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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1955-08-01 PLANNING BOARD MEETING August 1, 1955 A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, August 1, 1955 at 7:35 P.M. Chairman Adams, Messrs. Abbott, Grindle and Irwin were present as were also Mr. Snow, Planning Director, and Mr. Stevens, Town Counsel, until 8:30 P.M. The clerk read the following bills submitted for payment: Paul C. Killam $65.00 for professional ser- vices, July 26 through Aug. 1, 1955; John F. Murphy, BILLS $3475.00 for professional services for appraising pro- posed municipal parking area site and furnishing three copies of his report. It was moved by Mr. Grindle, seconded by Mr. Irwin and unanimously VOTED: that the bills be paid as read. Mr. Adams brought up the matter of the final dis- position of the report of Mr. Murphy' s appraisal. It was decided that the first copy -be kept by the Planning Board for its files, a second copy be retained by the Board of Selectmen and the third copy be kept by the PROPOSED Assessors for their files; that a record of this in- PARKING AREA formation be made in the Planning Board minutes; and APPRAISAL that a letter be sent to the Assessors and Board of Selectmen stating the disposition of the three copies of the report. At 7:40 the Board took under discussion the matter of the State' s proposal to develop the Cambridge - Concord highway a limited access throughway with pos- aible access in Lexington only at Watertown Street and PLEASANT Route 128. Mr. Adams' first read a letter sent by the STREET Board to Mr. Houdlette, Head Location and Surveys En- ACCESS TO gineer, in which it was requested that in connection ROUTE 2 with the replanning studies which are being made of State Route 2 in Lexington that consideration be given to the access of Pleasant Street onto the highway. The letter further stated that for several years Worthen Road has been proposed as a town by-pass for traffic flowing through the town center, has been planned to have its access onto Pleasant Street in the vicinity of Route 2, and that some feel that if access to the State 11 highway via Pleasant Street is not available, the pro- ject is of little value. In reply a letter from Mr. Gray, Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Works, stated that the Department had, in their studies for the improvement of Route 2 to Federal-aid Standards, studied the proper locations for ramps; that, in the opinion of the Department, Watertown Street lathe proper loca- tion for the construction of ramps in this area; and that the Town' s plan for the construction of a bypass coming into Route 2 at Pleasant Street would tend to complicate the problem of constructing ramps at the latter street and would, in his opinion, preclude the construction of ramps at this location. After some discussion concerning comparative land damages and the problems of traffic circulation, it was decided to obtain additional information from the State before studying the effects of the proposals on the long range plans of the Town. Mr. Adams stated that the Board of Selectmen had requested a conference with Mr. Volpe, Commissioner of Public Works on the following afternoon in Mr. Volpe' s office. Mr. Adams planned to attend as representative of the Planning Board. Mr. Abbott said he would also. At 7:45 the Board discussed with Mr. Stevens the MINUTE MAN matter of signing Mr. James A. Carrig' s subdivision HIGHLANDS plans. It was decided that Mr. Stevens would prepare SECTION IV an agreement for signatures of Mr. Carrig and the Board, the agreement to be secured by a conditional approval contract. Mr. Snow showed the Board what Mr. Burns had thought necessary as to the sizes of water pipes in the various streets within the sub- division and the cross section of the proposed 70- foot by pass road. It was agreed to ask Mr. Carrig to lay the sizes of water pipes as shown in pencil on the tracings the town paying the difference in costs between 8" pipe and the size necessary to ex- tend the town's trunk lines through the subdivision. It was further agreed to ask Mr. Carrig to construct the proposed 70-foot roadway to subgrade, the Town assuming the costs for the rest of the road construc- tion. At 8:25 the Board took under consideration Ap- FORM A plibation #55-60 for determination of Planning Board jurisdiction, the same having been submitted by DeVries Construction Co., Inc. on July 25, 1955, tracing en- titled "'Section Nine of Sun Valley, Lexington, Mass., owned by DeVries Construction Co., Inc.,"' Scale 40 feet to an inch, dated July 11, 1955, Kenneth B. Oates, C. E., 10 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, Mass. It was moved by Mr. Irwin, sebonded by Mr. Grindle II and unanimously VOTED: that the plan be signed bearing the en- dorsement "Lexington Planning Board ap- proval not required under subdivision control law" . Mr. Stevens left the meeting at 8:30. Mr. Adams next read a letter from Mrs. Louise A. Baker, dated July 29, 1955 in which she submitted her MRS. BAKER'S resignation as secretary to the Planning Board. The RESIGNATION Board expressed deep regret that Mrs . Baker did not feel she could continue working for the Board except on occasions and very reluctantly voted to accept the resignation. It was decided to write Mrs. Baker a letter expressing these sentiments and accepting her resignation. At 8:38 the Board took under advisement an ap- plication signed by Charles C. Troisi, President, Vine