Chair Susan Price called the meting to order at 7:35 Pm and began the Chair’s Report

Town of Sharon Planning Board

Meeting Minutes of 1/19/11

Amended and Approved on 2/9/11

Sharon Community Center

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Planning Board Attendees

Susan Price, Chair	Anne Bingham, Clerk
Eli Hauser, Vice Chair	Amanda Sloan
David Milowe	Peter O’Cain, Town Engineer

Attendees

None

Chair Report

Chair Susan Price called the meeting to order at 7:35PM and began the Chair’s Report.

Chair Price said she would discuss the 2010 fiscal budget with Ms. Levitts via phone call.

Chair Price read a letter from the Department of Housing and Community Development, dated January 10, 2011, which stated that the Housing Production Plan submitted by the Planning Board has been approved and is good for 5 years.

Next meeting dates were determined to be as follows: 2/2, 2/16, 3/2, 3/23, 4/6, and 4/27. On Feb. 2, Jenny Raitt of MAPC will be speaking to the Board. Mr. O’Cain will invite the Board of Health to attend the Feb. 2 meeting to begin discussion on PO Square wastewater management needs. Tom Houston will address the Board on Feb. 16 regarding PO Square traffic analysis, Inclusionary Housing and Subdivision Regulations.

Form A’s, Signs

There were no signs or form A’s discussed.

PO Square Water Management

A discussion ensued amongst the Board members regarding the question of whether a new system is actually needed for PO Square. Ms. Bingham suggested that a visual portrayal of the age of the systems be prepared to use for discussion with the Board of Health.

Meeting Minutes

Mr. Hauser moved to approve the minutes of 11/3/10 as presented. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion and the Board voted 3-0-2 in favor.

Mr. Milowe moved to approve the minutes of 12/1/10 as amended. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion and the Board voted 4-0-1 in favor.

Mr. Hauser moved to approve the minutes of 12/15/10 as amended. Mr. Milowe seconded the motion and the Board voted 3-0-2 in favor.

Mirrione/Bella Estates Bond

Mr. O’Cain said he still does not have a new bond for Bella Estates so he will not release the old Mirrione bond. There are currently two Mirrione bonds and Mr. O’Cain will verify the amounts of each with Bill Fowler.

Mr. O’Cain said he needs to revisit the checklist prepared by the Conservation Commission for the Intoccia Properties and he will provide the Board with an updated status.

Subdivision Regulations

Mr. O’Cain said the update to the Subdivision Regulations will take a long time to complete. New drawings need to be added as well. He will prepare electronic documents for the Board to see and use for editing. Ms. Sloan is working on the tree information with Tree Warden Kevin Webber. They need to review the prohibited tree list and determine a good variety for street trees and shrubs.

Mr. O’Cain said he envisions providing all changes to Tom Houston for his expert review. He said that Mr. Houston will come before the Board to make a proposal for his work in this area. Ms. Sloan suggested the Board take advantage of Tom’s expertise.

Ms. Sloan pointed out that there is new Low Impact Development (LID) requirements now in Rhode Island and feels the local regulations should align with MA regulations. Mr. O’Cain said that the LID regulations will be voluminous and he would prefer to simply reference the rules that need to be adhered to. Mr. O’Cain said he would send the regulations to the Board via email for their perusal.

Mr. O’Cain said there is nothing written into the Zoning Bylaws regarding wind mills or turbines and would like the Board to think about this topic. Mr. O’Cain will review online to determine how other towns have handled this issue. Ms. Bingham said there is a lot of law and legislation developing now around windmills.

Inclusionary Housing

The Board discussed Article 13 from Fall 2007 Town Meeting. The members discussed how, due to a variety of issues, including that Brickstone wanted a specific exemption to the article, it was pulled. Mr. Hauser commented that the article had been very well written. He said Mr. Lauenstein did a great job. He thinks this is about maintaining pace of getting affordable units to satisfy affordable housing requirements.

Ms. Price said there was not a lot of support from the Finance Commission in the past and noted that one of their concerns was the on/off site provision of affordable units. She asked the Board if they wanted to move ahead with revisiting this article for Fall, 2011. She asked the Board whether they recommended a change to the threshold or the percentage of units.

Ms. Bingham said she has not yet studied the previously written article but thinks it is worth revisiting.

Mr. Hauser said he is in favor of refurbishing units that already exist instead of creating new units and that they can be on/off site. If they are offsite then additional units cannot be created. Mr. Hauser advocates setting the threshold at 12.5% and starting at eight units.

Mr. O’Cain will find out if this article is worth pursuing Town wide or if there are not enough opportunities for its implementation. He will look at all properties over 5 acres.

Ms. Sloan said that she strongly disagrees that Brickstone should be exempt as it would be a bad precedent. She thinks Brickstone should do their part by providing units instead of money. Mr. Hauser felt the Brickstone proposal is written and passed, and part of a multi component agreement and we should leave Brickstone Properties as exempt as currently written in the draft.

Ms. Price said that, whether or not the article exempts the Senior Living Overlay District, there is the legal question of whether the Brickstone property may already be grandfathered from this new potential regulation.

Ms. Bingham agrees with Ms. Sloan. Mr. O’Cain will email the MOU to see if Brickstone would be exempted. Mr. Milowe wants more study time.

Other Business

Ms. Bingham said she is working on a bicycle route map for the Town. Mr. O’Cain will verify if the $10,000 way finding grant was received.

Ms. Bingham volunteered to review zoning for adult entertainment.

Ms. Bingham wants “way to the lake” included within the PO Square work to include benches, signs and plantings.

Adjournment

Mr. Milowe moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 PM. Ms. Bingham seconded the motion and the Board voted 5-0-0 in favor of adjournment.