Needham Select Board, 3/10/26

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Keane. All right. Welcome to the March 10th, 2026 meeting of the Select Board. As a reminder, this meeting is being broadcast to the Town's YouTube channel and via Zoom and by the Needham channel. and is being recorded for publication, later viewing, and administrative purposes. I am aware that the Needham Observer and Needham Local are both recording. If there's anyone else in the room who intends to record the meeting, could they inform the chair now? OK. Thank you.

All right. So Madam Chair, Member Cooley is online.

Oh, wonderful. Welcome. Cooley. Okay, so I will remember to do roll call we'll call votes okay terrific so uh first on our agenda is to introduce the building commissioner and the director of economic development so Ms. LaRosie, Deputy Town Manager, you want to come up? And we will be introducing Jim Sullivan, newly appointed Building Commissioner, and John Sisson, newly appointed Director of Economic Development. Welcome.

So I am beyond excited to be introducing these two lovely people sitting before you. First, I'd like to welcome Jim, James Sullivan, our new building commissioner who started with us two weeks ago in the middle of a snowstorm. Thank you. he's already jumped right in meeting with staff and getting oriented to the department he's a licensed building commissioner brings over 17 years of municipal inspection and code enforcement experience from the town of Dedham where he served as the assistant building inspector code enforcement officer and sealer of weights and measures He has deep experience in building an energy code, zoning, plan review, inspections, and permit administration. Also strong leadership experience. He served as the chair of Dedham's building planning and construction committee since 2015. He has experience modernizing and improving permit systems. We're very excited about that, especially. He'll be a real benefit to the department and to the community.

We're also very fortunate to have former building commissioner Joe Prondak assisting for a few hours a week during this transition, just helping to provide continuity and support as Jim gets fully up to speed. So welcome, Jim. and then I'm also excited to introduce John Sisson, our new Director of Economic Development.

What, did I say it wrong? No, I got second billing.

Well, you came a week later. It was in order. It was in order. John started with us just last week. He most recently served as Economic Development Director for the City of Newton, where he led the city's economic development strategy work, advancing zoning and policy improvements, and secured state grant funding to support those initiatives. Prior to that, he held senior economic and community development roles in Dedham also, and with the Massachusetts Office of Business Development. John brings strong experience in business retention and attraction, strategic planning, and cross-department collaboration. Even in these first few days, he's been out in the community meeting with local businesses, getting to know all the different stakeholders in the different departments. We're really excited about his approach to the role, particularly his systems thinking perspective. and focus on building strong connections between the business community and town government. So we're excited to have them both join our team.

That is wonderful. I have to say I'm very grateful to have both of you. These are such important positions. I mean, in terms of the buildings, I mean, this is keeping people safe. This is also implementing our stormwater bylaw, which I'm sure my colleagues will Be speaking about. And we have a lot of building in town. And then the economic development, we really, you know, having those connections with the businesses is just so important, you know, and the economic health of the businesses really is the you know it's the lifeblood of the community as well so thrilled to have you both My colleagues, Josh?

Well, I guess on the building side, yeah, stormwater is something that we just finished a bylaw on. And the regulations we drafted, I think they're being reviewed. Hopefully, you've had a chance to review those as well.

I have not.

I did sit down and meet with Tom Ryder for a while and he basically gave me the the once-over of high-level look at it. But I'll get into the weeds eventually.

Sure, quickly. Two weeks in. I know, I know. And then on economic development, I feel like there's room to make this your own. This position is so important and also there's a lot of room to really grow the position into something that is kind of like a hallmark of the town of how we want to engage with businesses. If you haven't, you know, been familiar with Envision. That's something that you probably will get involved with quickly. So thank you both.

Thank you.

Kevin?

Welcome to Needham, both of you. Jim, you're an EMT? I was.

I carried that for about a dozen years.

Okay, because I have this pain right here. You went to Mass Bay, you're a buccaneer, right? Thank you and welcome to Needham. I hope you enjoy working with the department. I think they're very collaborative working with builders so that they get to understand the code.

and then you get to you umpire that all so thank you yeah no the the department really in the short time I've been there it's impressive everyone knows what they're doing right Not a lot of chit-chat in the office. It's pretty busy, so everyone's doing their job, keeping everything moving forward. Great. Thank you.

and John, creative writer. That's your degree?

I don't know what I was thinking. Now it's like 20.

But two questions. Dedham versus Newton, which is better? Just Needham.

I was going to go there, I think.

and your favorite author?

Oh, it depends. Fiction, nonfiction. Favorite authors, probably John McPhee, nonfiction.

Okay. John. I won't hold you to that, but OK. Thank you. Oh, he's amazing. He's still kicking, too. Have a good one. And welcome to Needham. Thank you very much.

Marianne? Welcome, Jim and John. Jim, it's good to see you here. And I know we talked about how important it is to have predictability and common sense in our building department. So we look forward to your bringing that and continuing that. there and John, I know that our merchants are very excited to have somebody back in this role and to be speaking with you and I'm glad to hear that you've been out there already.

Any further discussion? Well, listen, welcome. We are all thrilled to have both of you with your deep experience coming into these very important roles.

We're happy to be here. That's great. Thank you.

Nobody wanted public comment, right? I didn't ask. No, nobody. Anybody here for public comment? Okay. All right, next on the agenda, we have 193 Garden Street Local Initiative Program, 40B Proposal of the Gardener's Nest Condominiums Project. And I'd like to welcome Michael Todoldi, Robert, Michael.

Robert is taking a test tonight in his accounting class, so he won't be joining us.

Okay. Well, welcome, Michael and George. and would love to hear what you have to tell us.

We have a few things to pass out here. Thank you. Thank you. Someone more down? Thank you. Did you get one? No, I don't know. Okay.

Please.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. So as indicated, this is a discussion about 193 Garden Street. And to orient you, I know we're all familiar with the town, but just to orient you. 193 Garden Street is on the westerly side of Garden Street in very close proximity to the intersection of Garden and May Street. It is across from where Needham Bank has its, I think it's its loan center now, kind of diagonally across from what used to be, for those of us who have been around for a while, the Little Peach. Project, and Calixteli, and so on. It's a rather large piece of property. It is 29,348 square feet. So it's almost three 10,000 square foot lot size with almost 143 feet of frontage on Garden Street. It's a nice big piece of property.

It is currently occupied by an existing two and a half story single family house that then has an attached two car garage and then a attached accessory unit. and that unit, from what I can tell, has had quite a storied history. Apparently it's been used for a variety of different uses, including medical office, possibly an accessory apartment and so on. But for our purposes, I'm interested in that, but it's not really relevant to our discussion. The house was built in 1920, from the records. and it sits adjacent to an existing single family house on one side at the actual corner of Garden and Main Street and a six unit 40B development, the Whitney Brown development on the sort of southerly side.

