Town of Sharon Planning Board

Meeting Minutes of 8/11/10

Amended and Approved on 9/1/10

Sharon Community Center

 

Planning Board Attendees

Susan Price, Chair

Anne Bingham, Clerk

Eli Hauser, Vice Chair

Amanda Sloan 

David Milowe

Peter O’Cain, Town Engineer

 

Attendees

Alice Cheyer

Laura Nelson - Edgehill Road

Herbert Gould -22 Huntington Avenue

Theresa Truong - Sharon Cleaners

 

Chair Report

The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM by Chair Susan Price and the Chair’s Report was read.

 

Meeting Minutes

Mr. Milowe moved to approve the meeting minutes of 7/28/10 as amended. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion. The Board voted 3-0-0 in favor of the motion.

 

Form A

None

 

Signs

Mrs. Theresa Truong from Sharon Cleaners came before the Board to discuss the sign that is in front of her store. She stated it was an existing sign and she only replaced the insert. The background is now a bright red color. As this red background does not appear on the historical color listing, Ms. Sloan stated that the color needs to conform to the signage rules. Mr. O’Cain said that it is a plastic sign in a metal frame and currently says  Sharon Cleaners and the phone number, all written in a modern font.  Mr. Hauser suggested that the font be Times New Roman. Mrs. Truong agreed to repaint the sign in black and gold and remove the phone number.

 

Ms. Sloan moved to approve the Sharon Cleaners sign as Mrs. Truong has suggested, with black and gold color and in the same font as the current wall sign on the store. The Planning Board is also making an allowance for the size of the sign because it was pre-existing. The phone number will be removed. Mr. Milowe seconded the motion and the Board voted 5-0-0 in favor of the motion. The Board allowed Mrs. Truong one month’s time to correct the sign.

 

Bella Estates Update

Mr. O’Cain stated that there are several outstanding items as relates to Bella Estates. They include the homeowners agreement, erosion control and adding the missing items to the plan. In his view, Mr. O’Cain said that he wants to see the plan items addressed so the Building Inspector can start to issue permits. The slope erosion control fix is holding up the process and he suggested that he meet with Mr. Shelmerdine, Mr. Houston and the Intoccia engineer to discuss the slope erosion problem. With reference to the Homeowner’s Agreement Mr. O’Cain said that Town Counsel would need to be involved.

 

Ms. Bingham said she is concerned that the Homeowner’s Agreement may not be an effective vehicle. Mr. O’Cain commented that he does not know what the Town’s rights are in this matter with respect to controlling the language of the agreement. There is a question of who the wall belongs to. Mr. Milowe asked if the Homeowner’s agreement is amendable and Mr. O’Cain said that as per Attorney Shelmerdine, it is. Mr. O’Cain questioned what the Planning Board’s thoughts were on proceeding with the plan without the Homeowner’s Agreement and storm water issue resolved. He said that Greg Meister will be speaking with Attorney Shelmerdine and per the Conservation Commissions order of conditions, if they are being violated, they can enforce them. Ms. Price stated she is okay with keeping the three issues raised by Mr. O’Cain as separate.

 

Mr. O’Cain stated that if he approves the definitive plan then permits can be issued so building can continue.  Ms. Bingham suggested that a portion of each sale be placed in escrow and that these funds can address the erosion issue. Ms. Price said she was not comfortable with that suggestion. Mr. O’Cain said that Town Counsel and Tom Houston will be getting a portion of the sales as repayment for their services. Mr. O’Cain said he will speak with Attorney Gelerman regarding using sale proceeds to pay the Town, Town Counsel and PSC.

 

Mr. Hauser suggested stating to Attorney Shelmerdine that in order to approve the definitive plan you need to remove the dirt pile. Mr. O’Cain said he can convey dates for the items to be completed like remove the soil pile by 9/30 and amend the homeowner’s agreement by a certain date. Mr. Milowe questioned the Board going on a tangent that is outside of the Board’s purview. He said he does not understand enough about compliance. Ms. Bingham said the project is in non-compliance.

