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all right I'll call the meeting to order and the first order of business is the reading of the minutes from our January meeting which were mailed to us as usual uh so if there are no additions or
corrections I will uh entertain a motion to wave the reading I will make the motion to wave the reading all in favor and the first order of business this evening is uh 82 to 84 malor
Street Carolina e Laris is the petitioner step forward and make your case good evening everyone David representing the petitioner Aris who's here with me I think I'd know by name so David
mindlin representing the petitioner kolina Laris and this is M Laris who's with me tonight um so what the petitioner is looking for is she owns a two family
house on Marboro Street um the house is in need of renovation at the present time and um the renovations would be very extensive and expensive so at this point she's looking to renovate the two
existing units it's a twostory building and add two units on top so it would be a four-story building no change to the footprint of the house um it does require a fair amount of variances in
special permits but again no change to the footprint of the house add two units uh maintain the architecture of the neighborhood um and it would make it financially feasible for her to do the
renovations in effect providing four new units of housing for the community um if you have any specific questions about the construction uh Miss lenarz is very well-versed on the project itself she can answer any
specific questions you have if I can't answer them uh I just would point out uh one of the variances is for parking relief she does not have all of the spaces required but there's um there are
five spaces so there's one space per unit plus one additional space so it would take one car per unit at least off the street a question about that parking Arrangement so the idea is to maintain
the building that exists on one lot build up two floors from that and then the second lot next door would be the parking lot for the total that's correct so when it comes to open space and setbacks and all of those variance issues um if you satisfy those you lose
the parking So the plan as proposed uh makes sense the garage in the back would be torn down correct so is correct that would leave room for the five spaces and plans for anything else in that adjoining lot or only parking there it
will be only parking space okay and any need to adjust any of the curb Frontage curb Cuts anything like that or would you leave all of that as no they will be existent because it's already existing see how the parking space is existing excellent thank you so
how many Park parking space you have right now right now believe it or not we park five cars in there but okay but uh when the plans will have five are you going to remove some of that part like remove the garage or that stain the garage will be demo okay to add an extra
space uh right now we have the parking front to back see how we have lines one park right there and another one right here and uh sometime we have a space to park somewhere in the middle that's how we have it designed right now but with the new plans you see the parking the
space right there the garage will be demo and now the parking space they're going to be this way great how does someone get out of their parking space the way it's design the new design of the parking space we have the space
right here is going to be open will be open so the way I interpret it is someone's going to need to back say 20 ft out of the driveway and then back out onto the street is that how it works yes it is that's how it
works and that's what you do right now the way it is right now if we go back is different the new plan is is the way the previous the new the way it is designed right now is see the space in the middle that's how they actually getting out at the current moment but with the new
design if we go back to the other is this one and is the plan to keep the Cur the plan no and the Cur will stay it's still the same we're not doing anything with that curve so if you're sorry um you're
adding two two floors each an apartment on each floor correct um so you'll have four Apartments there where will where's trash going to be stored uh we are planning the trash and a snow to be pushed right here this part
in the back of the house okay so the snow will be pushed to this corner and trash cans right there at the current moment the trash cans are against this wall MH okay do you and your family currently live there no okay
so this would be it's a rental rental property okay okay have the neighbors the abuts been notified and and what was their response no no one had anything to say yeah the the Butters are twostory
buildings so the addition going up any Windows would face into space not into someone else's house or windows so the first two floors would remain as is so the setbacks are already
um basically not there if you go through yeah there are photographs of all of it why do my color photographs always come out black and white when they come but are we looking at proposed that's prop existing or
proposed this is proposed uh proposed that's how we proposing yes and the existing uh we have the pictures of the existing the Google Map uh you have the Google Map that's existent right now is that
right how close to the rear property uh we have like six feet but it's already existent we already have a retain uh wall in the back and is there a fire escape out there it is yes it is like a current
fire escape I'm just thinking of how much Manu we have we have a picture of the one there's photos in there that um you can is existant H I have one in the back it's through a a narrow deck yes
the deck isn't really a sit out there and relax deck it's it's just more like an e dtic system deck okay and and um that's that stair that you just showed was your property like I guess question
retaining wall in the back you see that retaining wall in the back it's already existing there and then uh we have the deck that is already existing which that deck is just an Ingress the deck is underneath the um vegetation there uh
the deck actually goes at the current moment goes down to the basement and up to the other two units now maybe you can I believe it's another picture right right there that's the deck so
that's all your problem that's does the neighbor have an a fire escape did they use that alley no they don't use the alley we have it's a retaining wall like right there no one use it just me now are your tants are going to be
staying there while the project is happening or they're being moved uh no the tennis will be moving out okay because we the plan is to completely renovate that the two units above and they're going to come back after it's completed it will be that's an auction
that will provide it to them okay currently how many people Park you said is it five cars than the two units right now and then right now the way using yeah at night yes sometime five five cars but they're they're family members
that's how right now they they using it it's a family that has been living there for almost 20 years um but now if we do renovation we can't actually use the layout that we have at the current moment because it won't work I don't think I will be able
to find four family members y so you're proposing next would be yes six bom yes yes in addition in addition the current moment we have three
bedrooms in each um unit total 12 correct um was any consideration put into just added on a third floor as opposed to adding on two floors because I'm a little bit afraid that a four story structure is just a little bit out
of place here the only reason we thought of four units by code in that area we can go all the way up to 42 feet and then we like okay let's maximize the space and that is the only reason we um
we propos in four units and we have other properties in the block that they're four units they will be exactly the same that P is there any consideration to have the facade match the rest of the building you know you have a bump out at the
front and then the facade is is uh um angled we we'll use the existing setbacks and everything uh of the property right now so um if we go we we don't have um color pictures will match
exactly what we have um we using the same setback and what is existing do we have a picture color pictures the idea is to maintain the
architecture that's fairly standard to the neighborhood they're they're almost Bungalow style these are a little clearer where the houses are right up the front setbacks there are no setbacks for all intents and purposes so there's no way
to bump anything out the intent is to build on the same footprint and maintain the architectural identity of the Neighborhood Mr mindin were those color photos you have the originals I fil
color photos had okay no I just I if you have them I was going to ask if we could look at them that will show don't know what okay
oh no don't don't worry it was just if you had them uh so you're going to be we mat exist okay but it will be I mean the existing structure will be resided or no
will okay so exactly the way it is right now see the floor the second floor go up exactly the way it is the pl going to remain exactly the way it is but they'll be renovated an up inside
okay because right now they're they're up to code but they're desperately need in need of updating they're old and they're tired and okay it's time to do the whole building over okay I have been doing some Renovations like Windows
Doors repairing decks things like that but it really needs more than you know it's I feel like I don't know the previous owners never put permit anything to update the house and
yes so just to make sure you're basically you're not going to tear down anything it's just basically replacing all the woods from the outside and then just stacking the same way as how it is yes exactly so we just gotten everything out from the inside we keeping exactly
the same it is right now and we're going up okay uh do you happen to know the height of the building to the left of this property in the photo mm I'm sorry what is the height I mean are is that Ma I don't know the height
or how many it's it's a two family but the first floor is the garage see how they using that as a garage okay so your property would be like another 10t taller than that yes and no
underground um no needed nothing or anything no yeah that's the one concern that people may concern is the rodents no needed okay good so we have a basement ground already it's already existent so that's where will be the
mechanical room so is already exist our tenants going to be entering through the front entrance or is it all out pack no we have two ER we have the front and the back okay so there's going to yes hair well up okay yes just so at
the current moment it is entrance in the front and in the back of the house so we have the two e in the building as as you can see we keeping exactly the same footprint you can see Uncle have you considered making the bay
part of the the the design so it's a little bit more of attractive building all the way down right now it just has the flat facade at the on the first floor and then the bay goes three stories up um as you're building out it be you
know something that you could incorporate into there uh we we try to keep it you know as yes because of the setbacks and all of that we we trying to stay for the existent
what we already have it in the property I'm a little bit concerned that the outside and facade and siding isn't changing for the first two floors I feel that might come across
a strange if the third and fourth floor have brand new sighting brand new everything we'll replace the plan is to replace the whole Windows everything outside is also kind scope of work is to put a new sighting new windows everything is going to be new
okay so it's not just we actually adding uh laundries in each room as as well right now the building doesn't have any of that that's good yes it will I just wanted to say that you did
submit color photos and stuff it's just when we scanned it into our computer it's black and white so apologies for that um but we can make sure that that's corrected for the the you know next zoning board meeting but yeah
do you have trees on site currently and I see some in the renderings are you proposing trees can you add no we don't have a space for uh trees we don't have any at the current moment that's uh how it looks right at
the current moment so you will you also be repaving the parking yes area reining uh the the propose is to actually the parking space to actually make a new okay and I don't
recall from um the plans are you going to be using permeable pavers that will allow the water to uh drain through rather than you know flow or you know puddling up all over
that is something that we haven't looked into uh yet because when we do the demolition we have to see uh because that garage is going to be demo depends on the condition of the soils uh we have to see if it's going to be needed uh water to do some water filtration and
things like that at the current moment we don't have no issues in the property okay thank you think I Mo the motion I don't have any other
questions um wait oh are there people here do we want will hear public opinion is pleasure of the board yes no objections uh are there any
