APPT-2025-10 : Appointment of Lori Massa, 145 Bellevue Avenue, Melrose, MA, as Director of Planning and Community Development

Transcript (~7 min @ 9:22)

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▶ 9:16 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Sorry. Second vote. We'll get nine. Thank you Madam Mayor. And, um, next we have appointments, um, 2025 dash 10. Appointment of Flory Masa 1 45 Bellevue App, uh, mayor Mass as a Director of Planning and Community Development. And we have the mayor. And Ms. Masa,

▶ 9:36 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you again, Madam Chair. I am thrilled to be here tonight to present Lori Masa to you as my appointee as the new director of planning and community development. I think many of you know Lori from her current work in that department, and also as a fellow Melrose resident. She lives in Ward four. Um, she brings over 15 years experience in planning. First with the city of Somerville and then here in Melrose since 2016. She holds, uh, masters of Design from UPenn and has worked extensively on multiple projects in Melrose, including the most recent zoning amendment reification, working on various projects including way finding, um, and various housing development projects. So, um, Lori was selected after an open and competitive process. I'm really excited to have this opportunity to promote from within and to have her take this next step in her career.

▶ 10:27 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, would you like

▶ 10:30 Speaker 2: To speak? Sure. Thank you, um, for those kind words and for, um, entertaining this appointment tonight. I am, uh, passionate about municipal planning. I've been doing it for my whole career and, um, feel, um, you know, privileged to be able to, to work here in Melrose. It's an amazing community and, um, there are a lot of urban planners that live here because of the structure has been designed as a garden community. And, um, there's wonderful opportunity here. Um, so I, um, yeah, look forward to any questions you have.

▶ 11:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, look forward, um, to have you as well. What, um, any, uh, question from my colleagues, councilor Hamilton.

▶ 11:14 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Uh, Madam Chair, thank you for being here with us this evening.

▶ 11:21 Ward Hamilton: Um, the position that you are accepting and moving into, um, I think was Ms. Gaffey 27 years? Yes. In that position? Yeah, something Like That. Um, some big shoes to fill and, um, certainly that position, you know, and under her guidance, um, had a tremendous amount of influence on the direction that the city has taken. It's a very important position. Um, would you be kind enough to talk about, um, items that are on your agenda? Um, I guess specifically recommendations of the housing production plan and other things that influence, you know, zoning type changes?

▶ 12:03 Speaker 2: Sure. Um, so, and thanks for the heads up ahead of time. I did go go through the, um, the housing production plan and looked at the strategies, um, and actions. These, these plans don't sit on shelves in our office. We do look at them. Um, so, um, we, we do incorporate them into, um, into our work. Uh, I did take a a look at the, the list though, to try to be comprehensive about it, um, in response to this question. Uh, so one of the strategies is talking about missing middle housing, um, which is a component of housing, you know, with kind of a small scale, um, like three to eight units, um, which we do have here in Melrose, which is pretty unique. Um, and some of the, the strategies and actions in the housing production plan is making sure that we can continue to have that kind of housing, um, here. And, um, looking at kind of our existing zoning regulations, um, and making sure that they, they match what we want to continue here in Melrose with our kind of dense neighborhood, um, development. Um, a lot of times the zoning regulations don't match what the built environment is, and we wanna make sure that people can continue to build in that way that we, we, we love. And that's why, you know, we love Melrose. Um, so one of the first priorities after the three ratification effort, um, is to look at those dimensions, um, within our neighborhoods. Um, and also, um, again, kind of re reevaluating what's happening with some of the redevelopment, um, districts in our, in our city. Um, and kind of with that is the accessory dwelling unit regulations, which, um, we need to tackle first because we need local regulations by the beginning of February or else the, the state law that was recently passed takes effect without any local, um, specific regulations around that. So that's kind of the top priority. Um, so there are a whole bunch of, um, other strategies and actions in the, the housing production plan. Um, we have tackled, you know, some of them already. Um, we looked at the, um, sustainable design guidelines. We, we now have those. Um, we worked with MAPC, um, on those, um, we're working on, um, with, with MAPC again and some of the inner core committees looking at a, a toolkit for, um, managing and, um, allowing for rent decreases for affordable units that we have right now. Um, we, one of the strategies talks about, um, making those units more affordable, deeper, deeper, deeper levels of affordability. Um, which is something that, you know, we need to continue to look at, but right now we're having trouble with, you know, the rent increases of the units that we currently have and making sure that there is displacement of those units and that they're, they're operating as, um, intended. Um, so I kind of initiated that with our, with our inner core committee of MAPC. And it's kind of taken on this, um, as a big project that, um, we're, you know, leading the charge on that. So that's a huge component of the housing production plan that will, um, that's being worked on currently. Um, so let's see some other things. Um, we, um, are, you know, continuing to look for grants to ways to, IM improve our public, um, realm and, um, making sure that we continue to be a walkable city. So keeping the neighborhood serving businesses, um, so that we, we have places to, to walk to and, uh, be able to, you know, go to a corner store and, and get, um, things that we need without having to hop in the car all the time. Um, so those are, uh, some of the kind of high level, um, priorities.

▶ 16:06 Speaker 6: Thank you. Mm-Hmm.

▶ 16:09 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you for providing all this, uh, these informations. Any other questions? Councillor, Kyra. And then, um, vice Chair Williams.

▶ 16:19 Speaker 2: I was just gonna make a motion to recommend, but I'll second that motion.

▶ 16:21 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion to recommend made by council re seconded by Vice Chair Williams on discussion.

▶ 16:31 Maya Jamaleddine: Seeing none. Um, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

▶ 16:36 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 16:37 Speaker 7: Thank you.

▶ 16:43 Maya Jamaleddine: You still with this? And, um, last item is appointment of, um, Rob appointment 2025 dash 11 appointment of Robert Carillo, 28 Baxter Street, merose Mass, uh, superintendent of Parks and Open Spaces is welcome again