and we're live the chair notes the time is 602 I call this meeting of the amoding board of appeals to order my name is Steve judge as zba chair I want to welcome everyone to this meeting we'll begin with the Roll Call of the zba members
Steve judge is present Mr David Al alfeld present Mr John Barner present miss hild the green present Miss Rana Khan
present those are our members for the for our second panel tonight our first full hearing tonight and I also want to note the presence of uh Mr everald Henry who has will be there for the uh the final matter tonight so a quorum is
present also attending tonight's hearing is Dave was shevitz assistant Building Commissioner and jenta Williams a planner for the town pursuing to chapter 20 of the acts of 21 extended by chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 this meeting will be conducted via
remote means members of the public who wish to observe the meeting May do so via Zoom or by telephone no inperson attendance of the members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via
technological means the zoning board of appeals is a quasi judicial body that operates under the authority of chapter 48 of the general laws of the Commonwealth for the purposes of promoting the health safety convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the town of amorist in accordance
with the provisions of Massachusetts general laws chapter 4A in article 10 special permit granting authority of the ammer zoning bylaw this public meeting has been duly advertised and notice thereof has been posted and mailed to parties at interest all hearings and
meetings are open to the public and are recorded by Tom staff and they may be viewed via the town of ammer YouTube channel and the zba web page the procedure is as follows the petitioner presents the application to the board during the hearing after which the board
will ask questions for clarification or to gather additional information after the board has completed its questions the board will seek public input the public speaks with the permission of the chair if the member of a public wishes to speak they should so indicate by
using the raised hand function on on their screen or by pressing star n on their phone the chair with the assistance of the staff will call upon people wishing to speak when you are recognized provide your name and address to the board for the record all
questions and comments must be addressed to the board the board will normally hold public hearings where information about a project and the input from the public is gathered followed by public meetings for each the public meeting portion is when the board deliberates
and is generally not an opportunity for public comment if the board feels it has enough information and time it will decide upon the applications tonight each petition heard by the board is distinct and evaluated on its own merits and the board is not ruled by precedent
statutorily for a special permit the board has 90 days from close of the hearing to file a decision for a variance the board has 100 days from the date of filing of the variance to file this decision no decision is final until the written decision is signed by the
sitting board members and is filed with the town clerk's office once the decision is filed with the town clerk there is a 20-day appeal period for an grieved party to contest the decision with a relevant judicial body in Superior Court after the appeal period
the permit must be recorded at the registry of deeds to take effect tonight's agenda a public hearing on zba FY 20-25 20 25-9 6 5365 Salem Street applicant seeks
to come into compliance with zba's seven seven zoning bylaws 7.1 and 7.2 per an enforcement letter that was received regarding parking for properly property located at
6365 Salem Street map 15a parcel 77 RG General residence zoning District this is continued from December 12th 2024 zba fy20 25-13 28 Greenleaf Drive requests to
amend the FY 2004-- 47 special permit by eliminating the community building and converting a converted dwelling into a community room in buildings 24 through 28 constructing a new parking area and deleting the requirement to deed land
and easement to the town for property located at 28 green leaves Drive map 13d parcel 79 PRP professional Research Park zoning district and zba FY
22516 422 Amity Street request to amend the FY [Music] 2024-25 ft for property located at 422 Amity Street map 13B Parcels 18 27 28
and 54 BL limited business zoning districts following that is a general public comment period on any matters not before the board tonight other business not anticipated within 48 hours and
adjournment the first order of business tonight is zba FY 2025 at Salem Street 6365 Salem Street um it's my understanding that well not my understanding it's the fact that we do not have uh sufficient members of the
panel to discuss this matter um we so we have to postpone to continue this matter to a date certain and that date as uh negotiated with the applicant is April 10th so this um without objection since we don't have that panel before us we
can't request a vote from the panel that's on this matter so without objection I'm going to move to continue this um with I'm going to move that we continue this to uh April 10th 2025 at 6m is there
objection no objection so ordered the next order of business is FY 20253 28 GRE leaves Drive request to amend the fy2 2004-4 special permit by eliminating the community building and converting
dwelling unit into community and converting a dwell unit into a community room on Building 24 through 28 constructing a new parking area and deleting requirements to need land and easements to the town for property located at 28 green leads Drive map 13d parcel 79 PRP
professional research District um we had a site visit on the 11th on Tuesday at the site visit we obser or members excuse me first members on this panel are judge Varner alfeld green balm and KH we had a site visit on
Tuesday March 11th but the site visit we observed the site originally proposed for the community building and now uh building will not be constructed there and question the owners about how the proposed parking on that site will be finished we ask questions about the layout of the proposed Community rooms
in each building and whether there would be kitchens Etc and how the rooms will be used we observe from the parking lot the progress in the new building we also noted the absence of of a management plan uh Landscape and Lighting plan in the application and stated a need for
those to be submitted we asked about the rail trail access and whether the storm water drainage system was consistent with the approved plan um I think that pretty much sums up the site visit is there any member who wishes to um add to
that description of our site visit all right um submission the following has been submitted by the applicant zba FY 202-320-4875 construction schedule submitted December 3rd 2024 building 28th floor plan
submitted December 3rd 2024 parking lot plan submitted December 3rd 2024 and a management plan submitted March 13th 2025 staff submissions include um route
n uh 1990 Route 9 decisions 1996 route 940 404 Northampton Road decisions 1998 Route 9 northampton's decisions these are all old decisions regarding this property 1999 Route 9 Northampton
decisions uh 2004-4 7 Northampton Road and green leaves Drive decisions one 2447 Northampton Road and green leaves Drive decision 2
um and we have also have public comment submitted by um Susan Cummings on March 3rd I think that's all the um submissions for the this this application is it not
jenta that is correct yes all right so that that concludes the submissions my question is does any member on the board have any disclosures to make regarding this application all right we'll move on uh
who's representing the applicant tonight I'm sorry sorry I was on mute I I will be representing the applicant along with the project engineer David Robinson um and with the um on the ground uh
supervisor of the constructions uh Susan mongan so would each of you give me your name and address for the record start Mr Allison yes my name is Donald Allison and my My office address is 69 South Pleasant
Street Suite 203 in ammer great2 Miss Mion my address is 27 green leaves Drive amoris Mass um unit 708 under green
leaves realy group and I may have Mis pronounced your last name so would you give me your name correctly Suzanne munen munen thank youcome Mr son uh Dave Robinson uh my uh uh
Massachusetts office is at 403 um um um um uh and Echo Hill amest all
right great um Mr Allison are you going to do the presentation yes I'll I'll I'll Le do the presentation in except in so far as it applies to any engineering questions um engineer May proceed thank
you um as I'm sure the panel is well aware this is a project that's been going on for a while was originally permitted in the80s 88 I believe as a living care um Community uh it has progressed through a number of stages
the first building built was building number 23 which is not actually part of this um that was its own separate condominium the permit the special permit that we're seeking to amend is
the permit that was issued in 2004 relating to the five buildings which uh four of which are now uh condominium number three and the fifth the Final Phase building 28 will be added to
condominium number three um when it's completed and there's a a certificate of occupancy uh issued for the building um we are essentially requesting two modifications to the permit approved in
2004 um one uh is a request to remove from uh the condition of the permit the deeding of a of a small parcel of land on the far southern end of the property which which was which was a condition of
which it was that it be deeded to the town um along with an easement to the town to have access to the um to the bike path uh the town has indicated and I believe you have a copy of one of the
submissions was a letter from um uh from the assistant I guess uh Town manager um Mr Zac actually uh indicating the town did not wish to take title to that parcel of land or um
to uh the easement that was part of the requirements in the 2004 permit um so we are asking that that condition in the 2004 permit that we were seeking to amend be eliminated um the second is
that the 2004 permit and the site plan that was approved in connection with that permit called for a community building to be built between what is now buildings 25 and building
27 um and a as the progress in the condominium progressed it became clear to the developers that the um uh the residents the unit owners would prefer a community
Suite um one of the units to become a community room within each of the five buildings uh and so we are seeking to eliminate the requirement of a community
building um and to substitute for it the requirement that there be a unit designated in each of the buildings as a community space a community unit um I believe you all have
all of that information but those are the two essential pieces of what we're asking for with respect to the 2004 permit that we're seeking to modify I I would point out one thing as I as I
read um you know as as I read the report from the planning department um and it and it's really my mistake so so I'll take responsibility for it um one of the issues that has been raised is uh the issue of a catch Basin oh and I'm sorry
I I should back up and say where the community building was to be built which was in a a lot between buildings 25 and 27 um we proposed to substitute parking
spaces um and and in in fact um those parking spaces and I I see that um Jinta is sharing a copy of the actual approved permit um in any event those parking spaces are are currently being used as
parking spaces they are graveled um and there is as you can see on that site plan a catch Basin uh at one on on one side of that parking uh area um showing
an existing sewer line I realized when I took a look at the actual site plan that was approved back in 2004 that that Cas catch Basin is actually there as part of that site plan and was installed and
approved at that time um connecting to uh uh connecting to an existing storm water um so I I we don't have the original I don't think that's the original approved plan that's up but the original approved plan that I'm looking
at um signed by the planning board I by the Zoning Board in on February 14th 2004 shows those two catch basins which at the time were on either side of the proposed community building but they
were there they have been installed there consistent with that um approved site plan uh and I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention that that is my failure to actually notice that early on and bring it to anybody's
attention um but that's essentially what it is we're asking the zoning board to do um yeah I she just pulled up if you could just s to pull up that if you can see those two catch basins on either side of the community building that that
is the original this is the original approved site plan and they show it connecting to um the existing storm water plan so there's nothing new about those catch basins I guess that's just what I'm trying to say um what is new is
the parking that's going to take place there um but not not the catch basins themselves um I don't excuse me are the catch basins the CB2 and the cb18 is that what the catch Basin
are down below there no they're up they're up there they're circled one circled in pink right there oh the catch Bas are up there yes and they're they're connected to the existing I mean as part of the original
plan the storm order system um and that's the pipe that comes down from the catch basins up in the parking area um you know between the buildings uh between Building 25 and and 24 and between 27 and
26 so there's nothing new about those catch basins um my mistake was thinking because there was a community building there the catch patients couldn't have been there but it turns out they were um and and they were approved back in
2004 so I don't want to I don't want to interrupt you but I want to keep on this this topic and then let you go back sure when we I think I read that you intend to pay when you pave this area you intend to make sure that the catch
basins are three inches below the paav surface that is correct and is that so they're below on they're not in the paved area but they're outside the paved area and below it is that correct um I I I'm not I would I would defer to Mr Robinson on that but it
looks go ahead yeah um the one that you've just circled on the screen there uh to the to the right of the community building uh that is actually in the in the new parking area uh and uh is is
planned on picking up the water from the parking area that will flow to it uh the actual uh top of that catch Basin will be adjusted properly to uh the the whatever the pavement level ends up to
be uh when that Park when that parking lot is paved uh the one on the other side of the parking lot it will just stay as it is and is not located in the parking lot it's in a garden area all right thank
you the reason I asked is I noted that the when at the site visit that the property below the parking area there's a grade down and there's catch BAC down below that so these are on these are on the side of the community where the community building would have been and
then these other two cat these catch basins 20 and 18 are lower and they will pick up other things and put that into the storm water line is that correct yeah okay got it thank you that's all I had go ahead Mr Allison I'm
sorry I mean I believe those are the only two issues um we we meet the number of parking spaces actually we exceed the number of parking spaces required by the 2004 permit um and uh as as I think you can
see from the management plan that uh as I said it's a it's a it's an existing condominium um you know Green Leaves condominium number three um which right now consists of building 24 25 26 and
27 um uh it is managed as all Condominiums are by a condominium trust and the condominium trust has hired uh Cayman uh to manage the property collect uh the the condominium dues
uh and to take care of uh you know the the general upkeep the Landscaping the mowing the trimming of of bushes and shrubs um and and all of the kind of exterior maintenance on the existing
condominium this is what we're really at is a final phase of that condominium which is the addition of building 28 to to the existing four building condominium um the as I also think you
can see from the management plan Cayman has contracted with um for Seasons to take care of uh the Landscaping issues and the snow removal issues um and has contracted with Republic uh to do the uh
trash and recycling removals um all of the trash and recycling uh locations are fenced and are um are noted on the on the site plan um I have I have nothing else unless people have some questions
of me okay I got a quick question so there currently is 222 parking spaces on the site that are paved not counting the um
unpaved portion that where the community building was going to be and you're going to add 11 more spaces that that is correct I think a total of how many and are you converting any other spaces or H total of how many parking spaces will
you have at the end of the day um I I Believe Miss munin can speak to that since she went out there and counted them herself I I apologize I can't get my camera to work but um Don the total
minus the total um was on the newest site plan minus one so okay I don't have the I apologize I don't have it in front of me and if it I it's so small I can't see it but on what we what
Don um got in it had the total amount I when I went through the parking lots a couple of times um it it came out to be minus one of the total that's written on the plan but there's still additional if
yes if you could show me that um so you had 222 you're adding 11 you had 222 you're adding 11 but you're minusing one so you're adding 10 right yes okay so
you're G have 232 parking spaces yes yes yes and the reason you're minusing one is for handicapped access is that the reason it's in Access yes okay all right and as I think you saw when you
were out there uh it's not only paved but they're all lined and marked um the handicap spaces are all clearly marked yep all right um do other yes Mr
alfeld could we go back to the drawing enta of the uh parking lot that you had up a moment ago just had a question about that was the um and this is a question for for the proponents here
were those original uh catch basins and um storm sewers designed to pick up the roof of the community building and what I'm thinking here is capacity of those lines are we adding new flow that wasn't
anticipated no there's no there's no uh new flow uh at all um uh the uh uh catch patients were were put in uh at some point after 204 I guess uh I don't have
the exact date but the uh uh they're they're on the existing lines and what and the the amount of water uh is uh capable of going through those lines because there's only just one on each each
line and as I understand it then the the whole parking the whole new parking lot would drain into and be sloped towards the uh single catch Basin in the that's right in the lower right corner y that's correct
yes that was it thank you and so Mr alel are you asking if there is sufficient drainage um going into that that line from that catch Basin because of the yeah what what I'm curious about what I was just speculating about was
that you're adding new drainage area here with a new parking lot and that is has to be carried by the uh storm sewer line uh wherever it takes the storm water um and I asked about the roof
because if the if the roof of the community building was intended to go into that storm SE line then it's already been sized for roughly the same drainage area yes that's correct that that roof was designed to go into those
two uh uh one on one side and one on the other of the of the community building because the community building literally was going to take up that whole space that the parking lot is uh uh shown on now because uh uh the to the left of the
parking lot uh the the people are put in their Garden and that's not being interrupted uh so that so that actually the the the parking lot is a little smaller than what the building would have covered on the same on that on that
lot okay so that go ahead go ahead Mr alfield I'm sorry well that would that would confirm that the capacity of the pipes must be sufficient to carry the flow absolutely the capacity was checked and everything so that uh everything is
worked out perfectly uh uh with that and uh we don't have to use the second catch Basin uh on the leftand side of the parking lot uh because uh I didn't want to interrupt the uh tenants Gardens and get them upset so uh
everything works out to to uh flow to that one that's pink circled right now and just to clarify in periods of a large storm high or high storm High rain water amounts you're not seeing standing
water in the existing areas it's all making its way through that catch Basin and getting out is that correct yes yes that would that's that's to handle a 100e storm okay all right thank you Mr alela
good uh Miss green bom oh you're muted I know I'm muted I was working on I don't know whether this is cion to this part of the the hearing or whether
we're going to get to it shortly but I don't see any Lighting in that parking lot I mean I know David uh can speak to that but there is lighting um on the the sides of Building 25 that is downcast
lighting um but miss munan and and Mr Robinson can speak to that directly yes there are there is Lighting on the buildings and uh in talking with the people that have parked there for 20 years they say that it is more than enough uh they're happy with what's
there and uh they they really um don't need any more Lighting on that area uh because uh the the lighting on the buildings is is taken care of it uh so we don't have any proposed new lighting uh going in there to brighten that up
any more than than it is because the people that have been using it for so long are extremely happy with it I talked to them personally and uh uh that's that's the outcome of that well highlight yellow are are lighting the
highlighted yellow markings are lights is that correct yes yes yes I would like see a lighting plan actually the lighting is all compliant dark sky
compant all the lights are the dark sky compliant or light sky dark compliant I call the electrician to verify that that's not my issue my issue is what are what are the foot candles or whatever
the number the unit is that they use that how bright that parking lot is so that elderly people are safe entering and exiting their automobiles you know we don't see so good in the dark as as you young folks do and so I
want to know how bright that parking lot is with the current well so that's why I'm asking a question I thought a lighting plan was part of the um packet we have two of the lamp we have two of the lamp post at the
beginning and then there's there's lights on the building yeah but I know how much how much um foot candles or whatever the unit is that shows how much is on the ground
where people have to walk I know you got the lights there but what's the what's the power coming off them so you if I can miss green Bal one of the problems that we're facing is
