[Music] February 6 2025 the time is 6:00 p.m. and this is the Acushnet Planning Commission this meeting is being recorded for future viewing on the town's YouTube page
and uh the cable channel uh we are also U live via Zoom tonight can I get a motion to open the plan board meeting uh all in favor hi hi uh can everybody introduce themselves starting with Victoria please Victoria alaro Town planner Peta member Steve member Mark Francois chairman Brian damps member all right uh next next is the
meeting minutes for January 16th uh everybody got sent a copy of this uh we were all in attendance for this meeting no I wasn't you weren't so we need oh absent sorry I didn't even see it absent is PETA my bad uh did anybody get a chance to look this over any comments questions concerns I move I make move motion to accept amendes from January 16th
2025 second all in favor I fous are you abstaining on that vote he wasn't here yeah
all right moving right along we had some correspondents from ever Source um I guess ever source is going to be doing some line replacement um starting in new Beford of four miles worth uh it's going to come over the Acushnet River uh about 1 1300
ft into a kushit joining through Wetlands um they formally have to notify the planning board they formally have to notify uh conservation this is just a formality letting us know they're going to be doing some work is everybody okay with me signing this do they have to take a vote I would make a motion make a motion to vote on the other source lines 142 14 three replacement project we got a vot
we got a motion motion second yeah basically we left out he's going to be able to he's going to be able to sign that so motion second all in favor all right thank you that the only turn that was left out that's why
okay [Music]
moving along we had a hearing schedule for this evening that will be continued as follows continued site plan review and special permit of 211 Middle Road map 23 Lot 29 29a 29b uh they were still waiting for uh Bill Madden to to give his um
response to some of the changes uh so they have requested the continuance to February 20th can you get a motion make a motion to continue the public hearing to February 20th at 6 p.m. second that uh motion to Second all in favor I okay discussion other topics uh approval
not required Beacon Street map Beacon Street map 15 lot 246 243 applicant and owner Robert Baptist representative Leon Hil from alpha engineering gentlemen is there anything you like to say regarding these sets of fls what are we doing here I think it's
self-explanatory discontinuance of Beacon Street he is the owner or but of all Apostles surrounding that border well B private road so he just wants to make it legal so he can have all this property that he owns together including that street since there's enough butter on both sides he has wasted a halfway either way
where are we here is she Beacon is she Beacon Street so he wants all of that property coming across that one you want me to come up and show you anything any questions just going out so Mr P owns this piece here this piece here this piece here this piece here basically all of it and it a
buts what's on this side is it just wooded area on this P Street oh payot Street's up here right so this about P Street okay so the other end yes that's my property also on right here yep basically then all the way up to the
which isn't built also the mlet is a paper Street as well you don't know mlet is a paper Street also yes right okay and you just want to get rid of Beacon Street paper Street that's right he's trying to merge it into his properties just one property 246 what what zone is there what zone is
that I think it's all residential but was done in 1950 you zoning requirements up here for two zones yeah so which one is it in what the street no the lot the loot resal I mean you you you've got zoning requirements for a minimum lot Frontage of 100 ft 10,000 sare ft and then over here you got you got it for a zoning IRA residence District my question is just
which one are we in I can't I don't really know that we need that needs to be determined I don't have that map that map is kind of funny where the village District goes yeah kind of in and out right I can the village actually ends at my other lot The Village ends right there the front lot on the one you said was on the other end would you would you just mind coming up maybe just point
to I'm just TR so this is the this is the LW what do we want this is Beacon okay this is the lot I wanted to attach it to right okay and uh this here is is in the village right here is the line of the village okay okay so you're really in the residential a y I use yeah which is cuz I own this this
this lot I don't know what this is but this that was my other question yeah that's one lot yeah this is uh 243 right 243 yep and it's map 15 and this is where I wanted to merge in 26 I think it's a residential y he's telling us it's here is the this one even though it's part of here now this was all put together
these this one this one and this one is all one law okay was done few years five years ago these two added to here that so what I wanted to do is add this to this so later on if this ever becomes buildable a lot I could just add the properties together later if not I wanted to keep it all for privacy so pretty much right now one is not a buildable lot lot one which one is lot one this right now is residential a and what
we don't have if you're trying to keep this this is separate you do not have you don't have 150 ft of Frontage and you don't have the square footage yeah got 1 no I know that I just want to put them here I'm trying to keep this as a private LW but later on this one here is got the frontage here see it off of MOT here it's got the frontage on both ends on mot it's got 173 ft and down here it's got 180 ft P job why are you concerned about
that all see it doesn't have the 150 ft Frontage it's not a buildable all we want to do is just continue that street okay so what you need to do is put a note on here saying that this is not a buildable lot why because it's not a buildable lot so when you go for a perit they're going to say it's not buildable you try to combine these two lots no no all we're doing is just continue that and that lot that going with this law period That's all this PL
for discontinue of a street we're not doing a subdivision we don't intend to build any houses or anything if he ever decides in the future he's going to have to come before the planning board if you want to change these lot lines but because you're doing an anr it does need to meet the frontage requirement so if it's not going to there should be a note on the plan to state that this is not not
buildable lot well I submitted this a while ago yeah I'm sorry I didn't catch that right you know what a clock to run a m out again it's very expensive that's why I sent these in here for review to find out if there was any changes and I I never got a negative answer so I should then I had my friend who does uh orad he did the uh the Mya and which I submitted over here last week right last
week excuse me Victoria we went through the Town Administrator and Town Council regarding discontinuing of paper streets yes does this board have the authority that was my next question to discontinue a paper street so this is a private road so the town has no part in it which is what I received
