##VIDEO ID:Vq_85rQTQVM## we're here for the Littleton planning board meeting uh Thursday December 12th uh here in room 103 in Shad Street um let's do the Pledge of Allegiance and we'll go I pledge aliance to the FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay uh we have an uh proposed agenda and the first item is board business we have the minutes of the prior meeting of November 14th today anyone have any comments on that on those minutes uh if there's no comments can I have a motion to uh approve them motion to approve the minutes of November 14th is there a second second all in favor I I okay next bills are there any bills are we going to get them circulated around yep um two pair review bills um from Green International for the um Strawberry Farm subdivision ongoing construction there uh okay we'll uh pass those around so I have to sign it yes you have to bartl um next I had a member input me member update on projects uh I can report that Northern Banks Foundation is going in have they gotten a full building permit yet or um not that I'm aware of okay um sort of exciting to see something happening there um do we have any update on the last affordable units at Hager homstead um yes the the 60% Ami unit was the last affordable unit that closed and um so we were able to put together our application um to uh hlc to add the two units to our subsidized housing inventory okay excellent um affordable housing trust people I think there was some concern that that unit was the last to sell but it has sold uh you know it sort of indicates there's a demand and we'll get to that um subject later later in the meeting um King Street Commons we're going to hear have you heard we're hearing from them in January anything else um that's the latest that I've heard okay uh Town newsletter we did manage thank you Cooper to put something in the town newsletter I would encourage any of the board members if they have a topic uh that they'd like to um up for the town newsletter um talk to Cooper and I um I haven't actually seen it I I don't think I've even seen the town newsletter but has anyone else seen it okay did did you have any comments or no I think it's important to put something in when we've got um information to share about stuff that's upcoming so once we decide what's going to be in the spring um more then yeah that would be a good idea okay and maybe you know it's a tough thing because for instance with t King Street Commons the um all of the materials that they submit to us will be on our website I mean we'll be on our page um but that doesn't seem to be enough um so I guess if we had something in the newsletter we could refer them to the page well I would I just want to say remember it takes seven times for a person to see something before it actually that's a good point impacts yeah Miss Mis Market Mis marketer okay and after a 100 times they'll believe it or yeah but that's only if it's a truth what is truth what is truth it only takes four times if it's a falsehood um okay so the point being that we can't we shouldn't just think we're done after one no okay um yeah 245 fossil Street anything going on the the news that I think we shared last meeting was that um that site's being used bionx construction as their um construction staging for other red re construction of Foster Street from Taylor Street up through the bosom Lane intersection okay and is there anything else um um do the ahc people want to talk about derky Farm or um Bartlett um um there was a walk a walk through with the diry farm by the um some members of the historical commission um this and and a um consultant the consultant has issued a report saying that the both the house and the barn have some historical significance um the house um has been um pretty much not not entirely modernized or you know changed on the inside but a lot of it has um the barn is pretty much intact she thought it was um early 19th century which I I thought it was later than that but I don't know yeah um um so you know there our recommendation that it's a valuable building and the historical commission would like to keep it um and we're negotiating how much of it we're going to keep and um the historical commission has said that they would um participate in paying for some of it but they don't have as much money as the Housing Trust does so it's you they're not promising to pay for all of it okay good I think that's yeah about it well so that's moving that's moving and I did get a list of um three architectural firms that have specialized in preservation and restoration and that kind of thing so um I just got that this afternoon talk to um whoever it was um MZ yeah we have talked to yeah J they did Z something uh Z yeah it's yeah uh cuz they did 12 Robinson they did 12 Robinson and they did there was a house in in Wester that they did too got restored um yeah we have spoken to him I walked through the house he was with with us on the initial walkth through this a couple months ago he was very enthusiastic he thought that you know all things could be done but um we should start with for the house itself we should start with a bud of you know half a million dollars and have a $200,000 contingency um that we would be ready to spend so um that's probably what we're looking at but um I don't know but but it's interesting that now you're able to piggy back on the historic value um yeah I mean probably some historic tax credits that we can get well but but even even that there CP SC money and um but it means that there's more than one more than one reason one entity in town supporting it and paying for it yeah uh and 12 Robinson is pretty much finished uh the rear two units are are on the market um and not sold or not CH says they you know it's not the time of year to you know get a lot of interest but I'm I'm sure he'll sell them um and they don't have much left to do on the uh the front the the two historic ones um the barn especially I mean you you really I I'd be happy to meet you over there sometime and and you guys uh because the barn especially I think is is um probably much easier to redevelop into something marketable than and they did a good job there it's really nice um okay what's the condition of the barn and the house what's the condition of them the the house is in pretty pretty tough shape it's been empty since sometime in the teens um The Roof is I think still intact there's a little bit of leakage around the chimney flashing um there was a serious fire in the building at one time nobody knows when so a lot of the roof rafters have been sistered um can't really tell much about the post and beam structure because it's all concealed um but the impression is that most of it is pretty sound the back of the wall wall of the building is quite questionable um the real question is the floor framing in the basement of the first floor a lot of that is you know branches with bark on them and um there's some sub substantial like8 by eight beams that have just been cut off in the middle and you know somebody threw a rusty L column underneath this sounds like my house well I'd be glad to show it this one to you you can compare so don't don't don't make that like a reason not to no I'm just saying that there's a lot of structural issues and and um in in that in that floor structure and probably the whole the whole floor first floor structure would have to be replaced or at least in that quarter of the that's why a structural engineer will need to be brought we really yeah we nearly need to get somebody who has could make a informed judgment the barn I would say is in