2011-10-05-PB-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 5, 2011 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board, held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Richard Canale with members Charles Hornig, Wendy Manz, Greg Zurlo and planning staff Maryann McCall-Taylor and Aaron Henry. Michelle Ciccolo was absent *********************************ZONING BYLAW***************************** Tree Bylaw: The Board discussed the recent rezoning passed by Town Meeting regarding the tree bylaw. It attempted to provide some clarification of what the Planning Board’s jurisdiction is in dealing with subdivisions, but still requires some interpretation of how it pertains to new and original lot lines. Staff reviewed recent approvals to see what affect it may have and to provide applicants with a clearer expectation of how the tree bylaw would be applied by the Board. Ms. McCall-Taylor suggested that conventional subdivisions would have the tree bylaw applied to the new lot lines and the special permit residential developments (SPRD) would use the original lot lines, which would make the SPRD more attractive to applicants. Board Comments:  The tree bylaw would not allow waivers for conventional subdivisions, but could be allowed as appropriate for SPRD.  The Tree Committee’s purpose of applying the new bylaws to subdivisions was in case future Boards were not as tree friendly as the current Board.  The purpose would be to give the applicants more predictability and allow them to weigh the pros and cons of building a conventional subdivision as opposed to a SPRD.  The tree bylaw should be used as a guideline.  Applicants may have to go through several calculations for mitigation of the trees. Mr. Henry said this may make conventional subdivision more site-sensitive to avoid mitigation and would produce a better product either way.