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Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 24

say the arts are a positive experience in a troubled world. And 67% of Americans believe the arts unify our
communities regardless of age, race, and ethnicity. So I’d just like to say that yes | have been supporting
this project from Day 1, I’ve been on the Steering Committee and I’m on the Capital Campaign Committee
as well as Nashua Community Arts and | think all of our efforts are well worth this and we are all
passionate about it and we hope that you will vote in favor of this tonight. Thank you.

Chairman Dowd

Thank you. David West, did you...
David West That’s me | am here.
Chairman Dowd

Go ahead.

Mr. West Thank you. My name is David West, I’m a lifelong resident of Nashua. | have been involved in
the performance and promotion aspect of local music since the 1960’s. I'll be speaking in favor of this.
Primarily on the ground level of this, |’ll be speaking for performers that perform locally as well as schools
and other organizations that are really looking forward to having some kind of a place where we can have
essential aspect to the performance seen in the Nashua area. Also speaking on behalf of the local theater
groups who have struggled over the years with the same things that we have, that there’s really never been
a place to play in Nashua. And so basically that’s the extent of my statemen tis that we do hope that we
can be represented in this new venture and that we think that we can bring a lot of life and activity to it.
Thank you.

Chairman Dowd
Thank you. Let’s see, | have Jeff?

Jeff Bois Hi, how are you, | hope you can hear me ok. |’m Jeff Bois, | live in Nashua, New Hampshire,
long-time resident.

Chairman Dowd

Can you give your full name and address?

Mr. Bois Jeff Bois, | live at 16 Harbor Drive in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Chairman Dowd

Ok thank you.

Mr. Bois I’m also the owner of Stella Blu a small business, a restaurant in downtown Nashua. Today |
prefer to speak a little bit more as a resident and less as a business owner, | think we covered that. As |
mentioned, both my wife and | grew up in Nashua, I’ve lived in Nashua my whole life with the exception of
a few years of college and a few years of San Diego. Both of my children, 11 and 13, go to Elm Street
Junior High so they invest in the community and full support of the Performing Arts Center. You know,
people have spoken a lot about the increase in quality of life. | agree with that. | also believe that this type
of venue increases diversity, both diversity in thought and diversity in culture. | think that surely creates
innovation in the City. | think as we’ve seen now more than ever, people are starting to work closer to
home or actually in-home and where they live is becoming more and more important. And | think
remaining competitive in that regard is important to Nashua. | don’t want Nashua to be defined by Amherst

Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 25

Street and DW Highway, big box stores and chain restaurants. | want it to be more so | think the question
is really important, it’s really can we not afford to invest in this type of endeavor. Thanks.

Chairman Dowd

Thank you very much. OK Director Cummings, we know you want to speak in favor of it.

Director Cummings

That’s good. Mr. Chairman | just thought maybe if | could | could read the letter that the School Street
Developer submitted. | have already forwarded it around to the members of the Board of Aldermen, but |
didn’t know if maybe you’d want me to read it for the minutes to incorporate into the minutes?

Chairman Dowd

Yes, go ahead.

Director Cummings

Thank you. Peter Flotz, Managing Partner of Lansing Melbourne sent a letter on August 10", 2020 and he
starts out,

“Dear Members of the Board of Aldermen, | first wrote a letter for the Nashua Performing Center in the
summer of 2008. | have enclosed it for your review because | believe then, as | do now, that a Performing
Arts Center is a good strategic investment that will improve the Greater Nashua Community. As a real
estate developer, where | put my own money into a deal and take the associated risk, | look at communities
where | see the community investing in itself. | am very selective as to where | will do a project and | am
asked all the time by various communities to look at deals and projects. More often than not, | turn them
down. One of the reasons | originally chose to work with the City of Nashua is because | heard about the
idea of a Performing Arts Center being established in Nashua’s downtown.

Fast forward to today, | understand there is a gap in the total project cost for the Performing Arts Center.
And relative to the project | am involved with on School Street and a concern has arisen about a loss of
parking spaces, | would be happy to pursue a School Street Project without the parking supplied on-site but
if Nashua would like to see parking on the first floor, | would be happy to incorporate this concept into the
proposal. It would be my request that you pay for these public parking spaces through a TIF and if you are
going to do a TIF you should incorporate the Performing Arts Center project into the TIF District, that way
this project can move forward as well and the future tax dollars of this project can help close the project
gap and can help the project pay the difference. Thank you for your time and | continue to look forward to
working with the City of Nashua on improving the downtown for everyone’s shared mutual benefit. Signed,

309

Sincerely, Peter Flotz”.
Chairman Dowd

Thank you, Director Cummings. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of R-20-071. | don’t
see anybody with their hands up on the list. Anyone who wants to speak, please speak up.

