good evening everyone My name is Laura Shiffren and I call the meeting of the planning board of March 17 2025 to order at 6:31 p.m Would you uh please everybody introduce
yourselves first oh okay Carol present Lance McN Shepard present and Laura Shep present Please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Thank all of our veterans as well as our current military serving and all of our
first responders for their sacrifices We thank them and also for their families The meeting is being recorded and uploaded to the town of Townsen YouTube channel Is anyone else recording
uh Lori Yes say Joseph Bole who'd like to join us Should I let him in yes please Yes please He's our 635 Thank you I don't see anybody else recording 1.4 Approval discussion of meeting minutes
February 24th 2025 Is there a motion i'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes of February 24th 2025 A second Second Okay Any discussion okay Beth just those two edits that I
gave you Okay With notice and Oh I didn't give you the second one 1.3 should be announced with a you know past tense Announce the meeting Okay Thank you
Uh vote please Yes Andrew yes I'm going to abstain Okay And you can vote yes because we have the majority Lori and yes Oh and Robert is here Oh okay
Robert good to see you Come on in We ju we're just doing preliminaries and just had the vote on the minutes of February 24th 2025 Did you have a chance to review them yes Okay Uh we are you're the last
one to vote I I Okay Robert Did you get that Beth back to the second edit I'm sorry I got the first edit I didn't get the second edit I'm sorry
Oh the second edit was announced at um 1.3 Yep Y and the meeting should be announced with a D Okay Thank you Okay Yep Thank you Okay
So and the votes on the minutes were Carol yes Andrew yes Lance abstained Robert yes And Laura Okay we are at 6:35 Mr Bole are you on i am on and unmuted
Okay Um go ahead and and give us um the news if you will Okay The news is I had a meeting today with uh three people from EOHLC basically the MBTA communities
office and the leadership at the Livable Communities Division in charge of that office uh they gave the full blessing to the uh oversized dis to the bylaw and to the oversized district with a uh with a with
a unit cap Um they applaud it They think it's a great they they uh really appreciate the work that we've done but the uh uh the back lot without frontage the landlocked lot is still going to be a problem
What they said specifically about that is that uh they did not want to put out a um review letter a preapp review letter uh which gives the okay to this district
because of the precedent it would set uh and uh in fear that other communities would take advantage of the uh of that ruling to deliberately create unbuildable districts And uh for that
reason they uh did not they do not want to give a uh they they don't want to issue you a pre-approval letter saying uh that they approve of this In fact if we make them issue a pre-approval letter on this district they probably going to have to
issue one which uh which calls it out and which uh denies it So we don't have so what they're recom and so uh this kind of leaves you with a couple of options The first one would be to create a district
which goes along wi in which all of the lots have frontage Keep the bylaw exactly the same Take the the front lots here Get rid of the bylot the back lots and uh add some other properties um to the south until
we we get to the acres we need among those properties Um another option would be to stick with this district and try to get it approved
uh act actually adopt it and try to get it approved and then once it's approved send it in for uh you know it goes to it goes to the AG and uh it has to be approved by the EOHLC Now in our conversation my conversation
with them they pointed out that you're not due until uh for to uh uh get something passed and in compliance until 2026
January 1st 2026 What's more they pointed out that there is a sort of hold harmless period that they can put uh that that uh communities would be in while they're still in the
process of um adopting their and of making the changes they need to get their uh MBTA district approved So if we waited all the way until
uh the end of 2025 passed this as it is with this district and then uh they disapproved it of it then they said that and and you needed to make the change Uh
then they you would it you would not be in a position where your grants are in danger you would not be in a position where you are being declared out of compliance You'll just be treated as somebody who's still working be working to come into compliance Um in either
case I we've gotten I've gotten and we've gotten from them all the feedback we need to understand how they're looking at the uh uh how they're looking at Townsen's proposal The very next thing anybody somebody should do is to
withdraw the pre-approval application The reason to withdraw the pre-approval application is to not force the MBTA community's office to put in writing a decision They don't want to have to do that That's the thing they're
trying to avoid It seems to me that they're trying to avoid that even more than they're trying to avoid uh approving your district They don't have I don't think they really have a problem with what you're doing here with this
backlot They have a problem with people right suburbs right in towards Boston trying to take advantage So the oh plus a second thing they pointed out is that a lot can happen with lot
ownership over the course of a year and that if lots were combi if uh lots were combined into common ownership or something like that uh before before you were due to be be brought into
compliance They would no longer be landlocked lots and this whole issue would be moot Okay everybody understand not quite I You have landlocked lots meaning lots that uh in the back that are in different ownership from lots in the
front So you know if the if a landlocked lot uh abuted a lot that had frontage then the two of them functionally it's like one lot and that back lot has its access through the front lot And so if these couple of landlock lots in the back that are the problem with the
district as it's drawn if between now and the end of 2025 uh the owners were to get together and form something or sell something or somehow create uh uh common ownership in that then the problem of
