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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-05-12 Community Planning and Development Commission MinutesTown of Reading 16 Lowell Street Reading, MA 01867-2683 Phone: 781-942-6612 Fax: 781-942-9071 Email: ckowalski@ci.reading.ma.us Community Planning and Development Commission CPDC MINUTES Meeting Dated: May Location: Selectmen's Members Present; David Sasso (JS). 2008 Roorp., l own~Hall Time x (DT),-Secretary; Nicholas Safina (NS); John-Wc Members Absent: Brant Ballentyne (BB), Chairman. 7:130 PM (JW), and John Also Present: Carol Kowalski (CK), Town Planner; Abigail McCabe (AM), Staff Planner; George Zambouras(GZ), Town Engineer; and Michael Schloth, Recording Secretary. Peter Darlow, Darlow Christ Architects, 2326 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA Ken Schroeder, Darlow Christ Architects, 2326 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA Attorney Chris Latham of Latham, Latham & Lamond, P.C., 643 Main Street Jack Sullivan, P.E., 22 Mount Vernon Rd., Boxford, MA Dermot Kelly, PE, DJK Assoc., Inc. Tina Brzezenski, Main Street Reading, LLC Nick Nikolaou, Engineer, Danis Properties Attorney Mark Favaloro of Favaloro & Associates, 348 Park Place, North Reading, MA 01864 Kathy Walsh, Executive Director, Burbank YMCA In Brant Ballentyne's absence, David Tuttle was Acting Chairman. There being a quorum the Chair called the meeting to order at 7:45 PM. Public Comment There were no comments from the public. Site Plan Review & Signage Certificate of Appropriateness (continued) 296 Salem Street, Mandarin Reading. The applicant's architects, Peter Darlow and Ken Schroeder, were present. A draft decision had been prepared. The applicant had reviewed it and had no concerns. JW moved the Board approve the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the signage of Mandarin Reading, 296 Salem Street, as submitted 4/22/2008. NS seconded. Voted Approved: 3:0:0. Page 1 of 6 CPDC Minutes of 5/12/2008 DT noted that the draft decision references a plan with additional fagade lighting and that lighting is not something the Board is approving tonight. NS agreed noting that the Board is still waiting for additional information on that lighting. DT suggesting adding language to the end of the lighting condition of the decision to read: "the proposed wash lighting for the mechanicals screen is not approved at this time" or words to that effect. The Board agreed. NS moved the Board approve the site plan review decision for 296 Salem Street, Mandarin Reading as amended tonight. JW seconded. Voted Approved: 3:0:0. Site Plan Review (Continued) S Walkers Brook Drive, Salem 5 Bank Appearing for Salem Five: Mr. Chris Latham, attorney; Mr. Jack Sullivan, engineer; Mr. Scott Towne, architect; Mr. Dermot Kelley, traffic engineer and consultant. DT noted that the public hearing was still open. Mr. Latham noted that architectural renderings have been submitted and traffic consultant Dermot Kelly is present. The Town Engineer distributed his memo. Mr. Sullivan described the changes to the plan. The entrance curbcut is now 20 feet (was 16 feet). Three of the original twenty parking spaces have been eliminated to save pine trees. Snow will be stockpiled in three spaces of the rear parking lot. That brings the number of usable parking spaces (after snow storage) to fourteen. The infiltration system is now entirely under the paved area to provide more room for landscaping. Although the original plan showed most of the site meeting stormwater regulations, the Town Engineer wanted the design to handle backwater. Six-foot high PVC fence has been added to the Lakeview Avenue side of the site and at the Town Planner's request more plantings will be placed there. The angle of the exit has been changed to a 90-degree intersection with Walkers Brook Drive. The major concern expressed at the previous meeting was traffic. Mr. Kelly has provided a revised queuing study of the left-hand turn into the site. The Town Engineer summarized the contents of his memo. Many concern minor issues (e.g. notations on the plan) and can be referenced in the Board's decision. Regarding,traffic, after reviewing the new data he is no longer concerned that queuing at the drive-up lane would block access to the ATM. Regarding lighting, he noted that lights facing the abutting residential areas should be shielded. Mr. Tony D'Arezzo of .130 John Street asked 1) how tall the parking lot light poles would be; 2) are the awnings internally illuminated; and 3) will there be a freestanding