or less all right good evening everyone uh here and at home welcome to the Monday April 14th meeting of the Lunenburgg Planning Board we are here at our beautiful town hall second floor meeting
room and if you want to join us tonight you can do so by Zoom and to do that go ahead and get the agenda off the town website find the link um and phone number or phone number there you could also uh watch I mean if you're watching
us already you're watching us on Facebook Live or Unpack or you could uh come on downtown love that people are joining us and oh this meeting is being recorded i am required to say that and I believe
that's everything so without further ado um if there's someone who wants to lead us in the pledge we can do that [Music] i pledge algiance to the flag 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 [Music] all right uh we have a fairly comparatively brief agenda tonight that's a welcome change from
recent months um don't worry it'll pick back up and first I would see if we have any public comment if you're on Zoom and want to make public comment go ahead and use that hand raise feature that lets us know you want to speak
[Music] seeing none I'll move us forward if it has taken you a moment to figure it out just go ahead and get your hand up anyway and we'll get to you no worries okay um chair uh chair
report sorry I was getting one more thing in my notes before I forgot to cover it um so as some are aware um at this time our land use director is unavailable to that
end I am filling in extra downing down at the planning office as board chair to help keep things running smoothly um that means if you I mean call the planning office anytime like you normally might cuz Logan's there and he is fantastic if you are looking for me
in particular sitting in that role um feel free to call ahead and make an appointment but I'm there right now the gross majority of mornings next week school vacation a little more dicey but otherwise I am there in the morning into the early afternoon most
days um I want to tell the board that I got an email from a Mr andrew Woods at representing the club would be the teen center or the boys and girls club previously and they
were wondering if the planning board would like to field a team they were hoping we would field a team for their annual fundraiser are you smarter than a sixth grader it is Friday May 9th at 6:30 i'm
saying that now because I want to give a shout out to the fundraiser too it will be at the middle high school and board we can it's not actual business so we can coordinate we're allowed to coordinate that on the side and figure out if we have people to field the team
um I've been doing uh I mean things in the office are going fine everything's going smoothly applications are coming in they're getting addressed um we're getting some of our oblig other obligations out in terms of things like
the subsidized housing inventory making sure that goes to the state and other requests in a timely manner that's all happening fine um I did want to let us know that um when Chris was available he signed us up with a
contractor whose name I feel bad because I keep forgetting their names let me grab that um community scale um to help us with the MBTA
communities uh just kind of as some background info we are we're up against the end of the clock on this one um it is what it is community Scale will be coming in to help us and this is
specifically y'all like you remember MRPC came in with some preliminary work saying "Here's some potentially good locations in town that could be used in varying ways to comply with MR with uh
MBTA communities be that with um direct compliance or with paper compliance or some combination in between it's hard [Music] um
so what Chris he had mentioned it to us in pass like at the meetings but uh to flesh it out um we will be community scale will be working with us to take some of those options as well as one
location that uh Mr riley had identified as another possibility in town and they're going to present those to us as options because the MRPC wasn't enough it was just hey here's some areas now you need leg work this is the contractor
to do the leg work um the challenge is by the end of by our June 23rd meeting we're going to have to have an answer
the good news is the reason for that is if I don't know if you can even just Oh got it um the good news from that is that they will be able to once we pick our
location and I I'll talk about what uh in a later just what the timelines look like now but um once they have we pick the location they go off for the summer do all the leg work they write the bylaw to
make they then take the bylaw the zoning bylaw bring it to hack and the other organizations and make sure that it's going to be approved by the state because sometimes you put these things together and the state looks at it and
says no that doesn't count um they're going to they handle all of that leg work and hand us a state approved by law that will whatever option we choose meet those needs
um there's always the question of I mean there are some communities that are choosing to not comply with the bylaw i am going to be meeting uh once we get the next um office hours for town council that is
on my list of questions for town council what does it mean to not comply what does it mean because I know there people in town have at times and some members of the board have expressed interest in that and I think we need to