really good shape um it it is more to some ten and post and beam all all throughout um the difficulty with the barn is that the framing for the second level going in on the main level which is above the above the ground floor basement um the framing for the next level up which is not anywhere near the whole width of the building is the top of that framing is at 7 feet roughly off the off the floor so it's really not usable as as residential space the way it's set up you need to see Tom Robinson um I do um the the I mean my thought is just to you know cut the cut those Morse and tenant off raise those beams up a foot you know support them with steel or something and I mean you then there's room to do raise the second level the third level um 2 ft because that's set 2 ft below where the Raptors meet the top plate and that would give us you know a a livable Headroom in both levels so we could make a a three story project out of it okay have rooms in the Attic yeah so I'll express my concern you know I I see about the value of preserving the historic sites and the other parts there but do you do the preservation with public funds or sell it with a historic restriction on it uh there in terms of is there more efficient use of our public funds uh that can go a lot further versus totally reconstructing some of that historic um there because a lot of them are in such state that you end up getting basically rebuilding it from scratch and is that really the best use of the public funds um we haven't determined that I mean we're we're sort of in a very exploratory stage you know what what informed experience people think would be possible and and how much it would cost and um we're going to have a very difficult time finding a developer to do um you know somewhere in the vicinity of 8 to 10 units of housing there um because it's just such a small development me that that it doesn't make economic sense for most developers and you throw the historic thing in there too and that makes it more difficult for them so you know we're just kind of stuck with what we have and figuring out what we're doing with it okay um the next uh item was update planning board special permit application forms do you want to take this cool so this was at the last meeting and planning staff had updated the form 1B to comply with the new the new small Wireless the 5G part of the town code that was passed four years ago several years ago okay and so what is our next step right um so any additional please make any additional comments on that form 1B application if no additional comments if you would um vote to adopt the updated form I had one quick comment that has it's like a typo just want to make sure so on page two in the final um sentence before part B it says applicant shall submit any I'm sorry sorry sorry it's right above there um so it starts with the sentence copy of the requests made by the applicant and if you look at the very last sentence it says the application will be considered complete with respect to the requirements of the sub if such response is not received within 60 days I'm sorry very tired if such response is not received with in 60 days the application will be considered incomplete instead of complete because if the response is not received then wouldn't right see um the town can require the applicant to reach out to FAA and FCC Town cannot require that a response be provided from those federal agencies so it's like an opt out kind of yes okay I wanted to make sure that it shouldn't say incomplete instead of complete okay all right and then um in the very last sentence of page four ning for just needs to be capitalized cap pause thank you are there any any other comments could uh I hear a motion to adopt the special permit application forms for Wireless Communications facilities as updated so moved second uh I'm I'll just do a roll call um Anna yes Daryl yes Bartlett yes myself yes okay so that's uh adopted um do any does we've issued a planning board meeting schedule for the first half of next year were there any comments I think we were doing this on the Google Docs um everyone okay I mean assuming things may change but for now I cannot do March 6 okay okay you know we can consider at you know when we get up to that point whether there's you know momentous um that is probably a important meeting because it's running up against the town meeting schedule so we'll consider maybe moving that if we moved it well when is um when are the school when's the school break that's what we have to work around February and April okay so we could possibly move that back a week if we needed to so um would everybody be ailable for what the 13th the 13th is there any complex that we can think of at the moment I know of at this time okay yeah is that with okay with you Anna yeah okay thank you thank you it's very helpful to have this discussion now so we know what to shoot for as well sure uh next item on board business is public input we have people here today uh I know what some of you are here for is there any um anyone who would like to bring anything up for this meeting okay uh we'll go forward at 650 almost uh the next item is 95 Taylor Street vote on lot release request um maren can you take this over there was some communication about the bond and you suggested that uh you know we have voted on the bond amount the bond um we're working okay through the bond form right um and what I'm the request from the board we have a um written request for the lot release I'm asking the board to vote on the lot release um you've seen the lot re release document um and the request is for you to vote on the lot release um and signed that tonight ask me to hold it until we have confirmation from the town Treasurer that the bond has been um posted um okay with the treasurer any comments no okay could I then ask the board to uh to have a motion to vote on the lot request the lot release request for 95 Taylor Street so moved can I have a second second uh I'll go again Anna yes darl um I just want to clarify and this the lot release is contingent on confirmation that the bond has been posting the actual I'd like the motion to actually read that yeah that's that's what yes he didn't add that I didn't add okay in terms of this motion uh the the lot request release is approved contingent upon the um verification that the bond has the bond has been made and apparently it's going to be a complicated thing no okay so and I'll go back to you any I mean yes okay Daryl yes Bartlett yes uh I'm a yes um um so we'll send around two copies of the lot release um for your signatures when is a duplicate original it's case I spill copy on one of them 1 two three inclusive so our next item which is uh agenda for 7:00 is to open thank you to open uh a public hearing at uh 550 New Town Road I I want to go back a little bit and had we've had a previous hearing on this development which was then withdrawn and they're back with a new proposal which is similar but has some um enhancements let's say um and at the time of this um proposal the building department would like to use our this process to basically document the existing building with which a lot of um alterations have made been made over the years that have not been permitted so in the interest of that uh we've asked the owner to do that to document the existing building right now that's not part I mean it's just a square footage uh but the interior uh layout is not you know there's no documentation in the building department as I I understand it so for that reason um they are going to undertake to do that to document