Planning Board, February 24, 2015
PLANNING BOARD
February 24, 2015
TOWN HALL MEMORIAL HALL
Members Present: William Ritter, John Michalak, David Lindberg, Otto Lies, Tina Stratis
Members Absent: Scott Carlson, Jeff Head
Others Present: Pam Harding, Town Planner, Elizabeth Fotos, Recording Secretary
7:00PM Members called to order by W. Ritter
Chapter 61A-First Right of Refusal, River Street, River Street, LLC
W. Ritter stated this matter was continued from the previous meeting to see if any members had any additional concerns or opinions. P. Harding reminded the Board that the only comments that had been made were from White Oak which she had told the Board about at the previous meeting.
O. Lies stated that he applauded the Ag Com for taking initiative on the 61A land but that he did have concerns about the situation. He stated that the Ag Com is asking to be the ones to advise the Board of Selectmen. O. Lies stated that he believed that 61A land was a Planning Board issue. He asked P. Harding if there was a procedure in place surrounding this matter.
P. Harding replied that she went to speak to the Town Manager and that the Board of Selectmen were waiting 60 days for release.
O. Lies asked if that was the law. P. Harding replied that there was no minimum time; only a maximum time of 120 days. She stated that she was informed by the Selectmen that they were issuing a policy to not act until 61 days had elapsed.
O. Lies stated that he had received a copy of the guideline in draft format that was prepared at the end of last year and was forwarded to the Town. He stated that it was interesting that they wanted to do something however the way it was set up excluded the Planning Board. O. Lies stated that he felt that there was poor communication between the departments within the Town.
O. Lies stated that he didn’t believe the property in question at River Street had any planning significance however he did indicate that the proposed guidelines should be an agenda item for the Planning Board to see how the Board felt about their proposal in general.
P. Harding stated that one of the issues is that the Ag Com is not obligated to respond; but that there are state laws regulating the Planning Board.
O. Lies replied that he was talking about the Town’s communication, not at the state level. P. Harding replied that one of the reasons the Ag Com was trying to institute the policy was because they do not receive notification and they would like to.
O. Lies reiterated that he believed that the lack of communication between the Town departments needed to be addressed.
P. Harding replied that the draft was completed by the Ag Com but they did not have any Town staff.
J. Michalak asked how they sent the information to W. Ritter. W. Ritter replied it was sent as a notice and that they were requesting a public hearing.
O. Lies replied they were asking for input. He stated that he had attended the Ag Com meeting to speak about a separate item and this came up. He stated that he did not have any prior knowledge of this.
W. Ritter replied that he had never seen any policy or procedure, the only information he had received was the notice letter.
P. Harding stated that she believed they should forward any correspondence to the Town Managers office not to Ag Com directly. W. Ritter agreed.
W. Ritter asked if there was any discussion on the parcel of land on River Street.
J. Michalak asked about the other Town Departments and if they would have any use for the property.
W. Ritter replied that he believed it would be the Town Manager’s responsibility to look at it from that perspective. He asked who received the statutory notice besides the Planning Board. P. Harding replied Assessing, Conservation Commission, and Board of Selectmen.
W. Ritter replied that he understood that Ag Com did not receive notice but unless there is a Town Policy created he is not sure what Ag Com’s stand would be. W. Ritter stated he would speak to the Town Manager about it.
O. Lies replied that now that there was an Ag Com they should be involved.
W. Ritter asked how many people were on the committee. O. Lies replied 4 or 5.
J. Michalak asked how long they had been in existence. P. Harding replied 4 or 5 years.
O. Lies stated that he had spoken to Ms. Kelly in the past and he felt that Ag Com needed assistance from the Town. He told the Board that at the meeting Ag Com had discussed the possibility of a community garden.
W. Ritter asked for more details. O. Lies replied that Ag Com was discussing making a community garden on the Kramer Property that was voted for sale. He told the Board that basically people would go and get a small plot and grow whatever they wanted. He stated that they were looking at it to work with the school as the properties were adjacent to one another.
O. Lies stated he does not know if it will go forward as there are a numbers of issues surrounding it, but they did bring the idea forward.
W. Ritter asked how many buildings were on the Creamer property. P. Harding replied one potential.
Motion by O. Lies, seconded by D. Lindberg, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO SEND A MEMO TO THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN AND COPY THE AG COM THAT THERE IS NO PLANNING SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE RIVER STREET PARCEL.
W. Ritter stated that he would also speak with Ms. Kelly regarding the Planning Board lending their expertise to the Selectmen when these parcels come up in addition to speaking with her about the communication issues.
Goals for 2015
W. Ritter asked the Board what they felt should be addressed in the coming year.
O. Lies went back to his notes from the Goal Setting session of 2014. He stated that they had accomplished the Marijuana Bylaw, LED lighting with J. Robinson, HMLD, and timely meeting minutes. O. Lies did ask for the meeting minutes to be posted to the Town website in a timelier manner.