have that answer so we can make educated decisions um but they will be presenting the options to us May 12th we do not have a second May meeting because it coinci it coincides with
Memorial Day but um I was speaking some with the uh with the town manager and I would recommend that I mean I
don't think one planning board meeting is enough for the town to feel like they have input in this process process where we have public discussion um it would be my in it would be my intent if the board is good with it to have a couple other
public info sessions where we can show those who want to be there we don't need to have the whole board show the options to the community gather feedback and I can throw together a couple exercises to help people think about it and give feedback in a measured
and thoughtful way and because you want people to actually think you don't want like shooting from the hip fine thinking before you shoot from the hip is often a better choice in my estimation um that's kind of where we've
landed uh that's kind of where we've landed based on um where everything is when I went into the office i am super open to feedback on that process the timing of them coming in and when they need our vote by
are fairly set in stone with the contract so there's not a ton of flexibility [Music] here so it sound Yeah go ahead please so it sounded like um by our second meeting
in June they want to get off and go go run with it so yes so we've got one May meeting we've got two June meetings so that only gives us three total right yep and that's why I would recommend that we also we as the board
members I would encourage us to attend them but people have lives and I respect that i think having a a couple public info sessions that aren't a planning board meeting where we're sitting up here and then they come and say their pe you know we come they come they speak
here it works i think we'll be better served with the community by having a more discourse-based um like some of the earlier master plan sessions were that we're better at kind of soliciting some feedback as well as
back and forth communication because um you can have an opinion but sometimes when we talk our opinions change i know that I've had opinions on what might be a good choice for the town they've certainly been changed recently by discussing with others who knew more
about some of the nuances i'd like to give everyone that option but yeah no by the end of June they need an answer because they need time to draft the bylaw go to the state and make sure the state's cool with
everything and if not fix it so they're giving us a completed piece of paper so we can have our public hearing in the fall the mandatory one for the warrant and then get on town meeting in the fall so when do you anticipate having like
the public information sessions say that again when would you anticipate having the public's um honestly my goal would be to look at the calendar try to find days with the
fewest with the lowest volume of town government individuals in other meetings because I mean let's be honest I I hope other people are involved realistically we know that people who are already involved are likely to
continue to be involved so I think that's a good litmus i don't have that answer yet because I haven't really reviewed the dates i can certainly have I will certainly have those dates before our May meeting
[Music] um I may you know what I can ask I will double check to make sure it's not an open meeting violation but it shouldn't be and to my knowledge is not an open meeting violation for us to email and
discuss dates of a meeting that is scheduling that is not deliberation and is generally allowed so once I have some dates I will unless I'm told I can't and then I'll let you know I can't i will disseminate those out to the board and we can have a
discussion about those dates if that works uh Mr mr chair if I may on the uh OML concerns specifically and this isn't a I'm not a lawyer but um I was at a webinar for that recently and it did include that scheduling discussions uh
like an email to the full body if everyone can meet at 6 um is allowed but nobody can respond with anything of substance like yes and we should blah blah blah yes no that that thank you and that is that matches my understanding
but thank you for the clarification um now once we have date set that doesn't mean at our May 12th meeting we can't do some hashing out of what that might look like i'm happy to work on that with one other board member because that doesn't hit quorum if we want to
handle it that way or I'm happy to sketch that out and run with it if that's what we need but I'm happy to bring ideas to the May 12th meeting and we would have at least one of those public meetings prior to the May 12th meeting i'm sorry we'd have at least one
of those meetings the public meetings prior to the May 12th meeting they would have to be after the May 12th meeting because we need to get the and we need to hear from community scale what option that we need to hear their presentation of options yeah i'm just thinking of the
value if we did have one prior it may have them engaged prior to that meeting because that'll be a very substantive meeting and they may be engaged a little bit more and have specific questions at that point
