Speaker 1: Good evening. I'll call tonight's meeting of the Planning Board to order at 7 0 5. For the record, this meeting is being recorded and is broadcast on Natick Pegasus. To comment or ask a question, use the raise your hand function. If you're on a phone, press star nine. An individual wishing to speak during public speak or during a public hearing must display their first and last name on their screen before their microphone can be unmuted. To make changes in your name as it appears on the screen in Zoom, click on participants. To open the participants menu, hover your cursor over the
entry and click on more. Click on rename and type in your first and last name. So moving on to public speak to open the meeting. Any individual may raise an issue that's not included on the agenda and it will be taken under advisement by the board. There'll be no opportunity for debate during this portion of the meeting. Any individual addressing the board during the section of the agenda shall be limited to five minutes. Is there anyone wishing here in person to speak in public speak? And Amanda, do we have any hands raised? I don't see any hands raised right now. No. Alright, then moving on to
the next order of business. You, you have something to read, do you not? I Speaker 2: Do. Speaker 1: Have we? We haven't opened it yet. Not the Speaker 3: District, Speaker 2: Right? No. All Speaker 1: Right. So, Speaker 2: So notice of public hearing pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 40 a section five, the Natick Planning Board will hold a hybrid public hearing on Wednesday, February 26th, 2025 at 7:00 PM in the Edward h Diot meeting room, located at 13 East Central Street, Natick, mass, and remotely via Zoom for the 25 spring annual town meeting.
To discuss amend zoning bylaws, floodplain district to see if the town will vote to amend the NA zoning bylaws by amending section three dash a three floodplain district amend section 200 definitions and further amend any other section associated sections where applicable or act in any other manner. In relation there to a copy of the full text of the proposed articles may be inspected in the Town Clerk's Office, the Community and Economic Development Office. And on the website@wwwnatickma.org, the link to the X link
to access the virtual meeting may be found on the post at agenda for order. Peter Nason, chair of the Natick Complaining Board. Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Amanda. Do you want to start us off on this? And you said that Claire is going to be joining us virtually. Speaker 3: Yep. So Claire is here tonight with us. Sorry, Claire Rundel. She is our conservation agent, environmental planner. So who will be doing most of the presenting? This is a zoning amendment, which is basically much needed to make sure that we remain in compliance with the FEMA regulations and the state regulations. The bylaw was drafted to align itself
with the state model bylaw. It also does update the maps, which is one of the biggest requirements because we do have to update the maps for this. And then also it does designate a point of contact for the town for fema. So we did make sure we had all of that. I know Claire's been working with the state to ensure that they were happy with the language. And this one that you do have in front of you tonight, which was put into the packet with the February 26th, is the addition that has been reviewed by staff.
It has been reviewed by the state and this is the proposed language for that. And I'm not sure if Claire's here so she can kind of give more of a detail. Speaker 1: I believe she is. Speaker 3: She she was, but then her camera went off for a second, so, okay. I didn't know if she had to step out or something. Speaker 1: Yes, Speaker 2: There she is. Speaker 1: No audio. Speaker 2: She's saying SOS Oh, call. Speaker 3: Hold on, let me Claire's phone. All right. I think you just need to unmute. Speaker 4: Hi folks. So sorry about that. Speaker 1: Hello? Speaker 4: I don't know why the audio and microphone on my computer just absolutely died.
I'm trying to troubleshoot at the last minute. I joined by phone instead. So yes, the copy of the bylaw that you have in front of you tonight has been reviewed by Eric Carlson at the state DCR offices. There are no additional comments from Eric. This bylaw meets the state requirements in terms of language definitions and also addresses the updated effective FEMA firm panels and FIS reports. Speaker 1: And just for fun, FIS is Speaker 4: Flood insurance study. Thank Speaker 1: You. So further questions
or comments on the proposal members of the board? Okay. Speaker 2: Claire Armand, anything drastic change on the FEMA maps in Natick? The updates Speaker 4: Nothing drastic at all. I did have a question about this at the conservation commission meeting as well, but the effective maps have, the new effective maps have been out as preliminary maps for the last two to three years, depending on the specific panel number. And so under the Wetlands Protection Act, we have been issuing permits using the most up-to-date data,
which is the preliminary maps. So nothing will really change in terms of implementation of regulations in the town. Speaker 2: Okay, thanks. And then I know we were talking about designating somebody in as the point of contact and is that still Yep. Speaker 3: Administrator? Yeah, it would be the town administrator just so that they would be the point and they would designate someone. And I believe we had an associate, like a backup one, correct. Claire? Speaker 4: I think it's the, the town administrator has the ability and we do have a deputy floodplain administrator noticed in the bylaw as well. Okay. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Alright. So, and this is our public, actually I should see,
does anyone else on the board have questions or comments? Is there anybody here present or in at home on Zoom who has questions or comments? Stunning silence. Alright, so what we want to do, presumably this is for our, for springtown meeting, so we want to have a motion to move to put it on the warrant or no, we've done, we've put it on the warrant. Speaker 3: So the town administrator Yeah. Is the Oh, he's the sponsor. Sponsor of this article. The, so this is just for your recommendation to town meeting. Okay.
Speaker 1: Would someone like to, would we Speaker 5: Recommend positive action in refer to the, Speaker 1: Is there a second? Oh, Speaker 3: His Speaker 2: Mic. Yeah, second. Speaker 1: Alright, all of those in favor. And we're all here so we don't have to do roll call. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? That, that passes. Thank you. And are we going to, thanks Claire. Close the hearing. Okay. Motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Speaker 5: Second. Speaker 1: All those in favor of closing the public hearing, say aye. A aye. All opposed. Thank you.
Cool. Alright. And next. This is one that was open previously and we're continuing. That's the Amen. Zoning bylaws, use regulation schedule. Speaker 3: Yep. Speaker 1: Amanda. Speaker 3: So since we have people in the audience, why don't, do you wanna do that one first? Speaker 1: How complex is what we have to do with that? Speaker 3: It's more going through Speaker 1: The agonizing step by step. Okay. Speaker 3: Fair point. Just, Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 3: It's, you're the chair, but it's just Speaker 1: No, I hear you. I was thinking, I was thinking it might be briefer than, than it will be. Okay. All right. So then the next item,
and we'll come back to the, the zoning bylaw is section three development review public hearings. And we have a public hearing to open for, do you want to take care of 79? Yeah, first let's do Speaker 2: That. Let's, Speaker 1: Let's do that. Okay. Yeah. The continued public hearing for 79 SP Street, which was before us, and I think the, the, the board felt strongly that it should not go forward. I understand that we've had communication from the applicant, Speaker 3: We have communication with the applicant and they're requesting a withdraw of the project.
Speaker 1: And would someone like to make a motion to accept the request to withdraw? Speaker 6: Can I just ask if their request to withdraw was, was one of with prejudice or without prejudice? Speaker 3: You know what, I have to re let me re review that. Speaker 2: I was just taking that myself. Yeah, Speaker 3: We'll be withdrawing the application. I don't remember seeing the word without prejudice. It just said withdrawing the application. Speaker 1: Oh, it may stand that it would be our role too. In Speaker 6: Fairness. In fairness, yeah. Without prejudice makes the most sense to me. Speaker 1: So Speaker 6: I mean, if they can bring back a project that's compliant, that fits in that space,
then they should be able to do that. Okay. Speaker 1: Then I will entertain a motion to accept the withdrawal without prejudice. And a second. Speaker 6: So moved. Speaker 1: All, all, all. Any discussion? Hearing none? All of those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. So it is with Considered withdrawn without prejudice, entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So Speaker 2: Moved. Second. Speaker 1: Second. All of those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. And the hearing is closed. So the second development review item with the public hearing is for 54 Highland Street.
And Doug Speaker 2: Notice no NA planning board notice of public hearing for the property at 54 Highland Street Map 36 lot 2 4 1 C and zero Highland Street Map 36 lot 2 4 1 CA on Wednesday, February 26th, 2025 at 7:00 PM the planning board would hold a hybrid meeting in the Edward H OTT meeting room located at 13 East Central Street, NA, mass, and virtually via Zoom to review the application of Kira Mar. I hope I got that correct. The applicant, the applicant has submitted an application
for special permit for use under section three dash a2 B five and Section five DD of the Natick zoning bylaws. The application proposes to utilize the property as a home occupation dog kennel as defined in section 200 definitions of the Nat zoning bylaws. The property is located at zero and 54 Highland Street and is located within the residential single CRSC zoning district. A copy of the application can be reviewed in the Community and Economic Development Office and on the website of the Community and Economic Development Office per order.
NP board. Peter Nason Chair. Speaker 7: Thank you. Alright. So I'm guessing you you are they please come up, take your seat. We have two mics. Make sure they're on, there's a light and we do ask you when you're speaking to, always make sure you're speaking in the mic because the world is listening at home. Okay. So, so good evening and if you'd like to introduce, introduce your project, hello, introduce your project, and give us kind of a thumbnail sketch of what it's about
and then we will have questions. Sure. I'm Kira Marbut. I'm Steve Marbut. And a number of years ago we, you know, started watching neighbors and people's dogs in our house, one dog at a time. And we really got a lot of pleasure out of it. We don't have a dog ourself and it was a nice way to be able to help the community and get some enjoyment from taking care of dogs.
And then over time, that has grown into something that we have wanted to kind of make more official and that's why we're here today. So. And so could, could you tell us a a bit about the business that you're, I guess, conducting and proposing to conduct in terms of kind of this, this space that it occupies maybe even a day in the life of, of Sure. The kennel. Yeah. So we have
been on rover that has been kind of a primary way to find new people. As of recently, we don't really get very many new people anymore. We've been doing this for, it'll be 10 years this may. And at this point it's, it's repeat clients that we have that come. We typically have at least one dog every day that stays with us. They kind of become a part
of our household while they're there. And we have a kind of large backyard, atypical atypically, large backyard. And when the dogs come, we have specific times of the day that dogs can come and we don't accept dogs after a certain point in the evening. Our, you know, it's very important to us to be good community members and good neighbors. We don't ever want
to disturb other people in our neighborhood. We want to enhance our neighborhood. And so we, a number of years ago, we put in two parking spaces so that when people come, they don't have to park on the street, they can come into our driveway, park their cars. We don't accept dogs before nine in the morning. We don't accept dogs coming or going after around eight o'clock at night. And typical day in the life would be a dog would, we don't do daycare. It for the most part, it's mostly overnights. Okay.