the plan of the existing building uh and because of that they will not be here tonight we will open the hearing but they will not be here tonight to present the project they're going to do that at our January meeting which is January 9th January 9th and my apologies with the wrong number date on okay so do we have any qu I assume many of you are here for that hearing do we have any um questions about what's happening here no questions but do we present any ideas that we are wondering about or I would prefer to have them come present the project uh you have this if you go to our our um the their proposed is on the website uh I hesitate to make any comments because I would like them to present it but one of the main things they did was add a second driveway and at the rear the the building seems to be very similar to what was proposed before if not exactly the same uh but in the back they have created um you know a large grade uh to reduce the apparent height of the building but once again I'd like them to go over what what exactly uh they're thinking the other the other thing as I was at this the previous hearings and one of the main I mean there were a lot of um what they've done in this project is actually provide actual Wetland boundaries whereas before they were just vague um they've done you know what they should have done the first time uh the other thing I haven't studied it but they provided a landscape plan for the front of the building which was one of the issues for um a Butters um but the actual meat of the project which is the storage units is pretty much the same as what it was before one comment I'd have is actually on the existing buing I don't know if you're interested in that uh I think we will be interested in it because this is why we're pushing the the hearing back so do you want it now or sure you can okay light pollution in large amounts okay name and address yeah have like five big LED spotlight um and we have um some written comments that were provided along those lines that are posted to the website suggest that since you're not opening the hearing the so these are all subject to uh I mean we're happy to know this but there is not you know we're we're we will open the hearing at uh 8:00 uh 7 o'clock it's so dark now may as well be 12:00 um anyway so um but all these things are going to to be subject to our review in the hearing and we do have a light pollution bylaw we do yeah and and if there are comments that um anybody wants to submit they can submit them by email um to to my email address yeah and you might want to consider doing that can we bring in the septic system into this too because I know you guys have nothing on their septic system that they're supposedly being built there that isn't our perview that's Board of Health how that building might react to when do you want to know is where it's going to be at compared to where the building's at or does that make no well that's on the drawings and they're actually building up the gr this is all for the hearing right yeah uh but the actual details of the septic system are not our um preview I just figuring more the location of it than you know the details of how they building and all that right anything else yeah as as someone who lives down the hill from the building I'm concerned about the Wastewater right now because we already flood so and we were not included in the abutters so how do we get notified when the hearings are held go or website go to the town website which has all the meetings and agendas of every board but I went and that's why I'm here tonight yes and now I come out and it's not the hearing will be and I I apologize but we had no way of yeah so now you know that uh do we want to have a time do we have a let's let's set a time for so um hearing would continue to Thursday uh January 9th at 7 p.m. okay this room in Thursday January 9th room 103 7:00 again yeah that's my that's fine I mean the only the other thing is 550 okay um anything else so I'm going to uh ask maren to read the notice uh of the hearing we're going to open it and then we're going to continue it to January okay um public hearing the Littleton planning board will open a public hearing on Thursday December 12th 2024 at 700 p.m. in room 103 of the 37 shatak Street Town Offices to consider an application for special permits pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 48 and the code of the town of Littleton zoning the application is for a major commercial use special permit under sections 17386 through 17388 site plan under sections 17316 through 17319 and storm water permit under chapter 38 Article 2 storm water management and erosion control all of the code of the town of Littleton property 550 New Town Road assessor map u30 parcel 10-0 applicant kimly horn owner storage rentals of America the applicant is requesting to construct a new 8,852 Square ft self storage building and provide stor water and Associated site improvements application and plans can be viewed online at the planning board page of the town website or at the planning board and town clerk's office during their business hours any person interested or wishing to be heard on the proposed application should provide written comment to the planning board office my email address M2 Hill Littleton ma.org by December 10th if possible or attend the public hearing um darl Baker Clerk okay um the hearing will cover every aspect of their proposal of their proposed plan including wa you know Water Management lighting the actual conformance with uh our planning uh our um planning bylaws and it's the opportunity for anyone else to bring up concerns excuse me um Mr chair yeah um I excuse me um during our public input section we heard that uh a couple of comments that people are planning on presenting at the presenting at the hearing it'd be advisable for the applicant to review the minutes or this view to understand what types of issues are going to be coming up that we will be paying special attention to since people have raised concerns we're probably going to be looking at them the applicant may want to make sure that they're prepared to address those types of concerns since he already has a heads up as to what a relationship with the person you um and and I would so we can use the time efficiently rather than have them come back come back come back come although a project of this nature and size it's it's not likely that this is disposed of in one no I I realize that but I'm just looking at the people that did take the time to give us a heads up as to what their concerns are they should be telegraphed immediate you know directly to the uh applicant absolutely okay could I ask one quick question yeah out of ignorance you said that we have a town by law on light pollution uh is it accessible online somewhere it should be in the bylaw I can't tell you what it is uh and it's not it's not a night sky bylaw but it's basically a bylaw that tries that is intended to limit the spillage of light onto adjacent properties thank you okay so I would suggest the vote to continue uh do we need a motion for that okay I make a motion to continue the hearing till January 9th at at 7 p.m. second Anna yes Daryl yes yes andami yes thank you okay we're now at the uh next agenda item which are discussion items um Mar is going to give us a little um talk about uh updating the Littleton common revitalization road map road map yes and this is particularly um Timely because since the original one we've achieved quite a bit we've achieved or will have achieved a sewer we will have done the form based code um so