HomeMy WebLinkAbout1958-07-24i
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PLANNING —BOA' --'D HEARING
July 24o 1958
The Lexington Planning Board held a public
hearing on July 2141958 at 8:00 p.m. in Cary Hall,
Cary Memorial Building, to consider a proposal to
amend the Lexington Zoning By-law by changing
certain land from an R 1 Single Family District to
a C 3 Special Commercial District, and by adding to
and amending other sections of said by-law in accord-
ance with the notice of said hearing, copy of which
is appended to the stenographic record of the hear-
ing. Present were Chairman Grindle, Members Abbott,
Burnell, and Soule, and Planning Director Snow, At
8:1.1.5 n.m. Mr. Snow counted 237 persons attending the
hearing.
Chairman Grindle onened the hearing by reading
the first paragraph of the notice of the hearing as
it was mailed to those deemed to be affected and as
it was published in the July 101 1958 issue of the
Lexin-ton inute-man. The Chairman stated that he
would omit reading the remainder of the notice unless
there were objections. There were none, copies of
said notice having, been d stributed at the hearing.
A complete stenographic record of the hearing
was taken and prepared for the Planning Board by
Philip A. and Lawrence W. Burt, shorthand reporters,
31 Milk Street, Boston 9, Mass. The 70 -page type-
written report prepared by said reporters and dated
July 244 1958 is incorporated in and made a part of
the minutes of this meeting and the permanent
records of the Planning Board.
The public hearing was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
R chard H. Soule
Clerk
C 3
SPECIAL
C O=C IAL
DISTRICT
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STENOGRAPHIC RECORD VOLUME 1-70
PAGES
EXHIBITS - -
PUBLIC HEARING before the Planning Board
of the Town of Lexington, Regarding a
Proposal to Amend the Zoning By-law, held
in Cary Memorial Hall, Cary Memorial
Building, Lexington, MASSACHUSETTS, on
Thursday, July 24, 1958, Tt 7:45 p.m.
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PHILIP H. AND LAWRENCE W. BURT
SHORTHAND REPORTERS
THIRTY ONE MILK STREET
BOSTON 9. MASSACHUSETTS
I
LEGAL NOTICES
NOTICE OF PLANNING BOARD ' -
HEARING ON PROPOSAL TO
AMEND ZONING BY-LAW
Notice is hereby given that a public -
- hearing will be held by the Lexington
Planning Board on Thursday, July 24,
1953, at 7:45 P.M. in Cary Memorial
Hall, Cary Memorial Building, to con-
sider the proposal .to amend the Lex-
ington Zoning By-law as follows:
1. By changing certain land from
an R 1 One Family District to a C 3
Special Commercial District by adding
in Section 4 Geographical Descriptions _ t
of Districts the following new para-
graph:
(h) C 3—Special commercial Tis-
. tricts.
1. A district on the northeasterly
side of the Cambridge-Concord High-
way (Route 2) and the easterly side
of the Northern Circumferential High-
way (Route 128) and on both sides
of Spring Street and hounded and
described as follows: "
Beginning at the intersection of the
northeasterly line of the Cambridge-
. Concord Highway (Route 2) and the
easterly line of the Route 2 - Route-
128 Interchange, so-called, thence
northerly and northwesterly along the
easterly and northeasterly lines of
said interchange, thence northerly
along the easterly line of the Northern
Circumferential Highway (Route 128)
