ORDER-2017-176 : Approval of Lease Agreement with Archdiocese of Boston

Transcript (~9 min @ 6:04)

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▶ 6:04 Peter D. Mortimer: public participation is now closed the first order we have before us is order two zero one seven dash one seven six it is approval of a lease agreement which the with the archdiocese of boston alderman's worker has made a motion to suspend the rules that we may hear from the appropriate city officials duly seconded by who's that alderman Medeiros all in favor of suspension the rules please say aye aye any opposed hearing none we're under suspension and we will be joined by the city solicitor and anyone else he deems appropriate good evening mr

▶ 6:47 Speaker 2: van campen how are you tonight very good thank you how are you sir very good thank you um uh to you and the members of the committee i want to report that we have recently completed negotiations with with the Archdiocese of Boston as many members known as the public is aware the city of Melrose has had a long-term arrangement with the Archdiocese for the use of parking public parking here in the community on land owned by the Archdiocese of Boston and indirectly st. Mary's Parish historically we've had the benefit of 34 parking spaces unrestricted and 19 spaces with restrictions for the allowance of staff parking personnel parking at st. Mary's Parish so we've had the benefit exclusively of 34 spaces but always had a restriction on those other 19 for a total of 53 through our recent negotiations with the Archdiocese mr. chairman we have gotten the Archdiocese

▶ 7:42 Speaker 2: to agree to relinquish the restrictions on those 19 spaces providing the community with 53 municipal parking spaces with no restriction to the benefit of the merchants and the patrons of our downtown area the lease payment which has historically been in the neighborhood of eighteen thousand dollars annually will go up to thirty thousand annually and what I would tell the members is that the payment itself hasn't been increased in many years in fact um during my time here i would say it hasn't been increased at least in the last 10 possibly 15 years um yeah in years past it's actually the archdiocese records actually show higher payments from the community in years past so at least for the last 10 it hasn't increased in talking with the city planner our view is that for the benefit of 53 parking spot spaces to utilize on a 24 7 365 basis with no restrictions 30 000 total is below market value for what you would pay for a parking space in downtown melrose today on that on that along those parameters so happy to answer any questions members may have and we're asking for your approval for the mayor to execute

▶ 9:02 Speaker 1: the lease agreement thank you very much mr van campen our city solicitor are there any alderman

▶ 9:09 Scott M. Forbes: wishing to be heard alderman forbes please general public can you just uh just tell us where the 54

▶ 9:14 Speaker 2: parking spaces are so they're if you're on main street and you're sort of in the neighborhood of giacomo's restaurant they're in the back of those buildings and they come around to an entry onto myrtle street so it's kind of a weird configuration i think you have the schematic layout that was attached to the order it's always hard for me to describe exactly where these spaces are configured

▶ 9:37 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you thank you mr chairman thank you alderman forbes alderman Tramontozzi please

▶ 9:48 John N. Tramontozzi: presently what the condition of those spaces in reasonably good conditions yeah i would say

▶ 9:52 Speaker 2: they're in reasonably good condition simply because the city's actually been keeping an eye on them maintaining them ensuring that no one's abusing them that Thorp no vandalization

▶ 10:03 John N. Tramontozzi: going on etc so and so they're not in need of any uh any kind of mate uh be beyond maintenance like repaving or anything like that no I've talked to the

▶ 10:11 Speaker 2: director of public works about that he doesn't anticipate any need for repaving

▶ 10:16 John N. Tramontozzi: or anything like that the lease also requires us to maintain them liability insurance very common practice in these type of leases does the city of Melrose liability insurance cover those areas in the event of visit and it has for the

▶ 10:28 Speaker 2: last 20 years since this arrangements been in effect okay great very good

▶ 10:32 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Alderman Tramontozzi. Alderman Zwerchel, please.

▶ 10:38 Michael P. Zwirko: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Van Kampen. I had a question. So where exactly are the 19 spots that were previously restricted? Are they the ones that border Myrtle Street? Is it the small lot between Myrtle and Larrabee? Correct.

