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Sustainable Green Committee
Born
“I’ve never been a fan of
Toll Brothers as a corporation." ~ Selectman Michael Shepard By Jessica Aker
Selectman Matt Zettek presented the structure and purpose of the
Sustainable Green Committee (SGC). The goals of the SGC are to build
upon exiting efforts and to create new efforts to increase the capacity
for Green living and awareness in Hopkinton. This will apply to resident
and businesses alike. Some of the topics to be prioritized include:
Energy, Land, Transportation, Water and Community Outreach/Education.
There was an overwhelming response of applications to sit on the SGC,
even after the deadline for submissions. However, the BOS appointed 15
full members as proposed in their last meeting, which was an increase
from the original 9 members they thought were called for on the SGC.
Three associate members were
appointed in order to keep membership inclusive, and also ensure that
quorum could be met at all meetings.
Vice-Chair Mary Pratt asked, “Will the associate members be able to vote
at a particular meeting if they are present and a full member is not?”
Chairman of the BOS, Brian J. Herr responded, “They will be able to vote
for that one meeting only in order to make sure progress is made for
committee efforts.”
“We’ve tried to be accommodating because of the enthusiasm we saw during
the application process. There will also a lot of opportunities to
volunteer and do good things to help the SGC such as sit on
subcommittees or work on one particular effort, even if someone was not
chosen to be on the SGC. There is also an opportunity to work with other
people in town who would support the efforts of the SGC,” said Mr.
Zettek.
Mr. Herr explained that the committee had to abide by certain rules.
“The SGC must pick a Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary. All of the
members, even associate members, must go to the Town Clerk within the
next few days to get sworn in. All meetings are to be held using Open
Meeting Rules and Roberts Rule of Order.”
Ms. Geri Holland explained, “Each member will get a handbook that states
all of this information for future reference.”
Selectman Michael Shepard insisted that the new members become
acquainted with each other at the first meeting rather than figure out
who wants to stay on the committee for predefined lengths of time.
“We can appoint all members for a year and then see if we should appoint
certain members for longer periods of service after we test this year
out,” said Mr. Herr.
Selectman RJ Dourney added, “The SGC should report back to us by
mid-April so we can check on their progress before appointments for
upcoming years so that we know the intentions of the members of the
committee.”
Mark Kablack, (Photo) a representative of M.A. Kablack & Associates, P.C., spoke on behalf of Toll Brothers Inc. when conveying the problems with forging ahead on the project. “The site is a difficult one to work with in general. We weren’t sure about the water supply to the area because last summer the wells dried up, and this summer there was a lot more rain, so we can’t use that to compare. We also lost water last summer due to a highly pressurized line that leaked a lot of the water supply. This was fixed once it was discovered. Now the wells there are capable of producing twice the amount of water necessary for capacity. If something were to go wrong we would be obligated for a year to fix the problem.”
In order to move forward with the project, the BOS would have to vote to pass the CR so that the Planning Board and Town Counsel could further discuss the project and approve of transfers. This would include giving the roadways in the project to the town, giving the responsibility to deal with problems in water supply after a year to the homeowners association, and granting Hopkinton Area Land Trust (HALT) guidance over the open space areas. The Friends of Whitehall would own the CR.
Mr. Shepard inquired about back taxes, which Mr. Kablack assured, were paid because “we had to prove they were paid to get HALT to step in.”
Under the CR, Toll Brothers will be responsible for maintaining and fixing the wells and water supply to them for a year starting from August. There are also funds set aside both by Toll Brothers and a separate account that the homeowners would be able to access through the overseeing local groups that would allow for these repairs. Two new wells were added as backup wells in case one of the 3 functioning wells failed.
Three members of the BOS voted against the CR. Mr. Herr felt that this was due to a lack of information that made the committee uncomfortable with granting the request.
Mr. Shepard said, “I’ve never been a fan of Toll Brothers as a corporation. I suspect if we needed to use the funds for drilling new wells, then the $70,000 that Toll Brothers has in reserve would be used instantly.”
Mr. Dourney expressed that he believed Toll Brothers did not respond well to last summer’s water shortage, and the town had to listen to unhappy residents and taxpayers as they voiced their cries for help to members in the Hopkinton government.
The next step is for the Town Manager’s office to review the CR for the next meeting on August 26, 2008 so that the BOS can vote on the issue. |
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