it is an appropriate time to look at revisiting that effort planning effort um yes the road Map was published in um January of 2019 the landscape has changed significantly since that time um in the economic development um Bond Bill the Massachusetts leads act that was just signed um passed by the uh legislature and signed by the governor very recently it included an earmark um for the town of Littleton um so we're can update our the revitalization road map um the town administrator's office has um um agreed that the $66,000 they have for matching funds can be used to help augment the public Outreach um portion of that study um we had already reached out to um the UMass Donahue Institute um they had drafted a um scope of services when this was a um Grant application that Grant wasn't awarded but we still I grabbed that scope of services I'm working um with their team to update that scope what they can do um for the uh funds allotted and um some of their recommendations on things we should focus on given the changes um that have happened at the common the new zoning the storm water and then um the differences in the economic uh underpinnings today so what are the funds available uh 60,000 from the earmark plus five um from the town I rather than overlapping um public Outreach processes what I'm thinking and what works for UMass donu Institute is um they will do some background work gather data um crunch numbers um just just kick off the program starting probably in February or early March to start conducting a public Outreach shortly after the Maytown meeting um and the public Outreach would focus mostly on getting input from um the uh property owners and business owners in the uh Littleton common area uh in the area of of the study um and work with them on what their development plans might be tie that into what um sewer capacity uh might be available in in in their time frame so it's not we already have the road map that says this is what Littleton wants um Littleton residents want um for that area now it's a refining of the economic um portion of that study any comments Hanna I think my um comment really pertains to the pages I think it's 86 to 91 of the report that talks about The Pedestrian aspects in the traffic so I will beat this dead horse one more time and that is that if we have an opportunity to be able to actually determine if and how The Pedestrian accessways will make the most sense for residents how the traffic can be flowed better if there's anything within this report because it is a revitalization road map so the pun there is the roads right so let's try and figure out what um onahu is able to do to be able to provide greater Clarity to the residents about what we would like to be able to to have I know that there's already some information in there but um given the progress that's been made obviously there are still concerns by residents about traffic about pedestrian access bicycle access you know the whole safety aspect of it so if you m on to H can do that that I think would be an essential component to the document okay I think that's sort of interesting because it um intersects with um you know we just did this big bike pedestrian you know uh report um and there has been some talk and Mr ronacher you can maybe weigh in on this of uh there's there there is a um I forget what the the term was was but the legislature gave towns a little bit more ability to uh override the state in its traffic you know for the purposes of pedestrian safety and Etc and that's definitely deficient in especially Great Road um anyway so yeah okay yeah I mean that that would be great and I'll just give an example where um um leaving in the morning time there are folks who perhaps are new to Littleton perhaps are not from Littleton I don't know but they are literally walking down Great Road rather than crossing the street to where you know there's a little sliver of sidewalk they are literally walking in traffic sometimes even with children so um to the degree that we can do something where there are sidewalks that would be great and again I recognize that there're probably are sidewalks in the plans but being able to communicate that in an effective way to the public would be really helpful well as I understand it um having gone in the last few years through these various you know reports a lot of them provide the framework for Grant applications um is there anything in this road map that would do that or is it something that have you referred to it in Grant applications up to now the existing one um um yes every piece of foundational planning work that we do always helps with with the next Grant application um the road map also included as an appendix of a series of um types of funding that that is available um it's a okay there there's a lot of food for thought there on the best way to get at that piece of the information um the the the pest because we're also having some State Highway improvements that are in the pipeline in that area yeah y um Ju Just got noticed that the um from mot uh about the deck replacement of the bridge the Route 119 bridge over 495 um that's a few years down the down the road a few years away um we have assurances of funding already for the Route 119 Bridge Culvert over Beaverbrook um we're the town is going to be adding a request for um some resiliency improvements um after looking at the updated uh flood plane Maps it's clear that there's a problem um with one of the drainage areas that crosses 495 near um um near the 119 bridge over 495 um so is there still talk about the rotary at Beaverbrook is that still on the or are they just I haven't heard lately okay good question I just wondering yeah that and that would be just a little further yeah I know it's not part of violation ro road map yeah it does make a lot of sense to to focus on on this area um darl any comments uh no I mean I like the um idea of us revisiting um sidewalks and where we're placing them because for the longest time I don't know if it's this board I think it was this board was waving sidewalk requirements left and right so we don't end up with sidewalks in a lot of places uh there I live in a development that's got a sidewalk to no because it just ends on on Great Road uh which means we're a a subdivision that you got a 50 mph road that U before you can connect anything uh there with no uh no infrastructure uh to support that so it's not just at one it's at all ends of these roads that uh cross cut us here that um they're they're not walkable they're not safe um oh I live in the common I'm well aware of oh the common is actually there's sidewalk you go outside of the and there there's crosswalks that no one pays attention to and you know um and there are sidewalks but then there are traffic signs that you would hit you would slice your head open right if you walked anyway whatever I mean I I would just add that the pedestrian traffic in the common area is going to increase greatly with the Thousand apartment units that are are proposed osed for that area we hope yeah well it's it's going to happen eventually and I think planning for it is better than not sure okay um so what are the next steps you you have I'm so now is this going to piggyback on the other thing we were asking UMass Don Dono to do the um affordable consensus or um that's a different group okay yep good question um so the uh Contracting um with UMass Donahue is a simple contract between uh the town administrator's office and UMass donaho planning board has the opportunity to provide input to that scope of services as your staff is drafting with