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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGBRD_040313Planning Board Minutes April 3 2013 Present: Tom French, Chair, Michael McClanahan, Donald Cleary, Ralph Penney; Chetyl . € j F E C E Collins Alternates: Michael Feck Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development; Jennifer Crotty Davis, Adin"strative Secretary Motion: To appoint Ms. Collins PASSES 1. March 27, 2013 minutes Site Plan Approval - Mr. Penney noted the motion to close the public hearing should be before Mr. Burke's comments about town counsel's review of the board's zoning articles. Mr. Penney asked why the draft medical marijuana by -law locates dispensaries in the business park rather than someplace like the B3 zone, which already has pharmacies. Mr. Burke said the by -law was modeled on the adult entertainment by -law and placed in the same area; he said the business park is only a destination for people who work there, and there is little drive - by traffic or businesses like gas stations or fast food. Mr. Penney said the medical marijuana dispensaries could be considered to be pharmacy -type uses. He said the Department of Public Health's draft guidelines indicate dispensaries will be limited to five in each county. Mr. Burke said the draft guidelines do not discuss how the dispensaries will be located; he said it is unclear whether the guidelines will allow cities and towns, or DPH, to decide how the dispensaries will be sited. He said DPH is planning a series of public hearings in April. Mr. Penney asked if a letter was sent to the Board of Selectmen regarding the Fales Oil site; Mr. Burke said it was. Mr. Penney asked for the board's request to be added to the minutes. Mr. Burke said he has spoken with Mr. Ross, who said he is keeping money in the budget to take down the Fales building. Mr. Penney said he hopes other board members will volunteer to present zoning articles at Town Meeting. Ms. Collins volunteered to present the sign by -laws. [Mr. Cleary arrived at this time.] Motion: To approve as amended (McClanahan -Feck) All in favor. PASSES f, Mr. Burke said he has spoken with Mi•. Ross about adding a medical marijuana by -law to the Special Town Meeting warrant; Mr. Ross told him there will be no Special within the Annual Town Meeting warrant. 3. Public Hearing notices — Easton, North Attleboro 4. The Beacon March 29, 2013 letter from Richard Rondeau, Chief, Drinking Water Program, Department of Environmental Protection re: Approved East Mansfield Zone II redelineation 4/3/2013 Mr. French said the warrant has been signed and posted, and the Planning Board's zoning articles are on after the budget. Mr. Karl Clemmey said his zoning articles are the last on the warrant, which is not fair. He asked if the board had anything to do with the order of articles. Mr. Burke said it does not, and the warrant is put together by the Town Manager's office. Mr. Clemmey said all the zoning articles should be together. Leonard Flynn, 102 Jewell Street, asked to discuss his reappointment as the Planning Board's representative to SPREDD. Motion: To reappoint Mr. Flynn as the Planning Board's representative (Cleary- Collins) All in favor. PASSES 3. Form A (ANR )PlaMs 4.. - Public Hearing.- PIanningBoard Zoning By -Law Amendments The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Planned Business District /Cabot Business Park Mr. Burke explained the location of the Planned Business District, which is basically the Cabot Business Park. He said the intent of the by -law is to increase allowed density and height, to reduce required parking and to encourage green building techniques. Mr. Burke said the board worked with Dr. John Mullin in 2011 and 2012 to identify the highest priorities for use and reuse in town; the number one priority that came out of that process was the Cabot Business Park. He said one way to add value is through zoning changes and to allow high -value uses like Biotechnology and Research and Development. Public Comment Mr. William Clemmey asked if the Linkage special permit paragraph is being replaced; Mr. Burke said it is not; the proposal is to add a new paragraph. Mr. Burke said the uses and density bonuses will not be applicable to properties in the Reservoir District. Mr. Karl Clemmey said the increase in allowed height is a good idea. Mr. Flynn asked if there is a standard for a roof garden. Mr. Burke said that would be up to the landscape architect and be reviewed by the building inspector, and would depend on what the structure would support. He said the project would still have to go through site plan. Mr. Flynn said there should be a definition; Mr. Burke said that would be up to the applicant. 4/3/2013 Mr. Flynn asked if 35% open space is still required with this proposal; Mr. Burke said it is. Mr. Flynn asked if FAR includes parking areas; Mr. Burke FAR is only the building. Mr. Flynn said increasing the height of the building is a great idea to attract business. Mr. Flynn asked if there is a definition of "green buildings." Mr. Burke said it is in the Green Communities Act and is a part of LEED Certification. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan - Penney) All in favor. PASSES Business 1/Business 2 The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. French said the issues in this article came about as a result of the Strategic Plan and is intended to encourage development and redevelopment downtown by reducing the parking requirement for business. Mr. Burke said the intention is to help promote downtown businesses; he said the decrease in parking would result in an increase in retail and restaurant space. He said there has recently been a lot of restaurant activity downtown, so the proposal includes a reduction in parking to one space per eight seats or none if valet parking is provided. Nh•. Penney said he would like to promote restaurants downtown so they could become anchors. He said there is a need for parking downtown, and he thinks the valet parking idea should be done on a trial basis. He said there could be some shared parking with restaurants that operate primarily at night and businesses that operate during the day. Mr. Penney said the board had a discussion at last week's meeting about using the Fales Oil site for parking, at least in the short-term until a decision is made about the use of that site. Mr. Burke said he has spoken with Mr. Ross, who said he has heard from some residents who also want the building removed. It Mr. Penney said the downtown business owners have trouble with enough employee parking. He asked if the Fales site could be designated employee -only parking; Mr. McClanahan said it should be public parking. Mr. Bill Clemmey said downtown parking spaces are mostly two -hour spaces, so employees cannot use them. He said the Board of Selectmen has approved a parking pass program for business owners to get employees stickers for extended parking downtown. 4/3/2013 Mr. Flynn asked if there would be proscribed areas for valet parking. Mr. Penney said that would be up to the restaurant owners. Mr. Flynn said that could be a problem for downtown residents and suggested requiring the restaurants to have an agreement with a property owner prior to allowing it to forgo parking. Mr. Penney said he doesn't think that can be part of the by- law. Mr. Burke said a business would have to petition the Building Inspector for a certificate of occupancy, part of which would be the parking arrangement. Mr. Bill Clemmey said Section 4.4.4.3, Location, adds a statement requiring parking in the rear of the building in the B 1 and B2 districts. He said if someone owns two side -by -side lots and takes down one building, that site could not be used as parking for the remaining building. Mr. Burke noted that is already a requirement in B1 and this amendment only impacts B2. He said in a business district, businesses should be close to the street so people can walk by windows rather than parking lots. Mr. Penney said business owners tend to want parking in the front as a way to attract more business. Mr. Burke said the intent is to create a streetscape at a pedestrian scale. Mr. Clemmey said this amendment would not allow a business to use an abutting lot as its parking lot. Mr. Flynn said the intent is to bring value to downtown as old buildings are replaced with new ones. Mr. Bill Clemmey asked if someone could apply for a variance from the requirement; Mr. Burke said they could because it is a dimensional issue. Public Comment There was no public comment. Board Comment Mr. Cleary asked about the Restaurant and Home Occupation uses in the Airport District; Mr. Burke said those were inadvertently changed in 1989; the error was recently pointed out to him by a member of the Airport Commission and would have to be changed at a subsequent Town Meeting. The pages of the Table of Principal Use Regulations making the correction were incorrectly included in this article and appear in the warrant but were not part of the public hearing notice. Mr. Penney asked if it would help the parking in the rear of the building issue to include "if allowed by a variance." Mr. Burke said he doesn't think that would be necessary because relief could be requested as a dimensional variance. Motion: To close the public hearing (Penney- McClanahan) All in favor. PASSES 4 4/3/2013 Signs - General By -Law The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. French explained this change to the General By -Laws goes along with the Business 1 and 2 changes and came about after discussions with downtown businesspeople, some of whom would like to be able to use sandwich board signs. Mr. Penney said the permit program would be enforced by the building inspector. Public Comment Mr. Flynn said he is not in favor of this type of sign because the sidewalk is narrow in some places downtown. He said sidewalk signs are unattractive and are blocked by cars parked on the road. He said he understands the board is trying to enhance downtown and wants to encourage business, but doesn't think this would help. Mr. Penney said the by -law includes a requirement for a three -foot clear passage around a sign; he said he thinks the program should be tried. The owner of the Happy Hollow frame shop said she has a well -made, attractive sign shaped like an artist's easel, and said this type of sign help attract drivers' attention to downtown businesses. Board Comment Ms. Collins said she doesn't think all the downtown businesses would put up sidewalk signs. She said the business owners have asked for the board's help, so it should be tried. She said it can be reviewed in the future if it becomes a problem. Mr. Burke said town counsel has reviewed the draft and does not believe both General By -Law sections have to be amended. He said the first amendment is the only one necessary. Mr. Cleary asked if the hold harmless agreement is included in the by -law. Mr. Burke said it is not, but would be part of the building permit process. Mr. Cleary asked about removing reference to the Board of Selectmen being the permit granting authority. Mr. Burke said the Board of Selectmen does not issue any of these sign permit and the members of that board have said they do not have a problem with relinquishing the authority. Motion: To close the public hearing (Penney -Feck) All in favor. PASSES Signs — Zoning By -Law The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. 