to a line parallel with and 25 feet
i outheasterl angle ht
distant at right g jY
from the southeasterly line of Weston -
Street, thence northeasterly by said -
parallel line about 2-% feet, thence S
28°47'10" E about 85 feet to a line -
parallel with and lfeet distant at
right
� right angle southweses terly from the
northernmost straight section of the
northeast line of Shade Street, thence
S 64°17110" E by said parallel line 395
feet, thence S 42°25'10" E by a ]me
Parallel with and 250 feetdistant at
right angle southwesterly from the -
northeasterly line of Shade Street 450
feet, thence S 47' W about 360 feet, -
thence S 220 E about 885 feet, thence -
S 39°00'50" E .along the southewesterly
lines of lots 234 through 252 shown on - -
anti Court Plan 6962C 932.40 feet,
thence N 65038'10" E 206.87 feet along
said lot 252, thence S 39009'50" E by a -
line in part parallel with and 200 feet
distant at right angle southwesterly
from the southwesterly line of Shade -
. Street 620 feet, thence S 40 W 240.64 -
- feet, thence S 780 E 262.50 feet, thence
8 3909'50" E about 145 feet to Spring
Street and continuing on the same
course across Spring Street and for a
distance of 100 feet southeasterly
from the southeasterly line of Spring
Street, thence due east to a line paml-
lel with and 100 feet at right angle - -
southwesterly from the southwesterly
line of the location of old Shade
Street, thence southeasterly and south-
erly by lines parallel with and 100
feet distant at right angle from the -
southwesterly and westerly lines of
the location of old Shade Street to a,
line parallel with and 100 feet distant
at right angle northerly from Iand now
or formerly of Clarence M. Cutler, -
thence westerly, southwesterly and -
southerly 13y lines parallel with and
100 feet distant at right angle norther-
ly, northwesterly and westerly from
said Cutler land to the northerly line
of the Cambridge-Concord- Highway,
and thence westerly and northwesterly
along the northerly and northeasterly -
- lines of the Cambridge-Concord High-
way to the point of .beginning. _
2. By amending Section 5 Permitted
Buildings and Uses by striking out in
Paragraph (h) the number `1" at the
beginning of the clause so numbered
and substituting therefor the number
—2--, .and by adding before said
clausethefollowing clause: 1. Offices
for administrative, executive, profes-
__ Slonal,.,.and similar, -purposes.
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} provi8ex or s oar Stan
perhp.itted in R 1 or. R 2 districts- ,` " 1"
a.' A lot containinig an area of not
less than five acres and a lot widthof
not less than 300 feet on each street
on which the lot abuts. except that
in case the lot abuts on a dead end �.
turnaround part of a public street or
of a street shown on a subdivision plan
approved by the Lexington Planning
Board under the Subdivision Control
Law and abuts also on such street be-
fore the turnaround, the 300 feet may
be measured in part along the side
dine• of the street bet re the turn-
around and in part along a projection ,
of the course of such side line through
and beyond the',turnaround, provided
however that the lot shall have a'
frontage of not less than 60 feet on
the street, including, ts}�ch turnaround.
b For each lot a front yard of not
lead than 100 feet in depth on each
street on which the lot abuts, and
within such 100 feet from eachstreet
there shall be permitted bnly (1) green
areas of grass, plants, shrubs and trees,
and (2) walks, driveways and parking
facilities occupying 116t more than 25
per centum of the area.
c. On each lot a side yard on each
side of not less than 50 feet in width
and a rear yard of not less than 50 "
feet in depth.
' d. on each .lot an open area, not
=led by any building. of not leas
may be per centum. ki the lot, crhlce .
may be used for parking if otherwise
lawful.
e. On each' lot parking,- loading and
unloading facilities reasonably suffi
clent to serve the business conducted
thereon without using adjacont streets
therefor, and not lgeated within 25
feet of any street or boundary line.
f. Within 25 feet of each street and
boundary, only green areas of grass,
plants, shrubs or treez, and necessary _
ways of access theretuough.
• g. No open storage of materials or
equipment in any front yard, and none
elsewhere unless (1) appropriately -
b screened from view from streets and
t in a
C 33C or ways
1 districct. and m land �(2) not
detrimental to the appearance of an
office -research area.
2. In C 3 Districts %here shall be
provided for all uses permitted jn R 1
or R 2 districts the same lot area and
frontage, and the same front and side
and rear 'yards as viould be required
if the lot were situdted in an R 1 or
R 2 district.
• LEXINGTON PLANNING BOARD
Thomas S. Grimile, Chairman
na
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for members of the Planning Board to ask,'any questions.,
and after that, the meeting will be open to the floor
to ask any questions they wish.
At the close of the hearing we would like to
take an expression of opinion of those present of
those in favor of the change and those opposed.
When you speak, will you please give your name
and address? There is a loud speaker here which you
may use, if you care to.
The law is, as you know, that before the T,6vn
Meeting, or at the Town Meeting or before the Town
Meeting the Planning Board will present;, their recommend-
ations.
ecommendations.
No date has been set for the Town Meeting at
this time, but when it is held, why; on or before
that time the Planning Board will make their recommend-
ations.
This meeting is to get information both for the
Planning Board and for the citizens present. I will
now introduce Mr. Blakely, President of Cabot, Cabot &
Forbes*
Mr. GERALD W. BLAULY Members of the Board,
of selectmen.. Members of the Planning Board,`and
people of Lexington, this is going to take a little
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explanation because we are talking &bout s®methiM
tonight which has never been done before.
First of all, I want to say that >I can;oertainly
understand that in any situation where people live'in
an area Which has been residential for a good many
years when there is talk of re -zoning of,any 'type,
whether it is commercial or any other form of Zoning..
there is certainly 'a lot of reason for a certain amount
of apprehension, and it is very understandable.
Therefore, we would like todescribea little of
what we are going ,to do,;because,,unfortunately, nothing
<,
similar to this has beendene before,to our knowledge,
anywhere in the country., and certainly nothing at all
like it in this part of the country.
Now', first of all, I think I, ought to say some
of the thingsthat it is not going to be because
probably a great many of you associate the firm Cabot,
Cabot & Forbes' with industrial; centers, and this is not
an industrial center.
