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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of planning brd 03/10/05 r- ro, '! "I f.. I V r t"f'; ~>. (} F FIe E Il.l\f_iIlg~edtoorcJer.t 7:00p.m. Planning Board Minutes Mareh 10,2005 051"lhR 25 !Jj 10: It~ Present: Tom French, Chairman; Fred Armstrong, Clerk; Waher Jenk~,f~nTQ~ John DeMassi, Douglas Annino, Frank Holmes . lj''';'(~~i( H:'LD MASSACHUSETTS I I 1..2..Co..respond~nce 1. Special Permit to be signed - Cingular Wireless - 241 Francis Avenue Motion: To sign the special permit (Torman-Armstrong) All in favor. PASSES '. ,,- .Jl_ri~ conlinued - " . l)evelo IQIItStreetJJlo..te 140IIi~ute "'5 Lou Masiello, WS Development, explained the proposed redesign of the SchooJ/Spring!Willow Street intersection, following his discussion with John Sullivan. Mr. Masiello introduced Jason Plourde, Greenman-Pedersen. Mr. Plourde explained the most significant change to the plan is an attempt to "square off" Willow Street. He explained the tighter radii would slow traffic coming off School Street and give the traffic coming off Willow Street better sight distance. ~ Dr. Torman asked if this would involve land taking; Mr. Plourde said it would not and would be within the existing right-of-way. He explained they propose to pull the road more north and tighten the radius to avoid the wide sweeping turn from School onto Willow/Spring. Mr. Plourde said trucks would be ableto make the new turn without crossing the center line. Mr. Annino asked what would happen to the island at that intersection; Mr. Plourde said it could be whatever the town would like, and said he wouldn't want to use only striping. Mr. Plourde said he had driven around town with Officer Lawson, who indicated there is a sight distance issue at that intersection. His suggestion was to make it one lane from Spring Street onto School Street. Mr. Plourde said the wait time at that intersection will be improved with the improvements to the School StreetIRoute140 intersection. Mr. Jenkins noted the island at the intersection is dedicated to a Mansfield veteran and should be maintained in some way. Mr. Masiello said they will respect that. ,/John Shevlin, Pare Engineering, said he has worked with Mr. Bloomer on the traffic , review. He said he concurs that this proposal would help with the traffic flow and safety issues at the SchooJ/Willow/Spring Street intersection. He said because of the sight distance issue, one lane from Spring Street onto School Street would be safer. ~ Dr. Torman asked how the changes at Route 140/School Street would help the queuing at the SchoollWillow/Spring intersection. Mr. Plourde said they would be providing a double left turn lane going north on Route 140 into the site. By increasing the pavement ~ at the intersection, there will be more lanes, and therefore less wait time for the westbound approach. Dr. Torman asked whether those improvements would help at all, considering the increase in traffic because of the mall; Mr. Plourde said the proposed improvements will help, even with the additional traffic. Mr. Masiello explained the traffic projections, without the shopping center and without the proposed improvements, showed traffic would back up far enough at a red light at Route 140/School Street to block the driveway at the day care center. He said their design, including the shopping center traffic, would shorten that line because there would be more lanes to process traffic. Mr. French asked if there had been any changes to the site plans. Mr. Masiello said there have been and distributed the plans, noting they are intended as an early submission for the next meeting. Mr. Masiello explained the last plan had included 435,000 square feet ofretail~ hotel and restaurant space, and the newly revised plan is similar, with two important differences. He said he has found there were too many larger stores on the plan, and knowing that isn't what the board wants, they have replaced those stores with much smaller speciahy retailers of around 2,000 square feet each, primarily along the School Street side of the site. The larger stores are shown at the back of the site. r- Mr. Masiello explained the second important change is that the hotel lias been removed from the plan and the White farmhouse is being saved and kept on site. He said they have met with the Chamber of Commerce to discuss their project's connection to the community, and especially to the downtown area, and would like to relocate the home to the area where the hotel was formerly shown and allow the Chamber to use it as a permanent home. Mr. Masiello noted the board had sent the ZBA a negative recommendation on the variance for the setbacks at the hotel location, and this new plan would leave that setback intact. There would be a parking lot for the Chamber building with some surplus parking that could be used for the rest ofthe site. Mr. Masiello added that the stormwater treatment facilities would be expanded in that area after discussions with the Town Engineer. Mr. Masiello said the new plan is about 400,000 square feet, which includes the house and the Kohl's meZ7Jlnine. None of the traffic mitigation has been changed, so the improvements are still being designed for 450,000 square feet of retail development. 