To join through a conference call, dial 929-436-2866 or 312-626-6799 or 253-215-8782 or 301-715-8592 or 346-248-7799 or 669-900-6833 a. Enter the Webinar ID: 812 5008 9206 b. Enter the password: 808096 The packet with meeting materials for this meeting is available at this link: https://www.town.medfield.net/DocumentCenter/View/6224/BOS-Meeting-Packet-June-14-2022
Posted onJune 11, 2022|Comments Off on Mailing for STM re Trinity proposal for MSH
Look for your mailed copy of the postcard that the town sent out as a reminder of the special town meeting (STM) at 6 PM on June 21, 2022 to decide whether to proceed with Trinity Financial on its proposed development for the former Medfield State Hospital site. All the Trinity materials and the town peer review materials and information are on-line, except the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA), which should be finalized and released in days.
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Posted onJune 11, 2022|Comments Off on Paul Narkewich Eagle Scout Court of Honor
Troop 10 held an Eagle Scout Court of Honor at the UCC this afternoon for their newest Eagle Scout, Paul Narkewich, shown below with his parents and Scoutmaster Matt Johnson.
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Posted onJune 10, 2022|Comments Off on Bellforge’s Launch Party, 11:00 am Saturday
From Bellforge Arts Center’s Stacey David, Director of Marketing & Communications –
CULTURAL ALLIANCE CHANGES NAME AND LAUNCHES
BELLFORGE ARTS CENTER
(Medfield, MA): The Cultural Alliance of Medfield (CAM), a non-profit organization in Medfield, MA, is pleased to announce the naming of the multi-arts center planned at the former Medfield State Hospital (MSH) campus. Both the CAM organization and the cultural destination will now be branded the Bellforge Arts Center, serving Boston’s MetroWest region with a flexible-use performance venue, rehearsal studios and classrooms, outdoor stages, and green space for community events and activities.
The name celebrates the bell tower, an architectural feature of the historic chapel building located at the heart of the 87-acre property. Leading the project’s development, the Chapel will be restored as a 300-seat concert hall, while the site’s former Infirmary will be re-envisioned as an arts education center. A connecting breezeway will join the two buildings, creating a 24,000 square-foot cultural home for the performing and visual arts. With the word “forge,” the new name also honors the project’s mission, to develop an inclusive gathering place and experiential arts hub in which to make and create.
“With Bellforge, we’re emphasizing a place for making, whether that’s art or friendships,” says Bellforge’s Executive Director Jean Mineo.
With a 99-year lease on the two signature buildings, Bellforge has a transformational vision for the Arts Center: to strengthen access to the arts and arts education in the MetroWest region, to encourage health and wellness through creative exploration, and to foster collaboration and community through multicultural and intergenerational programs and partnerships.
Bellforge recently received a $10,000 Arts & Culture grant from the Foundation for MetroWest and a $45,000 award from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) to present a series of 25 concerts and festivals running from April through October on their new outdoor stage. June 11 will be Bellforge’s Launch Party, which begins at 11:00 am with a panel discussion by music industry experts, including Ralph Jaccodine, Livingston Taylor’s Manager; Carl Lavin, Owner/Booking Agent for Great Scott; Cliff Notez, Founder and CEO of HipStory; and Jean Mineo, Executive Director of the Bellforge Arts Center. This discussion on the value of venues like Bellforge for performers, audiences, and the vitality of the arts in the MetroWest region will be followed at noon with a concert on the Center’s outdoor stage with Dutch Tulips and Will Dailey. The public is invited to bring a blanket or lawn chair, settle back and enjoy. The event is free, though attendees are asked to register at bit.ly/BellforgeLaunch
For more information about the Bellforge Arts Center, including a schedule of upcoming programs and events, please visit www.bellforge.org.
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MEDFIELD, MA – “Disposition” is the technical term for selling public property in accordance with requirements under Massachusetts procurement laws (MGL CH 30B). The Town of Medfield formally initiated a potential disposition of portions of the former Medfield State Hospital in 2021, building on earlier activities including the 2014 purchase from the state, the 2015-2018 strategic reuse plan effort, and the 2019 Special Town Meeting to adopt new zoning for the property.
In April 2021, the Town released a Request for Proposals which was released widely in accordance with the requirement found in the Land Disposition Agreement from the State. Two proposals (one with three variations) were submitted ahead of the deadline in August 2021. The Medfield State Hospital Development Committee (MSHDC) solicited public comment, interviewed both developers , and evaluated the proposals under the requirements of CH 30B to make a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen. The MSHDC recommended and the Board of Selectmen approved naming Trinity Financial’s proposal as most advantageous for the Town. The Town then entered into an exclusive due diligence period with Trinity Financial.
In June 2022, the Town will hold a Special Town Meeting to seek authority to “dispose” of portions of the property to Trinity Financial, in accordance with their proposal as may be modified following completion of due diligence and the terms of a negotiated Land Disposition Agreement with the Town. This vote will require 2/3 approval at the Special Town Meeting, just as it did in 2014 when the Town held a Special Town Meeting to buy the property from the Commonwealth and in 2019 when the Town created a new zoning district for the hospital property.
