Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2025-03-17
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Mark Garipay ; Ward Hamilton ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Devin Romanul ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Minutes Approval
- Bond Order
- Loan Order – LWSAP CY2025 Water Main Improvements
- Ordinances
- ORDNC-2025-2 : Amending the Melrose Zoning Ordinance to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units
- ORDNC-2025-3 : Zoning Amendment to change reference point in determining height of basement under City Zoning Ordinance
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 17, 2025 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:00 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Maya Jamaleddine Vice Chair Absent Cal Finocchiaro Present Ward Hamilton Present Manjula Karamcheti Present John Obremski Late 7:12 PM Devin Romanul Present Robb Stewart Present Kimberly Vandiver Present Ryan Williams Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present Mark Garipay Chair Present
(ID # 12478) Bond Loan Order – LWSAP CY2025 Water Main Improvements Recommend as Voted City Council
(ID # 12398) Amending Revised Zoning Ordinances Amending the Melrose Zoning Ordinance to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units Ought to Pass City Council
(ID # 12399) Amending Revised Zoning Ordinances Zoning Amendment to change reference point in determining height of basement under City Zoning Ordinance Ought to Pass City Council City of Melrose Page 1 3/18/2025 10:50 AM
Transcript
▶ 17:36 Mark Garipay: Romano, and President Midgley or ex Officio. This serves as a notice of a quorum for the record in accordance with the open meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV, um, onto public comment. I will motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objections, public comment is now open. This is a portion of the meeting where anyone in the public may speak to any items on tonight's agenda. Comment, expressing any viewpoint on other matters are also welcome. There's anyone in the gallery that's looking that would like to speak. I don't see anyone in the gallery. Is there anyone online? Okay. No one is on online. If there are no objections, I will motion
▶ 18:22 Mark Garipay: by unanimous consent to close the public comment portion of the meeting. Public comment is now closed. And moving on to, um, minutes. At this time I'll motion by unanimous consent to approve without reading the minutes of the February 24th, 2025 meeting of the Appropriations in oversight meeting. Seeing no objection, those minutes are now approved. Moving right along tonight onto, uh, next item bond order. We have ID 1, 2, 4, 7, 8. It's a loan order, local water systems assistance program. Count the year 2025, water main improvements. We have Director of Public Works, Elena Pro, and, uh, Mr. Jay Coy with us tonight. Thank you. I will turn the floor over to, to you. Thank You. Turning It over to Jay. Deputy
▶ 19:21 City. Thank you. Yes. J Coy, deputy City Engineer. Um, we're here to request the authorization to borrow from the MWA Local Water Assistance, uh, assistant program, uh, in the amount of $1,270,400 for our upcoming water main improvement projects. The, uh, project consists of about 950 feet of water main replacement in Crystal Street from Main Street to Melrose Street, and about 775 linear feet of water main on Circuit Street, which is the loop from Hurd Street to Hurd Street. Heard of Hurd Street. Hurd Street, herd Street. Um, these projects will be taking place, um, the circuits, uh, the Crystal Street, um, will be starting actually during school vacation, um, to coordinate with the DCR intersection, um, signalization project
▶ 20:10 Robb Stewart: of the Lin Fells Melrose, uh, intersection. Um, so that will be handling first and then we'll move on to Circuit Street, um, the following year in 2026. We'll be paving both of these streets. Um, and, um, yeah, so if there's any questions, I'm, I'm happy to, to answer any and all, Any Councilor Stewart. Thank you Mr. Chair. Uh, thank you both for being in front of us this evening. Um, no questions. Um, other than what, what we addressed earlier, I just want to make it, uh, in the public that you will, just to confirm that you will be having a, a public meeting with the local neighbors, um, to communicate, um, what will transpire the timing and, uh, what would be impacted if they may need to park.
▶ 21:01 Robb Stewart: Um, as you know, I've been working, um, with a couple of the neighbors on Circuit Street within my ward, um, who have expressed a lot of concern about the condition of the road, including the sidewalk. And so, um, um, it'd be great for you to be able to communicate the whole Complete Street plan and, and what that looks like over the next, uh, coming months. Yes, absolutely. Um, every year prior to these projects, we do, um, schedule and host neighborhood meetings in, in the area, um, that the residents can come, um, and ask any questions. We will inform them of the upcoming project, what to expect, what not to expect, um, as well as the, the extent of the project as well as the paving for the, the following year.
