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Home My WebLink About1984-04-23 Planning Board MinutesMinutes of the Meeting of April 23, 1984. Chairman Rich called the meeting to order in Room 122, Reading Memorial High School, 62 Oakland Road with Board members J. Shaw, J. Wood and B. Mitchel present. Correspondence mail was reviewed. Board noted receipt of letter from Boston Stove Company to the Board of Selectmen (cc: Planning Board) re: building and construction anticipated if TASC proposal to buy the John Street DPW Incinerator/garage parcels again receives Town Meeting approval. A letter from TASC re: letter to Barry Hampson regarding.,misinformation about the tax revenue resulting from the proposed TASC Corporate Headquarters. BPW Relocation Board discussed and reviewed the revised plans of Boston Stove Company if the TASC land sale is approved. Board felt that the economic future of.the town is tied to developing.this area to its highest potential. Board reviewed land available in this area to be developed: General Tire, Baggs IND zoned land, Trancoa, Mayflower Trucking (ail across the RR tracks, needing access over the tracks to gain entrance to this..landlocked IND area) and Boston Stove,*the Incinerator site, DPW garage and storage areas. Board discussed their view of the future of the Dump Site, future needs and requirements.of DPW (including subcontracting snow removal,. maintenance of vehicles, vehicle rental, etc.) and the potential for developing this,,land across the street for. an attractive high-tech industrial complex. Further discussion on this matter was deferred until later in the meeting. Personnel After some discussion with the Conservation..Commission, Charles Costello, CC Administrator,-requested the.Planning Board to set up an interBoard.meeting with Selectmen, Building Inspector, Conser- vation Commission and Planning Board to discuss what responsibilities, time and space arrangements will be made.with the proposed consoli- dation of office space/personnel. Chairman Rich stated that with the passage of the Planning Board budget, the regular 19 1/2 hours per week (900 hours per year) were to be expended by the Planning Board for their-use. Any time needed for other work outside the Board's activities would have to be funded through another.depart- ment. Time frame proposed for moving ,offices was discussed. Ms. Rich will contact Mr. Agnew to clarify when the move will take place and will try to postpone such move until after Town Meeting finally adjourns. Board Membershi Reading Chronicle published the resignation of Charles Arthur, Jr. as a Planning Board member. Board discussed process for appointing .a new member. Mr. Mitchel asked that Mr. Arthur's position be kept open until it was determined when and if he will be available to serve the Board again. Selection will take place after Town Meeting 4/23/84 Page 2 finally adjourns and the selection process can begin in earnest. Work Program Board discussed setting priorities.for the 1984=85 Work Program. The following assignments were made: Cluster..Development All Board assignment Water.Resources and Hazardous Waste M. Rich State-Constructon- J.--V+1ood _ New Construction J. Shaw Zoning Matters - B. Mitchel Charter Reform including Site Plan Review low priority (will wait to assess progress made in other areas before.proceeding. Board noted that MAPC, EOCD are.available for assistance in this area.) Committee assignments were deferred. Ms. Rich will continue to meet with the:Conservation Commission/Board of Health/Hazardous Waste Committee to work on water problems and.hazardous waste by-laws. At 6:30 P.M. the Board met with Attorney Connolly, Mr. Tom McManus, and Tom McManus, Jr. regarding the proposed sale of land under Article 43 on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. Their latest proposal; reduces the land area being requested by over 70%. A sketch of the old and new proposal was compared and reviewed by Attorney Connolly. They are now requesting 13,707 sq.,ft. of land, which is less than 1% of the toal land area of the Dump Site,. vs.. the previous request of 3.3% of the Dump Site. The architect was requested. to review their plans and a new proposal has been designed which allows for more efficient use of the eland, parking and. service bay area,. The building setback proposed will be 90'; previous request was for a setback of 120'; ZBL requirements call for a 501.setback.. Attorney Connolly stated that the town will benefit from this proposal of a 90' setback, which will give a better site view to the Dump Site from either the highway or the lake, thus increasing fiiture land sale values of this land. The building will also receive a higher assessed value with the 90' setback as location on the.site adds to the value when the building is assessed for tax purposes. If the land sale is blocked, the McManuses will.build.at the 50' set- back, thus blocking the.,;Dump Site location from the highway. Question of moving the maintenance/garage facilities underground thus /reducing the footprint of the building and,requiring less land was discussed. Mr. McManus stated that the.ground chemistry corrodes lifts, hydraulics, etc because of the high acidity/electrolytes in ground. 4/23/84 Page 3 .The latest proposal has been presented to the Finance Committee and the Industrial Development Commission and was well received ,by both. An IDC member toured the area (13,707 sq. ft.) of land proposed under the.new request and was favorably impressed. IDC will vote on this matter and the McManus interests will appear before FINCOM after such vote has been made. Attorney Connolly and the McManuses thanked the Board for their interest and time and left at 7:10 P.M. The Board-.then continued discussion on the listed agenda items. BPW Relocation (Continued Boar sscussed.their former vote not to endorse rescinding Town Meeting's previous vote to sell the John Street land to TASC. The Chairman will state the Board's position at Town Meeting, during discussion of Articles 4 and 5 on-the Special TM Warrant. Discussion on Article 14 - move BPW to Dump site ensued. A motion was made and seconded in favor-of the Board supporting the BPW move to-the Dump Site. Mr. Wood..stated that this was the best site for the BPW facilities because it had little i.mpact.on resi- dential neighborhoods. Ms. Rich stated.her position as not favoring such a move. The financial future of the town is built around the highest and best use for this land. To.move the DPW to this site would be detrimental in attracting high tech industry to this area. ',The Planning.Board must think of the town's future, the impact of proposition 2 1/2 and the ability of the. townspeople to pay the major share of the taxes. Ms. Rich felt that the only area left in town for development of this sort is the Dump Site and surrounding John Street area. Without expanded industrial growth., the town will soon suffer seriously under the impact and confines 6f Proposition 2 1/2. Mr.. Mitchel felt that last Fall's Town Meeting vote was intended to move the DPW out of this area and open it up for industrial expansion and a broader tax base. The Chairman called for the vote on this matter. The vote was 1-2 (Mr. Shaw having to leave before this matter was discussed). Chairman Rich will present the'Board's view that the DPW should be moved to a site other than the Dump.Site before the discussion on Town Meeting floor. Board will review the McManus proposal after the LDC and Fincom are heard on this matter. The next meeting will be on Monday., April 30, 1984 at 6 PM in Room 122, Reading Memorial High School. At 7:35 P.M. the Board voted to adjourn to Town Meeting. Respectfully submitted, ~--,,John D. Wood, Clerk