with with you um so uh no planning board action is needed on this but certainly appreciate your input on it is it still going to be Mark and Rod um I've been talking with um with Mark no I've been talking with rod rod about it yes great it's good to have the continuity yeah and actually they're very excited about being able to revisit a prior study especially in the current time frame given all that's happened in the last handful of years okay um so when will we need any official action it's this is between the town and and but we will eventually have some input on the report or okay um next discussion item was the accessory dwelling unit bylaw update as all of you know the state has um weighed in on basically um allowing accessory dwelling units as of right and limiting towns in how they can um accommodate them Mar do you want to talk about the highlights or or you know I can or whomever um yeah I'll I'll start and you'll fill in what I forget um so the state law um sets uh accessory dwelling unit at no greater than 900 square ft uh communities have to allow them by right um after February 5th 2025 um towns will not be able to enforce any um zoning bylaws that are contrary to these the new state requirements state requirements include there can be no restrictions on ownership of the units um so there's no requirement for a property owner to live be in one unit or the other so what that relates to our existing zoning is first of all we call them a we we we had a uh something called an accessory dependent dwelling units that's no longer relevant um we had accessory Apartments uh but we required them to be as part of a own occupied um single family dwelling or property our square foot area was larger than 900 square ft um otherwise there were some I I don't think the state has any problem with designing them to maintain the appearance of a single family dwelling and all that kind of thing um so and then we had a separate um item for detached accessory apartments are you or the building department could they talk about how many of these units have been created um if we had some continuity across time with staff then that would be easy to do um I can point to a couple of um examples that have been very helpful to households in Littleton well I'm I'm sort of curious as what the demand has been for these type of units that's up to date up to now yeah um I probably get a handful of questions a year on what can be done um it's not a huge demand um but I wouldn't be surprised to see you know half a dozen in a year one one of the limitations in Litton is is sewage and um for those properties in the common that will now have access to sewer I I'm sort of just curious how this will relate to um The Village common area because we've all that that overlay already relaxes the zoning uh and whether this is Meaningful for that um but anyway um so we so anyway um the state is not requiring communities to update our bylaw but our bylaw gets very muddy if it doesn't match um what the state requirements are part of my question for the board will be um do you want to address this right away um while it's fresh in our mind or is this something you want to delay for a while um I I wouldn't mind working toward um town meeting unless we feel like we aren't equipped to understand the ramifications of it I mean what are what do people think well given um the fact that adus can really help with the affordable housing issue in the state I think getting it done sooner sooner rather than later would be most helpful um and then I also wanted to point out that the link that was in our packet um has a terrific graphic at the state which shows what is an Adu and six different versions of an Adu I think it's just really really helpful to the lay person to be able to understand what is meant by an Adu so would one of one of the big um changes I mean the state is doing this because it wants to create adus as a housing um uh to create more housing is that prior to this you as the homeowner would have to basically build the Adu now you can a developer can build a single family home with an Adu and unrelated to their ownership so to to some degree it's happened in like I know I think some of the houses in derky farm had newly substantial in-law apartments um I think the last group that was built on the road there but anyway um and that's just something to think about and then the other thing to think about is uh the state is talking about limitations on shortterm rentals or on prescribing short-term rentals right um um the state would allow a restriction on adus being used um for short-term rentals so the town could enact that if if there if you wanted to yeah so um so I think let's continue this and we will um we'll be I I think we should work toward bringing forward a bylaw to vote on and um yeah and I think the short-term rental idea kind of goes along with it as well so um and if anyway and so we would have a hearing sometime in the spring um you know people can talk about their concerns but like the NBTA communities act the state is um and the Cannabis uh the state is pretty much proscribing what we can do with this um anyway okay so pro pro pro proed with coming up with a recommendation um the state will be I I think I mentioned before they will be uh drafting um a uh model Adu bylaw um they have issued um their detailed guidelines um as in draft form and that asking for comments on those right now but so their state is still going through the process of so did you is that what I was looking at did you yeah the long yeah okay um CMR on top of the page I I don't remember but I when I realized they were asking for comments I stopped yeah paying attention to it um okay the next item so anyway this is going to be a continue you know every meeting we're going to um uh bring this up and I encourage all of you to look at um or to get comments from the community to look at uh um press on this it's a it's a very Uh current um discussion topic in a lot of uh media I know in my business it's a i for instance in California they went so far as to actual actually issue designs that you could just take to the building department and get a building permit for because they're so focused on this type of thing our Town's a little different but um um yeah I was along with that I was very impressed with the um uh web page that the state has put together on Accessory dwelling units they they've done a good job of presenting the material in a digestible format yeah um the two things that I had um I I think if we're going to go down this path we ought to take an opportunity to see if there's parts of our bylaws that should just come out then not have multiple sections use a chance to simplify and consolidate the um the zoning uh there I mean if the state is going to issue a dra a dra a um model bylaw um part of me wants to Pace at that so so we don't have to redo all of the all of the same work uh there but I don't know what time I totally agree and the first thing is the accessory dependent dwelling units they're not um I would encourage us all to look through our existing one and try to find what we'd like to add to the states and some of it has to do with Landscaping driveways and you know these were things that you know that that could be but the but the meat of it um I think you're correct it should be as you know straightforward as simp I would say we take what we want and put it into the model you one rather than going the other way around are are the byw also talked about renewing special permits which are no longer you know so and then the other part um you