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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1918 Planning Board Minutes 19J8 PLANNING BOAFI; Frederick L. Emery Christopher S. hyan S. Louis Barbour Howard S. 0. Nichols Fred S. Piper Edward T . Hartman ADJOURNED TOWN nETI NG March 11, 1918 Art . 26. Creation of Planning Board On motion of Jay 0 . Richards, it was voted "That a Planning Board be created in accordance with Chapter 283 of the Acts of 1914 and amendments thereto, said Board to consist of six member, two members to be elected for the term of one year, two members to be elected for the term of two years and two members to be elected for the term of three years, and annually hereafter in the month of March two members shall be 111 , elected for the term of three years ." Vote passed unanimously at 7:47 P. M. L=GTC1 m -r P�..A I_.G 3C:i D At the to; n m,,eti ng of March 11, 1915 , the town elected a l,inni:ic- board cc: ose,i. of the .7_' 1o'• ina ner:bers : For cu Frederick 1 . Lmer j , • S . Ryan For t%,o ear;; 3 . Lewis Barbour Hoy ard_ :3 . C . i;ichols For Three tars Fred :, . Piper and 7 . Hartman =U71:5' l- , CT 7.HE L: XI GTC.i27 tG BOARD April. 2, 1915 . Messrs . Barbour, T ierj' , Hartman `nd Piperr, in answer to o c-11 from the Board of Select/nen acpeared of the To4,.0 Hall ,3nd the oath of office as members of the To, n 21anninf• Board :as administered off: the ' o, n The 3oerd or- gani - ed e1;-,c; in- s c;: irYn^n Frederick 1 . Tier-, , Pc secre`ar- .:_ art. T . H _•t n . Various matters ;were dis- cu c a , m? rl `-. ith reference to the po ers of the Board , its relationship to other i ovn boards , clic it , as Voted: To i ,vite roDr:',oc?•:.{;:ntives frci the Board of ..iu.rvey and the Park Boer d to ';Vi=e t lth the Ply nnic Board as rF .; 12.1""1' es pos ' lid e and tic''l ar1l' when T-Int; fec` in' • t .e '_�r e t>:'lelYu. 'wore under cont ideretion . Ld,•ard. T . dartrr.an, aecrPtary April 2Z , 1518 . \ There were ereent ]mere- , B^.rbo,,r , Riper , T'ichols arid. Har t-.7L , together ,;i.th ton er:_•ineer Duf fev Rir; ar 's re ,r E"sP.._ti fir" the Board o ._ :;urve: . The Board dis- cussed the lay-out of .Loc ivenue Cl e 't" 1..;iG_.. , ' l.e pro- posed ce'r,eter:- , the (_-,-stio i of to n ]E o , i1C tire of the p ift o s of th,= to , n . Voted.: To -: k the ce,-et-,r`, -or ittee to YYeet t,ith the Plan-in- Board tc cciic i(.er the d'eveloo rent of the. ce"etery as ';er vote of the to.Jn . Voted.: To ask the ..r cret=�ry to c.o : ;a at l-n('._ccaa )e architects with refer -nee to the lf y-out of the ce eter-- . At the r`=( ' r', t of _• • . Richard, the pi o oos ed rngat e Pa. sa- chuL e -c Aver:Liar- f1 . Vine Brook ,c iui d ere;? ,f:‘, 1-10, it , a6 To ask Daniel Cerucci, vho propose., to build the ;,G :_n•-et .ith the Board at the next T!ee,tinP• to dis- cuss the situation. To ed 7oiirn to .aonday ,, April , 8 P .M. EC.vard T . Hssrtanan, Secretary 4 April 29 , 19] 8 . .� There were present :lessrs . Emery, Piper , Barbour , T;ichols , Ryan and Hartman, v,ith Ir . Cerucci, .Tessrs . Scammon and Richards of the Board of Survey and Tovn n Engineer Duffey . The situation in repard to the proposed enrage on assachus etls A� enue and Vine Brook and the development of the land beck of the site v.as considered at length and it vias Voted: To ask the Board of Serve,; to have made a survey of Vine Brook to Jaltham Street and of the other branch of Vine Brook to its sources and on to the state road so as to €dive a proper idea of where the main u ays should run. Voted: To advise Mr . Cerucci of this action and ask hien to hold his plans for iurthsr detielopments . The Board then discussed the development of the new cemetery end it viva., Voted: To ask the Secretary to consult 1:r . Arthur Shurtleff with a view to ascertaining the possibility of securing hil , as consulting landscape architect with someone else to carry out the detailed development of the site . Voted: To adjourn to May 9 , at rhich meeting the cemetery committee is to be asked to �~eet v.ith the board . Ldward T . Hartman, Secretary 5 October 15, 1915 . IILlIINGTON PLA1t1fING :BOARD Responding to an invitation from the Board of Survey the entire planning board met with the Board of Survey' to consider the taking of land for a street running westerly from Massachusetts Avenue along Vine brook. The board was polled on the question and with the exception of lug'. Ryan there was adreement that the taking should be made so as to hold the water way for sewer purposes , also to give access to the land behind which would otherwise have no satisfactory outlet to Massachusetts Avenue. IIThe Board was interested also in a presentation vby Mr. Horton with a view of usinL the taking as a portion of a parkway wliich would ultimately connect with Waverly Oaks and possibly with other park centers. f4 r ‘Lf Lexington Planning Board . November 4, 118 . There were present all the members of the Board ex- cept T:r .Hyan, also Mes ,rs . Scamman, 'Richards and Duffy After extended consideration of the question of ex- "Th tending and accepting hocust Ave . it was decided to postpone definite action until the selectmen reported on the exact form of the original motion. The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the need and method of develo-ning a town map and the lay-out of the town's main ways . No definite action was taken. T .T.H';rtman, Secretary Lexington y 1enninP Board Dec .9 , 1918 . There were present : essrs .T-nery, TTichols , Piper, -z rbnu.- , rid T7artman . voted: The the Planning.