Mosaic Commons Meeting with Chris ScottHanson
April 18, 2001

Location: Homeport
Notetaker: Dave
Present: Catya, Dave, Zach, Kai, Rosa, Dwight, Stephanie

General Update from Concord:

• Chris got a lot of information from the Visitor center.
• Talked to a realtor who knows about New View, and has a friend who lives there. She suggested the best way of finding land in Concord was to find an estate that had a large house that could be built out into a cohousing development. Most estates are 1/2 acre allottments, so zoning / neighbors et al. are sort of tricky. Asked about re-use etc - looking for historic structures that can be rebuilt or the like. - she's going to look for stuff.
• Went to Acton, got a lot of information. Stopped into a realtor office near CIty Hall - been in the business forever. Hit it off really well. Got a town atlas, etc. 13000 total acres, 3000 municipal land, 1500 of it is conservation land.
• A building lot in Concord goes about $500,000 A building lot in Acton goes about $300,000. Chris thinks that development in Concord will be astronomically expensive.
  
• Looked at 20 listings of 600k+ listings.
  
• Straw poll says that it looks like most folks are just as happy with Acton as they are with Concord
  
• Talk about what land to target... what's up with conservation land, etc?

When to look for land

We started looking up listings on the maps, and some of them are _VERY_ good, and are worth pursuing. Dave asked Chris if this was the appropriate time to start doing individual listings, and seeing if any of these are places / spots to pursue. Chris says yes, this is the time to start doing this, and collecting information on the various potential lots.

Concord PRD laws being revised now, not sure what the status is on it.

Concord Contacts
Marcia Rasmussin - Town planner for Concord
"Did the PRD law pass, and can we get a copy of it?"

Follow up with Kevin Hurley
Creative Developer for COncord
Was the original town planner
Working on the uranium stuff - working with affordable housing / etc.

Peter Farrow
Real Estate lawyer - volunteer for the Concord Housing Trust
(advocacy group - affordable housing, etc)

Carol Lennox

Altair Associates
John Millett - deals with affordable housing in Concord

"Very Nice Land" - new daycare facility
Gaetano Taranto - manages some kind of realty trust.
978 369 1921

Acton Contacts
Ed York
YorkRE.com

Talk to the Chamber of Commerce - get a listing of offices / etc.

Things to Do

• "Cast a Net" - fax to all the real estate agents - summary of what we're looking to do.
• Contact building yard folks and do a "Do you know of anything..."
• PR - Ballpark $750 to get the article written by Nashama - Chris suggests budgeting $1000

Next Steps

• Draft the 'what we want' fax for the realtors and send it
• Get on the word of mouth train - (Folks involved with developing new view)
• Build the contractor / building contact list
• Get the article written - nashama can do all the 'which papers' etc. (nashama36@aol.com)
• Chris does a followup letter to Roger Dowd
• Chris will followup with Ed York re: "I have some friends you should talk to"
• Find connections at New View - someone who can take a listing of properties we've found and say "Yes" "No" "No" "Yes" to determine feasibility of sites.
• Find out if Acton and Concord have town sewer
• Ask Michael to check out the following - general contracters, major subcontracters (lumberyard owners, plumbing, electrical) - who is building where, who is developing, etc, trying to get to who might have land.

Kevin Hurley has come highly recommended as some one who might be able to vett properties for us

Main criteria is number of units, then sewer and water table, then etc.

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Last modified: October 3, 2001