2008-11-19-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF NOVEMBER 19, 2008 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, Town Office Building was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Chairman Hornig with members Zurlo, Manz, Galaitsis and Canale and planning staff McCall-Taylor, Henry and Kaufman present. *****JOINT MEETING WITH THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE***** Discussion on the Hartwell Avenue Study Area: The following members of the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) were present: Larry Smith, Joe Zink, George Burnell, Peter Kelley, Sheryl Mahoney, John McWeeney, Jerry Michelson, Rick DeAngelis and Sigmar Tullmann as well as Economic Development Officer Susan Yanofsky and Town Manager Carl Valente. Mr. McWeeney said that the EDAC wanted to work together with the Planning Board to derive the best solutions to increase Lexington’s commercial revenue. Mr. Hornig said the Planning Board was looking for a plan to increase commercial development on Hartwell Avenue while balancing the Town’s interests. There will be a rollout on December 10 for feedback, a January/February review of the draft bylaws, a public hearing in March and then the article at Town Meeting in late April. The plan would include relaxing dimensional controls, the use of site plan review for the run of the mill development and special permit for extraordinary plans, a traffic mitigation plan (which the Board would be discussing tonight) and the development of district wide plans. Such a plan would determine improvement costs and how to fund them, and have every developer contribute to the solution. Mr. McWeeney asked if the site plan review (SPR) process required a majority or super majority vote? Mr. Hornig said SPR approval required a majority vote. The SPR was not discretionary, but reasonable conditions could be imposed. Increased FAR could trigger the requirement for a special permit. Mr. Canale said there were better ways to capture value for uses and impacts rather then FAR. Mr. Hornig said the FAR was there because there was a sense that development should be capped and it would fairly allocate the by-right buildability. Mr. Galaitsis said that FAR was a necessary trigger. Ms. Yanofsky said that the trigger of a certain amount of square footage and usage that the Board wanted was a concern because some properties were small and could not add more square footage. Mr. Smith said he felt the FAR would be the right trigger and because of the wetlands being excluded an FAR of