TOWN OF
PLANNING BOARD
Minutes
of a Meeting of the Planning Board held on
PRESENT:
ELI
HAUSER
WAYNE
BRADLEY
PAUL
LAUENSTEIN
PETER
O’CAIN, ASST. TOWN ENGINEER
Business
Transacted:
I.
Meeting
called to order.
BOARD
REORGANIZATION:
Mr. Cohen nominated Ms. Maniscalco to serve
as Chair of the Board, seconded by Mr. Bradley and unanimously voted.
Mr. Cohen nominated Mr. Hauser to serve as
Vice Chair of the Board, seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.
Mr. Cohen nominated Mr. Bradley to serve as
Clerk of the Board, seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.
FORM
A PLANS
_____________________________
Administrative
Assistant
Minutes
of Meeting
Page Two
Ms. Newman informed the Board that their
engineer had met with our Town Engineer and asked if these lots meet Board
regulations. Ms. Newman said that Mr.
O’Cain, the Town Engineer, responded that as far as he could see they did meet
Board regulations.
Mr. Hauser agreed that these lots did not
seem sufficient to support the intent of the zoning laws. Ms. Maniscalco agreed and said that on
reviewing the plans, it seems that you could get the required frontage needed
on
Mr. Cohen moved to disapprove this Form A
plan because the two new lots do not seem to be legitimate lots. The Board recommends that the applicant
refile the Form A plan, redrawing the lots, and that the applicant is exempt
from paying another filing fee. Seconded
by Mr. Lauenstein and unanimously voted.
Cedar
Street - Howard Glaser,
applicant – This lot contained four homes.
The homes cannot be sold as is, as they each need to be on a separate
lot. These homes are shown as existing on a plan in 1938, but never registered so this is
not a real Form A. However, the Board
was not sure if what the applicant was suggesting was legal. Also, the lots were not delineated
properly.
Mr. Cohen moved to disapprove this Form A application because the lots are not properly
delineated. Seconded by Mr. Hauser and
unanimously voted.
II.
Mr. Bradley read the legal notice to open
the public hearing.
David Oberlander, engineer for the
applicant, gave a short presentation explaining this subdivision.
---The property was located on
Minutes
of Meeting
Page Three
---While a conventional plan was submitted
that met the Board’s regulations, the applicant was interested in building a
private driveway and in presenting waivers to the Board for such. The granting of waivers would be in the best
interests of the Town in that the Town will not be responsible for maintenance
of the road and a smaller road also decreases the amount of impervious surface
in the subdivision.
---There are two existing houses on the
property, which will remain there.
---Two additional lots are being created.
---In response to the Board’s request, the
two existing driveways will be moved to come off the new subdivision
street. This will result in less curb cuts on
---The applicant was requesting the waiving
of granite curbing at the entrance to the subdivision, which was supported by
the Town Engineer, because it would be a difficult turning radius for fire
trucks trying to get into the subdivision.
However, Mr. Hauser indicated that the reason the Board requires this is
to avoid the snow plows from tearing up the
Mr. Oberlander also informed the Board that
this plan does not really differ from the preliminary plan.
The meeting was then opened to questions
from the public.
The applicant was requesting waiver of
street trees. Mr. Weber, the Town Tree
Warden, suggested that if the required trees do not fit the road or the
neighborhood, that the applicant put that money into the Town’s tree fund for
tree recycling. Ms. Maniscalco asked Mr.
Weber to go to the subdivision and check this out and report back to the Board.
The applicant has agreed to provide an
erosion and sedimentation plan.
Minutes
of Meeting
Page Four
Mr. Goldstein asked if there was a
precedent for this type of private roadway? Mr. Cohen answered that there was, as it
reduces the impervious surfaces in the Town and the Town does not have to
provide any services to the street.
The applicant was requesting the waiver of all
street lights. Ms. Maniscalco indicated
that the Board, at a minimum when waiving street lights, requires one light at
the entrance to the street. Mr. Oberlander answered that there was a street light on the
other side of the street. They had
planned to relocate it during construction, but instead will keep it
there. Mr. Cohen suggested that the
applicant provide either the cost for the number of lights required, or the
lights themselves, to the Town. Ms.
Maniscalco added that it is the responsibility of the applicant to make sure
the intersection is lit so that it is not a safety hazard.
Mr. O’Cain explained that there are no
drainage structures on the waiver plan.
The applicant provided a table of pre and post construction runoff. The road is crowned and will have a swale that
will intercept any runoff and infiltrate it into the ground.
