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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGbrd_04162014 Planning Board Minutes April 16,2014 Present: Tom French, Chair; Beth Ashman-Collins, Clerk;Michael McClanahan, Don Cleary Ralph Penney,Cheryl Collins, Rich LeBlanc;Alternate Mike Feck ' Jennifer Crotty Davis, Administrative Secretary 13 Meeltng� d�to' ; �; ...� � 3_ cnlle °rcYe��n��w0�� ,y ��,./ � 0���* sd .,..?1ssF�'",.s'1�.:,.,is. °� �3 ,r Atio.-'r`la vd p,5 cr .�i4-,;;; t i anG{ .n' �f �' 3 c 3Vr/wf�k P� ���'�.�������� � � �� � Mme: Lz�y ,,�. 1. Minutes April 2, 2014 ..E Ms._Collins— -�-� 1 �Et ��4�tin�x� p. 9 last paragraph-Ms. Collins asked Mr: Cleny why this article shouldn't forward;..p. 10 first ara Selectmen and town counsel have_all look d at theharticle "the Planning Board, Board of Motion: To approve as amended (Feck-LeBlanc) All in favor. PASSES [Mr. McClanahan arrived at this time] 2. April 2, 2014 letter from Attorney Edward Valanzola 315-39 School Street(The Pavilion)/April 3, 2014 letter from r.to the third building at Valanzola Mr. Burke to Attorney Ms.Collins said the building is shrinking, which his good, and asked be sufficient parking for the proposed uses in the building. The board discussed is would fact when the special permit was originally approved, the drive through was fr the ,at and no �, there is a Dunkin Donuts shown on the plan. Mr. McClanahan g was for a bank, and now has already been modified several times and suggested the board said this loser look at changes. He said there is a traffic problem there now and asked if take a is an agreement ee aethe the property owners across the street for additional arkin there is agreed agreement.with should look at the plan. Mr. McClanahan suggested putting i on the age agreed the board, meeting and asking for department head input, g agenda for the next The board asked Mr. Burke and Mr.Riccio to assist with the following questions: 1. Check the number of required spaces for the new uses plus Buffalo Wild Wings; confirm the required parking is provided. 2. What uses were approved on the plan and sizes? 3. Look at original traffic study to see what was analyzed in terms of mix turning movements and queuing,especially for cars turning left into the site and c turning left leaving the site cars 4. Ask for department head comments 5. Concerns about since there is currently parking where the third building is supposed to go, where will those cars park later? 6. Where are they with the proposed crosswalk and flashing lights? 7. Have agreements with owners across the street for parking? 8. Ask Mr. Riccio for his opinion about who decides,changes to special ermits- building inspector,planning board or l t 9. Elevation of building showing two stories nst instead of three and t ro osed 10. Ask Mr. Burke to talk with Mr. Valanzola and decide whether o a new uses; ask him to come to 1 4/16/2014 the Planning Board meeting Mr. McClanahan said the developer had indicated the third building would be a lighter use than the other two,but a Dunkin Donuts would be a heavier use. Motion: To schedule discussion on April 30, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. (McClanahan-Collins) All in favor. PASSES 3. Public Hearing notices: Plainville 4._ The Beacon scar �- ' .. ' [Mr. Penney Penney arrived at this time.] The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted and read a memo from Mr. Burke. [Mr. Penney recused himself from the public hearing] Stacy Hooper, 73 Campbell Street, asked exactly what the article would allow. Mr. French explained there is a church in town with a specific site in mind for this use; however,he said the the zoning change would not be limited to that one site and if approved by Town Meeting, would allow 55 and Over housing in any Rl zone if it was owned and managed by a religious-based non-profit. Mr.McClanahan asked why the article, which was submitted as a citizens' petition but did not get enough signatures,was placed on the warrant as a Planning Board article. Mr. French said he thinks the Town Manager's idea was to place it on the warrant as a way to show good faith on the part of the town. Mr.Bill Clemmey said the 55 and Over definition requires the site to be five acres. Ms. Hooper asked if a religious use would be exempt from that requirement; Mr. Clemmey said it would not be. Mr. Feck asked if the religious based group were to sell the site,would it have to be to another religious group. Mr. French said the building inspector would make that decision. Pastor Dave Aruda, Methodist Church,explained they are in negotiations for a property on Branch Street on which to create a ministry community center. He said 55 and Over housing is a need in town and the wait for affordable 55 and over housing is three to five years. He said they plan to make the housing available to the general public,not just church members. He said the Dover Amendment would exempt them under state law if the residents were limited to church members, but he said they want to make the housing available to the whole community. He said the use would be allowed by right in conjunction with the church building,planned for the 2 4/16/2014 industrially-zoned portion of the parcel, but they feel the Rl parcel would be a better location. He said they are partnering with an arm of the Methodist Church to build the site. Pastor Aruda asked about amending the article;Mr. French said it could be amended on the floor of Town Meeting. Pastor Aruda said they plan to have