2022-10-12-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Lexington Planning Board Held on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, Virtual Meeting at 6:00 pm Present: Robert Peters, Chair; Michael Schanbacher, Vice-Chair; Melanie Thompson, Clerk; Robert Creech, and Charles Hornig. Also present were Abby McCabe, Planning Director; Sheila Page, Assistant Planning Director; Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development and, Kiruthika Ramakrishnan, Planning Coordinator. Robert Peters, Chair, called to order the meeting of the Lexington Planning Board on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 6:00 pm. For this meeting, the Planning Board is convening by video conference via Zoom. LexMedia is filming this meeting and will record it for future viewing. Detailed information for remote participation by the public may be found on the Planning Office web page. Mr. Peters conducted a roll call to ensure all members of the Planning Board and members of staff present could hear and be heard. Mr. Peters provided a summary of instructions for members of the public in attendance. It was further noted that materials for this meeting are available on the Town's NOVUS AGENDA dashboard. Board Administration Public Presentation of Draft Recommendations for the Transportation Management Overlay District (TMO-1) Hartwell Area District Plan Update Ms. Tien-Tien Chan gave a presentation to provide an update on the TMO-1 Hartwell Area Plan for the Transportation Management Overlay District. The focus of the presentation was on recommendations. Ms. Chan gave an overview of the study and its goals. Ms. Chan shared a map which showed the district boundaries on a map. Ms. Chan shared the first TMO District Plan that was developed by Lexington and stressed the need to update the plan based on current conditions and expectations and to reflect the continued growth and change in the district and in Metro Boston. Ms. Chan said that the purpose of the plan is to develop a clear and transparent policy and regulatory framework for the district that would reflect the Town’s goals. Ms. Chan shared the TMO-1 District Plan Update consisting of four Recommendations categorized as Regulatory, Programmatic/ Service, Infrastructure, and Administration. Ms. Chan listed the importance, current challenges and the recommendations for each category. For Regulatory updates, the key challenge was the applicability to only new developments and the recommendation was that all new buildings and major renovations should trigger TDM and the establishment of large scale and small scale TDM plans. The next challenge for regulatory updates was the inapplicability of the district rules to all major trip generators. The recommendation was to expand the borders of the district to include additional parcels. The other challenge faced was insufficient funding and staffing. The recommendation was to update the TMOD fee structure to be a source of sustainable funding and Ms. Chan shared a table detailing the recommendation. Mr. Hornig agreed with the recommendations and asked if the legal landscape has changed compared to 2010, when the TMO-1 District plan was first put together, in terms of mandating the fee. Ms. Chan said that she has to do some research to find the answer. Mr. Creech wanted clarity on the definition of development size. Mr. Creech also wanted to know how the TMOD fund can be expanded. Ms. Page said that the zoning has to be modified to clarify the use of that fund. Mr. Schanbacher had a question regarding the change in the trigger for participation, that would include renovations and if it would align