josh are you there josh can you hear me josh can Okay I think you can hear me okay sure you can hear me okay good i can't hear anything yet so okay i think I see you're you're holding the finger sign for one minute
okay yeah I can't hear anything yet okay everything's good to go hello Lou just want to check uh Lou can you see Can you hear us yes I can uh uh I can hear you yep i can see we can see and hear you
great and I can see in the picture I can see um uh Jim Sears do we have the other members in attendance um Mike Toulus is here and Tim Spittle is here jean Hernett is not here but we I She indicated that she would not be
here so that's okay oh she indicated that she would not be here today that's right okay very good was um uh is um uh is Tim Spiddle willing to be acting clerk for today yes
yes he is yes okay perfect very good oh my um Lou if you're all set um we we can we can start the meeting if you're if you're want to or you're if you'd like we every the technology is all set we're
all set the public's all set we're good to go perfect okay why don't why don't we begin then okay very good okay we're beginning today's um uh this evening's public meeting of the Danvers
Planning Board uh and the location is at the TUMI room at Danver's Town Hall 1 Silvin Street Danvers uh April 22nd 2025 7 p.m meeting it's currently 7:03 um my name is Lewis George i'm the chair i'm
actually participating remotely today so thank you very much for the members for uh uh I'm participating remotely for this meeting today and so um uh I noticed that in terms of in attendance today our clerk Jean Hartnett is not in
uh will not be present at the meeting this evening uh but I'm it's my understanding that our member Tim Spiddle is here and he'll be serving as acting clerk for today's meeting uh Mike Dulis is present today as well as Jim Sears and Josh Morris with the town of
Danvers principal planner is present as well uh and so because uh one of the uh one of our members today myself is participating remotely we will need to have all of our votes um done by a roll call vote so So why don't we begin with
our first agenda item uh it is one Tras Lane it's a full release of Covenant it's a request for a full release of a covenant established on August 28th 1972 which is associated with the definitive subdivision plan entitled proposed
access to Folly Hill Development Danvers Massachusetts and dated June 2nd 1972 and also known as Tras Lane Danvers Mass and so uh Josh it's my understanding here from looking at the agenda that the
applicant has requested a continuence to our next planning board meeting on May 13th 2025 is that uh Can you give any updates on sort of where we where we are with that i know that at our last meeting there was some still working out some engineering issues yep we're just uh we're just awaiting um we're just
waiting some correspondence from the uh development team for the town to review and um in in an email they mentioned that we the town should be receiving um a letter and email regarding this matter in the next week or so so and then so
then they asked a continuence to our next meeting on May uh May 13th 2025 so Okay got it okay so it looks like then so so so hopefully we should be I know this has been this has
been continued several times so it looks like we should have some some resolution um uh at least you know something in hand by uh by our next meeting that's the goal yep okay sounds good very good so So you'll
need from us a um you'll need from us a motion uh to continue that's right okay um can I ask for a um can I entertain a motion um to continue this um Tim can you uh could you do that as clerk yep
motion to continue the discussion on TRA Tras Lane full release of Covenant until our May 13 2025 planning board meeting second okay very good very good second motion's been made by Tim second by Jim thank you um any discussion on the
motion okay hearing none uh all those in favor and I'm going to ask for a roll call vote please indicate um uh your vote um Tim Spiddle I uh Mike Dulis I
jim Sears I and I um Lou George say I to it so the motion has um a motion has passed okay okay so we'll be continuing that to our next um uh to our next meeting of May
13th okay our next agenda item then uh agenda item two is a public hearing of 180 uh Endicott Street it's a request for a special permit submitted by Jeff Maguire for property at 180 Endicott
Street map 63 lot 11 pursuant to section 30.5 and table one table of allowable uses quote recreation/entertainment/sports facility indoor end quote of the zoning bylaw said property is in the commercial 3C3
zoning district the applicant is proposing to utilize the existing building for indoor pickle ball so is there a um uh is the applicant present today and if they can uh they can begin and uh uh identify themsel and you can
begin the presentation and so just for your aware we'll have the um uh we'll have the applicant go and present then we'll take uh entertain questions from uh members of the board this is a public hearing so we'll entertain any public questions or comments and then we'll be
back to the uh back to the board so is the applicant present and would like to um uh introduce themselves yeah yes and they are at the podium and they will do so um shortly thank you very much take it away yes so James Maguire here Jeff is on the uh web
call but uh we're brothers partners and uh really excited about the Pickler facility pickle ball indoor pickle ball space uh we just opened one uh 30 minutes away in Burlington and we're really excited about um revitalizing the
Bed Bath and Beyond really getting that space back vibrant bringing pickle ball indoors so that we can get the sound down we know that that's been a concern around multiple towns and cities um but you can see here on the plans just kind of revitalizing that i know we have Sean
our architect on the call as well so he would be uh great to answer any um architectural questions but basically we've got a um 11 court facility that's indoor i think you guys have um some of the mockup there or or you may not we
can get that to you if you have it yep we have it i'll put it up okay yep that's exactly it there so we've got um I believe 11 courts there um just kind of all laid out there in the green we've got some lounging kind
of space um entrance exit uh a pro shop area where people can purchase pickle ball apparel product um just light snacks bottled beverages there's going to be no um no cooking food or anything
like that in the facility um it's really a dedicated space for you know folks who are interested in the game folks who are beginners who are kind of catching on to the pickle ball trend um and those who are you know very competitive um in that
sport and it's something that you know New England needs um towns and cities you know need to put it in and I think there's probably a few courts around the area we're talking with Bill over here he's aware of some uh in the area as well but um yeah happy to answer any
questions that you guys have about the the operations hours things like that okay um be before we go into go into questions um if um uh if you don't mind briefly just sort of you know covering a you know just just a little bit sort of
the operations and hours and then also the in terms of um if you're uh since your architect's on the call if they can actually go and um and provide some um uh some comment as well with respect to the u the architectural aspects
sure yeah so uh hours of operations and then Sean I'll turn it over to you if you're on there but um hours of operations are going to be 6:00 a.m to 11:00 p.m um and we'll be open 7 days a week all throughout the year so we'll be
wintertime will be summertime um people like to get outside from what we've seen in the data that the company has as a as a corporation um a lot of people still play indoors throughout the summertime at uh these types of facilities so you
know we're providing 72 73°ree air conditioned facilities in the summer uh and then we're providing heated facilities obviously in the wintertime so that people can still exercise play and um you know enjoy the game as far as
like staffing operations you know there'll be a general manager that will be on site um and then assistant manager potentially that will be on site you know every day of the week we'll have maybe 20 to 25 um part-time and maybe some full-time staff um that'll be
managing that facility u kind of around the clock if you will so uh right now we're getting great feedback from uh Maine where we opened a facility right outside of Portland and great feedback from the community in uh Burlington as well so and then Sean if you um you know
if there's anything you need to maybe just add architectural wise um that would be that'd be great sure sure not a problem uh thank you uh everyone for letting us uh be a part of this uh this meeting today and uh looking
again like James said we're really looking forward to bringing uh some excitement back to the building uh as for the plan the plan that Josh is showing right now is actually just a similar plan we didn't have a final concept at the time of submission but I did just submit a a plan to Josh right
now that is our final concept and I and if I can share the screen I can pull it up uh if allowed uh or or it should be in your inbox um I can make you a presenter if that would I could hold on one moment sure um I just made you a presenter Sean so
if you want to share your screen I think that's possible sure here we go all right so it should pop up right now uh as you can see uh James had mentioned we have uh 11 courts with one uh kind of practice training court uh up here at
the main entry which faces Bendicott um it's the same Bed Bath and Beyond entry um architecturally on the exterior of the building we're only just kind of patching and and repainting the signage area from the old Bed Bath and Beyond um sign uh we're not looking to do any