It's mostly dogs outside that come and stay with like a couple of exceptions of very close neighbors that might need a little bit of exercise for their dog. So mostly it's overnights. So we will arrange, pre-arrange a time with a client. Once they're a regular client, before they're a regular client, we will meet with them at our house outside, we meet the dog, we get a sense for them, they get a sense for us.
And then before they become a client, they have to do a one night overnight with us. And so that's also really important part of our whole process is to ensure that we don't have dogs that are aggressive, dogs that are barky, you know, for us, you know, if we have a dog that is a big barky dog, that's not a dog that we take, kind of, that's just how it goes and people know that. So I ask a lot of questions before we get a new client.
You know, what time do they wake up, when can they wait until we don't let dogs out until around eight 30 or nine usually is the first time that they go out, which is it, it limits the dogs that we have. But we're okay with that. Our, our real goal is to make sure that dogs are taken care of well in our house and that they have a good time and that they're a good fit for us. Speaker 1: And how do you secure your outdoor space? Your, the, the any Speaker 7: Kind of, yeah.
Yeah. So we have a fully fenced yard and then we have on the side that the dog comes in. We actually put up a, a second fence. So it kind of becomes a, an airlock. An airlock. So the dog comes in, we can meet them, they go through a second gate. Sometimes when a dog is new to us, they and their parent leaves through that gate. They will tend to like sit at the gate, oh, you know, and where are they going?
So we liked the idea of having an extra fence so that even if they're like batting at the fence, they're not batting at a fence to actually get out. They're batting at a fence that would get into another area. When dogs are outside, we are outside. It's not like we open the door and, you know, go take a shower. Speaker 8: So I could see the entire backyard from my deck. So I can see the, the full extent of where dogs can go. They can't hide basically. Speaker 7: Yeah. And so at this point we have basically a lot of
really fun, enjoyable social butterfly dogs that do very well with each other. We don't have issues. People always ask us how do they get along? How do you know? And it's the kind of dogs that we're taking. They get along, they're, it's like a lot of golden doodles if I'm gonna be really honest. And, you know, they become a part of our life. They will, we have a a, an area that has crates in it that's set up for overnights. We have a number of bins that are set up that
have the dog, their food, you know, and any special instructions about the dog, it's locked. So another dog can't like get into that dog's food. And Speaker 8: I mean, the main thing to add is that we believe what we do is a, it's a caring and loving approach to dog care. You know, these dogs might otherwise be forced to be in camels 24 7. And these types of dogs need activity. They need socialization, they need friendship and partnership and we provide that.
It is much nicer for the parents to know that I'll write a personal letter every day with pictures and show what their dog has been up to that day and they know they can go on vacation, resting easily and that their dog will be well cared for and well loved and not just in a kennel situation. Speaker 7: Yeah. People, people have told us for years, you know, as we get to your street, the dog's little tail starts and I was like, they, they're making that up like that doesn't really happen. And then I had to pick up a dog from somewhere and seriously, like we got to our street
and the dog was like, it all got all excited. I was like, oh, they weren't lying. It's true. So Speaker 8: The other thing to note is that the people who who use us will contact us first to make sure that we're available before they book their flights. So, you know, we are someone that they're really counting on for this service and we've turned away a lot of people and feel terrible about it. And that's one of the big reasons why we want the approval of the kennel. So we, we can increase our numbers and not have to say no. Speaker 1: Could you talk a little bit about that increase in numbers? Yeah. Speaker 7: So we've been at, you know, most of the time right
around four dogs. This is a request to go to eight dogs and for the, I don't anticipate that being something that every day we're gonna have eight dogs that accounts for overlaps of one dog going home, another dog coming. It gives us the flexibility that we need in order to be able to have some dogs coming and some dogs going. Typically on a, on a typical week we would be probably around four. Speaker 8: But then on 4th of July week, on Memorial day, week on Labor day week, like everyone wants to go on vacation at once.
So the numbers spike during the holidays for school vacation week, school vacation. Well vacation week. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1: So lemme see. Go around and see who has questions first. Amanda, is there anything that you want to want to add from the staff? Speaker 3: No. In your packets, you did receive a lot of the comments from all of the various departments. The only one was, and I know I stepped out for a second, was dog waste removal. Was that already addressed? Yes. Okay, perfect. Speaker 8: Yeah, so I could address that. We have cleaners if you already did that. Oh great. We're all set. Awesome. Thanks. Speaker 1: What's that? I don't
Speaker 9: Think you did. Oh no, no. We'd like to hear Go ahead. Go Speaker 8: Ahead. Yeah. Yeah. So we, I'm gonna Speaker 9: Be one of my questions, so sorry. Speaker 8: Yeah. We have cleaners who, who scoop all that and then they take it offsite and she's doing whatever she's doing with it. Speaker 7: Not in our bags, but it's not Speaker 1: Native bags. You have to know what she's doing with it. Alright, I'll, I can find that we have to have a pickup service and not discover that she's been like dropping it off and the conservation land behind her. Speaker 8: No, no. For for Speaker 7: Sure. And if we need to, it's like not a big deal at all. We can, hi, I, I had hired doggy, what's they called? It's a great name. It has such a good name.
It's like a pooper, I forget what it's called. I'd hire, I basically had had them come out, they gave me a price, I was ready to book them and then my cleaner was like, I can do that for you and we will take it with you. And so I was like, okay, but I can double check and and hire someone if it's easier. Well, Speaker 1: And need to, need to be able to verify what, what is happening. Yeah. That it's not going into the residential waste stream. Okay. Speaker 7: Or Speaker 1: A bag somewhere outside Speaker 7: Of the road. It would be very easy for us to switch over to that if we needed to. Not a big deal. So, Speaker 1: Alright.
Speaker 10: Alan, the, I would just like to know more about what you have for a fence around the yard. I saw the pictures, but I see that there's a chain link, but then there's also like a white vinyl. Yes. Can you tell me what goes around and everything? Speaker 7: It's white vinyl is on the right hand side in front and all the way down and then in front of our neighbors to our right. So it kind of blocks everything in their yard. And then beyond that is a black, it's six feet chain link fence that goes all the way to the back and then all the way up to the left hand side.
And then another chain link with a double lock that leads out to the front of the house on the left. Speaker 10: Okay. And it looks like there, I'm looking at a street view. It looks like there's some trees to the left kind of Yes. Of those kind of blocked the view Yes. From the neighbor to the left. So chain link is kind of out towards the woods or whatever? Speaker 7: Correct. Okay. Correct. And our neighbors to our left, they have like arbor es they have all the way along. Right. Speaker 10: Okay. And you think those are
about six feet taller? Speaker 7: The, the fence or the trees? Speaker 10: Sorry? The, the fence. Speaker 7: The fence I think is six feet. Speaker 10: Okay. You don't have any jumping dogs that are clearing that, right? Speaker 7: No, we, no, we, they are, you know, for the most part they, they go outside, they run around and they come back inside. Speaker 10: Okay. And there was also, I guess one of the comment letters from I think the conservation commission, they just wanted to make sure that with this amount of dogs that, you know, worried about them just creating ruts or whatever in your yard. But yeah, I think, I imagine you guys will just comply
with whatever they're asking for Right. Whatever Speaker 7: They need. Exactly. Speaker 10: Okay. And you guys were outside so we don't have to worry about dogs digging underneath the fence or anything like that? No. Oh Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure. We're there. No, we take Speaker 10: This super seriously. Okay. Speaker 1: Oh, that's right. That's because it's a, it's within the a hundred foot buffer of wetlands. Correct. Speaker 7: So, oh, and Speaker 1: Probably from, there's a stream that goes Yeah. Speaker 7: Between us and Marion. Yes. Speaker 1: That's actually all conservation land. Yeah. That, that whole parcel. I I think most of us were on the board at the time that that became conservation land. Oh, that's Speaker 7: Cool. Speaker 10: And where do the dogs sleep at night? Speaker 7: For the most part it's in crates.
But if a dog sleeps in with a person, they, they would sleep with me. They would sleep either in the bed or they would sleep on the couch. But they're in crates inside the house or inside the garage or house? Oh no, we have a, nothing's Speaker 8: Outdoors it's owned on, Speaker 7: Yeah. We have a room that has a number of crates set up and we have cameras in the inside of our house and we have cameras on the outside of our house as well. Okay. Speaker 1: Amanda, could you remind me what is the percentage of house that is that can must be designated?
I think it's 25. Is it 25? Oh, I think it was. I just wanna check, Speaker 3: Was it 25 or 35? But lemme Speaker 1: Double check. Speaker 11: That's all I have for questions. Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Actually, while she's looking that up, Doug, no questions. Okay, Andy, Speaker 11: Well thank you for coming in. This is a, a special permit, which is probably the most formal process that we have. So even though it's a, it's a friendly process, there's, there's a lot to check off. Right. So the first thing I just wanted to figure out is I saw in our documents
that we had the notification stickers, are we a hundred percent certain that all the notices went out properly on this? Speaker 3: If it's, Speaker 11: The reason I ask is because there's nobody here, there are no letters or there's, I beg your pardon. I didn't Speaker 7: And I have three, we have three letters. Okay. Speaker 11: But we, we don't have anybody, we only have six people here. Yeah. And my antenna go up because Speaker 1: It's not a very crowded street. Speaker 7: We did have find out, we had notices from our s finish my question. Speaker 8: Yeah. I I know neighbors have received it. Oh, sorry. Speaker 11: I just, we, we had a case where notice was not made
and it was a big problem. Okay. So I, before we go much further, I just want to be 100% certain. 'cause typically we have a lot of people show up for these. Speaker 7: Okay. Speaker 11: And I only, and I, and I don't see many letters. I don't see people online. There's only one person here, which we would like to hear from. So that was my first question. Speaker 3: Yep. Legal mailers replacing the outgoing mail on February 10th, 2025. And if anyone came back, they're on my desk if you'd like me to go check to see who came back. Speaker 11: No, just Speaker 3: How many went out. 28 plus six for the abutting communities.
