Meeting Minutes
FALMOUTH EDIC OPEN MEETING: July 11, 2023
Falmouth Town Hall, 59 Town Hall Square, Falmouth, MA 02540
Select Board Meeting Room
PRESENT
Thomas Feronti (Interim Chair), Kevin Holmes (T), Mark Lowenstein (CK) and Robert Mascali
ABSENT
Samuel Patterson, Adrian Merryman, Colin Reed
8:31 CALL TO ORDER
A quorum was established. The Chair called the meeting to order.
8:31 PUBLIC COMMENT
None
8:31 WELCOME TO NEW EDIC BOARD MEMBER
Feronti welcomed Robert Mascali to the Falmouth EDIC Board of Directors as the Town of Falmouth Select Board representative.
8:31 GUEST SPEAKER: David Garrison, Chairman, Affordable Housing Committee
Mr. Garrison referred to the Real Estate Transfer Fee Report - distributed to the EDIC Board.
Garrison noted the disparity between the need and demand and the available supply of housing in Falmouth. Falmouth needs hundreds of additional housing units to serve low to medium income households.
Garrison stated that the Town of Falmouth needs to give this the highest priority attention.
Essential to the success in dealing with the housing challenge is to have access to sufficient sustained funding to subsidize affordable housing projects. Most of the subsidies will have to come from the Town of Falmouth.
As of mid-March, the Town of Falmouth had $4.5M to support affordable housing projects. The CPC provided approximately $2M in funding and at the April Town Meeting, another $2M was added. In total there is currently approximately $8.4M for affordable housing in the Falmouth Affordable Housing Fund.
Garrison believes the Town needs to provide additional annually recurring sources of funding beyond two which were recently approved. The Town Meeting approved two affordable housing revenue sources: an increase and sharing of the hotel/motel tax and the Community Impact Fee (AirBnB tax) in 2021 – estimated revenue of $950K.
The CPC has raised its recommended subsidy amount for newly constructed units to a maximum of $125K.
The queue of pending affordable housing projects is about $5.4M. Based on $125K maximum per unit, this would equal to 40 units. The remaining $3M in funding would equal to 24 units. Each $1M in funding subsidizes 8 units.
The Town need more housing funding sources – the Falmouth Housing Committee has proposed an additional recurring revenue source, the “Real Estate Transfer Fee”. A dozen municipalities in MA, including five from CC have sent petitions to the State legislator. None have been approved. General Act Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, which would give all municipalities the authority to approve these fees as a local option. These bills have not made any movement.
The Affordable Housing Committee is beginning to vet the RE Transfer Fee idea with the community.
The Transfer Fee elements proposed are the fee levied which would be applied on the transfer of residential property, there exempted transfer categories, the increment to which the fee would apply above a set dollar threshold. In the General Act Bills the range is noted as the current area medium sale price (Barnstable County $750k) up to $2M. The threshold and fee would be determined by each municipality within these parameters. Who pays the fee would be a negotiation between the Buyer and the Seller.
Three basic decisions need to be made by the AHC and Select Board: the threshold number, the fee amount and what exclusions/exemptions to include.
Mr. Garrison inquired what the EDIC Board thinks of this proposal for a Real Estate Transfer Fee. The Board asked various questions and discussed.
The Town’s Affordable Housing Fund can be used for Rental as well as Home Ownership.
Feronti noted his concern that this fee will increase the already high price of housing, esp. for mid-range housing ($500K-$750K). He stated that the fee should be set higher than $1M and an exemption should be added for Year-Round Residents (Buyer).
Garrison reported that various outreach and communications activities are taking place to vet this proposal prior to finalizing before submitting it to the Town of Falmouth.
9:05 APPROVAL OF BOARD MEETING MINUTES
The Board agreed to postpone vote to approve June board meeting minutes to the September board meeting.
9:06 FINANCE
Kevin Holmes
Holmes reported the Balance Sheet remains much the same as last month; the bulk of assets are structured in cash. There was a $30K decrease in cash due to higher expenses in Q2.
The Income Statement and P&L vs. Actual reports show that the EDIC is executing within the established operating budget. The EDIC is $85K under budget. Their remains some timing issues regarding various projects delays in invoicing/payment which will resolve itself within several months.
The Board agreed not to revise the 2023 EDIC Budget to adjust for the timing issues.
MOTION: Holmes made a motion to approve the July 11th, 2023 warrant in the amount of $21,895.43. Lowenstein 2nd the motion. All in favor. Motion approved.
