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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-05-10 Community Planning and Development Commission MinutesTown of Reading 16 Lowell Street RCL.CEIVED Reading, MA 01867-2683 I p ~ i CL J. \ Phone: 781-942-6612 t~ 1 { r; S Fax: 781-942-9071 Email: jdelios@ei.reading.ma.us p 12. 52 Community Planning and Development Con?&A V CPDC MINUTES Meeting Dated: May 10, 2010 Location: Selectmen's Meeting Room Time: 7:30 PM Members Present: Nicholas Safina (NS), Chairman; John. Weston (JW), Secretary; Joseph Patterson (JP), and David Tuttle (DT). Members Absent: Claire Paradiso (CP). Associate Members Present: George Katsoufis (GK) Also Present: Jean Delios (JD), Town Planner; George Zambouras (GZ) Town Engineer; Abigail McCabe (AM), Staff Planner, and Michael Schloth (MS), Recording Secretary. Mr. Charles Adams, 13 Riverside Drive Ms. Donnan Barnes, 11 Bancroft Avenue Mr. Ralph Blunt, 22 Linden Street _,,Ms. Adele Blunt, 22 Linden. Street M .r. Bill Bogaert, 91 Pleasant Street Ms. Tina Brzezenski, Main Street Reading, LLC Mr. Larry Hodson, North: Reading Mr. Charles North, 15 Chute Street Ms. Gwen Noyes, Oaktree Development Mr. David O'Sullivan, 18 Thorndike Street Selectman Rick Schubert, 119 Winthrop Avenue Mr. Rick Shaffer, 67 Woburn Street Mr. Dave Talbot, 75 Linden Street Mr. Phil Terzis, Oaktree Development Ms. Ann Ward, 14 Bancroft Street There being a quorum the Chair called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM. Public Comment The Board took up the request of Mr. William Bogaert to have the Board endorse his Approval Not Required (ANR) plans showing the conveyance, of a section of property from 75 Pleasant Street to his adjacent property at 91 Pleasant Street. The Town Engineer had no issues with this plan. JT moved the Board endorse the ANR plans dated 101912009 and amended 511012010. JP seconded and the motion passed 4:0:0. The Board signed the two mylar plans. One was given to the applicant. The second was given to the Town Engineer. `Request for Modifications to Master Signage Plan and Site Plan Review Waiver: 580 Main Street Page 1 of 5 CPDC Minutes of 5/10/2010 /Ms. Tina Brzezenski, owner and applicant, was present. She asked the Board to approve both the addition of a sign band above the second floor windows and the change of use of 1850 square feet of the second floor space from office-use to retail-use. The Board asked why the new sign band could not be modified to match the dimensions of the lower band and why the letters of the example sign used a bolder font than the signs below. Ms. Brzezenski replied the new band was not modified because she did not want to change the architectural lines of the building, and the letters will have a bolder font to provide more surface area to better attach them to the band. Turning to the change of use, the Board clarified that the change to retail-use was for the portion of the second floor noted in the application only. DT moved the Board approve the modification_ to the Master Signage Plan for 580 Main Street as presented in plans dated 51212010. JW seconded and the motion passed 4:0:0. DT moved the Board determine that the change-of-use requested for the 1850 square feet of the second floor of 580 Main Street was eligible for a waiver from the prior approved Site Plan Review Waiver because the site had undergone a full Site Plan Review within the past five years. JW seconded and the motion passed 4:0:0. DT moved that the Board approve the applicant's request for a change-of-use modification to the prior approved Site Plan Review Waiver for 580 Main Street. JP seconded and the motion passed 4:0:0. Other Business Minutes of 4/12/2010 DT moved the Board approve the minutes of 411212010 as amended. JP seconded and the motion passed 4:0:0. Discussion to revisit South Main Street Design Guidelines The Town Planner suggested it may be time for the Board to look again at the draft guidelines it wrote with the help of the previous Town Planner. She offered the following as future topics of discussion. • changing zoning so that Business-A covers the full. depth of lots along South Main. Today, several lots there straddle both Business-A and residential zones. • changing the sign by-law to allow single-tenant businesses in Business-A both a wall sign and a free- ,standing sign. The Board agreed the draft should be reviewed and directed that time be scheduled to do so at a future meeting. Regarding the Town. Planner's suggested topics, the consensus of the Board was that each would have to be considered carefully especially the first