2002-03-06-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF MARCH b, 2002 The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the CIarke Middle School auditorium, 17 Stedman Road, Lexington, was called to order at 7:45 p.m. by Chairman Galaitsis with members, Chase, Davies, Kastorf and planning staff Garber, McCall- Taylor, and Tap present. Mr. Harden was absent due to illness. There were approximately 300 people in the audience. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ARTICLES FOR 2002 TOWN MEETING Article 20, Zoning By -Law, House Impact Review, Public Hearing Mr. Galaitsis opened the hearing at 7:45. He welcomed the audience, saying that it was good to see so much interest in the proposed house impact review zoning amendment. He asked for a show of hands by people who were there due to concern about additions to existing houses. A significant number of hands went up. Mr. Galaitsis explained that the proposed amendment would not affect additions to houses in existence before June 1, 2002. He invited everyone to an additional hearing on this same proposed amendment on March 20, before giving the floor to Planning Director Garber. Mr. Garber described the Planning Board's continuing efforts to gather and analyze data about Lexington's existing and newly built housing stock. He said the Board has made a commitment to make changes to the version of the proposed by -law that was published in the Town Warrant. He also reiterated that the amendment would not affect additions to existing houses. Mr. Garber and Assistant Director McCall- Taylor made a detailed PowerPoint presentation using Lexington housing data to illustrate the effect of the house impact review amendment if it is adopted. He said the intent was to "capture" only the most extreme cases. Looking at current housing stock, only about 2.8 percent would be above the threshold. (A printed version of the PowerPoint show and other data were available to the audience as handouts at this hearing.) Mr. Garber described the history of the impetus behind the development of this by -law proposal. It arose out of resident concern revealed during the Selectmen's Vision 2020 process and current comprehensive plan focus groups and working sessions. Residents believe that community character and diversity are being lost when moderately sized houses and many trees are removed to make way for large houses. He explained some of the mechanisms surrounding towns are using and why some of those work and some do not. What the Planning Board is proposing in Article 20, House impact Review, is a system based on Lexington- specific data, using the concept of gross floor area, data that can be found in the Assessors database. It does not limit house size per se but subjects to site plan review new houses that would be above defined thresholds of size. Mr. Garber acknowledged the consternation of the development community over when the by -law would take effect if passed and the perceived negative effects of the review process on development cost and time. Mr. Galaitsis thanked the staff for the effort they have put into developing the housing data. He invited comment from public officials, then from other members of the audience. Mr. Daniel Busa, town meeting member, precinct 1, said that he thinks that the term gross floor area (GFA) is misleading. He believes that living area is a more familiar concept. He also said that he has heard from a number of residents who feel excluded from the Planning Board's process vis a vis Article 20. Mr. Garber explained that GFA is being used because using living area in the article would likely trigger an adverse attorney general ruling.