HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Board Minutes, 1991-12-16 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF DECEMBER 16, 1991
The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in Room G-15, Town Office
Building, was called to order at 7 32 p.m. by the Chairman, Mr Williams, with
members Davison, Grant, Wood, Planning Director Bowyer, and Assistant Planner
Marino present. Mr. Domnitz arrived during Item 240.
239. Review of Minutes The Board reviewed and corrected the minutes for the
meeting of December 9, 1991. On the motion of Mr Grant, seconded by Mrs.
Davison, it was voted 3-0-1 (Mrs Wood abstained since she had not attended
the meeting) to approve the minutes, as amended
************************************ REPORTS *******************************
240. Planning Board. Subcommittees
HATS. Memorandum of Agreement The Board discussed reports that the TMMA
(Town Meeting Members Association) Executive Committee had expressed con-
cerns about the establishment of the proposed subcommittee, the Growth and
Policy Committee, under the HATS (Hanscom Area Town Study) Committee. Mr
Domnitz joined the meeting at this time and said that the TMMA Executive
Committee was concerned that some of the member towns might lose local
control of land use if this Memorandum of Agreement were implemented, as
proposed. Mr. Domnitz heard that the agreement may be amended by the
Selectmen before being signed. Further discussion has been scheduled this
evening at 7 45 p m. before the Board of Selectmen Mr Grant said he
will attend tonight's meeting.
************** ADMINISTRATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS *********
PLANS NOT REQUIRING APPROVAL UNDER THE SUBDIVISION CONTROL LAW
241. Form A/91-14 (tabled last Week) Auril Lane Minuteman-man Village
Mr. Grant stated he would abstain from any action taken by the Board
on this matter since he had done some legal work for a client in the
Minute-man Lane complex The Board reviewed a suggested draft motion.
On the motion of Mrs. Wood, seconded by Mr Domnitz, it was voted 4-0-
1 (Mr. Grant abstained because of a possible conflict)
1. to endorse the plan entitled "Minute-man Village Concord Avenue,
Lexington, Mass. A Condominium Showing a Division into Two Lots",
dated November 29, 1991, certified by Ralph S. Bibbo, Registered
Land Surveyor, with application Form A/91-14 by applicant Minute-
man Village Condominium Association, as it does not require
approval under the Subdivision Control Law.
2. to authorize the Planning Director to add the following note, if
the applicant does not obtain necessary variances and special
permits from the Board of Appeals
"This plan has been endorsed for recording purposes only as re-
quired by Mass General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 81P and contains
conditions which may not comply with the Lexington Zoning By-Law. "
Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 1991 2
3. to have the Planning Director retain custody of the plan pending
the outcome of applications to the Board of Appeals If the Board
of Appeals grants variances and special permits so that the
proposed plan will comply with the Zoning By-Law, the note autho-
rized by paragraph #2 above will not be enscribed on the plan; if
the Board of Appeals does not grant variances and special permits
so that the proposed plan will not comply with the Zoning By-Law,
the note authorized by paragraph #2 above will be inscribed on the
plan
At 7 45 p.m. , Mr Grant left the meeting to join the Board of Selectmen's
meeting who were discussing the HATS Memorandum of Agreement. When he
returned at 8 00 p m. he reported that TMMA requested and the Selectmen agreed
to add language to the proposed Memorandum, dealing with the purpose and
powers of the Growth and Development Policy Committee. In Section III B. ,
language has been added to the end of the sentence as follows "provided that
in no case shall the committee undertake operations of construction in a
member town without the specific agreement of that town " Mr. Grant reported
that no vote on the Memorandum was taken by the Selectmen.