the church's ministry center on the same parcel and said the article might be changed to specify the housing would have to be on the same parcel as the church. He said the church can go anywhere on the parcel, and the housing could go on the industrial site by right. Mr. McClanahan asked if there are any plans available. Mr. French said he is concerned that adopting this article would make 55 and.Over by a religious group an allowed use on any Rl parcel. Ms. Hooper said she would be concerned about voting on something at Town Meeting that would be this far-reaching. Mr. McClanahan asked if the housing would be tax exempt. Pastor Aruda said the housing would only be tax exempt if it was restricted to members of the church. He said the church wants to use the housing proposal as a way to help the community. Ms. Collins asked if it would be a hardship to put the residential use on the industrial land. Pastor Aruda said it would be because of the environmental challenges on that land. He showed the board a conceptual drawing of the plan. Mr. French noted this hearing is not specific to the Branch Street site. Pastor Aruda asked how many parcels in town would comply with the requirement for public water and sewer, as well as five acres. Mr. French said parcels could be combined. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan-Coffins) All in favor. PASSES The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. Bill Clenuney said this was part of the Planning Board's B3-B4 article last year, but was not included in the B4 article this year. He said the proposal would lower the requirement of five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet to four spaces. [Mr. Cleary arrived at this time] Mr. Clemmey said Patriot Place in Foxboro requires four spaces per 1,000 for retail buildings over 15,000 square feet and the businesses on Route 1 in North Attleboro require the same. He showed the board Google Earth photos of the large retailers in Mansfield Crossing from April, showing much of the parking lots empty and said that development got a variance for 4.7 spaces per 1,0000 square feet. [Mr. Penney returned to the meeting] 3 4/16/2014 Mr. Clemmey said buildings smaller than 25,000 square feet may need the higher parking rate, but he doesn't think larger stores need that much. f Mr.LeBlanc asked if this would allow more building to be built because less parking would be required. Mr.Clemmey said it would allow about a 10,000 square foot building,which could be a small retail,or restaurant. Mr. McClanahan said this would impact retail centers like Erin's Centre,Mansfield Crossing and the Stop&Shop plaza. Mr. Clemmey said that is correct,but noted changes to those sites would require modification to the existing special permit. Mr. Penney asked if previously approved projects could comeback;Mr. McClanahan said the special permit would have to be amended. Mr. Clemmey said the whole site would have to comply with the requirements. Ms. Ashman- Collins noted the parking calculations are defined differently for retail and restaurant uses. Mr. Clemmey said on a site with multiple uses, each use has to meet its parking requirements. Mr. French asked if this amendment would allow something like Erin's Centre to combine Home Depot with Staples for parking purposes; Mr. Clemmey,said he doesn't think so. He explained this would be an addition to the parking schedule. Mr. French said it appears the land use wouldn't change, but a;line would be added to the parking column in the by-law; Mr. Clemmey said that is the case. Mr. LeBlanc asked if multiple uses in one building would have separate parking requirements; Mr. Clemmey said they would. He said each use in the Staples building at Erin's Centre had to meet its own parking requirements. Mr. LeBlanc said if the Home Depot building were broken up into multiple businesses,the special permit would have to be modified. Mr. French asked if, when the Home Depot was permitted,the parking was only for Home Depot.`Mr. Clemmey said it was. Mr.French asked if some of that parking is intended for other businesses on the site; Mr. Clemmey said it is not. Mr. Penney asked if the problem is that the by-law requires too much parking. Mr. Clemmey said he thinks five spaces per 1,000 is conservative,and when Erin's Centre was built, it included one of the first large stores in town. He said he doesn't think there are many more properties in town that would accommodate retail uses over 25,000 square feet. Ms. Ashman-Collins said the traffic generation for retail uses over 25,000 square feet is different than for smaller retail uses. Mr. Penney said the Zoning By-Law talks about 25,000- square foot business,professional and office buildings over 25,000,square feet,but does not discuss retail buildings over 25,000 square feet. Mr. French said he would be concerned with a developer proposing one building with multiple uses,but adding up the individual spaces to get to a 25,000 square-foot building in order to lower the parking requirement. Mr. Clemmey said that could be an issue now with the parking schedule in the Zoning By-Law,which includes "Land Use." Mr. Clemmey said any plan would have to show a parking schedule for each use on the site, and if the use were to change,the permit would have to be amended. 