Ms. Maniscalco reminded Mr. Oberlander that
the two driveways leading to the existing homes need to be removed, loamed and
seeded.
There being no further comments from the
public, Mr. Hauser moved to close the public hearing, seconded by Mr. Cohen and
unanimously voted.
III.
SCENIC ROADS AND TREE HEARING
Mr. Bradley read the legal notice to open
the public hearing.
Mr. Weber, the Tree Warden, explained that
there was a wall at the corner of
Several of the Board members had gone to
see this intersection and agreed that it was not your typical stone wall and
was not visible. Mr. Hauser moved to
allow the removal of the stone wall, seconded by Mr. Lauenstein and unanimously
voted.
Minutes
of Meeting
Page Five
There were no abutters in attendance to
comment on either the wall or the removal of the trees at Edge Hill. Therefore, Mr. Hauser moved to close the
public hearing, seconded by Mr. Lauenstein and unanimously voted.
IV.
OTHER BUSINESS
---RE: zoning changes and Town Meeting. The Planning Board has been consistently late
in coming up with language for the warrant and for the Finance Committee. Ms. Maniscalco reported that at the
Selectmen’s last meeting, a schedule was drawn up for the Fall Town Meeting,
which is primarily for zoning changes.
The closing of the warrant will be July 18, with the absolute deadline
to have any language in it on August 16.
Last minute language causes problems all
around – the FinCom cannot give their
recommendations and tend to vote for indefinite postponement; those in attendance
have not seen the final language, etc.
However, with this proposed schedule, there
are only six weeks for the Board to get
these articles together, including drafting the language, holding public
hearings and finalizing changes. This
really is not enough time, especially given that it is summer and people are
out of Town on vacations. Typically, the
Board meets every three weeks in the summer, but that may not be possible if it
wants to put any articles on the Warrant.
There are potentially three or four articles the Board will want to
present to Town Meeting – such as accessory apartments and others. The Selectmen are inquiring as to what time
frame the Board would need to realistically do this correctly.
Mr. Hauser suggested the Board determine
which of the five possible zoning changes it should bring to this Fall’s Town
Meeting. The five possibilities were:
1. Inclusionary zoning – the Board determined
it would bring this article to Fall Town Meeting.
2. MUOD as regards the groundwater protection
district – this too would be brought before Fall Town Meeting.
3. Elimination of the Flexible Zoning by-law –
defer action on this.
4. Accessory Apartments – Probably defer, but
Mr. Cohen was going to see if he could find appropriate language for this
change. However, it might not be
feasible to have it ready for the Fall.
Minutes
of Meeting Page
Six
5. Modifications to the CSD to allow 2x
bonuses if you build affordable housing – the Board decided to bring this to
Fall Town Meeting.
The Board discussed the scheduling issue
with Selectmen Grasfield. Mr. Grasfield
said that it was important for the Board to have their work done in a timely
fashion so that the Finance Committee would be able to do their work as well
with accurate wording of the zoning articles.
Mr. Cohen said that the Selectmen keep moving up the date for completion
– we have just finished with Spring Town meeting a couple of weeks ago, and now
have to jump right into Fall Town Meeting with very little time for
preparation.
Mr. Cohen didn’t think it was a good policy
to give any board just six weeks to get all language together for major
changes. It was just not workable. At
least three months is needed at a minimum.
He thought it would be more reasonable to close the warrant in August.
The Board told Mr. Grasfield that it was
asking the Board of Selectmen to set August 16 as the date for the closing of
the warrant for the Planning Board.
---Summer
Schedule – Because of the
work needed to get the proposed zoning changes ready for the Fall Town Meeting,
the Board would continue on its current schedule of meeting every two weeks,
instead of every three as is usual for the summer.
---Bond
Reductions – Tanglewood Estates
– Mr. Cohen moved to reduce the surety for this subdivision from $750.00 to $0,
per Mr. O’Cain’s memorandum to the Board dated
Christina
Estates – Mr. Cohen moved to reduce the surety for this subdivision from
$27,300.00 to $0, per Mr. O’Cain’s memorandum to the Board dated
Minutes of Meeting Page Seven
---Hunter’s
Ridge – Mr. Bradley recused himself from this
part of the meeting. The abutters to
this subdivision have appealed the Board’s decision. One of their issues is a challenge to the legality
of a part of the CSD by-law. Town
Counsel will be primarily involved in this suit with minor involvement by the
Planning Board.
---Rattlesnake
Hill – Mr. Grasfield reported that the Town is still moving forward on this
matter. The idea is for the Town to buy
the property and have a developer come up with some money and put in a CSD.
V.
There
being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at