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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970-03-23-BOS-min SELECTMEN'S MEETING March 23, 1970 A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held in the Se- lectmen' s Room, Town Office Building, on Monday evening, March 23, 1970 at 7 00 P M Chairman Cataldo, Messrs Mabee, Kenney, Greeley and Bailey were present Mr Legro, Town Counsel; Mr. O'Connell , Town Manager, Mr Burke, Superintendent of Public Works; Mr McSweeney Town Engineer, and Mrs McCurdy, Executive Clerk, were also present At the request of the Town Clerk, three jurors were drawn as follows Jurors Ralph M Lewis 7 Manning Street Allan I Spear 8 Millbrook Road Robert Drainoni 479 Waltham Street Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Com- pany for the installation of seventeen poles on Hartwell Avenue, southwest of Maguire Road. Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioner and owners of the property as listed on the petitioner' s plan and also filed with the Town Engineer Mr Pratt, representing the Boston Edison Company, was present and said that this petition was for a line of poles going up Hartwell Avenue and will eventually feed into Bedford, due to the load, we want to increase in that area and the line will be going from Instru- mentation Laboratory to the new Itek building, not quite up to Maguire Road The Chairman asked if they had sufficient poles and lines to continue on? Pole Loca- Mr Pratt replied, no, there is a petition coming in for under- tion Hartwell ground conduit to go up Hartwell Avenue from here and up Maguire Avenue Road The Chairman asked why they had picked that point to go under- ground? Mr Pratt said that the Edison Company thought that the seven- teen poles would be suitable and this new development would gain from them; they would get the service from them, as well as a back-up system The Chairman said that he understood that, but couldn't they be served by going underground? He asked if Edison had looked into an alternative? Mr Pratt replied in the negative. The Chairman asked if anyone had questions? Mr John O'Sullivan of Instrumentation Lab said that his company would also be interested in pursuing the line of thinking relevant to underground service I 27 No one else hadquestions and the Chairman declared that part of the hearing closed. No one appearing in favor h petition, the Chairman asked if pp g of the anyone was in opposition John O'Sullivan and Mattie Palmieri of Instrumentation Labora- tory were recorded in opposition Mr McSweeney said that on April 6, the Edison Company had peti- tioned for underground conduit to finish the loop and it will go into Bedford The Chairman said that it is the recommendation of the Board that when the hearing is held on April 6, the underground conduit should start at the point of the beginning of the proposed location for the seventeen poles Mr. Pratt said that he would refer the recommendation back to the Boston Edison Engineer. The Chairman asked if the underground conduit starts at this point, would you like to withdraw this petition? Mr. Pratt requested that the petition be tabled and he will ask Boston Edison for leave-to-withdraw the petition The Board agreed and Mr Pratt is to inform us of the decision of the Boston Edison Company. Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Company to lay and maintain underground conduit on Waltham Street, approximately 96 feet south of Blossomcrest Road at a distance of about 55 feet Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioner and owners of the property as listed on the petitioner' s plan, and also filed with the Town Engineer Mr. Pratt showed a plan and said that the conduit would come out of a manhole to a pole on Waltham Street and would feed both sides of Route 2 Mr and Mrs L'Antiqua, 758 Waltham Street, were present and Waltham St asked if the two double poles which were in front of their home Conduit would remain, Mrs. L'Antiqua said that they understood they were put there temporarily, when the snowplow comes up, it goes onto their property and gouges their lawn as these poles are on the side- walk. Mr Pratt said that as far as he knew they would remain in posi- tion Mr McSweeney said that the poles are within the State highway, not on private property The Chairman felt that the poles should be removed and informed Mr Pratt that the Board would like an answer on the schedule of re- moval and how they would be installed on a permanent basis No one appearing in favor of the petition, the Chairman asked if anyone would like to be recorded in opposition Mr L'Antiqua said that he would like assurance that the Edison Company would take care of the poles 28 The Board agreed to take the petition under advisement until until the Boston Edison Company gives an answer on the poles at 758 Waltham Street Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Com- pany to lay and maintain underground conduit on Waltham Street, ap- proximately 440 feet north of Concord Avenue at a distance of about 115 feet Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioner and owners of the property as listed on the petitioner' s plan, and also filed with the Town Engineer Mr Pratt showed a plan and said that this conduit