HomeMy WebLinkAbout1956-05-07PLANNING BOARD MEETING
May 7, 1956
A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held
in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building, on
Monday, May 7, 1956 at 7:35 p.m. Chairman Adams, Messrs.
Abbott, Burnell, Grindle, Hathaway and Jaquith were pre-
sent as were the Planning Director and the secretary. Mr.
Stevens, Town Counsel, was present from 9:00 to 10:30.
The minutes of the meetings of January 9, 1956
and January 23, 1956 were' approved.
The following bill was presented for payment:
Anne H. Milliken, secretarial services --$6.25. It was
moved, seconded and unanimously voted that the bill be
approved as presented.
The Board took under consideration the follow-
ing Form A application for determination of Planning
Board jurisdiction:
#56-35, submitted on May 7, 1956 for Peter J.
and Anna C. McDonagh by their attorney, David
Govenar; plan entitled "Subdivision of Plan of
Land in Lexinton-Mass.", Scale 1" = 201,
dated March 19, 1956 Being a subdivision of
lots 31 and 32 William M. Burns Engineer shown
on Land Court Plan 6807 and 6807H.
It was moved, seconded and unanimously
VOTED: that the plan accompanying application
#56-35 be signed bearing the endorsement
"Lexington Planning Board approval not
required under subdivision control law."
From Mr. Crerie, Chairman of the Recreation
Committee the Board received a May 4, 1956 letter call-
ing its attention to a quoted letter from Ir. Oliva,
Chairman of the Follen Hill Estates Association which
is interested in securing for the smaller children of
the neighborhood a play area in the vicinity of the
meadow at the foot of Dawes Road. It was decided to
write a letter to Mr. Oliva stating that his letter to
the Recreation Committee had been called to the Plan-
ning Board's attention and that the Board would in-
clude the Association's suggestion in its considera-
tion of a park and recreation plan for the Town.
MINUTES
BILL
• FU ,
LETTER FROM
RECREATION
CO 11ITTEE
BOARD OF Taken under consideration next were the notices
APPEALS of petitions to be heard by i 1,e Board of Appeals on May '
8, 1956. It was decided to take no action on the peti-
tions to be heard with the exception of that of Salveo
Ponte for permission to erect and maintain a 3' x 4' sign
on his house lot. The Board voted to go on record as
being opposed to the granting of said petition and to
write a letter to the Board of Appeals setting forth
the reasons for such opposition. It was decided to
write that in the opinion of the. Board not only would
the erection of a large sign in a residential district
set a bad precedent but it would also reduce the property
values and destroy some of the amenities in the neighbor-
hood; that, in principle, the Board does not approve of
an individual doing business in a residential area con-
trary to the zoning by-law; and that said law should be
enforced.
BOARD OF At the request of Rufus L. McQuillan, Chairman
HEALTH of the Board of Health, he and Mark D. Lurvey, Health
- Sanitarian, met with the Planning Board at 8:20 p.m. to
SEWERS discuss the sewer situation in Lexington. Mr. McQuillan
reported that the sewer situation was becoming serious
in spite of the fact that the new Sanitarian, Mr. Lurvey,
was.being very strict in not allowing building permits
to be issued for lots not having satisfactory percola-
tion and in seeing that cesspools and septic tanks are
properly built and installed. He quoted Engineering De-
partment figures that there were 5786 residences in
Lexington, 2602 connected to the town sewer system and
3184 or 55% of the total not connected. Mr. McQuillan
stated that since these figures were complied the per-
centage of homes not connected to a sewer was increas-
ing all the time. It was his opinion that sewers were
only being built in areas where emergency conditions
existed and not commensurate with the rapid building of
houses in Lexington.
On being asked for a resume of the critical
areas where sewers were needed, Pair. Lurvey showed a list
of addrdsses where cesspools and septic tanks had over-
flowed in the last two weeks, said that every other call
to the Department of Health office was in the form of a
complaint about sewerage, and that the monthly report
of the Board of Health lists these complaints and what
had been done about them. Mr. Lurvey mentioned Shade
Street, the Woodhaven development, Concord Avenue,
Patterson Road and Bedford Street in the vicinity of
Pine Knoll Road as present trouble areas.
