00:00:26,200	Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. We good? Almost. Soundcheck. That’s better. Okay. No. No no no. Thank you. Yeah. That’s it. Okay. There we go. All right, start over. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Town of Wenham. Select board meeting for August 11th, 2026. It is 631.

00:01:20,200	We will call the meeting to order in attendance this evening. There is myself, Deirdre Peretti. Gary Cheeseman, Peter Clay, Ben Simon. And do we have Phineas on. Is in the audience? I just promoted him. Um, I think he has to accept it, but he is here. All right, well, give Finn just a moment. Hey, Finn, can you hear us? Finn, if you’re able, say you’re here.

00:01:44,630	All right. Were you able to hear me? Yes. All right. Yes. I’m present. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. All right. This is an in-person meeting this evening as a convenience to the public. We are also broadcasting on Cam, and we have zoom links available.

00:02:01,870	The main topic this evening will be the iron Rail presentation. But first, just a few orders of business. First, we will have a public comment if anyone wishes to address the board. We have two minutes per person may speak once ten minutes total. Would anyone like to come to address the board please? Okay.

00:02:22,730	I saw you first, sir. Come on up and identify yourself, please, before your comment. Certainly. My name is David Miller. I’m a resident of the boulders where I live at 12 Wallace Drive. Thank you.

00:02:39,130	And, um, we just came from a meeting of the Open Space and Recreation Committee in which they had a discussion about, uh, Pingree Park. And what’s to become of that? Um, they’re going forward with a survey that includes pickleball as an option for, weapons. And I’ll Pingree Park, and I’d like to go on record again representing the boulders that, um, the boulders residents oppose.

00:03:10,200	The boulders residents oppose and will oppose pickleball, a skate park, or any similar noise making activity at Pingree Park. Our position has been carefully considered and is not intended as an opening point for negotiation. The supporting evidence for not siting these activities at this location is clear and well-established. It is based on data and expert consensus.

00:03:29,330	Our position will not change based on arguments regarding need or potential benefits, and citing a couple of facts which objectify our very much emotional. At times, concern is a when on bylaw on noise, which the critical sentence reads no person shall operate or cause to be operated any source of sound in a manner that creates a sound level which exceeds 70dB or 10dB

00:03:49,630	above ambient, whichever is lower. When measured at the property boundary of the receiving land use. And we mentioned that residents of the boulders are within 100ft of the courts, but actually the property line is much closer than that still.

00:04:07,800	So I also quote from Western Samson study, which maybe many of you have seen, which was done for Wellesley, and that report shows that the impact of a plastic pickleball on a paddle can register between 70 and 100dB from 100ft away, so that exceeds when a noise bylaw.

00:04:28,170	They go on further to recommend the court should not be located any closer than 800ft from a residence, so also would point out that in going forward with the survey to which includes many outcomes, one of which is pickleball, um, they run the risk of disappointing residents mightily because, uh, ultimately there will have to be a survey in which the noise impacts of a court sided location of Pingree Park is assessed that will ultimately fail because it’s 100ft or

00:04:53,270	less. Um, and so. That’s time survey. I’ll just ask you to wrap up. Okay. Surveys should be performed in advance, not after the survey on noise that is should be performed before, not after. Thank you very much for your comments. Yes, sir. Uh, Bob Wallace drive, representing the boulders.

00:05:19,570	I’d just like to make one comment that at the July 7th meeting, a question was asked by the Select Board. How many courts do we have? And I don’t recall the answer, but I don’t believe it was accurate.

00:05:42,470	Um, the OSC just did a survey and indicated that there are 20 courts, but that doesn’t include the indoor courts at the rec center and the courts at, uh, Gordon College, which are also available to one in residence. Um, the national average for the number of courts is about two, um, one court per 2000 residents. So at that, at roughly 26 courts, we exceed that by a factor of four.

00:06:04,730	So just wanted to point that out to the select board. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Uh, Dennis Markowitz 15 Wallace drive the boulders. Uh, we just heard a very nice account of the planned survey. Uh, I think that there are things that should be included in the survey.

00:06:30,870	If it goes ahead, namely, it should be explicit and state the distance to nearby residences are very close compared to any acceptable recognized standards for pickleball noise and include a question for the survey. Uh, answers. Would you play.

00:07:04,000	On a pickleball court knowing that the noise seriously impacts the quality of life of the nearby neighbors? That should be included in the survey so that people understand explicitly what they’re signing up for? Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? All right. See anyone on zoom? No one. On zoom. Okay.

00:07:27,530	And just as a reminder for everyone, the Selectboard is not permitted to discuss or deliberate on items that are raised during public comment, but are not on the agenda for this evening. So we will most certainly return to this topic at a later meeting. Okay. All right. We will move on to town administrator’s update. Steve. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one brief update this evening.

00:07:49,330	If the board and public remember at our last meeting, we had a presentation from Joe Amato and the. I am the, uh, Historic District Committee. Uh, regarding the historic district design guidelines project that’s underway in a study that was funded through town meeting last year. And, uh, as a continuation of that, the historic district is meeting. The HTC is meeting Wednesday night. That’s tomorrow.

00:08:18,200	Tomorrow, August 12th at 6 p.m.. So the public is encouraged to attend. There is a zoom link available on our website. It is posted like any other public meeting on the calendar, but if you have any trouble finding it, feel free to reach out to myself or anyone to Select Board’s office.

00:08:34,070	We can point you in the right direction, but, uh, your, um, participation is encouraged to help give some feedback as we work through this process. Thank you. Is that all? That’s all. Okay. All right.

00:08:55,100	I just have one brief thing, and I just wanted to mention that we had a very lovely raising of the Purple Heart flag about a little over a week ago. Was a wonderful ceremony. Very happy that we have adopted this in Wenham. Look forward to the signs going up. We received a very nice proclamation to be framed and I love we can frame it. and have it hanging in the lobby.

00:09:15,870	I think it really looks lovely and wonderful thing for the town. Appreciate that Gary spoke. Dean Peterson, our veterans agent. It was really lovely and that’s all for me. Gary. Nothing here. Nothing. Peter. Ben.

00:09:36,670	Just briefly to pick up on, um, the Open Space and Recreation committee meeting and this as Madam Chair said, this isn’t for us to deliberate or prejudge on any of the merits of that, but I just did want to point out, um, that I attended that virtual meeting this afternoon and felt that, um, that this is a very positive, collaborative process that is taking place, um, involving residents of the boulders, Kate

00:09:56,470	Mallory and many others, including members of that committee. So I thought it was, you know, a real step in the right direction in terms of, um, trying to, um, you know, come together and weigh the different factors.

00:10:14,070	I would also just point out that that surveys in general are not I’ve never in this town been, uh, binding. Um, there a way to get additional data points that the decision makers ultimately possibly our board would be taking on board, along with all the other pieces of information that have been submitted, such as noise studies and the likes of.

00:10:35,330	Um, I just wanted to commend everyone involved in that discussion today because I think it’s, uh, heading in a in a good direction. Great. Thank you. Ben Finn, do you want to add anything? No, I don’t have anything. Thank you very much. So thank. You. All right. We will move on to the consent agenda.

00:10:56,400	I’m going to read the items we have. Item a appointment of Michael Burke to the position of firefighter, effective August 11th, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. And we have the appointment of our election officers for a term effective September 1st, 2026 through August 31st, 2027.

00:11:20,200	But I would like to give the chief where oh, there you are, a moment to speak to the appointment of our firefighter chief, please. You want to appoint first? It’s up to. You. Like to pin them up right there. Okay. You want to wait for the pinning? All right.

00:11:37,770	Do we have a motion? I move to approve items A and B as printed in the evening’s consent agenda. Second. All right, we’ll move to a vote. Gary. Yes, Peter. Yes, Ben. Yes, Finn. I and Deirdre, I motion passes and chief, go ahead and do the honors. Well, thank you for having us here tonight.

00:12:04,700	Uh, first of all, I’d like to thank Assistant Town Administrator Joe Pesa for assisting us with this whole interview process. And, Michael, if you could come on. So we’re here tonight to appoint one of our call firefighters to the position of full time firefighter.

00:12:31,200	And after a lengthy interview process with that interview board consisting of myself, Assistant Town Administrator Joe Amato, Captain John Joyce, Captain Anthony Nichols and Deputy Chief Dan Sullivan of the Hamilton Fire Department. We chose Michael Burke as the candidate that would be best suited for the full time firefighter position.

00:12:56,800	We were fortunate to have, uh, external and internal members apply for this position, and Michael has been a member of the department for four years. He has a certified Massachusetts EMT, and his firefighter one two certified through the Massachusetts Call Volunteer Firefighting Academy. And Michael also has a B.S. in Criminal Justice. Wrong side and M.S. in Homeland Security. I am excited to start working with Michael and welcome aboard. You would like to. Doesn’t matter which way, doesn’t matter.

00:13:27,830	Face all the cameras. Yeah. You back? Yeah. We practice. This. Thank you, thank you sir. Thank you sir. Congratulations. Have you on board. Thank you I appreciate it. Did you want it? Do you want to introduce. Yourself? I’m just. I’m Michael Burke. I’m here for years. Boy oh, boy. We could. Go to the microphone.

00:14:06,770	No, I just appreciate everything. And I’m looking forward to being an asset to the town. And I’ll do my best. I can give you that. So thank. You again. Thank you very. Much. Congratulations. Wonderful addition. Anybody else? Chief, are you good? You’re all set. All right. Thank you. Peter, I say thank you to all the volunteers.