It is not going to allow warehousing, manufactur-
ing,, and the land ratios will be different. The res-
trietions are considerably stricter; and so tiat I just
vant to point out that it will not in any way ;be an
industrial center.
Now, therefore, what will it be'?
nc
we
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Well, it gill be an office building and restarob.
k.
Now we have been asked by some people: well, why
just make it as an office building park, and then
lave been asked by the peoples why not make it ;just
3areh .
Well, the reasons for combining these two are
Viral. In many cases here in New England we have
amber of companies who have branch offices, regional
.ces for New England,_ regional offices for 'Massa.
chusetts or for greater Boston; but we do not have
many large headquarters offices.
As a matter of fact; 'I think, you couldname-on
the fingers of your two hands the number of companies
in the Boston area that have their national home
offices.' They are- John Hancock, New Fagland Mutual,
Liberty Mutual, Gillette, and you go down from there,
and there are not very many.
5o basically what we are talking about is
smaller office units than you would get in some other
Places.
Now, perhaps some of you are familiar With
some of the offices that have been -built >in White
P1 New ew York, and there are now offices _going ,
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Many companies that we hope to interest in
locating here already have-suburban.office buildings
In many other parts of tbe,country,;so that this is
a trend.
Now, What are the ingredients oP the necessary
area for these types of offices?
Bear in mind these people are coming in almost
all cases from downtown areas .where their offices
have been in, the central cities, the so-called congested
areas.
Now they are getting away from that.Public
transportation is deteriorating very rapidly.
Congestion in the city for automobiles is getting worse.
So that there is a tendency to go out in smaller units,
and 'one of the prime requisites is highways.
Nov we havetherefore, on this particular site
that we are talking about tonight, you Will notice it
isat the junction of Route 2 and Route 128.
Nov Route 128, as you know, is very much of a
major highway in the Boston area. It has been
:kproved between $23 and $28 million are being spent,
and they lave already been authorized to go ahead and
widen this section of 128 north of Route 9.
But furthermore, Route '2 is going to become an expressway
It has been proven by compezies like Sylvania
and RCA and AYaO, who have recently .moved into this
area, that there is something about Boston whiff is
a: more attractive climate for the teohnioal people$
for people who perhaps live on a higher intellectual
level than the average employee.
Hence, it has been easier to attract a better
grade of scientific and technical personnel in the,<
Boston area.
That is why we have had Sylvania moving away,
from research facilities which they originally intended
to establish in Wayside, Long Island; RCA moving in.
with several Divisions; Avco coming in with -a $15
million research.park in Wilmington.
This is a tendency which has,been taking place.
It is something that -- the trend started several years
ago and seems to be accelerating.
Now., again., we have one of the very great assets
here of Route 2 being expressed into Cambridge.
As a.matter of fact, one of the principal
questions that we are asked by many of these companies
looking for research facilities is How far is it from
M.I.T., or what is the time to M.I.T.? Flow long does
it take to get there?
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appreciated in value rather than remaining static or
depreciating
Furthermore, three years after the industrial
center was built, 50 acres of land ;directly .across
from 128, Garter land, was purchased by a residential
developer, building houses that sell from $17 to $27,500.
They have been sold in the process of construction.
So we are convinced. We studied the topography.
We do not have the situation here, as a matter of fact,
where a number of houses will overlook this area, as
we did in Needham.
So we are sure that this will"have a stabilizing
effect on property values and will not be a deteriorating
thing
Now we will admit that there are a great many
uses, which may have hada deteriorating effect to -some
extent, a lot of people might not have liked it, and
they might have been harmful.
Nov we get to the problem of traffic.
Obviously anything that"goes'• there will" create
more traffic.
Where you now have fields., it takes very little
traffic to accommodate the cows that are "there now.
Several tank trucks to take the milk away, an occasional
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truck to bring in enough feed3.
Chances are with land values increasing and
with the tax rate increasing, the Menson Farm and
Hayden property will not remain in their raw state
long.
I realize that all of us like a rural atmos -v
phere. I live in the neighboring town of Lincoln,
and S know that a rural atmosphere is very attractive.
4n the other hand, a stabilized rural or semi -
rural atmosphere, I think, is a lot better than an
uncertain one thatmightbecome more of -a suburbia.
Bear in mind the restrictions which you have
all read, I am sure, provide that in this area you
will have to.have four 'times as much land as building.
That means there will be morebuildingto the average
area than there is with the average house.
There will be more trees and landscaping around
it. Many of these buildings will be hidden. They
Will be oriented so that they; will :show from the
highway.
Of course, many companies will locate here
because their plants can be seen from both 128 and 20
So that with these plants, yes, there will be
increased traffic over what you have now, I realize.
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with your total excise taxes,'and so forth.-
We realize that in the five years that it may
take this to be built up there may be more housing in.
