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Home My WebLink About1947-12-18 PLANNING BOARD MEETING December 18, 1947 Present: Worthen, Rudd, Ferguson, Richards and Cromwell Mr.Blaokwell presented orally his reports (to be delivered later in printed form) on tax title property and on the zoning by-law. Dis- cussion of these matters took up the entire meeting. Respec submitted Richard P.Cromwell erk 1 _ _ ' PLANNING BOARD MEETING December 18,1947 Present: lbrthen, Houdlette, Richards, Rudd and Cromwell galesex & Boston Street Railway The Board had been asked to consider the desirability of issuing a permit to the above to operate a bus route from Bedford Street, through Simonds Road, Burlington Street, through Hancock and back to Bedford Street. The Board decided to advise the Selectmen of various considerations that should weigh strongly against the project: 1. Hancock Street is closed, for reasons of safety, to vehicles of over two tons. 2. Residents of Hancock Street to Adams say that they do not need nor want bus service. 3. In general the streets in and to the area served are too narrow and otherwise unsuited. III 4. If this license is granted where is the logical stopping point short of running busses to and through all residential areas in the town? The town would become busier, noisier and is every way less like it has been. 5. Busses stimulate construction. This is not undesirable as such, 1 but why stimulate construction in areas that would have to be reached through desirable residential areas that would not want nor need service? 6. If, nevertheless, it is desired to run busses to the area in question let it enter at Simonds and leave at, say, Revere. But there are arguments against this. Streets are not suitable. Residents on these streets near Bedford would be subject to new hazards and no benefits. A group of real estate dealers met with the Board. kr.McIntosh left with the Board certain suggested revisions of the zoning by-law having to do with the merging of lots. These were designed to remedy situations like this: Three adjoining lots of 50-foot frontage each may now be built upon because of the date of the original subdivisions. However, if the lots are merged to create two 75-foot frontage lots they may not be built upon. The Board told the group that it would consider these and other sug- ' gestions made to it by the real estate group. Mr.Blackwell addressed the joint meeting and described certain methods of doing away with undersigned lots over a period of time. Respec bmi j :' / J . .---.tea 4. Ri •= -.Cromwell, Clerk IIREPORT OF THE PLANNING BOARD December 31, 19147 To the Honorable Board of Selectmen Lexington, Massachusetts Gentlemen: The report of the Planning Board for the year 19147 is submitted herewith. Eighteen regular meetings have been held this year, in addition to six joint meetings with the Board of Selectmen or other committees. The Board accepted with regret the resignation of Mr. Nickerson, a member since 1936, and Mr. Rudd was elected by the town to fill the vacancy. The major efforts of a year of considerable activity and progress may be outlined as follows: Six subdivisions, none of major proportions, were reviewed in their preliminary stages, in which the II Planning Board (as constituted locally, under the statutes) acts in an advisory capacity to the Board of Survey, which board gives final approval to those plans carried to com- pletion by the developers. The total numbed of lots in- volved was very substantially lower than those laid out in the previous year, and the fact that building permits increased would indicate that a greater amount of new residential construction has been on streets already existing. For the first time in many years the Board has operated on an increased budget, a circumstance made necessary and desirable, in our opinion, by the antici- pated rapid growth of the town during this period and the corresponding problems facing the Board which require study. Engineering assistance was obtained by the Board in its joint studies with the School Committee on two pro- jects: adjustment of land-taking for the new high school, and the selection of a site for a new elementary school. In addition to field trips the Board also prepared a population density map, showing the location of all dwell- ings in the town. This man is brought up to date at in- tervals and, having served its immediate purpose in the study of school sites, should prove useful on other pro- blems and to other groups as well. The Board has completed a new master plan and a system of maps, this project being undertaken by our planning consultant. Many town departments and com- mittees have in the past sought assistance from the Planning Board, which has been handicapped by lack of comprehensive, detailed, and readily available up-to- date maps. Most of this material exists in various forms in the town offices, but it is not coordinated nor in a form such that it can be obtained or used with effectiveness. The new plan system includes such basic data as land use, zoning, streets, sewer and water mains. A further part of these maps is a careful survey of tax- title properties, a complex problem on which we are pre- paring recommendations to the town. With the assistance of its planning consultant the Board has undertaken a re-examination of the present zoning by-law and subdivision regulations, a comprehen- sive study which we feel warrants and necessitates pro- fessional advice at this time in order to abhieve sound results. The Board' s recommendations may include further amendments, the first of which were adopted by the town at the annual March meeting and were writtentto prevent certain subdivision practices which are evasions of the Zoning by-law and circumvent its intent. One phase of this examination is a study of the expansion of business areas in the center, parking, and traffic; these consid- erations are definitely related, and attention has been given to this problem over a period of time because we gre of the opinion that definite action is required. The Concord Turnpike has received attention from the Board, in an effort to establish by the use of plans and aerial maps a uniform policy for future subdivision development adjacent totthe highway. In- asmuch as this is not a limited access highway, the Board hopes (with its state and local associations) to encourage a service road plan which may do much to pre- vent chaotic, unsightly, and hazardous conditions which otherwise could develop. We have also been called upon by the Cambridge Planning Board to endorse its recommen- dation to the state for a future highway extension from Alewife Brook Parkway via Lechmere Square to the prbpoaed central artery. It is believed that this highway would be of benefit to the suburban communities served by the Turnpike by avoiding present congested in-town areas. The Board has been requested during the year to make recommendations, or has voluntarily reported, on numerous subjects, among which are: rapid transit, a national cemetery, street names, bus route petitions, and parking meters. Presently under consideration are plans to participate in the project to extend census tracting to the metropolitan area of greater Boston. The Planning Board expects to face further problems in the coming year and to terminate as effectively as pos- sible the work already started, in order to assure a sound base for a rapidly growing Lexington. Respectfully submitted, Edwin B. Worthen, Jr. Richard P. Cromwell Clem H. Ferguson Elmer C. Houdlette Gordon D. Richards Thayer Rudd