other exterior improvements um or or any site work uh that's all going to be kind of left as is uh as part of whatever the um the landlord team has planned down the line uh on the interior uh we'll be
gutting uh the existing space for Bed Bath and Beyond and and laying out laying out the the courts uh we've worked with the Pickler franchise architect uh designer uh as a team uh and uh kind of reusing the same
electrical service reusing the same sanitary service and reusing the same uh water service so all the utilities who will remain unchanged as they enter the building and we'll modify once they get into the building for our new our new layout um the Pickler as a brand as a
whole typically you come into the space you know there's a greeting counter you come in you check in um there's a few display uh opportunities uh opport um sales opportunities to buy paddles buy some gear some swag and u and then then
you enter into the court space um depending upon the program function of the day you might be assigned to a court or you might have open play uh going to a series of courts wherever um whatever's up next uh there's a couple there's a community room the community room is
kind of like a closed closed space it offers opportunities to rent out the space if you wanted to have a private party or host a meeting um you know sometimes we pickler and and James and his team see corporate events uh where a company may come in and rent out a few
courts have a spot to bring in food that's what the community room is for is to gather uh and then we have uh kind of like a universal locker area where people can uh secure their belongings there's shower and changing rooms and then of course the um the restrooms for
the facility uh there's multiple areas throughout the the facilities for people to kind of hang out talk and socialize in between games and um yeah it's really uh you know pickle ball is a community event out in in all our communities right now in the public parks and and it
is pretty much the same thing here on the indoor aspect where we're trying you know really trying to create the public community to come inside in the winter be able to play sometimes it gets too hot in the summer come on in we're you know we're an air conditioned facility and uh it's also always tough in the
parks uh to schedule play and know when someone else is going to be uh having a court sometimes you get uh some battles and there won't be any battles uh here for the court because it's a whole reservation uh system but um yeah as James said you know very excited to uh
have the opportunity to bring this to Dan sounds good thank you um let's see just before I um uh uh is it James did you have anything further to add at all no does anybody play pickle ball anybody we
got one we got two in the crowd okay three okay yeah we're excited no we're excited about it we're just you know we want to get it we want to get people excited and um just encourage the growth of the sport truly um you know in the in the Danvers and and New England area
we're born and raised Jeff and I in New England so we're not outsiders we're locals and we want to grow the sport here in New England so yeah great okay well one one quick question I want to ask you just a clarifying question before I I turn it over to the board for questions um I think you mentioned the
hours from 6:00 a.m to 11 but I noticed in the the application materials it said 6:00 a.m to 12 midnight so I just wanted to make sure what what was being sought yeah so it's 6 to 11 corporate change so it's corporate franchise so they tend to
change some of their timing um so it did change um within the last month or two to 11 p.m so it would be just 11:00 we wouldn't be open till midnight okay very good okay all right sounds good um thanks for the
presentation i'm going to turn it over now to the members of the board for any any questions that uh that they may have let me uh turn things over for questions um Mike Dulbas no questions thanks for the presentation exciting
okay sounds good um uh Tim Spiddle likewise no questions seems like an exciting project so thanks absolutely okay uh Jim Sears I just had a few questions um are there going to be curtains separating the courts no curtains no so there'll be black walls
all the way around and on the ceiling uh but there won't be curtains there'll be 4 foot high fencing around every single court okay so the balls won't be going into the court it's a big problem we've seen yeah what's the What's the fencing made out of
um so it's commercial grade and and Sean you may know this better than I do but it's a commercial g grade um like PVC coated so it's going to be a black fencing and then a steel top rail so okay but it's all going to be commercial grade they used to you they tried
residential back in the day when they first started pickler it just wasn't holding up wasn't great so they changed that maybe two years ago to a commercial grade fencing and um what about trash where's the trash
going on the facility where where's your trash yeah so we'll have receptacles all throughout there'll probably be eight to 10 receptacles inside the facility and then as far as um a major 9 10 yard it'll be wherever the landlord um calls
do you have a is there a spot on the site do you have a s a spot that the previous used yeah I was around back this evening before I came and they had they had one there that they probably need to move so that ideally where we want it how many parking spaces do you are you
essentially leasing for this spot sean do you know that number yeah I'm pulling I'm pulling it up sorry i'm just anticipating that you do really well and combined with your other locations you perhaps have a tournament and you max
out at four people playing per C per per court plus you know five employees that's 49 spots plus people waiting people watching so I'm just wondering what your max Yeah is for parking so
Sean if you want I could take it but you could um in the documents that were submitted from the development team there yeah yeah we're looking at n Yeah go ahead John yeah Sean you you go that's fine you go i was going to say we're looking at 93 93 parking spaces
required um Okay for the Pickler space and then um you know on site there's 261 um you know between the pickler and the adjacent retail spaces there's 150 spaces required by the co by the zoning code and with 261 provided we are you
know there's there's certainly plenty of parking so if we do exceed like you're saying if there's a tournament or something like that there is certainly sufficient parking to um to accommodate and maybe just to add to that if I can We normally have staff pack uh park
around the side or the back of whatever building we're in they come through the back use a little buzzer we just like to make sure guests and members kind of have that front row spot so and just as a practical do you have like um a AED on
site and medical devices because I can imagine with a lot of people and older folks playing yeah that's a great point so so with pickle ball obviously there's potential for injury right just like any sport so we've got dedicated stretching areas with foam rollers stretching mats
bands all of our instructors are CPR and AED certified right um and then all of our staff will go through a first aid um uh course as well so it's definitely a a point of I don't want to say contention but it's a point that we are well aware of and we want to make sure that our
staff is trained up to that so we will have an AED on site very readily available big sign they'll all be trained on it great awesome well it sounds like a great concept will you be selling Halloween costumes in October
only if they have pickle ball involved cuz I don't know where I'm going to go now that's a good idea Jim let's talk offline okay all right that's it for me uh best of luck looks like a great great idea jim you stole my thunder there with that
question that's a good one sorry no the um just a couple of questions in terms of the Yeah thanks for thanks for that question in terms of the AED and uh that's definitely good to know um in terms of the uh you know in terms of
parking sort of picking up on the question before though there's no impediment I guess I I know that you have that spaces are you have spaces for the for the surrounding tenants there's no impediment from you using other parking within the whole lot would that be correct if you had the case of a per
a tournament or is there a certain amount that's design that will be designated to the uh to the pickler yeah not not that I'm aware of and Sean maybe you could comment on that but not that I'm aware of designationwise as far as the landlord's concerned yeah no there's no no
designations i I um I forget what is it AutoZone yeah you know their their parking use is vary just you know I was only on site the one time and but I you know we all have auto zones in all of our respective neighborhoods I'm sure and you know we
get 10 you know 10 cars at at their bus if time so but there is no designations but there's just so much abundance of parking that even if they were at full capacity there there'd still be plenty okay got it okay that sounds good in terms of the um uh just in terms of your
sort of you know model I know you talked about sort of from a community perspective are you would you be providing like accessibility for so if someone wanted to you know uh like walk on or make an make you know make an appointment is there is it more of a membership model how would your how does
your uh are you going to be limited to a certain number of memberships how does that work in terms of those who might you know who who want to participate yeah so it's a great question and there's A there's a few um items to that but just boiling it down so yes communitywise one of the big
