Agenda – Select Board Agenda August 8 2023

Official Minutes – Plymouth Select Board Minutes 8-8-23

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welcome to the select board meeting Tuesday August 8 2023 please join the

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board in the pledge to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

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United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation

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under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

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Mr senesi pursuant to chapter 2 of the acts of

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2023 and act relative to extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency side into law on

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March 29 2023 this meeting will be conducted via remote means and in person

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members of the public who wish to watch the meeting can do so in the following manners

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Public Access channels Comcast 25 or Verizon channel 47 or watch the meeting

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as it is aired live at Pac tv.org members of the public who wish to participate during the meeting May do so

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in the following manner Great Hall on the second floor of Plymouth Town Hall and also via a remote option that is

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available on the town’s website under the agendas and minutes on the home page Mr chairman

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thank you very much Anthony next up is a public hearing all alcohol

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license and Hold Us in a lounge LLC 150 Warren Ave

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ml Patel manager in accordance with chapter 138 of the

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Massachusetts general laws as amended notices hereby given that a public hearing will be held at the Plymouth

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Town Hall 26 Court Street on Tuesday August 8 2023 at 6 PM do consider the

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application for an all annual in-holder license from Sandbar Lounge LLC 150

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Warren Avenue manager description of premises is as

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follows the license premises consist of 64-room motel with coffee shop and a

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lounge there is an outside patio which extends along the ocean side there are

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three exits from the street inside to the outside there are three exits to the outside

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patio with exit stairs from the patio on the South End Coffee Shop Lounge total

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area is 500 and 520 square feet in one room on one floor anyone wishing

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if you hear it on this matter should plan to attend this meeting I now declare this hearing open

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and we’ll be presenting do you have anything you’d like to say

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uh not at this time okay anyone wishing us

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speak in favor of this application

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the one on TV anyone wishing to speak in opposition of this application

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please identify yourself for the record and make sure the green light’s on

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oh I see okay can you hear me yeah Martin Hemsley I live at 200 Warren Avenue Plymouth so I’m a little under

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half a mile away from the pilgrim Sands Motel I prepared these notes and I sent

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a letter to the select board ahead of time expressing concerns about Noise We

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have had a chance just now to speak to the two applicants who’ve given us some assurances I’d still like to explain why

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we’re here and why we had concerns because I want to make sure they’re on the record and that they are dealt with

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we have been in our house since 2019 we

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didn’t have any problems until 2021 and we had very very loud music playing at

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the pilgrim Sands they have a small patio outside where they have a band but

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they have amplifiers that seem to be turned towards our home the music was so loud we couldn’t sit

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outside and I complained to the hotel I didn’t

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get any satisfaction I called the police several times that was in 2021. last

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year the problem continued I had to call the hotel I think 14 or 15 times I

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called the police three times but with no discernible Improvement the only time

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it improved for a very short time was when the town clerk wrote to the then

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owners about our concerns I met with the restaurant manager and for about two

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weeks there was music but it was not a problem but then it went back to being the same problem again

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um we understand that the noise ordinance the town’s noise ordinance provides that

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if Amplified music can be heard more than 150 feet away from the source that’s an offense we’re over 2 000 feet

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from the source um and it’s a very small patio we can’t

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understand why they have to be huge amplifiers they’re playing to a very small crowd it’s about the size of my living room

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um the times we’ve called the police we’ve been told that the entertainment license

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overrides the noise ordinance and and based upon my lawyers and my understanding of that that’s not the

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case the policy under which entertainment licenses are issued specifically talks about balancing the

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needs of businesses to run and have music if they wish with the concern of

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residents to have Peaceable enjoyment of their home and one of the concerns I

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found is when we’ve called the police they’ve said well they have a license there’s nothing we can do and that’s not the case the license says the police

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should enforce it so I don’t know how that can be addressed but my ultimate goal is to ensure that not to prevent

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them having a license to ensure it doesn’t trouble me repeatedly whenever the weather’s nice when I want to sit

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outside I can’t do so and so in later I sent some suggestions as how that might

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be accomplished we certainly want to work with the new owners to make sure that that works but I think the key

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thing is that if there is a problem there are ways that we can ensure that

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it will be enforced rather than we’re just left week after week complaining with no result

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so I appreciate your attention thank you very much thank you

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wait a minute anyone else wishing to speak in opposition

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you know any you have any questions Charlie yes I I do I’d like to the patells that come up I have some

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questions for the Mr Patel

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yeah whoever wants to come up I just saw you have some questions for the hotels hello

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can you hear me okay well uh my name is Sunil Hanson and uh we are co-partners

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so uh mostly operations I’m handling in terms of the operation and he’s

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overlooking so probably I can help you with your questions okay I read the

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letter from this gentleman and I’m familiar with the place I have a few questions

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for you and I I think this issue can be resolved fairly easily I believe uh

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I can talk to this gentleman afterwards but uh first of all uh how long have you owned

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the hotel vitukuri in April 18th April 18th of this year yes sir okay

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how many hotels do you operate in Massachusetts uh region we have eight

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and then we have Florida and uh New Jersey how many employment uh Plymouth we have two two yes sir okay

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and have you had any complaints in any hotels no sir okay

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and I think we know that because we haven’t had any complaints come before us

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the the buyer itself is being run by who’s running the bar now it’s been we

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we shut down when we took over because we had complaints the same like you mentioned so it’s not the same operators