i hear you on that i don't know let me loop back with community scale i don't know if the meeting I don't know with everything they're doing for us which is a lot
everything in my chair's report am I missing anything from the office of substance right now uh no okay nice all right I'm going to move us on then if that works we have an ANR for 60 crossroad
that is correct um the paper plans um should be over with uh Mr allison i have the myar here as well love it and uh I'm going to Great and take it away when you're ready okay uh this is Ian Hazelton from
Hanigan Engineering um on behalf of uh Cross Street Realy Trust um the current property is shown as parcel 12 uh map 99 um currently has approximately 534 ft of frontage on cross road approximately 6
acres of land um 4.63 uh being of Upland um currently there's a single family house there um so it's the intent to create two lots from the existing parcel uh lot 12A and 12B shown
on the plan um front edge will continue on crossroad uh 12A will have approximately 314 ft of frontage um and 3 3.48 acres of land 102,000 being of
upland uh 12B will have approximately 219 ft of frontage with total area of 2.52 acres and uh 98,000 of upland um and then the existing house will be
on 12B um and will conform to the the zoning the uh setbacks all right um what questions do we have is is there sewer available to that
parcel uh I believe there is in the street there is okay no so no septic bound yep that reminds me i'll ask I uh again the results of whatever the answer is
doesn't really impact um because with an ANR and I say I say this as much for our friends at home so who are watching who don't deal with ANRs every day um we sometimes ask some questions that aren't about that aren't really going to impact
our decision but we tend to bring them up because we have had cases where applicants and their engineers have accidentally created an issue for themselves and we hate to put people in that position um so it wouldn't impact
the decision uh you uh you did get you did submit to the board of health and got a response I believe so okay we did great perfect wonderful um and again that happens because we've had people space themselves out of
septic and then really messes up a plan great i see frontage i see yeah plenty of area anything else all
right i would look for a motion such as to endorse the ANR plan for 60 Cross Road as presented uh so moved second moved and seconded
further discussion all in favor i I There we go thank you and we can get that myar signed right now so you can have it in hand perfect thank you
[Music] [Applause] [Music] today the 14th yes [Music] hand that and then I'll hand the pen
separately [Music] you're welcome great thank you very much can we get Logan's pen back here so we don't forget because I will forget there you go thank
you all right that's our ANRS and um public hearings we have no public hearings tonight how rare decisions um did you get through all three yes uh they should be in the
SharePoint let me if they're not yeah they're all there um the hard copies are with Mr allison um this is my first crack at these but I think I have the the format and such down um and if there's any minor you
know feedback that needs to be incorporated tonight um that should be totally doable i don't think we'd need to go to another meeting for it so the three decisions before us are for 1523 Massav for uh the special permit
for the common driveway is that right 485 Lester Shirley Road for the site plan approval and 994 Northfield for site plan approval i'm not sure if I got the one for 1523
printed um yeah I don't see it okay I'll print that right now thank you sir um wait a minute there is there are two here oh um and also there's the decisions for 494 electric a in the far back there um at the last meeting I had erroneously
told Matt that those were absorbed into the prior public hearing cuz that's what happened for 213 electric a where the hearing was finished the decision was right there and it was signed then um when I got back to the office the next day we had two signed copies of 213 electric so I'm thinking that one of
those may have just been what was supposed to be 494 but I have those decisions here for um signature tonight okay i encourage people just to say questions or anything as we go um I do see that we have the special conditions on 94
Northfield [Music] [Applause] [Music] this thank you [Music] question because I Yes that's right
as people read through once you kind of feel you've read through and feel comfy just kind of make eye contact with me so I know so I'm not so I have a clue where we are in the reading process um you know procedurally I'm just going to mention I don't think I'm eligible to sign any of these three i do not believe
you are now cuz you were not there for the decisions i'm ready to go okay thank you all right great um do we have any concerns or anything with the decisions as written uh I want to say here now because I want
to be in public while recorded um if Logan's ears were burning earlier today this afternoon after I left left the office it's because I was discussing with people how much one of his skills is documenting
process clearly and that's been such a help recently in the office too so thank you sir it's a and like as I read through decision I'm like oh this happened then this happened this happened i'm like this might take one sheet of paper more than normal but man