So it's in a single family residence B district, even though it is across from the Chestnut Street Business District and the Garden Street overlay, which allows for pretty, pretty dense development. and further down Garten Street, just a couple of houses down, there are multiple two families on that side of the street. So it's in kind of a dense area, both even on that side of the street, but especially across the street. So the proposal is to take the property, transform it, and redevelop it for a 10-unit 40B project. Now, we're before you this evening to ask for your support. fundamentally, first and foremost. But on top of that, what we really would like to do is do this as a LIP project, as a local initiative program project, both because with Needham over the 10%,

from our perspective, if we do this as a friendly 40B or a lip project, it can go for it either way, but a lip project makes a lot more sense because doing it as a lip project is more of a cooperative effort and it allows the town to have a lot more say in the project. this property to us because of the neighborhood, because of the density that's already there, because of its location, the fact that it's in close proximity to transit. I mean, this property would have been an ideal inclusion for the MBTA overlay, even though this was left out. But this is exactly sort of the type of location where you'd probably want higher density and have units. So I indicated 10 units. Of those 10 units, three would be affordable. So that nets 30% affordability in the project in terms of number of units. Each unit would be a four bedroom unit with three and a half bath, about 3,500 square feet.

I know that Michael Todoli, who's here this evening, who's the person behind the project, has provided a booklet, and then you probably also got materials previously, and you can see sort of the concept for this development. Rather than sort of one big block or rather than sort of like two big buildings, the concept is to do five two-unit buildings. Very much like his earlier project on Dedham Avenue, the Miller Green project, which is a five-unit project, which I'm sure you've all seen. You drive down Dedham Avenue towards Dedham on the left. That came out fantastic. It was a lovely project. And that concept... of having the houses, the units kind of face inward with a common walkway and a vegetated garden area is the idea here to kind of have that same thing and then have the garages on the outside. So it's a very lovely thing. There's an actual picture of Milligreen, I think, in the packet.

So that really gives you a good feel for how nice it looks and how it can come out. Let's see. Yeah. So I said, initially, we're here. We want your support. We'd like to proceed, whether it be a friendly 4DB or whether it be a lib project. But ideally, we would like to do it as a lib project. because it makes it easier for us and it makes a lot of sense both in terms of the project process but also then the town has much more of a say with respect to the project so unlike a traditional 40B where the state dictates a lot of the terms, a lot of the conditions, including what goes into the regulatory agreement. In a lip project, the town can deal with things like Incomes for the households that will be served for the affordable units, fair marketing, profit limits,

assuring long-term affordability so the state for example doesn't have a mandate to necessarily have the units be affordable in perpetuity but the town obviously can things like on the affordability side, the town can request or require that kind of medium fees be set so that they are a lower rate for the affordable units. And that's something that can be done. whereas if it's a traditional 40b that's all again administered by the state so the lip project makes a lot more sense from the town's perspective for us it makes sense because then it's a more cooperative project and Quite frankly, Michael has a very good track record in the town of doing very lovely developments. And for him, it's more a matter of doing a good project that looks good and works. than necessarily squeezing every penny out that he can get. So with that, we would wholeheartedly ask that you support the project and that you opt to join with us to do this as a cooperative project, as a LIP project under the statute and the regulations.

I'm going to go to Marianne first for questions. Marianne, do you have questions?

I don't think so. I'm looking forward to seeing this project. I know I'm familiar with a number of other projects that Michael has done. in town. And Michael, I think I understand. I read the packet a while ago and I can't go back and forth on my device here. but I think I'm understanding that this project is going to be a condominium structure rather than apartments?

Correct. It's very challenging to do a four wall apartment complex. It just becomes cost prohibitive. And it financially just doesn't make any sense. But the condominium concept just fits better in, especially where we can offer something in the 700s, which may sound like High anyway and I apologize for that but I don't set the rates but at the same time It's very affordable for something that's new, that's maintenance-free, and I've had the success with the project next door, which was also a 40B.

in a time when we sold one unit to an adjunct professor and another one to a town employee, and I thought it's worked out very well for them.

Great, thank you. I appreciate that. I know there are a number of people in town who are looking for more affordable units that can be purchased. So I'm certain that there are folks who live here who would be interested in these. I am interested in learning more about the long term about what the rate will the ongoing maintenance rate will be. particularly for the affordable units because I understand that it will be set lower, but I think that that ends up being a bigger issue for the long term. Thank you.

Thank you, Mary. Josh. Thank you. A couple questions. Had you considered going to the planning board and asking for a zoning change?

that is a long process it's town meeting and and this is pretty much seamless the process is already in place between the state financing in the state and the town is also more familiar with the types of things that I've done in the town that are similar to this.

And I'll add to that too, doing a zoning change just for this property, that would then be something that would be start getting into the realm of possible spot zoning so we'd probably in the planning board would probably want to look at maybe rezoning the entire side of Garden Street which now is a whole other project probably requiring a committee and so When Michael says a longer project, it could be a multi-year long project.

No, I understand that. And then for our 4DB guidelines, we have a pre-application recommendations. I just wanted to make sure that you'd gone through all those steps. So to meet with the director of planning and community development, the design review team, that includes the Building Commissioner, Director of Conservation, Economic Development, Public Works, just to make sure that it fits in, basically, with the surroundings. The Design Review Board, and then Conservation Commission, if that's applicable. Just wondering if you've done those yet.

We've had brief discussions with conservation. We will be making an application. We have not done a complete survey. It's been too challenging with the weather to do any Flagging. So we know where the wetlands are. Again, I did the project next door, so I'm familiar with that. We plan on probably being involved with the with the Conservation Commission and they will help structure our locations of buildings. Okay.

And not as far as the other boards, not yet. Typically what at least I like to do is visit with the select board first and see about the support level and then when we get into the actual sort of specifics of design and so on then we go when we meet with the planning board and design review and so on before we make the application.

We've had discussions about the guidelines and how closely we should follow them in the past. So I guess my preference is before the application to meet with them to make sure that they don't have any concerns either. because I can't speak for the design review board. I can't speak for conservation, certainly. So that would be my preference, I guess. But I do understand your comment about the zoning. So this was not in the neighborhood, the MBTA zoning district. either neighborhood housing plan or base compliance plan. that was explicitly excluded. So, you know, to some extent that would be reopening, you know, going back to the well and that would open up kind of a count of worms a little bit. So I do understand this approach in this case. but for the other questions, you know, design review board and conservation in particular, I'm not an expert and I can't evaluate them.

and typically the sort of things that they look at are things that we have to take into account when we get into sort of the sort of next level of detail for design and so on but if the select board isn't necessarily supportive we might not even get to that step so it's kind of there are many steps in the process and this is sort of the first square and then we have to keep moving on

Thank you.

