TOWN OF SHARON
PLANNING BOARD

Minutes of a Meeting of the Planning Board held on April 21, 2004, at 7:30 p.m., at the Town Offices.

		PRESENT:	SAMUEL SOLOMON, VICE CHAIR
				NADINE OSTROW
				ELI HAUSER
				PETER O’CAIN, ASST. TOWN ENGINEER

Business Transacted:

I.	Meeting called to order.  The Minutes of the April 4, 2004, meeting were reviewed and accepted with corrections.

FORM A PLANS

None.

SIGN REVIEW

Wluka Real Estate – 2 East Chestnut.  Replace existing sign.  The sign was to be 22” tall by 95 7/8” wide; made of wood or mdf, brown with gold leaf carved lettering and trim.  Mr. Hauser moved to accept the application as stated here, seconded by Ms. Ostrow and unanimously voted.

II.	PUBLIC HEARING – STREET ACCEPTANCES
	
Mr. Hauser read the legal notice to open the public hearing.  Mr. Solomon indicated that the Board would go over the streets one by one to see what the status of each was.

Aztec Way and Inca Trail -  Mr. O’Cain handed out a list of items that were still missing.  He was confident that since they were minor items, they would all be completed prior to Town Meeting.  Mr. Solomon asked if all the homes in this subdivision had been built, as he was concerned about heavy equipment going up and down the street once it was accepted.   Mr. O’Cain answered that all but one were built, and that they would be requiring the developer to post a surety to cover any damage that might be done to the road.  



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							        Administrative Assistant

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Mr. Hauser moved to recommend acceptance of Aztec Way as a public road in the Town of Sharon, subject to all conditions listed in the memorandum by Mr. O’Cain be met prior to Town Meeting.  Seconded by Ms. Ostrow and unanimously voted.

Bramble Lane – Mr. O’Cain again distributed a list of outstanding items.  Again there was one lot not built on, but again a surety would be required to fix anything that may happen to the road.  Mr. Solomon suggested that Mr. O’Cain obtain a letter from the developer indicating that they will release a certain amount of money to the Town, as the sureties are in both the Town’s and developer’s names.  One key issue was street lights, which have been ordered but not yet delivered or installed.  This should be done prior to Town Meeting, for this street and Aztec Way.

Mr. Hauser moved to recommend acceptance of Bramble Lane as a public road in the Town of Sharon, subject to all conditions listed in the memorandum by Mr. O’Cain be met prior to Town Meeting.  Seconded by Ms. Ostrow and unanimously voted.

Burnt Bridge Road – Same as the other two streets.  Ms Ostrow moved to recommend acceptance of Burnt Bridge Road as a public road in the Town of Sharon, subject to all conditions listed in the memorandum by Mr. O’Cain be met prior to Town Meeting.  Seconded by Mr. Hauser and unanimously voted.

A copy of Mr. O’Cain’s memorandum listing all outstanding conditions is attached hereto.

III.	HUNTER’S RIDGE PRELIMINARY PLAN – DECISION DUE

Mr. Solomon told Mr. Faria, who was representing the applicant, that the biggest issue was can the applicant access the parcel legally from Cheryl Drive?  He was not sure this issue had been addressed.  

The other major issue was how many lots could be built on the yield plan?   Also, regarding the yield plan, is the open space actually open to the public and is there access to it.  The Board would prefer not to have a gated community.

Mr. Faria answered that these are issues they wanted to discuss with the Board and that since they wanted this to work, they were going to forego the 10% bonus associated with publicly accessible open space.  


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Mr. Solomon added that the Board really wanted to see at least a couple of affordable units in this subdivision.  He pointed out that the advantage of the Board’s affordable requirements was that the affordable units qualify as affordable according to the State Statute.  You do not get into the same aspects as the 40B requirements that all units need to look the same.  These would not have to be as fancy as the rest of the units.  Given that there is a question of discrepancy of the total lots under the yield plan, the Board would look more favorably on this subdivision if the applicant were to get in at least two affordable units.

Mr. Faria indicated that the developer was interested in keeping the gate, as they did not want to open the clubhouse to the public.  Regarding the trails in back on either side of the property, residents of the Town would be allowed to walk those trails that run through the property and they actually had plans to connect them and give the open space to the Town.  If it would be a matter of getting the 10% bonus to get rid of the gate, it would make sense to eliminate the gate.  However, he was not at liberty to make those decisions.  Nick Merrione was the person who was in charge and was not able to attend tonight as he had to be at another meeting.  But he would bring this information to his attention.

Mr. Hauser said that they would not have Town residents using the clubhouse – this was not a national park where you have thousands of people passing through here to get to a trail.  He felt this would be a good income producing property for the Town and would like to continue the scenic nature of the Town by not having a gated community.

Mr. Faria explained that the applicant had revised the plans to show the possible placement of homes on the lots outside of the 100’ buffer.  He did agree that lots 24, 25 and 26 were wet.  

Mr. Solomon said that based on what the Board has seen up to tonight, there are possibly 25 buildable lots, which is actually a lot, given what was presented in prior subdivision submittals for this property.  He said that that was a reasonable number of lots but he is not sure Planning Board Regulations would support anything beyond that.  With the density bonus, the number of buildable lots in this CSD would go up to 50; if out of those 50 two are built as affordable, the total number would be bumped up to 51 units.

Ms. Schofield of the Historical Commission asked if there was the possibility that one of the existing houses facing North Main Street was going to be demolished?  Mr. Faria answered that they were planning on that.  Ms. Schofield said that if it was over 100 years old, the applicant would have to go before the Historical Commission who will determine whether or not to put a 
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six month demolition delay on that house to see if someone will buy it and move it.

Mr. Faria indicated that they will be contacting the Historical Commission to go over this and receive their input.

Mr. Solomon said that where the Board now stands is that a decision has to be made tonight on this preliminary plan.  

Mr. Faria asked if a gate would still be needed at the Cheryl Drive entrance to the subdivision and Mr. Solomon answered that yes it would, as this is a safety issue.

Mr. Hauser then moved to accept the Preliminary Subdivision Plan entitled Hunter’s Ridge, except that lots 24 and 25 are not buildable lots.  Seconded by Ms. Ostrow and unanimously voted.

IV.	There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned
            at 9:45 p.m.