TOWN OF SHARON
PLANNING BOARD
Minutes of a meeting of the Planning Board held on June 15, 2005, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Offices.
PRESENT: REGINA MANISCALCO, CHAIR
ELI HAUSER, VICE CHAIR
WAYNE GODLIN, CLERK
ARNOLD COHEN
PAUL LAUENSTEIN
Business transacted:
I. Meeting called to order. The minutes of the May 11, 2005, and June 1, 2005, meetings were reviewed and accepted with corrections.
FORM A PLANS – 77 Norwood Street. The applicant, Mr. Newman, met with Mr. O’Cain to go over what the Board’s concerns were about this property. Mr. Newman said that in his opinion the Form A as submitted at the last meeting was in conformance with all the requirements of Chapter 41A. However, in response to the Board’s concerns, he had redrawn the plan.
They have reconfigured the lots to make each lot conform to the 60,000 sq. foot requirement without having one lot shaped with an overly narrow band of land extending toward the back of the property. Mr. Cohen said that the applicant could include the back piece with this new configuration. Mr. Newman also expressed his willingness to deed some of the remaining land in the rear of Lot 2 to the Conservation Commission. Mr. Newman will have the plans redrawn and resubmitted to the Board.
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Administrative Assistant
Minutes of Meeting Page Two June 15, 2005
II. MORSE STREET EXTENSION – DECISION DUE
The Board reviewed and edited a draft decision letter for Morse Street Extension. Mr. Cohen then moved to approve the Morse Street Extension definitive plan as edited at tonight’s meeting. Seconded by Mr. Hauser and unanimously voted.
Mr. Cohen then moved to approve the waivers as discussed and edited on the draft approval letter at tonight’s meeting. Seconded by Mr. Lauenstein and unanimously voted.
III. ZONING DISCUSSION
Ms. Maniscalco informed the Board that the Selectmen did not agree to change the date for the closing of the warrant. The closing date remains at July 18. Mr. Lauenstein added that Selectman Heitin was adamant that a list of the intended by law changes be submitted by each Town committee so that the Selectmen are aware of what each Board wants and that the actual verbage for the proposed changes is due in August. Ms. Maniscalco said that this did not give the Planning Board, or any other Board, a lot of time for public input.
The public hearing for the proposed zoning changes would be noticed for August 10.
Ms. Cheyer had prepared some draft language for the Board’s review and comment on an inclusionary zoning by-law.
The Board will spend the next several meetings working on the four proposed by-law changes, two at each meeting. Inclusionary zoning and CSD changes would be taken up first, and accessory apartments and MUOD modifications would be discussed at the meeting after that.
Minutes of Meeting Page Three June 15, 2005
IV. 3 POST OFFICE SQUARE – SITE PLAN REVIEW
Michael Rosen met with the Board regarding the above premises. He indicated that the owner, Reuvin Levy, had recently purchased the premises and was making some improvements to the building. He was before the Board to obtain approval to change the color of the trim around the windows. All the windows were being replaced on the second floor and the applicant wanted to have them painted a shade of green to match the bottom floor windows.
Mr. Cohen moved to approve the replacement of the windows and allow them to be painted hunter green to match the windows on the first floor of the premises. Seconded by Mr. Hauser and unanimously voted.
V. OTHER BUSINESS
---Ms. Cheyer had some additional information she wanted to discuss with the Board regarding inclusionary zoning. She said that inclusionary zoning had many definitions and that it was important to clarify what the Board wanted when writing this by-law. It was important to clarify how many units needed to be affordable. The one major problem is that other Towns are allowing the developers to provide money to the Town in lieu of the affordable units, which does not seem to work. The developers would rather provide the money and then the Town does not get the affordable units it needs. Her recommendation is to mandate inclusionary zoning and not provide an out with money. A few Towns have passed a mandatory inclusionary by-law and it has been approved by the Attorney General’s office. She provided copies of that language to the Board and asked that the Board send her any comments it may have.
---Ms Maniscalco reminded the Board that emails may be sent to all Board members for distributing information. However, issues could not be discussed through email as it might potentially be a violation of the Open Meeting law. The “Reply to all” function should never be used when discussing Board business.
---The Housing Partnership Plan is complete and has been endorsed by the Board of Selectmen. This plan is a guideline and gives the Town a year of reprieve to deny any new 40B’s that may come in.
Minutes of Meeting Page Four June 15, 2005
---Mr. Lauenstein brought up the matter of how continued development impacts the Town’s water supply. He wanted to discuss this issue with the Board to perhaps assess a fee to developers to cover the cost of development impact on the Town’s water supply. However after sending the memorandum about this issue, he recently found out that the Town does require a $4,000 per house hook up fee that a developer has to pay. So that issue is moot. However, he wasn’t able to find out where this money goes. Mr. Lauenstein will continue his research.
VI. There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.