The Economic Development Advisory Board on Tuesday discussed the economic development plan presented at the Oct. 6 Select Board meeting, questioning whether its purpose was as a recommended report or a document to be enacted.

Camille Jonlin, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s senior economic development planner, presented this 96-page plan to Select Board that evening and to the Planning Board on Sept. 14. The document is the culmination of 14 months of effort, she explained, incorporating feedback gleaned from a public survey and meetings with stakeholders and focus groups.

At the Planning Board meeting, Jonlin said that in order for the town to hire an economic development director, the Planning Board needed to review it so it could advance to the Select Board for its consideration.

The study recommended business retention and set a goal to attract new commercial ventures. It focused on South Street as a target area for redevelopment and on attracting additional businesses to Main Street.

Chair Finley Perry noted that EDAB as a whole had not received the plan before the Select Board meeting. He said he retrieved it from the meeting packet that day and had spoken to members of the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce for their feedback. Perry praised the report for its depth and for some of its recommendations to invigorate Hopkinton’s commercial economy. He called it “a consultant report.”

Select Board vice chair Matthew Kizner took issue with the fact that EDAB had not received the document beforehand. He pointed out that EDAB serves in an advisory capacity to the Select Board.

A discussion ensued about whether the Select Board was supposed to vote to approve the entire document. The board held off on that vote. Instead, it voted 4-0-1 to authorize Town Manager Elaine Lazarus to begin the process of hiring an economic development director, with Kizner abstaining.

EDAB members told Perry they believed that his comments at the Select Board meeting were appropriate.

“I felt like it was unnecessarily complicated,” added member Sravan Krishna regarding the Select Board’s discussion.

Choice of wording questioned

After analyzing the document, Perry said he thought “it was an excellent report and a great place to move forward in developing an economic development program.”

Discussion revolved on whether the document was actually a “report” or a “plan.”

Planning Board liaison Brian Johnson noted that if it were a report, then Perry’s recommendation that the Select Board to accept it was valid.

“Accepting the report, as far as know, is not an agreement to do anything the report recommends,” he explained. “Because that’s a plan, and we don’t have one yet.”

Vice chair Jordan Thayer said he did not see it as a “plan of action with clear objectives, dates and deliverables.”

“Personally, I do find it confusing, asking the Select Board to approve everything in a 96-page document,” he added.

Thayer questioned whether it would be advisable for the town to wait on approving the document until after an economic development director is hired. This would allow that person to have some input into its execution.

He also said that an action plan could be separated out from the report for clarity.

“I wouldn’t expect any town to undertake 20 pages of actions,” said Perry, referring back to the document. “They can’t be any more than suggestions.”

“The semantics of ‘plan’ is causing some consternation,” observed Krishna. He suggested asking that it be renamed as a report.

After additional discussion, Perry asked Thayer and Johnson to be on a subcommittee that would develop EDAB’s response to the Select Board on the document. Perry also said he would submit some wording for the economic development director’s job description to Lazarus and the Human Resources Department for its consideration.

STM article on sidewalks supported

The board voted 4-0-1 to support Article 19’s Motion B at the Special Town Meeting on Oct. 26. It calls for creating a sidewalk master plan. Krishna abstained, noting that he believes all citizens’ petitions should go before Annual Town Meeting, not an STM.

Member Wilson St. Pierre noted that the last time a sidewalk master plan had been formed was in 2014.

“I think town connectivity and making anything walkable is important,” he said.

Thayer noted that Article 19 has two options contained within it. The first one mentioned appropriating money for the plan’s creation. The second one, which the board supported, assigned the town manager to work with the Department of Public Works and the town’s planning staff to create the scope of work and a cost estimate for creating the sidewalk master plan. The scope of work was the determining factor in the decision.