from Town Council this is what what's the difference between a private road and pit Street I can't answer that one but I reach out to Town Council would be on the subdivision plan that was submitted years ago which they called uh and that was this isn't it had to be on the subdivision plan that's how it came into existence y That's How The Paper streets came
[Music] this is something that we've gone to T Kum Mana that's the original subdivision plan of this all this area and here's it is right there okay but it was on an original subdivision
plan say that again it was on a subdivision plan yes it was there it is right there okay but you were stating that that wasn't true that was never on any kind of a subdivision plan but it was that's what I'm trying to say did I say that if I did I was in there okay thank you because there it is right here see it yeah there's the lot there's the street he owns all this I see that please no thank
you so right here M yeah this is ex's here because I was checking the D and the way refering it so just ignore all so he's got all of these Lots here on this side he's got this little piece and he also has this one which does not the subdivision plan I
understand that was in the there it is right there lision two so I guess yeah I see it so now this solid line here is division of the two properties of property in this road what is this dotted line for show this must be what's accepted right this ISS had to be
previous I mean it's private so hasn't been accepted by the that's that answers that question the old line used to go right here that's why so it is show the old line I know got private written I don't which kind of confuses it a little because really that doesn't exist anymore this comes in from Wing I understand that but makes it confusing when somebody looks at it you
so this dash line isn't even on here no no it's this because all little so it's all been 20 it's all together now that's it 20 foot LGE because it's been owning car for so long it has to be well the assess do that all the lines dissolve once ownership reaches a certain time period the lines but they're showing that
P actually it must be over like the hair we you still want no I'm good on that one thank you I see that there a fee of $5 for looking at this did you talk to your father yet I did what he remembered you he does yeah he remember good or bad that was good yeah I
swear I'm okay you've looked at it enough and as far as the myar I mean that's just adding the note onto the myar it's not like you got to do the whole my over yes you have to why but then you have to do it in ink by hand then this is done by AutoCAD yeah you know you do it on the computer and then you run it on this machine to
make a m okay then it's a little easier than you're saying it is then because you're really just going to put the note in it run it on the machine again right not somebody's not inking it in well you could put the note on the Mya in the freehand yes yeah you have all right that's what you want that can be done no big problem just needs to be on there so I mean that's how we used to do it all fre so what do you what do you want on the uh on the myage just could you right here H here today better there
is private and if you have a a good pen I could write right on it cuz I have I do have a pretty good uh can you do that I I don't he's the surveyor I don't know if the registry would accept I don't know if the registry will accept that yeah I don't know I don't know if you can write changes on a myw they don't know they haven't seen it but they're going to see it it's a handwritten note yeah it's a handwritten note that can be
written after we've signed it or before you you know I don't think they'll accept it what about if I write the note and then you guys signed it after no it'll have to be no it won't yeah because when you go to you go there to register that mil the lady's going to look at it she's going to see that we signed it and she's going to see a handwritten note on here she say you could have written that after you walked out of that meeting good or bad so that she won't accept the myw with a handwritten note on it so what are you saying now got to go my L
again I think you're going to have to to be honest with you I'm I think you're going to have to if it wasn't it's an a anr plan so you currently I I guess it's and I agree with that um but looking at this so all you're trying to do is capture that streight correct okay but this is drawn out like a separate block well it will be lot after this we get discontin it's
going to be a complete it's going to be be this lot and then it this so the issue becomes that doesn't have the frage doesn't have square footage yeah so he's going to either have to change a lot lines eventually or it come for variance okay but still we can't sign that without a note on you saying I want you guys to tell me what you want from because you're because you're applying for an anr plan for a buildable law then
we can't sign a buildable law no that's what an anr but that's what an anr is I know but I didn't want to do an anr I was forced by the chairman you said it at the time got to be anr I even told her it shouldn't be it should be just a plan boom not that a anr where's the subdivision there where we surving dividing lines we not changing any lines at all I know it's a pain in
elective you are changing Lin right I just could to say you are changing Lin you're disolving two lot lines yep what changing lines yeah well you're dissolving them making dissolving is not adding not adding but we are changing and that's part of yeah you are okay uh got to agree with the finding board because they the bosses once I see my friend he's going to be pissed but hey that's the way it is
and because this is a private way even though it's on a previous subdivision as a paper street because he owns all the property around it we have the authority to discontinue that road um as far as I know when I spoke with Town Council it's it's a private roadway so it's kind of A Private Matter so if there ends of being legal issues should not be on the town so I did consult with with town counsil if few times about about why would there be legal is I'm just saying if there is
it's the only thing I could think of possibly evil legal is whoever owned this whole piece before that subdivision I showed you didn't really release it the ears uh probably have a say absolutely but I absolutely I don't think the town should worry about that you just continue in the street so okay but a title search goes back get done
they find the a were never notified this happened and this can come back on I'm not saying the town but it could come back on whoever him maybe the well the owner is trying to so you want a note on on a plan where here or where we we are this is we're going to do a couple of things your on your part I need something down here and says that this is not a buildable lot
does not meet the build the zoning requirements okay and we are going to go back to Town Council or if you can dig up the response on a previous email cuz in my opinion this is not a private road this road does not belong to this gentleman this road was here before he bought the property they were in trouble he did not put this road in if he put the road in it'd be a private he did not put the road in he bought
this land and this road was already there from a previous subdivision if we have the right which I need clear clarification on that if we have the right to dissolve this line and give it to him I'll do it for you like that you know but I need clarification from down one thing that I did find on on the computer from Massachusetts L on Baker streets I gave her a copy a long time ago of it and I underlined it it says the abutter that have each side