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no there’s no operator we’re going to manage ourselves so

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when the complaints your complaints are from before they took over so these are new

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owners and you’re coming in I’m glad you’re coming in because you’re bringing to the attention of these gentlemen who

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I don’t know them I’ve never met them I know they they’re Hotel guys they have quite a few I know they’re I know their

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backgrounds uh they own two is two plus now this is the third uh no this this is

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the second one yes and if there’s no complaints and you’re on multiple uh yes so you go to operates yes sir as far as

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we know you’re good operators uh my question is if you if you have the

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Amplified music which they can turn it up and down but the way

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they they were running it before they had the amplifiers facing towards the homes

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instead of uh having a face into its uh

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towards the beach towards Long Beach it’s a simple fix if you’re going to have entertainment especially Amplified

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entertainment just face it away from the homes face it out to the ocean and I don’t think you’ll never hear it I I

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in a minute so so I think that is that something you could probably do definitely we will definitely work uh

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keeping in mind our other residents around we want to make sure you know our

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guests also experience uh uh you know pleasure way and at the same time we should not disturb any other residents

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around but I will say as somebody familiar with the restaurant business and the hotel business that

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that’s a nice little patio out there with a beautiful view and you do some business out there you might think it’s

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a small sizing living room but there’s a lot of income that and it helps to maintain that hotel it’s a short season

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in Plymouth it’s you know we don’t get a long season for for that kind of a view

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and uh you know you should be able to take advantage of that view yes uh you

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know as long as you operate it responsibly and and I’m going to tell you it is a very simple fix I saw you

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folks exchange your cards yes I think you can work together if there’s problems you now on a first name basis

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and I think you’re going to get along I think you’re going to get along great hopefully you might see who coming in

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you know in your establishment yes sir can I ask you some questions sir sure

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um other than that the music the noise complaint any other complaints you’ve

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had no no it’s simply the music so everything I said does it make sense yes

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I I would say that um you know I’m just musicians I guess bring their own amps

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in they have a habit of turning them up to ridiculous volumes exactly well that’s that’s the manage your own Duty

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yeah I think that that’s his responsibility to make sure but if you turn it around I think uh if it’s turned

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around and it’s under it’s a reasonable level but even if it’s turned around you should never hear because I went out

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that way I shouldn’t I don’t know if that’s unless you’re sitting at Sandy’s I don’t think you’ll hear it um so I I

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don’t know I mean I’m hoping that’s a solution and the real solution I think is it should just be a tolerable level

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on the patio and then I definitely won’t hear it absolutely right it sounds to me like uh these gentlemen want to do that

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so yeah anyway you’ve satisfied me okay thank you so John Fink at Sims and Sims

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if I could just add what he’s looking for here is essentially turn the speakers as you point out because that’s logical that we think it’ll work

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uh and then he wants a catch-all provision on there just so that it does work if turning the

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speakers doesn’t work he still wants to not have that loud noise that solution might have been tried before we don’t

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know when it worked for two weeks we suspect that what they did is turn the speakers but nobody ever confirmed that

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for him but I I would say that if it doesn’t work and everybody’s in the room you’re listening to this exactly come

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back to us come before the board with the complaints and we’ll address that complaint and then we we have the right

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to change the uh the license so it’s uh that’s that’s our way

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certainly we’d like to give me your management a chance to show that uh yeah okay but you’ve also filled them in on a

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lot of information right these guys want to be around for a while they want to be good neighbors they want to get they

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want you coming into their establishments you ready you can walk there all right so anyway thank you very

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much thank you

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video any more questions from the board to uh

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the applicant or no okay I’m going to close the hearing down bring them back to the board for a motion I make the

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motion that we approve it as requested second motion by Mr blessa second by Mr

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Mahoney any further discussion Mr bletzer yes Mr Helm yes Mr Mahoney

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yes and myself yes thank you

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now we have additional licenses with with that license common vigila

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comprehensive entertainment one two three Sunday entertainment extension of hours 1 a.m early Sunday sales outdoor

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Amplified music permit Monday through Sunday 2 P.M to 10 P.M

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very cool moved by Mr Mahoney

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second by Mr Blazer Mr Mahoney yes Mr Helm

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I was going to ask if we could have discussion on it absolutely because I want to ask a question of Mr Hemsley

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okay if you would come to the

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given the discussion while we were talking about approving proving your lit

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your alcohol license we’re now on to the the other licenses in conjunction the

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last one is an outdoor Amplified music permit Monday through Sunday 2 P.M to 10

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p.m for DJ or bands are you okay with that given your letter given your

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discussions with the owners and all that are you are you okay that we give that

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an attempt and if it doesn’t work you will come back yeah I think I mean my understanding in the past was that there

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was entertainment Friday Saturday Sunday and some weekends sorry some weekdays but

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only from 6 30 to 9 30. this is now 2 P.M to 10 p.m 7 days a week yeah I would

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imagine that you’re the 2PM part is probably Saturdays and Sundays I don’t

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think you’re going to have outdoor DJ at 2 p.m on a Monday I mean I think my real

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answer is if the music’s controlled it doesn’t matter when it is to me okay um so I’m hoping that that’s going to be

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the solution okay all right thank you thank you that was my only

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any other discussion Mr Mahoney yes Mr Helm yes Mr bletza yes

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and myself yes and try to keep the the volume down and do what with your neighbor so we don’t