that I don't think 20 years ago they were required to create a lighting of photo photo photo volic I think that's the right word phot photometric okay that's the word I
was photometric I know it's a photo something um it's not a photo copy a photometric um plan as we require people to do today and the issues before us are the
community building site which is going to be a parking lot and the conversion of units Within These built various buildings to community rooms we don't generally have before us an issue that we can extend beyond those
we don't we can't generally extend beyond those issues or or things that relate directly to that issue so I would say that you could request that we could request that the lighting around the community
building site the parking lot be um we get a we get foot candles for what the lighting there will be because that's something that's that's what I'm asking for St but just in that parking area but not for the whole place no no no no no I'm talking about the parking area Okay
so the parking area that the lights on the building 25 and 27 are adequate for safety so because they are asking to to to um that we can put that in a condition and I'll make a note of it
that there be um um a lighting plan for the parking area that's being constructed and that be submitted to us and to the Building Commissioner and we'll talk about that under conditions I mean would that satisfy your concerns at the moment yes
I'm I'm not sure how to deal with it but at the moment I know that it's just for that area and I want to know that that area is safe got it lighting all right I can say that the people that I talked to were were adamant and that they did not
want to have any brighter lighting anywhere near around there because the sidewalks are lit very well and uh the lighting on the parking lot was adequate and they did not want to have any more brightness because then it becomes a
problem getting into the windows of the uh units uh and uh they were very very strict on saying that they didn't want to have anything more uh so that uh uh I think that that would be a a serious
problem to uh suggest more lighting if it's re if you think it's required uh because then the people are going to uh probably disconnected as soon as as soon as we leave anyway well we'll we I will defer my
comments till I have heard from more people Mr wgz yeah I just wanted to add the conversation it's possible nowadays that you can have motion sensors on lighting so it could be bright enough for the use of the property but it would be off
during the times it's not necessary and you could have it directed down you could put potentially have it directed down so it didn't Shine On The Lights of it didn't shine in the windows of the two buildings too could you not well down downcast is what you'd be
sh trying to do but you could do a combination of things with today's technology yeah okay any other questions further questions Miss greenball well are we coming to more
things or are we done with this or is it going to be more more um presentation from the petitioner I think that's it from the petitioner um is there any other because I do have questions I do um the other
thing is um I would like see the area that's going to be kept not the that the town doesn't want and I whether it's the copies that I have are too small to see where it is where's the rail trail I guess is my question yeah
um you're right and it it's difficult it just in if you could pull that up and move it over right there it's you see this L that there's a a lot dividing line line actually it's a um uh
uh it's a it's a separate lot as far as the town is concerned it's a triangular pie-shaped lot at the far end so you you can only see the um hypotenuse line going up it's that that the right the
right triangle that's on the edge and that and so so you're gonna get the the rest over to the edge of the paper yeah and instead there's a there's a if you
pull it down a little bit just you can see the back end of the parking here um show me the back end of the parking pardon me oh there okay yeah and then there's another access to the bike path
that we already that is already there um what the town doesn't want is this triangular State shape that we pointed out earlier down here with this easement that we were going to have which is on there it says an existing path to the
bike path the town doesn't want that so the oh that's a road then that's that's got Wetland boundaries on it yeah the the town does doesn't want that and
instead what we have and this connects to the whole fire loop as you can see here which goes all the way down and then out along the town's um uh sewer line there's a the major town sewer line
that that splits um that that's right there there's an existing Gravel Road which is over a town sewer line and that's the sewer line you connected presumably yeah that's the
yeah presume it's a the major sewer line um my other question had to do with the trash um do you want to answer questions about trash now yep you can answer those now I thought the Republic no longer existed as an
entity and and it's not being managed very well I guess from what I've been reading I mean I got a I mean I contacted Pat Cayman at cayman's um who who and and he gave me the name Republic
I uh actually miss mongan who's actually there on a day-to-day basis says that she sees what is it sue USA it's USA huling USA which is I think name Republic no they um we yeah we've been
USA for a long time now okay my last question is have you take out the units in each building for community space is that changing the number of units or not um
it yes and it and it's reflected on the application so instead of um each of the buildings except for 26 except for each of those having 39
units 39 condominium units they now have 38 condominium units and one Community unit I mean it's the same number of units it's just it's just only 38 of them are sold to
Residents okay that's me for now all right who else has do other people have questions all right there's no further questions Mr alel just one quick question uh we have
that GL 28 map up do you know which unit will be the community uh space the community room um Miss munin can answer that specifically but um it they're different in different of the buildings
um but sue you can you can tell them which the unit numbers are so building 24 is 407 buildin 26 is 607 buildin 25 is
502 buildin 27 will be 708 and buildin 28 once it's not being used it will be unit 808 okay these are typically on the first floor is that what that numbering
scheme means they all are on the first floor yes okay great are they all accessible wide enough doorways and everything else yes okay anything more Mr Bell oh just and
they're all well they're all apartment units so I guess they have a bathroom and a kitchen and at least one bedroom originally designed and that of course you're repurposing them but that's that's the basic layout of them yeah
okay thank you you're welcome other questions comments concerns from board members just one thing I'll I'll say that um we've got to change on the management plan you've got to change the name to the correct trash hauler we can
make that condition y um but the fact is that if you have the wrong um trash hall or listed you have to come back to us and when you change and put the right one in so we'll make that a condition of the of the app of any
approval that we may may or may not make um all right if there's no other comments and questions from board members and we'll go to public comment so public comment is the opportunity for the public to m Express their concerns
support Express comments about um this application before us I would remind the members of the public that you speak the with the permission of the chair um we normally have a three minute time limit
on public comments um and your comments should be directed to the chair and not to individuals either other comments ERS or to the applicant I understand that you that that several members that we have you have somebody who's
representing a number of the owners who wishes to make a presentation that we uh which we reive this uh this afternoon members of the board received this afternoon Miss I think it's Miss Cummings um has expressed that she is
representing number of the the commenters and or number of the the unit owners and so what I we have discussed with the unit owners is instead of having um Everybody speak to the same
item that Miss Cummings has four or five people who will yield her that their three minutes and you can proceed for about 12 13 minutes with your presentation I think that's a fair way to handle this because I your presentation is much more than three
minutes and I understand that you're representing more than you know many of the unit owners and so miss Cummings if you would identify which members have asked you to to use their time for your presentation that'd
be helpful I know you're try there you go now you're now you did you hear the um my comments Miss Cummings oh yeah yes yes so okay so so here's what you need to do just give us your name and address 27 green leaves drive and then I
know that there are a number of participants do you have who are the participants that are yielding you their time so they don't speak twice okay uh Gertrude Swain Beverly jemson Jennifer
Booker and Tina V all right so you have a total of of you plus four so you have a toal you know 12 13 minutes um 14 minutes to give your presentation and those other people won't speak it's 15
actually yeah it's 15 it's 15 okay wait a minute very I thought you say it was about 12 minutes so I was yeah but um okay what do I do oh it's already big hold on
somebody's helping me okay yeah yeah okay large there we go start wait I have to learn I don't want to get rid of these people no I want to get rid of them I don't want to see them
distracting how do I do that oh here okay okay play from start but it's not big enough is it big enough it'll be okay from start yeah we see it very well it's it's okay okay thank you for this opportunity for green Leaf's unit owners to highlight the concerns we've
submitted I'm speaking tonight for tresy unit owners who agree with these concerns briefly 78 % of owners supported these concerns in a 2023 survey since then the C the concerns have remained basically the same our owners contributed most recently in
January 2025 at building meetings our concerns are based on our experience living in trust 3 while it's been developed and controlled by amhad some of us have had more than 19 years experience living here we ask the zba to please find solutions to our concerns and to please add them as conditions to
Amad special permit I want to add here that I was under the impression because there's this major change from Community Building to community rooms that the whole permit was opened up I mean we have concerns not just in the area between 25 and 27 so okay so uh excuse me uh the plan
shows trust three at the upper right in its context the trust currently includes four currently op fully occupied buildings 24 through 27 when building 28 is fully occupied the total number of units will be 100 185 sorry between
buildings 25 and 27 is where the new community building will be all our specific concerns address one or more of our basic concerns that Amad finished the trust in a manner that's complete according to Amad special permit safe free from fundamental defects and
consistent from one building and area to the other as you can imagine living in a development of ultimately 185 units a development that's been under construction for 19 years in counting during which time our communication with the developer has unfortunately been of limited Effectiveness we do have a
number of specific concerns I'll briefly highlight them tonight concern one the change from the community amenity for trust 3 is incomplete uh briefly 82% of respondents in a 2022
survey preferred the community rooms but this important change hasn't been documented in Amad special permit concern to the development of the area between buildings 25 and 27 absent the community building is obviously incomplete here's the top of the slope where Amad Community parking lot will be
currently there's informal parking for six cars but ultimately there'll be nine spaces for regular cars and two for handicap this additional parking is very much needed to partially alleviate a shortage of parking in the trust by the way the numbers of the photos we show tonight are the numbers of the photos in
appendix 2 of our submittal to you of course the parking are isn't properly designed for drainage uh we experience water going toward both buildings during precipitation events and isn't black top with parking space lines curving Etc
this shows the slope at the top of which is the currently informal parking the few scattered Stones you see were part of a boundary of stones that used to be at the top edge of the slope until probably a snow plow pushed them down in front of the foreground of the photo is the entrance to the parking areas behind
both buildings 25 and 27 as you see the slope isn't stabilized except for some grass and weeds isn't landscaped in keeping with the other landscaped areas of the trust and currently isn't safe for residents who walk up and down it regularly Amad site
plan for the new community lot suggests putting stones again at the top edge of the slope would the zba consider fencing with reflectors as a safer and more lasting barrier also the plan doesn't address the currently inadequate Lighting in the middle of the top edge of the slope
this rough schematic of the top of the slope as it is today shows that the two sides aren't equivalent or consistent on the building 25 Side in addition to resident Gardens in an outdoor Gathering area there's a sidewalk from the side door to the front sidewalk excuse
me excuse me I'm so sorry forgot to switch this is the schematic okay um all right so you can I'm so sorry uh so you can see that there's a sidewalk on the 25 Side there's no sidewalk on the other side and a fence on the 25 side which
separates off the parking by contrast on the 27 side there's some grass these photos include some of the details or lack of details just mentioned and also the two side door stairs which aren't consistent while the stairs on the building 25 25 Side are
made of long lasting tracks are safe because the stairs are narrow enough so residents can hold on to both handrails and the top platform is mostly enclosed providing additional safety the stairs on the building 27 side are of deteriorating wood one step in fact
Slants dangerously down the steps are too wide for residents to hold on to both handrails excuse me and the top platform is less enclosed thus less safe concern three defect in the number of parking spaces the current number of parking
spaces in trust 3 plus the additional spaces shown in amhaz community lot plan is 228 according to our accounting which we counted them several times we estimate that the ratio of parking spaces per unit after the addition of the community lot will be 1.2 vastly
lower than the ratio of two generally required for complexes by amher bylaw amads parking spaces plan shows the different parking areas briefly the main parking area in the front of 24 through 27 the lot at the far end of 26 which also faces the front of 28 a lot
at the far side of 28 and back of both buildings 25 and 7 and 27 some parallel parking in back of buildings 25 27 and 28 garages and there will be the community lot between 25 and 27 to be clear buildings 24 and 26 have no
garages and no parking and back this chart shows the current capacity for regular parking in the trust and the number of spaces observed filled on December 20th a Saturday and or December 21 a Sunday in 2024 when no one was working on building 28 as you
can see of the areas currently in use the first four parking areas listed were all near or at capacity in the main lot please note that of the 62 spaces available buildings 24 through 26 have at least 16 regular spaces each in front of their respective buildings while
building 27 has only six to repeat the community lot currently with six informal parking spaces will be augmented with only three more regular spaces now of the areas not yet near capacity and the lot at the far side of building bu 26 which also faces building
28 11 of the 24 spaces were filled on both observation days this count of 11 Vehicles has been quite consistent these parked Vehicles were overwhelmingly overwhelmingly the Overflow vehicles of owners in buildings 26 and 27 and their
visitors AIDS contractors Etc who couldn't find spaces in front of the buildings we anticipate this far side 26 front 28 lot to get much more crowded many future building 28 uniters May well choose to park here despite the 35 car
lot on the far side of 28 because they'll prefer to walk in and out the front door through the lobby area near the elevator their mailboxes and perhaps they'll see some fellow residents with whom to have a chat in addition owners in first floor front units will be able to reach their cars in The Far Side 26
front 28 lot directly through their patio doors where will the Overflow vehicles from building 26 and 27 Park then turning to handicap spaces mad's plan requires six uh handicap spaces per
building building 27 currently has only four handicap spaces but uh amads Community lot will include two more Trust Three needs more parking we find the available parking inadequate how many more parking spaces does Trust Three need if it's helpful to the board
our special permit committee has estimated that if the ratio of parking spaces per unit were increased from the current 1.2 to 1.3 we need 13 more parking spaces If the ratio were increased to 1.4 we'd need 31 spaces
appear where can more parking spaces be located if it's helpful to board our special permit committee has thought of a couple of possible locations for example what about in front of building 28 where the second set of dumpsters currently serving buildings 26 and 27 is
and Beyond this area in front of 28 to the end of the building but then where would the second set of dumpsters be located more on this in a bit concern four lack of driver and pedestrian safety this area of concern includes seven categories of safety
issues lack of white lines on the black top for example there's no access aisle in front of the building 27 front door at the bottom of this photo the red car is parked in front of the 27 front door the top of the photo shows the building 26 access aisle in front of the 26 front
door access aisles are essential for owners to be picked up and dropped off safely and for EMS professionals all other trusty buildings have an access aisle other white line issues include that there's no Center Line to delineate two-way traffic on truss 3 roads and we
need diagonal white lines to delineate reserve space for dumpsters at confusing extra stretches of black top beyond the parallel parking behind buildings 25 and 27 as a path across two areas of the drive behind buildings 25 and 27 where
pedestrians often cross the drive and at the access to parking outside the building 26 far far side door and we wonder why isn't the 8ft access aisle at building 28 in front of the front door lack of curb cuts gradients and
curving for example there are no curb cuts at three ex excess aisles in front of 28 and in the back of building 28 there's no curving to differentiate between the driveway to from the 35 car lot and the garage area also there are no gradual gradients in front of
building 27 and 28 from the buildings to the road the building 28 driveway why isn't the driveway in front of this building link to the driveway in back currently the driveway in front ends at the front door will EMS Etc will cars picking up
dropping off unit owners be able to negotiate their actions safely and efficiently without a driveway that loops around the building lack of driver visibility Aid and signs at the stop sign behind Building 25 the angle of intersection with the main green Le Drive is well
over 90° and some drivers can't turn their neck sufficiently to the right to watch for oncoming traffic also we don't have prominent 15 m per hour signs for three areas where pedestrians frequently cross the drive and we we don't have a stop sign where
traffic from the back of building 28 will enter enters the drive sidewalk safety issues include that currently Union owners have to or will have to walk on the road between buildings 27 and 28 to get from the front of each building to the back
because there's no sidewalk on these sides of these buildings this road walking is dangerous and will be even more so when building 28 is occupied other sidewalk issues include that building 28 lacks a number of sidewalks the sidewalk in front for example ends
at the front door and uh are all the sidewalks finished with base coat and top coat it doesn't seem so there are cracks across many of the sidewalks lack of safety at dumpster areas at the first set of dumpsters near
Building 24 you can see that the high curving protrudes into the entrance of fall risk and that the entrance is too narrow at the second set of dumpsters in the front of building 28 uh excuse me what you see is one of the gates the metal see the metal
supports for the dumpster truck entrance which gate is swung open the pedestrian entrance behind this gate isn't accessible because the approach to it from the parking lot isn't graded to prevent puddles from forming and isn't black top the last safety issue we'll highlight is that especially during a
cloudy night or a new moon we're afraid of tripping and falling because we can't see where we're stepping in several areas in front of buildings 24 through 27 and in the middle of both the top Edge and the bottom of the slope of course we'd want lighting that doesn't
flash to the windows uh but there is such lighting um also what are the lighting plans for the 35 parla moving on from safety issues this is the second set of dumpsters again in front of the building 28 front door which currently
serves buildings 26 and 27 and will presumably Also Serve 28 these dumpsters lack uh fencing on the pedestrian entrance side also would there be a better location for these dumpsters we
think this location will be unacceptably unsightly and odor for building 28 unit owners and is inconsistent with the aesthetic character of the fronts of all the other condo buildings other important areas of concern include in this topic of
landscaping uh a tree in the front of building 2025 seems to be too close to the building such that Roots might damage the foundation and we wonder if there are other such trees in the back of 26 Landscaping was never fully restored after a trench was dug for the building 28
electricity uh we want will the landscaping around building 28 be consistent with the rest of the Condor landscaping and building 28 doesn't have outdoor faucets at the front or far side of the building in the trust 3 area uh Beyond building 28 and the 3 35 car lot
we wonder is the emergency access road completed and where is the boundary line for trust 3 one of your uh members mentioned earlier where is the boundary um so
um and inconsistencies inconsistencies of stairs the Sid side stair doors on the far side of building 27 are wood unlike the TS at the building 25 side door stairs will the side door stairs at building 28 be of
