Malden City Council Committee of the Whole 03/17/2026

Okay, the council will come to order. All rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, Visible, Liberty, and Justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our veterans, service members, and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. We honor and acknowledge the Massachusetts, Pennacook, and Pawtucket peoples whose ancestral lands we now call home and on which we gather today. We express gratitude to the indigenous peoples who have cared for this land for generations, predating European colonization, and continuing to the present. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that the history's voices and contributions of indigenous peoples are recognized and respected in the life of our city. Clerk, will you please now call the roll?

Colón Hayes. Here. Council Condon is not with us this evening. Council Crowe. Here. Council Luan. Here. Council McDonald is not going to be in attendance this evening. Council O'Malley. Here. Council Sica. Here. Council Simonelli. Taylor, Councilor Winslow, Council President Linehan.

Here.

So we have eight.

Okay. Under the provisions of the open meeting law, for those of you in attendance, Please be informed that UMA Urban Media Arts will be recording this evening's meeting, so just be aware there will be audio and video recordings of tonight's meeting. First order of business. First order of business is the consent agenda. This evening's consent agenda consists of two papers to be referred to a joint session of rules and ordinance with finance, one paper to be referred to finance, and one paper to be referred to the legal department. Does any Councilor have a desire to remove any of these items from the consent agenda for the purpose of further discussion? Motion approved. Okay. Hearing none and seeing none, I have a motion to approve from Councilor Sica and a second by Councilor Winslow. All in favor? Aye. Present. Present, Councilor O'Malley. Okay, the agenda is approved. Next order of business.

will hold public hearings on four National Grid petitions to install underground conduits. So the first one is paper 150-26, Petition Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid Plan Number 31200905 National Grid to Install Underground Facilities on Main Street Customer to Trench and install six four-inch conduits from MHA 34 on Main Street to proposed switch module approximately 55 feet on public right-of-way 204 Main Street, Malden.

Okay, do we have representatives from National Grid here with us this evening? Okay.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you.

My name is Zane. I'm representing National Grid.

Oh, can you give us your full name, please?

Zane Juma.

Thank you. Could you actually spell that or write it down and bring it to the clerk?

I just want to make sure I get the spelling of your last name correct.

It's J as in Jack, U-M-A-A. My first name is Zane, Z-E-I-N.

Z-A-I-N? Z-E. Z-E-I-N. Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you. Sorry about that. I would have spelt it wrong. So thank you very much for doing that.

Thank you. You can continue.

So we have 204 Main Street where as he said we're trenching and installing six four-inch conduit from the existing main hall that's right on Newhall Street between on the intersection of Newhall and Main Street. We're feeding the switching module or junction box on the customer's property and then we're feeding the pad. Is there any questions on that?

Okay, I can take Councilor questions before we do the hearing. Councilor Crowe, did you want to speak to this? Sorry.

Do the hearing if you want to.

Okay, okay. At this point, I'll declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in favor? Hearing and seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the petition? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition, please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Okay, hearing none and seeing none, I'll declare that portion of the hearing closed. And at this time, I can take council discussion. So, Councilor Crowe.

Thank you. I did speak to National Grid, and this is going to supply National Grid to the old Burns, EE Burns, that's being built now. This will continue in the next one. I mean, read those both. They're right in the same area, so I'm hoping that they can coordinate a little bit, because, you know, 151, 26, is doing the same for the Old Salvation Army, but they're right across the street from each other. So I'm hoping that we can coordinate so we're digging hopefully once or make it a little easier.

Okay. Any other questions? I see Councilor O'Malley.

So this is something, and Zane and National Grid have been really helpful. I want to start by saying that. So one of the things I've noticed in the last couple of years is that when you have electricity being brought to a large user, whether it's an apartment building or a commercial property, they have to put in large transformers and what they've been doing recently is in the past you'd put those, they're kind of ugly. Imagine having your electrical box in the front of your house. You usually want it on the side or in the back. and previously they put these in the back of a building. So like City Hall, we have them out back. And it's so you don't see it in the street. The other benefit of not putting it on the street is that if a car hits it, it doesn't explode. or something of the like. What they've been doing recently is putting them on the front, which is I think unsightly.

Additionally, in order to mitigate the fact that they're more likely to get hit by a car or a truck, they put giant ugly yellow bollards all around them. So if you look at the plans on the one that you're talking about, it shows this giant transformer right in the front. I'm not sure if that's the type of streetscape that we want on our main street. So I would advocate that we try to work with National Grid wherever possible to relocate these transformers farther on to the property. and maybe even screened by a fence or landscaping so that they are not as unsightly. That's what I'm going to be asking for on a later petition. I just thought I'd mention it to you now. that makes perfect sense, actually.