00:14:40,900	I’m about to. Just giving them a moment. Thank you. Bye bye. All. Regulations. Grandmother. Mother and grandmother were here. Just letting the family and the firefighters depart. All right. Before we move on, I just want to also thank all of our election officers who have volunteered to step forward.

00:15:09,800	This is a hugely important role in these times that we are living in. I see many, many, many familiar names who I know have done this before and we really appreciate it. This is an incredible service to the town as well as the country.

00:15:26,870	Please do your civic duty and come out and vote when the time comes. All right. Next we have. Our town clerk, Diane Bucco. Presentation and potential votes regarding the election procedures for fall 2026 season. Diane. Thank you. Thank you all for letting me speak to you today.

00:15:49,930	I know it’s a very busy meeting and that was very exciting for Michael. Um, but I do need to bring some information to you and to the public about the September 1st state primary plans. First of all, thank you for the appointments of the election officers. Many of them have been doing it for a long time. We have some new people, which is exciting as well.

00:16:05,270	I’m always looking for more and you’ll see why we need more in a moment. So the Board of Registrar has recommended that we utilize two polling places for the fall 2026 election season for a few reasons that I’m happy to go into. If you have the time. Or I could just blow right by it.

00:16:24,100	Do you have time? I don’t want to take up too much. Go ahead. Go ahead. So in the state primary we are two. Well, we are two precincts for all the state elections. But in the primary we have multiple ballots.

00:16:41,730	And so if you’re going to have, um, 1500 voters voting in precinct one and 1500 voters voting in precinct one, a with Democrats and Republicans in one small space, there’s a lot of possibilities of some errors.

00:16:57,230	So we felt it best to use two locations and asking that we use town hall for precinct one and the one two museum, which is said that it was okay for precinct one. A in November. The ballot at this point, I think it was nine ballot questions. We are expecting more a multi-page ballot, not a front and back, but a front, back, front and back ballot, which as far as I know, the state has never dealt with yet.

00:17:17,930	So to spread that out, it will take longer. Each person to vote. We need more space. That’s why the two the two separate locations would be great.

00:17:32,870	So what I need to move forward for that is to have the board approve that by moving to add the museum as the polling location for precinct one, a voters for the fall 2026 elections. So if that is something you want to vote on, would be wonderful. Or any comments on it. Nope. Sounds like a good plan. Diane. Thank you. Okay. We have a motion.. Motion. Are we reading? Will you want to see something. Like. Move? Yes. Start with the third.

00:17:56,530	Okay. I move. That the select board vote to add the one in museum as the polling location for precinct one. A vote for the fall elections in 2026 seconds. All right, we’ll have a vote. Ben. Yes, Peter. Yes. Deirdre. Yes, Gary. Yes. And Finn. Votes I. Thank you. All right. Diane. First one passes.

00:18:21,430	So you can sign them as I. Move on. Okay. Multitask. Secondly, I also need the select board to move to delegate the administrative responsibility for the assignment of police details to the Chief of Police for the 2026 elections. Sounds very odd. It’s what we normally do.

00:18:46,170	However it’s written in the Votes Act that the Select Board has the authority to, um, administer the the police details. And we think it’s better if you would authorize the police chief and myself to do that for the fall elections. So do you want a motion? I would love one, unless you have questions. Nope. Any questions guys? Nope. Go ahead.

00:19:05,770	I move that the select board delegate, the administrative responsibility for the assignment of police officers to the chief of Police for 2026 elections. Terry. Seconds. All right, we’ll move to vote. Ben. Yes, Peter. Yes. Deirdre. Yes. Carrie. Yes. Finn. Votes aye. Thank you. Motion passes on to the next.

00:19:33,000	Lastly, the Votes Act also requires that earned person early voting for town is to be set for town hall hours. But with voters with the town municipality under 5000 voters, you can limit or reduce some of those hours, which is what we have done before. Once the board. of Registrars recommends it.

00:19:54,470	So the vote for this would have to come 20 days before early voting starts, which I missed. So I apologize for that and for myself. So early voting for the primary will be full town hall hours 8 to 430 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Tuesday 8 to 7. But I would, however, like to ask that the Select Board approve reducing those hours by 6.

00:20:19,400	5 hours to allow the town clerk to come into Town Hall at eight, set up early voting to start at nine, close early voting at four to allow the town clerk to shut it down by 430.

00:20:39,130	So, um, if that is amenable to you, the Selectboard just has to accept the suggested hours for in-person early voting for the November 3rd state election. I just have a question. I’m sorry. How does the notice period fit into that? Like, we can still do that. We can do that for November. So yes, I can’t do it. I’m with the With the Votes Act.

00:20:59,030	It was 20 days before the election to vote to change the polling place, and I read 20 days before the election to do the early voting hours. But it’s 20 days before the start of early voting, which. is a week behind. So I’m sorry. And I said that really fast, trying to get it in. Really quick. Okay. It’s all good.

00:21:13,870	Okay. That one. Then move that select board, accept the suggested hours for in-person early voting for the November 3rd, 2026 elections as presented. Second. All right. Ben. Yes, Peter. Yes, Deirdre. Yes, Kerry. Yes. Finn. Votes. Hi. Thank you. Motion passes. Great. I want to thank you very much for squeezing me in.

00:21:35,970	I want to remind everybody to vote early. Voting does start August 22nd. That’s a Saturday 9 to 1. And then regular town hall hours for that week. Great. Thank you. Thank you Diane I appreciate. It. Okay.

00:21:58,170	Next we have item D discussion and potential vote to approve the Affordable Housing Trust Action Plan contract with Metropolitan Area Council. The maps and I believe we have Margaret presenting. Do we? Yes. She’s here for any questions. Okay. Maybe just maybe just give a quick overview. Madam chair. Um, did we do the forth motion? We did sign the one. We signed. It. But I. Thought that meant we did not need to vote. Okay.

00:22:21,670	Is that correct? I don’t. I don’t know, maybe we should just to be. Sure. We want to go ahead. I’ll move that. The select board approve the signing of the September 1st, 2026 state primary warrant. 70s. Okay. Ben. Yes. Peter. Yes. Deirdre. Yes. Gary. Yes. Finn. Votes I.

00:22:39,230	Thank you. All right. That passes as well, just in case. Okay. Margaret. Hi. Margaret Hoffman, town planner. Um, this is a request for you to endorse, um, the contract with maps of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council who are going to be our consultants on the Affordable Housing Trust.

00:23:01,730	New action plan. Their action plan expired, I think, in 2025. So they need to get a new plan done. Um, mAPK has given us a $25,000 technical assistance grant. The entire project will end up costing $73,800.

00:23:30,530	So the town will be, um, putting in the 48,800 we had approved $50,000 for this project, a town meeting in 2025, I think. So, um, the funds are there to be expended and the maps has given us their scope of work. The contract has been approved by town council. Um, everything is pretty much in place.

00:23:51,330	But because it’s technically over $50,000 for the entire project, Steve felt it needed your approval. But if you have any questions about the scope or anything. Does anyone want to see it on the screen? Do you want a copy? Questions about it? Fully read it. Fully read it. Excellent. I’m on it. Yeah, okay. I have one comment.

00:24:15,400	Um, I just want to comment that this coincides very nicely with the master plan, that housing was very much discussed during the process of the creating the master plan. Joanne’s here tonight to um. And this I just want to make sure that these two documents nicely dovetail together.

00:24:42,070	We have in, I believe, chapter three of the master plan goals number two and three are specifically about housing. And I just want to make sure that that gets taken into account as they move forward with the process that’s described in the document. Absolutely. Okay. All right. Anybody else? I’ll move to approve the Affordable Housing Trust Action Plan contract with the Metropolitan Area Council. Planning Council. Peter seconds. All right. We’ll move to vote. Gary.

00:25:08,230	Yes, Peter. Yes, Ben. Yes, Deirdre. Yes. And Finn. In both sides. Thank you. All right. Contract is approved. Thank you very much, Margaret. And Affordable Housing Trust. Okay. Next we have item E discussion and potential vote on a recommendation to the Planning Board regarding the timing of the required decommissioning bond for the iron rail.

00:25:38,130	Ground mounted solar project. As a condition of the project site plan approval. And we have Kate Mallory, our land Use Director, with us this evening to explain that to us. Hello, everybody. Thank you for having. Me tonight. Go to the next slide, please.

00:26:02,200	So as you all know, it passed at town meeting through, um, your select board that at the iron rail where the current softball field is, we are putting in a solar array right now through the planning board. This project is going through site plan approval and during site plan approval. What we normally do is we recommend a decommissioning bond for projects like these.

00:26:23,030	So basically what that means is, is that if the company in this case select goes out of business at any time during the project, there is a bond in place that would be able to get the system safely out of our area. Um, in town.

00:26:44,870	And so the planning board is asking some advice on this because this has some, um, financial implications to the town and also liability to the town. So like the slide says, there are two competing objectives.

00:27:08,730	So if we do the bond earlier, say year one, we’re um, going to lose some of the project financial benefits and long term savings, and it’s going to be a higher project cost if we do the bond later, we’ll have greater savings, but we’ll let we’ll have less protection. If the company does go out of business. Next slide please. So I was able to get this from the vendor select.