things we do is we offer free lessons nobody has to pay for it we offer them typically a couple times a week and that's available on our app um anybody can book that come down learn how to play from one of our um certified instructors so that's awesome for us to
just introduce people to the game whether they want to come play at the pickler or they go out to the local court and and play with people and socialize there so that's the first aspect is we want to be in the community and offer that free service the second thing is we are a membership-based model so it's a subscription model um you know
no monthly com or um no yearly commitment no cancellation commitment none of that BS it's just monthtomonth if you want to cancel you can so there's that aspect and then you don't even have to be a member you can come in and rent a court with your friends your family um as a non-member um you'll just pay for
each use is really kind of how it goes okay so that sounds that's that's good to know in terms of the um uh in terms of you said the you know the refreshment stand and such do you do you anticipate is this a uh I think you said it
currently you're not looking at any sort of you know really a meal service and such so it's more snacks you're not looking at at at alcoholic beverages any of that sort of thing yeah so right now we're just using um Cisco they're providing some partnership beverages from corporate that they require us to
have so we're offering that um as of right now alcohol hasn't come up we haven't really talked about that internally we do have a liquor license in Maine um and there's no issues there with that but that just that hasn't really come up to topic yet so it's not something we need to do it's just the
corporate team allows it if the town or city allows it and we want to do it but uh it's just not a topic that we've brought up we're not really there to drink we're there to play pickle ball so Sure got it yep uh and in terms of the hours again you said it it was it was
from um you know 6:00 a.m to 11 are what you would have your anticipated hours um as as opposed to from you know 6:00 a.m to midnight and I guess this is a question for for for Josh do you have um is there any because the application
originally was for 6 a.m to midnight do we need to have a condition on the special permit for the hours no I don't think that's necessary i think they're just amending you know they're amending the narrative of the application so um I there's nothing I think that the
applicant needs to do to change their hours of operation you know if they change you know if they had originally come in at 8 you know once this is approved and they move they wanted to do it to 9 they wouldn't have to come back to the board so it's that same situation okay got it
okay okay but I guess the question I have though is if let's say down the road we there's a there's a change to um they they want to go till midnight do we need would they would they need to to seek an amendment or because they originally originally requested through midnight they're covered or because
they've amended today on in essence on the floor to 11:00 that's what we're that's what we're we're deciding tonight um how I view this is they weren't they weren't requesting or asking a time of operation they were simply pro providing the information there it wasn't like
they were asking for you know the board to weigh in on the hours they were just providing information so I don't think that's something that the board needs to needs to um modify or change or it's there's nothing in the decision regarding hours of operation
mhm okay okay so let's see if there's anything else I um I have i don't think I have any any further um Yeah I don't think I have any further questions i think Yeah I think it's a it's a um uh you know I think it's a nice uh nice
plan i think it's going to be um it seems like it'll be a uh you know a a nice um addition to the community i do like the the community aspect of it as well and um and and offering offering free lessons as well so that's a that's a good uh that's certainly a good thing
um uh any other questions from members of the board before I um before I turn it over to any members of the audience who have questions lou I just have one quick question it might be for Josh more so but wasn't this parking lot going to get all redone due to the other project has that already been finished or still
it's um as it's it's being constructed as we speak right now the parking lot is So this will be done for them to be able to build out their space yes okay cool and then just curious how long's construction time and when do you plan to start that's a great question so we plan to start as soon as
we can as soon as we get this process moving yeah Sean uh should have plans done in the next two to three weeks hopefully and then um we're sending that out to bid pretty quick so ideally we start construction in the next month and
a half two months if we can um and we're looking at like a threemonth build time three to four month build time so we're hoping for fall or so yeah the fall early fall sure thank you appreciate it okay yeah um and just picking up on that last that that last point that that Mike
raised in terms of construction and sort of construction sequencing so how um in terms of the way construction is currently going in with respect to the parking lot will things be you know is it you know will it be such so that it'll be a relatively seamless transition or will there be a point when
you know when the pickle ball you know um location is open but you're but there's still but parking lots still under construction um it is my understanding that the um the parking lot construction should uh be complete by mid miday to late May at
the latest so it appears that um the uh the interior fit up would be um starting um after the um the even the construction of the parking lot um should be complete so um it it does not appear that there will be any kind of
scheduling conflicts there okay all right sound sounds good all right very good um any other further questions by members of the board okay well hearing none it's this is a public hearing so if there's any uh any members of the public who have
questions for the applicant or um or comments they can uh um uh they can address them now and please make sure to address any questions or comments to the chair mr barre if you would mind just go to the podium no do you have a comment
and please make sure to introduce yourself for the record bill Brad Street town meeting member precinct one uh ideal business year round what more could the town or the business ask
for i'm not a member of the board if I were it's an okay okay thank Thank you folks thank you Mr bradstre very good any other um any other questions from um uh from members of the
public josh anything it does it does not appear so Oh sorry there's Yep there's one i'm sorry yep go to the podium please sure please go ahead and introduce yourself and ask your question thank you linda Pulcari Pine Street i'm not familiar with uh pickle ball but I was just curious as to what's right next
door as the business um because I've heard that it's loud I guess so I was just concerned if there was something already present next to the building that you're building in thanks very much for the question to the applicant if you just if you just
comment on on the noise item yeah that's a great question so um one of the big things with the Pickler and pickle ball in general is is sound and so one of the things the Pickler has done is they've designed um a sound baffling system and
so some of our facilities utilize that um sound dampening noise and Sean could maybe um touch on the CMU walls but typically CMU walls are very dense and keep sound in versus you know letting it
out of the facility so that's a concern that some landlords have had with us we've worked through that with them on on some of the other sites that we have leases on um and and now the two that we have open we haven't had any issues with the uh the ice palace or we're right up
against a coals in Maine and there's been no no challenges with sound to this point so yeah it's a good question can I u uh can I actually just ask you know since um uh since you mentioned about the architect could the architect sort of chime in could Sean chime in on that
just because I know and also could you define CMU and just kind of give a little explanation in terms of what you're planning in this particular location yeah sure absolutely not a problem again great question great points these are certainly things that have come up it's
also part of the reason why uh indoor pickle ball is is um popular is because it takes the sounds out of the public parks and uh your local neighborhoods at 6:00 in the morning of uh you know uh people playing pickle ball while you're just waking up or your kids are still
asleep so um CMU is a concrete masonry unit it's a standard concrete block um uh very uh you know these these concrete blocks range from 8 to 12 inches thick on this building depending upon the wall and uh they're very dense and very good
at absorbing uh high frequency sound transmission so yeah you you can stand outside and um you you won't hear a thing mhm especially you know especially with any traffic noise but the adjacent tent they won't hear anything because there's a con there's a CMU wall that
separates them good okay great thank you very much for for answering that and thank you for that for that question as well that was a good um uh that definitely is is we want to be be mindful of the of the neighbors for sure so um um very good any other questions