I would support that as well. This is a gripe I've had with the ones on exchange. I think on the plans, they meet accessibility standards when it's just the transformer, but once the bollards go in, a wheelchair or a stroller actually can't get around it. And so it completely obliterates the point of meeting for the accessibility dimensions for the item itself. So I agree with you, Councilor O'Malley, with deference to the ward councilor, of course. I agree.

We'll work with them to see if we can put other conditions that we worked with. Ensure that, first of all, accessibility, because if they can't relocate it, but they still need accessibility, and located on the side of the back.

Oh, yeah, sorry, let me put your light back on.

Just having had this conversation with Zane today, it's gonna take more work for National Grid to redesign that, but they also need to talk to the property owner about location and siting. So I think if it's a, like for instance, the petition that's coming up in Ward 4, I'm gonna ask that we table it in order for us to have these conversations. But I think if we approve this tonight without having those initial conversations, we might be setting a condition that So you're making a motion to table? I would second your motion to table.

I'll make a motion to table. Okay. And Zane, I'll leave you my number. We can come talk tomorrow.

Okay, so did you want to respond? I'm sorry, go right ahead.

Yeah, I can respond to some of your questions. So generally we like placing our equipment in the front of the building. That way we have access to it 24-7 whenever we need access to it. If a customer has an outage, we can get access to it whenever we need. We don't have to ask a customer for for them to give us access. Secondly, we need our space. We need at least 10 feet of clearance all around our equipment. And that's very hard to get from customers. on top of the equipment. We need that 10 feet of clearance. You're talking like 30 by 50 for this equipment. And customers generally don't like giving us the space for that. As you can see, they have Parking spots that the customers don't like, or at least in their rules, they can't lose any parking spots.

But that's the reason we have our equipment in the front. And we also have the least cost to serve our customers. So as you can see, we're serving them from the manhole right across the street. If we put our equipment all the way At the back of the building, that's a lot of cost towards the customer, which we like to reduce.

And so what's one of the reasons why I was mentioning that it might make sense to table and have a conversation? because it might not be that it makes sense to move it all the way to the back, but it might make sense to move it five feet back, 10 feet back and have like a landscaping plan that covers it. I'll give you an example on Florence Street, 10 Florence Street has one of these and as part of their permitting I asked them to plant evergreens around it to kind of stop the visibility. That's taken a long time for it to kind of be Shaded, but it has worked. Just wanted to mention it. But there's definitely a balancing act between cost, visibility, and the impact on the neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, I'm going to go to Councilor Winslow.

Yeah, no, I definitely think that we really should factor in what the look is and how close they are to the street. can cause other problems. And screening might be a way for some of them, especially I think, yeah, but I mean, this one seems, it's just all parking a lot around it. So it seems like adjusting that or whatever, it just seems like it's, yeah. Find a different corner. It is an aesthetic thing that is something to think of how it fits into the neighborhood. That's something that I've worked on with trees and other type of things. This is equipment that we have to look at 24-7, so we have to realize that or whatever. This is the type of equipment we really can't put public art on or whatever because it is... I'm not sure National Grid wouldn't want people painting on this type of thing. So I think we do have to think about that. So thank you. Great.

Okay. Thank you, Councilor Winslow. Councilor Taylor. Thank you. I just wanted to add my two cents about I'm for tabling it, I would support that. I think it's just really important to get the conditions correct and make sure that there's a good... understanding on both with us and National Grid with my experiences, it's been difficult once the permit is in place to kind of work with them and we've had many things go awry in Ward 5 with that. So I would support tabling it so you have some time to talk it out and get what the city needs from this.

Thank you, Councilor Taylor. So I had a motion by Councilor Crowe, seconded by Councilor O'Malley, to table. Yes. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, so that's tabled, and we'll be in touch when we're going to bring you back for the next hearing. Thank you. Next order of business.

Paper 151-26, Petition, Massachusetts Electric Company, DBA National Grid, Plan No. 31186. 713, National Grid to install underground facilities on Main Street. Trench and install two 4-inch concrete encased conduits from MHA 34 on Main Street, Japan, located at 213 Main Street, approximately 220 feet.

And this is also Councilor Koh. Do you want to speak to this before we do the hearing or it's your preference?