Kevin? I get the appeal. Living across the street from a commuter rail stop is fantastic. um so like this is in a way should you know had it been in the MBTA Communities Act it would you know hand in glove um question about parking. How many parking spaces? I'm looking at the plans. I can't tell. Two car garages? One?

These would be two car garages. Everybody will be able to put their cars. And we also anticipate probably one car per options for families living in this space where you've got the training right there. They're going to opt for this location because they choose not to. have two cars. But we do have a two-car option. We also have, we will have some visitor parking available as well. Okay. To keep things off the off the Street.

Okay, the only lip I've been involved with is the Chestnut Street one. And that made, this is something that made sense. It's a commercial district and it all kind of worked. You know, it's Chestnut Street. On this, we are in SRB, and I'm kind of wondering, have you asked the abutters, the neighborhood, what do they think? you want our support and this will eventually go to ZBA but I want to kind of know I feel in as I look at the plan it feels dense two driveways on either side right on on the property line it feels like a lot of asphalt. And I'm thinking maybe the neighbors should have a bite at this apple too.

We would definitely, and I've done many, many projects in town through the zoning board, and I've worked with neighbors on details, on the small details. and you can go around town and see a lot of the projects that I've done that require neighborhood support. And with George's help, we've had some pretty good success working through that kind of process. I grew up in the town as did George. We love the town and we care about how things turn out. We don't try to put the most we can. In fact, we started with 12 units and we decided that was just getting too dense. So we paired this down to 10, still giving the town three. I mean, we could go lower, but then the town's going to lose one. So we were trying to

create that balance of density and options for the town or benefits to the town. Okay. I've found, especially with the project on Denham Avenue, being able to bring the driveways in from the perimeter creates less less asphalt because it's kind of we can landscape more around of it versus having that runway down the middle and everybody's front door comes out onto asphalt. We like that quaintness and the garden aspect of having a walkway, a pathway. between the two properties. It seems more friendly. People could sit out in front and have a cup of coffee and put tables out in front. So it just... And if you... I'd ask you to go down to Denham Avenue and just walk down the pathway there and just see how that feels.

And that's the type of development that we felt works best in here. We did something similar next door, although because of the configuration and constraints of both topography and a lot Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, More grass and trees and landscape. And I love to landscape properties too. If you see the houses that I built, I tend to over landscape beyond what many people do. because I think it softens and it gives that Needham feel of trees and bushes. Okay.

But if we could get some neighborhood feedback. Absolutely.

and understand most of the almost everything is multifamily on the street at this point so that was a benefit and my friend Gene McKnight was the neighbor on the corner when when we built Garden Street, and she came up to me and said, you know, what you did on Garden Street just really came out so beautifully.

Yeah, your work is good. Thank you.

So, yes, absolutely. We anticipate that, and it's always our objective to work with the neighborhood. All right, thanks.

Is it possible to get that feedback from neighbors before our next meeting?

I can certainly try to put together a coalition and see what we can do. I'll make that effort, absolutely. Yes, thank you.

I think that this project from what I know makes a lot of sense. You know, the location is one where, as you say, it is already dense. It's already multifamily. You're near the train. and the work that you've done elsewhere is very beautiful. It's not all the same. It looks authentic and I think the aesthetics are important and I appreciate that you take time there. and also I think it's it's a you know we really need different types of housing you know we have a lot of one type, but we're looking for different types, so I think this fits a need. The affordable units, will they be the same? in terms of the floor plan and the look and the finishing?

Yes, yes. That's a requirement of the 40B. The exteriors, you can't tell one from the other. And they're not put together either. So they're sprinkled. around. And that's important to us as well because we're not trying to create a section. We want the continuity. And by the way, anybody that is buying the affordable has a pretty good job and is a contributor. to the community. These are not, it's a word that may be misunderstood to some level.

Given how expensive everything is here. Exactly. And the garages, how are they situated? How do those work?

they're garage-unders so they're hidden a little bit more and they share they will face each other with the units back up to each other so they share their backup space and that also minimizes how much asphalt we have to protect.

And that way they're also not facing the neighbors on the side. Correct. So it's both functional, hits a functional goal and also an aesthetic goal and an impact goal. So it's kind of a threefer.

So in this picture on the sides here, these sort of blank white areas is the entrance to the garage?

Correct.

And then I'm going to defer to my stormwater colleagues here, but garage unders?

You're going to be doing a lot of engineering.

Absolutely. And so water is the biggest challenge we have in this business. It can creep in from windows, it can creep in from roofs, it can creep in from bad grading. I've been building for almost 50 years and I'm are acutely aware of how to grade, how to manage water. And we're fortunate also in this part of town to have a very gravelly base. So we have a very perkable soil. We're not going to be dealing with something that you can't put a chamber in and the water has nowhere to go. So once the chamber fills up, then it's done, which is... some of the challenges in town, whether you're up in Birds Hill Ave or different areas. South Street has a lot of ledge. We have very perkable soil.

So we can use diffusion chambers to capture roof water runoff off the pavement as well. Capture it all so nothing goes into the wetlands unless they want us to add some. Sometimes wetlands want you to contribute to the amount of water that's in there. So we can use a detention center, but we'll deal with the conservation on that level. But we will have absolute... Everything is pitched away from the house. It is not pitched in. I know there have been some development in this town where the driveways go from the street straight into the garages and they have Catch Basins at the bottom, and if they fill up, you're done. We will not have that issue. I would not get involved in something that has that issue because I don't want my phone ringing.

and to clarify with that while they're garage unders they're not when you hear the term garage under you often think of a driveway that goes that they're not like that they're going to be the driveway will actually be at Gray because the property slopes downward sort of from Garden Street going to the back of the property so as it slopes down when you get into where the garages are it's going to be lower there so the garages will be garage under because the unit will be up at the grade of Garden Street. So the first floor will be higher. But it's not like the driveways are going to be sloped down into the garage.

and the garage floor is higher than the pavement that leads into it. So it allows the water to drain back and then we will capture it with drainage catch basins. So it does exactly what the stormwater regulations require, which would be something we would have to comply with and something that we would intend to do anyway.

please yeah just one more question I hear from a lot of people like empty nesters who would like to empty nest but there's no like first-floor living handicapped accessibility what do you anything on that

So first floor, I've built many condos in this town, and I ate up a lot of first floor space. with first-floor masters, and nobody uses them as first-floor masters. So I think I'm being ahead of the curve. I try to accommodate what I hear is the big thing. and people come in and then they say, well, the family room's too small. Well, I just put a master on the first floor, which eats up 250 to 300 plus square, 350 square feet of a floor that's only 1100 square feet. So now you're down to 800 square feet for your kitchen, family room, half bath, and living space. We can certainly work towards that if somebody comes and says we want to do this on a custom level.

for me, I have not found it productive to do that. And believe me, I thought I was being smart, and it didn't work out.

