Category Archives: Business

Plan to address our lack of a commercial tax base

Posted on November 27, 2018 | Leave a comment

I just responded to a great comment from Nic Scalfarotto, and since my general sense is that such comments and my replies are not likely seem by many, and sense Nic raised a big issue, I thought I would post both his comment and my reply here so more can see them.

Nic, I added a little more on as well.

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Nic Scalfarotto

34 minutes ago
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Assessors tax classification hearing

Accepting that developing differential tax rates would not provide benefit to home owners because there is a small industrial base, a plan to address the lack of such a base needs to be developed and communicated to residents.

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Plan to address our lack of a commercial tax base

As a new selectman, my first search was for businesses that wanted to locate in town, and when that did not seem a likely result, I have turned to having a town policy of building housing that is revenue positive to the town.

We know that people want to live in town, but mainly not build businesses here. The can make tax money and reduce our current residents’ taxes by building the kind of housing that is more profitable, such as Old Village Square (42 units paying over $600K/year in taxes, with one school child the last time I heard) or the two Larkin brothers projects (Glover Place off North Street and Chapel Hill on Hospital Road, again, both with few school children).

See the analysis that Kathy McCabe, the consultant to the Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee, did of the potential taxes to the town from leasing the lot 3 land the town owns on Ice House Road to build 42 units of senior housing versus leasing to a commercial facility, and the town netted either more than double or more that triple the taxes from the residential use over the sports complex, depending on whether the  housing was either 100% or 25% affordable, respectively.  Those results were summarized in Steve Nolan’s 1/2/2018 memo to the Board of Selectmen available here –20180102-SN-Memo to MSHMPC re HinkleyIce House Road v2 – final sent to BoS and inserted below as well.

I think that many of the friendly 40B projects that we are currently allowing in order to be in safe harbor, will be revenue positive. Statistically, we are told that we will likely average about 1.5 school children per in single family houses, while we will likely average 0.15 school children per unit in multifamily housing. So multifamily housing may well be revenue positive for the town, even if not age restricted.

Additionally, the town is already mainly single family homes, so we really do not need any more single family homes options, while we do not have a sufficient variety of other housing opportunities for residents, especially for seniors. Current proposals in the pipeline will assist at filling in that gap:
8 units on North Street (two developments)
36 units on Dale Street
16 units on Adams Street, age restricted
42 units at the Rosebay, age restricted
56 units (from memory) at The Legion site

However, such diversification of the tax base can only accomplish so much with respect to reducing our individual tax bills. The other issue with which we need to deal is the town’s willing to spend, witness our vote at the last annual town meeting (ATM) to increase our tax bills by about 10%, over the objections of the Board of Selectmen and the Warrant Committee.