▶ 10:52 Speaker 2: That's my understanding. Those were the spaces that staff at St. Mary's were utilizing. Those would be the 19 from which the restrictions would be lifted.

▶ 11:01 Michael P. Zwirko: So it's actually just a lifting of the restrictions because the city of Melrose was in residence, excuse me, the public was able to use those spots previously, just the restrictions were during the school day, during certain hours, correct?

▶ 11:13 Speaker 2: Correct. There were hour restrictions on those spaces.

▶ 11:15 Michael P. Zwirko: So the 19 spots, it's just the lifting of, so Monday at 10 a.m., you know.

▶ 11:20 Speaker 2: Monday at 10 a.m., more specifically Sunday at 11 a.m. Sure. During school hours, during the regular work day.

▶ 11:27 Michael P. Zwirko: and so I know that Thorp signs there what what improvements of if any are going to be made or reduction of the signs is anything gonna be done to that lot to you know inform either the public or I mean is we just you know we're gonna enter this lease and then the way the lot is the way the way the one is

▶ 11:44 Speaker 2: I'm not aware of what signage improvements or other improvements are going to be made there I imagine there will be some kind of an outreach to the community to make the community aware of the additional parking during those hours but I would direct that question either the planning department or public

▶ 12:02 Michael P. Zwirko: works in this property because it's owned by the Archdiocese Thorp no tax bill that they pay to the city correct so we're actually paying them for their parcel of land right okay thank you thank you mr. chairman those are all the

▶ 12:14 Peter D. Mortimer: questions I had at this time Thank You alderman Zwirko next we have alderman Mac at TMR goal is followed by alderman Medeiros thank you mr. chairman and the

▶ 12:19 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: terms of the lease are are they a single payment of $30,000 or the payments are

▶ 12:26 Speaker 2: made on a monthly basis monthly basis 30,000 divided by 12 the city would pay 25 on a monthly basis $2,500 right okay it's for a three-year term and do you

▶ 12:36 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: know are those funds coming from our parking revenues do you know where those

▶ 12:42 Speaker 2: funds are coming from I believe they come from parking receipts but I'll

▶ 12:46 Speaker 3: refer to the auditor on the way of information Thorp a line in the budget for this expenditure in the parking budget that's coming from parking receipts i did think i s

▶ 12:52 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: i did think i saw a line i thought i saw a line but i wasn't sure if it was for the 30 000 or not thank you um president khan um and you may not know this uh it sounds like they're just going to be uh open open to the public in general is was there any consideration for permit permitted parking for like employees or anything like that for what we've been doing in some of the satellite

▶ 13:17 Speaker 2: parking areas the terms of the lease require that the parking be for public municipal parking purposes so I think the the vision of the administration today working with Planning and Public Works in the mayor's office is that we provide additional parking relief for downtown and that would be the goal here

▶ 13:36 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you that's all thank you alderman MacMaster my goal is alderman

▶ 13:40 Speaker 4: Medeiros please thank you I guess the obvious question is where will the st. mary's staff park now will they be relegated to berwick street or i am not aware of where their

▶ 13:50 Speaker 2: staff are parking um but they made it very clear that they did not need these spaces for that purpose any longer perhaps in the rectory parking lot i'm not sure and then there was a parking

▶ 14:04 Speaker 4: study that was done and obviously we know this is a stressed area but is it stressed during the the weekday time I know Thorp a lot of stress in the evenings and on the weekends but we're happy to have no restrictions but I'm not sure if this is the you know the time frame that we've identified as needing that is probably

▶ 14:26 Speaker 2: more of a planning question I don't I don't have the answer to that particular

▶ 14:32 Peter D. Mortimer: question thank you thank you thank you Alderman Medeiros seeing no further Alderman wishing to be heard motion recommend we have a motion to recommend Recommend from Alderman Forbes, duly seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. Seeing no further discussion, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Opposed. One opposed, the order will be recommended to the full board for passage. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. VanCampen.