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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1969-06-09PLANNING BOARD MEETING ' June 9, 1969 A meeting of the Planning Board was held in its office on Monday, June 9, 1969 at 7:30 p.m. Chairman Lund opened the meeting with members Clarke, Graham and planning director Zaleski present. The minutes of the May 19, 1969 meeting were approved as corrected. MINUTES At 7:30 p.m., Mr. J. Little of Americana Corporation, Mr. Harry AMERICANA CORP. Berglund and Mr. Donald Nickerson, Chairman of the Board of Appeals, OFFICE BUILDING met with the Board to discuss Americana's petition for a finding and determination concerning a proposed office building to be located at 1034-1050 Waltham St. Mr. Lund stated that the proposed building does not conform to height and parking regulations required by the Zoning By -Law. Mr. Little asked for a clear position on what the Board would require. After discussion of ways to meet the require- ments, it was suggested that Americana Corporation repetition the Board of Appeals for a finding and determination for an office building 300' x 60' with two stories and a basement if they can provide the re- quired parking for this size building. Mr. Nickerson agreed this would be necessary and Mr. Little agreed to revise his plans and submit them to the Board of Appeals by June 16, 1969. The minutes of the June 2, 1969 meeting were approved as corrected. MINUTES ' A letter to Oak Park Corporation relative to the release of security OAK PARK I held by the Town until completidin of work on Oak Park I Subdivision RELEASE was discussed and upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board VOTED: An inspection of the Oak Park I subdivision discloses that the following required items of work have not been completed in accordance with the terms of Oak Park Corp.'s agreement with the Town of Lexington: 1. Installation of stone bounds. 2. Installation of one drain catch basin at Grant St. 3. Laying of 25' of 12" R. C. drain at Grant St. 4. Construction of a headwall at Vine Brook 5. General cleanup. The estimated cost of the above work is nearly equal to the $2,000 bond held by the Town to ensure the completion of this subdivision. The Planning Board finds that the required work has not been per- formed as stated and denies request for release of the security held by the Town. A report prepared by Mr. Lund on the Nurseries amendment was reviewed and approved by the Board. Next discussed was the Procedural Rules' amendments prepared by Mr. Lund. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, it was VOTED: To approve the amendments. NURSERIES REPORT AMENDMENT PROCEDURAL RULES REPORT June 9, 1969 A letter from the Town Engineer regarding the Woodberry Rd. sub- WOODBERRY ST. division was read and discussed. It was suggested that a copy SUBDIVISION of this letter be sent to Dr. Smith for his reactions to the Town Engineer's recommendations. The requests for the sale of tax -title lots referred to the TAX TITLE LOTS Board by the Selectmen were considered next. It was decided to recommend that Lot 31, Map 72 (Earl and Ash St.) be retained by the Town pending the completion of studies of potential housing for moderate -income families. The Board had no objection to the sale of Lot 35, Map 59, to Mrs. Pallis of 19 Hayward Ave. to be added to other land of the same owner and not as a separate building lot. Planning director's memo of June 9, 1969 was discussed next. It TRAFFIC STUDY was agreed that Mr. Zaleski will prepare a letter inviting proposals PROPOSAL for traffic study authorized under Article 103 of the 1969 A. T. M. for review and approval by the Board. It was decided to inquire into the possibility of instituting a code WORKABLE PROGRAM enforcement program using the existing personnel, so as not to lose eligibility for the re -certification of the Workable Program. The notices of the petitions for Board of Appeals hearings on June 24,B/A NOTICES 1969 were noted and placed on file. JUNE 24, 1969 The Town Office Building additbn was discussed next. After brief TOWN OFFICE discussion, the planning director was asked to submit the entire BUILDING ADDITION design to members of DAC for their comments on space reallocations, specifically the meeting room, and ask for recommendations to be submitted to the Board by June 30, 1969. It was agreed to reply to M. Friedman's letter regarding airport AIRPORT approach zones, pointing out that the Board had no jurisdiction in APPROACHES the matter. f The planning director reported on a tour of the Grey Nuns property GREY NUNS and facilities on Massachusetts Ave. Although this was an information PROPERTY tour, the Town will receive a plot plan of this property. The Board will ask the Selectmen to see these plans when they are received. The Board reviewed the plan submitted by Design and Process Engineering DESIBN & and discussion, on the area along Rt. 2 and the possibility of utilizing PROCESS this lot for office and development offices in the field of food process- ENGR. ing machinery, followed. It was the consensus of the Board that this use was contrary to the whole plan of the development of this area. The planning director was asked to write Mr. Marion Cheek, stating that the Board would not support