from members of the public uh it does appear so Lou that um there are no public comments at this time okay very good i'm going to then come back to the um come back to the board any further um any further comments or
question by members of the board nope okay hearing none I'd like to entertain a um a motion to motion to close the public hearing i make a motion to close the public hearing
okay motion's been made by uh Tim to close the public hearing is there a second on that second okay second by Mike Doulis okay we'll do a roll call uh vote on that um uh Tim
Spiddle I uh Mike Doulus I tim Sears I and Lou George I say I um very good i motioned the public hearing is closed and so now we'll go to the um to the main motion we do have a I believe you
all have a um uh the a decision uh a site plan a rather a special permit decision here and um can I ask um uh Tim Spill as acting clerk to uh to read the uh to read the
motion sure grant of special permit for 180 street date of application March 12th 2025 date of hearing April 22nd 2025 date of decision April 22nd 2025 this is to certify that at a meeting of the Danvers Planning Board held on April
22nd 2025 having been requested under section 30.5 and table 1 table of allowable uses of the zoning bylaw for property located at 180 Endicott Street Assessor's Map 63 lot 11 it was voted to approve the request submitted by Jeff
Maguire for a special permit to allow quote recreation entertainment/sports facility indoor end quote as shown on the following plans site plan entitled quote 152 Endicott Street end quote originally prepared by Allen and Major
Associates Incorporated Redline by C2 Design Group dated April 11th 2025 consisting of three sheets existing site plan entitled quote 180/82 Endicott Street end quote and redlinined by C2
Design Group dated February 26 2025 consisting of one sheet floor plan entitled quote the Pickler end quote prepared by C2 Design Group dated to February 26 2025 consisting of two sheets the planning board grants a
special permit pursuant to section 30.5 of the zoning bylaw quote required findings for issuance of special permits end quote and finds all of the following criteria have been satisfied one social economic or community needs which are served by the proposal two traffic flow
and safety including parking and loading three adequacy of utilities and other public services four compatibility typo with size scale and design of other structures in the neighborhood five impacts on the natural environment and
six potential fiscal impact including impact on town services tax base and employment conditions of approval the project is subject to the following conditions one prior to issuance of a building permit this special permit decision shall be recorded at the
Southern Essex Registry of Deeds two the applicant shall adhere to all the conditions and comments in the Danvers Engineering Division memorandum dated April 16 2025 three if there are any changes to the approved plans the use or the conditions
on premises planning staff will review if deemed a major change by staff the applicant will have to apply for a modification to application to the special permit any approval of this special permit shall lapse within 3 years from the grant thereof if construction has not begun by such date
lewis George chair great thank you very much a motion has been made uh is there a second on the special permit decision second second was that um was that Jim Sears or Mike yes jim thank you Jim okay second
by Jim Sears let's do a roll call uh vote um Tim Spiddle I mike Doulis i jim Sears I and Lou George I so the motion um
special permit uh passes so good luck we got some enthusias enthusiasm here awesome very good thank you thanks Josh okay very good okay so let's um so our next agenda item here so this is a uh
and we uh mentioned this I think at our our previous meeting so this is a discussion about citizens petitions for the annual town meeting on May 19th 2025 um in your packet here there are um uh in your packet there are three um uh
three articles there's article uh you know 36 with respect to um repeal of zoning uh article 37 uh dealing with MBTA zoning and article 38 um and so
this is dealing again dealing with MBTA um zoning and so these are also in the warrant that went before the select board uh and I know as citizens petitions these are going um they are going to be um heard at finance
committee and then ultimately on the floor at um at town meeting so we want to have a discussion um uh about it and my understanding is just to give us a little bit of a um you know as a in terms of where we're going here and Josh
you can correct me here i think you're um uh could you give a little explanation in terms of what you what is needed from the planning board today because I know this is a discussion this is not a public hearing um and so uh so we wanted to have a have a discussion of
it if um you if members of the public are here to discuss this with in as the as the chair I'll have discretion to allow some any sort of public comment but this is not a public hearing so um Josh could you give a little bit of a of a background where we are here yeah sure
so um yeah so there's three citizens petitions that um were submitted to the clerk's office related to planning and zoning matters um they are currently on the warrant and in consultation with town council and
our office the planning office we just thought as staff that it would be appropriate for um the planning board to have a discussion on the citizens petitions and then to um make you know a favorable or an unfavorable kind of you
know uh vote on each individual um each individual citizens petition because it is going to town meeting so you know at town meeting when there you know if someone a member a town meeting member asked you know what was the vote of the planning board or what is the feelings of the pling board on these petitions
that that would be public information you know that would be helpful um for town meeting to make an informed decision on the citizens petitions so um that's uh why we um they were on the agenda and um I think that's all that's
all I had on that matter okay very good so I think it makes sense sort of to walk through I guess each of the each of the three so we begin with the first one yeah that'd be great okay yeah so the first one here this is um
this was article going to be article 36 of town meeting um so this was uh submitted I believe by Mark Zubric and so just in terms of seeing here I believe this the language here reading to see if town meeting will vote to direct the town to prepare the necessary
articles and meet all other requirements to repeal zoning changes adopted to comply with the MBTA mandate or take any other action um thereon and on the explanation it says this petition seeks to return our community to the traditional zoning and character of our
town though that's what the that's the first um petition article 36 so um so let's sort of let's sort of talk it talk it through in terms of the members of the um uh members of the board so um in
terms of beginning the conversation does anyone you know I could begin with um uh you know uh Jim I know you have the longest history in terms of serving on the board so I wasn't sure did um uh do you want to tee up the discussion or how
do you we want to do this um that's right after sitting probably through 30 meetings on these subjects uh I'm sure as hell not going to vote to repeal them um so M uh I think the town has analyzed it and the town has thought
it out and through the direction of the former um town manager and selectman uh they promoted it and also advised us to move forward with it and we had essentially done the zoning prior to the
really required action by um the state um so as you know we just tweaked it enough at at the town meetings and other than maybe the 10 people that are signing this petition I think um you
know a super majority if not a full majority of the town meeting members have voted for this uh I don't really I can't remember if there was any people that voted against it so to try to vote against it now would makes no sense to me for these three articles so that's my
opinion okay thank you Jim um what about um uh Mike Tulis any um uh comments with respect to this um I guess I had a question more so maybe for Josh maybe someone on the board can answer but there was some comments about the
MBT zoning and then one of the comments and maybe it's in a different petition but I know they're all the same topic so maybe I'm misststepping but it talked about the the the new building on the corner of like the new development building on the corner of Maple there
but that was not due to MBTA zoning so is that just incorrect information that we're sharing or I don't know if it's in I don't know if it's incorrect but but it's not due to MBTA zoning correct correct yeah that's that's accurate right yep the 40 yard
the zoning I mean not to get into the weeds but the the zoning that actually allowed that Maple Square project I believe that's what it's being alluded to here was actually zoning that was um approved at town meeting and it's a 40R in December of 2017 right so again I
don't know if this is relevant or not but it seems odd that we have a petition that has incorrect information does that information not have to get checked by someone before it is um I'm not sure that piece you know the whole process but this petition it's
stamped by the town clerk and then it's added to My concern is that you're just spreading false information that people are then saying "Oh that building got built due to this MBTA zoning i don't like MBTA zoning." And then really it has nothing to do with MBTA zoning so that's kind of concerning to me but I don't know if anyone else's thought