Lexington, hence there may have to be more schools'
and the rate may go up.. the total valuation may be
increased, but roughly we figure that at today's rate
that this value would be $6.85 on the tax rate, and
this is very conservatively estimated.
Nov we had a hearing the other night and people
said: We11, the town is going to have to _spend some
money on this. Well, yea, that is true.
The total cost of severing the area was about
$315,000, to be done
but about 70,000 of that is going
anyway this coming year, whether this zoning goes ahead
or not. Se we have about $245,000, and that would
be about $12,000 a year, about $17,000 a year cost to,
the town under a bond.issue.
We will now take the Raytheon building. Bear
in mind we have no customers in. mind$ if the zoning
is changed.. except one, and that is the Raytheon Manu-
facturing Company.
They have said that if we can get the zoning
done reasonably soon, they will go aheadandbuild
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an office building.
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Next elide.
This is the Boston Manufacturers Mutual. This
: their home office which is in Waltham. N6t many
of you have probably seen this. This is in the trees
up off of the highway right next to the Sanborn Build-
ing on 128 in. Waltham, just over the Lexington border.
It does not show from the highway, but this is
an office building -mostly. an one floor it also has,
a small two-story section with a cafeteria with plate-
glass windows overlooking the reservoir.
It bas,a large courtyard in the middle with
gardens and trees and pathways.
The entire building surrounds this courtyard.
Actually it is much more -;attractive than a great many
homes
Next slide.
This is the Polaroid Building. This type of
building would not be built here. This is a building --
this was an attempt of architects to make a building
look other than another three-story; building.
You are all familiar with the three-story
buildings with just row on row of sash. Here they
attempted putting slate at the bottom and so forth
and that was to make it look a. little different.
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Also you will notice the narrow slit windows
They are processing film there, and it makes light
control easier.
It has been called a prison and a blockhouse,
but I think a lot of people feel it is much more
attractive than the average factory.
Al buildings her will be t
' 1 of the bui Ings a prat ier
Next slide.
This is the cafeteria of the Polaroid'Nuilding.
These. cafeterias are built to 'serve' office and factory
personnel. Most of the buildings that we build, by
the way, will contain their own cafeterias. That
question was asked ,the other night-.
Next slide.
This is the steel warehouses, and warehouses
will not be permitted, but we are showing these to
show you that laboratories and office "buildings a"
be upgrade just as warehouses have been and factory
buildings.
You all "s probably. familiar .with the steel
warehouses that you see in many parts of the country.
They are usually steel frame bui;digs.with a.dorrugated
metal shell, which gets rusty, and they look terrible;
a 'W 1
but that ,was '.not flowed In.our a them rsenter and
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frames around them so that they would not be- daes<ged
by the constructionof a building. So that the building
is not only more attractive with trees, but it is a
lot cheaper to use trees that are already there than
z
it is to use new ones,,and furthermore„ryou cannot
plant trees that large
Now ve are showing the thing which is the
nearest to the office and research park we are talking'
about here in Lexington.
In the town of Upper Marion in Pennsylvania in
a section called King of Prussia which is right across
the street from valley Forge National Park, we have
last Dee tract of
purchased and had rezoned ember a
almost 700 acres of land. This Will be a combined
office research and industrial park. There will be
light manufacturing in one section, but there is
another Fiettion. We bought this proper from one owner . .
He had assembled 23 different parcels and there are
about 23 different houses on it.
On this property we have the famous Mansel's
Mill which was owned by Robert Morris. We also have
Robert Morris' retreat, which was his summer home,
which was where he lived when he visited-Qew ge
f
Washington to finance the Continental Army.
Valley Forge Park as a part of it.
Next slide,
This is another one of the poride . We had z ,
Victory Gruen, the arehiteot, evaluate this property
before we purchased it, and he estimated that it would
cost three-quarters of a million dollars, 750,000 to
replace the .formal ;gardens that were planted, around
the main house.
There are about 12 acres of gardens and manmade
ponds. '
There is a large "stream that runs through the'
property, goes through a'very large swimming pool
with a cabana oottag eDf 13 rooms .
The main house Wi.Blbe used as an executive
dining house for the executives.
This is the :main house from one view. This
picture Was taken in the fall.
This is general Mullen Burkea headquarters . ,
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This will be made into an executive dining club.
We will build office buildings grouped around the
street, preserving the gardens, and so Porth.
Here it is. This 'is the same house from'A
different view. In it all the trees have leaves*
It is a lot prettier in the summer.
This is another one of the ponds. This pond.
has.a little summer house in the middleof the pond
where Mr. Alexander Irwin, from whom we purchased
the property spent his warm summer nights.
Now this is just showing some architectural
treatment. This is the Singer Building in the.New
England Industrial Center which is again s warehouse
and office building combination.
