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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1960-06-27 PLANNING BOARD MEETING June 27, 1960 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held on Monday, June 27, 1960, at 7:30 p.m. in the Board' s office, Town Office Building Present were Chairman Burnell, Members Grindle, Mabee, Meyer and Soule, and Planning Director Snow. The Board approved for payment the following bills which had been presented. Wallace B. Mitchell BILLS Co. , drafting supplies--420.13; Lexington Lumber Co. , drafting supplies-- 9.10; Spauld, ng-Moss Co., draft- ing supplies-- 6.00; Allen Stationery Co. , office equipment--47.30; Boston Fnvelope Co. , envelopes-- A20.27; Chamber of Commerce of the United States, series of informative booklets--$3.00; Samuel P. Snow , car allowance for June-- 20.00; Harry W. porter, Jr. , professional services, June 13 through June 24-- t195.00; Donald C. Richardson, professional services and car allowance, June 13 through June 24-4187.50 and X661.40. Considered next was the notice of a hearing to be held by the Historic Districts Commission on HISTORIC June 30, 1060. It was decided to take no action in DISTRICTS regard to the application to be considered at said COMMISSION hearing. Considered also were the notices of hearings to be Yield by the Board of Appeals on July 19, 1960. BOARD OF Mr. Snow was asked to prepare for the Planning APPEALS Board' s consiceration at its next meeting letters to the Board of Appeals in regard to the robert Hall Clothes, Bentley, Cunningham and Rizzo petitions. At 8:00 p.m. the Planning Board held a nublic hearing relative to the application of Todd Realty, BURNHAM Inc , for approval of a definitive subdivision plan FARMS,SEC .5 entitled 'Burnham Farms Section Five Lexington, - Mass.", dated April 27, 1960, said subdivision to be TODD REALTY, situated northerly of Fast Street and bounded by INC. said street and lots and land abutting on said street, Thoreau Road and Lowell Street Four per- sons attended the hearing, including Mr. Mark Moore, Jr., President of Todd Realty, Inc. The Chairman opened the hearing by reading the notice of the same as it had been sent to all abutting property owners of the land to be subdivided and as it had been published in the June 0, 1060, issue of the Lexington ,2inute-man. He then explained the pro- cedure in conducting the hearing and called upon 1 6-27-60 -2- Mr. Moore to present the subdivision plan. Mr. Moore stated that the proposed subdivision was an extension of the existing Burnham Farms devel- opment, Section Five consisting of two roads along which there would front 39 lots. He then discussed the Fast Street access to said division with reference to the slope easement which was shown on sheet 8 of the definitive plan. In connection with the discussion there was read Mr. John J. Carroll' s letter of May 31, 1960, to Todd Realty, Inc. in which he stated that his approval, as Superintendent of public Works, of the definitive plan was given with the understanding that said slope easement was to be conveyed to the Trust in such man- ner that later it could be conveyed to the Town. Par- ticularly noted was the Superintendent 's statement that he would not have given approval to the location of the road shown on sheets 2 and 4 of the definitive plan unless the sloping within the easement was con- structed according to the cross sections shown on sheet 8 for the reason that the sloping is needed in order to provide the driver of a vehicle entering onto East Street with adequate sight distance along said street in a general westerly direction A letter, dated June 27, 1960, from the Board of Health to the Planning Board was also read. In said letter it was stated that the said subdivision was approved with condition that lots 71, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 and 94 shall not be built upon without prior consent of the Lexington Board of Health. There being no further discussion the hearing was declared closed at 8:15 n.m. and the plan taken under advisement. Considered next were the following Form A FORMS A applications for determination of Planning Board juris- diction : #6o-46, submitted June 24, 1 960 by Donald K. Irwin; plan entitled "A Resurvey and Subdivi- sion of Land Court Case No. 5982 Land in Lex- ington, Mass. ", scale: 1" = 80 ' , dated June 23, 1960, Miller & Nvlander, C .E. ' s &. Survey- ors. #60-47, submitted June 27, 1960 by Ashton G. Little; plan same as that accompanying applica- tion #59-46. 