I really can follow this so smoothly all right sounds like we are good to sign awesome um that case Sharpie should work well I got we have I think yeah do you want me to pass
which one would you like to start with Mr here let's start with um 1523 Massav okay [Applause] thank you for asking that question so we
don't sign the same one twice and not sign it like we managed last time after that one let's do 485 Leister Shirley [Applause] Road and then 994 of Northfield
thank you [Applause] stop being a PA mr chair to to your comment about Logan it sounds to me as though he is certainly smarter than a sixth grader i would have no problem they're looking
for three or four of us total i would have no problem it being the planning office instead of the planning board and bringing um or I don't care what you say planning board and bring Mr o'connell in with us anyway if you have a desire to
volunteer on a Friday night when is it again may 9th may 9th could do that i might be going to Porchfest in Somerville the next day but that sounds like it'd be a lot of fun yeah all
right are we good cool um Yeah the only other thing would be um 494 electric a meant to be endorsed last last meeting so that also needs to be that decision needs to be passed two decisions do you know if they're different uh no so one
is Yeah sorry one is the storm water one is the site plan approval um and one has the new formatting um because the text is still the same as um Mr riley's original uh draft but the one that was at the meeting that night I believe
didn't have the uh um revisions from attorney AI baked in that was swapping condition like 16 and 17 the order of them um he had presented those to you that night it just wasn't baked into that document um so that reflects that and then the other one is completely
untouched as is okay great so which one would you like to do first whichever one you hand as long as they both get done I think it's fine this storm water glenn's already signed it i believe has already signed it thank you and likewise with these two yep i'll grab that
all right I think we are good thank you thank you [Music] okay give me one second to call back up the agenda um board discussions
um again I kind of gave us that in the unless they're a bit in the chair report but office is moving along um everyone in Ritter is being tremendously helpful in making sure that everything gets done in a timely and
complete way oh I am that reminds me i am going on um some of the stuff the land use director would normally do like go on sitewalks and the pre like for the pre-construction meeting and everything and to verify um like storm water set up
correctly i am going on those with um Brian our building commissioner we're always welcome to go on those so if you're like man I really want to go on sitewalks in the middle of the day I'm happy to email you when they get scheduled let me know
but that that's the kind of stuff that's normally done by our representative and right now I'm that representative um I'd like to mention I think I think simply by virtue of you being the chair
I don't think that we need to but um I think we do need to sign the board needs to sign a document for the land use director to be our designated design I believe but I don't think I think since simply since you're the chair I think that Okay I will
follow let me add a note [Music] i just want to get I wanted to get that in my notes before I forgot to type it in then it won't exist um I'm relying very heavily on notes right now
um I will I will follow up on that because if we do need to I don't think we do i don't think I do because it's like the board or its representative designated rep but I want to follow up on that anyway because I don't remember us ever signing anything for a representative to do that
stuff so it doesn't mean we shouldn't be okay it I could also just be mistaken in my memory that's happened all the time um before I move us on do we have any other board discussions i mean there's
time for board comment concerns but where we don't have any formal discussion set I just wanted to see if there's anything else we need to touch base on because this is when we can stop and meet right because of core open meeting rules everything else it's a little
harder because we don't get to just funnel everything through the like in a legitimate way but send cons we each talk individually and land use director land use director might say "Hey could we put this on the agenda?" If there's nothing there's
nothing great all right Logan anything we need to know from other communities not that I have seen no right um okay wonderful committee reports at 6:37
this is lovely um don't jinx it this is just a light season right now i will take I will take it master plan steering committee um we had a meeting last week um we have another few meetings coming up in quick succession
um trying to plan for um another uh public community engagement um yeah uh we have another meeting coming up next week and then I think another one two weeks after
that and I cannot remember offhand when the next community engagement is supposed to be but I think it's two months out from now mhm all right y great i know the gunning is
for me before the end of the school year there um love it open space committee uh we have not met since the last meeting we did try to meet but didn't have uh quorum okay um Mr allison you used to