you having landlock lots without access that can't actually be developed would disappear and you you'd just be approved right But so I mean what it comes down to is how much do you want to fight to keep
this district how much do you want to try is it worth it to try to keep this district as it is instead of going to a different configuration where we drop these two lots in the back that don't have frontage and start picking up a
budding single family homes going south down uh Route 12 And I have uh if I can share my screen I have a map that shows that Okay Okay You want to see that yeah Let me see if I can figure out sharing
now Share Share Screen share All right So all right Let me zoom back a little bit on this So uh we are current we currently have switching to the other map just so
that you can compare What did I have what was I looking at before oh that was uh somebody else who was sharing All right Do I have this here i have it here All right I have it somewhere else
the older one the existing one 2020 last year's in town and MBTA the uh sorry about Okay so we you can see the lots here Uh this purple ignore this
purple line this L-shape this one and this one So we go to uh Okay so we're picking up 121 and 125 and 129 and 131 and 135 So if you look at the heavy red line
this is if you pick up a if you want to do a district about as big as the one that already exists to give them about as much the same amount of land for the different opportunities I mean the whole point of having the oversized district and all the advantages of that um this
red line if you want to do a smaller district and pick up fewer properties along here uh um ending it at that um um uh checkered red line uh would be a smaller district Uh that would still be um a little bit oversized
giving them a little bit more flexibility We could probably if you wanted to go all the way down to minimal could knock off 109 and possibly even 111 and that would get us down to minimal size We could we could tweak this I'm just showing that there's
different options here for getting from between a uh minimally sized district to a district about the same size as the one that we wanted So So this leaves leaves you question Go
ahead And this illustration here are we still going to have landlocked property behind that no Well there's still land landlocked lots behind it but they're not in the multif family overlay district zone right they they they keep their current zoning
These are all front So with what future options are those for those areas uh they can um contact with one of their abutters whether a uh with with the abuters to
whether in this district to um use their driveways to use their driveway or somebody outside of the district that has access um to find a way to get access Basically they would be in exactly the same situation they're in now Uh
uh are are you raising the question of whether having this multif family overlay district in front of them would make it make them even less able to develop their property and make it even less likely that they'd be able to work uh work with their neighbor and uh and
and find and develop it in common I'm concerned about there's a statute regarding the justice So in other words options that would be available to a normal person in a
subdivision are being people with these lots in the back would um uh feel they're not being they don't have the same justice
uh use of their lots As somebody that doesn't have that situation and therefore can get a special permit or a variance under a hardship because they've being denied
the opportunities that their abunders have Hm Well every zoning district has boundaries on which things are allowed on one side and not another
That and the adoption of this zone wouldn't it wouldn't reduce the development potential of any of the back lots It would be I it would be more or less moot for the development potential
of those back lots Uh they really don't have they're not they're basically similly situated people need to be treated the same But the fact that you're on that different sides of a zoning line doesn't mean that you're similarly
situated people who need to be treated the same You're we can have zoning lines with different rules on different sides We know this Yes I mean the example you brought up was of two lots in the same subdivision You know that those are very
similarly situated but different lots can be in different districts Um from my point of view this is I mean this is kind of a tricky question Uh a point I was making today was that having
a more round or more square district rather than a more linear district is gives a little more it tends to be a little more flexible in what you can do and a little less constrained And so the potential of achieving this vision of
this true mixed residential neighborhood was going to be more uh it more realistic in a um in the district that we have now which is more big and square compared to a district of
only lots that have frontage So I guess the big dec if I guess the big decision here is do you want to change the uh district now and not have to worry about there being a problem with it uh being in compliance and maybe
have and maybe having to change it later or do you want to pick the district that you like best knowing that you might have to go back and amend your zoning map uh to bring it into compliance would that require two
separate town meetings then if we had to go back again right Yes But you have two town meetings every year It's this would be a and oh this is another thing that they that was conveyed to me at this uh at this
meeting this morning that I mentioned earlier there's sort of a hold harmless period where they're not going to um report you as being out of compliance and you'll be in danger and stuff and they'll make sure that you know yours goes to the bottom of the stack and everything and you have the time to do
that They specifically I brought up the issue this is a town that has town meetings It's not a city council every week and they said we can like and they represented to me that they would make sure you had the time to have your spring town meeting if that's what
needed to happen next year like in 26 Yes Yes I think we stick with what we have and see what happens I I don't know I sort of I mean your
recommendation is to um fix the problem now right joe I I not really I mean this is a genuinely difficult uh decision and