know you mentioned a you know the state's drive for affordable housing nothing in here indicates that this these adus uh would um count towards our affordable units no no I just meant for housing yeah no that's what I mean though affable this is an interesting question though right only that one I know only those households that choose to put a deed restriction on the units would would this this would would adversely impact our subsidized housing index if people adopted them in a large number um there's a question on that um I'm guessing that the state's not going to count the accessory dwelling units as another housing unit on the denominator of the this is something to figure out and I just want to make it clear that you know it's it increases the number of units right it has nothing to do with affordability even though they're small units right I don't we don't want any association of those two terms because in a way this could be very detrimental if we have a bunch of them build up that 10% number goes up substantially that I don't think I said anything about affordability I'm just I heard affordability the housing crisis well the theory is they're small the theory is that the more housing you build you know and the smaller on the less pressure there is on the existing housing stock for rents I just want to make sure that that they those are separate things but I think from the comment point of view this is my concern that if they're counted as individual dwelling units and there's no that's what I'm saying there the state is asking each Community to track the number of adus that over time so I'm guessing that that won't be added to the denominator on the subsidize my guess right now but we'll see how it and then likewise I'd like to have a little time to think because again tying it into also in terms of any short-term rental restrictions that we want to have we don't want to see these pop up purely for the purpose of renting them for short-term rentals my opinion I think that's a fair opinion and uh it it's it some communities are finding that goes against their goal of providing housing for families and you know whatever so anyway um Okay so let's let's definitely you know we should I guess we won't know until March February what the state bylaw the state model bylaw is going to be um well they yeah best case scenario middle of febru middle of January it would be out but that's just kind of a guess okay well we'll keep talking about it and and I encourage all of you to gather you know info yep and Cooper started putting together a comparison littleton's bylaw and the state requirements thank you sir okay the next item was the FEMA flood plane bylaw and Maps update which we've all been waiting for this topic I'm sure and I'm saying that with the greatest amount of sarcasm I can muster I want to see maps we love Maps was pouring over the uh on the FEMA website they have a map viewer where you can see the differences um from but it's hard to read there are so many colors so many it's a little hard to read there no no key to what the colors are it's hard to find you yeah you have to know how to find the key exactly um so federal government is issuing FEMA issuing um some new flood plane map panels um flood insurance rate maps that cover part of uh Littleton Littleton has a uh flood plane bylaw well we have a quote flood plane and wetlands bylaw um IFA is updating the new panels um Littleton has to make reference to those new panels we in our existing bylaw we referen the old panels during this uh Map update um FEMA is also pushing Mima to make sure that the communities bring their bylaws up to the current standards um they have a model bylaw that's fairly easy to navigate as far as model bylaws go um so my recommendation is by this June a FEMA expects the towns to Littleton to adopt a new flood plane bylaw and that you also utilizes the new mapping so uh Town Council is set to go um drafting a bylaw um will they use the the model yes using the model y um one of my recommendations is our current byy is a flood plane and wetlands bylaw but Littleton has since adopted a extremely detailed Wetlands bylaw so there's no in my opinion no reason to have Wetlands bylaw Wetlands referenced in our zoning would it be more complicated to separate them out um it's already separated out okay okay fine is in in my opinion okay um we can have that discussion during you know the process of of um so when would we look at be able to look at um the proposed what uh flood plane bylaw um I'll ask Town Council to have that ready for because we're going to have to have a you know schedule a hearing and yeah yeah okay y um anyway um and let's see so we have uh created a uh flood plane bylaw page um off the planning board website um we have the link oh and on our GIS um it was able to post the preliminary flood plane Maps which is what the new ones are called um if you toggle back and forth on the gis between the existing FEMA maps that are under the state information and the um propos preliminary ones you can see the difference but then FEMA on their website also has a viewer where you can see the differences um Can can you update the the page that you created to include the link to the gis I think so um it it's just a link to the gis it doesn't turn on and off the layers no they turn on and off is fine but I I don't navigating our website is not the easiest totally agree so if you point us to someplace please include the link to it thank you um I spent a lot of time I had a question about something that was in the um mass.gov link it's it referenced a flood plane administrator that our town is supposed to have when do we currently have yes we do the um it's in our bylaws it says the building inspector okay I would recommend we update that to the Building Commissioner MH okay all right any other comments was there much variance um I found it interesting to note that one of the areas of difference is the drainage that's between this building and um the school complex back there um so I was pouring over the maps is okay what's causing that you go Downstream and you see that there is a big uh elevation differential between the Upstream side and the downstream side side of a culvert that's carries drainage under Route 495 that's not far from the um um well yeah The Interchange obviously the The Interchange of 1119 and 495 um so the timing on that worked out very well so uh the town is asking to add a study and refurbishment replacement whatever is needed um for that drainage stretch to be added to mass dots resiliency Improvement program that um our MO is working on right now so what this means is that there's a m a Culver isn't being isn't working as designed in 1959 and there's possibly a backup of water at this behind us that um is the result of that right and elevations up here of course not a concern elevations closer to the schools you makes you know makes makes you think about what well on Russell Street too I mean you know but well whatever they'll have to work it out I mean Beaver Brook um backs up both at M Road and at King Street where it goes under under the road there I've seen it you know quite High both of those places almost flooding the road mhm y so yeah culbert work needs to do right so and I'm just excited okay planning geek excited how some of the dots are actually connecting right now to be able to get some of this work uh accompl you don't want to be the flood plane administrator um I would imagine that your next town planner probably has not done flood plane studies in their past life okay so um okay any other