Valley Realty Corporation for recision of approval of RECISION OF a definitive subdivision plan. It was moved by Mr. APPROVAL OF Grindle, seconded by Mr. Abbott and unanimously "GRANT ST. ' EXTENSION' VOTED: that a public hearing be scheduled for August 8 at 7:45 P. M. on the application of Vine Valley Realty Corporation for re- cision by the Board of the approval by it of a subdivision plan consisting of two plats entitled 'Grant Street Extension' and dated June 10, 1954. At 8:45 Messrs. Lidberg and Spagnuola appeared before the Board to discuss the preliminary subdivi- PROPOSED sion plans which had previously been submitted to the SUBDIVISION Board, disapproved, later revised, and brought before OF LIDBERG the Board again on July 5, 1955 for an informal opinion. PROPERTY The Board explained in some detail to the gentlemen why it felt that, unless a better scheme should be pre- sented, that it would prefer to have its preliminary scheme for the area developed. The Board had relocated a road previously running parallel to the Pihl property and through low land, had retained its scheme for ac- cess to adjacent properties by proposals for connect- ing roads, and had retained the idea of general cir- culation within the subdivision while still not having a continuous through road from Adams to Burlington Streets. Messrs. Lidberg and Spagnuola left the meet- ing at 9:18. Mr. Adams next read a letter dated July 27, REQUEST FOR 1955 and signed by Mrs . Richard J. Norris in which 11 RENAMING she requested that the Board change the name of YOUNG AND Young Street to Battleview Lane and Dunham Street DUNHAM to Battleview Terrace. Mr. Snow was asked to write STREETS a letter for the Board to Mrs. Norris explaining the necessary procedure for changing names of streets in the Battleview Park subdivision. At 9:25 the Board took under consideration a RE-ZONING petition signed by Messrs. LaCava, Barrile and Murphy PETITION requesting that certain property abutting the wes- WALTHAM ST. AT terly side of Waltham Street be re-zoned from its LEXINGTON TOWN present R-1 status to either a C-2 or C-1 zone. LINE Under Section 19 of the Lexington Zoning By-law the Board designated, with the exception of land in Waltham, an area 1000 feet in radius from the lots petitioned to be re-zoned as the property affected by the proposed zoning amendment . Mr. Snow was asked to prepare for the Board a letter setting forth this designation and explaining the procedure necessary in presenting the petition in its final form. At Mr. Adams suggestion the Board next discussed NORTH STRE1' the so-called "North Street Sand Pit" owned by Mr. SAND PIT Philip Shannon and now in an almost abandoned state. Mr. Adams pointed out that sand and gravel had been excavated from the area, that for years people had swum in the ponds on this property and that it was a well-known fact that there was no place in Lexing- ton where families could swim. He further stated that he, in company with Mr. Snow and Mrs. Morey of the Recreation Committee, had examined the site, com- paring the existing conditions with those shown on existing maps and that all were in unanimous agreement that the site had fine potentialities as a public rec- reation development . Mr. Snow showed the Board a map dated August 23, 1938 and entitled "Plan Showing Lands at Butterfield's Pond for a Flood Retarding Basin" . On this map it was indicated that the Town has flowage rights up to the 176 contour. It was pointed out that considerable gravel had been excavated from the property since the date of the map and that the Shannon property could be flooded should the town wish to exercise its flowage rights. As part of the Park and Recreation Plan which he is proposing, Mr. Snow was asked to determine by studies the value of the property for swimming and general recreation purposes. Mr. Snow said that he would ask the State Department of Public Health to examine the area and also assist in determining the value of the land for public recreation. At 9:45 Mr. Adams read a letter from the New Amsterdam Casualty Company and dated July 13, 1955 RECISION OF in which it was stated that the Company had been ad- APPROVAL, vised that the State has bought and entered the Blan- BLANCHARD RDS chard Road subdivision owned by Techbuilt, Inc. and SUBDIVISION requesting the release of the subdivision bond. Ear- lier the Board had been advised by the Town Counsel that the same procedure should be followed as in the case of the Vine Valley Realty Corporation before re- leasing the bond. Accordingly, it was moved by Mr. Grindle, seconded by Mr. Abbott and unanimously VOTED: that the Board set August 22 at 7:.30 P.M. as the time for a public hearing relative to the recision of approval as a subdivision in property formerly owned by Techbuilt and located at the intersection of Watertown Street and the Cambridge-Concord highway. At 9:50 Mr. Adams read a letter from the Board of Health, dated August 1, 1955, and stating that the MIDDLE RIDGE Board had no objections to the building of homes in SUBDIVISION the subdivision under the conditions that all recom- mendations made by Whitman and Howard regarding sewer disposal study of this property be carried out. After reading the letter, the Planning Board asked Mr. Snow to notify Techbuilt, Inc. that the Board would approve the subdivision after submission of a bond in the proper form and amount specified on Mr. Burns, esti- mate of cost of construction. The meeting adjourned at 9:55 P.M. Charles T. Abbott Clerk