there's uh different parts that go into it and um your opinions about you know how much you really prefer the existing district to something like what what's what's on the screen now that comes into play here It's I I no I'm not coming
down on one side or the other on this I feel like it's going to be okay either way one of them is uh is might be administratively easier and more likely to succeed and the other one you know you have a chance of actually getting what's
best And you know if you want to go in either direction um they'll understand They like you they like us and it's going to be okay Whichever one you want to do I kind of feel like just looking at it I
feel like a better fit in my view even though it's more difficult is the first option It It feels to me like it creates more of a neighborhood It feels to me it's more likely that you have mixed uh unit types and more variety I I would
worry just looking at this I mean we're regularly told that we're just zoning for it It's not going to be built potentially but the idea is that it could be built Yes And I would imagine this seems a bit more shoehorned kind of get it done get it done
quick And I mean just kind of starting to think about this as an option now but I feel like I have more of a preference I could come along but to the first district and trying to stick with that and have the state deal with their inside 495 people and get them all done
and then all of a sudden they look at us later and say "All right we're not as worried now about everyone inside 495 trying to do what you guys are doing to I like the initial one for as well I think it has less visual impact on the
road um instead of sping it all down the road Yeah Yeah So I think things can change in a year with the state I mean they may well if they have to we have to but I think we spent a lot of time trying to
make this work Yeah Yeah We put a lot of effort into doing this So Joe right now um we stick with this Okay
Withdraw the uh pre preapp Yes Oh yeah that's what I was going to say Withdraw now the the approval tomorrow morning Okay Beth are is everybody in agreement
yeah Like a motion Meanwhile I will communicate with them informally Okay We have a good relationship Keeping them in the loop is is a good thing Um and if I could make one more
suggestion Actually I'm not even going to make a suggestion And I'm going to make a just an observation You know your property owners The issue here is a lack of common ownership And if there wasn't an issue with a lack of common ownership between
the back lots and lots in front of them that have uh access there would be no issue Common ownership can mean one person owns two lots Common ownership can mean two property owners form an LLC
and the LLC owns the or there's or the LLC owns rights Don't we have three owners here there there kind of approached it as like an ownership blind I don't really know who owns it Okay
Yeah Nobody's really looked into who they are because um it's that the the zoning of this is not something that the um town really has input in as far
as picking the area I mean we we've worked on looking at a few different parcels for a while now So um what happens Joe would there would we be able to
write something in the bylaw about like a hammerhead law or a common drive easement type of thing that would satiate them a little bit more or it it has to be more ownership and
frontage specific very very clear I mean we don't know You don't even need to write anything I I don't think you even need to write anything into the bylaw about easements and stuff I think if they brought up easements in uh my first
conversation uh uh way back in the email exchange if there's even so much as an easement that gets to the back lot they're going to give you the big okay They need I mean they were they they asked me can we find some easements or stuff they're looking for I I think they
want something to hang their hat on So no I don't think we need to change the bylaw for that I think you can already do it Guess we just wait and see Yeah Yeah Um could you just repeat again what um
we're going to ask to be withdrawn the pre-approval application the basically the uh what Beth had submitted uh in when was that November uh October 2024
October uh which had the uh it's with the the MBTA TA office It's a chance to have them take a look at your bylaw take a look at your map have them confirm that uh everything's okay before you adopt it instead of a town's
adopting it and then finding out oh no you did you did it wrong It's more like a service they offer Um and we've gotten that service We've gotten not just uh we uh we've gotten more than we more than most people got get out of them not just
a uh pre-op letter saying yes or no but these deep conversations and stuff with them in that office Um I don't need we don't need their uh pre-approval letter to know what their thinking is and they're trying not to issue it
Okay Okay So then I will enter a motion to withdraw the pre-approval for application for the M MBTA multifamily
overlay district I'll second it Andrew first and Carol seconded Any further discussion hearing none Carol Hus Yes Lance McNell Yes Robert
During Yes Andrew Shepard Yes And Laura Shiffron Yes Anything else mr Boyer Um yes Uh the uh Yeah And I I can't I I realized that you hadn't been looking at uh uh lot
ownership as you went through this And why would you i can't tell you how awkward it is for me to be here on a zoning project talking about lot ownership Uh it's you didn't look at that because that's really not something that uh you're supposed to look at when
you're doing zoning And uh for the most part and the way that this came in at the last second uh I this is very strange This is not this is out of order So the reason that this seems weird and we're uh doing this
strange thing that you don't usually do is because this is a strange situation Now um I have looked at um the property ownership as did they obviously and confirmed that yep the uh uh the lots in back don't have common ownership
aren't in common ownership with anything that abuts them that has frontage Um that information is all available through the um town assessor's office and we have our Monach region mapper Mr
Mapper uh website Just enter Mr Mapper into Google and you can find assessors data and you can go in there and you can pick out these lots and you can pick out the lots and you can find out exactly who the who the owners are I have that available for the board
