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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGbrd_7242013Planning Board Minutes July 24, 2013 � Present: Tom French, Chair; Beth Ashman- Collins, Clerk; Donald Cleary, Ralph Penney, Clrciy Collins, Richard LeBlanc; Alternates Rod Oreste and Mike Feck "! F ICS' Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development; Jennifer Crotty Davis, Admrnistrati9c D Carretary 1, Ken Petraglia, Vice President and Senior Transportation Engineer, BETA Group, explained they are a multi - disciplinary firm with 120 employees, includng transportation and traffic staff, engineers and environmental scientists. Don Leighton, landscape architect/urban planner, explained he does a lot of outreach and works on grassroots consensus building. Mr. Petraglia said his firm is excited about this project. He said they have walked the site, see the need for this study and thinks BETA can help. Mr. Leighton said they would like to discuss the schedule and the board's expectations, and noted there may be some overlap of work items. He asked the history of the options included in the RFP. Mr. Penney said the issue has been studied several times over the last 20 or 30 years, and some of the options were identified in those studies, and the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen worked on some of the others together. Mr. Burke said SPREDD has done ridership studies and a build -out study on the area. Mr. Leighton said the RFP talks about a long -term planning process; Mr. Penney said the board has to look at things long -term, but said there might also be some short -term solutions. Mr. Petraglia said traffic impacts to residents will be a significant issue; he said there is a nice community in the area, which would be significantly impacted if more traffic is brought through the neighborhood. Mr. French said that has always been one of the board's biggest concerns. Mr. Petraglia said there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the options in the RFP, and said BETA has come up with some others intended to reduce impacts to the residents, one of which could be as simple as closing off the east end of Allen Street. He said another option would be be to maintain Draper Avenue with a secondary roadway for station access and avoid traffic in the residential neighborhood. He said the downside to that would be that it would remove some developable property. Mr. Burke said the board's schedule will be busy in the fall, and the timing of the first public meeting with the consultant will be important. Mr. Penney said the Hatheway - Patterson site has been cleaned up and said it would be good to have a perimeter access road to that property. Mr. Leighton said he would prepare a 3D model of the area and said he would like to do a site walk with all of the participants. Mr. Burke said there will be a public outreach aspect to this project and bringing in the residents, commuters and landowners is important. Mr. Petraglia said he thinks it is important to listen to 7/24/2013 people who spend time in the area, who sometimes see things on site he does not. Mr. Leighton said BETA is working on a visioning plan for Berwick, Maine to redevelop an industrial site, and part of their job is to reflect back what the community is looking for. Mr. Penney said there has been a lot of thought put into Mansfield's train station area, and he hopes BETA will be able to pull it all together. Mr. French suggested moving the process along as quickly as is practical to keep interest and avoid losing momentum. Mr. Leighton suggested the public outreach in mid - September. Mr. Penney noted there are town/MBTA -owned parking lots around the train station, as well as several privately -owned parking lots; he said some of the private owners may have plans to build more parking and suggested BETA look at all of the potential future parking spaces. Mr. Leighton said the efficiency of existing parking areas can sometimes be increased if the property lines between public and private lots are blurred. Mr. French noted the town has looked at TOD and structured parking. Mr. Cleary asked about doing the traffic study during the summer. Mr. Petraglia said there are two options: either to do the traffic study in the summer and factor in fall traffic numbers, or to hold off until mid-September. He said they are looking at other doing other tasks over the summer and the traffic counts in September. Mr. Burke said the results of this study may go to Town Meeting and noted the warrant closes March 1 and there has to be enough time to prepare a presentation. He said even if there are no zoning changes for Town Meeting, the board should at least make a presentation. Mr. LeBlanc said he thinks the third or fourth week of September would be a good time to do the traffic study, but pushing it into October would be too late. Mr. Petraglia said that would be possible, but