Weekly Update 6/14/21

Happy Father's Day! A delayed weekly update from last week's meeting due to a busy past few days.

The City Council voted to transfer $16 million in free cash to the Stabilization Fund, bringing the balance in that account to $28 million.

A hearing was held on proposed changes to the City's Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) Zone. As a program, HDIP provides Gateway Cities with a tool to develop market rate housing while increasing residential growth, expanding diversity of housing stock, supporting economic development, and promoting neighborhood stabilization in designated areas. The program provides two tax incentives (one local and one state) to developers to undertake new construction or substantial rehabilitation of properties for lease or sale as multi-unit market rate residential housing. The changes that were adopted included adding the Saint Mary's Primary School and the medical building behind the Old Colony History Museum to the existing HDIP Zone, as well as creating new Zones for Reed & Barton and Whittenton Mills.

Several ordinances were passed from 2nd to 3rd reading and 1st to 2nd reading, including the FY2022 Budget.