members The assessors provided that So I'll send it over just as a matter of interest That's that I hear what you're saying but I I as a I don't know elected member of the planning board would not want to approach a land owner No And say
"Hey buddy think about buying this guy's land or getting an easement." That that is not a thing that I think we want to be involved in at all Indeed On the other hand you know there's these property owners They're not zoning
specialists You know having an information session about the new MBTA communities district for the property owners that would be a nice thing for the town to do I you know I I could probably make myself available for something like that Just an information session about the MBTA district
Sure Sure Okay Um but Okay So Beth you had that information Can you just tell me is it three different owners um it is one two
three four five On one five different owners on five different lots right one two three four five Of course you're talking about the one that has
the back lots right yes we selected Well you would think the people with the back lots would be approaching the ones Yeah but the others and let's put some together you know So in that regard that could expedite
things pretty quickly Well assuming that they're aware of what's going on Say what i said are they aware of what's going on i don't think they are Yeah which is what I was just saying about an information session would be a nice thing for the town to do Working on this
for at least 18 months now And so people just don't watch the meetings or attend the meetings They're all public postings They're all on YouTube Okay Well we could invite them directly Well let me ask you this
question Um are we obligated to notify no I don't zoning This is first of all statemandated zoning Okay But um I think you're only obligated to notify uh um the actual property owners
for a zoning change And oh I had asked you to look into that Joe Did you right Right And I Oh it's basically defined by your bylaw and uh there's nothing in the state law
about your um about a butters Mhm Um and I didn't see anything in your in your bio I have not I I didn't do that I didn't I I'll uh make sure I get back to you on that tomorrow about Okay
uh um a butter notification but I believe that actual property owner notification is there Um I'll just I'll I'll confirm that too Okay Because I know that um we questioned uh town council on that and
he said there was no requirement Not even about uh not even about the um property owners in the district itself I had read that email and I thought it was a butter notification outside the district Really yeah Okay Yeah But this was a while ago I don't know Okay This
is like the historic district where you know where it has to be done at a town meeting and anybody within the district can say I don't want my house in that meeting and have it amended in that in that district
Uh they you know they they can ask for it to be to be amended Um I think it would be more likely that a Butters would uh complain about it than that the property owners themselves would complain about you increasing
their property values I think I think that's why Beth asked um Adam about that first Yes Okay Um but uh that it's kind of two
different things Um a butter the notification that there's a zoning change happening is one thing but then an information session uh for uh these property owners about exactly what their rights would be uh under the district and stuff That's that would be like an
event for the town to hold That's not just about that's not just you know the mailing out the notifications Uhhuh I I I'm trying to determine what's appropriate here I I think uh I
think in terms of the performance of the members of this board it's probably better to notify the owners and the abuters
Um cuz otherwise um we could be out of town meeting and somebody said I know about this I don't want my property in it or well it if if they had that right right they would have to be
notified In other words before let's say the historic district came before the town all the above all the people in the district had to be notified that this was being voted on at this meeting Right Okay This is not the
case This is not the I'm just thinking what the public perspective will be here I mean it's by not telling anybody then we're in trouble that way And then by advising other people we're
in trouble that way right i'm just trying to I feel like just let everybody know what's going on and so that they can look at their personal situation and
um be prepared Well at this point we're not there yet because it's not approved right so you know why upset people if No but this is a conversation right now though Yeah I know And if they ever watch any of the meetings they're going
to hear this Or somebody listening to the meetings would say "Hey did you see they're talking about your your area you should check out the meetings and find out what's going on." So it's not we're not hiding anything from anybody
Okay I think that's uh all we have to do here on this one Uh just wait and see Yes Um yes withdraw and uh withdraw the application and uh move forward uh
as you as you planned Um moving forward as planned uh means talking about uh your public hearing public uh education events and the town meeting I had sent an email with a
couple of uh items for the board to look at One of which was the handout we'd made for you earlier and another one was the uh PowerPoint presentation um that I've done at uh at public meet uh education events I are we talking about
that tonight or did you just want to talk uh by law if you're going ahead to town meeting with the same with the warrant article we have a placeholder on the warrant So if we are going ahead if the board wants to go ahead and keep this on uh annual
town meeting I am going to need to you know create the public hearing notice and all the administrative stuff Now knowing that I need to notify a Butters I'm going to have to ask the assessors for everybody within 300 feet of the
boundary of the district So I don't know how long that'll take She's pretty quick But so there's some timing here But wait is that what you have to is is that what you have to do notify 300 within 300 feet of the outside boundary
