BOARD of SELECTMEN MEETING AGENDA May 11, 2015 Town Offices, 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Dennis Ready Meeting Room 204 ______

BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING AGENDA May 11, 2015 Town Offices, 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Dennis Ready Meeting Room 204 ______

1. 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER - NOTIFICATION OF LIVE BROADCAST

2. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

l George Simonian: CHSAA Scholarship Awards l Regina Jackson: Military Community Covenant BBQ, 5/16 Agway l Regina Jackson: Memorial Day Parade

Documents: MILITARY COOK-OUT MAY2015.PDF

3. OPEN SESSION

4. COMMITTEE VACANCIES

Documents: COMMITTEE VACANCIES.PDF

5. LICENSES

l One Day Beer & Wine License: Budget Buddies, CCA 1A North Rd. 5/29/2015 l One Day Beer and Wine License:Huntington’s Disease Society of America, CCA 1A North Rd. 5/30/2015 l One Day Beer and wine License:The Harbison Family/Pan Mass Challenge Fund Raiser, CCA 1A North Rd. 6/5/2015 l One Day Beer and Wine License: Kathleen Howe Memorial Service, CCA 1A North Rd. 6/27/2015 l One Day Beer and Wine License: Chelmsford Art Society, CCA 1 A North Rd. 7/4/2015 l Auto Dealer Class II Transfer: Dutra and Barros Inc. d/b/a Route 110 Car Mall 301 Littleton Rd.

Documents: 1DAY BUDGET BUDDIES.PDF, 1 DAY HUNTINGTON 5 30.PDF, 1 DAY HARBISON 6 05.PDF, 1 DAY HOWE 6 27.PDF, 1 DAY ART SOCIETY 7 4.PDF, AUTO DUTRA BARROS.PDF

6. REPORTS & PRESENTATIONS

l Energy Manager Mashail Arif: Energy Aggregation Plan l Bill Gilet: Vinal Square Master Plan l Linda Prescott: North Town Hall National Register Nomination

Documents: APRIL 15 UPDATE OF CHELMSFORD AGGREGATION PLAN_DRAFT_2015-04-09.PDF, ELECTRICITY PROGRAM NOTIFICATION LETTER.PDF, ELECTRICITY PROGRAM OPT-OUT NOTICE.PDF, VINAL SQUARE STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN - FOR BOS.PDF, VINAL SQUARE STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN-DRAFT.PDF, CHELMSFORDNOTIFICATION.PDF, MIDDLESEX_NORTHTOWNHALL.PDF

7. TOWN MANAGER REPORTS

l Approval of Drainage Easement - 24 Linwood Street l Fire Chief Appointment Process

Documents: DRAINAGE EASEMENT - 24 LINWOOD STREET.PDF

8. TOWN MANAGER CONTRACT/BID AWARDS

l Police Chief James Spinney: Extension of Towing Services Contract l Evan Belansky: Dog Park Bid Award l Town Offices Wireless Agreement with AT&T

Documents: TOW_AGREEMENT_LETTER-05-04-2015.PDF, PLACES ASSOCIATES_20150506_124104.PDF, ATT LEASE AGREEMENT.PDF

9. TOWN MANAGER APPOINTMENTS

l Council on Aging: Fred Brusseau l Permanent Building Committee: Tim Powderly

Documents: COA-BRUSSEAU.PDF, PBC-POWDERLY.PDF

10. BOARD OF SELECTMEN APPOINTMENTS

l Sewer Grinder Pump Committee:

Thomas M. Gilroy Daniel Burke Curtis Barton Robert Chevalier Margaret Dunn David Foley Steve Jahnle Glenn Kohl Edward Safran

l Board of Registrars: Thomas Fall l Personnel Board: David Goselin

Documents: BOARDOFREGISTRARS.PDF, PERSONNELBOARD.PDF

11. MINUTES

l Tri-Board Meeting: January 12,2015 l Regular Meeting: January 26, 2015

Documents: 1-12-15 TRI-BOARD MINUTES.1.PDF, 1-26-15 BOS MINUTES.PDF

12. SELECTMEN LIAISON REPORTS & REFERRALS

13. PRESS QUESTIONS

14. EXECUTIVE SESSION: STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO LITIGATION LAND USE: CONTINUED FROM 4/30/15

16. Harvey v. Town of Chelmsford and the Chelmsford Board of Selectmen Lowell District Court C.A. No. 1511CV117 17. Harvey, III v. Chelmsford Board of Appeals 18. Harvey II v. Chelmsford Planning Board, et al. Middlesex Superior Court, C.A. No. 2014-MISC-286950-KFS 19. Town of Chelmsford v. Normandin, et al. (22 Marshall Street) Northeast Housing Court, Docket No. 14H77CV000266 SEWER RELATED LITIGATION

20. Kelly v. Town of Chelmsford (VI) Middlesex Superior Court, C.A. No. 2011-00741 21. Shyjan, et al. v. Town of Chelmsford, et al. Middlesex Superior Court C.A. No. MICV2011-03862-L 22. Town of Chelmsford v. McDonough Middlesex Superior Court, C.A. No. 23. Claim Regarding the Sewer Installation at 8 Westford Street

CASES RECENTLY CLOSED

1. Couture v Town of Chelmsford Police Bypass – (CSC) G1-14-103 2. Mazurczyk v. Chief of Police of the Town of Chelmsford Middlesex Superior Court C.A. No. 2012-1989-L2 3. Town of Chelmsford v. Russell, et al. Northeast Housing Court C.A. No. 14SP3800

NEXT REGULAR MEETING DATE: June 1, 2015 BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING AGENDA May 11, 2015 Town Offices, 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Dennis Ready Meeting Room 204 ______

1. 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER - NOTIFICATION OF LIVE BROADCAST

2. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

l George Simonian: CHSAA Scholarship Awards l Regina Jackson: Military Community Covenant BBQ, 5/16 Agway l Regina Jackson: Memorial Day Parade

Documents: MILITARY COOK-OUT MAY2015.PDF

3. OPEN SESSION

4. COMMITTEE VACANCIES

Documents: COMMITTEE VACANCIES.PDF

5. LICENSES

Documents: 1DAY BUDGET BUDDIES.PDF, 1 DAY HUNTINGTON 5 30.PDF, 1 DAY HARBISON 6 05.PDF, 1 DAY HOWE 6 27.PDF, 1 DAY ART SOCIETY 7 4.PDF, AUTO DUTRA BARROS.PDF

6. REPORTS & PRESENTATIONS

l Energy Manager Mashail Arif: Energy Aggregation Plan l Bill Gilet: Vinal Square Master Plan l Linda Prescott: North Town Hall National Register Nomination

7. TOWN MANAGER REPORTS

l Approval of Drainage Easement - 24 Linwood Street l Fire Chief Appointment Process

Documents: DRAINAGE EASEMENT - 24 LINWOOD STREET.PDF

8. TOWN MANAGER CONTRACT/BID AWARDS

l Police Chief James Spinney: Extension of Towing Services Contract l Evan Belansky: Dog Park Bid Award l Town Offices Wireless Agreement with AT&T

Documents: TOW_AGREEMENT_LETTER-05-04-2015.PDF, PLACES ASSOCIATES_20150506_124104.PDF, ATT LEASE AGREEMENT.PDF

9. TOWN MANAGER APPOINTMENTS

l Council on Aging: Fred Brusseau l Permanent Building Committee: Tim Powderly

Documents: COA-BRUSSEAU.PDF, PBC-POWDERLY.PDF

10. BOARD OF SELECTMEN APPOINTMENTS

l Sewer Grinder Pump Committee:

Thomas M. Gilroy Daniel Burke Curtis Barton Robert Chevalier Margaret Dunn David Foley Steve Jahnle Glenn Kohl Edward Safran

l Board of Registrars: Thomas Fall l Personnel Board: David Goselin

Documents: BOARDOFREGISTRARS.PDF, PERSONNELBOARD.PDF

11. MINUTES

l Tri-Board Meeting: January 12,2015 l Regular Meeting: January 26, 2015

Documents: 1-12-15 TRI-BOARD MINUTES.1.PDF, 1-26-15 BOS MINUTES.PDF

12. SELECTMEN LIAISON REPORTS & REFERRALS

13. PRESS QUESTIONS

14. EXECUTIVE SESSION: STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO LITIGATION LAND USE: CONTINUED FROM 4/30/15

CASES RECENTLY CLOSED

NEXT REGULAR MEETING DATE: June 1, 2015 BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING AGENDA May 11, 2015 Town Offices, 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Dennis Ready Meeting Room 204 ______

1. 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER - NOTIFICATION OF LIVE BROADCAST

2. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

l George Simonian: CHSAA Scholarship Awards l Regina Jackson: Military Community Covenant BBQ, 5/16 Agway l Regina Jackson: Memorial Day Parade

Documents: MILITARY COOK-OUT MAY2015.PDF

3. OPEN SESSION

4. COMMITTEE VACANCIES

Documents: COMMITTEE VACANCIES.PDF

5. LICENSES

Documents: 1DAY BUDGET BUDDIES.PDF, 1 DAY HUNTINGTON 5 30.PDF, 1 DAY HARBISON 6 05.PDF, 1 DAY HOWE 6 27.PDF, 1 DAY ART SOCIETY 7 4.PDF, AUTO DUTRA BARROS.PDF

6. REPORTS & PRESENTATIONS

l Energy Manager Mashail Arif: Energy Aggregation Plan l Bill Gilet: Vinal Square Master Plan l Linda Prescott: North Town Hall National Register Nomination

7. TOWN MANAGER REPORTS

l Approval of Drainage Easement - 24 Linwood Street l Fire Chief Appointment Process

Documents: DRAINAGE EASEMENT - 24 LINWOOD STREET.PDF

8. TOWN MANAGER CONTRACT/BID AWARDS

l Police Chief James Spinney: Extension of Towing Services Contract l Evan Belansky: Dog Park Bid Award l Town Offices Wireless Agreement with AT&T

Documents: TOW_AGREEMENT_LETTER-05-04-2015.PDF, PLACES ASSOCIATES_20150506_124104.PDF, ATT LEASE AGREEMENT.PDF

9. TOWN MANAGER APPOINTMENTS

l Council on Aging: Fred Brusseau l Permanent Building Committee: Tim Powderly

Documents: COA-BRUSSEAU.PDF, PBC-POWDERLY.PDF

10. BOARD OF SELECTMEN APPOINTMENTS

l Sewer Grinder Pump Committee:

Thomas M. Gilroy Daniel Burke Curtis Barton Robert Chevalier Margaret Dunn David Foley Steve Jahnle Glenn Kohl Edward Safran

l Board of Registrars: Thomas Fall l Personnel Board: David Goselin

Documents: BOARDOFREGISTRARS.PDF, PERSONNELBOARD.PDF

11. MINUTES

l Tri-Board Meeting: January 12,2015 l Regular Meeting: January 26, 2015

Documents: 1-12-15 TRI-BOARD MINUTES.1.PDF, 1-26-15 BOS MINUTES.PDF

12. SELECTMEN LIAISON REPORTS & REFERRALS

13. PRESS QUESTIONS

14. EXECUTIVE SESSION: STRATEGY WITH RESPECT TO LITIGATION LAND USE: CONTINUED FROM 4/30/15

CASES RECENTLY CLOSED

NEXT REGULAR MEETING DATE: June 1, 2015 National Armed Forces Day Saturday - May 16, 2015 Chelmsford Agway is proud to be hosting our 5th annual cook-out to benefit the Chelmsford Military Community Covenant Committee (providing support to Chelmsford members of the armed forces and their families.) Show Your Support For Our Military Please join us for hot dogs & hamburgers 11:00am - 2:00pm

24 Maple Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Committee Vacancies as of 5/11/2015

Community Preservation Committee (1) 3 year term expiring 6/30/2017

Cultural Council (2) 3 year terms ending 6/30/2017

Great Brook Farm Advisory Committee (1) 1 year term ending 6/30/2015

Land Management Subcommittee (1) 2 year term ending 6/30/2016

TREE Committee (1) unexpired 3 year term ending 6/30/2016

Committee Application If you are interested in serving on a Town Board or Committee, please fill out the committee application that is available on the Town website www.townofchelmsford.us The form can be emailed to [email protected] or mailed to:

Town Manager's Office 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824

Town of Chelmsford Municipal Aggregation Plan

DRAFT April 9, 2015

The Town of Chelmsford (the “Town”) has developed the Chelmsford Choice program to bring the benefits of low cost power, renewable energy, and electricity choice to its residents and businesses. The program is part of the Town’s efforts to promote environmental sustainability and economic growth.

I. Key Features

The key features of the Town’s municipal aggregation program will include: Price protection: The Town will secure its power supply by requesting competitive bids from the largest and most experienced power suppliers in the region. This competition will result in the best possible price.

Consumer protection: The Town’s program will include the strongest consumer protections, including the ability for any customer to leave the program at any time with no fee. There will be no hidden charges of any kind.

Local power sources: The Town will seek to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from renewable energy generators in the Town, including the solar energy projects in Town, and include these RECs in the power supply.

Product options: The Town will offer at least one optional product as an alternative to the standard product, giving customers a choice of environmental characteristics and price.

II. Statutory Requirements

The Municipal Aggregation Statute, G.L. c. 164, sec. 134, sets out the legal requirements for a municipal aggregation plan. Those requirements include procedural requirements, specified plan elements, and substantive requirements. The Town’s plan satisfies all of these requirements, as discussed below.

1. Local Approval

The Municipal Aggregation Statute provides that a town may initiate the process to aggregate electrical load upon authorization by a majority vote of town meeting. The Town obtained such authorization by vote at its Annual Town Meeting held on ______. A copy of the Town Meeting vote is attached as Exhibit A.

2. Consultation with the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and Other Parties

The aggregation statute also requires the Town to consult with the DOER in developing its aggregation plan. The Town submitted a draft of its Aggregation Plan to DOER and Town officials met with DOER to discuss that draft on ______. [DOER provided many helpful comments on the draft which were incorporated into the final version of the plan.] The Town has also consulted with National Grid in the development of the plan and provided National Grid with a draft of the plan for review.

3. Citizen Review

The Town has made the Aggregation Plan available for review by its citizens at a public meeting of the Board of Selectmen on ______. The draft Aggregation Plan was posted on the Town website with a comment period for the Town’s electricity consumers to submit feedback.

III. Elements of the Plan

The Municipal Aggregation Statute requires that the Aggregation Plan contain the following elements:

‐ Organizational structure ‐ Program Operations ‐ Funding ‐ Details on rate setting and other costs to participants ‐ The method of entering and terminating agreements with other entities ‐ The rights and responsibilities of program participants ‐ The procedure for termination of the program Each of those elements is discussed in turn below.

1. Organizational Structure

The organizational structure of the aggregation program will be as follows:

Board of Selectmen and Town Manager: The aggregation will be approved by the Board of Selectmen, the elected representatives of the citizens of the Town, and overseen by the Town Manager.

Consultants: The town’s aggregation consulting team (hereinafter jointly referred to as “Consultant”) will manage the aggregation under the Town Manager’s direction. Their responsibilities will include managing the supply procurement, developing and implementing the public education plan, interacting with the local distribution company, and monitoring the supply contract. Through a competitive procurement process, the Town has selected the team of Bay State Consultants and Peregrine Energy Group to provide these services for an initial term. Competitive Supplier: The competitive supplier will provide power for the aggregation, provide customer support including staffing an 800 number for customer questions, and fulfill other responsibilities as detailed in the Competitive Electric Service Agreement.

2. Operations

Following approval of the Plan by the Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”), the key operational steps will be:

a. Issue supply Request for Proposals (“RFP”) and select winning competitive supplier b. Implement public information program, including 30‐day opt‐out notice c. Enroll customers and provide service, including quarterly notifications

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 2

The implementation of an aggregation requires extensive communication and interaction between the Town, the competitive supplier, and the local distribution company. Those interactions are described in detail in Exhibit B. a. Issue supply RFP and select winning competitive supplier i. Power supply

After the DPU approves the Aggregation Plan, the next step is to procure an energy supply contract. The Town will solicit bids from leading competitive suppliers, including those currently supplying aggregations in Massachusetts and other states. The RFP will require that the supplier satisfy key threshold criteria, including:

‐ Licensed by the DPU ‐ Strong financial background ‐ Experience serving the Massachusetts competitive market or municipal aggregations in other states ‐ Demonstrated ability, supported by references, to provide strong customer service

In addition, suppliers will be required to agree to the substantive terms and conditions of a Competitive Electric Service Agreement, substantially in the form of the Town’s model Competitive Electric Service Agreement, including, for example, the requirement to:

‐ Provide all‐requirements service ‐ Allow customers to exit the program at any time with no fee ‐ Agree to specified customer service standards ‐ Comply with all requirements of the DPU and the local distribution company

The Town will solicit price bids from suppliers that meet the threshold criteria and agree to the terms and conditions prescribed in the Competitive Electric Service Agreement. The Town will request bids for a variety of terms and for power from different sources. If none of the bids are satisfactory, the Town will reject all bids and repeat the solicitation as often as needed until market conditions yield a price that is acceptable to the Town. ii. RECs In addition to soliciting bids for power supply that meets the required MA RPS obligation, the Town will solicit bids to supply additional Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for the optional product. The Town will seek RECs from a variety of renewable sources, and will choose the proposal that offers the best combination of environmental benefit and price. The Town will require bidders to identify the technology, vintage, and location of the renewable generators that are the sources of the RECs. The Town will also require that the RECs either be created and recorded in the New England Power Pool Generation Information System or be certified by a third party such as Green‐e.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 3 b. Implement public information program, including 30‐day opt‐out notice Once a winning supplier is selected, the Town will implement a public education program. The delivery of a public education plan and associated materials are pivotal to ensuring clarity, participation, and enthusiasm for the aggregation. The Town will use a variety of communication vehicles to communicate the plan’s objectives, the primary terms and conditions of the contract, and the right to opt out at any time. The public education plan will include both broad‐based efforts and a 30‐day opt‐out notice to be mailed to every customer on basic service. i. Broad‐based education efforts The broad‐based efforts will take advantage of traditional media, the Web, and social media to ensure as many people as possible learn about the aggregation. Planned elements include:

‐ An announcement introducing the program and the competitive supplier, which will be sent to media contacts at local newspapers, the local radio station, and other outlets identified as valuable by the Town ‐ A dedicated informational Web site that explains the Aggregation Plan, community benefits, the opt‐out process, and other helpful information. This site will be available during the initial educational outreach and also on an ongoing basis so that customers can find information about the program for its duration. ‐ A toll‐free customer information and support hotline ‐ Interviews with local media outlets, including the local cable access channel ‐ Public service announcements on the local cable access channel ‐ Social‐media‐based connections with local community groups. Specifically, the Town will provide announcements on Town social media accounts. ‐ Informational documents that mirror the aggregation web site content and can be used as handouts during the community presentation. These materials will also be made available through the web site as downloadable files and in the Town Hall and other public buildings. ‐ A community‐wide presentation, open to all community members. A detailed timeline for these efforts will be developed by the Town as the launch gets closer. ii. 30‐day opt‐out notice

In addition to the broad‐based education initiatives, a 30‐day opt‐out notice will be mailed to every customer on basic service. The notice will be an official Town communication, and it will be sent in an envelope clearly marked as containing time‐sensitive information related to the program. The notice will: (1) introduce and describe the program; (2) inform customers of their right to opt‐out and that they will be automatically enrolled if they do not exercise that right; (3) explain how to‐opt out; and (4) prominently state all program charges and compare the price and primary terms of the Town’s competitive supply to the price and terms of National Grid’s basic service. The opt‐out notice is attached to this Plan as Exhibit C.

The direct mailing will include an opt‐out reply card. Customers will have 30 days from the date of the mailing to return the reply card if they wish to opt out of the program by this method. The notice will be

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 4 designed by the Town and printed and mailed by the competitive supplier, who will process the opt‐out replies. The opt‐out reply card is attached to this Plan as Exhibit D. c. Enroll customers and provide service, including quarterly notifications

After the completion of the 30‐day opt‐out period, the competitive supplier will enroll into the program all basic service customers that did not opt out. All enrollments and other transactions between the competitive supplier and National Grid will be conducted in compliance with the relevant provisions of DPU regulations, National Grid’s Terms and Conditions for Competitive Suppliers, and the protocols of the Massachusetts Electronic Business Transactions Working Group. Once customers are enrolled, the electricity supplier will provide all‐requirements power supply service. The supplier will also provide ongoing customer service, maintain the program web site, and process new customer enrollments, ongoing opt‐outs, opt‐back‐ins, and customer selections of optional products. Prior to the expiration of the initial power supply agreement, the Town intends to procure a new supply agreement

As part of its ongoing service, the Town will provide the quarterly disclosure information required by G.L. c. 164, § 1(F)(6) and 220 C.M.R. § 11.06. Like the other Massachusetts aggregations, the Town requests a waiver from the requirement that the disclosure label be mailed to every customer and seeks permission instead to provide the information through alternative means, including press releases, announcements on cable television, postings at Town Hall, and postings on the program website. As the DPU has found with other aggregations, this alternate information disclosure strategy will allow the Town to provide the required information to its customers as effectively as quarterly mailings. c. Annual report to DOER

On an annual basis, the Town will report to DOER on the status of the program, including number of customers enrolled and opting‐out, kilowatt‐hour sales, customer savings, participation in green products, and such other information as DOER may request.

3. Funding

All of the costs of the program will be funded through the supply contract.

The primary cost will be the competitive supplier’s charges for the power supply. These charges will be established through the competitive solicitation for a supplier.

The administrative costs of the program will be funded through a per kilowatt‐hour adder that will be included in the supply price and paid by the competitive supplier to the Consultant, as specified in the Competitive Electric Service Agreement. This fee will cover the services of the Consultant, including developing the Aggregation Plan, managing the DPU approval process, managing the supply procurement, developing and implementing the public education plan, providing customer support, interacting with the local distribution company, monitoring the supply contract, and providing ongoing reports. This charge has been set initially at $0.001 per kilowatt‐hour.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 5

4. Rate Setting and Other Costs to Participants

As described above, the program’s generation charges will be set through a competitive bidding process and will include the administrative adder. Prices, terms, and conditions may differ among customer classes. The program affects only customers’ electricity supply charges. Delivery charges will be unchanged and will continue to be charged by National Grid in accordance with tariffs approved by the DPU. Participants will receive one bill from National Grid that includes both the electricity supply charge and National Grid’s delivery charges.

5. Method of Entering and Terminating Agreements with Other Entities

The Town’s process for entering, modifying, enforcing, and terminating all agreements associated with the Aggregation Plan will comply with the Town’s charter, federal and state law and regulations, and the provisions of the relevant agreement.

When the Town has decided that it is timely to solicit bids for a new electric service agreement, the procurement steps will be as follows:

1. The Town’s consultants will prepare and issue an RFP on behalf of the Town for both energy and RECs 2. The Town will receive and evaluate contractual responses (without prices) 3. The Town’s consultants will issue a final call for prices 4. A few days prior to the pricing date the Town will receive from its consultants a memo providing the most recent information on energy market trends 5. On pricing day, the Town will receive and evaluate bids and, if acceptable, execute a contract with the winning bidder. The Board of Selectmen will be responsible for executing the supply contract.

If the prices bid on any given bid date are not satisfactory, the Town will wait to see if market conditions improve and then repeat the process.

If the Town determines that it requires the services of an aggregation consultant for the period after the expiration of the Town’s current contract with Bay State Consultants, the Town will conduct a competitive procurement pursuant MGL c 30B, § (1)(b)(32).

6. Rights and Responsibilities of Program Participants

All participants will have the right to opt out of the program at any time without charge. They may exercise that right by any of the following: 1) calling the Competitive Supplier’s toll‐free number; 2) contacting National Grid and asking to be returned to basic service; or 3) enrolling with another competitive supplier. All participants will have the consumer protection provisions of Massachusetts law and regulations, including the right to question billing and service quality practices. Customers will be able to ask questions of and register complaints with the Town, Consultant, the competitive supplier, National Grid, and the DPU. As appropriate, the Town and Consultant will direct customer complaints to the competitive supplier, National Grid, or the DPU.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 6

Participants will be responsible for paying their bills and for providing access to metering and other equipment necessary to carry out utility operations.

7. Extension or Termination of Program

Prior to the end of the term of the initial Competitive Electric Service Agreement, The Town will solicit bids for a new supply agreement and plans to continue the program with the same or a new competitive supplier. Although the Town is not contemplating a termination date, the program could be terminated upon the termination or expiration of the Competitive Electric Service Agreement without any extension, renewal, or negotiation of a subsequent supply contract, or upon the decision of the Board of Selectmen to dissolve the program effective on the end date of any outstanding supply agreement. In the event of termination, customers would return to National Grid’s basic service unless they choose an alternative competitive supplier. The Town will notify National Grid of the planned termination or extension of the program. In particular, the Town will provide National Grid notice: (1) 90 days prior to a planned termination of the program; (2) 90 days prior to the end of the anticipated term of the program’s ESA; and (3) four business‐days after the successful negotiation of a new electricity service agreement.

IV. Substantive Requirements

The Municipal Aggregation Statute also requires that the aggregation plan satisfy three substantive requirements:

‐ Universal access ‐ Reliability ‐ Equitable treatment of all customer classes

The Town’s program will satisfy all three requirements, as discussed below.

1. Universal Access

The Aggregation Plan provides for universal access by guaranteeing that all customer classes will be included in the program under equitable terms. Most importantly, all customers will have access to the program. All existing basic service customers will be automatically enrolled in the program unless they choose to opt out. As new customers move into the Town, they will have an opportunity to join the program. New customers will initially be placed on basic service. They will then receive an opt‐out notice and will be enrolled in the aggregation unless they choose to opt out with the 30‐days of the opt‐out notice. New customers will be enrolled at the same price as the existing customers, with the exception of new Very Large C&I Customers (“VLC&I Customers”). New VLC&I Customers are defined as any customer that is on the utility’s largest rate class and has historical or projected consumption in excess of 1,000,000 kWh per year. These customers, if any, will be enrolled at a price that reflects market prices at the time of enrollment. All customers will have the right to opt out of the program at any time. Customers that opt out will have the right to return to the program at a price that reflects market prices at the time of their return.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 7

2. Reliability

Reliability has both physical and financial components. The program will address both through the ESA with the competitive supplier. From a physical perspective, the ESA commits the competitive supplier to provide all‐requirements power supply and to use proper standards of management and operations (ESA, Article 2.) The local distribution company will remain responsible for delivery service, including the physical delivery of power to the consumer, maintenance of the delivery system, and restoration of power in the event of an outage. From a financial perspective, the ESA requires the supplier to pay actual damages for any failure to provide supply at the contracted rate (i.e., to pay the difference between the contract rate and the utility supply rate). The ESA requires the competitive supplier to maintain insurance (ESA, Article 16) and the RFP for a competitive supplier will require that an investment‐grade entity either execute or guarantee the ESA. Accordingly, the program satisfies the reliability requirement of the statute.