▶ 21:42 So, um, any of those questions will be answered as well during that time. Okay, great. And just, just to confirm, it will be complete street, including the sidewalks. So sidewalks are always one of those. Um, it depends on funding, but usually the, um, sidewalks that need repair will be done during, um, and then more as on an as funding basis. But the ones that are, are safety hazards and, and really need repair usually will be repaired with the, the paving program. Yeah. Just as a commentary, they're in pretty rough shape down there, so Yeah. And I'm sure you know. Mm-hmm. So, alright. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank, absolutely. Any other questions? Um, I just have two if that's okay. Sure. Um, one, um, I know you mentioned the sidewalks did
▶ 22:29 full streets are gonna be paved. Uh, I'm not sure if I Heard that. Yeah. These streets get, will get paved, curb to curb, um, the, the following construction season. Yep. Thank you. And we have gotten some letters, um, also from some residents. This loan is a zero interest loan, correct? Correct. Yeah. And that's actually a good point and sorry that I didn't bring that up. Yes. It's a 10, 10 year zero, uh, percent interest loan. Um, and the amount that we're bother, uh, borrowing will not increase, uh, and impact the water rates. Um, we have a lot of loans, um, that are falling off this this year. So when we start the loan payback for this, um, it will not impact water rates. Thank you. Mm-hmm. What's the, uh, will
▶ 23:11 Mark Garipay: of the committee Council Stewart? Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. I'll make a motion to recommend this to the full counsel. Second, We have a motion to recommend this order to, uh, this bond to full counsel by Councilor Stewart, seconded by council fro on discussion. Uh, can we take a roll call? Vote please. Mm-hmm. Okay. Councillor fro? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Karen Chetty? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vanderberg? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Re? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. Motion passes. That order will be recommended to the full council. Uh, be heard next. Full council meeting. Not, not tonight. Good. The timing. So thank you so much.
▶ 24:00 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you. The next item up on our agenda is ordinance 1, 2, 3, 9 8 amending Melrose amending the Melrose zoning ordinance to allow accessory dwelling units. Um, as you all are aware, we had a public hearing, um, with some suggestions back to the planning board. They have, um, looked into those and have submitted back to all of us in our packet with their recommendations. Um, and we have Ms, uh, Laurie Masa with us tonight. So Floors yours. Alright, thank you. Thanks for having me. Um, I can give an overview of the planning board recommendation letter, if that sounds good to you all. Um, so the planning board met on February 24th, um, to discuss the questions and comments that came up during the joint public hearing
▶ 24:54 with your committee on February 10th. Um, so the, one of the questions that came up for the, the basement height and story requirement, um, amendment was, um, about the purpose of the amendment. Um, so it's to change the reference point when determining, uh, if a basement is considered a story so that houses don't appear to be a storyteller, um, then they're allowed to be. Um, and the planning board didn't recommending, um, making any, uh, amendments, uh, to this amendment for the accessory dwelling unit amendment. Um, there were concerns over safety issues, overcrowding location of the units in the basement, um, and illegal construction. Um, so we make clear that the building permits and certificates of occupancy are still gonna be required
▶ 25:37 for accessory dwelling units, even though for zoning, um, they don't need a, a special, special permit or any kind of zoning permit. Um, so this is the, the same permits and certificates that are needed for all of their construction and uses in the city. Um, so this should hopefully alleviate the concerns around those issues. Um, regarding the impacts to Abutters, there were questions about the required setback, the height limits, um, and why decks and balconies wouldn't be allowed in the rear yards or in the side yards closest to the nearest abutter. Um, so the requirements were reiterated for these, um, dimensional requirements, um, and the planning board recommends that the requirement about decks
▶ 26:17 and balconies, um, be amended to specify that this restriction only applies to detached ADUs, um, which wasn't, um, totally clear in the, the proposal. Um, in terms of tracking ADUs, we have a, a new category in the building permit system already set up. Um, and there's, there needs to be standard, um, addressing that's required for ADUs. Um, and the state is working on issuing regulations soon about, um, more specifications around, um, how ADUs are addressed. Um, for trash for, um, separate bins, it'd be a separate trash fee for ADUs, um, parking requirements. Um, the proposed doesn't, um, require an additional space and has a maximum of one parking space, um, to limit the additional cars that will be on the road