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MEMORANDUM TO: Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee FROM: Stephen M. Nolan, Chair Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee RE: Hinkley Property and Lot 3, Ice House Road DATE: January 2, 2018 The original charge from the Board of Selectmen to the Medfield State Hospital Master Planning Committee (the "Committee") included Lot 3 on Ice House Road (“Lot 3”) and the adjacent Hinkley property (the “Hinkley Property”). It was our understanding that we were to take a fresh look at Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property in order to decide the most appropriate use for each parcel and how they might best be coordinated with the re-use plan for the Medfield State Hospital (“MSH”) core campus. It has since become clear that at least one of member of the Board of Selectmen believes that the best use for Lot 3 is an indoor sports facility, so that preference should be accommodated if possible in our final plan. A. Possible Uses of Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property. The consensus that has emerged from our public sessions, our meetings with the Council on Aging and the Senior Housing Study Committee and Committee deliberations is that the most desirable use for Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property is senior housing. The principal reasons for this are twofold: access to The Center and the possibility that a senior housing development could happen on a more expedited basis than the re-development of the MSH core campus because infrastructure is more readily available and the properties could be disposed of on an expedited track. The Council on Aging has expressed potential willingness to cede a small portion of the land at the corner of The Center adjacent to the Hinkley Property for purposes of enhancing the development potential of the Hinkley Property. The possible use of Lot 3 as an indoor sports facility on the other hand would respect a past Town Meeting vote to devote Lot 3 to an indoor sports facility and would increase the commercial tax base of the Town. On the latter point, our consultant, Kathy McCabe, did some research on the likely tax revenue from such a facility. Since the developable area of Lot 3 is only approximately 4.8 acres, the lot cannot support a large facility. Based on a survey of indoor sports facilities in MetroWest, it appears that a site of approximately 5 acres can likely support a facility of 100,000 square feet or less. The Forekicks facility in Norfolk is approximately 83,000 square feet and has a tax valuation of $5,000,000. Using that valuation as a basis for comparison, a 100,000 square foot facility would have a valuation of approximately $6,000,000, which would produce annual tax revenue of approximately $100,000. Kathy McCabe estimates that a 100% affordable senior rental housing project with 42 units would produce annual tax revenue of approximately $240,000 and the same project with only 25% of the units affordable (which would still qualify as 42 affordable units on DHCD’s Subsidized Housing Inventory) would produce annual tax revenue of approximately $320,000. So the revenue to the Town from a senior housing project would likely be significantly greater than the tax revenue of an indoor sports complex. This revenue must be off-set, however, by municipal expenses, which for 42 units of housing would be approximately $108,000 (assuming no school children). We have not been able to quantify the additional municipal services (traffic control, emergency services, road maintenance, snow-plowing) from a sports facility, but they should be factored into the cost-benefit analysis at some point. Even ignoring those costs, the net impact of a 100% affordable senior rental project would be at least $30,000 greater than an indoor sports facility while a 25% affordable senior rental project would be at least $110,000 more favorable to the Town budget than an indoor sports complex. Other possible impacts to be considered include traffic. Our consultant has advised that a sports facility on Lot 3 would create considerably greater traffic and possible over-flow parking than a 42-unit senior rental housing project, which could negatively impact The Center and a possible senior-appropriate homeownership development at the Hinkley Property. For example, parking at Forekicks in Norfolk requires about 1.7 acres, roughly equivalent to the size of the facility itself. Ingress and egress to and from the Norfolk Forekicks parking lots is a very serious problem during change-over times when cars are both entering and exiting the facility. In inclement weather conditions with snow and ice the traffic impacts are even worse. One other factor to be considered in deciding the possible use of Lot 3 is the Town’s disposition process. The difficulty in disposing of Lot 3 for a sports facility is that the Kingsbury Club has a provision in its lease that prohibits the Town from