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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLANNINGbrd03092016Planning Board Minutes March 9, 2016 Present: Tom French, Chairman; Don Cleary, Clerk; Beth Ashman - Collins, Michael McClanahan, Michael Feck Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development; Jennifer Davis, Administrative Assistant William Ross, Town Manager 1, Plamm�g BoatllMeetmg ealtetl'to grder at ?t00,'p m. 1.Public hearing notices — Attleboro, Easton, North Attleboro, Norton 2. Citizen Planner Training Collaborative flyer 3. Trenchless Technology magazine 4. Public Works magazine Mr. Burke said a site plan was filed for a landscaping business on Oakland Street, wl h t43 board will see in April. nz Mr. Cleary noted the board still needs a SRPEDD representative, and suggested asking Dr. Dulaski if he or one of his students might be interested. Mr. French said a citizens' petition has been filed to allow mixed use in theB4 zone; the public hearing will be April 13. He said the board would have to find the petition is significantly different than the mixed use in the B4 zone article that was filed at the 2015 Annual Town Meeting. Form 4, S&641 Permit 1'ubGo Hearing; -, =1 0 :Qakland Street (CStttcolate t actpry); =130 Reside ntial Units; 240 -Sept Restaur ant, appx:11500f Manufacturing and appx. 5,199_, $ f `Office — Chocolate, Factory] LI C The clerk read the nublic hearing notice. Mr. French said he has filed a disclosure with the Board of Selectmen and Town Clerk regarding work he did in 2014 for the Chocolate Factory, LLC as an employee of High Point Engineering. He explained he has not worked for High Point Engineering for over one year, he has no financial interest in the outcome of the public hearing, and High Point is no longer worker on this project. Mr. French noted there are five members present and said the members who are not present can participate in the next meeting if they catch up with the proceedings. Mr. Palmer said he understands and would like to proceed. Mr. French explained how the public hearing would be conducted. Planning Board 3/9/2016 Robert Palmer and Russell Barnaby, Chocolate Factory, LLC; Attorney Karen Wright; Phil Cordeiro and Chris McCarthy, Allen & Major Associates, Inc.; and Warren Mott, BKA Associates, architect Mr. Palmer explained the existing central building will have 130 residential units and the existing outer buildings will contain commercial uses. The residences will be urban loft -style units, with a combination of loft, one- and two - bedroom units. They plan to remove the metal loading dock areas from the front of the main building. Mr. Palmer explained they have applied for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, and their application has been approved by the Massachusetts Historical Commission and forwarded to the National Park Service. He said the interior will have exposed joists and bricks, and the windows will be replaced with historically accurate windows. The main entrance will have a canopy. The signage program will include building numbers, a monument sign at the main entrance listing the buildings and a different signage style for the commercial tenants. There will be one monument sign at the north entrance and one at the south entrance to the site. Mr. Palmer explained the entrance to the building will be on -grade and will have a split -level entrance. He said they plan to include a timeline of the chocolate factory and display some artifacts in the entrance. The lower level will have a management office, lounge and mail room, fitness center, common rooms and business offices. Mr. Cleary asked if the split -level entrance will be ADA- compliant; Mr. Palmer said it would be. A resident asked if there will be a playground area; Mr. Palmer said there will not be. He said there will be a small dog park, but no playground. He said the development will be aimed toward young commuters and older empty nesters, rather than families. Attorney Wright explained they tried to address many of the special permit issues in their application, including noise. She said while any construction project will produce noise, their buildings are approximately 75 feet off the road and the nearest residence is about 100 feet away. She said they will not be demolishing the main buildings, only removing some of the loading dock structures at the front, and most of the construction will be inside. Attorney Wright said the site will be privately maintained, so will not use much in the way of DPW services. She said Mansfield's per person public safety number is $513.74; they plan to attract a young demographic and hope not to need the police to visit the site much. She said based on the number of units, they expect 230 residents; however, some may already live in town, so they may not all be new residents. She said even if they are all new residents, the maximum additional expenditure in public