By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

The public review of the Hull Redevelopment Authority’s draft Urban Renewal Plan continues next week, with two more sessions to present options for developing the 13-acre parcel. The in-person and remote meetings will review changes made in response to earlier public comments, and will feature breakout sessions to discuss concepts in more depth.

At an authority meeting Monday night, Chair Bartley Kelly said a big part of the focus of next week’s presentations will be “prioritization of uses and scope of development.”

“The basic agenda is to have a presentation that everyone gets to see, so that we have shared information,” said consultant Steve Cecil. “The meeting will not spend a lot of time introducing basic planning context because many people have been there [the first meetings], but will make sure to touch base enough so people who haven’t been involved will get what is going on.”

The presentation will review public input received and the reasoning behind taking Option 1 – which would have placed housing on the northernmost section of the property – “off the table.” Cecil explained the presentation will “describe the thinking that went behind moving forward with the base direction of Option 2 which does not develop Parcel 1.”

According to Cecil, the discussion also will focus on the topics that may be considered for refinement in the plan, including open space, traffic, and parking allocation. At the first meetings one of the major concerns was about open space; therefore, a portion of the presentation will focus on “open space, the nature of what open space might be, views, and other considerations,” Cecil added.

Breakout sessions, monitored by four to six facilitators, will be a component of the upcoming meetings.

“We will break into groups to optimize the amount of time for making comments, answering questions, and recording feedback … maximizing the listening opportunity,” said Cecil.

Michael Wang of the Form + Place architectural firm, said his presentation will show variations of Option 2 and address some community thoughts “on open space, and in particular, view corridors from the bayside park to the ocean side.”

The goal of the presentations is to help people to “visualize and understand; have the ability to see through these things and make visual connections, said John Ruffo, of Form + Place.

Through diagramming, the presenters are trying to show different concepts that can be reviewed for feedback and discussion. Ruffo said “everyone in town has lots of ideas of what can happen here.”  Cecil added “public open space is not just a thing; it has many different dimensions.”

Discussions will include benefits and drawbacks of topics such as increasing open space, decreasing housing, as well as decreasing hospitality and retail uses.

“There are benefits and drawbacks. The HRA board has been working to find the right balance,” Cecil said. “What does the public think about the right balance and benefits and drawbacks, so we can learn from that as we shape the final plans?”

HRA clerk Dennis Zaia said the presentations will help citizens understand that the “level of funding for development is key…we can do a lot of things, but we can’t afford to do a lot of things unless someone is willing to make money by doing something on the property.”

The chat comments made during the HRA meeting on March 6 will be addressed at the public presentation next week. Cecil confirmed “the chat comments will be recorded; they will not get lost and will be used as part of the process.” 

The PowerPoint slides and videos of both the in-person and Zoom presentations of the first meetings on Feb. 13 and 16 are available on www.hra02045.com.

Next week, there will be both an in-person session held at Hull High School on Tuesday, March 14, and a Zoom session covering the same presentation and topics on Thursday, March 16. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.