HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-07-10-PB-min
PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF JULY 10, 2010
A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board held in the Learning Room of Cary Memorial
Library, was called to order at 9:45 a.m. by Chairman Zurlo with members Canale, Galaitsis,
Manz and planning staff McCall-Taylor and Henry present. Mr. Hornig was absent.
***************PLANNING BOARD ORGANIZATION, SCHEDULE*****************
The Board members discussed the anticipated work load for the coming year. There are two
major projects for the coming year - the Transportation Management Overlay District (TMOD)
Plan for Hartwell Avenue, which will be finalized with a goal of adopting it in September, and a
re-codification of the Zoning Bylaw. A request for proposals (RFP) had just gone out for a
consultant to help in rewriting the Zoning Bylaw. The consultant will highlight internal
inconsistencies, redundancies, noncompliance with statute and case law and omissions that
should be addressed and then recommend changes. This will include creating a logical format
within which to reorganize the bylaw. The primary purpose of this project is to examine the
existing Zoning Bylaw and provide recommendations that will produce a version that is readily
understandable, not to make policy changes.
Outside of the technical issues addressed with the rewrite, there are areas of the bylaw that
lack
current planning and zoning practices. The consultant
clarity or are in need of updating to reflect
will be asked to highlight these. Areas that have already been pointed out as needing review are
the definition of impervious surface, the definition of a half story, the size of units required in a
Balanced Housing Development, prohibiting rat tail lots, removing the requirement that all
special permits be commented on by the Planning Board, and the extension of action deadlines
only in 45 day chunks.
Board members acknowledged that there may be other zoning initiatives brought forward by
committees, over which the Board has no control, so it is important to allow some flexibility in
the work plan in order to accommodate these.
Minutes for the Meeting of July 10, 2010 2
There was some general discussion on how to move ahead on transportation and traffic issues.
The Board of Selectmen carry the major responsibility for the implementation of the TMOD
plan, so it will be important to keep them in the loop and meet with them again before the public
hearing on the TMOD plan. Funds were allocated for a traffic study of the Hayden Avenue
commercial area and the Planning Board should be involved in drafting the RFP, although it is
not clear who will be orchestrating the process or what the timeline is.
Outside of zoning, the Development Regulations continue to need review and update. The
increased Floor Area Ratio allowed by special permit in the CM zone and what the standards
should be for granting such a special permit needs to be addressed.
The discussion turned to how to structure Planning Board meetings and increase their efficiency.
It was decided to send emails notifying Board members when a project is filed and that members
could then come in to look over the plans if they wanted. If possible, members will bring any
technical issues to the staff in time for them to be addressed by the applicant at the meeting,
rather than taking meeting time to present them to applicants. However, no new plans will be
acted upon at a meeting if they were not available when the packets went out. The plans will be
distributed in the Friday packets as usual. The staff memos were preferred to just an annotated
agenda, but the time estimates for each item were considered useful. The Board will try limiting
the agenda of the first meeting of the month, generally the second Wednesday, to subdivision
administration regulatory items and keep the second meeting, generally the fourth Wednesday,
for discussion of policy issues. Any additional meetings will be scheduled as needed.
The role of members as liaisons to various boards and committees was discussed. With the new
open meeting law, minutes will be available for all committees, but the lag between the meeting
and the posting of the minutes will probably still require the Board members to report on
activities. This will be done at the meeting devoted to policy issues, unless there is an urgent
matter. It was agreed that if a member could not make a particular meeting, they would send out
an email asking for another Board member to attend in their stead. It would be helpful to have a
monthly calendar of committee meetings.
Future meetings were scheduled for July 28, August 11 and 25 and September 15 and 29.
Minutes for the Meeting of July 10, 2010 3
On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 11:55 a.m.
Anthony Galaitsis, Clerk