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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-01-19-BOS-min \\-•\ SELECTMEN'S MEETING January 19 , 1981 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Select- men's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, January 19 , 1981 at 7 30 p.m Chairman Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain; Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager; Mr Cohen, Town Counsel; Mrs Banks, Assistant to the Town Manager and Miss Casey, Executive Clerk were present Mrs Miley convened the meeting at 7 30 and turned the chair over to Center Mrs. Battin, Chairman of the Center Revitalization Committee Parking Mrs Battin explained that the committee had been meeting regularly since last summer to develop a parking plan for the center which was brought to the Board of Selectmen on December 22 The Selectmen deferred action at that time until it had input from everyone concerned The action steps were referred to the Manager who is to report back to the Board on February 14 Town Meeting Members were notified of this meeting and were sent copies of the report as were interested people in the Center Mrs Battin informed the Board that the Committee was requesting that the Board, after listening to tonight's input, either now or subsequently adopt thepolicies in- principle pending their review and recommendation by the Manager The policies were unanimously supported by the Committee with the exception of #6 which they feel needs more work before presenting II/ to the Selectmen which may possibly mean the development of a By-Law Mrs Battin called upon Mr Bowyer, Planning Director, who prepared the report, to explain in detail the suggested policies and actions to im- plement the policies In brief, they were 1) Provide an adequate supply of parking spaces including some surplus to accommodate peak demand of "turnover" parking for customer/clients in the center After the needs of "turnover" parking for customers/clients are met, provide the remaining available space for all day employee parking 2) The parking program must be financially self-supporting The parking fund shall be the sole source of Town funds for operating the parking program and for capital funds for improvements to parking facilities 3) Establish a system allocating parking spaces with appropriate time limitations on the use of spaces, according to distance from activities that generate the greatest parking demand. 4) Set rates for the use of parking spaces according to location and length of stay utilizing a graduated fee schedule with different rates for different types of spaces, to achieve the appropriate utilization of parking spaces 5) Encourage the use of other alternate modes of transpor- tation for all day parkers, i.e carpooling, public transportation. 6) For all new developments in the CB zoning district, including additions to ex- isting buildings, require that additional off-street parking spaces be pro- vided 7) Town parking fund shall pay the full economic cost of the con- struction of new parking spaces for the reconstruction of existing spaces , including landscaping and screening 8) Encourage pooling or time-sharing of parking spaces according to the differential daily, weekly and seasonal parking needs of various activities. This is a concept not previously dis- •, -2- cussed in the report This concept would include the use of part of a church's parking lot during weekdays while. maintaining principal parking use on weekends and evenings This concept needs more work but was in- troduced as a general principle Mrs Battin thanked Mr Bowyer for his presentation She suggested that questions be taken in the order of priority set by the Committee the first priority in the parking plan would be the "turnover" parking for cus- tomers/clients and then for employees 2) Parking plan must be self- supporting, both operating expenses and capital 3) All parkers must pay something except residents and their guests at homes on adjoining resi- dential streets would not be required to pay 4) Accountability and 5) Protection for adjoining residential areas During the brief discussion that followed, it was brought out that Mr Bowyer felt that 100 spaces of the 500-600 should be metered for short-term parking and the remaining metered for 2, 3 and 4 hours There would be two types of unmetered areas such as the Meriam Street lot which would be availabe for stickers and the other would be on streets such as down Mass Avenue by the Green and Grant Street as far as the railroad tracks where you could post for areas of sticker parking Sticker parking enforce- ment would be carried on by the police The possibility of having spaces for small cars was discussed and Mr Bowyer is going to review this possibility It was felt that this type of parking was generally not feasible Mr Hutchinson suggested that the stipulation that the parking fund be the "sole" source of funding be changed to the "primary" source of funding Mr Crain and Mr Busa agreed because they felt that otherwise it might jeopar- dize the expansion of providing parking facilities Mr Biwa also felt that in trying to revitalize and be cost effective, a situation might arise where Lexington Center is "devitalized" and end up with fewer conveniences of town shopping than now People will go elsewhere where parking is free Mr Michelson of Michelson's Shoe store stated his disapproval of the proposal because he felt the anticipated $135,000 per year revenue could become a fund raiser for the Town after the initial use of the funds for a few years for improvements He stated that parking meters were estab- lished, not as a fund raiser, but as a means of turning over parking and controlling it Mr Crain agreed that the intent is to revitalize the Center and that the meters can be adjusted if it is found that considerably more revenue is realized and it is a negative impact, then the meters would be changed The Manager stated that a duly designated committee will be invited via the Chamber of Commerce or the Center Revitalization Committee to come in and review the records regarding how the money is accounted for from parking meter funds He further stated that Mr Bowyer and Mr Sacco and himself had agreed to the items they felt should be cost allocated to the cost of providing parking services in the inititial mark up of costs The intent was to insure that we provide both to the public and private bodies a certain degree of confidence that the money is being managed properly Mr Kent felt that there may be other ways, not currently foreseen, that parking revenue could be used with a view to