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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-04-26-BOS-min 478 SELECTMEN' S MEETING April 26, 1971 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Bird Room, Cary Memorial Building, on Monday evening, April 26, 1971 , at 7 30 p.m. Chairman Cataldo, Messrs Kenney, Bailey and Buse, and Mrs Riffin were present Mr Legro, Town Counsel , Mr O'Connell , Town Manager, Mr McSweeney, Town Engineer and Acting Superintendent of Public Works and Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were also present Mr Zehner met with the Board regarding bids received on $ 1 ,000,000 to be borrowed in anticipation of tax revenue We got the lowest rate of any of the Towns that borrow today He requested the Board to award to the low bidders, The Harvard Trust Company and the Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust and to sign the notes and delivery au- thorizations, the loan to be dated April 29, 1971 and due on November Treasurer 3, 1971 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the contract to the low bidders, to sign the notes and delivery authoriza- tions to the following banks Harvard Trust Company on $250,000 2 53% discounted Harvard Trust Company on $250,000 2 58% discounted Harvard Trust Company on $250,000 2 63% discounted Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust on $250,000 2 66% discounted Mr Legro requested the Board to sign the Orders of Taking for slope easements on Bow Street, Taft Avenue and Simonds Road for side- walk construction, awarding no damages in accordance with the vote of the Board on April 14, 1971 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Slope Ease- Orders of Taking for slope easements on Bow Street, with an award of ments Bow no damages St Taft Ave Mr Cataldo was recorded as not participating in discussion or & Simonds Rd. the vote Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Orders of Taking for slope easements on Taft Avenue, with an award of no damages Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Orders of Taking for slope easements on Simonds Road, with an award of no damages Mr O'Connell said that Town Counsel had asked him to get a let- Drummer ter to exercise the option on the Oneida Corporation for the Drummer Boy Land Boy land In checking, Stanley Brown found that HUD will not agree to this until they have seen the application for the grant, which is 479 in process I discussed this with Mr Legro, who indicated he is work- ing on this There is a further complication as Mr Legro received as late as last Friday, a request from the Planning Board for slope ease- ments and this may involve the need for the extension of the expiration date The Chairman said that the Planning Board didn't want anything in the beginning What would we need slope easements for? Mr Legro replied for the depth of the fill , they have to slope on either side of the way The Chairman asked if Hadley Road is defined to the width of 100 ft and if this is the case, would we need anything beyond it Mr Legro replied, I think so The Chairman asked when would we exercise the option? Mr Legro replied, on May 15; we will have to have a modification of the option, anyway, to satisfy for the slope easements The Chairman said that a letter has been received from Rev Handley requesting the Board to change the date previously granted for Permit the paper drive from May 2 to May 9, 1971 from 100 p.m to 6 00 p.m Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permis- sion to the Church of Our Redeemer to hold a parish-wide paper drive on Sunday, May 9, 1971 , from 100 p.m to 6 00 p.m The Chairman read a letter from Charles A Withrow, 10 Grant Place, regarding low water pressure on Grant Place because of a one- inch main serving four houses Mr Withrow states that he understands the drain from Meriam Street through the parking lot will be extended this year and this means that part of Grant Place and the intersection Water at Grant Street will be excavated; this would seem to be a convenient Grant time to install a larger water service and the placing of a hydrant on Place the street would be a comfort also The Chairman said that he assumed if we were to do this, we would have to lay out that street, take the easements and charge betterments for the water main The Board agreed to refer Mr Withrow' s request to the Town Engi- neer for his recommendations The Chairman read a request from the Greater Boston Chapter of Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America, Inc for permission for a Muscular fund raising drive on Sunday, October 24, 1971 Dystrophy Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted that the Board Drive had no objection to the Boston Chapter of Muscular Dystrophy Associa- tions of America, Inc conducting a fund raising drive on Sunday, October 24, 1971 The Chairman read a letter from Governor Sargent regarding a State- wide Conference of Municipal Officials at Bentley College in Waltham Official?;' on May 6, 1971 at 7 30 p.m Conference Mrs Riffin and Mr O'Connell are to attend the conference 480 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the Water request