The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Lloyd Geisinger of Thorndike Development was there to provide an update on the proposed project at 265 and 266 Monponsett St. Geisinger explained the Zoning Bylaw Agreement as well as the Master Development Agreement that would need to be approved before they could move forward with the project. The zoning bylaw would need to be approved during Town Meeting in December. The proposal includes 102 senior housing units located on two different parcels. Thorndike has also proposed gifting the town land for a senior center and pickleball courts. “You get the land in perpetuity for $10,” Geisinger explained. .
The estimated budget for the senior center as laid out in the agreement is $3.4 million. At a previous Town Meeting, $1.7 million was allocated for the design and construction of the senior center. “There will need to be a vote, that is part of the Town Meeting, reauthorizing or repurposing $1.2 million of that $1.7 million for the construction of the senior center on this property,” Geisinger explained. Regarding how the money will be administered to the town, he said that the total mitigation payments will “equal the cost of the winning bid to build the senior center and pickleball courts less the $1.2 million that the town will repurpose, but in no event less than the $3.8 million.” According to Geisinger, the building of the project cannot be started until 36 units have been purchased.
Geisinger said that the condominium documents would specify that children under the age of 18 can visit and even stay for weeks or the summer but are not allowed to permanently reside there. He said that in his past experience, this was the wish of the majority of the residents. He further noted that at least one adult over the age of 55 must reside in at least 80 percent of the units.
Included in mitigation commitments is the construction of the new pedestrian crossing between 265 and 266 [Monponsett St.], construction of a sidewalk from the entrance of 265 up to the intersection of Monponsett St. and Route 106, and the installation of several 6 ft. tall shrubs. Geisinger said, “The parcel that we’re looking to have re-zoned is only the development parcel, which is approximately 12 acres of land. The remaining land on the parcel will have a permanent conservation restriction placed on it, so it can never be developed.” Geisinger also said that no certificate of occupancy will be issued for the last building until construction of the mitigation improvements have been reasonably completed. This is meant to offer protection for the town.
Regarding the zoning bylaw amendments, they were explained as being in three parts. The first would create a new overlay district that would allow for senior housing and the second would rezone the 265 parcel from AR Residential to B Commercial and Business with the senior overlay applied to it. The third part would have the overlay applied to 266 which is already zoned Commercial.
The three main objectives according to Thorndike are to put the development agreement on the warrant for town meeting, make the request to the Planning Board for the eligible location, and finally, to have the Town Administrator be authorized to submit the application to the State for an advisory opinion. The Selectmen voted to have the Master Development Agreement appear on the Warrant for the December Town Meeting.
In an adorable turn of events, the Halifax Police Department’s newest member was sworn in – Roxy, the comfort dog. The statement read, “I, Roxy, will support my officers and my community with my whole heart and soul. I promise to comfort, encourage, and soothe away sadness, fear, and confusion. I offer a warm heart, tender companionship, and unconditional love. I will serve my community throughout my days to the best of my ability.” Roxy received lots of belly rubs during the swearing-in ceremony.
Two one-day liquor licenses were approved for two dates in late November for the Farm at Raven Brook. A representative said, “We do similar events like this where we setup a station and provide alcoholic beverages, for this particular event we plan on offering our pumpkin beer… an IPA, a seltzer, and also a mulled wine as well, so something warm and good for the Christmas tree shopping.”
Town Administrator Cody Haddad explained his proposal for an Energy Management Consultant. “We have several energy efficiency grants, what you really need in order to be effective with these is someone to oversee the project… it would be beneficial to potentially look at bringing on a consultant to help us with this,” Haddad said. He said that part of it could be paid for using the Green Communities Grant while the rest of it would be put into next year’s operating budget. He said that it would pay for itself as it would result in more and better grant opportunities. The Board agreed to look into acquiring a consultant.
The Selectmen met with members of the Finance Committee to kick off the budget process as well as establish priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Haddad said they asked Departments to provide them with where they would allocate a 10 percent cut if needed as well as what ramifications would result. A member of the Finance Committee asked that Department heads take a look at what they did last year and what the results were. The Selectmen and Finance Committee voted to approve the budget memo.

The Kingston Board of Selectmen met Oct. 10. During Open Forum, Ronnie Litif of 119 Three Rivers Dr. in Barrows Brook Village took to the microphone. “I want to bring up a longstanding issue that has been neglected by the town, the builder, and people that have lived in my neighborhood before me; I’ve lived there for three years… I’m asking the Board to help us get the builder to finish the remaining items that were part of the comprehensive permit to build Barrows Brook Village,” Litif explained. He said that they have a full list of items needing finishing and can provide it to necessary parties. He noted that there is no HOA and that many people who moved there were falsely told that there was an HOA. He mentioned severe potholes as well as a lack of streetlights. “I’m concerned for my neighborhood and the future of it,” he said. Emberg explained that while there can’t be a conversation about the issue during open forum, if he left his contact information, someone would help him “navigate the situation.”
Resident Danielle Dennison of 176 Main St. spoke next. “I don’t know if this has been brought up before… I have two small children and we like to walk to school, and we like to walk to the cemetery, and the sidewalks are kind of in a crumbling situation in a lot of spots. There’s not a lot of curbs, and I think if someone was in a wheelchair, I don’t think they can access it very well,” Dennison said. She mentioned the number of joggers and babies in strollers and said she felt it was just a matter of time before someone gets hurt. She also brought attention to the traffic light where Main St. and Brook St. meet saying she felt it would be useful to have a walk button there.