4 4/16/2014 Mr. French asked if it would help to add per"individual"business. Mr. Clemmey said he would speak with the building inspector about whether he thinks the language is appropriate. Mr. Cleary said he doesn't think the proposal is any less clear than what is in the by-law now. Mr. Karl Clemmey said the ZBA gave Mansfield Crossing a variance for 600 cars. Motion: To continue the public hearing to April 3 0, 2014 (McClanahan-Ashman-Coffins) All in favor. PASSES The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. Bill Clemmey explained this article would change the density allowed in the existing I3 zone. He said it would be difficult to build in I3 now with the existing zoning densities. He said development could happen in I3 with higher densities and said the proposed increases are not as much as what is proposed in the TOD zoning. Public Comment: Steve Schoonveld, Finance Committee, asked if this would be in conflict with the TOD article. Mr. French said TOD would be an overlay district, so the underlying district would not change. He said this article might encourage industrial buildings because it could allow a larger building. Ms. Ashman-Collins said adopting this would not change her support for TOD. Mr. Clemmey said there is a lot of 13 land not included in the TOD zone. He said on an acre of land, a 10,000 square foot building would be allowed under current I3 density. He said this could be used in conjunction with the TOD zone and would generate,more taxes. Mr. French asked what other towns allow. Mr. Clemmey said each town defines industrial zones so differently, it is difficult to compare them. He said this density would match the board's proposed B4 Gateway Business zone. Mr. Penney asked what the proposed TOD density is; Mr.Clemmey said the highest is 2.0 for business residential,the lowest is .50. He said this would be at the low end of the TOD densities. He said the setbacks and open space requirements would be significantly lowered in TOD and in I3,the existing dimensional requirements would remain the same. Mr. Penney said this would allow a building in the I3 zone to be approximately half the size of the parcel;Mr. Clemmey agreed, but said with parking, open space and setbacks, a building might not get to .50. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan-Penney) All in favor. PASSES 5 4/16/2014 . �"... ; Lam^ .'.r` �p � s'v e 9 '+� 4: R $ Sze , 9 � a � " ng would be The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing conducted. Mr. Bill Clemmey said he will be making a motion on Town Meeting floor to amend this article. The proposed modification will be to read: "Duplexes in R2 can only be built on lots abutting or across the street from R3 zoned lot or lots abutting or across the street from any Business or Industrial zoned lot." He said duplexes are currently allowed in R3, and the idea of the modification would be to allow duplexes by special permit on R2 lots abutting R3,business or industrial zones. He said a lot like the ones he owns on Paine.Road and Copeland Drive would be appropriate for this use. Joe Milani, 277 West Street, asked if this would be only allowed by special permit. Mr. Clemmey said it would only allow duplexes by special permit. Ms.Ashman-Collins said the special permit requires the board to determine the benefits outweigh the detriments. Mr. Penney said the board would also be able to impose conditions on a special permit. Ms; Hooper asked to clarify a duplex. Mr. Clemmey said that will be changed to "two-family" instead of"duplex."`Ms. Hooper asked if ownership would be an issue; Ms. Ashman-Collins said zoning does not differentiate between rental or ownership. Mr. LeBlanc said this seems to blur the zone line and the allowed uses. Mr. Clemmey said his original proposal was to allow two-family in R2,which would impact all of R2. He said there are a lot of lots in town where two-family would be appropriate, especially near the center of town and on busy roads. Mr.Penney said it would be like a transition zone. Mr. LeBlanc said he was concerned about people who bought their home with the expectation of being in a single- family neighborhood. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan-Ashman-Collins)'All in favor. PASSES Atc>79-15, stir: The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Mr. Karl Clemmey said he has owned the 50'x100' parcel,on town sewer and water, on the corner of Henry/Fowler for 20 years. He said there are two more lots in the area, which he does not own,that will be coming to the board in the next few years. He said there are 51 small lots in Mansfield with houses'on them today that were built years ago,most on sewer and water. He 6 4/16/2014 said 10 have been built within the last year. He said 5,000 square foot lots protected by the courts. Mr. Clemmey said he would like to rezone the lot from B3 to R2. He said the lot is surrounded by houses. He said the lot would have to have a small house and would be an asset to the area. Mr.Penney said this is a similar sized lot to many existing lots in the area. Public Comment Joe Milani,277 West Street, said the daycare,which used to use the parcel as a playground, is gone. He said the house Mr. Clemmey built across the street last year is too large for the neighborhood and asked if there is a way to manage the size of the building to be built. Mr. Bill Clemmey said the house built last year required a four-foot variance on one side, but met setback requirements on the other three sides. He said this lot would have to go to ZBA as well;he said this was a residential lot until 1989 when zoning changed. Mr. Milani said he agrees this lot should be residential, but is concerned about the size of the building. Mr. Clemmey