Yes that's how a butter notifications work So we have a we have the the district boundary and the assessor will go out 300 feet from there and give me all the names and those are the abutters and then the in the folks that own the property inside the district will of
course also be Yep So they'll at least hear about it that way Yep Um cool Cool Let me ask a question Would you if we withdraw the
um pre-qu pre-approval application at at this time but you were saying we had until December 31st or January 1st whatever um to do it And we are generally have a fall town
meeting Should we move this to the fall town meeting rather than this one sure Did that get us what would that get us i don't know Well more time
Well you know our timeline's fine I don't think we need more time for I don't know Maybe there's Did What did you Did you want more time for like public education events i could see Imagine that if if that's where the way you want to go Well we have to have a
public hearing anyway Um and we may have some other reasons for a public hearing So we just add that to that Huh i think we move it now Okay All right And that gives us time at the end if we have to address something Then we've had
discussion I just wanted to bring it up We wanted to buy more time I don't know Um but okay Uh can I ask can I ask a question I don't know whether what what I just heard was I think we he the term move it
now Did you mean put it on this town meetings uh warrant and move it on the town meeting or did you mean I think we move the date we vote tonight to move the date no he move it now The first one Yeah Okay Thank you My bad Okay So Beth
what do we have for date for public hearing april 7th Does that work april 7th Okay Yeah April 7th I mean that might be a little close actually
Well it's the 7th or the 21st The meeting is on May So either one So May 6 So the 7th or the 21st which one do you want to do
i mean if the 21st isn't too close then I'd prefer to do that We need to know when the um warrant will be going to print as well So the 21st might be too late How about um well the 18th you already have a I'm
sorry the 14th is a meeting anyway for um a public hearing on an application So I mean that would be a long night but it's possible Huh What dates are we meeting in April
we're meeting on the 14th They were changed So the only meeting for April is the 14th right because the town elections on the 28th right and so I think Yes So I think we had the
7th and the 14th Sorry For April Okay Um and that's why I thought you know the the public hearing could be done on the 7th Now I can get publication done but I'm not sure that I can get the
assessors notified that quickly You know what I mean that's my concern I I think it's going to take a while to get that assessor's list and get that mailed out because that's through postal service type of thing you know Okay My only hesitation is that today we had a
department head meeting and um Nelson and this is about the budget wants to hold a public forum once we think we have a number for an
override Um Mhm And then it was the 14th was mentioned So but I will see if um we can do it any we can do it any time that week Um and I don't obviously for
whatever reason I thought we were meeting the 7th and the 21st but we're not So the 14th is when planning is meeting So I I'll speak That's true It doesn't have to be on a Monday So
the public hearings yeah it could be moved to any day of the week but the 14th is is definite Um we're a little nervous that we might be getting too close to the printing of the warrant on one end and the
notification of a butters on the other That's my concern So the 7th is too early for you The 14th is too late Which is the one you would like well I think the 14th if we're going to do it Okay Like the 14th would be fine
That's the same night as your public hearing Or you know we could go to the 16th of that week So April 16th Okay So why don't we say one of those two dates and I'll see what the town administrator wants to do for the forum
the budget forum which will be yeah if he had you really can't move the April 14th date for planning board I'm going to need um all members because that's the uh application that was already been
delayed so I can't delay that further April 14th is um the public hearing okay so what I'm saying is um you know if you could do the 16th for the zoning bylaw amendments public hearing
as a Wednesday night Um Oh that doesn't that's a that doesn't help So no doesn't help Okay Why don't we just say the 14th and I
will work with Nelson on the other yeah that should be enough time Sure Okay And I'll have to talk to um Adam because he was he was all set for the seventh but thinking we're a little close to make the town meeting on the
sixth Okay I was hoping you were going to preserve everything Is the wedding in April may May I thought May Yeah Okay We we get back we get back on town meeting night Okay
May I ask what you'd like from the MRPC for the night of the 14th uh your public hearing Uh yeah Yeah Yeah Uh present answer questions What do you want for uh for the public hearing yes Uh if you
would like to attend we'll have you on the agenda I I I I assumed you'd want me you'd want me to be there um for for questions and stuff I don't need to be on the agenda I just need to be there as a resource Or if you wanted me to do my PowerPoint MBTA dog and pony show I can
do that for you Uhhuh Presentation I kind of like it Yeah Okay Yes The board says yes Yeah Thank you Okay So you're talking the lemon the one that
you did for Lemonster you do for Okay Yeah I've done it Westminster What else is on the agenda on the 14th there's public hearing for Well there's another There's a hearing for um for an application for site plan review and
storm water management permit Is that um Main Street yes it's at 6:35 Okay So one's a scum or management and the other one's what this plan review
So uh I I anticipate that will take about a half hour I would like to leave 30 minutes for that hearing Um so that would mean that the public hearing would you know follow So it's probably going to start at like seven
unless you want to start early I mean start at four and I don't think that's going to happen No I don't think that's going to happen Okay
6:30 it is on the 14th My presentation is about 10 to 15 minutes Probably about 15 more Okay It'll be shorter than Lemonster because it's simpler than Lemonsters Okay