On April 6, 2022, the MSHDC held a listening session (watch it here on YouTube) where the MSHDC provided an overview of the Town’s history with the Medfield State Hospital, the land disposition process, Trinity’s proposal, and additional steps leading up to the proposed June Special Town Meeting .
More public information meetings will be announced soon, but please mark your calendars for the upcoming events:
.Jun 9, 2022 at 7 pm: Trinity Financial presentation; [see earlier posts for location information]
MEDFIELD, MA – Under the terms of an agreement being negotiated with Trinity Financial and subject to a Yes vote at Special Town Meeting, the Town of Medfield would eventually transfer approximately 45 acres of land north of Hospital Road to Trinity Financial. The land is almost entirely within the Core Campus and West Slope subzones of the Medfield State Hospital District and is characterized by brick buildings listed on the national and state registers of historic places and within Hospital Farm Historic District. Trinity would obtain federal and state historic tax credits for purposes of redeveloping the majority of the existing buildings into rental housing, and is not proposing to construct any new buildings on site.
Even after an affirmative vote at Special Town Meeting, the land will not transfer until all permits and approvals have been obtained and Trinity has assembled all of the financial resources necessary to start construction on the project, currently estimated at June, 2023. Following construction completion (currently estimated at December, 2025), roads within the new development will be public and the campus will retain the open and welcoming environment established following the Town’s purchase of certain parcels of hospital land from the state in 2014.
The Town will not be selling certain areas of the site which were included for possible sale within the developer Request for Proposals (RFP) issued in April, 2021. These are primarily areas zoned for open space, recreational, and agricultural uses:
The Green: the vast green space that runs along Hospital Road and goes up the hill towards the Core Campus (16 acres)The North Field: the “non-buildable” portion of the large open field north of the Core Campus (15.06 acres)The Arboretum: the area that includes the cottages and other buildings near the stone gate to the east of the site (10.89 acres)
The Town will also retain lands that were never included in the developer Request for Proposals: The Water Tower Parcel – the site of one of the Town’s two water standpipes, key parts of the Town’s water infrastructure.
The Laundry Parcel – this parcel, near the Charles River Overlook, is still owned by the state and must complete environmental remediation before the Town will take ownership. The Cultural Alliance of Medfield’s leased premises – in 2018, the Town voted to lease the Chapel and Infirmary buildings and some abutting land within the Core Campus to CAM for purposes of developing a proposed Cultural Arts Center.All lands south of Hospital Road, including the sledding hill, totaling 38 acres.
In summary, the 45 acres proposed for eventual transfer to Trinity Financial is approximately 35% of the 127 acres acquired by the Town from the State for $3.1 million. The Town will retain approximately 80 acres, or 65% of the hospital lands acquired in 2014, while ensuring that all areas of the former Medfield State Hospital campus remain open and accessible for residents to enjoy for years to come.
More public information meetings will be announced soon, but please mark your calendars for the upcoming events:
MEDFIELD, MA – Through various actions, Medfield has long prioritized preservation of the Medfield State Hospital buildings and campus layout. The Medfield State Hospital (MSH) was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. At the time of listing the district encompassed 78 contributing resources and 8 noncontributing resources. The Hospital Farm Historic District was created by Town Meeting in 1994 and includes the buildings and the historic landscape surrounding the buildings north of Hospital Road, and established local review of the eventual reuse of the property long before the Hospital’s official closure in 2003.
According to the National Register Registration Form (page 6), the original or first-phase buildings (1896-1897) were designed in the Queen Anne style by Boston architect William Pitt Wentworth. They are unified by the repetition of materials and decorative motifs and are distinguished by individualized plans and massing. All are characterized by red-brick construction, granite foundations, slate roofs, heavily corbelled cornices, segmentally arched windows which typically contained 6/6 sash and transoms, red sandstone watertables and lintels, and decorative angled soldier courses connecting first-story window heads. Those facing the green are arranged in a complex mirror-image pattern.
Later buildings from the early 20th century (1898-1914 and later) are generally somewhat larger in scale and designed in a variety of Classical Revival styles. Nevertheless, they generally continue the original red-brick construction, but often substitute cast stone for natural stone trim. Several smaller-scale Craftsman-style cottages and a number of the support/agricultural buildings were added at this time as well. In some cases, the siting of these buildings maintains the complex mirror-image plan. Architects identified for these buildings include such noted Boston firms as Park & Kendall, Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, and Winslow, Wetherell & Bigelow.
The Medfield State Hospital meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places and is significant on the local and state levels. As a whole, the buildings and landscapes of Medfield State Hospital retain a high degree of integrity and clearly reflect the period of significance from 1892 to 1940.
Trinity Financial’s proposal recognizes and seeks to preserve the historic buildings and layout. Trinity’s plan, as described in the proposal, seeks to substantially rehabilitate and preserve virtually all of the buildings to be sold by the Town, consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. Trinity’s plans include utilization of federal and state historic tax credit resources in the financing structure, as well as a permitting process and schedule that includes participation with the Town of Medfield, Medfield Historic District Commission, the Medfield Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
More public information meetings will be announced soon, but please mark your calendars for the upcoming events:
June 9 at 7 pm: Trinity Financial presentation; location TBD
June 18 at 9 am: Trinity Financial open office hours at the Medfield Town House – all are welcome
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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