safety expense would be $133,000, but the town will see more income from the development. Attorney Wright said school enrollment is down quite a bit, and said they do not feel the project will attract a lot of families. She said they will have 55 -58 one - bedroom units, 72 two - bedroom units, so some will have some children. She said they estimate the development will add 12 -27 children to the school system. Attorney Wright said the development will have a low impact on the environment because they are not changing the footprint of the buildings and there are no wetlands on site. Planning Board 3/9/2016 f Attorney Wright said the development will have a positive impact on utilities because it will add paying customers for water, sewer and electric. Mr. Burnaby said they want to invest in and reuse this property, which has been vacant since 2009. He said this will be a $35 -37 million project, and the building will be repurposed with residential, office, light industrial and restaurant uses. He said they are looking at a micro - brewery and would like to leave the door open for a small manufacturing business. A resident said she is concerned about traffic on Oakland Street, noise from an industrial use and parking lot lighting. Mr. Burnaby said the residents' concerns are important to the developers and they hope to address them during the public hearing. He said they are hoping to start construction on April or May. Phil Cordeiro, P.E., Allen & Major, explained the majority of their work will be on the existing factory buildings and asphalt parking surface along the northern portion of the property. They plan to do a full reclamation of the parking lot and will comply with the required number of parking spaces. As part of the reclamation, they want to restore the landscape buffer around the property; parking will be a minimum of 15' from thye property line and will be heavily landscaped. Mr. Cordeiro said there are some existing healthy stands of trees they want to keep; they do not want to clear cut the site. The hill and the water tank will be removed and the area will be used for parking. There is approximately five acres of impervious surface, but they would like to break up parking area so it does not feel like a giant parking lot. They will use elements like greenscape and crosswalks to keep the parking area at a pedestrian scale. Mr. Cordeiro said Oakland Street has no sidewalk on the west; this project will include sidewalk on Oakland Street to help connect this development to downtown. They will use pedestrian - level fixtures, 12 -14' tall; there will be 16 at the building and 16 in the parking areas, and the light fixtures will be similar to what is being used on North Main Street. He said there is some intentional light spillover from the site, which is intended to shed some light onto the sidewalk. There will be no light spillover to the train tracks to the west or to the abutting residential properties. Mr. Cordeiro said they will install six -foot screening fences along the residential property line, and 10 -foot fences along the train tracks as a visual and noise buffer. Mr. Cordeiro said the wooded area to the north will be cleared for snow storage; there will be no snow loading onto Oakland Street. Mr. Cordeiro said they have worked with staff to review and revise the plans. Fire Department equipment will have access to all sides of each building and the pavement will be reinforced to support the heaviest fire trucks. There will be emergency signage and a dedicated emergency entrance. They are coordinating with the Police Department to avoid dark areas on the property, add building numbering and security cameras. Mr. Cordeiro said there will be on -site facility management. Planning Board 3/9/2016 Mr. Cordeiro said they have worked with the Town Engineer on the stormwater collection E` system. He said the existing catch basins on the site and in Oakland Street are undersized, so they are working with Mr. Alves to upgrade the system and ensure the water will be kept on site and existing flooding problems will be reduced. The site will have a stormwater infiltration basin and be recharged into the ground. Mr. Cordeiro said the dumpster enclosures will be fenced and they will work out a schedule for emptying the trash. Mr. Cordeiro said they will loop their water system to Oakland Street and remove the existing cistern. Mr. Cordeiro said they are working with MMED to reroute the existing lighting and put everything underground. Mr. Cordeiro said the wastewater system will be upgraded with pvc piping and new structures tied to the municipal system. Grease traps will be added. Mr. Cordeiro said the site will have amenities like a dog park, a large green space, hardscape elements like sidewalks, courtyard spaces and drop -off areas. Mr. Cordeiro said the project will comply with the requirements of the Zoning By -Law and they are not requesting any variances. He