The Room Fills

Good morning. Please find your name card and take a seat. Water's on the table. We'll begin at ten.

I'll be done by noon. It's a panel thing. Advisory.

(beat)

Because they asked me, that's why.

(beat)

I know what day it is, Brian.

Sorry. Sorry.

You know what this is about?

No.

Me neither.

(beat)

Tommy.

Darnell.

Thank you all for being here. My name is Sandra. I'm the panel facilitator for today's session. Before we begin, I want to go over a few ground rules. You've each been provided with the policy summary in the folder in front of you. I'd ask that you hold off on opening it until I've finished the orientation. This session is being recorded for administrative purposes. Everything said in this room is part of the official record. We expect to conclude by noon. Any questions before we start?

What kind of panel is this exactly?

A citizens' advisory panel. Your recommendations will be submitted to the Regional Planning Commission by end of week.

And they're required to follow our recommendation?

They're required to consider it.

How were we selected?

Through a randomized civic outreach process. Your names were drawn from the registered voter rolls for this district.

Randomized.

That's correct.

What happens if we don't reach a majority?

The session runs until noon. If no majority is reached, the panel is considered deadlocked and the matter returns to the Commission without a recommendation.

And that's better or worse for the project?

I'm not in a position to characterize outcomes.

You may open your folders.

What's Section 4-B?

So this is about the Glenstone site?

I'm not able to characterize the policy for you. The summary is intended to speak for itself.

Right, but — it says "parcel reallocation" and "community impact corridor." That's the Glenstone site. That's the old mill property on Route 9.

I thought that was already decided.

Apparently not.

What's the vote?

The panel will be asked to vote on whether to recommend approval or denial of the proposed development framework. Majority rules. The vote will be taken at the conclusion of today's session.

And if we say no?

Your recommendation goes into the record.

That's not what I asked.

If the panel recommends denial, the Commission is required to hold a secondary review before proceeding.

So it slows it down.

It initiates a secondary process, yes.

There's a name here. In the footnotes. Page six. "Project sponsored in partnership with Harwick Capital Group."

Does anyone know who that is?

It's a development company. They do infrastructure projects. They did the Riverside thing in Millhaven.

Is that good or bad?

Depends on who you ask.

It's bad if you lived in Millhaven.

That's not —

I'm not arguing. I'm stating a fact. Ask anyone who lived on the south side of Millhaven whether Riverside was good or bad.

People got jobs.

People got displaced.

That's not what the —

I'd ask that we hold substantive discussion until after the orientation period. We have some —

I'd like to talk about it first.

Before we vote. I'd like to actually talk about it. If that's all right.

The session is structured to allow for open discussion before the vote. I just —

I understand. I just want to make sure we're going to actually talk. Not just go around the table.

What's your name?

Ray.

Walter.

(a pause)

I agree with Ray.

All right. We'll begin with an open discussion period. I'd ask that everyone have a chance to speak before we move to the vote. Who would like to start?

I'll start. I've read the summary. The project creates approximately four hundred permanent jobs, two hundred construction positions, and generates an estimated twelve million dollars in annual tax revenue for the district. The environmental impact study was completed in March. I think the case for approval is straightforward.

I mean — yeah. Jobs are jobs. My brother-in-law's been out of work for eight months. If this brings four hundred jobs to the district, that's real.

I'm with that. The area around the Glenstone site has been sitting empty for fifteen years. Something has to happen with it.

I don't disagree that something needs to happen. I just want to understand what we're approving. The summary is — it's vague in places.

It's a summary. That's what summaries are.

Section 4-B refers to "adjusted residential boundary parameters." What does that mean?

It means they're adjusting the zoning boundary. That's standard for a project this size.

Adjusted how? In which direction?

It's technical language. The Commission has people for that.

We're the people for that. That's why we're here.

I have a question. The environmental impact study — who commissioned it?

I believe it was commissioned by the project applicant.

Harwick Capital.

In partnership with the district, yes.

So Harwick paid for the study that says the project is environmentally sound.

The study was conducted by an independent firm.

Hired by Harwick.

I'm not saying the study is wrong. I'm saying we should know that.