technically it's theirs and if it's ever discontinued they have to get it from one side to the other to the two Ls when there's more than you know there's more than one party if you own it he owned and he owned it you have to get your piece that's AB your property you're right and you own all of it so you this side and you own that side technically if it's not going to be done anything from the town and I went to one of the guys the mag the administrator and he told me you have to go to the planning board I was here before about a year ago yeah and he told me they're the ones who have
to approve it he says technically you own it and that's what this paper saying that I gave her I got a copy that own no and we and we actually went through something similar with um Park Drive right you know we have a paper road that we were dealing with and there two different AB buts and this person owns 50% of the road this person owns this but they both have the right to use the width and the length of it okay they have the right to use a width and a length that's also what it says on there right okay yeah AB got the right to use nobody will ever argue that I just don't
but my my concern is and I agree with you you you own this whole thing I'm not debating there's no other ABS my concern is because you did not build this you did not let's just say hypothetically you bought all this you put a road in cuz you needed to get from here to here you put this road in I understand and then you know 20 or your father's father did it you know 20 years ago you guys did it you built it CH your mind then you Chang your mind 20 years later it's
still that's private you designed it you put it on a p of plans you built it it's private it's yours but when you bought this this was already there and it's an approved Road through the town right I do not know if I have authority to discontinue something that was approved before I need clarification that paper I told you about that I gave on all about paper streets and what you can do right understand but it's still going to get
dissolve we're going to dissolve that road right and we don't know if we have that Authority basically to give permission to dissolve it if they say yes we do then it be yeah I I have no issue giving you permission to but that paper I got on there says it's okay to do Town Council just to kind of cover our butts you haven't talked to the Town Council L we we've we've spoken to Town Council regarding ancient ways about uh excuse me ancient um paper streets and during other situations on
this situation right now regarding you being owner of both sides and whether we have the right to dissolve the entire road I don't have that answer and again not only that but that's not the only situation only we also need something on here on the my that's what I made a notation of so when by the time you come back by time you come back to have that myar signed I'll
have that answer for you or before that and we'll reach out to you and let you know I can come back with the myar tomorrow ha actually there should be a note on here too saying what zone this is in see that yeah this side is on this this side is on that gotcha so can I just just I mean you guys do it do what you want okay however if you're going through this whole process okay and if it's just so you you got one big large a lot is one thing but right
now if you actually you've got enough room to do it and you want to create another lot you need to have Frontage on on this side you and if you and if you don't want to do it that's fine and I would just make it one big yeah but he says that's something he wants to do in the future I got it so in the me this right well there will be on that this one meets uh the zoning mhm uh
with Frontage and square footage I don't does it I know does it meet the square footage this one's not going to meet 60,000 Square ft right doesn't meet square footage no neither neither one of them is conforming and that's why I said you later on I might add that one to that one off of MOT in payot because then it would conform but will it perk I don't know and plus Beacon Street is what's stopping you right now right it's in it's actually in the way to combine them to get the 150 I
mean I think it's a u so what are you going to find out from the Town Council it's an and a third we're going to go council with exactly your situation all around an and a half now older than him and when if he tells me yes owns all surrounding anre and that one's one3 comb I don't really
want Char more tax don't have that right you know that's I like to keep it the way it is because I like the Privacy people used to cut through there drive motorcycles and you know ABT through there now I've stopped from buying but if you wanted to go there tomorrow and drive an down you can do it that's my whole purpose I don't have to worry about any of that oh the no
say just come in and it we're getting a little bit off topic and we got too many people talking at the same time eventually these meeting minutes have to be written and this is very difficult to write meeting minutes when we have multiple people talking so uh to clarify we're going to get some more information on this paper Road and I'll apologize in advance for postponing this even further but we got to cover each other's butts uh we'll get our information ASAP regarding what we can do as a board to
dissolve this road and all you got to come back with is on the myar saying that this is a non-buildable lot and if this doesn't meet requirements same on this side until you remove this road or this uh border this in between then it becomes a buildable lot but for right now if this doesn't meet 60,000 Square ft yeah but this is not part of the game I guess coming down it's not because well no this this Beacon is part of this so yeah you're right that's not part of the game it's you're not here for that
thank you so put nonb buildable on here and I'll get you the answer on this uh guarante we should wait for you before he does that and pay more money for the guy to do the M yeah probably best to wait to reprint the myar just in case say that again it's probably best to wait to reprint the myar until we hear from town c yeah Town Council says that you don't have to and whatnot but it's still even though if this gets dissolved it still doesn't meet requirement right correct so it still needs to have it no no no we'll we'll put needs to
have as soon as Victoria here in town Council on what we can have the right to do you'll get a phone call why do we have to put that on there it's we know it's not a buildable law because you applied for an anr I didn't want to originally but that's the only way to get rid of this Ro to get rid of that in other words you're tell me uh the selectman could have taken this plan and said yep and
signed it I I don't what do you mean signed it as far as what as far Asing right if Town Council comes back to me and says this has to go in front of the select board and they have the right to then that's where you'll go I whatever the Town Council tells me I know but that's who I abide by all right all right we'll wait to hear from you then as soon as we have an answer to this which should be relatively quick you will get a phone call okay y