3. Equitable Treatment of all Customer Classes

The Aggregation Statute requires “equitable” treatment of all customer classes. The DPU has determined that this does not mean that all customers must be treated “equally,” but rather that similarly‐situated classes be treated “equitably.” In particular, the DPU has allowed variations in pricing and terms and conditions between customer classes to account for the disparate characteristics of those classes. The program makes four distinctions between groupings of customers. First, the program will distinguish among customer classes (residential, commercial, industrial) by soliciting separate pricing for each of those classes. The program will use the same customer classes that National Grid uses for its basic service pricing.

Second, the program will distinguish between customers receiving the standard product and customers that affirmatively choose an optional product, such as a green product. Customers selecting the optional product will be charged the price associated with that product.

Third, as described above under “Universal Access,” among New Customers, the program will distinguish between a) New VLC&I Customers, and b) all other New Customers. The program will offer New Customers other than New VLC&I Customers the standard contract pricing. However, the program will offer new VLC&I Customers pricing based on market prices at the time the customer seeks to join the aggregation. Finally, consistent with DPU rulings, among customers that are served by a competitive supplier at the time of program launch and later seek to join the aggregation, the program will distinguish between a) residential and small C&I customers, and b) medium, large, and very large C&I customers. (Town of Natick, D.P.U. 13‐131‐A (2014); Town of Greenfield, D.P.U. 13‐183‐A (2014)) Residential and small C&I customers will be offered standard contract pricing. Medium, large, and very large C&I customers will be offered market based rates which will reflect market conditions at the time the customer seeks to join the aggregation.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 8

V. PLANNED SCHEDULE

Milestone Date Estimate

RFQ for competitive supplier issued February 2, 2016

RFP for final supply prices March 8, 2016

Electricity Supply Agreement executed March 22, 2016

Broad‐based educational campaign begins, including the March 23, 2016 announcement of supply contract and pricing and the launch of program web site.

Opt‐out notice mailed to customers March 28, 2016

Opt‐out deadline April 29, 2016

Service begins as of each customer’s next meter read date May 1, 2016

The planned schedule is presented for illustrative purposes. The final schedule will be established when the Town receives regulatory approval.

VI. CONCLUSION

The Chelmsford Choice program meets all of the requirements of the municipal aggregation statute, including providing universal access and a reliable power supply and treating all customer classes equitably. The Town looks forward to the approval of this plan by the DPU so that the Town can launch the program and bring the benefits of renewable energy and electricity choice to its residents and businesses.

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 9

EXHIBIT A

Town Meeting Resolution Authorizing Aggregation

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 10

EXHIBIT B

Customer Enrollment, Opt‐Out, and Opt‐In Procedures

The following protocols describe the procedures for customer enrollment, opt out, and opt in. The protocols are designed to be consistent with the Local Distribution Company’s Terms and Conditions for Competitive Suppliers. In the event of a conflict between these protocols and those Terms and Conditions, the Terms and Conditions shall govern.

1. Pre‐Enrollment Opt‐Out Notice, Pre‐Enrollment Opt‐Out Procedure, and Initial Enrollment

1.1. Opt‐Out Notice and Reply Card 1.1.1. The Town shall design an Opt‐Notice informing customers of the aggregation and their right to opt out and an Opt‐Out Reply Card that customers may mail to exercise their opt‐out right. 1.1.2. The Competitive Supplier shall print the Opt‐Out Notice and Opt‐Out Reply Card.

1.2. Customer List

1.2.1. After approval by the DPU and execution of the Electric Service Agreement (ESA) with a Competitive Supplier, the Local Distribution Company (LDC) will electronically transmit a Customer List, including the name, address, and existing power supply option (i.e., Basic Service or competitive supply) of each eligible consumer, to the Town’s designated Competitive Supplier to facilitate the notification and opt‐out requirements of the program.

1.3. Opt‐Out Mailing. Within five (5) business days of receiving the Customer List, the Competitive Supplier shall mail the Opt‐Out Notice and Opt‐Out Reply Card to all Basic Service customers in the Town.

1.4. Customer Opt‐Outs. During the period of thirty (30) days from the date of the postmark of the Opt‐Out Notice, customers may opt‐out of the aggregation by: 1.4.1. Mailing the opt‐out reply card to the Competitive Supplier; or 1.4.2. Calling the Competitive Supplier’s customer service number and requesting to opt out.

1.5. Customer Enrollment and Commencement of Generation Service

1.5.1. Within five (5) business days after the conclusion of the 30‐day opt‐out period, the Competitive Supplier shall submit an “enroll customer” transaction to the LDC for all Basic Service customers in the Town that did not opt out, pursuant to section 1.4.1 or 1.4.2.

1.5.2. Subject to the LDC’s Terms and Conditions for Competitive Suppliers, generation service will commence as follows:

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Municipal Aggregation Plan 11

1.5.2.1. On the customer’s next scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates at least two business days after the date of the enrollment transaction; 1.5.2.2. On the customer’s subsequent scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates less that two business days after the date of the enrollment transaction.

1.6. Report to Town. Within five (5) business days after sending the “enroll customer” transactions, the Competitive Supplier shall provide the Town with the Customer List, with fields added for each customer indicating the date the Opt‐Out Notice was mailed, whether the customer opted out, and if so the date, and whether an enrollment transaction for the customer was submitted to the LDC, and if so the date.

1.7. Undeliverable Opt‐Out Notices. If any Opt‐Out Notices are returned as undeliverable, the Competitive Supplier shall make Commercially Reasonable Efforts to identify a correct mailing address and re‐send the notice. If the second Opt‐Out Notice is not returned, and if the customer does not opt‐out within thirty (30) days from the date of the postmark of the second mailing, the Competitive Supplier shall submit an enrollment transaction for the customer no less than five (5) business days after the conclusion of the 30‐day opt‐out period.

2. New Customers

2.1 New Customers are customers that become customers of the LDC after the date of the initial opt‐out notice, for example because they moved into the Town.

2.2. On a monthly basis, the LDC shall provide the Competitive Supplier with a Customer List for all New Customers in the Town.

2.3. Within five (5) business days after receiving the Customer List, the Competitive Supplier shall mail the Opt‐Out Notice and Reply Card to all New Customers.

2.4. Within five (5) business days after the conclusion of the 30‐day opt‐out period for the new customers, the Competitive Supplier shall submit an “enroll customer” transaction to the LDC for all New Customers that did not opt‐out within the 30‐day opt‐out period. If any Opt‐Out Notices are returned as undeliverable, Competitive Supplier shall attempt to identify a correct address and re‐send the notice as described in section 1.7.

2.5. Commencement of Service. As specified in the LDC’s Terms and Conditions for Competitive Suppliers, generation service will commence as follows: 2.5.1. On the customer’s next scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates at least two business days after the date of the enrollment transaction; 2.5.2. On the customer’s subsequent scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates less that two business days after the date of the enrollment transaction.

2.5.3. Competitive Supplier will not be responsible for delays caused by the LDC.

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Municipal Aggregation Plan 12

3. Opt‐Out After Initial Enrollment

3.1. Opt‐Out Procedure. Subsequent to enrollment, a customer may elect to opt out of receiving generation service through the aggregation as follows: 3.1.1. By calling the Competitive Supplier’s customer service number and requesting to opt‐ out, in which case the Competitive Supplier shall submit a “supplier drops customer” transaction to the LDC within one (1) business day; 3.1.2. By calling the LDC and requesting to be returned to Basic Service, in which case the LDC shall submit a “customer drops supplier” transaction; or 3.1.3. By enrolling with an unrelated competitive supplier, in which case the unrelated competitive supplier shall submit an “enroll customer” transaction to the LDC.

3.2. Effective Date. The intent is that a customer that opts out will no longer receive Generation service through the aggregation as of:

3.2.1. the customer’s next scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates at least two business days after the date of the drop or enrollment transaction;

3.2.2. the customer’s subsequent scheduled meter read, for customers with meter read dates less that two business days after the date of the drop or enrollment transaction.

4. Opt‐In Procedure

4.1. Applicability

4.1.1. Customers not being served by the aggregation may opt in at any time.

4.1.2. The opt in procedure applies to the following customers:

4.1.2.1. Opt‐out Customers. Customers that opt‐out of the aggregation, either before or after enrollment; and

4.1.2.2. Former Competitive Supply Customers. Customers that were not previously enrolled in the aggregation because they were served by a competitive supplier at the inception of the program.

4.2. Prices 4.2.1. Prices for opt‐in customers shall be as follows: 4.2.1.1. All Opt‐out Customers and Former Competitive Supply Customers other than residential and small business customers shall be offered a price based on prevailing market rates at the time of the opt in. 4.2.1.2. Former Competitive Supply Customers that are residential or small business customers shall be offered the standard contract price

4.2.2. The Competitive Supplier shall notify the Town of all prices offered to opt‐in customers.

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4.2.3. Unless this requirement is waived by the Town, the end date of any opt‐in contract shall be coterminous with end date of the Standard Product.

4.3. Opt‐in Process. 4.3.1. Customers may opt in to the aggregation by calling the Competitive Supplier’s customer service number and requesting to opt in. 4.3.2. The Competitive Supplier shall fully disclose to the customer the price and all other terms and conditions of service. If the customer agrees to the price and terms and conditions, the Competitive Supplier shall submit an “enroll customer” transaction to the LDC within five (5) business days.

5. Optional Products

5.1. Prior to enrollment, Customers may elect an Optional Product by calling the Competitive Supplier’s customer service number. The Competitive Supplier shall enroll such customers on the Optional Product.

5.2 Customers enrolled in the program may elect an Optional Product, or a return to the Basic Product, by calling the Competitive Supplier’s customer service number. Within five (5) business days after a customer makes such an election, the Competitive Supplier shall submit a “change supplier data” transaction to the LDC to make the change in the customer’s rate option.

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Municipal Aggregation Plan 14

EXHIBIT C

Opt‐Out Notice

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 15

EXHIBIT D

Opt‐Out Reply Card

Town of Chelmsford

Municipal Aggregation Plan 16

VINAL SQUARE STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN

April 13, 2015 Committee Members

 William J. Gilet, Jr., Resident and Committee Chair  Ryan Donaher, Resident and Committee Vice Chair  Karen K. Mahoney, Business Representative and Committee Secretary  Dr. John P. Crane, Business Representative  George R. Dixon, Jr., Board of Selectmen Representative  Robert P. Joyce, Planning Board Representative (March 2013 – April 2014)  George Zaharoolis, Planning Board Representative (April 2014 – plan completion)  Laura A. Lee, Historical Commission and North Town Hall/Community Center Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan

 Master plan for the Vinal Square Area

 Provides vision and direction for future development and improvements in the area Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan

 Neighborhood has a diverse population with differing needs Many young adults (ages 20-45) and older adults (80+) Many families with children Many local businesses Study Area Key Committee Findings

 Need to address and define historic preservation goals  Lack of visual markers or signs to indicate historic or important properties  Capital improvements are necessary for both Varney and Southwell Key Committee Findings

 Lots of support for new and expanded recreational programming  Need to develop and define economic development goals  More branding and marketing initiatives are needed to keep residents involved and aware of what Vinal Square has to offer Recommendations

 30 Recommendations in five categories  Historic and Cultural  Recreation and Programming  Economic Development and Revitalization  Regulatory and Procedural  Traffic and Infrastructure

 Recommendations developed by Committee with community input Historic & Cultural

 Document historic resources

 Encourage the use of historic signs

 Further investigate the establishment of a National Register Historic District that includes Vinal Square as well as surrounding residential and industrial areas

 Pursue the Cultural District Application Historic & Cultural

Promote the area’s heritage and culture through collaborative activities with local businesses and organizations

Vinal Square has a rich cultural and commercial character. The Town, local businesses, and organizations need to work together to further enrich the community’s heritage and culture as well as bring more events and excitement to the neighborhood. Recreation & Programming

 Update and distribute a self-guided walking tour brochure for Vinal Square  Implement the Varney Playground Master Plan and explore additional programming at Varney Park  Investigate the possibility of charging resident and non- resident fees for use of Varney Park and the beach at Freeman Lake  Increase utilization of the North Common for community events and for marketing the businesses and cultural resources within Vinal Square  Establish a collaborative focus on improving water quality in Freeman Lake Recreation & Programming

 Work with community organizations and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to improve Southwell Field, including the boat ramp located on the Merrimack River

 Link community events at the North Town Hall/Community Center, the North Common, the MacKay Library, local parks, and the Senior Center to businesses within Vinal Square Recreation & Programming

Organize special events similar to Doors Open Lowell and Art, History, Architecture in New Bedford and take advantage of the MA Historical Commission’s On the Road Program Events and trainings encourage people to spend time in the area and learn more about the community. They also bring more customers and improve local business. Economic Development & Revitalization

 Review potential revitalization programs, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, and determine the level of interest among the various potential stakeholders

 Seek technical assistance through available state programs such as the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Massachusetts Downtown Initiative

 Forge a strong partnership between the local business community and the Town Economic Development & Revitalization

 Create and implement targeted economic development and marketing initiatives, partly focused on services for young adults and young families

 Work with area businesses to establish a local business association

 Pursue Community Development Block Grant funding for housing and business improvement projects within the study area Economic Development & Revitalization

Establish a façade improvement and streetscape program Regulatory & Procedural

 Modify the Community Enhancement and Investment Overlay (CEIOD) Bylaw to include requirements and design criteria specific to Vinal Square

 Refine and adopt the Mixed Use Overlay Zoning Bylaw and Design Guidelines for Vinal Square

 Consider amending the Zoning Bylaw and/or Regulations to guide the character and appropriateness of single-family residential construction

 Investigate the creation of a Neighborhood Conservation District Bylaw Regulatory & Procedural

Retain the existing Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee to serve in an advisory capacity

The residents and businesspeople in Vinal Square are its best and strongest ally. This committee should be retained and transformed into an advisory committee to assist with the implementation of these recommendations and serve as an advocate for Vinal Square and surrounding neighborhood. Traffic & Infrastructure

 Permanently secure the public parking area located at 40 Vinal Square and improve signage for the parking areas

 Improve pedestrian facilities and connectivity within the study area

 Work with MassDOT to optimize the phasing and timing of the Princeton Street/Wotton Street traffic signals

 Continue to monitor the proposed commuter rail extension project Traffic & Infrastructure

Study the possibility of assuming local ownership and control of the state-owned roadways within Vinal Square

Currently, the roadways within Vinal Square are owned and maintained by the state. It is possible for Chelmsford to take ownership of the roadways, but there are many positives and negatives so the idea needs to be thoroughly studied before any recommendation can be made. Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan

Questions And Discussion

VINAL SQUARE STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN

DRAFT

June 2014 October 2014 Draft

Town of Chelmsford Northern Middlesex Council of Governments Chelmsford1 Community Development Department

I. Background

North Chelmsford was initially established as a distinctly industrial village that grew up around Stony Brook, which provided an important source of waterpower for the mills. Over time, the area has maintained much of its industrial character, including the well-preserved mill complexes, and an impressive supply of 19th century mill worker housing comprised of row houses and small cottages. In total, there are more than one hundred (100) significant mill-era buildings in this section of town.

1893 Illustrative Map, Norman B. Leventhal

Vinal Square is located approximately 1.5 miles north of U.S. Route 3 at the convergence of several arterials: Route 40, Route 3A (Tyngsboro Road), Dunstable Road, and Middlesex Street. Vinal Square is often defined by its commercial district, which consists principally of early 20th century single-story storefronts. The Vinal Square business district provides important commercial services for the surrounding neighborhood and its continued vitality will be instrumental in ensuring the future success of the area. Existing businesses include restaurants, personal services, a bowling alley, dry cleaner, bank, travel agency, and a hardware store. Efforts

to preserve and improve the retail buildings and establishments must incorporate both preservation and economic development strategies. Scattered pockets of neighborhood retail development can also be found along Route 3A (Tyngsborough Road) north of Vinal Square.

As identified in previous planning studies, Vinal Square’s commercial district presents numerous economic development opportunities including historic mill complexes, vacant commercial properties, and a vibrant adjoining residential area.

The following planning related studies and reports have been completed: 1979 - Vinal Square Traffic & Parking Plan prepared by NMCOG 1981 - Vinal Square - Improvement Strategies prepared by NMCOG 1983 - Vinal Square Traffic Study prepared by SEA Consultants 1992-1993 - Vinal Square Traffic & Safety Committee & Recommendations Report

A review of the above studies and reports reveals a strategic focus on traffic and circulation improvements as well as a need for economic redevelopment and revitalization. Despite the fact that many of the recommended traffic and parking improvements have been implemented and the Town has been successful in grant applications to make improvements at Southwell Field, many of the common themes and challenges identified in these early planning studies remain. Traffic congestion, a lack of parking, deteriorating commercial properties, a lack of investment, and a lack of a positive outlook continue to persist in the Vinal Square Area.

More recently, the Town’s 2010 Master Plan included the following recommendations specifically focused on promoting the area’s revitalization: Establish a commercial façade program to support building restoration efforts; Develop design review criteria to ensure that new development is consistent with the district’s overall character and historic attributes;

Establish a mixed-use overlay zoning district within Vinal Square to allow residential uses over retail establishments; and Create a Mill Reuse and Revitalization Overlay District to encourage the rehabilitation and revitalization of these structures for mixed use development, should a vacancy occur.

I.A Architectural Profile

The residential neighborhood surrounding the Vinal Square consists of single and multi-family dwellings. There is a sense of neighborhood cohesiveness and community pride, as evidenced by several active neighborhood groups and the recently renovated North Town Hall Community Center. Residents clearly recognize the important role that this area has played in the town’s history and its importance in the town’s economic evolution from a collection of agrarian and industrial villages to a community that is now home to several high tech companies. There is a clear desire to maintain this connection with the past while supporting future activities that will improve the neighborhood and the quality of life for residents.

The architecture within Vinal Square is unique in that there are number of structures with “false front” façades. This building style was quite popular in the west during the California gold rush and the days of the “forty-niners” (1849). Such buildings could be constructed quickly. The style was used primarily for commercial establishments in order to give the structures an appearance of importance and prominence. Merchants used the false-front style buildings to create the appearance of a well-established, bustling commercial center. The large wooden façades complete with windows and cornices, suggested a more permanent, two-story building, as shown in the figure on the following page. The vertical extension of the front of the building beyond the roofline created the false-front style and was viewed as providing visual continuity along the street. While some may view these structures as an “eyesore”, they are truly historical buildings that reflect the working class values of the North Chelmsford neighborhood.

The mill buildings in North Chelmsford are typical of the era. The Selesia Mills (51-57 Middlesex Street and 87 Princeton Street) were originally constructed in the late 1880s. In 1912, the company was sold to the United States Worsted Company for $3 million. The mill complex at 70 Princeton Street was constructed in the early 1900s. An early canal (called Moore’s Canal) was constructed in the same period to transport water from Freeman Lake to the mills.

Based on the architecture within Vinal Square, it appears that the mid-to late 1800s was a period of rapid growth. Cottage Row and Gay Street include row houses that were once occupied by mill workers. The houses are of the basic, traditional cape style which has served New England well. Greek Revival architecture, another New England favorite, as well as Italianate and Victorian Craftsman style architecture can also be found within North Chelmsford. The photos below show examples of these architectural styles within the study area. The blocks used to construct the buildings in Vinal Square came from a local manufacturer and can be found in the foundations of many late 1800-1930 Chelmsford homes.

Cape Style Home on Cottage Row Victorian Craftsman Style Home on Newfield Street

Italianate Style Home on Wright Street Greek Revival Style Home on Dunstable Road

I.B Commercial Property and Business Profile Since the end of the “Mill Town” era, Vinal Square has been characterized by small stores providing personal conveniences and services. Businesses in Vinal Square are predominately locally owned buildings that house locally owned and operated businesses. There are a number of specialty and destination businesses. Unlike other areas of Chelmsford, Vinal Square has no history or presence of national chains. Many properties have been in the same ownership for a long period of time and very few properties come up for sale. Even though there are a variety of businesses in Vinal Square, the area lacks several of the basic shopping conveniences that are typically found in a neighborhood village setting such as a convenience store, pharmacy, and bakery.

In recent years, a number of businesses have come and gone. It appears that certain storefronts are more difficult than others for new businesses. Many of the structures are older, which creates challenges for new business owners. One factor that seems to make certain storefronts harder to rent is the cost of bringing an older structure into compliance with current building and life safety codes; this is frequently cited as a financial barrier for both prospective tenants and property owners during lease negotiations. The financial constraints of bringing an older building into compliance with current code become especially challenging when trying to change a structure’s use from general retail or service to a restaurant or other food service use.

I.C Housing Profile The Vinal Square area is nearly built out so there has not been much new housing construction within the last decade. A notable exception is the Chelmsford Housing Authority’s North Campus, which added a new multi-family building in 2011. A vast majority of the area’s housing units are single and two family properties located in historic structures that are more than 75 years of age. Surprisingly, there are no housing units located directly in the Square.

The core of the study area is characterized by single family dwellings located within a comfortable walking distance (1,300 feet or 1/4 mile) from the Square. There are two large multi-family housing complexes within the study area. Chelmsford Housing Authority’s North Campus has more than 140 units and is approximately 1,600 feet from Vinal Square. Within a quarter (1/4th) mile of Vinal Square, there are 120 housing units in multi-family buildings along Kennedy Drive and Princeton Street.

North Chelmsford has a large number of multi-family apartments and condo buildings, many of which are located outside the study area. A number of multi-family dwellings are located along Tyngsboro Road. In addition, the Williamsburg Condominiums are approximately 2,500 feet from Vinal Square. Williamsburg has a total of 535 units.

I.D Parking Profile The 2012 MNCOG Vinal Square Traffic and Safety Study (see section ?? below for more information) included a detailed inventory and analysis of parking within the study area. A total of approximately 240 spaces are available including both public and private spaces. The area’s on street public parking consists of approximately eighty (80) marked non-metered spaces concentrated around the Common and along the main roadways entering the Square. The following tables show the location and number of spaces in off-street parking areas.

Table X: Town Owned Off Street Parking

Address Number of parking spaces 30 Vinal Square (located in the square) (13-19-9) 15 35 Princeton Street (located behind the Fire Station and 31 adjacent to the Community Center)

Table x: Privately Owned Parking Areas

Address Number of Parking Spaces 40 Vinal Square (13-19-2) 30 Wotton Street (13-12-1) 42 33-45 Vinal Square (13-26-7) 40 Shaw Street (13-26-10) 55

The above private parking areas are specifically identified as they provide existing and/or future opportunities for public or quasi-public parking. The lot at 40 Vinal Square is located directly behind and contiguous with the Town owned parking area at 30 Vinal Square. The Wotton Street lot is located adjacent to the North Chelmsford Community Gardens and is often completely empty. The lot at 33-45 Vinal Square is located in the heart of Vinal Square; even though it’s privately owned, it appears to allow parking for the general public. The lot on Shaw Street is owned by the North Chelmsford Congregational Church.

INSERT PARKING MAP

I.E Demographic Profile While the study area boundaries do not align with the U.S. Census geography, data from the 2010 U.S. Census was examined to help the Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee get a better sense of the area’s unique demographics and frame the recommendations. Map 2 shows the study area boundaries relative to Census geography designations. The estimated population residing within the study area was 8,175 in 2010, as shown in Table x below. An assessment of the age composition of the population shows that the study area population is very similar to the town overall with 23% of residents under the age of 20 years, compared to 22.1% for the town overall. While 24.8% of the study area population is sixty (60) years and older, 22.3 % of the town’s residents are age sixty (60) and older. The study area neighborhood contains a higher percentage (20.5%) of population in the 25 – 39 year age group than the town overall (16.2%). This is likely due to the number of young families who have located in North Chelmsford to take advantage of the multi-family and duplex style housing units and relatively affordable single- family homes.

Table X: Age Breakdown Within the Study Area and the Town

Age Breakdown Age Percentage of Percentage of within Vinal Breakdown of Study Area the Total Town Square Block the Town’s Population Population Groups Population Population: 8,175 100.0 33,802 100.0% Under 5 years 471 5.8 1,767 5.2 5 to 9 years 486 5.9 2,236 6.6 10 to 14 years 500 6.1 2,345 6.9 15 to 19 years 434 5.3 2,055 6.1 20 to 24 years 352 4.3 1,395 4.1 25 to 29 years 466 5.7 1,513 4.5 30 to 34 years 591 7.2 1,782 5.3 35 to 39 years 624 7.6 2,167 6.4 40 to 44 years 596 7.3 2,639 7.8 45 to 49 years 688 8.4 3,150 9.3 50 to 54 years 605 7.4 2,810 8.3 55 to 59 years 559 6.8 2,391 7.1 60 to 64 years 508 6.2 2,085 6.2 65 to 69 years 374 4.6 1,605 4.7 70 to 74 years 259 3.2 1,289 3.8 75 to 79 years 219 2.7 993 2.9 80 to 84 years 228 2.8 781 2.3 85 years and over 215 2.6 799 2.4

Source: 2010 U.S. Census

According to the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, 648 individuals residing within the census tracts that include the study area are living below the poverty level. Nearly half of these individuals are children, as shown in the Table 2 below. This is a significant number as only 1,366 Chelmsford residents were living below the poverty level at that time; this means that 47.4% of all impoverished Chelmsford residents reside in the study area’s census tracts. The poverty level is a factor in determining eligibility for certain grant and funding programs that could provide a great benefit to residents living in this neighborhood, such as non-entitlement Community Development Block Grant funds.