members of the public present who would like to uh speak to the board regarding this proposal if so raise your hand seeing none do we have a motion I'll make the
motion to how you say to recommend okay Provisions all right so I'll make a motion to recommend to the zoning board with proposed conditions
extend standard conditions as applicable use permeable pavers or pavement each unit is to have at least one off street parking space the residents of the new unit are not eligible to participate in the city's resident sticker parking
program and prior to the issuance of an occupancy permit the petitioner shall provide the Department of Permitting and land use planning with the address of two of these units white roof submit to
p and Lup a landscape plan submit to PN Lup a lightning lighting plan with all exterior lights to be compliant with idsa standards and provide a rodent control plan second the
motion motion is made and seconded all in favor indicate by raising your hand I I any are there any opposed opposed opposed all right the motion is carried and thank you very much thank
you and so we'll see you at the next zoning board meeting on Tuesday April 8th at 6 pm here yes thank you thank you I was look at across the street and
everything seems like it's closer floors because at first I was kind of concerned after like flipping it around like this is like as high map is great so if I'm ever tinkering here I'm actually doing
planning board stuff I'm not just you know PL Pokemon go in here uh the next case is 20252 at 18-24 18 and 24 grandv Road Elmer Castillo is the
petitioner uh they are present you may pre present your case and please use the microphone folks I can't hear I was I was reprimanded at the boa for not using it correctly so my name is Rebecca Edmonson Corum or DD as
most people know me I am U Mr Castillo zoning attorney uh and I'd also like to do my uh introduce my cohort here hi everyone my name is adir I'm the designer for the project and um I do have uh color
handouts for you that is both my PDF presentation or PowerPoint presentation and also um the printout for our new design our redesign it's not the big not the not the craziest redesign that we presented to the uh that we have seen in
the past but we just made some small uh changes given feedback that we received during the boa meeting um so I would if you don't mind just hand those out I appreciate it thank you very much the board was given a copy of your revised plan prior to the okay great um but so
just the PowerPoint could we just start with the overview Mr depri I would appreciate it I do not have the PowerPoint uh I just have the set of revised plans okay we we will not given
a new PowerPoint oh I I am sorry I I sent it this afternoon my apologies um also our apologies for not catching it what time did you send it oh no worries you know I I put it right here so I you know we can just kind of no big deal go through it I'll roll with it right
that's what we have to do we roll with it um so uh please welcome the new redesign of 18 Grand View why we were here today uh my client Mr Castillo over here bought the property at 24 which is
next door to 18 um and he wants to build uh a two family on the the 18 uh for his kids cuz he you know as we jokingly said he really wants them to get out of the house at some point so we were putting together a two family
we're creating generational wealth that is the goal of this project for my client um so uh we have put side-by-side design together uh as my my buddy here is originally from Europe i' say it's a
very European design I like it um the 18 has a 18 Grand View has a very interesting history um me being a dorky zoning attorney I think it's interesting so I'm just going to tell you a little bit about it um 18 Grand View was created in
1988 from the lot next door 14 Grand View um it was subdivided uh and it was what's called approval not required with the um planning board uh at the time come in 1988 this met all the zoning standards for
lotas um so they created two uh 14 Grand View is 4124 ft and 18 Grand View is 4131 ft so this was 1988 back in 1917 U Mr Castillo's other lot that his
house sits on today was created uh and that came in at 6,579 FT now that we have joint ownership of both 18 and 25 Grand View it's now in it's merged as they call it
um and so we will now need um relief for both Lots because it if we get one if we construct 18 um now 24 is not going to be in compliance um so I'm just going to say let's just start looking at
this so this is the kind of like the site plan the pl uh as far as overview goes um I'm going to leave it to the architect to talk about what what changed and what what all this is about correct so
previously we had two staircases we have the staircase on this side and the staircase of of that side and uh we heard some comments from the neighbors that uh the stair is pretty close so the property line so then we eliminated those two stairs and we bring only one stair in the middle and then we bring in
two doors that both units are going to use one stair in the middle so this way is like eliminating like uh the the movement of entering and exit to the units on the side close to the to the neighbor close to this house and close to that house so we eliminate two stairs
and we put one stair in the middle of the house for both units so that was the the design change that we make more why we tell them a little bit more about the entire yeah so each unit is
about 15 uh 50 square ft 1500 square ft and uh we hired the civil engineer to design about the collecting water and if you go can you please uh yeah so this is what we received so far from him this is not the final
design because we didn't have enough time to like finalize the the collecting water but we have we have planning to we have a flat roof with a three drainage in the in the back of the house and that where we putting the units of collecting the the rain water again this is rough
design from him because we didn't again it's uh the time is very sensitive and uh we couldn't wrap up but uh we have thought even at the front we're putting like a Paving with gravel this way the water so we don't allow the water to get
to the street and we are putting like a metal uh drain system before you get to the parking because we have two tendon parking for each unit on either side so this way we're like trying for the whole water rain water on the side to don't go
to get to don't get to the street so again this is a rough design from the civil engineer but you know as we move forward we're going to have the full design from him and may I just add also that we're also uh we have also hired the civil engineer to make sure where
the water where the actual water table is right now we do not want to displace that water table I know that's very important uh to the neighborhood given that it's on a hill uh and so we just want to make sure we are a full storm water management plan is in the works
so a few questions about this so high level you know there's all these different plans to manage water and various aspects of this one of the things I'm noticing here if we take a step back is you're operating from a blank slate here on a undeveloped lot yes that is correct and so I noticed
that the design proposed really asks for a lot of variances I mean we're seeing quite a quite a laundry list here of different things that you would need some relief on was there ever any thought given to designing a more conforming structure just to start with uh we are in the we have talked to our
client about that um you know he would like he has two kids he wants one side for each child um or a uh so we made it a side-by-side design um so it would bring down the height because we were aware of uh from how the Sun travels east to west we wanted it to be lower
than the structures next door uh for 24 and 14 so it's only a 24 21 foot height on the building um so we were you know we're trying to do as minimal as possible possible without creating a single family but and what was the
opposition to a single family again uh there's I mean we still have to go for variances for that too um there will still be relief that will be needed as well okay and there's just no design that you could see that would reduce the need for all of this uh
there's because of the size of the lot um that was created in 1988 it's going to be variances or variances depending on whether it's a one or two family depending on the size that you want to build of course of course if you know you know but uh just also because the
Topography of the land itself um you can only do some so much design because of the slope it go it goes a slope up of of almost 10 ft um and you can see that on uh site plan it's on page three it shows the
elevations so it can show you the elevation is kind of like this is there any consideration to building a classic three Decker which gives you the two families essentially but it's one building as opposed to two side by side and the next question
is in the um in your in your proposal I don't see the what is the measurement from uh the front of the lot is it 50 feet wide 37 you know what is that that that foot um from the front of the lot
facing onto the street as far as the frontage of the lot goes it's 50 feet when required is 60 feet um and then the front yard setback is 10 feet uh where 20 is required um it is on equal to both of the so the 10 foot
setback is what is next door at 24 and at 14 uh the 50 Foot uh Frontage we can't do anything about that was how the lot was created in 1988 so it's 50 is that is that the correct Mr architect the correct WID
remember that but it yes 37 ft correct can we look at an image that shows the topography and context one of the most important things for us to consider here is how this fits into the fabric of the neighborhood yeah you can go to the all your renderings make it
look like it's the only thing in the middle of a big field um oh I see what you mean so yeah Mr CA you have to pay some more money for that just kidding so what are the things that I'm going to can you scroll down one more uh there so
you can see how the grade comes and it's a house sitting next but yeah for you know I can prepare it for next meeting maybe like putting the other buildings but you know this is like the rendering to like kind of show how the building you know sits on the
side it's such an important aspect of this presentation I mean we we don't have much to work with without seeing without understanding the topography and how it's going to impact those around you I mean aesthetically um you know it's wonderful
that you have a storm water system going in but um you know I'd like to understand the retaining wall how how this whole thing is feasible uh I don't think we're proposing a retaining wall um oh that okay that's a lot that is a c
uh that will be coming out but if you look at uh a2.1 a2.2 on your new design it does show the elevations as well just from schematically you mean the Contours The
Contours but also if you want to see the site plan Contours I know everything is on page three as well in the site plan that's show if not let me go get okay that's good John only leave there we will get you the Contours as
well and can you just point to where the storm water system is going so the water system is going in the back over here so we're having a flat roof which means the pitch of the roof is going to be in the back cuz you have to have a pitch we have we're proposing
three drainage in the back of the house and that's where we're locating the collecting of the rain water and at the front front that we have like the drain before you get to the garage because we're going to pitch the the entry of the cars towards the house we're going
to locate it underneath the you know when we do the foundation of the house um are you planning on forming in HOA and creating condos or are these just no it's going to be only two family okay just two
family and uh we have been talking with the building inspector because regarding the question that we got proposing first floor and second floor units we can do that design but you know bit the the side plan is like pretty small and you
know I cannot shrink the if we shrink the building is like getting to the question going to a single family or a two family uh and also it's an r one district and three families are not allowed or Triple Decker um but we would definitely I have ENT I have requested that we kind of
look at the Double Decker so to speak instead of the sasad that whole neighborhood does have a lot of double and triple Deckers in existence already not necessarily on ground view but that whole neighborhood does so it's certainly something I think you guys should consider on the design
level okay thank you I'm curious um I mean I'm assuming that the petition has been shared with you the same one was given at the boa okay and how do you
address the concerns expressed in the letter uh you know are doing our best to try to appease the neighborhood U I sent out my client uh he went door knocking after the boa meeting I know he had a lot of good conversations with people um and you
know trying to make uh so you know one the biggest thing that I heard was two well the two biggest things one storm water water in general so that's why before we got to the boa meeting we I'm you know I was like we need to hire a civil engineer we need to at least start