 

Mr. O’Cain will speak with Greg Meister regarding putting limits on Intoccia to meet the order of conditions. He will also speak with Attorney Shelmerdine regarding setting dates for completion of tasks. 

 

Zoning Bylaw Change proposal by Laura Nelson regarding large homes

Laura Nelson, a member of the Finance Committee came before the Board, as a private citizen, to discuss her concerns with tear downs. Ms. Nelson provided each member of the Board with a copy of the Town of Wellesley’s Bylaw voted in 2007, which she suggested could be used as a basis for the Town of Sharon. Ms. Bingham said she thought there had been a challenge to this bylaw and  would like to see this work for Sharon by stating that on existing properties with existing buildings the size could not be increased by a certain percentage. Ms. Nelson said that sometimes houses are being torn down and large homes built that do not fit in with the nature of the street or neighborhood. Ms. Nelson also said that Wellesley’s regulations include information on basements and garages and said they can all be combined into a bylaw. Ms. Nelson stated she lives on Edgehill Road and provided the board with a quick power point presentation which contained pictures of homes like the one next to the Warner Trail that she has a particular issue with.

 

Mr. O’Cain said this would make a difference in areas like the Heights. We currently have frontage rules and height limits. He also said that the Town of Needham is working on this and he will obtain additional information.

 

Mr. Hauser suggested that for implementation, a new section within the bylaws could be created or it could be imbedded within the current restrictions like height and set back. You could build off of the current zoning. He also asked what is trying to be achieved. The question for Sharon he said is what we want to do about redevelopment. He suggested having a study done. He is fearful that this would not solve the big problem. He questioned if this would be an infringement on homeowner’s rights and lower land values. .

 

Ms. Sloan said that if we are talking in theory, we can look at the rights of the neighbors as well. She suggested that perhaps all aspects of redevelopment need to be within a bylaw.

 

Mr. Hauser suggests looking at redevelopment of the entire process rather than in chunks. Ms. Nelson said that in the long term moving forward, it is very important. If it will take a long time to review, perhaps incremental changes would be beneficial.

 

Ms. Price said that the Board is interested and suggested Ms. Nelson create a short paragraph to be inserted into the existing bylaw but said this cannot be accomplished for the fall town meeting.

 

Ms. Bingham said she will independently research where Wellesley is at. Mr. O’Cain said he will check on other towns to determine what they do as it gets complicated with the calculations required by some by-laws. He will also check with the Building Inspector to see if lot coverage is checked on plan reviews for rebuilds. 

 

PO Square Zoning

Ms. Cheyer began the discussion by stating that as per the general bylaw, the Town shall hold two town meetings per year. She suggested that the Selectmen could propose an amendment that a Town Meeting could be waived if not needed. She continued by suggesting that since no one has heard from Mr. Delappa regarding his property, there is uncertainty as to whether Temple Israel wants to sell some of its land for a waste water treatment site and that the waste water report by Land Strategies needs to be updated, why not postpone this article until spring.

 

Ms. Bingham said that as she reads through the amendment, she agrees that Mr. Delappa should be involved. She thinks the plan is too dense but is willing to work on it. She is afraid that walkability and bicycleability will be ruled out if you go with a dense area. She stated that moving the Delappa property up to the sidewalk might detract from the friendly Town Center.

 

Ms. Price stated that she and Mr. Hauser met with the Finance Committee to discuss the proposed article. She said that irrespective of the Delappa decision, property owners and the economy can change. Waste water can be worked on. The zoning in place now is not conducive, and it is a good time to present the article. If passed, we would have the correct zoning in place.

 

Ms. Bingham said there is a link between zoning and waste water potentially closing off avenues for bicycles and cluster septic.

