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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-16-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF DECEMBER 16, 2020 Minutes of the Lexington Planning Board Held on December 16, 2020, Virtual Meeting per Governor Baker's Order at 7:00 pm Present: Robert Creech, Chair; Robert Peters, Vice-Chair; Richard Canale; and Charles Hornig. Also present was Amanda Loomis, Planning Director. Ginna Johnson was not in attendance at this time and may join later. Sheila page joined the meeting in progress. Robert Creech, Chair, read the agenda into the record, introduced members of the Planning Board and Planning Department Staff, and called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. Mr. Creech read the following statement relative to the recent outbreak of COVID-19. Good evening. Consistent with Governor Baker's Executive Order of March 12, 2020, suspending specific provisions of MGL. c. 30A, §18 due to the current State of Emergency in the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of COVID-19, this meeting of the Lexington Planning Board is being conducted remotely. In-person attendance is not permitted at this time. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access real-time proceedings via technological means. In the event access cannot be provided, an audio or video recording of this meeting will be available for review on the Town of Lexington website or through LexMedia as soon as possible after the meeting. For this meeting, the Lexington Planning Board is convening by video conference via Zoom. Specific information for remote participation by the public can be found on the Planning Office’s web page. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. At this time, I will provide a brief review of the meeting proceedings. 1. For each public hearing, the Planning Board will request a presentation from the Applicant or petitioner, followed by an opportunity for the Planning Board to ask questions or provide comments. Then the floor will be open for public comments. 2. All comments during public participation need to be limited to 2 minutes or less and must be respectful. 3. When the time comes for public participation, if you are dialing in, you may use *6 to mute or unmute yourself and *9 to raise or lower your hand. 4. If at any time during the meeting you have a question, please use the Q&A feature, and staff will respond. 1) Development Administration a) 3 Minuteman Lane and 23 Battle Green Road, ANR Ms. Loomis explained that this ANR plan was endorsable. Mr. Hornig said it was a conforming lot with the 125 feet of frontage. Bob Creech had difficulty reading it but will support this with the updated information. Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 2020 Charles Hornig moved that the Planning Board find on reconsideration to determine that the Plan of land for 3 Minuteman Lane and Battle Green Road should be endorsed as it does not require approval under the subdivision control law. Bob Creech seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 4-0-0 (roll call: Charles Hornig – yes; Richard Canale – yes; Robert Peters – yes; and Bob Creech – yes). MOTION PASSED b) 344 Lowell Street and Harrington School, ANR This item is not ready and will be placed on the next meeting agenda for the January 6, 2021 meeting. Attorney, Pat Nelson will join us at that time. 2) Board Administration a) Annual Town meeting Warrant Review if potential Planning Board town Meeting Article recommendations Ms. Loomis asked the Board to review which articles they want placed on the warrant since the deadline is tomorrow and will use just a short sentence to be a placeholder.  Historic Preservation Incentives All four members are in support of placing this on the warrant. Mr. Hornig asked that the Board Members accept his proposal.  Special Permits for Walls Mr. Hornig asked for clarification on what problem we were trying to solve was it the walls or the fill. Ms. Loomis said we will need to discuss this further.  Sheds in the Setbacks Mr. Hornig said for the sheds we should include structures as well. We need to work on the draft warrant language. Building staff is working on that proposed amendment.  Floodplain Management This is for identification and designation of a Community Floodplain Administrator (FPA) in accordance with 44CFR and FEMA.  Technical Corrections- this is just a placeholder  Table of Uses- this is just a placeholder  Hartwell Innovation Park (HIP) -create a new Zoning District  Mixed-Use Transition Zoning for Bedford Street  Hartwell Avenue Area Transportation Overlay District (TMOD) –amend zoning bylaw relative to the Hartwell Avenue Area TMOD Mr. Hornig stated we will need to review and consider one for the 475 Bedford Street. Mr. Canale said that we asked Town Meeting that in the past and were told no. Mr. Hornig said we need to get clarification from Town Meeting on what it wants. Mr. Canale said it is premature unless we discuss housing now. Ms. Loomis said there would be a stakeholder meeting next Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 2020 Page 3 week. Mr. Canale recommended that Mr. Creech speak with Mr. Lucente and that he choose 2 Planning Board Members to represent the Board.  