comments on that um next is followup from town meeting marijuana bylaw policy Direction so one of the things that's happened that Marin um passed along was that the state or the case law has has um it it's requiring towns to allow medical marijuana cultivation regardless of your intention is that the case um yes there was a community that attempted to restrict um the medical marijuana treatment centers um and AG's office did not allow that part of the bylaw um so but that's the treatment centers which is that part of the cult well that's a cultivation that's one of the types of cultivation okay so whatever we do further we could not affect that part of it um so there is a Town Council told us before is that new information it's new that's new M so it was the micro ones that we couldn't zero there was one of them we couldn't zero out well um you couldn't there four that you couldn't zero out um so we went at fall town meeting town meeting passed to go down to four um one each one in each category right and that now now there is one of those four that cannot be zeroed out in a further action I thought he said before there was one that could have been zeroed out I don't remember that one the one they're talking about now they did say that he did say it's it's it's one and the same it's not now two categories can't be zered out correct okay so yeah um so I'm going to ask the board for their comments about any further action on this um subject yeah so I think based off of the comments that were made by residents at town meeting in late October there there are people who would like for marijuana to marijuana cultivation to be reduced as much as possible and so from that I take that there is an appetite to have this go to the ballot so and let's talk about that process it's apparently not um we have to have a combination of a ballot and a zoning bylaw and but they don't the the zoning bylaw doesn't have to be it has to be around the same time as the ballot but it doesn't have to be accomplished before the ballot right the town would not have to call a special election just for that ballot okay so um okay darl what's your feeling about this um I'm mixed on it uh here in terms of of I get the intent uh though how much you know the existing one is going to be continually grandfathered uh even upon sale to another entity uh we won't be able to shut them down uh if they sell so it's a it's going to be grandfathered as long as it's operating uh there we have to give one other category we have to give it so I don't know eliminating the other two essentially is is the juice worth the squeeze in terms of how much work it's going to take to to both uh do all of the prep work and then bu make sure that we have the community support for both the ballot and the um and the um town meeting I I should I should mention that one of the four there is not a single example in the whole state and that's the craft marijuana Cooperative yeah so this is would be it seems to me that further action would be limiting the ability of the continuation of sanctuary if they chose to close closing versus selling I think are two different things if they close and close down shops turn it up so it no longer exists is is one scenario but if they sell it they're going to be grandfathered to the whoever they uh the new buyer is going to be well what I was wondering is if we still allow one cultivator if um Sanctuary closed that would be one license available and could someone come in at a with a you know at a different site and um go from there yeah it seems like they could I mean I think it would be a big reach but um anyway um Bartlet well I I kind of of the opinion that that the town meeting expressed a desire to limit growth and I'm kind of of that same sympathy okay so from our point of view we already have a draft of a bylaw that would accomplish this and would probably have to be adjusted based on this latest case law MH um so okay I'm sort of from Daryl's point of view but I was the one that had to take the heat um at town meeting um I mean I'm mainly concerned with the scenario of um Sanctuary for whatever reason going or you know Sanctuary by the way has two licenses they have a medical marijuana license and then a a consumer cultivation and you know for instance if they gave up one of their if they gave up the consumer license and just did medical at that site that would leave open the potential for another cultivator in Town based on our owner bylaw but still um so that that's my concern um so I would ask IA to modify this draft to reflect this latest case law on anything else that is coming down the pike uh they still don't have the control the commission still doesn't have a chairman um the the person they hired to run it decided not to take the job so I don't know what's going on so my my recommendation would be the you know if we continue going down this path I think we have to make it very straightforward as to what the changes are and what we're accomplishing with it so that there's so we can focus the debate and discussion uh on what we're actually trying to accomplish here because if we end up with 30 pages of change bars in a thing here we're it I think it's Dead on Arrival I I don't think is said on arrival but it's it's a hard thing to explain that's what I mean I mean we need to make this very straightforward and um clear right if if you recall we did have um the two drafts from IA in July or August and the second the one to go the one to move forward the um zoning B amendment to move forward to zero is very short so yeah agreed um so okay based on the I and I'm I won't speak for Mark but I know Mark is very engaged on this issue and he you know will when he comes to the next meeting he can put his two cents in uh okay so is that marching orders clear yep uh next item zoning diagnostic request for quotes timeline and this is another thing that we did we didn't get money for right um through two different uh town meeting Appropriations we have the planning board has funds set aside um to do the zoing diagnostic and follow up uh recodification of our zoning it's a lot to get our arms around um the first bite of it would be the diagnostic um uh consultant would tell us um you know these are the areas of the BW that um need to be updated that and uh provide a kind of a ranking of and a recommendation of which items to address first if there are some that are either low hanging fruit or easy to pick off or the board could make a decision just to go through everything at once um but um given um my my recommendation is to hold off on this now um that we know we are moving forward with the uh revitalization road map update um possible marijuana and Adu EXA and flood plane yeah that okay I I'm sort of curious about the process though so if so they would flag areas that um need coordination updating whatever and then we would we have to go to town meeting for every single one W okay yes for either sequentially if you have a series of them or do everything at once and that um some communities you break it into two parts those that are fairly simple and fairly easy to explain you go through and do those first and then you don't think that they would in a diagnostic situation would find our zoning perfect and oh no I do not and if you know during this process if we're also taking remembering to take into account um the enforcement process uh things we could help clean up with definitions and and well I remember my time in the board of appeals we had so many um hearings about home home business home office what was this what was that and there