Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGbrd_01162013 Planning Board Minutes 1, -C E 1 VED January 16, 2013 -'. `)FFICE Present: Tom French, Chair, Beth Ashman-Collins, Clerk, Tony Jodice, Donald Cleary} , Ralph Penney, Cheryl Collins 1N3 FEB -14 P 2: 5b Alternates: Rod Oreste, Michael Feck Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development, Jennifer Davis, Administrative. Secretary 1. Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. Correspondence ,tr N g A 1. January 9, 2013 minutes Motion: To approve (Cleary-Penney) Mr. Penney asked about changing zoning amendments after the public hearing but before Town Meeting. Mr. Burke said changes can be made if the amendment is to clarify or "perfect"the matter that was discussed at the public hearing and does not substantively change the article. He said whether the change is "substantial" would be up to the Moderator. Mr. Penney asked if an article could be readvertised if the board wants to make major changes after receiving public comment at the hearing. Mr. Burke said a second public hearing could be held if there is sufficient time to meet the statutory requirements prior to Town Meeting and for advertising. Mr. French said the board has always drafted zoning articles, held public hearings to solicit public comments, made changes and brought the articles to Town Meeting, which has always been considered the process of"perfecting"the article. Mr. Burke said if the board decides to change the article after the public hearing and before the warrant is printed and posted, the wording can be changed. Once the warrant is posted, the article can only be amended on the floor of Town Meeting. Mr. Burke said if something is amended on the floor of Town Meeting, the amendment is distributed to the Moderator, Town Clerk and the public. Mr. Penney asked that the minutes reflect Mr. French's comment that abutting lots without adequate frontage in the Copeland Drive corridor could be combined. Mr. Penney asked that the minutes reflect the Downtown Business Association's invitation to Mr. Burke and Mr. Riccio to attend its February 6 meeting. To approve as amended. All in favor. PASSES Form A(NR) Plans Road Pulauc Hearing'Ofkot-1 375 Gilbert Street �� � of The clerk read a request from the applicant's engineer to continue the public hearing to January 23, 2013. Motion: To continue the public hearing to January 23, 2013 at 7:15 p.m. (Oreste-Penney) All in favor. PASSES 1/28/2013 it ■ .Planning Board Workshop—lusntes 3/flusiness 4 continuer , Mr. Burke explained there are six lots on Copeland Drive with less than 100 feet of frontage; four could be combined into two lots, the other two are stand-alone lots. Mr. Burke said he has been working on the buildout study with Xia Jin, the town's GIS Manager. He said based on the area in the B3 zone, which has about 62 lots, there is enough gross area for about 90 more lots. He said this land is not necessarily all buildable, because the number does not take into account things like wetlands and roadways. Mr. Karl Clemmey noted there is no sewer on the Copeland Drive lots. Mr. Burke agreed and said developers would have to decide whether development of those lots would be worth the expense. The board discussed where sewer and water currently ends in the area. Mr. Penney asked if there is a plan of the existing sewer lines and one showing future extensions. The board discussed sending a letter to the Town Manager suggesting getting sewer to the Copeland/Chauncy corridor should be a"critical needs area" and a priority. Jeffrey Vigeant, Patriot Supply, said his business has been in town for 25 years. He has purchased the lot next door, but the current density limits what he can do with it. He said increased density would be a good opportunity for the businesses in the area. He agreed sewer is a big issue for those businesses and said adding to his business would be difficult with the setbacks and septic issues. He said he has reviewed the board's proposed B3 amendments and thinks they would be an improvement. He said his lot has a sewer stub, but further development of sewer lines in the corridor would help the businesses. Mr. Vigeant suggested combining the B3/B4 articles into one, so the failure of one would not require the other to fail as well. Mr. Burke said the board's current proposal is for one article, which includes a map amendment. ` Planning ar ,Wor �u �`;iB ;e414,1,113,, ��ijApsi G7 �q q Mr. Burke explained the map showing the location and configuration of the B1 and B2 zones; the corridor is very long and narrow because it runs along the old Route 140 and the old rail bed. Mr. Burke said the board has been working on a variety of downtown issues, including linking transit oriented development to downtown. He noted the board reviewed a site plan for the redesign of the North Common at its last meeting and has talked with downtown merchants about issues like signage. Mr. Penney asked why B1 and B2 were created. Mr. Burke said on North Main Street, north of Villa Street, businesses are on the first floor with residential above; many of the businesses along North Main Street south of Villa Street were home occupations, creating a more residential feel. Mr. Penney said when the zones were created, it was the right