James Tobin_ I'd like to speak if | may, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Dowd

Yes, OK, go ahead.

Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 26

Mr. Tobin If everyone can hear me OK, my name is James Tobin | am the Director of Leasing at Brady
Sullivan Properties, large private equity develooment company headquartered in Manchester, but with a
large holding in Nashua and speaking specifically on behalf of Lofts 34 at 44 Franklin Street. The owners of
the company, Shane Brady and Arthur Sullivan who are publicly donors and have participated as part of
the Capital Campaign Fundraising efforts, wanted me to read a letter on their behalf absolutely in favor of
the project itself. So it starts out:

“To the City of Nashua, Board of Aldermen. As many of you know, Brady Sullivan Properties recently
rehabbed the Franklin Street Mill Building and converted it into a residential community as has been done
with several historic mill buildings throughout New England by our ownership group. Perhaps less known is
our continued acquisition of over a quarter of a million square feet of commercial office property int the
Gate City. These developments are a clear testament to our confidence and commitment to the
community in which the constituents here tonight live, work, play and shop. The decision to seize an
opportunity to acquire a sizeable share of both the commercial and residential market in the City came from
the belief in the people of Nashua and the sense of community. Today we firmly believe that the addition
of a Performing Arts Center in Nashua’s Historic Downtown would be another major step toward
neighborhood revitalization and the ever important civic attraction to the areas between Exit 1 and Exit 7
and 8. Nashua undoubtedly has the infrastructure to support the PAC, companies on a local level continue
to grow while Massachusetts based businesses have been begun to look more seriously at the benefits of
operating in tax free New Hampshire. Even those who work in Massachusetts based cities north of Boston
are settling residentially on this side of the border. Between Clocktower Place, Cog Mill, and our new
development on Franklin Street, the number of business people, shoppers and diners is increasing
exponentially year after year. The ripple effect of strategically implementing this type of attraction is
undeniable and would be universally beneficial for what is truly a Great American Downtown. As
committed members of the passionate Nashua Community, it is our sincere hope that the Board
recognizes this unique opportunity presented here in what is without question a paramount decision in the
history of the Gate City for the future of the Gate City.”

Thank you.
Chairman Dowd

Thank you, very much. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of this? Seeing and hearing
no one, | will move on to Testimony in Opposition. Is there anyone that would like to speak in Opposition.

TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION

Laura Colquhoun Laura Colquhoun.

Chairman Dowd

Can you give me your name and address please?

Ms. Colquhoun its Laura Colquhoun, at 30 Greenwood Drive.

Chairman Dowd

Ok.

Ms. Colquhoun | want the Mayor and the City Officials to know that this PAC is going to go down as the
biggest pink elephant in Nashua. And a lot of Nashua taxpayers do not want this project. | feel sorry for all
residents, especially the young couples because they will not be able to live in Nashua, because the

residential tax will go up so high that they will not be able their property tax. But apparently the Mayor and
the City Officials don’t care. As far as the garage, | think the builder is only coming to Nashua because

Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 27

they found that our Mayor would build a garage for them on the Nashua taxpayer’s dime. This clearly
shows that the Mayor and the City Officials don’t care what Nashua taxpayers actually want. $31 million
dollars for a PAC and $2,500,000.00 for a garage is not what we want. | oppose both projects. Thank you.

Chairman Dowd

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in opposition. | don’t see any one on the list that
has their hand up electronically. Is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition? Seeing and
hearing no one.

Bob Keating _| did, | rose my hand sorry Mr. — Alderman Dowd. | had my hand up, I’m not sure why it didn’t
appear.

Chairman Dowd

Because your picture ....

Bob Keating I’ve got raised hand up, so I’m not sure.

Chairman Dowd

We can’t see you. Go ahead, state your name and address for the record.

