Economic Development Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Recorded by Sharon Rossi
February 16, 2015
Members attending: PRenaud, AWood, NNickerson
7:00 p.m. Meeting Opened.
PRenaud motioned to accept the December 15, 2014 meeting minutes. AWood seconded the motion. Vote unanimous in favor.
PRenaud advised the committee that the economic development plan draft for the Master Plan has to be reviewed and corrected so that it can be presented to the Planning Board next week. The Planning Board will be meeting with LMurphy on February 23 to finalize this document. Once the public hearing has occurred, this chapter will be in the Master Plan.
PRenaud said he may be out of town for much of the 3 weeks after next week.
PRenaud read JMoran’s e-mail to the members and commented that he would be going over the items that Jack addressed. After reviewing, AWood and NNickerson agreed with many of his points.
On page 12, the graph should have a comment that it needs to be clarified as to how many CMRC employees are living and working at the Center. It was agreed that the figures for people working in Greenfield but residing elsewhere is skewed because of the large percentage of the total employment in town attributed to CMRC. PRenaud will check with LMurphy about this information. It was also agreed that the numbers for this graph do not add up. The committee decided that the other causal factors pertaining to this issue listed in JMoran’s email should be listed in the Master Plan. PRenaud will present these points at next week’s Planning Board meeting.
Impediments restricting types of business in town: lack of water and sewer systems, three phase power and broadband are limiting the growth of Greenfield. A discussion ensued on the relative merits of pursuing an expansion of each of these areas – whether investment in any of these is justified based on realistic economic development expectations. The pursuit of water and sewer system build out was considered questionable from a cost/benefit point. Goals or a vision statement regarding the benefits to the town’s residents of pursuing the recommendations in the draft should be included to support these recommendations.
PRenaud said whatever is accepted in the Master Plan can be used as support to approve businesses or other development, as long as it is permitted through the Zoning Ordinance, and the Site Plan Review or Subdivision Regulations. He said there is going to be some serious discussion about lot sizes and setback and frontage requirements in the Village district. These items are what came from the charrette held in Sept. The majority of input on this particular issue should come from the people who live in the village and business district. We, as a committee, will be developing a strategy this year to implement or address proposals that will be included in this Plan.
AWood said it appears we are shaping the character of the town, versus examining the dimensions on lots which is a rezoning issue. NNickerson said the last sentence under local policies/support should be removed as we don’t have the area to change what the charrette recommended on the front setbacks or the l/4 acre lots in the Village district. This would have a very negative impact on what the economic development committee is trying to do, and on what the town center will become. It was agreed that rezoning lot requirements in the Village is more community development, and it is questionable whether this should be included in an economic development plan.
PRenaud said next month we’ll talk about our charter and where our broadband effort stands. It will be difficult to get new members in the next month as he has outside commitments. We need to have this group to stay together for at least one more year. Both AWood and NNickerson agreed.
AWood said we need to find a way to reduce the heat costs for the library. Perhaps we need to start an energy audit committee again. NNickerson stated that he is currently trying to reactivate the energy committee to perform energy audits on town buildings. After a short discussion, motion to adjourn occurred because AWood and PRenaud had to leave early.
8:20 p.m. Adjournment
AWood motioned to adjourn. NNickerson seconded. Vote unanimous in favor.
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