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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1960-02-08 PLANNING BOARD MEETING February 8, 1960 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Board 's office, Town Office Building on Monda-, February 8, 1960 at 7 :30 p.m. Present were Chairman Abbott, Members Burnell, Grindle, ATabee and Soule, and Planning Director Snow The Board approved the minutes of its January MINUTES 2 , 1°60 meeting. Also approved for payment were the following bills Minute-man Publications, Inc . , advertising-- BILLS „"L .°0, Graphic Reproductions, Inc , white prints-- 78 The Atwell Co . , indexes--$1.36; Wallace B Mitchell Co , drafting* supplies-2'9.2K. Considered next were the following Form A applications for determination of Planning Board FORMS A jurisdiction 4,'60-11, submitted Feb . 8, 1960 by Oalmount realty Trust , William F. Caterino, Trustee; plan entitled "A Subdivision of Land Court Case No. 26325 in Lexington, Mass.", Scale 1" = 30' , dated Feb. 5, 196n, Miller & 'Tvlander, C E. 's & Surveyors. #60-12, submitted Feb . 8, 1960 by Oakmount realty Trust, William F. Caterino, Trustee ; plan entitled "A Subdivision of Land Court Case No. 27356 in Lexington, Mass. ", Scale : 1" = 20 ' , dated Feb. 5, 1960, Miller & Nylander, C .E ' s & Surveyors . Upon motion duly mace and seconded, it was unan- imously VOTED: that the Lexington Planning* Board determines that the plans accompanying Form A applica- tions #60-11 and #60-12 do not require approval under the Subdivision Control Law, and that said plans be so endorsed. The Board' s attention was called to a memorandum, dated Januar- 29, 1960, from the Board 1960 of Selectmen approving the Planning Board's request BUDGET for `" 3,550 00 for general departmental expenses for 1960 2-3-60 -2- Considered next were the netitions to be BOARD OF heard by the Board of Appeals on Feb . 9, 1°60 . It APPEALS was decided to take no action in regard to said petitions . Considered next was the draft of a letter ROUTE 3 w' ich Mr. Snow had prepared for consideration by PPOpOSALS the Board of Selectmen encs the Planning Board of the n ronosals for the location of Route 3 as Studied by Hayden, Hardin- &- Buchanan, Inc . , Con- sulting Fn -ineers, said draft beim- addressed to the Chief Engineer of the State Department of Pub- lic Works . After an addition was made to said draft, Messrs. Mabee and Snow were requested to discuss the revised draft with the Board of Selectmen. CSP: duw.? Considered next was Mr Stevens ' letter LOT of February 4, 1960 to Mr. Abbott in regard to STUDY the Planning Board ' s proposed amendments to the Zoning By-law for the purpose of governing* the shape of lots . (See minutes of February 1, 1°60 Planning Board Meeting . ) Members of the Board felt that the solution of the problem of governing the shape of lots was an urgent matter . For this reason it w• s decided to ask that a committee comprised of members of theTnwn Meeting Members Association be organized to assist the Board in studying the completion of the problem. Mr. Mabee was asked to discuss the matter wit'' Mr. Robert H. Farwell, President of said Association, with a view of organizing such a stud- committee so that it might be prenared to begin its work at the conclrsion of the annual town meeting. Mr . Stevens came to the meeting at 9:00 OPTION n .m. at which time he discussed with the Board his letter to Mr. Abbott and the problems in- KENRICK volved in drafting proposals within the frame- work of the State Zoning Enabling* Act . Mr. Stevens also discussed with the Board the option instrument which he was preparing wherein Mr. Mark Moore Jr . would grant to the Town an option to acquire that oortion of the Kenr'ck estate which the Board was recommending to be acquired for public recreational purposes and for the ex- tension of Emerson Road to East Street. The Planning Board adjourned its meeting at c :15 p,m, at which time Messrs. Burnell, Mabee and Snow met with the Selectmen to discuss, as 2-e-6o -3- noted above, the draft of a letter in regard to proposed locations for Route 3. (See addendum for draft as approved.. ) .°.;eri"j4449°. Richard H. Soule, Clerk ADDENDUM February 9, 1960 Mr . E. J. McCarthy, Chief Engineer Department of Public 'Works 100 Nashua Street Boston Th, Massachusetts Dear Mr. McCarthy: The Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board of Lex- ington greatly appreciate the opportunity �7ou gave their representatives to view the nronosals which the firm of Hayden, Harding and Buchanan, Inc . have pre- pared in regard to the extension of Route 3 from Route 128 to the proposed location of the Inner Belt Highway. Representatives of the firm were very helpful in ex- plaining the details of the four study lines which were located within the town of Lexington. 'iihile viewing the study lines, representatives of the firm requested that you and they be sent a report on the viewpoint of the Town ' s officials in regard to said proposals . Accord- ingly there is set forth below an analysis and comments upon the firm' s proposals as related to Lexington and as studied further in considerable detail by the Selectmen and the Planning Board. Said Boards firmly believe that the proposed location of Route 3, the so-called red route, should be the ap- proved route extending from Route 128 along the Woburn- Lexington- n1inchester boundary line through comparatively undeveloped land, a distance of about 18,000 feet. It is pointed out that in 1956 the Arlington Selectmen by a vote of h to 1 endorsed the red route . The Lexington Boards wholeheartedly subscribe to the statement made by the Arlington Selectmen on page 2 of their letter of January 18, 1460 to Hayden, Harding and Buchanan, Inc : "Although this was not considered an ideal location, it has always been our belief, as well as those of other Town