HomeMy WebLinkAbout1960-04-29 PLANNTNG BOARD MEETING
April 29,1960
A Special Meeting of the Planning Board was
held on Friday, April 29, 1960 at 3 :00 p .m. in
the Planning, Board ' s office, Town Office Building.
Present were Chairman Burnell, Messrs. Grindle
and Mabee, and Planning Director Snow.
The purpose of the meeting was to consider
the draft of a report to the Board of Appeals in VINE BROOK
regard to the application of Vine Brook Realty Trust REALTY
for annroval of the site plans and building design TRtTST
for the nronosed Waltham Street garden apartment -
district . 'lfter due consideration of said draft, WALTHAM ST
upon motion duly made and seconded, it was unani- GARDEN
mously APARTMENT
DISTRICT
VO`"' D that the Lexin -°ton planning Boom d, under
provisions of Section 5. ( g) 5. of the Zoning
By-law, recommends disapproval of the site
plans and building designs specified in
three separate site plans and a set of build-
ing plans of various dates drawn by Arthur
G. Manaselian, architect, and accompanying
the Vine Brook Realty Trust application,
dated March 21, 1960, and proposed for the
A 1 district described in Section )1.. (g) 1...
for the reasonsset forth in said Board' s
report, dated April 29, 1960, a copy of
which report is incorporated and made a
part of this vote. (See addendum. )
The attention of the Board was called to a
letter fro-i the Board of Appeals to the Planning MAPLE ST
board, dated April 29, 1960, notifying the Planning GARDEN
Board that the principals of the proposed Maple APARTMENT
Street garden apartment district had withdrawn their DTSTRICT
petition dated March 31, 1960 for approval of the
Mahle Street garden anartment site nlans and build-
ing design, requesting that the drawincs submitted
to the planning B-yard for consideration be returned
to the Board of Appeals
There being no further business to transact,
the meeting was adjourned at 3 70 n.m.
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Irving F. Mabee, Clerk
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ADDENDUM
April 20, 1960
Board of Appeals
Town Office Building
Lexington 73, Mass . Pe Vine Brook Realty Trust
Waltham Street garden
apartment development
Gentlemen
Reference is made to your April 1, 1960 letter and its accom-
panying application and set of plans from the Vine Brook
Fealty Trust with respect to a nronosed garden apartment de-
velopment on Waltham Street. In reply to said letter the
Planning Board herewith submits its final report and recom-
mendations in accordance with sec . C ( m) 5 of the Zoning
By-law.
The Planning Board is very much concerned with the lack of
progress made with the developers of this garden apartment
project, especially the turn of events during the past two
months . As recently as March 17, 1960, the Town Counsel,
Superintendent of Public rTorks, and Planning Director met
with Mr. Reenstierna, trustee of Vine Brook Realty Trust to
discuss at his request the preliminary site plan dated Febru-
ary 29, 1960. This same elan was again discussed with Mr.
Reenstierna when he met with the Board on March 22. On both
occasions the inadequacies of said site nlan and a solution
which it was understood would be acceptable to all were dis-
cussed. It was further understood that Mr. Reenstierna was to
have this solution prepared for the Planning Board' s consider-
ation. Instead of receiving this solution for discussion the
Board was notified on April 1 the site plan of February 29
with no changes but with the addition of water and sewer lines
and some contours and spot elevations was submitted as the
final site plan, but dated March 14, 1060, to the Board of
Appeals and forwarded to the Planning Board as referred to
above . That this has been done is most disapnointing to the
Planning Board to say the least esnecially since so much time
and effort have been involved by the Board andits staff in
the preparation of a site plan which was believed to be suit-
able.
In the opinion of the i'lannina Board the site clan, Drawing
SP-1, is unacceptable for the following reasons
1 . It is not presented in what should be its final form, hav-
ing pencil additions added to the print, inaccuracies and
lack of detail. As a specific instance thereof the clan-
ni.nk Board calls to the attention of the Board of Appeals
that the dimensions of at least two of the buildings
marked F differ from that of other buildings so marked
and have a width acnroximately ten feet less than that of
the floor elan of said building Trawinv these buildings
to the cor-ect dimension would necessitate some rearrang-
ing
earrang-ing of buildings on the site plan .
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' 2 The design of Capt . Parker Lane needs revision to provide
for a connection directly opposite the proposed extension
of John Poulter Road and at the same time eliminating the
reverse curve at t? e southeasterly terminus of said lane.
As now proposed the reverse curve would connect with a
proposed extension of John Poulter Road where another re-
verse curve is proposed by the Trust but has not been
approved by the Planning Board
The design of the lane also needs to provide for a future
connection to the southerly portion of the Trust ' s unde-
veloped land on the westerly side of the proposed location
of Worthen Road TI- is access needs to be provided for the
development of said land whether for future single family
residential or garden apartment use for the reason that
there is only sufficient frontage for the access of one
road on the westerly side line of .iorthen Road as nronosed.
The peculiar shape of this tract of land will require some
other means of access to it other than the one which can be
provided from Worthen road
3 The design and location of the parking areas need further
study. The location of some world definitely detract from
the overall appearance of the development itself. There is
doubt that as presently laid out automobiles could be man-
' euvered into position in some of the stalls without great
difficulty.
4. With reference to the buildings themselves, the Planning
Board in general annroves of their exterior appearance
In one case, however, the Board believes that the end ele-
vation of the building marked "A" needs additional windows
or other openings to relieve its severely simple appearance.
It is felt that this addition to the end elevations is es-
pecially- needed on the buildings as seen from Worthen Road
and . 'altham Street It is thought that windows or doors
leading from the second floor bedrooms onto the roof of the
one story end unit might balance somewhat the front and rear
elevations and at the same time provide additional egress
from the apartments involved in case of fire or other emer-
gency.
In addition to the above the Chiar Engineer of the Fire
Department has called the Planning Board' s attention to the
location of chimneys in buildings C and D. These no doubt
will need relocation to correspond with the location of base-
ment boiler rooms and so alter the exterior appearance of the
roof lines on said buildings . He has likewise called this
Board' s attention to (1) the need for certain fire walls, (2)
access to the inside of roofs from above the ceilings of
second floors or from outside the roofs themselves, and (3 ) air
sunnly and exhausting of hot air in boiler rooms. It is recom-
mended that these matters be attended to b efo-e submission of
final building nlans
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In view of the above, the Planning Board recommends that the
application and plans be disapproved. However, rather than go
through the formality of holding a hearing on the application
and plans, the Board suggests--if the applicant is willing to
do so--that the application and plans be withdrawn for a period
of a few weeks so that further conferences can be held and a
site plan developed which will be acceptable to all If this
is done, and the plans revised as needed, then the necessity of
a second public hearing would be eliminated and much time saved.
It is the -Planning Board ' s opinion that it would be unfortunate
to hold a hearing now on the present application and plans when
a suitable site plan and accompanving building plans are so
nearly at a point of completion.
Sincerely yours,
LEXINGTON PLANTTNG B( D
/s/ Levi G. Burnell, Chairman
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