By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

At last week’s meeting of the Hull Redevelopment Authority, five citizen presenters answered follow-up questions on their proposals to help members better understand the ideas as they continue to update the draft Urban Renewal Plan.

Asked to return on January 8 were Erin Swenson Gorrall, who proposed a cultural hub; Patrick Finn responded to questions regarding parking and connectivity to DCR; Lenny Markowitz and team addressed logistical questions about a mobile stage and open space; Pam Wolfe spoke about her vision for open space and a seaside gateway park; and Lisa French pointed out the importance for the HRA land to be owned by the town and feature performance space.

Sarah Sullivan, whose submission is entitled Sandcastles on the Beach, left the Zoom meeting before she could present her concept for an extension of Sandcastles Childcare and Learning Center, at 313 East St. in Hingham, to offer summer programs for children ages 5 to 8, with a focus on marine science.

EcoVillage Housing

HRA Chair Dennis Zaia said he enjoys the “refreshing way” the agora-style seating in Gorrall’s concept allows people to sit in a space without having to worry about how many seats are available. However, Zaia focused on the EcoVillage Housing featured in Gorrall’s submission, especially the local examples she uncovered in her research.

“A lot of the proposals connect with this… a space that offers local community engagement, invites the South Shore as well as lifestyle/culture enthusiasts a chance to visit Hull, spend money, and experience the amazing land we love,” said the business strategist, yogi, runner, and metaphysical enthusiast. Gorrall referenced the show Down to Earth, starring Zac Efron, which features the film star spending some time at La Eco Villa in Costa Rica, with green houses, yoga areas, and meditation rooms.

“Eco Villa is very fancy, not saying it is exactly what Hull needs, but there are elements we can use,” she said, as she shared her research into two Massachusetts based EcoVillages –Renaissance Farms in Barre and Sawyer Hill in Marlborough.

Renaissance Farm’s mission statement says it is dedicated to the care of creation, care of the human person, and care of their community. Gorrall pointed out Renaissance incorporates a learning farm, small garden, beehives, goats, and tourism connected to the land. Sawyer Hill features two co-housing groups offering a community center for cooperative living activities, such as cooking meals, and incorporates affordable housing.

Gorrall said her proposal is a “bit of a mix” of the two. She wants to connect the Hull Ecovillage to the ocean, fishing, crabbing, and maritime history. She explained there will be a variety of elements to “bring it to life,” including a connection to the land that would be powered by solar panels and small wind turbines.

Traffic modifications

In evaluating the modified traffic flow in Finn’s plan, Zaia asked him to draw upon his “knowledge base” on transportation, as well as the DCR master plan. He wanted to assess the “viability” of a temporary driveway as egress from the parking lots, as well as what is needed from the HRA for the DCR to implement their master plan as it stands now.

“It is different than the permanent condition. It is just a curb cut on the Edgewater Road side, and it doesn’t open up on the other side and make it a pass-through road; it is just an egress,” Finn said. “It would require a beach detail and at the end of the day to put the barriers back.”

The driveway would be used to get all the people out of the parking lots on those beach days.

“This is a better solution than Phipps Street because that will allow all the folks coming from the Village and the rest of the town to be able to continue their progress and not be stopped entirely at Phipps Street and backed up to L Street,” Finn said.

“So, it is just an egress,” said Zaia adding, “it is not a permanent reality, it is temporarily addressing a situation, but it would be structured so the movement would be managed and monitored by a police detail.”

Zaia also asked Finn how many feet of HRA land the DCR would need to execute its vision for the boardwalk and bike lane in the master plan.

“A simple way to explain it is the two-way bike lane is taking up a travel lane, and the boardwalk is wider,” Finn said. “DCR proposed a 16-foot wide boardwalk along the wall, six-foot buffer area with shade structures, and a 12-foot raised directional bicycle lane.”

“If DCR continues the idea all the way to Phipps Street we would have to give up 14 feet of our property along that entire stretch to make it work,” Zaia said.

Finn agreed they could make the DCR plan fit along the HRA property if the widths are changed.

Mobile Stage

HRA member Adrienne Paquin asked Lenny Markowitz and his team about project management for their concept of the mobile stage.

