Showing posts with label rfp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rfp. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Survey Says: Emmons St results

86 folks responded via the tool, two others did via comment for a total of 88 responses.


Survey Question Tally Percent
Sell the land for $500,000 w/o restriction 18 20%
Sell the land for $500,000 but restrict the use 44 50%
Sign a Land Disposition agreement 9 10%
Take no action at this time 17 19%
Totals 88 100%

The comments left with some of the surveys are here (these are unedited)

  • Would like to see a drive through option eliminated. This is not the spot for such a facility.
  • Why not keep the land but use it for downtown parking? How about a little park for downtown? Sure the town common is not too far away but this could help draw more people to downtown for leisure/fun!
  • What's the value of the property? Seems like it would be more than $500,000.
  • There is no way a drive-thru should be on that lot. Otherwise, as long as it fits in with the look of downtown I don't have an issue what goes in there.
  • There are other drive thru potentials very close by ;) Town may end up with two drive thrus
  • "The property will be worth more in 2 years after the Streetscape improvements. Why is the TC so anxious to sell.
  • The TC should follow the Town's Master Plan for the downtown. The goal is to increase pedestrian traffic, not car traffic. The Council should follow the advice of the Town's Planning Dept who have the expertise in planning. They recommend No drive-throughs in the downtown area."
  • Restrict use to NOT allow a food/coffee drive-through.
  • Please DO NOT allow a fast-food and/or drive-thru. This is a gateway property to downtown, and we can do better to preserve and improve pedestrian activity downtown.
  • No Food drive through!
  • no drive through
  • I would respectfully but strongly urge the TC to restrict the use of 150 Emmons Street by NOT ALLOWING ANY VSE'S Thank you.
  • I would prefer that there's a local-type establishment in that spot (ie not a chain store) that does NOT have a drive-through. Also, I would like to know what are the advantages and disadvantages of selling vs. leasing?
  • I like the idea of having slightly more control over what happens in that location since it is such a high profile part of our downtown. It could be such a key part of the development of downtown Franklin. Restricting its use to something that adds character to our town would be great.
  • I don't know what the town Council would find acceptable so I'm unsure on that choice I would like to see no VS Es because I wouldn't want a bank
  • Have mercy…please no more fast food chains or coffee places. There are already 5 plus coffee shops in town and a ton of fast food/drive thru. Franklin is losing it's charm and fast. It's just not an attractive place to live anymore. Turning more and more cityish as the years go by.
  • Has there been any discussion of this in the most recent Master Plan (not sure there has been one recently). I can think of many uses for the parcel that would NOT need a drive-thru but all will need some amount of parking.
  • Great time and care should be taken in filling that location. The town has a wonderful opportunity to enhance the downtown area and should not let it slip to a (potentially) financially lucrative but less culturally impactful resolution.
  • Franklin needs to move into the 21st century. The downtown is DYING. We need some new blood and new ideas.
  • Franklin needs a plan. Every effort to improve the downtown has only made it worse. We can do better. A quick sale might appeal to a shortsighted council but will prevent the downtown from fully living up to its great potential (A train station, a college, a museum, banks!!!)
  • Franklin desperately needs an activity center where youth and young adults can go to pass time instead of hanging out front of 7 eleven or looking for mischief.


The survey question post can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/options-for-150-emmons-st-decision.html

The full Town Council agenda can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-jan-7.html

the Emmons St building in the discussion
the Emmons St building in the discussion


Monday, January 5, 2015

Public Hearing - Pond St zoning bylaw

The Town Council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss the proposal to change the zoning for the Pond St property.

The property was the subject of an RFP which did not receive any legal responses. It did receive one response but it arrived late and hence was disqualified. It did contain a proposal for more of a mixed use development including residential. The current zoning would prohibit residential. The discussion at the Economic Development Committee meeting concluded with the plan to propose the zoning change to include residential and then if approved, re-issue the RFP to see if there are more takers.

The owners abutting the property were sent the following information to help prepare for the discussion:



A whole lot of information on Franklin and, in particular, the Pond Street property can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/pondrfp


The Economic Development Committee meeting notes can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/12/economic-development-committee-dec-17.html


The agenda for the Town Council meeting on Jan 7 (and all associated documents released for it) can be found here 
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-jan-7.html

Note: The meeting has a scheduled start of 6:00 PM. They will open the meeting, go to Executive Session with a return to open meeting after their discussion on the Fire Fighters Union contract.
Franklin Planning and Community Development photo of Pond St property
Franklin Planning and Community Development photo of Pond St property

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Options for 150 Emmons St decision

The Emmons St discussion is likely one of the key items on the Town Council agenda for their first meeting of 2015. The letter from Town Administrator Jeff Nutting to the Town Council lays out the current options for the discussion on the Request for Proposal (RFP) to sell the property.

As the Council is aware, we discussed an RFP for the sale of 150 Emmons Street with a minimum bid of $475,000. We did receive one bid for $500,000. The proposal submitted does not identify any specific use for the property. 
The Council has several options including:
1. Sell the land for $500,000 and allow the developer to construct anything on the property allowed by zoning. 
2. Sell the land for $500,000, but restrict the use. (The discussion at the Economic Development Committee was whether to allow for VSEs (Vehicle Service Establishments) for any use or not allow VSEs for fast food/coffee uses? 
3. Sign a Land Disposition agreement and allow the developer 180 days to find a tenant (s) acceptable to the Council. 
4. Take no action at this time.
If the Town Council chooses to sell the property, we will need until July 1, 2015 to relocate the Recreation Department.