thing to do, but asked if the two zones should be combined now. He said it might work better on North Main Street than on 1/28/2013 Ili • I ' Chauncy Street. Mr. Burke said it may have made more sense to zone Chauncy Street the same as Copeland Drive (B3)rather than business like North Main Street. Mr. Burke said B2 does not require business on the first floor, so is more residentially-oriented than B 1. He said B2 has a lower parking requirement and higher density than B 1. Mr. Penney said the board should think about what could be built in place of the houses on North Main Street if they were to come down. Mr. Burke said the more intense uses are focused in a smaller area, B1, and he would be concerned about spreading that zone out. Mr. Jodice asked how many single-family homes there are in the B2 zone; Mr. Burke said there are not many. He said if the zones are combined, business would be required on the first floor. Mr. Jodice suggested lowering the parking requirements for restaurants downtown to help encourage development. Ms. Ashman-Collins said one of the ideas in the TOD zoning is a lower parking requirement because it assumes more pedestrian traffic downtown. Mr. Penney said the board should consider what it wants the business zone south of Villa Street to look like in the future. Mr. Burke said the parking for that area is more restrictive for businesses and noted residential development has been carrying retail and business development. He said he would be concerned that increasing parking requirements downtown will hurt redevelopment; he said other towns using Transit-Oriented Development zoning have lowered their downtown parking requirements because they assume more people will be walking more and driving less. Ms. Ashman-Collins said she would not want to eliminate parking requirements, but perhaps consider lowering them for businesses. Mr. Jodice said there are a lot of restaurants with absolutely no parking that people have to walk to, and while they are walking they notice and visit other businesses. Mr. Penney asked about the Fales Oil site for a possible public parking lot; Mr. Burke said there are no plans for that site at this time. The board discussed the possibility of parking on the lot next to the North Main Street fire station; Mr. Penney said he thinks the cleanup of that site should be done in two or three years. Felicia Walker, National Black Doll Museum, said the museum has been getting a lot of school tours and said needs a place for more school bus parking between 10 am and 2 pm. The board discussed reducing the parking requirements in the B1 and B2 zones. Mr. Burke said the current B1 and B2 restaurant parking requirement is one parking space per four restaurant 1/28/2013 I , seats. He said he would get some examples of other town's downtown parking requirements for business and restaurant uses. Mr. Penney said the Zoning By-Law Off-Street Parking section requires parking based on the number of employees and suggested basing parking requirements on floor area instead. Mr. Burke said because of changes in technology, businesses have fewer employees, so sites are overparked. Mr. Burke said there may have to be a subsection for downtown issues like parking and signage. Mr. Penney asked if there is a definition of downtown; Mr. Burke said there is one in the Master Plan. Mr. Burke said if the board wants to make changes to things like restaurant parking, it could be done relatively easily with a zoning amendment. Mr. Penney asked about signage amendments; Mr. Burke said that will be more difficult in the time remaining before Town Meeting. He said a by-law would have to meet the needs of the business people, but also be acceptable to the voters at Town Meeting. Mr. Burke said the board has a large package of zoning amendments, and suggested the members think about which items are most important for Annual Town Meeting. Mr. French suggested downtown parking and signage changes could be done in the context of the existing by-law. Mr. Penney noted the proposed Bl/B2 amendment makes rowhouse/townhouse a special permit use. The board discussed whether to amend that to require the entrance to be on the main street or to simply not allow rowhouse/townhouse in B l/B2. Mr. Cleary said he would rather see it as a special permit, since the use already exists. Mr. Cleary asked about counting on-street public parking spaces for business uses. Mr. Burke said the board proposed that at one point, but it did not go to Town Meeting. Ms. Ashman- Collins said the reason to reduce parking requirements downtown is because there are a lot of residents who walk to downtown businesses, and there is available on-street parking for those who drive. Mr. French noted B1 does not allow two-family residential, but does allow multiple residence. He noted the board recently saw an application for a two-family structure, which was not allowed in the zone, so the applicant submitted a three-family. He asked if two-family uses should be allowed; Mr. Burke said he does not think they should be. Mr. Cleary asked if residential uses should be special permit uses in the B1 and B2 zones. Mr. Burke said they probably could be, but asked members to think about whether they would want to hold special permit hearings for every residential