This could not have gone in Lexington, but the
one nextdoor to it, the Union Carbide Building, which
you see here, would have gone in Lexington.
At the time Union -Carbide bought their plant
here, they would have liked very much -:to have been in-
an
nan area which was more restricted, but nothing;of"
this type existed in the Boston area. This plant has
a built-in lawn sprinkler system.
It has landscaping around the entire building
and is actually very attractive. It is an office
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There are some sand andgravel. pits in the
rear. Much of this land is fairly swampy, and we
have looked into this in great detail over a period
of several 'years, and 30 orL 40. years ago 'there' was a
subdivision made for residential. purposes, and ,it was
divided into very ;small lots, I have forgotten whether
four or six thousand lots, and the, titles are ab badly
fouled :up that nothing could ba done wily that for many
years
This Land is right in the flight path of the
Bedford Airfield.
Now, one of our hesitations in thi land is
that we,have found that office facilities and research
facilities, but particularly offices, do not like to
be in flight paths. And we are sure, as I am ,sure
many houses don't either, but we are sure that this
land is in a„good position in relation to Bedford
field.
Now, we do not know whether this will be
changed, but we are convinced that when a fev office
buildings and research facilities get here that the
government would be loath to change the flight pattern.
once this type of construction were here'. And this
is far enough away from the pattern so that the flames
g y
.
_ •, y- fes,:. £
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It shows both the present traffic today anO shows
the traffic that will be generated by a 10.0 per, cent
developed office-research park.
On the bottom of it are the numbers that
represent the traffic that will be generated by the
park. On the top in brown the present traffic count.
That was put together by Wilbur Smith Associates on
the basis of information they gathered from the
shopping center and on information gathered from
population density charts for professional labor supplies
and skilled labor supplies.
We feel that it does a good job of representing
approximately the number of oars that will be generated
from the center.
You will note that on Shade 'Street there"+aro
approximately 40 oars shown:'
On Spring Street, 60 cars, which represents
about 5 per cent of the total ;traffic.
The other 5 per cent of the traffic; would be
taken on Waltham Street.
The remaining 90 per cent of the traffic would
be discharged onto Route 2.
This road here has been shown as running
parallel, not under the present location of Route 2,
of Acorn. Park Development down there, it seems to me
that the parking area, eay, aC the A. D. Little one,
if that is representative, is about twice the area
taken by the building:
Nov this certainly shows no'parking, as I can
see it in here, and it does seem to me that a great
deal of this is going to be ugly parking lot.
Mr. BLAKELY . Well,, there will be parking,, of
course, but many parking lots now -- we have designed
a number of them instead of making one large black
area, ,you have a paved area and a six or eight foot
stretch- with trees to break it up, and so fortho
as a matter `of fact,.Boston. Manufacturershas,
done that in their` parking lot. It looks pretty.
insignificant. You see a lot of trees breaking it up.
There will be an attempt to do tbat because
:t will keep the value of the property high, and it
is easy to sell other peo pl.e , if you do that
On the A D.L le there were no minimum
itt thing
ratios there,, and these restrictions, as you probably
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read, it .is a minimum of five acres per lot size
per company and you have got this situation where
youu have a land coverage ratio which did not
exist there. It is really not very oomperable.
Mr. BRYSON. As I read this, it indicates,',
three-quarters of it must be in lawn or in parking
lot.
Mr. BI,AKELY Three-quarters of it must be
in lavn ;that is in the front of the building. That
means that you are not allowed to use more than one-
quarter of the front area for parkingi Three-quarters
of it will have to be landscaped With grass or shrubs.
Mr. BRYSON. Or
parking.
Mr. BIAKELY.No one-quarter can be used for
parking, but three-quarters must have no parking.
It will be all landscaped.
Mr. GILMAN# Gilman, Bloomfield street.
The one statement you made eras that a building..
such as the Polaroid Building, could not be built here.
I got the impression that this would be merely because
of restrictions that Cabot, Cabot & Forbes Would place
and not necessarily restrictions that the town would
have.
building,
Mr. BIAKELY. No, that is a manufacturing
1�........... ...
s
When a company is building an: office, bullda�4g;.. ,
they are willing to go a'lot further with the aesthetics
of a building and we will certainly`.atteeipt to,` but in -
all of our industrial parks, our research parrs,'office
parks and so forth, we insist on architectural approval',
and in this thing we are going to reserve the right on
all land we sell, and it.will.be in the deed, to
approve all plans before they are constructed.
Mr. hAMBIE. Lambie, Shade Street.
This question may not apply,-- I am not sure --
but there are ll or 12 homes within the residential
buffer zone and almost ,all of them are at least 200
e
feet away from. the limit, except there may be one or
two which would almost abut that line, if my ,geography
is right, I am not sure.
I: was wondering if consideration could be given
to maintaining a minimum of 1.50 to 20.0 feet from any
existent: residential home.