is for the other side of Route 2 going to Waltham, this is also coming out of a manhole and is within the State highway The Chairman asked why they are going to dig up the street again? Why didn't you put the conduit in when they were constructing Waltham Street? Mr McSweeney said that it was a State highway No one appearing in favor or in opposition, the Cha.rrman declared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to grant permis- sion to the Boston Edison Company to lay and maintain underground conduit in the following location, subject to the condition that the ditch be opened to a minimum width and not have the usual hole in the street Waltham Street, approximately 440 feet north of Concord Avenue, a distance of about 115 feet - Conduit Hearing was declared open upon petition of the Boston Edison Com- pany and the New England Telephone Company to locate four JO poles on the northeasterly side of Vaille Avenue northwest of Reed Street (four existing poles to be removed) and to locate two poles on the northwesterly side of Vaille Avenue southwest of Reed Street (two Pole existing poles to be removed) Location Notices of the hearing were mailed to the petitioners and owners Vaille of the property as listed on the petitioners' plan, and also filed Avenue with the Town Engineer. Mr Dunn, representing the Telephone Company, was present and said that this petition was requested by the Town and we have already moved the poles. No one appearing in favor or in opposition, the Chairman declared the hearing closed Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the petition of the Boston Edison Company and the New England Telephone Company for the following location Vaille Avenue, northeasterly side, northwesterly from a point approximately 57 feet northwest of Reed Street, -- Four (4) poles (Four existing JO poles to be removed) 29 Vaille Avenue, northwesterly side, southwesterly from a point approximately 600 feet southwest of Reed Street, -- Two (2) poles (Two existing JO poles to be removed) Mr. Dunn informed the Board that the Telephone Company plans to resurface the sidewalk area fran Massachusetts Avenue to the Tele- phone Central Office on Waltham Street and the work will be finished just before the parade on April 20th Mr. Legro was given copies of motions for Town Meeting and he retired from the meeting Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the bond for Constable John J Shine, Jr , in the amount of $3,000. Bond Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to sign the Auctioneer' s license for Myron Graffam, Box 52, Lexington Auctioneer The Board agreed to discuss users' fees, as recommended by the Recreation Committee, at a later date Recreation Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to approve the minutes of Selectmen' s Meeting held on March 2, 1970 Minutes The Chairman informed the Board that an application for a pack- age store license has been received from Cumberland Farms, 395 Lowell Street We referred the request to Town Counsel and he in- forms us that this store is within a district zoned for general Liquor business, in which package stores are prohibited General Law- License Chapter 138, section 15A, does not require the local licensing au- Cumberland thority to hold a hearing on an application for such license. It is Farms required to publish, at the expense of the applicant, notice of the application within ten days after its receipt and is prohibited from issuing a license' until ten days after the publication of such notice. In these circumstances, Mr Legro believed that the Selectmen would be justified in requesting withdrawal of the application and returning the application fee, explaining that it is the policy of the Board of Selectmen not to issue a package good store license for a location in which a retail liquor store is a prohibited use under the Lexington By- Law. If the application is not withdrawn, Mr. Legro believed that the Board is required to publish the notice and, after the expiration of ten days, to exercise its right to deny the license The Chairman said that the Board could vote to write to them and if the application is not withdrawn, we would have until next Monday evening to vote to establish a hearing date Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to write to the applicant for a package store license, D B. Haseotes, General Manager of the Commonwealth Dairy Stores, Inc and inform him that the Zoning By-Law specifically prohibits retail liquor stores in the requested location at 395 Lowell Street Mr Burke informed the Board that bids have been opened for curb- ing for the Lexington Center Beautification project Two bids were Curbing received Barretto Granite Corporation of Milford, New Hampshire at Bid $4,250 and H E. Fletcher Company of West Chelmsford, Mass at $4,527 53 He recommended that the bid be awarded to the Barretto Corporation. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to award the bid for curbing to the low bidder, Barretto Granite Corporation, in the amount of $4,250 00 The Chairman said that we have received a letter from Mr Murphy of Valleyfield Realty Trust, questioning the layout recommended by the Town Engineer for the trunk sewer in that area Mr . Murphy asked specific questions and we asked Mr. McSweeney to go over them, alter- native layouts have been made and evaluated. The Chairman felt that our answers should be Valley- ( I) We have evaluated alternative layouts and are recommending field this concept Realty Trust (2) Yes, we did make cost estimates of the proposed layouts and alternative layouts and the Board' s position is, you may not see the cost estimates (3) The Board feels that our consultants, Whitman and Howard, are responsible to the Town of Lexington and will not discuss this sort of matter with anyone. They think we are bisecting their tract of land with a proposed location of the trunk sewer. Mr McSweeney has evaluated the situ- ation and the elevation is such that it is impractical to take that route We have explained that twice to Mr Morgenstern but this is Mr. Murphy asking questions and we have explained this to him Mr McSweeney said that we have tried to meet with all of the owners and have been unsuccessful We have come up with our line and he called up asking if we could have a meeting, he came in and he had gone over our Route 2 location and told us he was the Engi- neer for Valleyfield Realty Trust He asked me for my alternative routes and cost estimates and I said this should be considered in the light of the whole project Next, he went to Mr O'Connell with the same questions He had asked me to answer these questions and I don't think I should I had given the information to Whitman and Howard and I wanted to discuss it with the Board He started relating sewer costs vs damages to their property and I said that wasn't the way we assessed and told him that unless he had some proposal for us to look at, he couldn't determine how we design our sewer line He never said if Valleyfield had a proposal or had a question on the option Mr Greeley said that two weeks ago, they said they didn't have a proposal; we have no reason to believe they have a proposal 31k Mr. O'Connell said that he had talked with Mr. Murphy and offered to set up a meeting to discuss the matter and Mr Murphy made it clear not to have a meeting, he wanted answers to his questions and it could be on his terms or he was not interested It was agreed to have Mr. Murphy in to meet with the Board Town Meeting Articles were discussed Mr. Greeley said that he would like to take a position on Arti- cles 91 and 99, Vine Brook land The Board agreed to unanimously support these Articles and to Vine state the conditions to Town Meeting that if the land is rezoned, and Brook if the land is conveyed to the Housing Authority, the remaining por- tion will be rezoned back to R- I The Board agrees to only the mas- ter plan and will come back to Town Meeting to rescind the authority on the remaining portion Article 100, lot on Rockville Avenue, was discussed and the Rockville Chairman said that it would not be sold unless it is annexed to an- Ave Lot other lot We have set the minimum price at $3500 Article 101 , Niles Realty land, was discussed. The Chairman asked the Board' s position on the sewer The total project would be $57,000 It would be $42,500 to run the sewer from 111 the trunk to Waltham Street and $ 14,500 to run the sewer from Waltham Street to the Niles property There would be betterments of $ 14,000 on the first part and a betterment of $ 1100 from the corner properties and Niles would, basically, be $ 1200, but they would agree to con- struct the sewer at no cost to the Town from Waltham Street to the property Mr Greeley asked if we are committing ourselves to next year' s Niles program for that? In effect, we would have to put it in next year Realty The Chairman agreed He asked if the Board would consider say- ingthat we put thistobid asan w' Fields? out nth Five Mr. Kenney said, just the piece from Waltham Street to the trunk Mr. Greeley didn't think there was any chance of getting that extra money The Chairman said that Mr McSweeney thinks he can put it in for $40,000 but he does not want to commit himself at this time; this would be the amount of money it would cost us. Mr Bailey said that it is the big issue in the Planning Board. Mr. Greeley said that we ought to put it to the Town Meeting; they are making the decision on zoning and I don't think I would want to put it in if the zoning is defeated Mr. Bailey said that we could say that if the zoning is passed, we will act expeditiously to put in the sewer Mr Greeley said that he was saying if the zoning is defeated, he doesn't want to put a priority on this sewer The Chairman said that we could say if zoning is passed, we could put this in as an alternate. The Board agreed 32 Town Office Mr Kenney informed the Board that the General Contractors' bids Article 32 have been opened and Article 32 will be postponed until Town Meeting on Wednesday Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing, deliberating or Executive voting on matters which, if made public, might adversely affect the Session public security, the financial interests of the Town or the reputa- tion of a person After discussion of a matter concerning the police department, it was voted to go out of Executive Session. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn at 7 52 P M. A true record, Attest h ri Executive Clerk, Selectmen \\ . 1 1