Thank you Yeah All right Any other questions for Mr Bo thank you very much Mr Bole We're moving on Uh you are you are very welcome Um um Robert's idea about discussing uh
about the the property owners and this idea about an education session for them I think it's something to think about Anyway nice seeing you all tonight Okay 2.2 Um I don't have something that says 2
2.2 Beth do you I can I can screen share it but I think I'd rather just give you a quick update Um we have a new housing administrator uh housing and grant
administrator and I have um sent him the proposed amendments that um Aaron discussed with you at your last meeting um on the and I made the changes that the planning board suggested Uh a couple of them
were get rid of the word inclusionary and replace it with affordable Um I know that there were a couple of concerns I think I captured them in the minutes Um you know so I have conveyed that to the new housing administrator His name is
Kieran Mian Um and I h I believe I expressed to him that they uh board the housing authority of the affordable housing trust have to come up with a formula for uh local um way for a way to
define affordability with a local mechanism which I think is the goal So they they do have that and they are meeting on the 19th to discuss that I also sent the
draft to town council and I also when I sent him the draft to review I also notified him that those were areas technical areas that they're going to need some help with Um so so those two are out right now for
review I've also put a copy in your packet So um you can look it over yourself and see if you want to make any comments or or I can also send the meeting um information when the affordable housing trust meets if you
want to join in that discussion Um but it is their uh it is their bylaw they are aware that we do have a warrant article for them and a placeholder form and that um planning board will include
it in your public hearing So um of course they'll be invited to that public hearing to present it and that you'll be providing a report to town meeting So that's where that is I hope it all works out timewise Um you know I hope they can
get it all done but that's that's what's happening the planning board really doesn't have to do anything It's in the affordable housing trust um port on their desk right now for those for those areas that need to be you know ironed
out So is PL but planning will be holding the hearing So yeah as with any well that will be on the 14th as well Okay thank you Yeah that's the second That's why I put in a work session all of the
zoning bylaw amendments that will be on the annual town meeting warrant Okay All right So next is 2.3 and that's the flood clean district bylaw
Okay Yeah And I can um I did I think I put a copy in there for you And just a quick update on that that has been to the BCR um and it has been approved We're compliant with the model flood plane by the Massachusetts model flood
plane bylaw and it is now under review with uh town council So I'm waiting to get that back Um I'd like to see it sooner rather than later but you know I I I just kind of got to wait for town
council And when uh Mr Shepard reads the um the announcements and notices from other towns um you'll notice that Pepell is um working on the same thing and Graten has already um done their public
hearing So um you know this is something that absolutely has to be passed um at town meeting in May because the flood sane maps uh are in effect July 8th of 2025 So we need to update by law Very important
All right So this also was scheduled for the 14th public hearing Yep Exactly Okay Thank you Beth for that report And I see the um
2.4 Okay 2.4 discussion review draft town zoning district map Yes Sabrina provided a print copy for you Um and just a quick update you can
uh the two things that will be added That one has the historic district which Mr Shepard mentioned I think it was probably months ago now but we're getting this done And it also shows the um Greenville Road section that was um
converted from industrials to residential Um the two things that are still forthcoming are the lot lines um because there are no lot lines on there So partial IDs are normally on a zoning map So you can look at your lot and say
what district am I in and the second thing will be the flood plane Uh we'll be adding that in because the new firm maps are uh are now available in GIS So MRPC is working on that for us and we
should have that by tomorrow the final revision and I'll I'll send that around to everybody again to see um you know just for a review So does that mean that this will be updated that we have here
um do you have the print copy there no I'm talking about our Oh yes yes yes exactly And it will actually be official because that is unofficial It has never been adopted by town meeting Um the one that we're creating now is to be adopted
Um I'm just not 100% sure if it's going to be annual town meeting or fall Um only because if we adopted as an official zoning map I believe we'd have to repeal like 50 other maps that are in
the code So I could use a little guidance on that to be honest Um I don't know exactly about the process uh of repealing every other zoning map in the code There were like 50 So I don't know
if anybody can help me help me with that question Is that a legal question legal A legal question I think so It's more of a planner question You know I think um you know somebody who would know
um maybe a town clerk question I not sure but I believe when Jessica was here she said that the old maps would be repealed Now do they have to be repealed at the same time i don't know If they don't then we could just adopt this as
our official zoning map Yeah Okay Um I can talk I can try to talk to Adam about that or maybe I'll just Google it and see what Google comes up with Or uh do we peel off previous maps
when you um could we ask another town's uh um ask per or Groten or you know Luna sure That's a great idea Or even they have a big planning office and
they have a person you might reach out to them and find something Okay thank you All right we'll do when you adopt a new map and it's dated of your town doesn't that kind of make it so that the one you go to is the last
You would think it would if you could put language in it to supersede if you know what I mean Oh yeah Right Supersedes all previous Yeah So see what somebody else has done first We don't have to reinvent a wheel Okay All right Thank you Okay No thank you
