1924-Annual Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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TOWN OF LEXINGTON 99 Heves that a vast maiority of the townspeople desire pro- tection of the character that can only be afforded by a zon- ing plan. and the iloard presents the following plan in the confident belief that it will meet the wishes of the towns- people. Should the present plan be adopted the town is not thereby forever committed to the particular zoning therein recommended and defined,; if conditions in later years indicate the nerd of altering the zones in any respect, such alterations may be made by a two-thirds vote of any town meeting called for the purpose. When the growth and needs of the town make a change obvious, it can be secured without difficulty. Under the proposed zoning plan existing buildingswhether residences or stores, will not be disturbed even though some of then now stand, or are used, in areas where such build- ings or uses would not be permitted after adoption of the zoning plan. Ent if any such non -conforming building should hz destroyed by fire or otherwise, or if its present non -conforming use were to be terminated, it may not he rebuilt nor its use renewed except in conformity with the zoning pian. Ur.der the proposed plan, one family houses may be built anywhere in the town upon any street in any zone provided they comply with the present building Jaws of the town. Stores and other strictly business buildings, with some few exceptions, may hereafter be built only within the so-called business zones which are of limited extent and definitely located. The ordinary "three decker" type of wooden apart- ment house is already prohibited by our •present building laws; apartment houses of three or more floors may, under our pr.7sent building laws, only be built of fireproof con- struction with provision for light and ventilation so as to make it certain that only substantial and well protected at that height may be built in the town. 1f desired such apartments may be combined with stores, in the business zones, Two family houses of the superposed or double deck type with one apartment directly over the other are dis- couraged by the proposed zoning plan --in fact, they are permitted in such areas only as necessary to supply the reasonable prospective demand for such apartments. This is because there appears to be a very general desire on the 100 ANNIIXL REPORT part of our townspeople to exclude double deck apartment:5 as not desirable in any residential section and further and principally because there arc sound economic reasons for discouraging the building of such apartments. Double deck two family houses are probably the ]east expensive to build of any permissible type of apartment; the tax return from them is therefore the lowest and is ut- terly insufficient to constitute their reasonable and proper share of the cdst of educating the two families they accom- modate and of providing water, sewer, fire and police pro- tection, etc., for them. The tendency is to place such double deck, two family houses too close together and upon Tots that are too small, consequently the districts given over to this type of house are usually of the most congested sort and carry the highest and most expensive insurance rates. No town can afford to permit an extensive double deck apartment house development, unless it has also lar=e manu- facturing plants providing concentrated high valuations that will assist in carrying the tax burden. But Lexington is not a manufacturing town and never can be one because it is too far from Foston, is without water power and has no adequate through line railway facilities. Lexington, therefore. cannot permit an extensive apartment house development because to do so would bring in practically double the population with no corresponding addition to the valuation for carrying that population. To the extent of its ability to absorb the two family houses without putting too heavy a burden upon the town, the proposed zoning plan makes what is believed to be adequate provision in areas of limited extent near the busi- ness zones and where the present development would seem to make then least objectionable. There is a type of two family house that is free from most of the objections above noted with respect to the double deck type. Such is the type where the two apart- ments are placed side by side—each having its ground (door and cellar. Such apartments are' here defined as double houses. They are generally considered to be the hest type of apartment houses and are largely used in other parts of the country and abroad. Because they cost more and cover more ground, they are not likely to be placed so near to one another and do not permit of such overcrowding of given areas as do the double deck type. 'Thus they do not to so great an extent