Despite the concerns they expressed previously about the size of the committee formed to evaluate options regarding the Temple Shalom property, the Planning Board named two more residents to the group last Thursday night. The reason for adding the members was to address the concern that “people of color” were underrepresented according to Planning Board Chair Peter Jackson.

The committee is now composed of 12 members. Two from Temple Shalom, 6 from the neighborhood, and 4 residents at large.

During Thursday’s session the board heard from Laura Cahill, a real estate agent in town. The board is in the process of collecting information and developing and vetting a variety of scenarios for development of the Temple Shalom site.

According to Cahill, the market in Milton is “red hot” for condos and single family homes priced $500K and below. The higher above $500K, the harder a sell it is. “A $1 million dollar home would be a problem.” Cahill voiced support for a commercial site with a CVS and Trader Joe’s as co-tenants. She felt a 70 unit condo development would be a burden to the area. She pointed out that it is not like Milton Landing where there was sufficient space to absorb that number of units. The area around Temple Shalom is already fairly congested.

Representatives from Coffman Realty, the Temple’s development partner, continued to advocate for consideration of commercial development and pointed to a couple of examples of recent developments, one in Pembroke and one in Centerville, which possess an architecture that would work well in this setting.

Most of the discussion centered around various options for residential units whether homes or condos. The amount that the Temple reports it needs is between $3.5 – $4 million.  Joe Sloane, one of the neighbors on the appointed committee, questioned if they were only to review scenarios that met that figure. Jackson, the board chair, stated that was not the case. However, Buddy Packer, one of the Temple Shalom congregants on the committee, said, “We are not going to sell for something that does not allow us to exist.”

The board is entertaining around 14 different scenarios. Coffman has committed to provide greater detail, but they need to have the options narrowed before they can do that.

To establish a vetting process, the board divided the committee into three groups and assigned them a set of scenarios to review. Packer pointed out that since there were only two members on the committee from Temple Shalom, there would not be temple representation in all groups. Jackson had them count off by threes to establish the groups. Mr. Whiteside, a board member, expressed concern that the financial figures for the various scenarios all came from the Coffman group.

Mr. Coffman, one of the principals at Coffman Realty, became a bit frustrated, saying, “This process does not work.”

The Planning Board will meet this Thurday, July 23, @ 6:30 at Milton Town Hall.