Okay our favorite topic Okay I don't see that here either So okay So I guess I'll give you a quick quick update there Um as you recall it was supposed it was on the um special town meeting warrant but at that time I
wasn't at the meeting How was it worded uh were for the warrant article at special town meeting about this Um okay what happened the ages you want me to The the age
restricted portion was not able to be explained In other words there was no case in the bylaw that referred to what it meant Was it 50 was it 55 was it one
person has to be the 55 am I am I right that seemed to be the biggest crust of it And there were questions about um like in condos transfer ownership and enforcement of that which
the state has guidelines on because they have that now in the condominium one there They have they have their own rules that they have to follow that the state imposes for that for the one that we approved in this bill Just kind of catch me up on what
happened at the recent special town meeting where this went up there on the warrant and and you weren't going to actually move it to a vote because of everything that happened So it was lack of Yeah it was No no So so it went on the
March 10th special town meeting warrant did it not isn't article one was it on that it was Okay Yes it was but it was withdrawn It was withdrawn
Okay So it was withdrawn Um okay I wasn't sure what the wording was Um it was withdrawn and Okay It was a continuation of the earlier one where we didn't have the quorum
Yeah Okay Thank you So now on in March 10th then it was brought again It was on the warrant but it it was withdrawn from the warrant Motion was read Okay Thank you So now we're at
uh So now we do have the board has a placeholder for May 6 annual town meeting and um Lori and I have been in contact with town council and uh we've
both uh asked him to provide some wording to um to make sure that it's you know restricted is defined That's the only thing that is happening now We're waiting for that wording from town
council and he said he should have it by the end of the week Um but I didn't know if you wanted to discuss any other changes um to the to the bylaw or how you want to proceed
I'd just like to suggest a couple things You know we've introduced this wellness concept here Um and I really would like to have part of the zoning for these districts not just
age restricted but wherever multifamily projects are done to have a private outdoor space of a minimum of 80 square feet Um so the occupants of these buildings have
their own private area outside Um this is all part of the wellness thinking and uh so you can envision in any of these different uses All right So we're talking multif
family but we're talking about different uses um low income affordable and uh age restricted Um when you confine them to a very specific
area some of those occupants have children some of those occupants uh want to be able to have a plant outside or do other things So I think in terms of wellness I'd like to see that
included in one of the requirements uh in the design requirements for those types of buildings I can talk to Could you put that in yeah Could you put that in as a design standard i don't know if you got my
email right I think I did Yeah But I was going to ask you if you could write it in Yeah each individual unit have an outdoor space access to an outdoor
space exclusively for them with a minimum square footage of 80 square feet which is an 8 by 10 like a patio or so it could be a deck or a balcony or
whatever but um I I think it well it'll be beneficial for the developer too It will be more marketing for them Okay So the biggest um conversation that I had with him was
to try to that the intent of the age restricted now this is our age restricted only Okay I mean that's what we're talking about now Um is that we mean just that everybody is that
age and above for our bylaw They may not have happened before because the ones that were approved were under the state guidelines and they are okay with one being under under right and and one over But
here for this bylaw this is 55 and over and 55 and everyone is 55 and over which you can also do and it's not familial So it's not it's not to have
your grandchildren living there or whatever for permanent It's not it's age restricted My there's other avenues to build other things I I think that defining that the way we
have we made a vast improvement on that Okay Um because that was the biggest question Those were the comments that came up I know what if he dies and now Susie his daughter is there with her two kids right it's not age restricted
anymore It's not for what it was intended So that is the only other thing that I find is we need to get more teeth into this so that it's targeted for our age people
in our community not just open to whoever I mean the whole purpose of that when we you can't do that No you can't res Okay listen You can't restrict
res Yeah You know what I mean you can't But in the um but you can reo what we've been trying to do is an age restricted development You cannot It's not an affordable development That's the affordable housing trust now is doing
their thing and there'll be a separate bylaw for affordable This will be market or whatever the developer wants to do but it's age restricted Right so if you look at the intent of
the bylaw each one for each each application says is for the benefit of the community and with the intent of doing things for our elderly people and our lowincome people and everything else
I have not seen that Right In the meantime we're given special privileges and reliefs on zoning when our we're the intent was for our own people in our community and we the
state or whatever doesn't let us do that and it has to be open to the public at large So I'm like why do we even have it i mean I'm not trying to be facitious here but as far as when that was voted in the original town meetings that's
what people expected right we can't restrict the residents But we do but we have said in certain language that it's you know when you say the benefit of the community that leads people to believe that it's targeted for
the community where it's really not It's open to everybody So in some ways we by the language we use we mislead people into believing something where we we got to be careful of the language that we