again I apologize for but it's just part of the process I know like I said I do have a paper saying that paper Street if the town discontinues it it says it on here it can be done but all the butters have to get here's the term if the town discontinues okay um the Selectmen have they've got the that's in their wellhouse if they're going to discontinue streets
so you have to go in front of the town to do that yeah exactly we've actually gotten back information from Council saying that this is something that has to go in front of the town meeting and get voted on meeting yeah I'm not saying this one in particular because you have you're you're you're surrounding it but yes I've heard that too again I yeah because it has to go to the other Butters to all agree on it that's also that law this all we might not have to do any of that
so all we're trying to do is just all get on we want to find out this is what it is and once we know what it is then we move forward that's all simple so like I said I just want to keep my privacy there that's why I want to get and we just want to make sure we do our eyes and cross our team about it how we going to find out she Victoria is going to reach out the Town Council as soon as possible as soon as Town Council gets an answer back to us she will call you with what we found out and you're still going
to have to come back at the next I mean we can put you on the next meeting which is on the 20th so we can get to myar sign great great all right which is just two weeks away I agree two weeks away that's all it is two more weeks I don't want to get a piece of land and find out I got legal problems later absolutely Absolut we don't want to be responsible for that I understand thank you for your that's why I that's why I wanted to do it this way to get it done right one of the one of the guys years ago told me he left here Brian was it he he wanted to dissolve paper streets in the town and then he left to another
town but he told me uh just put a pencil around it he says 20 years it's yours but I didn't want to do that I want to do it right take care thank you thank you sorry to that's why we here do thank you have a good night you too you yeah next on the agenda discussion and vote on planning board representative on the community preservation committee so
I was informed that uh there's a committee in the Kush called the preservation um committee the yeah Community preservation committee and they require a planning board member to be on this committee uh the the community preservation Act CPA is a legislation that allows Massachusetts communities to
plan for sustainable growth and raise funds to meet local needs communities adopting the CPA Levy a CommunityWide annual sech charge of up to 35% on property tax bills not on the assessed value and receive a state matching fund from already property tax sear charge and state matching monies are deposited into local uh de into a local dedicated Community preservation
fund um we haven't had uh a planning board member on this Committee in quite some time from what I'm told um so aren't we kind of I don't know I feel like we're duplicating something here aren we already doing this with the grants and getting money and um this is different because CPC um the the community preservation fund comes from taxation um with the matching funds um from from the state um so I'm not too well versed on on the
on the technical part of it but basically the commit what the committee does is every year they'll get funding requests for you know like historical preservation um open space for example the CPC recommended to town meeting and then town meeting approved $25,000 of of an appropriation for us to complete the open space and Recreation plan so it's just an example of how the funds get used but basically the CPC will get together once or twice before Town meetings um and they'll review the
funding request and make a recommendation for town meeting it still has to be approved at town meeting by the voters so how the funding gets used that makes sense so from what I'm gathering this is a committee that only meets a couple of times a year uh it's not a monthly thing it's not a uh by you know twice a month kind of thing um it's you know a couple times a year um there's a member from conservation on there there's a member
from beautification historical so there's like six or seven people from the town that are in other boards that are already on this committee and we're supposed to have a uh member of the planning board we've never had anybody on there the whole time I've been on this board that's seven years really wow CPA yeah so let's try to no actually it's more than 7 years oh man I've been on in a while put it that many yeah uh I'll put it out there I already know
that some members of this board are on other committees I think I'm going to try to take stock in this one I guess you want to take stock in this one okay uh let's make a motion I make a motion that we appoint Brian the Champs uh on the I keep losing CPC the representative for the Community preservation committee I'll second that
you got a motion a second all in favor all all thank you very much I appreciate that but like I said I'm on the um well I'm on the well they're they these two guys uh stepped up to be on the um master plan committee which is great uh I'm also on the bylaw Review Committee which is similar to the one that you just went on which we meet once or twice a year before town meeting relatively Sim simple and easy uh and um you're already doing a good service to
your community by being on this board which uh we thank you uh and now I also thank you for stepping up and doing Serving yeah on that board at least we'll get us some little better Insight when I come up with when I ask for CPA money on on Tom eting floor yeah yeah it's just it now you again there's only one or two by you know a year um and then you can come back to the board or you can update Victoria on what is
going on with those funds and we can announce to the public and let them know what's going on thank you very much Brian all right moving right along uh Town planner update all right all right Victoria the floor is yours all right thank you again Victoria Al Farrow Town planner for the record um so I want to give just a small Master Plan update um so we did have the discovery workshop on January 29th um we
had some great conversations there we had some of our NPC members there Steve and um Peter were there as well um and then we are um finalizing additional Outreach events um we have some stuff we want to plan at the COA and the library as well um and we will be releasing there's a I know we did like a preliminary survey for the master plan but we're going to be releasing a a more in-depth survey for the both the master plan and the open space and Recreation
plan um so I'll be doing that next week um and then our next MPC meeting MPC meeting is February 13th at the police station conference room we are switching locations for the remainder of the project um because um we want to encourage other people to to attend other departments things like that so we just feel a bigger space is is going to be more suitable um but yeah did any questions on on that no I uh I asked Victoria to send
out a memo to all other uh boards uh having them to also put on their agenda to also inform the public of our public meeting dates and times and whatnot uh it's difficult to get it out there um so as many people as we can to let them know when and where the meetings are so we can get some input from the public would be great uh we don't want to get
