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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976-11-18 BOARD OF APPEALS November 18, 1976 The Board of Appeals held a regular meeting on Thursday, November 18, 1976 in the Selectmen's Meeting Room of the Town Office Building Present were George P Wadsworth, Chairman Ruth Morey, Vice Chairman Woodruff M. Brodhead Irving H Mabee Robert M. Gary, Associate Public hearings were held on the following petitions, notices having been mailed as required by statute and advertised in the newspaper Stephen I Owren - special permit to erect and maintain a free standing sign, as allowed under Section III, g , (1) of the sign bylaw, upon the premises at 1844 Massachusetts Avenue, which are under lease by said petitioner This sign is to measure 3'6" wide by 4'11" high Brewster's Inc - special permit under the provisions of Sections 30 3 and 12 2, and other applicable sections of the zoning bylaw, so as to allow for the con- struction of an addition to the existing building at 903 Waltham Street The proposed addition will be approximately eight feet (8') by fifteen feet four inches (15'4") and will act as a wind-break at the front entrance Also requested is a variance from Section 27 to allow said addition to have a frontyard setback of approximately 25 feet instead of the required 30 feet The applicant is the owner of the premises Doral Greenhouses, Inc - special permit renewal under Sections 25 33, 25 34 and 24 5 of the Zoning Bylaw, to continue the operation of a roadside stand for the sale of flowers, plants and other nursery and farm goods on the premises located at 150 East Street and also for the sale of Christmas trees, wreaths, etc , in the appropriate season The applicant is the Lessee of the premises Albert R Piantedosi - variance form the Zoning Bylaw to allow for the temporary parking of not more than thirty-seven (37) motor vehicles arestored will not be visible from the street The Board made the following decisions, all in open meeting See permits for details, all in Board of Appeals' files and also filed with the Town Clerk Owren - denied, unanimously Brewsters - denied on a 3 to 2 vote (Yes, in favor Mrs Morey, G Wadsworth & W Brodhead; No, in opposition I Mabee and R Gary) Doran's - granted, unanimously Piantedosi - granted, unanimously Other Action The Board by unanimous vote approved the contents of the proposed report written for the 1976 Annual Town Report The Board voted unanimously to accept the request of Francis W K. Smith, Attorney for Lexington Gardens, Inc and voted unanimously the following "that the Special Permit of Lexington Gardens, Inc granted October 15, 1974, is hereby extended until the determination by this Board of the renewal peti- tion of said Lexington Gardens, Inc now pending before the Board of Appeals " November 18, 1976 (continued) Page 2 Other action (continued) The Board voted unanimously to send the following letter to Mr Zabin (This letter is in response to his letter of October 13, a copy of which may be seen ih the October 28 minutes ) Mr Albert P Zabin Lexington Planning Board Lexington, Massachusetts Dear Mr Zabin The Board of Appeals spent some time after the hearings at their last session discussing your letter of October 13, 1976 Most of us were surprised at the letter in that we were unaware that a committee had been appointed to study Chapter 808 and its relation to Lexington I guess we expected that the Board would be invited to testify as a group before this study committee if and when it was appointed because of the final paragraph in Mr Cohen's letter of January 19, 1976 "I suggest that it will be necessary to set up a committee to review the existing by-law I assume that the lead will be taken by the Planning Board, but it is obvious that other boards, especially the Board of Appeals should be included in any planning " The consensus of opinion of the Board of Appeals leaned in the direction that the present setup of handling permits through the Board seemed a very ade- quate and workable solution As you know, the load on the Board (total hearings) has decreased in the last year so that relief from the work load is nt essential for a viable operation. The number of petitions or permits which might be allocated to other than the Board of Appeals as suggested by Chapter 808 would be small and only introduce a jurisdictional problem needlessly without any particular gain in handling the work load with dispatch Ome of the strengths of delegating to an appointed Board the handling of this type of official Town operation is the fact that they are not elected and therefore are completely uncommitted to work toward the adoption by any Board or Town Meeting of a particular policy or program The present system, therefore, has the advant- age of an appointed Board reviewing decisions and policy of elected Town Boards, which seems to be a very valuable check and balance When making its decisions the Board of Appeals gives serious consideration to the advice and counsel given to it by other Boards We look forward to their input The Board feels, however, that it would be more helpful if the other Town Boards would, more often than at present, give us their opinions before the hearings on those petitions for which they have a particular concern It is to be noted that the Town need not accept Chapter 808 until June of 1978 Also, even after it is accepted by Lexington, the Town can change its own Zoning By-laws any time in the indefinite future to accept some of the "may" provisions in the law which your committee is studying We respectfully suggest that any decision on these possible provisions of Chapter 808 be postponed for a few years In the meantime a study could be made of each case coming before the Board of Appeals to see if it could be more adequately handled by some other Board This would give an opportunity of studying data under present temporal conditions as to the number and November 18, 1976 (continued) Page 3 content of such petitions before a big step is taken which, although reversible, is very difficult to attain We are obviously interested in your Committee Report which we understand is already completed Sincerely yours, /s/ George P Wadsworth For the Board of Appeals Copies were mailed 11/19/76 to Board of Selectmen Howard M. Kessler Fred C Bailey Alfred S Buse Margery M. Battin Mary W Miley Planning Board Eric T Clarke Paul J MacKenzie Albert P Zabin (original & copy) Stanley A. Brown Manfred P Friedman Kenneth G Briggs, Planning Director The meeting adjourned at 11 23 p m Respectfully submitted, Evelyn F Cole Administrative Clerk BOARD OF APPEALS 1