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Home My WebLink About1940-12-30L] 1 1 PLANNING BOARD MEETING December 30, 1940 A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held on Monday evening, Dec. 30th at 7:30 in the Town office Building. Messrs, Greeley, Kimball, Ellis, Nickerson, and Worthen were present. The Clerk was instructed to communicate with Mr. Everett M. Brooks, C.E., who has expressed a desire to meet with the Tower Board and discuss the preliminary plan for the Tower property. Develop - It was agreed to meet on Wednesday, January 8, at 7:45 P. M. ment Mr. Kimball presented the Master Plan as completed and Master this was duly accepted by the Board. Plan The Chairman reported the receipt of a letter from Mr. Paxton, enclosing copy of letter from Mr. Wm. H. Ballard to the Board of Selectmen, pertaining to the widening of Waltham Waltham Street from the Aldrich Block to Vine Brook Road. Street Mr. Paxton asked this Board's study of the matter, etc., that he may present a report to the Selectmen. The Clerk was instructed to obtain the status of this question from Mr. Cosgrove. She Board appeared before the Selectmen, to present the report and the charts comprising the parking study in Farking the center of the town. Mr. Kimball summarized the con- Survey clusions of this report, and with the consent of the Selectmen, stated that the report would be published in the forthcoming issue of the "Minute -Man". The Board adjourned at 8:05 P. M. in order to attend the Town Meeting. Respectfully submitted, .1100 r Clerk REPORT OF THE PLANNING BOARD FOR 1940 1 During the year 19401 we have held 26 board meetings, including several joint meetings with the selectmen, one -public hearing, and two field trips. The Board is set up by law to serve only in an advisory capa- city on matters affecting the development of the Town. In making decisions the interests of the individual are considered but must come second to the welfare of the Town as a whole. - The Board of Survey and the Selectmen are the administrative and enforcement boards. The citizens in Town Meeting have the final control. Planning Board meetings are not private and interested citizens may attend. The Board finds citizens too little rather than too much inter- ested in its attempt to carry out their wishes. The Town is growing fast,, -so that open lands are constantly being cut up into houselots. If these subdivisions are well de- signed the Town benefits, in terms of pleasanter homes, increased ' real values, and general satisfaction. The Planning Board co- operates with the Board of Survey to bring this about. If a single speculator is allowed to carry out an unsuitable plan, topographical blunders, economic waste and general dissatisfaction are fastened upon the neighborhood for an indefinite period. The Board has developed a master plan of the entire area of the Town. This provides a guide for the design of any given acreage, so that its layout may harmonize not only with existing but with later subdivisions in the vicinity. This plan constitutes a compre- hensive permanent record of suggested projects. In connection with new real estate developments we have re- viewed, revised, and recommended approval of: (1) Ryder property near Highland Avenue, Vine Brook Road and Waltham Street (2) Ryder property, Marrett Road, Spring and Shade and Cary Avenue (3) Cutler Farm - Concord Turnpike, old Shade Street, Spring and Grassland. (4) Lexington Ridge - Burlington Street ' (5) Layout off Concord Avenue (6) Clematis Pond layout - the layout as approved provided frontage for every lot on one of the interior roads, so that no dangerous private entrances would be required upon the turnpike or busy Watertown St. contrary to the plan. Two houseshave already been built with driveways ' upon Watertown St., thus frustrating the attempts of the Town to secure proper results, to say nothing of creating hazards for the owners of the new houses. In connection with the general street plans we have; (1)• Mapped a route for the Middlesex Turnpike through the Maple St, neighborhood, across Massachusetts Ave. at Brown's Brook, along the foot of the slope below Oak St. and through the valley back of the Peacock Farm to the Concord Road. (2) Studied street proposals submitted by the Chamber of Commerce - (a) Waltham to Muzzey (b) Hancock to Patriot Drive (and Meriam) continuing through Oakland to Grant (c) Massachusetts Avenue at Vine Brook across Vine Brooad Road to Waltham at Forest. These were not approved by the Board for any immediate project. (3) (a) Studied a proposal for a street from Vine Brook Road to Massachusetts Ave. over the , brook. We reported this to be not desirable. We have studied and mapped properties for sale on devel- oped streets. Without encroaching on other reports we wish to direct attention to the fact that 78 dwelling permits were issued with a permit valuation averaging $5222. This is by far the highest number issued since 1931 when there were 76 permits at an average of $6300. Water facilities were directly available for 87% of the buildings, the remaining 13% required only extension of existing street service. Sewer facilities, however, were available to only 5%. Not less than 80% of the buildings will be on established streets. We believe this represents a healthful town growth with efficient •use of available facilities. However, we have studied and mapped properties for sale on established streets and find that the Town has already paid for streets and public services for an even greater number of prospective homes. In other words the townts plant is now overbuilt and any develop- ments of new streets are extensions of a plant which are un- jusified from a point of view of town economy, at least until existing streets are more largely built up. The Boy Scouts co-operated in the plotting of useful , data in connection with this study. In the New England Town Planning Association prize contest for High School pupils, in which Lexington High School pupils were enrolled, the Board suggested two projects to the civics teachers: (a) The development of the Great Meadows (b) The solution of parking in the centre commercial district. One of the first prizes in this statewide competition was won by a Lexington Student, which fact reflects credit upon the teachers in our High School Civics Department. We have also suggested the need of an assessed valuation graphic map of the town, showing different value levels as shaded areas. We have conferred with the Board of Assessors and believe money should be made available to them for this purpose. The Board had a series of conferences and conducted a hearing on•an apartment project. After the project was voted down, we made a study of suitable apartment zones throughout the town. We have spent time and effort on drawing up a budget plan based on the Winchester and Brookline five year plans. This plan is now practically complete as far as systematic tabulation for 1935 to 1940 is concerned, and we plan in conference with selectmen and appropriation committee to work out tables of income and ex- penditure for 1941 to 1946. We have Consulted with the town accountant, the chairman of the Appropriation Committee, the Fire Chief, and William Parker of the Boston Planning Board. We have employed assistance in tabulations. ------------------ We have made recommendations to the Selectmen in regard to overhanging signs, to the effect that signs be flat against buildings, and that non -conforming signs be removed by January 1, 1945. We have worked out a detailed plan for a parking area be- tween Waltham and Muzzey Streets, with financial statement. In this connection we have conducted a traffic survey, which indicates that our previous survey and report of five years ago are still sound and that there is no immediate necessity ' for additional town -owned parking space. Parking convenience is largely a matter of co-operation ' between merchants and public. We have dealt with this in a formal report to the Selectmen, printed in the Minute Man of January 2, 1941. We have carried on all these activities with a total expenditure less than the appropriation granted use D. E. Nickerson (s) Clem H. Ferguson (s) Edwin.B. Worthen, Jr. (s) Lester F. Ellis (s) Edward W. Kimball (s) Wm. R. Greeley (s) 1 1