use in a business zone. Ms. Ashman-Collins said when a residential use is attached to a business use downtown, it makes sense. Mr. Feck said he was concerned approving residential uses as special permits may set a precedent and make it difficult 1/28/2013 to deny similar projects later. Mr. French said the board looks at all special permits on a case- by-case basis. Consensus was to make single-family, two-fam' two-family, and rowhouse/townhouse special permit uses. Mr. Todd, True Value Hardware, said signage is a major issue for downtown businesses. Consensus was to work on the downtown specific by-law after Annual Town Y Meeting. Mr. Burke said he and the building inspector would be attending the Downtown Business Association meeting on February 6. Mr. Burke said downtown businesses are allowed a certain amount off-site signage now, as well as signage on the back of their buildings. He said some of the downtown business owner's questions, like temporary banners and directory and directional signs, have to go through the Board of Selectmen. Ms. Collins noted the business directory sign in East Mansfield is on town- owned land, but is maintained by East Mansfield businesses. Mr. French asked if there is any money left from the Mansfield Crossing gift for downtown signage. Mr. Burke said there is around $3,900 left in that account; money has been used from the account to pay for downtown banners and to pay Dr. Mullin. Mr. French there are two signage issues: the first is signs that are outside zoning, like directional or directory signs, which have to go through the Board of Selectmen; and the second is signs that come under the Zoning By-Law and General By-Law. Mr. French said he doesn't have a problem with sandwich signs, but understands the concerns about them being in the way of pedestrians. Mrs. Todd suggested the by-law restrict the size signs. Mr. French said they would have to be small enough to avoid people tripping on them, but large enough to be seen. The board discussed restricting signs outside to business hours, requiring them to be made of a substance to withstand wind, and to be put out only after the sidewalk is cleared. The board also discussed limiting them to North Main Street/Old Colony Way, not the entire B1/B2 zones. Mr. Burke noted the General By-Law does not currently allow sandwich signs, so it would have to be amended as well. Neil Rhine, Mansfield Beautification Committee, said he would like to see more perpendicular signage, which would be easier for drivers to see. Ms. Ashman-Collins suggested hand-written chalkboard signs. She said the width of the North Main Street sidewalk is variable, so there may be places where sandwich signs will work and 1/28/2013 II others where they will not. She said she wants to ensure the ADA requirements are met and access is not restricted. Mr. Rhein said Keep Mansfield Beautiful is working on a landscaping plan for the small parcel in front of the Winthrop Street parking lot; he said that would be a good place for a directional sign to direct drivers to downtown Mansfield. Ms. Walker said she has applied for highway signage on Routes 95, 495 and 24 for the doll museum and suggested there might be room on the sign for other historical attractions. She said she has also applied to the Mass Cultural Council for tourism grants for a Cultural District. Mr. French suggested the board write to Mansfield's congressmen asking them to support the highway sign and designation as a cultural district. Mr. Burke said the TOD zoning includes live/work space, artist lofts and performance space; he said one idea was to get together with MMAS to create the cultural district. The board discussed the types of signage allowed downtown; animated or neon signs are not allowed. Mr. Penney said the idea of a directional sign on the Winthrop Street lot is good and asked how it would be funded. Mr. Rhien said they have some money in their budget for this type of project and apply annually for grants from Keep America Beautiful. He said he has approached local landscapers about donating their services, and said it would be in the town's best interest to contribute as well. Mr. Penney asked if the money left in the Mansfield Crossing account could be put toward that; Mr. Burke said he thinks it could be. Mr. Jodice suggested having downtown businesses sponsor the work. Mr. Rhine said whatever is planted will have to be maintained. Mr. Burke suggested sending the Town Manager a letter supporting the use of the remaining $3,900 for the Winthrop Street work after the preliminary design is done; Mr. Rhine will come back to the board at that time. Mr. Burke said the January 23 meeting will include a Zone II charrette with Woodard& Curran. �tF".4 g+1,A $t w* III&'! a ,rAP 1tu5 ♦} r• 71-421a, Mr. Burke distributed a revised draft site plan approval by-law, which includes aesthetics but does not include traffic counts. Mr. Burke said if the project is large enough, traffic counts would be required under MEPA review. Mr. Jodice said he was originally opposed to this proposal, but he is now in favor of it; however, he said he would not want to make developers incur any additional costs for things like drainage. Mr. Burke said that is required under site plan review now, so it would not be an additional