Bob Keating Alright, thank you. The name is Bob Keating and | am a member of Granite State Organizing
Project. And in a way | am actually speaking in support but the Aldermen should have received a petition
that was signed by 28 residents of Bronstein and we are very specifically linking the Bronstein project with
the School Street Project which is outlined in the petition. And specifically that we are not speaking of the
Performance Arts Funding and | certainly agree with what Alderman Cleaver said about separating out the
two functions. The $2.5 million dollars was not in any original proposal. It only came at a time when
abutters said, “Geez, we are concerned about the loss of the parking spaces’.

So we believe that the $2.5 million dollars would be better spent not to assist the private development but
in a variety of other ways including within affordable housing. It doesn’t make sense to be spending money
for people who can afford market rate housing when we have many people who cannot afford market rate
housing. If a development is built on the School Street Flats, it should be built so that families from
Bronstein could live there, which means there should be apartments at 3, 4 and 5 bedrooms in
development and the building should be done in terms of timing that it should be built first so that Bronstein
families could move directly from their homes. They could stay in their neighborhoods. There will be a
speaker, Faustin Chartley, who is a resident who went door to door to get signatures about this proposal
and | think he will speak eloquently about well what | think all of the Aldermen and | think anybody could
imagine what it’s like needing to move when it is not your choice. And for many people in Bronstein, that
has been a factor of life many times for them.

We think this is a wonderful opportunity for the City since they own the property to work with Nashua
Housing & Redevelopment Authority in a way that will make the easiest transition as possible for the
residents of Bronstein. We just think overall the City has spoken many, many times over many, many
years about the need for affordable housing and here’s an opportunity for us to do something. It’s ironic we
are speaking about parking because for Bronstein as many of you are aware, under the new proposed 216
unit one, there will be 100 less parking spaces there then would have normally been allocated and that was
a variance. And here we have the difference here that there was sufficient political voices to get an
influence to make some changes. But we just think that $2.5 million dollars is not a good idea and at least
from what | understand here and there actually is upfront costs because the property is going to be sold for
$900,000.00 and that’s the revenue that is going to be used initially to pay for the bond or the interest on
the bond. So we just think this is an opportunity for the Boards to get together with the residents and try to

UNFINISHED BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS
UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES

O-16-001
Endorsers: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane
Alderman Ken Siegel
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Sean M. McGuinness
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
INCREASING THE LOWEST PURCHASING LIMIT FOR SMALL PURCHASES FROM $1,000
TO $5,000
e Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee Recommends: Final Passage

O-16-002
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty
Alderman-at-Large Mark S. Cookson
Alderman-at-Large Michael B. O’Brien, Sr.
Alderman Tom Lopez
Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja
Alderman June M. Caron
Alderman Richard A. Dowd
Alderman Benjamin M. Clemons
INCREASING THE EXEMPTION FOR SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS
e Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee Recommends: Final Passage

NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS

R-16-007
Endorsers: Mayor Jim Donchess
Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
RELATIVE TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND APPROPRIATION OF $40,000 FROM THE STATE
OF NEW HAMPSHIRE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES INTO PUBLIC
HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES GRANT ACTIVITY “FY2016 AND FY2017 CLIMATE
AND HEALTH ADAPTATION PLAN (CHAP)”

R-16-008
Endorser: Mayor Jim Donchess
ADDING FOUR ADDITIONAL PARCELS TO THE “SPIT BROOK ROAD ECONOMIC
REVITALIZATION ZONE”

R-16-009
Endorser: Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire
APPROVING THE COST ITEMS OF A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE NASHUA POLICE COMMISSION AND THE NASHUA POLICE SUPERVISORS
ASSOCIATION FROM JULY 1, 2015 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2019 AND RELATED TRANSFERS

Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 28

do something to make things easier for the people who are making the greatest sacrifices for other people
to have houses. So that’s my remarks. Thank you.

Chairman Dowd

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in opposition to R-20-0717?
Mr. Keating Faustin was going to speak.

Chairman Dowd

Yes | see he has his hand up, name and complete address please?

