Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1957-02-25PLANNING BOARD MEETING February 25, 1957 A regular meeting of the Planning Board was held on Monday, February 25, 1957 at 7:35 p.m. in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building. Present were Messrs. Abbott, Adams, Burnell, Grindle and Jaquith and Planning Director Snow. Mr. Hathaway was present from 10:15 p.m. until the close of the meeting. It was moved, seconded and unanimously voted that Mr. Jaquith be chairman pro tempore. From 7:45 to 8:25 p.me a group of members of the League of Women Voters visited with the Board, observ- ing its procedure in the routine matters which are dis- cussed at Planning Board meetings. The Board approved the following bills which had BILLS been presented for payment: Louise M. Baker secretar- ial services, period endinFeb. 22, 1957--620.00 and home typing for February --W-04; Graphic Reproductions Inc., white prints --$2.40; Bruce E. Howlett, profes- sional services, period ending February 23, 1957-- $105.00. Mr. Snow brought to the attention of the Board a SIGNS photograph and item from the February 21, 1957 Lexing- ton Minute -man in regard to new signs that were being erected in v ari ous places in town within the rights of way of the highways, said signs being erected by the Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs and the Chamber of Com- merce for the purpose of welcoming persons to Lexington. It was noted that in the Lexington Zoning By-law there is nothing stated as to whether or not such signs are permitted or prohibited as accessory uses in an R 1 dis- trict. Mr. Snow pointed out that the signs were larger than those allowed under the Lexington Zoning By-law and asked if the Chamber of Commerce could erect such signs why other organizations or individuals might not erect other signs in similar locations also. The Board took no action on the matter presented. The Planning Board accepted the application for OAK KNOLL approval of the Oak Knoll Section II definitive plan SEC. 3 and set the date of the public hearing upon said appli- cation for March 11, 1957 at 8:00 p.m. ' The Board accepted also a new application for the ROBINSON Robinson Hill Section 3 definitive plan and set the HILL date for the hearing on said application for March 11, 1957 at 8:30 p.m. SUIS VALLEY Mr. Snow read to the Board a February 20, 1957 SECS. 1 and letter he had received from Mr.Stevens enclosing 2 copies of the granting of the necessary easements in Sections l and 2 of the Sun Valley subdivision, stating that these were recorded in the Middlesex South Dis- trict Registry of Deeds and stating also that Mr. Stevens saw no reason why the bonds on these two sec- tions of the Sun Valley development could not be re- leased by the Planning Board. All matters appearing to be in order it was moved by Mr. Grindle, seconded by Mr. Adams and unanimously VOTED: To release the performance bond, dated April 20, 1954s filed by DeVries Con- struction Co., Inc. as Principal, and the Maryland Casualty Co., as Surety, in the sum of Thirty-nine thousand and 00/100 dollars--;($39,000.00)--to secure the per- formance by the subdivider of the obliga- tions as to the subdivision entitled, "Section One Sun Valley Lexington, Mass. Owned by DeVries Construction Co., Inc." It was moved by Mr. Burnell, seconded by Mr. Adams and unanimously VOTED: To release the performance bond, dated September 20, 1954, filed by DeVries Con- struction Co., Inc., as Principal, and the Maryland Casualty Co., as Surety, in the sum of Fifty-nine thousand and 00/100 dollars--($59,000.00)--to secure the per- formance by the subdivider of the obliga- tions as to the subdivision entitled "Sec- tion Two Sun Valley Lexington, Mass." Owned by DeVries Construction Co.,Inc." ASSOCIATES Representatives of the League of Women Voters REALTY left the meeting at 8:25 p.m. at which time Messrs. TRUST Stephen Hopkins, Carl S. Priestley, and A. Herbert Huntoon met with the Board to discuss Deputy Chief Belc4stro's January 28 and February 18, 1957 letters to the Planning Board concerning the Fire Prevention Bureau's recommendations regarding the Associates Realty Trust's plans for the proposed hotel to be erected at the intersection of Routes 2 A and 12$. After discussing the recommendations in these letters in detail the gentlemen named above left the meeting at 9:00 p.m. to discuss further among themselves said recommendations while the Planning Board met with the School and School Sites Committees. 1 �I 1 Meeting with the Board were Mrs. Marek and ' Messrs. Chapman and Steele of the School Committee; Mrs. Florey and Mr. Roland Greeley of the School Sites Committee; Supt. of Schools Smith and his administra- tive assistant, Mr. Spiris. For the conclusions reached at this conference see the addendum. 1 1 The Committees and Mr. Jaquith left at 10:20 p.m. at which time the representatives of the Associates Realty Trust again met with the Board to continue its discussion of the proposed hotel plans. In regard to said hotel plans it was agreed that the Trust would eliminate from said plans the dumb waiter, that there would be no laundry chute, that the window openings would be a minimum of 2'-4" wide and that there would be a change in the window design of the restaurant. The representatives left the meeting at 10:45 at which time Mr. Hathaway came to the meeting. The Planning Board then discussed the Board of Appeals notices for hearings to be held on March 12, 1957. It was decided to take no action on the peti- tions to be held except to go on record as being opposed to those of the Auto Engineering Co., Inc. and that of Daniel and Eleanor N. Curtin. After setting forth in detail its opposition to the granting of said petitions, Mr. Snow was asked to assemble additional data needed and to prepare for final consideration drafts of letters setting forth the Board's reasons for such opposition. The meeting adjourned at 11:15 p.m. Levi G. Burnell, Jr. Clerk ADDENDUM February 26, 1957 Mrs. Mildred Marek, Chairman Lexington School Committee Junior High School Lexington, Massachusetts Dear Mildred: SCHOOL AND SCHOOL SITES COMMITTEES