The screen grab of the letter can be viewed here: 

screen grab of letter with options for decision on 150 Emmons St
screen grab of letter with options for decision on 150 Emmons St


150 Emmons St, Franklin   MA
150 Emmons St, Franklin   MA


The letter is found on page 25 of the 79 page PDF file released for the Town Council meeting January 7, 2015:
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2015%20Complete%20With%20Documents/010715.pdf

Sunday, October 5, 2014

don't call between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM

If you need to call for an emergency, don't call between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM Monday to Friday.

The frequency of simultaneous calls is raising a concern. The Fire Dept is barely staffed to serve two calls at one time. When the third one comes in, assistance from one of our neighboring communities is needed. It is not that they are not responsive, they are. The response time (travel time) from their departure point to the site in Franklin will be longer than if Franklin served the call.

Chief Gary McCarragher's presentation to the Town Council on Wednesday.




One other document provided to share is the marketing plan for the two RFPs currently out on the street. The Dept of Community Development and Planning is leading the efforts outlined here.




For the complete set of notes from Wednesday's Town Council meeting, check this link
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/10/jones-resignation-will-bring-special.html

Franklin - Fire Station #1 - West Central St
Franklin - Fire Station #1 - West Central St

Thursday, September 18, 2014

RFP goes with a drive through option

The Town Council meeting Wednesday was a relatively quiet affair. The agenda was changed to move the action items before the appointments. This was mentioned here earlier.

The resolution to add membership to the Franklin Advisory Committee needed to be voted on before the actual membership additions could be approved. Normally, the appointments are to standing committees where one or two people are replacing folks who have left.

In my seven years reporting on the Council, this circumstance had only come up a couple of times. The resolution was approved and the appointments were confirmed.

The change in agenda may have surprised some of the residents who could have spoke on the Emmons St property as only Lisa Piana, Executive Director of the Franklin Downtown Partnership, came forward to make two points on the RFP.

The Council acknowledged the two items but effectively dismissed them as something that could be handled later and proceeded to approve the RFP as written by a 7-0 vote. Councilor Padula was absent from the meeting and Councilor Kelly recused himself for the first time from this discussion item.
Franklin Municipal Building, site of the Town Council meetings
Franklin Municipal Building, site of the Town Council meetings


In a PR move, Ron Roux, the Cook's Farm developer spoke briefly about his intention to use local resources on the construction project. He could not commit to specific skills that would be open or keep for his standard group. He will be scheduling a meeting to present details of the project and needs to let those interested get more information and consider their involvement.

David McKearney, presented an overview of the operations of the Board of Health. The Health Dept is quite busy and their duties vary from beaver permits to food inspections of the more than 100 restaurants and food service operations twice a year in Franklin.

His presentation doc is supposed to be posted to the Franklin website. The outline used seems to be similar to their section in the Annual Report. The numbers would have been updated to reflect current activities (versus prior years).


My detailed notes reported live during the meeting can be found here

The Annual Report section for the Board of Health in 2012 can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/12/annual-report-2012-health-department.html

The Health Dept page can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Health/index


Monday, September 15, 2014

What will we do with the money?

The RFP for the former sewer plant on Pond St is out as well as the proposal to sell 150 Emmons St. With two RFP's on the street to sell town property, it might be time to start the discussion on what are we going to do with the money?

The money from either or both sales would qualify as capital funds and hence would have to be used for similar purposes according to what I recall the discussion on the sale of the Four Corners Building (now Walgreens). The funds can not be used for annual operational expenses.

The renovation and expansion of the Library I think would qualify. The buildout of the second floor of the Senior Center should also qualify.

What else would?

Is there a current plan to use the money or to just set it aside in the bank for future use?

Four Corners Building - June 2009 (just before demolition)
Four Corners Building - June 2009 (just before demolition)


Milford Daily News article on the Pond St RFP
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140913/NEWS/140918125/1994/NEWS

The agenda for Wednesday's Town Council meeting includes the details of the 150 Emmons St RFP
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/09/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-sep-17.html

Audio from the Town Council meeting January 19, 2008 on the Four Corners RFP
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2008/01/four-corners-rfp-discussion.html


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Four Corners Building

Four Corners School - Proposal for purchase from Walgreens

Richard Cornetta, attorney
Scott Weymouth, principle for Arista, LLC

Walgreen by this group is already in Bellingham at intersection of RT 126/140

provided a couple of plans to the council

site plan does include a couple of other private residences already under contract to Arista

envisions set back requirements due to proximity to residences, ready for planning board approval processes

14,500 sq
no more than 2 stories tall
60 parking spaces
single entrance, double exit from King St
single entrance, single exit on Cross St

does envision a drive-up for pharmacy, not like fast food drive-ups

extreme corner at King/140 would be green space
recognizes importance of location as approach to town

$2.5 million
approx 40K annual real-estate taxes, a number of jobs created
20 permanent positions once operational
construction positions created for the building

P/S by June 08, permits by Dec 08
projected closing date for Feb 09
shovels in the ground potential for Mar 09

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Feeley answers a question about has this already been sold?
No, it has not. This is a proposal.
The economic development group has approved this unanimously

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Pfeffer with proposal for moving one of the existing to another space within the town and have Habitant for Humanity work to bring in two units

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discussion on the willingness to work with the town
could consider moving the house, could consider renovating
one was planned to remove

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less than 25% mezzanine level on the second floor to move some of the operational space up there and leave the lower level for the retail space

would do a full traffic study, did a brief analysis to prepare the draft plans

their estimate of tax revenue is in the ball park per Jeff Nutting

construction if started in Mar could be done by October to be open in time for the holidays

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McGann question on the restrictions with the 24 hour drive through and neighbors comments
was written into the RFP specifying the restriction

how does it effect the developer?
there is an impact, a competitive disadvantage

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Vallee complaining again about restrictions

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did design to meet the requirements
minimum should be 59 parking spots

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will be on agenda two weeks from tonight for a vote