APPT-2024-18 : Appointment of David Roache, 8 Prescott Street, to the Zoning Board of Appeals to fill the unexpired term of Rita Mercado; said term to expire on the last day of February 2025.

Transcript (~5 min @ 28:42)

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▶ 28:39 Maya Jamaleddine: now seeing no objection, the Rule 37 B is now suspended,

▶ 28:47 Maya Jamaleddine: uh, for, um, the first item on our agenda is appointment 2024 dash 18, appointment of David Roach, um, eight, uh, Prescott Street to the zoning boards of appeals to fill, uh, the unexpired term of Prita Mercado set term to expire on the last day of February, 2025.

▶ 29:15 Maya Jamaleddine: Good evening. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Did I spell your name correctly? Yeah.

▶ 29:21 Speaker 10: Thank you. Good evening Counselors and Madam Chair. Um, thank you all for indulging us. I know that we had some scheduling difficulties the last time this was on your agenda. So I am thrilled to present Mr. Roach for your consideration to the zoning board of appeals. Um, he has previously served in that role and is willing to come back, um, and brings a wealth of professional experience, um, including an understanding of what is happening in other communities and how some of that will and will not apply to Melrose, which is also the community where he's chosen to raise his family. So I really appreciate his willingness to lend his perspective and expertise. And I will turn it over to you to say anything. Sure. No, just thank you for having me, uh, here tonight. Um, I, um, I, I, uh, really appreciate the opportunity to come back to the board. Um, you know, I I feel pretty strongly about, um, you know, the, the, the role in its in the majority of the role is, is, um, serving the people. Um, the vast majority of applicants are people looking for small things for their, their residences with our challenging zoning code and our lot sizes. And it's really helped, it's really great to help people and balance that, um, the need to help people against the, you know, the rules that are before us. And also, um, to help in, you know, in the role of, um, you know, revitalization in, in, in the redevelopment of certain portions of the town. And where it can be helpful in that regard. I know that we face quite a few 40 Bs that'll probably be coming our way. Um, and in helping to, you know, do our best to guide those to get the best results for this town, um, or city. Excuse me. I, I, I really appreciate the opportunity.

▶ 30:48 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Do we have any question from colleagues? Councilor Ka.

▶ 30:55 Manjula Karamcheti: Hi Mr. Roach. Thank you so much for being here and for being, wanting to come back to the board of the zoning board of Appeals. Um, I'm the counselor for Ward one and have had a few 40 B properties. Um, so I've spent a good amount of time with the zoning board over the past two years. And I think one of the pieces of feedback I've gotten from constituents is just around engagement with the public, particularly around complicated housing, um, developments in terms of being transparent, sharing information, and being willing to have like, open conversation. And my question is just really around like, what is your philosophy? What is your approach in terms of how you might engage on the zoning board of appeals, knowing that these can be like very emotional situations for people, particularly those who are directly impacted. And I'd just love to hear sort of your take on it.

▶ 31:49 Speaker 10: So of course those are most impacted, the most immediate residents are obviously those are gonna have the greatest level of concern, and we have to respect their, their concerns and, and take them as, as, as seriously as possible and try to communicate as openly and friendly with with them as we can. I believe that, um, you know, by running Motion online has been kind of a double-edged sword where it makes it easier for people to participate, but it also has created a little bit of a, a visual throttling, for lack of a better term, of, of participation when you're trying to look through when there's anonymous faces. So I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges that there, there has been, you know, the, the 40 Bs have coincided with remote Motion and that's been, that's made it difficult. So I think it's gonna be, it's gonna take an extra level of, um, acknowledgement of that from the board to make sure that we are, uh, facilitating that communication effectively. It's pretty difficult. So I, I, you know, that's a, uh, I'm, I'm glad you brought that concern up because that is something that I find a little bit challenging. Um, and, uh, I always, uh, would encourage the proponents of any project or any, you know, application to reach out to the abutters in advance and would always, you know, I've always tried to encourage that to people when they come back and they feel like they're having a bit of challenges. It's, it's, it's easy to point out to them. Well, it's better to have that play out one-on-one when you can talk human to human rather than trying to do it through a board where it's not gonna be as effective.

▶ 33:10 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you so much. I very much appreciate that answer. Thank you.

▶ 33:14 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. And next I have vice chair William.

▶ 33:17 Ryan Williams: I'd like to make a motion to recommend to the full board

▶ 33:21 Maya Jamaleddine: Second. Second, We have motion made by vice chair William, uh, seconded by counselor, uh, Stewart. Um, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. You, congratulations. Thank you. And now it will be, thank you, um, sent to the full council. Thanks. Thanks, Thanks.