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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-10-14-PB-min PLANNING BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF OCTOBER 14, 2009 A regular meeting of the Lexington Planning Board was held in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building, and called to order at 7:32 p.m. by Chairman Zurlo with members Manz, Canale, Hornig and planning staff McCall - Taylor, Henry and Kaufman present. Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting in progress. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *SUBDIVISION ADMINISTRATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** PUBLIC HEARING Murray Hills Subdivision, Blueberry Lane; definitive conventional subdivision The applicant requested a continuation of the public hearing to November 4, 2009, and an extension of the time of the decision deadline to December 4, 2009, by which time the Board must take action on the conventional application. On a motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted 4 -0 to accept the request to extend the decision deadline for the definitive conventional subdivision application to December 4, 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted to continue the public hearing on the definitive conventional subdivision application to November 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room. ****** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** MINUTES ******* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Mr. Galaitsis joined the meeting in progress. Review of Minutes The Board reviewed the minutes for the meeting of August 26, 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4 -0 -1, to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Galaitsis abstained as he had not been present at the meeting. The Board reviewed the minutes for the meeting of September 9, 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5 -0, to approve the minutes as amended. The Board reviewed the minutes for the meeting of September 10, 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4 -0 -1, to approve the minutes as amended. Mr. Galaitsis abstained as he had not been present at the meeting. *** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * BOARD REPORTS** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Mr. Canale said the steering committee for the Battle Road Scenic Byway would be having a local meeting on Tuesday December 1, 2009. TMG was looking for a timeline so they could give input to the Planning Board on the TMOD for Hartwell Avenue. When would the Planning Board be giving input to Minutes for the Meeting of October 14, 2009 Page 2 the consultant? TMG was reviewing the draft from the 128 study group for the five town study, was the Planning Board going to do so? Ms. Manz said the Housing Partnership joined a consortium with Waltham, Belmont and Watertown to provide an affordable housing consultant, possibly using HOME funds. Sasaki Associates offered pro - bono help to work on siting plans for affordable housing on the Leary Land. The Vision 2020 futures panel will be meeting October 29 at 7:00 p.m. TOWN MEETING*** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** PUBLIC HEARING Site Plan Review: Mr. Zurlo called the continued public hearing for Lexington Technology Park to order at 7:47 p.m. There were approximately 20 people in the audience. Ms. McCall - Taylor gave a brief overview on the proposed Site Plan Review regulations. Audience Comments: • Who would oversee the plans after they had been approved? Additional requirements should be added to certify compliance on a regular basis. • A memo from EDAC was presented listing items to discuss with the Planning Board. • Citizens from Lexington Conservation and Tree Committee were happy with the draft as it included encouraging the planting of native species encouraged and the removal of invasive species. • The EDAC's suggestion of removing surety provisions memo should not be followed. Too many projects get started and never completed and there should be something left to hold over the developer. Planning Board Comments: • There were still some issues to discuss. • There should be more input with the significant changes that need to be considered. • Would send notice to the TMMA list serve for the continued public hearing. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5 -0, to continue the public hearing to October 21, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room. PUBLIC HEARING Mr. Canale recused himself from consideration of the Lexington Technology Park application as he is an abutter to an abutter. Page 3 Minutes for the Meeting of October 14, 2009 Patriot Partners, Lexington Technology Park: Mr. Zurlo called to order the continued public hearing for Lexington Technology Park at 8:30 p.m. There were approximately 20 people in the audience. In attendance was the development team consisting of Steven Rice of Patriot Partners and Robert Buckley and Ethan Solomon of Riemer & Braunstein. Mr. Buckley requested the public hearing be closed tonight as he felt that all the information had been presented. Board Comments: • Were the abutters requests addressed in the finalized PSDUP? • In section 4E there was a two year period for the Zoning Board of Appeals to modify and correct deficiencies in lighting yet the ZBA does not do enforcement. • The TIF was now in the MOU instead of the PSDUP. Mr. Buckley said the MOUwould be an agreement with the Town, and not a zoning issue • Did you meet with DAC? Mr. Buckley said yes, but the discussions were beyond where they were in the planning process. The definitive would go before DAC once zoning was in place. • There was no language addressing LEED standards and specific documentation. Mr. Buckley said the standards and requirements for LEED are always being updated and should wait until it would be time to build. Audience Comments: • Suspect there isn't sufficient staff to do a review of the current LEED /green documents and suggest