the start a stor Water Management plan because if if flooding is a problem or if displacing water however as my as I talked to my civil engineer you know we have a a fow lot right now that's never been developed it's it's full of weeds and stuff um so whatever is put on the
lot will do better at mitigating the storm water oneoff than than just as it is now um displacing the water table uh is something we're concerned with so we're making sure of that as well um and we're going to put put together whatever storm water management plan the city
deems to be what it's needed um and as far as you know they were concerned that my my client at 24 had done a Corb cut and put in a two two family or a two car parking lot uh not lot I'm sorry parking
um for his house um earlier in the year after he bought his house uh and that would lose two more spots uh for the curb cut that would create the garage we can't do much about that one um you know we are we are proposing garages uh
to have off street parking uh for two cars in each garage also with electric Chargers um on site as well um and you know they they can either go out of the and go up the stairs or there is an indoor passage into the house from from
the garages um you know they were worried about uh backing out of the garages uh that it would uh hit cars on the other side of the street you know we're doing the what I call the turnaround study also with my civil engineer I've used this in a lot of uh
you know different before a lot of different boards where I where it shows the turn radius of cars either to the left or to the right as they left so we can we're that is in the works as well uh and also um you know rodent control during construction um dust and cleanup
the these are all things that of course come on further down the line uh we will be in compliant with whatever uh conditions the planning board puts on or and or the the building department uh I I have been doing neighborhood meetings since the big dig uh and so I'm very
aware construction does that was the number one complaint in the North End so you know I'm very and you know we want to make sure that we're good neighbors my my client's going to live here for the rest of his life he and and he wants to be a good neighbor so he's not coming in here going to flip it he's not coming
in here to um run a run a cat house as my grandmother would say uh you know he is here to build generational wealth for him and his family they're originally from El Salvador they came here he made his he made his bones he created his own
um company uh castillio carpentry uh they now have he now bought his you know his home with his wife and his kids kids are 14 and uh 20 ready for them to leave the house uh and and to build generational wealth like he sees around him so that's why we are before you
today one of my concern um is you know I while I'm reading it's like yes the residents is concerned about its Narrow Street but then there comes a construction part where where are these construction workers are going to park where are they
going to put stationed all the materials just to make sure like you know do we have a plan already ahead that doesn't affect the residents that lives around the area I do design bill for living and yes we have thought of that we have thought of pre manufactur it of the side
and then bring it there because we saw that the street is like very narrow so we going to pre manufact all the walls and everything and we bring it like pieces by pieces so we install it on side it's like the same as in Boston how they build it in Boston you know so you're going to have like stages correct so we can we're going to Stage it in
like fabricated somewhere and bring it like in pieces like in 8ot parts and we're going to install it on side okay so maximum we're going to have one car park there Max two that's all okay and of course we'll be applying for permits if needed um for for delivery materials
and things like that with fair warning and everything else any any any types of conditions placed upon us we will absolutely do John I'm sorry I did I hear correctly that you're going to build offsite and
correct I mean you'll have to have a crane there correct not the foundation but the walls windows and everything we're going to PE we're going to build it in sections and we're going to install it on site okay uh I would just add to the list of conditions that they provide that they get a um traffic
management plan for that and go to the traffic uh commission for their approval which which is conditions we put on on property and other properties have done have had to do the same thing will could you put on the drainage that's it could you describe me how that
drainage um up on the uper left hand corner how that works because I'm not I'm not doing this for 45 years I've not seen one like that before what are what other the flow through so to be honest with you I'm not a civil engineer he works for me unfortunately he's not here
you'd have to pump it up hill but I can explain just to Tad as well because I did speak with the civil engineer uh it's a preparated pipe that is placed under both in the backyard and in the front yard where it will seepage but then it will it will it will collect and then seep down into the to and then into
the ground but I'm going to get the guy to come and say very uh more professional things when when we do have the storm water he wasn't available to come today so my apologies that part I understand would you scroll up there
is no up further there I read on the plans that says flow through and I'm trying to figure what those flow throughs are it is my understanding of course I again I'm a lawyer and not a civil
engineer I was a philosophy major before that so let me just I just know that we've used it on several projects especially in winr where the flooding problems are definitely enhanced more than they are here um my understanding is that it is buried
uh in in whatever place it says on the map uh as it it will flow through into the pipe and then it will seep down it'll control seep into into the soil okay am I am I misreading this that second diagram on the left it's above
grade but it says right on the top it says proposed flow through open two of them do you see it right there I I do I again I'm not the civil engineer um I will be more than happy to get him
to put together a detailed analysis of everything present to the board okay K I'm concerned you're saying that a stone water plan will be will be presented but it's difficult out for this board to approve this without an understanding of what the drainage is
and whether that drainage is actually going to work so I don't know when that plan would be coming well you know we were told to just come up with an idea uh I wasn't told to do a full storm water plan but we will be glad to do that Mr depr please let me know if you want to move
that to April we can do that not a problem first I don't remember being I don't remember the board telling you to come up with an idea I believe they said to come up with the a stor storm water plan I had asked you if you had um any information on the groundw and you
didn't so I assume that you were doing a whole storm War maybe it's on my part you know that was that was a week and a half ago so we we do need more time to come up with that with our civil engineer and I will be more than happy to present that to you at the next available meeting I my apologies that we
do not have something um that quickly I unfortunately I can't make my civil engineers work faster right whether they whether they want a petition there St presentation is up to the board of course and you know I we we wanted we
knew this was an issue so we came forward and put this together before we were ever asked for it um so that's why we presented at the boa to make sure that the boards knew that this was on our radar uh that we knew this was this the major one of the major issues of the
neighborhood so um and that is something I know I'm not prepared to make a decision without seeing the the storm water drainage plan course a thorough one and I agree with her as well can I ask a question in relation to
that what is your elevation I I I understand the elevation for the building um on the plans but what is it currently on the land are you leveling any of that land in order to create that build because I know the grade is is pretty steep but what what is it currently from front to back what's your
what is the street level to the back of the propert property what is that that gr you see on the on the plot plan where the grades are if you go up I I see it's a 10 foot drop on the on the actual building but is the property
even more steep than that are you guys planning on leveling some of the property oh no if you go on the can you please go to the uh uh basement floor plan go up so if you see it here we're just
going to dig to the point where we can park two cars and this is an excavated area in the back so we're putting like a retaining wall there we're going to dig about 35 ft so we have to accommodate two cars and then the rest from this point and there is is
going to be an escalated area and then we're going to build on top of it uh so nothing leveling in the back question about your neighbor to the left so you own the property to the right but who owns the property to the left and have you had discussions with
them about how close this new building will be which is about from from what I'm reading anyway leave about six feet between this new proposed building and your neighbor to your left uh she is here this evening uh so and I know that I I don't know if Elmer
has reached out to I couldn't do it but we will but we will but we did as when we redid the uh design it did actually take away one variance that we did need which is the sidey setback not the combined sidey
setback but the sidey setback um that from the lot line and just uh it is the same sidey yard setback she has to her home as well at 14 I'm reading on here doesn't appear to have met that variance it says the
combined minimum sidey yard width is 20 ft and right now we currently have 12.75 so there are two side yard setback requirements we meet one of them now uh we a small small victory uh in the redesign we still do not meet the
combined sidey yard setback but the actual one that the distance between the houses and the I mean the house in the lot line we do meet it's just the combined of both s sides and the other side of course is next to Mr Castillo's house
so public comment I'll give my opinion um I think it's really important for families and residents of the city of Chelsea to stay in Chelsea as a person as a daughter of immigrants I think um I wouldn't be able to live in Chelsea if it weren't for my parents helping me out right now um but that being said I think
it's really hard to gauge how big this building is in comparison to the neighbors and so I don't know if you can show that in an image because 6 feet like in my head I I need to see it sir I was just writing before this meeting I
like to do Street Scapes and drop in the design next to the existing houses uh that was something I was going to talk to you about uh about creating that type of thing for the next meeting and again we we are coming here kind of to basa we know it's a process um
we just need to get some reaction we need to get some input and we appreciate your openness to everything you're saying this evening and especially expressing the things that you want to see versus what you don't want to see and and things like that so we thank you very much any more
questions excuse me tuck I I just wanted to any members of the the uh public here tonight who would like to address the board regarding this petition ma'am you need to give us your name and
your address yes and then the floor is yours I was under the impression we couldn't speak tonight so I didn't bring my notes but that's okay uh my name is Valerie green me and my husband bought 14 Grand View Road in 1998 um I'm the
house on the other side of the a lot that he wants to build on um I do have some concerns uh the back of my house is where I get most of my sunlight and it may disappear with this house being pitched back towards the back of the yard um I'm concerned about the noise
the Privacy right now when we bought this house I have clear land all around and this the pictures that they're showing it doesn't do it justice cuz that house is in an open field it's not showing how close it's going to be to my
walkway that leads up to the side of my house um I'm also concerned about the sewer system um the past six or seven years we've had to have the city come up the sewer cap right in front of my house has come up
with literal feces so the The Source system itself is having a hard time with who that property that already is occupied on the street and we've had to call them at least three times in the past seven years because the sour system just can't
handle what what already is there then to add two more families to that is concerning um there's a lot of curb cutout on that side of the street so on street cleaning day there's potentially not enough parking spots for everyone on the street to utilize the street without