Officials and our predecessors in office, that no one municipality should bear the brunt of a nroposal of 2-9-60 this nature and that if such routes are located in close proximity to municipal boundaries then all communities concerned have a proportionate share of any resulting detriments " If the red route were selected and laid out promptly, the Lexington Planning Board would be in a position, under the Subdivision Control Law, to assist the State Department of Public Works in limiting the land costs and damages to a minimum for the reason that most of the proposed route as shown by the red study line would be in Lexington. As can be seen by the marked prints enclosed and which are related to the marked street map, also enclosed, the remaining vacant land along the red route is about to be subdivided. The print entitled "Plan of Land in Lexigton and Woburn, Mass " dated Feb. 1, 1960 shows the remaining land of Wynwood Asso- ciates, Parcel C, which is subdivided by extending Fulton Road to the so-called Stonewood Estates develop- ment in Woburn, and by extending Douglas Road to Fulton Road . The print entitled "Glen Estates Lexington, Mass." , dated Nov. 4, 1059, is a cop-r of a portion of a definitive plan submitted on February 1, 1960 for approval by the said rlanning Board In these two examples thirty more houses ranging in price from S'25,000 to $40,000 will no doubt be under construction in another two months in addition to those for which building permits already have been issued. Hence our statement above indicating the Planning Board' s position to be of assistance if said f enartment of Public Yorks acts promptly. The extension of Route 3 as designated by a brown study line would in every respect be a disaster to Lexington. Routes 2 and 12R already cut off large sections of resi- dential development from the main part of town. The so- called brown route would cut off another of our most heavily concentrated residential developments covering at least one-sixth of the area of the town Only about one-half of the entire area of the town would be left in the middle of a "super-interchange" bounded by Routes 2, 3, and 128. Cutting Lexington into so many sections would affect it aeographicall-g, Politically and eco nom- icall-; and bring about a calamity of the first order . There is listed below a number of items to rive some idea of the local problems which would be involved in laying out the approximately four-mile section of Route 3 through Lexington over the so-called brown route 1. Elimination of a proposed town playground and recreation area in the vicinity of North Street, I -29-6o -5- said area having been recently acquired by the town. 2. Elimination of Vine Brook flood control basin in which the Town has flowage rights in the vicinity of North Street. 3 . Elimination of about 60 residences ranging in price from 21,,000 to 50,000. L . Elimination of about 40 residential lots for which building permits are currently being issued. 5 Elimination of a proposed elementary school site . 6. Elimination of a garden apartment district, site and building* plans for which are now being prepared. 7. Elimination of two properties which Lexington has purchased for the location of a major street 8 Disruption of Lexington 's major street plan by the cutting of Emerson road where it is being laid out in a number of nlaces. 4. Division of Lexin'^ton ' s precincts and school dis- tricts 10. Division of the Great Meadows as a wild life refuge and natural science nark. 11. Elimination of a proposed section of 'Rmerson Road where it would serve as a boundary line to preserve the reat Meadows as an open space and where it would serve as a low gravity-type dam to prevent flooding in Arlington . In addition to what has been set forth above, the Boards are of the opinion that the combining of present traffic on routes 2 and 3 is not practical. While the Boards do not have any state-wide traffic nrojections, they do have sufficient local traffic data and projections to believe that the yearly increases in traffic will require unusu- ally wide highway cross-sections and exceedinglr large structures at intersections for the last six miles toward the inner belt highway necessitating much larger costs and land damages than if Route 2 were relocated over its pre- sent route and Route 3 over the red route. Also it would appear from traffic projections that a combination of Routes 2 and 3 world only be a temporary solution and that a highway over the red route would be needed inevitably. Tor an easier flow of traffic and for 1 T-9- 0 -,- less costs, it would seem more practical to diversity the radial routes of 2 and 3 onto two points of access on the inner belt or some similar highway rather than combining them at one point In regard to the nronosed location of route 3 across Lexington and thence along the Boston and Maine rail- road right-of-way to the inner belt hi ghwatr, it appears to the Lexin -'ton Boards that this scheme would cause the greatest damage to all the municipalities concerned. Not only would it have the same disadvantages of cross- ing Lexington as nreviously expressed, it would be the most costl« in terms of acquiring the sufficient right-of-way. For example, the land takings alone would be exceedingly high in Arlington Centre and would literally destroy it. For these reasons the Lexington T?oa.rds consider this to be the least feasible of the proposals suggested and the one it could not recommend under any circumstances Should you or your representative or any of those studying the Route 3 proposals wish to discuss these matters further and in more d etail, the Boards or their representatives will be pleesed to do so at your con- venience. Very trultr yours, /s/ William E. Maloney, Chairman Board of Selectmen /s/ Charles T. Abbott ,Chairman Planning Board cc Hayden, Harding & Buchanan, Inc rn c s I