Speaker 11: Okay. Speaker 3: And of that 28, 2, at least two were for the town of Natick and those ones are on my desk. Okay. Speaker 11: So that, that question was asked for a very specific experience that we had. So you guys have been in business for 10 years? Yeah. And is there some reason you're here now? Did somebody tell you you need to come in and get an, a special permit? Speaker 7: So, a couple things. I, I stopped working in November and so this is something that we're taking pretty seriously at this point. We want this to be something that is, is a source of support
for us and we wanna make sure we're doing this correctly. Speaker 8: Yeah. I, I retired in May of 2022. Kira just got laid off in December and has decided not to go and look for another job. So this will be our primary source of income now. Speaker 11: So like the animal control officer didn't say what you're doing needs a permit, you have to go talk to the planning board? No, Speaker 7: He, we did, we had the animal control officer come out, he did an inspection and I said, you know, I don't know really what I'm supposed to do. And he said, I can help you with that. Let me tell you everything that you need to know.
I was like, great. He's like, go talk to Amanda and p go to the community. And he, so he kind of got me started and then I came down, I found out, you know, what are the next steps? What do I have to do? How do I, you know, and then he came back out, did an inspection in January and signed off on eight dogs. And I was like, okay, let's do this for eight dogs. So it seemed like it would make the most sense. Okay. Speaker 11: So after a, a lot of experience with this board, we finally figure out the best way
to permit this is we do it under part of our bylaw that concerns home occupations. Okay. And the idea is that if you were say an accounting agency or some other type of home business, your dog business would impact your neighbor's in, in that type of intensity. In other words, your neighbors and the people in your neighborhood should probably have as much awareness of your business as they would if your neighbor was an accountant. Which is, cars come in, cars go,
but it's primarily a, an inside home occupation. But of course these are living creatures and they need to go out. Right. So we pay some attention to the actual process of letting dogs in and out. Dogs obviously have to go out for relief. They're not really supposed to stay out all day long. It is more for, you know, a potty break and then back in. And of course what I, what I have always paid attention to in these types of applications is are the applicants dog people. I, I think that is the number one thing.
There are dog whispers. They just get dogs. They figure it out. They, they, they book them in ways where there are good combinations that makes for happy dogs that don't make a lot of noise. So that's always my question. Do you guys consider yourselves dog people? Speaker 8: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Speaker 11: Alright, good. You kind of are or you aren't? And if you are, I think, I think you get it. Agree. For, for me personally, I, I think it would be very helpful to have some sort of a rough site plan. In fact, it's required for a special permit. I, I've seen the layout of your house on, on the map, but more, and I've seen the pictures of the fence,
but it would be helpful, not that you have to hire an engineer, but if there could be some kind of a drawing of a site plan showing driveway, how you get in, how you get out, where the fences are, if it's, if that is something maybe you could prepare for us. It doesn't have to be a huge engineering expense, but I think hearing you describe your fences kind of just goes right through my mind. I can't imagine what what it looks like. Yeah. And it, and the, and this is one of the things that we're obligated to look after is how people access and leave your, your, your home. So I think I'd like to see if you could put together some
kind of a site plan that shows where things are. Any outdoor lighting, if the dogs go out, do all the lights come up. Because again, we are trying to approach this more in the standpoint of a home occupation, kind of the equivalent of that. Yep. And I think eight dogs is a fine number. We, we've never tried to put too fine of a point on it because when I used to have these two terriers of mine, they could make as much noise as nine dogs. So it's not really the number of, it's, it's kind of how they're handled. So eight eight seems appropriate and it seems like you've got a good handle on this. So I would look for a site plan that we could look at.
And I would also like, maybe if we're gonna meet one more time, just to really verify anybody that's watching this, if there is any kind of experience, a positive, negative, neutral of what it's like having you guys already have some dogs in the neighborhood, that would be helpful. 'cause typically the room gets filled with people who are strongly in favor and adamantly opposed. And the fact that there's, there are very, very few people here kind of makes me wonder, so maybe you've only had one dog and nobody even knows that you're, you're keeping it. I don't know. I mean, so,
but if that's the case, if people are watching and they are two doors down and, and they are considering living next to a kennel that's gonna board dogs overnight and there's gonna be eight dogs, I would think neighbors would want to know about that. So I just wanna give a chance, if we are gonna have you come back and do like a site plan to really give people a fair crack at this. 'cause once it's established, you know, we, we might ask for like a one year review just to make sure everything's going okay. But this is the one chance for neighbors to really have an opportunity to say something positive and perhaps, you know, negative if they wish. Speaker 7: So, so are just for you guys to know our neighbors
directly abutting to our right and our, could you do east and Speaker 1: West since Sure. We're not seeing your house. You see it in your head, but into the east or the west. Mari street is to the east. Speaker 7: Yes. So our, our neighbor to the east, directly next to us and our neighbor to the west, directly next to us are the two neighbors that wrote long letters of support that you should have. And then I don't think I saw those, honestly. Oh really? We have them. Speaker 8: Oh yeah, no, they're in there and they were super nice of them to write. There's three and Speaker 7: I have under public comment. Got it.
Speaker 8: I have paper copies if you want them, but they're in there. Speaker 7: Roy is that Roy is Ash Speaker 8: Roy to the east. Speaker 7: Yep. And then Joe and Leah, Speaker 8: Joe and Speaker 7: Leah Santo are to the west. Speaker 2: When you say to the west, you mean across Speaker 7: No direct drive or directly? So our house is here. You're on the Speaker 2: Corner, right? You're on the corner. Is that right or are you Speaker 10: They're there. So the next, the house to your Oh, got it West. They actually have the address of Walden Hill, Speaker 7: Walnut Hill Drive. That's right. So Speaker 8: That's Joe and Lean and we have their letter to the east tos and Ash, a new house that was just built, they wrote a letter two doors down is Mary
who wrote a letter and two doors down in the other direction of Brett who's here. Speaker 7: Yeah, Speaker 6: That's it for me. Okay, Speaker 7: Glen, Speaker 6: So I was gonna ask about what kind of technology you use to monitor the dogs. You did mention that you have cameras around. I do presume that somebody is monitoring it's me, those cameras. Speaker 8: It's, it's not like that because I'm almost always in visual view of the dogs. They're in the room that I'm in the whole time, the whole day. Speaker 6: And when they go out, you go Speaker 8: Out, I go out, I stand on the deck or I walk down with them
and I make sure that they do their business. Speaker 6: And there's never a time when there's dogs out and dogs in at the same time. Speaker 8: There could be times when there are dogs out and dogs in at the same time, but most of the time I let the dogs out. We all go out, they do their thing, I let them all in Speaker 7: And I'm there also. So there are some times where I'm in the kitchen, we have a gate up that leads to the rest of the house. So there's a, there's a swinging gate in the kitchen that once that is closed, dogs can't go beyond our kitchen,
dining room and living room area. So most of the time if he's letting dogs out, I'm in the kitchen. So if dogs are ready to come back in and they come to the door and they're like, we're ready to come in, I open the door, we let the dog in, I shout we all set for this dog to come in. Yep. All set. Speaker 6: I I just wanna make sure that there's the, i the, the business model is that there's always somebody watching the dogs. Correct. So Speaker 7: Yeah, it's, I mean it's really important to us to be able to be clear with people
who are entrusting their dogs to us also, that their dogs are being watched. If a dog is left to its own devices, it can find some little something and just start tearing it apart. And that can be a choking hazard. So it's something that's important to us to be in the same vicinity with the dogs. That's what, Speaker 6: And given that you have an, an ab not abnormal, you said it began with a, I don't remember Speaker 7: Word, very, very large backyard, Speaker 6: Very large yard. Yes. And we live in the burbs. Yes. I presume that there is wildlife
that makes its way into your backyard. Not necessarily, you know, coyotes and those kinds of things. Rabbits, they're hard to get through a fence. But there's bunnies that can be chased. There's absolutely, there's skunks that can defend themselves. Yep. What, what is your, what is your plan for letting dogs out per, especially after dark, when it's difficult or impossible for you guys to see that there are skunks or whatever? Yep. Speaker 7: So before dogs go out, the last time that they go out,
we have a set of floodlights that we turn on. And once the floodlights are on, you can basically see everything in the backyard when the floodlights are on. Does that mean that there, you know, we, there might not be, there might be a bunny. That can definitely happen. And usually when the dogs go out at night, they're basically going out. It's not like a playtime. They're going out, they go to the bathroom and they come back in. It's not a long, you know, time. If there's ever a bunny in the yard
and they see them, sometimes they will run toward the bunny. The bunny always escapes somehow under the thing and then we go, come here and they come back. So that, that is typically if, if there's a bunny in the yard, that's kind of what that looks like. Speaker 6: Okay. Speaker 7: We haven't had skunks, just I'm sure that you have. I'm sure we have, but we haven't had any, any sightings I guess of Speaker 6: Skunks. Well, and that is the problem with skunks Yeah. Is that you don't cite them and then you smell them. But Speaker 7: Bunnies, we, we've, we have, we've had, you know, bunnies in the yard, we've found a nest of bunnies
and I'm like, that is, we are a terrible yard for you to make your nest. And you know, you try and protect the nest as but good you can, but you know, hopefully they're gone soon. Speaker 6: Okay. So I'm curious because none of the letters specifically call this out. But if I had a neighbor with a yard the size of yours and they hid it with floodlights that were sufficient to illuminate the entirety of the yard, that might
not be a pleasant experience for me. Yeah, Speaker 7: It, it is. Like I said, the last time out is usually nine 30 or so. We're pretty cognizant of when we have neighbors that have young kids, we don't want to be waking them up. We don't want to have, you know, that to be something. Most of the time their lights Speaker 1: Are on, our lights go on, our lights go back off and after our lights go back off, usually their lights go off. So I think it's kind of in keeping with the,
the neighborhood and, and you know, how illuminated the backyards are. Speaker 8: They're also professionally installed and aimed at our space. So there's very little light spill beyond the fence. Speaker 1: I mean there might be some, but no one's ever told me that there's a concern or issue. We would address it if there was. Speaker 6: Okay. I think that that's all the questions that I have, but I will call to everyone's attention that somebody online has their hand raised. Speaker 1: Alright. And then we will move to the public part of the, the hearing. I know that you were wanting to speak,
I'm thinking I'm just here for support. Okay. So then I'm trying to read the name on the Speaker 12: Wayne Speaker 3: And I think his last name's Johnson. Speaker 1: Alright, sorry. And now, now adding the last name. Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know. It was just on the butters list, Speaker 1: So Oh yes. But it's still so that we can allow you to speak. I just need to have the last name there as well as your first on your zoom screen Speaker 3: And their hand did go down. Speaker 1: It did. Okay. Alright. Speaker 3: Oh, it's back up. Back up. Okay.
