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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-07-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 7, 2015 A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board, held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, was called to order 7:03 p.m. by Chair Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti, with members, Tim Dunn, Charles Hornig, Richard Canale, Ginna Johnson and planning staff Aaron Henry and Lori Kaufman present. *********************************STAFF REPORTS***************************** General updates: The Planner position ad has been posted today and will close October 30. The applicant for the Brookhaven (RD) has requested to come before the Board with a sketch plan PSDUP on October 21. ***********JOINT MEETING WITH THE RESIDENTIAL POLICY COMMITTEE******** Discussion of September 24 Housing Forum: A meeting of the Residential Policy Committee (RPC), held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, was called to order 7:07 p.m. by Chair Ginna Johnson. th A brief recap was given on the September 24 forum by the leaders of the RPC initiatives presented at that workshop.  There was support for proposals on dimensional and height limitations on new residential construction based on lot size.  Diversity of housing types the two groups had different ideas on how to proceed and there was no consensus reached on any particular proposal but there was support for this initiative.  Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCD) both groups ran on the same lines and agreed this concept should go forward. How much buy in required by each district to go forward and what threshold would impact a neighborhood need to be determined.  The tree preservation group was smaller and the consensus was trees should be preserved and the proposals should be more restrictive. Consideration should be given to amend the tree bylaw and required a tree removal consult for a tear down or a 50% increase in house size. Other considerations should include protection of 36 inch and larger diameter trees, Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 scenic road designation, having a tree summit, native trees, undergrounding of utilities, and workshops for residents. The Board discussed that dimensional controls and NCD should consider moving forward. The proposal for a height limit based on the size of lot in relation to the setbacks had support. The FAR proposal was too complicated and there needs to be something reasonable needs to be created before bringing forward to Town Meeting. The Dimensional controls proposal should come before the NCD. While there is some support for tree bylaws changes they should be led by the Tree Committee. The tree items had limited public reaction and it would be hard to spend a lot of time on this item now. There needs to be more affordable housing created with multi-family housing but the concept needs a lot more work. The Board could consider creating more small units by changing the size allowed with the Balanced Housing Development (BHD). There was disappointment that dimensional controls were not ready to address at this time. Accessory apartments should be modified and senior housing offered at market rates can be considered for the following year. The NCD proposal does not enough time to fine tune this year, but should move forward along with height restrictions. The Board was not sure about the FAR proposal. Audience RPC Members comments:  Financial issues of the impact on the Towns tax revenue needs to be fully vetted and should be a major focus if brought to Town Meeting.  Strategies of moving forward on all of these since proposals which are all big and complicated would be to keep moving forward even if not ready for this ATM could be considered for next year..  Considering the price of houses that exist, the Town should consider the opportunities to do multiple family homes with the BHD.  The FAR and height issues are the items that have the most impact on neighbors and neighborhoods and regulating the height on smaller lots and narrower streets is important. The larger lots would be able to accommodate the larger and taller houses, but smaller lots the massing would be felt considerably more. The Board has to be mindful that 50% of the residents will be impacted by this proposed change.  The medium home sale is $1,100,000 and most can’t afford to buy into or seniors can’t afford to stay in Lexington. This could be approached in multiple ways and there is a Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 Page 3 need to increase the number of smaller units. Whatever the Board undertakes will have some unknown consequences. Resident Comments:  Deal with teardowns by limiting the number of demolitions in Town annually.  It would be nice to have some senior housing but the Town did not respond to that in the past and would need the Town and leadership support which is limited.  Tax revenue is important, but consider the offset of the potential financial impacts. Board Comments: The Board needs another meeting to discuss what initiatives to move forward on and also a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to ask the RPC to draft and articles on the FAR and Height limit in the zoning bylaw, NCD, and the scenic road bylaw by November th 18. There will be a joint meeting of the Planning Board and Residential Policy Committee on October 15 at 7:15 pm and the location to be determined. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4-0, to adjourn the RPC meeting at 8:20 p.m. ***********************DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION********************** Willard Circle, Performance Guarantee modification: The applicant has requested an amendment to the performance guarantee and the release of $259,633 from the original sum of $324,948 held as a cash deposit for the work completed and inspected covering the essential infrastructure within the development. On a motion, duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to approve the reduction of the cash deposit and release $259,633 leaving a revised balance of $65,315. Project updates: Lowell Street Sidewalk: The applicant has requested some modifications to the special permit of the Lowell Street development and has asked to remove the requirement for a sidewalk due to some obstacles. There is a hydrant right in the middle of the way on the far western end, would require the Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 removal of four trees, and the modification to a driveway of the abutting neighbor’s property who is against creating a sidewalk. Staff would like input from the Board on this request. Board Comments: What efforts were made to preserve the trees and provide a large scale engineering plan before the Board makes a decision. The sidewalk is necessary and should get built there, is should be AAB compliant and get cleared by the Town and connect to the crosswalk for safety reasons in that area. Keeler Farm Sidewalk: The developer and six of the seven property owners are requesting the sidewalk not be built and want the Special Permit to be modified. The street could be used since there is not a lot of traffic and the developer was concerned about damaging a large spruce in the way. Mr. Henry explained this is this a special case and the development does seem to work without a sidewalk. Board Comments: There is concern that disabled users would have a problem crossing the street especially when there is snow and ice. There is a complete street program in Town and that is why sidewalks have been required. As long as people are aware there is no sidewalk and made aware there is children playing by putting up a sign there was comfort by the Board with eliminating the construction of the sidewalk. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, that this is a minor change to the special permit for the Keeler Farm Development. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to eliminate the requirement for the construction of the sidewalk in the special permit for the Keeler Farm Development. PUBLIC HEARING 11 Suzanne Road, Special Permit Modification: Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti called to order the public hearing for 11 Suzanne Road at 8:48 p.m. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to continue without discussion the public hearing to October 21, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room. 435-439 Lincoln Street, sketch plan update: Mr. Farrington, attorney, Ron Lopez, developer, Gary Larson, landscape architect, Jack Sullivan, project civil engineer and Doug Rae, realtor, were present. There was a meeting in May for a Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 Page 5 Balanced Housing Development and the applicant was bringing forward the following changes based on recommendations from the Board at that meeting.  Jointly using Old Mill Road for an access to the trail system and common open area, the developer will improve the road and add four parking spaces at intersection of Lincoln Street and Old Mill Road.  There is a 30,000 square foot common area and a 10,000 square foot common area.  Mr. Lopez said in December there was water contamination and a remediation of the site was done. Since May when the work was completed the test results have been positive and the contamination has been removed. The monitoring will be complete in December.  A single entry road would work best with the modification of the road design, home locations, and loop of the road. The entrance was moved 25 feet to the right and the circle was changed to a pear shaped with an increased width of 25 feet to improve traffic flow and permitting visitor parking. Mr. Dunn left the room at 9:04 p.m.  This is a six-lot proof plan with a 20 foot paved travel way, a cul-de-sac widen to a 25 foot width, 14 units. After the applicant gets input from the Board the plan will be filed with Conservation. There is a sidewalk on one side of the road and limited curb cuts by using shared driveways, the existing trees with eight inch diameters and larger are shown on the plan. The Gross Floor Area combined is 2,400 square feet below what is allowable, the impervious surface is under what is allowed and all ridge heights are under 32 feet. The developer is looking for feedback from the Board. Mr. Dunn returned at 9:10 p.m. Board Comments  The Board should discuss the size and number of units since this mix does not comply with the desire for diversity of housing in the Town.  Why wasn’t the trail extended to the entire perimeter of the property? Mr. Sullivan explained they were looking to extending the trail further, but there has been dumping and they need to work within the 25 foot wetland buffer and did not want to get bogged down and slowing the main property development. Site clean-up is very important since this is near the wetlands the historic road should be cleaned up and restored along with the site behind units seven and eight. Mr. Sullivan said the site will be cleaned up.  This circle is allowing parking on the cul-de-sac so make sure the turnaround works for the Fire Department. Page 6 Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015  Like the number of units which are smaller than usual.  