A. Town Department Reports/Requests
(1) Conservation Commission Stone Piers and Apple Street Project Hearings (*) Given the sensitive nature of the environment surrounding the two stone piers at Conomo Point and the portion of Apple Street that the Town is proposing to elevate, it was necessary for each project to come before the Conservation Commission on February 21, 2023. Official public hearings were held at the meeting in accordance with the Wetlands Protection Act and personnel from both GZA Geoenvironmental (for the pier project) and TEC (for the Apple Street project) were on hand to present each project. I was in attendance along with the Selectmen. The Superintendent of Public Works was also present for a third project involving the renovation of the Town’s public water supply wells, with personnel from EA Engineering.
With respect to the stone piers project, which was approved by the Commission with limited conditions, the following project schedule is anticipated:
-Bid Packages Became Available: Thursday, February 23
-Site Visit: Monday, March 13 at 11 AM
-Questions Deadline: Friday, March 17
-Bid Close: Thursday, March 23
-Notice to Proceed: Monday, March 27 (Selectmen’s Meeting)
-Construction: Monday, April 3 to Friday, May 19
With respect to the Apple Street project, which involves very complex site conditions, the Commission concluded the public input portion of the public hearing and continued the hearing until March 14, 2023. Our team will be providing the Commission with additional information and the Commission hopes to have feedback from the Department of Environmental Protection by then. Members of the public asked a wide variety of questions and the Commission provided our team with an opportunity to answer the questions before the meeting adjourned.
(2) Affordable Housing Trust Notices of Gift Acceptance At the last meeting, the Board agreed with an idea offered by the Essex Affordable Housing Trust to notify all residents with respect to how the Trust is able to accept financial gifts and gifts of property for affordable housing purposes. Specifically, the Trust had requested to place a notice on the Town’s website
home page and to send a notice out in the next round of tax bills. I worked with one of the Trust’s members and Chairman Pereen on the content of the notices. The website notice is already in place and the tax bill notice will be included with the tax bills to be mailed out in April. We have already had one party about the process for making a cash gift.
Recommendation: No further action is necessary.
(3) Economic Development Committee Meeting Summary (*) I attended the subject meeting along with the Town Planner and Chairman Pereen on February 16, 2023. The Committee reviewed the three suggestions for downtown decorative lighting that our lighting designer had made, plus another model that I came across and the Committee leaned toward that fourth option, since attention was given to dark sky compliance. However, we have since learned that such fixtures do not have glass lenses (to avoid light refraction) and likely require more frequent cleaning because the actual light gets muted with road salt and dirt.
The Committee also covered a wide variety of other projects and initiatives that it is working on. The Committee plans to feature certain components of its work on the Committee’s web page from time to time and has begun with a short story on the effort to replace the Folsom Pavilion at the Centennial Grove.
Recommendation: Board discussion as necessary and specific discussion of the style of decorative lighting fixture for the downtown area.
Click Here To View The Town Of Essex Administrator's Report, February 27, 2023