They just need to unmute and relabel themselves. Speaker 1: Yep. And then, and then rename yourself. Speaker 13: Oh, how's this? Speaker 1: I, we still don't have a last name but Speaker 13: Johnson Speaker 3: I can do it. Alright, Speaker 1: Thank you. I, Speaker 13: Can you hear me? Speaker 1: Yes. Thank you. Speaker 13: Okay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1: So Mr. Johnson, Speaker 13: I'm over 60, so these are all new to me. Speaker 1: And p if you could please give us, you, you've given us your name and your address please. Speaker 13: Sure. It's 51 Highland Street. I live right across the street from the mobs.
I've been there over 30 years. So I was there when they moved in. All I can say is they're wonderful people. It's a, it's a pleasure actually. When people drop their dogs off to them, they, they're happy they run to see them. And as far as noise, we've never had a complaint. We go to bed probably earlier than anybody else in the neighborhood and someone will sleep with the windows open and there's never been a problem, there's never been a noise complaint. The dogs have, you know, they, they never escape. They're always in there. Like I said, they're, they're just so happy when they had dropped off to, to see these people.
So you can tell their dog lovers, I mean, dogs know and I think, or Andrew, one of the things he said that a lot of people didn't come or he was concerned about that. I take the opposite view of that. I think mostly that when people don't want something is when they show up. I think the fact that you've had some glowing letters written by the neighbors, the, the people, the abutters and everything shows that it, it's, you know, if you don't have a problem with it, you don't raise a stink about it. So you don't think you have to, you know,
stand up or come to the meetings. So, and I, I take that as a positive, more than a negative. So, and again, no one that I know of has a problem in the neighborhood. We're all very happy to see the dogs there. There's never been a noise problem, there's never been an odor problem. So I, I'm all far them having the eight dogs. Thank you. Speaker 1: Okay, thank you very much. Speaker 6: Mad vice chair, can I ask a question? Sure. Mr. Johnson, if you can still Yes. Did you receive a postcard about this meeting? Speaker 13: I did. And it, it's funny
'cause I followed the directions going onto Natick mass.gov 1 62 Community economic development and never found anything on the website about this meeting. Speaker 6: Alright. So, oh, that's a separate issue. But you did receive notice and that's good to know. Oh yeah. Thank you Speaker 13: Again. You know, I, I just figured it would be a no-brainer. It's, they're wonderful people and no one's ever had a problem. You know, it's a nice neighborhood. Everyone gets along. So thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you. And I think, you know, that the conservation agent had, has language that they,
that they are wanting us to include in, in kind of the operation and maintenance part of the special permit going through. So she's gone over, you've seen her letter and you're familiar with the language, language on that. We agree with that. That about inspecting lawn and areas on a weekly basis for erosion, repairing, reinforcing lawn areas as needed to minimize erosion, solid waste of course being picked up timely, not being disposed of on the adjoining town property. Just and so that, so that you, I just wanted to make sure that you were familiar with that.
So Amanda, did you find the square footage? 25%? 25% And that would be the maximum of the space in the house, I'm assuming. But if you're going to do a site plan and you wanna be able to articulate that there, that's helpful. Okay, cool. Anything else to, to ask pending the site plan, sir? Yes. Anything Speaker 14: You need? It seems like there's a lot of support, but I'm happy to pile on. Speaker 1: Okay. If you wanna just come up here to the podium so that you can be heard at home. Speaker 15: Sure. I'll make this quick. Brett Cloud 44 Highland Street. So two houses down.
Everything that Wayne said, I would echo everything that the mart said absolutely resonates with me being absolutely spot on. We're not only a neighbor, but we're also entrust our own dog with them at times. It, it's just amazing how happy our dog is when he's in their care. So in terms of noise, traffic, anything, no issues at all. Everything Waynes that spot on. He's closer than we are, but you know, we're right in the traffic zone, you know, coming down to their house, they have to go right past ours would never even know. So anyways. Okay, full support. Two thumbs up.
Speaker 1: Great, thank you very much. Yeah, and I was thinking because Highland is is a dead end street, it's nice because there aren't, there's not so much disruptive kind of traffic to cause to cause problems, so, alright Alan, Speaker 10: I just wanna make sure that we give them guidance as far as what we want for a site plan. I mean if this was a commercial, more significant commercial enterprise, be asking for everything and, but we don't want, I don't think Andy or I want you to do too much or do do more than we need. I think for the most part for the site plan, you kind
of included the plot plan and I don't wanna speak for anybody else on the board, but I was thinking, I mean if you take that, mark it up with the pen and the ruler, identify where the fence, approximately where the fence is, what type of fence, where the lighting is. I think those are probably the key things. So, you know, you could just label that it's a six Speaker 8: Foot, do you need indoor also or no? Speaker 10: No, not Speaker 8: So just outdoor. Okay. Easy enough. I'll upload that tomorrow. Speaker 10: Stop just to make sure. I think not only so that we know, but that there's, so that there was a record of it too. Speaker 6: I think there needs to be something on record showing
that indoor, the square footage that's being used is 750 square feet or less. Speaker 8: I'll do both. I'll upload them tomorrow. Speaker 6: So that would be great. Speaker 10: That's, and you're right at least some kind of label on Speaker 6: There and well, it can be in the condition Speaker 1: Too. Yeah. And we've, we've and we've always done that actually. It's, it becomes part of the decision. Yeah. That Speaker 6: And then the other issue that came up, excuse, excuse me, is what's happening to the dog waste when it mysteriously disappears from your yard. Okay. You know, having somebody truck it over
to somebody else's dumpster and toss it in there is not an okay, not an okay plan. So while that might be more cost effective, if that's what's happening, then we can just switch a legitimate business that, that disposes of it. Yeah. Correctly. Speaker 10: I'm thinking of the same company. They have a very clever name because it's Speaker 1: Such a cute name Speaker 8: That guess the Speaker 11: Name. It's, it's like poof or something like that. I dunno, but it's, it's very boy. Yeah, there's something like that. And I, I'll just apologize. The, the, the I, you know, I, I'm, we, we had
an almost identical experience with a dog application where we only heard positive things and we left that night feeling wonderful about that application. Personally I did. And it turns out that due to some error, a lot of people didn't know about it. And, and after it was approved we heard some stories including some rough stories. So the fact that the room is not filled with pitchforks and torches is not being held against you, it's just unusual. So Speaker 7: Duty calls, sorry, I remember duty calls. Speaker 11: There you go. That's that. Anyway, I appreciate neighbors. We received some postcard as well. Okay, great.
So appreciate people showing up. It's just unusual that we just don't have anybody in opposition. So I'll just put that as done as a credit to you guys and how, how good you've been with this. So I, I really just think we need some sort of verification about how the waste is handled and a and a kind of an informal site plan and we can probably can start working on writing the decision for next time. So, Speaker 7: Great. Okay. Speaker 1: Terrific. And I, I live about four blocks away from you guys down Chaddock Street. If you go, if you go not I, I parallel, well kind of parallel Shaddock parallels Highland. Oh yeah. Speaker 7: So we know Shaddock Speaker 1: And we're at Shaddock in Washington.
Speaker 7: I definitely know Shaddock. Speaker 1: So Speaker 16: Get in the driveway as well. Yeah, Speaker 7: Yeah. Oh, and the in the plan because you Speaker 1: Have the two spaces. Yeah, Speaker 2: I would suggest sharing it with Amanda, you know, as you kind of develop it, just making sure. Speaker 7: So basically it's taking the plot plan that we have and then just kind of marking it up with here's where our fence is. Here's a, you know, the fence is kind of around the perimeter, but like here's where it ends, here's where our kind of double fence area is and then here's where our two driveway our spaces are
and you know, here's where our lights are and this is what they illuminate. Okay. Simple. Okay. Speaker 1: And if there's anything that's just simply a data point, like square footage, Speaker 7: Include it, Speaker 1: Write that in and make clear what it is. Speaker 7: Do some measuring of our living room kitchen. It's, we have a gate that kind of even closes off from the dining room. So for the most part it's living room and kitchen. Yeah. And then you know, a room that, Speaker 1: Alright, now our next meeting is the 12th. What is it? 12th. Alright, so I'll entertain a motion to continue to March 12th.
Speaker 11: So moved. Speaker 1: Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye Speaker 2: Andy? Aye. Andy Speaker 1: IR No, we don't have to. Oh we got, we got a quo with Speaker 11: Adam. Work for you. Speaker 1: We'll do so. Alright, thank you. And we will see you on March 12th. Speaker 16: And now you know what I asked the question before about where are the people who are opposed? Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 16: It's just experience. So Speaker 7: Totally understand. I mean, you know, know we're wanting to do this right? And so give people, if there was a concern, I would wanna hear it and be able to address it. So, Speaker 1: So thank you all.