1)1ere will be the same number of restaurants as on the previous plan. Mr. French asked about the ZBA schedule; Mr. Masiello said he bas met once with that board since the last Planning Board meeting, but no decisions have been made. He said they are returning to the ZBA on March 15. ~ Mr. Masiello said the Chamber of Commerce has indicated it would like to have an identity on the highway, and said he would leave it up to the board to decide whether to r' allow the creation of a visual corridor along the highway by allowing more clearing along the buffer. He said that would require relief, so he has not withdrawn the original application for relief from the landscape buffer. Mr. Masiello said they last met with the Conservation Commission in January. That board has voted to solicit a wetlands-related peer review and is waiting for that before holding the next meeting. He said they have a meeting scheduled on March 28, but doubts it will go forward because the peer review will not be done. Mr. French asked about MassHighway; Mr. Masiello said he has had no word, but has seen-letters to and from Congressman Frank's office regarding Route 140 access. Mr. DeMassi asked if there is more square footage at the School StreetIRoute 140 side of the site than before; Mr. Masiello said there are about 10,000 additional square feet there. Mr. Armstrong asked how that would affect the parking in that area. Mr. Masiello explained the area with the smaller buildings (one restaurant and one small retail space) has a very large parking area, and the pads across the driveway include two very small restaurants. He said they could make the 4.5 parking ratio work on both sides of the driveway, but would have to shift about 50 spaces to the side with the restaurant and small store, which he said would resuh in too much parking on that side. ~ Mr. Jenkins asked about the parking distribution for the new area. Mr. Masiello said he could accept conditions limiting the sizes of each area of the site, with maximum square footage or maximum restaurant square footage, or to limit the square footage of each use in each area. Mr. Jenkins asked about the possible tenant for the building closest to School Street, saying he was concerned about what would be seen from School Street. Mr. Masiello said he didn't know what tenant that would be, but said he was aware of the board's concerns about visibility. Mr. Annino said the relocation of the farmhouse should set the tone for the development; Mr. Masiello said they have tried to reflect that tone with their designs for the stores and are willing to be flexible with their design. Mr. Annino said the frontage of the large buildings would have to be broken down. Mr. Masiello said they don't believe the farmhouse's porch will survive the relocation, but said he would like to save the columns and replicate the porch. He said the Chamber pJans to retrofit the house. Mr. Annino asked that the buildings be lettered on the plan for easier identification. Mr. Masiello said he would do that. r- Mr. Jenkins said Mr. Masiello said the farmhouse could be a unique feature for the site, but was concerned about its location at the back of the site. He asked about the pIan to follow through with the theme for the rest of the site. Mr. Masiello said he had originally ~ envisioned the boulevard area around the pond as being the major feature; he said that is still a significant area ofthe plan. Mr. Jenkins suggested features like benches and gazebos into that area to tie the site together. Mr. Masiello said he understood and would provide the board with some details. Mr. DeMassi asked about the restaurant at the top of the site, nearest the long strip of stores. Mr. Masiello said he envisions the entrance to that restaurant being closest to the pond with the service area behind the restaurant, closest to the long strip. Mr. DeMassi asked about moving the building back on that pad and eliminating the parking closest to the loading dock; Mr. Masiello said he would look at that as an alternative and provide a sketch at the next meeting. Mr. DeMassi asked about the small single building at the School Street side, near the entrance; Mr. Masiello said that had originally been a restaurant, but is not now. He said it could be a small bank or service oriented business. Mr. DeMassi asked if the plan has changed enough for the board to reconsider the recommendation it sent to the ZBA on the parking variance. Mr. French said the 4.5 ratio has not changed; Mr. Masiello said he still intends to meet the recommendation. .