to the end and people say I don't know about this and I don't know about that and I don't agree with this well you had opportunities and I just want it as notified as as I think it's absolutely great to have input from the community I mean that to me that's absolutely that's the name of the game yeah absolutely get people's opinions on what they want done in their Town yeah absolutely there's also going to be um an interactive map that's released as well and I've had success using this tool in other communities as well and it's basically a
map of a kushit right and people can sort of add points exactly where you know oh this is a dangerous intersection something needs to be done that sort of thing or you know anything really um they can add on there people can comment on other comments that sort of thing it's a great tool to see um what everyone's thinking and if you don't want to comment you can like what other people have put to show you're in agreement um so that's a great tool as well and and that will be located so it's on the um sured our who's hosting
our our master plan web page it can be accessed through the town website on the planning board page there's a link on the left for the master plan website and it'll take you to that page um and it's right on the front there we'll also be posting about it on Facebook sharing it with other departments as well just like we did with the first survey and that first survey got about 200 responses which is pretty decent for a response yeah that's not bad um yeah great okay any questions on master plan okay okay so that brings me to the accessory
dwelling unit regulations those have since been finalized by the state um so I did that is in your packet um so not there was some changes but I but I don't think they changed a lot of things that people had questions to I think there's a lot of things that are left open-ended um so I think that's just important to kind of take a look at we won't really be seeing those at this point anyways because now accessory dwelling units are by right that will go through the building commissioner's
office when they apply for a building permit um but it's just good to keep in the regulations in mind um you know as we work towards a new bylaw um any questions on that question is um when if when's a drop de date to uh get a bylaw in on on on a warrant for the town meeting so I think think and I made the recommendation I think that we're going to wait for the fall meeting to change
this warrant because we are still waiting for more uh information from the state okay so I would it's a it's it's a lot involved in you know creating a BW and for us to go out and you know get public input create the BW go through town meeting and all this and then four or five months from now the state comes back with with some more updates and then it kind of makes ours null and void so because it's such a
new bylaw for the state I think it'd be a good idea for us to kind of just sit back I honestly don't think that there's going to be a rush of people that want to get this done even though it's available today I don't think the the planning board is going to get you know rushed the door breaking down I want to put these in um so I think we should just sit and wait kind of hear what the state has to come back out within 2 three four or five months from now and then kind of make our own finalized
bylaw for the fall meeting fall meeting okay y that way we have better idea of what the state guidelines are yes they they said they will be releasing some some additional materials um including like a model bylaw so we can at least take a look at what they what they have in mind as allowable and sort of go from there and then make tweaks to that yeah I will say just to answer your question the date um that I received to sub the deadline to submit articles is February
21st so that's very soon very soon yeah and that was for which that was for the for the spring no spr correct which the Springtown meeting will be June 2nd um okay any questions on that okay so that's perfect segue to um town meeting articles which what I want to go over next I just had a couple of suggestions of what we could include um if the board would like so right now we have a zoning map that was last updated
in 2015 but is not certified by the town clerk's office it was never approved that way and it is missing um some other approved past approved zoning articles such as the Bradford Street zoning I know that one's more recent it's missing that one and um some other ones as well so I was thinking this might be good as especially since we're going through the master plan process to make sure we're looking at an updated zoning map um as we as we work through that is does the
board think that yes yes absolutely okay so it's no no changes it's just based on what's already been approved nothing new um okay and then the second thing I was thinking of was about um deleting all the references we have in there about accessory Apartments since that's void anyways and um it's because it's in conflict with the state law so I know we're not we might not be doing the you know accessory dwelling unit bylaw right now but at least this is one less thing we have to put on for fall as
well yeah so we're just basically cuz everything that we have in our bylaw right now is wrong it's no one void it doesn't correct it doesn't meet the state's definition it says it's by special perose instead of it keep instead of keeping it in there and confusing people who might go to look and read and then they go there and they look and they read and they think that it's one thing when it's actually something else we just better off taking it out completely wait in the few months until the fall
meeting until we can either tweak what the state hasn't implemented already questions how do we amend that now so you would submit an article for town meeting and then um so for example at the next meeting the board would like I'll have those two articles prepared and I'll have to I'll have to site the sections as well of where we'd like to delete those references um um and then we'll have to hold a public hearing on both of those because they're zoning um
articles does that answer your question sorry yeah I'm just trying to figure that we should get rid of it not to confuse anything I'm just wondering how do we get rid of it you just you just strike it out okay basically you just right but for right now it is in our zoning it is there it's there but you can't use it it's wrong it's wrong yeah it's in conflict with the state law right yeah I'm just okay gotcha so it'll be there until it'll be there until
town no yeah so they get vote to the Le yes okay any other questions on town meeting articles or anything like that those are basically the only two that we're going to be submitting those were my suggestion yes but of course if the board has anything else okay so I will markk I know you're not here at the next meeting um but I will probably have those warrant articles drafted I just don't want to miss the deadline and then not accepted so I'll have them drafted um for your
review and approval at that at that point um okay so that brings me to the last one for tonight community on stop for growth that is um uh an online platform that you can apply for Grants through and it has a number of programs um that you can apply for with one application um so they have expressions of Interest um open right now which it's not required but it is recommended cuz they