Faustin Greetings everybody, my name is Faustin. I’m a resident here at Bronstein and | am here to
speak about the plan about destroying the Bronstein Building. | am originally from Rwanda and a refugee
camp. My parents they are from Congo. There was a genocide and everything and they had to move a lot,
too much and everything. So they heard that there’s a plan to destroy the building, that they are going to
(inaudible) everywhere and they are really concerned, they didn’t know what to do until one of the
members from GSOP whose name is Bob Keating, came and give us an opportunity to petition. And |
went on to help him go door to door asking everybody about the idea of the School Street Flats, that they
are going to build the five buildings, which probably would be a good idea to build it first so we can move
there and they would be close and there wouldn't be a lot of changes. The kids would stay in the same
schools, but everybody | told that idea was a good idea and everybody was so excited about it. And
accordingly to when we talked to everybody, it seemed like they were all concerned about moving
everywhere, moving all kinds of places. So this is why everyone, almost everybody signed the petition to
have if the Aldermen agrees which is we are here to ask you, they can the School Streets built first and we
stay there as they destroy this place and then rebuild it so whoever wants to come back shall return. Bob
told me about this opportunity to come and speak about it and see if we can ask, because we have to try
something and we finally get an opportunity that we can have a voice. We can have choice to come and
ask that perhaps somebody can agree with us and help us to move to the School Street. So pretty much
that’s all | have to say and thank you very much.

Chairman Dowd

Thank you Faustin for your input. Anyone else who would like to speak in opposition? Seeing and hearing
no one, | will move again to testimony in favor. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor?

TESTIMONY IN FAVOR - None

TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION — None

Chairman Dowd

Seeing and hearing no one, | will close the Public Hearing on R-20-071 and I'll open the Testimony for O-
20-030, Adopting a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Development District under RSA 162 K and NRO 295-
11, the School Street and a Tax Increment Financing Development Program and Financing Plan for the
new TIF. | believe that we’ve already testimony from the City on exactly what that covers. Unless there’s
an Aldermen that would like to get any more information on that particular subject rather than waiting for
the Budget Meeting in a couple minutes? Seeing none, | will look for testimony in favor of O-20-030.

O-20-030 - ADOPTING A TAX INCREMENT FINANCING (TIF) DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT UNDER
RSA 162-K AND NRO 295-11, THE “SCHOOL STREET TIF” AND A TAX INCREMENT
FINANCING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AND FINANCING PLAN FOR THE NEW TIF

Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 29

Testimony in Favor - None
Testimony in Opposition - None
Testimony in Favor - None

Testimony in Opposition - None

President Wilshire closed the public hearings on R-20-071 and O-20-030 at 8:47 p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY ALDERMAN O’BRIEN TO ADJOURN, BY ROLL CALL

A viva voce roll call was taken which resulted as follows:

Yea: Alderman O’Brien, Alderman Klee, Alderwoman Kelly, Alderman Dowd,
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Cleaver,
Alderman Laws, Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 15

Nay: 0

MOTION CARRIED

The special meeting was declared adjourned at 8:49 p.m.

Attest: Susan K. Lovering, City Clerk

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
OVERALL PROJECT STATUS UPDATE

September 28, 2020

Design
e The design is complete!
Over summer, the design was finished and 100% of Construction
Documents were transmitted to Harvey for cost estimates.

Cost Estimates
e Harvey has not just estimated, but has secured bids
Bids were due just last week and they are currently being evaluated and
refined.
e Total Project Cost is just under $25.0 million
e Weare on track to make our target budget of $15.8 million

Program
e A detailed op/ed was circulated by Pete Lally where he outlined his
commitment and wherewithal to continue to be the operator of the
Performing Arts Center. (Spectacle Management: https://www.spectacleshows.com/)
e Over the coming as we proceed with this project we will need to focus on
transitioning the current MOA into an operator’s agreement along with other
miscellaneous action steps.

Relative to the Fundraising.
Report by: Rich Lannan

Fundraising Update

The Capital Campaign Committee has been working diligently despite the
tough times we are in they are able to report:

Raised to Date: $1,523,00 64% of the goal raised!

Ready to Go Public Now! (to get to $2.5 million)

NMTC Update

e Mascoma Community Development has given us a verbal commitment of
approximately $2.8 million, which translates into approximately $2.5 million
e This commitment is conditioned upon closing the transaction this year.

Overall Financing Plan

Sources
Nashua Bond Proceeds $15.50
TIF Bond Proceeds $ 5.50
Local Capital Campaign $ 1.60 $4.0 million
New Market Tax Credit $ 2.40
$25.0 million
Sources

There are four main sources for financing this project at this time. City’s General Obligation Bond at
$15.5 million, a proposed TIF with a bond authorized at $5.5 million. A New Market Tax Credit at $2.4
million, and Local Private Fundraising at $1.6 million. This will total $25.0 million.