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have to come back here and discuss it okay that you both are out on the right foot so

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that’s the way it should be worked together thank you

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okay we got licenses permits and petitions for polls any questions on

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those or does it you want to take any of them

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separate thank you do I have a motion to move them motion

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to move them uh and mass thank you so we’re talking about just the licenses

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yes motion by Mr Helm second by Mr Plaza

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discussion Mr Mahoney yes Mr Helm yes Mr bledso yes

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and myself yes moving on to the administrative notes

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is eight any questions on any of them or would

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you like to talk about any of them separately I I request that we talk

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about numbers four and five okay separately

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so do I have a motion for one two three six seven and eight

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so moved motion by Mr Mahoney second by Mr

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bletzer discussion Mr Mahoney yes Mr Helm yes Mr bletza and

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myself yes now we have administrative notes four and five Mr Helm yeah the only uh the

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reason I wanted to bring this up was that they are about a request from the

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affordable housing trust to remove a couple of members for non-attendance and

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I wanted to give if possible the opportunity for those two members to

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speak on it if they were here or if they’re on Zoom

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um Mr chairman through the members of the board we have I received

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an email this morning that I did not forward along to you all this is from Samantha Nichols and I can read it to

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you if if that works for you sure please do um I’ve already served on this committee for two years due to circumstances

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beyond my control because of an admin error I unfortunately missed two meetings one I did actually show up for

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not knowing that it had been postponed because of not receiving emails the third most recent meeting that I missed

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and was subsequently voted off the board was because I was not sent the zoom link

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despite repeated requests to the chairperson Kathleen Dunn my car was

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unexpectedly in the shop I do not feel that I should have been voted off considering my repeated attempts to be

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present she stated she was a real estate agent um

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she served on the historic district commission for over 11 years

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that is she sent that to me this morning

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thank you any of the comments

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what’s the pleasure of the board two Take Five

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well my since uh um Ms Nichols took the time to answer

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and has been involved in in the town in in other committees over an

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extended period of time I don’t I personally do not feel comfortable removing her from this board just based

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on a memo and an inclusion in a in an under administrative notes particularly

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since as I said she took the time to address it and she’s obviously concerned about this so I cannot agree with

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removing Ms Nichols um and given the nature of how this has

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come to us I mean it’s it’s a significant thing removing people from boards and committees and I’m not sure

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that a you know a memo to us I do not know if

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Mr asiradu has is even aware of this and uh you know I clearly Ms Nichols is and

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I can’t support her removal because of that um the Mr asira do I’m kind of in limbo

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about I don’t like being in limbo because I don’t think that I’m not sure

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he’s been given for lack of a better concept due process and uh you know and

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if this is of concern to the the affordable housing trust

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um I think it should be an agenda item that they come and speak and Mr asirudu has the opportunity to appear or not but

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right now I can’t support removing Ms Nichols from the affordable housing Trust

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Mr chairman I agree with Harry with Miss Nichols I believe when I read that both uh from

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Miss Dunn is that both committee members were notified of their absences and we’re going to be

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removed and the fact that Miss Nichols sent an email

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today I would not take any action on on

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removing her with that being said if it gets brought back to us I I would hope that Miss

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Nichols is here either in person or in Zoom to be able to talk to us instead of

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just an email but right now I I don’t want to move over I don’t think it’s uh it’s right at this point as far as the

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other gentleman he was notified according to what Miss Dunn said and I I

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don’t think she would not tell the truth to us so and he’s not here he didn’t

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send an email so I I have no problem taking action on on him

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thank you did you have something to put in Anthony

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um Mr azra do has been non-responsive for quite some time

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but he was notified according to the letter correct right thank you

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okay so you’d like to remove number well we’re going to vote them you can vote against it how’s that

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so we’ll take them one at a time administrative note number four

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we need someone to move on the second release for discussion

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okay goes away well I’m just gonna say I don’t think

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these things appear here because people have nothing to do if people aren’t going to a meeting and

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they belong to be there then they should be removed regardless of whose car works and who

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God doesn’t I mean that accounts for one time but I mean I don’t think these boards and

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committees and we’ve removed people before so

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you know I wanna I’m gonna take this a little further I’m going to reach out to this committee and exactly see the

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attendance report and hear from them as a whole why why this happen I don’t

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excuse me I don’t think you have to reach out I think Anthony has the no I would like to reach out and do some

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homework on it well so I tell you what let’s pull five too

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until I get something ready I’m ready to make a motion on five right now I know five

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making a motion on five do I have a second

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I’ll second it to the point of discussion discussion

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I I agree with my colleague Mr Helm I I think that I have no problem in a future

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meeting have an agenda item and maybe uh we can have Clarity and to your point all the attendance of

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you know the members who make up that committee but give these two individuals the opportunity to come in

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Mr chairman I’m treating these two separate okay

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I’m cheating both of these cases separate you get one person that sent an email today

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explaining why she missed meetings and would still like to be on the we have another gentleman who is non-responsive

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he’s been notified I’m clear what the circumstances are so we don’t have to keep repeating them so so whether we so

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that’s why my reason for motion okay because I’m the last person that wants to put this as a Target item

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we got to run the business of the town here and there’s a lot of important things going on I don’t want to be

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holding kangaroo court so when I came and I didn’t come I believe we have a bylaws for these committees and that’s