allowing a sports facility at Lot 3 without the consent of the Kingsbury Club. The Kingsbury Club has announced its interest in developing a sports facility on Lot 3, which suggests that the Kingsbury Club might use its consent right to thwart other possible developers interested in developing Lot 3 for a recreational facility. This needs to be factored into any possible disposition strategy for Lot 3. B. Rezoning. Lot 3 is already zoned to permit an indoor sports facility. The proposed overlay zoning being considered by the Committee would allow the development of both parcels for housing. The disposition process, described below, would need to control the use of each parcel. By using an overlay district, the underlying zoning of Lot 3 can be left intact, thus allowing for either housing or an indoor sports facility on Lot 3, depending on the Town’s preferences. If Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property are zoned for as-of-right housing under the Committee’s overlay zoning, a developer could start the development process as soon as disposition were completed, avoiding the process for obtaining a comprehensive permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, a process that can be time-consuming and expensive. We should consider whether to exempt the houses on the Hinkley Property from the Town’s inclusionary housing bylaw in order to allow more flexibility in providing as many dwellings as possible at a moderate (although not 40B compliant) price-point. We should also consider including duplexes, at least for the moderately-priced units, in order to further reduce prices. C. Potential Disposition Process and Timing. The disposition process for Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property should be handled by either the Affordable Housing Trust or the Affordable Housing Committee if they are to be developed as housing or, in the case of Lot 3, by another committee, such as the Economic Development Committee, if it is to be developed as an indoor sports facility. The Selectmen should decide on the appropriate body to handle the dispositions so that they can be placed on the market as soon as possible to address the desire for senior housing. The Selectmen and the Affordable Housing Trust will also need to decide on whether to provide a subsidy to developers in order to encourage moderate sales prices on the homeownership units to be constructed at the Hinkley Property. That decision is a complicated one because the seniors who would likely purchase the units are not likely to qualify under any governmental program providing subsidies for affordable housing creation and the units would not qualify for the Subsidized Housing Inventory. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the price of new single-family homes, even those of smaller size and senior-appropriate design are likely to exceed $750,000. The Senior Study Committee has requested that homes be priced in the area of $400,000. Such a price-point would likely require a subsidy even beyond free land, so the Selectmen or the Affordable Housing Trust would need to decide to whether to provide an additional cash subsidy or allow developers to compete based on the number of units to be made available at the $400,000 price point. In other words, developers would bid not based on price, but rather on the number of units to be sold to seniors at $400,000. This would be a complicated disposition because some minimum specifications for the moderately-priced units would need to be incorporated, as would a local preference for those units. In addition, this decision must consider the equity and fairness in providing implicit or direct subsidies (through low or zero land values or cash subsidies) for one selected group -- such as senior citizens -- and not other worthy groups such as returning veterans or persons with physical or developmental disabilities. The selection of potential buyers of moderately-priced homes is also a matter that must be decided. Given that the Town would be providing a subsidy in the form of free land, questions will arise as to whether purchasers should be means tested or otherwise selected based on need. That is another issue that the Selectmen will need to resolve. Because Lot 3 and the Hinkley Property are not located at the MSH core campus and will have separate infrastructure needs, there appears to be no reason why the Town should not proceed to prepare a disposition RFP that would allow for selection of a preferred developer promptly after Special Town Meeting approval of the re-zoning. The 42-unit rental project on Lot 3, if initiated promptly, could help provide the Town with a two-year extension of the 40B safe harbor that is currently in effect.20180102-SN-Memo to MSHMPC re HinkleyIce House Road v2 - final sent to BoS_Page_220180102-SN-Memo to MSHMPC re HinkleyIce House Road v2 - final sent to BoS_Page_320180102-SN-Memo to MSHMPC re HinkleyIce House Road v2 - final sent to BoS_Page_4