TXS doors the side and back doors of building 27 are inferior to the long lasting metalace doors at buildings 24 through 26 are such doors at building 28 metal face basements the basement ceiling walls and Trim in building 27
aren't finished in contrast to these features in the building 25 basement storage units the plan required 53 storage units in each of buildings 25 and 27 aren't finished and lastly crash there's still trash construction
material Etc in buildings 25 and 27 storage rooms I just want to say of course there are more details about our concerns and our submitt to you and we thank you very much for your mention thank you Mr Cummings that was
exactly 15 minutes was exactly 15 you it very well okay um who uh other public comments is there who else wishes to speak I see
Miss Williams I see that there's a Mr Perkins and a miss posar Mr Perkins please provide us your name and address for the record to promote him to panelist yeah Mr Perkins can you hear us and
you're still muted all I was trying to do it a different way can you hear me now yep we sure can okay name and address for the record sir it's Clark Perkins uh 24 green leaves drive unit 44
z i pardon me keep your remarks to around three minutes please I'm GNA try I want to thank M Cummings for the and our committee for the great work she's been doing uh I do want to point out a couple
of things though and um unlike what um Don Allison said and Miss Cummings referred to not everybody in this community is in favor of um not having a community building uh when I bought this
unit two years ago two and a half years ago it was with the understanding there would be a community building anecdotally I have spoken to several other residents who have uh express the same concern that a community building would be much more beneficial to us as a
whole rather than um building by building um and so I think at the very least although I asked this of misom and a committee before to do a new survey that one was done in 2022 and it wouldn't hold up these
proceedings at all to just concurrently do a new uh survey just to see what the current status of the thinking is among the residents um it seems like a lot of the issues are over parking and car safety over people and services and I
would like to reorient that argument a little bit more towards people and services and I think I came within my three minute back time limit but I wanted to thank you all again you you had if you had something more you have
minute and a half left I'm good I I got I got what I got very thank you Mr Perkins um I see Miss Judy posar has her hand
up hi I'm unmuted now I think can you hear me we can okay um a little bit earlier um your address at Miss posar sure Judy posar 24 green leaves Drive got it thank you okay uh so
someone asked earlier about what the community rooms look like in each of the buildings and um the original one in building before is actually in the deed and was built as a community room there is no bathroom there are no bedrooms
it's just a big open space and a full kitchen and the one in building 26 was built pretty much the same way but in um in Building 25 it is a two-bedroom residential unit and um it'll be the same I guess in
buildings 27 and 28 so one thing I just want to bring that to the board's attention it's probably not a problem but I think it should be noted that they are residential units and right now they are
um recognized by the town as residential units owned by amhad and they are taxed they get property taxes so I want to make sure as part of this converting them to um Community rooms that the town will recognize them
as community space and no longer tax them as residential units does that make sense I understand what you're asking yes I I don't know the answer I as I understand what you're
asking yeah the the assessor a few years ago came and saw that the community uh room in Building 24 really is a community room changed like recategorized it as a community space because it's in the deed and uh no
longer sends out tax bills for that unit but the other ones do get tax tax bills okay thank you thank you very much um is there anybody else who wishes to speak I see um somebody named an an
homie is that correct has your hand raised you're current there we go we were talking about uh lighting just give your name and address for the record please
an homi building 27 number 717 thank you go ahead they were talking about lighting between building 25 and 27 and the lighting pollution but I'd like to point out that the only Windows
between 25 and 27 are on the staircases there's no pollution for apartments the other thing I would like to point out is then in front of
27 the only uh handicapped entrance is probably six or seven parking spaces to the South to the north so anybody who wants to come up to the front
door there's it's just a regular curb compared to 20 the other buildings so um I think you know I see people in wheelchairs and on Walkers and they have to walk down
maybe 50 yards before they can have access and what build are you which building are you saying that for building 27 and my other concern is that
um when you come around the curve between 27 and 28 and that's an exit from 28 that's a Speedway I mean it's even now um there's
and we have these Community Gardens we have the pedestrians but it's just a Speedway because there are no parking spaces and there are no uh signs for
speed limits there's certainly no bumps and I'm worried about that because a lot of people walk down there and a lot of of the gardens all right um any other comments thank you Miss
homie I see um person named Alfred has got his hand up get your name and address for the record Alfred vus 26 green leaves Drive
624 okay so uh as a relatively new Resident the question is if they offer up these units in each building as a community room how does the deed get
managed that we unit owners have possession of that unit like like what's the process that I understand in one building that it is deeded but in like how would that process work so the question you have is how
does the deing for the community rooms convey to the homeowners association when they take over the the project is that correct right or how how do how do I
have the right how do I know that I have the verifiable right to that unit or access to that unit as a community room whereas originally there were supposed to be this community structure that doesn't appear to be happening
okay uh so that's basically the question it's like how are we protected that our our you know like our interest our our interest is protected that we have it actually in writing of what we are allowed to control or not
control got it okay thank you thank you any other comments anybody else wish to comment all right I see no other hands raised I think an still has something to say how we signed up because we had a
community room and they still advertise that yeah please I don't know that they don't they do they do please okay all right thank you Miss
Hol all right any other comments uh Mr I see a Ralph Hughes or Hughes Ralph Hughes yes this is Ralph Hughes uh 27 Green leafes Drive and I
would turn your sound down uh like to speak um particularly to the point of uh the community building and the community rooms uh I came to this place with the
understanding that there would be a Central Community facility and I have uh looked at other such situations and my siblings and parents have experienced
such things and having a central building to build community and to have a place to uh get together to among other important things elect our uh trustees
going forward is a very important thing and uh dealing with these small community rooms in each building is not going to work uh previously there's been
an annual meeting and the rooms are often filled uh and we didn't have building 28 we didn't have building 27 at those times and
people weren't interested because it was all being run by the developer but once we are on our own I think it's Vally important that we uh have a Central Community
Building and place to get together so uh thank you very much thank you Mr Hughes any further comments All all right I see no other hands raised at this
point oh one more um I see hand from my name is Bonnie Paige 25 green Lees Drive uh the question the previous question regarding the deed uh to the community rooms wasn't answered I'm
wondering if Mr Allison can address that he um that will be done it's up to him to decide to do that after the comments but um we're just taking comments right now and and oh okay I'm sorry okay that's all right that's a
good question that the the applicant has a chance to respond to the comments from the public if they so choose did you have anything else that you want no I'm sorry no no no I was just wanted an answer thank you all right thank you um
Miss Homie you've already spoken once my concern is that yeah you you've already spoken once so um and used up your time all right okay thank
you there anybody anybody else who wishes to speak I'm not seeing any other hand no I'm not either at this point all right um so what I'm going to propose is that um we break we take our
normal 7:30 break here about 7:20 just a little bit early it's a quick five minute break and then we come back for the applicants if they so choose to respond to the comments I guess since we just have we have no other comments and
um Miss Homie wanted to speak briefly on something else that maybe she forgot to mention the first time that can and there's no other public comments we can ask her to speak if she wishes briefly and then we'll move to our traditional
break come back for um the applicants so Miss Homie if you wish to speak um briefly go right ahead uh then we'll we'll take a break okay briefly Miss home are you
there Miss Williams do you find that she's can you bring her in I don't see all right we have no comment there um we'll take a break it's now 7:21 everybody uh come back here by
7:26 um and we'll see you then thank you 5 minute break I'm still on the my pictures still on there I just leave it there okay to the bathroom or anything no no no no no a 5 minute
break all right I don't know water everything's good I'm the only one left on the screen come back should be fine David are we the only ones left yeah I think so
yeah um well I I don't know what you might want to respond to um I'll I'll take care of the deed thing um I presume Susan will take care of you know I don't see any anything that I
need to speak to at this point okay well I'm I'm gonna not talk cuz there are people here so I'm just going to yeah I'm going to stay on though
still in that's all right let's see if we can um reconvene the panel we'll wait here for Mr alfeld and miss con to um sign back
in there we go all right we have the panel reassembled um so the next stage in the process is for the applicant to respond to the extent they wish to to any of the comments raised in the public
comment period and again address your comments to the chair and the board not to any of the the commenters specifically you can reference their comments but don't direct your comments to them I'm prepared to address the
ownership issue of the community rooms um I'm I don't I'm not the Project's condominium lawyer um I have a basic understanding of condominium law but my understanding is what there would be an amendment to the master deed filed which
would eliminate the unit as a as a sold unit and it would become part of the common area of of of each building so the master deed itself has a floor plan
has units and the unit in each building and that's what happened with 24 it was just pulled out of the master deed I mean the master deed had it as a community room and they would just amend the master deed for the
the other buildings it's a fairly straightforward process um if if either and the r and if I had one question and then the rules of the Condominium Association or the rules of the developer depending on when it was would would delineate who has access
to that is that correct my understanding my understanding is it would be common area for each building so that you know when you want a condominium you also have an interest in
the common areas the right to use the common areas and it would be the common area for Building 25 or uh for the residents the unit owners in those buildings all right um I don't know if
Miss munin wants to address any of the other issues I I I Would S I would address the simple issue of the the sidewalk um alongside buildings 25 and 27 in the new site plan the sidewalks
are in they do intend to construct sidewalks um they they're actually in the plan which was submitted uh to the board um and I don't know if Miss munin or anybody wants to address any of the kind
of practical issues of what people are talking about um on the day-to-day life in the country minum so um the there was two spaces that were not um striped when we were
doing it because of course the special permit wasn't approved and plus we were going to pave so we would be you know working on that area so that's where the other two that no one's C was in in the
um plan so um that is probably why our my count and Susan's count isn't the same um also the original um 407 and 607 were originally one-bedroom units and
what they did was just widen the doors to make it look like common space so they are one bedrooms they're the same square foot every you know and everything um as the other one-bedrooms throughout I want to say 679 square feet
offand and um so that's about the community room um advertising of the of the community building I and when we started to build the units in I want to say 2009 2008 people had really wanted to
keep their Community the community rooms Community rooms in their buildings um so I started to hear a lot of feedback and it went to the the at time director and um so I kind of was telling people from that
time on that that was a little up in the air because people really wanted to have a voice with deciding that factor whether or not to have a community building the advertisement they're talking about is is probably on an old website that we had just upgraded the
pictures and didn't realize there was a little blurb saying future construction uh Community Building um once I saw that was still there I I took it out immediately because um I do know that the people really wanted to have the the
community rooms rather than the community building so and I think that's all on the top of my head I can think of of answering right now all right any other responses from the
applicant any further um Mr Allison no nothing from nothing from from me all right um question from board members to the applicant before we go into a public meeting
um so let me get I would have one quick question let me get this straight so buildings 27 and 25 face the where the common where the community building was supposed to be are there windows on the
end of 27 and 25 that face the what will be the parking area was where the community rooms were going to be there are windows that are to the staircase there are there um at the end of each building is a deck um but I think a lot
of the people like some of people from 25 would go and they would complain about the lights in 24 so there is this always thing about lighting so I think that's what Dave was talking about cuz a lot of people were struggling with the lighting and then we put panels to make
it work better for the residents so I think so I think that's what it was it was um but the there the lights are to the staircases but we do have n units and then the people across the way you know they don't want bright lights in
the parking lot okay well your parking lot lights shouldn't trespass all the way across the two parking areas over to the other building building but what I'm what I'm asking is if the lighting where the parking the new parking is supposed to
be would wash onto windows that go into condominium units or is it just into the door is the only window into the stair into the door into those the side entrance of those two buildings just into the glass just into the balconies
of the two end units and not it would not disturb the staircases no the the rest are just staircases I'm not stating my question very well are there windows from the units that face the community what is
the now the the community building space but there's going to be a parking space are there windows from units into that area no okay all right but there's decks on the back of the buildings that
may might have light washing to those right it's the front okay or the front front units yes all right um and there's another thing um there is still construction going on in building
28 so like that dumpster area that's getting a brand new fence that's going to be put in differently I think um during the ice storm part of most of the wall must have went down on one of them you know or something something happened to the right side but that's all going
to be re enclosed and there's going to be arbores you know we want to plant a couple of you know bushes around it makees it look pretty you know um can we pull up the go ahead I'm didn't mean to cut you off Miss
mjin right and I mean we were really careful on looking you know I know a lot of people want dumpsters but yet they don't want them too close to their unit so and we have to be able to get that USA hauling truck in and out on their turns and um I walked the project uh
quite a few times with Dave um and I keeping it there even though it's a little eyes sore for the people but I think once it's done and it's done well um it would look it would look fine and I still you know so I I still you know I
understand that it doesn't look good now but we're a we're a work in progress can you yeah I was just going to ask Miss to bring up the site plan and we're talking the dumpsters between which buildings they're talking about the one that's in
front of building 28 all right and the approve yes so right there there's right across the door um the and there's no sidewalk there was never a sidewalk to the left of that building there was it was not on the plan it was never there was never a
sidewalk um planned on that um and actually people in building that are want to live in building 28 are really excited about that because there's a lot of green there that's not normal normally in front of the other buildings
building 28 I do remind people when they do come in visit that um for sales to remember that um that building 208 you know has this great parking lot on the side and you
know so I talk about them using it and also that you know that there is the six handicap in the front the um and build in 27 where they're saying that there's parallel parking it is that was how the the plan always was but um there is a
curb cuts that you can walk up and I do understand it is a little bit of walk but it's it is within the 200 feet from the entrance doors you know we but um that's how the plan always was so all right uh Miss green bom did you have
a question for the applicants yes I do because I'm confused um about the discrepancies between what the some of the um residents said and
what management said about the the need for the community room I don't quite understand whether they want the community room or they don't want the the the the original building and so my question is where are they having their
large uh annual meetings now that they have the split up spaces right now they people is whatever ask the majority of people want the community rooms um when that vote was
taken I think it was Final in 2022 um so the original um and yes there has been some turnover but what I'm hearing from the resident it's it's maybe six people so that would make a
huge difference with the voting percent of you know if there was to be a vote wouldn't make a huge difference and and turnovers happen but um the majority do want the community the community rooms to stay within the buildings I you know
as as watching this place after 21 years and how people gather um that Community Building would probably be used for maybe 10 to 15 people when we do have a a meeting we do have it on zoom and we
have it in one of the community rooms we put a lot of chairs there we've um there you know we get maybe an average of maybe 30 to 40 people out of all the residents that actually go to the meeting
so and then people we do know that if we ever wanted to there's the Marriott down the street that would you know we could get if we wanted to have a bigger space there's there's ways of everyone together what do you do for a bigger space did you say there's like the
Marriot or you know it's like someone wanted to have a big you know party or something um they would you know there's or a large Gathering of some sort there's there's rooms at the Marriott if we ever had to use it but right now the
I mean basically the people that use those Community rooms they're mostly small building Gatherings um they'll use it for the book clubs game night um there's never been standing room only usually we also have the common area
that is open to tables and and we've had many potlucks in the common areas of the lobby and everything and it works quite well and I think that's why people are looking at um having the community's room stay because it's cold some people
have a hard time carrying things over maybe you know so it's it's just more convenient for them thank you you're welcome okay um if there are no further questions from members of the board and
no further comments from from the applicant I would move I would entertain a motion that we move to a public meeting while keeping the public hearing open do I have such a motion so moved is there a second
second it's moved and seconded that we move to a public meeting while keeping the public hearing open um is there any discussion about that motion if not the vote occurs on the motion the chair votes I miss greenal hi
Mr alfeld hi Mr Barner hi and Miss Khan hi the vote is five to nothing um motion passes we're into the public meeting portion of this consideration of this application the public meeting is
typically where the board deliberates on this application there's not normally a time for public comment uh we may seek for clarification uh to get uh public comments or comments from the applicant
it's also just it's a chance for us to just talk about it and then to consider the conditions the findings and make a recommendation we're ready to to pass or not pass this application so I I would like to kind of like to get um I'd like to frame the
debate in in one way and then I'd like to understand where people are regarding this application what we have before us is really two questions one is should the should green leaves be allowed to change
the special permit which they were operating under to not have a community building and instead move to separate Community rooms that's the first thing that's the first question and the second question is to remove the requirement that they deed land of the town which no
the town has said that they don't want and we can look at questions regarding those two issues and things surrounding those two issues so the question about the community if the community building is not going to be