Table X: Poverty Status in the past 12 months by Census Tract for Chelmsford (study area tracts are highlighted in blue) Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Census Town Tract Tract Tract Tract Tract Tract Tract Tract Wide

3171.01 3171.02 3171.03 3172.01 3172.02 3172.03 3173.01 3173.02 Total Total: 208 174 116 67 25 128 41 607 1366

< 5 years 0 11 0 15 0 0 0 103 129 5 years 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 to 11 years 0 32 0 0 0 31 0 136 199 12 to 14 years 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 44 15 years 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 to17 years 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 56 18 to 24 years 41 20 21 15 0 0 40 49 186 25 to 34 years 0 23 0 0 14 24 1 85 147 35 to 44 years 13 36 18 0 0 1 0 14 82 45 to 54 years 41 25 7 11 0 16 0 58 158 55 to 64 years 42 22 52 26 11 20 0 60 233 65 to 74 years 46 5 18 0 0 0 0 14 83 ≥ 75 years 13 0 0 0 0 36 0 0 49 Source: 2008-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

II. Study Area and Project Goals

The study area for this strategic plan is shown on Map 1. These boundaries were modified during the planning process based upon input received from the public and project stakeholders. It should be noted that the study area does not include all of North Chelmsford. The boundary of the study area follows the western and southern shore line of Freeman Lake, extends in an easterly direction to Princeton Street, and follows the west bank of the Merrimack River to just south of the Williamsburg Condominiums.

As mentioned before, Vinal Square faces a number of challenges. In addition to those discussed earlier in this plan, there are no street trees or plantings, excessive curb cuts, obtrusive overhead wires, and clutter created by utility poles, signs, and traffic signals. In many areas of the Square, there is excessive pavement and a lack of pedestrian realm, with patchy sidewalk materials, narrow sidewalks and a limited sense of safety. The intersections are confusing and there are multiple conflicts between automobiles, pedestrians and cyclists. Many of the buildings are poorly maintained and dated.

Despite these difficulties there are opportunities to revitalize the area. Vinal Square boasts an engaged and proud community with many residents very interested in revitalizing the area. Trough neighborhood effort, the area has seen the restoration and preservation of North Town Hall, now known as the Chelmsford Community Center. Residents also worked hard to develop the plan and begin the Varney Park Restoration project. Additionally, the collection of Mill-Era buildings and town-owned resources make Vinal Square a desirable area.

The following project objectives were utilized to guide the preparation of this document: Create a more distinctive district and re-establish pride in Vinal Square; Celebrate Vinal Square’s ‘working past’; Enhance the appearance and revitalize the Vinal Square Area; Help establish an identity and branding for Vinal Square; Celebrate the fine grain character of stores in the Square and traditional elements, such as inset shop front entries; Create a sense of consistency, but not uniformity; Improve visual and physical links to the Mill District; Help new and established businesses attract customers; Foster vitality and a commitment to the community; Enhance parks, community facilities, and the public realm; Improve connectivity between the residential areas, business areas, parks, and municipal facilities; and Increase the sense of pedestrian safety.

III. Planning Process and Public Input

The Town established the Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee (VSSAPC) to oversee the development of a master plan for Vinal Square and its surrounding neighborhood. The creation of a Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan was included as a recommendation in the town’s 2010 Master Plan. Furthermore, this recommendation was supported by neighborhood residents who expressed a strong interest in improving the Vinal Square Area. VSSAPC members were appointed by the Board of Selectmen: John P. Crane, business representative George R. Dixon, Jr., Board of Selectmen representative Ryan Donaher, resident William J. Gilet, Jr., resident and Committee Chair Robert P. Joyce, Planning Board representative (March 2013 – April 2014) George Zaharoolis, Planning Board representative (April 2014 – plan completion) Laura A. Lee, Historical Commission and North Town Hall/Community Center Karen K. Mahoney, business representative

The Committee met every 4-6 weeks throughout the plan development process and all meetings were open to the public. Town staff and the Town’s regional planning agency, Northern Middlesex Council of Governments (NMCOG), provided technical assistance and guidance to the Committee as the plan was developed.

The Committee began its work in March 2013 by reviewing the recommendations outlined in the following policy documents:

2010 Chelmsford Master Plan, 2011 Affordable Housing Production Plan, 2012 Vinal Square Traffic and Circulation Study, and 2013 Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan.

In addition, two Visioning Sessions were held to engage residents and local businesses in the planning process. During both sessions, an overview of the planning process was provided for attendees, a summary of the work completed to date was given, and attendees were asked to participate in a “Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis” exercise. The SWOT exercise was used to solicit input from the public and develop a clearer understanding of issues impacting the area’s businesses and residents. This “grassroots” input was utilized by the Committee in formulating the Plan recommendations.

The first public Visioning Session was held on October 3, 2013 to solicit input from residents. The session attracted over sixty (60) participants who voiced their opinions on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with Vinal Square. NMCOG staff recorded the input received on flip charts and following the discussion residents were given an opportunity to indicate their priorities by placing color coded dots next to each topic that they felt was important. Based on the outcome of this exercise, the priorities for residents within each SWOT category are outlined in Table X:

Table X: Residents Visioning Session SWOT Analysis Priorities

Strengths Weaknesses Small town feel Lack of parking Vinal Square is small and not overbuilt Public Safety The Merrimack River/Freeman Lake Rundown Buildings and beach Traffic MacKay Library (programs, etc.) The Mills – largest intact mill community in the Commonwealth

Opportunities Threats Historic Preservation Traffic Improve water quality and clean up The possible apathy and complancy of trash at Freeman Lake residents and local officials (“the study Open space at Southwell Field – might sit on the shelf”) provide additional parking, trails, and Economic conditions and scarcity of family activities funding Better control of traffic The area could become overbuilt The area is not seen as a priority

The Business Visioning Session was held on November 7, 2013. This session provided an opportunity for area businesses to share their opinions on what can be done to help Vinal Square

businesses prosper and grow. As in the first Visioning session, participants were given an opportunity to prioritize their ideas through the placement of color coded dots on the flip chart sheets. The following table (Table X) shows the top priorities identified by participants attending the Business Visioning Session:

Table X: Business Visioning Session SWOT Analysis Priorities

Strengths Weaknesses Commuter rail infrastructure Poor snow removal Character and Pride as reflected by Incomplete sidewalk network North Common Parking Potential for National Register Safety concerns designation Trash at parks Beach and recreation area at Freeman Lake Varney and Southwell parks

Opportunities Threats Kiosk/message board on North Depressed look for the Square Common to advertise events Unwillingness to change Outdoor sidewalk cafes New zoning bylaw could be a threat Walking path around Freeman Lake Lack of funding Commuter rail station Overbuilding Bike Path to connect Vinal Square and the surrounding neighborhood

A complete summary of all input received during both Visioning Sessions can be found in Appendix __.

The VSSAPC also meet with a number of town officials including the Town Manager and Town Engineer. Additionally, representatives from various town committees including the Historical Commission, Economic Development Commission, Planning Board, and Conservation Commission were invited to VSSAPC meetings. The input provided by the stakeholders is summarized in Table X on the following page.

Table X: Stakeholder Input Summary

Stakeholder Input Provided

Economic Development Link senior center events to the North Town Hall and Commission businesses with Vinal Square Keep businesses in the area informed; communication is critical Use Student Marketing and Research Team (SMART) at the High School to provide marketing assistance

Public parking areas should have better signs Kiosks or signs listing the businesses in the area would be helpful Market and promote businesses to the greatest extent possible

Historical Commission Stressed that North Chelmsford has the largest number of mill-related structures in the state The cultural community should be included as part of the discussion on Vinal Square The differences between a National Register district and local district were discussed; it was suggested that a National Register district be implemented first and then a local district be added later. The economic impact of historic preservation should be documented in the plan and should be a focus of any discussions with the public on the issue of historic preservation Special events, similar to Doors Open Lowell and AHA (Art, History, Architecture) in New Bedford should be used to promote North Chelmsford and Vinal Square, and events should be posted in a town-wide calendar The Town should take advantage of MHC’s On the Road program The Main Street Program should be explored as a means of improving Vinal Square Walking tours should be created through Vinal Square and along the Canal behind the mills Preservation efforts should also focus on streetscapes, historic monuments, and landmarks, as well as buildings 172 Princeton Street is a significant property once owned by Irish immigrants-the study area should be expanded to the intersection of North Road and Princeton The Highland Avenue area is also important The Middlesex Street Cemetery is historic and the community should be made aware of its importance

Town Manager Branding of the area is important and could be accomplished through the Vinal Square Cultural District It was noted that the commuter rail extension project is several years into the future Ornamental lighting, streetscape and façade improvements will be key to visually enhancing the area Sidewalks around Varney Playground are important to the neighborhood Funding options such as historic tax credits, grant programs and interest free loans should be considered as a means of funding streetscape and façade improvements Stakeholder involvement and public outreach is important to building support for the plan Housing development and job creation are key to tying

into state grant programs

Town Engineer The town has focused on the reconstruction of Newfield Street, Middlesex Street and Groton Road, including the installation of sidewalks The open space area at Southwell Field could be improved by cleaning up brush and creating a public picnic area Sidewalks should be extended along Tyngsborough Road MassDOT controls the roadways within the Square and must agree to any improvements, however state approval is not needed for signs Wayfinding signs are needed throughout the area A walking trail along the river and around Freeman Lake should be considered Ornamental pedestrian-scale lighting would enhance the area and add to the village character

Conservation Commission The Conservation Commission does not have any holdings within the area, unless one considers Deep Brook Reservation and Oak Hill A trail along the river was once proposed from Southwell Field to Williamsburg was opposed by residents There are significant floodplain issues within the Southwell Field area and extensive bank erosion in the area of Williamsburg There is a parcel of open space between Stony Brook and Freeman Lake in the area behind the spillway that should be studied

Planning Board The CEIOD zoning bylaw was summarized and discussed The Planning Board intends to bring a Mixed-Use Overlay District Bylaw for Vinal Square to a future Town Meeting

IV. Recent Planning Initiatives

In addition to the planning documents and studies already mentioned, the Town has undertaken several other planning and zoning related projects in the recent years. Many of these initiatives have been led by the Planning Board and Community Development Department. Still others were undertaken by other Board of Selectmen-appointed volunteer boards and committees.

Cultural District Application A thriving creative economy is a strong economic development asset. The Massachusetts Cultural Districts Initiative was authorized by an act of the Massachusetts state legislature in

2010 and launched in April 2011. A Cultural District is a specific geographical area that has a concentration of cultural facilities, activities, and assets. It is a walkable, compact area that is easily identifiable to visitors and residents and serves as a center of cultural, artistic and economic activity. These cultural districts help local arts, humanities and science organizations improve the quality and range of their public programs so that more local families can benefit from them. They enhance the experience for visitors and therefore attract more tourist dollars and tax revenue. They also attract artists, cultural organizations and entrepreneurs of all kinds - enhancing property values and making communities more attractive. The statute that created cultural districts outlines the following goals: 1. Attract artists and cultural enterprises; 2. Encourage business and job development; 3. Establish the district as a tourist destination; 4. Preserve and reuse historic buildings; 5. Enhance property values; and 6. Foster local cultural development.

The Chelmsford Cultural District Planning Committee began meeting in 2012. The initial goal was to submit two applications to designate the Center Village and Vinal Square as separate Cultural Districts. Map x shows the boundaries of the proposed Vinal Square Cultural District.

In January 2014, the State’s Cultural District Program Manager visited Chelmsford and met with the Planning Committee. Based upon a preliminary review of the application and a site visit, the manager stated that Vinal Square did not currently present itself as a stand-alone district, but is more akin to a historic “compound” highlighted by the Mills. Specifically, the manager stated it was clear upon arriving at the Mills that it was an identifiable area but that there was no clear connection, visual or otherwise, to indicate that there was something more beyond the Mill area and leading visitors toward Vinal Square. In addition, the manager stated that there were programmatic challenges such as the fact that the Community Center did not appear to be open during regular business hours.

The Planning Committee continued to work with the program manager on moving this initiative forward based upon the following options: Consider reducing the size of the District; and/or Implement physical and/or programmatic improvements that would strengthen the visual connection between the Mill Area and Vinal Square. Improved signage and a Historic/Cultural walking tour were both identified as possible ways to create that connection.

Upon further consideration, the Cultural District Planning Committee decided not to pursue Center and North designations simultaneously. Instead, the Cultural District Planning Committee

decided to refer to North as a Cultural “center” and will include it in future branding and marketing initiatives. The Center Village Cultural District application was officially submitted to the State in the summer of 2014.

Village Center Overlay Zoning District The 2010 Master Plan recommended that the current zoning bylaw be amended to accommodate mixed uses and allow residential development over retail uses within the Vinal Square Area to create a more vibrant village community. The Town retained a consultant to draft a Village Center Overlay Bylaw for the Center Village and North Village areas with the intent that the zoning article brought to Town Meeting would seek adoption of both overlay districts simultaneously. The overlay district is designed to create a more unified and cohesive regulatory environment for the town’s two commercial village centers. The bylaw will be used in tandem with a set of design guidelines to ensure that community character is protected by encouraging high quality development and pedestrian scale design features. However, based upon the recommendation of VSSAPC, the Planning Board decided to postpone the North Village portion of the bylaw until this planning process and report were completed. VSSAPC and the Planning Board felt that the findings and recommendations included in this Plan would provide further guidance that would allow the Planning Board to better tailor the overly to capture Vinal Square’s unique architecture and character. The boundaries of the proposed North Village Overlay District are shown on Map x.

Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan In March 2013, the Town completed the Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan which highlights the need to identify and catalogue historic and cultural resources and develop a strategy for protecting, preserving, and promoting the town’s historic and cultural attributes. The document outlines the following recommendations specifically for Vinal Square: Revise the zoning bylaw to allow for mixed use development within Vinal Square and in the North Chelmsford mill buildings; Establish a Mill Reuse Overlay District and Bylaw for the mill properties in North Chelmsford; Establish a National Register Historic District in North Chelmsford; Identify resource types and geographic areas most at risk and establish priorities for inventory efforts; Pursue the designation of the Varney Playground for individual listing on the National Register; Update and publish self-guided walking tour brochures for North Chelmsford, with an online version that can be downloaded via smart phone technology;

Continue collaboration efforts to promote Chelmsford’s heritage and culture, including historically-themed art exhibits at North Town Hall, and window displays by artists; and Continue efforts to designate North Chelmsford as a cultural arts district.

2010 Open Space & Recreation Plan Chelmsford updated its Open Space and Recreation Plan in 2010 to review the current open space resources and recreation opportunities in Chelmsford and assess the community’s needs moving forward. This plan also discusses the management, maintenance, and condition of existing properties and facilities as well as identifies priorities for future acquisitions and projects. This plan includes two recommendations specific to the study area: Create new recreational and open space opportunities by providing new connections by exploring the potential for a rail trail along the Stony Brook Railroad Right of way explore the creation of a walking trail around Freeman Lake

Vinal Square Traffic and Safety Study At the request of the Town, NMCOG completed a study of traffic and safety conditions within Vinal Square in 2012. The following recommendations were outlined to improve operating conditions within the area (see Appendix X for the full report): Work with PanAm Railroad and MassDOT to repair and upgrade the railroad crossing on Middlesex Street; Improve the sidewalk network to comply with ADA standards and improve sidewalk maintenance and sidewalk snow removal; Install additional pedestrian benches and an irrigation system on the North Common; Trim trees on Princeton that currently obstruct directional and wayfinding signs; Extend the sidewalk along Tyngsborough Road from Vinal Square to Wellman Avenue; Resurface Tyngsborough Road from Vinal Square to the Williamsburg Condominiums; Add a second stop line on Groton Road just west of the Dunstable Road intersection and install a pedestrian crosswalk for those crossing Groton Road; Provide wayfinding signage and improve access to Southwell Field; Resurface Wotton Street and construct sidewalks where sufficient right-of-way exists; Extend the sidewalk on Adams Street to better connect Vinal Square, Varney Playground, and the MacKay Library with the neighborhood; Improve crosswalk pavement markings at the intersection of Princeton Street and Middlesex Street and improve lane delineation for vehicles turning left from Princeton Street to Middlesex Street;

Implement traffic flow improvements at the intersection of Groton Road/Wotton Street/ Adams Street, including adding a right turn lane on the Groton Road approach, relocating the “Do Not Block Intersection” sign to a location in advance of the intersection, repairing the broken pedestrian button at the intersection of Route 3A and Wotton Street, repairing the missing back plate on the northbound signal head, and updating the signals to accommodate emergency vehicle pre-emption; Implement bicycle and pedestrian accommodations throughout Vinal Square, which could include the addition of a bike lane, “share the road” sign, wide shoulders, additional bike racks and sharrows; and Establish a streetscape program that includes street trees, street furniture, and pedestrian scale lighting.

2014 Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (dated Sept. 25, 2014) This plan, written by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, includes several recommendations and observations specific to the study area: The most recent Sidewalk Plan (2010) for the Town of Chelmsford is documented at http://ma-chelmsford.civicplus.com/documentcenter/view/930. According to this figure, sidewalks in either good or fair condition are present on all arterial or collector roadways except: o Tyngsboro Road – no sidewalks from Vinal Square to the Tyngsboro line, except for a short stretch near Wellman Avenue. o Princeton Street – sidewalk in poor condition between North Road and the Lowell line. Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA) Bus 17 serves North Chelmsford including the Senior Center and Drum Hill Area. During the holiday season only, there is a route that goes through Vinal Square to shopping centers in Nashua Identified Vinal Square as a principal point of interest / destination for bicycles – however no on / off street bicycle amenities exist so the plan recommends adding a bike line along Princeton Street

V. Existing Zoning and Land Use within the Study Area

As shown on Map 1, the area within the Vinal Square business district is principally zoned as General Commercial (CD). Uses allowed by right within the district include retail, commercial offices, restaurants, commercial entertainment, and wireless communication facilities. Motels, indoor recreation facilities, golf courses, auto repair, and health clubs are allowed by special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The minimum lot size in the CD zone is 10,000

square feet with fifty feet of frontage. The maximum building height is forty-five (45) feet or four (4) stories. Forty (40) percent lot coverage and a .45 floor area ratio are allowed within the CD zoning district.

The area along the westerly side of Princeton Street between the railroad and Richardson Road and the area along Tyngsborough Road northwest of the Square is zoned Roadside Commercial (CB). Uses allowed by right include clubs, lodges, motels, hotels, motor vehicle sales, vehicle service and repair, and wireless communication facilities. The minimum lot size in the CB district is 40,000 square feet with 150 feet of frontage. Maximum building height allowed within the district is forty-five (45) feet or four (4) stories. Thirty (30) percent lot coverage and a .45 floor area ratio are allowed.

The northern end of Wotton Street and the areas in the vicinity of the mills along Princeton and Middlesex Streets are zoned Limited Industrial (IA). Uses allowed by right include professional offices, research and development, manufacturing, warehousing, wood operations, and wireless communication facilities. Contractor’s yards, motels, hotels, health clubs, and self-storage and mini-warehouse facilities are allowed by special permit. The minimum lot size in the IA zone is 40,000 square feet, with 150 feet of frontage. Maximum building height allowed within the district is forty-five (45) feet or four (4) stories. Thirty (30) percent lot coverage and a .45 floor area ratio are allowed within the IA district.

The residential zoning districts within the study area include Single Residence (RA), General Residence (RC), and Multiple Residence (RM). The RA District is a conventional single-family home district and is the lowest density residential zoning district in the town with a minimum lot requirement of 60,000 square feet. Minimum lot frontage of 150 feet is required and structures must be set back at least forty (40) feet from the road. Building height is capped at thirty-five (35) feet or three (3) stories.

RC zoning allows for residential development on moderate-density lots of 20,000 square feet with a minimum frontage of 125 feet. Structures must be set back at least twenty (20) feet from the roadway and building height is limited to forty-five (45) feet or four (4) stories. The RC district allows for the most flexible residential uses by right including single-family, duplexes, and boardinghouses.

The RM district allows for high-density residential development. Single-family and two-family residences are permitted by right and multi-family dwellings are allowed by special permit from the Planning Board. The RM district requires a minimum lot area of 40,000 square feet and minimum frontage of 150 feet.

As discussed above, the study area, which is relatively small and compact, consists of five separate zoning districts. Each district has its own set of allowed uses and dimensional

requirements. This inherently creates conflicts, particularly in locations where commercial and industrial districts abut residential uses. In addition to sometimes conflicting uses, the myriad of dimensional requirements creates a complicated regulatory environment. With so many districts in such close proximity to one another there are multiple locations within the study area where different standards are applied on adjacent lots in order to comply with zoning requirements. Having so many zoning districts, permitted uses, and dimensional requirements within a small geographic area does not serve to protect neighborhood character and such regulations are difficult to administer. Furthermore, many of the zoning requirements within this neighborhood are not consistent with existing development patterns.

Under the Town’s current zoning bylaw, architectural character and appropriateness is not regulated for single-family residential construction nor is it typically reviewed for ANR projects or Special Permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals to alter, extend, or change a pre-existing or non-conforming structure. This has resulted in the construction of residential projects within the neighborhood that residents feel are inappropriate or not in keeping with neighborhood character.

Map 3 on the following page shows the current land uses within the study area, which may not be consistent with the zoning designation for each parcel. As the map shows, the immediate Vinal Square area is principally used for commercial purposes while industrial uses are concentrated in the mill buildings on Princeton and Wotton Streets. Residential uses dominate the land areas surrounding the heart of Vinal Square.

The Community Enhancement and Investment Overlay District At the Fall 2013 Town Meeting, in accordance with the recommendation of the 2010 Master Plan, Town Meeting representatives approved the creation of the Community Enhancement and Investment Overlay District (CEIOD). The CEIOD serves to mitigate, in part, the zoning deficiencies discussed above by treating the underlying commercial and industrial zoning districts as a single, unified zoning overlay. The bylaw applies to most commercial and industrial districts throughout the town including those located in the Vinal Square study area (shown on Map x). The purpose and intent of the bylaw is to: Provide an incentive for property reuse and redevelopment through regulatory flexibility and a streamlined permitting process that results in reduced impacts in the community; Prevent deterioration of land and buildings that have become obsolete for their original purposes by allowing reuse for other economic and civic opportunities, including, but not limited to, residential uses, commercial uses and mixed uses; Facilitate the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized commercial and industrial properties in a manner that enhances the municipal tax base while ensuring that redevelopment meets the Town’s standards for design and construction and neighborhood character;

Encourage entrepreneurship, and the expansion of small businesses, and support the growth and enhancement of commercial districts; Encourage appropriate site design that enhances and promotes desirable development patterns, improves internal accessibility and connectivity, reduces curb cuts through shared access to public ways, consolidates parcels and incorporates open space when appropriate and feasible; Encourage high quality development to protect and enhance the value of real property, provide high quality architecture that reflects an appropriate community character, and encourage site design that is compatible and in context with surrounding neighborhoods and business districts; Encourage aesthetic enhancements where currently deficient, including, but not limited to, improvements to landscaping along public ways; Encourage environmental protection, such as best management practices in stormwater management and redevelopment, to ensure compliance with DEP stormwater regulations to the maximum extent feasible; and Increase compliance with zoning standards, particularly for those sites and buildings that pre-date current zoning standards such as landscaping, parking, lighting and signage.

Projects developed under the overlay bylaw are eligible for relief from some of the parking, landscaping, and dimensional requirements within the town’s existing land use regulations in exchange for meeting specific performance and design criteria.

Proposed Mill Reuse Overlay District The Town’s 2010 Master Plan recommends the establishment of a Mill Reuse Overlay District to accommodate additional uses not allowed under the current zoning regulations. This would provide greater flexibility in redeveloping or reusing the existing structures and would potentially increase the economic value of the properties. In addition, a mill reuse overlay district would accomplish the following: Protect the neighborhood from the loss of historic buildings, new construction not in character with the neighborhood or alterations that would lessen the architectural significance of the structures; Facilitate and encourage the reuse of the historic mill buildings should a vacancy occur; Promote diverse housing choices within the community; and Provide greater flexibility in meeting housing and economic development goals.

It is important to note that while the proposed Mill Reuse Overlay District remains in draft form, it was not prioritized during the most recent major re-zoning efforts in 2011-2012 based upon an

understanding that the current owners of the Mills did not anticipate its usefulness and the applicability of the recently adopted CEIOD for at least one of the Mills.

VI. Town-owned and Quasi Public Resources Located in the Study Area

Town Owned The North Town Hall is a highly visible community landmark situated at the edge of Vinal Square. The Greek Revival style building was constructed in 1853 and was recently renovated using $2.85 million in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds. The building is now the official Community Center serving as a cultural center and meeting location for area residents. Day-to-day management is the responsibility of a volunteer citizen committee appointed by the Town Manager. The Committee is responsible for operating the facility in a fiscally self- sufficient manner by utilizing rental fees to cover operating costs including cleaning and utilities. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the inability to keep the building open a regular basis during daytime hours.

The Anna C. MacKay Branch Library, located at 43 Newfield Street, is a one-and-one- half story wood structure with clapboard siding and an asphalt shingle room. It sits on a 11,727 square foot lot and has parking for twenty vehicles. It was constructed in 1900 and donated to the town by a former town librarian. The MacKay Library is highly valued by the community. The Town recently renovated the building. Additionally, this facility serves as a cultural center and public meeting location. The library’s current hours of operation are Wednesdays from 1-8 and Fridays from 10-5:30. As with all historic buildings, the MacKay Library is in need of some maintenance. There are several clapboards that need repair, the shutters needs to be replaced, the exterior needs to be painted and the roof is due to be replaced.

Varney Playground was deeded to the Town in 1926 for the development of a public playground. In 1935, a field and bath house was built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. A beach and ball field were added in 1941. Since it was completed in 1948, Varney Playground has remained the same size. The park is located on seven acres of land overlooking Freeman Lake. Today, this cultural and historic landscape, under the care and management of the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen, is a multipurpose recreational facility that includes a large children’s playground, a baseball field, basketball court, tennis courts, and a beach area.

In May 2012, the Board of Selectmen voted to support a plan to renovate the park and playground. In June 2012, a public input session and design charette was held at which nearly forty residents shared their ideas and vision for improving the facility. On April 8, 2013, the Board of Selectmen conducted a formal public hearing to receive input on planned improvements. This has led to the development of a Varney Playground Master Plan financed through $20,000 in Community Preservation Act funding. The Master Plan consists of a phased renovation program to enhance the recreational value of the facility, and preserve its historic and cultural attributes. Most recently, Town Meeting appropriated $496,705 for the facility’s renovation and improvement. The graphic below shows the planned improvements including new paved walkways that enhance accessibility and bring the park into compliance with the ADA, the construction and relocation of a regulation size basketball court, the addition of spectator and visitor amenities such as seating areas and bike racks, improved grading and drainage, interior and exterior renovations to the field/bath house, the installation of a new boat dock and a shade structure, and the addition of nature trails within an existing wooded area.

