The Hull Redevelopment Authority has scheduled sessions on Tuesday, October 8 and Tuesday, October 15 to continue discussions about what should be included in the draft Urban Renewal Plan that will guide the future use of its 13-acre property.

Like its previous workshops in August, these in-person meetings at Hull High School will be facilitated by University of Massachusetts-Boston professor Douglas Thompson and are not designed for public comments on the plan. Both meetings are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

On August 12 and 26, Thompson and the five members reviewed the existing Urban Renewal Plan and considered whether the current goals should be retained, deleted, or modified. Although no formal decisions were made, three authority members said they favored removing housing from the list of development goals. At the second meeting, Chair Dennis Zaia proposed adding a conference center to the development plan for the property, and members debated some of their ideas for what constitutes “economic development” for the land.

The public is invited to attend in person or over the Zoom platform to hear the discussion. Click here to join the meeting.

The redevelopment authority was formed in the 1960s under a federal program to revitalize urban and suburban neighborhoods. The HRA’s original footprint – designated Town Center No. 1 – encompasses the land between the beach and bay from Water Street to Phipps Street; at one time, the authority planned to expand its territory into three additional districts that stretched southward to the site of the former Paragon Park.

Much of the HRA land has been vacant since the 1970s, when homes and businesses were taken by eminent domain by the authority and bulldozed, burned, or relocated in anticipation of development proposals that never materialized. The HRA has been working for the past several years to create a set of guidelines for future development.

A 2023 version of the URP envisioned several uses for the property, including a boutique hotel and buildings with ground-floor retail and residential units on the upper floors. For the property north of the DCR parking lot near Monument Square, options included affordable housing or beach parking and event space. The HRA stepped back from that plan and has embarked on the current process to rework the URP.

Future meetings include a meeting with attorney Paula Devereaux on Monday, November 4, and a regular business meeting on Monday, November 18.

-- Christopher Haraden