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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Board Minutes, 1991-05-06 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MINUTES OF MAY 6, 1991 The meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in Room G-15, Town Office Building, was called to order at 7 34 p.m. by the Chairman, Mrs. Wood, with members, Davison, Domnitz, Grant, Williams, Planning Director Bowyer, Assis- tant Planner Marino and Secretary Peters present. ******************* PLANNING DIRECTOR'S REPORT ************************** 104. Planning Director a. Rollout Lot 16 Orchard Crossing: Prior to staff review, the Board looked briefly at an amended definitive plan for Lot 16 of Orchard Crossing Subdivision. The plan proposes a subdivision of lot 16 into four lots, with a primary and an accessory dwelling unit in one building on each lot. b. Recent Court Decisions Mr. Bowyer reported on some recent signifi- cant court cases that were discussed at the Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors' Retreat two weeks ago. Gage vs Town of Egremont a recent Supreme Judicial Court deci- sion seems to have reached the opposite conclusion from the SCIT vs Town of Braintree decision, which held that a town can not require a special permit for all uses allowed in a district; some uses must be allowed by right. The Gage vs Egremont decision seems to have allowed what the SCIT decision prohibited. The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the zoning that allows uses in the multi-use district, which are mentioned by name in the By-Law. It struck down, as too vague, the portion of the By-Law that left it up to the Planning Board to determine that a use is not offen- sive or detrimental to the Town. Mr Bowyer commented that what is troublesome, from a zoning perspective, is that what might make sense in a small western Massachusetts town forms the basis for a ruling that will apply across the state in larger, more complicated cities and towns. i Rockwood vs. the Snow Inn Corporation. In a confusing decision, the Supreme Judicial Court seems to have ruled that expansion of nonconforming structures can only be done through application for a variance. This contradicts the provision in Lexington's zoning regulations, and many others, which allows expansion of certain types of nonconforming structures by special permit. A lot of questions over the implications of the decision have been raised, and there is a great deal of disagreement as to what it actually means. Minutes for the Meeting of May 6, 1991 2 ****************** ADMINISTRATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS *********** SUBDIVISION OF LAND 105. Munroe Villa/e. Woburn Street. Decision on Preliminary Plan The Board reviewed and edited a draft decision disapproving the preliminary cluster subdivision plan. On the motion of Mrs. Wood, seconded by Mrs. Davison, it was voted 4-1-0 (Mr Williams voted against disapproval) , to disapprove the preliminary cluster subdivision plan, and to approve the wording of the decision, as amended. 106. Taylor Lane. Revere Street. Decision on Preliminarir Plan. The Board reviewed and edited a draft decision approving the preliminary cluster subdivision plan. On the motion of Mrs. Wood, seconded by Mr. Grant, it was voted 5-0 to approve the preliminary cluster subdivision plan, and to approve the wording of the decision, as amended. 107. 21 James Street. Decision on Sketch Plan The Board reviewed a draft letter, dated May 6, 1991, to the applicant, Mr. Kwi Jung, approving the sketch plan for further development at the preliminary plan stage. Recommend- ed changes or elements that could be incorporated into the preliminary plan were included in the letter. On the motion of Mrs. Wood, seconded by Mr. Grant, it was voted 5-0 to approve and send the draft letter, as written. 108. Pheasant Brook II. Release of Lot 9B Mr. Bowyer described the lot, which is not a building lot, that the applicant has asked be released. On the motion of Mr. Williams, seconded by Mrs. Davison, it was voted 4-0 (Mr. Domnitz was out of the room) to release Lot 9B. PLANS NOT REQUIRING APPROVAL UNDER THE SUBDIVISION CONTROL LAW 109. Form A/91-4. Lots 35 and 35A Concord Avenue The Board reviewed a plan showing a minor change in the frontages of Lots 35 and 35A, with both lots having more than the required frontage for the zoning district, and the transfer of Parcel A (not a building lot) from Lot 35 to Lot 36B. On the motion of Mr Williams, seconded by Mr. Domnitz, it was voted 5-0 to endorse the plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lexington, MA", dated May 1, 1991, by Marchionda & Associates, Inc. , Stoneham MA, certified by Robert P. Morris, Registered Land Surveyor, with application Form A/91- 4, by Mary Dias, applicant. RECOMMENDATIONS ON APPLICATIONS TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS 110. 