OUTPOST Outpost Properties, LLC PROPERTIES Town of Cohasset Planning Board Scituate Hill Development – Hearing #2 July 28th, 2021 Outpost Properties, LLC (hereinafter “Applicant”) appreciates the Planning Board’s time spent in consideration of the Applicant’s proposed development at 20, 25 and 30 Scituate Hill. During the Planning Board’s hearing on Wednesday June 23rd, 2021, the Planning Board requested further information from the Applicant. The Applicant’s responses to the Planning Board’s inquiries regarding: Needs, Parking, Mail Delivery, Signage & Wayfinding, Traffic, Building Heights & Coverage, and Sustainability are each outlined below. Needs Assessment: The Applicant directs the Board to the Needs Assessment (“the Assessment,” annexed hereto as Exhibit A) previously submitted as part of the Applicant’s Site Plan Review Application filed on May 23rd, 2021. In the Assessment, the Applicant summarizes the macro trend of standardized remote work policies across the global corporate landscape. The Applicant included in the Assessment, market analyses conducted by Morgan Stanley and published on February 22, 2021 that present an overwhelming argument for a permanent increase in the amount of people that will be working remotely at least three days per week going forward. Morgan Stanley’s analysts predict an increase of 3x-5x in the number of employees working remotely going forward. At the time of the original report, the public statements by 53 publicly traded companies (representing ~$11T of market capitalization of the ~$53T publicly traded market) regarding their future plans for remote work were captured. Within those 53 publicly traded companies, 85% of those companies advised that they had made a permanent shift to a hybrid or fully remote working model. Morgan Stanley produced a more recent report published on May 20, 2021 which is annexed hereto as Exhibit B, providing a timelier, but just as overwhelmingly, pro-remote work go-forward scenario. The updated report includes nine new companies, seven of which plan on hybrid/remote work going forward. Separately, the national trends and sentiments of both employers and employees have been well captured by the unbiased thought leader McKinsey & Company (hereinafter “McKinsey”), in the article dated July 9th, 2021, and titled, “It’s time for leaders to get real about hybrid.” (McKinsey Article annexed hereto as Exhibit C). The Applicant finds the following quote to be particularly pertinent to the discussion of the need for the proposed Scituate Hill development: “Instead of directing a rah-rah return to the office, leaders would be wise to focus on deeper listening and meeting their workforces where they are today. It will be important for leaders to acknowledge, for instance, that they don't have all the answers—as their companies transition to hybrid working models, they will still be trying to discover what the right longer-term working model (the one that works for most employees) will be. It will also be important for leaders to signal that they hope to make their employees partners in designing the future of how their companies work.” 1 At the local level, some of Massachusetts’ largest and most respected employers, ranging from defense stalwart Raytheon1 to the prominent financial giant John Hancock2 to decade-old, internet marketer HubSpot3, have all made strong and public commitments to remote work policies. In addition to having a happier, more balanced, and more productive workforce, one common and important reason that companies cite for the adoption of remote work policies, is to help companies maintain an equal and diversified workforce. In March of this year, Governor Charlie Baker spent $1.6 million to commission McKinsey to produce a separate, wide-ranging report about the future of work in Massachusetts, with an eye on using the findings to develop policies around keeping the state economy strong in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The McKinsey report, titled “Preparing for the Future of Work in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts4”, referenced in the article annexed hereto as Exhibit D (link to full report in the footnotes below), was published this past week (7/13/21), and offers projections on some of the trends and concerns cited by local executives about changes in the Massachusetts economy post-pandemic. One of the report’s primary conclusions is that remote work could shift the center of gravity away from urban cores to more residential areas. Nearly one-third of Massachusetts workers could work remotely one to three days a week, according to McKinsey’s modeling, and the MBTA Commuter rail ridership could plummet by 15% to 50% in the long-term. At the micro-local level, the Applicant highlights in the Needs Assessment the record high amounts of commercial office space currently on the sublet market not only in Boston, but nearly every major metropolitan area in the United States. Further, the Applicant in the Needs Assessment presents local demographic information