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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-12-17-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF DECEMBER 17, 2008 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, Town Office Building 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. *****************************SUBDIVISION ADMINISTRATION************************* Lexington Gardens, 91 & 93 Hancock Street, Sketch Plan: Present were Joe Marino from Homes Development, John Esserian, the applicant, and Rick Waitt from Meridian Associates. Mr. Waitt explained that they were considering a Balanced Housing Development (BHD). It would have 20 lots with substantial open space next to the school and one looped road in and out. Creating a walking path to Chiesa Farms would be difficult since the wetlands would interfere with access, but they would be willing to work with the Town on that project. Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting. Mr. Waitt said the rotary was town-owned and they would not want to touch that. Mr. Joe Marino said there would be three and four bedroom units of which five would be 2,700 square feet gross floor area (GFA) or less, five would be 3,500 square feet GFA or less, and ten would be unregulated but would average 4,800 square feet GFA. The living areas would be 2,200 to 4,300 square feet. Porous pavement would be used for natural drainage. Over a third of the site, more than four acres, would be open space including 3.4 acres of upland. The space would be adjacent to the school and contain the Victory Garden. Board Comments: Mr. Canale asked for clarification if they meant that they just didn’t want to physically touch the rotary, or they didn’t want to make financial contributions to upgrade it. Mr. Marino said the economic value for either a conventional or BHD would be equal but financial contributions would be an additional expense that would have them lean towards a conventional plan. Mr. Canale said that either the site sensitive development (SSD) or BHD would be preferred over a conventional plan. Mr. Zurlo joined the meeting. Ms. Manz was pleased with the BHD and wanted it limited to the 20 units. Ms. Manz asked what natural drainage meant. Mr. Waitt said the porous drives and road allowed for natural drainage patterns and there would be no closed drainage system for the BHD, but a conventional plan would be different. Ms. Manz asked about putting a sidewalk along Hancock Street. Mr. Marino said they could consider it. Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of December 17, 2008 Mr. Galaitsis said the BHD allowed nine more units then the conventional plan would allow so make one an affordable 40B to prevent backsliding with affordable units. Mr. Marino said they could not because of the increased costs for that development. Mr. Galaitsis said all the units were large and would be occupied by families with children and suggested that they make ten smaller units to guarantee empty nesters and young professionals would occupy them and keep the number of children lower. Mr. Marino said that it would decrease the economic value of the development and they could not consider it. Mr. Galaitsis said they would need to make 10 smaller units in three structures to get his approval and he did favor the SSD over a conventional development. Mr. Zurlo asked staff what kind of density bonus could be given for a public benefit development (PBD). Mr. Henry said there would be a 20% increase in GFA for 10% affordable units. The PBD provisions in the zoning bylaw could only be used for affordable housing, nothing else. Mr. Zurlo asked if they could be asked to fix an existing problem. Ms. McCall-Taylor said in the PBD the only public benefit recognized as qualifying for an increase in density was affordable units. Mr. Zurlo asked if they could be required to do a traffic study. Ms. McCall-Taylor said there were no provisions in the bylaw for that. Mr. Zurlo felt that the Victory Garden needed to be more integrated in the overall arrangement and the curb cuts should be realigned to not be directly across the street from the abutters for protection from headlights. Mr. Hornig said the road was intended to be a subdivision street so why was the right of way (ROW) reduced from 50 feet to 36 feet. Mr. Waitt said the rest of the ROW would be a grass shoulder and the 50- foot ROW would impinge on the open space. Mr. Hornig asked if he moved the strip back would it matter. Mr. Waitt said it would impact on marketability. Mr. Hornig asked if it would impact the access to open space? Mr. Waitt said not access, but the path to the farm would be physically impossible. Mr. Hornig said many letters had been received from abutters and were placed in the file. Audience comments and questions: ?? This is a historically important district. Are the zoning provisions being waived? Who is the developer? What was in it for the Town/neighbors? ?? Was there any degree of freedom to incorporate the Diamond School Road? Could they create a more traffic friendly design? Minutes for the Meeting of December 17, 2008 Page 3 ?? Very supportive of the BHD here and an affordable housing advocate. Modify curb cut as close to the lots as possible. Board Comments: Mr. Canale was concerned with the impacts. He wanted the Board to allow the public to weigh in and suggested the Board continue the sketch plan to allow more of the public to weigh in. Mr. Hornig was fairly happy with the BHD, the public access, the walking path to the school, and the Victory Garden. The problems mentioned would still exist even if they did a conventional plan. Mr. Zurlo said he suggested they move forward with the BHD and get more information over time. Ms. Manz said they should move to a preliminary plan for the BHD, but wanted to include the sidewalk on Hancock Street and the pathways discussed. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 3-2 (Mr. Canale and Mr. Galaitsis opposed), to continue on to the preliminary plan for a BHD on 91-93 Hancock Street, known as Lexington Gardens. Lexington Hills, Release of Covenant and Acceptance of Surety: The developer has requested the release for 17 of the 19 lots within the Lexington Hills subdivision. The total dollar amount of the remaining work is approximately $350,000 as per the Estimated Cost to Construct Form. The force main has been installed, but the pump station has not been completed and the developer would offer a cash bond in lieu until the completion of the sewer pump station. If the Board was disinclined to release 17 lots, the applicant would like the release of lots one and two and the Board could select the other three lots to release. The Board determined that lots one, two, seven, eight and nine would be released. