By Carol Britton Meyer

Monday’s Hull Redevelopment Authority regular business meeting via Zoom was an opportunity for members to provide updates on old business – “including lessons learned from this season” – from how to improve the parking vendor process to working with the Hull Police Department to fine-tune when and how police details are assigned.

The numerous agenda items were talked about briefly, with plans to continue those discussions at the HRA’s Monday, October 7 business meeting.

The search for an HRA operations manager “to help us with a lot of pieces that are floating [among] five sets of hands” continues, Chair Dennis Zaia said. “I hope we find someone soon.”

He also reported that the HRA’s legal counsel will answer legal questions submitted by its members during a public meeting in early November.

Member Dan Kernan made some suggestions related to the upcoming 2025 parking lot Request for Proposals following conversations with vendors, including potentially allowing them “a bit of flexibility” when it comes to parking fees.

“We should let the market decide what to charge for parking through a bidding process to be [more] competitive,” member Bartley Kelly said.

The idea of installing parking meters at a particular location also was floated.

Parking vendor survey

Prior to the October 7 meeting, members Adrienne Paquin and Kernan will create a survey for parking vendors to get their feedback on how the season went prior to issuance of the parking lot RFP for the 2025 beach season. The survey was Paquin’s idea.

This summer was tough for parking vendors and the surf camps, Kernan said, due to the large amount of rainy weather, including on a number of weekends.

That said, “the surf camps are doing great – they’re open until the end of the summer,” Kernan remarked. “Rentals were down due to the terrible weather, but those who book lessons learn how to surf rain or shine. This is the best location on the beach, the surf is great, and there’s sand.”

The HRA is also considering issuing an RFP for a property management service for lawn care, trash pickup, and other improvements to the property.

In addition to the parking survey, members heard a presentation on a recent survey conducted by Humans, Not Consumers, a private company owned by Hull resident Erin Swenson Gorrall, in partnership with SOS Hull, an organization that opposes large-scale development of the HRA property. Gorrall, who is not a member of SOS Hull, discussed the results, in which 631 Hull residents and 239 visitors were asked 20 questions, focusing on perceptions about Hull and what respondents believe would help the town’s future. According to the survey, 80% of those responding favored walkable park space, while 57% wanted a music or event performance area. Seven percent of those surveyed said they wanted to see condominium development on the 13-acre site. SOS Hull was not involved in analyzing the data from the survey. Results are available at this link.

Zaia was unanimously appointed as the HRA representative to the Department of Conservation & Recreation/Town of Hull working group charged with developing a memorandum of understanding on “Hull-related business.”

At the same time, member Joan Senatore said she thought it was important that the HRA representative share the opinions of all board members, and not just individual views, at those meetings.

Determining costs and value of development

Paquin reported that pending a change to the document that is in the works, the Keller Williams financial analysis is nearly complete. The HRA hired Keller Williams Realty to do a “review to derive costs and value of development” on the HRA property and its impacts, along with a revenue analysis to provide a baseline following public input in order to determine viable options.

Paquin also said the bayside picnic tables have been “a hit” and that she would like to keep them there for the winter “in case we have another mild one.”

New signs for the gazebo are in the works, and at the October 7 meeting, the HRA will further talk about whether to leave the pollinator garden as-is during the colder weather “so it will be even more glorious next year,” or to trim it back to help avoid trash from accumulating there.

Police detail process questioned

Senatore provided an update on charges for police details so far, with a week to go for the beach season.

“I’m trying to get an understanding of the process [of deciding when they are necessary]” –whether it’s based on the weather, who makes the decision, and how many officers should be on duty, she said.

Police detail charges so far this season amount to $27,900 (not including the recent circus), compared to $16,000 in 2023.

Senatore, who created a spreadsheet with the details to share with fellow HRA members, noted that two officers were on duty for the same eight-hour shift some days, which she said may be part of the reason for the increased cost this year.

Kernan noted as examples that two police officers were on duty during five of the seven days when there were more than 500 vehicles parked on the lot, and one officer for the other two, while there were “zero details” other days when there were a large number of cars parked there.

“We need to find out why the cost has gone up and try to mitigate it,” Kelly said. “We don’t need two police officers at one intersection.”

Kernan agreed to talk with the police department for answers to these and other related questions.

“When it was really hot, they did show up – at least one officer – but when there was no need for a detail at all, there were [sometimes] two officers,” he observed from looking at the spreadsheet.

Capacity to meet development

In other business, Kelly said he would follow up on earlier inquiries made of the water company, sewer department, and Hull Municipal Lighting Plant for information about their capacity to meet the needs of housing or other buildings that might be part of the final plan for the property.

“We need to document this information in the draft Urban Renewal Plan so we know the process,” Zaia said.

All of the above agenda items will be revisited on October 7.

Other upcoming meetings include:

• Tuesdays, October 8 and 15: In-person at Hull High School and via Zoom. These are continuing meetings about the draft Urban Renewal Plan, with no public input expected on those nights.

• Tuesday, November 4: Meeting with HRA’s legal counsel to address legal questions posed by HRA members.

• Monday, November 18: Regular business meeting.

This week’s meeting replay will be available on Hull Community Television and at www.hra02045.com.

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