cost. Mr. Feck asked if the board would be able to disagree with the town engineer's approval of the drainage system because of its appearance. Mr. Penney said the board approves the drainage based on the town engineer's review. Mr. French suggested changing the draft to have the "drainage system approved by the town 1/28/2013 engineer." Mr. Jodice said he thinks the arguments against this at Town Meeting were based on concerns about additional costs and the idea it was too subjective. Mr. Feck said he would rather change the allowed uses in the by-law than change site plan review to site plan approval. Ms. Ashman-Collins said site plan approval would allow the board to listen to the proposal, take public comment and work with the applicant to improve the project. Mr. Feck said he thinks site plan approval will take more time, both for the applicant and for the board. Mr. French said there would still be staff-level meetings prior to Planning Board meetings. Mr. Jodice said the building inspector has site plan approval now, but even he has limited authority to enforce the regulations. [Mr. Penney left the meeting at this time] 7. Public;Comment 8, Around the Table Mr. Jodice said the Copeland Drive underpass is overgrown and it is difficult for west-bound drivers to see the traffic light; Mr. Burke said that is state-owned property, but the town can trim the branches that overhang the public way. Mr. Burke told the board about a local affordable condominium unit being sold on North Main Street. The unit was one of the town's earliest affordable units created under the local Inclusionary Housing By-Law. Mr. Burke stated he was not very experienced with the requirements for usual terms or length of affordability. The Planning Board agreed that amending the deed was the best approach to the resale of the affordable unit and acknowledged the flexibility allowed by the by-law. The unit's deed requires it to be affordable "in perpetuity," but usually an agency like HUD only allows 15 or 20-year affordability. The by-law does not require "in perpetuity,"but Mr. Burke said as a result, during the upcoming sale of this property, the deed will be modified to change the period of affordability to 20 years. Mr. Burke said he has spoken with DHCD about new compact housing regulations, which would be a scaled-down 40B-type development linked to the MassWorks grant program. He said adopting the compact housing regulations could give the town points toward a MassWorks infrastructure grant, which it may want to do for TOD. Mr. French said he attended a meeting of the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee. Walter Wilk, Finance Committee, has asked the municipal and school sides to come up with five-year plans and Finance Committee will work with them to get funds. However, Mr. Wilk is concerned the only way to fund everyone's needs is either through new revenue or a Prop. 2 '/2 override. Mr. French said new revenue would come through the board's proposed zoning changes, which will bring increased value to the business park and other areas of town. He said one of the things that came out of the Strategic Plan meeting was the need to get the word out; he and Mr. Wilk are planning to tape a segment on Mansfield cable. Ms. Ashman-Collins said the town has lost a lot of commercial and industrial land to residential use; Mr. Burke said that goes 1/28/2013 back to allowing mixed-use in the B3 zone, which would result in the loss of more commercial land. Mr. Burke said the Strategic Plan meeting was very useful, and Mr. Wilk brings a great perspective. He said Mr. Wilk told the group the Finance Committee sees itself as financial managers rather than auditors; rather than telling the town and schools what to do, it will work with them to achieve their goals. Mr. French said he talked with Mr. Wilk about the board's zoning proposals, which Mr. Wilk said would be key to increasing revenue for the town. Mr. French said the changes will help the town set up a framework for development to happen, especially since the economy is improving. Mr. Burke agreed and said he has several meetings in the next few weeks with residential and commercial developers. Mr. Jodice suggested value could be added to properties along Route 106 through rezoning at the same time train station access issues are addressed. Mr. Cleary asked if any of the changes would have an impact in the next five years. Mr. Jodice said it would take a couple of years for the assessments to go up. Mr. French said he thinks the sewer issue is big for a lot of businesses. Mr. Burke said he thinks businesspeople are beginning to invest more and are spending more time designing the right plans. He said the town is in a good position for development and in a good location to attract businesses. He said he hopes Annual Town Meeting will support the board's zoning proposals, especially TOD, which would help to open up around 47 acres of underutilized land near the train station, not including the Hatheway-Patterson site. 9 Adjourpnent Motion: To adjourn at 10:15 p.m. (Ashman-Collins-Oreste) All in favor. PASSES Next Planning Board meeting: January 23, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. 7 p )C '. 1' f !^-' h/1 i '(„' J ” //1 Signature of Clerk Date of Approval 1/28/2013