built things that are directly related to that such as is it going to be paved how is it going to be paved if it's parking how many parking spaces are going to be there are they handicapped accessible will it have the right drainage will it be safe lighting things
like that we can deal with regarding the community room and the space of the community room um in terms of the the town whether it wants the land or not that seems to me to be a pretty straightforward question what I do on what I get from
this is that there's a lot of unanswered questions a lot of questions from unit owners about um how the about some safety about parking about and I don't and those are are legitimate questions
that I I'm concerned for people who live there but beyond what is going on with that Community Building space that's not for us an issue before us right now um we could not it's possible for us to say
we're not ready to to uh approve this because we want the developer to have more contact with the with the um unit owners come back with whatever it is amendments to the Landscaping plan sidewalks whatever we want we could say
that um and then deny the application but that would be because that would in some ways be beyond that would be beyond our our scope of of this because we have to be saying that that's all related to the
site of the community building so that's we are restricted in that regard and we I don't want to be um insensitive to the concerns of the unit owners they're sound legitimate to me
but I think there are cases where there were further dialogue with the developer and subsequently when the commun when the unit owners own this property some of these changes that they're talking about can be made the other thing we can that we should encourage the town is
that to the extent that the the uh property is not being managed in accordance with the existing plan the approved plan so the Landscaping in the approved plan the sidewalks the everything else in the approved plan if
it's not being managed in accordance with that that the town should um needs to speak to the the developer and the management of the of the area and and say that they're in violation of the special permit that they currently
operate under I am not I cannot tell you whether I believe that that's true or not but that is one recourse that exists for anybody is to raise a question with the town with the Building Commissioner and say you know this is not we don't find that it's that the Landscaping is
consistent with the approved plan or the sidewalks aren't consistent with the approved plan but regrettably we're operating for them and with difficulty for us we're operating on an improved plan that's 20 years ago when I think that not only were times different but
the rigor to which zba looked at issues such as lighting such as safety such as parking and other things are was not as great and not as specific as it as we would have it today but that's the plant the special permit they're operating
under so in my opinion we have a we we can deal with the issues surrounding the parking area the new parking area where the community room is going to be and we can try to condition that the applicant has submitted a new
management plan so we can look at that and see if that is um uh is adequate um but beyond that we're pretty much limited to what we can do if we wish to approve this um the special permit at
the the request to amend the special the existing special permit so with that I'd like to open it up to where people are on this where my board members are generally and then we can proceed in um how we want to how we want to dispose of
this application and and the consideration of conditions findings and eventually whether we approve it or not so I've given you my thoughts I'd like to hear from other board members at this point Mr Varner uh it seems to me that
there's kind of this fine line between our duties and the officiating that would go on with a contract lawyer about people coming in and buying into the condo with the understanding there's going to be a
common space that is now no longer as advertised uh I you know I can understand where we're involved in the conversion of the lot for the common space into a parking area but uh to
address the probably rightful grievances of of people who bought into the condo thinking there was also going to be this common space I you know I I think that that's that's not something that we are designed to look into I'm fairly new at
this so I I I don't know but no I think I think you've accurately described what our responsibilities are in this case uh that's right I mean we really can't get into the you're you're correct I don't think we can get into the middle of whether it's a violation of a contract law what we're looking at is whether we
want to change the um the site plan and law the removal of that building Mr alfeld yeah I I wondered what motivated the original
um inclusion of the community building in the in the original plan and what uh what the vision was for the community at that point for the for the condo association or condo facility um but I stopped short in investigating
that if if in fact we can if that's a knowable thing I stopped short of investigating that when I read the comments from uh uh the trust owners that we got today the the unit 3
owners that cited a survey that was done in 2023 where 78% of the unit owners supported am I reading this correctly uh
supported um I'm I'm gon I'm not I'm gonna try not to read it right now yes 82% supported not building the planned community building and sticking with the you know individual Community rooms in the individual buildings um so that alleviated that
concern from me I'm sure that for some people that's a disappointment but but that does seem to be the broad consensus in the community um I don't have any particular concerns at this point about uh the parking the the new propos
new parking or any of the pieces of it um the the piece of land that was to be deed to the down that's not an issue in my mind that's fine um I'm a little bit confused on um do we have a manage we I guess we just got a
management plan today which is I really haven't had time to look at it uh do we have a landscaping plan do we need one do we have a storm water management plan do we need one that those pieces are not clear to me um I do have some comments on the proposed conditions when we get
there all right thank you if I may just respond on the the management plan it looks it's pretty standard and it's far more uh robust than the management plan that was in effect uh in 2022 that was approved
which was literally the original one was about four different points bullet points and not much more saying that they said that they were managing it and then they gave four areas so this is more far more robust than it was before and more spe specific than it was before so I see the management plan as an
improvement and pretty much consistent with what I've seen in other management plans for large developments um as well on in terms of landscape plan and strong water plan they they're not really before us except for the
landscaping around the common buildings site that now is going to be a parking lot there is a there's a site plan that was approved that site plan included Landscaping certainly the Landscaping that was on that approved plan should be
made sure that it is um maintained that they're they're complying with that and that the Landscaping is maintained in perpetuity not that it's just put in once and allowed to die uh it has to be plants have to be replaced but we're
what's not before us is to do a new lands to require a new landscap escaping plan and the same thing with the storm water management plan so we're looking at again we're looking at um Pro an
approval of 20 25 years ago and I think we'd be more um more rigorous today than than they than they just were then it's not a criticism of the the process but back then but that's just the facts are
I think they're being more um a more rigorous approval process I hope that answered you that's my opinion that regarding that Miss green bom my my opinion is that I'm not
against any of the three proposals however when I see that there were over 6 um homeowners there at the meeting um that are concerned and I do want to see more definitive plans about
the parking lot I I think that we do have control over the the Landscaping to the west of the parking lot which seems to be a hill that's sort of washed out I think we can make that that improved I
think we need to follow through on what the building inspector said about the possibility for uh intermittent lighting that's controlled by daylight or controlled by a timer but the number of people
here that are concerned I I don't think we want to make a decision tonight I think that we need number one more information and what has passed what has proved useful in in the
past for these rather contentious issues is to send the management back to talk to the homeowner and knock heads together and try to find out what they want and how they can come
up with a solution and then we continue the hearing and then vote on it then after maybe some of these issues that aren't directly related to the parking or the community rooms maybe they can be
resolved in the interum does that make any kind of sense to anybody it's worked it worked on the Sun that Avenue at work on on a unit on Pine Street where the neighbor across the street was very unhappy they went home knock heads
together and came to a wonderful agreement and I'm I'm rather hoping we can do something like that here I don't feel I'm ready to vote at this point without some of those questions answered the drainage on the parking lot seems to
be up for grubs too it would be like to know a little bit more about that whether it's going to work or not going to work it looks now the way the lawn was washed out to the West that it's been being eroded by by drainage from
that site that's what it looks like to me but but U unfortunately we didn't have any of the homeowners at the site visit which would have been very very useful they could have showed us things like was there
wash Outland to the west of that proposed parking lot so my my suggestion I really would like to continue it and have the two parties talk to each other and try to come up with some
agreements Mr Barner oh excuse me m Khan you had a chance to speak you a chance Mr okay thank you looking at a special permits I think the focus should be on the special permits right now and I I appreciate the fact
that uh they are covering the you know promise for community room as they had um as the you know residents 82% of the residents surveyed had um also wanted so
basically they doing what was expected of them uh via the permits they have uh they are asking for to be approved so if we prolong it it will just slow down the process and it will affect the residents
over there also so I think um basically we should speed up somewhat because they have been uh expecting that for a long time thanks thank you Mr Varner go ahead
I just had a quick comment about the appearance of the uh property below the the parking lot I think that that piece of land has been in limbo for a while they weren't sure if they were going to build a building there or what they were going to do with it and uh as a result the uh the
Landscaping was not uh implemented I mean there was nothing done because they didn't know what they were going to do with it and I think that judging uh judging the project on the way it looks now is is um is probably a little unfair
to the uh the developer because the uh the property is still under development and it's not like that was what they had planned and that was the way it was going to look in forever it was uh just being ignored because they weren't sure what they were going to do with it yet
just my comment on that yeah you know I I would like to try to find a way to to make everybody happy too and to try to find a way for the developer to have further conversations with the unit owners but there's really two there's just really two things
before us tonight and that's the land of the community room and the land they give to the town um we could say then the land that's going to be a parking lot we could say that we want to see a u a more robust
um uh man landscape plan around that property to make sure that that isn't uh eroded away by uh storm water uh we it seems to me that the it looked like the storm water management plan said that that was suff those drains were
sufficient so we have to make sure that they would have to make sure that the parking lot the new parking lot flows into the the two catch basins and doesn't erode so that would you do that by grading and by um having making sure that that the water flows into those
drains and doesn't drain out the backside and erode the the hillside there that could all be done and you could have um Landscaping there that would hold the that would maintain the hillside so it wouldn't um wouldn't erode so that could all be done and we
could require that in set of conditions and that they come back to us with a um a more a better landscape plan and we could observe it in a public meeting or we could leave it up to the Building Commissioner to approve it those are two options to deal with the landscaping around that building eventually because
or around that land because I think I think you're right um it wasn't being used in the manner in which they intended it to be used for 20 years and in the land I'm not sure that the Landscaping is consistent with the landscape plan that they that was approved 20 years ago as it is and we
can also say that the lighting on the that that does illuminate the new parking area has to be downcast and dark sky compliant and not wash on to other other um
other buildings but there's no windows there so that makes that less of an issue we could I mean I think it's conceivable that we could address the issue of the stairs on the one building that seem to be less safe for elderly
people to walk it's too wide they can't grip both sides the stairs look like they're um are eroding away themselves the wood looks like is bad and we heard about that we could require that there be better access to that area from the to
the parking to the new parking area from that building but I think beyond that we're stretching our um jurisdiction so I think we could do those things um I don't know how what leverage we have to to force greater um
cooperation between the land the developer and the unit owner the unit owners there eventually going to own this place the land they're going to be the people that own the land and they're going to have to decide what they want to do with parking and and how they want to manage that property as owners of the
con as condominium owners and not the developer and that at that point that will be their opportunity to make some of the changes that I think they've rightfully asked and I think that if the developer would work with them prior to the change of ownership it'd be a really
good thing but I don't know how we leverage ourselves into that and if even our business to leverage ourselves into that in that discussion so that's kind of where I'm coming from I come from when I come down to this I think let's deal with the problems that directly
result from the parking lot the new parking lot let's make sure that that that's safe let's make sure it drains correctly let's make sure that it's lit safely let's make sure that people can get in and out of it get to it safely those are all legitimate concerns um
but the other concerns that the that the home the unit owners have about the lack of parking and other things really are beyond our our peer viiew right now and I just don't I'm not prepared to I I can agree with them I think it looks like looks really um difficult to see how
there's sufficient parking on that site for all these units right now I at 1 point2 spaces per unit doesn't seem enough especially for um a place where you have um not only delivery trucks which what we didn't have 20 years ago
25 years ago but you also have AIDS and visitors and everything else coming in and and I don't know where you'd put more parking if you even if it was within our jurisdiction tonight to say that that it's uh they we need more parking I I think that's going to be a
question for the existing developer and a question for the unit owners when they eventually own this that property outright after the trans after the last sale was made in the last building so that's kind of where I come from and so Hilda I'm not sure that that we're
going to be in a position to force that further discussion that's okay I have another idea which we've also done in the past and that is to allow the permit with a lot of conditions one of them
being that there are no sales that or that they can't sell a first building or um they don't get an occup permit for the new building until certain conditions are fulfilled and
that's that we we see at a public meeting and approv of of the the safety of the lighting on the parking law and if we have concerns about the drainage whatever whatever the issues that are wide open that are
conserved can be conditioned on the the awarding of an occupancy permit F our further sales they have to comply somehow before they can sell something no that that that's a very good idea
that's a yeah a good idea to try to do that for some of the conditions they real that no occupancy permit can be granted until um you know there's safety regarding the the new parking area whatever it is yeah that can be the question of they want I don't know you
you over condo I I don't know quite how Works whether you would make a down payment on it but you couldn't occupy it I that's something whether we have to I've seen both wording the occupancy permit for
for people that are own um yeah the word the people that owned the the can't remember what the phrase is but if you own it outright like a house you can say things like occupancy
permit but but how it would work with the with the condo I don't remember the language yeah well they still have to get an occupancy permit for the building and and they don't have that yet so that would that wouldn't happen until it's substantially complete I think just tell
I I think that's the case an occupancy permit wouldn't be granted until there's further till there's further construction and a safety examination and and a few other things right would you agree that they could come back to us well we could CH we could choose it
choose to do that or we could have it go to the Building Commissioner so there's I think I would rather Su I would rather know that it's that I've got my name on something that I feel happy about all
right okay um any other comments it sounds to me like there's a desire to move forward and try and further condition this amongst the board members that seems to be a consensus and so um
if you look at the project applica the most recent project application report there's a series of um conditions that were proposed as conditions of approval
and talking with the staff earlier today um there's a couple of things that the first off first thing I want to say is that the only two old conditions that were that are asked to be removed are six and
or eight excuse me8 and 16 I think that's the right correct number yep eight and 16 all right those are the two that are asked to be removed the rest of them that's not before us the rest of them have not asked to be removed and so
those conditions remain as part of the exist the original special permit we can add additional additional uh conditions so um because there's additional parking the first one is well
the first proposed condition that the is in the project application report would just State the number of units that are now going to be available for occupancy which is different than in the original document because now we have Community
rooms and we don't have um all they're not all occupi occupied residences so the number of bedroom uh total units changes and I think the staff has the
correct numbers before you in proposed condition number one which is there are um 44 one bedroom 124 two bedroom 23 bedrooms and five Community rooms and I want to confirm that with the applicant
that those are the correct numbers I'm sorry I believe that to be the that that to be the case Okay so that's the first condition um I think this and the Assisted Living Care Facility contains
98 units not including a community room this is that's that other building that's not even contemplated to be built yet but it's from the existing that's what the existing conditions had correct yes so I'm not sure that we need
this assisted living condition because it's already in the existing conditions of the special permit from 2004 and double check that well if you find that that's wrong no you're right uh Mr judge it it is in the original
permit the the Assisted Living Care Facility shall contain 98 units so we don't need that because it's already there but we do need the changed in in the the uh units because of the community rooms if we approve this second I want to make sure that we've
got the right number of parking uh spaces so the new parking spaces there should be a total of I think the number that I was given was 232 parking spaces
Mangan is that correct yes it's it's what he had plus 11 I want to say so I think it was 121 so then minus one would be 130 I'm sorry um
232 232 yes yes so 232 spk parking spaces so the second amend the second condition shall be there shall be 20 32 parking spaces and we don't in the just the
statements there'll be a 232 parking spaces on the property right yes correct so that's so that's all we need to state for that second condition second new condition the third condition listed here um I don't think we need to have a
new site plan for parking shall be presented approval by the board the public meeting prior to the sale of the first unit that was 20 years ago so that isn't needed the property shall be managed in accordance with the updated management plan as presented to the board on March
13th that is needed and any change to the management plans shall be submitted to the board for approval at a public meeting and so what that means is that that there's there's a significant change to the management plan either either now excuse me or when it is
converted to it ownership re reverts to the unit owners that will be um have to come to us at before the U in a public meeting Mr alfeld I'm just going to back you up a
little bit here so what we're doing is just listing new conditions or changes to the old conditions we we don't have to repeat conditions that's what I'm that's exactly right because this is an amendment to the existing special permit so the what's there unless we change it
or add to it remains I have a concern about the wording of number one but we can go back to that if you want to well let's do it let's let's talk about it right now yep okay so the the second sentence doesn't quite make sense I think it's the total number of bedrooms
in all buildings not in each building y you're right and the second thing is do we need to say what a community is uh it is it and Mr Allison suggested it is a unit which has been designated as community
