HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-09-PB-min
PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF JANUARY 9, 2013
A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board, held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room,
Town Office Building was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Richard Canale with
members Charles Hornig, and Michelle Ciccolo, Greg Zurlo and planning staff Maryann McCall-
Taylor, Aaron Henry, and Lori Kaufman present. Ms. Manz joined the meeting in session.
**********************ZONING BYLAWS (ZBL) REWRITE ************************
Public workshop:
Zoning Bylaw:
Mr. Canale said there will be a public hearing on February 13, 2013 in the Selectmen’s Meeting
Room at 7:30 p.m. The reason for the Zoning Bylaw rewrite was to resolve possible conflict with
state and case law, address the internal inconsistencies, and recodify and streamline to improve
the readability.
Mr. Hornig explained that the general changes to the Zoning Bylaw was to reorganize and
simplify to make it easier to find the parts the reader needs and included the following changes:
Unnecessary content removed such as explanations, repetitive items, and state laws;
Detailed procedural rules delegated to the officials or boards involved;
All definitions moved to section ten in a definition section; and
Some of the text rewritten to simplify and provide clarity for people to use in real life.
Mr. Mark Bobrowski said the chief reforms in recodification on bylaws included the following:
Changes to non-conforming houses and uses;
As of right (conventional) subdivisions could not be put on special permit anymore;
The bylaw changed to chapter format with charts and graphs that would help readers;
and
Dates could no longer be used to determine how grandfathered lots were treated.
Audience Comments:
Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of January 9, 2013
Why was the special permit removed for food served between the hours of 11:00 p.m.
and 7:00 a.m. The information will be forwarded to the Board.
There is no reference to vacant non-conforming lots. Mark Bobrowski said this would be
defaulting back to State law regarding the vacant grandfathered lot law exemption.
Has there been any communication with Zoning Board of Appeals to discuss possible
changes to be made to their regulations. Maryann McCall-Taylor said they have been in
touch with David George and Gary Rhodes and they will bring it to Zoning Board of
Appeals.
The Table of Uses is still very confusing.
Are home occupations subject to the Zoning Bylaw or the Noise Bylaw? Home
occupations are subject to the current Noise Bylaw.
Were there any changes to height regulations of structures? The height rules remained
the same for now, but the definition to average natural grade was changed for
clarification.
Table 2 is not clear on what would apply in section 8.4.1
Ms. Manz joined the meeting in progress.
The Board discussed what document will be used for the public hearing. Ms. McCall-Taylor said
a redline version of the current document with an errata sheet will be used at public hearing if
there is a lot of changes.
*************************PLANNING BOARD SCHEDULE************************
The Planning Board will meet on January 23 for the Rangeway public hearing and East Street
sketch plan. February 13 will be the public hearing on the Zoning Bylaws and February 27 will be
the public information meeting on the development regulations. Town Meeting begins March 18,
2013.
***********************************MINUTES*********************************
On a motion duly made and seconded. It was voted, 5-0, to accept the minutes of December 5,
2012, as submitted.
Minutes for the Meeting of January 9, 2013 Page 3
On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 8:00 p.m.
The meeting was recorded by Lexmedia.
The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Department:
Final proposed draft of the Zoning Bylaw (105 pages).
Michelle Ciccolo, Clerk