sign. Mr. Sullivan said the poles would be 18-feet tall (originally the poles were 22-feet tall) and the awnings would not be illuminated. Mr. Latham said there would be a freestanding sign but it is not part of this site plan review. Page 2 of 6 CPDC Minutes of 5/12/2008 JW expressed concern that Saturday traffic may be a problem. Mr. Kelly replied that the calculations (Time-Space Diagram) shows that traffic will not back up. The consensus of the Board was that the two signs at the exit - one "Exit" the other "Exit Only" could be combined into one two-sided sign. The applicant agreed. The Board reminded the applicant that the existing freestanding sign must come down when the property changes hands. Mr. Latham said the sign's anchor and pole would remain and they would be back with the new sign at a later date. The Town Planner suggested the Board could add a sunset clause on the freestanding sign in the decision. Mr. Latham was amenable to the suggestion and requested two years. The Town Planner noted that condition #4 should contain the sunset language and should read that the applicant shall remove the pylon sign within 24 months if a variance is not sought and granted to reuse the pylon. The Town Planner noted that BB had requested a condition that all security lighting be identified and so designated beforehand. She noted that residents in the area are sensitive to the additional lights the Walkers Brook development has brought to their neighborhoods and town staff often gets calls about lights left on. Mr. D'Arezzo asked if interior lights would be left on. The applicant replied that some of the lobby lights would be left on after hours for benefit of the police. DT suggested that the Board's concerns regarding lights should be added to the decision. He asked if it was possible to dim the exterior lights to security-light levels. The applicant said that is not possible. Mr. Latham said the following could be considered security lighting: the four exterior lights on poles; the lights around the ATM; some lobby lights. Returning to the freestanding sign and the sunset clause, JS emphasized the Board prefers that the pole be removed as it does not want to see a 25-foot tall sign in the area. Mr. Latham expressed concern that having to remove the pole may adversely affect their case before the Zoning Board of Appeals. After much discussion, the Board decided to change the sunset condition to read that "the pylon sign would be removed within six months of issuance of a building permit' 'or words to that effect. The Chair asked if there were further comments from the public. There were none. JS moved the Board close the public hearing. JW seconded. Public hearing closed: 4:0:0. NS moved the Board approve the site plan review decision of 8 Walkers Brook Drive, Salem 5 Bank, as amended and pending reformatting of the decision for appropriate spelling and grammar. JW seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. Site Plan Review Waiver 36 Arthur B Lord Drive, Burbank YMCA Ms. Kathy Walsh, director of the Burbank YMCA, was present. The applicant is requesting a waiver from site plan review of a proposal to add a splash pad on the existing rear patio of the Burbank YMCA. She informed the Board that a guardrail and a six-foot tall, chain-link fence would surround the splash pad. She said she. had met with the Health Administrator, Larry Ramdin unofficially to Page 3 of 6 CPDC Minutes of 5/12/2008 discuss any health issues associated with the use and maintenance of the splash pad. She noted that there would be no change to the site lighting and the splash pad would not be open past 7 PM. The Town Engineer questioned where the surplus water would go and noted this would fall under stormwater regulations not the sewer regulations. JS moved the Board determine that the proposed construction of a splash pad at 36 Arthur B Lord Drive, Burbank YMCA is eligible for a waiver from site plan review. NS seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. JW moved the Board approve the waiver with the condition that there will be no changes to the site's lighting. NS seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. Approval Not Required (ANR) 62 Charles Street Attorney Chris Latham appeared for the applicant. The Town Engineer reported that the Engineering Department had reviewed the plans and found language that needed to be changed. The Town Planner continued: the original plans had language that stated the added-to lot would create a building lot. She noted that the town tries not to leave notes on an ANR declaring