which is already addressed as a special case in the by-laws (i.e transitional zones). GK had created a one-page summary of the South Main guidelines and would distribute it to the Board before the next meeting. No action was taken by the Board. Page 2 of 5 CPDC Minutes of 5/10/2010 Update: Fifth Member NS reported he has prepared a letter to CP asking her to resign her position if she feels she cannot attend meetings regularly. Update: Town-wide Signage By-law Compliance The Town Planner reported that town staff is compiling an inventory of noncompliant signage in anticipation of July 1, 2010 which is the date all signage in the Town of Reading must be in compliance with the sign by-laws. The violations range from the minor: window sign issues; to the major: the removal and/or relocation of freestanding and wall signs. Public Hearing: Site Plan Review 30 Haven Street, Oaktree Development Representing Oaktree Development was Ms. Gwen Noyes, Mr. Phil Terzis and others. Ms. Noyes and Mr. Terzis presented a brief slideshow describing the various features of the proposal. Ms. Noyes noted that given the economic climate they expect the residential units would be sold as rentals not condominiums. The Town Planner noted that the May 5, 2010 memo from the CPDC on the "Certificate of Completeness/Advisory Report" details what the CPDC is looking for from the applicant. She also noted that the Board had requested reports on Oaktree's project from department heads and other Boards and Committees. So far only the Conservation Commission, Tree Warden, and Fire Department have forwarded comments. The Board noted that it would be looking to the Board of Selectmen for guidance on the portions of the applicant's proposal related to changes to the parking lot and traffic circulation i.e.: re-striping and adding trees to the rear lot; bumping out a section of the Haven Street sidewalk for outdoor seating; and malting the access road between this site and 70 Haven a one-way street. The Town Planner said the Board of Selectmen was to be questioned on these points at its next meeting. She also noted that Town Counsel had been asked to comment on the legal ramifications of malting the access road one-way. Ms. Noyes noted that Oaktree had been asked to make improvements to town property. The Board questioned how the trees shown in the plans for the parking lot could be made to fit without impeding traffic. Mr. Terzis said they would use a diamond-plot technique similar to that used by a parking lot in Newburyport. The Board asked if there were details on how construction would be staged. The applicant replied that Brande Court and the first bay of parking spaces would be used as a staging area and any damage done to the parking lot would be repaired. The Board asked who - the town or Oaktree would be responsible for the maintenance of Oaktree's improvements to town property? E.g. the oil and grit infiltrators; the parking lot trees; illuminated bollards; etc... No one had an answer. The Board asked if it could expect revised plans that would address the questions and concerns raised in the May 5 memo. Ms. Noyes replied that Oaktree is looping for some kind of conditional approval of Page 3 of 5 CPDC Minutes of 5/10/2010 %their proposal as presented before they moved forward with creating more detailed plans. The Board noted that much of what was asked for in the memo is what the Board would normally ask for in a site plan review. Ms. Noyes replied Oaktree needs to feel confident it is on the right track before investing in detailed plans. Mr. Hodson, owner of Hodson Oil, 26 Brande Court, told the Board that if the access from the parking lot to Haven Street was made one-way he would be put out of business because his larger trucks could not make the turn. The Board agreed this issue would have to be addressed. George Katsoufis asked if any of the 75 parking spaces in the proposed underground garage would be available for employee parking. The consensus of Oaktree was this would be unlikely given that the primary use of the garage would be for tenants and the security of the tenants must be maintained. A resident of Linden Street said the former Atlantic Supermarket employees were not allowed to park in the parking lot so many would park in front of her house and all along Linden Street. She was concerned this practice would continue under Oaktree. Mr. Hodson and others questioned the feasibility of underground parking given the bad flooding problem on the site. Mr. Terzis said a geotechnical engineer would be engaged to review any flooding issues. Mr. Shaffer asked if the