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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-11-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2013 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board, held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Charles Hornig with members Richard Canale, Greg Zurlo, Michelle Ciccolo, and Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti and planning staff Maryann McCall- Taylor, Aaron Henry, and Lori Kaufman present. ***************************ZONING BYLAW ADMINISTRATION****************** PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING Ms. McCall-Taylor gave a power point presentation on the Medical Marijuana zoning amendment. Town Meeting passed a moratorium on use until July 1, 2014, to allow time for the Planning Board to recommend an appropriate location for use and the Board of Selectmen and Board of Health to determine if the State’s Department of Health regulations were sufficient or additional ones would be needed. What was presented tonight was a strawman proposal and based on feedback from the public the Board would draw up an actual proposed zoning change. Audience Comments:  Could all three elements be split between Towns? Yes, but all three elements must be permitted within each municipality.  This use should be allowed anywhere a pharmacy would be permitted there were more dangerous elements out there then this.  The CB district should be excluded, based on the State’s buffering regulations. Each municipality could provide its own regulations or use the State’s.  The evolution of zoning and licensing for operational details should be kept as open as practical and the Planning Board should recommend the location based on the operational details.  The School Committee has not met regarding this proposal; what would be the timeline? This would be going forward at the Spring Town Meeting.  Why couldn’t the Town ban this use? Other Towns have tried to ban the use, which was vetoed by the Attorney General’s Office. The State would decide which municipality would get the license and there would be no local opt out allowed.  Manny Ferro, Captain of Operations for the Lexington Police Department, reached out to other police departments in the west and mid west states that currently allowed this use and said there were lots of issues with assaults, vandalism and rips offs. There were rip Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of September 11, 2013 offs locally for $20 with pizza delivery what would happen with a $4,000 delivery of marijuana? The Police Department recommended to only consider the use in a manufacturing zone (CM Zone), which would be better equipped for security and monitoring those situations as opposed to the busy Lexington Center.  Restricting the use to a CM Zone would not be good for distribution since accessibility would be restrictive to most of those who might need to get to the dispensary through public transportation.  How would eligibility to allow home grown product be determined? It would be based on financial hardship and would be determined by the State whether or not to allow product to be home grown.  There was agreement with the Police Captain to restrict this use to the CM district to see how it worked out. If an expansion to other locations was to be considered the Town could revisit the matter at a later time.  The dispensary should be in a more accessible location like the CB District. Board Comments:  Was there an unsafe condition presently with pharmacies and liquor stores that exist? Captain Ferro said there was an existing problem now and the addition of this use could increase the potential for more trouble and the Board should take a conservative approach to start and expand down the road if need be.  This should be permitted in the CM District, but there were differences of opinion for permitting this use to be allowed in the CRS or CB District.  This should be placed where liquor stores and pharmacies were permitted.  The heavily targeted audience would be people that have debilitating diseases and disabilities and would require accessibility by public transportation and there was no real service on Hartwell Avenue for access to a dispensary.  What would happen with State buffers if the Town permitted the use in retail locations? The Town would waive the State buffer regulations. Was there any information about marijuana and alcohol use in the underage category? Still on the fence on this issue for now. There was a youth risk behavior survey that would be made available to the Board.  It was recommended that everyone read the State regulations for more details.  Now that the public process has been started the Board would hope to receive more input from the public. Minutes for the Meeting of September 11, 2013 Page 3 ************************DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION********************* Review of the Proposed Amendments to the Development Regulations: Ms. McCall-Taylor met with Mr. Bobrowski regarding what the Board discussed at the last meeting and the updated draft was not ready at this time. In the packet there was a sample fee schedule from the Dedham model to discuss. Staff spoke with Town Counsel regarding easements and if they needed to be accepted by the Town and what could legally be required for sketch, preliminary and definitive plans. Staff would like guidance on from the Board what was needed at the earliest iteration and at the other stages in the process to help provide the developers guidance. Board Members should send comments to staff for possible incorporation in to the draft development regulations. There was discussion to have peer reviews under section §53 G for the Conservation Commission, Board of Health, Board of Appeals, and Planning Board for any permit applications, which would be better for all Town projects. There was work being done on the RFP and staff would keep the Board informed when there was updates. ***********************************MINUTES********************************** On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to approve the minutes for August 14, 2013, as submitted. *****************************ACTIVE STREET BILLS**************************** Ms. Ciccolo said the Active Street Bill was similar to the Green Communities Act, which would make funds available to communities that have been certified in the Active Streets Certification Program. The purpose of this bill would be to help develop infrastructure to support walking, biking, and transit in communities and help reach the state’s goal to increase physical activity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Would the Board like to send a letter of support for this bill? On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to have the Planning Board sign off on a letter of support to go forward with the Active Street Bill, but hold on to see if the Board of Selectmen would sign on and if not then send the Planning Board letter of support on this legislative bill. Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of September 11, 2013 **********************ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS (ZBA)********************** There has been an increase in applications and granting of variances that were redividing old merged lots, which was not what variances were for. The Planning Board has a role to comment when the three prong hardship requirement does not appear to fit. Ms. McCall-Taylor said the ZBA does want input and comments from the Planning Board. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, the Planning Board concurred with staff’s evaluations of these cases and should include that fact in the correspondence to the ZBA. ********************************STAFF REPORTS******************************* Work Plan: Staff submitted a memo recommending two additional items for consideration to add to the October to December work plan. The first was consolidation of the CRS/CN/CS Districts and the second was the unzoned land on Tracer Lane. Mr. Henry provided the Board with a chart of permitted uses and wanted the Board to provide guidance to staff regarding the consolidation of the three districts. The Board had no objections to taking up these two additional items for discussion at a future meeting. Mr. Henry provided updates on the following current projects:  The Housing Partnership Plan revised draft should be ready mid October;  Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers would have another public information session;  Development Regulations were running behind schedule but remained ongoing; and  Street Standards was the topic for a meeting on Monday with Engineering to address discrepancies in the regulations and Engineering standards and staff hoped to have something to report in early October. *******************************ORGANIZATION******************************** The Board will meet on September 25, which would include the continued public hearing for 137-139 Shade Street and discussion on the development regulations with Mark Bobrowski. The October 9, schedule would include discussion on the Housing Partnership Plan, 7 Mountain Road sketch plan, and street standards. The October 23 agenda was open at this time. ********************************BOARD REPORTS****************************** The CPC met to hear a presentation from the Town Manager to consider the funding of the new community center to be brought forward for a Special Town Meeting. Minutes for the Meeting of September 11, 2013 Page 5 thth Ms. Ciccolo said there would be a special MAPC meeting on October 30 to celebrate its 50 anniversary. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to adjourn at 9:30 p.m. The meeting was recorded by Lexmedia. The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Department:  Power point presentation on Medical Marijuana (9 pages).  Memo from Maryann McCall-Taylor regarding Subdivision issues, dated September 6, 2013 (2 pages).  Regulations Governing Fees and fee schedules from the Dedham model (5 pages).  Active Street Bill sign on letter (2 pages).  Memorandum from staff regarding the work plan, dated September 6, 2013 (8 pages).  Zoning Board of Appeals petitions to be heard (3 pages). Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti, Clerk