HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-09-15 Planning Board Minutes.Minutes of the Meeting of September 15, 1982.
Chairman Mitchel called the meeting to order at 7:35 P.M. in Room 19,
52 Sanborn Street (the Community Center) with Board members A. Burne,
M. Rich, J. Shaw and K. Messina present. Also present was Reading
Chronicle reporter, Tracy Dwyer and a representative from the By-law
Committee, George Theophanis.
Signs - Proposed Revisions
The Chairman led a discussion of some of the concerns about the
proliferation of signs within the Town and the District Court case
decision which upheld our sign by-law but excluded gas price signs
as "promotional" signs.
At 8:00 P.M. Town Counsel, H. Theodore Cohen, and Building Inspec-
tor, Charles Stamatis, met with the.Board to discuss the problems
that are arising with the By-law wording regarding signs.
Attorney Cohen reviewed the Woburn District Court case regarding
the Arco, North Main Street gas price signs. He felt that the judge
found the wording of the By-laws to be too vague to include the price
information for gas as "promotional", which would then exclude that
sign from being displayed within the Town. More specific wording
would have to be formulated to insure that "price" signs are promo-
tional signs and fall under the Zoning By-laws.
The Board discussed allowing some relief for gas station owners and
Town Counsel said that"would be discriminatory to allow gas stations
sign relief and would not pass the Attorney General's office, if Town
Meeting even approved. The Board felt that the loosening of the sign
by-law provisions could bring about a proliferation of these signs and
would be a visual pollutant, distracting, hazardous to traffic because
of cars slowing down to read the price signs and would,not offer any
advantage to the aesthetics or safety of the Townspeople.
With that determination made, the Board then discussed the wording for
insuring that price signs would be included as a promotional sign under
the Zoning By-laws. The following wordings was then suggested to be
drafted and sent to Town Counsel for his research:
Amend Section 6.2.1.2. of the Town's Zoning By-laws by adding the
following sentence:
"Product or service price information shall not be set forth on any
sign except as otherwise mandated by Federal and/or State law." So
that Section 6.2.1.2. in its entirety shall read: "Signs shall
relate to the premises on which they are located and shall only iden-
tify the occupant of such premises, the services available, hours of
operation, the products sold and their respective trade names. Product
or service price information shall not be set forth on any sign except
as otherwise mandated by Federal and/or State law."
One of the questions the Board asked Town Counsel to research is the
allowable size of the pump signs which quote the price per gallon,
taxes, etc. and are mandated by either Federal or State law to be.
placed on the pump itself at all gas stations.
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The Building Inspector then asked that the Board look at Section 6.2.5.
of the Zoning By-laws which allows any sign smaller than 12 feet to
be free of applying for a sign permit from the Building Inspector. The
Board discussed this and the following proposed wording will also be
submitted to Town Counsel for his review:
Amend Section 6.2.5. of the Town's Zoning By-laws by deleting the
phrase "except those smaller than twelve (12) square feet in size"
and inserting in place thereof, "except those permitted in Residence
Districts," so that this Section shall now read: "All signs, except
those permitted in Residence Districts, shall require a sign permit
issued by the Building Inspector."
It was then moved and seconded and voted.unanimously by.the Board to
submit these proposed Zoning By-law changes to Town Counsel for his
review before placing them on the Fall Town Meeting Warrant, which
closes September '27, 1982 at 8 P.M.
At 9:25 P.M., the Board thanked Town Counsel and the Building Inspec-
tor for meeting with them to discuss these issues.
At 9:39 P.M. the Board met with LWV representatives, Barbara Hewitt
and Eleanor Dustin regarding the housing study. At this time the
Board was presented with the LWV report on "Condominiums" for their
review. Ms. Hewitt also asked where the Board was on "accessory
`apatments", "cluster", PRD, PUD and other forms of housing. The
Board then outlined their work program in which each of the Board
members is researching and presenting their findings on the listed
subject matters. Ms. Hewitt then stated that the LWV would be happy
to assist the Planning Board with any help in these areas, either by
doing some research or sharing information or some other way that
the Board might find useful. Ms. Hewitt then stated that they would
be monitoring the Planning Board meetings more closely now that they
knew that such a work program was being studied by the Board.
Pis. Hewitt then outlined some of the various towns that gave inGen-
tive bonuses for providing low and moderate income family housing to
developers. In these cases creative housing techniques were allowed
in return for some "incentive" housing being provided to the Town to
accommodate the low and moderate income families. She cited Lexington
and Concord as well as Lincoln that provide such bonuses.
At 16 P.M. Ms. Hewitt and Ms. Dustin thanked the Board for their
time and cooperation in discussing these housing issues
Accessory Apartments - draft proposal
" Ms. Rich then presented some of the highlights of her proposal on
accessory apartments. She stated that the Building Inspectors and
Board of Healths in towns where accessory apartments are allowed are
in favor of such a by-law. It then allows the Fire Chief, Board of
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Health, Building Inspector,Gas.and Electrical Inspectors the right
to inspect the premises of all such buildings and be sure that they
are meeting all State codes.
There are Federal and State grants that are available to help the
elderly convert their homes for use as accessory apartments. These
grants would be given to the Housing Authority for their distribu-
tion and supervision. But the By-law must be implemented for a Town
to apply.
The question of parking and taxes on accessory apartments was then
discussed. It was then suggested that Ms. Rich draft a proposed
By-law with different keys for allowing accessory apartments within
the Town.
It was then moved, seconded and unanimously voted to accept this
preliminary report on accessory apartments. The draft proposal should
be ready for review by the first meeting in October.
Ms. Rich then stated that the census data on income should be avail-
able by October 3rd.
The next meeting of the Planning Board is scheduled for Wednesday,
September 22, 1982 at 7 P.M. in the Board's office.
It was then unanimously voted to adjourn at 10:50 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth G. Messina, Clerk