January 28, 2008
Present was Jonathan P. Smith, James C. Lehan, and John P. Hathaway, Town Administrator. Ramesh H. Advani was absent.
PUBLIC HEARING - VERIZON NEW ENGLAND, INC.
Jonathan Smith opened the hearing at 7:40 p.m. and read the hearing notice. Present was Peter Bowman, Jim McGrail, and Tom Antonnucci, Verizon representatives. Our attorney, Bill Solomon arrived late.
Mr. Bowman was the speaker. He gave a summary of what Verizon is all about. He explained their ability and what the equipment is capable of doing. They have 64 franchises in Massachusetts. They have built out the network in Norfolk. He will answer questions, and turned it over to Mr. McGrail.
Jim McGrail said Verizon first met in May 2007 to indicate their interest. He summarized the chronology of when they met.
Jonathan Smith noted for the record that the members of the Cable Committee were - Jonathan Smith, John Spinney, Jamie Masterson and Jack Hathaway.
Jim McGrail said it is a 15 year term under Massachusetts market. Equipment grant of $150,000 of 3 payments of $50,000 each. 5% of gross annual revenues to access point or the Town - whoever the town designates. PEG means public, education, and government channels in the town. Build out here in the community - 12 months to do this for the subscribers. 89% of the town is built out. It is broken down into aerial, buried, and multiple dwelling units.
Jonathan mentioned we will receive free digital cable to the two elementary schools and the Middle school. Jim McGrail said they will give a free drop. They will provide 11 public places within the town.
Jim Lehan asked about the language that limited the amount of footage free of charge in laying the line - 250'. Jim McGrail said they are trying to protect precedent, and the fact that it is the same as the incumbent.
Paul Altmeyer, Norfolk Cable - NCTV with Donna Jones, Richard Connors. Paul asked about INET. Jim McGrail said they do not provide INET.
It was asked if Verizon would they retain the same channel numbers? Jim McGrail said no, they can't accommodate because of national licenses.
Jim Hergt, 28 Freedom Trail. He said he did sign up for FIOS.
Bill Solomon arrived. He explained what the three payments are used for. Bill explained the methodology for the three PEG channels. He also mentioned the switching mechanism. Town Hall or Library. He said that he is late because he was on the phone trying to put finishing touches on the contract so it could be voted tonight. This decision needs to be decided so we can sign the contract.
At 8:35 p.m., there was a short recess. At 8:39 p.m., the meeting resumed.
Jack Oliveiri asked about losing power. He said there are a lot of trees and will the system stay up. Would the government or access channels stay up? Peter Bowman said there is a possibility you would lose your cable.
Bob Boucher asked if there are any penalties upgrading? The answer was no.
John Feeney asked about drops to individual houses. Do you keep the same interior wiring and do you lose quality if you do? You need to change the wiring.
Bill Solomon said Verizon will provide us a statement for the record - remote switching will be fully resolved and he will email a statement to that effect. The Town Hall will be the site that will work, and not the Library. Switching to be done from the access studio if that equipment is located elsewhere, which would be at the town hall, on caveat is that they will strike the public Library the aggregation point for that equipment and for the aggregation would be at the town hall. So Verizon will make a statement about what cooperation means with respect to the issuance of remote switching and that will fully resolve all issues.
Tom Antonnucci said he concurs with the statement that Bill has made, and simply put, if there is equipment that would provide or allow for remote switching and is compatible with the Verizon equipment, we would gladly provide that to the Town and the one caveat being that if such equipment is available, until it is, if it is not cost prohibitive. Again, our obligation in these efforts is to act reasonable and try to be as accommodating and effective as we possibly can in order to replicate the needs of the town.
Jonathan Smith closed the public comment portion of the hearing. Jim Lehan moved to accept the contract dated 1/28/08 the Cable Television Final License, Town of Norfolk, New England Verizon, Inc., with the caveat that on page 12 we agree to strike in Section 5.2.1 "or the public library" from that draft. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
STOP & SHOP
Timothy Mahoney and Linda Costanzo of Stop & Shop were present. Jonathan said that we had asked a couple months ago for Stop & Shop representatives to come forward and give us an update and their expectations and what they had planned.
