 BELLINGHAM PLANNING BOARD
2 MECHANIC STREET
BELLINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS 02019
(508) 657-2892 FAX (508) 966-2317
June 26, 2008 Meeting Minutes
Patricia Buckley (PMB), Chairman
Glenn C. Wojcik (GCW), Vice Chairman
Stephen Bartha (SB), Secretary
David Brown (DB)
Brian J. Sutherland (BJS)
John Sexton (JS), Associate Member
Other officials: Stacey J. Wetstein (SJW), Town Planner
Amy Cook (AC), Commission on Disabilities
Amy Sault (AS), Coordinator (absent)
PMB opened the meeting at 7:00 PM.
Bellingham Commons II Lot 1 Development Plan Modification Decision Signing
BJS: Motion to sign the decision for the Development Plan Review Modification for Bellingham Commons II Lot 1.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
Dwyer Business Park, 316 Hartford Avenue, Development Plan Review
BJS: Motion to continue the public hearing for Dwyer Business Park, 316 Hartford Avenue, Development Plan Review until July 24, 2008 at 7:30 PM.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to accept the request to extend the decision deadline to August 29, 2008 for the Dwyer Business Park, 316 Hartford Ave, Development Plan.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
The Shoppes at Bellingham Continued Public Hearing, Development Plan Review, Water Resource District Special Permit and Major Business Complex Special Permit
Bob Frazier, W/S Development. Mr. Frazier stated that SJW coordinated some meetings with John Connery, who provided the initial fiscal impact and Jeff Donohoe the Town’s consultant. Also a subsequent meeting with department heads Don DiMartino of the DPW, Fire Department and Captain Corriveau of the Police Department were able to sit down and with both of the fiscal consultants go back and forth on the impacts to those departments. It was very effective and didn’t resolve everything, but tonight can present the information.
PMB stated that as a result of a family emergency the discussion will need to be limited to 20 minutes for each consultant.
Mr. Frazier stated that for state purposes the project has a retail and office component, but for this analysis only the retail portion. At such time as the office component would come forward it would go through the complete Planning Board process.
John Connery, Connery Associates, Melrose, Mass, fiscal analysis consultant for developer. Mr. Connery summarized the report starting with the major findings. The assessed value of the property is at $4,353,000. The assessed value of the proposed project based on the current tax rate and his estimates of value at 15% higher than the Charles River Shoppes is approximately $89,183,000; an increase of approximately 20 times more than the assessment. The tax yield on the current site is currently $66,700. The tax yield from proposed development and completion, probably an 18 month to 2 year construction from the date of start is about $1,365,000. The project has a number of cost factors that were looked at, and there was a net fiscal benefit of $824,000 after cost that is an average annual benefit. Mr.
Connery stated that he talked to the Town’s consultant, Jeff Donohoe, and that he should have gone a little deeper to a net-net versus what he has as the $824,000, which is a profile of the project. If you deduct the $66,700, the net-net is approximately $750,000. The Shoppes at Bellingham will generate $660,000 in building permit and related construction fees. At a minimum this amount will easily cover cost. Put in perspective, this amount will hire 5 full building inspectors for 2 years. About an approximately $89,000,000 increase to the Town’s commercial tax rate. It is a significant amount to the tax levy and for the first couple of years taxes from here won’t be subject to Proposition 2 ½.
Mr. Connery continued by stating that the Shoppes at Bellingham is a very different type of center, a “lifestyle center”, of which there are a number in the state. He didn’t use the numbers for other lifestyle centers. He just used the Bellingham numbers at the Charles River Center, produces about $432,000 now and it is only 199,618 square feet. There is a lot more restaurant space in the Shoppes, 51,000 square feet, which is almost always the highest taxed individual retail type activity per square foot. So factored the revenue stream at a $162 per foot.
On page six of Mr. Connery’s report he talks about service cost from the department heads discussion meeting. He didn’t change the costs for the DPW except for the pavement life repair he states that he annualized it to match other number data. The Fire Department averages about 152 runs per year to all three shopping centers, but they used 200 runs per year from previous years estimates, which equates to about 10% of all the runs in Town, factored back in comes to about 2 full time personnel with benefits and equipment. The Police is one shift of 4, but shopping centers take a little more work, i.e. detectives for credit fraud etc, so he added 5 personnel. He also added in an additional car, but added gasoline at $4 gallon for only one year, so he redid his numbers to be closer to $56,000 – $57,000
per year.
