Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-08-15-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF AUGUST 15, 2007 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, Town Office Building, and called to order at 7:34 p.m. by Chairman Hornig with members Galaitsis, Canale and planning staff McCall-Taylor, Henry and Kaufman present. Mr. Zurlo and Ms. Manz were absent. ************************************* MINUTES ************************************** Review of Minutes: The Board reviewed the corrected minutes for the meeting of June 6, 2007. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted unanimously, 3-0, to approve the minutes as amended. The Board deferred discussion of the minutes of July 11, 2007 until the meeting of August 22, 2007 in order to discuss members’ edits when all the member are present. ************************* ADMINISTRATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT***************** SUBDIVISION OF LAND 11 Suzanne Road, Endorsement of Definitive Plans: The Board unanimously voted to endorse the previously approved plans for the Reduced Frontage Subdivision. Walnut Street, Lexington Hills, Endorsement of Definitive Plans: The Board unanimously voted to endorse the previously approved plans for the Conventional Subdivision. ******************************* ZONING INITIATIVES********************************* Special Residential Development Changes: Mr. Canale said he was in the process of formulating whether or not to submit a reduced frontage subdivision plan for his property at 29 Shade Street within the next six months. The discussion of changes may affect him either positively or negatively so he is excusing himself from discussing and voting on this topic. He will advise the Board if anything changes. Since there is a lack of a quorum the Board will hold an informal discussion regarding the changes proposed on the Special Residential Development Bylaw with Mr. Scanlan. Traffic: Mr. Canale made a presentation and handed out the MAPC toolkit on Parking and Transportation Demand Management (TDM). The Traffic Mitigation Group (TMG) was going to look at it and with the economic development activities and make recommendations. They are looking at both TDM and parking rather then just considering TDM. The current bylaws only consider traffic capacity as the main way to Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of August 15, 2007 look at mitigation of impacts. The Boards and Town Meeting are reluctant to require developers to fund improvements on the roads to bring them up to adequate capacity. Ms. McCall-Taylor said the staff would offer support to the TMG on this particular issue, but TMG needs to do their homework. They need to advise what support and input they need and since the policy is tied to the FAR, which requires much more work and we probably should have the Planning Board handle it. Mr. Canale said that’s acceptable to him. The Bike and Transportation Advisory Committees need to figure out what to use the monies for if made available. Mr. Canale said there is a perceived parking problem in the center, which won’t be resolved by zoning, but should be handled by regulations. Mr. Hornig said the proponents don’t want to wait for us to come up with a solution they want economic development now. Mr. Galaitsis said that it is easy to build and mandate more, but there will be consequences later. Mr. Galaitsis is opposed to doing it. Mr. Hornig said think about traffic in the short and long term for discussion in September. Mr. Canale asked are we meeting with EDTF? Ms. McCall-Taylor said next week and the Board of Selectmen have been invited as well. Mr. Hornig said the purpose is to decide what to have the consultant look at. Mr. Canale said data is needed to correlate and show Lexington is unfriendly especially compared to other towns and what is approved here. There is too much posturing by certain individuals. Do we have a history of commercial development of applications being turned down? Ms. McCall-Taylor said she would check into it. Mr. Galaitsis said the last time we got the developers view and only Mr. Adam Sacks had an opposing point. We need to invite other groups and get different points of view. Mr. Canale said we need strategies and tactics to bring up revenue. Special Residential Development: The Board recessed for an informal discussion with the consultant since there was a lack of a quorum. The discussion will come before the Board again in October. Stormwater Management Bylaw: Mr. Henry asked if there were any questions, comments or red flags on his Stormwater Bylaw handout, Mr. Hornig has already submitted good comments. Mr. Canale asked how it would work and would it impact on all subdivisions and how would this procedurally work? Mr. Henry said the best-case scenario would be the stormwater management authority would review all plans and the Planning Board would rely on that authority. The plans would come through pre-approved by that authority. Mr. Hornig said that legally the subdivision special permit could not require stormwater utility approval first. Mr. Henry said it would be routed to the appropriate committee or board for approval. They would have to be sure that the standards are consistent across the board so they need to comply with the state regulations regarding stormwater management policies, which should be coming out in the fall. Ms. McCall-Taylor said engineering is hoping to have someone review the utilities and keep them consistent with the Conservation Commission guidelines. Mr. Hornig said the best practice would be to Minutes for the Meeting of August 15, 2007 Page 3 submit the plans to the Board and stormwater utilities review group at the same time. Mr. Henry asked if the Planning Board is willing to change the regulations. Mr. Hornig said it would need to be kept consistent with other guidelines. Mr. Canale said not to have it in the special permit. Ms. McCall-Taylor said it should go outside the special permit and wants the stormwater review done by one group. Mr. Henry said stormwater management is no longer just a footnote and needs to be addressed now. Mr. Galaitsis asked who would be taking this initiative. Mr. Henry said that we are now carrying the ball for now, but later on the Conservation Commission and Engineering will be taking it over. Ms. McCall- Taylor said the Planning Board would not be sponsoring the bylaw, the Selectmen would be and once we submit the proposal to them they would make their changes. Mr. Canale said we would need alternatives to the impervious surface definitions. He also asked if the Conservation Commission has it’s own definition? Ms. McCall-Taylor said they use runoff coefficient. Mr. Henry said they could add the keywords runoff coefficient into the proposed bylaw and land cover is no longer going to be considered pervious. Mr. Canale questioned who would help with site design? Ms. McCall-Taylor said the regulations would direct that. The impervious surface definition changes addressing stormwater management would be in the zoning bylaws. *********************************** STAFF REPORTS********************************* Part-time Planner Hired: Christine McVay was hired as the permanent part-time planner and will be joining our staff on September 10, 2007. ****************************** BOARD MEMBER REPORTS**************************** Mr. Canale said there would be Walkable Communities Workshops held in Lexington. The discussion will be limited to the Lexington Center and what makes a walkable community. Mr. Hornig said to defer the discussion on Lot 1. Mr. Canale asked if a letter went out in support of Lot 1 legislation. He will forward an e-mail he received to Ms. McCall-Taylor and if no letter was sent to please send one. Mr. Canale said John Frey, chair of the Tree Committee, was not aware that the landscape plan on Shade Street had changed. The Tree Committee looked at the proposed cutting in the ROW and said not to cut one specific tree in the Row if they are not moving the adjacent utility pole. Several Tree Committee members suggested that a dollar amount be set aside for Shade Street planting. Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of August 15, 2007 The Fitchburg Line Rail Committee meeting was today to discuss $150,000,000 to do improvements. Mr. Hornig said that IBM the third largest employer in Lexington is moving out of Lexington in 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 9:38 p.m. Richard Canale, Acting Clerk