Thanks guys. Good. We'll see you then Speaker 7: If, do you need for neighbors to come again? That one or is it mainly to review the plot Speaker 16: Pamphlet? Speaker 1: They want to, that's fine. Speaker 16: We have other neighbors that want to provide feedback. Okay. Positive or non-positive then, then I can get more letters. That's fine. Speaker 1: We didn't Speaker 7: Want to note, we didn't know how much to No Speaker 1: And it was and and and Andy's right. If if there's nobody, then you kind of go, did they Right. Get this information or did they see that? Because we'd rather be careful than regretful.
Totally understand. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you. We'll see you Speaker 10: On March 12th. Take care. When Andy after their dog, people there faces. Okay. He was like, yeah, you can come. They a big smile. Speaker 1: So now we can go back to Speaker 10: Floodplains dog. Oh Speaker 3: No. Use regulation. Speaker 1: All use regulation. Don't mind me Speaker 10: Or two. Speaker 1: Back to you Amanda. Speaker 3: Alright, cool. Awesome. So the flood or no, Speaker 1: Now I'm doing it to you. Sorry. Speaker 3: The youth regulation schedule. So this is not ready to be voted on tonight. There were just some areas of clarification that we do need
to get specifically regarding whole or commercial kitchen of the direction of the planning board because there was a lengthy conversation which was really good at the opening public hearing regarding where should commercial kitchens be allowed and commercial zoning districts like the C two which or the industrial one, industrial two or the center gateway or the downtown mixed use. Those were very simple because that's kind of a use that would appear there.
However, we do have a lot of times where a person can create a commercial kitchen in their home. And so that's the conversation that we were having was do we allow to allow a commercial kitchen to be in a residential zoning district, which would be the RG RM or the RSAB slash C. And if we do, would it be a bi special permit or would we not allow it and say no at this time? So that was the conversation we had regarding commercial kitchen Speaker 1: Glen.
And now, because we're here to have you in person got a call on you first, Speaker 16: Somebody came to us with a proposal at some point. Speaker 1: The the the chair, the spiritual center church. Speaker 16: Yes. Right. They wanted to use the kitchen in the church as a commercial kitchen to lease Speaker 1: Out Speaker 16: And, and that Speaker 11: Oh, your mic. Speaker 6: There you go. Hello. So yeah, somebody came to us at one point with a request to use the kitchen at the spiritual center in downtown as a commercial kitchen spiritual center was all for it. They wanted to, they were the
Speaker 1: Applicant, Speaker 6: Right? Because it was a good use of their Yeah, I mean it was sitting empty, it was sitting unused and this was going to, you know, be a win-win for everybody. But there was an unusual amount of opposition that, because Speaker 1: They're so close to a residential neighborhood, Speaker 6: Right. And so I just wanna make sure that as we are reconsidering something that we've already, well that's what the definition of reconsidering is, that we've already considered it. But that, that we're not ignoring lessons learned from that discussion and just saying, okay,
residential neighborhoods, we know that you don't want commercial kitchens because you've told us that in the past, but now we're gonna suggest that we're gonna rezone commercial kitchens into residential neighborhoods. And I'm not opposed to commercial kitchens in residential neighborhoods. Nothing makes me happier when I take the dog out for a walk than to smell what my neighbors are cooking. It, it, I don't think that it would bother me, but I also don't think it would fit in my neighborhood. So it's kind of a challenging thing for me to comment on that way. But if, if res if, if,
if residences don't want commercial kitchens, then why are we proposing that again? Speaker 1: And I guess one question, 'cause I don't think we discussed it when with the spiritual center, but if there is someone who in effect is doing a home occupation and because they have a commercial kitchen at home, there's a certain scale to that and to, to being a home occupation, that would be that what I'd be more comfortable with than necessarily a full blown commercial kitchen. Yes. Speaker 11: I talked to a buddy of mine who's been looking for
commercial kitchen space so that he could support, you know, developing some private label stuff. So he, he know, he knows a lot about it and I said, Hey, what, how would you think about a commercial kitchen, like in residential zone? And, and his, his thought was, you know, if it's allowed, it probably won't ever be used that it is a huge build out including plumbing, electrical appliances. I mean, it is the opposite of a casual thing. It's not just putting in like a second stove in a, in a downstairs room. I mean there, there's temperature control, plumbing, it's,
it's a, it's just a huge build out. So I mean it's almost, I I just wonder how many people would actually avail themselves of it. I, and I, it's hard to know. I mean, it might be nice to get some public opinion on that. Speaker 1: How do we define commercial kitchen? Because I, I think I knew somebody who was a chocolate maker who basically refitted out their garage. Yep. Yeah. And that was, Speaker 11: Public health would have an absolute definition of specifically what's required in terms of the sinks, the plumbing, the temperatures. But, Speaker 1: But it was less of a build out and, and it may have been the nature of what they were making, but I was surprised how non-intrusive it was
Speaker 11: Once it's built. I'm just, I'm just even more the expense of it. Okay. As being it's not casual. It's not like, yeah, I think I'll just go down and just open it. I mean there's, so the reason I think I'm still in favor of having it as a special permit is these are, these are essentially startup businesses. You know, this is tomorrow's food trucks and they cook at home and they do a food truck and then they head out in the world and then maybe it's a brick and mortar restaurant down. I mean, it's, it's kind of how, I mean, your friend, the chocolate, a lot of people have become pretty famous making chocolates in their home. So you can be in favor of it.
You could also say, if I live next to it, I don't wanna smell barbecue and I don't wanna smell chocolate and I don't wanna, I don't, I don't have any interest in how that's vented. You know, so I think, I think reasonable people can have different opinions on this. I was thinking it might be something that a lot of people take advantage of, but I'm, I'm probably, probably fewer than I thought previously. Just 'cause of the upfront costs of it. It's like building, you know, a little restaurant kitchen in, in your house and there's a lot of requirements to it. So I, you know, I, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing to have it in residential special permit. I can see both ways. Speaker 2: No, I think you're tracking with you on that.
I mean, it might be just self, self-limiting anyway, right, right. 'cause of the capital cost. But I, you know, it's gotta be a limit though, right? I mean, as a special permit, deliberation would be concerned about deliveries, right? Or, you know, and that Speaker 1: Came up with the church. Speaker 2: Yeah. Deliveries or center, you know, stuff going outta the kitchen. What's the volume of that? You know, what, what are the criteria that we would wanna see in a special permit? You know, I think, so that would be controlling and Andy's right, the capital, the, if you scale it that much, the capital cost to build out is gonna be self-limiting. So, well,
Speaker 1: I, I, I'm thinking of people I know aside from, aside from the chocolate person, there's someone who is a baker that I, several people who are bakers and it's actually is not disruptive the way that a home occupation is not disruptive because they're doing it on a relatively small scale. And I think I, I guess I, I see it as something that if the scale, you know, if you define a scale as to the point of that we were talking about with the kennel, where it's as non-intrusive as if you had an accountant next door.
I think if you can do that with a kitchen, I don't see any reason why that could not be treated within the band, band of home occupation. And that itself makes itself limiting in terms of size and potential disruption. Because by the definition of home occupation, it's not supposed to be disruptive. Speaker 11: I, I'm with you. I I I would always be in favor of voting for more options. Yeah, yeah. You know, I, I, I would, you know, if, if it came down to me saying yes or no, I would, I'm gonna say yes 'cause I, I think it would provide, I dunno if it
provided six people in Natick with an opportunity to kind of start something in their, in their home that could lead to something else. I mean, I'd be in favor of that. I mean, it doesn't necessarily have to be hundreds and hundreds of people. So I don't know. You know, this is the kind of thing where I know, like I said, I know reasonable people can disagree. I don't know who to ask. I don't, I don't, I don't have a whole like, you know, group of residential restaurant people that I can just ask. So I don't know how Tom be, would feel about it. I mean, I mean I, I guess we could include it as part of this process. Take it through fin com, tell people
that we're talking about allowing commercial kitchens and residential zones with a special permit and just see how it goes. I mean, some people might like it, some people may not. Speaker 10: So I, I'm kind of a bit newer than everybody else to this. So if things are coming from, for a special apartment, you know, later on down the line, would we also have say, or, or it would be for a very specific, when I say use, like not just that it's commercial kitchen. 'cause I think there's a difference between whether they're making chocolate baking on the neighbors versus if it's fried food
or something like that, that even barbecue. That might just have more of sense. Is that something that we would have, that's something that's discussed in the special per yes. Permit. Yes. Speaker 2: There's the criteria of the special permit that have to conform to all that. And we would have, you know, discretion Speaker 11: On noise and odors and stuff. Odor. There's language in there already, Speaker 1: Amanda. Speaker 3: So just thinking this through, and I totally understand everything that you're saying. Since we could, we put a, no, no, no under residential and then open up B
'cause we said any other sections. Put B home, occupation, comma, commercial kitchen and put it be special permits. So then it uses the criteria from the home occupation. It fits in its accessory use. And it's not because you would have to be like a house. It couldn't be like at the spiritual center or like those kind of locations for this time. So we could do it that way. What Speaker 11: Did you mean by put it under B? Speaker 3: Oh, sorry. Use header B, which is the residential accessory where basically resi accessories
to residential uses are all located Speaker 1: Like a home occupation. Speaker 3: And we would just add a new line. Speaker 11: All right. Speaker 1: And so that therefore that by definition constrains the scale of it. Yeah. But it gives somebody the potential space to, Speaker 3: And then we could create the definition. I'll work with Mike in the board of health. We could create the definition like we have for dog kennels. It falls under the home occupation definition. But then there is a sub of just what it is specific. Speaker 11: So that would allow for a residential. Yeah. Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 11: But it would say no under the, the use schedule.