Mr. McQuillan stated that, in his opinion, the
sewerage problem on 30,000 lots could be taken care of
to a large degree but that houses on lots of 15,000 sq.
ft. or less should be required to connect to a town
sewer. He said that the sanitary engineers engaged by the
Board of Health to design sewer systems for individual
lots would not guarantee - and it was apparent no-one could
be sure how long these systems would last; that said board
consideredallsuch installations only as temporary solu-
tions to the sewerage problem and recommended that the
whole town be severed.
Mr. McQuillan then discussed the 1935 sewer sur-
vey made by Metcalf and Eddy whose recommendations he un-
derstood had not been followed. He suggested that the
Planning Board might carry on this survey from which a
sewer program might be developed. Members of the Planning
Board expressed the opinion that Metcalf and Eddy should
bring its previous study up-to-date and the town appropri-
ate a given amount each year to carry out a program based
on such a survey.
Mr. Stevens came to the meeting at 9:00 p.m. at
which time Chairman Adams summarized the discussion of the
town's sewer problems. Mr. McQuillan then asked if the
town could pass a by-law which stated that no houses could
be built without being connected to a sewer. Mr. Stevens
replied that he would be skeptical about such a by-law,
thought such a law would be going too far, and doubted if
the Attorney General would approve it. He said that he
' would prefer that the Board of Health continue to handle
the matter as in the past by stating, when it had reason-
able grounds to do so, that in its opinion it doubted that
a lot could be used as a building site without injury to
the public health.
Mr. McQuillan asked the Planning Board to recom-
mend to the Selectmen that a sewer survey be made of the
town. It was decided that both boards should meet in joint
session with the Selectmen, the Planning Board to make
arrangements for such a meeting. Thereupon Messrs. Mc-
Quillan and Lurvey left the meeting at 9:25 p.m.
It was reported that a group of people repre-
sented by and including Mr. George Mathieson wished to
finance the Seabury motel and wished to know what would
be required in the way of plans for a public hearing.
It was understood that they did not wish to pay for
coml:lete bu__ V _i- plans prior to a hearing. Mr. Stevens
advised the Board to take no final action in regard to
the matter until the group could submit a plan showing
just where the sewer connecting the motel to the town
sewer system is to be located, have the plan approved
by the Town Engineer and the School Committee, and ob-
tain a grant of a sewer easement from the Selectmen.
The Board next considered matters in regard to
the Constitution Road subdivision of the Battle Green
SEABURY
MOTEL
BATTLE Village Trust. Mr. Stevens stated that Mrs. Ross' '
GREEN lawyer wished to knot, if the proposed scheme for the
VILLAGE extension of said subdivision, submitted for informal
TRUST approval, was satisfactory to the Board and that the
- trunk line sewer easement the town wished to obtain was
COTtiSTITUTION not going to cross lots and would be within the streets.
ROAD If this ?,ere so, there would be no claim for damages.
The plan being agreeable to the Board and all other
matters appearing to be in order, it was moved by Mr.
Hathaway, seconded by Mr. Grindle and unanimously
VOTED: to extend from October 11, 1955 to
October 31, 1955 the time for the com-
pletion :of the construction as set
forth in the July 1, 1955 agreement
between Eleanor L. Ross, surviving
trustee of Battle Green Village Trust,
and the Town of Lexington, acting through
its Planning Board; and to release to
Eleanor L. Ross the sum of $2,700 held
by the Town as security for the perform-
ance of said agreement.
PEACOCK Mr. Stevens left the meeting at 10:30 p.m.
FARMS after which the Board considered the proposed scheme
SEC. 4 for Peacock Fram, Sec. 4 subdivision submitted by
Constructors' Properties, Inc. for an informal opinion.
The plan appeared to be satisfactory to the Board.
The Board considered also the application of
the DeVries Construction Co., Inc. for approval of the
definitive subdivision plan entitled "Section Thirteen
of Sun Valley". The application was accepted and the
date for the public hearing on said application set for
May 21, 1956 at $:00 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 11:00 p.m.
Levi G. Burnell, Jr.
Clerk