Emberg said that a member of the Planning Board resigned over the summer. She said that they received one letter of interest from Alexander Graham of 22 May Ave. Graham, who said he has been a resident for five years, attended the meeting. “I’m interested in joining the Planning Board primarily because I’m from Western Massachusetts originally; I’m from a small town like this and I was heavily involved with the community when I was growing up and I’ve been here for, like I said, five years. I commute in and out of Boston nearly every day, I do a lot of going to work and coming home, going to work and coming home. Not that I’m not busy enough with work and my family but I really am missing that sense of community and I think this is a good opportunity for me to get out and meet people,” Graham said. He also said he takes a lot of pride in where he lives and hopes to raise his family in Kingston long-term. Graham is a senior commercial project manager that does business with the MBTA. He noted that they are actively working on fixing up the Green Line. A member of the Planning Board asked if he planned to run for the position during the election. Graham said, “that is my intention.” He was unanimously appointed. Mary Harriman was also unanimously appointed to the Council on Aging Advisory Board.
During the meeting, Town Administrator Keith Hickey told the Selectmen, “I want to come to the Board tonight to make sure that the Board is supportive of applying for a Community Compact Grant to study the regionalization of the Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton school departments with the Silver Lake Regional School Department.” Currently the towns are regionalized only at the middle school and high school level while each of the three towns’ elementary schools act as their own school committees. He said that the Halifax School Committee and Halifax Board of Selectmen have approved the proposal as well as the Kingston School Committee. He said that the assumption is that the Plympton School Department will not be supportive.
Hickey said, “One of the topics that the grant money is available for is regionalization and I’m not sitting here tonight suggesting that it is a good or bad thing to fully regionalize the schools… I’ve heard from a number of people that there is some potential, significant savings and elimination of duplications of effort that currently go on now because there are four separate school boards that the Superintendent has to work with.” Emberg asked if it required all three towns to apply for the grant. Hickey said that it did not but noted that the Superintendent is concerned about supporting the grant while one of the three towns is not supportive.
Kingston Selectman Eric Crone, who spent many years on various school committees, noted the difficulties associated with the Superintendent reporting to four different school committees. Crone noted that Kingston and Plympton often have more money to spend on the school budgets than Halifax. He said that regionalization could potentially aid with some of those issues. The Selectmen agreed to approve the grant application.
Selectmen Tyler Bouchard and Eric Crone provided an update on the Police Chief search. Bouchard said they had a good meeting with the working group the previous Friday. “The posting will be going out this week… we will reconvene in 30 days… we’re waiting for those applications to come in,” Bouchard said. Emberg mentioned that they had agreed upon a wide range for the salary and asked if they narrowed it down or kept it broad. Bouchard explained that they felt that keeping the salary range wide would provide for more applicants. Crone said, “we will be doing a survey… we got some sample survey questions… from towns across the State from their searches… we should be able to gather some good information from folks in town to get a wide range.” Bouchard added that the survey would be available on the website. Paper copies would also be available at the Town Clerk’s office. Bouchard also said that they were advised as a Board not to talk to anyone who may be applying for the position to avoid any claims of favoritism.
Bouchard spoke regarding the MBTA Zoning Task Force. He said, “Kingston did receive a waiver… one of the biggest controversial [things] was that everything had to be within 0.5 miles of an MBTA station… Kingston got a waiver that allows a certain portion to be outside of that.” He continued saying that the new owner of the mall was approached regarding some multi-use including housing. “There’s a potential that we could come into compliance with this thing while having housing that’s possibly inevitable… while also satisfying the needs of the MBTA zoning… that mall fits into the category,” Bouchard explained.
Hickey provided a financial update saying that an indicator of financial strength is the town’s excess capacity levy on property taxes. He said that it has averaged around $1 million to $1.5 million and noted that it is now $2.5 million. Crone brought up that the excess levy capacity is taken into account by the State when deciding how much Chapter 70 funding the schools will receive. He asked if the doubling of the excess levy capacity could end up being a bad thing since the schools could be “dinged.” Hickey said that he was unsure but would find out an answer.
He also told the Selectmen that the new playground is now open. “The slide I’ve heard… is a great slide,” he said. Hickey also told the Selectmen that the Town has contracted with Old Colony Planning to perform a study on traffic patterns to help decide how best to redevelop certain areas of Route 3 from Duxbury to Plymouth. He said that the Jones River and sea river rise would also be incorporated into the planning. He also said that he and others attended the Duxbury Highway Safety Committee meeting to discuss ways to reduce heavy truck traffic on Landing and Bay Roads.
Chair Kimberley Emberg said there were several openings on various Boards and Committees. She pointed interested residents to the town’s website but drew special attention to an opening on the Old Colony Elder Services Board. “Their purpose is to support the independence and dignity of older adults and individuals with disabilities by providing essential information and services that promote health and safe living,” Emberg explained.
Emberg also said that new water rates take effect on November 1 and noted that those increased rates would be reflected in the March 2024 quarterly bills.