In the summer of 2014, a contact was awarded for the architectural and civil design and engineering services. Construction is anticipated to commence in the spring of 2015.

The safety of the waterfront area will be enhanced as a result of stormwater management measures that will resolve erosion issues on the beach and improve water quality. Overall, the planned improvements will allow the facility to be used for additional community-based programs. For example, the Chelmsford Library is interested in using the facility to expand the “Friday in the Park Story Times” Summer Reading Program and the Chelmsford Community Center would like to have expanded access to the field house for story time, arts and crafts, and nature talks. There is also an interest in offering adult programming such as yoga, fitness classes, art classes, and musical events. Other events and programming under discussion include sailing, canoeing, kayaking, WinterFest activities and overnight camping for youth groups. It has been suggested that the Town issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit private interest in providing such programs in exchange for lease/rental payments to the Town.

North Common is a half-acre park bounded by Middlesex Street, Princeton Street, and Wright Street. It is home to Chelmsford’s World War I monument erected in 1922 and the North Chelmsford Vietnam War Memorial that was erected in 2006. There are two benches located in the park and a gazebo, which serves as the focal point for activities on the Common. Though the Memorial Day Parade and holiday tree lighting are held in this location, the North Common is largely underutilized.

Southwell Field, under the care and custody of the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen, is a twenty-six acre parcel located along the banks of the Merrimack River off Wotton Street. The park includes two baseball fields, a soccer field, a small playground, restroom facilities, and a boat ramp. This facility, bordering both the Merrimack River and Deep Brook, is the only riverfront area owned by the Town. In the mid 1990’s, the Friends of Southwell Park developed a plan to improve and beautify this area. This plan called for the construction of a riverfront walking path that would loop around the property, the addition of park benches and picnic areas, and the addition of a garden walking path along the Deep Brook side of the property with a water garden located at the upper portion of the Brook. There was also some discussion of a possible Arboretum. The Plan suggested that the area be used as an open classroom, where school children would come to study “the effects of erosion, beavers, plant life, and bird watching.” The Southwell Field Plan recommended that the playground be relocated further away from the ball field and that new playground equipment be installed.

In collaboration with the Friends of Southwell Field, the Town submitted an Urban Self-Help application for the rehabilitation and improvement of Southwell Field in 1999. The project constructed 3,000 linear feet of handicap accessible stone dust walkways and 1,000 feet of trail along the south bank of Deep Brook. In addition, a trail along the Merrimack from the boat launch to the northern property boundary and back to the main access road was constructed. Other components of the project included wheelchair accessible picnic tables, shade trees, playground equipment, fencing, landscaping, and the replacement of the softball infield, dugouts, and bleachers. A garden was developed along Deep Brook and a water garden was installed at the lagoon in Deep Brook. The total project cost was $123,453 with $25,000 received through the Urban Self-Help grant program.

Despite the large investment and improvements at Southwell Field, the field and some of its associated infrastructure are currently in need of maintenance. In 2014, the Chelmsford Girls Softball organization received approval to expand the existing snack bar/bath house.

The Chelmsford Senior Center is a two story 20,399 square foot wood frame/vinyl siding building with an asphalt-shingled roof. It was constructed in 1989 and is located on a 3 acre site at 75 Groton Road. The Senior Center has a large (110 spaces) paved parking lot. The Senior Center has three meeting rooms; one room can seat 45 people and the other two room seat 25 each. There is also a main dining area that seats 70 people. The Senior Center is fully ADA accessible. This facility also serves as an Emergency Shelter and host to Chelmsford’s Town Meetings.

The Community Gardens on Wotton Street were opened in 2012 to provide an additional thirty-five garden plots. Each plot is approximately 500 square feet. The Community Gardens are under the care and custody of the Town Manager and Board of Selectmen.

Highland Field is located on Highland Avenue. This 1.5 acre park has a soccer field, small play area, and twenty-five parking spaces.

The Chelmsford Conservation Commission owns a number of small parcels on Freeman Lake along both Willis and Shore Drives.

In addition to the many town-owned resources in the area, the study area has several quasi-public resources including approximately eleven acres with 1,000 feet of frontage along Freeman

Lake’s shore owned by the North Chlemsford Water District. The Chelmsford Housing Authority’s main senior housing campus is located along Sheila Avenue, adjacent to the Senior Center, and provides more than 140 housing units.

Other Prominent Properties 100 Wotton Street (Mill) – Located adjacent to Deep Brook and Southwell Field, this 12.50 acre parcel, occupied by a 127,000 square foot historic mill building built in the early 1900’s, is identified in the 2010 Master Plan as a high priority redevelopment opportunity.

Mahoney’s Nursery and Garden Center – Located principally at 165 Princeton Street, this 32 acre agricultural facility is occupied by retail buildings, greenhouses and fields. The site is classified under Chapter 61A.

133 Princeton Street - this site is occupied by an abandoned 16,000 square foot industrial warehouse that is in disrepair and is identified in the 2010 Master Plan as a high priority redevelopment opportunity.

VII. Key Committee Findings

Historic and Cultural While most agree that significant portions of the study area are historic there is less agreement as to how the historic character is defined or should be defined. For example, which time period, materials, or architectural styles are or should be considered historic? In addition to diverging thoughts on what should be considered historic, the committee also found that there seems to be two opposing contingentsviewpoints for of historic preservation. Some residents and town officials desire to seek options for regulatory protection while many property owners and business owners who are concerned about potential restrictions on their property rights if historic preservation was codified into a regulatory structure. While many are aware and knowledgeable about the history, historic and cultural resources, there are no obvious physical, visual or programmatic attributes such as signs, markers, pavement markings, printed tours / brochures to promote the area’s assets and educate the public.

Recreation and Programming

Everyone Committee members agrees that capital improvements to Varney and Southwell are critical. The Committee also found support for new and improved recreational programming, capitalizing on planned capital improvements at Varney and Southwell. Suggestions include summer day camps and sailing or watercraft lessons. A lack of any coordinated effort or format related to recreational programming was identified.

Economic Development and Revitalization Similar to historic preservation, there appears to be two contingents viewpoints related to economic development; one is a desire to fully embrace economic development and revitalization by taking pro-active steps towards change while the other is to leave it as is. Need to take steps to strengthen existing and encourage new locally owned and operated businesses. Need to strengthen resident’s awareness to residents of local businesses with branding and marketing initiatives. Simple aesthetic improvements such as seasonal flower planters, banners, sidewalks and façades would go a long way toward improving Vinal Square and its surrounding area.

Regulatory and Procedural The overall feeling is similar to economic development in that there are two distinct contingents. Currently, there is a disconnect between regulatory outcomes and what is desired. There is agreement that there is a lack of an organized involvement or representation of the study area at the Town’s Regulatory Boards. There is a nNeed for an officially town recognized and appointed town neighborhood committee to serve in an advisory capacity.

Traffic and Infrastructure Local cControl over improvements and timing are limited based upon MassDOT ownership of major roadways. Vinal Square serves as a commuter route and experiences high traffic volume during peak periods. While pedestrian amenities exist in Vinal Square, safety, accessibility, and connectivity improvements are needed. Sidewalks are needed beyond and adjacent to the Square.

While parking is perceived to be a challenge, there does not appear to be a need for additional parking based upon existing occupancy rates. This means that additional wayfinding signage is necessary to so people are aware of the parking options. The location and distribution of public parking is of primary importance.

VIII. Recommendations

The recommendations in this plan each fall into one of five categories: Historic and Cultural, Recreation and Programming, Economic Development and Revitalization, Regulatory and Procedural, and Traffic and Infrastructure.

Historic and Cultural Document historic resources within the study area: Map 4 shows all buildings in the area that were constructed prior to 1935, while Map 5 shows only those historic resources which had been properly inventoried when the Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan was completed. Very few buildings within the Study Area have been inventoried. Without a record of its historic resources, the community cannot adequately protect those that have great value. The historic resource inventory can be used to heighten public awareness and engage residents in a public dialogue regarding the appropriateness of historic designations for the Vinal Square area.

Massachusetts Historical Commission inventory forms are used for documenting information on historic and archaeological resources. The forms are designed to record information on the location, appearance and condition of the resources. Many inventory forms also include a current photograph of the resource. Information is also provided on the history of the resources, including their use and the people and activities that have been associated with them over time. The forms also evaluate the significance of the resources relative to similar properties and sites within the community and across the Commonwealth.

Future inventory work should also include updating the existing inventory forms with new photos, expanded architectural descriptions and contextual review. The Town could pursue a Survey and Planning grant through the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) to fund a preservation consultant to undertake this work1. The Historical Commission has received

1 The MHC Survey and Planning Grant Program is a competitive, federally funded, reimbursable, 50/50 matching grant program to support historic preservation planning activities in communities throughout the state with a goal of supporting efforts to identify and plan for the protection of significant historic buildings, structures, archaeological sites and landscapes. Grant funds can be used to support a wide range of preservation-related activities including the: competition of cultural resource inventories, nomination of significant properties to the

$20,000 in Community Preservation (CPA) funds to hire a Historic Preservation consultant to inventory up to one hundred (100) historic properties. This effort will focus heavily on Vinal Square. This recommendation supports the findings outlined in the Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan.

Encourage the use of historic signs: The Chelmsford Historical Commission operates a historic sign program which provides free markers to owners of inventoried properties. Participation has been limited as many residents are unaware of the program. Upon completion of the inventorying process outlined above, the Historic Commission should reach out to eligible property owners, as historic signs can be instrumental in educating the public on local history and the significance of the buildings in their neighborhood. It is also recommended that “Entering North Village” signs be erected along the major gateways to the neighborhood, such as Princeton Street, Middlesex Street, Tyngsborough Road and Groton Road.

Promote the area’s heritage and culture through collaborative activities with local businesses and organizations: This promotion could include window displays, an informational kiosk located on the North Common, displays at North Town Hall, and information booths at local functions and special events. The Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee (VSSAPC) in partnership with the Cultural District Partnership should coordinate and manage this effort.

Further investigate the establishment of a National Register Historic District that includes Vinal Square as well as surrounding residential and industrial areas: The National Register of Historic Places is a listing of buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts significant in the nation’s history, culture, architecture, or archaeology and that are worthy of preservation. It is a Federal designation, administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Massachusetts Historical Commission as the State Historic Preservation Office. All properties located within a National Register Historic District are also included in the State Register of Historic Places, which is a listing of all Massachusetts properties designated within local or National Register Historic Districts, individually listed in the National Register, designated as a National Historic Landmark, protected by preservation restrictions under M.G.L. c. 184, sections 31 and 32, or formally determined eligible for National Register designation by the National Park Service. This recommendation is consistent with the Town’s 2010 Master Plan and with the 2013 Historic and Cultural Plan. Additional Information about National Historic Districts may be found in Appendix X.

Pursue the Cultural District Application: The representative from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) found that the Vinal Square application was not yet competitive and made a

National Register of Historic Places, completion of community-wide preservation plans, and completion of other types of studies, reports, publications, and projects that relate to the identification and protection of significant historic properties and sites.

number of recommendations for the Cultural District Committee to strengthen the Vinal Square application. The Cultural District Committee and others should work to implement the recommendations from MCC and the Town should continue its efforts to have the Vinal Square Area designated as a Cultural District.

Recreation and Programming Update and distribute a self-guided walking tour brochure for Vinal Square: The Chelmsford Historical Commission is preparing an updated walking tour brochure that would educate the public on the history of the area and could also be used to help promote local businesses and events. The tour should focus on connecting the mills with Vinal Square and the surrounding neighborhood. An online version should be made available that can be downloaded via smart phone technology. This recommendation is also included in the Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan.

Implement the Varney Playground Master Plan and explore additional programming at Varney Park: As discussed previously, the Varney Playground Master Plan outlines phased improvements and enhancements for the seven-acre recreational facility. Improvements include the addition of a splash pad, improved access for persons with disabilities, drainage improvements, renovations to the boathouse area, updates and improvements to sport facilities, and the installation of bicycle racks. Sport facility updates and improvements include: improving the basketball and tennis courts, adding bleachers and covered dugouts to the baseball field, adding an additional basketball court, and installing new fitness areas. The Town has received a state grant to help fund the first phase of the project which is estimated to cost $496,000. It is anticipated that the design and bid specifications package will be completed by winter 2014- 2015 and that construction will be completed by June 2016. In addition to implementing the planned physical improvements at Varney Park, the VSSAPC also recommends that additional activities, such as summer camp or fitness classes, be encouraged to ensure that the facility is fully utilized and to offer additional activities and opportunities for residents.

Investigate the possibility of charging resident and non-resident fees for use of Varney Park and the beach at Freeman Lake: Residents have reported a number of past incidents at the town beach and Varney Park involving vandalism and unruly behavior on the part of non- residents. As a means of minimizing such problems, the VSSAPC recommends that the Town assess the viability of establishing separate user fees for residents and non-residents. The fee for residents should be nominal.

Increase utilization of the North Common for community events and for marketing the businesses and cultural resources within Vinal Square: The North Common has the potential to become a focal point for community events such as fairs, festivals, neighborhood block

parties, concerts, and a farmer’s market. Such activities build community, can be used promote local organizations and businesses and add vibrancy to the area. The construction of a kiosk on the North Common would provide a visible means for advertising such events and promoting local businesses.

Work with community organizations and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to improve Southwell Field, including the boat ramp located on the Merrimack River: The overall facility could be improved by cutting brush, creating a picnic area, and expanding and better defining the trail network. In addition, the current boat ramp located off Wotton Street on the Merrimack River is in need of maintenance and improvement. The Town should work with DCR and its legislative delegation to secure the funding needed to undertake these improvements. The Board of Selectmen should also explore options for the future maintenance and improvements of the triangular lot (Map 14, Block 19, Lot 1) adjacent to Southwell Field (see map x).

Link community events at the North Town Hall/Community Center, the North Common, the MacKay Library, local parks, and the Senior Center to businesses within Vinal Square: The concentration of public facilities should be a community asset. The Town, business owners, community groups, and the organizations managing each of these facilities should work together to ensure that people are aware of the variety of services, businesses, and cultural resources available in and around Vinal Square. A marketing program should include informational materials that can be made available at community events held at the Community Center and the Senior Center. For example, a brochure could be developed showing the location and hours of operation for restaurants located in the area. The Student Marketing and Research Team (SMART) at Chelmsford High School may be able to assist with this recommendation.

Organize special events similar to Doors Open Lowell and AHA (Art, History, Architecture) in New Bedford and take advantage of the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s (MHC) On the Road Program: Such events promote the area’s historical and cultural attributes by heightening public awareness relative to the importance of preserving the unique historical resources of Vinal Square, increasing the level of activity in the area (which benefits local businesses) and educating the community regarding the town’s history. Such events should be advertised on a town-wide calendar of events and through local media. With MHC’s On the Road Program, MHC staff will visit any community to discuss various aspects of historic preservation.

Establish a collaborative to focus on improving water quality in Freeman Lake: Freeman Lake is the site of a town beach and many residents use the water body for boating, fishing, and other forms of recreation. The neighborhood, the Town, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) should work cooperatively to improve water quality in the lake. This can be accomplished by establishing a collaborative that works toward enhancing

public education and seeking resources for improved stormwater management, aquatic vegetation control programs, and continued enforcement of the Wetland Protection Act. The town should consider emulating Westford’s Healthy Lakes and Ponds Program.

Economic Development and Revitalization Review potential revitalization programs, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, and determine the level of interest among the various potential stakeholders: The National Trust’s Main Street Program is designed to revitalize and manage neighborhood commercial districts and downtowns. The Main Street Four-Point Approach is a preservation-based economic development tool that enables communities to revitalize downtown and neighborhood business districts by leveraging local assets from historic, cultural, and architectural resources to local enterprises and community pride. It is a comprehensive strategy that addresses the variety of issues and problems that challenge traditional commercial districts with a goal of enabling participating communities to professionally manage a downtown or historic commercial district that is stable, physically attractive, competitive, and visible. Once information about this and other revitalization programs has been collected, a stakeholders meeting should be organized to provide information on the potential program and to gauge the level of interest

Seek technical assistance through available state programs such as the Department of Housing and Community Development’s Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI): This program provides services and assistance to communities that are looking to revitalize their downtowns. As of the publication of this plan, MDI offers its assistance in a variety of formats, including pre-written “desktop” technical assistance, ongoing communication with staff, technical assistance at one-time site visits centered on a specific issue, and education and training programs targeted to meet the needs of communities at various stages of the downtown revitalization process. The primary mission of the MDI is to make downtown revitalization an integral part of community development in communities across the Commonwealth. MDI's guiding principle is that the most effective approach to downtown revitalization is a holistic one that addresses economic and community development needs and provides a framework of interrelated activities aimed at promoting positive change in a downtown.

Forge a strong partnership between the local business community and the Town: A strong public-private partnership is necessary to create strong and sustainable revitalization, leverage available funds, and encourage investment and reinvestment within the area. A strong relationship between the local business community and Town entities enables both parties to anticipate and react to each other’s needs for the overall benefit of the community. Improvements to the public realm (sidewalks, streetscape, parking, traffic improvements, etc.) are a great example of what can be accomplished with private-public partnerships. An

aesthetically more appealing Vinal Square will help to attract outside investment and will encourage existing local property owners to make improvements to private property.

Establish a façade improvement and streetscape program: The revitalization of a commercial district or neighborhood often begins with improvements to a single building or storefront. Even simple changes, such as the removal of non-historic materials, repairs, or a new paint job that calls attention to the building’s original architectural details, signal positive change and can stimulate similar improvements in neighboring buildings. Façade improvement programs that provide incentives to encourage property owners and businesses to improve the exterior appearance of their buildings are often implemented as part of a neighborhood or downtown revitalization strategy. These programs can take many forms including no-interest or low-interest loans, grants, tax benefits, or design assistance. Simple changes to building façades can result in a net financial benefit for property owners and businesses. Streetscape improvements can be equally simple and provide a similar positive impact for businesses. Streetscape improvements can take the form of sidewalk planters, way finding signage, pedestrian improvements, informational kiosks and signage, banners, the addition or change of street lighting fixtures, adding street trees, and many other improvements to public infrastructure. Streetscape investments can enhance the physical environment, creating a more inviting public realm for visitors, shoppers, and potential investors while helping to "brand" the area. Further, streetscape investments can help to leverage additional private investment and property improvements.

Create and implement targeted economic development and marketing initiatives, partly focused on services for young adults and young families: As outlined in previous sections of this report, the concentration of 25-39 year olds residing in the study area is higher than in the town overall. During the public input process, residents noted that the services and businesses located in the area do not meet the needs of young adults and young families. A marketing study would be useful to further analyze and define the specific types of services and businesses most appropriate for Vinal Square. Any future economic development or marketing efforts could then target these types of establishments.

Work with area businesses to establish a local business association: Business associations are organizations that bring business owners from a specific area together with the ultimate goal of improving the area’s business climate. Business associations can provide a number of benefits to the business owners who elect to pay dues and participate as members as well as highlight business owners’ shared needs and preferences. A business association provides its members with opportunities to network and share information and resources. The Town and the Economic Development Commission should work with area businesses to gauge interest and establish a local business association. In the near term, a business association in Vinal Square should focus on filling vacant storefronts, increasing foot traffic, improving the area’s aesthetic appearance, marketing the existing businesses, and promoting cultural resources. Longer term, the

organization could serve as a resource for existing and prospective businesses to improve business retention and expansion.

Pursue Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for housing and business improvement projects within the study area: The CDBG Program is a federally funded, competitive grant program designed to help small cities and towns meet a broad range of community development needs. Assistance is provided for housing, community, and economic development projects including housing rehabilitation and development, micro-enterprise or other business assistance, infrastructure installation and improvements, public social services, planning projects, removing architectural barriers to allow access by persons with disabilities, and downtown or area revitalization. Communities may apply for CDBG funding on behalf of a specific developer or property owner. This recommendation is consistent with the Chelmsford Housing Production Plan and with the 2010 Master Plan.

Regulatory and Procedural Modify the Community Enhancement and Investment Overlay (CEIOD) Bylaw to include requirements and design criteria specific to Vinal Square: The CEIOD bylaw applies to commercial and industrial districts throughout town, including those located in the Vinal Square study area (see pages x for more detail). The intent of the bylaw is to provide incentives to encourage reuse and redevelopment projects through regulatory flexibility and streamlined permitting. The Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee (VSSAPC) recommends that the bylaw and corresponding design guidelines be further refined, modified, and customized for the Vinal Square Area. Special attention should be paid to the unique economic development needs and physical layout of the neighborhood and should address density, massing, façade design, architecture, transparency, lighting, landscaping, and signage. This recommendation is included in the 2010 Chelmsford Master Plan.

Refine and adopt the Village Center Overlay Zoning Bylaw and Design Guidelines for Vinal Square: The adoption of the Village Center Overlay District in North Chelmsford was postponed until this plan was completed, as the findings and recommendations provide further guidance to the specific needs of the community. The Planning Board should re-examine and refine the draft bylaw based on the findings of this report and move forward with adoption at a future Town Meeting. The proposed North Village Overlay District will encompass the area immediately within Vinal Square (See Map X). The area surrounding the Square will continue to be part of the CEIOD Overlay District. VSSAPC is recommending that the corresponding design guidelines be specific to the Vinal Square and North Chelmsford area to ensure consistency and appropriateness within the neighborhood. The design guidelines should pay special attention to the unique economic development needs and physical layout of the Vinal Square Area and

should address density, massing, façade design, architecture, transparency, lighting, landscaping, and signage. This recommendation is included in the 2010 Chelmsford Master Plan.

Consider amending the Zoning Bylaw and/or regulations to guide the character and appropriateness of single-family residential construction: Currently, architectural character and appropriateness are not regulated or reviewed for single-family residential construction. These qualities are also not typically reviewed during the ANR process or for Special Permits issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals to alter, extend, or change a pre-existing or non- conforming structure. This has led to the permitting and construction of residential projects in the Vinal Square Area that the neighborhood feels are inappropriate or not in keeping with the neighborhood’s character. The recent residential project located between Dunstable Road and Tyngsborough Road (Map 13, Block 10, Lot 2) is a prime example. Many community members have expressed displeasure with the new buildings, citing their architectural style and size as not in keeping with the neighborhood. VSSAPC recommends that the Planning Board consider adopting regulations and/or amending the Zoning Bylaw to allow for design, architecture, and/or appropriateness to be reviewed during the permitting process. This is especially important for redevelopment and infill projects.

Investigate the creation of a Neighborhood Conservation District Bylaw: Through the adoption of a Neighborhood Conservation District bylaw, towns can designate certain areas as Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCD). NCDs help residents preserve the characteristics of their neighborhood that they find to be most important to their quality of life and community identity. According to the MHC, Neighborhood Conservation Districts are a group of buildings and their settings that are architecturally and/or historically distinctive and worthy of protection based on their contribution to the community’s architectural, cultural, political, economic, or social history. A NCD bylaw protects the overall character of a neighborhood by regulating the demolition of significant buildings and reviewing new construction to ensure compatibility with the neighborhood’s existing architectural styles. Neighbors jointly decide the district’s boundaries and other regulations. While NDCs do not prevent all changes or demolitions, they do allow residents to help shape the future of their neighborhood by giving them the tools to prevent unwanted demolition, prevent new construction that is completely out of character with the neighborhood, prevent the loss of large trees, and guiding exterior changes to buildings and structures. Additional information about Neighborhood Conservation Districts can be found in Appendix X.

Retain the existing Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee (VSSAPC) to serve in a coordinating, advisory and programming capacity: The VSSAPC feels strongly that this Committee or a similar one should be retained moving forward. The Committee would provide input to local boards and committees such as the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, and Zoning Board of Appeals on permitting and policy issues impacting the neighborhood. The town’s administrative procedures could be modified to insure that the VSSAPC is notified of any

pending permit applications, reviews, plans, or local policy changes that may affect the North Chelmsford or Vinal Square Area. The VSSAPC also recommends that the Varney Park Committee be incorporated into the VSSAPC. Additionally, the VSSAPC should transition into an implementation phase to guide the implementation of the recommendations outlined in this document. VSSAPC can also work with other committees and groups to coordinate the recommendations related to programming, advocacy, and marketing and branding efforts.

Traffic and Infrastructure Permanently secure the public parking area located at 40 Vinal Square and improve signage for the parking areas: The Town executed a thirty-year lease of the 63,804 square foot public parking area from a private landowner in April 1996 for a fee of $1.00. Under the terms of the lease, parking must remain free and the Town is responsible for maintaining the lot. Given the importance of this parking to the businesses located within the study area, the Town should work to permanently acquire this facility. During the public input phase of this project, the VSSAP received a number of comments regarding the lack of adequate signage for public parking in the area. Residents also noted their preference for the historic parking sign that was removed several years ago. This sign is now being restored and will be reinstalled in the near future. Going forward, all new signs should be designed to reflect the style and character preferred by the neighborhood. In addition, the town could consider installing informational kiosks in the parking areas that include a map showing the location of area businesses within the Square.

Study the possibility of assuming local ownership and control of the state-owned roadways within Vinal Square: Princeton Street and Tyngsborough Road are owned and maintained by the Masscahusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), which means that all of the roadway facilities, including the traffic signal hardware, are under State control. This means that any roadway improvements, signalization changes, or pedestrian infrastructure proposed within Vinal Square must meet state guidelines, conform to state standards, and be reviewed, approved, and permitted by MassDOT. The Town can petition MassDOT to take ownership of these roadways in order to gain flexibility in the design and implementation of any future changes. However, should ownership be transferred, the Town will be responsible for all maintenance and for the design and permitting of any future improvements. Regardless of roadway ownership, future improvement projects will be eligible for state and federal construction funding.

Improve pedestrian facilities and connectivity within the study area: There is a need to better connect the Vinal Square business area with the residential neighborhoods and mill complexes as well as with community resources and facilities. As shown on Map 6, sidewalk construction is recommended along Tyngsborough Road, Sherman Street, Adams Street, and Wotton Street. In addition, it is recommended that a trail be created along the Stony Brook Branch of the freight

rail line. Should this route prove to be infeasible, the trail could, through an easement agreement with the property owners, be re-routed through the mill properties. As shown on Map 6, a pedestrian facility is also recommended along the eastern shore of Freeman Lake. To create a more extensive pedestrian network, the Town should seek permission from the North Chelmsford Water District to establish a trail through the water tower property.