getting ticketed um and we talked about the the underground parking or the tandem parking they had and the street being narrow I'm AF afraid that the cars that are parked right there on the right
they wouldn't be able to park there without a car coming out and potentially hitting them um and with all the wind we've had I'm really concerned about something being so close to my property with the fire risk and having my house catch on fire hopefully that will never
happen but I I've been there a long time and I don't want to take the risk so um when we did move in in '98 a couple years later um at the time Mr enardo had owned 24 Grand View Road and the lot he
offered for us to buy back that property because it used to belong to 14 long before we moved in he was told he couldn't build on it and we couldn't afford to buy it back at the time so we declin the offer and as a result he spent tens of thousands of dollars on
plants and bushes and gardening stuff for his wife and that's what she did for the past 18 years before she passed away and that's why that lot's empty with just plants and bushes and pretty things that the birds hang out in and the
rabbit hied under from the coyotes so um I I do have concerns it it's very deceiving the lot doesn't look big enough to me and when I see that picture out in the open with all the bushes and the greenery where does it
fit in that particular lot size and how much sunlight am I going to lose so that's all I have to say thank you thank you anybody else good evening my name is Mary
jassian I'm here my aunt uh Barbara laa lives at 23 Grand View Road directly across the street from uh for 18 and 24 um she has some concerns as the letter that I wrote that she went and got the neighbors to sign the petition I believe
you all have a copy of that so I'm not going to really truly reiterate that as you have it but um one of the main concerns is the tandem parking in the garage um gr view was a narrow road the other day a very recently was it two weeks ago or a week ago there were two
cars parked on each side and a trash truck could not get through and he had to lay on his horn until a neighbor came out and closed side mirors and they had to move things around just to give you an idea of construction vehicles trying to fit up there a visual uh that was
just one very recent incident um also the neighborhood gets a lot of overflow parking from the wooden hospital because they don't need the 247 Everett parking stickers up there on Grand View and also um the two family gra View Road itself
um growing up there it only has one family single family homes on it with a few houses that do have in-law apartments downstairs it's not um the streets above it Fremont and Garland and so forth do have the double deckers but Grand View itself Perkins Somerset that
whole block is basically I'd say 98% single family um maybe with a few houses with little in-law apartments underneath they're not two Deckers though um I just wanted to clarify that in the uh neighborhood and also excuse me for one
second here um the person to the left um at 14 Grand View Road um I'm not sure if she knows what this is one of the things that we talked about in the petition was maybe an independent Shadow study done um because it is only going to be six feet from our house or so it's not far from her walkway is only two and a half
three feet and the property's coming right up to her fence so that doesn't give a lot of uh wiggle room and um concerns about privacy privacy Windows I'm not sure how that how you how you would um approach that but that's another major concern on that street and
let's see and as they got the um to clarify too on the water the storm drainage runoff part of the problem um they're more concerned about when the New Foundation goes in because it slopes down barbar's house is is down you have to go down two flights of stairs to her home um what will that Foundation do to
the trajectory of the water not just storm but just water in general um I know I know myself living near the wooden hospital they put in a small addition to their ER my home on Harvard Street two streets down never saw water for 80 years and that little Foundation
meant a French drain and a sub pump after the first storm so I I do fear that the water trajectory itself underground that that is a main concern um not just the rain and the storm and the drainage so uh I think that's about it I just wanted to clarify and as you
do have the petition in the signatures do you want to say no that's a I just I appreciate my neighbor's ideas at just what he's projecting to me much too big with too many problems for that small
piece of land thank you for your time tonight it's much appreciated thank you anybody else I was just going to clarify uh just one point um we did check with uh DPW uh
as far as sewer water hookups Capac capacity issues and things like that we got a a clear bill of health there to construct um and I'll be glad to send that uh for that to you Mr de priest as well from DPW um so we have already
started our shadow studies as well as um a storm water management plan uh for anything in the you know in the future we'll be glad let us present those to you um before uh any you know if I would just request respectfully let us present those to you first for going forward for
an independent review I think what you will see is would satisfy um I understand is a little biased on our side because we are creating it but I uh have used uh our architect here in various places and they've always won the day we
can always also do uh a SketchUp uh as well using that um art architectural software so we can kind of what's called fly around the property for you next time as well I don't think that that's probably more than we need I think just
some photos with the proposed plan like superimposed over also also proper drainage plant M on top of that um1 was that um also proper
terrain plans um and I'll just like chime in and say at the end of the day this is a private plot I encourage Construction be because it is a perfect
place to um to uh create housing um I don't think a person should own a plot for purposes of like other people's um other people's trage um
however I am concerned uh that the scope of the project is egregious and perhaps some something um more constrained is appropriate
here along those lines um and to the points that have been made about the congested parking situation up there uh would your clients be open to a design that doesn't include off street parking that does not include off street parking and eliminates the need to uh
create more curb cuts and driveway issues and just have it just be an on street parking type of arrangement you know I rarely hear that people want more on street parking they wouldn't qualify if they would have to get a
variance from new ordinance no no what I'm saying yeah I understand that what I'm saying is though in the interest of addressing some of these other design concerns how married are you to the parking on site well I I've never I like I said I've I've been I we will entertain anything I just
most of the time people are very want on-site parking um we would gladly say no residential stickers so it would not contribute to to the neighborhood uh parking problem it's already there so you'd be close to that is what
you're saying I'm sorry so you'd be closed to the idea I I would I I mean if I I just personally if neighbors are complaining uh I myself in a chair of a zoning board and nobody has ever said to me let's have on more on street parking but this is this is a situation where it
would there would be more maneuvering needed to get in and out of a garage rather than just parallel parking so it's more if that you know if that's the way the board feels I that's fine uh we I'll talk with with my client about that but I also say I'm what can I we would
enjoy presenting to you what's called the the backout studies uh from our civil engineer um so we can we can see some real numbers um projections on on what it going to take to back out of of a driveway um before you contribute four
to six to eight um more cars on the street okay just to say a uh if there no parking on site it's going to add another special permit to your list of uh of relief are there not driveways on
that street now I'm sorry are there not driveways on that street now now I know that my I I know that there are some driveways on the stre well then then if they're driveways now evidently those vehicles are getting in and out so um
driveways is is their side the even side the odd side is sloped and the homes are two sets of stairs down so they only can have street parking so for example they could not have the option to just put in their own driveway to resolve their own issues they're they have no other option
but the street for that entire side of the street except for one house up on the far corner so as a neighbor are you you in favor of driveways or not um you know that that's a unique question I've
been on a zoning board for over 10 years and um I've never had that presented to me um I would have to sit on it and think about it to be very fair and honest um the the problem would be is you put more cars in the street it's kind of
like you're darned if you do and if you don't you know um but I do know that the backing in and out is tough um and I know that the people on the odd side of the street have no option to choose to put in their own construct their own driveway and that's why they haven't
and not every house on that the other side has driveways um but like one on the corner does and it's set back [Music] um she has a two-car garage but the house is so old that they know
because she can park in front of yeah she parallel parks in front of her driveway yeah yeah the the tandem thing is it's really pushing it because that's two cars that have to back out onto the street and if there's a you know firet truck or something that needs to get by
it it's it's just uh that could take a while and that's the concern too then now you can have more cars parked on both sides of the street where a garbage truck couldn't get down it will emergency vehicles get down um I I don't know it's it's an urban city it's small the streets will probably KY path so at
one point in time in history to be very truthful with you um I grew up on the hill um it's an issue everywhere and I I I don't even have an answer for that I was that it was a great question I've never heard it before to be honest with you so but I just wanted to explain that the odd side of the street really can
never choose to put a driveway in because of their landscape okay thank you so much John um and will the department memo we have says uh that the fire
department hadn't yet submitted their comments correct have they been received yet I received nothing they have been delivered copies as we do every time but they we have not received any material from them yet okay and neither has nor is DPW okay
good you I had asked if the fire department and DPW had submitted their comments on the application yet which they have not think DBW did you no we have not received anything from DBW will okay what we got but do we need to
do anything to speak with the fire department further no we'll take care of that just well I am going to make a motion that we continue this to our next meeting to give the applicant time to
provide us with the detailed drainage plan um with a better uh a more realistic uh rendering of how this proposed building will look
onsite um and and I'm sorry you want to see drainage oh and the yeah I drain the drainage plan yes
um and I have you started thinking about a lighting plan I mean if you h a lighting plan if you have a second I thought you said lightning I was like well uh no because if you do have um a lighting plan it
would be useful to see that as well um ex exterior lighting only yeah that's I'm sorry that is what I was referring to and also we I we have started pulling together the landscape plan as well yes because I know you're uh concerned about trees uh and plantings and things like
that as well I I would like some consideration on the overall design to to to if the design is continuing to be contentious to consider a different design that's a little bit more in keeping with the
neighborhood designs this is a beautiful design but it's very modern and very unlike everything else on that street so answer your your questions I I did I did try that at the beginning but the inspector was like uh the height of the building is unfortun so we have to
really go with a bare minimum of the height of the building to don't affect left and right building that's why we and correct yeah but I started with the Dormer like doing the same thing what is the building left and right as we were told from building inspector lower it
answering that yeah made a motion has been made to uh continue this case until our next meeting uh is there a second I can second that motion made seconded all in favor of continuing it I indicate any
opposed cases continue next so that means you will not that means you will not go before the zba next month I'm sorry it means you will not attend the April 8th zba meeting next month thank you yeah and our the next planning board meeting is April