space I thought that was pretty good language so it's 38 residential units in each of the buildings and one unit that is designated as community space okay just so it's clear that it's a unit
that is you know the commun the community thing is a unit equivalent to the other residential units I also um while you're on that um number one uh I want to bring to the um
board's attention that not each of the five buildings doesn't have 38 units Building 25 only has 30 6 units and a community room the number of units and number of
buildings shall be as follows Building 25 so so buildings 24 26 27 and 28 have 38 units each in a
community space um and but Building 25 only has 36 units and a community space okay we can have the staff correct that the
right language in terms of the I think what you'd say is buildings 21 26 27 and 28 each have 38 units Building 25 has 36 units all buildings will have one unit designated as
community space that's how that could be stated y you you got that Miss Williams yes cool good all right oh that's a good catch Mr aled thank
you um so we've got we've we deleted three what's now listed as four I think should remain there um operating this operating plans in the form of copies of recorded condominium documents is in the um old condition so
we don't need to to put that in developments of green Le property shall be incord with the construction schedule approved on the on the board on March 13 2025 any change to approved construction schedule shall be submitted to the board
for approval at a public meeting the construction schedule had it completed by January 30th so it's already outdated yeah and yeah so we have to change that but here's how my suggestion is as
follows the development of the green lead property shall be in accordance with a construction schedule submitted to the Building Commissioner prior to granting any occupancy permit so I think it makes sense in instead of us saying
you got to have this done in three months and then they don't they come back they got to have it we have to reconsider it um I I think the right way to do this is to say that the construction schedule has to be committed submitted to the Building Commissioner and The Leverage
there to make sure it gets done and it's accurate that they don't have a they don't have a construct a occupancy permit U until they do that all right that does make sense St why wait a minute I have to squish it bigger
so I can see it um because you're asking for a development schedule which comes before a certificate occupancy which comes after it's all done you're asking
for I can't read I keep squishing into me the development shall be in accordance with the construction schedule which should be submitted before they start and they already start I mean but they've started they I mean
this is they've started they're building go ahead I I don't mean to interrupt you m I don't know what that that that doesn't mean anything to me yeah you know what I'm saying
right well I understand but I but they need to have a construction schedule the construction schu they currently have they've already missed so you need to have some way for them to make sure to to provide a construction schedule to
the town yeah but you don't want it to wait until they ask for an occupancy permit you want them to get the thing done so that they can get the occupancy permit that's what I'm trying to say that's true that's true but I don't know of another maybe is there anybody give them a
date like by May 1 2025 they come up with the schedule by May and and come back to the building is but I I would put a date on there rather than and if you want it if if they don't have they're not complying with the one
now then give them two months to do it like May one that's six weeks they ought to be able to give you a schedule in two days but if you want to give them April 15th they want a date rather than a a
the the the occupancy permit because that's not going to solve the problem Mr Allison can you get a occupany can you get a construction plan to us in two weeks uh yes I can I mean I just I I want to qualify this by saying the issue
isn't us trying to move forward it's subcontractors you know it's all of the problems you run into when you're trying to construct a building whether this cut subcontract comes before that subcontractor comes and so the schedule
we submitted was was really the best um estimate that Miss munin could could make at the time um but I certainly get you a revised schedule within two weeks um and I'll put my head together with Miss munin and find out I mean there's
not a whole lot left to complete on that building there's there's very little to complete on that building and so I I can do that within a couple of weeks get you a schedule all right we're going to have a uh let's CH I think you have a good
suggestion Mr screen bom I didn't think of a date as opposed to some other kind of break some kind of action by the that the board would have to take or that the Building Commissioner would have to take so um let's it's the 13th now um can you have something by April
2nd yes all right so approved but submitted to the Building Commissioner by April 2nd I don't think we need to look at that M screen Bal I think it just no just but the date is a much better idea
than a yep I agree I think that's a really good suggestion is this all right is this prior to the issuance of the special permit or regardless subsequent to the issue of the the special permit okay so April 2nd yeah the one of the
things is a waiting period and all that but so would April 2nd be enforced or enforce if the permit if we approve the permit today they got 20 days to
yeah it but is it when it's approved or when we sign it when it's filed yeah um it's not it's not it's not in effect until it's and the appeal period goes so um maybe we ought to take a different you
know I don't think we have to we should I don't think we need to go through all this I think quite frankly we'll say to them get it done by by April 2nd they said they can do it if they can't get it done by April 2nd they're in violation of the special permit it's that simple so I think that we should just leave it
there give them a date okay date as as possible and not try to otherwise we're looking at um June before we they have to submit it um all right so April 2nd it is next the parking plan shall show changes in
grading and surface drainage if there are proposed changes in or additions to paved areas um but that I think that we need that so that the drainage goes into the into the catch basins now um there isn't a landscaping
plan approved on March 13 but Landscaping CH so this is the area where we can require that there be a landscaping plan um submitted we can either you know we
require a landscaping plan around the new um the new parking area and we could require that that Landscaping plan come back to us for approval at a public meeting and not just leave it up to the business The Building Commissioner it's
up to our it's up to our choice we have three options one we can delay the approval for this special permit until they come up with the Landscaping plan two we can tell them we can say that you have to come up with the Landscaping plan and we have to approve it at a public meeting or three we can give it
land allow the approval to be with the Building Commissioner I would think that we have it would might be my preference that we use a second option and say come back to us at another public meeting with a landscaping plan for the new parking
area and that I would also say a lighting plan I would add a lighting plan there as well or light not a pure not a full study but just a better lighting plan for that area what do members think of that thumbs up thumbs down safy the well
we're concerned with the safety of the people in the parking lot and and a a landscaping that will hold the um soil to the west of parking lot so I guess here's what I'd
say how I how i' um State this Landscaping shall be installed in accordance with the Landscaping plan to be submitted to the um Landscaping plan around the new parking area to be
submitted to the board at a public meeting secondly lighting and safety of the stairs at the um a reconstruction of the stairs at that one building that the tenants or not tenants that the unit
owners talked about should also be included in this I think yeah and so I think we say that that had all those have to be back to us um for us to approve at a public
meeting did you I can't say because the prin is too small did you put in stabilization of the hill to the west of the parking lot as part of that Landscaping you know I don't think we have to be that specific because I think they know exactly what we're looking for
is that exact stabilization um so I think the way to do this is to require a landscaping plan to be submitted to us lighting for the for the parking area and a reconstruction of the steps that were of
concern I think it's on building I think that's building 27 but I'm my notes aren't clear on that because um I think it's building 27 yeah building 27 yeah Mr
alfeld yeah you may have already answered this but I do we need to delineate what the area of of the Landscaping plan is and I'm thinking from the uh road that is between buildings um the bulk of the buildings 24 through
28 between that road and the Lower Road and then between the two buildings 25 and 27 that's kind of the area that we're talking about that is within the um area of interest for the new parking
lot you know what I would say is that if get too specific with this stuff um it's just hard to write but I think okay I think the applicant knows that we're concerned about the drainage we're concerned about the lighting we're concerned about the stairways and we're
concerned about the um um that that it gets that's what we're concerned about and so I think they know to come back to us with a complete Landscaping plan for that area and like and so and I'm I'm sure they'll operate in good faith and
address the questions that we have can I can I ask a question when when you ask that brought in front of a a public meeting I mean does that mean we have to wait in line to schedule coming to a public meeting or is it something that
we just you know let the planning board know and it gets submitted to you um at a subsequent meeting I mean is it a hearing or a meeting or just no it's a public meeting Which is less than a public hearing it's a public meeting meeting so that's what we're in now it's
just it comes before us it typically doesn't take as long to schedule a public meeting especially if it's a followup for something else and if it doesn't take a long time if it's a robust uh fome landscape lighting and uh reconstruction plan that we're going to
at that we're going to look at and say this is great then it can get scheduled pretty quickly okay that's that was my question thanks so the better the plan the quicker it can possibly be scheduled I got it that's another incentive to do it
well all right sure um exterior signs and lightings shall be presented to the board for approval at a public meeting I think that's isn't that a carryover from the old one as well Miss Williams so that one we don't need so number what's listed as number
nine we don't need exterior lighting shall be downcast and shall not shine on addition properties um I don't know that that was in the old it is it's a carryover I've got it on the screen Ste um chair judge so that you
don't have to look at the you got it on the screen it is on the screen I'm looking at my paper yes old school I'm just I'm old school guys but I I like paper um all right okay and
then so that that's already there um and plans for assist shall be submitted to the board for approval at a public meeting if again this is for that's already in that's it's already there right yes it is so the number 11 isn't
needed what about the photometric plan you said you didn't want to do it's in there it's number nine number shall be pres exterior signs and lighting shall be presented to the board for approval at a public meeting prior to the
installation no the one above that not n yeah this one you said weren't going to you weren't going to require a photometric plan well I I you know I don't know that we need a full-fledged photometric plan
because there's no windows there miss greenball there's no windows we but they do need yeah what they do need is a a lighting I would say a lighting plan shall be submitted that provides for safe use of the of the
parking area you want I thought you saw caught that above but all right you can see if you caught it I like that wording but I thought you already covered it so y um staff can work that if it's all yeah I I'm not expecting that we get
foot candles all that I I expect uh you know well whatever whatever it is whatever the term of art is is what should be in there yeah but I thought we talked about it before so we may want to combine those
two things when you talked about the drainage and the Landscaping I thought the lighting was in with that one but anyway you work it out afterwards it's there now yeah all right okay does this look
okay yeah I'm just reading through it right now okay number of units all right number is right there should be a total of 32 and that's right property shall be managed in according to the updated management plan
is BU the board on any changes right development agreement will be in accordance with the construction schedule submitted to the Building Commissioner by April 2nd all right new parking plan shall show changes in grading and service drainage if there are proposed changes or additional or
additions to areas all right Landscaping shall be installed in accordance with the Landscaping plan to be approved at a public meeting Provisions to the staircase for building 27 should be included in this plan and approved at a public meeting a lighting plan for safe
use of the parking area should be submitted and improv by the board at a public meeting are there any other conditions that people wish to add Mr alfeld y uh I since we're just amending do we need to
explicit ly say that the old uh conditions 8 and 16 no longer apply we shouldn't have to but we're going to we shouldn't have to but we're going to we're going to say that the um the if the other the existing
conditions apply unless amended to the extent that they're not amended by this special permit Amendment yep except for numbers 8 and 16 numb is 8 and6 right yeah all
right thank you y oh did we want to say something about the that um that we put in about the occupancy permit no because we we didn't do the occupancy permit because you you had a
better idea of a date no not that that had to do with the construction schedule yep um that the the L what do we want to say to make sure everything gets done and gets done right
that that they can't get an occupancy permit until all this stuff is approved by us huh I think that we could say that for the Landscaping the the parking lot stuff yeah the seven eight and nine we
could say must be done before the Building Commissioner can grant an occupancy I I'd be happy with that I don't think there's be any is there any objections from any other members on that I mean I think that they've got to do that but
certificate of occupancy I think it's called it y all right any other questions regarding conditions okay where do we the business about the
the land and the community rooms that's all part of that that's not a condition that's part of the permit right well there's we have it in the we have it in the conditions and it's all and it's also part of the request the
permit that that the permit say that we the the the land will belong Etc right that's part of the narrative is what I'm trying to spit out it is okay I'm just check checking my notes to
see if there's anything else that we need to say and was specifically allowing the uh the community rooms in the narrative right okay the last just the other thing is
that we you change your management plan to include the right trash person and resubmit it just send it to us that's easy to do right I'll do it tomorrow yeah all right I have no other
conditions if not if there are no other conditions suggested I'd like to vote on the conditions first I think having the conditions in place of what allows us to make the findings we're required to make if we wish to approve this special the amendment to special permit application
so I would entertain a motion to include conditions as um are on the screen as we developed them today do I have such a motion move it yep we've got two mov and
and so miss Khan moves miss green balm seconds yes any just discussion on the motion if not the vote occurs on the motion to approve the conditions as drafted the chair votes I miss Khan hi
Mr Varner hi M green bom I Mr alel I vot is five to nothing the conditions are approved uh Now we move to um findings that we have to
make um first is it's a non-conforming lot and uses the SE section 9.2 um applies here and what we have to find is first that um that
the we are allowed that you you can change an existing non-conforming building or structure um or you can enlarge it alter it or reconstruct it so as increase its non-conformity under this bylaw for the purposes of this a structureal shall not
change ex excuse me except as here a non-conforming building or structure shall not be structurally altered enlarged nor reconstructed so as to increase its non-conformity under this bylaw the request to remove condition 8 and 16
does not um does not increase its non-conformity indeed it's even more conforming because it's all of all residential buildings now and not a separate building the staff lines at
requirements of let's see that this 9.20 9.22 in 9.21 um they have been that these conditions have been met of sections 3.3 9.22 this is where it says that its
effect on the neighborhood on the property in the vicinity is not substantially different in character than it was before I don't think that this approval creates additional um non-conformity well not even not
non-conformity but its effect on the neighborhood is not um more not true yep I agree with that um that's the first set of findings the second set of findings is article 10
special we always have to do so the first is 10.38 and 10. 381 it's located in neighborhood I think it meets these requirements suitably located in the neighborhood 10. 382 10. 383 385 and 387 deals with Vis deals
with um um disruption for net neighbors um water noise odor dust vibrations lights or visually offensive structures and sight features and the proposal provides convenient safe vehicular traffic and move with within the site I think through the conditions that we've
imposed we've prevented the um lights and other visual obstructive features I don't think that this creates um intrusion into or nuisances to the neighbors neighboring neighboring structures in the area
10.3 go ahead there's somebody has a question no 10. 384 adequate appropriate facilities would be provided for the operation of the proposed area I think that's it does it's not changed 10. 386 ensures that the performance of
the parking sign and regulations um it's you know I the existing special permit is had 229 spaces we're adding an additional 11 spaces so if anything it's it's um has
more it's providing more parking and there's no sign changes 10 10. 387 safe and convenient vehicular tra and pedestrian movement within the site meets this we think the proposal meets this requirement and the staff does not believe that a traffic report is
required 10. 388 The Proposal ensures adequate space uh for off Street loading and parking and then loading up vehicles and products um we I think this meets the requirements of the section although
it's not ideal but it does meet the requirements of the section The Proposal provides adequate methods of disposal or storage of sewage um that's provided in the management plan of March 13th 10.39 uh flood hazards that doesn't apply
10.39 one uh unique or important historic or Scenic features um the changes in this that we're making uh makes this does not apply 10392 adequate landscaping and screening of adjacent residential uses provision
of trees etc etc I think the additional um Landscaping of the areas on which we have we are charged with looking at in this um on this special permit Amendment uh We've dealt with that and I think the
conditions will require that uh uh be the case 10. 393 The Proposal provides protection for adjacent Properties by minimizing intrusion of lighting again for the areas in which we are currently having within our jurisdiction on this amendment um
the lighting plan will do that 10394 uh avoids to extend feal impact on steep slopes flood planes Scenic views grades Etc um I don't section applies but to the extent that it might the landscape plan on the area that we're
talking about talks about will deal with uh any kind of erosion from that slope behind the parking area 10395 P up does not create disharmony with respect to the train use scale quite frankly there's no change to
that at all this does not apply 10.3966 N7 The Proposal provides adequate recreational facilities open space and amenities for proposed use um actually the uh Community rooms are additional ities so that's met 10.39 the
proposal is in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this byw the goals of the master plan that seeds to complete construction and adds an additional 38 units of housing so I think it meets that are there any questions about the findings that I've
just run through if not or any questions about the findings if not i' entertain a motion that we approve the findings as contained in the um draft project application report and
as we've straight uh recited them tonight so it's moved is it seconded I yeah yep moved and seconded is there any discussion on the motion if not the vote
occurs on the motion to approve the findings as chair votes I Mr alfeld I miss greenball I Mr Barner hi Miss Khan hi all right motion carries five to
nothing the findings are approved the last um action on this matter is to is to approve the request to amend fy2 fy2 2004-4 special permit to remove the
conditions 8 and6 in addition to revising the site plans to reflect the additional community room in buildings 24 through 28 construct new parking area deleting requirements to De Land and easement to the town under sections 9.22 and
10.33 as conditions uh with conditions excuse me with conditions do I have such a motion so moved is there a second I second we got it we got it running here with the green ball and and KH move in
second any discussion on the motion no all right chair votes I on the motion Mr alfeld I miss green bom I Mr Barner I miss Khan I motion is car moot vote is
five to nothing the motion carries um it's appr the uh request to amend the special permit is approved with to amend the special permit with conditions is approved and the last motion is to close the hearing on
um special permit request or zba request jeez I need see to close the hearing on the public hearing on CV FY bomb hi Mr alfeld hi vote is five to nothing to close the
hearing public hearing on this matter all right gentlemen um we're looking forward to receiving the Landscape and Lighting and and safety plan for the and safe plan for the new parking area I encourage you to talk as much as possible with the unit owners and work