Markowitz said initially the HRA would hire the project manager; however, they are also talking about a public-private partnership to mange the events on the space.

“I have heard options in other towns that Parks and Recreation Departments manage this sort of thing for the town; I strongly don’t think that is appropriate for the town of Hull,” he said. “But to me that is getting ahead of all this because we haven’t even gotten to the first step yet of deciding about open space principles.”

Paquin also asked about balancing climate resiliency, open space, and beautification. “It is a blank canvas right now; you can put the stage anywhere,” she said.

“The mobile stage, by virtue of being mobile and flexible, will fit into the environment,” Markowitz said. “If the design changes, the mobile stage concept itself can be modified to work with it. That is the whole point of being integrated in a landscape design.”

In response to concerns raised by Paquin about road noise playing into the performance environment, Markowitz went back to the flexibility of the mobile stage and that things can be easily corrected. He also mentioned the idea of “creating a green buffer around the HRA land between the road and the parcel, like in the words of Frederick Olmstead, an Emerald Necklace.”

Zaia wanted to know where the mobile stage would be “stashed” when it was not in use, and how the plug-and-play factor would be implemented.

Markowitz said from the group’s research, the best idea would be to rent the stage and have a preferred vendor that would handle the logistics of set-up, dismantling, and storage.

Open Space/Passive Recreation

In her submission, Pam Wolfe encouraged the HRA to “adopt a new mission and goal for the HRA: To maintain the HRA parcels as open space/passive recreation.”

“So many of the proposals were about open space and open space preservation and maintenance, which really hits right at the heart of what I am trying to support,” Wolfe said. “This space should belong to the whole community.”

Zaia asked Wolfe how she would suggest the HRA engage the select board into adopting, expanding, or modifying the focus mission of the HRA.

“Sometimes engaging others is hard, unless we have some sort of strategy or connectivity that allows us to make that, and I am leaning on you to give me some advice,” he said.

“I don’t know what the law requires,” said Wolfe. “Say you decide you do want to go with some of proposals that don’t call for the development of a hotel. They don’t call for a lot of housing. You want to keep to the open space principles. You want to maintain the site and improve it as it is, but not to develop it with permanent structures. Then you might need to change your mission to stay consistent with it.”

Wolfe suggested there would not be much that needs to change but the HRA would need to agree that it would change course. She also said the HRA would need to clarify what it means by development.

“Maybe you would say create a sense of place in our community through development that is consistent with, to use the Markowitz group’s term, open space principles,” Wolfe said. “That provides, delete tax revenue, (replace with) recreation, and education, job growth, improved business environment, and the rest stays the same.”

In her vision for a seaside park, Wolfe said she was thinking of something with “very minimal visual impact” because the site itself provides views of the ocean the bay. Along the paths lined with benches, she sees small posts with QR codes people can click with their cell phones to discover the history of the land, as well as signage for people to read.

Public Performance Space

Zaia asked Lisa French why she suggested in her proposal the town should own the property and therefore approve any income and expenses for the property.

“Normally a town with a good government would be the best choice, in my experience, to own and manage public resources and municipally owned facilities like public parks and parking lots and recreation al spaces,” French said.

However, French called into question the accountability of Hull town boards to the residents in favor of their own “financial interests or the interests of family or town staff.”

“We know those boards don’t always ensure the public interest and the general welfare of all residents,” she said. “Personally, I don’t see the advantage of relying on what should have been a temporary redevelopment authority rather than a municipality to safeguard the management of public land and facilities.”

Although Zaia said he did not want to diminish the hard work French had done, he addressed her comments about the HRA’s role.

“You sort of threw a whitewash over an organization that I am a member of, and it makes it sound like we have been poorly managed or poorly operating,” he said. “We may not have been smart about everything, but we have not done anything wrong.”

HRA Treasurer Joan Senatore said the “accusations made by Lisa are disheartening…the board works very hard for this town.”

Paquin said she did not have the same reaction as Zaia, and felt many opinions were shared about towns and boards in general

“But I do think even if we may be personally upset, we do invite people to come here and share their feelings,” she said.

Visit www.hra02045.com for details on all of the proposals submitted by citizens for reuse of the HRA property.

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