I have a question. Since there are water I shouldn't say concerns, but just in general, water is a concern in town. And conservation may have something to say about that. Just mechanically, does a 40B or a LIP buy? Does a comprehensive permit cover conservation as well or does conservation also have to issue any conditions?

We would have to make application. We would have a botanist flag the area. We'd have an engineer go out and identify the space. The conservation would go out and walk it and agree or disagree. They might move some flags. and they determine a 25 no-build zone, 50 foot and 100 foot setback. And depending on where we land in that, whether we're at 100 feet and out of it, or were inside the 50 to 100, we would make an application and say, this is what we want to do. They would look at it and make their evaluations on how they want us to protect the wetlands in our construction, both during construction and in regards to what we do with any water runoff. So it would be separate from any comprehensive permit? Completely separate. Okay. And the 40B does not override it. The state does not override it.

The town has complete and 100% autonomy on that. Thank you. Okay. All right.

I knew when I mentioned water that it would lengthen the discussion.

It's very important to us, and you can't ignore it. It will find you. Yes, it will come back.

Marianne, anything else?

Yeah, if I could just come back for a moment. It occurs to me, I probably should say in the interest of full disclosure, that Michael did build our house 32 years ago. So he and I go way back and his parents lived across the street. So I know all of the above. But I do just want to reflect for a moment for the board that I think A 42B LIP project is an important tool in the toolkit that the Select Board has. it is a way to encourage some different types of housing it is a way to work with some smaller projects it is a way to get some more affordability as this project has the 30% in it, which is, I think, really appreciated in town as we continue to work on figuring out how to have more of those units. and units that will count as part of our SHI. So all of those things I think are excellent.

I did this question about input from neighbors. I think that's a completely valid question, but I think it is important to understand that this housing sits in a block. of Multifamily Housing. Even though it's zoned SRB, those are not the houses that are still there. This particular house that has been, or this piece of property was a single family. and would now be reused to be consistent with other uses on the street that are the multifamily uses. So I'm grateful to Michael for being willing to go speak to the multifamily neighbors that are there about how they feel about having more multifamily housing on the street. But it's really not an SRB neighborhood. And I think it's important to recognize that.

Any other comments, questions?

just the guidelines. Like Marianne said, the town cannot require applicants to discuss the project with neighbors, but it is to the developer's advantage to do so as soon as possible, certainly before applying for a project eligibility letter. So I think it's just to get any concerns addressed as soon as possible because I think we've all seen projects that can get contentious and we don't want that.

absolutely and and again we've we George especially is just fabulous with with explaining things to neighbors. We, together, have done over 20 projects that involve neighborhood concerns and we've worked through all of them. We have not had one that didn't work out because we do listen and we do care what other people have to say.

Anything else? Okay, well, listen, thank you. Thank you for coming in. Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Okay. So next on our agenda, single parcel local historic district proposal at 178 South Street. Zern Geibel Wyeth, Joshua Lewis House, and we have Gloria Grice. of the Needham Historical Commission, and our Madam Town Manager, Katie King. Did you get the slides?

Yes, Carol's going to show them.

Oh, there they are. Mostly glamour shots. But it's so beautiful. Okay, well thank you so much for hearing me today. The NC Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries with the assistance of the Needham History Center and Museum are seeking to establish a single house local historic district. for the Zergebel Wyeth House at 178 South Street. The house was built in 1776. and it's included in the Needham Inventory, the Mass Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places and that is a drone view of the property showing the main house, the two additions to the back, the barn, and the land itself, which slopes down to the Charles River.

It consists of between 1.25 and 1.5 acres with the main house, the garage and barn. Bounded by South Street on one side and the Charles River on the other. The large addition that extends to the left is a kitchen addition that was put on the 50s in the 1950s and the one extending to the back. is a family room that was added in the 1970s, but the core of the house remains intact and exceptionally well preserved. and I would argue that this house is the most significant historic house in Needham. Joshua Lewis built the house when he married Mary Lyon in 1776 on land he received from his father-in-law. Both the Lewis and Lyon families figure in the earlier history of Needham. in the Revolutionary War and well into the 19th century. Next, please.

Can I advance with this thing? Portis. But the house has special significance to Needham as the place where its iconic pansy, the official town flower, was first developed. and distributed by the botanist Denny Zerngebel in the 1880s. And the painting is of the house by N.C. Wyeth There's obviously a photograph of his grandfather next to it. And if you look toward the left, you can see a little sketch of the greenhouses and the water wheel as they were then. present on the property. No, next. Zurn Giebel's grandson was the artist N.C. Wyeth. Wyeth grew up on the property. His parents owned the house next door.

So that house and the Wyeth house next door were the family. compound. He later purchased the house for himself in the 1920s and he used the house frequently as a backdrop in his paintings. and the one on the right there of course is Winter. It's owned by the History Center. It shows the house with his grandfather and youngest brother shoveling snow. For some reason he only ever paints this house in the snow. Next please. It shows up. It's the house that Paul Revere is riding by in his famous Paul Revere painting. And the backyard going down to the Charles is depicted in his painting The War Letter. And those are, in fact, portraits of his parents as well. reading, though this is done in the Second World War, the incident was reading letters from his youngest brother who was in the army during the First World War. Next, please.

and that's another scene that he's done a lot of his paintings especially as he gets into the 1920s depict the house directly he was living there in the early 1920s and doing a lot of painting of the house and property itself. Next, please. The house is also owned later by another artist, Robert Douglas Hunter. Hunter is mostly known for his still lifes, but he also made several paintings of the South Street property. And that's a view in many ways very similar to the one we just saw. but of Hunter's own work. Next, please. So the Wyeth Foundation, the reading libraries are requesting that the select board

begin the process of designating the Zerngebel Wyeth House as a single house local historic district under the local historic district bylaw that was passed by town meeting in May 2024. and they have asked us at the Needham History Center to be their representatives on the spot because they are located in Maine. The goal is to bring the proposed LHD a special town meeting in October 2026. And Katie King has a detailed spreadsheet of the Procedure, but the first step is for the Select Board to appoint a Historic District Commission. to draft the article. And I included in your packet the letter from Veronica Carlson, who is the president of the NC Wyeth Research Foundation confirming that the foundation wishes to create this LHD and designating us as there to assist with the logistics.

and also some additional resources on the history of the house. So thank you and happy to answer any questions.

if I could just add Madam Chair in terms of next steps the 2024 annual town meeting that passed the bylaw that did two things that bylaw creates It allows the Select Board to establish a historic district commission and it established the first single parcel local historic district in town for the Jonathan Kingsbury House on Rosemary Street. the historic district commission that the slick board would appoint under this bylaw would both serve as the body that would process any of the details for the Jonathan Kingsbury House, but also would be the commission that would run the process outlined in the flow chart to review this Wyeth House House proposal. do the study report, hold the public hearing, go through all the regulatory requirements to bring a proposal back to the Select Board for a Warren article in October. So before we had this bylaw, the Select Board appointed a study committee

to create our first historic district. Moving forward, this historic district commission would be the body that would handle any future inquiries.