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Posted in Budgets, Buildings, Business, Financial, Planning, Selectmen matters

BoS 10/2

Posted on September 28, 2018 | Leave a comment

I will post the back up materials as soon as I get them.

TOWN OF MEDFIELD TOWN CLERK MEETING NOTICE rd:. i..; t. I v':::.U , u ~ N OF 1EDFIELO. HASS. POSTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF M.G.L. CHAPTER 3~0!~c§tlfc:J.~823~A_S:,~ENDED. OFF lCE OF THE Board of Selectmen TOWH CLERK Board or Committee PLACE OF MEETING Town Hall, Chenery Meeting Room, 211 d floor AGENDA (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) 7:00 PM Call to order Disclosure of video recording DAY, DA TE, AND TIME Tuesday October 2, 2018@ 7:00 PM We want to take a moment of appreciation for our Troops serving in the Middle East and around the world Executive Session: Exemption #2: to conduct strategy session in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel: discussion and possible vote on compensation and other terms and conditions of an employment agreement to be offered to new Town Administration Kristine Trierweiler, if Board has so-voted Appointment Greg Bonnette: to present proposal to host a Cyclocross Bike Race at the hospital site in December Citizen Comment Action Items Vote to sign November 6, 2018 Election Warrant Letter from Library Trustees requesting permission to not fill the vacancy on their Board at this time Transfer Station and Recycling Committee member Steve Catanese submits his resignation Board of Selectmen are invited to attend Troop 89 Eagle Scout Cou1t of Honor for Justin George Plakias, Eric Robert Plumb, Ian Daniel Gipson, Caillian Jeremiah Sheehy on November 24, 2018 Vote to sign Certificate of Achievement for Eagle Scout Benjamin Lewis Rothstein; Court of Honor to be held October 13, 2018 DPW Director Maurice Goulet requests the Selectmen vote to give him authority him to dispose of Town Surplus Vehicles and Equipment Vote to award Salt Bid Vote to call October 29, 2018 Special Town Meeting; new time 7:00PM Vote to open October 29, 2018 Special Town Meeting Warrant Vote to close October 29, 2018 Special Town Meeting Warrant Vote to sign October 29, 2018 Special Town Meeting Warrant Planning Board recommends the Selectmen vote to appoint Teresa James as their representative on the Town Wide Master Planning Committee Selectmen are requested to vote to authorize Chairman Marcucci to sign Draft Audit Report for the Wheelock School boiler replacement project Town Planner Sarah Raposa requests the Selectmen vote to authorize Chairman Marcucci to sign the following documents: Grant Agreement for the OCR Recreation Trails Program Grant Agreement for Cultural Facilities Fund Feasibility and Technical Assistance Grant Contract for professional services with MAPC for the Hazard Mitigation Plan update MHP 40B technical assistance applications for Rosebay and Dale Street projects Selectmen are requested to vote to authorize Chairman Marcucci to sign Standard Contract Form regarding the $30,000.00 award to provide public awareness and education on suicide prevention Selectmen are requested to vote to authorize Chairman Marcucci to sign Standard Contract Form relating to the Town's Hazard Mitigation Plan Update Project. Medfield has received a FEMA award in the amount of$14,625.00 for this project Selectmen are requested to vote to authorize Chairman Marcucci to sign two Federal Procurement Notifications. First for the storm of March 2 and 3, 2018, $45,000; second the storm of March 13 and 14, 2018, $149,000 Discussion Items Fuither discussion and vote on offering Town Administrator position to current Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler, subject to mutual agreement on compensation and other terms and conditions of an employment agreement Selectmen discuss their position on Special Town Meeting articles Discuss process/schedule for Town Wide Master Plan and composition of committee Potential guidance to Parks & Recreation and Council on Aging concerning building projects Licenses and Permits (Consent Agenda) Church of the Advent requests permission to place signs announcing their annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday November 10, 2018, signs in place October 27 to November I 0 Boy Scout Troop 89 requests permission to place a sign at the Transfer Station announcing their annual Christmas Tree Pick-up and Recycling Program Zullo Gallery Director Bill Pope requests a one-day wine and malt beverage permit for event S01'%WvU-ev~Show~on Saturday October 20, 7-11 PM High School Theatre Society requests permission to post signs announcing their fall performance of "A l-1~ N~~Vve"' (/') '1'>20181002-agenda_Page_2

 

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Posted in Business, Selectmen matters

LCB restart

Posted on May 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

LCB

The permitting for the proposed LCB assisted living facility behind the Clark Tavern on Main Street with the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board is starting up again with a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on 5/23 at 7PM at the Blake Middle School auditorium.  In advance of that ZBA hearing Town Planner, Sarah Raposa circulated the most recent peer review by the town’s engineering consultants, BETA Engineering, dated 4/19/2016, which gives a summary of where things stand.

20160419-BETA-Medfield Senior Living Peer Review (002)

 

Also, I believe that there are still two outstanding and as yet unresolved apeals by LCB of the wetlands determination issues by the Town of Medfield Conservation Commission.  I understand those appeals are pending with the state DEP and at the Norfolk Superior Court.  The ConCom determined that Vine Brook is a “perennial stream” (i.e. it flows year round) and as a result that building setbacks are subject to the 200′ Rivers Act requirements.  I believe that LCB takes the position that Vine Brook is only “intermittent,” and that therefore the Rivers Act setback do not control.