Cost to revenue ratio is approximately .4, so that any given year it might operate between .35 and .45; $.35 to $.45 cents on every dollar of everything that comes in covers all costs. So on the other end of the spectrum the Town might be making $.58-.60 on the dollar net, which is what generates that $824,000 ($750,000 depending on how it is calculated). The project has a very strong fiscal profile. That $825,000 doesn’t come as soon as put a shovel to the ground—it comes incrementally and takes a while to get there.
Jeff Donohoe, Jeffrey Donohoe Associates. He reviewed John Connery’s work. He has some minor differences and prepared a report. There was a lengthy discussion on backing out the net the existing taxes on the project. Connery’s approach is reasonable and credible on the revenue estimate, but Mr. Donohoe also looked at a worst case scenario. The DPW, police and fire costs are reasonable as well. His worst case scenario is where costs are a little higher and revenues are a little lower. The optimistic scenario is at $750,000, the pessimistic scenario is about $550,000. Still, this is a fiscally positive project for the community. He would like to see more about what the Building Department would incur, but a one time cost versus an annual cost.
GCW questioned Mr. Connery on the estimate of the police analysis of 5 and if one of those was a detective. Mr. Connery didn’t make a staffing decision of whether or not one of those 5 was a detective at a higher salary. Mr. Donohoe stated that the funds available would support 5, but ultimately the Town’s decision. GCW wants one of the 5 to be considered on a detective salary. GCW also wants the support costs for the additional people to be considered, by analyzing the existing budget less salary and cars etc, so he wanted to know the additional costs of department for additional personnel. Mr. Connery didn’t think that those costs would be measurable. GCW stated that he agreed is finding a measurable cost, but right now Mr. Connery didn’t include any measurable costs at all.
Mr. Connery and Mr. Donohoe agreed that the discussion with the police department didn’t raise this need as being an issue. GCW disagreed and wanted that number included in the report. He also wanted the same assessment for the fire department. Mr. Connery did not think that those costs would be substantial and not project based, but Mr. Donohoe stated he would review on behalf of the Town.
GCW questioned the staffing for fire with regard to restaurants because he would think that restaurants would get a lot more calls than a retail store. Mr. Connery stated that the staff number and total number of runs came from all the three existing centers came from the fire department and in fact, the number of runs to the three centers dropped from 200 to 150, but to be conservative he used the 200 number. He doesn’t have data on restaurant specifically. Mr. Donohoe stated that the fire department did not break out the calls and he wasn’t sure they had the data, but he will as the question of the fire department.
DB questioned on the number of runs and if this was just calls inside the plazas? Mr. Connery stated that that the runs included anything in the immediate area. DB stated that there is more than 1 ½ runs per week to those areas. Mr. Connery stated that the fire department was quite clear about the differences on the runs in terms of time and vehicles. Mr. Donohoe stated that it was 150 calls to that area out of about 2000 for the Town as a whole. DB thought that it should be more. He also wanted the report to include the cost of auto insurance as a result of the number of accidents that happen per year and Bellingham has a higher auto insurance rate than even Boston. Mr. Connery stated that the context of the project is set within a major traffic improvement.
BJS stated concerns about the increase of oil and gas in terms of the actual costs of pavement repair and roadway infrastructure. Mr. Donohoe stated that Don DiMartino provided the cost numbers and he feels that it does track the cost very closely, but they don’t have Don’s exact calculations on hand. BJS added that he has concerns about the success of a project based on high end stores and he doesn’t want a white elephant. Mr. Donohoe stated that the developer is not in that much of a rush right now because of the economy, but if they don’t start construction in 2009 at the bottom of the market, but if they opened in 2012 the economy would be on the upswing.
With regard to the fire department, BJS stated that if a project tips the scales then it wouldn’t be unreasonable to have the project look at a percentage or a portion that would go into a station for the future for their fair share.
JS questioned the revenue section with regard to the 51,000 s.f. of restaurant and the need for additional Board of Health. Mr. Connery stated that it is approximately 9 restaurants that have a required 2 inspections per year and there is a fee for inspections, so the inspection costs are covered. Jerry Mayhew from the Board of Selectmen stated that the fees for the Board of Health have fees that pay for outside inspectors. JS asked if there are complaints outside the 2 inspections, but Mr. Connery stated that would be additional inspections but probably not that many.
