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Home My WebLink About1958-05-28PLANNING BOARD MEETING May 28s 1958 A special meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Town Engineer's Room, Town Office Building on May 28s 1958 at 7:30 p.m. Present were Chairman Grindles Members Abbott and Burnell* and Planning Director Snow. Approved by the Board were the following BILLS bills presented for payment: Graphic Reproduc- tions, Inc.* white prints --$2.04 and 41.86; Frank DeFelices return of deposit securing bond --4700. The Board took under consideration the fol- FORMS A lowing Form A applications for determination of Planning Board jurisdiction: #58-32s submitted May 27s 1958 by John Carroll for Town of Lexington; plan en- titled "Plan Showing Slope Easements on Lots 130-131 and 90-91 Concord Avenues Lexingtons Mass.", Scale: 1" = 40', dated ' May 1958* Richard J. Gayer, Town Engineer. #58-33s submitted May 27s 1958 by John Carroll for Town of Lexington; plan entitled "Plan of Sewer Easement from Curve St. to Right of Way at 905 Mass. Ave., Lexington - Mass.": Scale: 1" = 40's dated May 19s 1958s Richard J. Gayers Town Engineer. #58-34: submitted May 27s 1958 bq Mrs. Joseph J. Napoli; plan entitled Plan of Land in Lexington -Mass.", Scale: 1" = 40's dated April 15s 1958s Miller & Nylanders- C.E.'s & Surveyors. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unanimously VOTED: that the Lexington Planning Board determines that the plans accompanyin Form A applica- tions #58-32s #58-33, and 158-34 do not re- quire approval and that said plans be signed bearing the endorsement *Lexington Planning Board approval under the Subdivision Control Law not required. " Read to the Board was the Town Counsel's May 23s 1958 letter enclosing conformed copies of 3-28-58 -2- ADAMS easements in the Adams Estates Section One subdivi- ESTATES sion. In said letter it was pointed out that at the SEC. 1 1956 annual town meeting the Town accepted Mill Brook Road and at the 1958 annual town meeting accepted Westwood Road and thereafter took all easements there- in for town ways. Since it appeared that no further easements needed to be'°obtained in said subdivision and that all other matters appeared to be in orders it was moved, seconded, and unanimously VOTED: to release the performance bonds dated August 121 1953s filed by Universal Development Corp.s as Principal, and New Amsterdam Casualty Co... as Surety, in the sum of twenty-five thousand and no/100 dollars--($25s000.00)--to secure the performance by the subdivider of the obliga- tions under the agreements dated August 12s 1953, in reference to the subdivision entitled "Plan of Lots in Lexington -Mass. owned by Universal Development Corps 30 Pine St.s_Bed- fords" dated May 20s 1953. OAK HILL Mr. Snow reported his discussion with repre- ESTATES sentatives of Wynwood Associates of the necessity SEC. 1 of filing a bond before the Planning Board would approve the Oak Hill Estates Section One subdivi- sion plan and of said representatives misunderstand- ing;.of the matter and inability to file a bond before the .coming week. Mr. Snow stated that he informed the representatives that the Board would have to disapprove the plan for failure to file a bond since the U -day period within which to file the bond had expired. He also stated that he had informed the parties involved that with the filing of a proper bond within a short period of time the Board could vote to rescind its previous vote of disapproval and then vote to•approve the definitive plan. PHEASANT Mr. Snow likewise reported a similar discussion GARDENS with Mr. Blacks developer of the Pheasant Gardens sub- division. Thereupons upon motion duly made and seconded it was unanimously VOTED: that the definitive subdivision plan entitled "Qak Hill Estates Section One Lexington, Mass."s dated April is 1958, which was submitted to the Board by Sandy Brook Corp. on April lbs 1958, accompanied by an application for approval of definitive plans Form Cs dated April 2s 1958, be and hereby is disapproved for the reason that the applicant has not submitted a bond in accord- ance with the Lexington subdivision rules and regulations. 5-28-58 -3- VOTED: That the definitive subdivision plan entitled "Pheasant Gardens Lexington, Mass.", dated Feb. 17, 195$j which was submitted to the Board by Walter G. and Minola M. Black on April 16, 1958s be and hereby is disapproved for the reason that the applicants have not submitted a bond in accordance with the Lex- ington subdivision rules and regulations. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. All members of the Board and Mr. Snow then met in the Selectmen's Room with the Selectmen, Messrs. Blakely, Spaulding and reeler of Cabot, Cabot, and Forbes, and Messrs. Foster and Johnson of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce to discuss the possibilities of re -zoning the Hayden, Swenson and Richards properties as a C 3 Special Commercial district, and restrictions for governing the use of land in said district. Mr. Gerald W. Blakeley, Jr., President of C.C.& F., presented the proposal stating that Messrs. Foster and Johnson had approached representatives of ' his organization to determine if it were willing to acquire from Filene's options to purchase the Swen- son and related properties at Spring Street and State Route 2. He said C.C.& F. had made arrange- ments to acquire the options. He now was interested in having this land, including the former Richards property,re-zoned restrictively for a so-called office and research building park. In order to make the proposal feasible, Mr. Blakeley pointed out that it would be necessary to amend the town's by-law to provide for office build- ings in a C 3 district. He said that C.C.& F. would want very strict control of the type of build- ings and the use of the land in such a district. He noted that his organization had these restrictions in written form and would present them for consider- ation if the proposal were found to be acceptable. Mr. Blakeley stated that C.C.& F. had no committments with any concern to locate in the pro- posed park with the exception of the Raytheon Manu- facturing Company. He explained that the company was very much interested in locating here but already had options in other towns to purchase property to con- struct an executive office building costing about $2,000,000. It was understood that Raytheon planned to occupy such a building in 1960 so that it was C3 DISTRICT PROPOSAL 5-28-58 .4 - necessary to have a town decision on the re -zoning proposal as soon as possible. With reference to taxes, Mr. Blakeley said that office buildings had the highest per square foot cost in contrast to regional shopping centers. He stated that buildings of the type C.C.& F. wou-Idpro- pose had a potential cost of $10 to $18 per square foot. Mr. Blakeley displayed a proposed site plan for the area of approximately 200 acres, said plan being dated May 23, 1958. He described the area as being located in such a way that it offered a pro- tective environment for buildings and direct access to Route 2 and Spring Street. He indicated how the road system was planned so that when Route 2 became a limited access highway, direct access to the area would be obtained from Spring Street. Mr. Blakeley stated that he thought Spring Street was adequate to accommodate the traffic generated by 3000 to !}000 employees, the number he estimated would work in the proposed district. The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. , Ar to Thomas S. Grindle Chairman 1