The trail from Lincoln Street to the Battle Road connection needs to be approved by the Conservation Steward and the Greenway Committee.  Would the tear drop would be a one-way drive? Yes.  This site seems to be too densely developed and might encroach on the buffer zone. The depressed area being filled looks like wetlands for the common area. The view sheds will completely change the character viewscapes of this rural area. There seems to be too many units which could be smaller if some garages were removed. The plan needs more work for the character and the sensitivity of site. There are no 2,000 square foot units and these are very expensive houses. This development would be hard to support as is. Mr. Farrington responded new housing would be market driven and this is a place that has a more diverse number of units to select from. If $600,000-650,000 units are desired there needs to be a different set of criteria.  What will be the price range for the development? Mr. Rae explained that has not been discussed the price point, but it would be similar to Robinson Woods there is not any new construction under a million dollars. This is more preferable to six two million dollar homes and is filling a range that cannot be achieved any other way.  Fourteen units or more is fine to bring some unit sizes down.  Could the two garage units be reduced to one-car garage? Mr. Sullivan said when the GFA was calculated the garage space was included. The one car garage would bring a different demographic.  How will people walking by know if this is public or private property? Mr. Lopez said it will be dealt with by using screening to make sure there is no confusion.  Wouldn’t object to more units if they are smaller. Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), Shire: The Planning Board prefers to see parking Lot A be constructed as depicted in the PSDUP approved by Town Meeting. That is a parking structure rather than a surface lot which the Board is concerned about the aesthetic impact Lot B would have on Spring Street and the reserve lot opposite Building 400 provides critical visual and audio screening of nearby residents on Shade Street. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4-1 (Mr. Hornig opposed), that the Board write a letter to the ZBA regarding the preference for parking to be constructed as approved by Town Meeting and build a parking structure as opposed to the surface parking being proposed. Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 Page 7 ***************************LONG RANGE PLANNING*************************** 2015 Fall Special Town Meeting, Proposed Warrant Articles: Between now and next meeting the warrant will be provided for the Board to discuss articles they are interested in. Possible 2016 Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles: There was discussion on bringing something forward for the Center but there is no proposal yet. PILOP has many working pieces and it might be difficult to have ready for Town Meeting, but staff will try get this done if the Board wanted to make it a priority. Staff will have some more information but this is behind all the other initiatives which include banks and the RPC initiatives which still need to be addressed. The Government Civic Uses will be brought forward like the last proposal. There will need to be more outreach to be successful and the Board needs to decide whether or not to include town municipal properties. Technical changes staff will put together a st list of substantive changes to the zoning bylaw that are straight forward for the October 21 meeting. The next two weeks staff will be dealing with banks and will bring back something for the first meeting in November. The Center Committee introduced a new proposal and will try to get it in writing. A Lexington Center Alliance member said there is still strong interest in the Center banking and there is a meeting next week. LCA has established relationships with banks and are reaching out to the landlords and would be happy to help. *********************************BOARD REPORTS***************************** There is a MAPC site walk meeting tomorrow to highlight Lexington trails and a BRSB meeting regarding signage along byway. The transportation meeting last night had VHB explain the counts and will come back with another solution for Lowell Street traffic. A resident funded a peer review consultant to look at intersections on East Massachusetts Avenue and looking at viability of roundabouts. The sidewalk committee no longer has a quorum. Their charge is done and Transportation Safety Group staff have taken over the sidewalk requests and exploring the creation of a bike pedestrian committee. Page 8 Minutes for the Meeting of October 7, 2015 ************* UPCOMING MEETINGS AND ANTICIPATED SCHEDULE************** On October 21 the Brookhaven RD and 11 Suzanne Road public hearing will be on the agenda. The Fall Special Town Meeting may now include December 2. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to adjourn at 10:53 p.m. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia. The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Department:  Memo regarding modification to a special permit for 200 Shire Way (LTP) (1 page)  Memo regarding Amendment to performance Guarantee for 36-48 Cary Avenue and work completed (2 pages).  Keeler farm proposed sidewalk plan (1 page).  Lowell Street proposed sidewalk plan (1 page).  Description of 435-439 Lincoln Street project dated September 30, 2015 from Ron Lopez (4 pages).  Draft Definitive Plan Set BHD for 435-439 Lincoln Street (9 pages). Ginna Johnson, Clerk