Mr. BI,ASELY. That is ffom existing residences
which are in this green buffer zone?
Mr. IAMBIE. Yes. .The house -I have in -MIM d would
sit in the corner there.I would like to show it to
you, if I may.>
(Mr. lambie approaches the board.) .
Mr. BIAM . Thank you for answering the question.
FROM THE FLOOR. It abuts the property, the
rezoning change would abut the property by 200 feet'
or approximately 205 to be exact.
Mr. GALIAGRER. I would like to have the Cabot,
Cabot & Forbes delve a little bit more into the
people
research building that they might put up.
We talk of being near M.I.T and the different
places, which: we now know are thinking of breaking
sound barriers, solid fuels, and things like that.
We just wondered if itispossible that as
you people now do not know who your tenants will be,
as I understand it;you have one company that you know
that might move in is it possible that we may find
ourselves in a very dangerous area "right in amongst
a'bunch of residential homes?
Mr. BLAKELY I will give you a very selfish
answer to that.
43
As the President of the company that hopes
-
to own..:a lot of these buildings,. beer �. mind we
get a better return from office buildings than we
4
dofrom research facilities. We would hope that
at least half and as much more than half as possible
will ,be office buildings. There are more rents per.,
square foot in office buildings, so not only the
town's restrictions which prohibit the admission of
noxious odors, noises, and so forth, but our own
restrictions will be a lot more stringent, and we
will be very much interested in preventing that,
because obviously we are cutting off our nose to
spite our face because people are not going to
A ,
have office buildings where that couldhappen•
Chemical research firms and things, of that sort
absolutely would not fit•
We had a case of one large research company
that went in one of our industrial' centers and even
:h an industrial center they began making tests, wanted
to put up a lot of corrugated metal buildings out
in the back yard and so-forth. And then they wanted
to do some testings with fumes and they were not
allowed even in an industrial center and they were
forced to move out into another,, area
45'
tonight, but he called me'about 7 o'clock and said
he could not`'oome. Now you speak of this as a
C-3 district. The C-3 district that 'we are ob-
jecting to has restrictions fess severe,tbou yours
For example, we are objecting #o :four, acres;
and this asks for five. We are ob'jedting to sixty
feet setback and this asks for 100 ,with flower gardena;
Nov. Mr. Russell instructed me to say that he
hoped that you would distinguish between this type :of
a'district and the C-3 that goes with ours. Other-
wise., we will have to appeal this, likewise, to the
Attorney. General,
Mr. BIAKELY` Of course, we, as owners,, you
see, are: willing to take a much more restricted use
because we do not intend some of the uses that would ,
be done on the property you 's peak of. 3o we, as owners ,
owning all of the land or rather, ,not owning, we only
own a small part of it, we would not object to those,
but 1 think ;the Planning Board should answer that,
question.
The CHAIRMAN, I thinkthelast speaker is
talking; about M-1,9 and we are talking about speoial
C-3 districts here, and they are two different things.
Mr. LINEHAN. M-1 depends on its rights'. R-1
47
on this, is: How are you going. to bring ,sever main
into Richards property wit �the• topography whish
slopes down toward Route 2? Present tovn plans,
I -believe, could not bring sewer pipe in there for
approximately 45 years. Is:there'going to be a
pumping station? If so, will, the town pay for it?
Mr. SPAULDING. There will be a pump station
on the Richard property and that will be paid for by
the developer. The property 1s probably 100 feet'
below on the lower part of the Swenson Farm, and it
will be handled that vay.
All the sewerage will be taken from the Richards
property, pumped up to the Swenson property. It will
be picked up in a"trunk main,.extended over into the
lover part of the Hayden property, where' it will enter
the town trunk sever line.
Mr. LTTCHFIELD. Howmany more people are
involved here than in the shopping center? How many
more acres are involved in this re -zoning that in
the original shopping center?
The CHAIRMAN. Well, the original shopping
center included - that is the first time it name up -
included the Hayden property. The second time it did not.
This also includes the Richards property in
addition
48
to that
Mr. LITCHFIEM . How many sorest
The CHAIRMAN. 200_aores, I .beii6r, x31` together
here, but it will be about 125 after the buffer zona,.
Mr . LITCHFIEI.D . And the other one : was aboixt 70,
I believe.
Mr. RIPIEY., I would like to ask Cabot,' Cabot &
Forbes how much of the land they own or have options
on adjacent to this property or across Route 2.
Mr. BIAKELY. None, .except for the Rinaldo
piece on Route 128.:
We own the Richards estate. We bought that
sev erai years ago. We are. renting it to ,people who
nov live, there. We own this property.
We have options on the Pilkington property on
this side of Route 28.
We do not have options on the Pilkington property`.
on the south side of Route 2, just :on the north side
of Route 2.