Speaker 3: It would say contradictory. Speaker 11: Well Speaker 1: It's, it's in the home occupation section that it would fall. Speaker 11: But under manufacturing it would be no, but under home occupation it's a yes. I mean is that consistent? Speaker 3: Yes. And we could put a footnote or an EndNote just Speaker 17: No, no, no, Speaker 3: No foot. Let me play around with this if that, and I don't mean play, I mean like let me look at it and work it. But like I think you could do it that way. Are Speaker 2: You saying I'm gonna keep the commercial kitchen line in here? Speaker 3: What's that? Speaker 2: Under the proposal? Yeah.
You've got commercial kitchen as a use line, right? Are you saying keep that or eliminate it? Speaker 3: Keep it where it is? Yeah. But that commercial kitchen would be focused on the, basically the commercial and industrial zoning districts. Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay. And then have commercial kitchen home occupation, Speaker 2: That scale go Speaker 3: Up to the smaller scale of what you're kind of referencing, go up into section B. Or we could leave it here and just put another one right next below it and just have it be home. Yeah. Commercial commission, home occupation. I think what
Speaker 11: We're trying to avoid is somebody opens up our zoning bylaws for the first time, goes to use regulation, sees commercial kitchen and goes under RS and then sees no. Yeah. And then says, oh wait, but if you flip to a different chapter and then there's a Yes. I, I think that's specifically the kind of Yeah. Contradictory stuff we're trying to eliminate. Yeah. Although, Speaker 1: Although you could say for that, you could point them towards home occupation at that point where it says no, you know? Right. And unless X, Speaker 3: 'cause Speaker 1: You want people to be able to, to do little startup ventures,
you just don't necessarily want them to grow into something big in the neighborhood while they're still in a residential neighborhood. Speaker 3: The only other thing is we do have a footnote that goes to, it was more originally drafted for the HM one highway mixed use one and two or no one actually. And it's a footnote we put for the commercial kitchens, which is such use shall be permitted as an accessory use to the primary use and shall not constitute more than 50% of the total floor area of all structures on the lot. Speaker 1: So we 50%. Speaker 3: 50%,
Speaker 1: Which is means one thing in commercial when you're starting to look at residential, that's different. Speaker 3: Yeah. So it's, so let me work on this. Let me talk with Mike. Sorry. Board of health. Speaker 2: Yeah. I like that idea of having that de definition in there. Yeah. Speaker 1: Well it gives somebody a springboard of like how they can get their business started without necessarily encroaching on neighbors. Speaker 3: The other item that we could do is actually kind of what Doug kind of just said, which is create a definition for commercial kitchens, but then do what we've been doing, comma commercial kitchens, residential,
and then define that in there. So the special permit criteria gets baked into the definitions. Speaker 1: Yeah. Or commercial kitchen home occupation. Speaker 3: Because if we're looking at it from a site plan, you might not see any amendments to the site. But in terms of the use, that's where you need the criteria. So let me look at that. Speaker 1: And then they just have to meet something of an accessory. Speaker 3: Yep. Okay. Great. Speaker 6: And this may or may not be relevant, so I'll probably regret saying it, but there is the retail food code
for permitted residential kitchens provided by the state. And, and it specifically says that cottage food and not exempted bed and breakfast operations must comply with all applicable municipal laws and zoning ordinances. And I know that that's what we're working on now. And sections of the retail food code for conducting business from one's home residence. The following minimum provisions for residential kitchens apply to both cottage food operations and bed and breakfast operations. And then it goes on to outline some rules. If you have a residential, essentially residential,
commercial kitchen, you know, you can't have kids in the kitchen, you can't, you know, you have to have all of the stuff that Andy was talking about. There needs to be, you know, two different types of sinks and there needs to be all of this other, other stuff and you have to treat for, for pests and you know, basically a lot of the rules that res that restaurants are required to operate under. And so it, it seems to me that a good step if we don't already have all of this defined is to work with the, the Department
of Health to figure out when we say commercial kitchen, what exactly does that mean? And you know, if it's in somebody's house, something that says in the definition that it has to comply with the regulations of the retail food code, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I don't, I don't know that we're ready to just allow this to happen yet, but Speaker 1: I agree. Cool. So we're trying to get this done for town meeting. Speaker 3: Yes. And it may be, this one may be a two-phase process. And I say that in the sense of we have uses that just need
to remove the definition language from the category to put it into section 200 definitions. We have uses that need to merge together because when we took all of the uses outta the different sections and put it in some of the maybe newer uses that we're adding, that might be a fault out meeting. Maybe this is a two stepper. So let me talk with the board of health on this and then let's continue if you're okay with that to March 12th. Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that that sounds good. If it's good for everybody else here and if we can resolve it by then, yay.
And if not, we'll carry it forward. Yep. Speaker 2: So two more topics I guess here. So research and development under J and then we've got biotech manufacturing and pharmaceuticals under K. I wanna make sure that we are calibrated between the two for use, right? Because you could have an r and d operation and as well as a pharma Yeah.
Manufacturing in the same facility, right? Yeah. So let's make sure that that, that those aren't synced right now. Okay. Okay. I see like r and d in the, let's see, AP is a special permit, then we've got BuyRight in DM C two, industrial one, industrial two and in cg and then biotech pharmaceuticals special permits and right from C two over to over to industrial two, if I'm reading that correctly. No, sorry. Over to H So
you know what I mean, like we gotta, we gotta align those two. Yep. Speaker 3: I'll align those. Okay. And do you think from a use perspective that they should be separated or should they be all in the research development laboratory technology uses if you were using the use regulation schedule? Speaker 2: No, I don't think it should be separated. Okay. No, I mean I think biotech manufacturing pharmaceuticals, that's, that's manufacturing, right. And that's fine. The re, the r and d piece of it though could be with it. So you don't wanna have a situation where, hey, we can do a manufacturing facility, we wanna do r and d.
You're allowing it, you're allowing the manufacturing in one, but you're not allowing the r and d along with it in the same zone. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So let's make sure we get that. Yep. Calibrated, Speaker 1: Sorry, is this under the three A 20, 25 spring annual town meeting. Okay. Just Speaker 2: Make sure I was, and then the last one was, what was it? Oh, billboards. Billboards. And Speaker 3: That one, I thought I hadn't deleted it yet, but I thought we were deleting that billboards and staying silent on it. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause it was kind of like a yeah. Item Speaker 2: That we, I would, let's not poke that bear. Yeah. Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 1: Alright. So if we continue, and
Speaker 3: I know you had a concern about the fallout shelters. Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Speaker 3: Deleting that one. No Speaker 2: Special permit. Yeah. Speaker 1: So for kind of the last, for the last shot at the use regulation schedule for, for springtown meeting, wanna make a motion to continue to March 12th and we will, we'll, Fisher cut bait then. So moved. Speaker 2: So Speaker 1: Moved. And second. Second Glen. All those in favor? Continuation to the 12th. Speaker 2: Aye. Aye Speaker 1: Aye. Alright. We are continued to the 12th on that and now we're down to planning board business
and I don't know who there is to speak on, on the subject of Route nine and 27 interchange project. Yes. But I'm betting you might, you might know somebody. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. All right. All right. I guess more, I don't have a presentation or anything like that, but more of an opportunity to discuss this project. And you know, I don't know if you've been out and about and you've seen what's going on at the interchange right now, it's under construction, right? They've started clearing trees
and I think it's getting a lot of people's attention around town a lot. Like, oh my God, the trees are gone. What are they doing? And you know, this board is, do we have any, you know, standing authority or responsibility to talk about this project? Yeah, I think we do. We're not the street commissioners or the road commissioners in the town, but we are stewards of the physical form of the community. And, you know, streets and transportation certainly fall within our purview of, of master planning and comprehensive planning. So yeah, I think there's a case to be made
that we can be talking about this, because quite frankly, no one else is, no one else in this town and has had a forum as far as I know, where this project has been presented, alternatives discussed, impacts described, none of that has happened at the town level. None of it. It's disturbing. I have my opinions about the design of this thing and the process that it's followed thus far. It is at an intersection, at an interchange where it's the gateway to this town.
It's the gateway to Natick. And this is a, I can't under, I guess understate that what is gonna be constructed. There is a very, very intrusive, altering, community altering transportation infrastructure. It is not a bridge replacement. That is what it started out as. It started out as a bridge replacement. Because the thing is falling apart, as we all know, over the past 40 years or whatever, it's morphed into a diverging, modify, diverging diamond interchange.
And I'm sure if you've seen the renderings of this thing, it is a traffic engineer's, no offense, no offense to my friend to the left, a traffic engineer's fantasy. It, it, it's, to me it is wildly inappropriate, totally context and sensitive. Unnecessary, impactful. We're talking about state infrastructure where we can't even take care of one bridge. And we have three they're gonna put in there. We are, there are, are you responsible Speaker 1: For taking care of who? Are we responsible for taking Speaker 2: Care of them?
No, this is a state highway. Okay. But mass DOT can't take care of its own bridges. And for whatever reasons, and I'm not criticizing, it's just, that's the fact. There are structurally deficient bridges all over the state. And that's an example of one. But to replace it with three bridges, two signals, 17 crosswalks, increased impervious area, a bus stop in the middle of an interchange. Can, should I go on hundreds, literally hundreds of signs that have to go in to tell you where to go, what to do. Literally Mass D t's website says
that when we give you the fancy landscaping on this thing, we are not maintaining it. It's up to the garden clubs of Natick to maintain the, the landscaping. I mean, that's literally what it says. It's a hundred million dollar project. Think about that. It's a hundred million dollars 14 years ago on Cedar Street in Wellesley and Route nine in Wellesley, that bridge, which is, you know, there's a, the vintage of these interchanges along Route nine date back to, you know, 19 36, 19 40, right?
So there's a bunch of them. Cedar Street, well, Weston Road, this one keep going down Framingham into, into Mo, into Southborough. They're all the same vintage. Cedar Street in Wellesley was reconstructed under what they call the heavy lift concept, which is you come in on a Friday, you remove the bridge, you put the new one in on Saturday, and you sweep up on Sunday and open for traffic on Monday. And that's exactly what they did for $4 million in $2,011.