00:27:33,030	And basically what it shows is they in the contract that we have now that we have not signed, they have the decommissioning bond starting at year 23, which I heard is quite normal in the industry. They did give me the cost of the bond from year one to year 20.

00:27:51,630	So you can see on the bottom it goes from $70,000 for the life of for the 25 years. Um, at year 20, it would cost $10,000. So basically this means we would start at year, say 20 a decommissioning bond, and then that would go for the next five years of the project. Next slide please.

00:28:18,830	So I was thinking about a good way forward for this. Um, like I said, a lot of municipalities just take the 23 years. But I do really feel like the planning board is doing their due diligence and thinking, if that’s enough. Um, so in the contract that we have now, we do have an early purchase option here.

00:28:36,730	And I think that’s very telling. Um, select told me that it would take approximately $150,000 to remove this system. And so my thought process was, we want to make sure that the value of the system is at least $150,000.

00:28:59,530	And then to me, that would feel comfortable enough to start the bond around that time frame. So if you’re looking at year 20, the $112,000, what that means is that, um, we have the option at year 20 to purchase that system for $112,000 or fair market value, whichever is higher.

00:29:23,070	To me, that was very telling, because select probably thinks this is the lowest amount. They won’t tell us all of the data, but they think it’s the lowest amount. Um, because and they would sell it to us for that amount or it could be worth more.

00:29:44,270	Then I looked at year 15 and the value at $266,000 would well exceed the $150,000 decommissioning cost. Next slide. So basically what I would say is if you required the bond at year 15, the estimated financial benefit of this system at that year is 700. Was the estimated financial benefit. Right now, as we have, it is $760,000 for the system.

00:30:14,630	And if we want to put in the bond at year 15, that would cost about $22,000. So less than $1,000 a year for that extra eight years of protection. The other thing to consider is at year 15, that’s really when the system starts to decline a bit. So the panels are a little bit older.

00:30:37,170	The inverter has either been replaced by now or will need to be replaced. So there are some extra costs there. Um, so that’s why I kind of liked that the value was a little bit more at year 15. Also.

00:30:57,830	The other thing is too that the infrastructure of these panels is very valuable because at year 15, 16, 17 there is an opportunity as as technology changes and advances to put in higher powered panels. So in my mind, this is not just a 25 year contract. This is a contract where we are going to probably in 20 years, re-up these panels and be making, uh, more financial benefit from them.

00:31:24,130	So really, what the planning board is asking is what risk are you willing to take and where would you like that? Where would you suggest that year of the decommissioning bond be placed? Uh. Kate, Mylan, comment on this is I’m not sure why the planning board isn’t coming with forward with a recommendation.

00:31:45,900	I think that they felt it wasn’t in their scope as a board or committee because there were financial implementations in. Application. You know what I’m trying to say? So there was a financial component to it and also a liability component.

00:32:05,370	And so they felt that that was not in their scope as a planning board members. And therefore that was more of a select board scope. Questions from the board. Can we put the first slide with the prices over the years? Back up? I have a question. I just want to make sure I understand what. The what.

00:32:36,430	What we’re talking about here this is that we think it might cost up to $150,000 in current, current US dollars to remove the system if if our, um, if select basically goes out of business, um, and can’t, can’t take it down themselves, who, uh, who’s uh, what happens to the site and all of the infrastructure if that happens.

00:33:04,600	So that basically get go to bankruptcy court and we’re we have we have to decide if we’re going to take ownership ourselves or like, what are the circumstances that would make it so that, um, that there would actually be, you know, um, the requirement that we rip everything out of the ground. , there would be no requirement that we’d have to rip everything out of the ground.

00:33:25,270	And so that’s actually one of the benefits is if they go out of business this the way the contract is written, from what I understand, is that the system would stay there and that there is no bond there. Now that would remove the system.

00:33:42,100	So it’s actually a benefit for us to have the system. It would still be, you know, generating revenue. Um, we just want to make sure that we don’t have a system there that is worth less than $150,000. If we do want to remove the system. So this is kind of like an extra protection.

00:34:10,670	So let’s say just hypothetically, that the that select goes out of business in year 12. Um, and we did the 15 year decommissioning bond. So is it the case that if that happened we would be faced with a choice of purchasing it, which we probably wouldn’t want to do because of the high cost at year 12? Um, dismantling it because we wouldn’t have the

00:34:31,070	bond in place yet at around 150,000, but maybe more with inflation or letting it sit for three years until the decommissioning bond kicked in at year 15. Is that a fair? From what I understand, we would own the system. Um. So we could decide what we want to do.

00:34:52,370	So we would take ownership of the system and start running it, basically. Okay. But at year 15, we would regardless of what the condition of the thing is, that year 15, a bond would be triggered that would fund a decommissioning, dismantling, if that’s what the town decided to do. Yes. Okay. Or whatever year that kicks in. Yes. 15, 20 or something.

00:35:15,970	That’s. Looking at the, uh, essentially you’re getting $150,000 of insurance coverage and, uh, from year one, that would cost you 70,000, which would be almost a one on two chances that there’s going to be problems down the line.

00:35:40,900	So I think that’s quite exorbitant to expect that given that we have the option to purchase, is that it set points to the, um, lifespan or just every year we’d have the option to purchase. There are set points, lifespan. So I should think really the the risks are on the far end.

00:36:03,870	And so I would go with, you know, maybe the 20 year point just a little bit 10,000 over 150. Let’s start the bond at year 20. Yes. Yeah. That’s reasonable to me. I mean, I was I was sort of on the fence between 15 or 20, but I don’t have like a strong feeling of one of those against another given the additional cost of 15.

00:36:27,370	And it’s all about weighing risk and trying to have a crystal ball, which many of. Us do. And I think most solar arrays, you know, expect a lifespan there 20 plus years now anyhow. So if the company went out, we would still have the option to purchase and would have a functional system in place at that point, would expect..

00:36:47,630	Can I just ask somebody out there just to confirm what you just said? Bobby Knowles yes. Is what Gary just said accurate. As far as the longevity of the system. So more like 30 years, but all the contracts. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Bob, could you. Yes.

00:37:06,870	Would you please. This is Bob Knowles, who is a member of the Wenham Climate Action and Sustainability Committee. I’m happy to have you speak, but if you could do it at the microphone. 201 Main Street, and one of them. That’s that’s true. They lost. 30 years. Wow. All the contracts. Are 20. But then there’s.

00:37:29,770	Usually 3 or 5 year adders on the contract. So it goes. Up to 35 years. So which would you choose? 15 or 20. 20. Michelle, can you go to the other page please? Bob you would recommend 20. I would recommend 20. Okay. Thank you. For that. Thanks.

00:37:58,600	Everyone comfortable with that? I think that I feel comfortable with that. Seems like additional insurance on top of assurances that are already included in the contract as well, right? Yes. Okay, fine. Any last comments questions? No. I think at that point we’re talking about a very small premium. So I’m not going to agonize over it. Okay.

00:38:21,030	I’ll I’ll vote with you guys there. All right. It looks like a motion to recommend. Might be in order. Or do you need that for conveying. I think what. Would you recommend the 20 year bond decommissioning. Bond? Yes, please. Second. That the bond starts at year 20. Margaret Hoffman said.

00:38:49,830	So move that. The Select Board recommend to the Planning Board that the decommissioning bond for the Solar array project on Iron Rail begin at year 22nd. Excellent. Thank you. Ben. Yes, Peter. Yes, Gary. Yes, Deirdre. Yes. And Finn. Ten votes I. Thank you. All right. Please don’t tell Anne that I. Being critical of the planning. Board.

00:39:21,370	They’ll never know. Peter. It’s just between us. Yeah. Oh, Bob, thank you very much for your input, Kate. Thank you. But don’t go anywhere. All right? We’re going to pause for a moment and allow the Iron Rail Commission. If you’d like to sit in the front. You’re welcome to also.

00:39:41,070	But, Lou, go ahead and call your group to order. Thank you. Chair. I call this meeting. Of the Iron. Rail Commission. To order on. August 11th, 2026. Members present. Include Natalie Kavanaugh, Erika Ciampa, Ted Batchelder, Andrew Willette, and myself. Lorenzo. All right, just giving people a moment to leave the room. Thanks for coming this evening, everyone. Thank you.

00:40:29,100	All right. And the main event this evening, update discussion on next steps and review of the project timeline for the Iron Rail property. We have a presentation by our land use director, Kate Mallory, and assisted by our town administrator, Steve Poulos. Thank you.

00:40:52,730	So I’m going to just briefly kind of recap how we got here. And then Kate is going to take over and discuss the most recent working group that she led, um, over the past few months. So folks, for folks that don’t know, I think everyone here is familiar.

00:41:11,870	So it’s probably a little redundant saying it, but the iron rail is an 80 acre parcel and 91 Grapevine Road in Wenham. Uh, it’s it’s it has a, uh, a, a building that it’s about 60, 65 years old. It was originally a brick gymnasium and dormitory that housed, uh, female mill workers between the, uh, the days of 1910 and 1954. Right? Right. Now, the site houses are DPW facilities.

00:41:39,070	Our water facilities. Um, we lease the dormitory that I just mentioned to, um, tenants. So, uh, the iron rail gymnastics is there. Doggie daycare is there? We have some personal training and other smaller tenants that are in there where there is an older barn there that’s utilized by the Boy Scouts and for storage by the Hamilton

00:42:01,300	Windham School District. There are soccer fields that’s currently leased to the North Shore Soccer Association, and the town cemetery is also up on that site.