This would be a standing commission. Correct. Three year staggered terms. Right.

So the next steps for the board would be to appoint the commission and there's members that we'd have to solicit names from the Needham History Center and Museum, the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Association of Realtors. They provide lists to the board. You make selections off of those in addition to some other appointments. We have that on our work plan to do anyways, but I just wanted to flag that that group would be the kickoff of starting this process as well.

And just to clarify, if, as you said, this is a standing committee, so were there to be another request to create another historic district, it would be the same? Yes. If it was within the three years, I guess.

Well, they would be staggered terms. Yeah, okay. So going forward, any future requests? Yeah, this would be the mechanism that... initiated and manage these projects. Right now, without the standing committee, we're doing it on a more ad hoc basis.

Marianne, comments or questions?

Thank you. Gloria, I think it's my understanding that this property has been on the market, right, for a while. and at this point the owner, the NCYF libraries have determined that they want to pursue this in parallel with marketing the project before doing more marketing of the project. I'm just trying to understand how this fits relative to The intent to sell and who might the owner end up being?

Yeah, it had been on the market for about 18 months. They did not have any success selling it. There's been... considerable support in the community for it not being torn down and I think that may have have been an issue for potential buyers. It's currently off the market. And I don't know if they intend to keep it off the market. for the duration of this, or if they intend to put it back on the market. The ultimate goal is to sell the house, but to sell the house in a way that it is preserved. So with this protection. either to a builder who will rehab the rest of it or an owner who wants to live in it directly.

Okay, and they understand the implications of that as well.

Yes, they do.

Okay. All right, thank you.

I think if the overnight understands all the implications, I think this makes a lot of sense. I mean, this is very historic property.

They initiated the process. We had been talking to them about it since they initiated the sale. So it wasn't unfamiliar to them, but we did not actually expect this. This letter came to us about a month ago. We did not expect them to initiate the process on their own. And that just sort of... They did. So they are aware of the implications.

Okay. Because I had similar thoughts as Marianne. It sounds like they want to sell it. They intend to sell it. They intend to sell it. Yeah. this could have impacts on the value, the resale value, either positive or negative potentially, but that's something that seems to be very important for someone who's in a position of wanting to sell it.

but I think they became aware that they were always concerned about the preservation of the house but you know as you mentioned, they didn't want to put any encumbrances on it when they first went to market. But I think they became aware that it actually can be a positive to sell the house with known a known set of restrictions as opposed to you know not you know having to negotiate them thank you yeah

I think there's a treasure, and it's worth saving, and I'm happy we're trying to do something about it. No argument here. I think we should, yeah, let's pursue this.

I would agree, and I really appreciate the slideshow that you did of the property and the art. I mean, it's amazing to me how many different historical things are hit here, Revolutionary War, artistry, pansies, everything. And the piece of land going down there to the Charles River is incredible. So, I mean, I would really love to see this happen and, you know, I hope we can do whatever we can to make it happen. Any other thoughts? Marianne, anything else? no thank you okay josh or kevin no thank you gloria thank you gloria thank you really appreciate your work all right up next is our town seal recommendation with Kevin Keane, member of the Select Board and Chair of the Needham Branding and Town Seal Committee.

All right. Images. OK, today we're voting on whether to accept this image for the seal as it goes to town meeting. I'm just going to give you an overview quickly. The existing seal was approved by town meeting in 1891. It was drafted by a committee of two selectmen, Town Clerk and Emery Grover. He's not just a builder. But there were some historical inaccuracies and challenges. So that's what we're talking through. We've done the list. You've seen them. The TP is wrong. and local culture. They would have ouitous or wigwams. The Charles is overly wide. And the High Rock is entirely fanciful. It looks like it's in front of the Rockies. The frame around the image has challenges, too. The old English calligraphy is not only impossible to space or current properly on a curve, but it's too old, even for 1711.

And I appreciate in 1891, Needham was only 180 years old and they want to fortify the town's institutional credibility. They may have overshot. Needham was founded 200 years after movable type was invented. We can do movable type. We don't have to pretend we're in medieval England anymore. So too for the crosses. There are stylized crosses and seem akin to the Templar cross. I appreciate that 1891 Needham residents were eager to give a nod to our devout Puritan forebears who actually broke off from Dedham because they needed their own meeting house. but a good Puritan would have never shown a cross and Calvinists were hardcore. but it's also worth saying that there are also many faith traditions amongst us in Needham and municipalities do not have religions.

There's a problem with the central story of this. it depicts a Very formally and very legally, it's a taking of Native American land. It may not be our proudest moment. Prior to King Philip's War, English land claims were tethered to agreements with local sachems. After King Philip's War, With the collapse of Native American sovereignty, those claims were on shaky ground, so London requested deeds be drafted. In comes Nehoyden, who was actually a student of the Reverend John Eliot, who is bilingual, literate, and he had a foot in both cultures. And so he helped draft these deeds. Unfortunately, this event is a Dedham story. Where's the Dedham people now? And it was 31 years before Needham was founded.

This is Dedham's story, and they can have it. there's an issue with the power dynamic too and the committee really looked into this but we can't sugarcoat it this is a class of two cultures and we worked on trying to give them balance and agency to both But at the end of the day, this was a final capitulation of Native Americans to the English. And again, it doesn't have to be on the town seal. We were sort of embracing the history of it and saying this is history. But at the end of the day, it doesn't have to be on the town seal. Many things have happened in EM's history. You don't need to put all of them on the seal. So if you remove the Englishmen, basically the Lane deal, is a landscape. And so we kept our beloved Charles River, which goes around the town. Topher Cox provided the source photo. By the way, just so you know, it was taken by the Charles River Peninsula.

Do you want to put the new one up?

Okay. An old postcard from the History Century Museum, I think it was in the 1930s or something like that, shows a high rock before it was obscured by trees and spray paint. and that's actually the actual view of it. So it is sort of a round top outlook, look at rather. and like the existing seal this composition is a composite. You cannot really see this anywhere in Needham. but that's okay. Rivers were the highways of the day and here we have Nehoyden is the canoeist. He was a Needham resident. He did retire to Ponkapog, but he did have land in Needham by Hemlock, was now Hemlock Gorge.