Why can't we do that here? Speaker 1: Because the plan, the 1931 plan that existed has left us with the highest accident rate intersection in, in the town. Speaker 2: And that is a, that's trade off. Okay? It's so, it, it might be geometrically obsolete. I'm not sure it's functionally obsolete. I think there's a difference. But here is my biggest concern. There is a review process that should have taken place on this project. Mass. DOT chose not to do this because they are taking a, first of all,
they have a design build contractor that they have hired. And when you hire a design build contractor, you are given a concept, not a, not a fully baked concept, but a concept. And you say, put it out to bid, give us the, the best cost for constructing it, and here's the schedule for it. And then you're selected and that's what you go, you go on and, and do. And therefore the the doors are closed and nobody has any opportunity for input. The project requires state environmental review. And that review process is the way
that the public can participate in the review of the design in the, in the discussion on the alternatives. That's what the mepa process is for. And the threshold of entering that process is cutting five public shade trees at 14 inch breast height. That is the threshold for entering the MEPA review process. Mass. DOT is claiming they are exempt from that process because they are replacing the bridge. And then yes, it's true they have a bridge exemption under the law when you replace a bridge in its place,
and it might have required need to review, you don't need to go through it because you're gonna replace the bridge in kind. Does anybody on this board think we are replacing a bridge? We're not. It is a completely reconfigured interchange with three bridges, not one. So the fact that they are trying to say this is a bridge replacement project, therefore we are exempt, is ridiculous. The other point is when you require an ENF, the le lowest level of mepa review
and your project is situated in an environmental justice census block tract, which are mapped, and this one is, it sits in an environmental justice census tract. And for that fact, they must do an environmental impact report. They have to go through that rigorous review. That census tract is a minority population census tract. It runs from route nine all the way downtown on the west side of Route 27. It includes the army base and all the barracks. That's the population that
has been identified as environmental injustice. They've lived through five years of a roadway project that never ended. And now we're gonna go right on headlong into another one of five years, six. Who knows how long it's gonna take. I personally think that should be scrutinized. We should have a, a window into the alternatives that we're considered to get to this point. Because it is a, it is a character changing monstrous project. And I'm not trying to be hyperbolic about it. I'm really not. But a hundred million dollars spent on
that kind of config and it's never been done in the country what they're proposing here. Never been done. We are the Guinea pig. So I think I would like this board and if, and I'd like to hear the pleasure of the board, There is a opportunity to communicate. And I know that other residents in this town have already done so. They have communicated to the state, to the environmental affairs secretary and the transportation secretary, Hey, you kind of skipped a step here. We would like to understand what this project really is
because it has gone from a bridge replacement project warped speed to a diverging diamond interchange of a hundred million dollars. No one knows how that happened. So I'm done with my speech, be happy to hear other, other opinions on this board. But I have heard there's been no other forum about this selectman, anybody else. And I just feel like we have a responsibility to talk about it. So Speaker 11: Thank you Andy. I, I'm, I agree with so much of what you say, I,
I mention this to people who are kind of, you know, fairly in tune with what's going on in the town. And they're like, what? Yeah, a reverse double helix, three bridge. And people are just like, I've never heard of that. So I, I think that the, there has been a, and I can't explain why, but there has just been a dearth of information about this. What do you propose? How do we, are we talking about trying to have a public hearing where the people who are proposing this and designing it come into the room
and we, and we have a hearing on tv. Do we ask our town administrator to talk to the legislative group? Do we have the select, we write a letter to the select board asking, you know, listing our concerns and asking for some action. I mean, what, what do you, what do you propose that we, what's the most effective use of our voice? Speaker 2: I don't think ma mass DT will not entertain in any, any public meeting that just, they won't, they, they're doing informational meetings along the way. Great, but they're not gonna show up at a a, a hearing. That's not gonna happen. So Speaker 1: If they're not going to
engage, where does that leave this? Speaker 2: I think it's the process question, to be honest with you. Speaker 11: Do Speaker 2: We in summary, Speaker 11: Reach out to the environmental asking why that environment? Speaker 2: That's one way to do it. Do, Speaker 11: Can we write a letter to native planning board? Is it better if we, if it's native planning board and the Natick Select board, Speaker 2: That that'd be better. Speaker 11: Have you talked to anybody in the select board about Speaker 2: Helping? I've spoke, I've spoken with Jamie many times. Yeah. And Speaker 11: What does he seem Speaker 2: To think? He's, you know, he's, he's reached out to mass DOT on this very issue. And they have, excuse me, patently ignored it at the, at the last public meeting in November, just
before Thanksgiving, which they had their last informational meeting, 150 people were on that call. It was virtual. I was on it, I was on it. I asked the question, I asked the question, are you going to be filing with the mepa office? 'cause it would be nice to see what, how this design unfolds and what the impacts of this project would be. Dead silence. The question was not answered. Another person about 10 minutes later asked the same question, dead silence. Who Speaker 1: Are they answerable to? Who are they answer
Speaker 2: They're answerable to. Speaker 1: If they say we're not going to do this, who are they answerable to? I mean, I'm trying, it's not a rhetorical question. Speaker 10: I know. I mean it, well, it's a state. Hi. Route nine is a state highway. So that's their road. It's their bridges normally not counting the permitting for the environmental, normally masto, they, they're required to hold a 25% design public hearing, which they did. In fact, they did a couple times. 'cause remember they had a much different concept six years ago. So now they had another one where they presented the diverging diamond. Was that Speaker 2: A hearing though, Alan? Speaker 10: That would be, yeah. But that was, yes.
I believe that was a hearing. That was still a few years ago. I mean, that was still a while ago. And then I think since then they've had probably what, one informational meeting, or at least one that I heard about. And that is, you know, I mean the 25% of what's required by MAs, DOT of course, you know, many communities want more hearings or more meetings than, you know, MAs dot necessarily is required to do. So I think anything beyond that is kind of runs into the, if it, the environmental, Speaker 2: I mean in, in fairness to mass DOT,
the environmental justice requirements came into effect in state law in 20 21, 22. So a couple of years into the planning process of this project. So in fairness, when it was a bridge project prior to the environmental justice requirements, yeah, they probably could have been exempt under the bridge exemption law. Fast forward through 2022, where we now have the environmental justice requirements and the project is now a modified diverging diamond interchange of three bridges
and two signals and everything else. I don't think they get to claim the bridge exemption. Okay. That's what I'm standing on because it's not a bridge exemption. They need to file with mepa and because they're in the environmental justice census tracked the requirements of the MEPA statute and the regulations require an environmental impact report to be prepared. I'm not an attorney, but I play one in my day job. So I, Speaker 11: Well, who's the strongest voice in Natick that can be in touch with MEPA in insisting that there be a review?
Is that, is it the town administrator? Is it a letter signed by the town administrator and other boards? What gets the, their attention? Amanda, do you have any idea? Speaker 18: I'd have to think, Speaker 3: I think about it, but I think Jamie or the select board would be, Speaker 1: Yeah, I, they're the high, they're the road commissioners. Yeah. So that would be, that would be natural. But I'm guessing there hasn't been a lot of kind of response to any engagement that they've made. Speaker 2: Correct. Speaker 1: And I guess I have, I have a hard time on seeing how this board
can achieve something that the town administrator and the other, and, and the select board have not, Speaker 11: Have they asked for it specifically? Do we know, Speaker 2: Look, there's a polite way to do it, right? And it's, Hey, what about this guys? Right. You know, and there's a formal way to do it. I'm sensing the polite way to do it isn't getting any traction. So, Speaker 11: So what if a letter was drafted by the NAT Planning Board to the select board asking for a spot on an upcoming agenda summarizing the issue, a brief presentation in front
of 'em saying that we don't believe that the, that this MEPA review should have been skipped. And we are, you know, coming to you board to board to try to convince you to, you know, pass on these concerns so this, this, this environmental review can take place and put it at their feet and ask them what action they will take. And, but do it in person though. 'cause I think an exchange of letters will be polite, but I think maybe a letter would be a good place to start. But then, you know, we, we appear in front of them. I mean, I dunno if we wanna post it as a joint meeting.
Speaker 1: I, I would not like to take part in a joint meeting of this because it is, this is not ours to determine, it's ours to persuade. Speaker 11: So maybe we be a subcommittee or a working group. The two of us could appear in front of them. I mean, it'd be, it'd be nice to know, first of all, it'd be nice to draft a letter and then to vote on it and have a, a, a a letter encouraging the board, the select board, seek this review and have it voted on by the, by the Natick planning board. So at least then this is not just, I mean, this is about
as strong as we can get. Speaker 1: You know, I don't, what I don't understand is how this compares to other major traffic and, and, and bridge projects and, and what the process is. And I'm, I'm loathed to insert ourselves in a place that it is not, it's kinda almost like not our dog to in the fight. Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think with all respect, Terry, I think that that argument has been made by the Selectmen, by the plaintiff, and everyone's like, no one knows how to grab this thing and understand it. I
Speaker 1: Would've pushed Speaker 2: If, if, and you know, the Speaker 1: Select board is the, they're the highway commissioners and they're the se they're kind of senior executive board in this town. Yep, they are. If they don't, if they don't do it, it's not, I don't see it as us for us to step in all Speaker 11: Day. Do we know for certain that they have debated this and they have, they're all aware that this MEPA review has been bypassed. So Speaker 2: My opinion, no, they're not aware of it. So Speaker 11: That's a piece of information. Speaker 2: Unless Jamie has communicated it to 'em. Yeah, Speaker 11: I mean, I don't watch every select board meeting, but I, I don't remember them ever taking this up. So, you know, start with a point of fact, are you aware
that this review has been bypassed? And if you, if you are not aware of it, here's what we know about it and we think it shouldn't be bypassed. We'd like to convince you of the same. But Speaker 1: You know, when we say it shouldn't be bypassed, I, I don't know the MEPA review process, there are intelligent people who do, I'm not one of them. And so for me to say, we, they should be doing this, and I'm going like, I don't know. I people I have heard it said, well let's, yeah, let's, I would rather someone, Speaker 2: Let's ask the question. I guess you could do it that way. It's our, my point has been
mass DOT, are you intending to comply with mepa? Are you intending to file something? Speaker 1: And Speaker 2: Why? If the answer is yes, then oh great. If the answer is no because we think we are exempt under the bridge exemption, then lay your arguments out so that people understand that. People will understand that. And I will stand down. And I'm not saying you need to understand the design and, and love it or hate it, but here is a process where it ought to be followed, especially because of the reason why. It's the environmental justice community. We've spent how many weeks,
months in this town talking about the immigration policy and vulnerable populations around that. And we can't even in our backyard stand up for that. And, and I think from this plane board, the physical development of this town includes roads and bridges. Who owns them? I don't care. It's mass. DOT, it's town. We ought to be concerned about that. And what that design is, is a massively context, insensitive character changing infrastructure that this town will live with for 60, 70 years.
