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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-06-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 2021 Minutes of the Lexington Planning Board Held on January 6, 2021, Virtual Meeting per Governor Baker’s Order at 7:00 pm Present: Robert Creech, Chair; Robert Peters, Vice-Chair; Ginna Johnson, Clerk; Richard Canale; Charles Hornig; Michael Leon, Associate). Also present was Amanda Loomis, Planning Director and Sheila Page, Assistant Planning Director. 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 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. 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. Board Endorsements from Today’s events: Mr. Creech added a last-minute agenda item at the request of Mr. Hornig that could not be reasonably foreseen regarding what was happening in Washington this afternoon. Mr. Hornig shared his statement and asked the Planning Board to adopt this statement. The Board discussed edits and the final statement read as below: The Planning Board of the Town of Lexington Massachusetts fully supports the important work of our representatives in the United States Congress (Katherine Clark, Ed Markey, and Elizabeth Warren) in this time of crisis and expresses its hope for their safety and that of their staff during Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of January 6, 2021 the current coup attempt. We urge all members of Congress to fulfill their constitutional duty counting and confirming the votes of the Electoral College. Ginna Johnson moved that the Planning Board vote to support the statement above regarding the today’s events in Washington. Robert Peters seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0 (Roll Call: Richard Canale – yes; Ginna Johnson – yes; Charles Hornig – yes; Robert Peters – yes; Robert Creech – yes). MOTION PASSED Development Administration a. 344 Lowell Street and Harrington School, ANR The Planning Board briefly reviewed the Plan of Land for a swap of land at 344 Lowell Street and the Harrington School. Ms. Nelson presented the ANR to the Planning Board. Mr. Canale had a question about the fees and rationale for a waiver. Mr. Hornig was concerned that the plan did not meet the technical requirements of an ANR. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Peters will support if staff supports the waiver of half the fee. Ms. Nelson explained the waiver of half the fee was an agreement for the exchange of property for the Peace Center and the Town to split the fee since the Town does benefit. Mr. Canale said it should not come from the Planning budget, but from the Town Manager’s budget. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Peters said since the owner is not a non-profit we should not have the fee waived. Mr. Hornig has no problem with waiving part of the fee and which will come from the general fund and not from the Planning Department. Mr. Creech does not see justification for waiving the fee. Ms. Nelson provided an explanation why half the fee should be waived. Robert Creech moved that the Planning Board should approve the waiver for half the fee for Plan of Land for the Approval Not Required (ANR) application for the property located at 344 Lowell Street and Harrington School. Robert Peters seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted to not approve the motion 3-2 (Roll Call: Richard Canale – no; Ginna Johnson – no; Charles Hornig – yes; Robert Peters – yes; Robert Creech – no). MOTION FAILED Ginna Johnson moved that the Planning Board endorse the Plan of Land for the Approval Not Required (ANR) application for the property located at 344 Lowell Street and Harrington School. Richard Canale seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0 (Roll Call: Richard Minutes for the Meeting of January 6, 2021 Page 3 Canale – yes; Ginna Johnson – yes; Charles Hornig – yes; Robert Peters – yes; Robert Creech – yes). MOTION PASSED Town Meeting a. Discussion of the zoning approach in regards to Transportation in the Proposed Hartwell Innovation Park District. Ms. Page presented her interpretation of Transportation Related Zoning Requirements Matrix for the process and when the TMOD is triggered. She was looking for input from Board Members. Mr. Hornig provided clarifying information about the TMOD. There are two separate things going on the TMOD and Site Plan Review are not tightly related. He explained how the two items impact each other and everything requires site plan review. Mr. Canale said the parking maximum needs to be formalized. The sticky part of the PTDM what is the 85% single occupancy vehicles (SOV) based on. Most of the tables that are used are not very accurate. The more critical metric should be what percent of trips to the site should be other than SOV. Another concern was what should be done with the mitigation money. What part of transportation infrastructure should the town pay for out of the tax base and what part from developers who increase intensity and/or from other state agencies? The past study from 2009 will need to be redone for transportation and infrastructure needs in the area to support anticipated development. Ms. Johnson deferred to Mr. Canale’s judgement on updating the fees and offering a vision to the potential developers and what they can offer to potential tenants. We need a plan first then weave in the zoning to have a beautiful greenway along Hartwell and the TMOD could provide the seed money. Mr. Canale said the TMOD will only apply to new developments it would be good to have the Air Force Base and Lincoln Labs join as partners to look at a business improvement district (BID). Ms. Page said it sounds like we will be staying the course