Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-10-19-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 19, 2016 A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board (Board), held in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room was called to order 7:00 p.m. by Chair Tim Dunn, with members Charles Hornig, Nancy Corcoran- Ronchetti, Richard Canale, and Ginna Johnson and planning staff Aaron Henry, David Fields present. ****************************STAFF MEMBER REPORTS************************** General updates: Mr. Henry informed the Board of an open meeting law complaint about the Board’s September th 7 meeting. The Board needs to respond within a certain number of days from the proper filing of the complaint. The Board delegated the response to Town Council, which the Chair will review. *********************DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION************************ 48 Summit Road, Street Determination: Mike Novak, from Meridian Associates, spoke on a continuation of a Street Adequacy Determination for 48 Summit Road. The largest change from the last iteration is the incorporated drainage and infiltration trenches. Mr. Novak went over the proposal and explained the choice of infiltration trenches due to the shallow depth to ledge on the road. Mr. Horning asked about erosion toward the end of the road and about the shallow depth to ledge in its use for infiltrating. Mr. Novak agreed to work with the Engineering Department moving forward to ensure all test pits show the road base will conform to Town standards. Mr. Hornig moved to accept the plan, with the condition that the Engineering Department inspect the base prior to construction. Mr. Canale seconded. The Board authorized staff to sign on the Board’s behalf for the decision on Summit Road. Finalize Zoning Regulations: Mr. Henry presented the zoning regulations as drafted by the staff with the Board’s comments. Mr. Dunn proposed a new process regarding submittals for special permitting with the main change being the elimination of sketch plans. Mr. Dunn then explained his rationale regarding this potential change. Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of October 19, 2016 Ms. Johnson agreed with the elimination of the sketch plan process. Mr. Hornig reiterated what the original intent of the sketch plan was as an informal information exchange. Mr. Hornig thinks proceeding directly to definitive plans could be detrimental in that it may encourage the submittal of bad plans. All members agreed that sketches have become too formal and would like to see them be more informal going forward. The Board worked through rewording this section to include an emphasis on an informal sketch plan process and rejected many of Mr. Dunn’s changes. Fees were reinstated and updated. Ms. Johnson described her changes to section 5.2.8(3) requiring that proof circles must not intersect with 100 foot wetland boundary. Mr. Dunn questioned the merits of memorializing this concept in the zoning. Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti agreed with Mr. Dunn that regulations should not specify what is and is not specified in the Zoning Bylaw to the extent Ms. Johnson wanted. Mr. Canale reiterated the previous statement to work through the conceptual nature of the process of applications. The change was rejected by the Board regarding proof circles. Mr. Hornig moved to approve the regulations as discussed. Mr. Canale seconded this motion. The regulations were adopted by the Board barring a review for grammar and errors. ****************************BOARD ADMINISTRATION************************* Review FY 16 Planning Board Annual Report to Town Meeting: This item was reviewed and accepted with an addition by Mr. Canale to be forwarded to staff for insertion in the language. Work plan Update: 10/5 Workshop Recap: Ms. Johnson noted that there was support for the proposals for the residential policy break out session. Mr. Hornig reviewed his experience with the economic development break out session and the differing opinions from those seeking more economic development and those who wanted less. Mr. Canale agreed with Mr. Hornig on a note that residents would like to see more attention paid to Massachusetts Avenue in East Lexington. Minutes for the Meeting of October 19, 2016 Page 3 Mr. Canale discussed his experience with the transportation break out session. He noted there were two different tracks of discussion, one related to the severity and speed of traffic and the other on transportation in Lexington Center. Input on the Vision 20/20 Demographic Subcommittee Survey: Mr. Henry explained that there was an offer to participate with the Vision 20/20 committee on their demographic survey. He reviewed staff comments on a sample survey from the last time this work was undertaken. Mr. Canale agreed with staff comments and noted that there is a need to determine how to interpret any results that come in. Mr. Canale noted that there was little in the survey that asked about quality of life – “what do residents think about living here?” Many questions