22nd Tuesday April 22nd 6: pm thank you that was actually my next question um thank you Mr de thank you and thank you to the board uh thank you for your feedback questions and comments very appreciate thank you
for coming in we look forward to your return okay thanks yeah uh we um skipped the first item on the agenda because it is I believe the
petitioner has requested a continuation for our next meeting so we need a motion to allow that continuation anybody may volunteer motion I'll make a motion to allow the continu I I will second that may seconded yes
all in favor of allowing them by saying I thank you um next is the election of officers you need to
elect a chairman Vice chairman and I believe a clerk but I don't know who the clerk is now other than you so uh and I don't remember ever knowing who it was but anyway that's from the
city bylaws so need nominations and u a vote I will say that um while Mimi isn't here she did email myself and John saying that she would I know she has to
be nominated but that she would be willing to return I guess as the vice chair right the current Vice chair yeah tuck is the chair currently and Mimi is currently the vice chair but just to let everyone know Mimi said that she would be willing to accept a nomination for
vice chair again just just to throw that out there tuck are you are you interested in continuing your chairship I be your pardon are you interested in continuing your chairship yeah okay so so I think so
I believe so and also perfectly willing to relinquish this exalted position do we have any members who wish to hold the chairship position and and be nominated for
that sorry I didn't hear the question do we have any additional members who wish to be put forward for chairship Regina I'd like to nominate you um I'd like to [Laughter]
decline I would I would like to give my vote to tuck well I was going to nominate tuck to continue his chairship I nominate tuck as well okay should we just call it to or
call call it so everybody in favor of keeping tuck as chair currently please say I I okay Tu you are our sherff who seconded and seconded did that nomination include Mimi
or let's call Mimi then right you're the chair all right well thank you for your what vo of confidence I will try to make this board
great again goodbye continuation of greatness y all right thank you we need to do the vice chair yes so we need to vote on our do we do we vote
on we voted on the chair okay sorry that that was confusing because I was nominating you for vice chair so let me do that again meim me did say that she was interested in running for vice chair again mhm so then we we've two nominations on the floor for vice chair
um would be Mimi and uh you were proposing me so I okay so then we need to take a vote on it folks all right um let's see how should we do this why don't we do it
by uh alphabetical order Mimi is last name all in favor of Mimi as chair Vice chair I hor am I first
two one you yes yes okay so who were who were the two Eric and who were the two that voted in favor Mrs Taylor and Mrs rator no I'm sorry
who voted for this gentleman okay I'll vote for MIM I vote for Mimi too I'm voting for Mimi as well three three
okay now all in favor of Miss Taylor i i a landslide conrat congratulations John you got that I would have you accepted the
nomination I it looks like my my I I am I am accepting the nomination at this all right um master plan updates is that going to be by um
um the member the board member yeah yeah so just as the city is engaging in this master planning process um we will just continue to have a standing point on the agenda for any updates um Sarah is our representative on the steering committee
so I think this is a time for satday to provide any updates from these steering committee meetings but also I do think it's a time for other planning board members to throw in ideas throw in comments suggestions um or like you know is issues or things that the master planning process should be trying to
address um so yeah absolutely I reiterate that so the meeting we were really just discussing the structure of the future meetings we didn't get into any of the nitty-gritty but I the goal is to get um as many people to come
forward and offer their opinions as possible so we're trying to reach all different audiences um so please please you know approach me with anything that you want to um try to
make sure is um you know considered in this year-long process but um I'll have more information next month so Sarah who who is um I I know this information is is public but I can't remember who is
the the company that's doing our master design has been retained and um I'm familiar teal and um they're very highly regarded they've done a lot of these Master plans um Winchester uh did they do Cambridge
Boston they're really topnotch and um I'm not sure who the other contenders were but we're in really great hands and um there is going to be some sort of public listening session um unfortunately I don't have the date of
that but I will email the board when I get that so right now we have a year as a city to influence the overall master plan is that correct yeah or I mean at least in terms of public input Etc it's it's probably a year and three
months or something literally just started um the steering committee um I'm also on the steering committee as well uh L just started me a meeting they had the first one last month we have another one uh April 16th is that yes dat 16 is
our next meeting um the first meeting was was more introductory than anything else this next meeting we asked for the steering commune to interact with the uh Consultants uh but the Consultants have started and been have have been doing
work they've interviewed uh most of us in City Hall that have any interaction they've interviewed me they've interviewed Public Works and DPW and fire uh to get the input uh uh so they've been working all along since they were first announced in January are there key questions or
issues that are being addressed with the master plan like I know we haven't had one in whatever 100 something years but are there things that are trying to be addressed with this master plan that are identified already they haven't even gotten into that level of detail but absolutely yeah
everything um I would think because I feel like when you think when you think about how you're engaging folks you you don't think about why you're doing so so without having the idea of like what you're trying to address it's hard to authentically engage people and get real
feedback yeah I agree but I will say they did a good job of putting a um you know good cross-section of people together that represent all different communities including you know the commercial sector um you
know so but each of us is going to do our utmost to reach as many of our you know audiences as we can so that we're getting um a you know widespread um group of opinions but yeah um if
there's anything in par was there a certain issue that you that comes to mind right now no I think it's when you think about the like the community level you say master plan what does that really mean what is you know what I mean there's just like many questions that come with that but I know we're just starting and so
I would say it's the built landscape right where this is the physical landscape of the um community and I mean I it would potentially impact zoning yeah yeah so there are particular topics
that a master plan or comprehensive plan need to address that are laid out in like state law um and so you know things like open space things like zoning and land use patterns um you know I'm kind of blanking on the
other topics but we can totally I'm just kind of thinking how to best use this agenda Point um because it is early on in the process and it like I agree could be tough to kind of give suggestions and comments on things um so I'm thinking possibly next meeting or or even just I
can just email this out to uh the board um the list of particular topics that a comprehensive plan has to meet based on the state law um and those are the kinds of things it will meet at the minimum um I don't know if John you have anything else to add to that I was going to say it is those things it's also utilities
it's also demographics uh it's basically a uh a list of it'll come up with a list of recommendations it'll set goals and it'll come up recommendations on how to meet those goals one of them is definitely going to be upgrading
updating our zoning you know there it's definitely in need of updating it need some better coordination there um will and I have started going through the zoning line by line we thought it would take us four hours it's taken us about six meanings of 3 hours each and we're
only halfway through so um and and but under uh Court decisions have said that your zoning has to reflect your master plan in order to be considered um not legal but John what is our goal
for our zoning what what is the what what does the city hope to achieve with our with updating Z zoning other than meeting meeting laws what what is our over it's it's has to meet whatever are the goals of our master plan are are if
our master plan says that we should have a um dense Urban neighbor Urban downtown we update our zoning to allow for a dense Urban downtown if it says that we need uh and I know SAR has been wanting
to work on it on addressing permeability and I wanted we have to to have standards as well as um you know climate resilient infrastructure protecting our borders from a catastrophic event um and
uh when the heat island effect that's another one that's been you know like that's why we ask for white roofs and um lighter colored pavement to um reflect to reflect the
heat so we're not creating a warmer microclimate those are the types of measures that would be sort of baked in to we' set those goals but they'd be baked into certain um ordinances right either the zoning or zoning or or dpw's
ordinances relative to drainage and and storage or just city ordinances um relative to environment but that was included as an element of the master plan when the city wrote up the uh task for fantastic is there would there be a
master plan in regard to entire City Landscaping to create like a more walkable usable oh in in a in a way sort of add that green scaping to our city is that I do know I definitely hope so I know when I was director of the planning
department that was our goal to make it much more walkable to connect par with green ways and that's still the goal that we're working on um and and it's important well important it's it's
um it's proper that this board should be involved in it because when you look at the administrative code your responsibility you are the board that sets the planning objectives for the city so you should be definitely involved in a lot more of the planning
effort that's going on so Jessica to get back to your question I think we can probably break it into say five different topics you know trans portation um climate resilience and if each of you want to
offer up any comments you have under each category it just might be a better way to um construct the conversation each month I have an idea um do we as a board are we at all interested in maybe doing a sort of like is there any
interest in creating like a mini subcommittee where we discuss just amongst ourselves kind of reasonably casually like what it is we think as a board we want to see brought to the table to the to the um to the master
plan so that we are we have some sort of con concrete offerings rather than it just being full open table as a discussion that we sort of coales those ideas and then put them down on paper and bring them to you guys so that it can be included in
consideration for whatever we think needs to happen with master plan is that of interest to people sounds sensible um would you see any or or just have it as an open table at end of meetings where we just talk about it keep some notes I mean what what's the interest level
there I mean I'll just say I think it does sound sensible I think it is allowable by like procedurally so I think that can happen um I feel like it would still be good to have like a standing like point on the agenda um at our meetings just so there are is some public element to it and I mean no one
stayed for it right now but like in case someone does um but I think it does make sense to have a subcommittee because then you can have these broader discussions here we can organize these discussions in ways that are more productive like Sarah was mentioning about breaking down into particular
topics and maybe everyone coming into a meeting with you know suggestions and ideas under each topic and then having the subcommittee kind of uh what's the word sort of digest or you know what was has been said into more coherent like goals and suggestions and things like
that yeah maybe you send me the comments prior to the meeting so we can distill it down and just keep it to I don't know half an hour if we did something like a subcommittee are we obligated to host that in in this building or can it be
offsite does it have to be would have to be a public meeting does it does have to be an open public it would have to be a public meeting it would have to be in a place that is handicap accessible y okay Library work though technically something the library could Library the