I hope people understand that it is not a bridge replacement, it is an interchange, which is that kind of interchange is typically found in urbanizing areas of Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, I went through one in Tennessee, Florida, Speaker 1: Florida, I went through on several, Speaker 2: It is not a solution for this inter this area. It's not, Speaker 1: That's a bigger question than the are they Speaker 2: Gonna meet, I'm just trying to articulate that. It is a character changing context,
insensitive, inappropriate design that we are going to live with. And it's about to start. And if the answer is that's the right answer, if that is the answer, prove it. Prove it. Speaker 1: Is your argument that the, that if there were mepa review, that it would demonstrate that this was not an appropriate Speaker 2: Solution? The MEPA review process is a balance of alternatives. You will look at a bridge replacement, you will look at other alternatives and you will evaluate from an impact perspective, which is the right choice to make.
And if it ends up that the diverging diamond interchange is the right appropriate choice to make for a hundred million dollars and it's the right context, so be it. But my, and believe me, you get, please disagree with me, but that is a character changing context and insensitive piece of infrastructure we are gonna live with. And somebody has to explain how we got to that decision. I think that is the plaintiff board's purview. Speaker 1: Would you like to draft something for I will help that we can put towards to the select board
to relay the case and concern. Okay. Does anybody want to, did you want to work with him on it or Alan do you, would you Speaker 10: Probably be better if you do, considering they're a major client of mine. Okay. Don't mind. Okay, Speaker 1: Mind. Good point. Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean I, I can't write it with the, with the factual information you have, but you know, we can certainly put something together. I I think we need to say something. I think it needs some exposure. Speaker 1: Go Speaker 10: Ahead. Speaker 6: With all due respect, I think that we need to involve the chair as well in the discussion.
Speaker 2: Peter Speaker 10: And I will agree. I don't, I've talked to a number of people that have absolutely no clue what's happening there. That seems to people from around town almost possible to me. It really hasn't. I mean, yeah, that there hasn't been a whole lot of discussion about it really. Yeah, Speaker 11: No, you gotta be deep nerd to even know Speaker 10: About it. Yeah. So that's why I know about it. Speaker 11: That's why I know about it. Speaker 1: And actually if, if, if Peter is on it, then it would just, then it would be a two good two person committee then it's not, otherwise you have a quorum of the board and you Speaker 6: Yeah, I wasn't meaning to suggest that he needed
to be involved in the writing of the letter, but the letter is gonna go out under his signature. So I just think that, you know, it's sort of, sort of up to him as to whether that letter gets sent. So I just think that he should be Speaker 1: Involved and I thought because he's a design professional that he may have more than of that sort of interest, but Alright, thank you. Alright, so we will, I don't know if you want, you want to have a conversation with Peter or you? Speaker 2: I'd be glad to, Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Okay.
Alright. Planning board meeting committee assignment reports. And which reminds me, I have a question at the end of this, Amanda, is there anything? Speaker 3: I don't really think so. We have a Metro West Regional collaborative meeting tomorrow morning. They are focusing on sustainability, but other than that, that meeting I can report after. We do, I did actually ask them to prepare summary notes so that they could be provided to both the planning board and the select board of each community since we should be reporting regularly. And it seems like everyone should have the same information. So they are putting those together.
So I will forward those when I get them. And then CPC, as everyone's aware, Olivia Beck did resign and so we are currently without community planner. However, we are moving forward still with the CPC plan, which is under review and the next meeting is on March 4th next week. Speaker 1: Fourth, yes. That, yes. Yeah, Speaker 3: We're already at March, so Speaker 1: Yes. And we're working on finalizing the language of the plan Speaker 3: Itself, plan the timeline, Speaker 1: The fighting principles. Speaker 3: Yeah. So there's a lot.
Other than that, I don't think we have anything. Speaker 1: I just wanted to step in and say you guys will have seen an email that went around from school committee saying that they're looking for some that, that, as with any school with Kennedy Middle School was the last one that looking for someone from this board to serve as the planning board representative to the Memorial school project. And I'll, I should wait until Andy comes back and in case Speaker 11: He's Well's mom made him now. Speaker 1: There you go. But Speaker 11: I missed that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we just, they, one of us needs to be the representative, the planning board representative for the, for the project. So have thoughts about it and if the thoughts are No, no, no, but they're looking for somebody sooner rather than later. I hadn't, and I think that that email went to all of us, so it, it, you know, as much as I do. Okay. Speaker 3: And then we also need an assignment for the Natick Affordable housing trust fund. Speaker 1: Yes. Because our previous designee, who was not one of us, but was,
and was acting on our behalf left for the finance committee. So we have not had our, our spot filled for some time and Andy's nominated. Okay. Second. So moving Speaker 11: On second. Damn bad timing. Speaker 1: Oh, I was just saying that they have reached out from the Memorial School Building project to say that they're looking for a planning board rep. Julian was the, was the planning board rep for the, for Kennedy. Yeah. And so we were gonna do it while you were outta the room Speaker 11: Back to the house.
Yeah. No, I, that's why I heard back. That is not a specialty of mine. I don't, I don't feel that I'm a, I'm good for that one. Mm, Speaker 1: Okay. Mm. So Speaker 11: Can we find a designee? Speaker 1: No, let's have it be one of us. Speaker 11: Okay. Speaker 10: What, what did entail, huh? Said So for someone like that, what do you have to, I I have kids in schools, so that's why. Yeah. Speaker 11: Well Speaker 1: In in fact, the reason I was looking at you, I was thinking you're the one of us who has kids in, in the school. Speaker 11: I have one kid in the school, not that school. Well, Speaker 1: I'm sorry, second. Your primary or secondary? Yes. No post-secondary. Speaker 2: I mean, mean, I think we, Speaker 11: We got an email today in our
town email from Steven Meer about looking for people for the committee. They kind of described that too. You know, it's, I I don't know if you necessarily need any construction expertise, but there's, you know, obviously there's a process they meet fairly frequently. I'd I'd say probably more than once a month. Yes. And you know, they're just involved with not only applying, but then I guess if there's approval then they also become the building committee. Speaker 1: But, but this happened with, this has happened with every school project. Yeah. And there's been someone from the planning board who's been a part of that.
Speaker 2: I would, let me speak for Alan, Speaker 6: Because Speaker 2: I think, you know, school projects, I mean you, I'm sure you've worked on a few, we're working on a, on a bunch. The transportation, circulation traffic is a very important part of how the thing lies out. How it, how it gets arranged. Think about it. You have particular expertise on this board than Speaker 1: I would've, and he's Well, and you, you have the professional expertise. And to be honest, you have, you have kids. Speaker 11: Yeah, I have feeling Speaker 1: That, that that does not, Speaker 10: Even if I wasn't, I probably wouldn't shut my mouth anyways. Whatever meeting. So
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, Speaker 6: And you have to be prepared when they come to you with flags that have three gears all meshed together to point out to them that that is a physical impossibility and they probably shouldn't do that. Speaker 1: Did this happen? Oh Speaker 6: Yeah, with Kennedy. Speaker 1: Oh really? Oh, I did not. Oh, ouch. Okay. So I Speaker 6: Was actually gonna suggest that Alan would be great for the affordable housing trust, but I, I don't, I'm not suggesting at all that you do both, so, Speaker 1: And I've already got community preservation committee and the open space committee. No, Speaker 6: No, no. I was, I was seriously, I think that the, I think
that the affordable housing trust fund is a great group to, to move through as you get more experience with being on the board. Doug, I would suggest it would be if you've got, if you've got the cycles, I think they only meet once a month. They talk about some really, yeah. Interesting stuff. I was on that. I I wanna say I was on it for seven years. I know Andy was on it for a while as well. So it's, it really, it's a great group of people and they, and they do great stuff for housing in the town and, but,
Speaker 1: And I will, and I will turn this back over to I have idea, let's hold it to our next meeting because Peter will be back. So Speaker 2: Let's think about it. Yeah. Speaker 1: But, but seriously think about it. Okay. It, I, I think it would be the, the good fortune of the committee to have you there and that's not me kind of trying to soften you up. So Amanda, you had something on about meeting minutes and I'm afraid to ask. Oh, I love that they're, I do have Alex working on them. So we will be getting a large chunk. The last E the last minutes we approved, were dated May 22nd, 2024 catch up.
We have to catch up and I hope we're starting with the oldest ones first. Speaker 3: I believe so. Speaker 1: Good. Okay. Anything else? Anybody entertain? Motion. Speaker 3: Excellent. Sorry, the only thing I do have is you will be receiving the warrant in your emails. If you could just take a look at that and see if there's any that you want to review or want someone to come in and talk with you about, just so I can get that scheduled Speaker 1: For the next meeting. Okay, you guys, motion to adjourn. Second. Motion made, seconded. All is in favor. Aye. Aye. Can we stand adjourned at 9 51? Alright. Or 8 51.