We should know a lot of things.

This is how all development projects work. This is standard procedure. If we hold every project to a standard where the applicant can't fund their own impact study, nothing gets built anywhere.

Maybe some things shouldn't get built.

That's a very comfortable position to take when you're not the one who needs a job.

I worked for thirty-one years in a plant that got bought by a company a lot like Harwick. I know what the jobs look like on paper and what they look like in practice. I'm not against jobs. I'm against being told a story and asked to vote on it before I've finished reading.

What happened to the plant?

It closed. Eight years after the acquisition. The jobs went to a facility in another state. The building sat empty for twelve years.

(beat)

It's a parking lot now.

Okay, but — that's one situation. That's not every situation. You can't just —

I'm not saying every situation. I'm saying I've seen this situation.

But the jobs —

Where are the jobs?

The four hundred jobs. Where are they? What kind? What do they pay?

It's in the summary. Manufacturing and logistics positions, starting at —

Starting at what?

Seventeen dollars an hour.

And the construction jobs?

Two hundred positions, prevailing wage —

For how long?

Eighteen months of construction.

So two hundred jobs for eighteen months. And then four hundred jobs at seventeen dollars an hour.

(beat)

In a district where the median rent went up thirty percent in the last three years.

Wages go up when employment goes up. That's how it works.

That's not how it worked in Millhaven.

I mean — seventeen an hour is better than nothing. A lot of people in this district are making less than that.

A lot of people in this district are going to get priced out of it if that site gets developed the way this summary describes. You read Section 4-B?

The zoning thing?

"Adjusted residential boundary parameters" means they're moving the line. The residential zone on the south side of the Glenstone property — that's the Eastfield neighborhood. My neighborhood. They're moving the line so the buffer requirement doesn't apply to the residential area. Which means the facility goes right up to the edge of where people live.

How do you know that?

Because I've been to three community meetings about this project in the last two years.

(beat)

Nobody from this room was at any of them.

He's right. I found the boundary map on page eight. The original buffer zone was three hundred feet. The adjusted boundary brings it to sixty.

Sixty feet is still —

Sixty feet is my backyard.

I live on Eastfield. I didn't know that's what this was about until just now.

The summary says the project includes noise mitigation and —

I read the summary. The noise mitigation is "to be determined in the secondary engineering phase." Which means it's not determined yet. Which means we're voting on something that doesn't exist yet.

Is that accurate?

The noise mitigation specifications are part of the secondary engineering phase, yes.

So we're being asked to approve a framework that includes commitments that haven't been designed yet.

You're being asked to recommend approval of the development framework. The engineering specifications follow from that approval.

So approval comes first. Then they figure out the details.

That's the standard process for —

I know it's the standard process. I'm saying it out loud so everyone in this room understands what we're actually voting on.

There it is.

I want to be clear about something. I'm not saying this project is perfect. I'm saying the alternative is that site sits empty for another fifteen years. The district loses the tax revenue. The jobs go somewhere else. The people who need work don't get it. That's a real cost too. That cost just doesn't show up in anyone's summary.

I think both things can be true.

The project might create jobs that people need. And the people who live closest to it might pay a price that doesn't show up in the summary. Both of those things can be true at the same time.

(beat)

The question is who decides which cost is acceptable.

That's the question, isn't it.

I mean — yeah. Yeah, that's the question.

You said you've been to the community meetings. What did they say? The company. What did they say about the buffer?

They said it was within code.

Is it?

The adjusted code. The code they applied to get the variance approved.

(beat)

The original code said three hundred feet. They got a variance. Now sixty feet is within code.

Who approved the variance?

The Commission.

The same Commission we're making a recommendation to.

Yes.

This is more complicated than I thought.

I need to step out for a moment. Please continue. I'll be back in five minutes.

Is that normal?

No.

I want to say something while she's not here.

I don't know why we were chosen. I don't know if it was random. I don't know who Harwick is or what they want or who they know. What I do know is that we're the only people in this process who don't have a stake in the outcome.

(beat)

That's either the most important thing about us or the least important thing. I'd like to think it's the most.

I think it is.

I think we need to read this more carefully.