6-27-60 -3- #60-48, submitted June 27, 1960 by Dianne Estates, Inc . , Gerard P. Friel, President ; plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lexington, Mass. ", scale 1" = 40' , dated June 15, 1960, Joseph W. Moore, Inc ., Reg. Land surveyor. #60-49, submitted June 27, 1960 by Trustees of Cabot & Cabot & Forbes Co , and Trustees of Hartwell Lexington Trust by David G. Colt, attorney for both and Charles A. Linehan by Richard. M. Russell, Attorney; plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lexington, Mass .", scale: 1" = 80' , dated June lJ , 1°60, Miller & Ny- lander, C .F. ' s & Surveyors. In connection with the plan accompanying appli- cation 1-60-47, it was noted that signatures and date of endorsement had been erased from the plan because it had not been filed in the Registry of Deeds within six months after the previous endorsement by the Planning Board. After due consideration, upon motions duly made and seconded, it was unanimously VOTED: That the Lexington Planning Board determines that the plans accompanying Form A applica- tions #60-46, #60-47 and #60-48 do not re- quire approval under the Subdivision Control Law, and that said plans be so endorsed. VOTED: That the Lexington Planning Board determines that the plan accompanying Form A applica- tion #60-49 does not require approval under the Subdivision Control Law, and that said plan be so endorsed with the additional nota- tion that "lot 'B' does not have the minimum area required under the Lexington Zoning By- law. " Mr. Snow rerorted that a representative of the Boston Filter Company had visited the office at OFFICE AIR the request of Mr. Mabee to make a recommendation as CONDITIONER to whether or not it was more advisable to install a dehumidifier or an air conditioner in the office to improve working conditions particularly with reference to the preparation of plans and drawings Mr. Snow said that the representative had surveyed existing conditions and had prepared a report recom- mending air conditioning, said report to be sent to the Board for evaluation. 6-27-60 -4- Read to the Board and discussed by it was the CARY ACRES Town Counsel's letter of June 23, 1960 to the Peerless SEC . 2 Insurance Company in regard to the work which remains to be done in the Cary Acres Section Two subdivision. (See minutes of May 16, 1060 Planning Board meeting. ) WAvMINT The Board' s attention was called to a copy of a REALTY TRUST letter, dated June 23, 1960, to the Board of Selectmen LAND FOP informing them that the title had now been acquired RECREATION from Waymint Realty Trust to approximately 19.28 acres PURPOSES of land on Turning Mill Road for public recreational purposes. Consideration was next given to the matter of McCORMACK acquiring for public recreational purposes a portion BRUN LAND FOR of the McCormack-Brun land adjacent to the Harrington RECREATIONAL School. After a discussion of Mr. Peenstierna 's re- PURPOSES port stating that he appraised said portion at 12,000 (see minutes of June 20, 1960 Planning Board meeting) , it was decided that, if the Selectmen indi- cated that they would support the Planning Board' s recommendation for acquisition, the Board would write to Mr. r?cCormack offering to purchase the portion at said price. It was also decided that if Mr . McCormack indicated that the Board ' s offer was unacceptable, the Board would inform him that it intended to place an article on the warrant for a special fall town meeting recommending that said portion be taken by eminent domain. From 8:45 to 9:30 p.m. Town Counsel Stevens met BOARD OF with the Board to discuss several matters, the first APPEALS being the situation with reference to a subdivision of the Black property concerning which Mr. Jenkins had BLACK AND met with the Planning Board. (See minutes of June 6, JENKINS 1960 Planning Board meeting. ) Mr. Stevens stated that Mr. Milton F. Hodgdon, son-in-law of Mrs. Black, had discussed the matter with him seek4ng some solution to the problem. Mr. Stevens said that it was his opinion that the whole situation had changed with the very recent passing of Mr. Black. Mr. Stevens reported that Mr. Hodgdon had stated that Mrs. Black had no thought of having Mr. Black' s business continued and that he thought it a shame to tear down the building which he had used and which was partly located on lot 1 fronting on Minola Road. Being concerned with the so-called non-conforming use to which the building had been put, Mr. Stevens asked if the Board would oppose the pro- posed subdivision of the Black property if Mrs. Black signed a formal instrument to be placed on record, said instrument setting forth an abandonment of the use to 6-27-60 -5- which the building had been put. Members of the Board indicated they would not oppose said subdivi- sion if such an instrument were signed The second matter discussed with Mr. Stevens was that concerned with the Adams Fstates, Sec. 2 ADAMS subdivision. Being informed that Mr. John W. Castoldi ESTATES of Auburndale desired to acquire said subdivision and SEC 2 post a bond to complete the same, Mr. Carroll, Super- intendent of public Works, had written a letter, dated NvSTROM & June 22, 1060, to