I actually want a clarifying question because at the last one you said we would be calling back when we do another hearing. So is the hearings closed so we wouldn't be... That's a good question. I may have misspoken. Okay.

It just was like, all right, not a whole... Do we do another hearing if they're changing the location?

I don't think we miss... Well, if they're moving the location... to a different address?

We would re-notice the Butters, wouldn't we?

How far are we talking about moving the location? Just the 10 feet? We maybe don't know yet. In the back of the property that he's talking about?

It would still be on the property, if that's what it is. If it's still on the same property, then it doesn't change the abutter list. I don't think we would need another here.

Okay, so we will not bring you back for a different hearing. I misstated that part, but we will be in touch.

For a 204, right?

Correct, for the previous address.

Well, I'm going to say the same thing for 213.

213, actually, I have something else to say about that.

Okay. Okay. Then that's fine. You can have the floor.

Can you explain this one a little more? So the reason this one is out in the front is if you look at the corner down to the south where the building is, and where the property line is. We don't have the distance for a truck to fit between the building and where the property line is. So our truck can't get past that into the back. even if we were able to get past to the back they have an overhang where the truck can go under so this is really our only option is to put it out front even the customer does not want to put it out front and we were trying to put it in the back for them but unfortunately that's the only place this can really go.

Is this the Salvation Army site?

Yes. Okay. It's a really, really tight area.

Yeah. Okay. Do you want to speak to this further before we do the hearing? I think let's do the hearing. Okay. So at this time, I'll declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of this petition, please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in favor? Okay, hearing none and seeing none, I'll declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the petition? Please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Okay, hearing none and seeing none, I'll declare that portion of the hearing closed. Councilor Crowe.

So I totally understand what he's talking about. It is a tight little space there, but I would prefer to table this as well, just to kind of have that conversation, and maybe someone has a unique way to approach it. It is tight. Every piece of that property is going to be developed. But it's still like the opportunity to have a conversation.

Okay. Okay. I see a light from Councilor O'Malley.

I would just like to recuse myself from this conversation.

Okay, do we need, that's fine. We don't need to vote that, right? Okay.

Okay. So I guess I will.

Sorry, Councilor Winslow, give me one second. Go right ahead.

Yeah, I know, I mean, this project I know had a lot of public input as well as, you know, because it is a partly public funded project. So I would defer to Councilor Crowe and second the motion to table and then we'll see where it goes from there.

If we're going to talk, we might as well talk.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Sorry, Councillor Winslow. Were you making a second to?

Yeah, to motion the table, yes.

Okay, so on a motion by Councilor Crowe, seconded by Councilor Winslow to table this, we can take a voice vote. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? and we do have Councilor O'Malley who recused. Okay, next order of business. Oh, I guess we should call him back.

O'Malley, did you want to go on record as to the reason for your recusal on paper 151-26? Paper 152-26, petition. Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid Plan Number 31258005. National grid to install underground facilities on Summer Street beginning at a point approximately 115 feet north of the center line of the intersection of Clifton Street and Summer Street and continuing approximately 40 feet in the east direction. National Grid is petitioning to install underground secondary from riser on pole number 949 to a gas regulator control.

Okay, so this is actually my ward, and you and I have not had a chance to connect on this, but I'm very familiar with all the other work going on in the area, so if you could just maybe describe a little bit about what the underground conduit, what it exactly means, and then we can open the hearing. This one seems a little more straightforward, I think.

Yeah, it's just installing, I believe it's installing two four-inch conduit on the ground, the secondary service to serve that gas regulator. So we will be trenching the street and across the street and installing condo.

Is this related to the work that's going on right now? What work is this? In the same location? Not entirely sure. Okay.

I have not heard from... This wasn't a design by me, but it was one of my coworkers, but I can definitely double check with them on that.

Okay, do you have a sense of how long the work is gonna take?

40 foot across the street, generally we do, we're able to do 50 feet a day. So it shouldn't take, I'd say two days.

Oh, okay, great. I'm asking because I think this particular intersection has been beset by utility work for quite a long time and we're doing gas leak work on the upper part of Summer Street as well so it's been it's been quite a disruption. And I think we just, I know the neighborhood's looking for relief. I did not hear from any constituents on this petition. I know that we did an abutter mailing. and so I do want to be clear, folks are not opposed, I'm not receiving any opposition or anything. So I'll, do you have another recusal or a question? Okay, I'm gonna take one question then I'll go to the hearing.

What is a secondary riser?

Secondary riser is riser up the pole. So we will be serving from the pole, metal pipes on the pole and then go down on the ground.

