ORDER-2015-89 : Appointment of Kenneth McClure, 33 Berwick St., to the Historic District Commission for a three-year term; said term to end on the last day of February, 2016

Transcript (~9 min @ 1:03)

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▶ 1:01 Robert A. Boisselle: participation is now closed we have one order tonight we have ordered 2015 dash 89 this is the appointment of Kenneth McClure of 33 Berwick Street to the historic district commission for a three-year term set term to end on the last day of February 2016 motion to suspend the rules to bring mr. McClure

▶ 1:21 Robert A. Boisselle: before there's a motion to suspend second second Kenneth would you come

▶ 1:34 Denise Gaffey: forward please hey doing very good welcome I'm here Denise Gaffey director planning community development and I'm here in the mayor mayor Dolan's behalf he was unable to make it tonight and would have liked to have been here to present mr. McClure but since he couldn't be here I'm here in his place and I'm very pleased to introduce the board to mr. McClure Kenneth had reached out to me a little while back to let me know that he was a fairly new resident in town fell in love with the community and was really looking forward to spending a long time here and getting more involved he initially expressed interest in joining the planning board and because he has an excellent background for planning I explained to him that we didn't have any openings but we had an opening coming up in the historic district commission and his skills as a landscape architect would be really valuable on the historic district Commission so he was he he was accommodating to that request and still interested in participating on the Commission so we're really excited to introduce him to you tonight and he would be filling a position of one of our members who is no longer able to serve on the board that's Robert Sherman and he he has an unexpired he has an expired term and in since we have

▶ 2:54 Denise Gaffey: staggered terms that are that are every three years with staggered membership his term even though it's expired would have expired in 2016 that's why it's established that's why mr. McClure's term when it would expire in 2016 which is just one year from now and hopefully we'll be able to renew it next year for another three-year term but that's the way that's explains why it's set up that

▶ 3:21 Speaker 3: way yeah okay let's say a few words so I'm Ken McClure I would a landscape architect I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of landscape architect in 2004 in 2008 high school was 2004 and I from there I I was a worked at a landscape design build nursery down on the south Shore in Pembroke I did that for three years got my bearings learned a lot about trees plant material that's kind of my specialty is trees plant material and in the native native flora and fauna if you will and then I got the job that I'm at currently with Halverson design partnership who is a one of the most recent ASLA award which is American Society and landscape architects the national award for excellence for a project we did in Minnesota so I'm currently working there we work with my office is currently 22 people and we have very open studio so if there was ever any questions as to anything that's happening within the city limits that I would be able to bounce off principles that have have over 30 years of experience myself like I said I graduated in 2008 and i've been working in the field ever since specifically in the in the boston area since

▶ 4:52 Speaker 3: 2011. so i'm a recent recently moved to melrose in 2012 in december i live on berwick street and me and my wife wasn't my wife at the time we got married since uh and we absolutely love the town we we've attended a number of the high school football games because she's an avid sports fan she graduated sports journalism so she's a big time sports fan we have a dog so we frequent the melrose dog melrose dog park so we're pretty active within the community and we love it here

▶ 5:23 Robert A. Boisselle: very good let the record show that alderman mcintyre margolis has joined us

▶ 5:29 Monica C. Medeiros: alderman Medeiros if you had a question uh yes thank you uh thank you mr mcclure we I appreciate your experience here, it's pretty extensive. My question is actually for Ms. Gaffey. The cover letter from the mayor here says that Mr. Sherman's term expired in 2010. Right.

▶ 5:50 Denise Gaffey: So that's why I said it was an expired term, but unless somebody actively is appointed to fill the term, he remained on the board.

▶ 6:04 Monica C. Medeiros: that's not a typo it's that is correct yes yes yes and mr mcclure yes lots of experience and uh we really look forward to what you'll bring to the historic commission thank you thank you

▶ 6:17 Peter D. Mortimer: any other other morning thank you uh carrying on the tradition of uh alderman bill forbes uh he'd always thank people from ward seven who uh came in so you're from ward six and being the ward six alderman i'd like to thank you for coming on to the historic district commission it's a big help boston has a nice history of landscape architecture with olmstead i'm sure you studied in college melrose is known for its open spaces there was just an extensive report over 200 pages i had to get it printed i couldn't read it all on the computer from miss gaffey's office and i'm a big fan of besides the green belt the emerald necklace as they call it in boston that olmsted was responsible for you may have heard in your conversations up in the planning office one of the things that makes melrose a very special place among a few others but the one that focuses most on your office and your position coming up especially with your background is the green belt that we have around melrose we have crystal pond in wakefield to the northwest and and then we have the whole fells woods across the west side of melrose and then we come into pine banks as we come around the south and then we come to flag acres and swains pond the town is pond and then mount hood to the southeast and to the east so melrose is completely surrounded by a nice swath of trees and open space and it's one of the things that makes melrose a very special place as you referenced knowing what a special place Melrose is in your comments and being a landscaped architect you know we have a lot of trees in our downtown area giving it that look of a place like Nashua or a place like Newberry Street with the trees along sidewalk type restaurants and boutiques so I'm sure your experience is going to be invaluable we all want to thank you very much for stepping forward and we look forward to working with you in the near future thank you very much thank you very much

▶ 8:18 Robert A. Boisselle: mr. chairman thank you any other questions most recommend for passive

▶ 8:23 Robert A. Boisselle: passage motion to recommend for passage second all those in favor any discussion all those in favor against welcome aboard thank you thank you thank you

▶ 8:38 Robert A. Boisselle: motion to adjourn any discussion all those in favor hey good evening everyone