We had a representative of Native Praying Indians on the committee and repeatedly they're very eager that we use this opportunity not to erase Native American culture out of history. and so we think Nehoyden is extremely important in fact his um we named our first street of the old center of town Nehoyden Street after him there is um There's one in Newton as well, on Hoyden Street. There's a Hoyden Golf Club in Wellesley. Of course, it's a golf club. There's Camp New Hoyden on the Boy Scouts land, and even the fictitious town of New Hoyden, the New Hoyden Bears. from the movie Shattered Ice. So we have the Charles River. It wraps around Needham. And I think it's a great way to show that this is our history.

It connects us to our past and to our shared futures and having sort of a nod to the past, but also it's one of our natural resources that makes us, surrounds the town. So with that, I would ask you if you have any questions and if you want to take a vote.

OK. Marianne.

Hello. I don't think I have any further questions at this point. I appreciate all the work that the committee has put into this. and I understand the last few tweaks and cleanups that have occurred and I think this is an improvement over what we had so I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you.

Josh?

Yeah, I think the committee did a really good job. It was hard. I mean, I think you're balancing a lot of different interests and I think getting to a result that really satisfies everyone is hard. And I think that's what you did. And so I think it's really good. So thank you.

I would agree. I would agree with Josh. And I would even go further than you and say in some communities, this has ripped them apart. And I don't know if you were thinking that. I'm saying it out loud. But here, I think it's beautiful. I really do. I think this is gorgeous. And I really appreciate all the thought that went into it, you know, of all the fine details and why. I mean, you you as a committee thought through why you did every detail that is in here and so I think it really, it means something. It is a worthy symbol of us as a community and I like the serenity of it. I think it's beautiful.

I do want to thank the committee. They were great. The conversations were good, always civil, thoughtful, and fascinating. And a shout out to Amy Haleson. She was great. She made all work. And I hope this seal lasts another 135 years.

or more.

Oh, all right. Go for that. Under 30 seconds.

Any further discussion? Marianne. I just want to say that this really represents the culmination of a set of work that said, you know, the seal is an important piece. Kevin was concerned about what it looked like when he joined the board. I've been concerned that the seal has been used inappropriately, had been used inappropriately for a long time. So I appreciate it. that we will now have a seal that can be used in an appropriate manner and we have also created a town brand with our new logo that lets us go forward and not you know use the seal places where it shouldn't but um just have a mark that is representative of the town that just can be sort of widely distributed in a better way than a seal can be done so all those pieces have finally come together and I'm glad that they've all occurred. Thank you.

If there is no further discussion, I would welcome a motion.

Madam Chair, I move to approve the new design of the Town Seal and place it on the May 2026 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.

Second.

Okay, so we will come to our roll call vote. Marianne? Aye. Kevin?

Aye.

Josh? Yes. And the chair votes yes. So we will bring the seal to town meeting. OK.

Chair, can I move the consent calendar?

Second. Second.

Okay. Let's have a vote on the consent calendar. Mary Ann? Yes. Kevin?

Yes. Josh?

Yes.

And the chair votes yes. Thank you for remembering that. Next, we have Madam Town Manager Katie King, our call for an open of the special town meeting warrant.

Great. You have a draft warrant in your packet. And we are looking at Monday, May 11, as the special town meeting date. The request tonight is to call for and open the warrant. you will close it at your next meeting on March 24th and just to kind of review what's in there right now it's it's certainly the draft. But so a lot of placeholders, I'd say. But we've moved items from the annual into the special that need more time. So you'll see the collective bargaining agreements in the special now. We have placeholders for any line item transfers that we might need in the FY26 operating or enterprise fund budgets, unpaid bills of a prior year. so some perennial items.

We've moved the article for the final appropriation required for the Steven Palmer tenant relocation assistance into the special. A newer item that we haven't discussed in the past, we have at the Riverside Park a field house that has been decommissioned for a very long time. And it came onto our radar that it really is in need of demolition. and so we will make a recommendation for an amount that would be required or DPW would recommend for to let us demolish that and again it has not been in use for a very long time and it's time for us to take care of it appropriately. We have a placeholder for open space. The zoning articles are the large house articles that are before the planning board right now. What else?

We have moved construction funding for the quiet zone to the special, again, just for more time. The dollar amount has remained unchanged from the annual. and a article that Town Council is drafting. We had a request from Health and Human Services to amend the immunization revolving fund to be able to be used for more things than just immunization. CPR classes, Narcan trainings, testing. So we're working on the language for that to recommend to the board. As with the annual, if there are any items that the board would like additional information on through a memo or presentation, please let me know. You only have three more meetings before town meeting. So just to remind everyone where we are in the calendar. So happy to answer any questions if you have them. Marianne?

No questions on the warrant. Thank you.

Will be the cost and source of funding for the demolition?

I anticipate free cash.

Yes. A ballpark cost, you know?

We were $50,000 range, but there might be some pencil sharpening. I'll have it for the next meeting.

and then the deadline for citizens positions is March 17th at 5 p.m. 17th at 5 p.m. Okay, thank you.

Kevin?

um no questions but ma'am child make a motion the board vote to call for and open the warrant for the may 11th 2026 special town meeting second okay

We will come to a vote then. Mary Ann? Aye. Kevin?

Aye. Josh? Yes.

And the Chair votes yes. Okay. And Madam Town Manager, now we have the Annual Town Meeting Warrant Update.

Great. Not much to update. There'll be, I'd say, a more significant noticeable change for the next meeting where we're really buttoning up all the article information, crossing all the i's, dotting all the t's. So this annual town meeting warrant compared to your last meeting, really the changes are the subtraction of everything that's moved over to the special. I had mentioned that your last meeting, we inserted the elected official salaries as voted by the Human Resources Advisory Committee. And on the article related to setting annual limits on the revolving fund, The only change we've made is the Aging Services Program Fund. We are recommending that the limit which had is currently this year $100,000 to increase that to $150,000 due to increased activity, particularly around fitness-related programs and activities at the CAF.

but otherwise those are the only changes since the last draft.

How many articles are there? I mean, I'm just counting.

Ballpark 45? I have not been numbering them because as soon as you number it, something changes. It feels commensurate with years prior, but we'll let you know when we finalize it.

Marianne, any questions or thoughts?

No questions. Thank you.

Josh? No. Okay. Well, I guess we will forge ahead.

Yes. And I will just note, your next meeting is the last meeting before this, the annual warrant goes to print. So if there were any changes after that point, it would be by an amendment or a withdrawal. Okay.

Good to know. Yes. Okay. And Katie King up next with the Memorandum of Agreement for North Hill. Great.

