MAYOR’S UPDATE
Mayor Donna D. Holaday
January 14th, 2019
Complete Streets: The City and our consultant TEC have gathered input regarding potential projects and priorities from neighbors, citizen groups, municipal commissions, staff, City Councilors, and others, as well as from the initial public meeting on the project held on 12/13/18, plus existing plans, data and studies. The consultant is in the process of developing a draft plan with at least 15 or more projects, as well as basic cost estimates and duration schedules. There will be a public meeting on January 31, 2019 to review the consultant’s draft Project Prioritization Plan. The plan will not focus on an individual ranking of specific projects, but rather on several tiers of priority projects. We anticipate that MassDOT will approve the plan by mid-April, which will allow the City to be in a position to highlight several Complete Streets projects (based on priority, cost, advancement of Complete Streets goals, project readiness, etc.) in an application for construction funding due May 1st, as well as in future funding rounds.
Landfill: Closure continues to be in the hands of DEP and the Office of the Attorney General but New Ventures (NV) has signed a lease with Blue Wave to install a solar array. DEP believes the desire by NV to permit this project will aid in advancing the closure process. We are working with Blue Wave and DEP on permitting the solar array as well as the closure and post closure process. Blue Wave will be hosting a community meeting on their project on tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, January 15th upstairs in the City Hall Auditorium. They have reached out to neighbors and abutters and are coordinating with Ward 5 Councillor Giunta.
Graf Road Lift Station: The Station is officially online as of December 26. Congrats to Tony Furnari, Jamie Tuccolo, and all the folks at DPS for all their work to bring this project to completion. I’m also proud to report that the project was on budget. The old lift road station will be demolished starting in a few weeks.
One Boston Way/ MINCO: I was pleased to join the folks at Minco and local and state leaders at the official groundbreaking ceremony on December 17th for One Boston Way, a 76 rental complex and the very first project in the City’s 40R Smart Growth District. https://newburyportmayor.org/2018/12/18/one-boston-way-groundbreaking/
Merrimack River Watershed Council Grant Application: I submitted a letter of support for the Merrimack River Watershed’s Council’s application for the Massachusetts Environmental Trust grant. MRWC will use the grant funds to research, quantify and monetize how significant economic activities are negatively affected by pollution in the Merrimack. These activities are crucial to the local Newburyport economy that includes boating, recreation, tourism, waterfront development, cultural entertainment, and commercial fishing.
CSO Conference, Notification Bill: I will be working with Senator DiZoglio, Representative Kelcourse, and the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission on organizing a day-long conference for municipalities along the river to focus on the CSO issue. The goal is to bring stakeholders together, including state departments, local, state, and federal officials to discuss the issues and strategize on a concerted effort going forward. I have also been working with MRWC and the Massachusetts River Alliance on the content of the Notification Bill, to be filed this legislative session.
41C ½ Update: Our finance team has spent a number of months reviewing the available property tax relief options for seniors. At this point, I will be inviting additional stakeholders to participate in an ad-hoc committee discussion before the measure is sent to City Council for your consideration. The plan is to submit a formal proposal to the City Council in the next few months with the goal of putting the question to on the November ballot (with the retail marijuana measure). We will be reaching out to local stakeholders for their feedback, and will have an official recommendation from the administration in the next few months.
Stephen J. Cutter Fire Station (Station 2) – Responses to the RFQ for the feasibility and design study are due on Friday the 10th. We received 7 proposals and over the next few weeks will be reviewing and scheduling interviews. We will reconvene the Fire Station Building Committee that will work with the selected architect/ design team.
Safe Routes to School – Johnson Street application – We have officially submitted a Safe Routes to School grant application for improvements to Johnson Street. Johnson Street was one of the potential projects included in the City’s 2016 Preliminary Assessment for MassDOT’s Safe Routes to School program. If funded the project would be an effective continuation of the current High Street project to provide safe access for students on Johnson Street to the Nock Molin School. Funding would include design which is expected to include reconstructing sidewalks, installing ADA-compliant ramps, signing and modifying crosswalk locations, and traffic calming. Additionally, we received the report from the MA Historical Commission stating the SRTS project as designed will have no adverse impact.
Boston Globe – My guest column for the Boston Globe’s weekly Sunday column The Argument was printed on Sunday, December 30th. I wrote in support of Governor Baker’s Housing Choice Act. The Act proposes zoning changes that would increase housing production in Massachusetts and provide much needed housing for local residents. Link to article.
Military Justice Bill and Youth Services – The Military Justice bill was signed into law by the Governor on January 3rd, 2019. The enactment of this bill was an important step to allow the sale of the National Guard building and property on Low Street to the City. By owning the property, the City will be able to relocate our Youth Services to a new facility on Low Street, and allow for Youth Service to move out of the Brown School. The disposition of the Brown School could then move forward. We hope to begin the disposition process later this month with DCAMM and will have a better sense of timelines after this initial meeting.
Plum Island Meeting – Chief of Staff Matt Coogan, Planning Director Andy Port, and Conservation Agent Julia Godtfredsen met with representatives of MassDEP, CZM, and DCR to strategize on addressing erosion issues at Reservation Terrace. Not only have we learned that the concrete blocks that Council approved funding for cannot be permitted, either locally through the ConCom or through MassDEP, but we also discovered that these blocks would only have exacerbate erosion in this area in the long term and could have potentially further damage nearby property during a severe storm surge. A dune nourishment plan, in which sand is added to the dune network on a consistent basis, is the best long term solution. This is obviously a significant cost and is unclear how such a program would be funded. What is clear is that the City is permitted for dune nourishment.
Meeting with Senator Diana DiZoglio and Rep. Jim Kelcourse to discuss NBPT legislative priorities: environmental bond bill, CSO bill, school funding as well as project updates in the city.
RFP SMART solar off takers: The City is soliciting Requests For Proposals (RFP) to receive solar Alternative On-Bill Credits (AOBC) as provided under the new Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program through the Department of Energy Resources. The City already has an arrangement with the True North solar farm in Salisbury under the state’s previous solar program that affords the city a fixed discount averaging $40,000 in savings per year. This RFP is soliciting other renewable projects interested in entering into a similar agreement through the new solar program. The result would be additional savings for the City. The RFP also requests offerings to provide additional public benefits, including community solar.
Whittier Vocational Technical School: On Jan. 2nd Gov. Baker and Lt. Gov. Polito attended the ribbon cutting for the new Dental Assisting program.
Inauguration of Gov. Baker & Lt. Gov. Polito was held at the State House on Jan. 3rd.
Personnel: DPS: Nicholas Federico, Stormwater Engineer
Scott MacFarland promoted to General Foreman
State of the City – February 6th. Please save the date for my State of the City, Wednesday evening, February 6th at the Senior Center.
High St. 3-alarm fire today: No injuries and exemplary job by our Fire Department and mutual aid
Happy New Year!
Looking forward to our continued work in 2019!