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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-01-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 1, 2008 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board in Cary Auditorium, Cary Memorial Hall was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Hornig with members Manz and Canale and planning staff McCall- Taylor, Henry and Kaufman present. Mr. Zurlo and Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting in progress. ********************************* MINUTES****************************************** Review of Minutes: The Board reviewed and corrected the minutes for September 10, 2008. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 3-0, to approve the minutes of September 10, 2008 as amended. *****************************APPROVAL NOT REQUIRED****************************** 93 Marrett Road at Tricorne –It was duly moved, seconded and voted to endorse the plan entitled “Plan of Land in Lexington, MA (Middlesex County)”, dated September 23, 2008, prepared and certified by Kevin E. Danahy, Professional Land Surveyor, Beverly, MA, with Form A/2008-6, submitted by the Sheldon Corporation, applicant, as it does not require approval under the Subdivision Control Law. Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting. The Board members signed the plan. **************************SUBDIVISION ADMINISITRATION*************************** 341 Marrett Road, request for withdrawal: The applicant had submitted a request to withdraw without prejudice the current application for a special permit with site plan review (SPS) for a ten-unit special permit residential development on this property. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4-0, to accept the withdrawal of the current application without prejudice for a SPS on a ten-unit special permit residential development on 341 Marrett Road. **************************HARTWELL AVENUE AREA STUDY************************** Westview Neighbors: Mr. Hornig gave a brief explanation of the work done to date. Mr. Zurlo joined the meeting. Audience comments: Concerns of the abutters were as follows: ?? Concerned about loosening restrictions in the CD district; should be a process that would go Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of October 1, 2008 through Town Meeting; ?? Less concerned about the FAR then who is coming into the area; ?? Westview is used as a bypass and traffic is a huge issue; ?? Very dangerous for people who work there as well as residents; ?? Maguire and Hartwell Avenue intersection has long waits and no lights; ?? Sidewalks and lighting at night would be helpful; ?? Stop Westview from being a pass through; ?? There is going to be more activity and traffic at Hanscom with the arrival of the Massachusetts National Guard; ?? Noise during construction; ?? Footing the bill for betterments on Hartwell Avenue; and ?? Should go to Town Meeting on individual basis for any development on Maguire Road, don’t want more flexibility. Mr. Hornig said the process will go on and there will be time for public input. There is a meeting on Saturday, October 4, 2008 to discuss the Vision 2020 on Economic development, which the residents of the area should attend. **************************SUBDIVISION ADMINISTRATION*************************** Shade Street modifications: The developer of Journey’s End, Mr. Todd Cataldo had requested Certificates of Occupancy on the southern campus, however the General Condition #11 of the SPS requires all landscape be complete before Certificates of Occupancy can be issued. The recommendation of planning staff is General Condition # 11 be revised to allow individual units to get Certificates of Occupancy. This boilerplate condition was really for developments with individual lots and doesn’t work when there is only one lot. Mr. Henry said two units would be held as surety to guarantee the landscape completion. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to revise the General Condition #11 in the SPS for Journey’s End to allow Certificates of Occupancy to be issued for units prior to the completion of landscaping for the entire site. Two units are to be held until the landscape in complete. *****************************SPECIAL TOWN MEETING******************************* Beal Company, Three Ledgemont : Peter Nichols, Senior Vice President of the Beal Company, Attorney Ed Grant, landscape architect Gary Larson, architect Joe Gloski, and Charlie Kalauskas from BSC were present. Mr. Nichols said there was nothing new added since the filing. Minutes for the Meeting of October 1, 2008 Page 3 Board Comments: ?? Have you gone before Conservation? There is a hearing on 10/7. ?? Consider no left turn on to the site from Spring Street from 7-9 a.m. ?? Traffic was of interest, consider doing some testing. Would a traffic officer make any difference? ?? Does anyone look at the traffic reports that are issued? Yes. ?? Do you really anticipate needing all those parking spaces that exceed the projected vehicle trips? One way to limit vehicle trips would be to reduce capacity for vehicle parking. ?? When collecting data on impact try to assess the level of service with various mitigations. ?? Consider a garage structure that