▶ 27:06 and to mitigate, um, homeowners excessively paving yards to, to add parking, um, for the assessment. Um, right now the properties with, um, an A DU would be access for additional kitchen living space. Um, but there isn't a separate category for ADUs. Um, so the state will likely create a category in the future and then assessing would, um, would use that to assess the ADUs. Um, for dimensions of accessory buildings, there is a question of, um, if the proposed should be based on the maximum, um, coverage depending on the lot size. Um, so we took a another look at this, um, and because it's right now in the proposal, it's based on a set 900 square feet, um, for any accessory for a cumulative cumulatively
▶ 27:59 for accessory buildings on a lot. Um, and the, the board recommended keeping the proposal as is because, um, there's often, there's a range of accessory buildings, um, sizes, but they're generally within a certain range. And so if we increase that even more, then it likely you'd have more multiple accessory, um, structures on a lot and it is pretty generous. Um, as it is, there's also building coverage and open space requirements, which aren't based on lot size and, um, those are still kind of in play with accessory structures. Um, and then for short term rentals, um, there was discussion about if it should be more explicitly stated that, um, ADUs can't be used as short term rentals. Um, so the board discussed this concern
▶ 28:50 and recommended keeping the proposed amendment, um, with no specific mention of the term short term rental. Um, after the planning board meeting, city staff, um, met with the chair of the planning board and Counselor Hamilton to further discuss this issue. Um, we crafted a revision to the wording. Um, so replacing prohibiting temporary lodging to instead include, um, prohibiting ADUs from being rented or leased out for 31 consecutive calendar days or less. Um, and we would recommend adopting the revised language. Um, the amended language tracks with the state definition for short term rental. Um, but steers clear of using the new terminology, um, within the zoning, which it, it's not, um, currently referenced anywhere.
▶ 29:39 The proposed change will accomplish the goal of making sure that it's clear that short term rentals are prohibited in ADUs. Um, and the recommended change is consistent with the planning board recommendation to not include short the term short term rental in the amendment. So to, to summarize the two recommended changes that the planning board is proposing, um, the first is to change the language regarding temporary lodging to be more specific about limiting the timeframe for renting them. And then the second is, um, clarifying that the, the deck in balcony provision only applies to detached ADUs. Um, and there's no proposed changes to the, the basement height amendment. Um, so the planning board recommends adopting
▶ 30:21 that the city council adopt the, the zoning amendment for the A DU that's dated, um, March 6th, 2025. Um, and I'm happy to answer any questions about the recommendation or anything else that, um, may come up. Thank you. Uh, for the record, councilor Reky is, is with us. Um, any councilor fro? Yes. Thank you for coming, um, coming here tonight and for, um, clarifying and making the amendments, I just have a question about the, um, the addressing of the ADUs. Do you have any idea when the state's gonna come out with that information? I don't. It's, it's been tricky with all of these things. Um, the, you know, regulation is already in effect. Um, but some of the, the other kind of pieces of this are, are coming later.
▶ 31:09 So, um, you know, we do, we have in law apartments right now, so it's not that we, you know, don't know what to do with, um, with addressing, we will address them and have a separate, um, but you know, to have a separate, um, to, to have clear that there's a separate unit on the, the property. Um, but there likely will be more directive about, you know, how they should, how this should work in the future. So, um, we can handle that right now, but we might get further guidance, um, in the, you know, near future. And I'm sorry, one more question. Have you, um, received any, um, interest, do you know if there's been an interest in the eighties so far? So we've received two applications. Okay. Yeah.
▶ 31:54 Which is, um, you know, we don't expect a lot of them, but, um, uh, yeah, I was surprised that we, we've gotten to already, um, so we'll see there. You know, I'm sure there'll be kind of a, a spike in the beginning, um, as there has been interest over, over the years to have these. Um, so there'll probably be, you know, I, it's hard to guess, but I would say less than 10 and then, and then they'll probably kind of even out over time, Hopefully the state solidifies, um, some of the information, so mm-hmm. You have, you know, stuff to work With. Right, right. But it, we're in a good spot having, you know, um, the proposed owning 'cause there are a lot of municipalities that don't yet and, and you have to allow for them.