4/3/2013 Mr. French explained this would amend the Zoning By -Law to allow A -Frame signs and back wall signs downtown. Public Comment There was no public comment. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan - Penney) All in favor. PASSES Transit - Oriented Development The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. Burke explained the location of the proposed overlay district and an amendment to the text made after the public meeting to clarify "residential units" in the Live -Work definition. Mr. Burke explained the only revision in the boundaries of the TOD district was to extend the district to the end of Howe Street and follow the zone line rather than property lines. The residential property and a portion of the town -owned land at the end of Howe Street were removed from the overlay district. Mr. Cleary asked if the area shown in yellow on the April 3, 2013 map is supposed to be included in the overlay district; Mr. Burke said he did not intent to include the R3 properties. Mr. French asked if the map was included in the warrant; Mr. Burke said it is not, but is referenced in the text of the article. Mr. Burke said the map date will be revised and the map can be amended at Town Meeting. He said it is his sense that if the map is referenced in the by -law and the revised physical map is at Town Meeting, it will be legitimate. He said the original and the revised maps are both been made available here at the public hearing. Public Comment Mr. Flynn said the governor's budget has been rejected by the Senate and the House and funding for South Coast Rail was eliminated. He said any improvements the town may have been expecting as part of South Coast Rail will likely have been eliminated. He said with no benefit package and the proposed increase in density, there would be no benefit to the town. He said adopting this by -law without any benefit from the state would be a risk. Mr. Burke said the governor proposed a $1 billion budget, and the House and Senate have proposed a $500 million budget, which does not include any South Coast Rail money. He noted that is a proposal at this point. He said possible MassWorks grant funding, which is a "bricks and mortar" grant through DHCD and is not part of the transportation plan, is not off the table. 4/3/2013 Mr. Burke said the proposed density has been reduced significantly from the first time the town talked about TOD with the Cecil Group. He said most of the TOD uses require a special permit and encourages high -end uses. He said with the economy beginning to recover, he would not want to see the area redeveloped with some of the lower -end by -right uses. He said he agrees some of the funding the town might have received from the state under South Coast Rail may not happen now. Mr. Flynn asked if this by -law could be passed contingent upon the secondary access happening. Mr. Burke said he would not encourage Town Meeting to do that. Mr. Karl Clemmey said the Planning Board should postpone this, get more people's opinions about what should go in the district and have a full discussion about it. He said the BI zone across the tracks should not be included in the overlay district. Mr. Clemmey said the location of the access is unknown, so this should not be done before that is determined. Mr. Clemmey said there is an encroachment on the area without the access being known. Mr. Clemmey said he performs a service to the community with parking lots. He said a bridge cannot be built across Route 106. Mr. Clemmey said he has met with developers, and no development is being done in southeastern Massachusetts in the next two or three years. Mr. Clemmey said the neighbors are disturbed about this proposal. Mr. Bill Clemmey said this article has been presented to the board twice in the last few months, and there has not been a thorough review by the board. He said he has gone through it and has five pages of questions. He said the access and traffic are issues; he said there have been no improvements to access and asked how the board can expect a private developer to make sure there is access to meet the requirements of the by -law. He said the RFP should be done first. Mr. Bill Clemmey said he has given this by -law to several developers, who told him the densities are not at a level where building costs could be recouped. He said the proposed FAR would not allow a development that works. He said this would add 135,000 square feet of retail space, which he said would be difficult to fill. He said there is a lot of empty spaces downtown now. Mr. Bill Clemmey said the article would allow a residential FAR of .50 and mixed use FAR of 2.0; he said on a one -acre lot, a 2.0 FAR would allow 80,000 square feet. However, he said that cannot be done under this by -law