We have:made arrangements with Filene's where
we have taken over the options` that they had on the'
Swenson property, some small paroels in here, and the
Hayden property right here (indicating).
We have taken options and paid for those. We
5
I understand that $245 000 has been estimated
f oxo the cost of the extension from Narrett Road up
to a point on.Weston Street.
FROM THE FLOOR. Is that pipe line big enough
to take care of it?
MR. SPAULDING Yes, the pipe line would be
large enough.
Mr. LAMBIE. inasmuch as the interchange at
Spring Street bas,a vital bearing on the success of
the Center, I have two questions, inasmuch as the
interchange at Spring Street and Route 2 has a vital
bearingon the center and the hope is that construction
of the interchange would be performed by'the State
following the development ofthe deed.
Mr. BLAKELY, Repeating it: "we hope".
Mr. LAMBIE. I would wonder if the State is
going to be furnished plans of the proposed traffic
setup so that they can review 'them and comment on it
publicly, if possible,, before the Town Meeting would
be held
Mr. SPAULDIlG. Yes, we would definitely review
all of our plans with the State; and one of the things
we would work on from this point on would be improving
our traffic counts, improving our overall general plan
tat would go With it are the 006t'expengiv4 part
.n developing the area .
very -severe slope,, something in the order of a 20 per,
cent grade, we could build a_road over that, but it
would be unacceptable to the town because of snow
removal.
have limitation of 10
All towns generally a
Per cent on their steep grades. to the grade situation
Tends itself to a street next to the buffer zone.
Mr. WATHENZUNN. If 'my memory serves me
correctly,, there is a considerable amount of land
lying generally to the east of the land which it is
now proposed to re -zone, which would be usable for
things such as this. AM )b • Blakely has stated
that Cabot, Cabot '& Forbes neither owns nor hers
options nor even designs on any oP this land
However., this re -zoning does raise the 'question
of how far it would be desirable to carry it on
54:
eastward, what would in easenoe,be s triad of.
decisive island between the two main residential'
areas of the town. And so I. was aonoer og,,if the
Planning Board has ,given this any thought, if it is
Proper to address the question to ;the Planning Board,
I would like to know whether they have got any con-
clusions on this thing as to how far it.should be
carried
The CHAIRMAN. The Planning Board has given a
great deal of consideration to this, and. I.think it
is only fair to sag that there is no oommon opinion
among all of us which we can agree on:
I am not trying to hedge on it. Things change.
Different roads come in,'schools have been changed,
128.has been widened.
We have thought alot about it, but we have
no 'common opinion. - In our report we have a regular
rule now that nothing east of 128 Mould be oonsidered
except,,what is brought up under conditions like this.
This buffer zone, as you know, goes to here,
as I understand. (Indicating) Anything from now
on would have to go'out to Waltham Street or a
separate road built there..'
I am sorry l cannot answer you any better.
55'
Mr. BI,AnLY. Gould I just adda little bit ,
t? Frog Biu standpoint there is a -ver definite
to tha r p Y
maximum -minimum point in these centers or any congre-
gation., whether it is for industry or retail or office
buildings or research, or any; other thing, and that
is the efficient flow of cars
People come out in the country and out into
the suburbs to avoid congestion: As you get to the
point where you rebuild 'congestion', your advantages
over the city, diminish. So we feel we would not be
in favor of further re -zoning around this immediate
area until a good part of this Ian& .is developed to
the point where we know the size of the building,
the use of it, the number of 'people they have, and
the number of cars they`, have, because to re -zone a
much larger area you might get into traffic problems*
There were other lands where we had a chance to bid
on them and did not go in because we felt that the
traffic met the maximum point. We have got to, keep
the traffic down so there will be an advantage to
coming out here.
Mr. WADE I would like to -ask the Planning`
Board if anyone else has approached the Planning
Board for possible re -zoning of this property to the
P
57
we get the property back. We are doing that at the
priee they bought it. We are doing that to ,present
just that.
Mr. GALLAGHER. Icontracted the owner of the
property east of the buffer zone; that is on old Shade
Street.. the other side of old ode street. One of
the developers. They now own, I believe, 40 'acres in
there and they would be very glad to have this zoned
along with this property.
In fact, most of the people ,along Route 2,
any open areas would do the same" thing. As a shatter
of fact, four years ago,, four to five years ago this
throughout the
town voted to re -zone all open areas
town, and this piece of property happened to he one
of those in whichthe vote came out that we.should
have 30,000 square feet of land in orders to build.
Now there are many of these open areas spread.
around through town and perhaps we might say it
cannot happen in our precint. We thought so up in
the precinct where this is taking 'place.' We all are
i
looking for tax relief and the only thing that these
people can do with these open properties it to develop ;
•
them into 30,000 square foot lots at a cost of about
a hundred thousand dollars a lot on the street.
59 ,
which has about 600 people. You have our reputation.