process on that i just I I know a lot of people out there would read this and say "Oh that building got built because of MBTA zoning i'm against MBT zoning because I don't like that building when they're completely unrelated to each other." So I don't know that's one concern and I apologize if that's not from this one i know I read all three of
them and they're all kind of similar so yeah they are very I mean two of them seem to be copy and pasted from each other so yeah and and and and Mike in terms of just to clarify that and I and Jim touched upon all all three but the um but yeah this was the language about
the was actually in in article 37 sorry yeah and so yeah 37 just to have the language here says to uh vote to have the the Danver's planning department discuss and incorporate zoning bylaw updates to specifically address the overdevelopment created by the MBTA
zoning requirements of increased unit density and decreased parking requirements during their 2526 normal zoning review and update public meetings and the and the explanation states in part the MBTA zoning updates allow 14/16-24 units per acre with less
parking requirements this zoning is exemplified by the four-story complex at the corner of Hobart and Maple Streets right they would allow up to 36 units per acre on High Street from downtown Danvers to Route 128 yeah that's incorrect obviously and then I has there been anything that's been there's
nothing that's been built yet due to MBTA zoning right it's we've had things that have gone through approvals but nothing's been actually built right so to say it's overdevelopment is an incorrect statement is that true josh question i mean in terms of construction
um yeah I mean um the Maple Square project is the only mixeduse project that's been been built since and then did they I know the other that was based on an overlay in 2017 wasn't it wasn't that that based on original 40 that was the 40R and I know some of
the other ones we've looked at lately have been the Damverse hardware one the old Murphy's free market and then obviously the one we did the other day near the Verizon building correct are any of those MBTA zoning associated or are those all special permits so they're not Well those were all So what kind of
what kind of gets kind of morphed but were those approved were those allowed due to the change in the MBT zoning or were those allowed without the change the the downtown zoning was February of fe February 10th 2020 yep
and when we were in order to comply with the MBTA zoning we had to tweak the density the density um okay um table um but I don't believe that and even that
the 61 high street project that was approved recently or the last meeting they didn't even go they didn't even go ask for a special permit for the density right so then the other projects um that you referred to at the Denver Hardware
and at 17 Elm they um they were approved under the downtown zoning but I don't believe that any tweaks in the in the table allowed them to have they they would have
whether the MBT whether the MBTA regulations were in place or not I believe that all of those projects from the town of Danver zoning all those projects would have been you know been allowed to be uh you know uh applied for and then approved by the planning board okay so I I don't know if I'm going down a rabbit hole if it
matters or not but I just think that the information should probably be correct in the petitions to not falsify information about things that aren't true so that's my comment I guess really but other than that no other comments are we going to hear from anybody on
these or No okay this is this is a this is a discussion so we're having a discussion amongst the board it's not it's not a public hearing so this is not so we can certainly but if there are members of the public who do wish to to address this I'd be willing to to accept some limited public comment with respect
to that you know because we are discussing it right what people have to say but are they asking us to pass on a recommendation i guess we as staff are we're just we'd like we'd like on for the record through town council yeah yeah we would like the
board to to you know weigh in or make an official Yeah typically that's what we would do right prior to a town meeting right is these aren't zoning these aren't zoning uh amendments they're simply well at least the first two are resolutions but Mhm yep
and then the um and just so I can I have it as well in terms of the um the last item as well you know because I know it was touched upon was a uh this is article 38 which is MBTA zoning um it was submitted by Jim Morose and this was
to see if the town will vote to resend the 3A MBTA zoning changes made by prior approved warrant articles and this includes warrant articles 8 and nine of the February 5th 2024 special town meeting warrant articles 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 of the November 15th 2021 special town meeting and then warrant article 5 of the February 10th 2020 special town meeting so this is a a a full repeal but it's my understanding that uh and Josh is in the truth through town council and
I think even the the the proponents of this were not um uh understand that this is in order to do this sort of this full recision they would need to go through a much you know lengthier process in terms that they would have to go through the public hearing process like we would for any other zoning article yeah that's
correct um you know 38 is 38's the closest one of the three to to kind of what I would call a standard or typical like zoning amendment and because no uh no legal ad you know was sent to the
paper or you know sent to the surrounding towns and the our board never had a public hearing on it it's officially because the the public pro because the le the the process the procedural process didn't um properly
occur that that officially can't can't happen be because of that the the process never happened the the process never happened so so it won't even make the warrant it's on the warrant but there's essentially nothing that it can't but it may not make the warrant the
final version is what you're saying because it's not legally It's not legally um presented sure yeah right so although it's my understanding through Yeah go ahead Jim i'm sorry but but that happens you know where often times where we have articles and they never make it
right either at this level or at selectman level mhm yes and and just in terms of timing the um I believe that the articles 36 and 37 were filed with the town clerk on March 21st which was the last day prior
to the closing of the of the warrant and article 38 was submitted on March the 19th ying that last just kind of under the wire okay um uh Tim I think we've we've already I've talked to we've you asked
Jim and Mike in terms of their thoughts tim do you have any um any thoughts in terms of these um these articles yeah I have a lot of thoughts and I unfortunately prepared a little bit too much for what this is because no one's
here who actually submitted these um but I'm not going to let good work go to waste so you're going to hear a few too many thoughts from me so go ahead i was actually quite excited to see a citizens petition because I think that's a really awesome way for sort of citizens to participate you know that's democracy
right it's this is exciting at the same time the entire process that put these zoning bylaws into place was also extremely thorough and democratic years of planning broad public input approved by a supermajority multiple times in
town meeting so the bar is very very high to say I want to rescend all of that because I don't like it so if we're going to revisit settled law I think we need to hear what went wrong or what's changed and hear a very viable alternative instead of handwritten notes
in one paragraph that have falsehoods in them um I also think that we've heard these same people and these same arguments multiple times and it it sometimes feels a little dis sort of not satisfactory to me when we hear comments from the public and we don't get to sort of like say
here's what I think about what you say then we just go and vote and so maybe you don't feel like you're heard so I thought it might be helpful to explain to all the people who submitted petitions here today um who who couldn't be bothered to show up uh that like what are the guiding principles I see about
how we make decisions about density in particular the the planning board mandate quoting from the bylaws is quote identify and secure for present and future residents the beneficial impacts of growth and development and avoiding the negative impacts of growth and development on the
environment and the town generally i'm no planner by training i've done tried to do my homework there are models for thinking about this which is if citizens get to vote with their feet you want to be trying to zone for the optimal population where each incremental person will bring in more
benefit or at least equal benefit than what they're going to take from the system that's pretty simple math right more tax revenue you're going to get uh more jobs more people spending money locally right you get all those benefits when people move here when you make new housing stock if you're overcrowded
they're going to cause congestion traffic your water is going to get strained right so there's a balancing act there neighborhood character is not something I think that we can sort of legislate right that is subjective that is your opinion what character do you want the town to be so I don't think
that's part of our mandate and I don't think that's sort of the best planning strategy for long-term sort of economic viability of the town is maintaining character i also believe pretty strongly in property rights and individual liberty i I think people should have the freedom to do what they want with their