hiring an independent reviewer. • There are three different properties that were not completely in compliance with their PSDUP. Since there is an inability to monitor it would be a good idea to require an annual certification of compliance with the PSDUP. • When would the MOU be available? Continue the public hearing to allow the public to view. • Residents were still working on the PSDUP with Patriot Partners and just received documents. There were still some conflicting opinions on what some of the language meant and it would be hard to digest it all so quickly. Residents were still waiting for documentation regarding noise, money availability and the building envelope overlapping conservation area. It would be helpful to keep the public hearing open to allow for a review. • Was there anything formally addressed about the water and sewer capacity on those properties. The Engineering Department reviewed the properties in question and determined there was Minutes for the Meeting of October 14, 2009 Page 4 sufficient capacity for water and sewer use. • An additional 380,000 square feet increase would be enormous and the impacts were a concern. When does the PSDUP have to be modified to reflect deliberations? It would need to be filed with the Town Clerk seven days prior to the Town Meeting vote. The Board could close the public hearing and take additional information. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4 -0, to close the public hearing at 9:10 p.m. on Lexington Technology Park. The Board will deliberate and specify conditions at the next meeting. Mr. Canale rejoined the meeting. PUBLIC HEARING Cubist, Amended PSDUP: Mr. Zurlo called to order the continued public hearing for Cubist at 9:15 p.m. Robert Buckley and Ethan Solomon, Doug Hartnett, civil engineer, and Robert Michaud, traffic engineer were present. Mr. Buckley explained some updates to the revised PSDUP. He went over the MOU version 0090551.2 from Town Counsel. Mr. Buckley clarified language regarding the garage and parking spaces. There would be payment for 100 parking spaces made over a five year period, if more parking spaces were to be utilized they would have to pay more for those spots. The minimum payment would be $38,000 annually for five years for the first 100 parking spaces. Board Comments and Questions: • If Cubist lost the lease for parcel B, would they still be obligated to pay for the 128 Shuttle? Mr. Buckley explained there was an obligation to maintain a level 3 subsidy to the128 Business Council from a 1997 zoning agreement. There would be no modification to anything done in 1997. • Why was the language changed in traffic? Mr. Buckley said they were trying to piece together the increased subsidy language. • Was it possible to change definitions within a CD zone? • The MOU's final version should be in the packets on Friday and that would be the basis for a decision. • Would the $5,000 per year to Hayden Woods be done in a lump sum? No, it would be continued annually. Page 5 Minutes for the Meeting of October 14, 2009 • Would changes in definitions to net floor area be out of scope? The new definition excluded unoccupied storage space areas from the net floor area, why was Cubist situation different to allow this? The ZBA by special permit could allow the net floor to exceed the maximum. Town Meeting voted and the Attorney General's Office approved the Planning Board as the SPGA not the ZBA. Audience Comments: • There was disappointed that the annual payment to Lexpress was being changed to a lump sum payment. Not all payments were being required as a lump sum so why was this changed? • The height of the garage would be 70 feet and this was seen as objectionable since it would abut the conservation land. The Beal Company had said only 10 feet per floor was needed for parking so why not limit it to 50 feet? • Storage area does not count towards the FAR? Yes. That would be considered a suspect use and storage could be turned into offices and it had a visual impact on the height. • The co -chair of the TAC reluctantly supported converting the annual Lexpress payments to a lump sum. • Now that there seem to be some inconsistent policies regarding annual payments versus a lump sum payment in other areas TAC may revisit that support. Mr. Galaitsis expressed concerns as to why Lexpress monies were being changed to a lump sum amount instead of an annual payment. Ms. Yanofsky explained that there was some difficulty with enforcement over time and the cost of going after the payment was taken into consideration. The Hayden Wood Trust would be handled differently then stabilization funds. Mr. Galaitsis asked if there had been any problems collecting in the past. Ms. Yanofsky said no. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 4 -1, (Mr. Canale opposed) to close the public hearing at 10:20 p.m. Written comments would be accepted until Friday afternoon. *** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * SITE PLAN REVIEW * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** 101 Hartwell Avenue, site plan review: At the request of the applicant AMB Properties Corporation is withdrawing its application for site plan review dated July 27, 2009 without prejudice. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted, 5 -0, to accept the withdrawal of the application for 101 Hartwell Avenue for site plan review without prejudice. * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *PLANNING BOARD ORGANIZATION, SCHEDULE * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Minutes for the Meeting of October 14, 2009 Page 6 October 21, 2009 will be the continued public hearing on center zoning changes and the continued public hearing on site plan review regulations. October 28, 2009 will be the Hartwell Avenue TMOD community meeting at the Clarke Middle School. On November 4, 2009 the Board will approve the Planning Board reports for Special Town Meeting, which begins November 9, 2009. On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:50 p.m. Anthony Galaitsis, Clerk