um Community Schools Senior Center te Cafe that has C handic access as well well I'm just wondering if maybe a um like living document that we are passing amongst ourselves and adding
comments is that allowable with so when I had first started I thought Google Docs could be something that would be very useful but I think that violates open meeting law so um because technically the whole board members could be deliberating on particular
things outside of the public you know yeah so okay so I guess for the time being the best thing is if you have comments send them to me I'll distill them down and maybe do a PowerPoint if I could and
um we'll just try to keep things categorized per topic so we're not all over the place yeah I agree and also I just want to mention I I appreciate the sort of initiative to try to develop like goals of the planning board because
you know the permanent landage planning department I think we have a sense of what our goals are uh we're also an extension of like the the city leadership Housing and Community Development Department also has goals but I think it's also like what John is saying it's very important that this board also has a sense of like you know
what what's the city's goals what's our goals as a board and how can we find Synergy between them if there is any difference um and yeah I think it can just what does the state want to see as far as mpta and how these things all um come together and I think it can help
the board just have a framework a guiding framework to help make decisions on particular cases so yeah and what I would like to maybe a bit ambitious but I'd like to have some sort of visual like a map that
we can refer to so then when we discussing we have something right in front of us um for me that's the most streamlined way to have a productive conversation about it I I have an additional question uh
this is more John um on the historical designations of of the three areas that we've currently um designated do they include anything more than do we have anything for up on the hill like Soldiers Home area and and the
Prattville area do are there any additional ones and that do they come under master plan land or are they not developed at this time I think will should answer that Will's been dealing with the historical commission and looking at historical historical sorry I
just I know that I only saw three so far yeah yeah so technically in the city of Chelsea we have four historic districts they are not local historic districts they are historic districts designated at the national level um there are a vast array of his
historic properties um and also historic areas Street Scapes the soldiers home is considered by the state a historic like area but not a historic district um if you go to macis Maps it's
m a c r i s that is the state's database for historical properties and districts and things like that um back in the7 and 80s is where you'll find the um like application for lack of a better term to
create the different historic districts um but again those are at the national level which if they were considered to be local historic districts then the historical commission would have even more jurisdiction over what gets built
there and how and things like that so we technically could create them from Whole cloth yeah yeah we we could and um I think I'm still learning like what I don't know if that would have to come from the historical commission or if that could come from the planning board and then the historical commission deliberates that but but yes there is a
process to create those what are the four areas yes so it is the Bellingham the Bellingham Square historic district the uh downtown residential historic district the Chelsea Square historic district and the Naval Hospital Boston
historic district I don't know why it says Boston in it but that's that's the official but we have a sign in my neighborhood uh referring to the Chelsea Waterfront historic district or there is there is a I think it's a sign on the Tobin
Bridge we know n title okay it it could be designated as a historic area like I definitely recommend everyone to check out macis Maps like it is a good database and it's cool to kind of look at and if you click on like either a property or a district or a historic streetcape or area
it it'll like link the PDF like documents that were submitted to get this to be considered historic at the national state or local level um yeah well we have a chance to weigh in
on any of these documents in the making for the historic district oh yes um will has an update coming up you okay so you're the yeah I don't know we move to the next agenda Point well before you before you jump on it next I think
Christian has a concern uh yeah uh we didn't go for the clerk yet and do we have a clerk because I just John we only put chair and vice chair I don't know if they there there is a position for a clerk officially the
clerk is the official keeper of your records which is really a function that will and I keep but uh there's not doesn't mean that you can't elect a clerk uh that clerk would be responsible if if you ever have an appeal or uh if there are some other reason that we need
to officially respond to something Dr clerk just has to certify that those are the official documents yeah and I want to nominate myself for that seconded all in favor I thank
you congratulations thank you have we moved to the next agenda we have move to the next agenda okay so yes we do have some updates on the historical commission um you know just to take a step back here both John and I staff the zoning board this board the planning
board the Conservation Commission and the historical commission together but I do take point on the historical commission uh as well as planning board which is why you've seen me US kind of switch places um but the historical commission uh it's very exciting um
we're engaging in a lot of like really interesting and cool work so one is the hisorical commission is in the process of developing design guidelines for the three historic districts that fall within the downtown um we had our intern
Adam uh Roy update our historic district uh map so I can send that out to everyone just so everyone on the plan board has them if I haven't sent those already um but so last week uh last Tuesday we had a community meeting via Zoom about eight folks showed up it was
a good like Lively discussion um Regina you were there um so I thought that was really really exciting to see community members come together and engage over um what they like and love about the downtown what they want to see what materials what buildings what architecture Styles they want to see
more of um we have another Community meet meeting via Zoom tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. um Tred to kind of switch up there was one meeting in the evening one during the lunch hour just to give people a variety um and after that
meeting happens uh we I'm sending all of the notes the transcripts from the meetings um some folks have sent me comments as well um I'm sending all of that to our Consultants who are doing more of the technical work the research into the architecture and the history of
these areas um for them to produce a draft set of design guidelines which will then be discussed and reviewed and edited at an in-person Community workshop on April 29th in the senior City Center um definitely encourage you
all uh that that is a Tuesday I believe at at 6 p.m. definitely encourage you all if you're available to stop by engage um so just wanted to provide that update that the commission is developing these design guidelines um they are not designed standards designed standards
are usually within your zoning code and any sort of development has to like abide strictly by these design standards these are more design guidelines and which yeah suggestions provide guidance to I think the way we're understanding is that this will help the give the
commission more of a framework you know a guiding framework to help make decisions when they do design review when they make design comments Etc but also be a tool for developers property owners that want to make changes business owners that want to make changes that they could look to this
document and see what is suggested um so yeah what might help them with their approval process they're adhering to the guidelines you know boards are going to be more likely to approve their applications right exactly exactly and
um I will say we're being a bit more proactive and um I guess on top of things when it comes to any sort of development that occurs within a historic district or any development that is a historic property uh we're we're trying to catch those a bit more
so we can bring them to the commission for any sort of design comments yes so that's the first update um the second update is that the commission has been in the process of trying
to uh essentially get funding to do a historic preservation plan uh just last week we did receive the official letter that we have been awarded $30,000 uh to help do a historic preservation plan um it is a matching reimbursable Grant so
technically we have at least $60,000 because the city will uh you know match the funding that we got to do a historic preservation plan and the four main themes that I think this preservation plan is trying to really you know address um I would say one is kind of
synergy between historic preservation and economic development because I view historic preservation as a tool to continue to make unique places and spaces um then also uh issues around resiliency and sustainability how many of our
historical resources and properties are in the flood plane are they resilient are they you know protected uh and then also sustainability like thinking about way like the the possible upgrading or the potential to upgrade some of these older structures uh especially if they
are being looked at to possibly be reused um you know I think about the um I think it's like the old postal building that then became like a satellite for like Bunker Hill um you know like the Adaptive reuse of these old historic structures are we just want
to make sure that they're also like energy efficient um but also understanding the kind of balance between like costs and you know M maintenance of these historic structures um and then the last I would say theme
is equity um really trying to you know understanding the demographics of this city um over 60% of the population is um of Latin descent uh and over 40% of the population is foreign born I think a lot of times what we see when we see
celebration of the history of Chelsea is mostly the colonial history which of course is very important and you know everyone needs to understand it but how have all the different groups that live in Chelsea how have they added to the history of the city and so I'm hoping that um this preservation plan will
start to provide some insights into you know Equitable historical preservation um and similar to the master plan this is store preservation plan would uh create a set of recommendations to help guide the commission's work moving forward maybe one of the recommendations
is to turn these National Historic districts into local historic districts you know that could be a possible recommendation that comes out of it um but just exciting we got the funding and uh if everything goes smoothly this process will start probably in September
um and go until the end of next June um so yeah I guess other there any questions on that no but congratulations on the money thank you yeah that's huge is there a way to um this is sort
of a general question but are we doing enough to incentivize home owners to you know fix up their hes so they don't fall prey to these big developers coming in and you know perhaps there's historic funding available to help someone um
bring their house you know up a notch or two and in the process do what is historically appropriate for that house so it just it would be nice if we can um just help people stay put you know yeah
definitely agree uh that's a great question and I think things that I'm still learning like I did not have a background in historic preservation uh and I think it's fascinating area of planning that I'm like learning about so I can definitely like look into like I know there's like
toric tax credits that I think often either larger developers or Property Owners will like rely on um but I'm sure there's definitely some funding streams um and ways to incentivize homeowners to do just that will two questions on sorry
pardon me on that um who is on the historical board uh and in addition to that I think I mentioned to you guys in the meeting that if there's a way to consider we're currently um have
the the we take it from the property tax of of the homeowners in Chelsea which is the um it's the community preservation Community preservation if some of those funds can be directly considered to be dedicated for historic preservation will
be amazing for the city I think and trying to keep what we have or maintain it at least yes uh so also real quick for this histor preservation plan I think we would develop some sort of you know steering committee or advisory committee
um which I think would include most of if not all of the historical commission members but I definitely want the planning board uh to be involved in that process so just want to make mention of that um the historical commission has seven spots um we currently only have three members it's Matt Frank is the
