November 7, 2001

MEMORANDUM

TO: Joe Reardon, President MBA Directors

FROM: Working Group on Middlesex Future Design (Mason, Dave Wiecking, Carl Swanson, Mark Cyr, (and Joe Wolf, consulting)

RE: Meeting with Andropogon Associates

On November 2^nd our group (excepting Mark Cyr) met with Carol Franklin and Teresa Durken, principals in the landscape architectural/environmental planning firm of Andropogon Associates.

Our concensus: A recommendation that the MBA board invite a proposal letter from Andropogon Associates to prepare, in collaboration with the working group, a feasibility study which identifies important issues affecting the Middlesex landscape, near-term quality of life for residents, and long-term preservation of values determined by an inventory of property owners to be of greatest interest. Depending on the responses to the feasibility study, which will explain the possible consequences and costs of action or inaction on major issues, the board would then decide whether to proceed with further studies and action planning. The aim of this work is to develop a design for the future of Middlesex that represents the desires and values shared by most owners.

In general, the women impressed us as highly professional planners guided by the view that landscape development necessarily involves a host of interdependent factors extending from local environment to storm water run-off, new home building in Middlesex, surrounding real estate development, dune and beach movements, commercial property, security issues, and covenants. They seemed to be as sensitive to landscape and plants (for example, the toxic affects of using railroad ties for planters and the value and vulnerability of Middlesex’s unique pine forest) as they are to the legal strength of covenants to accomplish the larger purposes of the MBA.

They emphasized the importance of informing property owners fully, in advance, of a proposed study. They advised us to take an inventory of owners’ concerns as an essential guide to the study. They volunteered to design an appropriate, survey to encourage response. We agreed on the need to develop the facts about MBA: number of year-round residents, absentee landlords, part-time residents, owners of new, more expensive properties, etc. as the basis for interpreting a survey.

We talked about the need to revisit the covenants in the course of study to ask if they are adequate to control both landscape and architectural actions and to reshape the commercial area over the next ten years.

We discussed the importance of qualified legal advice.

The overall effect of our discussion served to emphasize the importance of being aware that changes are underway both within Middlesex and all around it. Walling off the community to keep things the way they were is not an option. By examining and understanding the issues, we will have an opportunity to make better informed decisions that affect the value of our property and the future enjoyment of Middlesex.