Zoning Map Amendments – create a HIP Zoning District; amend zoning map for review and consider 459-475 Bedford Street; and amend zoning map relative to the Hartwell Avenue Area TMOD. General Bylaws  Stormwater Bylaw relative to HIP  Tree Bylaw relative to HIP b) Hartwell Innovation Park (HIP) Review of Zoning Bylaw and table of Uses Ms. Loomis said tomorrow morning we are having a coffee hour with no major discussions. If power goes out due to a snow storm another will be scheduled and this is not a Planning Board Meeting so there should be no discussion this is open for a public discussion and answer questions. There will be other open discussions in the future. Ms. Loomis presented the tracked the changes being proposed to the Table of Uses. Board Members will receive the document for them to review and provide edits. Mr. Hornig said we should group the things that are treated the same, but should not add more rows. We also need to share it with the a larger group of landowners. Mr. Canale asked if are looking for a new Health Director and have the Board of Health looked at this table since they should be the ones to approve some of those uses. Ms. Loomis said we are still looking for a Health Director and will make sure it is sent to Health staff. He asked for clarification regarding new definitions. The Board Member’s will look at the Use Table individually and then discuss it in a separate meeting. This is due January 7 so we would like input from the Board by January 4. The Board will regroup on January 6 for review and discuss further outreach. Mr. Canale was asking if there was backup on inconsistencies that have been discussed in the past to get more predictability. Ms. Loomis said staff is working on that. The Board Members agreed to an additional work session to deal with this on January 13, 2021. Ms. Page joined the meeting. Mr. Canale said since there will be looking at additional annual revenue we may not want to wait for 2030 to do transportation and infrastructure improvements especially if we are not likely to get Federal funding. We should look at what we need now as quickly as possible. Mr. Canale was asking for clarification on how much additional revenue we should expect. There is work to be done on the fees. Ms. Loomis will send the Select Board the list of warrant Articles the Board is requesting by tomorrow. c) Lexington Next- Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) Project update Board Member Updates Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 2020 Ms. Loomis said this discussion is being moved to January 6, 2021 for updates and discussion. Mr. Canale asked if it pays to continue with the current liaisons. He expressed concerns regarding the trend reports with all the edits and asked if they were available to review to look at the scope and anticipated outreach. Ms. Loomis said that they were finalizing items with the technical editor. There would be a meeting next Friday with the chairs of the CPAC to determine the next committee meeting date. The chair will be meeting with the Planning Board on January 6, 2021. Mr. Canale suggested since he and Ms. Johnsons would not be continuing on the Board they should select new liaisons. Mr. Hornig suggested leaving one opening for a new Planning Board Member after the election. This will be taken up on the January 6, 2021 meeting. d) Planning Board Work Plan- Review of the Planning Board Work Plan Ms. Loomis reviewed the work plan that was agreed upon in July by the Planning Board. She reviewed the updates with the Board Members. Mr. Canale asked if the subdivision control law zoning could be revoked. It was something that Ms. Kowalski brought up at the last SPRD Committee meeting. Mr. Hornig will check if it can be done? Mr. Canale discussed some of the items presented at the SPRD meeting. Board Members discussed edits to the proposed work plan. Ms. Page provided an update to the Board on the items for transportation on the work plan. Ms. Loomis will send out the updated work plan to the Planning Board for review. e) Board Member and Staff updates  Ms. Page explained that some older special permit subdivisions are being sold to new owners who are looking to build on additions and the impervious surface is an issue if each lot was not allocated a certain amount of impervious surface coverage in the deed. Some entire developments share the entire impervious and did not divide it between lots so Engineering has been working to help calculate the entire impervious surface so the home owners could work with their Homeowner’s Association. So now we need to discuss the definition of impervious surface as homeowners come forward with modifications. The definitions in the bylaw are not helpful. Mr. Hornig said the new homeowners would have to come in for a modification for those old subdivisions and would have to be dealt with at that time.  Mr. Hornig said the CPC is have a hearing on the needs assessment tomorrow night and taking the final votes on the FY2022 projects.  Mr. Peters said the 2020 vision committee survey contact information was sent by Mr. Peters to Amanda Loomis if Board Members have comments they want to send on the survey. Contact Ms. Loomis for contact information and send then early January so the committee can wrap up the survey.  Mr. Creech said the Lexington Center Committee met and asked if the Planning Board could update the CD rules. The rules for Lexington Place are a done deal. The owner could possibly negotiate a modification with the Town. Minutes for the Meeting of December 16, 2020 Page 5  Mr. Canale said that sometime in March we will need a new Planning Board Member for that committee. f) Review of Meeting Minutes for October 19 and 28; November 4, 10, 18, 30; December 1, 2 and 7, 2020:  Mr. Hornig shared his edits to the December 2, 2020 minutes. Charles Hornig moved that the Planning Board vote to approve the Planning Board Meeting Minutes of October 19 and 28, November 4, 10, 18, 30, and December 1, 2 and 7, 2020 as amended. Robert Peters seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 3-0-1 (roll call: Robert Peters – yes; Richard Canale -abstained; Charles Hornig – yes; Bob Creech – yes). MOTION PASSED Adjournment Bob Creech moved that the Planning Board adjourn the meeting of December 16, 2020. Richard Canale seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 4-0-0 (roll call: Robert Peters – yes; Richard Canale – yes; Charles Hornig – yes; Bob Creech – yes). MOTION PASSED Meeting adjourned at 9:12 pm The following documents used at the meeting can be found on the Planning Board website in Planning Board packets. 3 Minuteman Lane &23 Battle Green Road  Applicants request for reconsideration dated December 15, 2020 (2 pages). Ginna Johnson, Clerk of the Planning Board