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what they go by that’s why I’m making the motion to remove this gentleman and if okay and instead of putting it for a

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future meeting and tying up the agenda like you just said so I too take these committee serious

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Mr Mahoney no Mr Blitzer

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yes Mr Helm no myself no

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for the record can you please State the some of the mics weren’t on

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three three no’s and one yes Harry was yes thank you I mean Charlie I’m Sorry

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Charlie was all right

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anyone wishing to speak on the public comment please come up and identify yourself for

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the record and make sure the green light’s on thank you

26:51

thank you Mr chairman my name is Al dinardo Tom

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meeting member Precinct 17 I live at 46 on Flower Way which is in Red Brook I will be brief it’s okay good time

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um coming from a different Community I was spoiled because we were under mwra water

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and I’ve learned very quickly here in Plymouth that water is a major issue and

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I just want this board and the public aware that at the last planning board meeting um the folks at redbrook at make peace

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and I want to say that I’m extremely happy with them with what they built what they’ve done the

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concept 99 I’m extremely happy and not here to criticize but we’ve had some

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minor water issues with watering and watering restrict restrictions so much

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so that the next phase that came before the planning board uh 10 days ago I

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think it was the 26th meeting that the planning board put a restriction or I

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should say a restriction that they’re allowed to build this next phase

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but to look at the water issue what’s going on at redbrook why are we although

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we’re not under a long-term drought we are under water restrictions and I’m just concerned and others are

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concerned that if God forbid we’re ever in a long-term drought that that would be a major problem at

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redbrook I know this is private water it’s not technically a town issue it’s

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sort of a quasi-town issue if there’s ever a crisis up there it would be a broad health issue and ultimately it

28:32

would be a town issue so we’re just trying to stay proactive to what’s going on up there

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um so we’re hoping that the folks at redbrook will will get to the bottom of

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this I don’t want to get into the details of it but most of that planning board meeting 10 days ago over two hours

28:51

of it was attributed to this one issue so those that are interested in the details of it I don’t want to go over it

28:57

tonight but it’s it was a very extensive meeting very informative and we’re just hoping that

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we can get this issue resolved from what I understand we’re at about 850

29:08

properties we’re going to max out about 11.79 eventually and eventually that’s

29:14

going to be turned over to us so we just want to make sure that this infrastructure obviously is in place to

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sustain us for whatever we need that’s all I have to say if any questions I’m

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done with my any questions Mr Donato I I did reach out to Lee

29:32

Hartman earlier today and I apologize for not getting back to your tastes very hectic but

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he did basically say um that it’s a private agreement between

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you all and and red book just like Pine Hills you know they had their own utilities and

29:50

they haven’t grown pain issues to their with their well so

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not to say that I’m not interested in what goes on there I very much am but no to the letter of

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the law that’s that’s really the agreement that there is right now so we we will keep

30:09

monitoring I know you will and you know we’ll back you and try to help you and

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hopefully there is no issue so but I just wanted to know I did follow up on it and had a conversation

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with Mr hotman and and that’s what I was told okay thank you and I just want to thank the planning board for their they

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used what Authority they have to to speak on the issue that was unanimous vote by the planning board so they are

30:35

concerned about this at least so that’s why you always see the board this board here always talking about

30:41

moving water and you know boost the stations and because it’s not just red book or even

30:48

the Pine Hills it’s it’s town wide the the more the town it you know grows the

30:53

more needs are out for everything so and we have to have that thank you you’re welcome

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anyone else wishing to speak on the public comment

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Construction

31:14

no wait first Thanksgiving remailing program

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I think it’s Mr McKay I thought I was going to fool you with

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my costume you know who I am though thank you we all do I’m going to make it brief this is the

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third annual remailing program and I don’t want to go over this in detail

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because you’ve are somewhat familiar with this from the past years and so I did want to go over some

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history um oh that’s too fast

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so we started in 2021 with this remailing program and re-mailing

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programs are very simple they’re done by towns around the United States where you can attach the name of the town to a

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holiday and the name of Plymouth is attached to

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the first Thanksgiving this is where it all started so we took a look at other programs that

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do similar things and the largest program is Santa Claus

32:28

Indiana and the reason they’re the largest program is this is some statistics on greeting cards and how

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many that are mailed so there are over a billion greeting cards in fact 1.7

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billion greeting cards that are sold and of those 1.3 billion put in the mail

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stream around Christmas time there’s a 145 million Valentine’s Day cards that

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are sold and of those about 109 million are put in the mail stream and then

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number three is Thanksgiving and there are about 17 million

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Thanksgiving cards produced every year and of those about 12.8 million go into

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the mail stream so what we’re doing with our remailing program is we’re trying to get a large

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portion of those 12 million cards that are that are mailed around Thanksgiving

33:26

time put through Plymouth Massachusetts and put on with a special cancellation

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there are other cities that do this anybody who has a name affiliated with Christmas does it they’re about 87 of

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those almost 90 Valentine’s Day does does about 35 that participate St

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Patrick’s Day is about 12 cities that you can affiliate with that program

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and of course since we’re number three we like to think we can get close to the

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top two number two on the list is Loveland Colorado and they receive a hundred and

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twenty thousand cods from around the United States in the world to participate in their emailing program

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and one of the things that they’ve done in the past that we’re starting this year is they have students design the

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artwork for the cancellation the largest program is

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Santa Claus Indiana and they get 400 000 cards sent to them every year for