could allow unneeded parking spaces to be converted to office space. ?? What would be on the top floor? Penthouse and some skylights for atrium, stairwells and elevator would be within the penthouse. ?? Would like a site visit using balloons at corners for views from Woodcliffe and Monroe Road. ?? Want an explanation of site distance analysis based on speeds on Spring Street and Hayden Avenue and when were counts done? Early June. Is there any other TDM as backup? The Town is planning a sidewalk along Spring Street; at the intersection of Hayden Avenue and Spring Street there may possibly be a traffic officer or a light. ?? Have you fulfilled your commitment to the previous TDM requirements including having a traffic coordinator? They responded that they had a traffic coordinator. ?? Like to see no access to and from the residential area on Spring Street. (No left in, no right out) ?? The Cecil report talked about an increase in intensity on Hartwell Avenue. If Town gave it to Beal why not give it to all and would it be sustainable? ?? Rezoning the entire parcel not just Ledgemont three so it should all be included in the application. ?? Need to be clear on dimensional standards for the whole site and if it was unclear in the PSDUP it would go back to the bylaw of specific year for the other buildings. ?? Environmental aesthetics - these buildings would have many windows and would be directly across from residential neighborhood. There were no measures in the PSDUP to show minimizing the internal light spill on to the residents. This is a LEEDS certified building and must relate to its environment. There would down lights, interior room lights would be on sensors and use ambient light levels. ?? It would be wise to work with the residents and neighborhoods. Are there any plans for that? There was a meeting for immediate abutters the previous Thursday evening that had very poor Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of October 1, 2008 turnout. ?? Not sure why you are exempting all the landscape standards - revisit this issue. ?? Traffic calming measures for Spring Street, Shade Street and Concord Avenue. ?? Why not just make required frontage zero? ?? Dimensional controls match the development data exactly so they have no leeway without having to come back to Town Meeting. ?? Height of 57 feet is calculated by the ZBL. Consider all three structures. You might want some wiggle room. ?? There would be a 90-foot setback from the property edge; what about the 200 foot setback from Old Shade Street? There would be a 150-foot setback from the property line and then the wetlands, Conservation restriction and walking easement. ?? If there were changes made later in the CRO Zone developer could not just pick and choose the changes. CD is not an overlay so any future changes in the CRO zone would not affect this property. ?? Have we heard from engineering yet regarding pumping station capacity? Ms. McCall-Taylor said they had a verbal that it was fine, but nothing official. ?? Would there be any wireless cell phone towers? No, only repeater antennae requested by the fire department. ?? The Planning Board report from the 2003 Town Meeting suggested everything north of the driveway be part of the buffer and now there is building there. ?? The roof structures should be more defined. Mr. Hornig said at the public hearing on October 22 would be a time for the public input and tonight they heard the input from the Board. **************************HARTWELL AVENUE AREA STUDY************************** October 4 Meeting Scenarios: Mr. Henry discussed the three scenarios for the presentation on the rezoning of Hartwell Avenue reflecting no changes, modest increase and substantial increases. Board comments: ?? Remove the site coverage from presentation; ?? Add some general square footage and dimensions of lots; ?? Remove FAR(L) and just use FAR; Minutes for the Meeting of October 1, 2008 Page 5 ?? Traffic improvements and range of improvements tie to intersections on the map; ?? Should be speaking in abstract regarding density mass, amount of parking, traffic and tax revenue, infrastructure required with potential costs and aesthetics; ?? Level OK at first glance, need to give something visually, get birds eye view from the building; ?? Not looking for specifics just giving parameters; do not imply the Board has settled on specific numbers; ?? Give abutters an idea of tax revenue and quality of life; ?? Round numbers to two digits; and ?? Three points to incorporate form the Cecil report, probability to change, parking patterns and infrastructure costs; mitigation versus infrastructure. ***********************PLANNING BOARD ORGANIZATION, SCHEDULE***************** Saturday October 4 Vision 2020 meeting in the Library, October 15 Design Advisory Committee and sketch plans for Marrett Road, October 22 public hearing for the Beal Company. The Board should email staff for availability for a Saturday morning site visit between October and November 17 for Ledgemont. Ms. McCall-Taylor wrote a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals regarding Avalon at Lexington Hills and the building a sidewalk on Concord Avenue. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:50 p.m. Wendy Manz, Clerk