2000-04-12-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF APRIL 12, 2000 The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Selectmen's Room Town Office Building, was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Chairman Davies with members Bridge - Denzak, Colman, Galaitsis, Director of Comprehensive Planning Bowyer, Planning Director Garber and Assistant Planner McCall- Taylor present. Mr. Merrill was absent. SUBDIVISION OF LAND 46 Hayes Lane Definitive Subdivision Plan, Peter Johnson, PUBLIC HEARING Mr. Davies opened the hearing at 7:07 p.m. Present for this item were Gary Larson, Larson Associates, Iandscape architect, and an audience of 15 interested persons. Mr. Larson presented plans for the proposed two -lot subdivision. He showed that the plan complies with wetlands regulations and said there would be minor widening of the portion of Hayes Lane that provides frontage for the site. In response to Mr. Colman's question about considering a cluster layout for the site, Mr. Larson answered that a cluster subdivision would require three dwelling units and that this could be a more intense use of the site. Other questions and comments from the Board had to do with the street widening. Several residents spoke against the road widening. They said that Hayes Lane is used as a cut - through route and widening will allow that traffic to go faster through the neighborhood, creating a greater hazard. These neighbors are not opposed to the proposed house. One resident said that illegal fill was dumped at the site in previous years. Mr. Davies acknowledged the comments from the audience regarding the widening of the street. He closed the hearing at 8:04 p.m. Rowland Avenue Definitive Subdivision Plan, Woodhaven Realty Trust, Continuation of Public Hearing Mr. Davies opened the hearing at 8 :05 p.m. Frederick DeAngelis was present representing the applicant, Barbara Palant. There were eighteen people in the audience. Mr. DeAngelis said that the applicant requests a 120 -day extension of the time in which the Board has to act on the definitive plan dated December 1, 1999. Mr. Davies read a prepared statement, as follows: The Planning Board takes action on this case, after 14 months, with a degree of frustration. During this time period, the Board has had to focus largely on issues of lot title and property history, deeds, plot plans, vintage paper rights-of-way, old Board Of Appeals records and the like. Such material is not the domain of this or any other Planning Board in the Commonwealth. Such data is not required in anyone's subdivision regulations as a submission requirement. When it dons its permitting hat, the stock in trade of this and all Planning Boards is made up of subdivision control, special permits and rezoning petitions, and nothing else. The Board is charged with evaluating subdivision elements such as paved travelways, curbing, sewer and water mains, catch basins, street trees, lot lines, sidewalks and related improvements. Where a special permit is involved (which is not the case with the Rowland Avenue application), the members ponder such matters as the layout of houses on a site, the natural features of a piece of property, landscaping and screening, handling stormwater runoff on the lot, and similar considerations. The proper and statutory role for the Planning Board is to deal with these subdivision and site plan matters. The Board's role is emphatically not to act as a local land court and to spend months trying to figure out an irregular flow of detailed and fragmented property information. The Board's job is to review design features within the public infrastructure and on private land; it is not our job to assemble real estate crossword puzzles that in some instances might go back more than a century. To compound the inappropriateness of the Board acting in this role, it has been necessary to make town counsel Palmer and Dodge our partner in this venture for the past eight months. Combined with other so-