ASSOCIATES REALTY TRUST BOARD OF APPEALS 1359 Massachusetts Ave. Lexington, Mass. As a result of last evening's meeting it seems agreed that the School Sites Committee should proceed on the basis of the following assumptions: , 1) That at least two additional large sites are needed (in addition to the Adams - Hancock St. Site): one for a third Junior High School and one for an additional High Vocational, or Junior College site. We did not discuss criteria for this latter site. I would welcome comments from you and Jack Smith as to such criteria. As I visualize it the criteria would vary greatly depending upon its potential use: a) If it is to be used as a replacement for the exist- ing Junior High School, then it should serve a part of Town not served by the next two Junior Highs to be built; b) If it is to be a second High School its location should complement that of the existing High School; c) If it is to be a vocational school or Junior College it should be central to the whole Town - but what are the advantages or disadvantages to its being near, or even adjacent to, the present High School? Theoretically we could find a site which satisfied criteria under a, b, and c - but it won't be easy. 2) Elementary School Sites should be selected so as to be ' central to sections of Town which function somewhat as "units"; possibly the single most important criterion here would be to locate the sites to serve sections which are bounded by, but not bi-sected by, main highways. 3) It will be desirable to have each school serve from 200 to a maximum of 500 children, in grades 1-6. Optimum size would be 12-14 rooms, but size could go up to 20 or down to 8 rooms, including Kindergartens. 4) Sites should be acquired immediately to accommodate what may be considered the "ultimate" population of the Town per- missible under present Zoning restrictions. This will probably mean a population of 50-55,000, an elementary school enrolment in Grades 1-6 of about 5000 to 6000, and therefore a gross of at least 200 rooms, exclusive of Kindergarten rooms. In this connection, I shall try to work out with Sam Snow and the Planning Board a reasonable estimate of future population distribution, and hence of school facilities demand. For this purpose it would be helpful if' you or Mr. Smith or Mr. Steele could supply us with the following data for each of the ele- mentary schools. a) 1956-57 enrolment (any convenient date) ' b) Number of class -rooms actually in use 1 1 J c) "Optimum" number of class -rooms which should be available for use by Grades 1-6; d) "Maximum" number of class -rooms for Grades 1-6 which the School Committee would consider desir- able on this site in the long run, assuming reasonable renovation or additions. Just to illustrate what I think I am looking for under c) and d), I would expect that for the Hancock School the number in c) might be less than are now in use on two accounts - subtraction to accommodate Kindergarten, and, possibly, withdrawal of 1 or more rooms too small or too undesirable to continue in use. And under d), the Hancock School might be shown either as zero, or as the number of rooms, exclusive of Kindergartens, you would expect to have available ii you convinced the Town that the building should be thoroughly renovated. Possibly this last question should be referred to Bob Hunter's Committee; if so, do I go directly to him, or are you the appropriate referral channel? 5) It is understood that Elementary School sites should em- brace about 10 or 12 acres of land; that the "large" sites should run to 25 or 30 acres; that "walking distance" shall continue to mean a distance of not more than 1 mile along a public way (for elementary schools). 6) Nothing was said last night about Parochial Schools. Is there reason to assume that there will be more than about 150 elementary school children in such schools in Lexington during the fore -seeable future? I realize there can be no definitive answer to this, but would prefer to proceed on what now seems to be the most reasonable assumption. Sincerely, /s/ Roland B. Greeley February 26, 1957 Mr. Samuel Snow Planning Director Town Office Building Lexington, Massachusetts Dear Sam: 1359 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington, Massachusetts As I understood the consensus last night it included the fol- lowing points: 1) The Planning Board hopes to have the preliminary outlines of a general plan for the Town by next Fall. However, it is accepted that the School Sites Committee will have to select sites and negotiate options before that time. Hence any tentative suggestions which the Planning Board wishes to make may well be relayed to the Sites Committee in the immediate future. If there are some sections of the Town where the Planning Board considers it desirable to "hold up" on site selection, we would be glad to be so ad- vised. 2) In general the Planning Board would like to see new sites selected at locations which are central to "neighborhood" areas, with school district boundaries conforming to "natural" boundaries and major highways. 3) The selection of sites should reflect the "ultimate" popu- lation of the Town, based on present zoning. Matters of timing of school construction can be considered later. The Planning Board expressed an interest in assisting the Sites Committee in determining what this ultimate pattern would be. (Incidentally, do you really feel that the old long-range "plan", based on Steiner's work, can be used effectively? It was my impression that you recognized its irrelevance, due to zoning changes, etc. My feeling would be that a map showing existing buildings and platted areas - which we have discussed - would be the best starting point. Ii' you will get me a copy of that map, either a year or two old or up-to-date, I will. try to carry on from there. Unless you have some constructive alternative suggestion I would urge that a copy of such map be made available at the earliest possible date. If' this means that Engineering Department staff time must be allocated to the job, please let me know and I will try to expedite it "through channels".) Sincerely, /s/ Roland B. Greeley 1