chair um Allison Grace uh is the uh Vice chair and then we have Michelle merus uh who is a member of the uh historical commission but she theal commission has to have a representative on the community preservation committee and Michelle is our rep to the community
preservation committee and she's also the chair of the community preservation committee and so there has been some like she essentially joined the community pres preservation committee and then was voted as chair so like um so I think we're starting to try and build that muscle to have some more weight you know around polling funding
to Historic preservation efforts um the thing with the community preservation act um while one of its categories that that money can fund is historic preservation they're very particular about what kinds of historical preservation activities you can actually fund um you cannot
create new history so uh when I say that I mean like you know if you want to do a time capsule if you want to do a time capsule that is not allowed to be funded by the CPA um because that is technically creating new history um you
know even trying to get funding for a his preservation plan technically that's not necessarily allowed because the plan itself is not a historic document and so it's they're just very particular and this is something that I've been learning John you might have already known but maybe you're relearning like
these so what do they want you to spend the money I think it's like already established historic structures um you know if you need to like refurbish or rehab something so just identifying and then figuring out where to put that basically 46,000 toward buildings that we already
have yeah yeah okay as far as the community preservation act money is it um are there predetermined um like buckets or do you just consider all of the proposals that
come in and pick the ones that make most sense so there are predetermined buckets um the community preservation Act is a policy that municipalities can opt into not all municipalities I think about half of this cities and towns in the state are you know Community
preservation communities if you want to call them that um and the three categories are that those funds need to put be put towards the creation of affordable housing uh the creation of more open space and Recreation space uh or historic preservation efforts so
those are the three categories um and I believe that uh it's a to generate the funds it's an up to 3% SE charge on property taxes uh whatever the municipality chooses but Max 3% and that
funding gets put into I guess a bucket or a bank if you will not an actual bank but you know what I'm saying um and at least 10% of that funding needs to be put towards each category and then after that the committee can choose however
else it will use the money um do do we know what it's currently how it's currently allocated right now I mean I know what what the what it's supposed to be but do know what we I mean maybe this isn't the right format yeah I mean I don't know the actual breakdown right
now in terms of percentages um I can always ask Michelle about that because while the committee Community preservation committee will determine how like we we accept this proposal or we want to fund this proposal It ultimately has to be approved by city council um and I know the community
preservation committee does have um I think I don't know if they're monthly meetings Republic I assume they are John I don't know if you know that if the monthly Community preservation committee meetings are public yeah yeah yeah yeah they yeah they are public um and then when they do send them to uh city
council uh those meetings are of course public as well um I know that they've had two kind of Windows they try to do like a fall window where people submit applications and then they allocate funding and then they try to have like a spring window um Bianca Marcado in the
Housing Community Development Department is the community preservation like manager so she like staffs that committee as well as the affordable housing fund board um so uh she I would say she would be the one that would know much more about this there's no reason
we put a proposal together right or help an entity um put a submission in right is there there's no conflict of interest there correct uh I don't know John I don't think there would be any conflict of interest it just has to fall within their funding categories and what they
uh what the funds can be used for um I do know that uh this uh preservation committee has uh prioritized affordable housing meaning that the bulk no I want to say the bulk but they get more percentage than the other two but um
they have you know I've looked at previous applications and what got funded and someone was the um church the church in carry Square got funding um the uh Governor Carrie Belling house got funded but Bellingham
House Bellingham house yeah and I and I know Bianca has been really trying to push for like new applicants uh you often see the kind of same applicants apply round after round and so I just I know she's trying to
like do more public Outreach just to let people know that there is the community preservation committee you know there is funding to do certain things and so I just know that that is a goal of hers um and hopefully that is being achieved um
is there a First Step where you're vetted as far as if your proposal meets the criteria like isn't yes yes there's like a pre-application period that someone fills out and then they review the applications and if you're not
eligible for funding or whatever you're proposing doesn't meet the certain criteria then yeah yeah okay you're you're notified of that um but maybe just for the sake of time we can move to the next point if that's folks um and then so yeah just wanted to
provide an update to the board on the accessory dwelling units zoning amendment that we had put forth um a few months back um if everyone remembers the board uh recommended to kind of hold off sending the amendment that John and I had quickly drafted um hold off on
sending it to city council until the finalized regulations from the state came out so they have come out John and I have sat down and read through them twice I believe we've gone to countless webinars
trainings um on how to understand and interpret the accessory dwelling unit portion of the new affordable homes act that the state passed in August and the conclusion that John and I have come to is that while we maybe could draft this
zoning ordinant or ordinance ourselves um just because we staff all the different boards and have a million other things going on that we are most likely going to have to hire a consultant to help us write this because there's a whole set of definitions that
the state has created for this accessory dwelling unit um ordinance um for example they use a different definition of gross floor area than is in our zoning so you know do we make a whole new section that there's definitions that are only for accessory dwelling
units or do we update our own zoning um a essentially the dimensional standards uh that we have set forth for um principal structures just would not allow an accessory dwelling unit to be built like
anywhere a detached accessory dwelling unit um so it just like we have to develop probably new dimensional standards it's just like a lot of work and we uh and and also like just today we were on one that was how do you integrate
adus in historic districts and so thinking about design standards and things like that as well uh which I'm happy that we are developing design guidelines that the you know the commission is in the process of doing that um but question for you will though if something just if we just don't have the room to build it if we don't have
the room to build it even though the state will by right allow something to be built but we don't meet the we don't meet the requirements then does it even does it even matter it doesn't need to be changed at that point
right because then we're we're potentially lobbing extra tiny little buildings onto already tight little spots that don't necessarily fit anyway so do we really have to change anything at that point we do because the the
finalized regulations that the state put out uh they they Define like what is a prohibited regulation something that you cannot put on a um Adu what is an unreasonable regulation and so essentially they say you can apply dimensional standards to an accessory
dwelling unit as long as those standards are not more restrictive than the standards you apply to the principal dwelling now so so currently like we don't we're not applying any more restrictive standards to adus but be in the uh finalized regulations there's
also a part that says an unreasonable regulation would be something that maybe does meet a municipal goal um but it is so restrictive that it completely nullifies any opportunity to develop an Adu that would not be allowed and that's kind of the current situation we aren't
applying any more restrictive dimensional regulations to adus but our dimensional regulations as they currently are are so restrictive that it completely nullifies the possibility of constructing an Adu and so we could the city could get sued like you know or be
you know decision could be appealed on that if we're already if we've already passed our threshold for building within the units that we have and adus push it even
further then I don't even understand how we could possibly be sued because we don't basically have the property to build on even even though the law in essence says it's possible you know what I mean but our Lots would not be
conforming at all well that was a question I brought up at the training that will and I went to uh week ago sday you know what happens if you you want to put a detached um of Adu and a lot and the only place that put it is in the parking and by
doing so you now make that building non-conforming and um the state was very good at giving non- answers well I I mean Chelsea is so dense as it is but I see this as potentially um beneficial because people
who have what would currently be considered non-conforming you know units in their basement or um um attic could go through the process and have get turn them into legitimate um yeah they get to
now include them right right and sometimes it's just you know you have to make a little move here move there and you can make it work right like dig the basement deeper so sud you know then you suddenly have the Headroom that would be required for it to be considered um
habitable space so that's what I would like to see is just make just relieve a little pressure from homeowners I don't think we're going to have too many situations where you can actually add a footprint its own standal on footprint I don't think that's going to you guys are
discussing though like changing our existing variances to to allow for new not not fixing nonconforming Bill existing situations but you're talking about potentially rewriting our variances so that we can then
additionally build ad buildings onto potentially the back of the building or in the backyard of another building not fixing our existing problems per se right right the thinking about the adus are only allowed by right
in districts that allow one families in it that's in this case it's R1 R2 R3 Waterfront and Waterfront Upland um I wish I had a zoning map I pointed out there most chelse section
downtown it it eliminates the downtown it eliminates um all the industrial areas area commercial areas Naval Hospital all that is eliminated uh but at the same time um the units cannot be
any more than half the size of the unit that they are uh accessory to but not more than 900 ft period 900 sare feet period of the two is larger no uh but they can be built in out buildings if there are existing garages they can be
converted or they can build on top of a garage yeah I I want to be clear like within uh an existing structure you know an Adu can be put you know if the if a garage has already been built they could build on top of it that would of course trigger some I believe some height
regulations that they would have to probably go through um I was more so saying that currently the way our dimensional standards are right now any detached Adu is like pretty much prohibited and I think that could lead to the city getting in some potential
legal trouble if someone were to come through for an Adu um challeng and and yeah and like we the boards make a decision that it's denied they could possibly challenge it because of the way that the state has finalized reg State
conflict right not really a I mean it's it's we have sorry just we're talking about just compliance in terms of like lot size new adus built in the backyards of places without them being existing structures
currently wouldn't essentially qualify because of our current zoning laws and you're talking about a high potential of somebody suing just because they would get denied automatically because they just don't meet don't meet standards and
my thought process on this is I don't know how we get sued because these these the the existing lot lines are part of our our our longstanding variances anyway for for what's possible to be built and it even complies with
