Town of Sharon Planning Board
Meeting Minutes of February 14, 2007
Amended and Approved March 14, 2007
Planning Board Attendees
|
Eli Hauser - Chair |
Amanda Sloan - Clerk |
|
Arnold Cohen – Vice Chair |
Paul Lauenstein |
Guests
|
Tom Houston |
Ira Miller – FinCom |
|
Ed and Peg McSweeney - residents |
George Trembly – Arrowstreet Architects |
|
Steve Campbell – Cohler and Colantonio |
Tim O’Brien - O’Brien and Associates |
|
Michael Intoccia |
Bob Shelmerdine- Attorney for Mr. Intoccia |
|
Alice Cheyer - Resident |
|
Meeting Initiation
Meeting was called to order at 7:45 pm by Vice Chair Arnold Cohen
Meeting Discussion
Chair’s Report
Meeting Minutes of 1/24/07
None to report
Mr. Shelmerdine provided a presentation to the Board regarding the proposed Lifestyle Mall to be built on Mr. Intoccia’s property provided the rezoning of the S. Main Street property were to occur. As indicated on a map he pointed to, the land to be rezoned would include parcels west of Old Post Road, East of S. Main, North of the cranberry bogs and South of South Walpole Street. He stated Mr. Intoccia would convey the cranberry bogs to the Conservation Commission. He would provide 11 acres of land to the Town for well purposes and the remaining parcels to remain residential. Currently a memo of Agreement is being drafted which discusses access both primary and sole. The public access would be from South Main Street across from Shaw’s. Mr. Shelmerdine stated that the applicant would build a cul de sac on Laurel Road with limited access only.
Mr. Tom Houston presented to the group first by putting together a numerical summary. He stated the proposal would be to rezone a portion of the parcel as a new business district D. Under the proposed rezoning there are limits to how many buildings can cover the lot area which is 56.84 acres. There are two categories. They can build 450,000 square feet of space by right. They can build up to 45,000 square feet of professional space by right. They can build up to approximately 124,000 additional square feet of professional space by special permit from the ZBA. The second option can only happen with an appeal. There has been discussion on how to control the building size and Mr. Houston stated that the way the bylaw is drafted, 3 larger stores are permitted; two would be at 80,000 square feet and 1 would be 75,000 square feet. Other than these large stores the next larger one could not exceed 60,000 square feet. The ABS limit on square feet of retail space on the property is 450,000 square feet. He stated that for water use 36,150 gallons per day of water use was used as a planning number. With reference to parking, 5 spaces per 1000 square feet for retail and 4 spaces allocated per 1000 square feet of office yielding 2000 spaces. Mr. Houston continued by saying the zoning is clearly protected. The whole site has to be master planned. There has to be 1000 feet of frontage on Old Post Road. Fifteen percent of the total square footage must be for stores less than 8000 square feet in size. Many small stores would make up the remainder of the space to keep with the lifestyles atmosphere similar to Mashpee Commons. The height limit would be 60 feet or three stories. The entire ground water protection bylaw remains intact and a special permit would be needed to obtain more than 15% of impervious surfaces.
Mr. Houston also said that a new and extremely protective site plan approval process before the ZBA is proposed. It is very restrictive for the project to go ahead. Traffic has to be mitigated. Any roadway that has more than 200 extra cars per hour the proponent had to bring the service to level D and fix any town roads that are involved. The waste waster treatments have to meet drinking water quality levels. Mr. Cohen asked if the developer is on board with the proposed draft and Mr. Shelmerdine replied yes. Mr. Houston added that the proponent did not say no to any protective things that were put in. Mr. Cohen asked how many restaurants would be allocated to the 10,000 square feet of space Mr. Shelmerdine replied 3-6 depending on the size. They would like to have one elegant restaurant and then perhaps, pizza, ice cream and a Starbucks. The area is proposed to be built as a lifestyle center with 2-3 anchor stores which will create more jobs.
A traffic study will be performed to analyze what exists with the intersections along S. Main Street to the center. The developer will provide the Town with existing traffic conditions. If an intersection is near the site and is a level B and drops to a level E it needs to be brought back to a level B. They will show how added traffic will impact the town and will provide plans to offset the impact. Mr. Shelmerdine said that between now and Town Meeting preliminary traffic studies will be performed based upon understanding traffic patterns both day and night as well as during the week and on weekends. The State and the Mass Highway reviews the traffic study reports along with the Town. Mr. Houston said that the proponent needs to provide:
1. The nature of the improvements
2. Integrate as to what happens to Gavins Pond Road
3. Study key intersection volumes at all different times and days in order to determine a level of service at a point in time. This will tell if there is a problem.
Ms. Sloan asked what South Main Street, once a rural road, would look like and Mr. Houston stated that making an educated guess it would look the same except Wolomolopoag might need lights. Shaw’s Plaza would be improved.
Mr. Shelmerdine stated that the bylaw change is trying to help establish a New England heritage style lifestyle center which focuses on pedestrian environment. The developer provided the Board with image drawings of what a lifestyle center might look like. Ms. Cheyer asked if permeable surfaces will be used anywhere instead of pavements and Mr. Houston replied that in the by-law, pedestrian areas are lighter traveled so low impact design can be used but vehicle areas should be impervious surfaces. No more than 5% of cars will be in front of the stores, the remainder will be in the parking lots.
A question arose regarding making sure the ground water discharge does not go into the wells on the accompanying street and the engineer replied the plan must meet DEP requirements.
Mr. Lauenstein questioned if a two story parking lot was a possibility and Mr. Intoccia replied that he wants an open feel look and landscape. Two stories for a parking lot would be too high and would exceed the height of some of the buildings. He doesn’t want to cut down trees.
Mr. Hauser questioned the outcome of the abutters meeting held by the Intoccia team and they replied the abutters would like Laurel Road to be a cul-de-sac, they y would like sidewalks for the neighbors to be able to walk to the site, dead end signs posted, use for emergency access only. Mr. Intoccia stated he is only looking to rezone the piece of property that butts up to 95.
Mr. Cohen asked what the tax revenue estimate was and Mr. Shelmerdine replied 2.5 million dollars. The timeline would be 8-12 months to plan and 1-2 years to make it happen.
February 28th - Public Hearing on South Main Street Rezoning to be held at 7:30 pm in the SHS Library.
A Special Town Meeting to be held on March 12th, 2007 to vote on the South Main Street Rezoning proposal.
Meeting Adjournment
Mr. Hauser moved to adjourn meeting at 11:00 PM; Mr. Lauenstein seconded the motion; passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachelle F. Levitts
Administrative Assistant