it may be necessary to push back the study's completion deadline. Mr. Burke suggested talking with Jim Hatfield at SRPEDD about the latest ridership numbers. Mr. Petraglia said he will look at front- loading the schedule so the traffic study can be done in September. Mr. Leighton said the traffic counts are not necessary for the kick -off workshop. Mr. Cleary suggested scheduling the public meetings so the Board of Selectmen can attend if they are interested. Mr. Burke suggested it would be helpful for the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board to hold a workshop to exchange ideas and share information. Mr. Petraglia said he would talk to Mr. Burke about scheduling, possibly the week of August 19. Correspondence 1. June 12, 2013 minutes Motion: To approve as submitted (Feck- Collins) Six in favor. Penney, Oreste abstained. PASSES 2. July 10, 2013 email from Tim Bobola re: donation of $180,450.00 cash to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in lieu of constructing one affordable unit at Lincoln Place subdivision. One lot will be held back from the Form J release from covenant, the developer will pay the 7/24/2013 inclusionary housing fee after the third certificate of occupancy, then the last lot will be released. Mr. Burke said this is the first time a developer has chosen to use the cash option, and the Planning Board has to approve it as an acceptable option. Mr. Burke explained the by -law sets out the formula based on the last three years of housing prices and the HUD affordable house amount. The cash will be put toward affordable housing projects administered by the Housing Trust Fund. Mr. Oreste, the chair of the Housing Trust Fund, said that will be a significant addition to the board's account. Mr. Burke said the developer will write the check to the Town of Mansfield, it will have to be accepted by the Board of Selectmen, then transferred to the Housing Trust Fund. Motion: To acknowledge the receipt of and to approve Mr. Bobola's proposal to donate $180,450.00, as calculated by the Planning Director based on HUD's formula and area comps, to the Town of Mansfield in lieu of building one affordable unit at Lincoln Place (Penney- Aslmian- Collins) Seven in favor. Oreste abstained. PASSES Mr. Penney asked Mr. Oreste to inform the rest of the Housing Partnership of this plan. 3. July 22, 2013 memo from Mr. Burke re: drainage issues at Rolling Fields Village [Mr. Feck excused himself from this discussion.] Mr. French said Mr. Burke and Mr. Alves have done a lot of work on this issue after the groundwater levels were found to be higher than expected. Mr. Burke showed the board a revised plan proposing to raise the roadway by 2 -4 feet; none of the lot layouts change. The approved drainage system is sub - surface and the proposal is to raise the grade by 3 %. The new proposed elevation at the cul -de -sac is five feet above the approved elevation. Mr. Burke has discussed the fill with the site engineer and suggested three feet of fill instead. He said water currently sheet flows to the center of the site, and the new road will catch a lot of that. He said Subdivision Inspector Mike Ahern noticed some flooded areas during large rainstorms in June, at which point staff began looking whether the groundwater level was higher than first thought. The Department of Public Works hired soil scientist Peter Fletcher, who found mottling below the surface, indicating seasonal groundwater is higher than expected. Mr. Burke said the site has been worked over for many years, and he has witnessed groundwater levels of six to 18 inches below grade in the past. Staff and the site engineer have agreed to use a surface elevation of 120' and a groundwater level of 122.' Mr. Burke said if there hadn't been so much rain in June, and Mr. Ahern hadn't been on site to see the flooding, the roadway would have been paved at the current grade and the septic systems and basements may have had water problems in the future. Mr. French asked if the drainage is recharged to the river; Mr. Burke said it is, and the approved grading down to the river will not change. 7/24/2013 Mr. Burke said the front of the lots will be filled about five feet and the houses will have walk -out basements. The septic systems will be in the front of the lots, which will provide more separation between the septic systems and the groundwater. Mr. Burke said this has been a difficult process, but Walsh has been very cooperative. Mr. Penney said this site was an over -mined gravel pit. Mr. Burke said even before the subdivision was approved, about four feet of fill bad been brought in. Mr. Burke said Mr. Maloon and Mr. Alves have met, and Mr. Maloon will revise the plans based on their discussions. He said no lot lines, uses or easements are changing, and no lots have been sold at this time. The plan is to raise the road, pave it to binder, then raise the lots. Mr. Penney asked if the town will look