This is a message that was sent to the Town Meeting Members and to the people on the Danforth Farms list. Since we are facing a substantial budget problem and this issue answers a couple million budget questions, I'm passing this along. As usual, people are encouraged to ask off-line questions.
In addition, there's a writeup in today's MWNews at http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/fram_tm02282003.htm -- -Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have - -happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ -Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- -individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question? steveo at syslang.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 21:11:53 -0500 From: Rene s Mandel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Steven W. Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Danforthfarm Neighbors <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Town Meeting Members <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Board of Selectmen meeting tonight. This special Board of Selectmen's meeting was posted 2 days ago. I found out about it accidentally late this afternoon, and asked Steve to put a notice of it on the lists. There were about 8 of us in the audience. Four I spoke to, including a Planning Board member, were there either directly or indirectly as a result of this email, and I can only assume the other 3 were notified in the same manner. I find this very disturbing. There was no TV coverage, and Mark Purple, assistant town manager, took the minutes. All five selectmen participated, as well as the town manager and town counsel. I took some notes, and have asked my husband, who also came to the meeting, to look them over. Other people who attended may have other memories or thoughts. Rene 27 Feb. 2003 Special meeting of the Board of Selectmen for the purpose of opening and closing a warrant for a Special Town Meeting on 18 Mar. 2003. There will be one article at this meeting, a proposal that town meeting allow the Board of Selectmen to take Riverpath as a town street; the language they decided to use seems to be the same boilerplate as is usual for such procedures. The reason for having the Special Town Meeting on March 18 is this: 1. Per the advice of town counsel, the Planning Board cannot grant the PUD permit until the Riverpath issue is resolved. 2. If TM accepts the Riverpath, the Planning Board can complete its hearing process on March 25 and, if it chooses, vote to grant the permit. If it does not do so by that date, and there are changes on the Planning Board after the election April 1, then the entire hearing process may have to be repeated. So, says town counsel, in the course of negotiations that schedule was mutually agreed upon. This is the potential deal as reported by town counsel: 1. The selectmen support the laying out of Riverpath as a public way. 2. The town retains access to the town wells, and receives from the property owner a 400 foot easement around the wells (which it currently does not have for well 3). This easement would be necessary to develop the wells, and the town apparently does not now have the ability to do so without it. 3. The town will receive $2 million. This would be paid as follows: a. $200,000 immediately on the granting of the PUD special permit. This is non-refundable, no matter what happens. b. $300,000 as soon as the town meeting vote approving Riverpath becomes law (5 working days after the close of town meeting?). So that the town could have $500,000 by the end of March. c. The remaining $1.5 million would be payable following the issuance of the site plan first phase, upon legal resolution, if a lawsuit is filed by a third party to stop it. If a lawsuit is filed, the town will earn interest on the money until it is actually able to receive it. 4. Still under negotiation is reimbursement to the town for past legal fees, some reimbursement for future legal fees, and indemnification for the town for future legal fees. 5. What also will need to be negotiated: a. Preservation of access to the well fields and ability to utilize the wells. b. Preservation of historic rights, under memo of understanding with the Generazios, to move the wells to another location on the property if feasibility study suggests that this is necessary to use the wells. c. Conveyence of strip of land at end of Riverpath to the town, so that if this deal should fail, Riverpath, which will now be a public way, cannot be used for any other purpose as desired by the owner without consulting the town. Also, since NESG will be signatory to agreement, we may be able to put in writing that other uses of road cannot be undertaken by the current owner without permission of town. The Board of Selectmen should be able to see the final agreement by next Tuesday. Town Meeting members will have the final right to judge the merits of the deal. If it does not obtain town meeting approval, it is over. The Board voted 4-1 to schedule the March 18, 2003 warrant, with the one article as specified above, and then adjourned.