We are an old firm but there has been a turnover in
top management in the last ten years to the point
5
where our average age has come from 75 or 73 down to
about 43 or 44• So I think we have a tremendous
interest in our reputation.
We are dealing in a very intangible field.
That 190, it is intangible until it is done, The only
thing we have to show people is what we have done,in".
the past • Unless there is a,var'or, something, of that.,
sort beyond our control, I think that you certainly
have the assurance that we cannot afford to go into
any town and not go through,With a pro jAct of, this
type.
It is a matter of our reputation.
We have had one situation where a town thought
they would take advantage of,a situation and get far
more tax revenue than they were getting ,on all other
property. All we ask is tbat'we come into a community
and that we are treated as all the other property
owners are, and we will certainly follow through with
the project.
Does that answer it?,
Mr. c . M MAHON. That being the case, and I can
.61
owns that themselves. Sometimes they own them;.
I
sometimes they later sell them to life insurance
companies. We just felt that we would have lost
Union Carbide, which is one of the prettiest build.
ings there.
Mr. HANNAH. The first plant for this property,
if it goes through, will be the RaytheonManufacturing
Company, And we will take-* tract aa indicated from
30 t o 50 acres* We will want to put up an office
building here that will be a show ;place for the company
and for the community; and we will select an architect..
a.coneern.which is of the calibre of the concern who
put in the Boston Manufacturers Mutual Building or
built the buildings for the Harvard Business school.
In fact, both of those architectural firms
are under consideration.
Now with us in this area we.are going to be
as interested in the character and the continuation
cf the character of the area an Cabot, Cabot & Forbes
is. 3o in addition to the assurance which Cabot,
Cab of &`Forbes can give youj, Raytheon can give you a
like assurance. Cabot, Cabot .& Forbes has been a
builder for us, and we think we are a pretty good
client of that firm and it would be Most unlikely
63
ciation come out to Lexington and test the tater
In Spring Street You probably know the PIA are the
engineers who underwrite all the manufacturers of
research and office buildingsall =over the country
for the most part, along with the Factory Mutual
Association.
The FIA found,_ as a result of tests, tAa►t
the line in Spring Street have very good residual
pressure, good flow, good static "sure, and they
said that the supply was very good for this proposed
development and would actually handle the entire area,
Mr. HAMILTON. Hamilton, Spring street.
How come I cannot even water my'lavn sometimes?
If what he says is true,, he should give 'us *0fte proof
from the Town %ineers that the system will carry it.
Mr. HATHAWAY. Hathaway, Shade Street .
We are told `that the developers include in the
deed certain restrictions which in some r6peats are
apparently more restrictive than the town regulations.
Three questions in that aonneatio#. One, can
we get more specific as to the type of estriations
which are included in the deed?,
Two, do these restrictions rtin'�Ith the land;
and three, what is the period or the term of years
,
64<
coveredby such restrictions,in the deed?
Br. BIAKELY. Well, one of the principal
restrictions which we have which could not very
well be incorporated in the town by-laws is the
architectural approval of each site. I do not think
many companies would consider a location if they had
to go back to the town to have plana approved."
A town's political complexion changes and met
national corporations, as' a matter of fact, won't
even go now to land' areas unless they are •^already
zoned
So many companies' have had zoning problems
over the past few years so tit they won't go Anto
an area and go through the zoning change#. Further ---
more, they do not want to fight a lot of restrictions
which we have from the standpoint of public relationa..
This is one of the principal ones,.
Then we also have limits on the types of
material. We have presented corrugated metal buildings.
We have presented a lot of the various types of panels,
some of the aluminum panels.
We are allowing some of those, allowing porcelain
panels. We did limit our things pretty :much to masonry
a few years ago. 1 do not think we`would allow the
67
there is no guarantee in thisamendment that it would
be that wa .
it o-gOuld be in this zoning amendment and he
could do just what he would like to do, accomplish and.
protect the interest of the people.
A gentleman earlier asked: Could this all be
parking lots according to this amendment? It could
be 75 per cent, practically 75 per cent of that area
for parking lots. I$i+• Spaulding ansvered the question
by saying something about 25 Percent and whatnot
Well, a,5-acre lot with the minimum that is
in here is 300 foot frontage, "750 foot depth.. The
only thing in the amendment as far as landscaping
says that off this 75-foot depth the first 100 feet,
and of that 100 feet, 75 per of it will be green-
grassed areas, or, 75 feet out of 750 feet. So I think
this gentleman below may have been misled on that.
Nbw that could be, covered in this amendment by
specifying that regardless of whether the lot is 5 acres
or 50 sores, that a certain proportion of it will be
apportioned to landscaping.
Another thing in this amendment I particularly
wanted to point out is the question of and/or. This
. feet ;out of 7 0 feet requires that it be grass,
75 5