 

Below is Sarah’s transmission email to town department heads –

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LCB is coming back from continuance-hiatus next Wednesday night (5/23) with the ZBA. I wanted to refresh your memories on the project and where Beta is at with the reviews. The application and plans may be viewed here: Dropbox Link

Attached is the most recent civil and traffic engineering review from Beta.

 

For some departments, your predecessors submitted comments on the project. Previously submitted comments are HERE. You may wish to update departmental comments, if so, please provide written comments by next Wednesday at 10 am.

 

Looking closely, I don’t having anything from the Fire Department (though I know Chief Kingsbury reviewed the plan).

 

I did not include the COA and School Dept. in 2015 but feel free to submit if you have any comments for the ZBA.

 

I do have several documents from the Historical Commission that I didn’t attach here but are online. I know you’ll be at the meeting on Wednesday to submit comments in person.

 

All are welcome to the public hearing session: Wednesday, May 23, 2017 at 7:00 pm at the Blake Middle School Auditorium.

 

Thank you,

Sarah

 

 

Sarah Raposa, AICP

Town Planner
459 Main Street
Medfield, MA  02052
(508) 906-3027
sraposa@medfield.net

 

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Posted in Buildings, Business, Development, Downtown, Permitting, Planning, Zoning

Teachout leads Chamber

Posted on December 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

Medfield’s own Chris Teachout of Needham Bank to lead the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber – this from the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber today –

NNC logo

Teachout elected chair of chamber’s board 

 

The Newton-Needham Regional Chamber’s Board of Directors has elected Chris Teachout, vice president for Business Development at Needham Bank, as its new chair, effective Jan. 1.

Teachout

Teachout replaces Rachel Hillman Foy who has completed her two-year term and will remain on the board as immediate past chair.

 

 

“My  election as Chair of the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber is really significant as I am the fourth generation of my family to be raised in Needham,” said Teachout. “My fond memories of what it was like as a child growing up in this town are everlasting.

 

“Just as is the case with Newton, much has changed in my hometown and, in my opinion, for the better. The chamber has played a significant role in this evolution and I look forward, as the new chair, to continue with the progress we’ve made. It’s a very proud moment for me. I know my grandfather, who worked at Needham Bank, would be especially proud. I look forward to serving.”

 

The chamber board reelected Barry Brown, president at Mount Ida College as a vice chair and elected Samantha Sherman, chief development and external relations officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Needham and John Spino, a founding partner at Dwyer, Ruggieri, Spino and Goncalves to serve as vice chairs. Allison Yee, director of retail incubation at WS Development will serve on the executive committee as clerk and Bruce A. Gold, CPA, principal at ALL CPAs will serve as the chamber’s treasurer.

 

“I’m very grateful to Rachel for her leadership as our board chair for the past two years and am looking forward to working with Chris and our new executive board members as we continue our efforts to take this chamber to the next level,” said Greg Reibman, the chamber’s president.

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Posted in Business

75 High Street

Posted on December 6, 2017 | 2 comments

 

Medfield Children's Center bld

I was informed at the Board of Selectmen meeting last night that the owners of the Medfield Children’s Center may be abandoning their planned use of the 75 High Street site (rendering shown above), for which they have been seeking site plan approval from the planning board.  I was told that the owners have located a preferred location for the Medfield Children’s Center that is on Rte. 27, but at the other side of town.

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Posted in Business, Children, Planning

Culture and the arts are economic drivers

Posted on June 26, 2017 | Leave a comment

Jean Mineo both arranged for the town to participate in a study of the economics of arts in our community, attended a conference on the topic, and presented the results to the Select Board at our last meeting.  The economic data was generated by seventeen Town of Medfield arts organizations separately inputting their data into the study.