land and and I think there's overreach a lot of times i told you I did my homework so I have a long way to go i've also trying to do my homework about you know what is where did zoning laws come from and there's two very interesting examples I found during my research that really exemplify the sort of two ways that I think zoning can be
used incorrectly or correctly cambridge Massachusetts was actually one of the first places to put zoning in in the early 1900s because a factory was built in a neighborhood that sounds like something we should stop right especially in the early 1900s you're going to be polluting the neighborhood zoning was also around the same time put
into place in California for the first time to zone out Chinese-owned laundry businesses because people didn't want Chinese people moving into their neighborhoods so the same tool can be used to either sort of protect people or to entrench privilege and and exclude other people
uh I think the MBTA Communities Act and a lot of the zoning that Danvers has put into place tries to balance very nicely the right type of growth because in reality there is I have found absolutely no evidence from any credible planning academic professional that says that
suburban Massachusetts and Danvers in particular is overdeveloped i've seen o overwhelming consensus that it is underdeveloped supply has not kept up with demand for housing housing prices are through the roof our population is
stagnant our school enrollment is declining um our zoning is not helping right like we're trying to adjust it to solve that problem um so yeah for all those reasons obviously I didn't support this and doesn't sound like we do in the first place but I I also was a little um
just kind of want to make the point of when we hear these sort of arguments from people of well we don't want this or we want to go back or we don't want to change it's like the economic reality is here right like we have to address that manage and our responsibility is to manage the future of the town not just
what people want it to be from the past um so yeah I I think this is a I've wasted more time than I wanted i was going right like I think we don't need to give more oxygen to this than there is it's just a little frustrating i mean Jim was there right i wasn't you see so much work go into this and then people
are just sort of willing to throw it out because they just disagree um I don't think that's fair okay thank you thank you Tim and thank you for that uh for really that you know for for doing the deep dive and sort of walking through the um sort of the the
zoning in particular even looking at the roots of zoning and um uh and so yeah I mean looking at this myself um I you know uh you know in terms of uh I share in your um in the in your your comments as well in terms of that this is this
has gone as well you know as what Jim was saying as well in terms of this has gone through a lot of you know multiple meetings multiple meetings over time uh to um you know in terms of to to um uh to revise our zoning to revise our
zoning and I'm a you know and in terms of looking at this this first of all I think that these initiatives really I think do not uh don't take into account all that went into all that went into this and I remember even speaking at town meeting floor you know last year
about the MBTA amendments and those were just tweaks those were just minor really just minor minor tweaks in terms of to um you know so that so that the town was in compliance with the uh with the MBTA you know with the MBTA zoning and so but
I think that also what it provided and I think what our zoning what the zoning that did all that went into it before too is uh you know has has a good purpose in terms of providing additional needed housing additional really viability for the for the square I mean
I think the time too of the time of when we had um you know when when people would go to you know when when Danver Square was the home to you know Nessence department store or Alm was there or Woolworths I mean and would they do their shopping there is just um I mean I
think those times unfortunately are gone I mean you know first the malls and then online shopping and such so I think people don't do a lot of their shopping downtown so but being able to bring people into the downtown to be able to go to the the restaurants and you know access some of the businesses that's
through through bringing you know residences in as well so I think that provides some it provides needed housing and it provides some additional viability to the to the town and so you know and again a lot went into this as
well and I think the um you know that site where Maple Square is i think that a lot of this is um this you know these uh you know these petitions are really based on an inaccurate premise and you know really a false premise that it's
that what we have you know that there is over that there's overdevelopment and well there isn't and that the that Maple Square was the cause of this and it it wasn't it was the uh you know uh Maple Square was was done through an earlier through an earlier overlay which is
frankly replacing the site of a of a factory and something you know that I point out I mean I I grew up in in Danvers i was born and raised and Danvers is a you know I I know that you know that there were definitely parts of town were were less developed than they
are now but I also grew up on Water Street very close to a leather tannery so there was industry in town there was industry in town there were commercial activities in town there was there was a factory next to a uh you know very close I you know lived a fifth of a mile away from a leather tannery uh and so that's
um that's something you know luckily that doesn't exist anymore and then but also in terms of the addition you know additional housing bringing additional housing in I think is a is is a good thing and done in a in a thoughtful manner i think this was done very thoughtfully after a lot of meetings a
lot of meetings a lot of discussion a lot of input from the community and and received you know nearly universal support at town meeting at the time it was done so so again I I would also not be in uh in favor of these um uh of
these proposals so um any further comments from uh you know from from members of the board on this okay um this is not a public hearing but if there's any if there are any members of the public who would like
to um as the discretion of the chair I can I I'll allow u you know some uh public comment if there's any members of the public who wish to speak on these on these petitions um uh they can uh they can come to the podium josh do we have any members of the public who'd like to
to speak on this um yes um I'm Yeah that's fine and please make sure to to direct any comments to uh through the chair and and please identify yourself mr george thank you it's Karen Nastik
from 15 Lockxley Road 40 years here um good evening hi uh I I somebody made a comment that uh from 30 36 um units per acre from High Street down to 128 is
what we're looking at that's that's currently what's that's currently what's in the zoning bylaw as we speak right now we're not we're not tonight or we're not proposing to change we're not proposing any zoning changes or amendments tonight but that's an
awful lot of building potentially legally and the second thing is I I saw there when I came to do the vote I did not I knew how tall my house was and it was 32 feet or so it's a four level but most of
it's underground 35 ft and that was explained to me in the thing could be three or four stories well a four-story building looks a lot different than a three-story building so I also had been going through town looking at the impact
of how these tall structures look i took I happened to have taken a picture from the front seat of my car and there were three girls and I have it with me but I turned my phone off because I had that incident three girls coming across the street and I and then as soon as they
hit the shadow of the the building on the left you couldn't see them they were like melting in with everything else unless they were moving you couldn't see them my concern is as people age and you're downtown in the middle of town you walk through downtown Beverly with
the four-story buildings down um halfway down those streets are dark i I stood on the on the south end of town and looking north coming to the light and I see eight peaked roofs and that reminded me
of Danvers it's like Danver's home to me i do not know why we're doing flat roofs on everything it looks so much like downtown Beverly which looks like a city and it's so dark in town i wish we could preserve somehow the peaked roofs of the
little downtown area and to say that you're going to build two rows of no can nothing can be stopped because this is a zone now two rows of houses from the main from the corner of LOC of uh Maine
and you know the the clock down to 128 is is such a an assault to me largely and it came from looking at the town profile where we hired our new town manager from is devoid of the word
history did you realize that there's no mention of history in who we are and and My kids are real proud of being Eagle Scouts and working on the historical properties and stuff and it uh grieves me that there is no respect for history
in the town i don't know it we have a town archivist who's getting who's aging and and I don't and there's committees for history but it just doesn't seem to be supported i happened to have gone to
the enactment in Lexington um got up at three o'clock in the morning and of the people around me there were only a couple of families two two people one from Bill Rick one from Lynn everybody else came from across the country made it to come to Massachusetts to know
