2008-06-25-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes for the Meeting of June 25, 2008 Page 5 Ms. Manz asked what guidance was the Board giving? Mr. Zurlo said they had not presented enough information for the Board to provide useful guidance. The applicant was asked for models and sketches, which the Board had not received to date. Mr. Hornig said he did not want the unit size to go up. Mr. Zurlo said in order to promote diverse unit types in town the Board members had to be advocates for density. He too did not wish to see the unit size increase. Mr. Galaitsis said the zoning by-law stated what the maximum was, but anything less could be approved. Mr. Hornig said that the Board was not giving good guidance to the applicant. Ms. Manz said maybe the Board needed more concrete renderings, perhaps smaller units rather than fewer units would be an option. Mr. Henry said what’s left for the definitive stage if the Board asked for a full set of plans at this level? Leave something for the definitive stage. The bylaw was just revised trying to truncate the process and now the same problem was starting again. Mr. Hornig said if there were issues, the Board needed to be specific, otherwise they would be going in the wrong direction. The Board should state what is needed and leave the rest to the applicant. Mr. Galaitsis said the site could not support five units at the current size with the driveway and parking. The recommendation was to go to half the size or half as many units. Mr. Hornig said that would mean approximately 7,000 square feet out of the development, or a 25% reduction. Mr. Zurlo said that if the applicant built a mass model the applicant would be able to see the opportunities which would result in a better project overall. The Board would need to see more before moving forward. Mr. Hornig asked if the Board could approve this project with this amount of square footage if it were well designed. Mr. Zurlo said approval needs to be tied to the mass of the building and whether the structures fit into the character of the neighborhood. Square footage informs us of one aspect of the project. There should be as much information as early as possible so to allow the applicant to redirect his efforts before too much is invested Mr. Canale said he agreed with Mr. Zurlo about being fair to the applicant, but he could not say at this stage that 2,000 square feet fewer or clustering would make the project acceptable.