said there is a pre- existing, non - conforming front yard setback issue with Building D, which will not change. Mr. Cordeiro said the applicant's intent is not to create an apartment complex, but to create a community at a pedestrian scale that fits into the character of Mansfield and Oakland Street, and to keep the historic architecture of the existing building. Mr. McCarthy explained there are several existing mature plantings they plan to keep, but some must be removed. He said they plan to add a meandering sidewalk with an ornamental black fence. The planting areas are being designed to be naturalistic. The transition area between buildings will have handicapped access, 12 -16' high fixtures, benches and trash bins. The drop - off area at the main building's entrance will be raised to slow traffic in front of the building. Because there are low -level windows along the basement level, there will be no plantings there. There will be an outside seating space at the back of the residential building with a raised planting bed, which will be heavily planted to provide privacy along the rail line. There will be a 10 -foot fence with plantings along the tracks. Mr. McCarthy said they will tag the larger specimen trees and try to create walking paths around them. The front of the site will be fenced along Oakland Street. He said they have worked with Mr. Burke to try to comply with the intent of the Zoning By -Law. Mr. Barnaby said the site's current tax revenue is about $50,000 a year. Their investment will be around $35 million, so the town can expect new tax revenue between $200,000- 350,000 a year. He said they expect around 230 residents, which will generate revenue like excise tax and other t town fees of around $45,000 - 50,000 a year. He said they expect the impact of the new residents 4 Planning Board 3/9/2016 on the local economy to be around $500,000 -$2 million a year. The development will include 35,000 square feet of commercial, which will create 200 construction jobs; the residential component will generate management jobs and the restaurant, office and light industrial uses will create 25 -35 additional jobs for a total of approximately 40 new full -time jobs. He said they project 12 -27 school -aged children; Mansfield's per student expenditure is $12,882.17 a year. Mr. Barnaby said the state's Chapter 70 contribution is about $3,700 per student; he said the net cost will be $8,000 -9,000 a year per student, for an increase of around $200,000. Therefore, he said there will be a net increase in positive revenue compared to net expenditure. Mr. Barnaby said the town will also profit through ongoing property taxes, excise taxes and other revenue streams. Mr. Palmer said the residential rents will be priced $700 -1,500 a month, or $2 per square foot. They will be incorporating 19 affordable units as required by the Town's by -law, but there will be no Section 8 or low- income units. Mr. Barnaby said the blended rate of market and affordable units is about $1.89 per square foot, so a 1,000 square -foot unit would rent for $1,800 41,900 a month. Mr. Palmer said a studio would be $1,000 - $1,200; one bedroom $1,400; two bedroom $1,600- 1,800. Mr. Mott explained seven handicapped units are required; nine are being proposed. The entrance will be at -grade with elevator access to every level and the common areas will be fully accessible. Mr. French asked if the bathrooms in each unit would include the handicapped access turning circle; Mr. Mott said they would not. Board Comment Mr. McClanahan asked the applicant to show the audience the hard copy floorplans. Mr. Palmer said he would bring a slide of the floorplans to the next meeting. Ms. Ashman - Collins said one plan sheet mentions solar energy; Mr. Palmer said they had thought about putting a solar farm where the snow storage area is proposed, but MMED is not entertaining any more solar usage at this time. Mr. Ross said that may change with a new director on board. Mr. Cleary asked if the signs would require variances because of their size; Mr. Cordeiro noted the site is in the industrial zone, so larger signs are allowed; he said they will not need variances. Mr. Cleary asked about public safety access; Mr. Palmer said public safety will have key fob entry. Mr. Cleary asked about recycling; Mr. Palmer said there will be a dedicated recycling dumpster. There will be trash chutes to a trash compactor, but there will also be a dedicated recycling area in the basement. Mr. Cleary asked about an Operations and Management Plan;. Mr. Burke said that would be required. Mr. Cordeiro said the stormwater Operations and Management Plan was supplied with the special permit application. fi 5 Planning Board 3/9/2016 Mr. Cleary asked how far the sidewalk would go; Mr. Cordeiro said it would be the length of the developed portion of the site, about 1,000 feet. Mr. Cleary asked about connecting to the North Main Street project, which would