2002-02-20-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Selectmen's Room, Town Office Building, was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Galaitsis with members Chase, Davies, Darden, Kastorf and planning staff Garber and McCall- Taylor present. ARTICLES FOR2002 TOWN MEETING Article 31, Change Of Easement Use from Petroleum To fiber Optic, Mr. Thomas Fenn Mr. Fenn introduced Lynn Martine from C2C, a fiber optic company. C2C wants to make use of a permanent easement for oil and petroleum products that runs through Lexington for a fiber optic cable. However, in order to change the use of the easement they must obtain permission from the subservient properly owners, including the Town of Lexington, There will be little visible change as they can pull the wires two to three thousand feet. They will need to put in manholes for access along the easements. There would be approximately nine along Lowell and Maple Streets. After some discussion, on the motion of Mr. Davies, seconded by Mr. Harden, the Board voted 4 to 0, with Mr. Kastorf abstaining, to support the citizen's petition to change the use of the pipeline, as worded in Article 31 of the Town Warrant. Article 20, House Impact Review, Discussion of Threshold Formulas Mr. Garber reported that there is a memo on Article 20 to be distributed to the TMMA, the Board of Selectmen and standing committees. A story about mansionization control should be appearing in the Lexington Minuteman, There will be a mailing to the builders and realtors that got the initial mailing. The data packet is ready for the printers, with the possible addition of an update from this evening's meeting. Mr. Galaitsis had an interactive program capable of taking a suggested threshold formula and telling how many of the sample would be above and below the threshold. He wondered if the addition exemption was a yearly figure or a one -time entitlement. The Board discussed whether the exemption figure for additions should be increased. The Board wanted to seethe threshold line dropped so that it would go up from 20,000 square feet, not 30,000 square feet. Over the weekend, the members had gone out and looked at recently built houses and additions to see what kinds of issues were presented, The general feeling was that additions did not seem to be as out of context with the neighborhoods as did the new construction. There were some examples of sensitive development but others could have been improved by increased setbacks, landscaping, or a different house -shape for a particular lot. The members felt that since additions did not seem to be a major factor in mansionization that they could allow a larger exemption. By consensus, the Board decided to raise the addition exemption to 1,000 square feet. A PowerPoint presentation is being designed with new graphs. it will give a conceptual overview. Suggested additional slides were as follows: mechanics of how to add up one's gross floor area; something on the impact of massing; and, a comparison of two neighborhoods looking at a typical house, those built in the last two years, a threshold example and then all three together. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.. a: ara B. Chase, Clerk