▶ 32:39 Leila Migliorelli: So, um, you know, that's a harder spot to be in. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Council Hamilton. Thank you. Uh, I make a motion to amend section six E to read an A DU may not be rented or leased in exchange for payment for a duration of 31 consecutive calendar days or less. Second point of order is, um, uh, is that change already been made in the, the version we're supposed to be approving? So I guess a point of clarification, um, Ms. Maa, so the draft that's dated 3 6 20 25 has a highlighted version that has a highlighted text for section six E. Right. Is that inclusive of that? And that's the, that's the document we're supposed to be voting on tonight, is that correct? Yes. Unless, um,
▶ 33:39 Mark Garipay: Unless it's a further amendment that needs to be made on top of that. But Do we have to, I I thought we would have to, um, talk, I believe talking about the solicitor that we would have to, uh, adopt the change from the original, original one. I guess I don't, I don't know what the, if, if we vote on the change, we're, we're, we're voting on the change in here, right? Um, Yeah, I mean I guess my thought is is that if we were, this is a little unclear to me as I was reading through this. So the, if the draft, the updated draft accompanied the memo from with the planning board, from the planning board, then that would be the final piece where we have to, so you're councilor Gepe, chair gepe, we're supposed
▶ 34:23 Mark Garipay: to vote on additional changes on top of that for the city. Well, we can do, that's fine. Then what we can do is vote on, vote on what's here and then if we have to make a change in full counsel Okay. To, to, To change it, we can, but we'll vote on the, the revised version that's in front of us right now. We'll take a vote and then if talk to the solicitor, if she wants us to make, make a formal change, if we were supposed to do it, we can do that. We can amend it in full counsel. Okay. Can I just further clarify is then the only difference between the document that was presented and the document we're reviewing in March 6th? The highlighted versions? The highlighted, sorry, the highlighted sections?
▶ 35:04 Mark Garipay: Yes. The only change from what was reviewed during the public hearing were the two highlighted Sections. Okay. Thank you. So, so to just to clarify, the two changes is number six, accessory dwelling, section E, it's highlighted and section G, um, subsection two, uh, on detached ADUs regarding the deck. So those are the two changes that are in our packet Yes. Was presented. Um, so Counsel Hamilton, that was my mistake when we discussed, so I apologize for that. I was, uh, thinking we needed to make an amendment, but we can do it in full counsel and I'm, now that I'm thinking about it, so, so we Have a motion on the floor that we need to withdraw. Okay. Yeah. I withdraw my second, I withdraw my motion
▶ 35:53 Robb Stewart: and make a motion to recommend for passage. Second. Second. Okay. On discussion we have, um, council Stewart and then was Council Williams, did you have your hand up? I couldn't, no, sir. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Ms. Massive for, uh, clarifying a lot of the points that were brought forward that was helpful. Um, just on section six, number E, um, describe to me the thought process around coming to 31 days versus why not 60 versus why not 90? I'm just curious why 31? We picked 31 because that's what the short term rental, uh, standard has been for, for it to be considered short term. Okay. That's, that is a standard that is known. Okay. That's all I wanted to know. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank
▶ 36:46 You. Anyone else on discussion? Madam Clerk, can you call the role I will. Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Bruski. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Gar? Yes. O passes. Um, onto the next item, which is ID, 1, 2, 3, 9 9 zoning amendment to change reference point in determining height of basement city zoning ordinance. So, um, the planning board recommendation was inclusive of both of the zoning amendments. Um, and so the, the board is not proposing any, um, amendments to the amendment submitted. Thank you. Council Firo, I'd Like to make a motion to recommend. Second,
▶ 37:49 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to recommend by Councilor Firo, seconded by Councilor Romanul on discussion. Mad clerk, would you please take the role when you get a second? Councilor Firo? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Karen Chetty. Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. Present Meley? Yes. Dear Gar Pay. Yes. Motion passes. Okay. I will get recommended at the next council meeting. Um, that concludes our business. Tonight, I'll make, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second. Motion to adjourn by council, common City. Seconded by Council Ro on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? We adjourned. Heavy day. Good evening.