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PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
MEETING OF MARCH 14, 2011
A meeting of the Lexington Planning Board in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room, Town Office Building
was called to order at 9:15 p.m. by Chairman Greg Zurlo with members Richard Canale, Michelle
Ciccolo, Charles Hornig and Wendy Manz and planning staff Maryann McCall-Taylor and Aaron Henry
present. This was a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen who were in public session. Selectmen
Hank Manz, George Burnell, Norman Cohen, Peter Kelly and Deb Mauger were present, as were
Executive Clerk Lynne Pease and Town Manager Carl Valente.
TOWN MEETING
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Article 31 Tree Bylaw Mr. John Frye and Mr. Gerry Paul of the Tree Committee presented a brief
summary of the existing tree bylaw, the reasons for the suggested change, and a motion. They said that in
order to address the concerns of the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board, they would accept
a motion that provided that the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals could waive any part of the
tree bylaw “when they deem it necessary for the good of the community". On a motion duly made and
seconded, the Planning Board voted 4 in the affirmative and one in the negative, to recommend to the
Board of Selectmen that they propose a motion that removes the exemption for the Planning Board and
Zoning Board of Appeals and replaces it with an ability of these bodies to waive any part of the tree
bylaw. Mr. Canale was the negative vote.
The Board of Selectmen polled their members and four were in favor of the recommended motion and
one, Mr. Burnell, abstained.
Article 39 Traffic Ms. McCall-Taylor gave a brief overview on the proposal to remove renovation as a
trigger for a traffics study and determination of infrastructure capacity adequacy. The Board of
Selectmen supported the article by a vote of 5 to 0.
Article 40 1095 Massachusetts Avenue Rezoning The Selectmen reported that this article was going to be
withdrawn so no further action was required.
Page 2 Minutes for the Meeting of March 14, 2011
Article 41 Hartwell Avenue RO to CM This article would rezone Lot 14 on Assessors Map 73 from RO
to CM, in keeping with the surrounding commercial zoning. The Board of Selectmen voted 5 to 0 to
support the article.
South Lexington Transportation Study As part of the Memorandum of Agreement between the
Selectmen and Patriot Partners a scope of work was supplied to the Town to aid in the writing of an RFP
for the development of a traffic plan for the Spring Street and Hayden Avenue corridors. Mr. Zurlo
presented comments from the Planning Board members on that draft scope of work written by Tetra Tech
Rizzo. He pointed out the similarities to this and the initial work need to design a Transportation
Management Overlay District (TMOD) plan. Some additional information that would be required for a
TMOD plan, such as build-out assumptions and definition of the impact area, should be added to the RFP.
While there may be limited build-out potential in this area due the large number of CD zoned properties,
it would still be appropriate to have a transportation plan for the area since Cecil reported the
development potential in South Lexington far exceeds the development potential on Hartwell Avenue.
The current scope of work is too auto-centric. Mr. Zurlo also said that the Planning Board is accountable
to the public in a way that is different from staff or a consultant and he felt that the Board’s participation
in the planning and public outreach was important. He was looking for a collaborative effort in
developing the RFP for a South Lexington Transportation Plan, not just a traffic plan. Several commented
on how incremental traffic studies for the area had been done by project proponents and it would be better
to have an overall study and plan.
The Selectmen had not seen the scope of services documents but expressed an interest in continuing the
conversation.
The meeting was recorded by Lexmedia.
The following documents used at the meeting can be found on file with the Planning Department:
1. Planning Board Report to Town Meeting, Articles 39 and 41, dated March 9, 2011.
2. “Traffic Mitigation Plan for the Hayden Avenue Commercial District” Draft RFP by Tetra Tech
Rizzo
Minutes for the Meeting of March 14, 2011 Page 3
On a motion duly made and seconded, it was voted to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m. The Board of
Selectmen continued their meeting.
Michelle Ciccolo, Clerk