PUBLIC COMMENT

Transcript (~11 min @ 5:50)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 5:34 Maya Jamaleddine: um, moving to the minute approval, uh, Legal and Legislative Committee meeting November 17, 2023, time is 6:45. I will, um, um, uh, motion, uh, without reading to approve the minutes of, uh, November

▶ 5:55 Speaker 5: 17th. Seeing no objection,

▶ 5:57 Maya Jamaleddine: um, the minutes are now approved. Um-Moving to the public comment, um, uh, portion. Um, if there is, um, I will motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment, seeing no objection. We are now open for public comment, and this is the portion of the meeting where anyone can speak on any item on our agenda for tonight.

▶ 6:24 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, do we have anyone in public wishing to speak? Please state your name and, um, address.

▶ 6:38 Speaker 5: Good evening. Hi.

▶ 6:42 Speaker 4: Good evening. My name is Diana Caffarella, 18 Bellevue Ave. I'm, I'm a member of the local chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and I also r- run the recent social media campaign, Saint- Save the Benjamin Lind House, Melrose. Thank you to the City Council for giving your attention to this matter on the agenda and to those who came tonight in support. A house in Melrose recently came on the market, 244 Main Street. This is a home that has seen all of Melrose's sea- seasons. 250 years ago, church bells everywhere rang the alarm that the British had reached our shores and were marching toward Lexington to, to destroy our supplies. Melrose wasn't yet Melrose, but North Malden. Yet, these residents, determined to protect their home, gathered here to train and guard the idea that America could be free and indep- a free and independent state. One of its residents, Benjamin Lind, along with his neighbors, marched together with their company in the event they had to intercede the British on their way back from Lexington and to also protect the banks of the Mystic River. A house in Melrose recently came on the market, 244 Main Street, the homestead of Benjamin Lind, a patriot, a veteran. Now it's our turn, as neighbors, to partis- to protect his home, a home that saw Melrose in its infancy.

▶ 8:10 Speaker 4: A demoli- a demolition delay ordinance in Melrose is long overdue. Melrose is so unique from its surrounding towns. Our architecture is a hallmark of the community, the Victorian vere. This house here is older, but unlike many surrounding towns, we have no laws in place to protect and preserve our history. I urge everyone to pause and give thought to what else can be done to save our history for future generations. There is so much more that can be done. Particularly, the Benjamin Lind House was important not only

▶ 8:42 Speaker 3: Recording in progress.

▶ 8:43 Speaker 4: ... but in 1976, it was registered with the Massa- Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, or MACRIS. The Benjamin Lind home is a significant part of our community's heritage, and its removal would be an irreplaceable loss to Melrose's cultural and architectural character. It's not the fault of the seller for wanting to sell their house, nor the developer for just trying to do their job. However, development can be done in a conscientious way and not at the expense of a 200-year-old property that thus far has been well maintained. This, this is not the type of structure for it. The responsibility to safeguard it and our, and our other historical buildings falls on our shoulders as a city and a community, and our decisions today impact the legacy of Melrose. Thank you.

▶ 9:28 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Ms. Caffarella. Anyone else wishing to speak in public comment?

▶ 9:41 Speaker 6: Good evening. My name is Robert Tullis. I live at 8 Thurston Road, um, near the Horace Mann School. I've lived there for, I don't know, 38 years or something like that. Um, I also serve as a member of the Historic District Commission. I'm not here to speak on their behalf tonight. I'm here to speak on my own behalf. Um, I believe that the Historic District Commission has filed a letter with the City Council supporting the idea of a demolition delay permit, so I think we are already on record as supporting it. I would just like to support it individually. I think that, um, as the previous speaker said, one of the assets of Melrose is, uh, its distinctive architecture and its architectural history, and the, uh, demolition delay permit will give the city the opportunity to at least help protect some properties that come under risk and are identified as being worth preserving and worth additional attention. Um, we are one of the towns, um, in this area that do not have a demolition delay, uh, permit process, but there are many, many, many towns that do, um, and so we are actually sort of in the minority of not offering the citizens of this town, um, the opportunity to, uh, hopefully impact, um, and save significant, um, architecture in Melrose, and we have a lot of it, um, not only all of the Victorian homes that the city is known for, some of which would, uh, possibly deserve such protection should they come under risk, but a number of, uh, 150, 200-year-old homes, um, that represent the founding, um, colonial, uh, citizens of North Malden. So, uh, the building at 244 Main Street is, I think, what has, uh, kicked this all into, uh, a high pace, but it's not the only, um, building that, um, deserves, uh, some additional inspection at the time that it's under threat. So again, personally, um, I would like to, uh, register my support for the City Council enacting a demolition delay permit. Thank you.

