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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-02-25 Community Planning and Development Commission MinutesL.l-f t. TOWN OF READING 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2683 5 Phone: 781-942-9012 Fax: 781-942-9071 Email: akrieg@ci.reading.ma.us : la COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION CPDC MINUTES Meeting Dated: February 25, 2002 Meeting Location: Lecture Hall, Reading Memorial High School Members Present: Richard Howard (RH), Chairman; Kathryn Greenfield (KG), Secretary; Jonathan Barnes (JB); Neil Sullivan, (NS) Also Present: Joseph Delaney, Town Engineer (JD); Anne Krieg, Town Planner (AK); Kelley Meier, Recording Secretary (KM) The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:45 PM. The following minutes were approved with amendments or editions: February 11 and 17, 2002 STAFF BRIEFING April 2nd-local elections, AK is going to be passing out some information, fliers for people to read regarding the Community Plan. ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW JD updated the Commission about Walnut Street, Strawberry Hill Lane intersection. There was an idea of putting up a three way stop or a wooden guard up to help prevent the accidents. Only two reported accidents were found at this location. The Commission requested a public hearing be advertised and noticed for this change under the Scenic Roads By-Laws. AK/JD to follow-up scheduling said hearing. ZONING AMENDMENT WORKSHOP Sign Review By-Law needs to have modified language. The Sign Review Board has a problem with the lack of people on the Board and meeting only once a month for applications. The CPDC might more easily accommodate those who need approval for signs. The CPDC will stay with AK's language Town Counsel's language to keep the amendment to a minimum. P, C:\My Documents\CPDC\Agenda-Minutes\2.25.02 minutes II.doc Last printed 03/08/0211:24 AM Created by ggrplus Created on 03/01/021:01 PM TOWN OF READING COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Minutes for Meeting dated: February 25, 2002 Tambone Properties wanted to expand his Business A zoning district for his properties on South Main Street. He doesri t have his plans ready yet. AK will ask for a Special Town Meeting in June, before school gets out. AK doesri t think that he'll make April Town Meeting. He wants to make a new development, one large building where presently there are three (3) buildings. Ak doesn't want to write anything until she has a schematic to work from. Richard Howard called for a short recess at 8:15 PM. Richard Howard calls to order the Public Hearing at 8:30 PM. PUBLIC HEARING: SITE PLAN REVIEW/306 MAIN STREET (GETTY GAS) RH introduced the members of the Commission. KG read the legal advertisement from the Reading Times-Chronicle as noticed to abutters into the record. Phil Lombardo is the Attorney for the applicant. James V. Giarrusso is the engineer for the applicant. The plan is to demolish the current building and to add new landscaping, driveway, new tanks, new buildings, new piping, and canopy. They have received approvals from the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission. Some hazardous waste has been found, the Department of Environmental Protection at the state level will keep the ConCom and the Board of Health updated on monitoring and cleanup of the site. AK requested to add some trees in front to add some vertical relief to the property edges, along with a small brick edge on the sidewalk along the frontage just like Finagle a Bagel. The sign is 15 feet high, a little higher than the other signs on Main Street. The front setback has been approved by the ZBA. The CPDC is recommending a stockade gate on the dumpster enclosure, something that matches the building; something better than chain link fencing to surround the dumpster. The lighting plan is a concern; there could be a problem with more light shining onto adjacent properties. Lighting should be brought in further so it doesri t shine on other property or some of the lights could be shut off at midnight, with minimal lights on for security. Page 2 of 6 TOWN OF READING COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Minutes for Meeting dated: February 25, 2002 JD reviewed engineering comments. The stormwater management plan meets standards. The site circulation is tight. A dedicated loading space hasn't been provided. Deliveries taking place in front of store could be troublesome. The front and south side should remain no parking zone for commercial vehicles. One-way circulation around the location could improve the site circulation. The plan doesn t show where the sewer connections take place to town sewerage. There are two options for the sewerage. One is to go across Main Street, this would need a street opening permit with Massachusetts Highway Department. The second option is to go to Minot Street. A pump would likely be necessary. The water goes around to the back of the building. The CPDC would like to see the water go into the side of building. There are significant wetland areas in the back. There is a 3/4 inch service water, water department would like to see the 3/4 inch remain. No Public Comment was received on the application. James V. Giarrusso responded to the comments received. The Order of Conditions by the Conservation Commission and they are further subject to the requirments for clean up and monitoring under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 21E. Landscaping may or may not have issues with expanding as requested. He will not have any issues as long as the sign can be visible from the