2001-04-11-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2001 The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Carpenter Room of the Museum of Our National Heritage, was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Chairman Galaitsis with members Bridge - Denzak, Chase, Davies, Harden, Planning Director Garber, and Assistant Planner McCall- Taylor present. ****** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** MINUTES ******* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Review of Minutes The Board postponed review of the minutes for the meetings of Apri12 and April 4, 2001 until the next meeting. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ARTICLES FOR 2001 TOWN MEETING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Article 29 Codification Mr. Garber felt that there was a lot of misunderstanding at the last session of Town Meeting. The guidance that he had received was that codification was basically a large -scale reformatting and technical correction project and that a public process was not encouraged or really feasible. He reassured the Board that staff review had been quite exhaustive and any changes had been reviewed and flagged if they seemed substantial. He did not feel such a word by word review could be done by a group. Mr. Davies said that he just would have liked to have known about it ahead of time. Ms. McCall- Taylor apologized for not bringing it to the attention of the board earlier. Article 34, Tree By -Law Ms. McCall - Taylor said that Mr. Harden had expressed his willingness to endorse the tree by -law at the end of the last meeting and she asked the Board to retake their vote. On the motion of Ms. Bridge - Denzak, seconded by Ms. Chase, the Board voted 5 -0 to endorse the tree by -law. RECOMMENDATIONS ON APPLICATIONS TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS Ms. Chase recommended that the Planning Board have no comment on the following applications, scheduled to be heard on April 12, 2 00 1: 927 -945 Waltham Street — Renewal of special permit to continue to operate a nursery and roadside stand. • 10 Woburn Street — Special Permit to operate a seasonal ice cream stand on the grounds of the Gingerbread Construction Company. • 17 Scott Road —Variance to construct an open portico over existing front steps with a front yard setback of approximately 21 feet. The Board did review the application for a special permit with site plan review at 475 Bedford Street, the Lexington Club. The SPS is to replace outdoor tennis courts with an outdoor swimming pool, hard courts and lawn facility, and to construct additional parking spaces. Ms. Bridge- Denzak did not participate in this discussion as the landscape architect for the project is a friend and former co- worker. Ms. Chase gave a brief summary of the issues. The Board expressed concerns that they wanted conveyed to the Zoning Board of Appeals. These included looking at the parking requirements for the site, whether the proposal meets current standards — was it adequate, or was it excessive? Mr. Garber said that the main planning issue in this application is the traffic at the intersection of Bedford Street and Hartwell Avenue. Given that the intersection is "broken ", the ZBA should look carefully at this request. This facility does not lend itself to traffic mitigation measures. The members felt that a swimming pool could generate a lot more traffic than a few tennis courts, as more people can use the facilities at the same tune. In addition, Mr. Davies was concerned about the side yard setbacks. The plans show a structure within the required side setback and he wanted to make sure this was allowed and not an oversight, using the wrong setback figure. Mr. Galaitsis left the meeting at this point and Ms. Bridge - Denzak assumed the chair.