-.. Mr. Armstrong said he was still concerned about parking at the School Street side of the site. Mr. Masiello said the entire area (both sides ofthe entrance driveway) parks at 4.5, but the side with more retail square footage is slightly underparked. He said he believes if that were parked at 4.5, they would be overparking the retail side and underparking the restaurant side. Mr. Lizotte said the number of parking spaces hasn't changed significantly; Mr. Armstrong noted the retail space has increased by 10,000 square feet. Mr. Armstrong asked if a larger number of smaller shops uses more parking than fewer larger shops; Mr. Masiello said he didn't believe so. Mr. Lizotte said he thought the ratio on the retail side is over 4.0. Mr. Holmes said there are two restaurants shown on the side of the driveway with small retail spaces and asked about the parking required. Mr. Masiello said there are 120 spaces on the restaurant/small retail side and 510 on the other side. Mr. Holmes asked about a drive-through if a bank is used; Mr. Masiello said the drive- through could be rotated to avoid queues that close to the intersection. Public Comment ~n Grimes, 10 Sean Drive, asked about a convenience or liquor store, which would ,'lproduce more traffic. Mr. Masiello said they are not proposing either of those types of Stores. .-.. Mr. Grimes asked about other locations for moving the house; Mr. Masiello said he had looked at a triangle ofland on the corner ofSchool/Route 140, but found that is owned by the Commonwealth. He said they didn't want the Chamber building to become ~ integrated with the shopping center. He said there are some areas near the pond, which are not wetlands, but they are trying to use them as stormwater areas. Mr. Armstrong asked if the Chamber is on board with the location; Mr. Masiello said the Chamber supPOrts the idea, but is looking at the details. He said he thought it would probably happen. Mr. DeMassi asked if the house could be moved to the front of the site for more visibility. Mr. Masiello said it could be, but some parking spaces would be lost. ~ Jay Barrows, 370 Pratt Street, representing the Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber is supportive of the idea of having a permanent home, which he said is more important than having visibility on the highway. He said the new plan would allow adequate parking and accessibility, and would also allow space for community activities. He said the building would need some work, but will suit the Chamber's Space needs. Mr. Annino suggested moving the house to the front of the site would make more sense and would provide a more attractive entrance to the shopping center. Mr. Jenkins suggested the house could become more than the Chamber offices, and could serve as community space to be shared by different organizations. Mr. Barrows said the Chamber offices and meeting rooms would be open to community organizations. Mr. Masiello said he likes the separation between the Chamber and retail functions; he said he doesn't want to try to force the house into the midst of a retail shopping center. Mr. Annino said he didn't think it would work in the proposed location and would look like an afterthought. Jim Polumba, 155 School Street, asked if the house could be moved to the area where future parking had been previously discussed. Mr. Masiello said the parking distribution plan shows that land as future reserve parking. He said it is feasible, but there are SOme wetlands there that would require additional wetland permitting. Ed Tartufo, 9 Brookside Road, representing the Chamber of Commerce, said they are thrilled with the opportunity to move into the White house. He said he was confident their customers would find the Chamber and this would give them the chance to expand their services. Leonard Flynn, 102 Jewell Street, showed the board a map published by the Commonwealth showing conservation and bio-diversity sites in the area He commended the applicant for the improvements made to the plans. Mr. Flynn said he has spoken with Mr. Sullivan about the storm water drainage and is concerned that it would run across and onto abutting conservation land. Mr. Flynn said the town should persist in working on getting Route 140 access to this site. He said MassHighway will be responsive if the developer, town and elected representatives are persistent. Mr. Flynn said he would be <,'opposed to clearing the landscaped buffer to gain visual recognition for the Chamber of . eommerce building. .