Work with MassDOT to optimize the phasing and timing of the Princeton Street/Wotton Street traffic signals: Input received during the plan development process indicated that the signals at this location do not provide adequate time for vehicles exiting Wotton Street and that the pedestrian signal is broken. In addition, area businesses have indicated that the lack of a protected left turn phase for vehicles bearing left onto Groton Road from Princeton Street creates driver confusion and conflict that results in many near misses and fender bender type collisions. The Town should monitor the status of the broken pedestrian button on the signal at Wotton Street to ensure that MassDOT makes the needed repair.

Continue to monitor the proposed commuter rail extension project: The State of New Hampshire continues to focus on restoring commuter rail service along the former B&M New Hampshire mainline rail corridor between Lowell and Concord, NH. The last regularly scheduled commuter rail service to Nashua and Manchester was operated in June 1967. A thirteen month demonstration project offered a limited schedule of service in 1980 and 1981. The Town of Chelmsford has expressed an interest in having a commuter station in North Chelmsford should the rail extension project come to fruition. Given the lengthy timeframe for completing the rail extension project, the VSSAPC has decided not to express an opinion on the proposed project. However, project’s progress should be monitored and if the extension is approved and a commuter rail station is proposed in North Chelmsford, the recommendations within this plan will need to be re-evaluated.

IX. Implementation Plan

The final section of the Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan document is directed toward advancing the goals, policies, and actions articulated throughout the planning process. This section also contains a table outlining the plan’s specific recommendations. For each specific recommendation, the boards, departments, and/or committees responsible for implementation are identified. The primary responsibility will rest with the Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee, Community Development Department, Historical Commission, Board of Selectmen, Town Manager, Planning Board, Department of Public Works, Economic Development Commission, Cultural District Partnership, or the Historical Commission. It is important to note, however, that many town departments, boards, committees, and commissions will play a supportive role in the actual implementation and advancement of the various recommendations.

The Implementation Matrix on the following pages also provides an estimated timeframe for implementing each recommendation. Four timeframes have been considered, based on the priority and urgency of the recommendation, the resources available, and the time required to initiate implementation. The implementation of some recommendations may be immediate, while others may be implemented on a short-term (1-2 years), intermediate (3-4 years), or long- term basis (5 or more years). One recommendation is already in progress and is categorized as ongoing.

As previously mentioned, it is recommended that the existing Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee (VSSAPC) be retained. The VSSAPC would be tasked with implementing and tracking the progress made in implementing the various recommendations. It would also continue to serve in an advisory role.

Table X: Recommendations, Timeframe, and Implementation Responsibility Matrix

Implementation Historic and Cultural Time Frame Responsibility

Document historic resources within the study area Immediate Historical Commission

Encourage the use of historic signs Ongoing Historical Commission, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Promote the area’s heritage and culture through Short-term Vinal Square Strategic collaborative activities with local businesses and Action Plan Committee, organizations Cultural District Partnership

Further investigate the establishment of a National Long-term Historical Commission Register Historic District that includes Vinal Square as well as surrounding residential and industrial areas

Pursue the Cultural District Application Intermediate Cultural District Partnership

Implementation Recreation and Programming Time Frame Responsibility

Update and distribute a self-guided walking tour Immediate Historical Commission brochure for Vinal Square

Implement the Varney Playground Master Plan and Short-term Board of Selectmen, explore additional programming at Varney Park Community Development Department, Department of Public Works, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Investigate the possibility of charging resident and Intermediate Board of Selectmen non-resident fees for use of Varney Park and the beach at Freeman Lake

Increase utilization of the North Common for Short-term Board of Selectmen, Vinal community events and for marketing the businesses Square Strategic Action and cultural resources within Vinal Square Plan Committee

Work with community organizations and the Intermediate Board of Selectmen, Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Department of Public to improve Southwell Field, including the boat ramp Works, User Groups located on the Merrimack River

Link community events at the North Town Intermediate Board of Selectmen, Senior Hall/Community Center, the North Common, the Center, Community MacKay Library, local parks, and the Senior Center Center, MacKay Library to businesses within Vinal Square staff, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Organize special events similar to Doors Open Short-term Historical Commission, Lowell and AHA (Art, History, Architecture) in New Cultural Council, Vinal Bedford and take advantage of the Massachusetts Square Strategic Action Historical Commission’s (MHC) On the Road Plan Committee Program

Establish a collaborative to focus on improving Intermediate Conservation Commission, water quality in Freeman Lake Department of Public Works, Board of Health, neighborhood residents

Implementation Economic Development and Revitalization Time Frame Responsibility

Review potential revitalization programs, such as Immediate Community Development the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Department Street Program, and determine the level of interest among the various potential stakeholders

Seek technical assistance through available state Short-term Board of Selectmen, programs such as the Department of Housing and Community Development

Community Development’s Massachusetts Department, Vinal Square Downtown Initiative (MDI) Strategic Action Plan Committee

Forge a strong partnership between the local Immediate Town Manager, business community and the Town Community Development Department, Economic Development Commission, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Establish a façade improvement and streetscape Intermediate Community Development program Department, Community Preservation Committee, Historical Commission, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Create and implement targeted economic Intermediate Economic Development development and marketing initiatives, partly Commission, Community focused on services for young adults and young Development Department, families Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Work with area businesses to establish a local Short-term Economic Development business association Commission, Community Development Department, Vinal Square Strategic Action Plan Committee

Pursue Community Development Block Grant Intermediate Community Development (CDBG) funding for housing and business Department, Housing improvement projects within the study area Authority

Implementation Regulatory and Procedural Time Frame Responsibility

Modify the Community Enhancement and Short-term Planning Board, Investment Overly (CEIOD) Bylaw to include Community Development requirements and design criteria specific to Vinal Department, Historic Square Commission

Refine and adopt the Mixed Use Overlay Zoning Immediate Planning Board, Bylaw and Design Guidelines for Vinal Square Community Development Department

Consider amending the Zoning Bylaw and/or Immediate Planning Board, regulations to guide the character and Community Development appropriateness of single-family residential Department construction

Investigate the creation of a Neighborhood Intermediate Planning Board, Historic Conservation District Bylaw Commission, Community Development Department

Retain the existing Vinal Square Strategic Action Immediate Board of Selectmen, Town Plan Committee (VSSAPC) to serve in an advisory Manager capacity

Implementation Traffic and Infrastructure Time Frame Responsibility

Permanently secure the public parking area Immediate Board of Selectmen, Town located at 40 Vinal Square and improve signage Meeting, Department of for the parking areas Public Works

Study the possibility of assuming local ownership Long-term Board of Selectmen, Town and control of the state-owned roadways within Manager, Department of Vinal Square Public Works

Improve pedestrian facilities and connectivity Intermediate Department of Public within the study area Works, MassDOT, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee

Work with MassDOT to optimize the phasing and Short-term Department of Public timing of the Princeton Street/Wotton Street traffic Works, MassDOT signals

Continue to monitor the proposed commuter rail Long-term Town Manager, Board of extension project Selectmen

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.

1. Name of Property Historic name: ___North Town Hall______Other names/site number: __ Town House, Chelmsford Community Center Name of related multiple property listing: __N/A______(Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing

______2. Location Street & number: __31 Princeton Street______City or town: _Chelmsford____ State: _MA______County: __Middlesex______Not For Publication: Vicinity:

______3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local

Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B ___C ___D

Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official: Date

Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

______4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) ______

______Signature of the Keeper Date of Action

______5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private:

Public – Local X

Public – State

Public – Federal

Sections 1-6 page 2

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Category of Property (Check only one box.)

Building(s) X

District

Site

Structure

Object

Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing _____1______0______buildings

_____0______0______sites

_____0______1______structures

____ 2______0______objects

_____3______1______Total

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___0______

______6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) __GOVERNMENT: City Hall______RECREATION AND CULTURE: Hall______

Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) __RECREATION AND CULTURE: Hall_ _

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State ______

______7. Description

Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) __MID-19TH CENTURY: Greek Revival_ __LATE VICTORIAN: Italianate______

Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: __STONE, WOOD______

Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______Summary Paragraph

North Town Hall is a 3 ½-story civic building and meeting hall in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. North Town Hall fronts on heavily-travelled Princeton Street/MA Route 4 in the mill village of North Chelmsford. North Town Hall’s Greek-Revival style architecture is evident in its front- gabled roof, basic rectangular shape (40’x78’), and classical detailing (dentils and pilaster corner boards). Set on a high granite basement, the wood-framed building is covered with wooden clapboards and an asphalt roof. Three paired-sash bays wide and four paired-sash bays long, the building also has a small (16’x16’) two-story rear ell off the northwest corner of the building, and a center-bay front-gabled open front porch. The ground floor of the building contains offices and an open central meeting room (40’x40’), while the two-story main community-room auditorium above contains a raised stage and dressing room, as well as a full-length rear gallery/balcony. North Town Hall was built in 1853 as a square-two story hall and significantly expanded in 1886, when the hall was lifted a full floor, with a new ground floor inserted, the building significantly extended in length to the front, and the ell attached. A secondary Italianate detail from this expansion is a bracketed side entry porch. Other contributing resources on the lot include a pair of granite hitching posts with rings that frame the front sidewalk, and, at the northwest corner of the lot, granite steps and eight tall granite posts from an old lot-line fence. Carefully restored and updated as an auditorium and community center in 2012, North Town

Section 7 page 4

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Hall is in excellent condition, retains its historic integrity, and clearly reflects the design of the building as it was during its period of significance.

______Narrative Description

NOTE ON DIRECTIONS: North Town Hall faces northeast, directly toward Princeton Street, which travels from the north-northwest to south-southeast. To simplify descriptions and clarify directions, in this nomination North Town Hall will be considered as facing east.

North Town Hall fronts on heavily-travelled Princeton Street/MA Route 4 in the mill village of North Chelmsford (Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) inventory #CLM.124). It occupies a prominent hilltop setting, above and halfway between the nineteenth and early twentieth century mill buildings along Stony Brook to the south and the neighborhood commercial hub of Vinal Square to the north (Figure 7.1 topographic map). Only a preliminary- level MHC neighborhood survey, from 1987, exists; at that time more than half of the 80 buildings identified were thought to be historically significant and to retain historical integrity (CLM.G). That percentage appears to hold for 2015. North Town Hall stands at the northwest corner of the intersection of Princeton Street and Washington Street. Directly to its north is the Samuel T. Wright-George Swett House (25-27 Princeton Street, 1873, CLM.131), which occupies a large corner lot at Princeton and Wright streets. Built as a double-family house by a North Chelmsford businessman, this square Italianate house (with a substantial rear ell) remains a double-family house today. Directly to the south of North Town Hall is the newest building in the immediate neighborhood, the North Chelmsford Fire Station or Engine 2 (35 Princeton Street, 1956, no MHC#). It occupies a full block between Washington and Gay Streets, formerly the site of the Princeton Street School complex (razed after 1953). A paved area at the back of this Fire Station lot serves as the event parking for the North Town Hall. Directly to the west of the North Town Hall is another building with mixed Greek Revival and Italianate design elements, the Alonzo A. Davis House (5-7 Washington Street, 1854) Built at roughly the same time as the North Town Hall, probably by its first owner who was a carpenter, this two-story wood frame house has its roof ridge parallel to the street and a few Greek-Revival details, such as its cornice returns. It was built as a single family house but later divided. Further west on Washington Street, the Henry Southland House (29 Washington Street, 1852, CLM 133), at the corner of Newfield Street, has Gothic Revival elements; its first owner was a machinist. The Samuel T. Wright-George W. Whidden House (16 Washington St, 1876, CLM.120), behind the fire station, is a two-story end-gabled house with Italianate details. In general, this block of Washington Street is not densely developed.

The houses across Princeton Street from this intersection are more densely built up and seem more indicative of the neighborhood’s mill village past. The oldest is the Lincoln Drake-Ephraim Kennon House (38 Princeton Street, 1835, CLM.126), a 1.5-story Cape which likely was built as worker’s housing. It sits diagonally across from North Town Hall on the corner of Cottage Row, a narrow street lined with small single and double houses built by the mill owners for workers in the 1830s and 1840s. The four buildings packed along Princeton Street between Cottage Row and Wright have not include been surveyed for their historical character. Turning its back on

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Princeton Street, 19-21 Cottage Row is a large two-story Colonial Revival duplex from 1896, with a distinctive Palladian window on the second floor of its Cottage Row façade. Fitted closely behind it (and also directly across the street from North Town Hall) is 34 Princeton Street, an 1880 Cape with a full-length pop-up façade dormer. Finishing the block are two multi-family mill-worker-housing buildings: 30-32 Princeton is a 1.5 story Cape-style duplex with a full- length front porch, while 22-28 Princeton is a ca. 1930 L-shaped 2-story 4-unit double-duplex block, at the corner of Wright, with two more units on the Wright wing of the L.

Of all the buildings that surround North Town Hall, only the fire station appears to date after 1900, but even it dates from within the period of significance. The main organizing spine of the immediate neighborhood is Princeton Street, which was successively a Native American trail, a segment of the Great Road to Boston (1794), and the Turnpike between Boston and Nashua, New Hampshire, through the early 1800s. The Hales Survey of 1831 does not show who, at that time, owned or used the land where North Town Hall was built. But the 1856 Wallings map of North Chelmsford shows that the previous owners of the lot, Benjamin Adams and Thomas J. Adams, owned at least ten pieces of property around the crossroads that would later become Vinal Square, including the hotel and the store.

Fronting on Princeton Street at its intersection with Washington Street and Cottage Row, North Town Hall is a 3 ½-story wood-framed building (Photograph 1). In massing, it is an end-gabled 40’x78’ rectangle, 3 stories high, with a basement and attic, and a square 16’x16’ 2-story ell added to the northwest corner. To make sense of the building, its description, and the changes it has gone through, it helps to know briefly the interior arrangement and the broad sequence of changes. The ground floor consists of a front hall, a large meeting room, and rear offices. The second floor is a two-story meeting hall with a stage and a rear gallery. The building was built in 1853 as a square two story hall, which stood a distance back from street; otherwise we have no images or descriptions of it. In 1886, the whole building appears to have been doubled in length. The meeting hall was raised a story, and a new ground floor inserted. The front of the building was also extended at least 20 feet, and the rear side ell added. After the period of significance, the building was covered in vinyl siding and partially converted to offices for the school board, and then sat vacant for almost three decades. In 1997, the North Town Hall Committee formed to return the building to use as a public space. These volunteers removed the office partitions, as well as some damaged original elements, including most of the plaster in the upper and lower halls. But redevelopment stalled at that point. In 2012 Chelmsford restored the North Town Hall as the Chelmsford Community Center, returning it to its form and layout during the period of significance, with allowances for current building code and accessibility standards.

North Town Hall occupies most of its relatively small lot, with only a few feet of clearance from either lot line at its northwest corner rear ell (Figure 7.2 Site Map). This northwest corner of the lot is the highest point of the lot, while the northeast corner is the lowest point. The building has five entries: a formal entry to the east off the Princeton Street sidewalk, two side entries and a basement bulkhead off Washington Street, and an emergency exit out of the eastern wall of the rear ell. The only significant lawn space is to the front of the building along Princeton Street. Part of the lawn on the Washington Street (south) side of the building was paved to provide a temporary parking lane for those entering the disabled-access entry. Three site elements should

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State be noted. Bracketing the wide front sidewalk are a pair of Granite Hitching Posts (ca. 1886), approximately 5’ high, with iron rings in their tops, which may date from the 1886 expansion. At the rear of the property, along the north lot line, are a series of eight Granite Fenceposts (ca. 1886), as well as three loose granite treads for Steps, enabling people to more easily navigate the short slope around the northwest corner of the building. For the purposes of this nomination, each of these elements (the Granite Hitching Posts and the Granite Fenceposts and Steps) should be considered contributing elements. One significant change in the lot between the completion in 1886 (Figure 7.3 historic photograph) and the end of the period of significance is a change in the slope at the front of the building. At the end of the period of significance, the front of the lot had a much gentler slope than originally. At some point, the front lawn was graded down and several feet more of the front granite foundation was exposed. This change necessitated a rebuilding of the front steps into their present substantial form. That slope change may have necessitated the construction of the concrete retaining wall which extends from the rear third of the building directly north to the lot line, with a series of three steps next to the building. Because of the materials used and the uncertainty about its date, this Retaining Wall and Steps is considered a non-contributing structure for the purposes of this nomination. Before commencing the 2012 restoration, the town took a long series of “before” pictures, which confirm that only the wide front sidewalk toward Princeton Street dates from the period of significance. The other doorways opened onto lawn, without sidewalks. These before-and-after comparative pictures are too numerous to reproduce here, but are on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

The Princeton Street gable-end façade of the building is its most architecturally important exterior, balanced and symmetrical (Photograph 2). The clapboard-covered wood frame is raised 3.5 stories on a high granite basement, its wall composed of three bays of double windows. Wide paneled pilaster cornerboards with dentiled capitals frame the wall, and support cornice returns at the gable ends. On each of the three floors, the paired windows are topped with a wide entablature-like lintel board with dentils at its top. Although the second-story hall and third-story gallery windows are treated like separate floors, they are also subtly joined with a continuous side trim band on both sides. In the center bay, these trim bands (along with the sill above and lintel below) neatly frame a signboard, black with gold lettering, that reads “NORTH TOWN HALL.” The attic window also has an interesting trim flourish, a blind fanlight pediment. The basement windows are 4x4 light casements, while the windows in the three stories above are 4x4 light double sashes. The attic window is a double sash window, 8x8 lights. Only the attic window sash is original. The other windows, many of which had significantly deteriorated and had been covered by combination aluminum storm windows, were replaced by new wooden windows, in the same sash pattern, milled to match the originals. Shutters have been re-created to match those on the second, third, and attic levels of the façade; these were the only windows on the building to have shutters. Several of the original shutters, now stored in the basement, were used as models to fabricate the new shutters. The northern bay of windows shows the diagonal line of the interior staircase. The front door trim, carefully conserved and restored, consists of double wooden doors flanked by four rectangular sidelights on either side, the whole composition topped by a wide, somewhat flattened fanlight. The doors themselves have a double-paneled lower half topped by a large single window.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State The Washington Street (southern) elevation is the next most important exterior (Photograph 3). A relatively thin cornice trim band is supported by paneled cornerboards. The four window bays are spaced an equal distance from each other to light the hall, although they are slightly offset to the west because of the balcony. The paired ground floor windows are identical to those on the eastern façade, but the second and third floor windows are combined into paired two-story continuous openings to provide tall windows to light the hall. These windows have sashes with 2x2 lights. The roof, visible from this side, is covered in asphalt shingles. Likely it was covered originally in wooden shingles, although no record of the early roofing exists. The civil defense siren has been left in place atop the roof, although it has not been connected for some time. Between the first and second bays on the western end, a doorway opens from the rear stairway hall. This four-paneled solid door opens onto a granite slab porch, on a cut-granite foundation, with granite steps to the street. Farther east, between the third and fourth bays, is a bulkhead for the stairs into the basement. Originally, and until the 2012 restoration, this basement entry was covered with a small gable-fronted enclosed shed. In 2012 this shed was replaced with the bulkhead, and a third, new entry was added one bay further down. This entry gives direct street- level access into the elevator lobby for disabled patrons. An open entry porch supported by square posts, it is topped by a triangular pediment that echoes the vestibule which stood next to it.

The western rear elevation of the North Town Hall shares many of the characteristics of the other elevations, including the gable end returns and paneled cornerboards of the eastern façade (Photograph 4). This elevation is also three bays wide, with the same dentiled ground floor windows of the other sides and the double-height second/third story windows. The middle bay does not have a window opening in the upper hall, likely to reduce lighting problems on the stage. The attic has a vent rather than a window. This is the narrowest point on the lot, with only four or five feet between North Town Hall and the neighbor’s fence to the west. It is also the highest point; the ground level rises to within several inches of the top of the granite foundation. The two-story northern ell has two window bays above, but only a single bay on the ground level. The northern ell is end gabled; although the ell’s northern wall has no windows, it does have paneled pilaster cornerboards supporting gable returns (Photograph 5). The eastern ell façade is two bays wide, all windows except for the inner bay on the ground floor, which has a doorway with a corner hood supported on a spoked bracket. The solid paneled door is topped with a row of transom windows. This view of the ell also shows the concrete slab along the north end of the ell that holds the exterior air conditioning units, and the granite fenceposts (which no longer support a fence) on the lot line.

Due to the ell, the northern façade is only three bays wide (Photograph 6). The westernmost bay on the ground floor has a two sets of double windows, one lighting the lower hall and one lighting the rear corridor. Looking from across the street, one can see the tall brick chimney in the northwest corner, which was also restored as part of the 2012 work (Photograph 7).

The large front porch makes a distinctive entry into the North Town Hall (Photograph 8). However, it was not original to the 1886 construction; it replaces an earlier Italianate hood (see Figure 7.3). The current front porch was added to the North Town Hall sometime during the period of significance, after the slope of the lawn was altered. It has a tall square cut-granite

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State base, a smooth granite slab deck, and is connected to the front sidewalk with six wide granite risers. Square paneled corner posts hold up an end-gabled roof with a clapboarded tympanum. Although smaller, the westernmost entry on the south side must also be documented, as it is the single distinctive Italianate element (Photograph 9). The projecting hood has a set of elaborately carved side supporting brackets, with scallops, pendants, and incised decorations. It is topped with a bracketed hood with a triangular pediment and empty tympanum. While these brackets could also be read as the more up-to-date Queen Anne style, they appear to be a stock decorative item, and echo the Italianate design elements of some of the mill village buildings and houses of the time. For example, an almost identical pair of Italianate brackets was located two blocks away on a rowhouse that stood on Gay Street, is illustrated in a photograph in Chelmsford (Chelmsford Historical Society 68).

The basement of the North Town Hall most clearly shows the 1853 and 1886 building sequence (Figure 7.4 basement plan in 1996). Interior access to the basement is by a wooden doglegged staircase in the northeast corner. The western half (1853) of the basement is little more than a crawl space, only partially excavated. The original eastern end wall—then the front foundation wall—now serves to divide the basement in half. The eastern half (1886) of the basement, although unfinished, is full height, lit by windows at the top of the walls, and has a solid concrete floor. Brick-encased piers hold up the ground floor of the building, and a wide set of granite steps goes up to the exterior bulkhead. The biggest change to all three floors on the interior in 2012 occurred in the southwest corner, where the elevator shaft was located in 2012. In the case of the basement, the former oil tanks and furnace were removed and replaced elsewhere in the basement. One disconnected part of the outmoded mechanical system was preserved in place, though: a “Century Squirrel Cage Induction Polyphase Motor,” produced by Century Electric Co., of St. Louis. Two of the original (1886) shutters are also stored in the basement.

The ground-floor lobby on the eastern end of the North Town Hall clearly shows the care taken in the 2012 restoration (Figure 7.5. Ground floor plan in 2012 and in 1996). The dimensions of the lobby itself, its connected open staircase (to your right as you enter the lobby) that winds upwards in the northeast corner of the building, and the wainscoting that seamlessly lines both the lobby and staircase, have been restored almost without change. A close look at some of this woodwork, such as that around the front (east) door, clearly shows the weathered patina of the original wood, freshened with a new coat of paint. The framing around the front door of the After School Room is also original, although the original double doors have been swapped out for a wide single door with breaker bar and a side blocking panel, apparently for building code purposes. The doorway trim consists of boards with a center grooved section, joined at the upper corners by square blocks with a bullseye grooved pattern. To your left as you enter the lobby are two doors into the southeast corner of the building: to the elevator and to a restroom. In 1886 this wall held only a single door, which opened into the selectman’s room. Over time this room was partitioned into two restrooms, one entered from the open hall next door. In 2012 the single center door was replaced by paired doors, with trim similar to the original. To indicate that these are new work, the upper corner blocks were left plain, rather than decorated with the bullseye pattern (Prescott, “Architecture”). The space in this building corner not taken up by the elevator and the new south disabled-access entry lobby (a half-story level below) was reconfigured into a single restroom.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

The bulk of the ground floor is taken up with a large multi-functional meeting room—known in 1886 as the dining room—currently the After School Room (Photograph 10). This nearly square room retains many of its original features, including the polished wooden flooring, wainscoting, large cased and wainscoted oak support posts, and ceiling composed of “great timber, 12 x 12 inches, cased with inch pine that holds the joists of the upper floor,” as described in an 1886 newspaper account. This ten-foot high cased-timber ceiling gives the effect of a grand coffered space. The space is lit with a combination of historic pendant and necessary recessed lighting fixtures. Two changes were made to the general room layout in 2012, both in the west wall. The northern door—of the two doors in the west wall—was removed, and a double-doored closet was added in the center of the wall, for media carts and other storage. The layout of the rear third of the building was also somewhat changed. The original lobby room and secondary staircase in the southwest corner were restored without change, including the Georgia pine treads and paneling in the staircase. During the period of significance, most of this rear area was divided into two rooms. Opening directly onto the staircase and dining hall was the meeting room of the Spaulding Light Cavalry, which used the room until 1907 when it disbanded. No record exists of what interior finishes may have originally been in this space. To the north of this space was the kitchen. The 2012 work, faced with questions of fire codes and the need for disabled-access restrooms and support spaces, reconfigured these spaces into a rear corridor and support rooms, as indicated on the floor plan (see Figure 7.5): the building office, storage, warming kitchen, men’s and women’s disabled access restrooms, restroom, and a janitor’s closet. This change also necessitated removing a third staircase in the 1886 ell.

Returning to the front lobby, the visitor ascends the wide wainscoted staircase to the second floor (Figure 7.6, second floor plan in 2012 and in 1996). The original Georgia pine treads and curving ash banister, with machine-turned balusters, was still intact and has been restored. The second-floor lobby retains much of its wainscoting and the trim-framed double-doorway entrance into the main auditorium. The original paneled doors were replaced with new paneled doors, fitted with striker bars, which comply with current fire and safety code requirements. The southwest corner of the building, which in 1996 was configured as an office and restroom with a single doorway, was reconfigured with two doors, one for the elevator shaft and another for the locked room for the elevator equipment. The 1970s fluorescent light fixture in the lobby has been replaced with recessed lighting.