can if you say hey I'm thinking about doing this they can tell you which program is going to be a good fit if that's projects even eligible it's actually a really good um process so we actually received the master plan Grant through the on stop so through one of the programs in there um that's how we got the funding um so I had a few potential application ideas I'm not sure what is preferable to the board if any um so nobody has any question questions on that I'll just get into the okay perfect so updating the subdivision
rules and regulations is one of them I know they are pretty outdated so you would kind of look for things like um you know I think it references like cloth tracings and things like that and then also if there's any waivers that you guys you know are noticing you're issuing every single project you might want to remove those or reduce the requirement that sort of thing um also another one I think is is pretty um important is South Main Street infrastructure improvements um so right
now that roadway is owned by the state but it is planned to be on What's called the tip process Transportation Improvement program um to be able to reconstruct the roadway so the state right now is conducting is in the design phase to redo the roadway and then it'll get on the tip and and the construction will be done at no cost to the town um for designer construction but at the end they want us to take over the roadway um
but our DPW director had mentioned in our department head master plan kickoff meeting that the infrastructure underneath might need some improvement so I think that's sort of a great segment into trying to figure that out first and making sure all the infrastructure is all set before we put a nice New Road on um so we don't have to dig it up back sense makes so sense yeah um and then there's a couple others that I just you know had thought of I don't know um what the plan is for the for the Russell Memorial Library over
here um I know the town has tried to sell it at one point um but sometimes if you do like what's called a feasibility study and kind of show a developer what what the potential is for a property sometimes that'll help it get sold and promote the development um you know while preserving of course his you know the outside of the building um also you could also do a parking management plan for downtown and that can kind of tie into the new design of South Main Street and like maybe we
could have a little bit smaller of a sidewalk on one side to accommodate street parking that sort of thing um just so we can have I know the plan is to have better Economic Development down there so that's one way we can help plan for that um and then lastly is establishing uh design guidelines for our Center um on South Main um but that one I would say is the lower priority I think I think the infrastructure is really key before we get too much into
that just some thoughts of course you can apply there's so many opportunities um through that program so if there's any other ideas feel free I I I've spoken to Victoria about this I think that whatever we can apply for that we get basically free money for uh I'm I'm game I think we should um I
have emphasized that you know there's been some concern in town that you know some grants have you know um other things that you know uh attached to it so you know if they give you money then you have to do this and so I've just made it very clear to Victoria that you know there's no fine print that it's you know it's just a straight out Grant um that we're applying for uh that being said obviously once we apply for it or before
we would apply for it we will you know approach the the select board and and just keep them up to date on what we're doing and get their um point of view on what their thoughts are on it obviously we don't want to be applying for Grants and getting approved for Grants and then come to find out they're not keen on it and they kind of shut us down so um obviously we would you know prepare some information for them so they know what we're up to but I feel that if there's
10 grand out there there's 20 grand out there if there you know a grant so some somebody can propose what we can do with the old library and then we can and we're not paying for it but then we can put that out there for contractors to possibly buy it and build something you know and we're not as long as the the town isn't footing the bill I'm I think we should shoot for as many as we possibly can in my opinion agreed yeah not leave money on the table I mean that's yeah I I think it's you
know important too that we don't know what the funding situation will look like over the next few years that's what I keep hearing a lot from the state level and federal as well so I think it's important to kind of put as much as we can out there now because we don't know how long it'll be there so everybody good with that y y perfect and that's all I had thank you guys uh thank you thank yes thank you all right um one more last thing I wanted to
you know kind of have a little roundt discussion on um we few years back we had a new solar bylaw written up and recently uh talking with a proponent there was kind of a question that came up we were all at the site visit last week and I just kind of want to get you opinion I was hoping we'd have a full board but unfortunately we don't but I just want to kind of have
a quick discussion on the lar uh the Zoning for large for solar arrays the setbacks so right now in our bylaw it says within all zoning districts large scale installations shall not be permitted within 300 ft of a way as defined by General Law chapter 9 section one unless natural topography to
topographic features of the landscape prevents observation of the solar installation from any portion of the way the sides and rear setback should be no less than 150 ft now after I read that what are your opinions or what do you think or what would you suggest the 300 ft from away so you have a
road and we they can't be 300 feet that 300 ft goes to where does it go to to me it seems like it would be the frontage of the property that it's on because we're not specifically saying ways we're just saying the way we're not saying always of of a way of a way of a way so so so and I don't know if the people here so now we have a solar field okay
we have a piece of property okay we have a 10 acre piece or 20 acre piece of property okay these are the property lines okay and you got a bunch of houses all along this property line the back of the houses and then over here you have the road the way M okay so now the 300 ft starts at the way and goes 300 ft to where to the
property line to the solar panels to the fence that surrounds the solar panels well to me the solar panels are the structure and the structure is what would count so in your opinion it would be from the way 300 feet to the closest solar panel yeah cuz it it the the solar panels are the structure that that is what you're
physically saying has to be 300 feet away from the road the structure not a fence not a the if if they were putting up a commercial building there and that was the setbacks okay we'd be going to the commercial building we wouldn't be going to a fence we won't be going to this that the other thing the building is destructure that has to be 300 ft away from the line from the the way that was good way of putting it yeah I like that but I I know I interpret
this a couple different ways because it seems to me that you know 150 ft away from you know it's it's 300 ft away from the road that they they have the frontage on and then it would be 150 ft from all lines is how I interpret from side and back so if this is the front and this is your entrance coming in over here this is the front of the project right this is a side side and the back right so the front then there's a way here there's a road here so this is 300 ft
