By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

After ample discussion at its recent meetings, the Hull Redevelopment Authority decided not to move forward with a definitive subdivision application to freeze zoning on its land for eight years. Instead, the HRA will submit another preliminary subdivision, holding the current zoning in place for seven months while the board continues to review the citizens’ submissions regarding uses of the land.

According to Town Planner Chris DiIorio, if the board did nothing, the preliminary subdivision would become “null and void” and the zoning freeze would end. In order to be effective, the subdivision must be in place before any notice of public hearings on potential zoning changes.

“Last time it was tight…if late, you lose the freeze,” said DiIorio, who told the Times on Nov. 15 that surveyors are working on the final plans to submit to the planning board. “It shouldn’t be a heavy lift” because they have surveyed the land before, he said.

DiIorio said the members want to “maintain options and the NBOD (Nantasket Beach Overlay District) zoning gives a wider array of things you can do on the site… really, the subdivision is just moving lines on a page.”

“It would be shortsighted not to protect the zoning of the HRA land until we get through the URP (Urban Renewal Process),” said longtime HRA member Bartley Kelly. “We must protect the property…no matter what you do, always protect the value of an asset.”

“We need to be careful of our language,” HRA Clerk Adrienne Paquin said. “We are talking about protecting the land, but what are we protecting it from? The townspeople?”

“The language makes us look defensive when we are trying to build relationships with the town,” she said. “Protecting ourselves from what the townspeople want is not the kind of rapport I want us to have with the town.”

Kelly, however, said “being defensive” is necessary because the original preliminary subdivision was submitted in response to a zoning change filing that specified “nothing can be built there.”

HRA Chair Dennis Zaia said they would be “shooting themselves in the foot” if the lack of a preliminary subdivision precludes having any structure on the land, like a community or art center, which have been proposed by citizens.

“A subdivision is just property lines,” said Zaia. “It is not saying there will be a building or anything specific there…don’t want a bigger rift in the community over a procedural thing that shouldn’t be dividing.”

The property’s boundary lines need to be changed so it is a “bona fide” change.

“We are moving forward with the subdivision lines as they have existed for years and years,” said Zaia, adding that the preliminary subdivision plan as a “temporary fix” to allow more time going forward while not “eliminating potential.”

HRA Vice Chair Dan Kernan disagreed with filing the definitive subdivision plan, saying the original subdivision was “a direct statement opposed to open space… the goal is to protect the asset for the community, not from them. We are just locking zoning down, like some developer who does not want to allow affordable housing.”

Paquin agreed with Kernan.

“We as a board do not have a definitive plan; therefore, I am not in favor of a definitive plan,” she said.

Shannon Chiba, presenter of the open space/beach shell concept for the property, said “the people of Hull want open space. They voted as such, and most recently have shown that majority view in their presentations…we hope the HRA will listen and move forward with the town’s majority wishes.”

Zaia assured the group he is not saying “anything about what the town wants,” but rather as guardians of the HRA property, the board needs to be sure the zoning “stays flexible for the duration of the work we are doing.”

Kelly made a motion “to authorize Chris DiIorio to use the map that was presented to submit for a preliminary subdivision plan after it is cleaned up by our surveyors.”

Zaia, Kelly, Joan Senatore, and Paquin voted yes, while Kernan abstained because he is “uncomfortable with the whole thing.”

“This decision allows things to percolate from all the good work people are doing…putting things in a holding pattern to allow us to continue working the way we are, making sure our zoning is going to be available to us to use in all different ways,” said Zaia.

Senatore said she does not see a down side to submitting a subsequent preliminary subdivision plan because the board is “in the midst of going through all the options.”

“Hopefully down the road in seven months we can do a definitive plan,” Senatore said.

In response to a comment in the Zoom chat saying the plan could lock in an undesirable plan, Paquin replied: “By doing the subdivision, we are actually doing the opposite. We are keeping ourselves open to any options on the land as opposed to locking ourselves into something... I really want to state it over again. It gives us maximum flexibility for what we do. We are not locking ourselves into anything.”

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