The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. There were 54 souls present.
Officer Mike Keaney said that the C-11 Holiday party went well, helping 35-40 families with the toy donations that had been made. Crime in the SMACA are has not been bad. Incidents included individuals arrested after trying to break into cars, operating without a license, running stop signs, and possessing drugs and guns. “Serious incidents, nice arrests” said Mike.
Ben Wan and Patrick Mahoney representing the owners of 123-125 Centre Street presented a request to erect a nine unit building with eleven parking spaces. The nine units would have a total of 20 bedrooms and take 9-12 months to build. There would not be any affordable units.
After a question and answer session and discussion among attendees after the presenters had left, the request was approved with a vote of 26 Yes and 3 No. Those voting no indicated that they were not against development of the property, just against the presentation as is. One attendee was upset that he could not vote, because the bylaws require that a person be a member in good standing for 30 days before being allowed to vote.
Development Committee Chair Matt Glynn gave an update on the committee’s workings. The SMACA Board suggest that the Development Handle certain functions without approval at a general meeting. Matt explained that a committee member would attend each abutters’ meeting to get a read of the situation. If the development request is routine and has abutters’ approval (such as a curb cut), then the request would not have to come to the general meeting. The proposal was unanimously approved with a vote of 25 Yes and 0 No.
There was a discussion of potential volunteer opportunities based on the survey conducted at the end of 2017. Some of the suggestions from the survey had volunteers interested in pursuing them and they are up and running. The remaining suggestions were emailed to members prior to the meeting and were reviewed today, in the hope that members would volunteer to spearhead them. There were no takers. People were encouraged to email the Board at [email protected] if they wanted to volunteer or to get more information.
The meeting ended at 8:25.
Respectfully submitted,
Douglas Shaheen
Secretary, SMACA