- Borrd f vors the p=assage of bills already in craft form to put into effect the con- stitutional amendments on districting or zoning of cit- ies snd on billboards ^nd to rec ue: t the Secretary to notify the Senator and Representative representing Lex- irlPton. Voted; in recommend to the Board o f Survey the establish- ment stabli h-ment of building lines on Muzzy Street and to make the Chairman and :Tr .B` rbour a sub-committee to confer with the Board o f Survey on the matter . Voted; fn advise : r .CTreely in answer to h7s letter of 11 November 8 thot ' he Board out d commend the purchase of the Keeley Institute lot by citizens to be held nor the purpoue of promoting the best development of +-re town, s.ith no t, n'ency on the o?rt o f the loard to advise its u: e for town purposes . Voted: Tit ' he Chairman ask 'Tr .1.t .Ballard to seek a long time option on the old Lumber yard property with a view lo r curanP it for a town yard. PLANNING BOARD REPORT FOR 1918 The Planning Board organized on April 2, 1918, and be- tween this date and the close of the year held twelve meetings, eight of which were joint meetings with the Cemetery Committee . Numerous informal meetings of various members of the Board have been held. Upon a number of occasions members of the Board of Select- men, Board of Survey and Park Board have met with the Planning Board , and upon other occasions members of the Planning Board have met with other Boards . The principal work of the Planning Board has been in connection with the Cemetery Committee, serving as a joint board under vote of the Town to lay out the new cemetery. At the time the Planning Board was established, the Town assigned to it in co-operation with the Cemetery Committee the task of securing plans for the development of the new cemetery. Owing to the demands of this work, the Board has naturally given to the Cemetery project the major portion of its time . Leetings of the joint committee , conferences, interviews, visits to ceme- teries in this vicinity and elsewhere have been very nearly con- tinuous with the result that a report will soon be ready. Plans are nearing completion, and it is hoped that a full report with Plan of the proposed lay-out and draft of rules and regulations for handling the matter may be in the hands of the citizens prior to the annual town meeting. It is expected that the plan of development willbe at that time sufficiently complete to enable the Town, provided it accepts the same, to take definite action looking toward actual work of construction. Aside from the fact that the work upon the new cemetery has taken the major part of the Board 's time and attention, it is to be remembered that the Planning Board is a new one with no traditional or well-defined lines laid down for its work. The inevitable result has been to require time to feel out the situation which confronts the Town, and to determine to what line or lines the Board could best devote its time and effort . The Board is without any real power in connection with any matter, and must content itself with recommendations and suggestions to be put into effect by the Town, and while numerous matters having to do with the welfare of the Town as the Board conceives it have been considered and gone into to considerable extent, it seems wise at the present time not to dwell upon matters that at present can only be considered as possibilities . At the very outset of its work, the Planning Board en- countered the necessity for an adequate map of the Town, and until such a map can be produced, very little of real value can be accomplished in the intended line of activity of a Planning -2- Board . Lexington has large areas of undeveloped land, - farms that were once operated but are now in the market for develop- ment . These areas will go to haphazard, cheap development, each area to be developed upon a plan largely its own and without due regard to the development of adjoining areas, unless they be considered as a whole, laid out with proper reference to the topography and served by a comprehensive system of roads. The Boardof ourvey, upon whom devolves the responsibility for im- proving development layouts, cannot properly pass upon the same and should not be charged with responsibility therefore in the absence of a proper and sufficient plan of the Town. New lines of highway should be developed to relieve the traffic on I,:assachusetts Avenue and to open up outside areas, but here again, nothing can be done without a Town map. The Planning board urges with all possible emphasis the necessity for immediately providing for such a map. The Town Engineer is doing what he can in this direction, but with the force at his command and other duties devolving upon him must necessarily require a long time in its preparation. In our opinion, a special appropriation is justified to increase the engineer ' s force to enable him to make immediate progress to this end. The duties of Planning Boards, as specified in the law, are "To make careful studies of the resources, possibilities and needs of the Town, particularly with respect to conditions which may be injurious to the public health or otherwise in- jurious in and about rented dwellings, and to make plans for the development of the municipality with special reference to the housing of its people ." The Homestead Commission and the Federation of Planning Boards both point out the importance of a town map, topographical and showing existing streets , railways, parks and undeveloped land, as a basis for a creful study of future developments ; and that the board should forecast developments needed at least fifty years in advance of any given time . ouch developments should be , when adopted by the Town, laid down on the map as the basis of procedure . It is further pointed out that it is the absence of such planning, and the foresight it brings into play, which is re- sponsible for the chaotic conditions so generally found. In practically every other respect we find careful planning in ad- vance . Municipal development is the exception, where accident or the interests of a developer dictate what is to rule the Town for good or ill for centuries. ie plan our homes , which have a comparatively short life . '; e have left to chance the laying out of our streets, which last practically forever. l,hen an old established street is changed it is at a frightful cost . -3- The foregoing sets forth the general purposes of a Plann- ing Board . No one can dispute the wisdom of the course outlined. The Board hopes, without any power of its own, that it can justify its continued existence by the wisdom of its suggestions, plans and activities . Respectfully submitted, FREDERICK L. EMERY, EDWARD T. HARTMAN, CHRISTOPHER S. RYAN, HOWARD S. O. NIC HO L S.