at the fill material before it is placed; Mr. Burke said the town will inspect the material being used for fill on the road and the lots. Mr. French asked if the board should vote on the modification when the plans are revised. Mr. Burke said he doesn't think this requires a new public hearing, but suggested the board may want to vote on a field modification when the revised plans are complete. Mr. Penney asked for a memo from the Town Engineer and Mr. Burke to go along with the revised plans. Mr. Burke said once the changes are agreed upon, he will notify the abutters that construction will recommence. Mr. Cleary asked if this is the only subdivision with a water problem. Mr. Burke said this site is unique in that it has been mined down to the water table. Ms. Ashman- Collis asked if this raises the risk of flooding existing houses; Mr. Burke said if this had not been noticed by the subdivision inspector, there may have been flooding problems on adjacent properties. Mr. Burke showed the board a 1930s USGS map of the site, showing it was very flat but at about elevation 130', so about 10 feet of material had been removed during the time the site was used as a gravel removal operation. Mr. Penney said using crushed concrete as fill could raise the ph because of its lime content. Mr. Burke said it is difficult to get good compaction with crushed concrete. Mr. Penney said it is fortunate that Mr. Ahern recognized this problem at an early stage. Mr. Burke asked what the board would like to do if this is resolved prior to the next meeting; he suggested sending the members the plans, his memo and Mr. Alves's memo, allowing construction to restart, and taking a vote at the next meeting. Mr. Cleary asked if the board would be obligated to approve the revised plans; Mr. Burke said it would not be. He said if the board does not approve the plans, a stop work order would be issued the next day. Motion: To allow the developer to move forward based on the approval of the revised plans and drainage calculations by the Planning Director and Town Engineer; the board will review the plans and vote at its next meeting 4 7/24/2013 (Cleary- Collins) Six in favor. Penney abstained. PASSES 4. Public Hearing notices — Attleboro, Easton, Foxboro, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Sharon 5. ZBA application for variance — 17 Pratt Street — Parking on the first floor in a mixed -use development in the B 1 zone. [Mr. Feck excused himself from this discussion] Mr. Burke explained the application seeks relief from the provision requiring all commercial on the first floor of a mixed -use building in the Bl zone. Mr. Burke noted the ZBA has granted similar "parking under" variances for sites on North Main Street. He said the board recently reviewed and denied a special permit application on this site for a three- family residential development. This site originally contained a duplex, which burned down, but which could not be rebuilt because duplexes are no longer allowed in B1. Ms. Ashman- Collins said she is concerned about the residential use in the business zone. Mr. Cleary asked how the parking spaces under the building would be accessed; Mr. Burke said the application does not address that. Motion: To send the ZBA a negative recommendation because the application does not show any hardship or meet any of the statutory tests for the grant of a variance (Ashman- Collins - Penney) All in favor. PASSES 4. Form A ANR Plans Mr. Burke distributed March 2013 revisions to the Open Meeting law, including posting requirements for meetings, either with or without a quorum, and personnel issues. Mr. Penney asked how the changes impact Around the Table. Mr. Cleary said he thinks topics can be raised at Around the Table, but the board should not discuss or take action unless it is on the agenda. Mr. Burke said if something requiring action comes up after a meeting is posted, it can be added to the agenda and posted on the website. He said in an emergency, the board may be able to act inside the 48 -hour posting deadline. The board discussed adding "Items Not Anticipated Within 48 Hours," and listing "action" correspondence items on the agenda. Mr. Cleary noted the Open Meeting Law talks about email discussions and suggested members send email correspondence to the Planning Department rather than to one another. Mr. Burke said the Open Space and Recreation Plan is being updated, and includes a section about public access for people with limitations, including visual, hearing and language. Mr. Penney asked about the Zoning By -Law amendments. Mr. Burke said the Attorney General has approved all of the amendments, the by -law has been revised and will be reprinted shortly. 7/24/2013 6. Public Cottment Motion: To adjourn at 9:00 p.m. (Penney- ) All in favor. PASSES Next Planning Board meeting: August 21, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Signature of Clerk Date of Approval 6 7/24/2013