00:42:23,800	So when I started, why do we, you know, why was the study needed? So when I, when I joined the town of Wenham in 22, it was so that’s four or maybe almost five years ago. Um, we would just come in. We’re on the tail end of the pandemic, and it was a very hot topic as far as, um, the rent collections, because a lot of the rent went unpaid through the pandemic, and it was something that the finance committee was very focused on.

00:42:46,330	And whether the town should serve as a landlord. Um, you know, what are our recourses to collecting the rent checks, if this was ever to happen again? Is this a best, you know, an allocation of the town’s resources to be a landlord to a facility like this? And also,

00:43:03,930	you know, is it actually, you know, fiscally, um, good for the for the town. Like, are we making money? Are we losing money? So, you know, that kind of started the process that simultaneously there was a master plan that was underway and that highlighted some of the goals that the community

00:43:22,130	has for itself, which are, um, you know, to expand the job base, the the tax base. Right now, Wenham is primarily all single family homes, generally on larger lots.

00:43:43,530	Um, and, uh, you know, the master plan, you know, clearly said that, you know, housing, diversity, uh, different types of housing stock, you know, denser housing was a priority for the town, um, to look at ways to expand our commercial base as well as for, for economic growth.

00:44:06,600	Uh, and also looking and also there is also a strong proponent of open space, um, the promotion of trails and maintenance of um, existing open space in town, which this iron rail site does, you know, has potential to do all of those things. So additionally, we looked at, um, you know, the building is aging. Like I said, it’s 60 plus years old now.

00:44:31,530	Um, we looked at, you know, what would it cost to just rehab the building and not make any changes? So there’s there’s, you know, any old building has functional obsolescence, so we wouldn’t be looking to cure any of that, but we would just be looking to bring the building up to compliance and Ada standards and update the the mechanical systems within the building.

00:44:47,130	And we use the Hamilton project as an example of a similarly aged and similarly sized building. And their project was, I believe, well, you know, I don’t know what it was when the change was are done. But when they finally went out and bid the project, I believe it came in about $8.7 million.

00:45:06,800	Their original estimate was in about $6 million. So 6 million is what ended up in this study that, uh, we’re talking about here tonight. So we also have, um, and so, you know, that highlighted that there’s a significant cost inherent in keeping the building under town ownership.

00:45:29,200	So it’s something that would have to go on the town’s capital plan, and the town would have to look for ways to, to pay that. Uh, the building is tax exempt, so it doesn’t bring in any taxation. As I said, there are tenants there. So we bring in about $150,000 annually in rental income.

00:45:47,870	Um, but the estimated debt service on a $6 million capital need is in excess of $300,000 a year. So it failed, falls short of just paying the, um, the debt service that would be needed to update the structure. So the town, um, commissioned, and you can go ahead and go to the next slide.

00:46:08,770	So with that in mind, you know, the town commissioned, uh, Dodson and Flickr in July of 23 to do a highest and best use study to see what to look at, you know, not only to summarize, identify existing uses of the property and summarize them, but to also look at, um, what are some

00:46:31,670	options, other options that the town could look at for the site? Um, and not just from through the lens of what would be most, um, financially. Um, advantageous to the community. But what would the community like to see as far as services? Um, there. So it took a pretty broad approach.

00:46:54,070	We had a few public meetings, uh, a public sidewalk, uh, a large, uh, survey that took place from August to August to October in 23. Um, and we the, um, the, uh, Dodson flanker, the vendor, uh, kind of distilled that information and integrated it into a number of, um, economics, uh, Cambridge economics.

00:47:24,530	The fiscal impact that was done for the master plan, uh, financial, um, analysis that was done of the iron rail itself under its current conditions. And also we had an appraisal report done by Bill A chance, who is an appraiser in the area, looking at, you know, what would some of these options bring as far as, you know, open market sale,

00:47:46,030	if that’s what the town was looking to do. The study was, you know, presented a number of options, which is going to go into in hers. Um, but uh, so but those were presented to the town in another public hearing. Um, between February and March 25th.

00:48:06,670	There was a couple of hearings that were done. So this was brought back to the select. That was it kind of sat for the summer. And then it was brought back to the select board in September of 2025, when we started our town meeting, planning to in the run up to the April 26th town meeting to see, you know,

00:48:24,030	whether this was was this you know what what the board wanted to do, how I wanted to proceed. Because, you know, there’s a certain timeline which Kate, again, is going to go into because now we’re in a very similar situation where now we’re one year ahead of that. We’re in August.

00:48:42,930	But, you know, basically September where we’re planning for town meeting because there are a number of town meeting votes that would have to take place to do anything on, um, that came out of the study and then subsequently the working group. So the select board, um, you know, again, we brought the study back up. We reviewed the options.

00:49:01,700	Uh, they decided that, you know, they wanted a, uh, a working group. And it was a, you know, relatively robust working group. How many members were on. It? 25. 25 working group, you know, of of, uh, residents, committee members, um, board members, staff.

00:49:20,930	So, you know, we had we had a bunch of input and, um, you know, so they’ve worked over the past year to bring you what is ultimately the recommendation of, um, you know, the iron rail property. So with that, I’ll hand it off to Kate, which ran the Iron Rail working group over the past number of months, like I mentioned. And, uh, she’ll talk about the findings in more detail. Great. Thank you. Yeah.

00:49:45,970	Um, we can. Skip through this and go to the slides. Please. There we go. Next one. All right, so this working group was a three meeting process. So meeting one was basically explaining to the group why they were there and creating a decision making criteria. So explain that meeting two. Um. I’m sorry, Kate. Hey, Steve. Yeah.

00:50:12,100	Maybe we can cut the air conditioning. Everybody’s putting their. Coat. I can do it. Keep going. No, it’s okay. You got it. I got it. Um. Oh, I heard it turn off perfect. I already worked, so meeting two, we.

00:50:30,900	The goal was to narrow it down to 2 to 3 viable scenarios. We did get down to three viable scenarios. And meeting two and meeting three, we were to select the path forward. Next slide please. So in meeting one, like I said, we went really went through why we were there. And establishing that framework.

00:50:57,170	Um, kind of a getting to know you session, getting to know the report a little bit and then making sure that we had a really clear path forward. Next slide. So in meeting one we went through an overview of the site and its constraints. So like Steve said, the site is 80 acres, but there were really only three areas where any sort of development could happen.

00:51:22,600	So you have the DPW area, um, approximately four acres. The DPW where the iron rail building is, you’ve got about 6.3 acres of soccer fields right now, and then you’ve got about 6.55 acres up adjacent to the cemetery. Next slide.

00:51:45,130	So like Steve said again, this master plan, um, it was really told to this group that we, we, we prefer to really go by this master plan, which was a very big planning process. Um, that was agreed upon by the town.

00:52:07,200	And so a lot of things that we were looking at was to create some tax revenue, a tax base in town, um, prioritize commercial development if possible, and diversify housing. And then we also have this open space and rec plan that, um, this area has a system of trails already in place. And so that open space and rec plan, one of the action items is actually to expand that and prioritize active recreation.

00:52:26,670	So active recreation would be something like the soccer fields staying and um, protecting the biodiversity of the area. Next slide. So currently how we use this area, like I said, is DPW. There was there were in the plans. Some thought of moving DPW. And as a board, you have already said that that’s a fiscally not an option to do.

00:52:53,300	And um, so the DPW our assumption is will stay. And then that softball fields behind there, there is no opportunity for development there. It’s so close to wetlands. Um, the only development that could really be there is something like the solar array, which is a great financial benefit to the town. And also for the environment.

00:53:11,530	So we knew that those options were off the table. Looking at this, um, there’s the Boy Scout barn there, the iron rail, rail building, the soccer fields, and then up in the top right corner there’s the cemetery. Next slide.

00:53:30,900	So Rich Souza, our DPW director, and I spent a lot of time kind of envisioning before we move forward, what he and DPW would need in the future. So we want to make sure that we weren’t constraining DPW in any way. Um, you can see let me get this right here would be a great place for a future admin building. Um, which is needed.

00:53:56,870	And so also, if we lost the facility garage that is behind the iron rail building, if there was some sort of development there, then there would be a spot here to put that.

00:54:11,500	So, um, DPW looking to the future years and years ahead, think that this would be a good plan. So we’d want to make sure that we kept a little bit of this area be on the road to make sure that that’s available for DPW in the future. Next slide please. Steve already went over the financial position.

00:54:32,670	So we know that we’re netting in about $110,000 a year with the $600,000 rehab cost, a 20 year loan at 4% would be about $441,000 a year to the taxpayers. And that’s $2.8 million of that. Is interest. And so that would change the picture from netting $110,000 to have an inexpensive $332,000 a year to rehab the building. Next slide. So this was actually a fun part of meeting.

00:55:04,200	One is, um, you know, I went through basically what I just said to you. We didn’t start looking at any of the scenarios yet, but we threw out words of how we were feeling like, this should go, you know, um, words such as financial value, recreation is important.

00:55:24,770	And I wrote I was typing them as everybody was, was, was saying everything. And it came pretty clear pretty quickly that the group agreed upon. There were really seven strategies that kind of came out of this.

