December 4, 2018

“Motion to accept the Police Station Advisory Building Committee's unanimous recommendation, and to designate the area north of the Library as the future home of the new Carver Police Station; to further direct the Police Station Advisory Committee to work with the Recreation Committee to secure a portion of the $900,000 of CPC funds available with support of CPC Committee at April Town Meeting to develop a Recreation Complex as part of the proposed Town Hall Master Plan Vision; Further, no relocation or demolition shall occur to the existing playground until necessary funds are secured for its' replacement as further outlined; to design and redevelop the Recreation Complex as part of the Town Hall Master Plan Vision as proposed by the Police Station Advisory Committee in collaboration with all the youth groups to redevelop a Recreation Complex that will fit within the awarded budget and include opportunities for all youth; Included in the Recreation Complex will be a new playground equal to or better than the exiting 18 year old playground (this will include a complete replacement or relocation of every item in the existing playground so that nothing is lost) by Robertson second by Clarke. Bill Harriman: Chair of Police Station Advisory Building Committee. The Committee voted unanimously to support the plan, site location and relocation of the community playground. He recognized the members of the committee. He reviewed how the committee came to the decision for the location. This includes, traffic flow and patterns, visibility, safety, property for an out building, trailer for firearms training, storage containers for confiscated items, central location. The current location will not work for many reasons - the police station should not be in the line of site of a playground, relocation during construction, costs, etc. As Chair and being in charge of meeting times, he needs to schedule meetings around the architect and committee members, not necessarily when it is convenient for people to come after dinner hour. He will continue to be transparent and work on better communication with the public. Jon Delli Priscoli: Explained the plan presented is not a final plan and simply a starting point to work from so that it can work for everyone and be able to determine how to alleviate many of the issues facing the location of the current station. Brian Humes: He brought the location of the station to the committee. This was done by a process which included a space needs assessment which involved an interview process with many different members of the Police Department which resulted in the need of approximately 11,500 +/- sq. ft. for a building and 2,500 sq. ft. for an outbuilding. The next step was to review possible sites: the existing police facility and town owned land to the north of the library. After applying the needs to both sites, other factors were involved. Relocating during construction, will it be one story or two, wells were looked at for development on the rear of the site north of the library. There is adequate land near the street on Center St. A one and two story building were looked at and the committee voted on a one story solution. Next, parking lot was looked at and 30 spaces were allotted. The next step was to look at community impact. Visibility of building was looked at. Police Cruisers typically don't enter and exit the station at a high rate of speed. There was no one that came to him and recommended the location of the playground, as a designer he presented a plan at the playground location due to the many factors including keeping the wooded area around the site, makes the station a visible part of the community, and for anyone driving through town. The idea of bringing recreation together came out of the committee. Chief Marc Duphily: Is confident in the plan brought forward by the committee and the architect and appreciates everyone's input, but believes this is the best solution for the Town and needs to be looked at from a reasonable standpoint. He believes this is the best plan brought forward as an option. Clarke: questioned the Chief if there was room for growth in the department - Chief stated that there is room for expansion if that needs to happen and is confident in the current plan & it will fit out current needs based on the numbers that we have. Townsend: Concerned about the impact on the residents -questioned if there is minimal impact. Brian stated there is minimal traffic impact-moving the tree buffer would open it up to the residential properties. Questioned if the station could be moved further down Center St. Brian stated the building would be more vertical to Main St. if moved and would be smaller. The current plan allows for two distinct parking areas and accounts for width vs. depth of the building (pushing it up against the playground on one side). Questioned the traffic impact on moving the building further down. Brian stated that it is a benefit that there would be an additional entrance to the library and would relieve Meadowbrook of some traffic. No public traffic is being brought up Center St. as part of the plan. Questioned the Chief if he is comfortable as this as a working plan - Chief responded yes. Robertson: Is part of the committee and thanked the committee Dunham: Questioned acreage that can be utilized outside of well area-Brian was not sure. Hewins said that total acreage is 13.4, wellhead protection area is 4.5 (stated she found acreage in 2013 Carver Police and Fire Facilities study), so remaining acres available are 8.24. Questioned how much the cost would increase if plan was changed and moved - taking into effect paving & site clearing would be approx. $250,000 + more. Questioned if new playground could be built before the demolition of the existing playground. TA stated that it is reasonably anticipated that after support with the CPC and coming up with a plan and getting bids, work can start on the playground. It is possible that there could be up to no more than 75 days the town could be without a playground. Questioned how much delays in the project will cost - Joe Sullivan stated it is approximately $30,000/mo. If the project goes over budget, could it be funded - TA stated that by delaying a vote would increase the cost. Bill Harriman asked the committee not to delay the vote so the committee can move forward as he doesn't see how it will benefit anything. Townsend restated wording in the motion in regards to that there will be no demolition to the playground until funding is secured for a new playground. Hewins read a statement: (see attached) and handed out a plan put together by land surveyor Art Borden. Hewins told Chair she had a statement to read and asked if she could read it before people went home. Hewins read a statement that was a discussion of how playground and police station could possibly co-exist on the same lot in question. Brian stated that relocating the parking makes any components smaller. All the parking on the proposed plan is to support the public parking component and in accordance with zoning regulations. The parking on the plan passed out by Hewins is not comparable to the proposed plan and doesn't take into account the public parking component. Hewins stated that there is more space in the back. She would like this plan to be discussed with the surveyor. Brian's opinion is the highest and best use of the property and that is what they are trying to present and it has been a unanimous vote of the committee taking into the many factors stated in his presentation. Many plans were presented to the committee with the playground in its current location. Clarke commented that this building will be built under the tax levy, not increasing taxes to homeowners -no additional taxes will be related to this project. In terms of moving the station, the visibility would be changed which was an issue that was raised in the process. This is the same process that was used for the School and Fire Station. He noted that the potential moving of the playground was brought forward in November, not last night. He does not like the proposed location of the playground and would like that to be revisited. He respects the hours and commitment that the committee has been put in. He will always vote for public safety over the playground and feels having both in the plan is a win-win for the community. Jon Delli Priscoli stated that the proposed location of the playground can be changed with another charrette to determine the best location for the community. Townsend requested that the original playground committee have participation in conjunction with the Recreation Committee on the new playground. Vote: 4-1, Hewins against..” (Motion: Robertson, second: Clarke)

Read it in the official minutes, page 1 (PDF)