where our town came where our culture of the America came from i was blown away by people coming from you six kids in Utah uh they were Oh anyway I can tell you it was 20 different states in just
the people around me and this was a very large area so I think I I need history to be re revered and and not willy-nilly just to make this why do we have to I mean I I don't think there's a plan for what these
buildings are supposed to look like and what has only been done are checkerboards or flat devoid of architectural features i I wish we would I went to Boulder i took pictures of Boulder and a bunch of cities and towns out west and there a
lot of natural materials well before a lot of this I mean we've got a lot of beautiful brick buildings the the Masonic temple the brick and pointed roofs in town and now that whole flavor of that and I it's the
sky if you look up and you just it's hopeless to look up because it's just a flatline and you're in the bottom of a very tall shoe box if you have pointed roofs you it's a little romantic it's just people live there they're not cages
and I I wish we'd prioritize that too am I That's my feeling i think town has suffered Mr bates thank you Mr nastic mr bates
thank you bill Bates town meeting member precinct 4 um I rise in opposition to all three of the citizens petitions 36 37 and 38 um it's stated by the petitioners that the 128 Maple Street
Maple Square project is a result of the MBTA 2021 to 2023 legislation this is simply not true the Maple Street Overlay zoning was debated for many years before being passed by
town meeting in 2017 some eight years ago we are seeing what we are seeing in Danver's downtown today is wellplanned smart growth these warrant articles all will be detrimental to the future of
Danber Square and the town in general smart growth is good for our town now I certainly agree with uh the lady that spoke before me that we can do this with you know with character but I think
it's important just to mention that all of these things there have been several studies and reports over the past 10 years to both zoning and industrial districts and downtown revitalization and I just bear with me for one minute because it's there's just
about seven of them but these reports included Danis zoning bylaw and recommendations 2006 Danbas mixeduse industrial one study 2009 the Danvas Maple Street Industrial
One District Action Plan 2015 Downtown Danas Pockin Study 2015 Danvas Bicycle Network and Pedestrian Priority Plan 2015 15 Maple
Street I1 area planning placemaking adult and vision plan 2017 Maple Street 1 area draft zoning code design standards 2017 downtown area traffic management
report 2017 and lastly a downtown wayfinding project in 2017 I've been a town meeting member for almost 30 years we worked on the downtown zoning for over 10 years to get
where what with what we ended up with and for people to make comments that are inaccurate put them in writing and say that it is the MBTA's zoning is is unacceptable and I and I hope that that will come through
um we need smart growth we need to do it well this board the planning board worked so hard over the years to do this um and I really respect it and I'm I'm like Tim I wasted too much time on this today and the petitioners aren't even
here well we'll we'll see them at FINCOM because we'll be there but thank you for the planning board taking it up tonight right thank you Mr bates any further uh questions or comments from members of the public
it does not appear so okay uh and I just wanted just to make a just a just a note as well in terms of the comment about um you know not uh in terms of Danvers not taking into account or taking into account history and I just wanted to make a make a point that we do have people in our town who are concerned
about history um uh just as a point of personal privilege I serve as a member I in addition to serving on the planning board I also serve on the preservation commission uh we have an active historic district commission uh and also um I'm also involved in the Damas Historical
Society so we do have um you know do we do have uh you know we do have people in the town we are all cognizant of of the of the um of the very uh rich history um of our town so um okay so let's come
back then uh to no further further comments um so it looks like we do need a uh any further comments or uh uh any further comments from members of the board i move that we recommend no action on
these three articles okay good oh um I guess we're just a quick Yeah sorry l you just a clarifying question just a clarifying question with respect to is no action the what is ultimately
um uh needed or would we or are they actually seeking a um favorable versus unfavorable i think the preference from the staff would be the favorable unfavorable and I and I and just a comment if we could just vote on them uh individually also that would be helpful
jim you moved on that would that be um would you be a uh we can go one by one if you like and then we can or you can maybe pull the the board if everyone's okay with that okay let me let me pull the board in terms of how they're feeling in terms of
this um uh Jim why don't I begin with you are we talking about Yeah in general or of the each article one by one i think it might Why don't we go each article yeah yeah okay so article 36 six article
36 so I guess the the the there you know so they're seeking either favorable or unfavorable unfavorable recommendation article 36 36 okay jim um Mike Dulis favorable or unfavorable unfavorable
spittle unfavorable and Lou George I uh I say unfavorable okay so all right so let me pull then and so Josh we'll need a formal motion but let me move on let's let me just pull the
board as to the Oh is that correct we want to Why don't we just make a motion on that and we'll just move on you know make it a formal motion on this and then we'll go to 37 and do the same thing very good i'd like to entertain a motion then um on art on on article 36
so moved what is and what is what is the what is the motion that's what is the motion to or motion to recommend not favorable to the special permit to the excuse the citizens petition wrong article 36 article 36 okay it's been
made motion for by Tim for unfavorable second by Jim Sears very good uh any further discussion on the motion okay so it's motion for unfavorable action on article 36 um I'll do a poll uh well I'll a roll call
rather um Tim Spiddle I Mike Dulis I Jim Sears I Okay Lou George says I Okay uh let's
move on to the uh to article 37 okay so again let's just do a do a quick poll um uh Jim I I maybe would just make a motion exactly yeah yeah i don't I think
I don't know a motion to Okay recommend not favorable to article 38 uh 37 excuse me okay second can't get him right okay motion's been made by Tim for unfavorable action on article 37 second
by Jim uh I'll do a roll call of the of the board um Tim Spiddle i Mike Dulis I Jim Sears I and Lou George says I Okay so the motion
passes okay um last article um uh that we're considering article 38 motion for not favorable vote on article 38 okay motion's been made by Tim for unfavorable on article 38 is there a
second second second by Jim Sears any further discussion on this motion um hearing none I'll pull the not pull i'll do a roll call tim Spiddle i mike Doulis i jim Sears i
and Lou george said I okay so we have three um uh three unfavorable um recommendations uh from the uh from the board okay very good thank you thank you for all your for your for your thoughts and comments as well as thanks to the members of the public who commented as
well um and so just where we stand now Josh anything uh we are going um this now goes before uh Fincom will there be a will there be a formal uh uh transmitt to Fincom or what exactly will will they
be receiving from us yeah if that's um if that's requested or I'll do what's required um in the office i'll ask what needs to happen in terms of the process but I'll make sure that whatever is needed from other committees and and um on this item that will be shared um the
motions and what was the vote um and then just uh this will the petitions will also be on FINCOM on April 28th um when FINCOM makes final their final motions to town meeting so Okay so April
28th there'll be a there'll be a town meeting i mean rather they'll be before fin so but but at that point as well so could you just ensure that prior to fin so they have enough time that they're aware of our of the you know that that the planning board did have a discussion
and um uh and forwarded our uh you know forwarded our our our motions on um our unfavorable uh recommendations yes okay excellent thank you okay very good thank you and thank you for members of the of
of the board as well for for uh for your thoughtful discussion of it and for for doing the um for walking through it so it's appreciated okay so uh fourth item on the agenda here we have it looks like we have minutes uh so we have minutes from
the uh the April 8th meeting and the March 25th um meeting so I believe that the I guess starting with the March 25th I believe that everybody was uh was present for that meeting is that correct
uh Josh I was not oh Tim was not oh I'm sorry oh that's fine was that Tim and Mike were not were not present at that 25th i was not here that's the week I think I was on vacation then okay um Yeah I was not at the March 25th one okay sorry so maybe
it makes sense maybe to vote on maybe vote on those at our next meeting then if that's okay i guess if it's just you and Jim who could vote i'm okay with that that's fine okay that makes sense so we'll have a vote on the March 25th should we should we have a vote on on the April 8th minutes or we could just
have vote votes on all of them at next meeting it's fine will I wasn't here on the 8th so I can't vote on that one sure i was here and Yeah we could vote on the ETH tonight if that's okay okay sure why don't we do Yeah since we have enough members here why don't we uh uh has everyone reviewed the April 8th