00:55:45,870	Um, and so this we had talked about, I mean, I fancy did it up after, but we had put things in different buckets of this is what we want to have as a criteria moving forward. When we look at each of these strategies. So I thought these were really strong. The first one is the fiscal sustainability in revenue. So does this generate revenue reduce liabilities. Does this help the town fiscally. Um, number two, compatibility with existing uses.

00:56:09,970	So we know that DPW is going to stay. We know there’s going to be a solar array. Um, you know, if we keep the fields, the other areas, is it compatible with the uses that are already there? Um, community benefit in town needs was a big one.

00:56:27,600	Um, a lot of people supported recreation on the site, both gymnastics and soccer. Um, the open space and trails and historic preservation did come up often. Number four is my favorite. Feasibility. Is it could it actually happen? Are we gonna zone for a Six Flags? It’s probably not going to happen.

00:56:50,700	Right? So is is this actually feasible? Um, and near to dear to my heart was the environmental aspect of this. Is it a sustainable, environmentally friendly aspect? Um, what are the traffic implications and infrastructure implications? Um, the six was long risk in long term flexibility. So we want to minimize risk. Right.

00:57:15,570	So we want to make sure that, um, this is an outcome that financially and operationally minimizes risk. And last but not least, strategic long term value. So looking at our master plan, looking at the vision of the town, does this create long term value. It was very important to not look short term and say yes, this benefits when I’m today.

00:57:36,800	Look long term and make sure that there is a long term value. Next slide please. All right. So then we got into meeting number two. And we basically did four things in that meeting. Um the first thing that we did was review each scenario.

00:58:00,570	Um when we were at the first meeting, there were other scenarios that came up that were outside of the best use study. And so I thought it was important to continue that discussion along and meeting two. And so we added those in to the second meeting. Um, also, we discussed the impacts of Penguin Hall.

00:58:19,770	Um, we know that there’s probably going to be some sort of 55 plus community developed over there. So we discussed the implications of that parcel of land that’s across the street. And then the goal was to pick 2 to 3 scenarios, to move on to meeting three. Next slide please. So this was our handy dandy spreadsheet. Everybody got one of these.

00:58:43,630	And basically we have on the left hand side the evaluation criteria. All right. And that everybody had said yes this is the evaluation criteria that we’ll use. And then you can see up here each scenario. So is it how do you feel about continued use.

00:59:03,930	So basically what we did is we went through and we scored all of these seven criterias based on each scenario and the scoring guide down here either was I’m going to give it a three Because it’s. Really strong in that category that we’re scoring. I’m going to give it a two. It’s mixed. It’s not horrible. It’s not it’s not great.

00:59:22,870	Or I’m going to give it a one. It’s weak. So something like continued use would have probably, you know, a weak fiscal criteria. So number one maybe it would have more community benefit and maybe that would be a two, you know. So we went through each scenario. I explained what each scenario was for each of these.

00:59:45,530	And then everybody on their own not working in groups, collect on their own, um, did their own sheet. Next slide please. That right there eliminated a lot of options right away, which was really, really great.

01:00:10,070	Um, once we did that exercise, I think people really in their brains knew kind of where they were going because we were able to really get that decision making criteria. Um, when you score it, you can mentally kind of see, you know, where your thought process is going. Um, so options that we’re able to eliminate is continued use.

01:00:32,600	So doing nothing, um, the working group does not suggest also the $6 million in capital improvements was not was taken off the table right away. Option one is basically right here. Okay. So this is the iron rail building would be gone and it would be two, um, single family homes. This is our conventional, um, zoning in Wenham.

01:00:58,600	And the medical facility that we had talked about in meeting one, it was actually a great idea brought up by one of the members because of the potential for a 55 plus community over across the street, but there was not a lot of appetite during the second meeting for that to continue. So we took that off the table as well.

01:01:17,870	Next slide please. All right. We also took off any sort of lower density. Um, scenarios. So basically this flexible development with, you know, three different structures with four homes in it on 20,000 square foot lots. There wasn’t enough density for the group. The group had an appetite for higher density. Same here. Not enough density.

01:01:47,730	This one with the 17 units and the senior housing. Um, there was a lot of talk about that. There is a lot of senior housing in town already, and maybe that wasn’t the way to go. By the time they were talking a meeting to next slide.

01:02:09,100	Um, we also did talk about what if we put the independent living overlay district over at Iron Rail and called it a day? Um, that would mimic what is over at Penguin Hall currently. Currently, this is a plan that was given to us by, uh, Cabot, Cabot and Forbes.

01:02:30,470	It’s no longer relevant, but I just put it in as this was something that maybe could have been done over on the iron rail side, and there was no appetite for this as well. Next slide please.

01:02:51,470	What a very interesting thing that happened in meeting two was that one of the working group members came in and introduced this idea of ground lease, which are long term lease options for the site. Um, basically what this does is the town retains ownership of Iron rail. We don’t have to finance it anymore. We don’t have to do any of the construction. We don’t have to operate and maintain the project. All we do is do the lease for 50 years, 100 years. Whatever we decide.

01:03:12,670	Um, and then we can write an RFP for a developer of some sort to come in and create some sort of recreational type commercial area, um, in the spot.

01:03:38,270	So, um, that was very interesting to most of our every single member, um, the revenue for this would be a yearly ground payment, lease payments. So the developer would be giving us lease payments every year. Um, property taxes from all the commercial business. If there was a restaurant or something of that sort, there’s potential for a meal, taxes, um, potential for more employment in the area and more local spending in the area.

01:04:00,500	And the biggest thing of this is that it retains the value, the asset value there. This was 100% approved by the whole, um, committee or working group. Next slide please. All right. So outcomes of meeting two. So there are three outcomes. If you look um each line is the outcome for the site.

01:04:30,070	So on the first one they really liked over here a gymnastics restaurant commercial kind of thing with the ground lease. Um, the soccer stayed in an area three maybe some sort of recreation facility, like one of those big bubbles or something. Um, the second option was the gymnastics restaurant commercial at site one, soccer site two, and then housing up in site three.

01:04:54,730	And then the third option was housing at site one, site two, gymnastics and soccer. So, um, on the plan, the best use plan up here is where the suggestion would be to put the gymnastics area. Um, it would fit right in that little two acre parcel. Um, and then at site three, a recreation facility.

01:05:19,200	So at that moment, most of everybody was thinking preserve with the leasing, with the leasing option, recreation. Be really great to have some sort of, um, um, some sort of restaurant or, or some sort of commercial opportunity there. Next slide please.

01:05:43,800	Um, so then we get to meeting three and the group concluded that a hybrid approach was the way to go. So there is no way to do, you know, an island zoning where we can just take one, one zoning and just put it right on top of this? They wanted to do a more of a hybrid approach. Next slide please.

01:06:07,930	Um, so site one, the recommendation is for commercial recreational ground lease. So the the working group unanimously said that the lease was the way to go and that the potential uses in the RFP should lean more towards, um, local indoor recreation or gymnastics sports related facilities, restaurants and other complementary commercial activities.

01:06:34,500	I am hoping for a spa that I can go to after work, but we’ll see. Um, and like I said, it was the favorable approach because of that control of the strategic asset, saving this asset, but still being able to, um, have some a great business go in there.

01:07:01,200	Next one, number two, um, for now, they said retaining the soccer fields was the recommendation. I like this because in the future site one and two connect. And if the town owns both of those assets, this is the most valuable parcel right here, right? It’s it’s, um, right on the street. There’s the most room right here for development.

01:07:24,400	And then there can potentially be development at site one in the future. Um, the thought was, is to retain both of these because looking ahead, which was one of our decision making criteria, we need to really think of, is there a need maybe for public safety to be over there at some point? Is there a need for, you

01:07:41,670	know, in 50 or 60 years for a town we’ve outgrown town hall and it needs to go there at some point. Um, so it was a great opportunity to keep both of those sites still in one’s hands, making sure that we’re following the master plan with the active recreation, making sure we’re following the master

01:08:02,070	plan with the commercial and tax base. Um, so that was site two and site. Three. Just a question. Back on two. Yep. That corner on Rubble Road. Yeah. Right here. Yeah. Is that all wet? It is. Okay. Yep. Next slide site three.

01:08:28,200	Um, so when you really think about it, I think that when you think about selling a property like this, you get that great cash influx. And when we were working as a working group, that was something to consider, as if we’re going to lease this other part of the property.

01:08:46,830	We’re not going to get that, you know, first cash influx, this six acres right here was recommended to be sold for housing. Um. Go to the next slide. There were three options that the working group came up with. And one of the options was, um, a chapter 40 wise starter home district or something similar. And I’ll explain what that is in a minute.

01:09:07,730	Flexible development, but a higher density, flexible development up there. Or third and final choice would be the senior housing overlay kind of development. Next slide. So in March of 2026, Massachusetts passed this 40 y, which is the zoning tool. Basically, um, when I’m currently allows single family homes on 40,000ft.

01:09:36,530	So what that does because cost keep writing rising of land of parcels. Developers have to make bigger homes to recoup. Um the funds of the constructed costs and more profit. For example, we have a new subdivision, Lily Lane. Um, there are two homes on this one.

01:10:01,770	Lily Lane is a four bedroom home, 4628ft, and it just sold in March for $2.275 million. So our current, um, zoning, um. Well, actually, let me tell you, the next one, the two. Lily Lane, um, just sold the other day for $2.3 million. Um, what? 40? Why does is it gives municipalities financial incentives to zone for these more attainable house house ownerships. Next slide.