The second floor main auditorium is the grandest space in the North Town Hall (Photograph 11). The configuration of the auditorium itself is almost identical to the period of significance. It retains some of its original finishes, including its birch flooring and the rail-topped wainscoting which wraps all four sides of the auditorium, including the curved front apron of the raised stage. The walls have a dark maroon-brown border painted at the ceiling, as described in the 1886 article on the building’s opening. The center of the ceiling has its original large iron circular medallion vent. The “before” photographs show that large banks of fluorescent lights hung down from the ceiling into the auditorium on pipes prior to the 2012 restoration. These were replaced with recessed lighting and spoked metal chandeliers with globes, similar to one of the original gas-jet chandeliers which was discovered stored in the attic. The stage retains a narrow back- stage inset wall with doorway openings stage left, right, and center. Both side doors are wide

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State sliding doors, set in the original frames. The wall served for stage entries when plays were performed in the North Town Hall by the Chelmsford Players and other groups. The rear of this inset wall retains the signatures of generations of Chelmsford actors. To the south of the stage is the secondary rear staircase in a narrow hall, lit by the westernmost bank of double windows. To the south of the stage is the original stairs from the auditorium up to the stage level. The staircase originally also led down to the ground floor, but that had to be replaced with a wheelchair lift that makes the stage itself disabled accessible. The remainder of the ell contains an auditorium- level restroom and a stage-level dressing room.

The rear gallery or balcony stretches across the entire width of the auditorium and has a paneled front similar to the wainscoting, although it has been painted white (Photograph 12). Originally both balcony staircases were to be retained (see Figure 7.6, second floor plan in 2012. This change is the only substantial alteration between these original 2012 plans and the as-built current plan). However, the space requirements for the elevator headhouse meant that the southern staircase had to be enclosed. The former hallway coatroom on the second floor was converted into second-floor storage and mechanical space, now accessible from the auditorium. The northern stairs is now the only access into the balcony, which has made it a space reserved for lighting and technical uses rather than general public access. However, the original balcony flooring remains, refinished and polished, as well as the horizontal boarding on the lower walls (instead of the more expensive wainscoting of the other two floors. The elevator headhouse is boxed and capped and serves as counterspace.

The attic is accessed through a locked door by an enclosed staircase along the eastern end in the northern corner, directly in line with the other staircases below but narrower. This staircase has not been refinished. The common rafter roof has clasped purlins without a ridgeboard. Each of the six internal truss bays (as far as could be determined from the eastern end) is formed of large beams that rise from the wall plate to a collar tie above the purlin level. At the purlin level, these beams are cross braced by a diagonal beam, as in a queen-post truss system. Much of the attic is floored over, although some of the boards have been raised for insulating. The space is filled by the metal vents and insulated pipes of the building’s substantial HVAC plant.

Carefully restored as an auditorium and community center in 2012, North Town Hall continues to provide the type of community space for which it was most consistently used during its period of significance. Apart from restoration, the changes that were made to the building in 2012 were required to conform with health and safety building codes and disabled access. North Town Hall is in excellent condition and has historic integrity in terms of its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State ______8. Statement of Significance

Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)

X A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history.

B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

X C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.

D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)

A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes

B. Removed from its original location

C. A birthplace or grave

D. A cemetery

E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure

F. A commemorative property

G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years

Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT______POLITICS/GOVERNMENT______ENTERTAINMENT/RECREATION______ARCHITECTURE______

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State ______

Period of Significance __1853-1965______

Significant Dates __1853______1886______

Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) ______

Cultural Affiliation ______

Architect/Builder _Pollard, Dawson (1853 carpenter)______Sampson, Seth Phillips (1853 mason)______Swett, Charles (1853 mason)______Swett, Edmund (1853 carpenter)______Barclay, Cyrus P. (1886 contractor) ___ _Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc. (2012 restoration architect)____

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.)

North Town Hall is locally significant under Criteria A and C for its important contributions to community planning and development, politics/government, entertainment/recreation, and architecture in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Located atop a rise on MA Route 4/Princeton Street, North Town Hall is significant to Community Planning and Development because of its important role as the symbolic center in the development of North Chelmsford, a substantially intact nineteenth-century mill village. The period of significance begins with its construction in 1853, when local mill owners and developers were building not just mills and industrial buildings, but also residential, commercial, and civic buildings. Its significance to Politics/Government stems from its role as the first stand-alone town hall built in Chelmsford, when North Chelmsford was the only neighborhood outside the town center to successfully

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State lobby for its own town hall. Even after a new town hall was built in 1879, Town Meetings were held at North Town Hall, in alternate years, until 1885, and North Town Hall continued as a polling place for decades afterwards. It is the oldest building remaining in a secondary civic center at the intersection of Princeton and Washington Streets. North Town Hall is significant to Entertainment/Recreation as the community center for the neighborhood, a role that it has fulfilled from its construction, to the end of its period of significance in 1965, and again today. As a public meeting space, it has hosted community meetings, social functions, local clubs, benefits, plays, lectures, family reunions, and dances; it continues to do so today, in its current role as the North Chelmsford Community Center. North Town Hall is significant to the Architecture of Chelmsford as a prominent civic building in the Greek-Revival style, built by masons and carpenters from Chelmsford and Lowell. North Town Hall’s period of significance ends in 1965, which marks not only the fifty-year threshold but also the last use of the building as a polling place. After use for office space and storage, and nearly three decades of vacancy, in 2012 North Town Hall was carefully restored and updated to ensure it will function as a community center for many more decades.

______Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.)

Chelmsford is a town located approximately 25 miles northwest of Boston, near the New Hampshire border. Named after an English town, Chelmsford was first settled by Europeans in 1653 and chartered as a town in 1655. While primarily an agricultural community, early on Chelmsford built mills and other industries along its waterways, producing bricks, glass, iron, lime, and lumber. After the Revolutionary War, Chelmsford became known for quarrying limestone and granite. Chelmsford granite quarried by the H.E. Fletcher company was widely used for Federal and Greek Revival buildings across New England and around the country, such as Harvard’s University Hall (1812, NRHP, NHL) in Cambridge and Quincy Market (1826, NRHP, NHL) and the wings (1917) of the Massachusetts State House (NRHP, NHL) in Boston. The western section of Chelmsford became Westford in 1729. In 1826 East Chelmsford (the northeastern corner of Chelmsford, which extended along the south bank of the Merrimack River as far as the Concord River) became the core of the industrial city of Lowell, the nation’s first large planned industrial community (“Brief History”). The Middlesex Canal (NRHP, NHL), surveyed in 1793 and opened in 1803, started in Middlesex Village in Chelmsford (also now part of Lowell; annexed in 1874) and stretched nearly 27 miles, from the Merrimack River to the Port of Boston. One of the first important canals built in the United States, it was an innovative civil engineering project, with locks and dams and eight aqueducts carrying the canal over existing rivers. Closed in the winter and impassable when its towpath was muddy, the canal was paralleled by the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1835; the competition caused the canal to close by 1852. Parts of the Middlesex Canal remain intact and watered in Chelmsford. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Transcendentalist poet and philosopher, briefly ran a school in Chelmsford (in 1825).

Besides Lowell and Westford, Chelmsford is bordered by Tyngsborough to the north, Tewksbury and Billerica to the southeast (part of the border formed by the Concord River), and Carlisle to

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State the south. At Chelmsford, Interstate 495 intersects with U.S. Route 3, the major limited-access highway between Boston and Nashua, New Hampshire. Additionally a half-dozen Massachusetts state highways also cross the town: 3A, 4, 27, 40, 110, and 129. Chelmsford experienced only modest growth during most of its history, with U.S. census populations of 2,097 in 1850, 2,695 in 1890, 5,010 in 1910, and 9,407 in 1950. However, postwar prosperity and the expansion of highways caused huge increases over the next two decades, with population jumping to 15,130 in 1960 and then doubling to 31,432 in 1970 The 2010 population was 33,802 (US Census); Chelmsford has a population which is predominately White alone (87.1%), with 8.4% identifying as Asian alone and 2.0% Hispanic. The White residents report an ancestry that is 32.1% Irish, 16.9% English, 14% Italian, 8.3% French, 6.8% German, and 6.7% French Canadian (City-Data.com).

North Chelmsford, while technically a neighborhood of Chelmsford, also enjoys a strong civic identity of its own. The village has its own library, post office, fire station, recreation area, water district, local calling area, and zip code. More densely populated than the rest of Chelmsford, North Chelmsford was the town’s largest village in the middle of the 19th century, when North Town Hall was built. Today humorous bumper stickers declare “I’m from North Chelmsford— Don’t Tread on Me,” while the Lowell Sun published an article describing a rivalry between Town Center and North Chelmsford as “Chelmsford’s Civil War Rages On,” (7 August 2005, qtd. in “North Chelmsford” (Wikipedia)).

Community Planning and Development: North Chelmsford and North Town Hall North Town Hall is significant to Community Planning and Development in Chelmsford because of its important role as the symbolic center in the development of North Chelmsford, a substantially intact nineteenth-century mill village. The period of significance begins with its construction in 1853, when local mill owners and developers were building not just mills and industrial buildings, but also residential, commercial, and civic buildings.

Chelmsford has a rich, if little-documented, Native American history. The Merrimack and Concord Rivers, along with Stony Brook and the many other small tributaries and nearby ponds, provided many opportunities for food, transportation, and year-round habitation. Several tribes made East Chelmsford their seasonal home: the falls of the Merrimack River were a prime fishing area for salmon and other species, and the islands and surrounding banks held cornfields. Wamesit, one of John Eliot’s Praying Towns, was established here. The first English settlers arrived in Chelmsford in 1652 from Concord and Woburn, and in 1655 they gained a town charter (Kelleher; “Chelmsford”). The settlers vied with the tribes for control of the Wamesit territory, although King Phillip’s War (1675-1678) disrupted the Praying Towns and led to their dissolution. Although early English habitation in Chelmsford remained close to the town center, in 1669 Thomas Hinchman built a saw mill on Stony Brook, the first step toward the establishment of North Chelmsford.

Princeton Street, on which North Town Hall sits, is one of the constant elements in the history of North Chelmsford. Although its path through North Chelmsford remains unaltered, its name has frequently changed. It likely began as a Native American trail (Kelleher). In 1794 it was part of

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State the Great Road to Boston (“25 miles to the State house”), linking the town-center meeting house with the Dunstable/Tyngsborough road. The 1794 Chelmsford map shows that today’s Middlesex Street, which began as a Native American trail on the southern bank of the Merrimack River, turned west along the south bank of Stony Brook and crossed Stony Brook with the Great Road. In 1805 the Middlesex Turnpike was chartered, a toll road laid out from Cambridge to Tyngsborough and then beyond to Nashua, New Hampshire. A more direct route to Boston than the old Great Road, it bypassed Chelmsford’s town center to the east, but joined North Road south of Stony Brook and continued northward. It was still known as the Turnpike in 1875, although toll collecting had ceased several decades previously. “Princeton” first appears on the 1889 map, when a stretch of North Road south of Stony Brook is labeled “Princeton Boulevard.” Princeton Boulevard was an important Lowell street that eventually connected to the Turnpike in Chelmsford. At some point, the segment in North Chelmsford became Princeton Street. In the 20th century, automobile highways were built along the lines of the turnpikes. Parts of the Middlesex Turnpike became New England Interstate Route 6, which was replaced (and bypassed in many dense areas such as North Chelmsford) by U.S. Route 3 in 1926. Today Princeton Street is the northern terminus of MA Route 4, while the old main road becomes MA Route 3A a couple of blocks north of North Town Hall, at Vinal Square.

North Chelmsford grew only gradually in the Colonial Period, with a concentrated period of settlement around the mills in Stony Brook valley from 1682 to 1700 (“Chelmsford”). Daniel Waldo built a grist mill at the mouth of Stony Brook in 1695, and subsequent grist mills operated there until the 1850s (Smith). Mill operator John Richardson started an iron works on Stony Brook in 1706, although subsequent development in the area was modest. The Federal period also saw limited growth; William Adams rebuilt the Richardson sawmill and gristmill complex on Stony Brook in 1814, and the Adams family became one of the largest landholders in North Chelmsford. Kirk Boott, agent for the Merrimack Manufacturing Company in Lowell, bought this complex in 1822 to secure the water rights (Eleanor Parkhurst 278).

The most important triggering event for the growth of North Chelmsford was the establishment of the North Chelmsford Canal in 1823 (CLM.918, including HAER Inventory Card). The 1794 map of Chelmsford shows few neighborhood details, but by the 1831 map, the triangle of roads that defines North Chelmsford had been established (Figure 8.1). Foundry Street had been laid out alongside the canal parallel to Stony Brook, as a group of mills and an iron foundry. Foundry Street began at the Turnpike and ended to the east at what is now Middlesex Street (although only the Turnpike is named on the map). Middlesex Street, which ran along the south and west bank of the Merrimack River, was also the most direct route from North Chelmsford to Middlesex Village, where the first section of the Middlesex Canal had been completed in 1794. By 1831 the Turnpike and Middlesex Street both cross Stony Brook separately, and they intersect farther north at the apex of the triangle, today’s Vinal Square, where a tavern and schoolhouse are shown. Taverns were especially common along turnpikes, where they catered to the Boston stagecoaches. From the apex, the Turnpike and two other roads branch off to the north and west, leading to Tyngsborough, Dunstable, and Groton. The mills along Foundry Street are powered by the new North Chelmsford Canal. It was built by William Adams, who diverted water from Stony Brook in West Chelmsford into Newfield Pond, raising the pond’s level almost 20 feet. Adams then channeled water from the pond into a canal running along the

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State north bank of, and parallel to, Stony Brook. This new, more reliable water source powered a new foundry built by General Shepard Leach (d. 1832) of Easton, Massachusetts, and eventually other factories as well, making North Chelmsford a smaller, less-regimented version of its mammoth neighbor, Lowell. In fact, the Leach Foundry was important to the development of Lowell, because it “supplied the Lowell Machine Shop with all its castings until the construction of a foundry in Lowell in 1840” (HAER Inventory Card).

By the 1850s, another transportation innovation had further transformed North Chelmsford: the railroad. In 1856, North Chelmsford had its own separate civic map, the first to show the North Town Hall of 1853 (labeled “Town House,” Figure 8.2). The Nashua & Lowell Railroad (1838) followed the south bank of the Merrimack River; it was double-tracked, with a station stop in North Chelmsford. Near the station was the intersection with the Stony Brook Railroad (1848), a major branch line westward to Ayer, along the south bank of Stony Brook. From the Stony Brook Railroad a branch private line led to Fletcher’s Chelmsford Granite quarries in West Chelmsford (“Chelmsford”; Waters 670-671). These railroads drove the continuing evolution of industrial development in North Chelmsford. The textile mill owners frequently enlarged and rebuilt their shops, replacing old wooden buildings with stone and brick buildings. The most prominent companies at this time are Baldwin & Co. (established 1841), Williams, Bird, & Co., and Gay, Silver, & Co. Silver & Gay (as it usually was known), established 1832, was reportedly “one of the first machine shops in [the] U.S. to manufacture worsted yarn machinery, and inventor of the automatic ball winder [for] balls of twine” (“Chelmsford” 6). In 1898 it became North Chelmsford Machine & Supply Co. Center Village had little industry at this time and was primarily residential, while North Chelmsford was the “dominant industrial center of the town” (“Chelmsford” 6). In order to house and provision the workers at these mills, the mill companies laid out a ladder of streets up the center of the triangular space between the Turnpike and Middlesex Streets and built commercial and residential buildings along them. By 1917, North Chelmsford had two miles of side track and processed 700 railroad cars per month. The 1856 map also shows that in addition to the new North Town Hall, a new school (ca. 1850?) had been built across Washington Street from the Town House. These two buildings anchored an alternate civic core that challenged the Center Village for control of Chelmsford.

By 1878, North Chelmsford had achieved much of its current layout of streets, which for the first time are all named on the map (Figure 8.3). Since property lines are shown for the first time on this 1878 map as well, it is easy to see how far back on its lot North Town Hall was built; this placement made possible its eastward expansion in 1886. Because streets were generally laid out east of the Turnpike before they were laid out to its west, they sometimes have slightly discontinuous intersections and different names. For example, mill-owning partners Silver and Gay gave their names to the same street on either side of the Turnpike (both blocks now known as Gay Street). Cottage Row takes its name from the group of cottages erected there for mill workers, while the street to the west has the more generic civic name of Washington Street. In addition to Silver and Gay, the major businesses in 1878 are the Baldwin Carpet Yarns Co. and G.C. Moore Wool Scouring Establishment. A fire in 1875 had destroyed several of Moore’s buildings, which he quickly rebuilt (Smith). George C. Moore (d. 1923) reopened the mill as the Silesia Worsted Mills in the 1877; it became the dominant mill by the end of the century (“Chelmsford”). Moore sold the Silesia mill to the United States Worsted Company in 1912, for

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State $3 million (“Brief History”). George Moore eventually owned most of the mills and property in North Chelmsford; in 1917, for example, owned 60 tenements in North Chelmsford (Waters 669).

By the time of the 1889 map, North Chelmsford has expanded the North Town Hall and added other neighborhood institutional amenities, including a public library on Gay Street and a common with a bandstand at the apex of the triangle at Vinal Square (Figure 8.4). One of the first religious presences in northern and eastern Chelmsford was the Second Congregational Church, founded in 1821, with a building completed shortly after in Middlesex Village. The Congregationalists and Unitarians separated and eventually sold the building (Waters 703-705). A second Congregational meeting house was built in 1838 at the corner of Middlesex and Foundry streets in North Chelmsford; it burned in 1893. The cornerstone for the current church, across from the bandstand on the Common, was laid later that same year, and the church completed in 1894 (with an addition in 1959) (“The History of Our Little Church on the Common”). Note that the Congregational Church appears twice on this slightly revised 1889 map, with crosshatching through the church on Middlesex Street that burned, and the new church on Princeton Street penciled in. In the 1840s, Irish immigrants began arriving in North Chelmsford, and sought their own Roman Catholic parish. In 1859 they purchased the Congregationalist’s old 1821 meeting house in Middlesex Village and dragged it—with horses and log rollers—two miles west to a new location on Middlesex Street in North Chelmsford, several blocks south of Stony Brook. Local members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing party attempted lawsuits and threatened to burn the church, and church members had to stand guard with shotguns during the arduous process of relocation. St. John’s Mission became a parish in 1893, serving a community of Irish and French from North Chelmsford and Lowell. Its current building dates from 1963 (“Our History”). In the early 20th century, other religious organizations founded mission parishes in rented locations in North Chelmsford to cater to a later wave of English immigrants: the Plymouth Brethren in 1914 and St. Alban’s Episcopal in 1915. The first Episcopal service in North Chelmsford had been held in North Town Hall in 1911, when Archdeacon Babcock had said mass and baptized several children (Waters 715). The North Chelmsford Library Association had formed in 1872. In 1947 the North Chelmsford Library relocated to its current location, the renovated home of the former librarian, three blocks west of the North Town Hall. The Anna C. MacKay Branch Library (1900, 43 Newfield Street, no MHC#). North Chelmsford renovated this library in 2007-2012 (Kelleher 73).

In 1893, North Chelmsford was an established Merrimack River mill village, celebrated in an expansive bird’s-eye view (Figure 8.5). North Chelmsford was connected to its urban neighbor, Lowell, by a newly opened line of the Bay State Street Railway. The busy line from Lowell to North Chelmsford was double-tracked, with extensions from there to Ayer, Tyngsborough, and Chelmsford Center (Waters 671). The 3-story North Town Hall, built atop the hill along the old Turnpike, dominated the 1893 view of North Chelmsford, and continues to do so today. Today many of the Mill Village landscapes and structures remain intact, and have been inventoried preliminarily as part of a potential North Chelmsford historic district (CLM.G). Many of the mill buildings continue to find new uses, either for manufacturing (in the late 1980s to 1992, many were owned and used by Wang Laboratories) or, increasingly, for offices, warehousing, and condominiums (Eleanor Parkhurst 327-329).

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Politics/Government and the North Town Hall North Town Hall is significant to Politics/Government as the first stand-alone town hall built in Chelmsford, when North Chelmsford was the only neighborhood outside the town center to successfully lobby for its own town hall. Town Meetings were held at North Town Hall, in alternate years, between 1853 and 1885, even after a new town hall in Chelmsford Center was built in 1879. Rebuilt and expanded in 1886, North Town Hall continued as a polling place until 1965, which also marks the fifty-year threshold and thus ends the period of significance. It is the oldest building remaining in a secondary civic center at the intersection of Princeton and Washington Streets.

The first Chelmsford town meetings took place in 1654 in a private house, but the residents quickly built a meeting house for religious and civic gatherings—by 1660—in what became Chelmsford Center. A second meeting house replaced it in 1712, and this meeting house was considerably enlarged in 1792. Although Chelmsford officially separated town and parish in 1830, they continued to use the same building until 1842, when a fire destroyed the meeting house. The town promptly voted to build a brick basement for meetings, and the First Congregational Society built a church above it (Eleanor Parkhurst 234). Today this building is known as the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church at 2 Westford Street (CLM.213; NRHP Dis.). Town Meeting notices were posted in neighborhood gathering spaces throughout Chelmsford; in North Chelmsford, that meant the Tavern. But the concentration of residents in North Chelmsford, and their distance from the meeting site in town center, made it clear that it would be beneficial for North Chelmsford to have its own public meeting place.

As North Chelmsford continued to expand, its residents were able to push through town meeting a plan to build a second town hall. In 1851, the businessmen of North Chelmsford petitioned the Massachusetts state legislature to divide the town, but their petition failed (Fred Merriam, “History”). On October 28, 1852, the selectman agreed that “At the request of Charles T. Bird & others—to see if the town will agree & vote to build a suitable building to do Town business in, in that part of Chelmsford called North Chelmsford” (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 20, 1852-1865: 39). Bird had come to Chelmsford from Easton, Massachusetts, and was one of the partners in Williams, Bird, & Co. Bird was elected as a selectman in 1851 and had served as Town Meeting moderator. On November 8, the selectmen “Voted To build a suitable building to do town business in at that part of the town called North Chelmsford. The expense of the same to the town, not to exceed the cost of the present town house” (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 20, 1852-1865: 47). The selectman appointed Bird to a building committee that included Arnold Burtt, Dawson Pollard, Edward Smith, and Thomas J. Adams. The residents of North Chelmsford were weighing other options as well, as another subcommittee reported at the same meeting: “Resolve, that, in the opinion of this committee; the Town should build a town house at North Chelmsford, suitable for town purposes, and in consideration thereof, no efforts should be made by individuals for a division of the town” (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 20, 1852- 1865: 56-57; emphasis added). Obviously, if the town voted down their request for a neighborhood town hall, they could become their own separate municipality. Of the building committee members, Arnold Burtt was the owner of a tavern, possibly the one in North

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Chelmsford; Dawson Pollard was to be the main carpenter for the new North Town Hall; and Thomas Adams, a hotel keeper and major landowner in North Chelmsford, donated the land for the new town hall, along with his brother Benjamin Adams, who was elected a selectman in 1851.

At the annual Town Meeting on March 7, 1853, the resolution passed, and the meeting “Resolved that the thanks of the town be tendered to Hon. Benjamin Adams and Thos. [Thomas] J. Adams Esq. for their liberal, free & generous gift of a piece of land at No. [North] Chelmsford for the purpose of placing a town House thereon” (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 20, 1852- 1865: 59-61). By the April meeting of the selectman, the process of building was already enough advanced that they vowed to meet there for the November election (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 20, 1852-1865: 68-70). Williams, Bird, & Co. donated $100 towards the cost of the North Town Hall, which totaled $1,847.66 (Waters 601). On November 14, 1853, the Town Meeting met in the newly completed North Town Hall.

The only known account of the construction of the North Town Hall comes from an article published decades later, when the building was expanded in 1886:

For nearly a generation the old structure has served for the civil purposes of the town, and also for most of the public gatherings of the village. It was built originally in 1853 and finished August 25 [1853]. The contractors at that time were Charles Swett and Seth P. Sampson for the mason work, Edmund Swett and D. Pollard for the carpenter work, of whom the only one probably living at this time is S.P. Sampson of the village, who participated largely in the present opening. It was a fine building in its day for a village of our pretensions, and until the new town hall was built in the Centre, some eight years ago, was the best public building in the town, which includes the Centre, West, South[,] and East. (“North Chelmsford,” Lowell Daily Courier 21 January 1886. Contrary to this account, Dawson Pollard was still alive at that time)

Continued town growth and the increasing inadequacy of the old basement hall under the First Parish Church led the town to build a new town hall in Chelmsford Center in 1979. The proposal had first advanced in 1873, but had been voted down, as was a proposal to build another town hall in West Chelmsford (Eleanor Parkhurst 234). When South Chelmsford was also turned down, it formed the private South Chelmsford Hall Association and built its own community hall in 1878. Known as Liberty Hall, this one-and-a-half story Greek Revival/Italianate hall stands at 318 Acton Road in South Chelmsford (CLM.275). In 1879, the Town Meeting finally approved construction of a new town hall in Chelmsford Center. Designed by Charles T. Emerson, the Italianate/Victorian Eclectic new town hall opened at 1A North Road (CLM.255, NRHP Dis.).

Town Meetings continued to be held at North Town Hall, in alternate years, beginning in 1853 and continuing even after the new town hall was built in Chelmsford Center in 1879. In 1871, the town agreed to alternate intermediate and special meetings between the two town halls (Waters 601). According to the 1876 Chelmsford Annual Report, S.M. Macomber was in charge of the care and heating of the North Town Hall. He was also paid $15 for a number of repairs, including 19 lights of glass, 6 lbs. of putty, window cords, and fasteners for repairing blinds. In

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State 1878, the town paid to repair the roof and rebuild the chimney at North Town Hall. In 1885, Town Meeting voted to stop gathering at North Town Hall, as the building had grown inadequate for these purposes. North Chelmsford businessmen rallied again and forced the enlargement of North Town Hall.

At the Annual Town Meeting on March 17, 1884, the citizens “Voted An motion by Ziba Gay to raise and appropriate the sum of two thousand (2,000) dollars to repair and enlarge the town house at North Chelmsford” and “To have a Committee of five (5) to carry into effect the last- preceding vote. Chose as such committee Ziba Gay, Geo. A. Moore, Jonathan Larcom, Christopher Roby, P. P. Perham” (Town of Chelmsford, Records Vol. 22, 1877-1891: 232). The committee included two of the most powerful mill owners in North Chelmsford (Gay and Moore), while Larcom and Perham represented Chelmsford Center. Ziba Gay, Jr. (b. 1823) was a graduate of Andover Prep and Yale College (1846) who moved to North Chelmsford to work in Silver & Gay, the business launched by his machinist father. He became the sole proprietor of Silver & Gay in 1884, and served Chelmsford as Postmaster, Selectman, Representative of the General Court (1874) and President of the North Chelmsford Library Association (Illustrated History 156). Christopher Roby was the owner of a scythe-making firm in West Chelmsford, which during the Civil War was known as the Roby Sword Company, and produced swords whose quality continues to be prized (Linda V. Prescott). But the money appropriated in 1884 was not enough, and the committee returned to the 1885 Town Meeting and requested $1000 more. They also raised private funds as a supplement.

