Planning Board minutes 1989-08-14

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Minutes for the Meeting of August 14, 1989 4 The situation today is that the area is in the CRS, retail shopping district, which does not allow office use on the street level floor; offices may not occupy more than 50% of the building; and the size of an office for one company may not be more than 2,500 sq.ft. of floor area. The transition period after which the nonconforming status of any building ends is 18 months after the issuance of the building permit, and after this any construction must comply with the today's require- ments of the Zoning By-Law. The Board agreed that the intent in 1986 was to build an office build- ing, and they felt that office use of the street level floor and the limit of offices not occupying more than 50% of the building are grandfathered, because that was the intent of the original building permit, but that the other dimensional controls should still apply, since it was the developer's choice to not develop the interior of the building at the time of construction. On the motion of Mr. Sorensen, seconded by Mr. Williams, it was voted 4- 0 to recommend: 1) that both office use on the street floor and the limiting to 50% the amount of office use allowed in the building be considered by the Board of Appeals to be grandfathered and therefore be allowed, but that the present By-Law provisions regulating the size of the offices should apply; and 2) to recommend the variance be denied since grounds for a variance, as defined by the Zoning Act, have not been demonstrated. 57 Bedford Street, Lumberyard Realty Trust, SP, in accordance with Sec. 6.3.3 of the Zoning By-Lay to allow office uses to the extent permitted by By-Law at the time the building permit was issued. The Board agreed this special permit, dealing with the substitution of nonconforming uses did not apply since the use had not been established. 55 Hill Street, Lexington Golf Club, variance, from 25 foot setback requirement of Sec. 11.6.2 of the Zoning By-Law to allow an extension to the parking area to be constructed with a line of hemlock trees as the only setback from the right-of-way of 55 Hill Street. The Board noted that from the information submitted, it appears there is sufficient room to comply with the Zoning By-Law, without intruding into the 25 foot setback. On the motion of Mr. Sorensen, seconded by Mr. Williams, it was voted unanimously to recommend that the variance be denied. 55 Hill Street, Lexington Golf Club, SP, in accordance with Sec. 10.6.1 of the Zoning By-Law to modify a 25 foot transition area screening requirement to allow an extension to the golf club parking area to be constructed with a line of hemlock trees as the only setback from the right-of-way of 55 Hill Street. On the motion of Mr. Sorensen, seconded by Mr. Williams, it was voted unanimously to recommend the special permit be denied for the same reason given above. 211 Mass. Avenue, Sally Loh, SP, to operate a restaurant and take-out food service in the CRS district. The Board did not object to the use of this building as a restaurant. However, they questioned whether there was room for 60 seats, as applied for, when the original special permit allowed only 20 seats.