So one of the articles that's been on the draft annual warrant is a zoning amendment. North Hill has requested that the planning board advance zoning amendment to annual town meeting. They are looking to add an additional 44 units. to their campus. Why this is before the select board is that North Hills a continuing care retirement community and the financing of North Hill is more complicated than a regular rental or just paying for residents. It incorporates a number of amenities, but also more significantly the payment Monthly payments and upfront payments to cover long-term care and medical services for residents.

So because of that financial model, North Hill had identified that it was not feasible for them to provide County. We have a lot of affordable units as we traditionally know them within our you know we normally required under some of our zoning. You know if you build a multi-family housing some percentage the town requires you to have as affordable units. Again, as North Hill had identified their financing model as making that challenging or basically infeasible. they had asked if there was another way that they could satisfy the town's standard requirements for affordability and I had conveyed that in the past the town had done payments in lieu and so the request before you today is the planning board has closed the hearing on that zoning taken and a vote to advance the zoning to town meeting.

And so now I'm before this board to ask if there's agreement for me to engage in that conversation with North Hill to bring an MOA back to this board for some payment to have a commensurate kind of value attached to what we would have otherwise gotten in an affordable unit.

Mary Ann, questions or thoughts?

So Katie, I appreciate the rationale behind this payment and I think it's actually a smart way to proceed forward because I do understand the difficulties related to CCRCs. I just think it's important when we have this to consider whether it sets a precedent and be sure that the model is an appropriate one because I suspect this won't be the last time that we'll have a request for such an arrangement.

Thank you, Marianne. Josh.

Yeah. So I had a chance to speak with the town manager about this beforehand. I'm a little uncomfortable with this approach for a couple of reasons. CCRCs, in our current zoning, CCRCs are explicitly included in affordable housing requirements for the Elder Services District in Avery Square. This is a different district. There's actually no affordable requirement currently in this Apartment 2 district. We are going to be reviewing at town meeting new proposed zoning. And I think as a policy matter, it's better to decide whether or not affordable housing should be in this district by zoning rather than by an MOA. So that's a process point. I think policy-wise, you know, The housing plan that the select board approved called for town-wide inclusionary zoning.

So I think it is appropriate to have inclusionary zoning in this district. and then to Marianne's point about precedent, this will set a precedent and I think we need to have more of a discussion about in what cases there would be payment in lieu of affordable housing and how much that should be. How do you set that dollar value? The housing plan actually talks about that and says there are many different ways to set the formula. But that is something that we have to discuss in more detail. So I'm not comfortable pursuing this MOA right now. There's another thing that is a little concerning process-wise, when this was brought up to the planning board during the public hearing, the planning board members had never heard about this before. It was a surprise to them.

I hope that there can be more public discussion about this. I feel like we're at a place where we haven't had any yet.

Kevin?

Yeah, I'm okay with this. The setup of this company is like many assisted living or independent living. It's a bit more like a hotel. The actual property isn't the value. What it is is basically a life insurance policy of I'm going to be here and you're gambling that I'm going to die before I think I'll die. and you'll cover my costs and my care in that way and then there's tiers of care and so it gets the the unit isn't as important as what they get there and that's the service they provide and then you know there is a thing that after A resident passes, the percentage goes back to the heirs. So it's very complicated of how they are working this financial mechanism. It's not just that

this unit would be discounted at affordable rates. It's actually it's a service that they provide. And so they're not really it's not necessary. I think it's an appropriate used to do a memorandum to understand that they'll make either a pilot to something to either the Affordable Housing Trust or whatnot. I don't know the mechanism, but I'm okay that we pursued this avenue. I think it's actually creative given the fact that it's basically a conundrum. This is not necessarily a housing saying this is a continuing care issue. So.

Yeah, I guess I would echo that. I think it's confusing to just call it a CCRC because CCRCs come in a lot of different flavors. So whereas I think you could, in many CCRCs where really you're selling housing, you could absolutely say you need affordable units. This is a life insurance product that you can live in. More or less. And so I don't think it's feasible. But yet, I think the town can benefit from having the money to you know pursue other projects later my my one concern and I don't know if it's shared by others, but is that whatever payments we get, I want to make sure that they are earmarked and restricted to affordable housing.

When I discussed it with the town manager, we were discussing if this went forward to put them to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

yeah so um yeah these are just highly unusual i don't know that we'd ever have another one of these i mean north hill i mean maybe you know depending on what came to town but i believe north hill is the only one of its type in town is that fair or is that

I think it's fair, but I also want to reflect back that I think it... would be helpful if we set some guidelines for the future moving forward. I'm not sure that it needs to preclude this project in front of you because you can evaluate the financing model of North Hill on its own. But moving forward, because of the variety of Financial Models that are under the umbrella of a CCRC. I think it would serve us well if we set some parameters to help guide future requests because there is a lot of variety and I think My sense is that it's a growing field and that Needham is a place that these would want to be located. Just observe that.

I think that makes sense. I think that, you know, as I said earlier, there are certain CCRCs where they could be treated just like any other property. You know, no problem. and just to have affordable units and others where they cannot. Mary Ann, did you want to add in?

So I actually was going to say my understanding of CCRCs is that they are in fact a particular type of property. And North Hill, I know, is identical to the property that my parents were in in Pennsylvania, which was also a CCRC. It is a particular structure, this life insurance kind of structure. And for example, it's very different from Waterstone, which is a rental model. It's a different and you can in fact have affordable units in that other model. I guess the idea that there's lots of different flavors of CCRCs, if there are, then that's new because CCRCs have had a particular legal structure across the U.S. for the last 30 years, as far as I at least that's my understanding. So I think it's different.

But I do still think it's worthwhile evaluating the model, understanding a potential precedent it sets, and I absolutely agree that the funds should be earmarked for affordable housing.

Let me just, for a point of clarification, Madam Town Manager, maybe it's my misunderstanding, but I thought, for example, that Wingate was a CCRC. But they have a different financial model.

It's correct. The Mass General Law definition of a CCRC is pretty broad. And so for example, there is Wingate is one example where there are additional amenities in addition to housing, but it does not include the life insurance component or the long-term care component, but they're still kind of denoted under their applications with the state as being a CCRC, where they are much more closely aligned to a standard standalone multifamily housing.

Yeah. So I guess it just will complicate the task of trying to establish a policy or some guidelines going forward. But I think we should. But it may not be CCRC, but it may be some aspect of it. you know maybe it is you know the life insurance model or something but Josh you wanted to yeah maybe two more points so on the issue of Wingate

We, well the town I guess, insisted that Wingate waive their entrance fee for affordable units, and they did. that apparently fits their model. The idea, I mean, in a way affordable housing you know, for profit entities would probably say that it doesn't fit their model in most cases because they're for profit. They want to make as much money as possible. But I think inclusionary zoning is something that the town should insist on in many, if not all cases. The question about the life insurance, I don't want to be in a position where we are exempting organizations that are

that offer so many services that they only cater to wealthy individuals. So if those types of organizations are exempt but others are not, that seems very classist to me.