The 1886 expansion of North Town Hall was extensive. Cyrus P. Barclay, a Lowell contractor, undertook the work. Barclay had previously worked in North Chelmsford as the general contractor for the Highland School on Pine Street (Town Minutes 1881). At North Town Hall, he lifted the building ten feet, dropped the foundation one foot, and inserted a new first floor. Barclay also extended the front of the building out 20 feet or more, and added a small-two story service ell to the rear. D.M. Prescott of Lowell was the subcontractor for plastering and tinting the walls. Work began on October 7, 1885, and was completed on January 1, 1886. Again, the newspaper notice of its January 1886 opening is the most detailed account:

[North Chelmsford Town Hall], having lost her supremacy with time and change . . . had greatly fallen in the estimation of the present generation. For years there had been talk about repairs, remodeling or a new building. . . . The front was cut away, and nearly 20 feet was added to it, and the old roof was extended out over the whole. The old windows remain the same in the hall proper, modern mullioned frames being placed in the new lower part and also in the front, both for hall and gallery above, making three tiers of windows in front. There is one front main entrance, and one upon either side of the building in the rear, one leading from the street . . . into a room to be occupied by the Spalding Light Cavalry, the other leading into the extension. . . . As one enters the main door there is a room on the left, to be used by the selectmen, and to the right the main stairway, 6 ½ feet wide, with ash rail and banister and Georgia pine steps. Opposite the entrance in this vestibule, which is 13 by 27 feet, are the doors into the lower or dining hall, which is 40 feet square and ten feet 6 inches high. Here may be noted the strength of the main hall above. Resting on strong oak posts are the great timber, 12 x 12 inches,

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State cased with inch pine that holds the joists of the upper floor. Beyond this hall in the rear is the armory for the cavalry; on the left a large square room, 23 x 27 feet, and the kitchen on the right, 23 x 13 feet, which room opens into a hall and a stairway that leads to the dressing room and platform of the upper hall. This dressing room above and the hall, stairway and lower rooms devoted to kitchen purposes are all outside of the main building in the new extension. This gives a platform in the main hall unencumbered, it being thus 40 feet long and 12 feet wide [deep]. This is quite an improvement. Coming up onto this platform from the dressing room and hall, we are in the main hall, which at once impresses one with the great change that has been made. The new hall is 76 feet long by 40 feet wide and 18 feet high, with a gallery on the front end extending into the hall 13 feet, just as it was in the original building. A new and polished birch floor has been laid. At the other and front end of the hall, looking from the platform [under the gallery] are the double doors in the middle leading into the upper vestibule, a door on the right opening into the cloak or reception room, 13 x 13 feet, on the left a door connected with a passage and stairway in the front of the building leading up into the gallery. The side walls of the hall are tinted a salmon color, with a deep border on the top of dark maroon. The hall is wainscoted, as is also the hall below. The rooms and all the stairways are painted, with windows and doors, a dark sage green in the main hall, while all the rest is in drab particolored. (“North Chelmsford,” Lowell Daily Courier 21 January 1886)

For the grand opening, the hall was festooned with red, white, and blue bunting affixed along the walls and stretching to the central chandelier in a great canopy, all “spangled with stars.” Flags and shields of the United States were hung and draped all around the hall. The 450 guests were welcomed to a meal, served in shifts in the downstairs hall, with 200 persons “at the first table.” After supper, the guests moved to the upstairs hall, where the 22-piece North Chelmsford brass band played, followed by a quartette, duet, soloist with guitar accompaniment, recitations, and a cornet obbligato. Then the floor was cleared so that all could dance to the 7-piece Queen’s Orchestra. The evening’s events raised an additional $200 to furnish the North Town Hall (“North Chelmsford”).

The January 1886 town report minutes note that the acoustics in the new hall were excellent. The 1886 Town Reports confirm the payment to Cyrus P. Barclay of $3,100.23 for material and labor for the hall at North Chelmsford (21).

North Town Hall remained the civic anchor of North Chelmsford throughout the period of significance. Although no longer used for town meeting, North Town Hall continued to be a polling place until 1965. A school had been built on the lot directly across Washington Street from North Town Hall in about 1850, and was expanded or rebuilt in 1864 in the Greek Revival style, but with a distinctive cupola. In 1899 the neighboring lot south, at Turnpike and Silver (today Princeton and Gay), was cleared and became the site of a large wooden quoined Colonial Revival-style school building, designed by Merrill and Gilbert (Eleanor Parkhurst 51; plans in the MA State Archives: North Chelmsford School, Case B, Rack 1, Apart. 28, No. 2822. No set of blueprints is indexed in this archive for North Town Hall). Together, these three buildings made an impressive civic center that was celebrated in several postcard images (Figure 8.6). The school was closed in June of 1953, and both buildings were torn down before the current North

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Chelmsford Fire Station (1956, no MHC #) opened on that site (History of the Chelmsford Fire Department 1956).

Although not used for Town Meeting after 1885, North Town Hall has continued to be town- owned and used for town-sponsored activities. During the period of significance, these included voter registration drives and functioning as a public polling place (until 1965). In 1892, North Town Hall hosted the public hearing for the establishment of the Middlesex Truant School campus (1893-1903, later the Middlesex Training School; no MHC#) —on the North Chelmsford side of the Lowell line. Many school programs and school graduations were held in the hall, including those of North Chelmsford High School (until 1917). In the 1920s, North Town Hall was used for extra classroom space for the overcrowded schools. Public health initiatives at North Town Hall included chest X-ray screenings for workers (1950) and, in 1952, blood-typing clinics for Civil Defense purposes (Prescott).

Entertainment/Recreation and the North Town Hall North Town Hall is significant to Entertainment/Recreation as the community center for the neighborhood, a role that it has fulfilled from its construction, to the end of its period of significance in 1965. As a public meeting space, it hosted community meetings, social functions, local clubs, benefits, plays, lectures, family reunions, and dances (Figure 8.7). It continues to do so today, in its current role as the North Chelmsford Community Center. As its civic functions have receded, these Entertainment/Recreation functions have become the primary use and ongoing significance of the North Town Hall.

Special note should be made of the Spaulding Light Cavalry of the Massachusetts Voluntary Militia, who had a dedicated meeting room (sometimes called their “armory”) with street entrance in the southwest corner of the North Town Hall (as it was expanded in 1886). In 1864 at the height of the Civil War, several paramilitary groups formed in response to perceived threats along the Canadian border by Southern sympathizers. Christopher Roby, the owner of the Roby Mill in West Chelmsford, which produced battle swords, organized a mounted militia for northern Massachusetts. Roby had been a member of the Governor’s Horse Guards in New Hampshire, and got permission from Massachusetts’ Adjutant-General to raise a cavalry of 100 horsemen. They were inaugurated September 5, 1864 in Chelmsford Center as Troop F Cavalry, with elected officers from Chelmsford, and rank and file from Chelmsford and five surrounding towns. During its first encampment at Westford in 1865, the troop received a “stand of colors” from the grandson of a Chelmsford Revolutionary War hero, Capt. Noah Spaulding, and adopted Noah Spaulding as its namesake (Waters 375-376). Roby remained in command until 1877, and helped secure the Spaulding Light Cavalry their meeting room as part of the 1886 North Town Hall building committee. The group also sponsored its Annual Ball in North Town Hall, with tickets that read “Military Gentlemen are requested to appear in uniform” (Prescott). The Spaulding Light Cavalry disbanded in 1907 (Waters 376).

During the period of significance, the list of community uses (apart from town-sponsored activities) was very long, as even a brief summary might suggest. Local clubs and organizations using the North Town Hall include the American Legion, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Chelmsford Players, Girl Scouts, Jaycees, Knights of Columbus, North Chelmsford Parent-Teacher

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Association, Varney Athletic Association, and the Varney Playground Association. Most of the local churches—including the North Congregational Church, St. Alban’s Episcopal Mission, St. John’s Catholic—sponsored benefits, concerts, performances, or plays there. Neighborhood gatherings included Halloween and Christmas parties. In the 1920s, the County Extension Service screened silent movies (Prescott). In 1937, the Russian youth of North Chelmsford presented a concert and play (Lowell Sun 18 June 1937). In 1950, the North Chelmsford Fireman’s Association held a whist party benefit (Lowell Sun 23 September 1950).

One of the community traditions for dramatic presentations was for the players to sign the back of the stage’s false back wall. The recent renovations to the North Town Hall carefully preserved these signatures.

North Town Hall Since the Period of Significance In the early 1960s North Town Hall had increasingly been used for school purposes, and in 1967, the Town gave the Chelmsford School Department full use of the building. In 1966, North Chelmsford polling was moved from North Town Hall to North School on Groton Road (Eleanor Parkhurst 244). The change in occupancy meant that an array of groups lost their meeting place/offices in 1967: American Legion Post 313 Auxiliary, Boy Scout Troops 42 and 76, Chelmsford Players, Chelmsford Recreation Committee, Cub Scout Pack 76, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, National Mothers and Wives of Veterans, North Chelmsford Water District, and the Senior Citizen Organization (Lowell Sun 1 August 1967). The School Department partitioned the interior into offices and made other changes in 1972: the Town encased the building in vinyl siding in 1976, obscuring its dentils and cornerboards (Chelmsford Building Permits). In 1981 the School Department left North Town Hall for Parker School, their new office location. That year the Chelmsford Pop Warner baseball league hired the North Town Hall for equipment storage. In 1986, the Board of Selectmen deeded North Town Hall to the Chelmsford Housing Authority. After their plans to convert it to housing fell through, they returned it to Chelmsford in 1987. The Town Meeting authorized sale of the building in 1990, but no offers were received (Fred Merriam, “History”). In 1996, Chelmsford commissioned Belanger and Foley, Inc., to do an evaluation of the long-shuttered and now uninhabitable building. The consultants produced a report and floor plans (see Figs. 7.4-7.6), but no funding was available for construction.

It would take two more decades of community activism and new town-generated funding sources to return North Town Hall to its use as a community center. In 1997, residents formed the North Town Hall Committee and removed a number of the post-1965 additions, as well as much of the failing interior plasterwork, hoping that it could be returned to public use. In 2004, Chelmsford appropriated $50,000 from the Community Preservation Fund to stabilize the building, replacing the roof and repairing windows. But nothing happened until 2009 (Fred Merriam, “History”).

Meanwhile the Center Town Hall of 1879 went through a comparable set of changes; its hall was partitioned for town offices. In 1981 Chelmsford moved its town offices to the 1916 McFarlin High School at 50 Billerica Road (Edwin R. Clark, no MHC#), and removed many of the later partitions to the Center Town Hall. In 1983 Center Town Hall reopened as the Chelmsford Community Center, although some space was leased to private tenants. In 2008 the Cultural

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Council and Recreation Committee were moved elsewhere, and after a year as a charter school it too became vacant. In 2009, the Town announced the sale of both town halls for a dollar apiece to the Chelmsford Housing Authority, to convert them into a total of 17 units of affordable housing, primarily for veterans. Chelmsford residents objected to the plan and so the Town appointed a Town Halls Utilization Study Committee, to see if a reuse of the buildings could be found that kept them as public spaces and also covered their operating expenses:

The buildings would also have to meet current building and accessibility codes and historic preservation standards so Center Town Hall could retain its status on the National Register of Historic Places and North Town Hall might achieve that status in the future. At public input sessions held in June, July, and August, energetic advocacy groups came forward with realistic plans for the use of each town hall. This made it possible for the study committee to submit its report with a positive recommendation to the Board of Selectmen in October 2009. The report recommended use of Center Town Hall as the “Chelmsford Center for the Arts” (CCA), use of North Town Hall as the “North Chelmsford Community Center,” and restoration of both with historic preservation funding set aside from town taxes, as allowed by the state Community Preservation Act (CPA). (Eleanor Parkhurst 315)

The Board of Selectmen approved the plans in February of 2010, and the April 2010 Town Meeting passed the necessary articles to budget $5.2 million for the restoration of both buildings. The Town sponsored a dual groundbreaking on August 2, 2011 (Eleanor Parkhurst 315). Both old town halls reopened in 2012, as the Chelmsford Center for the Arts (on July 3) and the Chelmsford Community Center.

The 2010 Town Meeting vote that approved funding to restore both buildings to their original use as public halls allocated $2.85 million of CPA funds to restore North Town Hall. Work on the North Town Hall, which had at that point been vacant for decades, began in 2011. The stated goal was to restore it as much as possible to its earlier form, with allowances for accessibility and current building codes. Although most of the windows had to be replaced, the attic window was retained, and the new window trim was made to match the original. The removal of the aluminum siding revealed the original dentils and pilaster cornerboards. Working with the Chelmsford Historical Commission, the contractors restored the interior, including many of the original paint colors. The existing wood floors were refinished, and the existing trim, especially the wainscoting, was restored. When necessary, replacement trim was milled to match the original. Parking was provided with a lot across Washington Street, on the rear of the lawn of the fire station. With its formal reopening on September 14, 2012, North Town Hall is now “a crown jewel in historic Vinal Square” (Fred Merriam, “History”). Most importantly, it is busy almost every day of the week.

Starting from this point, the Town plans to continue to recognize and preserve the historic character of North Chelmsford. In 2013, the restored North Town Hall received the 35th Annual Massachusetts Preservation Award. On March 10, 2014, the Board of Selectmen voted to request that the Massachusetts Historical Commission seek National Register of Historic Places status for the North Town Hall. Laura Lee, of the North Town Hall Advisory Committee, summed up

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State the community support for the project: “I thought it would be a shame to lose public access to such a beautiful historic building with a stage and an auditorium. A historic building like North Town Hall is irreplaceable and is a great asset to the town” (qtd. in “North Town Hall”).

Architecture and the North Town Hall North Town Hall is significant to the Architecture of Chelmsford as a prominent civic building in the Greek-Revival style, with Italianate elements, built by masons and carpenters from Chelmsford and Lowell. In 2012 the building was carefully restored to its 1886 form and updated according to current building safety codes and accessibility standards to ensure it will function as a community center for many more decades.

Despite its major reconstruction in 1886, the building is primarily Greek Revival in style, with the Italianate element concentrated in some trim details. According to the completed survey forms on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission, both Greek Revival and Italianate style are not uncommon in Chelmsford, with approximately two dozen recorded examples of each (primarily houses). A number of Chelmsford public buildings are in the Greek Revival Style, including some built long after other styles predominated: the Village Hall of the South Chelmsford Village Improvement Association (1878, CLM.275), Chelmsford District Schoolhouse #7 (1877; CLM.228), and Golden Cove School (1896, CLM.215). Churches adopted the style, including the First Baptist Church (1836, CLM.214), and the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church (1842, CLM.213). Although less consistently surveyed, commercial and factory buildings in Greek Revival style include the Chelmsford Mill Company Office (1846, CLM.20) and the Edwin Parkhurst King Grocery Store (1862, CLM.205). While the Greek Revival style Village Hall of the South Chelmsford Village Improvement Association (1878, CLM.275), mentioned above, also has Italianate elements, the most significant public building in the Italianate style is the Old or Center Town Hall (1879, CLM.225), which also has strong elements of French Second Empire style.

Only a single source tells us the names of the 1853 builders of the North Town Hall in North Chelmsford: a Lowell Daily Courier article for January 21, 1886 (available on the Chelmsford Historical Commission website). The official Town Treasurer Records for 1851-1853 do not provide any corroborating or conflicting information (Town Accounts). Nor do the published Town Reports for 1886. None of the makers listed below has any other listing in the MHC’s MACRIS database.

Dawson Pollard (1810-1895) of West Chelmsford was one of two carpenters who built—and was possibly the designer—of the North Town Hall, as built in 1853. Both he and his wife Julia Ann Durgin (1812-1875) were born in New Hampshire. According to genealogical records (Pollard 2:265; online genealogies based on Pollard) they married in 1832; but more likely they married in 1839, as recorded in Vital Records of Lowell (where she lived and they married) and Vital Records of Westford (where Dawson Pollard lived in 1839). They apparently then moved to Chelmsford, and had two children listed as born in Chelmsford: Harriet E. (Pollard) Reed (1843- 1875) and Charles Dawson Pollard (1847-1848) (Pollard 2.265). In 1847 Dawson Pollard was listed as a carpenter (Vital Records of Chelmsford) and in 1877 as a “carpenter and machinist”

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State (Runnels 2.239). In the Massachusetts Register, Dawson Pollard of West Chelmsford is listed variously as a carpenter/builder, justice of the peace, and undertaker (1867). Pollard served a long career as Justice of the Peace—for example, in swearing the validity of the 1862 contract between the U.S. Government and Christopher Roby for the production of Roby Swords at West Chelmsford during the Civil War (Contracts with Christopher Roby 442-443). Dawson Pollard, carpenter, died of apoplexy in West Chelmsford on March 5, 1895 (Chelmsford Death Register). The family plot is in the West Chelmsford Cemetery.

Dawson Pollard was the first owner and may have been the builder of the late-Federal style Dawson Pollard House (ca. 1837, CLM.57), which still stands at 231 Main Street in West Chelmsford. At his death in 1895, Pollard was considered the oldest inhabitant of Chelmsford and “enjoyed the love and respect of everyone” (CLM.57).

Seth Phillips Sampson (1822-1901) was the lead mason for the North Town Hall, and lived close by it for much of his life. The 1886 Lowell newspaper article says (mistakenly, given that Dawson Pollard was still alive) that Seth P. Sampson is "the only one [of the four] probably living at this time." Seth Sampson, born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, married Rhoda Taylor (or Taisey/Tacy), born in Vermont; the wedding took place in Acton, Massachusetts, in 1844 (Vital Records of Acton). Seth and Rhoda Sampson lived in Chelmsford in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880, according to the U.S. Census; in 1880 Rhoda was suffering from catarrh. Seth Sampson is listed variously as a mason, brick mason, or “master mason” (1860 Census). He is listed as a mason living in North Chelmsford in 1852, according to the Massachusetts Register (Adams 147). Sampson appears frequently in town reports as being paid for roadwork, repairs, and foundations, including work at North Chelmsford Cemetery in 1884 and for installing a new cistern at North Town Hall in 1888. Seth P. Sampson is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Chelmsford (Drury). He was a member of the North Library Board in Chelmsford, which acknowledged his passing in 1902 with a resolution. In the 1889 map of North Chelmsford, “S. Sampson” is shown as living two houses away from the North Town Hall on Cottage Row. The 1900 census lists him as a brick mason living on Cottage Row; his son James (b. 1849) was a machinist.

The second 1853 mason of the North Town Hall was Charles Swett (1804-1861) a laborer and sexton in North Chelmsford. He was born in Bedford, New Hampshire, son of a man who fought the British at Bunker Hill. His wife was Ann Babcock (1800-1867). In the 1850 U.S. Census, Charles Swett, a laborer, and his wife Ann live in Chelmsford. In the 1852 Massachusetts Register, Charles Swett is listed as an undertaker. He died of typhoid fever. He was the first owner of a 1.5 story Cape Cod-style cottage, the Charles Swett-Arthur Sheldon House (1845) at 21 Edwards Place, just three blocks southeast of North Town Hall (CLM.82; see also Fig. 8.2). The house continued in family ownership until 1935, most prominently as the residence of his son-in-law Arthur Sheldon, a moulder and town selectman. Sarah Swett Sheldon was a member of the board of the North Chelmsford Library (Obituary of Sarah E. (Swett) Sheldon, Lowell Sun April 15 1927: 3).

Less is known about the other 1853 carpenter, Edmund Swett. An Edmund Swett was a member of a committee charged in 1851 with removing the seats in the existing town hall and replacing

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State them with “moveable seats or settles” (1851 Town Records 398). Swett was a common surname in North Chelmsford and Lowell during this time period, which complicates searches. For example, the Samuel T. Wright-George Swett House next door to the North Town Hall at 25-27 Princeton Street was owned by another Swett family, but years after it was built (CLM.131). In the 1865 and 1867 Massachusetts Register, Edmund Swett of Middlesex Village (a neighborhood of North Chelmsford) is listed as a carpenter. An Edmund Swett (ca. 1796-1880), who may or may not have worked on North Town Hall, is buried in Riverside Cemetery in North Chelmsford (Drury).

Cyrus P. Barclay (1819-1906), who renovated and expanded the North Town Hall in 1886, was a carpenter and lived on Pine Street in Lowell at the middle of the century. He was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire and lived in Lowell most of his life, according to the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 U.S. Census reports. He and his second wife Lydia S. Rundlett had four children. In 1880 his son George Barclay (b. 1856) was also listed as a carpenter. In 1880 and 1900 Cyrus Barclay lived on Smith Street in Lowell. In the 1867 Massachusetts Register, Cyrus Barclay of Lowell is listed as a carpenter. Barclay was an accomplished builder, as evidenced by the only other work for which he is credited, a ca. 1879 double brick block at 324-326 Fletcher Street in the Acre neighborhood of Lowell. In 1901, the O’Sullivan Rubber Heel company announced that it was selling off an investment income property at that address: “The block is three stories high, has eight tenements of four rooms each and a store carrying two rooms with it. Each tenement has a separate cellar with concrete floor, water closet, and is in first class condition. The foundation for the building was put in by Patrick O'Hearn and the building was constructed by Cyrus Barclay” (“J.E. Conant and Co., Auctioneers” Lowell Sun June 1, 1901: 3). The one-story building on that site in 2007, according to survey form LOW.2929, may still be the original Barclay building; its top two stories were removed in 1973.).

Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc. restored the North Town Hall in 2012. The firm’s 2015 Linked-In page summarizes its history and approach: “Founded in 1980, Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc. (bh+a) offers architecture, interior design and owner’s project management services. BH+A is led by four Principals, Joel Bargmann, Carolyn Hendrie, Tom Scarlata and Dan Chen. The BH+A team brings an integrated, consensus-building approach to private and public sector clients with senior level attention on every project.” Based in Boston, the firm includes 35 architects and 7 interior designers, and works on a wide range of projects, with particular specialization in aquatic facilities, community centers, housing, workplaces, preschool/daycare, and historic preservation and museums. The firm’s 2015 online portfolio of 27 completed historic/museum projects includes work at many sites with National Park Service oversight, including the Independence Hall Tower in Philadelphia; the Saint Gaudens National Historic Site (NHS) in Cornish, New Hampshire; the Franklin Delano Roosevelt NHS in Hyde Park, New York: and Massachusetts sites including the Old State House (NRHP, NHL) in Boston, Longfellow NHS in Cambridge, the Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord and Lexington, and the Plymouth Rock Portico (NRHP) in Plymouth. Jack Glassman, AIA LEED, is the architectural firm’s Director of Historic Preservation. The firm has received awards for its preservation projects, including (most recently) a 2014 Massachusetts Green Building of the Year Award for its rehabilitation of Factory 63 in Boston, and a 2013 Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Award for its restoration of the North Chelmsford Town Hall.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State Additionally, the 2012 project manager was Vertex Construction Services, Inc., and the general contractor was M. O’Connor Contracting, Inc.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State ______9. Major Bibliographical References

Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)

Allen, Wilkes. The History of Chelmsford: From Its Origin in 1653, to the Year 1820— together with an Historical Sketch of the Church, and Biographical Notices of the Four First Pastors. Haverhill: P.M. Green, 1820. Bargmann, Hendrie + Archetype, Inc. Linked-In webpage and corporate website, accessed 24 January 2015. “Brief History of the Town of Chelmsford.” Chelmsford Historical Commission website. “Chelmsford.” MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Reports. 1980. Chelmsford Community Center. History: North Town Hall. 2013. Web. Accessed 10 June 2014. Chelmsford Historical Society and Garrison House Association. Chelmsford. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1998. Chelmsford Building Permits. Chelmsford Building Department. Chelmsford Town Records. Originals likely at Chelmsford Town Hall, but inaccessible in 2014 due to building renovations. Most of the early Town Record ledgers have been microfiched; digital images are available at Ancestry.com. The records relevant to this project are Chelmsford Accounts (1826-1865) and Chelmsford Town Records (1831- 1860). Chelmsford Tercentenary Edition, 1655-1955. Chelmsford: Chelmsford Newsweekly, 1955. Chelmsford Town Reports. 1880-1920. Available through Google Books. “Contracts with Christopher Roby,” Executive Documents Printed by Order of the House of Representatives during the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress, 1867-1868. Washington, GPO, 1868. Drury, Jane, comp. “Riverside Cemetery Records, Chelmsford, MA.” Chelmsford Public Library. “The History of Our Little Church on the Common.” Congregational Church in North Chelmsford. Website accessed 26 January 2015. History of the Chelmsford Fire Department. Chelmsford Fire Department. Website accessed 21 January 2015. Illustrated History of Lowell and Vicinity, Massachusetts. Lowell: Courier Citizen, 1897. Kelleher, Patricia C. Chelmsford Historic and Cultural Preservation Plan 2013. Boston: Community Opportunities Group, 2013. Online. Accessed 24 January 2015. MACRIS survey forms for Chelmsford and Lowell. Available through the MACRIS website. The Massachusetts Register 1853, 1854, 1862, 1867. Available online through Ancestry.com and Google Books. Merriam, Fred, for the Chelmsford Historical Society. Chelmsford Revisited. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2014. Merriam, Fred. “History [of] North Town Hall.” Chelmsford Community Center.org. Accessed 2 July 2014. “North Chelmsford.” Lowell Daily Courier 21 January 1886.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State “North Town Hall Headed for the National Register.” Chelmsford Independent 20 March 2014. “Our History.” St. John the Evangelist Parish. Website accessed 28 January 2015. Parkhurst, Eleanor, edited and completed by Fred Merriam. History of Chelmsford 1910- 1970. Chelmsford: Chelmsford Historical Commission, 2011. Parkhurst, George Adams. Chelmsford: The Town and its People. North Chelmsford: Picken Printing, 1989. Prescott, Linda V., for the Chelmsford Historical Commission. “Town of Chelmsford: Town Hall Restoration Project: North Town Hall. For the Massachusetts Historical Commission 2013 Preservation Award.” Fred Merriam, Photographer. Ms. Prescott also answered several email inquiries, and with her son kindly spent several hours at the Pollard Library in Lowell researching the builders of the North Town Hall, in connection with this nomination. Pollard, Maurice J. A History of the Pollard Family of America. 2 vols. Self-published. 1964. Available online through Google Books. Runnels, Moses Thurston, History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire. 2 vols. Boston: Alfred Mudge, 1881. Smith, Howard D. “Newfield: North Chelmsford.” Chelmsford Tercentenary Souvenir Program. Chelmsford: NP, 1955. 35. Town Accounts. Chelmsford Accounts (1826-1865). Digital copies of microfiche cards of the original records are available through Ancestry.com. Town of Chelmsford Records. Town Clerk’s Office. Due to space issues and renovation work at the Chelmsford Town Office Building, the original records were not accessible. However, Town Clerk Onorina Z. Maloney and Assistant Town Clerk Thaddeus J. Soule kindly examined the town records and provided the quotes under this citation from volumes 20 and 22, via email, on 8 August 2014. Waters, Wilson. History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Lowell: Courier-Citizen, 1917.