- Mr. Jenkins asked where the water goes now; Mr. Flynn said it goes into the highway drainage system, which was designed for the development there at the time of construction. He said the rate offlow cannot increase off this site, but it can flow for a longer period of time, which may affect the conservation land. r- David McCarter, 152 Dean Street, asked if a condition of the special permit can be direct access from Route 140. Mr. French said there are several variables, including ZBA and Conservation Commission permits, that would effect the final special permit decision. Mr. Holmes asked about the right in, right out option. Mr. Masiello explained one of the options he proposed to MassHighway was to continue a V-turn at School Street so there would be no break, with a right in, right out, in the Northbound Route 140 median. Mr. Holmes asked about an analysis of eastbound traffic on School Street and the assumption that 100.10 of the trips come from West Mansfield. Mr. Masiello said they had discussed that the secondary driveway is not included in the calculations, and noted there had been a discussion at the last meeting about the secondary driveway acting as a "safety valve" in the event traffic backed up that fur. Mr. Holmes said he thought the board had asked for a sensitivity analysis for that intersection, especially since the secondary access only has one lane. Mr. Masiello explained the new signal has been designed to act as though the main drive is the only access. .- Mr. Plourde said the traffic numbers were based on 450,000 square feet, and now the site is 400,000 square feet. He said their numbers are a worst case scenario, and noted Pare has agreed with their numbers. Mr. Holmes noted the 95th percentile numbers would be exceeded during the holidays; Mr. Masiello said the traffic engineers had discussed that and feh the end result would be that the vehicles would fit in the lanes provided. Mr. DeMassi noted School Street is one of two major routes to get to Route 140 or to the center of town, and this will create a lot more traffic. He said he likes the second entrance, but is concerned a lot more than 10% of the traffic will come from West Mansfield and that could create problems. Mr. Masiello said they would return to the next meeting with a concise report on that area Discussion of Community Impacts Mr. Masiello explained he is familiar with the Mullin Report, which gives public review agencies a series of financial models through which to run a proposed development project, resuhing in a tabulation of income generated and expense incurred. He said he has run his project through the Mullin Report and arrived at numbers for real estate tax, property tax and miscellaneous fee revenue, cost of town services and net revenue to the town. Mr. Masiello presented the following estimated numbers: Real Estate Tax Revenue based on Assessor's estimate: $550.000 / Real Estate Tax ~evenue based on Mullin Report: $550,894. Mr. Masiello said this would be the largest "fsingle property tax bill in town. Personal Property Tax Revenue based on Assessor's estimate: $82,500 / Personal Property Tax Revenue based on Mullin Report: $78,600 -- Town Services and Costs: --- Taxes and Usage Fees paid by project for governmental services based on Mullin Report: $475,000 Costs Incurred by Town for Providing Services: $350,000 Net Positive Service Revenue - $125,000 Infrastructure Improvements Transportation Improvements - $1,800,000 Utility Improvements - $1,000,000 New Employment Estimated 1,200 new permanent jobs Estimated 400 construction phase jobs Mr. Masiello said retail jobs hit a portion of the labor force that might not otherwise have that opportunity to work. Mr. Annino asked what percentage would be from Mansfield; Mr. Masiello said the construction phase jobs would be more regional. He said he thought the employees in the shopping center would be heavily drawn from Mansfield residents. Mr. Annino asked for a breakdownofthe retail employment numbers. ~ Maintenance Expenditures Estimated $650,000 for site related work (snow, lighting and pavement repair, landscaping maintenance). Mr. Masiello said this work will come very heavily from the local market, so that money will go directly into the local economy. Mr. DeMassi asked if Mr. Masiello would be amenable to a condition in the special permit requiring those vendors come from Mansfield; Mr. Masiello said he would not, but said his experience has been that he has been successful with local vendors. He said he would provide lists of vendors from some of their other centers. Based on the previous numbers, Mr. Masiello said the total Net Revenue to Mansfield would be an estimated $732,500. Mr. Jenkins asked how much electricity 400,000 square feet would use; Mr. Masiello said he didn't know, but said he has spoken with the Mansfield Electric Department. Mr. Masiello said in addition to the economic issues, the preservation of the White farmhouse is an important part of the community benefits package. Mr. Masiello said this project will capitalize on the land, at a highway location, to supplement the community's budget with tax revenue and would creates a sense of bJl1ance between the residential and industrial tax bases in the community. He said the ,,'Master Plan and Zoning By-Law encourage this use at this location. He noted that the cOnservation land Mr. Flynn mentioned earlier is on either side of both Route 140 and Route 495. He said he understands the importance of Route 140 access and is trying to worked with the town and MassHighway to get an answer. .