now, but need to get an analysis done to fix what we know and the Board does not want to do anything drastic. Mr. Canale asked if staff is looking at a BID. Ms. Page said staff has discussed it and is definitely an idea needed to be considered. Ms. Johnson supported the idea of a BID which could totally transform the area and is a wonderful idea to keep the area vibrant. Mr. Peters asked if a BID is this voluntary and how heavy a lift is this BID. Ms. Loomis provided an explanation of how a BID is set up and is voluntary. Ms. Johnson said we need to do whatever it takes to achieve NET ZERO with the goal to reduce SOV. Ms. Page will discuss tonight’s ideas to Town Counsel about base zoning and the having the overlay district to get money. Mr. Creech suggested that Mr. Hornig and Mr. Canale join you at a Zoom meeting to talk about the proposal with Town Counsel. Page 4 Minutes for the Meeting of January 6, 2021 Board Administration a. LexingtonNext update: Ms. Loomis provided an update on the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee which included moving the project forward and having a timeline. Howard Stein Hudson is no longer the consultant for the Comprehensive Plan. Staff met with CPAC in August on draft trend and conditions reports, received a lot of comments, developed a scope of work, and hired technical editor and publisher Stantec. The executive summaries should be done by the end of the month. There were some technical problems and a lot of data and information was lost. We are working to recover it. We are looking to contract with a public engagement consultant. CPAC has a tentative meeting on Tuesday January 19, 2021, at a time to be determined. We do have one vacancy and need one more member from precinct one. Mr. Canale thought there would be a joint meeting with the CPAC and Planning Board to review the trend and condition reports before they were formalized but now we are told they are having the consultant formalize and then bring them to the Planning Board. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the Planning Board review and discuss before having them formalized by the technical editor and publisher? We also were to discuss appointing new liaisons instead of Mr. Canale and Ms. Johnson to the CPAC. Mr. Canale wanted to see the information for the Board to review. Ms. Loomis reviewed what documents are available for the Board to review. Mr. Creech asked her to forward the documents to the Board. Ms. Johnson thanked Ms. Loomis for all the hard work and clarity she has provided under difficult circumstances and transitions. She said that the trend reports are only the existing conditions and asked are they up to date. The Comprehensive Plan is about the vision and she asked Ms. Loomis to work with the Planning Board on crafting the process for the Comprehensive Plan and establishing the vision. When can we meet on that? Ms. Loomis said she can put that on January 13, 2021 agenda. Ms. Johnson asked for an accounting for the Comprehensive Plan budget. Mr. Canale requested that a CPAC liaison meeting take place next week. He also asked when the new liaisons for the CPAC from the Planning Board be appointed. It was suggested that one liaison be appointed now and one liaison position be held back for one of the new Planning Board Members in March. The Board requested that the Select Board appoint Charles Hornig to the Special Permit Residential Development (SPRD) Zoning Bylaw Amendment Ad Hoc Committee. The Board requested that the Town Manager appoint Robert Peters to the 25% Design Working Group. The Board appointed Bob Creech as liaison to the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee. Mr. Canale will write a letter of resignation for the SPRD Committee. b. Board Member Updates  Mr. Creech reminded the Board they will be giving their 2020 vision ideas to the Minutes for the Meeting of January 6, 2021 Page 5 committee by the middle of the month.  Mr. Canale appreciated the annual report for the Planning Board. It was really documented well and was good and helpful.  Mr. Hornig asked Mr. Creech to send a letter to the Select Board to request the appointment of Mr. Hornig as the liaison to the SPRD Committee.  Mr. Canale asked that the opening endorsement be transmitted to the three congress people by the Planning chair and Planning Director.  Mr. Canale said there was a MAGIC meeting this week.  There is a Hartwell Avenue Zoning initiative meeting tomorrow. The Board took a break from 9:00 to 9:10 p.m. c. Review of the Planning Board Meeting Minutes for October 14, November 9, 12 & 19, 2020. Mr. Creech made an amendment to the November 12, 2020 meeting minutes. Charles Hornig moved that the Planning Board approve the meeting minutes of October 14, November 9, 12 and 19 2020 as amended. Richard Canale seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0 (Roll call: Ginna Johnson – yes; Robert Peters – yes; Richard Canale – yes; Charles Hornig – yes; Robert Creech - yes). MOTION PASSED Adjournment Ginna Johnson moved that the Planning Board adjourn the meeting of January 6, 2021. Richard Canale seconded the motion. The Planning Board voted in favor of the motion 5-0-0 (Roll call: Ginna Johnson – yes; Robert Peters – yes; Richard Canale – yes; Charles Hornig – yes; Robert Creech - yes). MOTION PASSED Meeting adjourned at 9:13 p.m. The following documents used at the meeting can be found on the Planning Board website in Planning Board packets. 344 Lowell Street and Harrington School ANR  ANR plan dated September 25, 2020 (1 page).  Application dated January 4, 2021 (7 pages).  Waiver request (2 pages).  Land Agreement (20 pages).  Cricones vs. Dracut (7 pages). Ginna Johnson, Clerk of the Planning Board