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cancellation and remailing so we’re trying to be number three and

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we started this two years ago in 2021 and

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one of the ways we’ve started the program is we solicit businesses and organizations but we also give away free

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cards and so I dress as a turkey and run around the town giving away five free

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cards under the condition that they send them back to us and they put them in the remailing program

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so these are some statistics for the first two years of the program in 2021

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you’ve seen this before we gave out six thousand cards about 4 300 were returned to us

35:22

to be included in the remailing program an additional 17

35:28

000 were given to us by businesses and other organizations we did extend the

35:33

program through Christmas mailings and the first year we mailed over 21 000

35:39

cards and at the bottom of the picture you can see the postmark that we used

35:45

says give thanks it’s a picture of oconucopia and we had the date March

35:51

10th 2021. the second year in the program 2022 we

35:58

gave out less cards to individuals but we got more cards back through

36:03

businesses and organizations we did extend the program through Christmas to

36:08

take advantage of of the Christmas mailings and last year we did about a little over

36:14

forty four thousand cards in the program so where are we today we’re kicking off

36:20

the program for 2023 and we’re looking to do better than we did last year we’re

36:27

looking to do over 50 000 cods and this is the first year we’ve got

36:33

student participation and the the

36:38

items over here show student submissions into the program we’ve got submissions

36:45

from the New Testament Christian School in Cedarville

36:50

grades 7 through 12 and they submitted 15 pieces of artwork for our

36:58

consideration so we’re going to be picking one of these artworks that were done by one of the

37:04

students we’re going to submitting it be submitting it to The Postal Service and they will authorize to use for this

37:12

year’s postmark one of these pieces of artwork that was done by a Plymouth

37:18

student so we expect that will generate more mailings and more interest in the

37:24

program these are some of the things we’ve done

37:31

in the past and that’s the end so thank you very much

37:38

and we’ll keep you posted on how well we do this year thank you George

37:43

any questions or call Mr judge thank you very much thank you

37:54

Waterfront District zone height restriction by law proposal by Precinct

37:59

3.

38:08

thank you Mr chairman members of the board for the record my name is Dale Weber I’m the current chair

38:15

of Precinct Three Where it All Began just like to read something quickly into

38:21

the record the states why I’m here tonight and I’m joined with

38:28

some people some delegates from the precinct none of who uh bashful and anticipate they’ll

38:35

have some things to say as well so I’m here tonight to provide you some

38:41

feedback as we move this issue towards other boards the planning board and town

38:48

meeting that being that we would like to have the planning board consider amending the

38:54

town zoning bylaw that establishes a new building height at 35 feet and lowering that height to

39:01

25 feet in the slim area of the Waterfront District zone

39:07

and to get the select boards support for that initiative as this issue issue

39:13

is developed for town meeting action this would apply to any new building on

39:19

the Ocean Side of Water Street from Caswell Lane South on Water Street

39:25

to Union Street Turning East on Union Street and again on the ocean side of

39:31

the street to the Plymouth Yacht Club almost simply stated from Nelson Park to Stevens Field

39:38

on the Ocean Side as you all will recall the precinct went

39:45

through a long and arduous process recently when a developer wanted to

39:50

build a new building to a 45 foot height at the corner of water and Union Street

39:56

right on the edge of the historic district and literally right on the

40:02

Ocean’s Edge with your support that plan was defeated and we thank you for that

40:10

that matter however has engaged the precinct to prevent a recurrence

40:15

issues of concern we have discussed are sea level rise climate change and when seeing the proactive steps the

40:23

town itself has undertaken with the new construction of a new sea wall around its own sewer pump station on Water

40:30

Street it brought a new light on this subject for us add to this our desire to preserve the

40:37

Integrity of the historic appeal of the area and that any new construction as allowed

40:43

could impact that and you will hopefully understand where we are coming from

40:49

hopefully you can agree that this small but important area is in Peril the vertical sprawl that is

40:57

better situated in other areas of the town we hope you can support our initiative

41:02

and engage the appropriate departments and committees and Boards in our town to

41:08

get this done I I will add that I have heard from

41:14

people on this issue that I’m not in support of it I just want to state that

41:20

it’s not our intent to impact anyone negatively I believe uh and I know there are more

41:28

people educated on this matter than I am but I believe the the issue that we are proposing

41:35

adds another step to the process that someone might be going through

41:40

to develop a new parcel or a modification to the height

41:46

I believe that’s called a special permit but we will leave that for the planning

41:52

board to educate us and it’s our goal to ask the planning board to amend their

42:00

own zoning bylaw we are coming forward

42:05

as a default should that not happen and we will

42:11

proceed in a manner after we caucus based on where we’re going and what

42:17

support or lack of support we get so

42:23

there are others that probably want to speak on this but if you have any questions of me while I’m here I’m

42:29

I’m here Mr Mahoney

42:37

Mr Weber so where where are you in the process are you uh perfect world looking at a in April of 24 article if you’re

42:45

successful no we we have an article that’s already uh we have a placeholder you have a

42:53

placeholder for this uh October’s town meeting and so

42:59

uh I believe the warrant closes at noon on Friday so who are you looking to act

43:05

on that so how did that occur in what’s going to guarantee that that

43:10

moves on to October well we’ll find that out tomorrow when we go to the planning board okay so

43:16

that’s the big step that’s the big initial step there but the way your schedules work we wanted to come in and