variances which would lead to such a concentrated use of this lot. The discussion of Drummer Boy submission procedure was postponed. DRUMMER BOY SUBDIVISION June 9, 1969 -3 At 9:15 p.m. the Conservation Commission (Chairman Stanley Brown, CONSERVATION Francis K. Smith, Jules Sussman, Frank Totman, Mrs. Frick and Mrs. COMMISSION Shriber) met with the Planning Board. It was agreed that members of the Conservation Commission will review INTERIM OPEN the draft of the Interim Open Space and Conservation Plan and forward SPACE their comments in writing to the Planning Board for consideration at the first meeting in July. Members of the Conservation Commission expressed the desire to be TAX TITLE LOTS informed by the Selectmen of any sale of tax title lots. A brief discussion took place regarding the feasibility and the legal GRAPEVINE AVE. requirements for the subdivision of the northeasterly portions of long narrow lots at Grapevine Ave. It was pointed out that Kendall Rd. does not have adequate construction to serve as access to any new sub- division street. The previously recorded lots may be reduced in size by acquisition for public use, but vacant lots may require Board of Appeals variance to permit the building of houses after a reduction of area. The Conservation Commission has been asked to explore the means of PROTECTING protecting Lexington brooks from either pollution or from drying out BROOKS as result of development. ' The Commission feels strongly that some type of part-time permanent PART-TIME help is essential to a continued performance of their functions. A ADMIN. HELP great deal of red tape and administrative work is involved in applying for outside reimbursements, in assembling documentation for land acquisition and there is also a growing need for the management of conservation lands. It was suggested that the services of an additional employee in the office of the Planning Board could be shared by the Board and the Commission. Mr. Lund suggested that a job title which does not duplicate an existing function and refers to a specific physical, rather than a general administrative activity, would be desirable and asked the Commission to prepare a tentative job description. A discussion followed regarding the general policy approach to conser- vation acquisition. It is apparent that no conservation plan can be CONSERVATION implemented without eminent domain takings and without paying more ACQUISITION than the market price for some of the vacant land. The only alternative is to limit the acquisition criteria to land availability and price. In response to a question from the Conservation Commission, the planning DRUMMER BOY director said that the definitive plans for that portion of the Drummer SUBDIVISION Boy Subdivision off Winter St., approved by the Board of Appeals, are being drawn by a surveyor. Chairman Lund reminded the Commission of the possibility of using BOY SCOUTS scouts for clearing work in conservation areas, provided the scout troops follow the regular procedure in obtaining accident insurance. It was recommended that Paul Mazerall be requested to present a work program for the scouts. June 9, 1969 -4 ' Mr. Lund asked the Conservation Commission to consider the acquisition and preservation of open space at the top of the hill next to the standpipes, buying up the unused rear portion of Lincoln St, lots. A plan of the area and a list of owners were viewed by the Commission. The preparation of a development plan for the area on both sides of Woburn St. was discussed next, including the watershed study for the area and the preservation of wetlands and of the small pond off Carnegie P1. LINCOLN ST. LOTS WOBURN ST. WATERSHED STUDY Upon a motion duly made and seconded, it was VOTED: EXECUTIVE To go into executive session to discuss matters the disclosure of SESSION which could adversely affect the financial interests of the Town or the reputation of any person. Following a discussion of the appraisals of the land to be acquired LAND OFF off Hayden Avenue and owned by Busa (formerly by Verdone), the Board HAYDEN AVE. voted to resume open meeting. The Conservation Commission withdrew at this time. A letter from the Town Engineer relative to the 27" hickory in the PADDOCK LA. path of the proposed sidewalk on Paddock La. was read and discussed. HICKORY TREE It was decided to ask the owners affected whether they would be SIDEWALK willing to grant pedestrian easements to locate the sidewalk on their lots and preserve the tree. It was noted that the Board had received no reply to its letter of D.P.U. May 14 to the State D.P.U. relative to underground wiring costs. UNDERGROUND WIRY( The planning director was asked to follow up on this. COSTS. The discussion of conservation and wetland zoning was indefinitely WETLAND ZONING postponed and it was decided to discuss the revision of Subdivision Regulations on July 14. It was the consensus of the Board to check with Town Counsel TOWN COUNSEL regarding the propriety of showing on a definitive subdivision plan RE: DRUMMER blocks of lots as ungubdivided over -size lots, as proposed by the BOY SUBDIVISION Drummer Boy developer. The Board did not agree to a waiver of the LOTS requirement for a final grading plan. The meeting adjourned at 11:10 p.m. T Jou Erik Lund, Chairman