said he has heard good comments from his neighbors since he moved into his house and putting another house on the other corner will not be a detriment. Mr. Milani said this lot would fit the description of the previous article, which would allow two-family in R2. Ms. Ashman-Collins said under that article, a two-family would require a special permit. Mr. French said the building would be subject to the dimensional requirements of the Zoning By-Law, or would require a variance. Mr. Clemmey said the lot was over 5,000 square feet before the town took the corner rounding easement for the road. Mr. French asked if a two-family could be built there if the previous article passes; Mr. Bill Clemmey said a two-family could be built with a special permit. Mr. Penney asked what the town took;Mr. Bill Clemmey said the town took some of the corner of the lot for the corner rounding easement. Mr.Karl Clemmey said this would be a good location for a small starter house. Ms. Hooper said she doesn't think a house should be built on the lot because it is a corner lot that provides sight distance. Ms. Collins said the empty lot is not very attractive,and a small house would be a good use of the land. Ms. Hooper said she is concerned about drivers being able to see around the corner. Mr.McClanahan said the lot would have to meet the requirements of the Zoning By-Law. Mr. Bill Clemmey said the house would be 30 feet back from Fowler Street and about 22 feet from Henry Street, so it would meet sight lines on Fowler Street. Mr. Milani said a nice small house would be a good thing, but developers maximize their ability to develop property, so he is concerned the house wouldn't be a small two-bedroom bungalow. Mr. Karl Clemmey said he would put the stakes in the ground to show where the house would be. Motion: To close the public hearing (McClanahan-Penney) All in favor. PASSES Mr. McClanahan said he would not be comfortable voting on the TOD article before seeing the final study from BETA Group. 7 4/16/2014 Ms. Collins suggested voting on those articles the members are comfortable with. Mr. Schoonveld said the Finance Committee plans to discuss the zoning articles at its meeting tomorrow and asked about the economic impact. Mr. French said doesn't think there are definitive numbers with the zoning articles because they are not specific development proposals. Mr. Schoonveld said the potential Chocolate Factory developer has come up with a number for the impact of its proposal. Mr. Penney said the Planning Board doesn't necessarily look at these issues from a financial perspective. Mr.French said the B4 article, for example,will likely increase tax revenue. Mr. Schoonveld asked how many properties would be impacted and what the tax increases would be. Motion: To schedule the vote on Article 20 for April 30 (McClanahan-Cleary) All in favor. PASSES • Adaptive Reuse of Historic Structures (Article 21) Motion: To support Article 21 (Ashman-Collins-Collins) Six in favor. One opposed. PASSES • B4-Gateway Business (Article 23) Motion: To support Article 23 (McClanahan-LeBlanc) All in favor. PASSES • Medical Marijuana (Article 24) Motion: To support Article 24 (McClanahan-Collins) All in favor. PASSES • Airport(Article 25) • Motion: To support Article 25 (McClanahan-Cleary) All in favor. PASSES • Architectural Projections into Setback(Article 26) Motion: To support Article 26 (Ashman-Colilns-Cleary) All in favor. PASSES • Residential Compound (Article 27) Motion: Not to support Article 27 and to withdraw it (McClanahan-Collins) Mr. McClanahan said that while there have been a few residential compounds that haven't worked out well,many more have come out well. Mr. Feck said a cluster could not be done in all areas a traditional subdivision or compound could be done. Mr. Penney said a residential compound requires 80,000 square feet per lot,with a minimum of two lots and maximum of six,and has an open space requirement. Mr. French said he supports requiring roads to be public ways because residential compound roadways are basically large driveways. Mr. Feck said public safety reviews all the roads. Ms. Collins said the board is 8 4/16/2014 split on the issue, and it might be worth looking at amending the by-law. Mr. Cleary said the applicant has to show a traditional subdivision could be done on the property when submitting a residential compound. Mr. LeBlanc said he agrees this by-law may have been used to circumvent the standard setbacks and road standards, and is concerned about the maintenance of the roadways. Mr. French said a lot of the remaining land is marginal; Mr. McClanahan said there is still a lot of good land left. Mr. French said he isn't opposed to developing the land, but the roads should be public ways. 4 in favor. 4 opposed. FAILS Motion: To support Article 27 (Cleary-LeBlanc) 4 in favor. 3 opposed. PASSES Mr. Cleary said he heard there was snow falling from the roof of the new 2-4 North Main Street building onto the sidewalks. Mr. McClanahan said the owner is responsible for that. Mr. French asked the members to think about what zoning articles they would like to present to Town Meeting. He said he thinks Mr. Burke and Mr. Ross will present the 55 and Over in Rl article. Ms. Ashman-Collins said she would try to go to tomorrow's Finance Committee meeting. VF Motion: To adjourn at 10:00p.m. (McClanahan ) All in favor. PASSES Next Regular Planning Board Meeting: April 30,2014 at 7:00 p.m. )\z)LZd, c't - o ,,_ o ►V Signature of Clerk Date of Approval 9 4/16/2014