also connect to the train station. Mr. Cordeiro said they are installing sidewalk, curbing and lighting along the property's frontage, but that installing those thinks outside their property brings up logistics issues. Mr. Burke said there is a sidewalk on the other side of Oakland Street, headed toward the train station. Mr. Cordeiro said they would connect their sidewalk to the existing sidewalk across the street with a crosswalk. Mr. Ross said there have been talks about another phase of the Town's North Main Street project, which will look at extending the sidewalk and lighting up Oakland Street toward the Chocolate Factory. He said it will depend on whether there is enough right -of -way. Mr. Ross said this development may spur additional development in that area of town. He said the work being done this summer to change the one -way pattern to two -way will help traffic flow. Mr. Cleary suggested the crosswalks inside the site should be stamped concrete or raised. Mr. Palmer said he would be in favor of stamped concrete, except where the asphalt has to be reinforced for emergency vehicles. Ms. Ashman- Collins asked about bicycles; Mr. Palmer said there will be space inside for bicycles. Mr. Cordeiro said the sidewalk is five feet wide and said he has spoken with the Town Engineer about the Town's potential plans to make Oakland Street bike path compatible. He said he would work with the Town if it happens, but at this point their sidewalk is not wide enough to accommodate a bike path. Mr. McClanahan said a lot of commuters bike to the train station. Mr. Cleary asked if this meets the Development Agreement the developer signed with the Boarc of Selectmen; Mr. Ross said it does. He said the agreement was modified to change the number of one and two bedroom units, which the Board of Selectmen agreed to. Mr. Cleary asked if the dog park is for residents of the development; Mr. Palmer said it is. He said they are planning to install key fob access to that area. Mr. Burke asked about the cinderblock building; Mr. Palmer said the National Park Service requires it maintain its historic industrial character. However, it can be painted, and they plan to add windows to break up the fagade. That building was built in 1942, so is considered historic. Mr. Burke explained the Inclusionary Housing Requirement, which requires a development with six or more units to include affordable housing. This by -law has helped Mansfield to comply with state's 10% affordable housing requirement. Department Head Comments The clerk read memos from Mr. Alves, Mr. Burke, Mr. Cox and Capt. Tebeau. Mr. Cordeiro said the MMED and Fire comments have been addressed in the revised plans. Public Comment Mr. Ross said placing the building on the National Register and getting Historic Tax Credits means the exterior of the building will have to be maintained in its current state. 6 Planning Board 3/9/2016 Donald Pierce, 98 Oakland Street, said he was concerned about the plan, but after hearing the presentation, he is relieved about this developer's and the Town's plans for the area. Mr. French asked the developer to provide a one -page summary of the financial impacts and address how the number of children was arrived at. He said it would help the board to see a plan showing the existing sidewalk from this site to the train station, along with sidewalk work the Town plans to do and how it will connect with this development. Mr. Cleary asked about deliveries to the restaurant and commercial buildings; Mr. Cordeiro said the site has been designed to accommodate large vehicles like fire trucks and tractor - trailer. He said smaller vehicles, like UPS, will use the front of the building. Larger trucks, like moving trucks and tractor - trailers, will use the back of the building, where there will be a lift system for large items like furniture. He said the management office will coordinate things like large deliveries and move -ins. Mr. French asked where the restaurant will be; Mr. Palmer said it will be in Building B, but they do not have a tenant at this time. Mr. Ross said Town Meeting approved and Mansfield was granted additional liquor licenses by the state, so there would be a liquor license available for a restaurant in this development. Motion: To continue the public hearing to March 23, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. (McClanahan - Cleary) All in favor. PASSES Mr. French said the updated traffic study for The meet the warrant for a traffic light. Ms. Ashman- Collins said the IDC has invited Mr. Burke to its March 22, 2016 meeting to discuss industrial park issues. Mr. French suggested scheduling a public hearing on the Subdivision Regulations amendments after Town Meeting. Motion: To adjourn at 9:30 p.m. (McClanahan- ) All in favor. PASSES Next Regular Planning Board Meeting: March 23, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. ;? ,� ? Date of ApproV'al Planning Board 3/9/2016