So is the electricity coming from the pole and going into the ground?

From the pole on the ground, yep.

Not from the ground into the pole? No, from the pole on the ground. Okay. Because it looks like it's connecting to Councilor Linehan's comment. It's looking like it's connecting to a new underground. Oh, that's a gas. Is that gas?

It says gas.

Gas regulator. So gas regulator needs electricity.

Oh. Wait, what?

Hold on. They need a service to the gas regulator.

Oh, it's to provide electricity for the gas regulator.

Ah, I see. I see. Yep.

Oh, it's not common that we have the gas and the electric connecting. This is the first. Okay, cool. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. So at this time, I will go back to do the hearing. So I will declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in favor? Okay, seeing none, hearing none, I'll declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the petition, please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Okay, seeing none, hearing none, I'll declare that portion of the hearing closed. Any further questions from the council? I'm comfortable granting this if I hear a motion from anybody to grant. And if there's any further questions, Councilor O'Malley?

Can you remind me, this was recently paved, correct?

So other portions of the street were paved. We have a gas leak that we've had to tackle in the area. That's the work that's going on right now. and then Upper Summer Street, the Mayor and I approved an off-season additional gas work so that that stretch can be paved in the spring. so the whole section is due to be paved once all of this utility work is done.

Including this section?

That's my understanding, yes.

Okay, yeah, that's because if it wasn't, I was going to say that you can do like thermal melting to make the seams not as bad, but if it's gonna be repaved by National Grid, I'm assuming, then I don't think that's a necessary condition.

That's a really good point.

Okay, thank you. Well, I would move that we approve it based on your recommendation.

Okay. Okay, motion by Councilor O'Malley, seconded by Councilor Colón Hayes. All in favor of granting, oh, sorry. Right, well, we haven't had one that anybody's wanted to approve yet. Thank you for the reminder. Okay, on Councilor O'Malley's motion to grant, seconded by Councilor Colón Hayes, with the following conditions, that the engineer be called when DigSafe is notified, and two, that the streets and sidewalks be restored to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. So that is granted. Next order of business.

Paper 153-26 Petition Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid Plan Number 31239416 National Grid to install underground facilities on Summer Street trench and install six four inch concrete encased conduit from MHA 1-18 to switch gale located at 110 Main Street approximately 60 feet on public right of way.

Okay, Councilor O'Malley.

Yeah, so this is a little confusing. I think that one of the things the paper, I was a little confused here and Zane was able to help get me caught up as well as the clerk's office. I think that here Summer Street should be Main Street on the paper and that the address should be 1100 Main Street. Clerk, Desiderio, did you get those?

I see that, 111 Main Street.

And then Summer Street would be switched to Main Street. So like I said, Zane's been super helpful. It's the same thing that we talked about earlier in Councilor Crowe's ward. currently they're proposing to put this equipment on the front and I'd like to work with National Grid in the proper order to see if we can relocate it in a way that works for everyone. You might have saw that our building commissioner, Nelson Miller, was here earlier. He's also involved and agrees that this is a good approach to kind of start conversations with National Grid as well as the property owner about the project that's coming up. so I would move to table and I appreciate your support.

I'll second.

Any other discussion before we do the hearing?

Okay, so... Actually, if possible, I'd like to... maybe not do the hearing tonight only because the address was not correct and the street wasn't correct. And I'm just concerned that people might have felt that they didn't get properly noticed. but I think that probably the legal notices that went out were probably correct, so I don't think we need to resend things to everyone.

Well, if you're not doing the hearing, then we need to repost the hearing for two weeks.

And you need to send it out again?

Yes.

Okay. I mean, if the preference of the council is to have the hearing, then I'm okay with that too.

Hang on, Councilor Winslow, let me put your light on. One second.

So we could open the hearing and then hold it open until two weeks, right? So that's what we could do.

That's what we did last time, right? No, last time we held the hearing and then we opened discussion on the paper and then we tabled the paper. So the hearing had already taken place.

Oh, right, okay.

I can look at the attachments, the hearing, abutters list.

Let's just make sure the abutters list is correct, because I feel better holding the hearing knowing they went to the right abutters.

Yeah, hold on. So hang on, I'm opening it. Okay. So the certified abutters list from the assessor's office that we used was based on the address of 1100 Main Street. So the address was correct. And the abutters mailing is attached to that. There weren't that many, actually. There was less than 30 that fell within that circle. and then I'm also just reviewing the notice of public hearing.