minutes and any um uh any revisions or or changes at all nope okay okay um hearing none uh can I entertain a motion to uh to approve the April 8th minutes as written
motion so moved to approve the minutes from April 8th 2025 second okay motion's been made by Tim second by Mike Dulis i'm going to go and uh and do a roll call vote on these April 8th minutes uh Tim Spiddle I
mike Dulis i jim Sears vote yep he was Okay and Lou George says I very good so So the minutes of April 8th have have passed my majority vote with
one abstension from Jim Sears okay um so that's it for our um for our agenda and so um uh so Josh can we give a sort of summary of what's what's coming up for our next meeting because of our annual
town election we are our next meeting is May the 13th yep okay so that item just because the procedural planning board's planning board's procedural rules um there will be an item uh reorganization
discussion about the the chair and the clerk or vote an official vote for the upcoming year um we will also have um the trust claim item that was continued from tonight um I think that there is a
strong possibility that we'll have a um productive conversation on that matter that night and potentially we might have another conversation with about the transportation needs assessment with um Sarah Scott from MAPC um but that um is
in pencil right now but I just need to confirm with her her availability and if so that's a possibility that evening also um but no other uh no uh no no uh special per site plan applications that
evening okay got it yep okay um everybody plan to be there at the um at our What's that yeah that was a good question thanks for bringing that up Lou okay uh everybody plan to be at our at our meeting on on May the um uh on May
the 13th sorry 13th sorry no that's fine i got it in front of me that's why yep okay it sounds It sounds like everyone yes yep great and I'll be the I'll I'll be there in person as well so thank you very much for for very bearing with me
today doing this remotely i'm uh but I'll um I'll be there in person i think everybody should be there in person it appears that way yes y perfect okay great sounds good all right um anything
further from members of the of the board uh just can we get an update on the uh the paving at the mall it's it's getting now that it's springtime it's it's really bad over there i mean sort of what was discussed at
last week or two weeks last meeting two weeks ago last meeting um you know there is plan they're scheduled to pave that um the entrance exit main drives from Enticott into the mall that for certainly is happening and it's going to
happen in in May um I'm not sure anything else at this while they have the trucks there they should look around cuz it's it's really bad sure and doesn't you know it's not Is there a partic there a particular place Jim that you are concerned about
it's everywhere it's it's bad sure and they're doing a lot of development so you think they'd want to invite people not to you know blow their tires as they come to their stores so
that's bad is that something that that Josh we do have some projects that are currently underway there is that something that planning staff can check on sort of where things are there yeah I mean I've been in conversation about that portion that piece
um you know I guess I could further the conversation like what what are you thinking next and when well when the when the gentleman was here from Simon he was all gung-ho and we're going to do this and this and this and we saw one patch in front of Dick's
right maybe maybe 100 feet long by you know 30 feet but the rest of it there's some some minor patches but they're all coming up and and and throughout I mean he really needs I
think we should require him to give us a schedule especially during these months where this is the time to do it from now until from now until you know what are you planning on doing it where what what areas and the patching doesn't work It just it just Yeah yeah i can circle back
with them lou um you know since I know what's planned or scheduled for May but All right after May for the rest of the summer what are what are we what are they thinking there's still several lights that are not Yeah where the light Where are the lights that are lights in front of Dicks
they did replace the lights around the the new you know the parking area but there's still some lights over there and there's lights on the Home Depot side that you know are missing okay so they really need to Okay i don't know why they can't solve it this year okay yeah
I can reach out to them about that because they're putting in the Chick-fil-A for next year mhm you know they're going to do the Nordstrom thing supposedly that might be coming in front of us at some point you know and the Dicks sporting goods is going to be going out of there to Nordstrom and there's going to be a lot of activity
there i don't know if they're waiting for that to happen bringing he having equipment in or or what but it's it really should be for the you know the mall is is being revitalized I think to a certain degree by those stores and and even across the street
Endicott all the new development over there you know even though they don't own that but it should it should they should fix it sure definitely okay yep hey Josh if we can get some sort of a little an update from that that would be
great sure maybe require them to do things by a deadline or we or we hold up certain permits or you know you got to you got to give some type of deadlines cuz Mhm just keeps getting pushed out sure
okay all right good thank you anything further from any other um any other members can I ask a question um there's there's a question or comment from the public are you open to
entertaining that at this time or what are your thoughts yes okay yep go ahead and please uh state your name and Karen Nastic mr george I really appreciate that you're serving on the historical committees i
just woke up when I saw the the new apartment complex go in and I started was told spent a day down here it was suggested learning about a lot of stuff so I found out that all these boards that we have the power rests in the
select board who everything sort of is is the power in town there and the town manager so I still I and you even though you're on the committees how did our town profile eliminate history from it
i I can't uh if you're asking me a question that's not something I can I can comment on right now so like this that's but you're on all these committees that are history based and there is not a word about Danver's
history in those five pages of who we are as a town okay please um I don't know how we can get rid of that because I think we're pretty defined by if we look back at the making the the the police station look
like the Rebecca Nurse House we appreciate the town appreciates history um also the second thing was what the design the plan why is Dan Bennett said that there used to be a in the very beginning of the town renovations there
was a design the discussion of having a design team why was that ever done will we have a look or a materials requirement or or something to keep our town historical and right can there be that
i would like to speak on it if we can initiate that because now you're saying we're thinking about the whole corridor down to 128 and I and and is the plan to make three or four story buildings all the way down with no with no idea of
what they're going to look like except Lou would you like to comment or me comment or I'll ask the I'll ask uh Josh Morris to comment on that no I mean from a zoning perspective I mean depending on the parcel or the particular you know property um there
are there's potential opportunities to redevelop all of those prop i think you're referring to was High Street and all the way down to 128 i mean there is an opportunity you know they don't necessarily have to be right on the property line they could be 10 or 20
feet from the property line but yes from a zoning perspective and based on density and based on how much parking they need or required there is a possibility that yes they could be built 35 ft 45 ft yeah
so wouldn't you like to have some control about how the town looks I mean there is a there is a decent amount of uh I In the section 18 of the downtown zoning there is and then and in addition to the zoning regulations there is a significant there's probably almost 50
pages plus of I think what you're referring to as kind of design criteria it's actually it's probably one of the actually the most robust kind of design zoning language I honestly have probably have ever seen in like a town or a
community to be honest um it's it's actually ve very significant um so but that I guess that's affective comment but Okay thank you for your comment but we know if there's going to be a limit a high limit there isn't a builder that's
going to recommend doing anything shorter than that um no I wouldn't say that necessarily to be honest our most recent meeting two weeks ago they actually were below the limit they were they were below the height limit actually were they were they were below
the height limit and they actually even Yeah so that's that's not so so so I think saying that they necessarily will go to max out the limit is not necessarily um is not necessarily accurate okay okay thank you for hearing me thank
you thank you very much anything further by members of the board before we uh I'd like to motion to adjurnn second very good mot motion to adjurnn by Tim there's second by Jim Sears i'm going to do a roll call
on this tim Spiddle i mike Dulis i jim Sears i lou george says I very good our meeting is adjourned thank you very much everybody have a good night