I guess, and I think that's very valid, I guess in my mind, having an MOU where we're extracting a payment is not the same as being exempt. Being exempt would be like, OK, you don't have to do anything. and I trust that Madam Town Manager would be negotiating with them to get the equivalent of value or the ability for us to help finance the equivalent number of units that they would have had to put. So I would view this as not exempting, but as of getting, you know, getting the pound of flesh. So I think the negotiation has to be a serious negotiation to get that value. And I agree, no exemptions. just because you're fancy and offer a lot of stuff. Definitely not. But get the value, and that's in the negotiation. And I have a lot of confidence in our town manager as a negotiator.

and ultimately the board will vote on the MLA. So you will decide if it's sufficient.

Yeah. But I hear you. No, no exemption. Other discussion. If not, I welcome a motion.

All right. Madam Chair, I move that the Board authorize the Town Manager to negotiate a memorandum of understanding between the Town and North Hill, subject to final approval by the Select Board.

second okay Marianne I'm going to vote yes Kevin yes Josh no and the chair votes yes okay

Katie, can I just confirm one more thing? I believe that North Hill is a not for profit organization. That's correct. Thank you.

Next up we have the town manager's report.

Just one item which is I want to thank everyone for their patience on the Rosemary Recreational Complex. We have been without heat since the last blizzard. We've had Our staff out there, we've had the vendor that contracts with that particular equipment, and we still are working to get it up and running. programs have been relocated and so you know senior yoga I know it's always there on Tuesdays and it's very frustrating to be in a different space but staff have been working from there working from other town buildings working remotely so just want to thank everyone for their patience and we're working hard on it.

Thank you. Okay, so I guess we're on to committee reports. Marianne, I don't know if you've had a committee since our last meeting.

no committees since the last meeting no committees uh josh the tree committee met last night and we actually made uh several important decisions along the way so we were discussing the regulations um and there was a philosophical Not just philosophical, but it impacts the implementation of do we prioritize saving as many trees as possible or the largest trees as possible? Yeah, it was intricate. So we ended up deciding on parameters. We have this framework for, When there is a permit and it involves the removal or planting of trees, there are credits that are applied to trees proportional to their diameter.

and whether or not you are removing it that would be a detraction or you are adding trees that would be a credit and so with this formula we are hoping that we are incentivizing the the saving of trees, that trees are not taken down, while at the same time promoting or incentivizing that trees be planted in the event that trees have to be taken down. and there's also a fee schedule if for whatever reason a builder or a homeowner takes down trees and chooses not to replant them, there is a mitigation fee that would go into that plan. when it comes to town meeting, we're going to make sure that we have rough range of how much that fee would be in certain cases and the cases where that fee could be avoided because the intent is not to collect fees. The intent is actually to

save trees and promote the planting of trees.

Complicated formula incentive system.

Yeah.

Okay, any others? No. No, that's enough.

Kevin? Well, you heard about the town seal, so that's that update. I would add that went to the Needham Muslim neighbors, the Iftar, on Sunday.

That was great.

It was a great, it was lovely. And the food was excellent. And that's all I got. Oh, and the lunar eclipse, I tried to go see it. It was below the horizon. They were wrong.

Nerve.

I know. Six in the morning. Okay.

Yes, I'll second that on the IFTAR. I thought it was amazing. I had not been able to go before, and I just, I really, I loved it. They did an amazing job. So I know you guys have been before. but it was wonderful. I do have a TCHOC update and this is one of, I have the slides here, is one of our quarterly meetings so we, We meet quarterly to hear updates from the projects that have been funded by town meeting and then during months if we're just doing reimbursements. But so we had a quarterly update the Charles River Center, Charles River Heights gave us an update. They are nearly through their zoning process, which is great. They were not selected in this round of EOHLC, but really more or less to be expected. EOHLC had, I think, twice the number of applications that they normally have, a very competitive round.

and normally they really don't fund unless the zoning is done and I'm imagining that they were stricter about it because they had so many applications they're not going to do a summer round so the next opportunity will be in the fall. It has not been announced. But I think that this project has gotten a lot of good feedback in the past. They're quite unusual and innovative in helping a disabled community with real need. Seabed's Way is really moving forward. There is, I think we've discussed this before, there is, well, has the CPC voted yet on this? They have not, right? No they have their public hearing tomorrow night and then they vote on the 18th. Okay so we don't know what CPC is going to move forward for CPA funding at town meeting but one of the things they are considering is the

The grant for Seabeds Way to redo the roofs so that they can support solar. So we'll see how that goes. But they're still on a target construction start date of June of this year. and completion in January of 2028. And they are moving along in their process. And they they, you know, have their funding, which is incredible. So they are moving forward. On Linden Terrace, there's also very good news. I think I've shared some of this before, but that the EOHLC has invited them to submit their one-stop financing application which they are doing this month they're working feverishly on this and they have this innovative so I don't want to get too far in the weeds but and now they don't even call it Faircloth Authority anymore, but they call it Restore Rebuild.

But anyway, there are these units that need to be freed up from seabeds. can't be freed up until CBEDS starts construction. But now CBEDS is starting construction. But anyway, what the NHA has done is they have made a partnership with the Taunton Housing Authority to sort of switch so that Taunton will sort of loan us their Restore, Rebuild, formerly Faircloth, Authority, 40 units in time for us to apply. And then we will loan them ours in time for them. And the EOHLC seems to be greeting this enthusiastically. and they like this.

I have a question. Is that to advance Lyndon?

Yes, I'm sorry. I should have explained. Yes, Lyndon, to advance Lyndon. So which... was looking dicey because of this whole thing. But things are moving now. Seabeds is moving. Linden is moving. So with the Linden project, to be invited, just so that we understand what this is, we're talking about Only five spots. We're one of five. And they're going to pick two. So 40% chance. But this is a small group. They're not inviting 100. They're not inviting 1,000. They're inviting five. So that is good news. There's some details about small grants, which I will not get into, but that's fundamentally where we are. Yes. OK. So we are now moving to an executive session.

So the chair moves that the select board enter executive session pursuant to exception three. to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the Needham Firefighters Local 1706. Needham Police Union, the Police Superior Officers Association, and the Needham Building Custodian Trades Independent Association, where the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body. the Chair so declares, and to adjourn at the conclusion of the Executive Session without returning to Open Session.

Second.

Mary Ann? Aye. Kevin? Aye. Josh? Yes. And the chair votes yes, so we are entering executive session.