with them because there are some real concerns there that I think are legitimate but just we not within our purview at this time so congratulations good luck I hope you get it done soon and you have the uh construction people to get it done
thank you congratulations thank you okay bye- bye by bye bye have a good night okay right good night good night okay next order of business is zba FY
20258 a request to a and the FY 2024 11-11 variants for modification of conditions 1 and two to raise the building slightly so that the maximum height when measured from grade will be 595 feet for property located at 422
emity street map 13B Parcels 18 27 28 and 54 in the BL limited business zoning districts on this panel would be the myself Mr Henry Mr alfeld Miss greenbound and Miss
KH um submissions have been included the from the applicant February 6 uh 422 Amity Street um narrative 422 Amity Street application fee 422 Amity Street application 422 am Street site plan for
uh zba fy20 4 202 24-11 variance decision zba fy2 25-16 Amity Street um App application submitted on a on March 4th
draft UI urive Amherst canopy draft U udrive Amherst rooftop that assumes that solar documents and then submitted on March 10th 422 Amity Street SWR
01-2020 and Miss Williams I do not know what that is so I can't characterize that I'm sorry sorry hold on one second let me look at the list solar report the I'm sorry the storm water storm report storm water srw
storm water report that makes sense thank you all right we uh there was no staff submissions and there was no public comments uh public submissions um site visit was conducted on March 11th I thought was it Monday or March
was the 10th okay Monday March 10th we conducted the site visit at that site visit we observed where the building was we observed the um how the the condition of the of the the land around where the site was going to be we talked briefly
with the applicant regarding the the uh hardship imposed or created by the high water tables we looked we observed that the footprint of the building was changed from what it was to to be a single building now we discussed how the
it was uh five I think five stories and the need and we discussed the need for additional um inches I think to um the reason for it was for the um
building uh heating and cooling systems and other things that need to be uh increase the height would be on the roof uh and the need for the height so I think those are and I think that was the most of what we talked about at the site visit M scen bom is there anything else
that we discuss at the site I just wanted to say I think you need to take attendance again because we have a different uh panel here than you announced Miss Miss K isn't here so I
think you I don't know whether it's necessary is on the well I I I can take attendance again but we have in attendance I will note that the chair Mr Henry Mr alfeld Mr Green Bal are all in
attendance is on this panel but uh she has stepped off so Zoom trying to get her back if you can get her back that's great but we can thank you for that we can proceed though because we I'll I'll note their presence okay Mr did I yep I bet you're
gonna ask about you're gonna comment on the solar no no I that would be fun to do but I I want to offer a disclosure if this is the right time to do this okay so I just wanted to note that in February of 2024 I wrote a letter to the
zba in support of the application the first application for this project I was not a member of the zba at the time I am not in autter and I have no financial interest in the project I do believe I can make an impartial judgment about the
request before us tonight thank you Mr alfeld okay and you did remind me that we did also discuss the potential for solar um panels on the roof and that that's still up in the air but that was being
discussed so that's that's good um I think there's nothing else to relay for the site visit we've already gone through submissions um so who is representing the applicant at this late hour that'll be me Mr chair on Thursday
night all right a yeah let's let's let's go right through this um I need your name and address of course of course for the record Tom Rey attorney with bacon Wilson out of Amer
here on behalf of you drive AMD six Southeast Street uh in ammer um I guess maybe one point of order to start if Miss Khan does not come back I don't know if Mr Varner could vote on this we haven't had any hearings yet um
from my perspective I don't see why not if he'd be so inclined it's a it's a variance uh I need four members if I only have four members so be it but if I could have five and and have some room for error then then that'd be good on my part so well she was assigned to the to
the panel I think we I know you don't object to it but her she was assigned and while I I really do like Mr barner's input on things um I'm not going to change the panel at the last minute and I'm just saying that she's not here I know she's not but the panel that was
assigned included her and I'm I understand your desire for a safety margin um and I like Mr Varner's approach on things and his studious nature but Mr Varner's wasn't on the panel that was approved so it was step
so we're going to go ahead on with four with four members and I and I hope you can get Miss Khan back on Miss Williams because she's supposed to be on the panel I understand your request yes Mr Henry so Mr chair to be
fair to attorney re um I had the chance to read everything while listening to the previous panel and I have some concerns and um when we did this in 2024 we allowed the variant because the
developer stated to not do that would cost me about $800,000 um and so the project was changed from two buildings to now one building and what I do understand um on its face the reason
for that um I I am not 100% that I'm sold so to be fair to turn read I think it makes um we would need somebody else um just to give him that margin that he
describes oh well you know I just made a I just made a ruling on keeping the panel as it was proposed and I don't want to I don't
want to shift the uh panel makeup based on the perceived outcome your stated oppos it sounds like your stated concern and perhaps opposition to the to the project and that it would be fine you know so so I'm
not I'm not advocating that Mr ER be be the person but if we cannot get Miss Khan back again to be fear to the applicants we you know we may have to reconsider a different time if she's not available right
now yeah so understand what his problem is well well it it doesn't matter yet and we'll we'll get into that later what is if he has some concerns and those and that we should talk about I think he's entitled to rooms that's why it's here right but
we're it's a little bit I appreciate the heads up a lot but I I unaware of that and I urged that miss that we keep the panel as it was assigned at the time and
um it seems to me that that's never make up panels we don't make up panels based upon what I think the answer the correct how people are going to vote you know I we try to get this is a system for making up the panels and and while I think that your
um statement Mr Henry and your your um warning or not warning but your C is appreciate I think at current time I want to make I want to change the
because like for the app be approved even though I think there's three solid I I don't know but there I think there's one solid vote for for the for the application at this point for the variant um so that's that's the deal I'm not
going to change the panel on this basis so we have two choices going forward jenta have Miss Williams have you been able to get a hold of Miss Khan I have not been able to get a hold of her and I don't have a number for her so I can't call her um but
um no short answer is no okay so here's what I propose we do I propose we go ahead and um have the hearing we stop before we get and we do all the work we're going to do tonight short of and deal with the concerns that any member has
deal with that tonight we get a hold of Miss Khan for the next meeting that we can all put on the next meeting and hopefully it'll move quickly for the next um next meeting we have and when is next meeting after this which gives us a problem because
it's supposed to go to the planning board next week yeah it does problem um yeah the next meeting wouldn't be until the 27th of March so that would mean that the planning board would just what continue if they're waiting for your decision yeah it's the 27th of
March is two weeks away and they they have to stop digging because the deadline is com I explain to me what Mr Mr Henry's problem
is well just we'll we'll get to that in a second but first off is there any we don't we can't get a hold of KH um I don't like the notion of structuring panels because I hope to have because I want to um create the
impression of I want to because I'm aware of how people are going to vote that's not how I want to create panels I just don't think that's the right way to do it is there a way to have a meeting uh a special meeting on this um with Miss Khan sometime next week I mean you
can vote to continue it that way you don't have to read vertise it so you can vote to continue to a date certain yeah but but they're against the deadline and have to get this approved so the planning board can prove and then
there's the waiting period before they can start to build and the state wants to start the rotary and all this has to happen in a timely fashion right and so and somebody can explain to me why Mr
Henry feels he can't serve on this panel I would like to because I don't have a problem with his serving on he feels he can serve on the panel he feels that he has some concerns about the project about the variance excuse me I think that's what the question is that's
legitimate for him to sit on the panel that's why if he's got concerns he should sit there I think that we've got an if we have to have a yes or no as soon as possible is what I'm understanding because of the deadlines
of the one year coming up is that correct Mr Rey that there's a a deadline that's imminent the deadline is more related to the planning board's vote next Wednesday evening and what this delay with the
board would mean for the planning board and when they would vote and then appeal period passing and then financing and then and and end so I don't like the idea of picking a panel on the way people think they might
vote I think she's back all right good night Mr Varner Mr Varner you're more than welcome to to stay and watch um and I
appreciate and I appreciate you're staying around just in case the uh glad help yep we're I'm glad and I'm glad you're back on all right from here on okay thank you thank you very much
all right we have a we have a full panel we have myself we have Mr alfeld we have Mr Henry we have Miss green Miss green Bal and Miss Khan we and they're all in attendance so we know that we've gone through submissions we've gone through disclosures we've talked about the site
visit now it's the chance for the applicant to to describe what they are asking us to do and he's already introduced himself and given us his address so we can proceed here we go all right um so by way of background we were
here a year ago uh requesting and receiving a variance from the zoning board of appeals uh the variance amongst other things um did two things that we're looking to modify tonight one of those said uh this variance is applicable to
the plan as we had presented it to you which showed two buildings and it also said and you can build No taller than 57 ft the height cannot be taller than 57 ft and
so since that time we've been very busy um and there have been some changes Law changes and economic changes and also some additional diligence that we received uh through the Conservation Commission process that brings us here
to you today what we're asking uh is a modification of the variance to change the site plan from instead of two buildings with uh 85 units to one building and instead of 57 ft uh in
height to 59.5 Ft and so I'll start with the the second piece um to talk about the height of the building I'm going to share my screen and show you what the single
building proposed single building University Drive is to the bottom Amity street is on the right we've got a proposed fivestory building uh commercial on the first floor
residential above there are 160 parking spaces tucked behind the building which I'll show you this is a view from the new roundabout This Is A View From the southeast this is a view from the
Northwest and this is the view from inside the site looking to the Northeast so the roundabout if you could see through the building would be over in that area the parking is now tucked behind so when when we were here before uh we
knew that we had some high groundwater um we knew that if we weren't able to increase the height of the building uh at that time the project wasn't going forward and so we were actually proposing two buildings with
parking on the first floor of the building on both of the buildings subsequently when we went to price out what those buildings would cost uh the steel prices came back as a
project killer that the project would not be able to go forward uh if we had to pay for the steel you need the steel if you were putting parking on underneath because it's that's the way you have to build it for from a building
code fire code perspective and so as a a pivot to still get the important housing that we're getting to have this project go forward because I mean we've received support kind of at every step of the way we wrote a letter in support of the
roundabout uh we were on site with the town manager with folks from the University when we found out that uh the roundabout was given the grant money uh I think in large part due to this project so we thought it was very
important to move this project forward in order to do so we have to eliminate the steel so that means you're eliminating the um Podium build meaning you're eliminating the parking so in order to have enough parking for the
site what we had to do was this building is going to be 100% ConEd out of wood there's some additional cost not to the expense of the steel in order to in in there was a reduction of units but there's still
units in order to have sufficient parking we had to eliminate that second building so all of these things kind of move together to get us to the point of today to say if we want a viable project that is actually going to work uh we have to change it we we had to eliminate
the steel we had to increase parking um and this is the design that we've brought forward we've been through uh the planning board they have um voted on findings and conditions they I would say
love the design we are scheduled to be there next Wednesday where ideally uh if you have given us this approval they will open up the hearing vote an approval and then close it I mean it could be that simple because they've done all of the leg work
we have also been through the Conservation Commission and they've issued an order of conditions for this design so that's for the site plan change from two to one we tried to retain as much as we could with the units tried to retain as much as we
could and in fact have just a little bit more of the commercial space the building height so you would approved 57 feet we need to go up 2 and 1/2 ft for a couple of different reasons 2 and 1/2 ft over the 57 ft so 5 9.5 ft
is what we're asking for that's a function of a couple of things one is additional uh test we did test pits we had not done test pits when we met with you last we did geotechnical borings to understand the cost of the building and compression in the clay
layers but we then had to go and do site uh uh test pits we did seven test pits and found that the the groundwater so soil conditions are between 36 in and 72 in subsurface depending on where you are
on the site in order to do a couple of things particularly to make the storm water work and for the storm water to work and what I'll do is I'll I'll share my other screen now so we can talk about the site plan to make the storm water
work and here's an overlay if you can see my screen to make the storm water work particularly I get to the graining and drainage plan in this Basin here you have to maintain a certain separation uh from groundwater because if your groundwater's too high
but you carve your Basin down if the groundwaters there then you're not really getting the storage capacity in the the tension Basin that you otherwise would get because it's already filled up with water so it doesn't work so what we had to do was we have to
raise the sight here a bit so that a couple of things happened one this storm water worked and then two the drainage lines um because the way that the storm water system works is there's some sheet
flow to a a stone diaphragm that goes into a a bior retention Basin that gets piped uh so it like filters here and then gets piped to the drain manhole to this drain manhole and then ultimately discharges into here so everything is
like elevation based and slope based as a result of the high groundwater there and over here we had to raise the site and then when we raise the site the way that the ammer zoning bylaw reads for height is you find the average grade
on the street side of the building uh and then that's how you measure to the to the flat part of the uh of a to the top part of the flat roof and so we've got also two different uh streets here that we have to that we're Bound by to
figure out okay which one is is guiding this one here is like a 166.370 elevation and so we have to take a 167 elevation even though the building itself is starting a little bit higher
and then on top of that so not only have we raised the site but we're also um this again different from when we met last year the town of amorist has gone beyond what's called stretch energy code and requires what's called passive House
pass this is going to be one of the first passive house multi family buildings built in town and it's a little bit of a novelty where folks are Architects frankly we have to hire consultants for air exchanges to make
sure we meet certain ratings and uh passive uh passive requirements and so again not only have we raised the site a little but then we've also there's um the need to have additional duck work
between floors to allow for air exchange so now instead of having like a 56 foot building we're going to have a taller building to fit in those passive house requirements so what we're asking for in total is instead of 57 fet we'd like
59.5 ft the the building itself I think is going to be like 58 ft but because of the way that we measure it from the grade and to allow that additional wiggle room for the uncertainty of passive house that's why we're asking for the 59.5 Ft so those are the kind of
the two asks if you will we would say that it's uh the soil conditions the the the the groundwater and the storm water particularly which are causing a financial hardship uh such that I mean relief for
this can be we think can be granted without derog from purpose or intent of the bylaw or frustration uh of that intent or derogation from public good we've received nothing but um uh I think I don't want to say praise but it's been
very well received at each stage and so know we think that this fits into what we're trying to do I'll make one more point and that there is an overlay District which should be it's going to affect this parcel it should be in front
of the Town Council at some point in the future I don't know when I don't know how long it will take to get through that process one of the items that they're considering is a 70 foot height
requirement so we would be under 10 and a half sorry um 10.5 feet 10t 6 in under that uh new 70 foot record requirement so it there's it's
moving in the right direction we just frankly don't have the time to wait to see when that gets approved and then it's approved by the Attorney General this is a project that uh Mr Roberts is looking to deliver for August of
2026 and so here we are in in March of 25 it may seem like a world away uh with your approval and the planning board's approval next week I think you'll start seeing site work begin end of April beginning of May and we're also coordinating with the town for to
to have the work coincide with what's happening uh on that roundabout so I'm happy to stop and answer any questions I've probably gone on a little longer than I wanted to uh but hopefully that gives you a good sense of how it's changed from before why we're doing this uh if if we were to be lower we'd have
four Stories the project doesn't pencil I mean especially now with the cost of things and especially now with the uncertainty given some of the material costs because of what's happening with the current Administration and and tariffs
so we would request um your uh approval thanks thank you uh questions for Mr REI um Mr Henry why don't you go thank you so attorney REI um when when we were here last fall weren't these factors considered in
I mean you you proposed to build two buildings um are you changing that the site has changed significantly then that requires us now to go um there's extra two and a half I'm I'm just trying to understand why this was not a consideration when this was first
brought to us on last fall great question um so two two changes one is actually doing the test pits and I mean attorney Harry if I had known before I would have come in with the complete
package we just we did not know um we had not intended on doing any of those test pits but through the Conservation Commission process we worked with Aaron and Aaron said Hey listen I you got to do these we want you to do these to make sure storm water so we did them and we
found out that it was a little higher because I'll back up and say we thought that we could just use the detention Basin as as it exists the Conservation Commission said through errant in d uh no even though that detention Basin
exists and was approved when it was originally developed back in like 2006 it doesn't meet today's standards and even though this is a Redevelopment project you're still going to have to come into compliance with today's standards so we have to change it from being a detention Basin to a bio
retention Basin blah blah BL so that was one of the things and we just we didn't know what the storm water was and we didn't think that we were going to have to do it because we didn't think we have to comply with today's standards second piece is the passive house um the passive house just came into effect uh
for for projects which receive a building permit after July 1 of 2025 St that 2024 so at the time when we were in front of you we thought there was a good chance you know I think in in March is when we got it we thought there was a good chance that we would get through
the process to actually get um the building permit so we wouldn't be subject to this passive house and so 57 ft not having to do the work based upon the existing detention based in design you know we thought we were fine frankly
and then those couple of things changed um to require this pivot to what we're asking for now and in reference to the parking so if I understood correctly um you're asking for this extra two and a half
feet so the first floor is a little bit higher um are you doing is the site been graded higher for the additional Parkin or as well for storm water yeah so it's a great question um the site was