He stated that for the coming year he would like to address sign bylaws, a follow up to ZBA decisions that had planning significance, continuation of subdivision status (O. Lies did state that P. Harding was doing this on a regular basis), but the most important thing that he would like to see for this year is improved communication.
O. Lies stated that he viewed the Town as a team and that he felt all the departments needed to come together with a vision. He stated that he had looked back on the Towns Master Plan that was approved in 2006
P. Harding replied that it was updated in 2008.
O. Lies stated the last time that Town spoke about their vision was with the Master Plan. He stated that he believed that it was time to discuss the I-190 interchange as a long term planning item.
P. Harding replied that she had heard about it when the Master Plan was being discussed.
O. Lies asked what the Town was doing about Main Street and the increase in traffic. He stated that if the Planning Board began to discuss the issue now, they could have an action plan in the next 15-20 years. O. Lies stated that the Planning Board should bring it forward to other departments.
O. Lies stated in addition to the above mentioned items he would like to continue to work on open space residential design and asked if the Master Plan should be reviewed.
O. Lies stated that he went to the Ag Com Meeting to discuss the CMRPC Tech Assistance projects. He stated there was an association called Buy Local that is composed of restaurants, farms, and other entities and that the Ag Com should be aware of them and become involved with them. O. Lies stated that Ag Com knew nothing about this assistance program and that it was another example of the breakdown in communication throughout the Town.
J. Michalak stated one of his goals for 2015 was the sidewalk issues. He also asked for some follow up information on the I-190 exchange that O. Lies spoke about.
P. Harding replied that the I-190 exchange was an item that was bought up often.
T. Stratis also asked for additional information on the I-190 exchange.
W. Ritter stated that there were various proposals done to connect three locations to the I-190. He stated the issues surrounding the project were the extraordinary expense, the highly sensitive land, and not enough traffic to warrant such a project.
T. Stratis asked if the surrounding towns that would benefit from the exchange would also share in its expense.
O. Lies stated that business owners on Main Street opposed the exchange.
P. Harding replied that West Boylston also came out in opposition to the project as they did not want to direct additional traffic into West Boylston.
W. Ritter stated that it was found there was not enough traffic in Town and it was not doable or financially practical.
O. Lies stated that it would be federal money that would pay for it. W. Ritter replied that they would not do it to make it more convenient for a small population.
D. Lindberg stated that he did not have additional goals for 2015 other than the list provided by O. Lies, and sidewalks and other current items listed.
T. Stratis replied that she wanted to review Sign Bylaws as well.
W. Ritter recapped the items that were accomplished in 2014. He highlighted the marijuana bylaws, better turn time on meeting minutes, and working with J. Robinson on the LED lights. He stated that he would call the Town Managers office to discuss having the meeting minutes uploaded in a more timely fashion.
W. Ritter stated for 2015 the Planning Board would focus on the INI Report and the website.
W. Ritter addressed O. Lies concerns regarding communication within the Town. He stated that on numerous occasions the Planning Board had invited business groups, the ZBA, and the Board of Selectmen all in for joint meetings. In each of these cases, few people joined the meeting. W. Ritter stated he does not believe that this is a Planning Board issue and that if there is a specific issue, the Board could reach out. He stated that it is hard enough to have attendance and volunteers.
W. Ritter stated that many of the issues that O. Lies highlighted were administration issues and that he would speak to the Town Managers office and report back to the Board.
W. Ritter also discussed on the topic of long term planning. He stated that while they were called the Planning Board, it is not the Boards responsibility to deal with long term planning. W. Ritter stated statutorily the Board is in charge of subdivision review and some special permits for special developments but it is not the Boards role to do long term planning for the Town.
O. Lies asked who did the long term planning for the Town. W. Ritter replied the administration.
O. Lies replied that the Master Plan was the last time the Town looked forward. He stated that the Master Plan goes through the Board and the Board appoints members but does not spear head it.
J. Michalak asked if the Planning Board could make a recommendation that another Master Planning Board should be formed.
P. Harding replied that there was a Master Planning Committee and a Master Planning Implementation Committee and that they had met and stated that everything was okay for now. She stated that they are supposed to do it every 20 years with interim updates.
O. Lies replied that he did not think that the Town needed a new Master Plan but felt as though a status review could be done.
J. Michalak asked if O. Lies thought the Planning Board should review it. O. Lies replied that they could but it would be beneficial to have other people involved as well.
T. Stratis asked who usually reviews it. P. Harding replied that they try to get a diversified representation of Board of Selectmen, Planning Board Members, citizens at large, and others.
W. Ritter stated that the items in the Master Plan that pertained to the Planning Board had been reviewed. P. Harding stated she could make CD’s for the Board members.