Timothy Mahoney was the spokesperson for Stop & Shop. He said he is a resident of West Hartford, Connecticut. He is the vice president of real estate for Stop & Shop Supermarkets. He has been in this position since Sept. 2007. Prior to that, he oversaw all the real estate functions in the state of Connecticut, western Massachusetts and the Hudson Valley in New York State. He said he is in charge of delivering new store projects to the company. Opening and developing new stores. Norfolk and the project here, is now his responsibility. He took that over in September. Prior to that, he has not had any involvement with this project at all.
He said he wanted to summarize what he thinks we are looking for; so that he is sure he is answering the right questions. His understanding is that over the last 5 years and possibly before that, this town has been working on basically a master plan to develop more of a town center in Norfolk around the T station. We have developed a portion of that with the Library, the beautiful Town Hall, streetscape, etc. There are 3 parcels of land that sit between here and the T Station and those parcels are all controlled by Stop & Shop. In the various development proposals, there is a 50,000 square foot supermarket that has been approved by your Planning Board for the large Stop & Shop parcel. There are currently public hearings underway on the other two parcels for a drug store - Walgreen's and some other
retail buildings. He said he understands that we are very, very frustrated with Stop & Shop's failure at this point to move forward with the development of the supermarket parcel, and basically looking for a straight answer - what's going on, what's your intention, what do we intend to do, and how are we going to do it?
Mr. Mahoney said they are going to start construction with the drug store on the first parcel, once approved. The public hearing has been closed on this parcel on Liberty Lane. It is their intention to construct the drug store this spring, as early as March, as well as the small retail building. They will straighten out Liberty Lane to bring it back to the T station, extending the sidewalk along Liberty Lane from the north side back to the T station and putting in the ornamental lighting and other streetscape features. They will grade out the property and prepare it for development. He is still negotiating with possible tenants and that hasn't advanced far enough yet to get to the construction stage. They are committed to go forward and do these things.
He said that about two months ago he became actively involved and got his staff to start working on this so that he could give you an answer. They presented this project to his senior real estate committee last Tuesday. They felt strongly that they want to be here with a supermarket, but felt that this is not the right size supermarket. They are not going to go forward with a supermarket of 50,000 square feet now. They will grade out this entire property, plant it with grass, put topsoil on it and landscape it. As they do the work on Liberty Lane, they will extend utilities into the site, put a temporary curve and begin to prepare it for ultimate development.
They still think there is opportunity here to have a supermarket. It is their intention to work towards developing a supermarket for this parcel. Mr. Mahoney said he knows that's not the answer the Board was hoping to hear. They were prepared to develop this store two years ago. There was a major shift in leadership at Stop & Shop. Major players who were first here are no longer here. There is a new President, and the entire leadership changed. It also changed the philosophy of their stores. He said you see the store starting to shrink. They are actively been with that for the better part of four months. There is a different merchandise offering which is calling for a smaller store. By the end of summer, they will have that concept in place.
They are no longer building super center size stores. Their goal is that by sometime next year, they will understand exactly what it is they are going to build, in general.
They are looking aggressively at Norfolk as the next group of stores being built. It will be smaller than 50,000 square feet. They will meet with us regularly to be apprised of where they are in the process, with a new plan, and if you reach a point where you make a decision that this won't work, they will work with us and help us with an alternative. It is his commitment they will sit down and work with us.
Jonathan asked if he can put parameters on the term aggressive for their company. Timothy said they hired a new senior level executive vice president whose job is to move these smaller stores. Brand new position just created. That's where the industry is going. This team's job is to work on this. He is hoping to test this new store as quickly as possible.
Jim Lehan said he met with your predecessor approximately 3 years ago. He asked if we are part of your 3 year capital plan. Mr. Mahoney said no.
Jim said our dilemma is that we have been trying to work on this for the better part of 5 years and have been teased. He said that this is the lynchpin for us because we need an anchor store in order to get a traffic flow. Jim said that we have waited 5 years and now we aren't in the picture for 3 years. We have now wasted more than 8 years.