▶ 12:06 Speaker 5: Thank you.Do we

▶ 12:10 Maya Jamaleddine: have anyone else wishing to speak?

▶ 12:22 Speaker 8: Hello there. I'm Jim Bennett. I take, um, any pronouns. I'm at 45 Wentworth Road. And if I'm a little incoherent tonight, I woke up on the other side of the Atlantic this morning, but got off the plane and had to come here, because this is so important to me. So, uh, good evening, city councilors, President Migliorelli, uh, and Chair Jamaleddine. I am here tonight to speak in support of the draft Demolition Review Ordinance before you and I'm experiencing a sense of déjà vu. In September 2017, over eight years ago, I was chair of the Melrose Historical Commission, and in that capacity, I presented a similar draft to the Legal and Legislative Committee of the then Melrose Board of Aldermen. The Historical Commission had worked on that draft for two years, had improved it with the help of the city solicitor, Rob Van Kampen, who's about to become the new mayor of Everett. And we had gained the full support of Mayor Rob Dolan and the director of the Office of Planning and Community Development, Denise Gaffey. After fielding reasonable and friendly questions from the board that night, I went home feeling quite optimistic that Melrose would at last join the vast majority of municipalities in greater Boston who have a version of this tried and true commonsensical ordinance on their books. And by the way, here is the map for anyone who's not seen it yet. Any community that is not in white already has this on the books, and it's just about every community in greater Boston. Uh, alas, going back eight years ago, it was not to be. Less than a month later, Rob Dolan suddenly resigned as mayor, and for reasons that to this day I do not understand, the draft demo- Demo Review Ordinance was filed away and was never given serious consideration again. But my friends, tonight we can rectify that. What you have before you is a far better document than the one I presented eight years ago. Since that time, people have been working on this; historic preservationists, lawyers, architects, city planners, and even bumbling generalists such as myself. Uh, while the potential demolition of the Benjamin Lynde House has given a renewed sense of relevance to this movement, the draft you have before you is really the work of many hands over many years, and it might be the single most long-lived legislative draft in existence in Melrose. Uh, critics of demolition review largely rely, I think, on scaremongering. They propose the demolition review emp- empowers a panel of reactionary NIMBY types who want to kill potential development. The experience of the many dozens of Massachusetts communities with demo review ordinances on the books argues otherwise. They have used demo review as a helpful tool in their municipal smart growth toolbox. I first came to understand that reality by listening to the deep experience and wisdom of former Melrose Historical Commission member, George Proakis, who was at that time planner for the City of Somerville and is now the city manager of Watertown. Somerville and Watertown are cities that have enviable records of building dense, affordable housing. They have also both achieved 40B Safe Harbor status, and they both have demolition review ordinances on the books and historical commissions empowered to administer them, and as you talk to George, he'll tell you he's worked very hard to make sure they have those powers. Demolition review is not the enemy of development or of dense urban growth. It is a smart tool to ensure that Melrosians can say to developers, "Yes, in my backyard," in a way that respects the historic built environment of the community. In closing, I urge you all to vote tonight in favor of this draft ordinance. I would rather not wait another eight years for it to see the light of day again. Thank you.

▶ 15:56 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Mr. Bennett. And, uh, if there is anyone else in person wishing to speak, please come forward.

▶ 16:08 Maya Jamaleddine: Seeing none, do we have anyone online?

▶ 16:09 Speaker 3: No one online.

▶ 16:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Um, if there is no objection, I will motion, um, to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment. Um, thank you all. Uh, thank you for everyone who, um, spoke in public comments. And now, uh, to our, um,