 

Ms. Price said this is trying to make it more pedestrian friendly. With respect to waste water, two studies have been completed by the Economic Development Committee. If Mr. Delappa is interested in redeveloping his property, he may be motivated to hire a consultant to complete an additional waste water study.  

 

Mr. O’Cain said you cannot utilize the denser zoning proposed without addressing the septic capacity issue.

 

Mr. Hauser said the issues are linked but not a sequential dependency. The reason for the MUOD was to meet the goals of our E0418 plan. If you do not have, MUOD, you lose points on the Commonwealth Capital Fund grant system. He said you have to tease the problem apart. He does not believe there is a dependency but they are linked. If you enable zoning, its constrained by waste water capability.

 

Ms. Bingham said we should not give as of right, a greater density.

 

Ms. Price provided the Board with copies of the Post Office Square Zoning draft dated August 3, 2010 and the Post Office Square Zoning draft dated August 4th, 2010 and the Summary of Proposed Zoning Revisions for Post Office Square dated August 10, 2010. Ms. Price reviewed the changes she made with the Board by walking them through each of the documents. She stated that at the Finance Committee meeting, there was lots of opposition with regards to the special permit granting authority. The 8/4/10 draft shows that the Planning Board is not taking over the special permit granting authority.

 

Mr. Hauser said it’s okay to give the waiver authority to the ZBA. Ms. Sloan agrees with Mr. Hauser regarding the authority issue. It would be very clear if done this way.

 

Ms. Bingham expressed that she thought there would be a review of the document from beginning to the end. She said she has a lot of questions and does not want to just focus on specific issues.

 

Mr. Milowe suggested that the process be specific in the objectives/goals. Do not allow a lot of deviation.

 

Ms. Price said that the Finance Committee wanted a summary of the zoning and that is what she prepared in the 8/10 document. She reviewed her document with the Board. Mr. Hauser suggested that Ms. Price create columns for ease of reading and understanding.  He thought that off street parking, lot coverage, bringing storefronts closer to the sidewalk and changing the front setback should be what is focused on. Mr. Hauser also suggested adding the creation of parks in front of the buildings.

 

Ms. Sloan stated that she feels the accessories and architectural features above the buildings will cause comments. She suggested preparing a visual to encourage café tables on the sidewalks and pedestrians/bicycles moving around. She questioned street trees and Mr. O’Cain said they are on town property.

Ms. Bingham distributed her version of what she thought the Finance Committee was looking for and discussed her thoughts with the Board.

 

Ms. Bingham expressed that she was upset with the notion of the review of regulatory issues being summarized in two pages and that it is an advocacy piece. She is challenging the presumption that this will be bicycle friendly. She stated she is not trying to slow down the process but has a lot of experience writing regulations. She said she prefers to wait on this topic until spring and thinks that the review and the time given to review before going to public hearing are insufficient.

 

Ms. Price said she can take away the narrative and add columns to the document but felt what she presented was what the Finance Committee had asked for.

 

Mr. Milowe suggested keeping it simple, basic, state the goals and what you are trying to encourage.

 

Ms. Price stated that Finance Committee wanted to know if sponsoring committees could take a position on their articles on October 8th.

 

Next meeting dates

9/1, 9/15 Post Office Square Zoning Hearing, 9/21

 

Adjournment

Mr. Milowe moved to adjourn the Planning Board meeting at 10:00 PM. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion and the Board voted 5-0-0 in favor.

 

 

Attached Documents

1. Town of Wellesley Town Meeting Article 3 from November 6, 2007 Town Meeting.

2. Summary of proposed zoning revisions for Post Office Square dated August 0, 2010.

3.  Post Office Square Zoning August 3, 2010

4.  Post Office Square Zoning August 4, 2010

5. Anne Bingham’s partial summary of important changes to bring to the finance committee’s attention August 11th, 2010

 

 

Note: New Open Meeting Law. As of July 1, 2010 all Planning Board minutes and attachments will be available by contacting Rachelle Levitts at 781-784-3199.