Historic Maps (listed chronologically). These maps are available on the Chelmsford Historical Commission website, with the exception of the 1893 and 1907 maps. 1794. Frederick French. A Plan of Chelmsford. 1831. J.G. Hales. Plan of the Town of Chelmsford in the County of Middlesex. 1856. Henry F Walling. “North Chelmsford.” Map of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. 1875. F.W. Beers. “North Chelmsford.” County Atlas of Middlesex County. 1889. George H. Walker. “No. Chelmsford.” 1893. George E. Norris. “No. Chelmsford, Mass. (On the Merrimac River).” 1907. Smith and Brooks. “North Chelmsford Fire District.” Rpt. in Waters.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

______

Previous documentation on file (NPS):

____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #______recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # ______recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ______

Primary location of additional data: __X State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency _X _ Local government ____ University ____ Other Name of repository: ______

Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ______

______10. Geographical Data

Acreage of Property __Less than one acre______

Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates

Latitude/Longitude Coordinates (decimal degrees) Datum if other than WGS84:______(enter coordinates to 6 decimal places) 1. Latitude: Longitude:

2. Latitude: Longitude:

3. Latitude: Longitude:

4. Latitude: Longitude:

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Or UTM References Datum (indicated on USGS map):

X NAD 1927 or NAD 1983

1. Zone: 19 Easting: 304740 Northing: 4723100

2. Zone: Easting: Northing:

3. Zone: Easting: Northing:

4. Zone: Easting : Northing:

Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.) The National Register of Historic Places boundary for this property corresponds to the legal boundary as defined by the Chelmsford Assessor’s Office: Map 13, Block 39, Lot 3.

Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.) The nominated property includes the entire parcel associated with North Town Hall since it was built in 1853 and continuing as a single unchanged unit to the present day.

______11. Form Prepared By

name/title: ___Timothy T. Orwig, Consultant______organization: ___for the Massachusetts Historical Commission______street & number: ___409 Common Street______city or town: ___Walpole______state: __MA____ zip code:__02081_____ [email protected]______telephone:__617.817.4732______date:____1 February 2015______

______

Additional Documentation

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Submit the following items with the completed form:

 Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.

 Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Key all photographs to this map.

 Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.)

Photographs Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph.

Photo Log

Name of Property: North Town Hall City or Vicinity: Chelmsford County: Middlesex State: Massachusetts Photographer: Timothy Orwig Date Photographed: 28 July 2014 Camera: Olympus SP-800UZ 14 megapixel

Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of camera:

1 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the east façade and south elevation. Looking northwest.

2 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the east façade. Looking west.

3 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the south elevation. Looking north.

4 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the south and west elevations. Looking northeast.

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North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State 5 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the northern ell and part of the northern elevation. Looking southwest. Note also the granite fenceposts.

6 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the northern ell and the northern elevation. Looking southwest. Note also the retaining wall and steps.

7 of 12. North Town Hall, showing the east façade, north elevation, and north ell. Looking southwest.

8 of 12. North Town Hall front (east façade) portico. Looking southwest.

9 of 12. North Town Hall southwest side porch, showing its Italianate bracketed and incised hood. Looking northeast.

10 of 12. North Town Hall ground floor main meeting room. Looking west.

11 of 12. North Town Hall second floor auditorium, showing the stage. Looking west.

12 of 12. North Town Hall second floor auditorium, showing the balcony. Looking east.

Site Map and Additional Documentation

Figure 7.1. Detail of the topographic map of the North Chelmsford, MA. From the Nashua South N.H.-MA map (1965, photorevised 1979).

Figure 7.2. Site Plan for the North Town Hall, Chelmsford, MA, based on a Bing Maps aerial view ca. 2010 (before the North Town Hall restoration).

Figure 7.3. North Town Hall in Chelmsford after its completion, ca. 1890. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

Figure 7.4. North Town Hall basement plan in 1996.

Figure 7.5. North Hall Ground Floor Plan in 2012 (left) and in 1996.

Figure 7.6. North Hall Second Floor Plan in 2012 (left) and in 1996.

Figure 8.1. Early North Chelmsford: Detail of the 1831 J. G. Hales Survey Map of Chelmsford.

Figure 8.2. Henry F. Walling map of North Chelmsford in 1856. The North Town Hall, built in 1853, appears on the map as “Town House.”

Figure 8.3. North Chelmsford detail of the 1875 Beers map of Chelmsford, showing the North Town Hall (shaded) on the corner of Turnpike and Washington streets.

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Figure 8.4. George H. Walker map of North Chelmsford in 1889. This was the first map printed after the 1886 expansion of the North Town Hall.

Figure 8.5. Detail of the 1893 North Chelmsford birds-eye view. North Town Hall, the three- story building atop the hill (just above Washington Street), is marked with a letter “Q” on its roof.

Figure 8.6. North Chelmsford Civic Center in the 1910s: North Chelmsford High School, Princeton Street School, and North Town Hall.

Figure 8.7. View of the North Town Hall interior in 1922, showing the second-floor stage. Courtesy of the Chelmsford Historical Commission.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.

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Figure 7.1. Detail of the topographic map of the North Chelmsford, MA. From the Nashua South N.H.-MA map (1965, photorevised 1979). The arrows in the margins indicate the site of North Town Hall.

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Figure 7.2. Site Plan for the North Town Hall, Chelmsford, MA, based on a Bing Maps aerial view ca. 2010 (before the North Town Hall restoration). With the 2012 restoration, the lawn along Washington Street (to the south of North Town Hall) was converted into disabled access lane/parallel parking. On this map, north is straight up. Dotted lines mark the lot lines. Arrow heads with Arabic numerals show the location and direction of each of the exterior photographs. “X” (in shadow) marks the location of the Retaining Wall and Steps and Granite Fenceposts and Steps, slightly to the west at the corner of the building and side of the lot. “O” marks the location of the Granite Hitching Posts bracketing the front sidewalk. Despite the Bing Map legend, Princeton Street in front of the North Town Hall is actually MA Route 4. Route 3A technically begins a couple of blocks to the north at Vinal Square.

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Figure 7.3. North Town Hall in Chelmsford after its completion, ca. 1890. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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Figure 7.4. North Town Hall basement plan in 1996. Plan by Belanger and Foley, Inc.

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Figure 7.5. North Hall Ground Floor Plan in 2012 (left) and in 1996. 1996 plan by Belanger and Foley, Inc.; 2012 plan by Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc.

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Figure 7.6. North Hall Second Floor Plan in 2012 (left) and in 1996. 1996 plan by Belanger and Foley, Inc.; 2012 plan by Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc.

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Figure 8.1. Early North Chelmsford: Detail of the 1831 J. G. Hales Survey Map of Chelmsford. The future site of the North Town Hall is on the Middlesex Turnpike (the major north/south road), east of Newfield Pond (since 1986 known as Freeman Lake) and west of the Merrimack River. Note the triangle of roads that still defines the neighborhood, its base (now Foundry Street) along the north bank of Stoney Brook (with its mills and iron foundry labeled) and its apex at the intersection of the Turnpike with Groton Road and Tyngsborough Road (location of the school and tavern). The other (eastern) arm of the triangle leads southeast towards the Chelmsford village of Middlesex, the starting point of the Middlesex Canal. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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Figure 8.2. Henry F. Walling map of North Chelmsford in 1856. The North Town Hall, built in 1853, appears on the map as “Town House.” Note the addition of the Nashua & Lowell and Stony Brook railroad lines which further define the neighborhood. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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Figure 8.3. North Chelmsford detail of the 1875 Beers map of Chelmsford, showing the North Town Hall (shaded) on the corner of Turnpike and Washington streets. Note how far back on the lot the earliest section of the North Town Hall was located. This position made it possible to expand the building forward in 1886. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Figure 8.4. George H. Walker map of North Chelmsford in 1889 (revised in pencil in 1894). This was the first map printed after the 1886 expansion of the North Town Hall. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Figure 8.5. Detail of the 1893 North Chelmsford birds-eye view. North Town Hall, the three- story building atop the hill (just above Washington Street), is marked with a letter “Q” on its roof. The map also shows a streetcar and streetcar tracks on Main Street (now Middlesex Street; that section of map not illustrated here). George E. Norris (1855-1926) of Brockton produced this bird’s eye view, one of 135 he published between 1883 and 1897. Courtesy of the Chelmsford Public Library.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Figure 8.6. North Chelmsford Civic Center in the 1910s: North Chelmsford High School, Princeton Street School, and North Town Hall. Courtesy Chelmsford Historical Commission. Both schools were closed in 1953 and razed for the current fire station (1956) on this site.

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

North Town Hall Middlesex Co., MA Name of Property County and State

Figure 8.7. View of the North Town Hall interior in 1922, showing the second-floor stage. Courtesy of the Chelmsford Historical Commission.

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Town of Chelmsford Board of Selectmen Minutes School Administration Building 230 North Rd. Chelmsford, MA 01824

DRAFT Tri-Board Meeting MINUTES January 12, 2015

Board of Selectmen Attending: Patricia Wojtas, Chairman Paul Cohen, Town Manager Matthew Hanson, Selectman John Sousa, Town Treasurer Janet Askenburg, Vice Chairman Darlene Lussier, Town Accountant

Robert Joyce, Clerk George Dixon, Jr., Selectman

School Committee Attending: Michael Rigney Frank Tiano, Superintendent Nick DeSilvio (left 9:22PM) Ann Marie Fiore, IT Director Evelyn Thoren Linda Hirsch, Assistant Superintendent Barbara Skaar Frank Antonelli, Consultant Al Thomas

Finance Committee Attending: Sheila Pichette (arr. 7:45PM) Tom Gilroy Stratos Dukakis (left 9:40PM) James Clancy Kathy Duffet Margarita Kaliviotas Patrick Kimera

Please note that all documents referenced in these minutes are on file at the Town Manager’s Office, 50 Billerica Rd., Chelmsford, Mass. This meeting was video recorded by Chelmsford Telemedia.

Chairman Wojtas called the meeting to order at 7:00PM. Alana Melanson of the Lowell Sun indicated she was also recording this meeting.

One Day Beer and Wine License-CCC, January 22, 2015 The event is a post meeting ceremony after the Varney Park Master Plan presentation. The request was made by Laura Lee, who is TIPS Certified.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve a One Day Beer and Wine License for the Chelmsford Community Center for January 22, 2015 for the hours of 8:00PM-10:00PM, to be exercised on the premises at 31 Princeton St. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

1 January 12, 2015 BOS/Fin Com/School Comm. Tri-Board Meeting Report on Chelmsford Public Schools Audit John Sullivan, Melanson Heath

Mr. Sullivan provided a summary of audit actions that have been completed, as well as an Executive Summary report. He noted a consistent pattern in the Business Office of paying certain using General Funds instead of dedicated Revolving Funds, and there were journal entries made to re-allocate funds as more invoices came forward. It is believed that escalating SPED costs and underfunded accounts are the main causes of the deficit. It was recommended that the School Committee should vote on certain adjustments such as unexpected or large expenditures to provide an additional level of control. It was found that multiple purchase orders were liquidated, which is an acceptable practice in situations where the item is not purchased or for over-budgeted items. Use of encumbrances is also an acceptable practice.

Frank Antonelli advised that payroll accounting and reconciliation is now being done for every payroll cycle.

Mr. Rigney advised that the School Committee has not met formally to discuss the latest reports

Mr. Sullivan did not believe the situation could have been avoided, as trend analysis had never been completed. In for the future he suggested that the department establish responsibility centers, so that responsibilities flow through more than one level. He did not feel that items being charged to incorrect accounts was done deliberately, although it was done a lot. He suggested reports be run for each school, and line items be monitored. There was evidence of a plan to fund all the invoices that were found, but the solutions were never acted on. Mr. DeSilvio conceded that no one asked the School Committee to use Circuit Breaker, School Choice or Continuing Education funds until it was too late. Ms. Lussier acknowledged that some requests to transfer funds were denied, and most of the department’s revolving accounts have been drained. Going forward, she agreed the department’s budget needs to be sustainable.

A summary of Mr. Sullivan’s recommendations were to continue the trend analysis to include projections, upgrading the SPED worksheet and reconcile it, provide more comprehensive monthly reports to the management team and School Committee, improve development of the annual budget, and request School Committee Authorization for budget adjustments.

Mr. Tiano provided a handout of information he relied on before the extent of the problem was known. The proposed solutions appeared reasonable. Mr. DeSilvio announced the department was compiling a needs based budget instead of trying to budget within a pre-determined amount. The department cannot operate on the amount they are currently funded, and the needs based budget will show this.

Mr. Sullivan agreed more training is needed in the area of payroll processing, and having an additional person may be helpful. Ms. Lussier disagreed, and felt the existing staff is adequate, but they need to be trained properly. Her department has three people who can handle a larger payroll that includes the school department’s checks.

Selectman Askenburg suggested making use of a DOR program offered by the State to look at consolidating certain school and government functions to allow school administrators to focus on education. Ms. Lussier agreed to share information provided from an audit that was done for this purpose 10 years ago. Mrs. Thoren recalled this audit, and there were several issues that prevented any consolidation from taking place at that time.

2 January 12, 2015 BOS/Fin Com/School Comm. Tri-Board Meeting Discussion regarding FY2016 Budget Mr. Cohen noted a $765,000.00 deficit being projected by the School Department. He requested information from them so he could better understand their needs. He recalled Town Meeting Representatives being assured there were no more problems. Ms. Lussier provided data on revenues and expenditures through December 31, 2014, and she saw no issues on the general government side. Mr. Cohen provided data on how the Town’s budget is allocated and funded, as well as trends over the past five years. Regarding funding for the schools, data was given for Chapter 70 funding, enrollment, Per Pupil Expenditures, Special Education Expenditures, Circuit Breaker Reimbursement, school equipment and technology budget analysis, and average teacher salaries. Enrollment of Chelmsford students at Nashoba Technical High School increased from 133 in 2009 to 173 in 2014. Mr. Cohen noted an increase in multiple fixed costs such as salaries, assessments, health insurance costs, debt service, veterans benefits, and Medicare tax. Available funding and revenues are not increasing at the same rates, and in some categories, funding is decreasing. More information will be available when the Governor’s budget is released on March 4, 2015.

A list of capital plan improvements was provided for review. Mr. Cohen acknowledged the desire for Full Day Kindergarten, but current constraints within the school department’s budget may not allow this to happen this year. Mr. Cohen was advised by the Board of Selectmen that he must present a balanced budget for Spring Town Meeting. Mr. Rigney advised that the School’s preliminary budget would include costs for Full Day Kindergarten.

The next Tri-Board meeting is scheduled for February 2, 2015.

Adjourn

Motion: by Selectman Joyce to adjourn the meeting at 10:00PM. Seconded by Selectman Askenburg. Motion carries, unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,

Vivian W. Merrill Recording Secretary

Reference Documents: -Supporting documents for North Town Hall Advisory Committee One Day Beer & Wine license -Presentation by Melanson Heath on Chelmsford Public Schools -Spreadsheet showing school department expenses for FY2012-FY2015 -Narrative report “Agreed-Upon Procedures Report of the Chelmsford Public Schools -List of FY16 Recommendations from the Capital Planning Committee -Presentation of Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Projection -FY2014 Budget Status Report through December 31, 2014 -Superintendent Handout

3 January 12, 2015 BOS/Fin Com/School Comm. Tri-Board Meeting Town of Chelmsford Board of Selectmen Minutes 50 Billerica Rd., Room 204 Chelmsford, MA 01824

Regular Meeting MINUTES January 26, 2015

Attending: Patricia Wojtas, Chairman Paul Cohen, Town Manager Janet Askenburg, Vice Chairman Robert Joyce, Clerk Matthew Hanson, Selectman George Dixon, Jr., Selectman

Please note that all documents referenced in these minutes are on file at the Town Manager’s Office, 50 Billerica Rd., Chelmsford, Mass. This meeting was video recorded by Chelmsford Telemedia.

Chairman Wojtas called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. The agenda was abbreviated due to weather conditions.

Public Service Announcement Winterfest Selectman Hanson announced that the event schedule is listed on the Library’s website. Winterfest will run from February 6-8, 2015, and is open to everyone.

Open Session No one came forward at this time.

Committee Vacancies Selectman Askenburg read the list of current vacancies. Interested applicants can apply online at http://www.townofchelmsford.us or through the Town Manager’s office.

Licenses One Day Beer and Wine License-Susan Gates, CCA, January 31, 2015, February 6, 2015, February 7, 2015 No one was present for questions due to weather conditions. The applicant has had multiple events previously with no issues. The events are a gallery opening and two concerts.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve three One Day Beer and Wine Licenses for the Chelmsford Center for the Arts on January 31, 2015, for the hours of 7:00PM-11:00PM, for February 6, 2015 for the hours of 5:30PM to 10:00PM, and on February 7, 2015 for the hours of 7:00PM-10:00PM, to be exercised on the premises at 1A North Rd. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

One Day Beer and Wine License, St. Vartanantz Armenian Church, February 14, 2015 No one was present for questions, due to weather conditions. The applicant has had multiple events previously with no issues. The event is a Mardi Gras party.

1 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015 Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve a One Day Beer and Wine License to the St. Vartanantz Armenian Church on February 14, 2015, for the hours of 5:00PM-10:00PM to be exercised on the premises at 180 Old Westford Rd. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Reports and Presentations John Sousa: Refunding Bond Sale Approval Mr. Sousa reported that 10 firms placed bids for this sale. The bonds in question were for the early phases of the sewer construction project and for the construction of the police station.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg that I, the Clerk of the Board of Selectmen of the Town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts (the “Town”), certify that at a meeting of the board held January 26, 2015, of which meeting all members of the board were duly notified and at which a quorum was present, the following votes were unanimously passed, all of which appear upon the official record of the board in my custody:

Voted: That in order to reduce interest costs, the Treasurer is authorized to issue refunding bonds, at one time or from time to time, pursuant to Chapter 44, Section 21A of the General Laws, or pursuant to any other enabling authority, to refund the Town’s $13,585,000.00 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series B, dated June 15, 2007 maturing on April1 in the years 2016 through 2022 (inclusive), in the aggregate principal amount of $9,515,000.00 (the “Refunded Bonds”), and that the proceeds of any refunding bonds issued pursuant to this vote shall be used to pay the principal, redemption premium and interest on the Refunded Bonds and costs of issuance of the refunding bonds.

Further Voted: that the sale of the $8,380,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds of the Town dated January 27, 2015 (the “Bonds”), to Janney Montgomery Scott LLC at the price of $9,593,777.28 and accrued interest, if any, is hereby approved and confirmed. The Bonds shall be payable on April 1 of the years and in the principal amounts and bear interest at the respective rates, as follows:

Interest Interest Year Amount Rate Year Amount Rate

2016 1,095,000 2.00% 2020 1,265,000 5.00% 2017 1,160,000 4.00 2021 1,310,000 5.00 2018 1,180,000 5.00 2022 1,145,000 5.00 2019 1,180,000 5.00

Further Voted: that in connection with the marketing and sale of the Bonds, the preparation and distribution of a Notice of Sale and Preliminary Official Statement dated January 5, 2015, and a final Official Statement dated January 13, 2015 (the “Official Statement”), each in such form as may be approved by the Town Treasurer, be and hereby are ratified, confirmed, approved and adopted.

Further Voted: that the Town Treasurer and the Board of Selectmen be, and hereby are, authorized to execute and deliver a continuing disclosure undertaking in compliance with SEC Rule 15c2-12 in such form as may be approved by bond counsel to the Town, which undertaking shall be incorporated by reference in the Bonds for the benefit of the holders of the Bonds from time to time. 2 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015 Further Voted: that we authorize and direct the Treasurer to establish post issuance federal tax compliance procedures in such form as the Treasurer and bond counsel deem sufficient, or if such procedures are currently in place, to review and update said procedures, in order to monitor and maintain the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

Further Voted: that each member of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Clerk and the Town Treasurer be and hereby are, authorized to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be determined by them, or any of them, to be necessary or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the foregoing votes.

I further certify that the votes were taken at a meeting open to the public, that no vote was taken by secret ballot, that a notice stating the place, date, time and agenda for the meeting (which agenda included the adoption of the above votes) was filed with the Town Clerk and a copy thereof posted in a manner conspicuously visible to the public at all hours in or on the municipal building that the office of the Town Clerk is located or, if applicable, in accordance with an alternative method of notice prescribed or approved by the Attorney General as set forth in 940 CMR 29.03(2)(b), at least 48 hours, not including Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, prior to the time of the meeting and remained so posted at the time of the meeting, that no deliberations or decision in connection with the sale of the Bonds were taken in executive session, all in accordance with G.L. c.30A, §§18-25 as amended.

Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Selectman Askenburg requested a debt schedule of all principal and interest. Mr. Sousa agreed to forward a document to her.

Town Manager Reports Storm Preparation Mr. Cohen announced that all emergency management team members will be on call, and the shelter will be opened if needed.

Availability of Package Store License There is one package store license available due to the previous owner not renewing it.

Purchase of 101 Mill Rd. The settlement statement was provided to the Board for review. The closing is expected to take place this week. Once accepted, the deed will be recorded and the property will be insured.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to accept the deed for 101 Mill Rd. from Middlesex Education Collaborative as presented. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Draft of Spring Annual Town Meeting Warrant The current list of draft warrant articles was provided to the Board for review. The warrant will be signed by the Board in March. Gary Persichetti explained that in regard to Article 21, some areas cannot have sidewalks due to the layout. The Town Engineer will have a presentation to explain further at a future meeting.

Selectmen Wojtas and Joyce requested that the School Budget be handled as a separate Article from the rest of the budget. 3 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015 Selectman Askenburg asked if Article 13 could be raised to more than $75,000.00.

Bid Awards 7 North Rd. Demolition Gary Persichetti explained that 13 bids were received for this project.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Town Manager’s bid awards for the demolition of the building at 7 North Rd. to AA Asbestos Abatement Co. of Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $43,850.00. Seconded by Selectman Hanson. Selectman Joyce opposed, all others in favor. Motion carries, 4-1.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Town Manager’s bid awards for the asbestos abatement of the building at 7 North Rd. to AA Asbestos Abatement Co. of Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $28,350.00. Seconded by Selectman Hanson. Selectman Joyce opposed, all others in favor. Motion carries, 4-1.

Appointments Deputy Constables

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Town Manager’s appointments of Jean Blodgett, Thomas Buntel, Fred Correia, Judith Goffin, Kiernan Lennon, John MacGilvary, John R. Pelletier and Kevin Whippen as Deputy Constables for terms to expire December 31, 2015. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Roberts Field Renovation Committee There were seven applicants to this Committee.

Motion: by Selectman Joyce to approve the Town Manager’s appointments of Bill Askenburg, Sherrill Erickson, Carole Martin, Charles Micol, Shayna Micol, Mark Robillard and Gregory Whitney to the Roberts Field Renovation Committee for a term to expire June 30, 2016. Seconded by Selectman Hanson. Selectman Askenburg abstained, all others in favor. Motion carries.

Policy Review Snow Plowing Selectman Joyce suggested adding language to allow for discretion on when to begin snow plowing. Selectman Wojtas felt any policy was not necessary.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to strike policy 5-3-Snow Plowing. Seconded by Selectman Hanson. Motion carries, unanimous.

Meeting Minutes Tri-Board Meeting Minutes-September 15, 2014

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Tri-Board Meeting Minutes of September 15, 2014, as presented. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Regular Meeting Minutes-September 22, 2014

4 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015 Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of September 22, 2014, as presented. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Tri-Board Meeting Minutes-October 14, 2014

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to approve the Tri-Board Meeting Minutes of October 14, 2014, as presented. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Selectmen Liaison Reports and Referrals Selectman Dixon: -Hopes everyone stays safe in the upcoming storm.

Selectman Askenburg: -An announcement was made at last Thursday’s Finance Committee meeting that the School Department may have a projected deficit of $736,000.00. They are still finding bills and working through them. Mr. Cohen reported that he has not seen any formal reports for income generated by the Turf Fields rental.

Selectman Joyce: -Selectman Joyce learned many things at the MMA Conference he attended last weekend. - Selectman Hanson: -Residents were urged to stay safe during the storm.

Chairman Wojtas: -The LRTA announced that their new garage at Gallagher Terminal will open in February. -The Senior Center may re-schedule their session on the Circuit Breaker program from Wednesday to Friday depending on the weather. -The next Tri-Board Meeting will be held on February 2, 2015 starting at 7:00PM at the School Administration office. -The next regular Board meeting will be held on February 9, 2015.

Selectman Joyce added that there may be a future presentation on the Vinal Square Master Plan. There were lots of questions asked at the Public Input Session held last Thursday.

Press Questions No one came forward at this time.

Next Regular Meeting: February 9, 2015.

Motion: by Selectman Askenburg to adjourn this meeting at 7:45PM. Seconded by Selectman Joyce. Motion carries, unanimous.

Respectfully Submitted,

Vivian W. Merrill, Recording Secretary

List of Reference Documents:

-Winterfest 2015 Event Flyer 5 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015 -List of Committee Vacancies -One Day License applications -Supporting documents for Vote on the Bond refunding sale -Supporting documents for 101 Mill Rd. -Committee applications -Meeting Minutes -Draft Spring 2015 Town Meeting Warrant -Bid Award results list for 7 North Rd. -List of Deputy Constables to be appointed

6 Board of Selectmen January 26, 2015