that demonstrates the disproportionately large amount of office workers in Cohasset and the towns surrounding that would be most inclined to occupy remote office workspace like that being proposed for development on Scituate Hill. Finally on this point, the Applicant includes a comprehensive list of competitive remote work and existing commercial office locations, with pricing and physical characteristics, to demonstrate that the proposed development is superior to the competitive set in every regard. The Applicant further points out in the Assessment the unique design elements and attributes of the proposed community development that are not available elsewhere, and certainly not in any existing commercial vacancies in the market. These differentiating attributes: privacy, sense of possession, rightsized spaces, community, daylighting, amenity, tech-enablement, and fiber-optic connectivity, are the factors that drive The Applicants’ proposed development’s superiority. The Applicant’s market research demonstrates that these attributes can only be all-inclusively obtained through tenancy at the proposed development on Scituate Hill. If these important, modern design elements that will be made available to prospective tenants at the Applicant’s proposed development could be offered via more cost-effectively obtained, alternative locations, the Applicant would be placing greater consideration toward those options. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/raytheon-to-cut-office-space-by-25percent-as-it-embraces-hybrid-work- .html 2 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/14/business/john-hancock-wont-require-employees-come-back-office- until-january/ 3 https://www.hubspot.com/careers-blog/future-of-work-hybrid 4 https://www.mass.gov/doc/future-of-work-in-massachusetts-report/download 2 The Applicant notes also that the private, dedicated offices within each coworking facility in the market are running at strong occupancy percentages. Upon inspection in early July, the eSpace in Hingham Shipyard had nearly all private offices occupied. The newly opened eSpace private offices in Scituate were fully occupied when a query was made as to their availability in the early summer. From a municipal planning point of view, the Applicant has annexed as Exhibit E a recently published “Suburban Mayor’s Open Letter to Boston Commuters” written by the Kassandra Gove, Mayor of Amesbury, MA. In the Letter, Mayor Gove highlights the benefits of remote work on local communities, the need for cities and towns to upgrade their remote work facilities, and the “above and beyond” approach that the Mayor and the City of Amesbury have taken when it comes to accommodating remote work needs. Mayor Gove’s sentiments are perhaps best summarized by the following quote: “The traditional model of working in an office is gone, and a new model of working anywhere and everywhere is here. But it’s not enough to have a great local coffee shop (of which Amesbury has many). We have to go above and beyond to create spaces where people can gather, collaborate and yes, even work. When I talk with residents, many of whom used to commute to Boston, they are excited to spend more time here and with their families. Having more people working remotely is good for them and it’s very good for our businesses. Imagine how many people will replace getting their morning commuter coffee at the train station and instead will visit their local coffee shop. Rather than an evening commute, they dine out. When people run out at lunchtime to do errands, they’re supporting local businesses in their community. It’s a win-win for everyone — companies included, who are saving money on office space and infrastructure!” It is important to note that Amesbury is a town that, like Cohasset, is only approximately 40 minutes from Boston by car with 82% of the town’s population being office workers vs. Cohasset’s 92%. Parking: The development’s proposed parking supply exceeds the requirements of the Cohasset Zoning Bylaws. Per the Bylaws, one parking spot per 200 square feet of net building area is required. The Project’s net building area is 14,088 square feet resulting in a total required parking count of 70.4 spaces. As designed, the Project provides 80 parking spaces or approximately 1 space for every 176 square feet of net building area, exceeding the requirements of Bylaws by more than 10%. Four accessible parking spaces will be provided in accordance with ADA and AAB requirements. In addition, 2 bike racks and a handful of electric vehicle charging stations will be provided in support of the project’s sustainability goals. The Applicant plans to actively manage parking demand on site via dedicated parking spaces, parking sticker decals, and on-site property manager inspections. 3 Mail Delivery: The Applicant contacted the USPS Postmaster for the town of Cohasset, who provided guidance on how mail delivery could be best administered at the site. The Postmaster’s main suggestions included central or strategically placed P.O.