1968-02-15 - Laserfiche WebLink

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L 1 PLANNING BOARD HEARINGS February 15, 1968 The Lexington Planning Board held public hearings in Science Lecture Hall, Senior High School, on Thursday, February 15, 1968 on certain proposals to amend the Lexington Zoning By -Law. Present were Chairman Mrs. Riffin, members Fowle, Greeley and Worrell, Planning Director Zaleski and Secretary Mrs. Macomber; also approximately 60 citizens. The first hearing was called to order by the chairman at 7:35 p.m. who explained the procedure to be followed and stated that the purpose of the hearing was for information to assist the Board in making a recommenda- tion to the town meeting, so the reasons are important rather than the number of those in favor or against. She then read the first proposal with the exception of the geographical description and introduced Mr. Fowle, who presented the article. This calls for a rezoning of part of CH 1 commercial and hotel zone located on the southwesterly side of Bedford St. near Rte.128 partly to CM 10 light manufacturing and partly to CS, service and retail. This would extend the CM 1 district down Hartwell Ave. towards Bedford St. Inasmuch as the CM 1 use has been developed nicely and it seems desirable to continue it down Bedford St.; and to provide an area for service and trade use which would be of benefit to the town. Thus this area would provide CH and CS uses bordered by CM 1 use on three sides. This CH land would permit but one motel whereas if the CH use were developed to all motel as it is now zoned, there could be a large number built and this would not be an attrac- tive development in the board's opinion. CM 1 land lies in the rear of the CH land and this is inaccessible. at the present time. To rezone to CM 1 a portion of the CH 1 land next to Rte. 128 would make this back land accessible. Slides were shown depicting what is there now and the proposed uses. In the CM 1 zone we now have 70 acres in use, 68 used for town, two for residence, and 177 vacant. CM total now 317 acres, proposed to add 19 which would make a total of 336 acres. Presently in CH 1 there are two zones, one on Bedford St. and one on Marrett Rd., a total of 45.7 acres in which none are in use as a motel and 10 acres are in some other use (Davenport and Smith). There are 13 acres used by Lexington Motor Inn as a hotel. There is presently no land in CS use and it is proposed to put 13 acres in that use. Because the first three articles are *ore or less related, Mrs. Riffin read the next article which deals with making changes in setback require- ments so that on Bedford St. the setback for the three zones would all con- form so as to have an orderly arrangement. The requirements would read from the baseline of Bedford St. 175 ft. back to what would be the building line. The reason for referring to the baseline is that a widening of Bedford St. is foreseen in the future and to make reference to the sideline could be confus- ing when we widen Bedford St. by extending it in this direction between Hart- well Ave. and Rte. 128. It can't be said what will be involved until the traffic study now under way is received, but the range of our estimates for the widening of the street runs between 30-50 ft. to handle the anticipated traffic. The last section actually allows automotive repair shops and gaso- line service stations in CS district.