43:22

visit you first get your feedback and uh hopefully relay that to the planable

43:30

tomorrow night 705. and how long has this initiative been

43:36

being worked on this has been being discussed

43:42

for a good year now and before that it was discussed not in a formal process

43:50

but there always has been discussion but things that have happened

43:55

just outside the parameters of the historical district down on Water Street

44:01

have really put the pedal to the metal on this issue and accelerated our

44:06

involvement in wanting to preserve the integrity and the historical well

44:13

while we have historical reference in Precinct 3 we want to maintain that I mean this is after all

44:20

as you’ve heard me say many times this is where it all began we don’t want to

44:25

see that slip away and we don’t want to see things like we’re seeing that

44:32

the lack of a better term they don’t fit in the precinct and what we’re trying to do is coexist

44:40

we understand progress we understand the business community and

44:45

then each but we don’t think that anything that we’re doing here in this initiative

44:51

impacts that other than perhaps creating another step and another set of eyes to

44:57

look at something so that something doesn’t happen that has happened down on Water Street

45:03

all right so I like the term vertical sprawl I mean

45:11

that is completely accurate you know it’s obviously it’s um you know building out a suburban sprawl

45:18

which this area has suffered from too much of it since the 70s and I agree with you on

45:24

certain aspects of this and obviously we can’t get to this community can’t get to

45:30

town meeting quick enough to expand the Historical Area okay

45:35

but my question is I mean 25 foot

45:41

how does it work if somebody has a property and

45:47

and they sell that property to someone does the new owner restricted to 25

45:54

or if the existing owner moves forward with a proposal are they grandfathered in something like that I think I think

46:01

that’s a question for the planning board but the way we are looking at it is that an amendment to the zoning bylaw would

46:08

be uh perspective and it would be perspective to any new construction in

46:16

the zone that the planing board helps us Define there is a waterfront Harbor

46:22

District now what we’re asking the planning board to do is to create a

46:28

overlay District uh that encompasses the area that I set Oceanside from

46:36

Stephen Nelson Park to Stevens Field

46:41

Mr Helm um I’m going to ask a few questions and make you know and uh I totally

46:48

understand where this is coming from um I just want to say that at first so

46:53

please um take these questions in the spirit that they’re meant of making sure

46:59

that the right things are done rather than move ahead or try to push through something

47:05

where did the concept of 25 feet come

47:10

has this been run by architects as do we have any idea what kind of

47:17

structures could or could not be built um I believe that 25 feet makes a

47:25

two-story building nearly impossible but where did the 25 feet come from

47:31

there was no scientific research that was done to create the 25-foot Zone I don’t know how you could

47:40

not build a second story uh at 25 feet

47:45

since most places are eight to nine feet tall in each floor some go to 10 feet

47:53

but 20 feet with a attic space above that at five feet I mean

47:58

but again Harry yeah it’s an issue of creating another step in the process and

48:06

I believe that step would be called a special permit that puts another whole set of eyes on

48:12

things so that we don’t get into the scenario that we are now living with sure and I all I all I’m saying Mr Weber

48:20

is that um for you know for presentation of the warrant article I think it would be a

48:27

good strategy of to have consulted with an architect to determine what 25 feet

48:34

means so that it’s not just up to people who don’t do this sort of thing

48:40

professionally it’s j it’s a suggestion um in terms of special permit and I’m

48:48

not sure I mean it sounds to me like from this overlay District you are

48:54

exempting from the 25 foot any existing

49:01

structure just only new construction okay

49:07

that might be problematic because when you apply you may find out and the

49:14

planning board will certainly weigh in on this tomorrow night you may be creating a district of

49:21

pre-existing non-conforming structures that means everything in that District included there are a couple houses there

49:28

are a few houses in there since it’s on the just the water side it’s not on the the uh the Inland side of Water Street

49:35

if you move to the Inland side of Water Street there are more houses involved and if the owner of that structure wants

49:45

to do pretty much anything that requires a permit like say it is one of the two

49:51

or three houses that would be in this um the they want to put a deck on okay that

49:58

would require a special permit in this because they are a not a

50:04

pre-existing non-conforming structure so I mean I’m not sure and I’m sure the planning board

50:11

they know a lot more than than I do about this will be able to discuss with

50:16

you this concept of only new structures okay but I will say that

50:23

um the the businesses on the wharf would be part of

50:29

this I’m imagining um and just to let you know

50:36

um all of the area that you’re talking about is in the FEMA AE flood zone which

50:42

has a height determination of 14 feet which means you cannot barring a a

50:50

special determination by a a surveyor um

50:55

the um you you would have to begin building at

51:01

14 feet if you build a new structure if you improve a structure that exists to a

51:10

value of over 50 percent of the assessed building value FEMA requires that the um

51:18

the project be put on piling okay and they’re currently saying that the AE

51:25

flood level luckily it’s not a velocity a ve flood level but the AE flood level

51:30

is 14 feet so you know say you know

51:35

um somebody comes in and and buys 42 degree or buys um you know one of the

51:42

restaurants down there and they want to rebuild it okay it will probably be more

51:49

than 50 percent of the value of the structure not the total value of the land but the value of the structure

