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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1955-10-24' PLANNING BOARD MEETING October 24, 1955 A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building, on Monday, October 21, 1955 at 7•035 PLM. Chairman Adams, Messrs. Irwin, Grihdle, Hathaway and Jaquith were pres- ent as was also the secretary. Mr. Stevens, Town Counsel, attended the meeting for a brief period later in the meeting. Mr. Jaquith gave to each member of the Board copies of Acts establishing an historic districts commission for the Town of Nantucket and creating an historic Beacon Hill district in Boston (Chaps. 601 and 616, respectively, of the Acts of 1955). The Board dis- cussed these Acts in general as a guide to the pre- paration of similar legislation for establishing an historic districts commission for Lexington. At 7:50 P.M. Mr. Adams left the meeting for an ' appointment with the Selectmen. Whereupon Mr. Hatha- way moved, Mr. Grindle seconded the motion and it was voted that Mr. Irwin be temporary chairman. HISTORIC DISTRICTS The Planning Board next discussed and approved, subject to the Town Counsel's confirmation of the MICHELSON facts, a letter to the Board of Appeals in regard to PETITION the petition of Harold Michelson for an addition to TO BOARD his store adjacent to the Waltham-Muzzey Street muni- OF APPEALS cipal parking area, said letter being included in the records of the meeting. Board of Appeals Town of Lexington Lexington ?3, Mass. Gentlemen: Reference is made of your notice of October 6, IL955 in regard to the petition of Harold Michelson for permis- si,on to erect an addition to the existing building at 1788 Massachusetts Avanue, Lexington. In studying this petition the Flaming Board respect- fully calls your attention to the following matters and in ' consideration thereof wishes to be placed on record as be- ing unanimously opposed to the granting of the petition. (1) The existing building is non -conforming in that it ' does not have under Sec. 1(c) a(2) of the Lexington Zoning Byelaw "a rear yard of not less than 10 feet in depth . (2) This Board inquires if the owner of said building is aware of this fact and believes that he should be petitioning for a variance instead of a tenant seek- ing said permit. (3) The plans as shbmitted show that the addition to the present store is to come exactly to the municipal parking lot line and that a door from the proposed store addition opens directly onto said parking lot. The Board believes that it is important for rear yard* to be maintained on the lots adjointng,yhe parking Area:- so rea so that there,will be space for unloading from such yards into the buildings. If the rear yards were to be built upon so that any rear loading into buildings would have -to-be ftbm'!.the-.,parking-,area---this <would­s•eriously*- 3ntaafere with the use of the parking area for customer parking. W It is further noted ,that the plans submitted by the ' petitioner call for an aluminum awning to overhang the par4ing lot about 3 feet. Since _the awning would overhand municipal property, this Board feels that the Board of Selectmen have the only authority to grant a permit for this projection. Very truly yours, LEXINGTON.PLANNING BOARD BY Donald .E. rw n Chairman Pro Tempore The minutes of the meetings held on ;August 22 and AUG. 22 September 6, 1955 were reviewed by the Board. On motion SEPT. 6 made by Mr. Jaquith and seconded by Mr. Grindle, it was MINUTES voted to approve these minutes with minor corrections. Mr. Adams returned to the meeting at 8:10 P.M. and assumed chairmanship. SUN VALLEY Received by and read to the Planning Board was a ' SECS. 103, letter, dated October 21, 1955, from the Board of 11 AND 12 Health stating that it had no objection the the def- 1 1 initive subdivision plans of Sections 10, 11 and 12 of Sun Valley as that Board understood that all the lots involved are to be connected with the town sewer. Mr. Frederick L. Yeomans came before the Board to discuss the Board of Appeals hearing on February 240 1955 on his petition to subdivide parcel of land located at the westerly end of Columbus Street, Lex- ington, into two lots designated as Lot "'ATM' and Lot "B'", which lots have sufficient area, but not the frontage as required under the Lexington Zoning By -Law; and to erect a single family dwelling on said Lot "'A". Reference is made to the Planning Board minutes of March 23, 1955 in regard'to this petition. In the discussion it was brought out that in ex- change forthe strip 'of land owned by Mr. MacMillan and located between the end of Columbus Street and the Yeoman land, that Mr. MacMillan would be willing -to exchange this strip for the so-called Lot "B"', wished to add Lot "B* to his own house lot and not build on Lot "B" as a separateehbuseelot. This being the case It was suggested that Mr. Yeomans be granted permis- sion for the erection of one house on so-called Lot "A" and that a restriction be placed upon so-called Lot "B" so that a house could not be built upon it but that a garage or accessory buildings could. Mr. Yeomans left the meeting at 8;30 P.M. In private session it was determined that the Board felt that if there were a guarantee that only one house would be built on the Yeoman property, that being Lot "A"', that the Board would not oppose the granting of the petition. Mr. Adams reported that he had received a tele- phone call from Mr. William Cowles who has a parcel of land which abuts the Waltham city line and has a frontage of 284 feet on Spring Street. A prospective buyer wished to subdivide the parcel into two house lots. Mr. Cowles asked for an unofficial recommenda- tion from the Board on the matter. Because of the fact that Waltham requires less frontage for a house lot than does Lexington, it was thought that the Board of Appeals would look favorably upon a variance in lot frontage and that it would be better to present a petition for a lot having 134 foot frontage, leaving a legal lot of 150 faot frontage, than for two lots having frontage of 142 feet each. The Board next took up the matter of determining what areas in Lexington should be set aside for his- tbrii.3distriets. There being no further need for the YEOMANIS BOARD OF APPEALS HEARING OF FEB. 24 secretary's services, she was dismissed at 8:35 P -m- ' Alan G. Adams Chairman 11