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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-28 Board of Selectmen Minutes FQ Town of Reading r Q Meeting Minutes REGEI ED OWN CLERK s38+lNCAI N L Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Board of Selectmen 2010 FEB 14 AM 10' 46 'Date: 2017-11-28 Time: 7:00 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Selectmen Meeting Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Session: Purpose: General Business Version: Attendees: Members - Present: John Arena, Barry Berman, Dan Ensminger, John Halsey, Andrew Friedmann Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Asstant Town Manager Jean Delios, Recreation Director Jenna Fiorente, Executive Assistant Caitlin Saunders, Matthew Holmen, Daniel Foley, Barbara Melanson, Tony D'Arezzo, David and Cheryl Cannon., Michael Flynn, Ken and Gail Toomajian, AJ Jerrett, Joe Guy Fodera, Jeanne Snodgrass Minutes .Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: John Arena called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Selectmen Liaison Reports Mr. Arena started out by saying the tree lighting this past weekend was amazing. A lot of people attended. He also mentioned him and Mr. Berman won trivia night at the Reading 365 fundraiser! He noted tomorrow night there is a RED meeting. Mr. Friedmann also echoed Mr. Arena's comments about the RED meeting tomorrow night and asked people to please attend. Mr. Berman noted trivia night was a great event and very well attended. He thanked the Chamber for holding another wonderful tree Iighting..He also mentioned there is a group-in town called Reading POWR and they are a welcoming committee to refugees and helping them get settled. Mr. Ensminger attended Thanksgiving dinner with our Legislators up at Hillview Country Club noting it was a great time. The board of health met earlier today voting to release all their executive session minutes. Mr. Halsey noted longtime resident Eloise "lovey" Shannon had her 104th birthday.this past weekend! He also attended the Thanksgiving Dinner with Mr. Ensminger. As far as recreation goes, the Birch Meadow Master plan is hoping to give a presentation early next year. The band stand has surpassed its time and they are trying to figure out what to do with that. Page I 1 Public Comment Linda Phillips stood up to announce a new program coming to RCTV titled "Hello Reading". They interviewed all our Selectmen and Town Manager and will be airing the segments for the public. Mr. Berman thanked Linda and said it was fun. Mr..Arena thanked Linda for all her hard work noting it's a great program. Town Manager Comments Mr. LeLacheur noted the complete list of all our vacancies on our boards is done so the VASC can meet in January to hopefully fill some spots. The Selectmen survey comments are ready to go�and be released to the public. He then asked the group if they wanted to do a cover letter or anything to go along with all the comments. Mr. Berman felt that was a good idea and volunteered to create it. Mr. LeLacheur noted the parking sticker press release went out to the public. Mr. Friedmann explained he has gotten some feedback about not having a discount for a second vehicle. He then asked if the board would be.willing to reconsider maybe doing $75 for the second vehicle. Mr. Ensminger felt people would be misusing the second sticker and Mr. Halsey agreed it would be hard to regulate that. Lastly, Mr. LeLacheur noted the winter parking rules are now in effect and there is no overnight parking on the streets. Accept Gift for Elder Services Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios explained the Fulchino family trust made a generous gift of$10,000 for Elder Services. The department has done a needs assessment on the Pleasant Street Center to see where the money can be best spent. Mr. Ensminger moved that the funds received by the Town pursuant to the terms of the Fulchino Family Trust, to be accepted on behalf of the Elder Services division by Jean Delios, be expended for capital improvements to the Pleasant Street Center, and that the Board authorize Jean Delios to execute, on behalf of the Board, a release discharging the trustee of the Fulchino Family Trust from all the debts which the Town may hold.on account of the Trust. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Birch Meadow Batting Cages Mark from Reading Little league.was present to give the board a little presentation and update on what they hope to accomplish. They would like to add a second batting cage next to the current one. They would like replace the current one while doing this and rededicate the new one. They will preserve the current dedication.to the current cage as it is but then dedicate the new one as well. The project.is completely funded by Reading Little League donations. It was noted the current cage gets a lot of use all the time and the need for a second one is there. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board of Selectmen approve, with gratitude, the Little League batting cage proposal as presented. The motion was seconded by Mr. Halsey and approved with a 5-0-0.vote. Eaton Lakeview Housing Project Update Assistant Town'Manager Jean Delios started off by explaining what a 40B project is. A developer can bypass all local zoning bylaws because we are not at our 10% affordable housing. We do have a housing production plan in place. Reading is now in `safe harbor' from 2/2017 until 2/2019 because we did put in a certain amount of affordable units they give us a `break'. Now that we are in this safe harbor ZBA can deny applications. The deal with the Lakeview project is if we deny them right now, all they have to do.is wait until 2019 and then they can apply again and not follow any zoning. However, if we allow them to continue right now, we can work with them and try to get the best project for the town. Page 1 2 Mike Flynn of Green Street asked if there is a possibility to extend the safe harbor past 2019. Ms. Delios answered no because the census recalculates in 2020 and our numbers will change bringing us back down below where we need to be. . Diana of Smith Ave noted she is shocked the State gave the green light on this because of all the wetlands. Ms. Delios noted she can view the State's approval letter on our website. John Weston of CPDC felt the leverage doesn't change either way. The benefit of working with them now COULD yield some negotiations but they still do not have to listen to us. Susan Craven noted it feels like we don't have a choice. Tony of Appleton Lane asked if the.town has targeted other parcels of land to put these projects on. Tony D'Arezzo asked if someone could differentiate the difference between affordable housing and section 8. Nick from Beech Street asked if the developer doesn't have to follow local bylaws do they. still have to adhere to safety regulations and Ms. Delios noted yes they cannot put up a building that doesn't meet fire codes. Ted Regnante, the Attorney for the Lakeview project explained that they want to work with the town'on this project to make it happen. The abutters are concerned with the four story height of the building. The developer is willing to bring the entire street up to code to become a public way. They have had meetings regarding wetlands and have their setbacks and regulations they will adhere to. They want to do three buildings with 120 units. One building would be on Eaton Street and the other two on Lakeview. There will also be-181 parking spaces and they are currently working on a traffic analysis. -Mr. Berman asked if they would be willing to make the community hall in the building open to people other than residents and also if they've ever considered making the building a mixed use. Cheryl Cannon from Beech Street asked why the project has to be a 40B if you are willing to work with the town and it is noted the area is not zoned right unless they do.a 40B. Andrew from Eaton Street noted the Killam Elementary school is busting at the seams already and this project will yield more school kids for that school. He also noted-traffic is already a nightmare in the area and this will make it exponentially worse. Penny from Eaton Street asked to make sure Eaton Street and Salem Street are a part of their traffic study. Sandra Larkin noted Salem and-Eaton are both.cut through streets and the traffic is already horrible there. Nick from Beech Street noted his concern for the impact this would have on the schools. John from Lakeview Ave .noted there is already parking problems on that street. Melissa Senate asked to make sure they do their traffic study during little league season because the cars on Eaton street during that time almost make it impossible to go down that street. Roberta Moore from Elm Street expressed her sewer concerns in the area and flooding issues. Page 1 3 Dan from Beech Street explained this area is already saturated enough and they need to find a different location for this project. Hearing - Approve BOS Policies;Article 3 - Licenses Town Counsel Ivria Fried was present for the hearing. Mr. LeLacheur noted they are trying to simplify and make things easier for the licenses. Ms. Fried noted the major change in section 3.1 is basically giving the Town Manager permission to issue a lot of these licenses instead of delegating annually. In section 3.7 the entertainment licenses, Ms. Fried asked the board how deep they want to regulate this. Some communities regulate everyTV in every establishment, and some communities don't regulate TVs at all. Mr. Halsey felt we are overregulating with the entertainment licenses and he feels what we do now is working fine. Mr. Friedmann agreed noting going any further seems unnecessary. Mr. Arena felt we should have more guidelines when it comes to entertainment licenses rather than an actual policy. Ms. Fried suggested combining section 3.7 and 3.8 if they want to simplify. She also asked who they prefer to issue to licenses when it comes to section 3.11, A frame signs. Right now the Town Planner does it and the board agreed that it should continue that way. Nick Bonnano asked about a permit for serving liquor outdoors. He then presented a handout he created about the differences in liquor licenses between clubs and restaurants. He noted location is not taken into consideration and there should be language for a place that's located in a residential neighborhood. He explained the club licenses are much more relaxed than restaurants and he would like to know why. He feels there is no need for clubs. to be able to serve liquor from 8 am - 2 am and not have to serve food like restaurants do. The board noted these are things they can look into it-and agreed to continue the hearing. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board of Selectmen continue the hearing on amending the Board of Selectmen Policies, Article 3 until_3anuary 9th, 2018 at 8 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Friedmann and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Approve Annual Liquor Licenses Mr. •Ensminger, second by Mr. Berman moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the All Alcoholic Club Liquor Licenses for: • Reading Overseas Veterans, Inc. d/b/a Reading Overseas Veterans, .575 Main Street • Meadow Brook Golf Corp. of Reading, MA d/b/a Meadow Brook Golf Club, 292 Grove Street • Home Building Corp. d/b/a Knights of Columbus, 11 Sanborn Street • Reading Veterans' Association, Inc. d/b/a American Legion Post 62, 37 Ash Street for a term expiring December 31, 2018 subject to.the following conditions: All Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of the Town of Reading and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be followed, and subject to a Page 14 satisfactory inspection of the establishment by the Town Manager or his designee. The motion carried with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Berman moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the All Alcoholic Package Store Liquor Licenses for: • HT Reading Liquors LLC d/b/a Baystate Liquors, 345 Main Street • Raksha, Inc. d/b/a Square Liquors, 13 High Street • Jay and Ricky, Inc. d/b/a Ricky's Liquor, 214 Main Street • Anstasi Brookline Inc. d/b/a Reading Fine Wine and Spirits, 25 Walkers Brook Drive • Kajal and Kevin LLC d/b/a Liquor Junction, One General Way • Pamplemousse Inc. d/b/a Pamplemousse, 26 Haven Street for a term expiring December 31, 2018 subject to the following conditions: All Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of the Town of Reading and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be followed, and subject to a satisfactory inspection of the establishment by the Town Manager or his designee. The motion carried with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Berman moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the All Alcoholic Restaurant Liquor Licenses for: • Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza of Reading LLC d/b/a Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, 48 Walkers Brook Drive • Mandarin Reading, Inc. d/b/a Mandarin Reading Restaurant, 296 Salem Street • Mecom, Inc. d/b/a Cafe Capri, 355 Main Street • . CAC Foods; Inc. d/b/a Venetian Moon Restaurant, 680 MainStreet • Pepper Dining Inc. d/b/a Chili's Grill & Bar, 70 Walkers Brook Drive • The Boland Group III, LLC d/b/a Fuddruckers, 50 Walkers Brook Drive • Bertucci's Restaurant Corp. d/b/a Bertucci's Italian Restaurant, 45 Walkers Brook Drive • RARE Hospitality International, Inc. d/b/a Longhorn Steak House, 39 Walkers Brook Drive • Ristorante Pavarotti, Inc. -d/b/a Ristorante Pavarotti, 601 Main Street • Unagi Servers Inc. d/b/a Biltmore & Main Bar and Grill, 530 Main Street • KOK, Inc. d/b/a Oyes, 26 Walkers Brook Drive • Bistro Concepts, Inc. d/b/a Fuscilli's Cucina, 107 Main Street • Chipotle Mexican Grill of Colorado d/b/a Chipotle Mexican Grill, 46 Walkers Brook Drive • RKR Corporation d/b/a Bunratty Tavern, 620 Main Street for a term expiring December 31, 2018 subject to the following conditions: All Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of the Town of Reading and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be followed, and subject to a Page 5 satisfactory inspection of the establishment by the Town Manager or his designee. The motion carried with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Berman moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the Wine and Malt Restaurant Liquor License for: • Palatat Pattenesuan d/b/a Bangkok Spice Thai Restaurant, 76 Haven Street for a term expiring December 31, 2018 subject to the following conditions: All Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of the Town of Reading and of the Commonwealth - of Massachusetts shall be followed, and subject to a satisfactory inspection of the establishment by the Town Manager or his designee. The motion carried with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Ensminger, second by Mr. Berman moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the General on Premise Wine and Malt Liquor License for: The Art Lounge LLC d/b/a The Art Lounge on Haven, 78 Haven Street for a term expiring December 31,,2018 subject to the following conditions: All Bylaws, Rules and . Regulations of the Town of Reading and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall be followed, and subject to a satisfactory inspection of the establishment by the Town Manager or his designee. The motion carried with a 5-0-0 vote. Discuss Open Meeting Law Complaint Letter The board reviewed the response letter that was crafted to respond to the original complaint. Mr. Friedmann noted the letter says they did not deliberate but he felt they did'by two of them giving their opinions. Mr.'LeLacheur noted that is not the same as deliberating, none of you spoke to each other. Mr. Berman explained ultimately the Attorney General will make the decision if we violated the open meeting law or not. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the response letter as written. Mr. Halsey seconded the motion and Mr. Ensminger called for a roll call vote. The votes were as follows: Halsey - Yes Ensminger - Yes Berman - Yes Arena - Yes Friedmann - No Page 6 Minutes Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board of Selectmen approve the Minutes of October 24th, 2017 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with a 5-0-0 vote. Mr. Ensminger moved that the Board of Selectmen adjourn at 11:23 PM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Berman and approved with 5-0-0 vote. Page 7