-.. ~ Board Comment Mr. Annino said the Emerald Square Mall is now seeking t8x abatements in North Attleboro, and said he was very concerned that might happen here in the future. Mr. Masiello said he understood the concern and asked the board to look at his firm's reputation. Mr. Annino said he was concerned about the cost ofless tangible things like increased police, crime and ambulance runs. Mr. Masiello said the Mullin Report includes those items, so they are included in the numbers he presented earlier. Mr. Ann.ino asked about the downtown area. Mr. Ml:!siello said he has spoken with the Chamber and town manager about that and believes the downtown has become something other than a retail destination, with more specialized service businesses. Because of that, he said he doesn't see this project as being a competitor to downtown. He said it is important to have an informational link for those using Mansfield's travel corridors to give the town's businesses visibility. Mr. Annino said the board has been working on revitalizing downtown, and this project may make it increasingly difficult to attract new businesses to that area. Mr. Masiello' said downtown has become a more service-oriented business area, so there should not be a fear ofhis development. r Mr. DeMassi asked what type of business would go into the smaller stores shown on the new plan. Mr. Masiello said he envisions things like small ice cream shops, Yankee Candle, card or gift stores or small shoe stores. He said communities in which he has done other projects still have thriving downtown areas. Mr. Annino said he thought the smaller stores would create more direct competition with downtown businesses. Mr. Armstrong agreed, and suggested some mitigation would be appropriate to help with that. Mr. Masiello said he had spoken with Mr. Burke and Mr. D' Agostino about the ~ade improvement program, and said he would be willing to provide seed money for the downtown initiative, with the town in control of how that would be spent. Mr. Masiello said he had also discussed downtown signage near their site. Mr. Annino said he would rather see a partnership or alliance and suggested Mr. Masiello market his site together with downtown and perhaps channel some businesses into downtown storefronts. Mr. Masiello suggested if the downtown group develops marketing material, he could provide it to businesses that may not fit into his development. Mr. Annino said the hard part would be to get the downtown businesses to market themselves. Jay Barrows said the storefronts downtown are very small and are primarily service-oriented. He said the access issues in the downtown area are the biggest problems. Mr. Jenkins said he was also concerned about downtown, but said it has become more of ,j a service-oriented area. Mr. Annino said the board should judge the project on what it can bring to the town, not how much money the developer offers in the community benefits package. ~ Mr. Masiello said he would be willing to share businesses with the downtown area if they don't fit into the shopping center but might fit into downtown. ~ Mr. Annino suggested other things Mr. Masiello could do for the downtown businessmen, such as educating them about things like advertising and marketing. Public Comment Karl Clemmey, 390 West Street, said it is important for the board to look carefully at what is coming into town and to consider what is best for the town's future. Mr. Jenkins said the other side of School Street has to be carefully considered regarding access and turning movements. Mr. Masiello said he would address that at the next meeting. Mr. French encouraged Mr. Masiello to get together with Mr. Burke regarding the community impacts. He said he appreciates Mr. Masiello's offer to assist with downtown revitalization. ~ Mr. Masiello said he thinks ifMassHighway is to approve this, it won't happen quickly. He said he would be willing to accept a condition that they continue to use good faith efforts to get the access and build it if it is approved. He said he would commit to funding the full Route 140 access ifMassHighway allows it, and noted they have planned for that ~ssibility in their design. He said he would bring in a sketch of what that entrance would look like. Mr. Grimes asked if Mr. Masiello would be willing to put some money in escrow for that construction. Mr. Masiello said he would prefer not to do that because it would tie up capital for an unknown period of time. Mr. Flynn asked about the land at the upper left portion of the plan, which does not show development. Mr. Masiello said there is some state-owned land and some privately owned land they are purchasing as frontage for the School Street widening. He said the rest of the land is being left undeveloped or will be used for wetland replication. Motion: To continue the public hearing to April 13, 2005 at 7:00 p.rn. (DeMassi-Armstrong) All in favor. PASSES li~9.i'~~I?~~..~#~ , . Motion: To adjourn at 10:20 p.rn. (Torman-Ho1mes) All in favor. PASSES /Next meeting: March 23, 2005 at 7:00 p.rn. ~ 4:r~b~ Signature of Clerk J /21 /OJ- Date of Approval