street. AK will fax detail to Mr. Giarrusso for the brick edge. There will concrete curbing on the sides and rear of the property. RH would like to see the granite curbing as far into the property as possible. Mr. Giarrusso would like to see the chain link fence in there instead of,wood because wood gets broken easier than the chain link. There will be no utilities brought across the street to the Getty Station. From an existing overhead utility pole on Main Street, the utilities will be brought underground to the station. For lighting, there is no problem putting shields on back of lights. The back of the building has trees to block the majority of the light. There are no lights in back of building, except two lights. The new sign is less in height than existing sign. Mr. Giarrusso also discusses the memo from Engineering. The memo requests the Commission is assured that the 18-wheeler can easily get to the dropping zone. The builder doesn't have any more room to "play with" and may not be ble to expand the radius to provide such a movement With the vehicular movement, there isn't any issue with the no parking zone on sides. Mr. Giarrusso would like to have two-way traffic. The cross sections do not show- lighting. There will be no utilities brought across Main Street, but will connect to Minot Street. Page 3 of 6 TOWN OF READING COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Minutes for Meeting dated: February 25, 2002 The water can traverse to the side of building and 3/4 inch is acceptable. There would also be no outside music, but two way talking at each pump. RH would like to continue the hearing to a future time. JB moved to continue the hearing to March 11th at 7.45 PM, NS seconds. Vote 4- 0-0. PUBLIC WORKSHOP: ZONING ANALYSISILONGWOOD POULTRY TEAM List of those in attendance attached to these minutes. Bob Engler spoke about the Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B. He spoke about some of the regulations for those that need affordable housing. If the 40B is denied in town, it will likely be approved at a state level under an appeal; only 1 in 10 appeals are granted by the Housing Appeals Committee. There is a lot of activity under 40B. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT -if the town elects to give owner the 40B, what happens to Parcel 2 and 3? -people are still confused about the 40B -people wanted to know who "stops the disaster" if there is one -does the town have the option to spread the 288 houses among the parcels? -know about the traffic especially with the Lowe's, Industrial Park, etc especially considering that the speed limit was already lowered a while ago -do we have the expertise in the Town or do we have to hire someone else -what type of money does the town gets for having the 40B -what would happen to the industrial park in Woburn, Inwood Circle -people have tried to get online to check out the information, but no luck John Connery, planning consultant to the developer/ owner gave a presentation on a fiscal analysis of the proposed projects. Attached is the report filed with the Town. The budget information he used comes from FY 2001. He works with about 51 million dollars. There is an impact of adding students to the school system, incremental cost. Reading is at the high end of the rank, .48 (low .3, high 5) Jim Velleco, architect for the developer/ owner also spoke. He would analyze the potential of building a new development. The density can be done by limiting _ the land, limit what-can bedone -under-zoning amendments. The majority, oof the buildings would be townhouses. Page 4 of 6 TOWN OF READING COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Minutes for Meeting dated: February 25, 2002 There would be a 500-foot dead end roadway along with an internal loop. There would only be an emergency road as well, there are three options for this emergency road, with a gate for this purpose only. The streets that the emergency road would come off of would be Enos Circle, Kelch Road, or Inwood Drive. There would be a large amount of open space due to the large amount of wetland area, including inside the internal loop. There may need to be an area for recreation for the use of the public. There would be a master bedroom on first floor. On the second floor, there would be one bedroom, bathroom, and a loft. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT -curious about the stair case effect about the cost per pupil, adding student to system -level of education services for those that don t achieve at grade level, would they get additional services -number of kids that are coming out of the units -where the number for cost per student comes from -do we get what we see or do we get something different from the designs seen at previous meetings -estimate of land area for recreation, maybe something under 2 acres -soccer fields, something that would fit nicely in there -current thinking of commercial use -some thinking of very limiting open space -how to get to soccer field -soccer field causes more traffic -what's the definition of an emergency (911 call) -enough frontage for a full sized road -the 40B is designed mainly for those aged 55 and over -RH would like continuation of this public meeting on March 11th at 8:30 pm Motion to adjourn at 11:15 PM, made by JB, seconded by NS. All in favor. Page 5 of 6 TOWN OF READING COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION Minutes for Meeting dated: February 25, 2002 These minutes were prepared by Kelley Meier, Recording Secretary, and submitted to the CPDC on February 27, 2002. Minutes were approved by the CPDC on March 4, 2002. Signed as approved: Page 6 of 6