scenarios. They call it the Tool, and it is now in its third year of being used.
It would be an admirable town goal to have such a detailed planning Tool for all town budgets.
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Posted in Budgets, Water & Sewer
Medfield Transfer Station – extra days
Transfer Station Holiday Hours
Please note the holiday hours for the Transfer Station are as follows:
12/23 Tuesday – 9am � 4pm
12/24 Wednesday � 8am – 1pm
12/25 Thursday � CLOSED
12/26 Friday � 9am � 4pm
12/27 Saturday � 9am � 4pm
12/30 Tuesday � 9am � 4pm
12/31 Wednesday � 9am � 4pm
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Posted in Recycling & Solid Waste
Also from Megan Sullivan this morning, an idea that appeals to me –
Here’s a cultural idea…..how about the town of Medfield runs this at the state hospital to support the foundation?
http://milliswonderland.com/
Megan B. Sullivan
Last Year for Millis Wonderland
Holiday Pageant To Be Gifted to a Worthy Nonprofit
Recently, the Meehan family made the decision to give Millis Wonderland and all its assets (1,200 animations, 45 glass-encased floats, 100,000 lights, and all supporting equipment) to a suitable nonprofit after this season. The critical factor in the gifting will be the charity’s pledge to use the assets for the celebration of Christmas and benefit of the community. Essential, too, will be the nonprofit’s assurance that it will operate the display at its chosen new site for a significant span of years.
Posted in Medfield Foundation, Medfield State Hospital
Medfield Select Board member
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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