MOTION: Feronti made a motion to authorize Kevin Holmes to review and approve the August warrant in lieu of an August Board Meeting approval. Full Board review and ratification vote of the August warrant will be done at the September board meeting. Lowenstein 2nd. All in favor. Motion approved.
9:11 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Wayne Lingafelter
Atty. Laura Moynihan
Atty. Moynihan notified the EDIC Board that she will be retiring on Nov. 15, 2023. The Board discussed how to proceed with identifying a new General Counsel for the Falmouth EDIC and the transition of EDIC documents that Atty. Moynihan retains. The Board agreed that a strong real estate competency would be a major requirement of a new attorney. Lingafelter advised that the two other law firms that the EDIC deals with are not practical candidates for a General Counsel position due to the narrow legal focus of each practice. Lingafelter to speak with Moynihan about her thoughts on transition and make inquiries, first attempting to identify a local Falmouth law firm - noted as preferred by the EDIC Board. Kevin Holmes was assigned Board representative to Lingafelter regarding this process.
Falmouth Technology Park – Lot 21
Lingafelter reported the engineering work was completed on the subdivision plan. The next step is to meet with the DPW to review the new plan – estimated to be completed in July. After this, the Town Planning Board will be presented with the proposed site plan for approval and ultimately the Select Board.
Falmouth Station Masonry Project Update
Lingafelter reported that Gale Associates was released to proceed with preparing the design documents for the Station Masonry Project. Completion of the documentation is scheduled for the end of July. The construction administration fees remain an open question. Gale has submitted a proposal for $30K for construction administration oversite. Their proposal is not a project management role as they will not accept any responsibility/liability for contractor performance or financial outcomes. Gale’s role is best described as an Owner Representative – Not at Risk. Lingafelter inquired about project management for this project with a local builder, without interest due to State procurement requirements.
Lingafelter requested the Board permit him to notify Gale Engineering that the EDIC’s intention using them for the Construction Administration phase of the project, not releasing them to do the work until the bidding process has been completed and contractors selected. Feronti requested the agreement be structured with a “Not to Exceed” dollar amount, billed as used and necessary.
Falmouth Station: Update
Lingafelter advised that on June 21st all Tenants at the Falmouth Station were notified of the ongoing vandalism issue. The vandalism continued through June though it has decreased in frequency. Broderick is maintaining a log of vandalism events: there were incidents in 7 of the last 28 days. It is notable that there have been no complaints or reporting’s by the Patron users or Tenants; the events are being discovered by the Cleaning Service who is then notifying the EDIC.
A locksmith has been contacted to install restroom locks, in the event the vandalism situation continues and requires the closing of the restrooms. Mr. Marcellino was notified of the lock installation and was advised to contact the Health Dept. to understand the consequences to his business if the restrooms were needed to be locked. Lingafelter believes there are restrictions to operating a food service business without available restrooms. Mr. Marcellino has not responded to several follow up contacts regarding this matter.
Lingafelter asked the EDIC Board to define under which circumstances should the Station restrooms be locked, noting it is a significant action to take. The lease terms regarding restrooms were not defined. Discussion ensured about providing restroom keys for the Station Grill employees use, but locking it to public use.
It was decided to install the restroom locks and discuss the matter further with the Station Sub-Committee at a later date if the vandalism events continue.
The Station Grill hours of operation continue to be non-compliant of their lease agreement; in June the obligation to be open for business was met only 23% of the days. Requests to Mr. Marcellino to comply with the lease agreement hours of operation are ignored. Broderick confirmed the ongoing public complaints regarding the Falmouth Station being closed during posted open hours of operation.
Falmouth Station Workforce Housing Project
Lingafelter advised a letter was sent to MassDOT Administrator for inclusion with Governor Healy’s briefing package. The goal being an in-person meeting to discuss the project.
Lingafelter spoke with a senior operational MassDOT contact regarding recent operational matters at the Station. MassDOT reported no issues/complaints with the Falmouth Station and its management.
Merryman and Lingafelter continue to reach out to the community regarding the project; three meetings are scheduled for next week: MBL, USGS and NOAA. The Falmouth Hospital, Cape Cod 5 and the Cape Cod Chamber are on the list to be contacted for a meeting.
9:57 New Business, Agenda Items or Guest Speakers
The Falmouth EDIC Retreat to be tentatively scheduled in the fall.
9:58 ADJOURNMENT
MOTION: Lowenstein made a motion to ADJOURN the Public Session meeting. Holmes 2nd. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEXT MEETING – September 12th, 2023, 8:30am
*Times listed are intended merely for guidance.
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