01:10:31,470	So this is an example right here of Lily Lane. Um Cedar Street is one of our um, scenic roads. It’s a gorgeous street. We all know that they have little lots on a lot of Cedar Street, C 10,000 square foot lot, 13,013 thousand, 11,000, 11,000. Um, our current zoning requires this next slide.

01:10:55,630	All right. So what is chapter 40? Why? Basically the state said we need this middle income housing. It has to happen. And so we’re going to pay communities some sort of incentives to try to zone for these areas. And so basically they’re starter homes 1850ft max.

01:11:14,870	My suggestion would even be to make smaller ones so they’re even more accessible. Um, but half of the homes have to be three or more bedrooms, and 10% of the homes have to be affordable. Um, but the financial incentives, when you do it, depending on what you zone, um, the state will pay you for doing this zoning in this area.

01:11:39,270	And then once things are actually constructed, they’ll give you a density bonus payment of $3,000 per new unit. This is not going to make the town rent rich, but it is a nice little incentive. And they also, um, supply incentives for the developer as well. Well, you’re also going to increase our tax base. You got. It. Yep.

01:11:56,830	Which is more important than a one off payment. Yeah. It has both. It’s nice. Um, the money received um, there are some stipulations that it has to go towards planning infrastructure there. Um, you know, you can’t put it towards.

01:12:17,530	you know, some other maybe building a library or something. It has to be certain things. So there are some restrictions. Next slide. Now you. Can go to the next slide I kind of talked about that. Um so this is an example. Um in the master plan it talks a lot about sustainability in these 40 y communities.

01:12:44,530	EO, HLC allows us to have sustainability standards and design standards. Right. So we could we could make an RFP that says, hey, we want low impact design. These are not unusual things anymore that developers run away from like they used to. They’re actually pretty standard. The building code, especially with, um, energy, has really caught up.

01:13:07,870	And so this is not an unusual thing where you’re you’re asking for the moon in your RFP and you won’t get anybody to bid. And we do have, um, examples of communities. There’s a beautiful community in Newburyport, mass.

01:13:25,530	That’s a sustainable community, um, that we could actually do a field trip to sometime if we wanted to. But so I just put on my engineering hat and looked at that parcel three, looked at the topography. Um, what we’d need for septic. Walkable paths and figured at the max, probably we could maybe get 20 houses up there.

01:13:47,600	I couldn’t do any perc testing, of course, but, um, we might be able to get 20 starter homes up there. These would be probably 17 market starter homes and three affordable, and it would probably be about 210 two bedrooms and ten three bedrooms. The target market here are people that either are downsizing.

01:14:07,370	So the people that are in the Lily Lane, homes that want to stay in Wenham but want to downsize into a really nice house or, um, starter families, you know, people that are about to have kids or, or, you know, have a baby or two and, you know, they’ll maybe

01:14:21,170	buy their forever home in 5 or 6 years. So that’s what really what this is geared towards. So this would be for homes in acre. Um. And they’re, they’re considered cluster cottage kind of homes.

01:14:40,800	So you would see the homes, it’d be high ceilings and there’d be lots of light, big windows to make the smaller homes seem bigger. Next slide on the next, uh, option, the second best I would say is this flexible development. The the reason why flexible development works on this parcel is you can it’s a bigger parcel so you can get more in.

01:15:03,800	So the the working group said no, we don’t want it down by the iron rail building in site one because we can only get like three of these in here. But oh if we could get 48 units this might be, you know, another one. So you can still zone for those sustainable um, keeping um, along with the master plan, the sustainable community, but then also have, you know, a higher density.

01:15:24,600	So these there could be about 48 buildings, I’m assuming, up here. And. Uh, yeah. Next one. And the last recommendation was the senior housing overlay. So this would be the same unit, but, um, senior housing only. Next slide. I’m almost done. I promised um, so yes, just an overview.

01:15:52,900	The working group supported the long term municipal ownership, the exploring of long term ground lease for site one and retaining site two. The soccer fields, and then evaluating disposing of the site three with the diverse housing. Next one. So yeah. So there’s the working group. Maybe there’s not 25 there, but there was a good amount of people. Almost every department was represented.

01:16:19,000	Um, lots of boards and committees were represented and a resident was represented. Next one. All right. So this is great. But where do we go from here? Um, so tonight would be great to receive some input put from you. We do have some time limitations.

01:16:44,670	So I would say we would probably want to go and get these parcels appraised again because we have changed the plan. So we need to know the value of what we’re talking about, especially with the ground lease option. Um. Open a community open house in September.

01:17:05,670	I don’t know if we could figure that date out now, or we can work on that, but it would be great to gather more public feedback on this. And I don’t want to put pressure on you, but in order to get zoning through, we would need your final decision by October 6th. And that is because the planning board will have to start by October 14th.

01:17:26,270	They’re meeting in October to get these zoning changes through. Um, I do have a handy dandy spreadsheet that will show you guys all the work it takes to do a zoning regulation change. Um, they there needs to be a lot of a time for this to the, for the planning board to get through this process.

01:17:43,400	And so we do have about two months to figure this out. And also refer the financial analysis of this to the finance Committee. Um, it would be great to get their review and input as well. And that is. It. Great. Thank you Kate. Thank you. Uh. , thank you.

01:18:05,830	I have to tell you now it’s starting to get hot in here. So I’m like, I’m sweating. , so. I just okay. I just want to give the Iron Rail Commission an opportunity. If you’d like to make a comment or question, and then we’ll turn it to. The select board.

01:18:20,230	We were involved in this. So we’re not going to take a position. Thank you. All right Peter. I think it’s great. I I’ve always been pushing to try and get some commercial back on site three. But uh, housing’s even better. And if you do middle starter homes. Yeah.

01:18:40,800	I mean, I’m kind of amazed that the legislature actually did something smart. Yeah. I actually talked to the gentleman who’s running this over at HLC, and he said he’s talked to a few communities. It’s so new. No one’s done it yet. Would be really cool if we were the first ones.

01:18:57,570	I love it. I think it’s really great. And it’s a state program that really is going to make a difference locally. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you. First, the Iron Rail Commission I know you’ve been working on this for a long, long time.

01:19:24,100	And I certainly support the the important thing of going to ground lease route provides us long term, really long term options down the line in case something comes along. So I think ground lease is certainly the way to go on the site. One and two.

01:19:44,930	So I think, uh, as we start to decide before, certainly we have such an investment in DPW, the water tank there that’s immovable. So I should think that we just need to make sure, as you said, DPW has given us a very thorough long term plan as to what their needs are going to be. I should think we need some sort of screen or buffer between that section and any other development. Given that.

01:20:08,070	But certainly like the idea of, uh, the middle income housing in there. And I just a couple of details, I think we just need design wise to make sure that we have, a appropriate entrance into the cemetery when everything is said and done.

01:20:28,330	And also that we take into consideration, uh, long term support for the scout barn or some, uh, replacement for that as well. Yes. And I do have to say, the scout barn was almost taken out of the study because, um, it was considered it’s in a wetland right now, so it can’t legally be repaired. Um, so it would have to be moved. So that’s something to consider.

01:20:53,900	But certainly, uh, I think too, we may get further information. I understand the Penguin Hall auction is maybe September 2nd, so we might have news there before our select board meeting.

01:21:15,330	The first one in September, which gives us some guidance as to what we might expect occurs over at Penguin Hall. And certainly if, uh, the previous the things that we saw about Penguin Hall come about, then that’s certainly might support, you know, some sort of commercial on site, one that ties in both recreational and as they say, the recreational slash cafe, whatever options. So thank you to the working group for all that.

01:21:38,230	Well, if we put a bunch of houses on site three. Yes. I mean, again. And I and two, I think you need to remember too, that just down the road is Gordon College. That really never had a off site commercial options available. Yeah.

01:22:02,330	And the site three the housing already has trails accessible to site one. So there’s that passive recreation as well. Great stuff. Um. No, I as you noted, uh, Deirdre and I were part of the working group, and, um, I fully endorse, uh, the recommendations. I think that 40 wise and exciting possibility, um, for site three.

01:22:34,930	And, um, I also just want to, you know, commend you, Kate, for putting together a process that I think is sort of a textbook example of how to do this.

01:22:51,000	Um, it was a an analytical framework that you set up that you walked through that kept us focused in on task, but it also really got us into the details. And at the in in meeting three, we had such a clear understanding of the different components of things that we mixed and matched a little bit and took what the group thought were the best parts of certain scenarios and certain parts of the matrix.

01:23:09,070	And I think everybody in the group is really well. It was essentially unanimous, uh, in terms of where we ended up, even though there’s some wiggle room in terms of what exactly the housing might be on site three. So, um, I think this is great.

01:23:29,330	Um, the only thing I would say about suggested next steps is I personally don’t think that we, um, need to have a large public forum in September. I, I was a big advocate for having the working group because it had been about two years since the, the, you know, public process 2023 that you laid out.

01:23:54,970	But I think we’ve had many opportunities for input. The working group itself was a cross-section of the community, including, you know, non elected or appointed officials.

01:24:13,500	Um, so I’m, I’m a little bit concerned about, you know, the sequence and the pace and I wouldn’t want to have a public forum that, that tried to um, sort of go back to square one or reinvent the wheel on certain things, especially when there will be plenty of public meetings just by virtue of the permitting and zoning and approval process, planning board, town meeting and so on. That’s just that’s my personal opinion that we don’t really need to do.

