1984-03-15-CRC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr Sacco asked how the Town intends to police changes in usage that would require additional parking Mr Bowyer said that a change in use could conceivably require some sort of permit (electrical , building, etc ) and prior to issuing such a permit the Town would make sure that the business complied with the park- ing regulations If they could not meet the requirement then it would be treated as a zoning violation and they would not be issued the necessary permit(s) Mr Sacco asked if the Town would then have the capability to tell a landlord who he could or could not rent to Karsten Sorensen said that would be the case , as it is now in terms of restaurants Jacqui Bateson asked if these articles were , indeed, capping the Center. Mr Sorensen suggested that there is flexibility for a small amount of growth Bateson asked exactly how much(5%, 10%) and by what means this growth could be achieved (where is there available space to put parking on in order to meet the parking requirements?) Mr Bowyer said that there are some locations in Town that have excess parking which could be leased out , long- term, to potential developers Mr Sorensen said there are houses on Wallis Court that if torn down could be turned into parking lots It was pointed out that this was tried by the developer of Lexington Square who failed to obtain Historic District Commission approval Mrs Battin asked what would happen if unbridled growth was allowed Tim Wege suggested that the Chamber is not in favor of unbridled growth He indicated that the Chamber is advocating maintaining the present ratios that now exist in terms of building to lot density and shared responsibility for parking. Mrs Nichols stated that the intent of the zoning articles was to address Town Meeting's request that the Planning Board create zoning regulations to assure that there be no future net loss of parking Bateson asked what an effective cap would mean to Lexington Center Would we be forcing small retailers out by driving up rents because of limiting supply? Would-that-pave the way for more Per- sonal Service firms and high-priced specialty stores which would be contrary to the desires of Lexington residents? Bateson pointed out that caps are rare and questioned why the Town was resorting to such a measure , haveall the implications been explored? Dave Wells asked about the replacement of older buildings Joe Trani asked about second floor retail space Mr Bowyer point- ed out that retail space could be located on second floors with a lesser requirement than office space . Mr Bowyer said that older buildings could be torn down and replaced to their exact size provided that there was no change in use There was some confusion as to the article really meant that a building could be intentionally destroyed and still be replaced to exact size Some committee mem- bers said they had interpeted this differently It was suggested that the word destroy be clarified Mr Bowyer told the committee that the key to expanding