you know there definitely are things that have changed the the one thing I would maybe ask to be considered for part of the diagnostic would be is we have the different pieces there could we get some kind of histogram distribution of the usage of the different zoning sections that we have um you know or zoning types uh there for like maybe like the past 15 years because zoning goes for a long time they are like so do we have sections of zoning that aren't even being being used in a in a sense or you know we passed a lot of bylaws uh in in terms of different types of things you know the senior housing the form based codes the you know all of the different types of things here are we using them uh and should we be considering whether they're even helpful uh at this point so you mentioned senior housing and I think there's definitely I think there's several different types of senior housing that we have and I don't know which ones are are used and I think some of them are are written in a way that precludes development you know that makes it so that it's not going to happen right but one of the things that we had been talking about was a um basically a assessment of senior housing needs where where are we on that okay um I've got a uh simple quote from the Metro West collaborative development who is our um housing Specialists we have under contract through uh aset region housing Consortium the what nine eight communities um Consortium that allows us to have this access to this consultant um they put together a quick proposal um for 5,000 under $6,000 to do a um a portion of the housing needs assessment that would help the town understand um the need for um what the need is for affordable units capital A affordable units and at what um affordability level um 30% 60% 80% Ami and uh and see if they could break down the need between uh the number of um for sale units and the number of rental units um help just provide the town some guidance on what we should be looking to have to see veloped so this is um part of the process of potentially it relates to 550 King and their affordable housing commitment but also it relates to the building we're in and whether or not uh there can be a push to redeveloping this building um since most of it's being emptied out um and the part that's not being emptied out are the actual town offices and but there are not there's no proposals but there's amorphous movement toward possibly putting town offices in 550 King in some fashion possibly temporarily in the IBM building um to free this building however with this needs assessment if we find that there isn't really a need for it you know the momentum for that effort might um aate but if we find that there if the needs assessment identifies a big need then there may be a push so I mean I'm definitely in favor of uh an affordable hous trust people you know um chime in but I'm definitely in favor of some of this assessment comments well I think it the last meeting when we uh discussed this topic um it I said it would be helpful to have as long as we were able to actually identify that need in a quantitative Manner and I'm fascinated to see how they plan to do that yeah I I am too I don't know if it's going to be only um anecdotal that's not going to be a good I just don't see that that would be helpful yeah I was pleased to see that the um scope referenced using um uh Community survey data um American ACS data American Community survey data um so yeah I mean we always have the option of looking at the syst this assessment and identifying its weaknesses or whatever um but I'm not sure that's a reason for not doing it no I would agree I think we should okay Bart agre and you say we have the money um let's see it would be my recommendation would be um set this is um in support of affordable housing that the um affordable housing trust be requested to set those funds aside for this step and we have the contract in place contract and contractor in place to allow it to happen this way if Oh I thought this fund since this request was coming from the planning board I thought the planning board was going to pay for it well uh who's promoting affordable housing I I don't understand how we can have them pay for it without a town meeting you know they'd have to gown meeting no town meeting has trans signicant funds to the affordable housing trust in and and you actually have money for for um purposes like this yes it's a clear well since it's going to benefit everybody I would suggest that the planning board and the affordable housing trust at least split it but do we have any money no we have no town meeting votes that authorize the planning board to spend funds on this assessment I don't think it looks good for the affordable housing trust to be in the way of an affordable housing assessment it's not in the way so I don't see by by not paying for it I don't see how that's the case well I think I would like to see their methodology before yeah I was going to say I think we need to see the methodology because it's got to be more than just estimates uh got to have something here to make sure that it's going to be a worthwhile study so I would recommend that next steps be um uh meeting with um the proposer and ask some of these questions and actually they should maybe come to one of your meetings if you're um if you're paying for it I mean it's sort of anyway we should you need okay how do I put this I think I think as a plan as a planning priority this has been over and over um talked about and in the absence of data it's hard to plan um one of the things that we were uh sort of concerned about was Hagar homstead the deeply affordable didn't seem to go right away and so does that mean that there wasn't demand for it um but there's it's a particular project uh that was very unique so um you know we could wait to town meeting and ask for $6,000 for this or we could do it now there was something I read about the Hager Homestead the the guy that was running the I don't know if it was a lottery or what it was that was placing but he said that the time that it took to um get a buyer for the 60% unit was not unusual because typically they don't have that much money right it's very hard to find yeah people in I mean that's just a very small demographic so that was not an unusual time and therefore it's not a indication that there's no demand so that's great and and then they the other issue is you know buy versus Brent yeah um if it's you know if the town's donating a building in whatever fashion I'm Mark you're listening to all this uh it's not going to be a for sale situation um anyway so perhaps you could say that because we currently don't have funding authorization for such a study that You' ask the uh affordable housing trust to take lead at least getting information on what such a study might look like and its viability and then we determine the payment method um as we get closer to either town meeting to get us authorized for it or they're satisfied that it would be appropriate to come from their budget instead of saying they should do it I I I think I think in the in the situation we're in with this the town has allocated to the CPC a huge amount of money to this group and um that's great um as I said I I totally agree that something like this should be done I just want to understand what their methodology is before spending any funding toward that and that's that's responsible yeah okay so can can you facilitate this yep absolutely okay that is um it motion to a CH do I hear a second nobody Wass a second all in favor I I thank you everyone thank