2013 PB Rpt to ATM -Art 34 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Town of Lexington „ m PLANNING BOARD APk6:L F}4w Richard L. Canale,Chair 1625 Massachusetts Avenue Gregory Zurlo,Vice Chair Lexington,MA 02420 Michelle Ciccolo,Clerk Tel(781) 862-0500 Ext.245 Charles Hornig Facsimile(781)861-2748 Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti planningglexingtonma.gov PLANNING BOARD REPORT TO THE 2013 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING ARTICLE 34 AMENDMENT TO ZONING BYLAW .RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE .SUMMARY It has been over 30 years since a comprehensive review of the Zoning Bylaw (ZBL)has been undertaken. The current initiative has three broad objectives: 1. Resolve irregularities with state and case law; 2. Address internal inconsistencies within the Zoning Bylaw; and 3. Recodify and streamline the Zoning Bylaw to improve its readability. There have been several significant and binding court decisions over the last few years that require corrective action. The date-based standards in the current bylaw run afoul of the Uniformity Clause of the Zoning Act, a requirement that the rules be the same for each parcel in a zoning district. There have been decisions by the courts regarding pre-existing nonconforming properties which are incompatible with our rules. The courts have also struck down zoning that requires special permits for by-right subdivisions. Turning to the internal inconsistencies within the Bylaw, several sections of the current Bylaw (and Map)have been identified as no longer necessary. The RM district claims to be a multi- family district but does not allow multi-family development, and so no longer serves any purpose. The Wetland Protection District was established when the only other option to preserve wetlands was town acquisition of the wetlands and surrounding land area. The establishment of state and local wetland and stormwater bylaws makes this approach unnecessary as they provide better and stronger tools to protect our wetlands. Finally, we hope to improve the Bylaw's readability by reformatting it. This should help users of the Bylaw navigate the document, and in concert with the other changes, makes the document more understandable. These changes include the removal of reiterations and repetitions of procedures (most of which are being moved to the various Boards' regulations), removal of sections that simply restate state law, deletion of the "purpose of the districts" section (as the March 13, 2013