do not get at resident satisfaction and how to get useful feedback from this survey. Potential rewording necessary of questions for the Board to get useful benefit from the survey. Mr. Hornig iterated that it is important to get an entire cross section of the population in order to have a useful survey. Mr. Hornig also noted that many of the questions have assumptions built in to them that do not allow a respondent to answer properly. Elaine Ashton from the v 2020 committee thanked the Board for their feedback and noted more feedback was welcomed moving forward. She did noted that they would do their best to get feedback from a wider section of the community. Status of Potential 2017 Town meeting articles including but not limited to: Residential Policy Special permit residential Developments Dimensional changes to the regional office District Parking Rules and Standards Mr. Dunn reviewed scheduling to discuss future town meeting articles. Ms. Johnson then walked through her ideas for proposed meeting articles. These included:  Senior housing  Two family housing Ms. Johnson would like to move forward to craft articles on these items Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of October 19, 2016  Scenic Roads  Tree preservation  Revisions to BHDs  Revised definitions of attic, cellar, and lot regularity  Maximum grade change  Prohibition on blasting Mr. Canale spoke about MAGIC’s climate mitigation plans and suggested that maybe folks on the tree committee could get in touch with MAGIC to work together. Mr. Dunn asked for interest from other members on their thoughts moving forward on articles. Mr. Hornig wants to ensure that we are not creating things in the Zoning Bylaw that are already regulated elsewhere. Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti would like to review the two family article proposal. Both Ms.Corcoran- Ronchetti and Mr. Hornig agree on revisions to special permit residential developments as well. Mr. Canale discussed the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District for Turning Mill and that it may come forward as a general bylaw. Mr. Dunn expects to move forward on implementing changes to special permit residential developments . Mr. Hornig noted that BHDs and PBDs could be merged and that the formulas should be updated moving forward. Ms. Johnson agreed on reworking the formulas for special permit residential developments. Prepare for joint meeting with Selectmen 10/26/16 This item is meant to specifically cover parking, comprehensive planning, and special permit residential developments as well as the CRO changes covered by Mr. Hornig under Board Reports. This meeting will occur in Estabrook Hall at 7:00 PM. Minutes for the Meeting of October 19, 2016 Page 5 Mr. Canale would like to revisit bicycle infrastructure as a Program Improvement Request (PIR) that DPW is discussing with the Selectmen. Ms. Johnson moved to allow staff to draft a letter of support for pavement markings on a movement toward Complete Streets and the funding of these markings. Ms. Conrcoran-Ronchetti seconded this motion. The motioned passed. Proposed Selectmen’s Payment in Lieu of parking (PILOP) Policy Mr. Henry covered the PILOP policy for the Board. This item will be discussed at the joint meeting of the Selectmen and Planning Board. Mr. Hornig noted that his position has not changed from previous meetings and the EDAC was not particularly in favor of this policy at its meeting that occurred the morning of 10/19/2016. Ms. Johnson noted that she does not think there has been adequate public process around this policy and that the changes should instead be incorporated in to the Zoning Bylaw. Upcoming meeting schedule and known agenda items:  10/26 BOS joint meeting  nd November 2 regularly scheduled meeting in Cary Auditorium  Mr. Dunn asked the Board to hold 11/30 and 12/14 for potential meetings on any applications for PDDs Board Member Reports: Mr. Hornig discussed his presentation to the Economic Development Advisory Committee. The important thing to put forward in the short term is an updated package for the CRO districts that includes added and updated TMOs. Mr. Hornig noted there were proposed recommended updates to the smaller commercial district, but this was not emphasized. Mr. Canale would like to build in more options for low intensity lab work and potentially reduce an emphasis on office space. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5-0, to adjourn at 9:40 p.m. Page 6 Minutes for the Meeting of October 19, 2016 The meeting was recorded by LexMedia. The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Department:  Staff Summary and Recommendations regarding 48 Summit Road (1 page).  Cover letter and Road improvement plan for 48 Summit Road, dated October 13, 2016 (3 pages).  Annual Report FY 16 (2 pages).  Lexington 20/20 Vision Survey (18 pages).  PIOP draft policy dated July 25, 2016 (3 pages).  Memorandum to the Board of Selectmen from Melisa Tintocalis regarding the summary of edits and feedback on the PILOP draft, dated September 22, 2016 (4 pages). Ginna Johnson, Clerk