because it is limited to 15 residential units per acre. He said with 1,200 square foot apartments, that would only allow 18,000 square feet of residential with 4/3/2013 18,000 square feet of retail on the first floor. He said the numbers don't work because of the amount of retail that would be required. Mr. Bill Clemmey said the B 1 zone currently allows more to be built by right than this by -law would allow. He said the overlay map is flawed. Mr. Bill Clemmey said he isn't against the TOD idea, but is against the way it is being done. He said it needs a more thorough review. He said the town should not make zoning changes that cannot be built. He said the proposed densities are half of what is currently allowed in mixed - use developments downtown. Mr. Bill Clemmey said he is excited about getting something done in the area and would like to work with the town, the Planning Board and the residents. Mr. Burke said 15 is the maximum number of residential units allowed per acre under the by- law; he said the commercial density could be higher. Mr. Karl Clemmey said he doesn't want the board to think he is against this. He said he isn't, but thinks the access should be addressed first. He said it is up to the Planning Board to work on the by -law and work with the neighbors. He said he doesn't think the members of the board understand the proposal. Mr. Burke said Town Meeting in 2012 voted $200,000 for the access and design study; $100,000 of that has been earmarked for the RFP. Mr. Penney said the board recognizes there is a traffic problem in the area and is drying to do something to move that forward. Mr. Burke said a lot of the TOD by -law came from the Artist's Workshop, which does a lot of live -work developments. Mr. Burke said the map is not flawed, as Mr. Clemmey said, but has been a progression. He said TOD issues have been discussed with the board and the public since around 2004, including the Cecil Group study in 2006, which had a much higher density than this proposal. The 2008 Master Plan included TOD discussion, and the 2012 Strategic Plan identified TOD as one of the town's top priorities. Mr. Burke said if the board and residents are not comfortable with the by -law, and if the board is not behind it, he would recommend it be withdrawn. Mr. French said the board will vote on what to do about all of its articles prior to Town Meeting. Mr. Burke said whatever decision the board makes should be based on what is best for the entire town. 4/3/2013 A resident asked what the impact would be on house values. Mr. French said it is hard to answer that, and said there are three options for the future — the vacant land that is there now, what could be developed under current zoning, and what could be developed under this by -law. Mr. Flynn said there are a number of industrial uses that could be built there now, but said the potential for something positive is better with this by -law than without it. A resident said the board should get more ideas about what might be beneficial to the town. A resident said traffic is a huge issue in the area. Mr. Burke said the RFP to do the access study includes a public engagement portion, which he said is key. He said it is important to have residents work with the consultant on ideas. Mr. Cleary said the RFP is going to look at the traffic issues, and if that is solved, home values will likely increase. A resident said everyone wants smart growth; he said this is a good opportunity, but people need to work together on the solutions. Public Comment The clerk read a March 26, 2013 letter from Joseph Ditchman, Ostendorf - Morris. Mr. Karl Clemmey said Mr. Ditchman is a renter, not an investor. Mr. Bill Clemmey asked if written comment would be accepted if the public hearing is closed; Mr. French said it could not be. Motion: To continue the public hearing to April 17, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. (McClanahan- Penney) All in favor. PASSES Mr. Bill Clemmey asked if other departments or boards will comment on the board's zoning articles. Mr. French said the Fire Department has commented on the PBD article, and he said he has shared all of the articles with the Strategic planning Committee. 6. Around the Table Mr. Feck said he is glad the board is working on these articles. Ms. Collins said the board has worked very hard on the zoning articles for the greater good of the town. Mr. French suggested the board think about when it will have its final discussions about its own articles and the citizen's petitions. The board discussed doing that either after the citizen's petition public hearings or on May 1. 9 4/3/2013 Mr. Burke said he has met with a developer about a potential 100 -unit assisted care development; the developer is looking at three sites in town. Mr. Burke said he has met with a real estate agent about a potential 12 -bay Firestone service center on School Street. He said the site in question has an intermittent stream, a vernal pool and a curb cut restriction. Mr. McClanahan said he thinks the developer believes he will get access from Route 140, which is unlikely. Mr. Burke said the Commonwealth owns the corner lot, so access through that site would be unlikely. Motion: To adjourn at 10:00 p.m. (Penney- McClanahan) All in favor. PASSES Next Planning Board meeting: April 17, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Signature of Clerk Date of Approval 10 4/3/2013