1721 Mass. Avenue, Frozen Yogurt Ventures of New England, SP, to operate a take-out and fast-food service. Mr. Williams gave an oral review of the application He noted that the Building Commissioner thought that the parking requirements had been satisfied. The Board believed Mr. Frederickson's interpretation of the Zoning By-Law appeared reasonable. However, some Board members questioned the applicant's claim that part of the basement can be treated as pre-existing office space. Since the new use, takeout/fast food service, requires more parking than the prior use, takeout food service/retail, the applicant proposes to offset the increase by abandoning some "office" space in the basement. According to the Minutes for the Meeting of May 6, 1991 3 applicant, the space to be abandoned should be treated as office space, which under Section 11.3.1 of the Zoning By-Laws has a high 1/250 s.f. parking factor. In a background paper, Mr. Domnitz noted that treatment of the basement space as office space may conflict with representations made to the Board of Appeals at the Special Permit hearing for reconstruction of the building on 5/28/87. In the description of the project, the decision of the Board dated 6/18/87, p. 2, paragraph 1 stated. "Any leased office space will be on the second floor." He added that square footage calculations provided with the application, dated 4/13/87, showed no square footage qualifying as net floor space in the base- ment, implying that all basement space would be for parking and mechanical equipment (which are not included in net floor area. ) I Mr. Williams moved and Mr. Domnitz seconded to make no comment on the applica- tion. The motion failed by a vote of 2-3 (Mrs. Davison, Mrs. Wood and Mr. Domnitz voted in the negative). On the motion of Mr. Domnitz, seconded by Mrs. Davison, it was voted 3-2 (Mr. Williams and Mr. Grant voted in the negative) to recommend approval of the takeout service, and disapproval of the (seating for the) fast food service, with the recommendation to the Board of Appeals based on the information prepared by Mr. Domnitz. Mr. Domnitz said he will attend the Board of Appeals hearings on May 16. ***************** ARTICLES FOR THE 1992 TOWN MEETING *********************** 111. Mail Boxes. Etc. Paul Liebermann, for Mail Boxes, Etc. , joined the Board for a discussion of how to prepare a rezoning article for the 1992 Town Meeting, that would allow the use of a private postal service in Lexington He described the service proposed which would include the rental of private postal boxes, deliveries by private shippers, and business services, such as word processing, copying, sale of stamps, faxing. Mrs. Wood commented that she did not believe this Board would ever support a private postal service in the Center Business district. The Board recommended he consider locating the service in other commercial zoning districts, such as the CRS district in the Hartwell Ave./Bedford St. area; that he use the term "retail postal service" in the proposed amendment; that he work with the planning staff to prepare the article; and that the article be presented as a Planning Board article. *********************** AFFORDABLE HOUSING ********************************* 112. Bruce/Hillside. Grandview and North Streets Mr. Bowyer reported on several scattered sites under consideration by LexHAB for affordable housing. Each has physical/zoning problems and will probably generate opposition in the � neighborhoods, that will be based on these problems. The Bruce Rd./Hillside Ave. site is an undersized nonconforming lot, with insufficient frontage to establish legal frontage on Bruce Rd. , the accepted Minutes for the Meeting of May 6, 1991 4 street. Hillside Ave. , an unaccepted street, would have to be used to establish legal frontage. This would require a determination of adequate grade and construction by the Planning Board for Hillside Ave. The Grandview Avenue site does not appear to be feasible, since Grandview is a non-street, and the several Town owned lots are scattered among privately owned properties in a pattern in which no lots have the lot frontage and lot area that comply with today's zoning standards. It would take an extraordi- nary pooling of land and public/private cooperation to make the land develop- able. The North Street sites (former Rte. 3 right-of-way and a Town owned lot across the street) have potential, and further investigation will be made by LexHAB. ***************************** REPORTS *************************************** 113. Planning Board, Subcommittee a. Communication from the Conservation Commission. Mrs Wood reported that Conservation Commission Chairman, Joyce Miller, has requested, on behalf of the Commission, a joint meeting with the Planning Board to express its concerns that the Planning Board does not give high enough priority to the preservation of open land. The Board agreed to suggest June 10, 1990 as a joint meeting date. The meeting was adjourned at 10 36 p m. /oCv\ David G. Williams, Clerk 3