benefitting the revitali- zation of the center Mrs Battin stated that the Committee was asking that the Board adopt the policies , in principle, pending review and recommendations by the Manager with the exeption of #6 which was not being proposed at this time - 3 - , 11 Selectmen's Meeting January 19, 1981 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adopt policies one through eight, omitting number six; and amending policy number two in the third line substituting the word "primary" for "sole" in reference to the source of Town funds for operating the parking program. The Board of Se- lectmen, three years hence, be directed to review the policies and update them Mrs Miley thanked the Committee for the time and work that was put in- to the development of this parking plan The Committee retired from the meeting The Board met with the Personnel Advisory Board to discuss the per- Personnel sonnel policies Adv Board Mr Busa stated that he felt that it was an excellent report but felt that a dollar figure should be set relative to the employee development plan before it was adopted Mr Crain felt that it should be looked at as a total system considera- tion and not just the cost of one segment The Manager stated that the estimate has been about $3,000 for part- time services to work with the Town to prepare and implement the develop- ment plan understanding that certain things in the employee development plan will come from normal Town funding He recommended that the Board adopt the plan and felt that the money should be expended Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted accept the Personnel Policies and Procedures submitted by the Personnel Advisory Board The Chairman requested a vote on the reappointment of John L Davies Historic to the Historic Districts Commission Districts Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to reappoint John L Appt Davies to the Historic Districts Commission (representing the Historical Society) The Board reviewed the articles for the Special Town Meeting relative Special to assignment of articles The Chairman gave tentative article assignment Town to the Board members Meeting During the discussion the question of an indefinite postponement of Article Article 14 was brought up by Mr Busa who was in favor of this action and 14 - made such a motion Police Mr Kent requested an amendment of the motion to provide that the article be inserted in the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to call for indefinite postponement of Article 14 and its insertion in the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting The Board discussed setting the date for Town Meeting Mr Hutchinson and Mr Busa were in favor of setting the date of March 30 in the hope that there would be more information available on the cherry sheets Mrs Battin reminded the Board that the Town Meeting Chairman had re- written to urge the Selectmen to set4the date for Town Meeting on the tra- ditional date two weeks after Town elections Town meeting could then con- sider articles that did not involve financial consideration and adjourn as necessary After further discussion, it was agreed to set the date of March 16 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4-1, Mr .Busa voting in the negative, to set the first business session of the 1981 Annual Town Meeting on March 16 Sewer The Manager referred the Board to a request from Donald Wilson of Wilson Deferrment Farms, Inc for an abatement of sewer charges in the amount of$6,356 80 Alexander The Manager recommended a deferral at this time rather than an abatement Wilson Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant a three-year deferral of a sewer charge in the amount of $6,356 80 to Donald Wilson as provided under the provisions of Chapter 159 of the Acts of 1950, against property owned by James Alexander Wilson and located on Parcel C, Pleasant Street, without interest, until said land or any part thereof is built upon, sold or until the expiration of three years from the date hereof, whichever event occurs first; provided, however, that this extension of time shall terminate immediately if said land or any portion thereof is built upon or sold Park and The Board discussed the proposed changes in the Park and Recreational Recreational Facilities regulations The Board felt that regulation #11 which changes Regs existing regulation #5 was not clear and asked that it be studied further and brought back to the Board at a later date Mrs Banks is to consult with the Recreation Department and report back to the Board CMARC The Board discussed the request of the Human Services Committee for the II/Article insertion of an article in the warrant for funding for CMARC During the discussion it was brought out that CMARC usually submits its own article, but missed the deadline this year due to changes within its organization This will be a Selectmen's article and dollar amount will be specified The Board agreed to insert the article in the amount of $5,000 User Fees The Board discussed proposed increases in user fees for the Board of Bd Appeals Appeals and the Building Department After discussion, it was agreed that the Building Commissioner will report back to the Board with examples showing the past fees and the pro- posed increases and the resulting increase to the applicant It was also agreed to approve the requested increases from the Board of Appeals Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the re- quested increases in user fees submitted by the Board of Appeals as follows Renewals $ 50 00 Special permit $ 75 00 Variance 75 00 Sign 50 00 Site review 200 00 Cluster devl 200 00 Multi dwell 200 00 Subsidized 200 00 Appeals 50 00 - 5 - X73 Selectmen's Meeting January 19, 1981 Mr Cohen informed the Board that he had received requests to reserve Warrant space in the warrant for resolutions for Fair Housing and one for State Resolutions level funding He inquired whether the. Board wished to have separate articles for these resolutions or whether they could be offered under Article 2 of the warrant The Board indicated that a separate article should be drawn for the fair housing resolution The resolution relat- ing to State level funding could be offered under Article 2 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted by roll call vote 5-0, Mrs Miley, Mr Busa, Mrs Battin, Mr Kent and Mr Crain - to go into Executive Session to discuss matters of collective bargaining and one matter of real estate litigation, with no intention of resuming open session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 11 10 p m. A true record, Attest Executive Clerk 7),,, („k ✓� 1 I VOID