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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of planning brd 8/25/1999Planning Board Minutes August 25 1999 r FICE S9 SEP -9 All IQ: 25 r I"WILLD Present: H. Thomas French, Jr., Chairman; Marydee Flynn, Clerkt vla i-&61l SETTS Bernard J. Dolan; Scott A. Frank; Thomas P. McShane; and Kenneth H. Torman. Also present was Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development. Meeting called to order at 7:30 p.m. Great Waves Site Plan Review Mr. French presented an overview of the site plan process and how the meeting would be conducted. Richard Samuels, Managing Partner, stated he has been in the water park industry for nineteen years and has had a great amount of input into the design of the Great Waves site. He said the site was selected by him after flying over the Route 495 area and looking for a location in this area. The Mansfield site was selected because of its excellent demographic location and employee pool of young people, as well as the topography of the site, which offers level ground for the pools. William Moore, Engineer with H. W. Moore Associates, presented an overview map of the site showing the water line coming into the facility from Route 140 marked in blue and sewer lines in orange. He then presented a 40 -scale map with the wetlands identified in dark green, noting the site is a worked -out gravel pit. He stated roofs would be discharging into dry wells to recharge the groundwater. Stormwater detention areas were indicated in blue. Light green showed areas that will be left in their natural state, and white areas were the actual project. He noted the project would result in a 10% reduction of outflow in a 10 -year storm event and a 19% reduction of outflow for a 100 -year storm event. David O'Connor, Landscape Architect from the Cecil Group in Boston, noted their plan is the best use of previously disturbed land; the Park will be integrated into the natural landscaping; it presents a minimal impact on the area and abutters. He stated they are preserving the wetlands and tree coverage as much as possible and the Park is laid out so that you can't see the whole area at any one time within the site. Tall structures have been kept away from conservation land and the site is enclosed by a wooden fence. The attractions do not extend above the tree line and they have selected an entirely native plant material palette for low maintenance, reducing the need for irrigation. All trees will be extremely drought tolerant and they will be using wetland species around the edge of all wetlands. They have also provided for Fire Department access and, at the same Meeting of August 25, 1999 time, reduced the amount of pavement. The buildings are wood frame with wood siding. There will be a 30 sq.ft. sign for identification. He noted people would come to the Park as a destination and they are not trying to attract impulse visitors with signs above the tree line. Mr. O'Connor also presented computer - generated views of the Park at the request of Mr. Burke. This presentation showed the view from the northwest comer of the site, from the Route 495 overpass, from Route 140 across the existing parking lot, and from directly across Route 495 looking into the Park. He noted that no structures will exceed 60 feet in height and all views will be filtered through plant materials. Jeff Durke, Project Manager from Vanasse Associates, delivered the traffieand parking segment of the presentation. Vanasse Associates was retained to assist the project development in traffic operations, pedestrian flow, and traffic management for the site. Access to the site is from a driveway on Route 140. It was designed per State standards for access onto a State highway. The driveway has a large corner radii of 30 feet, a 12 foot entrance lane, and two exit lanes of 12 feet each. Concrete sidewalks are provided for pedestrian flow along Route 140. The site driveway is under stop sign control or police officer control at all times. The proponent has committed to police officer control during the day, with stop sign control to be utilized early morning and after closing. There is a separate 10 foot dedicated emergency vehicle access to Great Waves and the Tweeter Center. Mr. Durke addressed three areas: 1. On -site vehicular and pedestrian flow: A carefully managed traffic and parking operations plan provides that when guests enter the site, they are met all along the way by on -site staff and directed to the parking area. Within the parking area, on -site parking staff will direct vehicular traffic into parking spaces and pedestrian movement will be directed to pedestrian aisles, which are separated from vehicle lanes. 2. Parking: Peak summer attendance was presented as 7,000 patrons, with an estimated 780 of these arriving in 26 busses, resulting in 6,220 guests who would arrive in private passenger vehicles. This would result in a net requirement of 1,555 available parking spaces for these vehicles. He stated, however, they don't have the need to provide this number of spaces because there is a tum -over rate of 1.4 times per parking space each day, resulting in the need for only 1,111 spaces. In addition, they are required to provide one parking space for each of the employees on their largest shift, which would bring the number of required spaces to 1,211. They have provided 1,323 spaces for private passenger vehicles and 26 spaces for busses, for a total of 1,349 spaces. 2 Meeting of August 25, 1999 3. Traffic management: They need to be able to manage traffic on Route 140 when there's an event at Tweeter Center. They believe there will be no conflict the majority of time. Mr. Durke stated Great Waves will be closed during evening sell -out events at Tweeter Center and a plan is being developed to deal with any conflicts during other sell -out events. The driveway for Great Waves, which Tweeter Center uses during sell -out events, will still be used by Tweeter Center when needed for sell -out events, with a separate emergency access being maintained at all times. In addition to detail officers hired for Tweeter Center, there will be an additional officer to handle Great Waves traffic. Staff Comments Comments were read from the following: Jack Beliveau, Light Department Director, dated July 16, 1999 Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development, dated July 17, 1999 with addendum dated August 17, 1999 Robert P. Bellavance, Deputy Fire Chief, dated July 28, 1999 Steve Bishop, Acting Water Operations Manager, dated August 4, 1999 Scott Leite, Health Agent, dated August 16, 1999 Consultant Comments Comments were