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to deny the release for 17 of the 19 lots but to release the five lots numbered one, two, seven, eight and nine, and accept surety in the amount of $41,250 to cover the remaining work. ***********************************TOWN MEETING********************************** Lexington Technology Park – Patriot Partners: Mr. Canale recused himself from the Board’s consideration as he is an abutter within 300 feet. He stated any statements made by him would be as a private citizen. Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of December 17, 2008 Bob Buckley, Steve Rice and Joe Zink were before the Board to informally advise them before filing a warrant article for the approval of a higher floor area ration (FAR) at the Lexington Technology Park site. Mr. Rice said they would be asking for an increase in the FAR and height for some buildings but would keep within the building envelopes established. They would like to enlarge the #200 building and possibly add a building. There were currently no specific plans. They were just requesting an increase in capacity if needed. The current FAR is .15 and they would be asking to increase it to .24 FAR. Board Concerns: ?? Would this be for this Town Meeting? There was concern whether the Board has time to review this proposal before the spring Town Meeting, especially with the work they are doing on Hartwell Avenue and the Beal Companies’ proposal. ?? This would be a Special Town Meeting at the end of May to ease the schedule, and a public hearing could take place in April during Town Meeting. ?? A PSDUP would be needed, since it is under a CD zone. Mr. Buckley said that they were looking at the 100-200 parcel and the 500 parcel and it should be consistent with the PSDUP requirements. ?? Mr. Rice said it would be 200,000 net square feet. Mr. Norman Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen suggested that this would be brought to a Special Town Meeting and he would urge the Beal Companies to go to Special Town Meeting as well. This would allow work on Hartwell Avenue to be completed. Audience Comments: ?? Would the .24 FAR be for the building or whole development? Mr. Buckley responded it was for the whole development. ?? You are requesting a 60% increase before the traffic improvements promised with the TIF were completed. Mr. Buckley said that they had put up the monies for mitigation and would address the additional traffic. ?? There needs to be something done about the signs along the road. Mr. Buckey said they had reduced the number of signs, but this was still an active construction site. ?? It was suggested that the developer improve the entrance and egress and possibly add an overpass to get traffic off the local roads, then they might get a different reception. Minutes for the Meeting of December 17, 2008 Page 5 Mr. Hornig thanked the presenters and said they should come back before the Board with a draft before they file. Hartwell Avenue Area Study; Warrant Articles: FAR: Mr. Canale made a recommendation to make Lexington’s method of calculating the FAR more compliant with other communities to encourage more efficient buildings. Mr. Zurlo did not agree that it would make building more efficient and did not see the value of fine-tuning the way Lexington determined the FAR. Mr. Hornig said it had been requested by others to make it more uniform. Mr. Zurlo said the EDTF did discuss the Cecil Group’s material regarding the FAR and while they said the definition was unique it was not cited as a significant issue. Mr. Galaitsis said this was the first time he was seeing this; where did the new FAR figures come from and why were the parking controls removed? Permitted Uses: Mr. Hornig said it was too broad and the Board would need to be more specific for changes to the uses table. Traffic: Ms. McCall-Taylor said creating an alternative traffic overlay district would be a way to get monies into traffic mitigation funds legally. Mr. Henry said impact fees were a gray area and this would allow options when submitting this plan to the Attorney General’s Office. Mr. Canale preferred keeping the .15 FAR and requiring anything greater to comply with the required mitigations established. Mr. Hornig said that would require a special permit for everything. Mr. Galaitsis said the bottom line would be if the changes addressed the present and future traffic problems in the nearby residential area. Mr. Zurlo said it was important to remove the trip wire of requiring level of service (LOS) D and instead redefine what traffic means. Get the intersections improved, but it should include other modalities. Mr. Galaitsis said Town Meeting would be voting without a clear plan established. Ms. McCall-Taylor said there would be only an outline. Mr. Canale said that the Board would have more specific things to talk about. ?? How would transit fit into this? ?? The total cost under assumed build out. ?? What percentage landowners would contribute. Page 6 Minutes for the Meeting of December 17, 2008 ?? The Board of Selectmen would need to weigh in on how much the Town would contribute/match. Mr. Hornig said he was trying to set up a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen in January. Citizen’s Article: Ms. Dawn McKenna would be bringing an article to Town Meeting to amend the existing bylaw in § 135.73 to require monetary contributions to Lexpress for the next 50 years as a mandatory traffic demand mitigation measure. Mr. Canale said it should be concurrent with the special permit. There were four stabilization accounts and there should be a separate one for Lexpress purposes. Ms. McCall-Taylor said she would clarify the level of detail required for placeholders on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant due on December 29, 2008. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to place titles only as placeholders for the warrant articles. *****************PLANNING BOARD ORGANIZATION SCHEDULE*********************** The Board discussed the upcoming schedule through March 4, 2009. ********************************BOARD REPORTS************************************ Ms. Manz said the Chamber of Commerce would not be introducing any alternative articles. They were pleased with the progress the Planning Board was making. Mr. Zurlo said the EDAC met today to discuss aviation restrictions and expansion at the base. They also discussed the FAR definition as it relates to wetlands. Mr. Canale said there would be a HATS meeting tomorrow night. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 11:05 p.m. Wendy Manz, Clerk