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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1966-12-19PLANNING BOARD MEETING IDecember 19, 1966 A regular meeting of the Lexingtom Planning Board was held in its office, Town Office Building, on Monday, December 19, 1966. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman Campbell with members Riffin and Worrell, and Planning Director Zaleski present. Attorney Harold E. Stevens and Messrs. Baldwin and Collington of the Lexington Lumber Corp, met with LEXINGTON the Board to object to the possibility of the land on LUMBER CORP. Bedford St. owned and occupied by Lexington Lumber Corp. being rezoned from C 1 to CS. Mr. Stevens recounted that this lumber business dates back to 1911 and has been zoned for general business since the inception of zoning in Lexington in 1924. In his opinion a rezoning would substantially reduce the value of this land. Mr. Collington pointed out that modern lumber stores actually sell tools and many types of home furnishings and sup- plies. A brief discussion followed. At 8:00 p.m. a duly advertised public hearing was held on the application of Guyton Nicolai, Jr. for the HEARING - approval of a definitive subdivision plan of Heritage VOLUNTEER WAY - Acres off Volunteer Way. The hearing was attended by HERITAGE ACRES ' five interested citizens (Mr. and Mrs. G. Nicolai; R. Thomson, R.L.S.; Mr. and Mrs. D. Sliski). Letter from the Town Engineer making recommendations for minor en- gineering changes to the plan was read, as was the letter of approval by the Board of Health. After a brief dis- cussion the hearing was declared closed at 8:20 p.m. Minutes of December 12 and of November 15, 1966 MINUTES meetings were approved. Plans were submitted with the following Forms A: FORMS A #66-48, submitted December 12, 1966 by Mark Moore, Jr.; plan entitled "Plan of Land in Lex- Moore ington, Mass.", dated Dec. 9, 1966, Miller & Nylander, C.E.'s & Surveyors. 1166-49, submitted December 14, 1966 by R. J. Foley Realty Trust, Frederick J. Conroy, Atty.; Foley plan entitled "Plan of Revised Lots in Lexington, Mass.", dated Dec. 2, 1966, Miller & Nylander, C.E.'s & Surveyors. Plan accompanying Form A 1166-48, action on which had ' been held over from December 12 for investigation, was reviewed and endorsed as not requiring approval under 12. 19-66 the Subdivision Control Law, as was plan accompanying Form A #66-49. It was decided to advise the Board of Appeals that BOARD OF APPEALS the Tavern Lane variance is not objectionable as the - frontage is only nine feet short and involves no more TAVERN LANE houses than would be allowed without a variance, but the Board would object to any variances in this area involving greater deviations from the frontage requirements or an increase in the number of building lots, such as a variance for the adjoining Wardrobe property creating a new lot on Tavern Lane with 105 ft. frontage. The Board suggested that the entire land can be subdivided by combining part of Wardrobe land at Tavern Lane with Lot C so as to create a conforming lot. Articles for the 1967 Annual Town Meeting were dis ARTICLES FOR cussed next. It was decided to propose the acquisition of ANNUAL TOWN D'Augusta land, Lot A off Mason St.. Marrett-Spring St. MEETING area and Cedar -Freemont St, area after notification of the owners and appraisals. As regards the beautification program, it was de - BEAUTIFICATION cided to have an article for the "sense of the meeting" endorsing beautification and requesting the appointment of a five -member committee by the Moderator to prepare a town - wide beautification program. Subdivision regulations were discussed next and the SUBDIVISION Board decided to go ahead with advertising the changes for REGULATIONS a hearing on January 23, and to notify the Selectmen as soon as possible. Memorandum relative to the structure of government was approved with minor changes. . The Board decided to recommend Mrs. Riffin as M.A.P.C. appointee to M.A.P.C. upon the expiration of Mr. Greeley's term. Letter from Attorney D. Nicholson objecting to the ESTABROOK RD. pedestrian easement granted by Outhet next to the land of EASEMENT Weiss at Estabrook Rd. was read and placed on file. Town Engineer's letter relative to the construction of walk in the pedestrian easement between Estabrook and Nickerson Rds, was read and placed on file. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board PROCEDURAL VOTED: to amend the Procedural Rules of the Board by RULES striking out and replacing the text of Sec.3.5 of the Rules by the following: "Except for emergencies or compliance with legal requirements, the agenda for each meeting will be -2- As 2- n 12-19-66 ' closed at noon on Friday preceding such meeting and no appointments or items for action for such meeting will be accepted or scheduled.thereafter. The agenda, including items proposed by members of the Board, shall be compiled by the Planning Director and mailed to members with such explana- tory notes and copies of correspondence as may be available. At the outset of the meeting the agenda may be amended by the Chairman or by a majority vote of the Board, but major or policy decisions will be avoided on items not on the pre- pared agenda, except under special circumstances." -3- Letter from the Building Inspector relative to the CORRESPONDENCE consolidation of small lots was read. It was decided to Building Insp. discuss it at a later date.' Letter from the Comptroller relative to unexpended Comptroller 1966 balances was read and placed on file. Letter from Will J. Bangs relative to underground Bangs wiring was read and noted. Questionnaires received by the T.M.M.A. relative T.M.M.A. to zoning and beautification meeting on December 7, 1966, ' were received and given to Mr. Worrell to read and pass to other members. The meeting adjourned at 11:25 p.m. Natalie H. Riffin Clerk 1 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LEXINGTON PLANNING BOARD ' To the Town Meeting and the Selectmen Lexington, Massachusetts. This report for the year 1966 is submitted in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 81C, and of the General By -Laws of Lexington, Article XVII. The report covers briefly the work of the Planning Board in 1966 and summarizes the condition of the town and the proposals for future development. For specific details please see the publications, statements and by-laws referred to below. All zoning amendments proposed by the Planning Board in 1966 were adopted by the Town Meeting, with minor revisions, and approved by the Attorney General. These include a relaxation of land occupancy requirements in CM -1 (manufacturing) districts, the establishment of CN (neighborhood business) and CS (service and trade) districts, the introduction of butter strips in C-1 (general business) districts balanced by a relaxation of park- ing requirements, provision for lot size reduction with the resulting open land being preserved for common use as a park or a recreation area. Citi- zens' article for the rezoning of Fuller Hill land to C 3 (research park) was adopted and the rezoning of Paine-LaCava land to C 4 (offices) was re- jected, both in line with Planning Board's recommendations. Land of Williams at Waltham line was rezoned to C 1 (general business) despite an adverse re- port by the Planning Board. It is understood that the intended restaurant on this land, as described to the Town Meeting, will not be built at this time, once again emphasizing the uncertainty of rezoning for a specific project or ' individual. The modification of land occupancy requirements in manufacturing districts appears to have stimulated the development of land along Hartwell Ave. Two new companies have located there since the zoning change and at least two more have shown definite interest and are now negotiating with the owners. Portions of land zoned for industry have no municipal water supply or sewer, a condition which must be remedied promptly if the land is to be made usable and revenue-producing. It is worth while to note that a fuller use of land already zoned for industry has topped the list of desirable zoning and land use changes in a community attitude survey conducted for the Planning Board by the League of Women Voters. Questionnaires were mailed to 13-1/2% of Lexington's house- holds and almost 63% of them replied, indicating their opinion on various aspects of town life. The replies and a comprehensive review were published in the Lexington Minute -man. In general the residents appear to regard good government, good school and attractive appearance of the town as being most important. Zoning changes find little support, except for more industrial land, and even this received only 51% favorable votes. By comparison the purchase of more open land for conservation received 68% of "yes" votes. Kindergartens are favored 562 to 32%, the present level of other town ser- vices is considered satisfactory, although more beautification and tree planging was favored in 43% of all replies, as opposed to 44% in favor of ' maintaining the present level. Automatic data processing equipment of the Lexington School Depart- ment was used to tabulate and analyze the results of the community attitude Annual Report -2- survey and the results of the survey will be used