Mr. Mahoney said he's hoping that the Board will give suggestions. Jim said it's time to work on an alternative. Jim said that this is $1.1 million dollars of revenue that we have been waiting for for 5 years now, and now you are telling us another 5 years minimum. Jim said that he would like them to work with us to transition this. We can't afford to sit back and run the risk of no activity for 5 years and then tell us there's no deal. Mr. Mahoney said he's not telling us that. He said we are not in the capital plan for the next 3 years. He said the best scenario is a year from now they come and build in the next year. He said they look at 2010 as the time frame of when this will work.
Tom Poppey confirmed that the supermarket is fully permitted. Mr. Mahoney said they lease the property; they don't own it but are in full control of it.
Jonathan said the plan is so old that it says "proposed expansion of the library", which is a fully built building now.
Jonathan said there are 5 Stop & Shop stores in communities around Norfolk.
What is the incentive to having a store around here? Mr. Mahoney said they envision Norfolk as a complete different store than what's been built.
Jim asked if they would release control of the property. Mr. Mahoney said not right now, but maybe at some point in the future. He is new to the mix and would like a chance to work on this first.
Jack asked about the roadway for the emergency vehicles. They said they will start in March/April. He said he would like to see the road finished as opposed to the binder there now. He wants the landscape done. It will make a lot of the problems go away. He asked for a commitment to do this land. Mr. Mahoney said yes.
Tom Poppey clarified that the pharmacy hearing is closed. Retail next to it is not a closed hearing. The permitting process is still open. He was surprised tonight - even last week, he is surprised to hear of a building less than 50,000 sq ft. Roadway - they are working with a bond right now which will be great incentive. Also, trees, lighting, etc. Planning Board approved a sign at Independence. Planning Board has worked collaboratively with the applicant to modify the zoning to make it a viable business project. They will sign a decision this week for the pharmacy. By February 22, the applicant should be free to build as far as the Planning Board is concerned.
Jonathan allowed persons on a town board to speak. He asked them to get together with the Town Administrator by February 25th with respect to a warrant article.
ACTION ITEMS
Jim Lehan moved to approve the request of Peter Chipman to decrease the sidewalk easement at 220 Main Street from 11 feet to 6 feet. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
Jim Lehan moved to approve the street acceptance plan layout of a portion of Liberty Lane, drawn by Coler & Colantonio, engineers and scientists, dated September 13, 2006 and revised January 28, 2008. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
BI-WEEKLY CALENDAR
Jack reviewed the Bi-Weekly calendar.
OLD BUSINESS
Jonathan said that under the Cherry Sheet we got preliminary estimates. Jack reviewed them.
NEW BUSINESS
It was decided to conduct a roundtable session to discuss Stop & Shop.
Jack read the letters of thanks from Wrentham to Police Officer Mark Vendetti and Sgt. Kevin Roake for assisting in their town; and a fire commendation letter from Chief Bushnell commending Dispatcher Gregg McMorrow, Deputy Chief Stephen Wood and Detective Nate Fletcher for assisting a woman who had fallen through the ice at Bush Pond.
Jack announced that the new fire truck arrived.
Jack relayed the Simpson message. Jack recommends that the Selectmen consider having a meeting with Mr. Simpson to discuss the allegations as they play into his role as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals. Jim said it's a very regrettable set of circumstances. This Board has no choice than to ensure you explore all of the facts, since you have concerns. Jim said he understands that we need to have Mr. Simpson present in order to discuss this. Jack said yes, and advised them to convene a meeting and notify Mr. Simpson of the date and time. Jack's concern is he needs more information and requests that the Appointing Authority step in and helps garnish more information.
Jonathan asked what you are asking of us at this time. Jack said we need to set a date. The Board asked about February 7th. We will assume it's executive unless Mr. Simpson says otherwise. Jim said we have no choice. The Board and Jack agreed that we will have no discussions regarding this matter until after the public hearing.
At 10:42 p.m., being no further business, Jim Lehan moved to adjourn the meeting. Jonathan Smith seconded, and it was so voted.
This is a true and accurate report of the Selectmen's Meeting of January 28, 2008.
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Ramesh H. Advani, Clerk
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