of the Acting Superintendent of Public Works for a water Abatement abatement to Richard Johnson, 66 Allen Street, $9 45; corrected billing; frozen meter changed by builder Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant the request of the Tax Collector to rescind the vote of March 5, 1971 to abate the 1970 ambulance bill of Mary Doyle, 38 Scanlon Street, Quincy, as the bill has been paid. The Chairman read a letter inviting the Board to attend a Watershed meeting of the Shawsheen River Watershed Association on April 28, Meeting at 8 00 p.m at Phillips Academy, Andover The Chairman said that if any member wishes to attend, feel free free to go The Board discussed the request of Dr Bergmeyer, 11 Mountain Road, regarding plowing and maintenance of Mountain Road Mr Legro said that the grant from the Town to Mrs Hennessey was a right of public travel for a right-of-way and this 40 ft strip abutting the entire frontage, the common boundary part of it between what was Mountain Road extends along that entire boundary line to Turning Mill Road and she released all right-of-way appur- tenant to this It may well be she retained the 4 II acre parcel to travel over this right-of-way over Robinson Road over to Grove Street All of these instruments were recorded in 1962 to become 111 effective in 10 years unless, in the meantime, she or the Town con- structed a passageway There was no obligation to the Town to con- Mountain Rd struct a passageway or to plow Plowing The Chairman said that as far as we are concerned, we are not obligated to plow She has gravelled it Mr Legro said if it has been gravelled, then she has released this right-of-way down to Robinson Road, and released it to the suc- cessor in title The Chairman said then we have no legal responsibility in any fashion to plow it Is it the Board' s position that we maintain and not plow it? Mr Busa asked if it would be possible to get in and out to plow it? The Chairman said that is beside the point Mr Kenney asked if there were any precedent on this? Mr McSweeney replied, no Mr Bailey said that these people say they weren't told. The Chairman said that he had told them four times. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted unanimously to deny the request of Dr Bergmeyer to plow Mountain Road as it was the expressed provision of the transaction when the land was pur- chased from Mrs Hennessey that the Town would be under no obliga- tion to plow or remove snow from this passageway 481 The Chairman said that Dr Bergmeyer asked to put up a chain if his request were denied Mr Legro said that first of all , the Town still owns the fee on the right-of-way and that is contrary to putting a chain across the way. The Chairman said that he had told Dr Bergmeyer that and, also, in an emergency, a car couldn't get in Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to deny Dr Bergmeyer' s request to chain off Mountain Road and close it to the public The Board discussed the Lexington Commission on Suburban Responsi- bility The Chairman said that we had a request from the Commission to add a representative of Lexington Interfaith Corporation and we said we would look at the organizations involved in the Commission Mrs Riff in said that the Lexington Association for Moderate In- LCSR come Housing is no longer active The Chairman said they should write a letter of resignation Mrs Riff in is to contact LAMCH The Chairman said that the representatives of the High School are not appointed Mr Bailey suggested keeping it open The Board is to discuss the membership list at a later meeting The Chairman said the Rules and Regulations for Liquor Licenses Liquor for Motels and Restaurants must be amended for the Board to vote to be Regulatiomf notified of any change in Manager, and the Manager would have to be Motels someone in authority within the Licensed facility. Mr Legro agreed to submit the proper language to the Board The Chairman said that the Town Engineer has requested that the agreement with the State on Chapter 768 for Spring Street be signed He asked Mr McSweeney what will happen if it doesn't go through Chapter Town Meeting? 768 Spring Mr McSweeney replied that we submit a request again next year; Street we have a deadline of June, 1972 Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to authorize the Chairman to sign the Project Request for Spring Street for Chapter 768 money The Board agreed to schedule a meeting with the Citizens' Advisory Committee on May 3 to give the members their charge on Spring Street Meeting and East Street The Chairman said that we have talked of Articles for the Warrant Warrant He asked Mr Legro if this is the Town Meeting to do the layout of Articles Massachusetts Avenue for the Central Block? Say the Board recommends Special to take 25' , would we have to have this all laid out before Town Meeting June Town or would it be sensible to hold the layout for the next Town Meeting? Meeting 482 Mr Legro replied to lay it out to the 15 ft. line and vote to lay it out beyond, you leave no access I think the layout ought to follow as closely as it can You ought to make an agreement with the owners, perhaps not on the damages involved