********************* 1991 PLANNING BOARD ANNUAL REPORT ********************
242. Review of Draft The Planning Board reviewed and edited a draft of
its Annual Report, as of 10/13/91, prior to submitting it to the Town
Report Committee
********* ADMINISTRATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS ******************
SUBDIVISION OF LAND
243. Holderness Court. Robert Phelan. Set and Accent Surety - Release Lots
On the motion of Mrs. Wood, seconded by Mr. Grant, it was voted 5-0
1) To set the amount of surety for the Holderness Court subdivision at
$37,000 which is 15% of the original "Cost to Construct," as the amount
necessary to hold until the completion of the community facilities and the
subdivision;
2) to accept surety in the form of Guaranty First Bank passbook, account
number 102-5320 in the amount of $37,000;
3) that this level of surety is determined to be sufficient through
December 16, 1992 only. If the subdivision is not completed by that time,
the amount of surety needed may be re-evaluated to determine its relation-
ship between the then applicable construction costs and the work remaining
to be completed. If little or none of the work that remained, at the time
this surety was posted, is completed by December 16, 1992, and the current
costs, of the amount of work to be completed, have increased, the amount
of surety will be increased to reflect the costs of completing the work
and the developer will be required to furnish additional surety to the
Planning Board; and
4) to release lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7A, and 8A
Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 1991 3
********************** PLANNING DIRECTOR'S REPORT ***************************
244. Recent Activity
a. Report on the Town Budget Mr. Bowyer reported that at the
Department Heads' meeting last week, Town Manager White presented
very grim news about next year's budget. Medical insurance alone
has gone up $700,000 in a single year There is approximately a
3 7 million dollar gap between requests for FY 93 and the amount
available There will be no salary increases for the Town employ-
ees, and no further non-emergency spending allowed on this year's
budget. Also under consideration is proposing a Proposition 2 1/2
override and/or charging fees for the collection of trash
********************* ARTICLES FOR THE 1992 TOWN MEETING ******************
245 Articles D, Signs Mr. Williams reported that he attended the Board
of Appeals hearing last Thursday. The Board of Appeals will meet with
the Planning Board on January 6, 1991, at 8 30 p m for discussion of
sign revisions and other matters of mutual interest
The Board reviewed and edited a draft of Article D, as of 12/10/91,
and a draft letter inviting the Board of Appeals, a representative
from the Design Review Committee, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lexing-
ton Center Committee, the Historic Districts Commission and Building
Commissioner Stephen Frederickson to the Board's January 6 meeting
Copies of the revised text of Article D Signs (as of 12/17/91) will
be included with the invitation.
Mr Domnitz left the meeting.
********************* PLANNING BOARD REGULATIONS *****************************
246 Revision of the Subdivision Regulations Mrs. Wood asked for time to
express her concerns about the Board's slow pace in reviewing the draft
subdivision regulations She noted that the Board is supposed to be a
planning organization and added that spending this amount of time on the
regulations means that work can not begin on the Master plan and various other
planning issues. She said that the Board should be taking advantage of this
slow period of building activity to do more planning work and that it was
appalling and quite unprofessional to be taking this long to edit the subdivi-
sion regulations
Mrs Wood proposed that Chairman Williams appoint a small subcommittee of
Planning Board members (no more than three) to continue the review, rewrite
with its suggestions and send it out again rather than continuing this word-
for-word-for-word time consuming review Mr Williams suggested that one
meeting a month be set aside to do nothing but review the draft regulations
Mrs Davison suggested that each member be assigned one section to review and
submit it to the Board with revisions '
In response to a question from Mr. Williams, Mr Bowyer thought it was a
matter of discipline amongBoard members, and an apparent unwillingness to
Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 1991 4
accept less than an absolutely perfect document. He noted that the staff has
previously prepared and the Board has reviewed lengthy documents. For
instance, in 1987 the Board proposed to Town Meeting a motion for the Commer-
cial Revision to the Zoning By-Law that was 60 pages long, and contained far
more policy questions than have been discussed so far in the subdivision
regulations He added that less time was spent in 1986-87, including two
rounds of public hearings, meetings with neighborhood groups and meetings with
the Chamber of Commerce, than has already been spent on the review of one and
two-thirds chapters of the subdivision regulations. He concluded that it is
clearly in the capacity of a Planning Board to go through lengthy documents,
but now members are frustrated at the pace He thought that perhaps members
should try to be more resolute among themselves in focusing only on important
points and not speculate about some loophole in every paragraph. He agreed
with Mr. Williams that setting one meeting a month for review of the subdivi-
sion regulations was a good idea. Mr Williams thought that the current
method for reviewing subdivision regulations, although slow, was of great
educational value for Board members.
The Board agreed to reserve one meeting a month exclusively for review of the
draft regulations, beginning on January 27, 1992 The Board also agreed to
meet on February 10 and 18 (Tuesday) for review of the Subdivision Regulations
only) and the 24th.
The meeting was adjourned at 9 35 p m.
EC niuni.J C. C2HN i, CLf(
David Williams, Chairman
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