serve on open space did Adam go to open space meetings i don't believe so okay i don't remember him being at the open space meeting okay that's I know the land use director used to hit some meetings not others and I didn't know where that one fell i'm
trying again just trying to make myself as a representative of the office available at more of the meetings so that that can just be hopefully an easier thing um I do believe that is a subcommittee of
the planning board yeah no I agree with that uh Glenn if if they want the office represented beyond you I'm happy to swing down and that's kind
of across the board right now um this level of participation continues until my wife and children say no more but they are being very good sports municipal Building Design Committee we met last Monday
um the um the brunt of the discussion was uh at the request of the select board we have a discussion about the disposition of the Brooks House uh we did take a formal vote and and as we as we did last year uh the majority of the
group is still in favor of demolition um they wanted us the select board had asked that group to give um some kind of a suggestion or recommendation as far as lease or sale um and and again the the majority of the group recommended
demolition um we we did go on to speak about the warrant article um they we're going to kind of loosely put it together and send it around and then have comments go back to the chair um we did decide I I'm pretty sure we did decide i
don't think we took a vote on it but we did decide to ask for the for the monetary ask at town meeting we're going to go with the exact figure that was uh quoted on their cost estimate which was something shy of 23 million but it
was to this to the dollar figure so we're just going to pass that on for the for the ask all right thank you capital Planning Committee um has
not met See oh I'm not even sure last time I told you that we got together and met with the town manager about a few little about like did I not cuz I'm trying to think if that was since our last meeting
uh I had just finished the minutes on this and I um believe it was that you had reviewed um the interim town manager's um Yes bullet points for the the new town manager yes that Okay good i I just I had the moment like I don't
know when that was and great that was before our last meeting you've heard it from me thank you Logan um then we have not met economic development committee uh they are still uh wrestling with the
the concerns of um or the perception reality or otherwise if Lunenburgg is you know friendly to um attracting new business and we were hoping to get off the ground with like a workshop or forum with uh the land use director and and the building uh the building inspector u
but you know obviously that's taken a bit of a backseat but I was I I was glad to see that you had had a meeting the chair had a meeting with the uh LBA yes because I have also reached out to them with email saying you know that like a little bit more you know boots on the
ground get you know a real feel for what the obstacles and u that they're running into so that we can you know address them as much as we and informally because there seems to be a lot of hesitation on the part of you know whoever these businesses are that are are having issues to bring them forward
and have you know it's almost as if they were afraid of retribution or something from the from the town which of course is concerning so I think by by us individually reaching out and having conversations with them and having them educate us and us educating them I think will be a take a huge step forward so I
do appreciate you having been at that that last meeting which I I was not at but I will be um at the next meeting and have opened up a line of communication with the the the LBA and I I think we can handle a lot of those issues and and put a friendly face to the to the uh the
town of Lunberg and and again address these these concerns maybe just some misunderstandings and whatnot and I look forward to hopefully getting a better grasp or grip on exactly what what those issues are and the uh EDC is you know
really focused on that and I'm you know I'm grateful to have the the opportunity to try to to help them help them along um and I think oh they also have um Open for Business which I've seen a couple of the episodes on PAC which were
actually pretty good and they're highlighting local businesses here in Lunenburgg so I would certainly recommend people seek out those um those shows and there'll be more to come on those those shows which I think are a
great idea great um and and thank you by LBA again i just trying to scream out at you everything I think of that I I have done recently because I don't want to feel like anything's
behind closed doors um yeah at they were looking for advice and the advice I gave as board chair was uh for young entrepreneurs think coming out of college trying to start their first business um and the advice I had is one I'd have for anyone looking to start a
business in town which is once you're at the point you've got a business plan like once you're serious you you know what you want to do come to the Ritter building before you start doing stuff like just stick your head in say