geotechnical engineer's report would be made available to the public. Mr. Terzis said it would. !1VIs. Ann Ward asked if the trees would be shade trees. Oaktree's landscape architect said the trees would provide dappled shade not full shade. Mr. Rick Shaffer asked if a shadow study had been done. Mr. Terzis said one had not but it would not be a problem to generate one. Mr. Adams asked if the residential units are to be rentals wouldn't that make it hard for the town to reach its affordable unit threshold. The Board replied the opposite was the case: if the units are rentals, then all of the units count towards the threshold - even the full market value units. Selectman Schubert said the Board of Selectmen would have to-carefully consider the consequences of changing the access to Haven Street to one-way. He asked the applicant when Oaktree would decide whether the residential units rentals or condominiums. The applicant replied the market remains volatile but as of last week it was clear that it would be difficult to sell the units as condos. Selectman Schubert thanked the applicant for scheduling meetings with the neighbors of the project and asked what seemed to be the main concern of the neighbors who attended. Ms. Noyes replied it seemed to her that the neighbors' main concerns were traffic and noise. Mr. Dave Talbot reminded the audience how most people were shocked by the scale of Reading Commons (Archstone) and expressed concern that the neighbors who faced the rear of Oaktree's project may feel the same when they find themselves looking at a four-story wall. Mr. Shaffer agreed and both "requested the CPDC take this into consideration and make the setbacks deeper. The Board disagreed that Ahe building would look better with deeper rear setbacks. Page 4 of 5 CPDC Minutes of 5/10/2010 "."",_.Mr. Talbot was also concerned that the residential units may now be rentals and not condos. He asked if Oaktree would be receiving financing from the Town Of Reading. Ms. Noyes said she had approached the town for financing because the State's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) said it could be years before financing would be available through the State. Money from the town's affordable housing trust was mentioned as a possible source of financing. Mr. Shaffer said all residents who have shown an interest in this project should have been noticed about tonight's meeting and not only the direct abutters. The Town Engineer told the Board he did not have a report for the Board because the applicant has not yet submitted plans he could report on. He did not think the applicant would have to submit full site plans but he would expect at least a report from a geotechnical engineer on how the applicant would address the water issue. The Board agreed the applicant should provide more details but noted that a reason for the Smart, Growth zoning in the first place was to allow developers to build as they like as long as they met the design guidelines and zoning requirements. Ms. Noyes asked the Board for a letter to that effect. The Board was not comfortable providing such letter and noted such a letter should not be necessary since the zoning itself is in a manner of speaking that letter. The Board reminded the applicant that the affordability portion of the zoning was something the applicant must meet and could not be waived. Ms. Noyes repeated Oaktree's need for assurance it is proceeding along a path approved by the town. The Town Planner noted the DHCD has specific proscribed requirements for every step towards construction ,Within a 40R (Smart Growth) zone. The consensus of the Board was to continue the site plan review until 5/24/2010. The Board directed the applicant to provide answers to the questions and concerns raised in the May 5th memo on the Certificate of Completeness/Advisory Report. The Town Planner said she would try to have ready for the Board's review before the next meeting reports from the boards and departments that had not yet responded to the request for comments on the project. Mr. Shaffer asked the Board to please consider the one-way access to Haven Street at that meeting. DT moved the Board continue the public hearing until Monday, 512412010 at 7:30 pm. JW seconded and the motion carried 4:0:0. DT moved to adjourn. JW seconded and the motion was carried 4`.0:0. The meeting adjourned at 10:25 p.m. These minutes were prepared by Michael Schloth and submitted to the CPDC on June 14, 2010; these minutes were approved as amended by the CPDC on June 14, 2010. Signed as approved, t2-ib John estop, Secretary Date Page 5 of 5