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Minutes for the Meeting of March 5, 2008 Page 3 <br /> <br />not wait for the additional building. There was also a letter received from Jane Current an abutter that <br />expressing her concerns. <br /> <br />Mr. Zurlo said there were a number of attributes that are improvements but he wondered about the issue <br />of non-conforming use, such as the lack of a loading area. <br /> <br />Mr. Hornig said there were many nonconforming situations and if they wanted to expand they would be <br />required to correct them or get waivers from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Galaitsis said he wanted <br />to explore the possibility of the two pieces being considered separately. He had difficulty with converting <br />the piece in the RS district with the residential home and wanted it left to serve as a buffer to the <br />residential units. The house could be rented instead of losing it as an affordable unit. Mr. Hornig said it <br />would serve no advantage to the applicant at that point. The buffer would eat up the small piece of land <br />that would be rezoned. <br /> <br />Mr. Canale said the retail areas that serve a great part of Town need to be vibrant and the clustering of <br />uses needs to be efficient. He wondered if this rezoning would be more efficient and help with the total <br />operation in it’s service to the Town. There is no documentation to substantiate the need for more retail at <br />this location, from the Chamber of Commerce or elsewhere. While it was nice to see the commitments of <br />the proposed improvement, the concern would be if rezoning at this point offered a benefit to the Town. <br /> <br />Ms. Manz said the improvements were good and if the rezoning was turned down what would be the <br />incentive for the applicant to improve the site? The need for a better sidewalk on Woburn Street, the <br />marginal increase in tax revenue to the Town, and removing the possibility of a 40-foot high home being <br />built and instead having a 25 foot commercial building with buffers were all positive benefits. <br /> <br />Mr. Hornig said that people were saying this house is an affordable unit; do we know the rent amount? <br />Mr. Hornig said he felt this proposal was reasonable. Technically the piece of property that expanded into <br />the residential zone was an isolated piece of land and the benefit of rezoning would be that this site would <br />create larger commercial site that would be closer to conformity with loading zones, aisles and parking <br />sizes at a minimal cost to the Town. <br /> <br />Mr. Zurlo said more information would be needed in order to support the change in zoning. He would <br /> <br />