SJW questioned the realistic start up and completions dates of 2009 and 2012 and the numbers generated. Mr. Connery stated that the actual cost numbers would change, but to him the most important factor is the general operating factor of .4, so that if it opens later, the ratio of .4 would hold. Mr. Donohoe stating is that the ratio of 40% of revenues generated would be cost and that ratio would stay the same. He had two issues though in that every time tax rates are changed it changes the revenue side and it is a very difficult thing to predict. To go out 5 or 6 years there need to be more assumptions to be made on costs, so the numbers are more flexible.
GCW wanted to know how the residential versus commercial tax rate is calculated. Jerry Mayhew stated that businesses are taking more than their fair share of their taxes because the value of residential has gone down and what the Town is trying to do is make sure that it is equitable and fair to both sectors of the Town. So the $750,000 goes to the Town and what the Town can do with that money to keep the proper balance between businesses and residential.
PMB felt that the police and fire numbers are going to be actually higher than the estimate. She also questioned the dates of 2009 and wanted to know the plan for the interchange, since it is not on MassHighway’s radar for even 2012. Bob Frazier stated that MassHighway has a project that they’ve agreed to construct and that the House has approved a bill for money and it is expected to be approved in the Senate for funding. W/S has a good relationship with many of the prospective tenants for the Lifestyle Center, but it is all about timing. W/S missed the boat on several other potential projects, so they are a little early, but they don’t want to miss out again. He hopes that within the next 60 days the financial part of the MassHighway project will be resolved. BJS wanted to know
what it would do if it was pushed back. Mr. Donohoe would look at the trend in the tax rate and the estimate of the revenue side and project the increases in the various departments.
Issues that Mr. Donohoe will be looking at for the Planning Board:
- Impact of the issue of a detective salary versus a starting level salary;
- Incremental costs for per employee for various departments;
- How fire calls and runs were determined and number of vehicles;
- Insurance issues and rates;
- Change in paving costs and how DPW calculated;
- Order of magnitude numbers of retail market and where there are gaps;
- Percentage of start up costs for a new fire station;
- Impact on the Board of Health;
- Impact of the potential delay;
- If police numbers are realistic.
GCW wanted historical insurance rates to get an idea of before development and after and if Bellingham is comparable to surrounding communities. He also wants total assessed value for business and residences for purposes of tax ratio.
Peter Morrelli, Temi Road, stated that the Connery report did not have any information on the impact to real estate values for the residential areas such as Wethersfield and Cedar Hill areas. He would also like to see an assessment of the “mom and pop” type businesses that are up at that end of Town. Mr. Connery stated that with regard to the residential component is that there really is no impact if there is no operational impact of the project to the component (i.e. traffic stays within predicted areas). He also stated that this shopping center has a completely different retail component of national chain stores with two different markets. PMB wanted to know if property values have ever shown to increase because of a shopping center. BJS pointed out that the Wethersfield neighborhood would be
directly impacted by the increase in traffic volumes and the bypass road.
Nancy Forbes, 216 Hartford Avenue, stated that she lives directly across from the Pizzeria Uno’s and the Home Depot mall and her property values have gone down. She’s had problems with people throwing lemons and oranges being thrown at her house from patrons at Uno’s and the value of her home has definitely gone down.
Rob Daly, North Main Street, questioned whether the salary estimates included the benefits package. PMB replied that they were included.
Jim Dunlea, High Street, questioned if the police estimate included the “hanging out” aspect of malls and the required continued police presence. PMB stated the W/S would need to get police details if that was the situation and Bob Frazier confirmed that extra police details would be at the expense of W/S. Mr. Dunlea wanted to know if any consideration was taken to include additional legal costs for frivolous lawsuits. PMB stated that the Town may get included in something like that, but that W/S would be the main defendant. Mr. Dunlea wanted to know if any educational costs were considered, i.e. if new people move to the Town and have children. Mr. Connery stated that the housing opportunities are not that many in Bellingham and that there are not that many full time jobs associated with the
development that would result in people moving to the Town. Mr. Dunlea also wanted to know if maintenance of secondary roads were considered as well. Mr. Connery stated that most of the points of access will be from the state highway and state access. If they are coming from a secondary road in Town then they are already using the roads. GCW stated that there will be more wear and tear on the road and that the Town will be footing the bill for that cost. Mr. Dunlea also wants the Town to consider what it will do to the value of homes in the Town.
