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Minutes of June 2, 2004

TOWN OF SHARON
PLANNING BOARD

Minutes of a Meeting of the Planning Board held on June 2, 2004, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Offices.

                PRESENT:  SAMUEL SOLOMON, ACTING CHAIR
                                REGINA MANISCALCO, CLERK
                                ELI HAUSER
                                ARNOLD COHEN
                                PETER O’CAIN, ASST. TOWN ENGINEER

Business transacted:

I.      Meeting called to order.  The Minutes of the March 24, 2004, May 3, 2004, and May 19, 2004, were reviewed and accepted with corrections.

FORM A PLANS

None.

SIGN REVIEW

None.

II.     GOBBI PROPERTY

Messrs. Roach, Grasfield and Heitin, members of the Board of Selectmen, were present for this discussion.   Mr. Solomon explained that the purpose of this meeting was to try and determine how the Town wants to proceed – having the other Boards join in these discussions as the development of this and the Delapa property will be more than just a Planning Board issue.  

                                                _______________________
                                                        Administrative Assistant

Minutes of Meeting                              Page Two                        June 2, 2004


Mr. Hauser reported that he had spoken with Mr. Intoccia.  However, he wasn’t sure if Mr. Intoccia had purchased the property or just had rights to it.  The Gobbi property consisted of approximately a 30 acre block.  The agreement Mr. Intoccia has is that that property is to be developed for residential purposes only, which at this time they are planning to march forward on.  Intoccia himself owns about 10 acres adjacent to this parcel, so there are possibly 40+ acres involved here.  However, Mr. Intoccia indicated he might be willing to work with the Board on this matter.  Mr. Intoccia said that he will speak with Mr. Gobbi about this to see if there is any flexibility on the type of development that goes in.

Mr. Grasfield said that he too had met with Mr. Intoccia and his lawyers.  The Town is seeking access to Gobbi’s land to test for a possible well site.  It seems that Mr. Intoccia might own, or have under contract, a lot more land than the 40+ acres Mr. Hauser was talking about.  Mr. Grasfield said that it seemed that Mr. Intoccia owned, or had options to, the entire neighborhood, which included the Cuming’s property – totaling about 100+ acres.  

Mr. Solomon interjected that the reason the Board wanted to discuss this issue is that if the developer wants to build a 40B, does the Town as a whole want to do anything about it before the developer moves forward with a development.  Would the Town be interested in looking into different types of development, including an LIP or commercial, etc.  This should be considered now, before anything is filed and not wait until after when it will probably be a done deal.   The Board feels the Town should come together as a unit to determine what it wants to see here and approach this as a whole.  The Planning Board got seriously rebuffed by Town Meeting the last time it tried to rezone here, with the residents saying that they would prefer a 35 home subdivision to a commercial development.   However, this new information puts a completely different twist on the issue.  There could be up to 200-300 homes if a 40B goes forward.

Minutes of Meeting                             Page Three                      June 2, 2004

Mr. Heitin said that he thought the Board was in a much better position now to suggest rezoning, as the residents will be getting something much greater than they had imagined.   He said the Town might want to consider a downsized commercial area that could be more appealing today than it was a couple of months ago.

Mr. Roach suggested setting up a committee of residents, as well as a representative from each of the Town Boards that would be involved.

One question raised was who should take the lead to make sure the Town has a unified front?  Mr. Hauser suggested building a cohesive plan that would include all the Boards.  We should anticipate what issues may arise and start dealing with them right from the start.

A question was raised from a gentleman in the audience as to how the Town was going to get the developer to change his mind on what he intends to do, as he is in this to make as much money as he can and probably won’t be receptive to changes that won’t get him as much.  Mr. Hauser answered that the developer already has a number in mind from the get go and he probably doesn’t care how he gets it, as long as he gets what he wants.  If the Town can get him the money he wants in the time frame he wants, why wouldn’t he want to have that dialogue with the Town?

Mr. Grasfi0eld answered that in some sense, Mr. Hauser is correct.  However, when Avalon came in to Town to build their subdivision, the Town did ask how flexible they could be and they answered that they build only apartments that they manage.  He does agree that this is a good direction to be going in, to get together with the developer before any final decisions are made.  

Mr. Solomon asked if Mr. Heitin had had any feedback from Intoccia as to whether or not he would be open to a commercial development.  Mr. Heitin answered that typically Intoccia is a residential, four bedroom, two and a half bath developer, but he seemed open to discussion.

Minutes of Meeting                             Page Four                    June 2, 2004

Mr. Hauser said that it would be good to get some type of balance between possibly residential and commercial that would be satisfactory to the neighbors, the developer and the Town, that would keep the historic roads, etc.  

Mr. Roach said that the first step should be to set up a meeting with the abutters so that they feel they will have a say about what goes into their neighborhood.  They may not like what the Planning Board has in mind for the property, but if brought in from the beginning they may be more receptive to some type of mixed use that they do not feel will be harmful to them.  This should be done before approaching the landowner.

Mr. Bailey suggested the Board find someone with expertise in this area that will work with the Boards and the neighbors.   That person should have enough experience with zoning and land use to be able to guide this project.  

Mr. Solomon was looking for guidance from the Selectmen as to their opinion on going forward on this path again so that the Planning Board doesn’t go through this alone.  The Town needs to have a collective front on this issue.

