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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-04-10-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF APRIL 10, 2017 A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board, held in the Parker Room, Town Office Building was called to order at 12:15 p.m. by Chair, Richard Canale with members Charles Hornig, Nancy Corcoran-Ronchetti, Bob Creech and planning staff Aaron Henry, David Fields, and Lori Kaufman present. Ginna Johnson joined the meeting remotely as this was a daytime meeting and she had to be at work. *******************************STAFF REPORTS******************************** General Updates: Brookhaven has been moved to Monday April 24 for Town Meeting. *********************2017 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING **************************** Preparations for Town Meeting: Article 40, Special Permit Residential Developments: The Board needs to explain the information better and staff has provided documentation to show all special permit developments and RDs since 2008 which include the number of units, size of lot, and years they were developed/approved. The Board needs to come to some consensus about this Article. Board Comments:  Happy with Article 40 with no substantive changes.  Changes to Section 6.9.2.2 included bulleting text to provide more clarity to applicants.  Market-rate was added to Section 6.9.2.3.  Section 6.9.4.1 was made clearer as to how to reach the true total for the Dwelling Unit Count.  Added additional accessory apartments to Section 6.9.2.1.  Section 6.9.3.b - affordable units may not be the smallest units in a development.  Section 6.9.11.7 & 8 - the applicant has demonstrated compliance with building code. On a motion duly made and seconded, by a roll call vote of the Board – Mr. Hornig, Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti, Mr. Canale, Mr. Creech, and Ms. Johnson – voted 5-0 to go forward with the changes listed above. A member recommended to not approve bringing this article to Town Meeting since we have not communicated it well enough to TMMA and it would not be productive for Town Meeting to vote on this. Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of April 10, 2017 One member felt the Board had made a commitment, putting a lot of work into the article and does want to recommend bringing it to Town meeting. Could we incorporate this into the Board regulations and use as guidelines? Questions coming from TMMA was not reflecting what the Board was expecting. One member agreed, believing this felt rushed and would like to work on it further for a future Town meeting. Another member agreed with this approach. A recommendation was made that in addition to Article 45, Article 40 be referred back to the Planning Board. On a motion duly made and seconded, by a roll call vote of the Board - Mr. Hornig, Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti, Mr. Canale, Mr. Creech, and Ms. Johnson - voted 4-1 (Mr. Hornig opposed) to recommend referral of Article 40 back to the Planning Board. The chair, when presenting to Town Meeting, should indicate how referring both Articles will allow for a continued public process and give the Board more time to develop a consensus that can be supported by a majority of the Planning Board and Town Meeting. Ms. Johnson signed off from remote participation. Article 43, Economic Development Refinements: Present was Carl Valente, Town Manager, Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Land Use and Development, Doug Lucente, Board of Selectmen (BOS), and Melisa Tintocalis, Economic Development Director joined the meeting in progress. The BOS discussed referring this article back to Planning Board with the current .15 FAR since it would not accomplish the type of development that the BOS was intending to create. Planning Board members felt if an applicant wants to exceed the .15 FAR there are provisions incorporated into the article that will allow for this to occur. Board members concerned with existing levels of traffic in Town and want to hear from the BOS on how traffic will be addressed. There was some difference of opinion on this between the BOS and some Planning Board members who do not see any reason to not bring the article forward. Want to give Town Meeting a chance to weigh in and decide on this. Forbes Road area has the most potential to take advantage of this proposed change. The area is the gateway to the National Park. Mr. Valenti said the current CRO zone makes it difficult for the office market to develop these parcels and the proposed changes do not give property owners and developers any more tools in the toolbox. Concern was voiced that continuing to work on this further may not be the best message to send to the developers. Property owners see this current zoning as a negative and Minutes for the Meeting of April 10, 2017 Page 3 development that is not by right is viewed as unappealing by developers and puts Lexington behind in terms of economic development. Why would this be any different next year? What would the BOS say that would make a change during this year? When Hartwell Avenue was approved it included a transportation plan as part of the Transportation Management Overlay District (TMOD). This article has no transportation plan that we can provide to property owners. The potential for increased square footage and amenities are not allowed by right and are hard to sell due to the uncertainty. If there was a TMOD plan acceptable to everyone by next year this could be put forward, but we need Article 43 to create the TMOD. Ms. Tintocalis said originally it was a proposed TMOD with a .35 FAR. Ms. Kowalski said if this goes to Town Meeting without a lot of benefit it might be rejected and the article and Board loses creditability to amend next year. Board member asked why it has to be all or nothing. The Board discussed this matter and majority would like to submit the article as is to allow Town Meeting to decide. Mr. Canale asked what position had the BOS taken. Mr. Valenti said they did not take a vote and wanted to wait until Wednesday. Mr. Canale stated the Planning Board does have a responsibility to work with the BOS and should work with them for the correct resolution. Mr. Lucente said he will not know until Wednesday how the BOS vote will go. The BOS wants to send a clear message that it wants to grow its commercial base. Mr. Valenti said the current article as written sends a message that the Town is not willing to address what we are hearing from the development community which is a concern about bringing future business to the community. Referring this article at this time would send the message that Town is still working on this and is looking to put something forward that is more welcoming the business community. Ms. Corcoran-Ronchetti asked if they should vote on whether there is interest in referring this article back to the Planning Board. Mr. Canale did not want to take a position on the article until hearing back from the Board of Selectmen. Town Manager can notify the Planning Board as to what staff’s recommendation is to the BOS by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 when the Planning Board is scheduled to meet. Mr. Valente, Ms. Kowalski, Mr. Lucente, and Ms. Tintocalis left the meeting after this discussion. Board members continued discussion as it related to timelines for developers applying for a special permit. Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of April 10, 2017 A written report for Article 40 will not be drafted for the Board. Chair will verbally ask to have the article referred back to the Planning Board on the floor of Town Meeting. The report for Article 43 will be printed but will wait to hear from BOS. Mr. Creech said he was concerned about setting up a precedent for voting on other dense projects and has decided to recuse himself from the 0 Grove Street special permit. Mr. Hornig said it was totally Mr. Creech’s decision and that if he decided to vote on the special permit there might be a chance that he may have to defend his decision in the courts to the State Ethics Committee. Mr. Canale instructed staff to notify Michael Leone (associate member) that he will be sitting in on the special permit application. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4-0, to adjourn at 2:20 p.m. The meeting was recorded by LexMedia. The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Office: Ginna Johnson, Clerk