their own regulations so we're not out of compliance in that circumstance well the big risk though is there's ployers out there that are going to look for lawsuits like this and a fair point that's fa well no and they'll come after cities like us that have those kinds of
even though we you know it's it's Massachusetts own issue really in creating this well you know I mean what they're saying is is that at some point you know they're going to say to cities like Chelsea you might need to look at your zoning if you've got these areas that are zoned so restrictively that
practically speaking you can't have one of these things which kind of goes to the question I have for you will and this is maybe a little bit of an aggressive move or thought but uh is a good s side step to some of this is to rezone a good chunk of the city so that R1 or the single families aren't just allowed there wouldn't that be a way to
solve a lot of this to take a good chunk of the city out of the eligible pool I think so well the question then do we want to do that because I mean that is a question yeah I mean what I'm saying though is is that an option or is that
something that's already been considered an unreasonable policy by state my guess is that the state would consider it unreasonable um um affordable adus are to choose what
does State get to choose adus are not necessarily bad it provides another housing source for people looking for housing it provides income to people oh no and I'm not arguing against the adus what I'm saying is logistically we've got a problem with terms with all these different overlays of zoning and things
like that and I'm thinking about ways that that drafting exercise might be simplified when we look at the zoning question is I mean the state only requires you to allow one accessory dwelling unit uh and and they consider that protected under the uh
state do Amendment um the city could add include more but if they do it has to be done by special permit uh so the question is do we want to include more probably we don't have the land to do that right right Nick if it were simply people turning their basements into a
unit then that could happen anywhere yeah absolutely so you know yeah but you know like the issues with the freestanding spaces and everything I think you know largely where we're probably going to end up going is relaxing the standards on some of those basement attic units and maybe allowing you know those level up constructions
like we saw proposed in here tonight for that kind of thing yeah I would think that you potentially break it into two categories right there's an accessory dwelling unit where it's all within one structure versus the kind that's going to add a separate structure and that can
be really limited because there's only so many neighborhoods that you'd even where that would be feasible to um you know there's not enough footprint to work with to make that happen yeah and and I'd also say
like it wouldn't be for for a detached Adu say in like the R1 District or something it wouldn't be relaxing the dimensional standards set forth for primary dwellings I think it it's like possibly creating a new set of dimensional standards that would
potentially allow someone to build a detached Adu um and so so I'm I'm not saying we're going to relax all our standards or anything like that and this is again more of a it's a discussion that we're trying to figure out um and just I wouldn't I don't know if
unfortunate is the right word but municipalities are an extension of the state and the states are allowed you know to have zoning because the federal government allows states to have zoning the municipalities are allowed to have zoning because the state says you are
allowed to do these things and so that's why when these state laws are that impact zoning are like you know passed municipalities can get put in this like tough position where you have particular zoning regulations that meet the needs of your community but there's
a blanket there there's a blanket uh law that says no you have to do this from the state and you know the state's saying that municipalities aren't required to develop an Adu ordinance or anything like that but if someone comes in through an Adu we have to then abide by what the state has put forth and so
to me trying to draft up a new Adu Amendment would be allowing us an opportunity to provide some control you know so adus could meet the city's goals um whereas right now we're just sort of subject to like whatever was written in the state law um if that makes sense
would Chelsea have the ability to put a um term limit on it say 15 years from now um You revisit it and decide if you want to continue to allow adus or not because if I don't think I don't believe there's there's certain things that are
like you know there's no use or occupancy restrictions uh you can't have owner occupancy requirements um they the state is really trying to allow for as many adus to be created as possible um yeah Charlie you question
no I just you know if it's a disaster I mean that's would be I'm thinking from a safety standpoint would be so utterly dense that it's just but the state would have to address that because this is the state's law that they're saying all
municipalities must abide by um and we have to try to you know massage our own zoning ordinances to accommodate that and that was my question when you were talking about with the Standalone um adus
where you know our current zoning would pretty much prohibit them is that because of the setbacks primarily would you say it's that so I mean wouldn't couldn't you then say you know
for um a standalone Adu you know that the setbacks I mean you'd have to shrink them you'd probably won't be able to make side setbacks I me you know you have lots that are small as 2,000 square
F feet so other than interior uh construction exterior ones be possible you know the side dead setback in most of our our our residential districts is one quarter of the the height of the building well one
in the case of the uh gville that quarter is 6 feet these structures may need to be closer than six feet in which case if they are we may need to develop guidelines design guidelines to address that for example if you're you just say
sorry you don't meet the don't meet the requirements but you do meet the requirements to add on to your building a little bit but not a separate entity like when we did ask the state some of the non-an one of the things they did they did agree that there may be some
instances where you can't develop a an an exterior one I think one of the ways to um avoid getting into too much trouble would be the per permeability requirement right so that would help limit the amount of um footprint that
happens on a site if we break down the open space requirement with the um you know permeable surface depends how you word it because under the Dover Amendment all you can address is off street parking and dimensional
regulations and even then um you can't require any parking if they are within a half a mile of a bus station and they now include bus stops as bus stations so but then it creates a additional I mean we're into something
that's going to get really interesting in the city of Chelsea which is so they are not required to to offer any parking relief but if we if the city builds and allows a lot of adus now we have even more parking issues with no way to
alleviate that and if for some reason any of that falls in the downtown then those people can't even get permits so we're we're like it's it's going to be crazy town I don't think we would be allowed to uh attach the um condition
that they can't get sticking permit sticker permit but technically no I just mean that that now we're we're putting more people oh yeah we we will need to have more parking and already streets that basically they're full to the brim um if there's a lot of in the city so we
we run into additional issues because it's not required to be off on property now it needs to be on the street we'll just have you parking situation goes up another 25% into a problem have
you had conversation I mean has anybody approached you yet about to discuss what the city is thinking in terms of Adu units I I'm thinking from either you know homeowners or developers I've been
approached by um two Property Owners the D the building inspector had said that he's been approached by about 10 so there are so homeowners are already interested in in getting on board with their yeah and and John is it
primarily just additions to their home or separate structures I I didn't personally ask because because the regulations weren't out yet y so I didn't ask y okay yeah and I do think I'll I I should send you all the
the finalized regulations just so you can take uh take a look at them uh cuz again there's just this like section like it's kind of like right at the top where you know even if you have regulations that meet the city's goals and are meet a public good and all these
things but they completely nullify the development of natu they could be considered unreasonable which is why I think John and I are like ju just want you know possibly having a different set of dimensional standards for detached adus not like you know uh interior adus
uh we did meet with like the city solicitor's office and a member from the uh istd Department um just to kind of try and get on the same page because we understand that we just don't have our own ordinance right now um and uh you know if someone wanted
to put an Adu within their if they a pre-existing non-conforming structure and say they wanted to turn their attic into an Adu um we can't stop them because the existing structure is not conforming um and if they wanted to
say like say the attic is like a pitched roof and they want to just flatten it out that's fine that's not a an addition or like more construction that's more of an interior kind of change um but if they wanted to add a like say they have a two-story house and they wanted to add
a third story that would then trigger dimensional regulations such as like the height um that they would probably I think would have to go before the board or some sort of board still correct me if I'm wrong John but um so
yeah guess I'm why would it be classified as an Adu rather than an additional unit I mean I guess if if the the the state the definition for a protected use Adu is an
ex an a dwelling unit I don't even I think they put accessory dwelling unit but it's a a dwelling unit that is half the size of the principal dwelling or 900 ft whichever is smaller so we should also probably impose
restrictions if it's in a flood plane like especially if it's in a pace because that could be quite an issue and so that is something that is allowable like in historic districts you can put forth more restrictive design standards than you do for the principal dwelling if it's in a flood plane you
can put more restrictive regulations on them than you do the principal dwelling um and I think in the flood plane I think you're allowed to they aren't allowed by right I think you can do it by a special permit um again correct me if I'm wrong John this
is something that's it's just been this ongoing conversation and we've had a million trainings that sometimes feel like they all say the same thing but then maybe one or two things come up and you're like oh that's kind of new um but essentially it's this like ongoing conversation I feel like and uh I I'll
send you I'll send everyone the the finalized regulations um definitely encourage you all to like take a look at it the state has created a sort of model bylaw which is very I would say very basic you know
um and I can send that to everyone as well uh and just if you have comments or questions please send them over um and you know if we find it necessary we could have this another point on the agenda next month just to continue to
talk about this as everyone has taken a look at the the finalized regulations and and model bylaw that the state has put together um but I'll definitely do those two things so and just given the time I know it's a15 but if I guess any other questions or
comments just one very quick last one in order to ask for an AUD do you have to be uh living residing in the in the primary residence the person who's applying for an adud uh no there's no owner occupancy
restrictions that we can put on you can't require that a relative is of the principal a relative of the person who's living in the principal dwelling has to live in the ad you can't do that does the the person applying for the AUD in the principal building do they have to
be an owner yes John your mic and reside there John or or the application has to have their signature on it so we we could technically have landlords building auds and not living
in the primary building yes all over the city okay that's most definitely okay might be something to consider owner occupied buildings which is much better for a community you know
rather than unfortunately we just can't we can't do that that's the thing um but yes so it's a very very tricky subject uh there's a lot in there um so again I'll send everyone those documents definitely take
a look at it and maybe we can revisit this at the next meeting I will make a motion to adjourn and I fav e