Yeah, I just did that too. At the first bullet point, it does say Summer Street and then it says 110 Main Street.

It says that it's installing underground facilities on Summer Street and then the switchgear is going to be located at 110 Main Street.

It's 1100 Main Street.

I'm sorry.

There's no Summer Street. It's 1100 Main Street.

Yeah, so it went to the right people, but if I receive that...

It went to the right people, but it had the wrong information. I think that we should rehear. Yeah.

I have an abundance of caution.

I think that sounds like the right thing to do.

And I can see how this would happen because this is very confusing with all of the different addresses. So I appreciate, you know, I guess then my tabling motion would still be there.

Okay, and who seconded that? I did. Okay, so on Councilor O'Malley's motion to table, seconded by Councilor Sica, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, so that is tabled.

Well, Zane, only one.

We have paper 127.

Yes, do we have a motion to take paper 127-26 off the table?

I'll second.

Okay. Do we need a roll call to do that?

No.

Okay, on a motion by Councilor Winslow, seconded by Councilor Sica to take 127-26 off the table. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay, that paper is untabled. Paper 127-26, petition. Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid Plan number 30967378 National Grid to install underground facilities on Newland Street. Work in the City right-of-way includes two 4-inch steel risers on existing pole number 3812 and approximately 51 feet of two 4-inch concrete encased SCH 40 PVC conduits from eastern side of existing pole number 3812 in front of 46 Newland Street continuing in a northern direction towards the 36-54 Broadway Plaza parking lot to feed the proposed pad-mounted transformer for a new EV charging station. And I would just comment because the sponsoring counselor isn't here this evening, but he asked that this paper be held over only because the first time we took it up, Taylor had some questions. National Grid wasn't here because we were in the middle of a blizzard to answer those questions.

So it's my understanding Councilor Simonelli is okay with this project, barring your questions for tonight. So Taylor.

Okay, I'll go to Councilor Taylor for any questions.

Yeah, and I think the biggest questions from the last time we talked is that there were some concerns with the way that National Grid was handling the permits once they were put out there. We wanted to make sure this wasn't going to continue. There had been some issues with previous permits in other areas, and that was my biggest concern in asking for some more questions of National Grid. Those have since been settled, so I'm not I'm not concerned with the work going forward and I don't want to hold it up any longer.

Okay. Thank you, Councilor Taylor. I see a light from Councilor Winslow.

Yeah, I think one of the questions that came up last time was, is this going to be like a level two or a fast charger? So maybe we can just have someone come up and state that. Yeah, that would be great.

Especially since Councilor McDonald's not here and that was their question.

Yeah, if you can name that address here.

Katie Campion, WS Development on behalf of the property owner. And I'd be happy to send a follow up email to that way it can be distributed. That would be great.

Thank you.

OK. And I'm just reading because I had to clarify myself. These are level three fast chargers. They're DC fast chargers. Electrify America who operates them are calling them hyperfast. They correct directly through DC current so they can add up to 100 miles in 30 to 60 minutes. Wow.

Yeah. So having an EV myself and traveling up to Portland, Maine, I realized the importance of these chargers. and we don't really have any of these. I mean, Walmart has a lot of them. And the nice thing is in that 30 minutes to an hour that people will be shopping or I think it's an asset that can be to the community. So I think it's supportive and just seeing their, being a relatively new EV owner, I was surprised that most of the chargers out there right now are like the 110 volt and that can take hours and hours. and to be able to, like there was one on the main turnpike where in an hour I could charge up and get home or whatever. So they are really a big step up and it would be nice to have these in the community and that would benefit community members, as well as attract business.

So I definitely see the advantage. So definitely supportive. And it's near my ward. I'll be up the street. So great. Take care.

Great. Thank you for remembering that question. I appreciate it. Any other questions?

Okay.

Did you second? Yeah, I'll second. Okay. On Councilor Sica's motion to grant, seconded by Councilor Winslow, with the following conditions. One, that the engineer be called when DigSafe is notified, and two, that the streets and sidewalks be restored to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that motion is granted.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Send an email to the city clerk.

Yes, please. That would be great.

Thank you.

Thank you. We appreciate it. Next order of business.

That is your docket.

The docket is clear. Do we have a motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn.

on a motion by Councilor Sica, seconded by Councilor Crowe. All in favor? Aye.

At 7.45, we are adjourned.

I don't know.

The team's not on TV.

No.

I didn't think so. I was, like, looking at the pins and, like, I don't see green lights. It's a committee of the whole meeting. Yeah.

Yeah, I didn't know.