from the edge of this way to the first solar panel 150 ft from here to the First Solar 150 ft this way and 150 ft this way now if there's a way behind it is it 350 ft from the front and uh three excuse me not 150 300 ft from here to there and then 300 ft from here to there cuz there's another road behind it and a road in front I understand that but I'm trying to interpret I guess in my head a little the of the way it was said from the way not ways a way a way a way not
the way a way which is this is a way and a way and a in this case and a way yeah and there's an a way over here y so if there's an a way and and and this is a rarity because this isn't something that's going to happen all the time having a piece of property surrounded by three different roads and again we the reason why I'm saying this is because we we we approved a new
solar bylaw right and and we'll approve other bylaws in the future or or you know we got the we got the auxiliary dwelling unit that we might do bylaw for all bylaws is no much no matter how much we go over them and we discuss them and we write the bylaw and it goes to Town Council and everything there's always little changes that need to be made in the future this is one of those now we design the bylaw but now we need clarification on that portion of the
bylaw and I think as a group and you know obviously we're on television we need to figure out exactly what we as a board mean when we made this bylaw what do we mean by the setbacks of 300 ft and 150 ft where is it to now I like the way you propos that that you know if this was a building and it was a 300 yeah 300 foot setep back it wouldn't be to the fence in front of it wouldn't be to the road in front of it it would be
from the way to the building I like the way that was proposed does anybody else have their opinion of what the 300 foot should go from the way to I would have said that a security fence just because of what was there just because of it's part of the installation it's a requ installation but it is requ it's a requirement as well so that's just other than that I
perfectly understand what he's what what he's getting at I I personally agree with Brian I think it should be to the structure which would be the panels I don't think defense is really what anybody's going to fight or complain about I think it's going to be the solar panels is what they're going to complain about fence is more or less going there just to hide it from well not security still own screening right and
in this case here I think that the security fence which in most cases the security fence is going to be inside the screening inside the screening itself right and there's different kinds of screening depending on the situation that so let me just put this okay now these lots that are here if the lots are 100 ft deep means they would have to be 200 ft off the line mhm correct How about if that that's 200 ft deep now we're telling them they're going to have to be 100 ft off the line or50 ft off
the property that's not what it says I know that's not what it says but it just goes but yeah it it says 100 300 ft so if this law is 250 ft deep they only got to come out 50 ft back to my security fence but that's just you know what I'm saying it's just there would if they have have to adhere to the rear wouldn't they have to be at least 150 ft if
that's their side or rear setback right so bu given it either all we're saying this is the way it is well if there's no well if there's no way if there's no way there then it would be 150 ft from what the property L property line Subs are typically from property l in that case there though where we have where there are three streets which one do we designate it is the way it's not the way again it says a way it's
it's different terminology keep saying so it would be 300 from here 300 from here even though this is the side and this is the back and this is another side but there's no way over in that in that drawing that you just did 300t 300 300t okay that's right okay and it's 150 on this side cuz there's no way but technically if this is 250 ft deep them lot you're now you're saying that that thing can only be it can be 50 ft off the line that's right it's not an either or
right well it's not well right now right now that's all I'm saying it's not should have been something whatever was greater but that's something that we need to that's why that's why we're discussing that's something we'll have great Dimension is what is what that should have been in this all right so that's what you say the bylaw is to whatever is the greatest that's what I was just going to say 300 feet or yeah 300 or 150 ft off the property line
whatever is greater whichever is greater so at least that way if that one there was 200 if the if the back of that property line was 250 ft they would have to go another 150 y right so it' be 400 ft off the way stay off the this way you're staying off the above is this one here it's just because of the depth of it it's just there but it's oh wait think about no no I'm just I can smell the smoke no no does that make sense I mean
it just no it's going to have to be whatever is greater not yeah you know you no you can't you can't say that it would have to be whatever ends up being the greater would have to be yeah so you know if it ends up that they're 250 ft deep and now there's 50 ft that they only have to be up like no the greater would be the 150 and that's what you would have to stick by yeah and if it's the 300 you know you know if it's only 100t loot then then it would be
200 but to me the the panels are the structure not the fence I would agree with you and if and if you look at any the solar fields that we've done all their setbacks are to the panels not to the fences and I think is going to correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a isn't a fence setb a different distance than a off the you can put a fence I think up to a foot off the property line right so I mean I don't
that's why I think you could you might get into some arguments there based if you base it on the fence I think it really no I think it's got to be the that's how we based all the ones that are in the town right now it's based to the solar panels it's we're not doing it to anything else okay so at a minimum regard of the ways well there's only one way in the beginning and then it's 150 150 150
regardless of the ways at minimum there's no solar panel closer than 150 ft to the property line correct correct so when they do their design they're going to have to when they do their survey they're going to see that okay we're x amount away from this x amount away from that the setback the setback for this line will be 150 but you know we're greater over here so it might be this but they might all end up being different and not the same because of the different depths in
the lots that front those roads right I just think that this is you know and and again I think even we still have the right to to call it that even though it doesn't spell it out whichever is greater at this point right because what is really the Precedence I mean we we gave I mean it's it's in there the intention was you're going to drive by we wanted to set back fre 300 ft okay this this is relatively unique in in itself in any other condition it is 150