In sum, the arts and cultural industry (defined as the organizations and their audiences combined) spend $3.1m per year in town, and support 125 jobs in town.

ARTS study-2017

Per the study –

The Town of Medfield’s Participating Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations

This study could not have been completed without the cooperation of the 17 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the Town of Medfield, listed below, that provided detailed financial and event attendance information about their organization.

Cultural Alliance Of Medfield; First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church; Friends of the Dwight-Derby House; Gazebo Players of Medfield; Lowell Mason House Inc; Medfield Community Cable Access Corp; Medfield Cultural Council; Medfield Employers and Merchants Organization; Medfield Garden Club; Medfield High School Theater Society; Medfield Historical Society; Medfield Music Association; Medfield Public Library; Norfolk Hunt Club; United Church Of Christ; Vine Lake Preservation Trust; and Zullo Gallery Center for the Arts.

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Posted in Art, Business, Cultural, Uncategorized

Richard’s 150 trolley rides

Posted on June 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

Richard DeSorgher Concludes 25 Years of Medfield History Day Tours Saturday

On Saturday, Mashpee resident, Richard DeSorgher, concluded his 150th trolley tour lecture about Medfield history, delivered six a day, once a year in June, over twenty-five years, mainly from the front of a swaying trolley.

This past Saturday, the Medfield History Day sponsor, MEMO, hired a school bus to satisfy the large demand for seats on the final day of tours. Richard delivered a jam packed, non-stop lecture that covered parts of all 400 years of Medfield’s existence, from the Peak House dating to 1713, to the Hennery once having more chickens than anywhere else in Massachusetts, to George Innes sketching by the river and painting in the barn he rented on Main Street for five years the paintings that now hang in the country’s the foremost museums (MFA, MMA), all illustrated by over 40 photos in the Hometown Weekly supplement.

The Town of Medfield celebrated the end of an era with this proclamation that Mike Sullivan authored to celebrate the last of Richard’s historic trolley tours, and MEMO presented Richard with one of the miniature Medfield Town Clocks made by Electric Time Company, Inc. of Medfield :

TOWN OF MEDFIELD

PROCLAMATION

Whereas, Twenty-five years ago the Medfield Employers and Merchants Organization (MEMO) initiated an annual Medfield History Day to showcase the unique history, architecture and landscapes of the Town, and

Whereas,  Countless residents and visitors to the Town have boarded the trolley to travel  the Town’s highways and byways,  soaking up the culture and beauty that is the one and only Medfield, and

Whereas, a wide variety of themes have been developed to give new insights and perspectives, keeping the History Day tours fresh and interesting; topics ranging from First Period Homes, Houses that had been moved, Medfield State Hospital Medfield’s Greatest Events, Most Historic and Most Tragic, Homes of Painters and Musicians, Norfolk Hunt, and Landscapes, and

Whereas, Medfield History Day could not have succeeded without the creativity, knowledge and enthusiasm of the Tours’ host and narrator, Richard P. DeSorgher, whose perspective, good-natured showmanship and ability to engage Tour guests always made for an informative, yet fun-filled event, and

Whereas, Richard P. Desorgher and his wife Julia are relocating to Cape Cod to begin a new and exciting phase of their lives,

Therefore, We, the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Medfield, on  the 25th Anniversary of Medfield History Day, and on behalf of MEMO and  the Citizens of Medfield, do extend our deepest appreciation to Richard P. DeSorgher for his hard work making Medfield History Day a memorable event on the Town’s Calendar and wish him the best of everything as he takes leave of his beloved Medfield and begins the rest of his life’s journey. We’ll miss you Richard.

Issued on the 10th Day of June, in the Year of Our Lord, 2017 at Medfield in the County of Norfolk, Massachusetts.

Osler L. Peterson, Chairman

Michael T. Marcucci, Clerk

Gustave Murby, Third Member

Board of Selectmen

 

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Posted in Business, Events, History