Minutes
Town Council · from the Town's website · 6 pages · 31 KB
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TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF AUGUST 20, 2024 President Letterie calls meeting to order at 6:30 PM ROLL CALL Present: Councilor Tassinari, Councilor Costigan, Councilor Aiello, Councilor Swope, Councilor DaRos, Vice President Belcher, President Letterie Absent: Councilor Munson PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Councilor DeMarco MINUTES Motion by Councilor Swope to Approve the Approval of Minutes, August 6, 2024 as circulated 2 nd by Vice President Belcher Abstain-Councilor DeMarco Motion Passed GENERAL INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS None PUBLIC COMMENT Karin Chavis P2- Concerned with construction work proceeding by our Election Polls on Golden Drive and hopes on September 3, 2024 construction can be halted for the day. DPW Director Calla will review Sheryl Howard P2- Wanted to thank everyone that signed the Citizens Initiative Petition for MBTA 3A…wants people to know they have their say Kathleen Cappuccio P2 -Hands out copies of a FOIA request on an email that included (3) Town Councilors personal email and had information included that she believes should be reviewed and would like to know what is going to happen. She has requested another FOIA requesting personal email information from these Town Councilors. She believes this is a reason to recall a Town Councilor. Diane Sands P5 -Believes there were (4) Town Councilors involved in this personal email. Another citizen would like the Town Council to look further into this email. Jack Dowd P2- Discusses this email and believes the Vice President of the Council should be supportive of the Council President and their precincts constituents Discusses Morton St. flooding and the current wooden fence is not helping with the flooding. We owe owners on Morton St. & Banks St. Burrs that use to be there. Carol Facella P4 -Urges the Town Council to opposes MBTA 3A Zoning and let the citizens have their vote. Reflects on the town of Milton and the legalities they are facing with MBTA 3A Zoning TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 20, 2024, PAGE 1 Diana Viens P2- Reflects on the Citizens Petition that has been filed and the citizens have their right to vote on this. The petition collected over 700 signatures on a petition that only needed 195. The citizens overwhelmingly signed for this petition to be adopted by the Town Council. CORRESPONDENCE Julia Howington-Supports MBTA 3A Zoning Anthony & Judy DeGregorio-Opposes MBTA 3A Zoning Cheryl Howard-Opposes the air rights for 50 Somerset Ave. Pete Gill-Town Council President reads correspondence from him and letter will be on record he opposes MBTA 3A Zoning COMMITTEE REPORTS Vice President Belcher discusses that the Shor Term Rental Ordinance is still being reviewed. Final draft has been circulated to the Town Council and it will be sent to the Planning Board for their recommendation. SCHOOL DEPARTMENT UPDATE President Letterie discusses the school will start next week in full. Asks residents to be aware of the children who will now be commuting to school. TOWN MANAGER REPORT Discusses the Yirrel Beach Draft Plan that is still out for review and he has reached out to the consultant and will have a neighborhood meeting when there is more information to share. Discusses the survey on the Fire Station that it is in the final draft stages on the locations on the Basketball Courts and Old Middle School. Hazardous Waste Day will take place at the DPW on August 24, 2024. Discusses the passing of the Affordable Housing Act, Attorney Cipoletta is analyzing this and how it could impact Winthrop. He is currently working on a draft to share with the Town Council Camera’s at Hannaford Park will be done within a couple of weeks. Councilor Tassinari asks Town Manager about the change of the charter we voted on. Town Manager replies we should have this answer within a couple of weeks. Councilor Swope asks if the affordable housing act is something that is charged to us by the state? Town manager replies , yes it is and does not come into effect until Feb. 2025 She asks if we say no, what will be the consequences. Town Manager replies there will be a lot of impact She asks if grants be tied to the Affordable Care Acts Councilor Aiello discusses a law suit against National Grid due to their use of methane leaks. Winthrop has methane problems that is a threat to our environment. He asks that the Town Manager stay on top of this information. Councilor DaRos asks if there will be an assessment on the Financial Impact the Affordable Housing could have on Winthrop. Town Manager replies the state will have this information. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 20, 2024, PAGE 2 Councilor Tassinari follows up on the impact analysis of MBTA 3A and now should include the Affordable Housing Act. Councilor Aiello a physical impact analysis. He is requesting this to be delivered to the Town Council Councilor Swope agrees with Councilor Aiello…asks if there is a quid pro quo on the 2 Million Dollar bond CDICR Town Manager reports they met last week they are launching a Speaker Series next month at the Sr. Center and the Library. Sept. 15 th is the CDICR Beach Clean up UPDATE POLICY MAKING COMMITTEES WPB-7 Madison Continued 22-24 Pauline Special Permit Granted OLD BUSINESS Fire House Update- Requesting more information and will have a questionnaire out sooner than later… We were informed that due to a date mishap, the school override will be on the ballot and we can have a separate ballot in the November election which will cost close to $16,000 due to the fact that we have to follow what the State does on their ballot. If we have a Special Election after November it will cost another $15,000 There are repairs going on the existing fire house which are going as smooth as possible considering the age of the building. Update MBTA 3A Zoning- Councilor Aiello discusses the MBTA 3A Zoning and his opinion of what has come clear to him that within looking at all the data, the states data was wrong in some aspects. He continues to discuss the background of MBTA 3A Zoning and what we have added in multi family structures…he feels we are a leading town that has increased our density well ahead of what the state is requesting. We have gotten no credit for this with the state. It is discriminatory how the state is treating Winthrop. Basically will the 3A Zoning overrule the condo docs that might happen within these condo units discussed? Town Council Presidents discusses the next steps with the recommendation from the Planning Board on MBTA 3A and there will be a special joint meeting on August 27 at the DeLeo Center for more clarification. We did ask the state to give an exemption and was told no. Once the Planning Board does their recommendation, they will issue this to the Town Council of which they can vote on. Whatever is done , has to be done before 12-31-24. His personal opinion is he is ready to vote and has been and will put this item back on the agenda for a Town Council decision. Councilor DeMarco believes MBTA 3A Zoning will not happen. The Councilors represents the people of Winthrop and feels if the Council votes yes, we are doing a disservice to the community, Vice President Belcher would like to wait until the legal decision on Milton and Rockport has been decided. She would like to wait for this decision prior to her voting on this. NEW BUSINESS Release and abandonment of a Certain Right of Way (Summit Ave) Town Council President refers to Public Works Air Rights Approval-50 Somerset Ave. (Overhang Roof) Town Council President refers to Economic Development TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 20, 2024, PAGE 3 Motion by Vice President Belcher to waive Town Council Rule 2(a) by adding a Joint Special Meeting 8-27-24 with the Planning Board 2 nd by Councilor Aiello Recused: Councilor Tassinari Motion Passed Motion by Vice President Belcher to waive Town Council Rule 2(a) and change September 3, 2024 Town Council Meeting Date to on Sept. 4, 2024 2 nd by Councilor DeMarco Motion Passed PUBLIC COMMENT Diane Sands P5- Discusses the MBTA 3A Zoning and the discrepancies that could be included in a paper plan that could not work? How would this work with several different multi families and condo’s. Kathleen Cappuccio P2 -- Discusses MBTA 3A with the State and that our compliance letter is a huge caveat as the state can come back and do what they want. Whether the Town Council or people act it doesn’t matter. If you vote for Paper Compliance the state has shown that this will not make a difference if their decision is different. Carol Facella P4- Declares that being Paper Compliant will not help our community. We should not lose our own local zoning rights. This could allow developers by right building which could lead to disaster. Mark Sennot P2 -Discusses that we did not get a grant that we have always received and why? Because we are pushing say No to 3A. Jack Dowd P2- Discuses the address of the Middle School Site and the Auditorium . We should be considering selling this parcel of land and generate money for the town. Diana Viens P2- Does not believe that voting on Paper Compliance is the answer and it will not work. There is no getting around the clear guidelines, if you do, you are not being compliant and it matters to the people we are discussing to use as districts with 3A. We do not want the CBD zoned as rooming houses. Karin Chavis P2- Requests a traffic study to be done in the town. There are complaints constantly about parking and speed and until an evaluation is done on our streets with parking, we will never solve any problems and adding 3A will not help. Vasili Malios P5 -He asks why our Councilors did not go to Senator Edwards and ask her to repeal this act as it is not the best for the town. Discusses a Town Councilor’s behavior. PUBLIC RELATIONS / UPCOMING EVENTS Winthrop Farmers Market Dates: June through October- 2 nd & 4 th Sunday of the month Ingleside Park 9AM – 1PM 8-24-24 Accesible Adventures Fun Day at Deer Island Early Voting for 9-3-24 State Primary at Town Hall- 8-24-24 until 5:00 PM then 8-26-24 through 8-29-24 Town Hall Hrs 8-27-24 Joint Meeting Town Council & Winthrop Planning Board at Senior Center 9-26-24 Winthrop Recovery Event at Town Hall 5:30-8:30 TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 20, 2024, PAGE 4 ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn by Vice President Belcher at 8:00 pm 2 nd by Councilor DeMarco Passed Unanimously Public Documents used in the meeting are available at Town Managers Office. Documents Used in this Meeting: Handwritten Notes / Committee Openings Documents Roll Call Log Written Motions / Verbal Motion Respectfully submitted. Denise Quist Town Clerk Council Clerk TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 20, 2024, PAGE 5