Mr. Grasfield said that he would personally like to see this land acquired by the Town.  He did applaud the efforts the Planning Board has made in trying to rezone these areas.  However, he thought the zoning terms were still too confusing as it wasn’t clear whether the proposed commercial zoning allowed small businesses or large companies like Walmart.  If you are planning on adding commercial zoning, you should work cooperatively with the developer and an expert who can achieve something we are specifically talking about and even point out where this has been done in other communities.



Minutes of Meeting                              Page Five                        June 2, 2004


Mr. Puritz pointed out that if the Board was planning on getting a zoning change on this fall’s Town Meeting Warrant, he wanted to remind the Board that the Board of Selectmen were going to be very stringent on the dates for having language to them for the Warrant.  In answer, Mr. Hauser asked if there could be a place holder for this possible change.  Mr. Puritz answered that the language is usually changed many times before Town Meeting.  What is published is too different from what goes before Town Meeting – this is not acceptable.  That is why they would be sticking to their posted dates.

Mr. Roach added that they wanted to make sure that the warrant given to the Finance Committee is as close to the proposed change as possible,  That way they can make a recommendation prior to Town Meeting instead of the usual postponement.

Mr. Cohen agreed that it was important to talk with the residents of the neighborhood in the beginning but that it was important to speak with Intoccia immediately also.  The residents may agree on something that he has no intention of doing.  There has to be some coordination between both parties.

Mr. Heitin suggested a committee be formed of two Planning Board members, one Selectmen, one Finance Committee member and one ZBA member to meet first with the developer and then with the Community.  

Mr. Hauser added that he liked Mr. Bailey’s idea of a planning facilitator to assist the Board with this process.  He agreed that it was important how the plan was packaged.  He also thought it was important to get something on the fall warrant so as not to delay the developer and have him back off because the process was taking too long.  



Minutes of Meeting                          Page Six                           June 2, 2004

Mr. Solomon outlined the following as the Board’s plan of action:
·       Mr. Hauser would meet with Mr. Intoccia as soon as possible to find out what he specifically had in mind for the property;
·       A committee comprising of the following Board members would meet with the neighborhood residents:  two Planning Board members, one Selectmen, Ben Puritz, one Finance Committee member.
·       Send a letter to the residents inviting them to the Board meeting on June 30, stating that the Board would be discussing this issue and that they were welcome to come and give their views.
·       Ben Puritz would contact Larry Koff to see if he would be willing to come on board as the facilitator.

III.    DELAPA PROPERTY – POND STREET

The next issue the Board wished to discuss with the Selectmen was the Delapa properpty on Pond Street.  The Delapa’s owned the small mall behind the Fleet Bank and the building complex beside the Chinese restaurant. Mr. Solomon said that there were some issues with the plans, mostly parking and placing a new building right at curbside on Pond Street.  The developer was also going to rehab the old buildings.

The developer’s goal was to remove most of the retail at 47 and 59 Pond, and add more apartments.  They were looking to create more one bedroom units where they would be removing the retail.  They would be creating approximately 7,750 additional square feet with a new building, which would have apartments over first floor retail space.  

Mr. Puritz asked what the gain in retail space would be?  Mr. Solomon answered that they were actually cutting back on the retail space by over 5,000 square feet.  Mr. Solomon informed the Delapa’s that the Town would not be happy about this.  Mr. Delapa’s reasoning for the reduction of retail was that most of the retail that is in back off the
Minutes of Meeting                        Page Seven                          June 2, 2004

street is not useful, and if you put a building in front of it, it becomes even less attractive.  Mr. Solomon said that the Planning Board suggested they consider professional space instead of retail.  

The applicant’s idea was to create some type of apartment overlay district to allow for apartment style housing.  The Planning Board wanted input from the Selectmen as to how the Town wants to approach this request and do we create an apartment overlay district elsewhere in Town also.

Mr. Roach suggested the Board take a look at the Town of Norwood, who had already done this.  

Mr. O’Cain added that there would probably be septic system problems on this property.  

Mr. Solomon asked the Selectmen to put a place holder on the Town Meeting warrant for an overlay district also.  The applicant definitely wanted to move on this and was having his attorney draft some language for the overlay proposal.  A suggestion was made that it be written into the by-law that 10% of the apartments be affordable in order to get the overlay district.  

Mr. Puritz suggested the Board do some outreach to the Post Office Square Revitalization Committee to get their input.  Mr. Puritz said that the concept of this plan sounds good but is concerned about the lessening of the retail space.

IV.     EO418

Since Larissa Brown was stuck in Buffalo, this part of the meeting would be postponed until next week when she could come in. The Board members had received her draft report, which everyone was to review and send comments to Ms. Maniscalco.  She would then send all comments to Ms. Brown for incorporation into the report.

Minutes of Meeting                               Page Eight                     June 2, 2004

V.      OTHER BUSINESS

Mr. Hauser asked Mr. O’Cain to locate three 5-10 acre conservation commission lots for a possible swap with other Town owned land and identify them on a map.   He also said that the Planning Board should enforce the CSD for it’s own development of these parcels.  Hopefully, by the end of this month, the Board could go back to the Conservation Commission and present its suggestions for swapping parcels.

VI.     There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.