read from the following: Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) dated August 13, 1999, relative to traffic issues Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc., dated August 18, 1999, relative to conformance to the Zoning By -Law Written Comment from the Public David Lee of 18 King Arthur Way — March 29, 1999 John B. Southard, Professor of Geology at MIT, resident of15 Old Elm Street —July 26, 1999 Phoenix Environmental Group of North Pembroke, MA on behalf of Karl Clemmey —July 28, 1999 Phoenix Environmental Group of North Pembroke, MA on behalf of Karl Clemmey — August 12, 1999 Following a brief recess, Mrs. Flynn read into the record a letter from Vanasse & Associates, Inc., dated August 18, 1999, in response to staff comments. Jeff Durke of Vanasse & Associatse followed up with additional comments. Also 3 Meeting of August 25, 1999 read into the record was a letter from Attorney Eugene F. Boyle dated August 15, 1999, regarding parking issues. Mr. French advised them that the Building Inspector would review their parking calculations with respect to conformance to requirements and determine if the number of spaces provided is correct. Mr. Burke noted that is an area which comes under the purview of the Planning Board relative to site plan recommendation. Discussion ensued regarding the comparative need for parking spaces in an event with a defined time versus a situation where there is a constant turnover of parking spaces when people are arriving and leaving throughout the day. Mrs. Flynn asked why the figure of 7,000 was used for peak attendance, when previously 10,500 was given. Mr. Durke noted the 7,000 figure is for Phase I of the project and 10,5000 was for full buildout. '" Dr. Torman noted the figures used for peak attendance are those for Portsmouth and asked what the capacity of the park is. Mr. Samuels said the largest attendance to date has been 10,800 — of which 2,000 were people in attendance for a corporate barbeque. Mr. Durke noted that Water Country is larger than Phase I of Great Waves. Mr. Samuels noted the average attendance is 4,000, pointing out that last Sunday when it was raining there were only 280 people in attendance which greatly affects the calculation of "average" attendance figures. Mr. McShane noted the difference in the number of parking spaces provided and the number calculated by Weston & Sampson to be required. Following discussion and explanation of various methods of calculation, Mr. McShane asked where on the site additional parking would go if it is determined that more is required. Mr. Samuels was unable to provide a definitive answer, to which Mr. Dolan suggested that perhaps they would have to go into their Phase II property to provide the required parking spaces. Ted Morini, senior hydrogeologist from D. L. Maher, responded to the comments of John Southard regarding pump tests. Mr. Morini noted he found the comments to be "scholarly, academic, disingenuous self - serving and inaccurate." In his letter, Professor Southard suggested that the 48 hour pump test done is not sufficient to derive information needed to determine safe yield and adverse impact on nearby wetlands that might occur. Mr. Morini cited what he believed to be various deficiencies in the procedure used by Professor Southard in drawing his conclusions. Mr. Morini also pointed to differing regulations between states that are determined by the amount of water to be pumped. Discussion followed, with Professor Southard stating that pumping time varies from case to case and that all he had done was analyze the numbers presented. He noted he did not address regulations, but only what was happening in a particular well, noting that 48 hour pumping is not a good indication of how much drawdown there would be ( in a particular well and adjacent wetlands. Professor Southard stated he is open- 4 Meeting of August 25, 1999 minded about the results, but believes that more than 48 hours is needed to obtain the necessary information. Mr. French acknowledged the presence at the meeting of the Mansfield Board of Selectmen, Senator Joanne Sprague, and Representative Barbara Hyland. The following residents or their representatives offered questions and comments: David Hammond, 48 Branch Street George Dentino, Gladiola Terrace Forrest Emory on behalf of Karl Clemmey of South Main Street Lou Andrews, 255 Fruit Street and Vice President of Natural Resources Trust (NRT) Joanne Ferrari, 32 Erin Drive Nancy Wall, 31 West Street Edward Carl, 199 Branch Street Jane Sheehan, 600 South Main Street Peter Presentato, 650 South Main Street Christine Flaas, Rumford Avenue John Russo, 16 Ware Street Issues raised were: "amusement" park versus recreational facility adequacy of parking noise and traffic anticipated peak attendance capping the number of tickets sold patrons parking on nearby streets and lots in area and walking into facility if the lot is full adequacy of water impact of pumping from on -site wells on groundwater levels in the area hours of operation Mr. Samuels said they would operate from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The only time they would operate during the evening hours would be if they hold a special event, such as a "chemical -free night' in conjunction with graduation. For such an event they would operate attractions throughout the night. With regard to limiting decibel levels, Mr. Burke explained that the Town does not have a noise by -law; however, decibel level can be addressed through the licensing procedure by the Board of Selectmen. Meeting of August 25, 1999 At 11:00 p.m., with the Planning Board not yet having had the opportunity to ask - questions, Mr. French suggested that consideration be given to continuing the site plan review to another meeting. Motion: To continue the site plan review to next Wednesday, September I", at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor meeting room. (Dolan -Cook) 7 -0 PASSES The applicant was asked to grant an extension of the time to make the recommendation to the Building Inspector. They agreed and Mr. Boyle said he would get it to the Planning Department in writing the next morning. Mr. McShane asked if there was any comment from Lance Lawson. Mr. Burke replied that there were no separate comments, as he had already submitted them as part of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) process. Ptlm. was not present at the staff review. Board members will be provided with a copy of his FEIR comments. Motion: To adjourn at 11:30 p.m. (Torman- Frank) 7 -0 PASSES Sign�iurc of Clerk //? d/ Date of Approval Next Meeting: September 1, 1999 6 Meeting of August 25, 1999