in planning the future '• development of Lexington. During the year a detailed recreatinn plan for Lexington was pre- pared by bhe Planning Board, reviewed by the Recreation Committee and transmitted to the Selectmen. It is planned that a committee consisting of the planning director, recreation director and parks superintendent rep- resenting the superintendent of public works, will arrange for the layout or design of individual recreation areas and make detailed recommendations to the Selectmen on the implementation of the Recreation Plan. Reports on housing and on economic aspects of land use were pre- pared by the Planning Board in 1966 and transmitted to the Selectmen. These reports analyze the past and present trends and are intended to be used as a basis for policy decisions. While pointing out certain problems, such as the growing obsolescence of our housing and discussing the possible courses of action, the reports make a minimum of specific recommendations. In cooperation with the Conservation Commission an inventory of town -owned lands was started in 1966, but not completed due to other more urgent com- mitments. Plans and descriptions of conservation areas, the acquisition of wh which was authorized by the Town Meeting, were prepared for the Conservation Commission. The Planning Board is concerned with the beautification and im- provement of the center as an important element in the overall development of Lexington. The Board is therefore anxious to work with the Selectmen who are managing the Massachusetts Ave. widening and improvement project. Metcalf and Eddy, consultants in the long range federally assisted planning study, have submitted a number of unedited preliminary reports, which the Board has disseminated to principal town boards and to the com- mittees of the Citizens Planning Organization for review. The work of citizens committees during the initial or inventory phase of the study had started more slowly than was anticipated, but hopefully will gain momentum as the specific recommendations for the study are being evolved. The Planning Board is working on a codification of the Zoning By - Law. It is intended to make no substantive changes, but to make the law shorter and easier to understand through a more logical arrangement and a greater use of tables. The Planning Board believes that in 1967-1968 the town major areas of concentration in planning Lexington's future will be: (1) how to pre- serve and enhance the appearance of the town, and (2) how to improve and provide streets adequate to safely and conveniently handle the growing traffic. Land acquisition, zoning, and building by-law changes, subdivision regulations and work with state highway officials all offer possibilities , for the implementation of plans, but the active support of the Town Meeting and the Selectmen is indispensable to their success. Annual Report -3- As regards traffic improvements, the four principal items are: 1. Completion of Worthen Rd. and Rte. 2 connection for it. The Planning Board supports the Selectmen's proposal of accelerated completion of Worthen Rd. if an acceptable direct connection to Rte. 2 is provided. 2. Improvement of traffic flow through and around the downtown area. 3. Continued extension of Emerson Rd. north of Maple St. as outlined in the Planning Board's policy statement of November 1966. This will reduce the use of the center by in -town traffic. 4. Improving the flow of traffic between Mass. Ave. at Pleasant St. and Rte. 2. The Planning Board held forty-one meetings and fifteen public hear- ings in 1966, also several public information meetings, including one joint- ly with the Town Meeting Members Association; endorsed fifty plans other than subdivision, and five subdivisions consisting of eighty-nine lots and 7,000 feet of new streets. Four additional subdivision plans have been given preliminary approval and are pending. $371.000 in bonds and negotiable securities were held as of December 31, 1966, to guarantee the completion of required work in subdivisions previously approved. In conclusion, the Planning Board wishes to thank town agencies and ' Boards for their cooperation. The Board is particularly grateful to the School Dept. for their cooperation in arranging school census data for maxi- mum usefulness in planning, to the office of the assessors for their continued helpfulness, and to Professor Robert V. Whitman, whose energetic leadership of the citizens planning organization is doing much to keep it active in the long range planning study. 1 December 12, 1966 LEXINGTON PLANNING BOARD ,eos 4WEvert N. Fowle Roland B. Greeley Natalie H. Riffin Francis T. Worrell