Mayor's Update April 24, 2017

Intermodal Facility Garage:

A joint meeting was held with MassDOT, FTA, MVRTA and with City staff on April 12th.  The meeting confirmed MassDOT commitment to a total of $5M, with $2.5M in FY18 and $2.5M in FY19.  FTA confirmed funding of $1.5M for the intermodal components.  MVRTA is seeking additional funds through another MassDOT capital account to cover the decrease in $500,000 from the FTA.  We anticipate receipt of letters of commitment for the funding within the next week. 

New England Development met with the City on April 20th and after many months of wordsmithing the Purchase & Sale agreement, we are pleased that NED has agreed to our revisions including removal of all references to the site use only for a Parking Garage; the Purchase & Sale should be finalized this week. An updated appraisal will be provided to the City Council with a request for bond authorization in May using downtown parking revenues for land acquisition only. Funding for land acquisition must be secured now so that the Fitness Factory relocation of tenants and demolition can proceed ASAP. Tenants of the Fitness Factory are already in the process of relocating after notices given by NED. The Planning Dept. and O.R. Colan Associates will assist with reimbursement of relocation costs once the P&S is signed.

Desman and Fennick McCredie, Design team, have completed revisions to façade renderings to address comments received from the Historic Commission and Preservation Trust. These updated façade renderings have been submitted for review and approval by the Planning Board and Historical Commission and are posted on the City website (Planning Dept. > Project Updates > Parking Garage). The Planning Board and Historical Commission will hold a joint public hearing on May 17 to review the plans.  The design team is on track to submit a draft bid package (and updated cost estimate) to the City in mid-late May so that it can be provided to the Council in June. The design team is on track to bid the project this summer with construction starting in the fall.

An IAG meeting is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 26th at 7pm at City Hall in the Mayor’s Conference Room, please note change in location.  We will review the updated façade renderings and status of the project with the abutters

Human Rights Resolution: A joint meeting of the City Council’s General Government and Committee of the Whole was held on April 12th to review the Human Rights Resolution with approximately 50 residents in attendedance.  Overall there is strong support for the resolution but mixed reactions to the City adopting the status of a sanctuary city.  There was discussion of establishing a time limited ad hoc group to review the definition of a sanctuary city and possibly other options.

Congressman Seth Moulton brought Essex County Mayors together with their chiefs of police on April 18th to discuss immigration issues.  A DC aide gave us an update on the Executive Order status. An important view was the consistency of responses from all of the Chief’s in their roles; police do not profile and their departments treat all individuals equally under the law.  Also concerns were raised about the difficulty with media and their limited understanding of the depth of these issues and impact on residents and workers.  We requested Congressman Moulton organize a meeting with media to address these issues.

MA Municipal Local Government Advisory Board met with Lt. Gov. Polito on April 11th.  Dominick Ianno, Administration & Finance staff presented an update on FY2017 budget status and revenues are $220M below projections however, the last quarter of the fiscal year sees the greatest influx of revenues.  Undersecretary Chrystal Kornegay from DHCD presented an update on housing. One new initiative is the partnership with elder services to upgrade elder public housing; target is an additional 12,000 units of elder housing. MA workforce housing needs and the housing bond bill to support capital needs was discussed. DCHD is looking to pilot initiatives to advance housing, i.e., Community Scale Housing initiative for smaller communities- 5-20 units.  An update on the Green Communities Act was also presented, congratulations to our neighbor Salisbury in achieving GC status. 

Secretary Ron Walker of Labor & Workforce Development presented at a Chamber of Commerce event at Arwood Machine Corporation on April 12th.  He focused on the region’s low unemployment rate, demand for skilled workers and importance of partnerships with local vocational / technical schools and some of our Community Colleges such as Northern Essex Community College.  The Firehouse Center held a reception for the recently hired Executive Director, John Moynihan last week.  Sea Level, the restaurant taking over the lease is well under renovations with anticipated opening next month. School Committee meets tomorrow night April 25th ay 6:30 pm in room 118 at NHS.  The vote on the school budget is anticipated.  Please see http://www.newburyport.k12.ma.us/index.htmlKelley School:  Merrill Diamond, Architect, gave Andy Port and me a tour of the construction site.  The photo on the left will be the entrance to the underground parking accomodations and on the right is the central staircase for the building.  Framing work is expected to start in 4-6 weeks.

Mersen Building renovations: On April 18th John Kane, owner and David Hancock from CBT architects presented a broad conceptual plan on site to abutters for discussion.  Good turnout from community and after listening to concerns about the residential component including flooding issues, size and density, Mr. Kane stated that the focus would be on the Mersen building upgrades and may come back to group with another version for housing in the future.

Important meeting and event dates:

April 26th at 6 pm: Peace Prize

April 27th at 3 pm:  Ribbon Cutting at Richie Eaton field

April 27th at 5:30 pm: Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting

April 27th at 6 pm: Special City Council meeting on the Evergreen temporary taking

April 28th at 6 pm: Show you S’port- fundraiser for continued work on our fields and to honor three distinguished coaches- Ed Gaudiano, Tim Foley and Don Hennigar.