01:24:30,730	Point three at this point, but I might not I might be a minority view on that. I was trying to figure out, um, to do a charrette that day, but I can I can hold off. That’s fine. Let’s let’s put a pin in. That for a moment. Thank you. Ben, I want to give Finn a chance. Finn.

01:24:52,030	Well, this is all I love. The whole process, and I really, I really liked also that you started with the the whole idea of a decision matrix and deciding what was most important. And I think that that was a really great step to help kind of focus the group.

01:25:07,070	Um, you know, I really I really appreciated the time you, you put into putting the together the presentation, you know, all 25 people there. And then also, you know, this, um, the, the deck that you’ve made here is really informative. And I thank everybody involved. It’s been great. Thanks.

01:25:24,100	Thank you. Finn. Um, I’m going to echo 95% of what Ben, um, just had to say, particularly the comments about Kate was an exceptionally well run process. Greatly appreciated. It was extremely efficient. And we appreciate everyone who participated. It was a. very collegial professional. Good discussion.

01:25:48,370	Um, and I think it was pretty unanimous by the end. I do agree that, um, the lease option is definitely preferred in preserving the town’s long term options is absolutely preferred. I guess there’s the caveat is that’s wonderful. To the extent that someone a developer is willing to work with that. Right.

01:26:10,630	And if there is not someone who is willing to work with that, it may not be feasible. So it comes back to the feasibility we talked about at the beginning. Just to put that out there. Um, I am personally a big fan of the housing plan. I think the chapter 40. Why is just terribly exciting.

01:26:31,500	Um, and I think that fills a huge gap. As Kate mentioned, that came up repeatedly in the master plan with needing affordable housing stock in town for many groups. As Kate mentioned, including younger people who can’t afford to live in town. Pretty much. There’s very few places to. live if you’re in that demographic.

01:26:54,970	Um, as well as all the ones Kate mentioned, I am just going to disagree with Ben on the public forum because although there were many public forums and meetings and so forth along the way, I think this has been an extended process, and I do think we need to have a communication that people can participate in and

01:27:16,900	allow them to make points. I mean, Gary just brought up a couple of interesting points. There may be other things that people come up with.

01:27:33,470	Not I agree with Ben that this is not to take it to Ground Zero, not to scrap all the work that’s been done, but to fine tune, um, things that we may not have thought of or seen. So that’s the one place where I’m going to. Disagree, Gary. Of course, was Steve a. Marketing or not marketing, but evaluation of ground lease valuations. Is that something we can do in or some.

01:27:58,530	No, no, I mean, yeah, I mean so that that would so with commercial appraisal that would require us to probably. Well I guess he could run a number of scenarios but define exactly what the space would be used for so they could come up with rent schedules and then capitalize that it’s an income capitalization valuation.

01:28:22,030	Um, you know, but I think that with the appraisals, I think that, you know, it would be helpful to get them done, you know, so we kind of know what we’re working with.

01:28:42,630	But I think that we could wait on those until next year so that a we could fund them, you know, we could plan for them and budget for them, which they’re not budgeted for this year. And, um, move forward with zoning, like assuming that the uses are acceptable. And as Deidre said, if the ground lease proves to be not feasible, it necessarily change the use, right? So the use is supported, whether it’s ground lease or purchase. I’m assuming.

01:29:08,530	So the zoning would be the same. And so we could move forward with the zoning proposal. Right. So the Select board would just have to work to get to a point where it’s comfortable recommending to the planning board that, hey, we would like to zone. Or maybe, you know, we would like to zone for X, Y and Z.

01:29:27,300	In parcel one and x, y and z and parcel. Great b, c and parcel three. And then the planning can start their zoning process so that we can align with the hearings and statutory requirements. They have to meet a leading up to town meeting.

01:29:48,070	As far as like posting deadlines and advertising and meetings that they have to hold with. I think any zoning changes. But all that’s to say that, you know, all that can be done without appraisals, right? I mean, I think at the end of the day, what it’s worth is what it’s worth.

01:30:08,770	It’s ultimately avoiding or or getting out from under the potential financial burden of having to remedy the aging structure there and be the landlord. Um, you know, I think in any scenario, it’s more financially advantageous to the community than owning it outright and leasing the space. Um, so, you know, that that could that could wait. Is there any public comment at this time? Sure. Excuse me. Hi. I’m.

01:30:43,930	Uh, my name is Rich. Ely. And I run the Iron Rail Gymnastics Academy. I’ve been doing that for a long time in town, and although I don’t live in one, I’m. I consider myself part of the town.

01:31:01,100	I’ve probably spent the majority of my waking hours for my entire adult life here. So, um, I was at the. I was at the, um, the master plan meeting. I was at all of the Dodson and Flanker meetings.

01:31:28,830	Um, couple of the things that I wanted to touch on was in the master plan, part of the strategy that was stated was to promote and sustain small, locally owned businesses, which we all want. So I think we would fall under that. Um, and then to rezone residentially zoned areas for existing businesses, um, to allow for expansion of existing businesses, which I think would clearly fall under that.

01:31:49,230	And that, as you know, that’s zoned residential over there right now. Um, one of the other things was, I know in 2017 that building was recommended by the Mass Historical Society as a potential historic district over there.

01:32:11,600	I don’t know whatever came of that, but anyhow, I guess most of what came out of the Dodson and Lincoln report, that was encouraging to me and encouraging to us was that now that gymnastics was one of the things that people wanted to see there, and I would make the case that it’s not just gymnastics. An Italian restaurant is not Olive garden like we’re actually part of the community.

01:32:31,330	So all of our coaches, um, I used to coach the high school gymnastics team. I was I was the original coach of the high school gymnastics team when we first got it started. Um, so I’ve been a part of the community for a really long time. We would love to stay in the community.

01:32:49,970	The proposal of doing a long term, uh, land lease that is, is being set forth for a small business does not really make a lot of sense to do something like that, to put in a huge amount of, you know, a huge amount of money, huge amount of financial, um.

01:33:13,630	Big financial on the line. Um, to be able to do that and to do a long term lease is more something that I think a corporation would come in and do.

01:33:32,300	A private equity firm would come in and do, um, there’s a huge and I forwarded to most of you, I think, um, there’s a huge push in youth athletics right now for private equity firms to take over youth sports. Um, it’s happening in every sport. It’s happening in gymnastics, it’s happening in lacrosse.

01:33:52,370	It’s happening in every youth sport now is being programs are being bought out by private equity firms. Um, and one of the things that I think attracts people to Wenham is its small town feel and things like that. Um, and as somebody who, you know, whatever goes on in there, I’m sure the town wants to have a good neighbor.

01:34:13,630	Um, and I think that we’ve shown over the years that we are a good neighbor, um, in town. And we would we would like to stay. We’re open to a lot of different scenarios. Um, to do that.

01:34:35,700	But I think the, the ground lease that is being set forth, I think is something that would attract somebody that looks at that as a balance sheet item and not as an investment in the community, which is what we would hope to do. That’s it. Any questions. For me? Yeah. Don’t go away. It sure. I just have one question. Thank you for for those remarks. And thank you for the materials that you that you sent.

01:34:55,470	Um, insofar as the town selectboard and other, you know, the Iron Rail Commission and the decision makers and town government would want to either sell parcel one, site one, or do the long term ground lease, um, um, under either of those scenarios, you, uh, as a tenant of the building would have a

01:35:21,900	new landlord. It would either be the owner, private sector owner, um, or the private sector, maybe private equity or maybe something else. Um, uh, master tenant who would then be sub leasing, you know, presumably space. Um, unless, you know, unless you were the person. That’s that’s what I. Yeah.

01:35:48,470	That’s what what I would hope is I mean, I would like to, you know, I would like to be in a position to purchase that. You know, I could, you know, the, the, the town’s problem as I see it with and I mean, Kate did an awesome job with throwing all this stuff together with the housing and

01:36:10,230	with soccer fields and all that stuff. But what what I see that keeps coming up and I’ve heard it come up for a lot of years now, because I’ve been there for a lot of years, is, well, that building is going to be an ultimate cost to the town. Um.

01:36:25,670	I’m willing to solve that situation by taking the building off the town’s hands and to do some type of development. Um, you know, even in talking. You know what? What I would like, what I would like to do.

01:36:44,530	And I’ve kind of talked to some different people and there’s some stuff in the dots and it’s report, um, what we would like to do is a is a larger building for gymnastics. Maybe keep the current building. I was under the impression that it was a historic building, and it and the town wanted to keep it. Um, you know, in its current and its current state, obviously updated.

01:37:05,500	Um, but yeah, I mean, we would like to do that and, and make an investment in the town versus, you know, versus somebody else coming in to do it, um, which I think would be the way, the way that that, you know, that a land lease is set up is more for somebody that’s

01:37:24,100	going to look at it as a leader line item on their balance sheet and not, I mean, we’ve we’ve donated over the years tens of thousands of dollars to the community in terms of free gymnastics lessons for kids that can’t afford it, in terms of, uh, you know, free rent to the high school for running the

01:37:44,700	gymnastics program. When it first got started, the first five years of the program, we didn’t charge any rent back to the school, which nobody does, that, um, we’re still at less than half of what the YMCA charges. Beverly High School, um, for the same amount of hours to do the same thing.

