TEWKSBURY MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE MEETING

March 27, 2003

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm.  Members present were Frank Sweet, Sal Torname, Nancy Reed, Stephanie Wilkie, Susan Duffy, Judy Barrett and Andrea Underwood. 

 

  1. Approval of Meeting Minutes

 

Regarding the 02/13/03 meeting minutes, the committee agreed with Sweet’s suggestion to strike “ that instead of reducing the amount of IH land,”  from the second paragraph of the “Land Use” section on page two.  The minutes were then approved unanimously in a motion made by Torname and seconded by Reed.

 

  1. Approval of Invoice

 

C.O.G. Invoice# 0230-01-072, was approved by a motion from Reed and seconded by Wilkie.

 

  1. Master Plan Meeting Schedule

 

Since there was not a quorum at the March 13, 2003 meeting, no minutes were taken.  Sweet updated those who were not in attendance, on what was discussed at that meeting regarding the “Traffic and Circulation” technical papers.  The committee decided to continue the discussion at the April 21, 2003 “Policy and Implementation” meeting. 

 

Sweet also reported that he reviewed the rest of the Master Plan schedule and compared it with the closing date of the 2003 Fall Special Town Meeting Warrant.  As a result, Sweet agreed with Reed’s previous assessment that the committee’s original goal of getting the Master Plan onto the Fall Warrant would not work out, due to not having enough time to schedule the needed public meetings prior to the Warrant’s closing.  Sweet recommended that the Planning Board could adopt the Master Plan on their own authority, and then have it ratified at the next Town Meeting.  The Planning Board’s decision to adopt the Plan could then be conveyed to all permitting boards, so that the Master Plan could be utilized sooner rather than later.  Reed added that the Master Plan will be a “working document” that can be amended as needed.  It was questioned if the Master Plan draft documents are available at the Tewksbury Library, and if they are not, the committee agreed that Sadwick should ensure that they are due to not all people having access to the internet. 

 

  1. Community Facilities and Services Technical Paper

 

-Sweet:  Typo, 4th page, 1st line:  “Local receipts come a variety…”  Add “from” before “a”. 

-Reed:  4th page, middle paragraph, questioned the line, “Given that Tewksbury is neither wealthy or …”  does this refer to the Town or the people?  Judi stated that Tewksbury is considered a middle class community…understands Reed’s question, will re word that sentence. 

-Reed:  Page 6, suggested adding street addresses for the Municipal sites-Judi will add a table of buildings/sites and their street address.

-Discussed the need for an equipment roster for the Police and Fire-DPW has their equipment listed, is it really necessary?  The committee really didn’t think equipment lists were necessary in the Master Plan.  -----Reed also questioned the last line under “Public Works” on page 8 stating that the DPW Director feels the DPW equipment is adequate.  Reed was not sure if that statement was accurate, and Torname agreed adding that he had thought that the DPW was in need of a machine to clean out the catch basins. 

-Joe Russell, School Committee Representative:  Page 9 under “Public Schools, 1st line-commented that he felt that the total number of school department employees was too high. Russell will verify and get the information back to Sadwick.    

-Reed:  Page 11, Figure 3, thought the table was confusing, Judi clarified that the table represents the total students in each building and will not change the table, but will change the last sentence on page 11 so it is clearer.  It was also mentioned that the statement on page 11, “All of Tewksbury’s elementary schools are more than 30 years old…” is not correct, due to the recent addition of the Ryan School. 

-Judi already has incorporated the changes under “Public Sewer System” submitted earlier by the Town Manager and Reed regarding the newly adopted sewer plan’s adoption in October 2002, and not January 2003, the cost being 80.6 million vs. 40 million, and a completion date of 2011, not 2010. 

-Under “Cost of Community Services” beginning on page 13, Reed questioned the State Hospital’s impact on the Town’s cost of services.  Judi stated that she did not have that data, but could input it if someone could provide her with that information.  Reed felt that it was important to consider that as it is unique to the Town, and may have some impact.  Judi will discuss it further with Sadwick.

 

Challenge #1:  The committee agreed with the challenge and opportunity suggested by the consultants.  Under “Key Question”, discussion and rewording of the strategies on page 18 are in italics below:

 

-Bullet #1 changed to, “Develop a process to identify and prioritize acceptable…”

-Bullet #2, changed to, “Establishing a standing town building committee responsible for planning, budgeting, maintenance, repairs…”  It was felt that such a committee should be permanent, but not necessarily have permanent membership. 

-Bullet #5, changed to, “Creating a public review process for capital planning that includes residents…”

-Bullet #6, to answer question from the Town Manager and the committee, “non-local sources of revenue” would be grants, foundation support, etc.

-Duffy suggested that there should be an additional strategy with regards to funding a capital plan.  The committee agreed and felt that a Bullet#7 should be added with similar language as was written in the “Traffic and Circulation” draft regarding the creation of a capital improvement fund that receives yearly town meeting appropriation.  Judi will incorporate. 

 

Challenge#2:  The committee was in agreement with the challenge and opportunity suggested.  Sweet suggested that Bullets 4 & 5 were similar and could be tied together as one, to which the committee agreed. 

 

Challenge #3:  Andrea explained the intent of a Water Resources Management Commission.  After much discussion about the make up of such a commission and its possible enforcement issues, it was decided that the committee would prefer to have an advisory committee instead of an official “commission”.  The advisory committee would establish thresholds that would trip such a review, and would look to see if the various town boards are in sync with each other.  The committee also felt that the suggested “advisory” committee must have a member of the Board of Health as a member at all times.  Andrea will incorporate the committee’s ideas and edit Challenge #3’s bullets as directed. 

 

The Community Facilities and Services draft was accepted as discussed and amended by the committee by a motion from Wilkie, seconded by Duffy, and approved unanimously. 

 

  1. Other Business

 

Judi stated that she would obtain a list of all of the town committees that are in existence to date.  She also reminded the committee that Terry Szold would be in attendance at the next master plan meeting on April 14th. 

 

  1. Next Scheduled Meeting

 

The next two scheduled meetings will be at 7:00pm on Monday, April 14th, and Monday  April 21st,  at the Tewksbury Police Station.  The meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm by a motion made by Wilkie and seconded by Torname.