about uh maybe a foot lower before half a foot to a foot lower in the previous iteration but we have to grade the whole site up and I'll share my screen again not to belabor the point but it's in order
to a keep separation of uh uh the basins Etc from storm water so if if if our engineer he looks at this and says okay test pit whatever that is three is has you know 36 in water is 36 inches below the surface I need to keep a certain uh
amount of free area so that if there's a search charge I can still get water into the ground so I can count this capacity so he couldn't change the bottom of this Basin but he still has to have these pipes all of these pipes that you see
here blow to here and so obviously what do you need for pipes you need pitch not a ton but just enough and so if the site itself was too low he could not get the pitch that he needed to to appropriately drain into this because in Ideal World
the groundwater would be low enough he'd be able to dig down there'd be enough separation to groundwater so that the the pitch of the pipes without raising the sight and maybe even cutting the sight would work right but that's not the case so he can't touch the bottom of
this which means that that's his fix point and he has to make sure all the pitch to the pipes works and so to to get to that place to make sure everything flows the right way he had to pick up the
site and so in your ask that this extra 2 and half ft if I heard earlier correctly or read correctly this building will have solar panels yes uh I'm not
sure if we have to we are designing it to uh to be able to have it I just don't know the cost of actually doing that I think and I don't know passive house well enough uh Mr Henry to know whether we have to provide them I know we have
to set aside at least 40% of the rooftop area for solar panels and one of the things in your packet is uh showing what it would look like with solar panels I think uh the developer is very interested in getting them especially on the roof for like an owner's meter so to
take care of the parking lot lights and any of those common lights so so the question is not more if you're if you are going to have them it's more on if we if this variance is granted the extra two and a half feet does that factor
in solar panels or will the solar panels add additional height great question so the way that we are talking about height is the way that it's defined in the bylaw and so for a flat roof building it's to
uh the flat portion of the roof not including any Mechanicals so here let me pull up the other um image so you can see it because you'll see on top see this up here this is this is
like a I think it's a five foot fence um it's actually going to be made be made of the same as the sighing so it hopefully will blend in inside here are all the HVAC units and this is the screening around it the screening and the HVAC do not count towards Building
height under your bylaw and so the height is to where this if you can follow my cursor it's to where the cursor is right and I'll I'll go down so it's building specific yeah correct it is building specific and so
here's you know I'll go in and then you'll see here right you've got the roof line at you know 2256 the first floor at 1676 and so that's where you've got
22.5 minus 58 ft so the building itself is 58 ft but because of wiggle room plus um to allow in case of passive house you know we have to increase the height by six
inches because we need to fit an additional duck work uh and because of the surrounding roadways that's why we're asking for 59.5 feet but like and it's just like a I don't want to say a math game but we've talked to the Building Commissioner we determined how
to measure the roads in proximity we said and I sent this to Rob I said here's what it is it's 58 ft we're already up a half a foot because of the roadway so that's 58.5 ft let's build in another foot for Passive house to make sure that if we do need to increase the
spacing between floors instead of a 12in joist we need a 16inch joist then we've built that in so we don't have to come back before you to ask for relief in in in the prior permit I'm sorry in the prior plan this is meant to
be two buildings and can you remind me how many units would have been both buildings combined 85 and in this one building how many units we have 78 currently we probably could get up to 85 but right now it's
it's uh 78 units and and when we last talked about this um I believe there's a number that have been allocated to be low income um what is that number there are nine units
allocated as as low income in including and we've worked this with the planning board including I forget if it's two or three of them as so to to get affordable it needs to be 30% of 80% of the area median income and several of these I
forget if it's two or three of them um are 60% instead of 80% so it's 30% of 60% so they're even for those folks who are lower income than the 80% so from a pure numbers perspective
if if the prior building was going to be 855 this new one is 78 does this new building reduce the number of low income units that would have been in the prior plan I Believe by
one one it's 12% right correct yes so I think it was 10 required with the 85 unit and nine required with the 78 units and and and for these 85 units um
The Proposal was 164 parking spaces there's 160 parking spaces for these 78 units and does that include parking spaces for the commercial part of it it does and um the way that it's
working is called shared parking such that are some uh parking spaces which will be dedicated just for residential and then there'll be some parking spaces which are hybrid so you'll have some commercial between 8 a.m. and 5:00 pm
and then from 5:00 P p.m. to 8: amm those will become residential spaces we've done this successfully over at one University Drive South that's the ey there's the eye doctors there on the first floor uh and this kind of compliment because they're complimentary uses and so that has worked out really
well gaale flood does a ter horrific job at at setting expectations and and managing you know who's appropriate to take these spaces to make sure that they're not interfering with each
other and would with this new variance um not counting anything on um's property would this be the tallest building in town by any chance oh it's a good question um
it may be I don't know what Kyle and the archipelago I don't know what they've done downtown um it it may be those are five go ahead I'm sorry that's okay I
know no that's all right I was just gonna say that those are fivestory buildings downtown right they are they're five story this is a fivestory building as well but it it I you know I don't know if it's those are pretty yeah I I just
don't know go go ahead Mr Henry that's okay you have questions and so please continue with it thank you Mr chair so um going back to you know the the design
plan and with an entire building out um how how big of a change and if you can just articulate what those changes are and and I know I saw um the new proposed building and Landscaping and things like that but how
and I saw the round about um what is been gained if anything going from two bilings to one bilon for Amhurst now oh i' simply say a a project because
if if you were to say Tom build two buildings I'd say uh Mr Henry we can't because either a the cost to build it with steel is too high or B uh you build it all out of wood you're not going to have enough parking and so you're not going to make
that investment or C if you were to build only four stories out of wood you're not going to get uh it won't cover The Debt Service it won't cover The Debt Service and expensive so I'd say first the town gets a project they get the taxes from the project they get
the you know like I had said there was uh this project wrote a letter in support of the roundabout which I think the state used kind of in Reliance on saying wow um if we do this because because part of the the pitch and I'll
show the other screen for a second part of the pitch to the state was uh you know Hey listen State um there are currently curb cuts at this site right there's this curb cut and there's this curb cut if you state
um put in this round we really need this roundabout so please give us the money and when you do that what we're going to do is we're going to close those curb cuts and we're going to build this new building right up to the property line which we wouldn't have been able to do before um because those curb cuts are there but because you're going to
hopefully give us the money for the roundabout then we can close those curb Cuts so help the town get this a significant tax revenue plus uh this whole first floor here is going to be commercial space and so I think there's
like 12,200 ft of commercial space plus nine affordable units uh plus additional housing units generally um and and really being kind of a bookend to a really important part of town um you know this is I know
University is looking to do things on their property this kind of helps spur a lot of this overlay District talk I can tell you that this would comply with the overlay District um so if we were to go back in again it's a matter of timing uh we would get approved under
the overlay District that I don't want to say it was U you know chicken or the egg but the overlay district has evolved so that a project like this is allowed right we haven't materially changed our project I think
what's happened is the planning board has said wow this is a good project let's make sure that the overlay District allows projects like this so this is not only like a first of the kind of its first of its kind but all those other benefits you know and I like
you've mentioned the Landscaping Etc um it's going to beautify that area and really act as uh you know I I think a wel a welcoming area to town from the University and a a good Lasting
Impression from those folks going into the university by this building so and and I ask this um final question and I I understand I mean in where where
it is in proximity now to UMass I mean when we were two buildings you know the concern of this not being strictly student housing and I and I don't mean that in the sense that you
know you're building for student housing but where it's not completely inhabited by student you know one building now at the edge of UMass kind of almost pushes it that way um has that been is that concern or been
raised or looked at to say I mean how do we make sure that you know this is not just a UMass lack of better term a UMass property but actually residents of the town of amher you know here is a professional building
that you can live in and and not just be again another building targeted students yeah great great question I think this uh the answer is a couple of things and and I think it's uh
infrastructure uh I think it's tenant selection tenant advertisement what I'll say is in in Barry's other properties like 70 University Drive has a mix of graduate undergraduate professors professionals
affordable it's a terrific mix uh 180 fearing street right next to the university has has a mix you would think oh if there's ever going to be a bunch of students that's where they are it's not the case there's retired folks who just love the vibrancy of the area there is Affordable families who are in there
um and so I think part of it is is like I said the infrastructure part of it is tenant selection and then it's management not that there's anything wrong with students but you don't want to necessarily fill building just with students there is something to having
that mix both from like uh a management perspective some self-regulation perspective and I think a just a business perspective because if you put all your eggs in a basket who knows if the bottom of that basket falls out this way it's a little bit of a diversification which I think is just
smart business practice so I'm I'm not like it's rented by the unit it's not rented by the bedroom there's not bed bath parody it's not like we are not building something down in the fraternity sorority park right if you've seen those plans it's a much
different layout these um and let me share I think I've got on that last plan you can see like what the inside looks like I mean these are these are going to be sure you know so this is interior finish
you know something like this good large Airy you've got outside kind of community spaces with some seating you've got some uh seating here there can be other programming depending upon who the end user is of this commercial space and plus there's going to be
commercial uses in here right we're we're talking to several different commercial businesses they don't want to be in a student housing complex right that that's we're not going to be able to get the rent needed in order to adjust if
the cost of this if it's uh a place that's not really well maintained or managed and if it doesn't take much uh for a commercial tenant to say you know you've breached the I mean you know
right uh you've breached our lease uh we're out of here and you know that's not for a whole host of reasons what we want to have happen so I think those are the safeguards in place that we've got and and understanding your early
comments about the concerns of the economy um you know if this variance is approved does this project get built as submitted given that you've cleared all the hurdles conservation um planning committee is essentially about to vote
on this or you know is there any assurances that you know you won't run into something else and you have to come back asking for some other change this you know once you get this you're building this building yeah and um I want to be respectful to you right because I value you I value my
reputation in front of you I can't say that right not that I know anything else but as a lawyer I can't sit here and tell you I will no Mr Henry I will absolutely build we will absolutely build this building what I will say is if nothing else materially changes may we change the interior footprint a little bit yeah we may are we going to
change the exterior footprint no may we bring in you know we're in the scheme of checking out the bump outs and maybe we may change them by less you know a foot less than two feet to streamline some things like that type of stuff but we
won't have to come back to you for approval um one other thing if Town Council does in fact pass this overlay and we're so far because Barry's ready to start taking down the old Rafters building once we get these approvals
right before he gets financing he's going to start taking them down um if at some point in like like September we find out oh my gosh these prices are ridiculous and we need we're going to go back to the planning board because I think by that point just as a practical
matter the overlay district will exist and we could modify anything we needed to there so I just want to be honest need variance in that instance you wouldn't need a variance from us precisely precisely so I'm just I mean again I value my reputation I can't say yes but as it stands right now uh Mr
Henry I mean we're back to you because we have to be because we want to build this building based upon all those things I said right I'm not trying to death by a Thousand Cuts I'm not trying to bait and switch these are just things that we didn't know about that now we know about and we are I mean we're ready to if we're going to hit an August 2026
delivery and I think Gail's on so she's probably saying let's get going you know yesterday you know we've got to start ordering the material from hamshaw Lumber we got to start ordering the kitchens we have to start like we have to start ordering so that we can stockpile it or else we've got a lot
we've got bigger problems s and then you know this is a risk in developing because you sign a loan you have an interest only period you have delivery you're getting tenants you're promising tenants you're going to deliver at a certain period of time there are consequences if you don't the the not the least of which is do you have to put
them up somewhere else can you finish your building are you still paying interest uh have you run out of money because the the expense of the building is too much now so it's just like he is the friend of No Deal especially in this sort of development so if you give us the approval we're going to do
everything we can to build this building thank you trer and thank you Mr chair for I'm going to ask all these questions you bet other people have questions other members Miss greenball you're you're
muted um I'm thinking about everybody knows that's what area of town everybody knows that the high points sort of drained down and that Direction KC con is is happy with this um I'm thinking
about Venice is sinking I'm thinking Back Bay of Boston is all built in a wetland with wooden Timbers holding those buildings up because wood I guess doesn't rot in water uh my issue is well
first of all I don't mind voting for the increase in height because I'm sure it's going to sink two feet under waterer and how but how can you justify it as hardship if you knew when you bought the
land it was in a wet area with a high water table that's my my question H how can you justify hardship when you know ahead of time you had a problem I don't know that that's how you look at hardship right because I suppose then no variances would ever be granted
because somebody would say well then you you should have known right whether it was the soil or shape of a lot or the Topography of a lot like if if that's the definition of hardship then no one is ever getting a variance but that's not the case because variances are granted and so I think what you have to
do is is look at it's a to me variances are always balancing right and and does it make sense unbalance given what the request is and all of these other factors and can the board find its way to say
it this this makes sense and so sure I I'll tell you Hilda just as far as a business deal goes uh the sellers weren't waiting around for us to do all this diligence right those I mean it was the pot shop they were say they said hey here's what it is you're going to close
in this period of time or you're not going to buy and it's it's just a business decision that you have to make at the time to say I will take my chances because if not who knows if I'm going to get that chance again and that's that's just how it is is the building on a sinks 10 feet or can can
you it's spread out over a big area it it may have a better chance of floating than the two buildings yeah and we have I mean we we talked with GE Otto for for geotechnical we have Rob Johnson who's a terrific
structural engineer right this isn't just like let's hope uh you know this is a a a $ 53 million project right this this is a real real project um that's
pardon me I said that's exactly why I'm asking yeah right well right and and as far as the accessors goes it's a it's a 20 million it's a $5 million project so uh but no I mean we are going through to make sure that the settling is not going
to like there's spread footings they're H like we're going through all of that to make sure that it will work is it is it is it really on footings or is it like a a floating slab it's slab on grade with I think very big footings
that will bear the weight of that building it's it's a heavy building right so I think bigger they are the more that they can uh bear it's problematic but anyway I think it's going to
sink Mr alfeld if I can just offer a little civil engineering information here to alleviate Hilda's concern I hope Fort River School is also being built on terrible soils soils are
pre uh are prepared in the construction process one way that's done is to load them with uh with soil to put to to apply a weight to it using dirt for a long period of time to squeeze the water out of the under lying soils and
compress them to get the compression happening before you put up the building I don't know if that'll be used here but I'm sure uh that the the applicants would be foolish not to employ the best geotechnical Engineers that can solve
these problems I did if I may have a have a question um I'm a little confused on the solar um you've got plans for both the uh parking lot and the roof is it one or the other or both or neither
or what's the status of that it's a big maybe and so let me tell you kind of the Genesis of this so when I talked to the Building Commissioner I said you know hey Rob we're thinking about potentially putting uh because there's another project that Barry's working on and he's
at that project thinking about doing a parking lot canopy it has a lot of benefits to it smart 3.0 is coming out sometime likely next year through the department of energy resources says we want to investigate it and Rob said well if you're going to do it like because
the variance is conditioned on the plan at least show us where it would go and so that's what we're doing is to say if we're going to do it here's where it's going to go same thing with the rooftop if we're going to do it here's where it's going to go not that we are in fact doing it or not doing it it's I mean
frankly a little too early to know um the rooftop is probably more likely just because like I said we would do an owners meter the canopy is probably like I don't see us doing behind the meter I would see us doing something like for profit which I don't know if it pencils
out yet based on the cost of the steel and the blah blah blah blah blah so it was more of a if you approve it like this it gives us the flexibility if we do in fact want to do it in the future Mr re I have a just a a question process question so this you you got cut
and fill limitations in the town bylaws and when you cut and fill over a certain number of square feet you've got to get permission to do that does the planning board make that decision in this case because of this property and that's it's not something that we have to look at right so the amount of square feet
of soil you have to add to the to the uh property is not our determination it comes from the planning board correct okay and in addition the all the
this the design of the building the the design of the each of the units the number of units all get determined by the planning board at this case it doesn't that's not I mean we can ask questions about it but we don't have jurisdiction over that in this instance
because it's um because of because of the zoning law it's all planning it's yeah all we have before us are is the variance on height and on um um the building the the site the site
right that's it that's all we got okay are there other questions for Mr REI for the applicant yep Mr alel um we talked about this at the site visit but I the the um building that
you're proposing this this single building is very similar to the building that was proposed to be on the corner in the first plan last year except that the portion that extends along University Drive is
longer isn't that correct and so yes let me uh if you can follow these lines I'll explain them the blue lines that you see are the previous proposal so the one that the the board had approved so you see the parking came in we're actually
