Peaked Hill Pastures Proposals Committee Meeting
Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018
8AM
Members Present:
Jim Malkin (Chairperson), Ann Wallace, Jane Slater, Clark Goff, Peter Cook, Ursula Goodenough
Members Not Present: Leonard Jason
Members of the Public: Clifton Stone, Andrew Goldman, Warren Doty
Staff: Jennifer Christy
Chairperson Malkin opened the meeting at 8AM.
Mr. Malkin recapped the goal and tasks before the Peaked Hill Pastures Proposal Committee. He briefly summarized:
- Potential uses of the Peaked Hill Pastures site.
- Create a list of the possible uses at the Peaked Hill Pastures site.
- Discuss the pros and cons of those possible uses.
- Bring the possible uses before the Town in a public forum and gather public comment.
Mr. Malkin distributed a written list of suggestions submitted by Selectman Warren Doty:
- Create four resident homesites.
- Create six rental units to be owned by the Town: four one bedroom units, two units to be designated for seniors, total square footage 5,000 square feet.
- Designate a three acre site for future municipal use.
- Keep the ballfield.
- Move Highway dept. and shellfish dept. to new facility on town land off Middle Road behind landfill.
Mr. Malkin stated that some of the proposed uses of the Peaked Hill site are “future-related”. He suggested looking at the distilled list of proposed ideas for the site and identify those items that are “future-related” and look at the items that are immediate and/or actionable now.
Brief discussion occurred regarding the impact of this approach. It was noted that the purpose of the initial brainstorming task to develop a list of use ideas for Peaked Hill Pastures was to create a broad list of uses that would be edited so that the best ideas remained.
Mr. Cook stated he appreciated the proposal from Mr. Doty and suggested that the committee work to review the various use ideas in order to determine the pros and cons of each and provide a detailed assessment of each idea determining the immediate problems it solves and the future impacts it presents.
Mr. Goff suggested that the future of Beetlebung Farm, in the center of Town, should be considered. He stated the Town should provide an imaginative proposal if the Town is indeed interested in this parcel of land. Ms. Slater stated it was her view that the Town should proceed with
Mr. Stone suggested that the committee identify what may be best to site at a removed area like the Peaked Hill site as opposed to looking at the pros and cons of various ideas proposed for the site.
Brief discussion occurred regarding the various ideas and the proper way forward.
Mr. Doty provided a brief description of the state of the Beetlebung Farm/Fischer family 5 acre lot. The Selectmen have met with the Fischer family in the last couple of years when the Town was deliberating on the purchase of the bank site, across from the Community Center.
Ms. Slater suggested going through the distilled list and eliminating items that are not generally supported by the committee and then rank the items that are remaining in order of support from the committee members. All agreed and Mr. Cook stated the first four items seemed to be all supported by the committee and the remaining items could be determined as to whether they are necessary to pursue.
Ms. Goodenough noted that a main category is housing and another main category would be moving Town activities to the site, such as Town Hall or Community Center.
Mr. Malkin reported that he had met with Chilmark Community Center officials in August and he heard from them that there is no interest in moving the Community Center to the Peaked Hill site or moving any of the tennis courts. He noted there was some interest, but not a universal interest, in establishing a Town Community Center Pool at the Peaked Hill site.
Mr. Goff noted he had been brainstorming about plans for the Fire Station/Emergency services and he suggested the idea of moving three tennis courts from the five that are in the area of the Community Center to the Peaked Hill site and establishing a Fire/Emergency Services building behind the Community Center area. Mr. Goff noted that a large Fire Station behind the Town Hall would be unlikely to be supported at Town Meeting.
Mr. Malkin stated that his interest is to keep the committee’s focus on the use of the Peaked Hill site rather than move focus to uses of the Chilmark Community Center and the Town Hall area.
Ms. Wallace expressed reluctance to working on ideas for the Town Center without a consensus from the Town about what the Town Center should look like and what demographic it should serve. She further noted that the Peaked Hill site is also a difficult plan to develop as well without establishing a consensus of need and agreement on whom it should serve. She noted the remote location of the site when considering uses for emergency services and senior housing.
Mr. Malkin noted there are Town residents who would note that there are currently no Chilmark residents on the affordable housing list at the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority. He noted the remote location of the Peaked Hill site and noted that housing would be removed from work areas, school and community.
The committee looked at the distilled list of the ideas for the Peaked Hill site. Mr. Doty noted that the plan was a DRI and that once the Town had a plan it would be required to send this plan to the Commission. Mr. Cook also noted that the MVC has funds to help with planning as well.
Mr. Doty noted that the 10 resident homesites currently in Town are successfully occupied and those who occupy the homesites are now Chilmark residents.
Mr. Malkin suggested taking the first four items with the fifth item and include the MVC item. He suggested a member or members of the committee look at past Town projects in order to identify successes and pitfalls ahead of time.
Mr. Goff stated this last item was something that he had broached in order to have the committee be educated in the real pros and cons of the past projects in order to make the best plan for the Peaked Hill site.
Mr. Cook stated he and Ms. Wallace had discussed making an assessment of the problems and successes of the homesite program. It was suggested that Mr. Cook, Ms. Wallace and Mr. Goff join together as a working group to assess Town projects.
The committee continued to discuss the various following ideas on the distilled list:
- The committee discussed the worth of the camping/impermanent workforce housing idea. It was noted there may be many issues with services, liability and aesthetics with this idea, but that there is some worth to developing ideas that are “on the ground” but do not require great structural changes to the site.
- Mr. Malkin asked if any items should be struck from the list. Mr. Goldman suggested to strike the emergency services and first responders from the list. There was general agreement for this suggestion. Ms. Slater suggested that the cemetery idea should be struck. There was agreement to strike both Police, Fire and Emergency Services, Cemetery, School & Parking Center (it was noted by Mr. Doty that the off-site parking area behind the transfer station allows 75 spaces currently and could be increased by 50 spaces), it was noted that Camping for Workers would be incorporated into the Affordable Housing and renamed as impermanent workforce housing, for example, Mr. Goff described the establishment of a screening pasture/open space land at the beginning of the site in order to preserve a rural aesthetic, maintain
the community garden item and incorporate it with the pasture/open land item,
- It was noted that the Item Town Offices be placed under the topic of “Future items” and that the Council on Aging, Nursing Facility and Information Center items are to be eliminated.
- The item of Storage is to be struck from the list. The last two items were discussed and it was discussed the benefits of doing nothing on the site.
- Mr. Doty stated that his submitted ideas do appear to align with the first four items on the distilled list.
- The last two items to make no changes or development and donation to a conservation group were struck from the list.
Next Meeting:
The committee agreed to meet on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 8AM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jennifer Christy.
| 