but on the proce- dures to be followed; then we don't have an interim period that the time lag could affect the damages The Chairman said that where there is a difference of opinion, it is my feeling there should be two separate Articles ( I ) to take all of it, (2) to take all or part on the recommendation of what the Board feels, If we go in with a general Article for all or any part, Town Meeting really doesn't have any choice If there are two sepa- rate Articles, they will know exactly what they are voting on Mr Legro said you could accomplish it by "to see if the Town votes to take all or any part of it" , and have a specific purpose The Chairman disagreed We should first say, do we take the whole thing or not; it is a mistake going in with one Article Mr Legro said that we can work up two Articles and when the Board is making the final vote to insert, we can leave one or the other out The Chairman asked if there were any other Articles to go in the Warrant? There were no other Articles Mr Hruby and Mr Adler, Architect for the Housing Authority, Mr Zehner of Arts and Crafts, Mr Nickerson of the Board of Appeals, and the Planning Board met with the Board to discuss Vine Brook Village The Chairman said that we had a meeting last week with the Housing Authority and the Arts and Crafts Society and there was a difference of opinion on the proposal , as it was presented to the Vine Brook Board, on what should happen to the development, specifically with Village the Arts and Crafts Society Basically, the proposal that came be- fore us last week was what the Planning Board approved and the Board of Appeals approved, except for one point, which is, there are ap- proximately 1200 sq. ft that Arts and Crafts would like included in a conveyance to them The Housing Authoity objected and, according to the Planning Board minutes, you people objected If we considered favorably to convey that 1200 sq ft of land, we would go to Town Meeting for specific authority to convey it to Arts and Crafts What is your feeling of a restriction that it not be used for parking, but for a building to be used in conjunction with their program? Mr Hruby said that we don't have any objection to this type of proposal as long as it is not used for parking, as it is close to our buildings, 33 ft , and the noise and activity might be objectionable to our tenants The Chairman said if we were going to convey it, it would be left in its natural state Beyond that, the screening would be inten- sified to give privacy until they build the building That restriction would go with that parcel of land 483 Mr Hruby said that the Housing Authority would have no objection Mr Lund said that our position was when they came in with the Architect, we thought we ought to support the Architect in his views and his objection was parking If the Architect and the Housing Au- thority do not object Mr Adler, Architect, said that the evening that motion by the Arts and Crafts was proposed to the Board, I believe they were trying to get as many parking lots on that as possible Since then, Arts and Crafts has prepared an alternate proposal and they have been will- ing that this land would not be used for parking at any time and would only be used for building a building The Chairman addressed Mr. Nickerson and said that he understood a hearing had been held to set forth some conditions on the planning and determinations If the total land area stated 4 4 acres, would that make a difference in your determination? Would you have any ob- jection to making the restriction we talked about? Mr Nickerson had no objection The Chairman addressed Mr Hruby and said that he had said the Housing Authority had no objection but would he want us to insert an Article for the access alone Mr Hruby replied, yes Mr Lund said, then we have no objection The Chairman asked Mr Lund, just the access road? Mr Lund said that the description included the whole parcel The Chairman said that the Article should be based on the descrip- tion of just the access The Chairman asked Mr Hruby if he thought it would be consummated by Town Meeting time? Mr Hruby replied, yes; I think it will be resolved within the next 10 days Mr Zaleski said that the Article refers to 55 ft , not the whole parcel The Chairman asked if the Board felt it should be a Selectmen' s Article to convey it to the Arts and Crafts Society? The Board of Selectmen agreed it should be a Selectmen' s Article The Chairman said that we will expect a letter from the Housing Authority asking us to insert the Article; then we will insert the Arti- cle for conveyance to the Arts and Crafts Society Mr Hruby agreed to submit the letter Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Execu- Executive tive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or voting on Session matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the public security, financial interests of the Town or the reputation of any person. After discussion of matters of financial interest to the Town, it was voted to go out of Executive Session Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 10 45 p.m A true record, Attest 2- 41/4411 KKK Executive Clerk, Selectmen