more impactful to the to the wetlands came around this was that drive aisle if if you remember and then here was the building you can see here there was going to be a full access and then the
other building had ended here right so what we've done is taken this building down and really turned it into parking in essentially the same configuration we pulled in our limit of disturbance to uh have less impact on the Wetland we've extended the building here and then
instead of the curb cut here we've bumped the curb cut to over here this curb cut stayed the same this portion of the building stayed the same this stayed the same this stayed the same this stay the same but instead of stopping here it extended here that got shifted and then like I said this building was removed thank
you and this last this curb cut on Amity Street that's the existing curb cut that's the third one farthest from the there two that you you're closing up and that's the third one that currently exists yeah and I mean to be technically correct it's
going to be moving just a little bit um I'll show you this one so this is the the blue is what's existing on site currently so you see right here is the curb cut between here and here the black is what is in the The Proposal before
you currently and so we're shifting it a little bit towards the West you'll see right here but this one's being closed and this one's being closed but you can get a sense of you know where this immensely that's I think that's a big safety increase you get people coming
out of those first two're they're cutting across all the way down that um access road coming from big yre or whatever and they're coming out there and trying to make a leftand turn onto Amity Street and it's just it's I think that's far safer and you're not trying
to cut into traffic at a light which they'll no longer be a light so it's going to be much safer all the way around agreed agre yeah I wouldn't want to be making a left-and turn from where the the the first curb cut that no longer is going to exist and trying to get on Amity Street when I'm looking at
the U um roundabout and trying to figure out if it's safe to go or not right right that would drive me nuts all right um any other questions for the applicant any other
concerns okay um I would entertain a motion oh well have to get public comment is there anybody um from the public who wishes to comment on this if you do so raise your hand um and we
will provide uh raise your hand and we'll provide a opportunity for you to speak I see no no hands that's correct hands so unless there's any further questions or any comments from the applicant I would entertain a motion to
move to the public meeting while keeping the public hearing open so that we can discuss um conditions and the um findings we have to make for the the the findings we have to make for the variant and any just discussions on
disposition of the board towards this application I moveed to go into um public meeting keeping public hearing open is there a second second all right we moved in second is there any
discussion there's no discussion the vote occurs on the motion to go into public meeting while keeping the public hearing open chair Bai Mr alfeld Mr alfeld hi Miss greenball hi Mr Henry
hi Miss Khan hi vote is five to nothing uh we're moving into public meeting well keeping the public hearing open so um Mr Henry I think you've asked a lot of good questions that I mean they make a lot of there but I think many of the things that you're asking about really
are not are beyond the what we're empowered under the town laws to be able to deal with um I think the composition of the building the differences of you know room size how many bedrooms um I think the question about
how many of these are afford able all of those are really good questions um that should be asked but I it's just not something that we can deal with here and I think I heard a a number of concerns that you have which just are not part of what we
have before us tonight which is whether we're going to Grant this variance for for two feet um two and a half feet but I think those concerns are they're all valid I I really wish zba had the authority to deal with all this but somehow the powers that be in the past
have given that to the planning board and uh we don't have those issues I think that if we did I would be urging a greater number of if possible greater number of affordable units but I don't think but we don't have that Authority
um on the other issues I think that are raised I understand the notion that you don't know what you're going to do with the solar issue um whether it's going whether you're even have it whether you're going to have it as on the parking lot or on top of the building you're looking to have some flexibility
to go one way or the other or maybe no no way um I think that makes sense and um and I also in I also really wonder if you're going to be able to pencil this out with all the
uncertainties with Building Materials in the next few months it's going to be really a challenge um and you know so if they if the overlay District comes in and you'll be able to deal with them directly and I I hope you won't have to come back to us but it's going to be
really um I think it's going to be a challenge to get this built and I understand the desire to do it as soon as possible so I'm comfortable with this the the minor changes I was comfortable with the original um variance requests because I thought it added a lot to the town I
think it adds you know adding 78 units of housing is great adding nine units of affordable housing two units of which at 60% of median income 60% of 80 mean is uh 60% of median income is great 80% is
is good too but 60% two units for that is Affordable could be affordable families uh that's I think that's a real plus um so I'm inclined to be supportive of this and um and I it's not without not without questions to ask about it
but I'm inclined to be suppored of the variant request um I'd like to hear from other memb so M attorney R did answer my questions I mean some of the questions I asked I I know affordability for low income were
some of some of the same ones I raised when we did this in the fall and I did support it then and again I I I think that attorney um did an excellent job answer my questions and I and I do understand um the reason for the ask and
the change of plan so I I do feel satisfied with his responses so I am also inclined to support it are there other comments or questions Mr alfeld I'll just say that I'm I'm I find
the argument uh related to needing to raise the entire uh parking lot and and building uh for the for for to make the drainage work I find that compelling um as well as the additional height needed for the um uh Heating and
ventilating duct work between floors which apparently is needed for the uh pass passive house requirement so I'm also inclined towards approval all right um would I'd like to
do miss Khan do you have any comments or Miss greenball no all right so what what I'd like to do is move to proposed conditions um there's in the project the draft project application report there's there's are
11 proposed conditions uh condition one two and three all deal with um potential solar um use whether it's on the the
garage or on top and this it seems to me that um this this these first three conditions provide the very provide the flexibility that the applicant is seeking the fourth condition just restates the 59.5 ft is the number of
floor on the number of floors of five is what they're requesting for the 59.5 ft is what they're requesting in the variance uh additional lot area per dwelling unit shall be no lower than 2500 square ft that's consistent with the request of the applicant and Mr chair can I just jump in on two
and three quickly if you don't mind going back up it just says it shall be exercised I don't know if we want to say I don't want to say maybe exercised or I just don't want to be compelled to put in the Solar if we're not going to put
in the Solar right I just I don't want somebody to say hey wait a second we approved that you've got to put in the Solar so if you want to say this variant it perfect I think that's wonderful Jinta is permitted to be exercised and then the same for three I
think one is just the regular site plan which is great uh save for substantial changes then two and three or that way and then you were just getting into six through 10 um my only comment here that's from The Building strike that the let's just go to let's just keep on two
and three for a second U I think I I understand your and I agree with your desire what you want to say but this variance shall be exercised in accordance you know I presented to the board on such as proof of the board change the proof plan
should I guess it's just clearer I don't think this compels you to do it the shell is said if you're going to if you're going to do it it shall be in exercise in accordance with the site plan and with the propos Sol parking canopy but I you know I think it's
clearer if we say uh Shelby how did you is permitted to be exercised is a clearer way to do it but you know I thought it was probably gave you the flexibility before that so I think that's a good change for both two and
three thank you all right so and you're concerned on six through 10 six through 10 yeah so that that's part of the uh Town engineer letter um this is a little I I I know he sent it to you jenta I think he meant to sent it to the
planning department one of the things uh in the planning board draft conditions condition 54 of the planning board is construction of the project shall comply with the requirements of the Town engineer as listed in his letter dated February 18th 2025 and provided to uh Miss Williams for the zoning board of
appeals review so I don't know if we want to take that out I because again here if there's a change that Jason says on site Hey listen we don't want this we want this do I then have to come back before you versus just leaving it in the site plan then it's site plan approval
which gives Rob more a little bit more Flex ability so I would just ask like it's going to be a condition we are going to comply with it with this with the site plan I don't know that we need to put it in the variance I do have a question attorney
REI if they are waiting for the approval from the zba wouldn't the fact that it's in the conditions and the approved conditions give you more leverage because then they would know that we saw dpw's comments and we were
okay with them and we approved it with those conditions I don't uh I don't think they care so much respectfully I think the way they're looking at it is let's make sure that 59.5 feet is okay and that that's like the real that's the
real discussion and why like they didn't approve it last time because they were for this um this is I mean we work with Jason all the time if he changes what he wants he's going to get what he wants Barry works with him you know on on all
these different projects and if you look at like some of these you know storm water indicates that the storm water flow rates will be reduced you know okay that's his kind of that's him just saying it the 60 foot long bus pull out will accommodate should they have them
right that these things we've got like I said in the design with the with the planning board so I would just ask for some flexibility let it be a condition of their approval um and so then if there are changes to what Jason wants I don't feel compelled to have to come
back here to modify this approval to change what Jason wants in the future because what he wants is changed can you read the language again that you had for them yeah I mean I would just eliminate them you just want to eliminate it you're yeah and what you're looking at
here is not not 6 through 10 in reviewing them has nothing to do with the height or anything that any up our granting of the variance they're all good ideas um and I hope that you're
required to do it we we are we are but yeah be required to do it but it seems to me that none of this none of this except maybe the no even the cast iron water M on Main Street is dealing with water is drinking
water coming in it's not and the storm water management plan flow rates uh that's the concom had to approve that right isn't that a conom right so that's not us right put bus pull is planning
8ot Landing is planning board and I've never seen the construction permit costs in a in um in a condition before so all right um that make might make sense Mr alfeld
you're con I had flagged all that when I was reading this as that five that 6 through 10 were not necessary in fact problematic and so I would concur that they should be all cut yeah Miss green
bom I just wanted to know why we couldn't just update the one from from last year why why do we need more than that but because I don't know what you we've got the there
is the two things were concerned is the change of the building and the height why can't we just put those why do we need this list that we're going through now well one two one one's got to be built along with the um the plans that's
that's always the case two and three deal with potential solar going up or down or so that you have to add but but all that other stuff is related to to planning yeah six through 10 we don't I agree with you I don't think we need six through 10 but I think we need one
through five and 11 what's 11 I can't see it 11 is It's gotta be that's the time frame is you got to get working on this within a year you gotta make that's that's in the in the first permit that's what I right but
this but this would be for this the clock Starts Now doesn't doesn't last year yeah so we need to we need to do this now what I'm saying is this using the All perameter for a template essentially rather than put all the stuff in that that you were
adding well um Sol have to be part of that I think one through five and 11 to the height yes I'm right it six through 10 does not have the all that other stuff that's the planning board that doesn't need to be in here but the solar
does I'm wrong the solar does have to be in there y yeah the solar has to be in here because that's part of the reason for the height increase so I I would move that I would entertain a motion that we approve conditions one
through 5 and 11 as amended um is there a such motion so moved is there a second second moved and seconded
discussion the if if not the motion the vote occurs on the motion the chair votes I miss greenball uh Mr alfeld Mr Henry I miss Khan
hey the vote is five to nothing the condition are approved next we have to make findings specific to approval of a variance variances are something that we don't do very often and they're very specific they have to make very specific
findings um as um by way of background variances um shall be dealt only with by the board of appeals in accordance with chapter 48 of the general laws is amended I think we're doing then Grant no various variances which would amount
to an amendment of this bylaw we haven't amended the bylaw we're granting a variance so I think we made that finding the key findings are section 3.01 uh numbers one two three and four they're four different specific findings
we have to make they deal with the first is circumstances relating to soil conditions shape or topography that especially affect the property for which it variance is sought but do not generally affect the zoning District in which the Lander structure is located uh we we made this finding the first
time and I think the request for the varant is due to hike groundwater uh and new knowledge of the groundwater height and the elevation to allow for appropriate functioning of the storm water system in compliance with the Wetland regulation that's the first finding the second finding facts showing
that substantial hardship Financial or otherwise will result from literal enforcement of the applicable zoning restrictions on the Lander building uh it's not due just to the prospect of financial hardship but the even the other the other um existing conditions
will also cause a hardship try to try to complete this project may I just maybe suggest take out the word not so the request for variance is not due because I think we're saying if you don't Grant it there probably is no
project um but it's not it's not solely due to the prospect of financial hardship right right but it I mean frankly uh it could be like the way the law is written is that it's it's hardship substantial hardship Financial or otherwise so uh financial hardship is
a suitable hardship for the board to make the determination that there would be a hardship if they don't Grant the relief that we're asking for and the hardship is related to soil conditions so I just want to you know simp there's probably something else we could say but just if we eliminate the the not then I
feel a lot better if you want to add more by all means is due to the Prospect of financial hardship and we could add some other something else to it well that was my I that is how I kind
of described it so maybe a good good way is request for variances due to financial the prospect of financial hardship and other um what would you call other factors sure yeah other considerations
than that's a better one because that yeah other considerations all right uh number three fact supporting a finding that the relief s will be desirable without substantial detriment of public good um I think these going to
B great benefit to the public additional housing um it complies with storm water um and creates more development downtown or at least encourages it and it works with the state important part of the state to deal with a roundabout on Amity
and University Drive and four facts supporting the findings that the relief sought may be given without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent and purposes of the zoning bylaw indeed the zoning bylaws try to get uh significantly
um significant new housing mixed use development and to provide for affordable housing uh I'm increasing affordable housing and I think this does that in all cases and and advances the purpose of the zoning bylaw is there any uh PE is there any
comment on the findings do we want to say somewhere about improve the traffic flow or did you say that by by allowing the rotary you know we could do that on board under three you know it's it's say relief to benefit the public good as
would bring the project to compliance to state in L storm water Wetland being cared for the develop M and would um facilitate Improvement in traffic traffic Improvement yeah facilitate traffic uh improve traffic flow in the
area oh the at the intersection I would put traffic flow at the intersection intersection of Amity and University Drive got
it any other comments questions concerns on the findings if not uh I would entertain a motion to approve the findings so moved second is there a second second it's
been moved in seconded twice any further discussion on the motion if not the vote occurs on the motion all in favor um a Voice vote chair votes I miss Khan hi Mr Henry I Mr
alfeld Miss greenball hi the findings have passed now we come to uh motion to approve the request for a variance to to amend the fy20 24-11 variance for modification of conditions 1 and two to
raise the building slightly so the maximum height when measured from grade will be 59.5 for property located at 422 Amity street map 13B parcel 1827 28 and 54 BL limited business zoning districts with
conditions do I have a motion so is there a second second it's been moved and seconded that we approve this um the CH chair votes i m green bomb hi Mr
alfeld Mr Henry hi and Miss Khan hey I heard Mr ael's eye so the vote is five to nothing the motion passes and the variance is granted thank you congratulations congratulations thank you very much thanks all of you again
especially at this late hour you're all the best okay and Mr Barner thank you for sticking around just in case all right um next order of business is public comment on any matter not before the board tonight though anybody who
wants to speak about anything except what's before us um has the right to do so for three minutes do you see any hands anybody else such um so determined to stay in and talk to us at they 10 o'clock is still here but she can't talk
about Amity I think there's nobody else that wants to I see no hands up no no hands we're the last lonely stragglers we are the last Lon Cowboys out tonight um excuse me the next order of
business is unfinished business normally we talk about the upcoming meetings can you give us a quick rundown Miss Williams of what we have coming up for the next two meetings sure I'm gonna share my screen um all right so we voted to
continue 6365 to April 10th so I'm just going to work backwards from there um that night we also have 120 belter town and we also have shutesbury solar but that's um
probably going to be the bulk of it for that evening I don't anticipate anyone else coming through at this time that would be able to make it onto the April 10th meeting um March 27th we have just
72 Hest place so it'll be the opposite of this meeting which might be nice for some people um that's the only that we have so far for the next two weeks so I think we are all caught up unless a flurry of
applications come through and then they'll just have to go on the 424 calendar date or beyond that so that's where we are right now um and before I forget I will just say this moving forward I will just be emailing
everybody moving forward for zba hearings so that way associate members and full-time members are all privy to the same information that way you have it in case somebody needs to jump in in a pinch you already have meeting packets you're already aware of what's going on
I think after this evening's uh you know like musical chairs I'm like you know what I'm just going to keep everybody on the mailing list and you know that way everyone is prepared to you know step in as needed um because you guys are all valuable to us so there's no reason why
you shouldn't be part of the regular email chain as well um so I did want to that out there thank you you're welcome Hilda that doesn't mean bombard me with a ton of questions just but to avoid confusion make sure to
check to see whether you're on that panel for those nights on each night or not that's all the that's important so we can make sure we have everybody there yes please thank you I think that's a good idea so when you do send those
emails Miss Williams just put who's on what panel with whatever is on for that schedule yeah yes yes no sure thank you all right we did a lot of work tonight it's 10:13 we've gone almost an hour and
15 minutes longer than we normally go I appreciate the hard work of all of you uh thank you so much uh for putting up with um this long night and um we'll see you I well I won't see you in two weeks but I'll see you uh the next month I'll be gone for the next meeting Mr Henry
you will have the duty of being the chair the next meeting you how I wish all right thank you all thank you all for we got to have a motion to adourn yeah and thankfully there's no discussion on
this vot occurs on the motion to adjourn judge votes I alfeld I con I Henry I I'm gonna vote to I and green ball hi and Williams hi hi
vot is five to nothing plus one the motion passes we are sleep you got to give CH okay good night