the Planning Board. In said letter, CATOLDI Mr. Carroll stated that the required work in the sub- division had been completed to his satisfaction except for the spreading of the loam which had been stripped from the lots and stock-piled within the subdivision. Mr. Carroll also stated that he believed a surety in the amount of $2,000.00 should be required in order to guarantee that this loam will be spread on the lots within said subdivision. Mr. Stevens asked if the Board was willing to release the lots in the subdivision from a conditional approval contract in return for an agreement to re- spread the stockpiled loam on lots and seed the same, said agreement to be secured by a certified check for ?32,000.00. The Board agreed to such an arrangement provided the work was completed not later than July 1, 1961. Mr. Stevens said he would so notify Mr. Castoldi. Town Counsel next read and discussed his June 27, 1960 letter to the Planning Board with reference to SUBDIVISION an amendment to the Subdivision Control Law, namely, CONTROL LAW Chapter 1.17, Acts of 1960 of the Massachusetts Legis- AMENDMENT lature. (See addendum. ) It was noted that the amend- ment makes unenforceable after August 22, 1960, the CHAP 417 provisions of paragraph B. of Section III of the Plan- 1960 ACTS ning Board Rules and Taegulations which require the applicant to obtain certain acceptances and approval from the Superintendent of Public Works before submit- ting his final application and definitive plan to the Planning Board. In amending said rules and regulations, it was decided to follow Mr. Stevens ' recommendation to continue to encourage prospective subdividers to ad- here to these provisions because it seems the simplest way for them to get their plan in proper form and with proper content. Mr. Stevens pointed out that if the subdividers did this before submitting the plan to the Board it should increase substantially their prospect of having the plan approved. After the Town Counsel had left the meeting the Board considered the Wvnwood Associates ' letter of June 27 requesting an extension of the period within 6-27-60 -6- which the Board had to act upon the application for OAK HILL approval of the Oak Hill Estates, Sec . 3 definitive ESTATES plan. Upon motion duly made and seconded, it was SDC . 3 unanimously W{NW00D VOTED: that pursuant to the written request from the ASSOCIATED applicant the time of approval of the defini- tive subdivision elan entitled "Oak Hill Estates Section Three, Lexington, Mass.", dated April 4, 1960, be and hereby is extended to and including July 11, 1960 . A general discussion was then held about work projects currently before the Board. After the dis- cussion the Board adjourned its meeting, the time being 10 45 p.m. sj/(///// 0E-44:._— Irving H. Mabee, Clerk ADDENDUM June 27, 1960 Levi G.Burnell, Chairman Lexington Planning Board Town office Building Lexington 73, Massachusetts Re: Amendment of Subdivision Control Law Dear Mr. Burnell: Chapter 417 of the Acts of 1960 reads as follows : "Section 81Q of chanter 41 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence, as appearing in section 7 of chapter 674 of the acts of 1953, the following sentence: --Such rules and regulations shall not require referral of a subdivision plan to any other board or person prior to its submission to the planning board." It was approved by the Governor on May 23, 1 960 and becomes effective ninety days thereafter. It would appear that this amendment makes unen- forceable the provisions of paragraph B of Section III of the Planning Board Rules and Regulations, which re- quire the applicant to obtain certain acceptances and anproval from the Superintendent of Public Works before submitting his final application and definitive plan to 6-27-60 -7- eve however, that we should be the Planning Board. I believe, continue to encourage prospective subdividers to adhere to these provisions because it seems the simplest way for them to get their plan in proper form and with proper content and if they do this before submitting it to the Board It should increase substantially their pros- pect of having the plan approved. It is my understanding that the amendment was adopted by the legislature upon the representation of builders that in some municipalities the requirement that Planning Boards act on applications for definitive approval within sixty days was rendered valueless by the practice of boards of adopting rules and regulations requiring the plan to be submitted first to other boards and officials, for whom there was no time limit in taking action, and thus the builder could be in effect prevented from requir- ing action by the Planning Board. I have not heard this criticism voiced in respect to Lexington . The amendment, of course, applies to all municipalities. Sincerely yours, /s/ Harold E. Stevens I