hi ask a couple questions because depending upon the business land um planning or building commissioner for almost anything or health department may be able to give some quality feedback and um I think of some of the
um where we even had a restaurant before us months prior to now who wound up having to switch locations based on some border health requirements um I just like to think that maybe we could help people avoid some of those stumbling blocks and point them in the right
direction early so they can be successful love it thank you stormwater task force uh we'll be meeting next week okay great did Adam used to attend those or no yes yes okay um I'll get the date
from you later Tim and if I can be there and if you think it'd be helpful for me to be there I'm happy to be but we'll figure um Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission uh nothing to report i was unable to attend that meeting okay
montichus Joint Transportation Committee nothing to report for that one it was mostly choosing new members new hierarchy i can't think of the word reorganization reorganization that's the one yep
okay yeah the MJTC reorg meeting is one of the driest um bad all right minutes approval for March 24th 2025 i'll take a motion when people are
ready not looking to rush you excuse me i see people looking at each other so I think we're in a position to Yeah I will I said it earlier sorry i will take an a motion when pe a motion when people are ready i'll motion to approve the planning board minutes for our March
24th 2025 meeting second moved and seconded all in favor i I I all right very good meeting schedule um meetings take place at 6:00
p.m at town hall second floor meeting room unless otherwise noted uh that includes April 28th and May 12th with a note that uh our third we don't normally look three meetings ahead but reminding
the public our second meeting in May would normally be on what is this year Memorial Day so uh as of now there is no meeting scheduled just looking ahead public
comment there is no public here there is no public on Zoom there Here we go board comment or concerns please since it's still light out and it's early I think I can go off on a little bit of a tangent no just
something I shared recent experience I sh had recently as a citizen and a a a customer of uh Low Places Ranch uh they had a um an event come talk poultry seminar and it's a very popular event in
fact last year we went because we were entertaining getting involved or getting chickens and this year we're looking to get re-engaged with chickens after the uh the massacre that occurred on St patrick's Day but we they had held the event interestingly at 494 Electric A if
you sounds familiar Ilorno so that was my first time being at Il Forno as as a customer so they had the event inside their their function room and and it was I would say it was I mean it was a free event so it wasn't sold out but I would
say it was it was at capacity and we parked in the um the dirt lot and so it gave me a different perspective of how that business operates you know at its peak and that it was really awkward being in the the dirt parking lot and
people parking happen you know happen stance so um it was just it was a good perspective for me to see um h again h how that operates at at full capacity um and it really also was just a a a great
example of two Lunenburgg businesses working together and in succeeding and you know I I look forward to that and would encourage people who are looking for information on chickens that it's a a great event assuming they have it again next year but the experience reassured me that the upgrades that the
business owner is making to the the property is is truly a a betterment to the property um and you know it'll be interesting as time goes on to see it progress and then of course the final product product just to see how it um
addresses the concerns you know I can reflect upon the concerns that I had in in looking at the the uh the final product so I mean it it's just a good example of the you know Lunberg business spending the capital to address a known issue and it just it did again give me a
different perspective and is why I actually would appreciate um you know going on some sitewalks early on in the process you know as I try to wrap my head around you know what exactly the impact of what we're doing here and you know I I it was a impactful moment for
me and it'll be like I said it'll be interesting to see the the complete completed project it'll clearly be a lot better than the current situation great thank you i was going to
uh I was going to make a comment but I I realized I could just come out as me as a public official totally just like being really gung-ho about specific products at low low places i probably
shouldn't do that um but no I've got uh I I like seeing businesses work together i like seeing us involved um if you need an incubator or anything let me know mine's not currently oh you need chickens first yeah oh the incubator no I think they they they're going to come
in the mail oh okay got it um all right so rock and roll any other board comment concerns hearing none I would look for a motion to adjourn if you do it quickly it'll be
before 7 that's pretty tight a motion to adjourn uh April 14th meeting of the planning board second moved and seconded all in favor i great we got in before the bell finished
ringing everybody