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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF MAY 5, 2008
A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Planning Office, Room G-1, Town
Office Building, and called to order at 6:35 p.m. by Chairman Hornig with members Canale and Manz
and planning staff McCall-Taylor present. Mr. Galaitsis and Mr. Zurlo joined the meeting in progress.
************************ ARTICLES FOR 2008 TOWN MEETING**************************
Mr. Hornig reported that Article 58 will be indefinitely postponed so Article 59 will be up first for
discussion and then Article 60 will be indefinitely postponed. Regarding Article 9q, he asked if the Town
would receive a historic preservation restriction. Ms. Manz said that one had not been requested by the
Community Preservation Committee.
Town Meeting member John Rosenberg had sent out an email indicating that he would ask that Article 53
be reconsidered. Mr. Hornig said the original vote of the Planning Board had been 5 to 0 recommending
against the article and he wanted to know if anyone wanted a reconsideration of the Board’s vote.
Mr. Larry Smith was present and he said that he had two Hartwell Avenue property owners available to
speak about development they would contemplate if the FAR was increased. He said there would be lost
opportunities to redevelop properties if the FAR increase was not put in place at this Town Meeting. He
urged members to reconsider their vote.
Mr. Galaitsis and Mr. Zurlo joined the meeting.
Mr. Smith outlined the process developers have to go through and how some of it could even be started
prior to the Attorney General’s review of the bylaw.
Mr. Zurlo said that at the Chamber event at Max Stein’s, Mr. Rick DeAngelis had said expanded
development could not go forward until the traffic problems were solved. Mr. Hornig said development
could happen if they are willing to mitigate traffic at the intersections as the Zoning By-law requires. Mr.
Smith affirmed that developers were prepared to comply with the current requirements of the traffic
bylaw if the FAR was increased. There was further discussion as to what order things should occur and
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Minutes for the Meeting of April 30, 2008
whether opportunities would be lost. Board members agreed they did not want to plan parcel by parcel,
but wanted to put forth a comprehensive plan with a vision for the area. Ms. Manz felt the message was
key and that Town Meeting had indicated a willingness to expand development potential and would
probably do so at next year’s Town Meeting. Mr. Smith said the only message property owners got was
that the articles had failed.
Mr. Mehr interjected that he would like to amend a commercial zoning article to require that power lines
to new developments be placed underground. He said that there will be 110’ of new wires across Waltham
Street to supply the bank being built. Mr. Hornig noted that this would be out of scope and that new
development is required to place lines on the site underground. He did not feel that zoning could require
undergrounding outside of the site.
Members were asked if they wanted to take a position on the reconsideration of Article 53 now, or during
Town Meeting. Mr. Zurlo said he would prefer to hear the discussion at Town Meeting first.
Mr. Hornig distributed a list of Hartwell Avenue zoning topics for the members to review for discussion
at Wednesday’s meeting. There was also a draft map outlining parcels that may be considered for
rezoning. Mr. Mehr asked the Board to keep in mind the potential for siting gas turbines in the area.
********************************** BOARD REPORTS**********************************
Mr. Canale distributed an invitation to the May 28 MetroFuture Strategy Meeting.
The Board recessed at 7:25 p.m. to reconvene at the town meeting in Cary Auditorium.
On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m.
Wendy Manz, Clerk