2001-01-03-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF JANUARY 3, 2001 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 Colman with members Chase, Davies, Galaitsis, Planning Director Garber, and Assistant Planner McCall - Taylor present. Ms. Bridge - Denzak was absent. Members of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) present were Larry Belvin, Tom De Noto, Elaine Dratch, Marilyn Fenollosa, Tom Harden, Fred Johnson, Karl Kastorf, Jeanne Krieger, Wendy Manz, and Joe Marino. Also present were Phil Herr, consultant to the Planning Board, Robert Cohen, candidate for the Planning Board, and Susan Fisher from the local paper. * * * * * * * * * * ** ADMINISTRATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS * * * * * * * * * * * ** SUBDIVISION OF LAND 41 Lincoln Street Definitive Subdivision Plan, Ronald Lopez, Endorse Plans The Planning Board signed plans for the approved 41 Lincoln Street Definitive Subdivision Plan. These are the correct version of the plans that they voted to endorse and sign at their meeting of November 29, 2000. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Meeting with Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee All in attendance introduced themselves and Mr. Garber gave a brief background on Philip Herr, who is the consultant hired to assist in the drafting of the comprehensive plan. Organizational Options — Mr. Herr gave a brief description of his view of the comprehensive planning process. He stated that the most common method is to hire someone to produce a product that a planning board reacts to. The other extreme is having a group of volunteers pull together information for a professional staff. He proposes neither model. Instead he will draw on the work of the 2020 group with the planning staff doing some "heavy lifting ". Material will be prepared in conjunction with residents. It will be important to . make connections across topics or planning elements. For this reason Mr. Herr wants to designate resource people rather than sub - groups. Mr. Garber said that topics provide something to coalesce around and would utilize people's interests. Mr. Colman quoted Steven Covey who has said that one must plan with the end in mind. Mr. Colman expects to produce a non - traditional plan, as well as one that will actually be used. Mr. Herr agreed and said that his view of what a good comprehensive plan is a statement of intentions rather than a description of the way things are or will be. He warned that if a plan is put together with an inappropriate process there is nothing that can be done to save it. Mr. Garber stated that he thought of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) as a quick sounding board for policy proposals. This will be done through e -mail, quick meetings and some deeper research. Mr. Garber asked that the CPAC members let the planners know where their interests lie and the staff would form constant sounding boards. Mr. Colman characterized Mr. Herr's role as a guide taking staff and CPAC somewhere they've never gone before. Ideas Blitz —Mr. Garber explained that this portion of the meeting was designed to be a very loose, quick churning of the ground with more ideas and objectives identified than could be explored in a year. The intent of this discussion is less technical analysis than it is a clarification of what people want and how these objectives can be achieved. Mr. Colman cited mansionization as an example. He said atraditional plan would say the town discourages mansionization, cite some figures and stop there. He wants strategies and tools. Among ideas brought forward were parking issues, mansionization, housing affordability and sustainability. The parking structure can serve as a catalyst for a discussion of what people really want the center to be. In the field of housing, where affordability has been seen as important but is no longer in the forefront, the planning process might explore how deep the support goes. With natural resources, sustainability is a cross cutting theme. Mr. Herr said that a document will be produced