that created or changed lots would be buildable. JS moved the Board endorse the ANR dated 2/7/2008 and certified 5/2/2008. JW seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. Bond Reduction Benjamin Lane Subdivision The Town Engineer reported that in his memo of 5/9/2008 he noted that it would cost $152,000.00 to finish the project so he recommended that the Board approved the reduction of the bond to $152, 000.00. JS moved the Board approve the reduction of the bond posted for the Benjamin Lane Subdivision from $180,500.00 to $152,000.00. NS seconded. Voted Approved; 4:0:0 DT signed the document (as acting Chairman). Master Signage Plan 580 Main Street Ms Tina Brzezenski, owner, was present. She was proposing a sign template of black letters, raised, with white LEDs behind to provide a halo effect. The sign band will be grey. There will be four sign Page 4 of 6 CPDC Minutes of 5/12/2008 areas on the sign band plus a "580" on the high-hat entranceway. The Bank of America will have their own logo which will also be backlit. The logo's color will be blue not black. Mr. Tony D'Arezzo of 16 John Street asked in which zoning district was 580 Main Street located. The Chair replied, Business-B. JS moved the Board approve the Master Signage Plan for 580 Main Street showing the locations of the tenants' signage and the location of the "580" address sign. The plans and drawing submitted are dated 3/4/2008, 2/19/2008 and 2/29/2008. NS seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. Signage Certificate of Appropriateness 233 Haven Street, em*helle*ish No one appeared for the applicant. The Board had no issues with the submission. There were no comments from the public. JW moved the Board approve the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the awning sign at 233 Haven Street, em*belle*ish. NS seconded. Voted Approved: 4:0:0. Review of Upcoming ZBA Cases Case 08-12: Special Permit for non-conforming addition to home The consensus of the Board was it had no comment on this case. Case 08-02: continuance of 361 Franklin Street appeal The consensus of the Board was to comment on how the case relates to the Master Plan with regards to the goal of avoiding mansionization. NS agreed to express this point in a memo to the ZBA. Case 08-09: One general Way (Market Basket) freestanding sign Appearing for Danis Properties were Attorney Mark Favaloro and Engineer Nick Nikolaou Mr.,Favaloro and Mr. Nikolaou were before the Board to discuss the ZBA's pending review of Danis Properties request for zoning relief for of its freestanding sign. Mr. Favaloro noted that the latest design has been reduced to 153 square feet (75 square feet is the maximum), the bottom edge has been raised further off the ground, the supporting post closest to Walkers Brook Drive has been moved three feet further away from Walkers Brook Drive. The latter two changes improve sight distance. The sign is internally lit and the signboards are translucent. The Board was unanimous in its appreciation of the applicant's efforts to reduce the sign's size and improve its sight distance. However, it noted that this sign has been the subject of a long; drawn out process that included the active participation of concerned residential abutters. On the other hand, the Board recognized that the business tenants and the building itself deserve a good sign. The consensus of the Board was to recommend to the ZBA that the sight distance be improved further by raising the lower edge of the sign higher. In that regard, the Board referenced its decision Page 5 of 6 CPDC Minutes of 5/12/2008 on the Stop & Shop freestanding sign at 25 Walkers Brook Drive. The Board also agreed its recommendation should note that it supports the applicant's decision to move the sign's supporting post further from Walkers Brook Drive. Administrative Review Draft Administrative Rule The consensus of the Board was that it liked the intent of the rule but the examples could be better. Mandarin Reading The Board had forgotten to close the public hearing for the site plan review of Mandarin Reading addressed earlier in the meeting. NS moved the Board close the public hearing for the site plan review of 296 Salem Street, Mandarin Reading. DT seconded. Voted Approved: 3:0:1 (JS abstained because he had arrived tonight after the Board had voted on the site plan review decision). JS moved to adjourn. JW seconded, By a vote of 4:0:0, the Board adjourned at 11:35 PM. These minutes were prepared by Michael Schloth and are a faithful representation of the 5/12/2008 c CPDC /ngecreta Rec Page 6 of 6