51:55

itself okay they will be required to begin the structure itself at

52:02

approximately 14ft maybe a couple feet below that but about that and that eats

52:07

into the 25 feet and I just wanted to point that out and the question about

52:14

whether or not you can do an overlay that only specifies new construction and

52:21

does not create you know these pre-existing um problem structure structure or

52:27

permitting problems that would have to go to the zba so it’s just those are just my thoughts when I read this about

52:35

the the the the you know nothing nothing’s easy you know and and I think that trying to address this I totally

52:42

understand it um but nothing’s easy and there are always complications and you know I

52:48

think that a a a a good strategy moving forward is to look into those

52:54

complications so that you know they they get answered um and also one one last thing that I’d

53:01

like to point out for everybody because I’ve heard a a lot of misconceptions on this five and seven Water Street

53:09

are not or are in the historic district they are not outside of the historic

53:15

district they are in the historic district so that you know that’s a whole

53:20

other ball of wax with the historic commission but just so everybody is clear you know when you add five and

53:28

seven Water Street into this this discussion you are talking about

53:34

buildings that are in the historic district that were given the okay by the

53:39

historic commission so anyway take take that input as you feel you would like

53:46

good information thank you Jim Mr Weber thank you for your presentation

53:53

uh I can just I’ll start off by saying the 35 foot height

53:59

I don’t want that to go any higher I’m not in favor of that 45 foot coupler

54:05

they wanted to do I’m glad that was voted down it was the right thing to do but uh the the 25 foot restriction uh

54:15

yeah it’s it’s just you know it’s just just to uh

54:21

restrictive I’ve talked to Wally a lot of the Waterfront businesses I talked to them this morning and visited a few

54:28

places and they’re vehemently against this uh you know these couple of them their projects they’re planning on doing

54:34

that they’re not going to go over 35 feet but they they’re probably going to be over 25 feet some some Renovations

54:40

they’re doing and this would definitely uh curtail their plans if this was

54:46

allowed I know East Bay Grill did a a new kitchen with storage upstairs and I

54:52

believe that’s all for 25 feet that wouldn’t have been allowed if this uh if this bylaw was in effect it’s it’s just

55:01

I think it will affect it negatively affect Economic Development down on the waterfront

55:06

and most of that land down there is Town old lands and I think if if we do our

55:14

jobs all that land I think we should be able to control what happens on those

55:19

properties so at 25 feet it’s just it’s I just don’t think I don’t think

55:27

that’s the way to go and I understand completely we’re trying to protect that that you know the quaintness of a town

55:34

that beautiful Waterfront uh yeah I know there’s a couple of buildings that have gone in that are

55:39

controversial because of that because of how big they are but uh 25 feet it’s just uh I know the

55:47

businesses everybody I’ve talked to so far is absolutely against it so and for good reason thanks

55:54

thank you I’m just going to say um

56:00

I had a couple emails myself on the on the height factor of it

56:05

being the 25 feet and same thing that the others mentioned I’m seven feet I

56:12

think it was Woods seven feet he’d have to be up anyway to start with a new flood zone areas and then he wouldn’t be

56:20

able to put his Edition on as it’s written right now or being proposed and I talked to somebody else that said

56:28

that there’d be a lot of flat roofs and I don’t know what you think about

56:33

that but just think about it for a second I I really think the town should do a master plan if you will a real one

56:42

spend a dime uh you get what you pay for and do it right I understand the concern

56:48

100 there’s nobody more on that wagon than I am expanding historically

56:54

and I’ve been out to these meetings and I’ve expressed it but I think it needs to be expanded but

57:02

I would like to see it done professionally so that every section of our government will be following the

57:08

same path I think you know the cow’s out of the bound on some of it already

57:14

but there’s still time we have to decide as a community do we want that historic

57:20

I think the answer is yes uh Economic Development plays a factor

57:26

into that where when how traffic there’s there’s so many things that need

57:32

to be looked at and i would support any portion of asking for money or funding

57:40

for for a master plan for this community a real one

57:45

the last one that we got was uh it had a few voids here and there

57:50

and I think we can do a much better job and then we can all have input on that

57:56

and put all our ideas in and all that and see what they say at the end result maybe some things were

58:02

not all gonna like but you’ll have it there to look at and as boards change and people change and

58:10

so on and so forth I was I was in town not to get off the subject but this fits

58:15

into what I’m saying so I’m going to say it Saturday night it was down on the waterfront at six o’clock

58:20

there wasn’t a parking space anywhere ended up in the bank parking lot the old

58:26

five there and uh pretty much illegal but already in there

58:32

I guess they were shoving them every which way and I was all right but the

58:37

point is we we keep adding these restaurants and they’re all beautiful and all these things and yet we don’t

58:45

adjust the simple thing of packing where people are going to pack and eventually I say it every time I get

58:52

a chance it’s going to hurt us big time it’s going to hurt the people that have these businesses down there because

58:58

people are going to be doing this they’re going to say you know what you already see a lot happen with people

59:03

just going down the cape for whatever reason for packing but I do

59:09

have some concerns with the height I definitely support it

59:14

to some point but I think we need to take a little more time and and look at it but the plan board will have a lot

59:21

more to weigh in on tomorrow so but uh I give you uh hats off uh what

59:27

you’re trying to do because I definitely like the idea it’s just how do we get there at this point

59:34

so

59:41

did you want to vote on this one or no not at this point right nobody needed

59:47

okay thank you Dale

59:52

fall town meeting warrant article discussion

59:58

Mr Mahoney Mr chairman I’ll make a motion that the

1:00:05

waterproofs sponsoring an article for October town meeting to approve to get town meeting to