Dave Albrecht and Rick Bryant from Tetra Tech Rizzo to talk about parking issues. Mr. Bryant stated that it was his understanding that the Board wanted to keep parking to a minimum for more open space and yet making sure there is adequate parking. They collected aerial photographs of each of the centers that W/S on early afternoon of Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving) to count the cars in the lot parked and driving and relate it to the Floor Area Ratio of the centers. The average came to 2.94 and looked at the worst case scenario at 4.25 ratio (Charles River Center) and Canton (lifestyle center) at 4.01. What they are aiming for is a ratio of 4.25 of parking spaces. PMB wanted to know if they could use a parking garage instead of all that asphalt. Mr. Bryant replied that the cost to go up is very
expensive and usually on works in urban, not suburban areas. Mr. Albrecht discussed the site plan as being similar to what the Board has seen all along, except that they will be removing 145 spaces in upper corner (for archaeological reasons), and that they’ve been working with the Conservation Commission to incorporate some Low Impact Design techniques to create medians between the parking and 10-15’ wide swales to help treat the water. Between those medians and other parking the ratio is down to 4.57 per thousand spaces. They are still working on the 4.25 ratio for the waiver request. The landscaping waiver request will come at the same time as the parking waiver request.
BJS has concerns about the two remote parking lots across the street. Mr. Albrecht stated that those would be likely spaces for employees. Rick Bryant stated that the 4.25 ratio is only in extreme conditions and most other times it won’t even be close to that and that the retailers will want their customers to park closer to their stores and will require employees to remote locations. Bob Frazier stated that they run a shuttle service for customers and security for employees and customers.
Peter Morelli asked whether or not the parking calculations considered snow storage. Mr. Albrecht stated that the on-site management handles the snow removal and anything removed off-site is governed by the MassDEP snow removal policy.
PMB asked when they would be ready to bring the access road to Town Meeting. Mr. Frazier stated that they are still trying to find out from the State on their position of the road. BJS asked about MassHighway’s comment to make the access a flow-through road instead of a T-intersection. Marc Lavoie stated that they’ve indicated to MassHighway that they don’t control that land and it is not part of the proposal at this time.
DB questioned whether the proposed road between Rawson Road and Deerfield Lane will be purchased or an easement. Bob Frazier stated that right now they have Purchase and Sales Agreements for both entire full lots. PMB asked about Nancy Forbes home and access. Bob Frazier stated that he had spoken to Nancy at the beginning of the project and that they would work together if and when the project moves forward. Nancy Forbes stated that her conversation with Mr. Frazier was not favorable and that he had stated to her that he could not help her. BJS stated that Ms. Forbes situation is not any different than the Rawson and Deerfield residents and that she needs relief.
Discussion for the next public hearing will focus on architecture and parking.
BJS: Motion to continue public hearings for the Shoppes at Bellingham Development Plan Review, Major Business Complex Special Permit and Water Resource District Special Permit to August 28, 2008 at 7:30 PM.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to accept a request for an extension deadlines to December 12, 2008 for the Shoppes at Bellingham Development Plan Review, Major Business Complex Special Permit and Water Resource District Special Permit.
DB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
General Business
SB: Motion to accept the May 22, 2008 minutes as amended.
GCW: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
DB: Motion to accept June 12, 2008 minutes as amended.
GCW: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to sign vouchers.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the Town of Bellingham Planning Board and Town Planner, Stacey Wetstein for the period of July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the Town of Bellingham Planning Board and Coordinator, Amy Sault for the period of July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to approve a temporary pay increase for Coordinator Amy Sault during the Town Planner maternity leave to $23.00 per hour.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
BJS: Motion to authorize the Town Planner to work at her hourly rate during her maternity leave.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
SJW updated the Planning Board on the status of the Thundermist Car Wash. She informed the Board a second Temporary Occupancy Permit was issued and that is the expectation of the Board, the Building Inspector and Town Administrator that the bay doors are closed during operation. PMB will contact Mr. Lussier’s attorney to inform him of the expectation of the doors being closed during operation.
SJW also informed the Board the attorney for the Brook Estates and Bellwood Condominiums met with Attorney Ambler and they came to the conclusion that it would be acceptable to submit amendments to the Brook Estates and Bellwood Condominiums Special Permits. They are tentatively scheduled for the August 14, 2008 meeting and after that they will be submitting for the middle parcel later in August.
DB: Motion to adjourn.
SB: Second.
Vote: 5-0, Approved.
Minutes Accepted on: _______________________ ______________________________________
(date) (prepared by: Amy Sault)
__________________________________________ ______________________________________
Stephen Bartha Brian J. Sutherland
__________________________________________ ______________________________________
David Brown Glenn Wojcik
__________________________________________
Patricia M. Buckley
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