ft off the but's property um soor you got a comment yeah I I think technically that's already in there because it says side and rear setbacks shall be no less than 150 ft that's a separate sentence it's not ore it's not whatever so I think regardless it has to be at least from the side of your set backs have to be at least 150 ft but they also have to be three at least 300 ft away from the
way so if that's a greater distance than the 150 then they have to move that that's the way I I agree with you seeing that yep that's what I'm saying we I think we have that option what that think actually reach you pointed it out even better yeah I think that that's an enforceable thing and I think I agree I agree with Brian on the installation thing because it says installation here we probably should go towards the edge of the the solar panels not the security line just because of the wording cuz we want to make sure regardless of what
intent is that what the decision you guys are issuing is enforcable and not appealable yeah I mean you can put up a fence without a building permit but you can't put up those structures without that building permit y so yeah okay I like that this is good because now we have is a good analogy and now we have some clarification exactly uh what we're um what we're at what we're facing and if we have to we have we're clear now and
if we have to put a few words in here to tweak this bylaw uh if we can get it into the spring bylaw if this is something that we can tweak quickly then I I suggest maybe throwing this into a warrant to change the word if we need to I I think she she put I mean I kind that's what I said I kind of read it is it's we've got the to enforce it but it's all you said but again it's this is this is the the the siden shall
be no less than so the property line is really going to at that point right but you're assigning this line you're assigning as a real line a sideline or a front line right but Frontage is based off of the way you're given an address yeah but I think the way thing is is separate from Frontage right the way it reads in the bylaw it's sounds like it's any way not the road you have Frontage on right it's any way
it's it's a way ites it doesn't say like a con a lot or if it's a uh in this case it's right three-sided um right okay so so just so I'm clear again now there's three ways regardless of the frontage y it's 300 ft or 150 ft whichever one's greater whatever's greater whichever's greater yeah well you'd have to meet both essentially so you have to be 150 ft off
the property line and if you have with you're within 300 ft of the way you also have to meet that as well that's the way I think I'm reading that the more I read it over so I think the real clarification here is what we're saying the structure is okay all right and the structure is the panels it's the panels agreed go okay so that is something you'd still want to reward do we need to reward this
so they already interpreting it differently so that's already telling me that we need to change it so the interpretation is crystal clear right exactly yes okay because they're questioning it and they they do this for a living yeah and they weren't even sure about what we were saying so yeah I I read this and I hear what you guys is saying and it does make more sense to me but for somebody who doesn't do this or
you know joeo or whoever this is not Crystal Clear yeah right okay I would like it to where you know a 15-year-old can read it and figure it out we're questioning it so we have to make it clearer we we need to make it clearer that you know we need to tweak this file out and make this section the the setbacks clearer one it's the panels that we're going off of two it's if it's it's off away it has to be at least 300 ft off away or at least 150 ft off the
off the property line yes and the same on all three sides whether there's a way or not right am I right yeah I I think that's I think that's clear enough to say that to me that wasn't difficult to interpret it when it says away you know yeah but but it becomes whatever but you have people that do this all the time that are saying hold it what are you guys trying to say but but when you go back at 150 fet thing right okay that that's going to have to the property line is is really going to take precedence at that
point in time cuz it's in a butter right now we're not talking about coming in the front of the road it's there so all the butters are minimum 150 ft off of these panels regardless of where they're at y they're at a minimum of 150 ft off the pan now if it just so happens that the panels in the way of further than 150 ft then they have to abide by that right let's clear this up so I guess I one yeah because because it's there I mean it's not too many properties are only 50
ft deep but there are some older properties out there that maybe just that so um yeah you just you want to be able to make sure you're still is there a right away to get to this a what a right away and the only reason I'm saying that is how about somebody I know I the them maybe selling it in the near future I don't know I I don't know what they're what they're going to do in the future with property but how about if they did sell that somewhere down the line well this is one parcel right now it is correct so for
them to sell it they'd have to break it up yeah so that's a whole another thing cuz this is one this is one parcel yeah I'm just trying to think about when I was looking at the plan the other day I I thought I saw that that was cut away I do just want to say though we did continue the public hearing so we might not want to get too into the specific project sorry yeah that's why I didn't name any project I'm just bringing up hyp happen as a general um and that's kind of where we're at as a general as far as
the byw is concerned I personally had questions and heck I helped write the thing uh what exactly was from the panel from the friends from this from where does that point begin I really like the way you clarified that if it were a building it would be from the front of the building so that's how we're going to go off the panels uh not off a fence or not off of any other structures off the panels will be the setback and I like the fact that if
there is no way the sides and back of 150 ft from the property line to the panel y if there is no way if there is a way then it's 300 ft or 150 ft whichever one is greater okay so would you pan or any structure panels or any structure any structure some of these putting in some was putting batteries in yeah sorry do you want me to have that article drafted for the next meeting as
wellit if you think that we can get if you can get this drafted and we can get it in as a third warrant I would say yes cuz we don't know what's coming down the line with any other solar projects we can draft I can draft the article for the next meeting and probably have some draft language that's the only part you guys want to amend just well right now this is right in front of us so I want to take a look at the whole I'll take a look at the whole thing again okay so I'll right now this is the only thing that's come up as far as what
needs to be amended at the moment tweak tweaked yes I like that it's going to be tweaked okay structure okay okay that was a good conversation um anything else anybody wants to throw out on a table no our next meeting is Thursday February 20th uh I am good can I get a motion a motion to aurn second all in favor right right thank you good night
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