W. Ritter recapped other items the Board wanted to address in 2015:
- Sign Bylaws
- Review of Open Space and Residential Design Bylaws
-The Clusters
-Road Width
W. Ritter stated that he believed the above items would have the most immediate and practical impact going forward.
T. Stratis asked if the Board could work on increasing the square footage of the lot size or if that was something that would need to be approved by Town Meeting. P. Harding replied that issue would be something that would need to go to Town Meeting.
W. Ritter stated that zoning bylaw stated that the lots have to be 30-40SQ FT.
O. Lies asked if road width needed to go to town meeting. W. Ritter replied no.
O. Lies asked what the Board needed to accomplish before Town Meeting. W. Ritter replied Sign Bylaw.
P. Harding stated cluster. W. Ritter replied that he did not know if they would get to clusters before Town Meeting.
W. Ritter asked if there was more input on the sign issues. P. Harding replied that most of the issues were enforcement.
J. Michalak asked if the Board was still discussing allowing the gas stations to have moving signs for pricing and how to limit that so other entities could not have moving signs. P. Harding stated she believed that was the last change made.
W. Ritter asked what was scheduled for the March 10, 2015 meeting. P. Harding replied there were no public hearings scheduled.
W. Ritter suggested putting the Sign Bylaws on and see if the Board would be ready for Town Meeting.
J. Michalak asked P. Harding to send out latest copy of the Sign Bylaw. P. Harding agreed.
W. Ritter stated that he knew there was a letter regarding road width but he asked if DPW could be invited to a meeting to discuss subdivisions as well. He asked if there were any other subdivision items that needed to be discussed.
P. Harding replied the bond pavement. She also stated that she wanted to add some language in about HOA’s in order to make drainage of stormwater more clear in the documents.
W. Ritter asked about cluster and open space. P. Harding stated that she had been in touch with Eric Smith and he won’t have anything available until July.
W. Ritter asked if it needed to be booked now. P. Harding stated that they had told her to wait.
W. Ritter stated that with consensus the Board would review Sign Bylaws in order to get them into a format ready for submittal to Town Meeting.
W. Ritter addressed the I-190 exchange. He stated that the Planning Board on their own could not do anything but perhaps they could bring it forward to others attention. He asked P. Harding to see if she could dig up the I-190 connector study that was completed.
J. Michalak asked if they could see the study and compare it to the current traffic patterns to see if they were correct.
J. Michalak stated that one thing that wasn’t touched on was climate change. He asked how the Town was designing for the future.
P. Harding replied that stormwater was a major issue and that a lot of the stormwater systems were not designed to accommodate the intensity of the rainfall that we had recently seen.
J. Michalak asked if that was part of the Master Plan or something different. P. Harding replied that the state was looking to review stormwater regulations. She stated that J. Woodsmall, DPW Director could provide the Board with additional information on that.
J. Michalak asked if LED lighting was completed or if they were still looking into it.
P. Harding replied that J. Robinson HMLD wanted to continue to gather information. She stated she would follow up with him on the matter.
O. Lies stated that he had spoken to J. Robinson and the new development off RT 31 was going to be LED.
J. Michalak asked about the long term savings. P. Harding replied that she thought J. Robinson had said the bulbs were not lasting as long as they had originally projected so she was unsure of the long term savings. She stated she would revisit the matter with him.
Meeting Minutes
Motion by O. Lies, seconded by T. Stratis, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE THE JANUARY 13, 2015 PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES AS CORRECTED.
Other Business
P. Harding gave the Board the ZBA updates. She stated they had a public hearing for the restaurant that would be at the location of Mario’s on Main Street. She stated it was approved with a few conditions.
P. Harding also stated that Fisher Terrace Phase II is still around and the ZBA denied it because they did not update their plans in a timely manner.
W. Ritter asked P. Harding if the Board would receive a site plan in the event the restaurant went through. P. Harding confirmed they would.
J. Michalak suggested that in order to see what the ZBA had approved could the Boards exchange minutes. P. Harding stated that they could do that.
O. Lies asked if in law apartments were discussed with the ZBA and what happened when there was a vacancy. He asked if there should be a bylaw to address this issue stating that the permit expired when the residence is no longer used as an in-law apartment.
P. Harding replied that it was deed restricted. W. Ritter stated that if it was not a relative, they could not come in and pay rent.
J. Michalak asked about the enforcement of this issue.
W. Ritter stated that often times the issue is brought to light for some reason and a letter is sent to the building inspector. He stated the building commissioner then had 14 days to respond and then they can bring action to the ZBA to appeal the decision.
P. Harding replied that sales of the homes also brings the matter to light.
Next Meeting: March 10, 2015
Motion by D. Lindberg, seconded by O. Lies, it was UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOURN THE FEBRUARY 24, 2015 PLANNING BOARD MEETING AT 8:18PM.
The February 24, 2015 Planning Board meeting minutes were approved at the March 24, 2015 meeting.
APPROVED: __________________