01:38:03,970	So, I mean, I guess my point is, we’re just we’re invested in the community. Um, I mean, I think a lot of people here have had their kids in the program. So, I mean, I, I know that. Um. Mr. Clay, I think your daughter was in the program. At one point. Yeah, I’m.

01:38:23,130	I’m trying to figure out. Are you feeling threatened? No, I’m. Not feeling threatened. I’m just. I just want to. I’m hoping to be a part of the process going forward, I guess. Um, so that’s.

01:38:48,700	But I think you raise an important point, right? Because if I hear you correctly, this idea of the land lease would not be feasible financially for someone such as yourself, who is not a private equity private corporation type. Is that correct? Yeah. But the purchase, the outright sale of the land could be potentially feasible. Yes. Yes.

01:39:13,370	And then just to piggyback on that, in terms of financial feasibility, I think what we hear you saying as well is that you you feel like your business and business model might be financially disadvantaged if they’re if the town as landlord is replaced by a private sector landlord. That’s not that.

01:39:38,600	That isn’t you and your company that, um, makes, you know, probably substantial improvements to the building, presumably would seek much higher rent than the town seeks from you currently. Um, and correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s also part of your concern. Yeah, yeah.

01:40:00,330	I mean, my my ultimate concern is that I would or my ultimate goal, I guess, would be to make a long term investment in the town, you know, that kind of benefits everybody that benefits the town, benefits the taxpayers of the town and benefits the kids of the town, which is something that we’ve been doing for a long time. So. I don’t. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It’s important input. Yes. Thank you.

01:40:30,170	I do think that the point that the land lease versus selling a portion of the property outright does still need some continued thinking. So any particular action item tonight that we may need a vote on or give informal direction back to Kate.

01:41:00,630	Do you want to basically have our agreement for the next steps so that you can move forward? If we’re going to do the September community meeting, I am going to need to know soon so we can get that going. And we need to pick dates. What we should decide now, don’t you think. About the September meeting? Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

01:41:22,530	Um. I have sort of a dream about that one. If we do the, um, September, um, community house, maybe we can get Hamilton Wenham news to actually show up and and tell the story because. Because I was having lunch with somebody today and I mentioned, yeah, we’re going to do some zoning, uh, for middle income housing.

01:41:48,630	And the person looked at me like. What? He thought I was crazy. Yeah. But so many people don’t know because it’s only since March. Yeah. Yes. And I do feel confident that it probably will be in, um, this week’s paper. Yeah.

01:42:10,170	I’m guessing, but yes, I think there would be important for them to be present for that as well. I mean, I’ve already stated that I’m in favor Gary. So I’m going to have one. I should think. Um, we may have some news from, uh, Penguin Hall early in September.

01:42:34,570	We are scheduled for the eighth and the 22nd for Selectboard meetings in September. So perhaps, uh, if we’re going to have the the form that ought to be after the 22nd so that the select board itself could, uh, gather up information before that. As far as. Penguin.

01:43:00,700	Hall, Penguin Hall, as well as perhaps some other information and, uh, maybe schedule something that, uh, said, have news in attendance. So maybe the last week of September if you’re going to have one, that would be, I should think, the preferred date. Kate, how does that sound to you.? Two, three, four. Because we certainly wouldn’t want if we’re going to have a need to have it before the 6th October semi deadline here for a decision.

01:43:26,900	Yep. Are you thinking, um, what kind of days are you thinking? Weekdays. Weekends? Nights. I think. E-mail me back. So I think evenings are going to get you better attendance. So that last week I can do. Do you mean the, um, the 20? Maybe we can bring up a calendar. So, yeah, we meet the 22nd.

01:43:53,530	What’s the following Tuesday. After that? You guys talked about all the 22nd in August. No no no. No.. September the. 20th 9th of September. Yeah I could do. That. Yeah. And here. Why are you doing it so late in September? Well, I think we by then, you know, they have some information from Penguin Hall.

01:44:23,500	Even if Penguin Hall auction is delayed once again, we would have updated status on what Penguin Hall has. And I think perhaps the staff needs some time to go out and, uh, you know, consider the.

01:44:46,430	Other information that we might gather in there as far as, uh, you know, I should think we need to really look at the map if we’re going to do the zoning district, you know. Exactly. Not exactly.

01:45:04,100	But you know, how many acres are we going to set off the cemetery as to fix boundaries on that? We ought to look at, uh, if we’re going to have the recreational in sector three, are we going to set aside 1 or 2 acres non housing for recreational facility or whatever to do? So I’d like to see some further information on that. So I get it I get it. Yeah. And I see we are going to have a select board meeting on October 6th.

01:45:22,200	Right. Which is the deadline by which Kate would like us to make a final decision. I am I think that if we if we are to have a public forum on September 29th or any time around that time that ideally before going into that public meeting, that there would be a vote of the select board if the

01:45:46,430	Select board decides that it wants to vote this way. And maybe if the planning board by then as well, endorsing the recommended package that has come out of the working group because as I see it, I mean, there are a lot of important details to be worked out, and there’s flexibility even within

01:46:08,170	the recommended concept of what to do on the three sites. But I would want myself to be able to go into that meeting presenting this as a well thought out. Um, proposal that has been endorsed by the people working on it and by the leading boards and the town. And yes, getting feedback.

01:46:30,730	But within that framework, because I think if it if it if it’s more of an open ended thing on September 29th, then there’s a much higher likelihood that by October 6th, we’re not really in a position to make a final decision.

01:46:48,900	And I think there’s been so much work and thought and collaboration that’s gone into where we are that I think that I’d like our board to, you know, go on record endorsing the the recommendation of the working group and maybe asking the planning board, which obviously had at least two of its members in the working group, um. To do that.

01:47:09,030	So perhaps you see, perhaps it better to have the form after October 6th, then have the select board vote and then present it to the community. As far as you know, a general decision on the.

01:47:25,500	Yeah, either that or just I think we could I think we could endorse the working group proposal, which is not, you know, not so detailed that I think we could do that and then get the public feedback on October 6th.

01:47:41,370	And like the point that you raised earlier in this meeting, Gary, about wanting to ensure that there’s always going to be proper access to the cemetery and buffering and things, there may be things along those lines that come up at the public forum, but are within the overall framework of what, you know, what we want to do.

01:48:02,700	And then those things could be, you know, discussed on October 6th, where we give a final decision, um, which would include the zoning changes that are needed so I could see it going either way that we vote now or before the 29th to endorse the concept and the recommendations. And then on October 6th, take on board comments that we received. Or maybe we could ask Madam Chair to have the 22nd as the decision point on a general recommendation.

01:48:28,570	And then form and then have the 6th October as a more detailed, uh, vote. Agreed. Sounds like a plan. Sounds like a. Plan. Finn. Any comments? So I’m. Looking at the calendar. I think I am.

01:48:51,670	I’m a little worried, like you said, about how how late in September that is. Um, you know, I of course, I’d love to have have more information about how Penguin Hall is going. Um, but I’m not sure that that’s going to kind of impact.

01:49:12,600	Um, you know, the a presentation of this working group, um, you know, knowing what that went for is, is useful for like an appraisal point of view. Um, but we kind of know that it’s going to be senior housing, and we know what it’s likely to be.

01:49:27,570	So I’m not sure that that changes enough to want to delay, but I’m happy to, uh, to go along with whatever schedule we can get the most people to come out and listen to the story. Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Actually. I’m wondering, I mean, it does not have to be a Tuesday either. What if we did something the 16th or the 17th and have the 22nd to discuss the feedback? There’s still space, basically to fine tune.

01:49:51,270	I like that idea. Or Tuesday the 15th. You don’t have a meeting that day, right? You have it. This and this. We could do this one. We could. Yes. Right. There’s nothing. On the 15th, 16th. Or. 17th for me. But you hear those. Days? Okay. Margaret, when is planning board and. Wednesday you’re on the 9th September.

01:50:21,670	They’re at the ninth. Okay. Affordable housing prices at 60. Do you think they can move that. Date? Now the room. Well. What about the 17th? Was that. They they normally do Wednesday. The. Third Wednesday of the month. So. So how about Thursday the 17th? Was that. So I want them to move to the 17th.

01:50:47,270	No, no. Could we do our could we do the public forum on the 17th? I can do the 17th. That’d be great. Yeah. That makes me feel better. But 29th was. Making you anxious. Making me. Nervous. We don’t want that. Peter. Great. Okay. Thank you. Have what you need. I do. Thank you very much, Kate. Thank you.

01:51:12,530	Appreciate it. Appreciate your time. Okay. That ends, uh, the public portion of this meeting for this evening. And I’m going to move to enter us into executive session as follows.

01:51:39,770	Pursuant to general law, chapter 38, section 21, a one to discuss the reputation, character, physical condition, or mental health rather than the professional competence of an individual, or discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual. We will not return to open session. We will adjourn from the executive session. Do I have a second? Second? We’ll vote by roll call. Ben. Yes. Peter. Yes, Gary.

01:52:02,070	I need to let him, uh, stop their meeting to. Oh, sorry. Yep. One second. Gary. Yes. And Finn. In votes. I and one pause to allow Iron Rail to adjourn. Yeah, I’ll make a motion that the UN Royal Commission be closed. Six oh in favor? Aye. Thank you all for being here this evening.