TOWN OF SHARON
PLANNING BOARD
Minutes of a Meeting of the Planning Board held on October 1, 2003, at :00 p.m., at the Town Offices.
PRESENT: JOEL TRAN, CHAIR
SAMUEL SOLOMON, VICE CHAIR
REGINA MANISCALCO, CLERK
NADINE OSTROW
ELI HAUSER
PETER O’CAIN, ASST. TOWN ENGINEER
Business Transacted:
I. Meeting called to order. The minutes of the August 13, 2003, September 3, 2003, and September 17, 2003, were
reviewed and accepted with corrections.
FORM A PLANS
Morse St., Elizabeth Peabody House Asso., owner; TN Real Estate and Development, applicant. This was part of Camp Gannett. The Camp needed to sell a piece of their property to be able to cover the costs of updating their septic system. Mr. Solomon moved to authorize Eric Hooper, Superintendent of the DPW, to sign these plans as Board Agent, after items 1 and 2 of Mr. O’Cain’s memorandum, dated 9/29/03, have been addressed and corrected. Seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.
Bradford Avenue, Thomas Fallon, applicant. After reviewing the plans, Mr. Hauser moved to approve the Form A, dated August 20, 2003, which was Land Court Case #20705. Seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.
SIGN REVIEW
10 Billings Street, Fitness Together, Mark Donnellan, applicant. The sign was made of wood, sized 65”x 30”, had Biloxi Blue letters with a white background for a new gym entitled “Fitness Together.” It was to be lit with goose neck lights. All being in order, Mr. Solomon moved approval, seconded by Ms. Ostrow, and unanimously voted.
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Administrative Assistant
Minutes of Meeting Page Two October 1, 2003
II. PINE GROVES ESTATES – DECISION DUE
(Mr. Hauser arrived.)
Mr. Brodmerkle distributed a waiver request letter to the Board. He also indicated that he had made most of the corrections/additions that were listed in Mr. O’Cain’s memorandum to the Board dated 8/27/03.
Some of the items that were still missing were:
---include a gas line on the plan and profile;
---add electric, telephone and cable on one of the sheets;
Mr. O’Cain asked if there was to be any cut and fill on the premises and Mr. Brodmerkle answered that there will be some fill on the front yards. Another issue of concern to Mr. O’Cain was that the applicant was requesting a 16’ road whereas Mr. O’Cain felt 18’ was a safer width.
The applicant had requested that no trees be planted. Ms. Maniscalco indicated she would like to see the maximum amount of trees planted in the subdivision. Mr. Tran explained that in other subdivisions where trees were not required, the Board had instructed the applicant to give the total amount of money that the trees would cost to the Town’s tree fund to be used somewhere in the Town where needed. Ms. Maniscalco was comfortable with this. It was determined that 18 trees would have have to be planted so the funds for 18 trees should be given to the tree fund.
The applicant was further requesting that no curbing be required in the subdivision. Mr. Solomon said that he would like to see some kind of curbing at the entrance to the subdivision. He didn’t necessarily need it to be granite, but perhaps cape cod berm. Mr. Brodmerkle answered that he would prefer not to have any curbing at the entrance, as it would affect the drainage. Mr. O’Cain was concerned about the runoff into the street as the road seemed to slope back. Mr. Brodmerkle answered that the street entrance will have a slight berm or apron. Mr. O’Cain further reminded the applicant that a street sign would have to be put in and that it should include the words “private way” under the street name.
Minutes of Meeting Page Three October 1, 2003
Mr. Solomon moved to approve the Pine Grove Subdivision with the following conditions:
· The standard 1, 2 and 3 of all Board approvals.
· 4. A note shall be added to the plans indicating whether there are any variances, decisions on appeal, or exceptions made by the ZBA applicable to the subdivision of land or any buildings thereof (Sect. 3.3.2.11).
· 5. The water main must be at a depth of five feet (5’) along its length and indicated as such on the detail and on the waiver plan, the topographical plan and the plan and profile plan.
· 6. All lots be designated in numerical order (Sect. 3.3.2.6).
· 7. That all utilities that are intended to be installed be sown on the plan, not the lot layout plan.
· 8. The “drain profile” for the detention basin does not reflect the grading shown on the plan view. The detail should be a cutaway indicating stone on bottom (if desired, not needed), emergency overflow elevation, side-slope and planting requirement.
· 9. Show groundwater certification stating the maximum spring high groundwater elevations on each lot (Sect. 3.3.2.22).
The motion was seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted by the Board.
Having found them to be in the best interests of the Town, Mr. Solomon then moved to allow the following waivers as listed in a letter to the Board from Mr. Brodmerkle on behalf of the applicants, dated October 1, 2003, and attached hereto and made a part of this approval, subject to the following exceptions:
---#4 – A street sign must be placed at the entrance to the subdivision with the words “private way” to be on the sign underneath the street name;
---#5 – roadway pavement width shall be sixteen feet (16’) (roadway table p. 36A);
Minutes of Meeting Page Four October 1, 2003
---#13 – waiver of trees is allowed; however, the cost of eighteen (18) trees shall be put in to the Town’s tree fund in place of these trees.
Seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.
III. L. BROWN – EO418
Ms. Brown came in to discuss the progress of her work on EO418. One of the things she brought up concerning the upcoming zoning changes, was that there are studies that have been done which show that commercial zones are a net benefit to the Town in taxes.
Ms. Maniscalco said that one of the needs of the Board is to educate the Townspeople about the benefits of commercial vs. residential development. She didn’t think the Board was doing a good job of this at present, and was hoping Ms. Brown could help in this area.
Mr. Tran felt there were a combination of reasons as to why commercial development was not looked at favorably:
---Those closest to the proposed commercial zone say it is not going to make much of a difference to the Town tax wise;
---Building $800,000 homes will also bring a lot of tax revenue to the Town;
---Some people may agree that it is a good thing, but the location may not be right, for whatever reason.
The level of frustration of the amount of taxes paid in the Town has increased over the last few years. However, will there be enough additional revenue to justify changing the zoning of this area?
Ms. Maniscalco said that the Board has to be vigilant about finding new revenue for the Town because of the never ending tax increases over the last few years and the discontent of the taxpayers because of the high taxes. Mr. Solomon agreed with Ms. Maniscalco and further added that the Board should look at ways to bring in more revenue, as well as trying to keep the elderly from leaving Sharon because of the high taxes, and still attracting younger adults that do not as yet have children.
Minutes of Meeting Page Five October 1, 2003
Ms. Brown said that while the Planning Board should be asking these questions and trying to find answers to them, it should not only be the Planning Board involved in this process. In each of the main topic areas, there should be a committee that includes more than just the Planning Board to look at these issues. The commitment would include a few meetings next year, drafting some suggestions and comments and participate in public meetings.
Mr. Solomon agreed that each of the Town Committees/Boards should be contacted to supply one member to the newly created committees, and Ms. Maniscalco also suggested that some of the people who attended the vision meetings should be contacted. Ms. Brown suggested that these committees needed to be established as quickly as possible to get things moving.
Mr. Tran agreed that the idea is to form a committee that will discuss things with Ms. Brown in terms of affirmative options and maybe come up with a plan that shows affirmative options.
Mr. Solomon and Ms. Maniscalco agreed to come up with a list of potential candidates to be on these committees within the next two weeks. Ms. Brown said that they needed to concentrate on setting up a strong framework. She suggested putting together some type of flyers to show how it will all work.
IV. There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m.
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