1:00:12

approve the uh newly negotiated pilot program with the whole Tech

1:00:18

I’ll second that motion by Mr Mahoney second by Mr Helm discussion

1:00:27

Mr bletter yes Mr Helm yes Mr Mahoney yes and

1:00:32

myself yes unanimous Town manager’s report

1:00:39

um just a couple quick no items of note so the reverse 911 system that Mr Quinto you asked about last uh two weeks ago

1:00:46

now that is available through the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department so what we’re doing right now is we’re looking into the process and we’re gonna

1:00:52

have a training for our department heads in the coming weeks and that’ll go live but I will just want to point out one

1:00:58

major thing here is that the only ones who are guaranteed a message is if you haven’t landline at your home if you

1:01:04

have a cell phone you need to call in you need to add on you’re going to be added to the system so there’s going to

1:01:09

be a lot of marketing that goes on with that so people know and understand that if you don’t have a landline anymore and you want to be part of the system that’s

1:01:15

tied to your address you have to add your cell phone on there so there’ll be a big marketing push from us as well but

1:01:21

the only people we can guarantee to get to right now is anyone who signed up with a cell phone and a landline

1:01:26

could I maybe make a recommendation of putting a mailer in with the tax bills

1:01:32

you know just a one-page yeah the water bill whatever yeah something like that

1:01:38

no nobody has a dog but um yeah I think that would be helpful in

1:01:46

reaching out to the people with cell phones because the people understand the inconvenience of not having water or

1:01:52

whatever it might be but the part that they don’t like is not being told so I’m really glad that to hear that you’re

1:01:59

addressing that and so I won’t guarantee the mailer but I’ll follow up with you oh yeah we’ll see what it would be what it would cost sure

1:02:06

yeah and then speaking of mailers if you remember last fall town meeting the uh

1:02:11

the town meeting voted to establish the elderly and disabled tax fund so we took in our first Year’s worth of money it

1:02:17

came into eleven thousand dollars so what we’re going to ask is that committee to come in to a future Town

1:02:22

future select board meeting to give a presentation to the board about what the criteria is for someone to apply for

1:02:29

that because again it wasn’t it was specifically created and designed by

1:02:34

that committee so we want to hear for the public what their thresholds are and how to qualify and how to apply so

1:02:40

that’ll be coming up at the end of August okay the last piece is a Stevens Field

1:02:47

project was opened up on Monday yesterday and the project budget unfortunately came in roughly 350 000

1:02:54

over the initial dollar amount that was proposed and approved so what we’re

1:03:00

going to do is uh we’re going to look at a couple different things from arpa and if there’s some things we can clear out I think we’ll be back to the board to

1:03:07

approve the funds it will be more than 350 because you’ve got to remember the initial estimates that we had included

1:03:13

contingency in there the bids came in higher than that we want to add more contingency on so even though

1:03:19

by dollar amount it was 350 there’s going to be a larger number to you guys so just more to come on that but that’ll

1:03:25

be very soon because we only have 30 days to award that contract and that was it

1:03:33

any questions on any of those any questions for Mr Brothers

1:03:40

thank you select board open discussion new

1:03:46

business

1:03:55

lettuce Mr Helm I received an email from a citizen and

1:04:05

it uh with thoughts about Morton Park

1:04:11

um about and suggesting that on Saturdays and Sundays Morton Park be

1:04:18

opened and collecting fees at 7 00 a.m as opposed to

1:04:24

8 30 or 9 when whenever it is because they have noticed that every morning by

1:04:32

the time they go by at 8 30 there are carloads of people already

1:04:38

there and filling up the parking and that’s an interesting idea but it re it

1:04:43

reminded me that we had a presentation

1:04:48

about changes to more the Morton Park the traffic what was going to go on

1:04:55

there in terms of enforcement and we’ve had a good month of summer and I would

1:05:03

like to request at the Chairman’s behest that we have

1:05:09

um the Morton Park group um the I guess beaches and pond

1:05:15

committee and the police chief come in and give us a presentation on how things

1:05:20

are going okay because you know this seems to allude to

1:05:26

something that we’re very familiar with the flexibility of the people to get

1:05:31

around what’s put in place so they aren’t waiting until they have to pay

1:05:38

the fees they’re coming in before everybody else so they’re coming in extremely early so it just kind of

1:05:45

brought up the idea that I would like to have a presentation among the the the the people who are

1:05:52

stakeholders in it on how they feel that it is going

1:06:02

any old business I don’t know if it’s old business but

1:06:08

it’s certainly sad business I just want to uh send my condolences to the family of

1:06:14

deal Melanson one of our heroic firefighters who battled the

1:06:22

ALS better that for a few years and he was not just

1:06:28

a heroic fireman but he was heroic in the way he battled that disease he was he’s an inspiration to I think

1:06:35

everybody that knew him and I can tell you it was definitely an inspiration for me and I just want to uh

1:06:43

keep his family his wife Colleen the rest of the family in our prayers and uh

1:06:52

I want to thank Dale for his service to the town of Plymouth and may He rest in peace thank you

1:06:58

thank you jelly

1:07:03

emotional adjourn second thank you thank you for coming on

1:07:10

the select boards meeting we’ll see you in a couple weeks thank you

1:07:20

two weeks right