use um that that can lead people to misinterpret benefits Go ahead I I I know But just by saying the benefits of the community leads people to believe that it's targeted for the community And
sometimes this gets us into trouble I I talked to a lot of you know on my walks and stuff and a lot of people just you know they feel like they're being misled all the time by certain language that's used um or not used So I think we just
got to be careful how we say things in in in don't make you look at what I have on the screen Uh if you see what I have on the screen it doesn't say anything about towns and residents I know And you really can't
discriminate You cannot discriminate when you're selling property Why are we Why are we giving the public at all the whole Commonwealth of Massachusetts access to our town and
relief from our zoning when it doesn't benefit us it does benefit us How well if I'm 55 plus and I live in Townsen I know that there's a development going up there
that benefits me Um it's not exclusive to you No but I'm still benefited Well you could go you could go buy buy the unit Nothing stops you from going to buy the unit Um it's available It's not affordable If it's
market value anybody can buy it Yeah Yeah Nobody is prevented from buying it So any resident can go buy it You just can't say that the you can't just make it sound like it's for the residents of towns Well it's when it's open but that
doesn't prevent anybody from going like I mean if I grew up in Townsen and I no longer want to live in my large house having the 55 plus is great for me because I don't want to have to leave
towns in and move elsewhere where they have 55 plus Absolutely That's what the intent and that's why we even have it It's a benefit to me right but you may have other people But what I'm saying is I would want you to live stay here and
live in Townsen because you are a town person and you know your neighbors and it'd be very disrupted to move to another community Right However we can't just give it to you because you're a resident Correct But
you make it available It's made available to me So people take advantage or they don't take advantage So nobody's preventing them from buying it I got it All right And without it you're forcing me to leave town
Um if I cannot you know if I can't if I can find a 55 plus let's just say in Sturbridge Well so what is the benefit what is the benefit to have 55 plus housing so you can So you can live there
You can live here at 55 anywhere at a lower cost No it doesn't come at a lower cost That's the thing No but you know you would think it would It's a lot more money though Well it doesn't matter It's like that's what I'm
saying about it It's we wanted it for our people in town We wanted to be able to keep our people here But if the economics isn't there with it then it's not doing anything Then we have the affordable trust That's
going to be a separate issue I mean if the economics aren't there then builders will not build it because they won't be able to sell it right and in the meantime you can't afford it I mean look at me I'm 76 I'm I'm in that
group Can I go and spend half a million dollars for a condo i can't Well I can't do that either All right So what I'm saying is is it really helping our people it's not Well everything
costs more money and that's why we're looking at the money that we're looking at I I don't know I think there's better ways to help people in this town Even there's a tax base growing and contri people people contributing tax dollars
into this town The entire community benefits from that I there's a lot of arguments and a lot of positions and pros and cons on this thing Okay When I look at these kinds of
programs I haven't seen one town person I know benefit from any of them Okay So the alternative is to look at this We have so much of our town that is
three acres per unit Why can't we reduce that to even less than one acre for a unit and then at least with the cost of the lot we've given an incentive to have a
lower value on the property that should be done right but these other things don't work is my point I rather throw them out and do something positive here these are positive in their own way I
think every bylaw has something positive about it that offers opportunities for developers to do different things Okay And and you're making some very good points and I I we should reduce the lots and have lots being approved per the
board of health and not the planning board the board of health and the building inspector I But what I will tell you and I think you were on the planning board at the time I don't know if you were but you remember the community forum that MRPC organized for
us where we had all of the town citiz Right But I don't know anybody in town that's in them That's what I'm saying Every intent you only have two unit two developers right we only had two developers on on that part But we do
have I took seven years to do towns and woods Seven years and 203 HUD money Okay Three tries with the government to finally get that And we have 36 affordable housing units And there is
huge waiting list to get in there Yeah huge weight list years But I also know many people in town who have moved in there I'm I'm here for a discussion and for information as well So I brought up a perspective that I have and you've
given me feedback on it So well I just basically said I'm not as worked up about it as I was 10 minutes ago All right Makes me happy Uh but again um from my perspective and a lot of
these programs I don't think the results are what people anticipated they would be and so in that sense I don't see them as successful I don't know what I mean in
my mind and correct me where I don't understand I should be able to sell my house today to whoever you want Whoever I want right and buy one of these 55 plus units and still and walk away with money right so what are people doing i
mean look at it I mean and my electric bill is going to be going down I'm going to be selling my house and I'm going to go to Florida All right Or I'm going to sell my house and go to New Hampshire or I'm gonna sell my house and stay in Townsen because I love Townsen Okay if you have the funds and resources to do
that that's great Well no I can sell my house and buy a 55 plus in Townsen and have money left over Maybe depending on the marketing value of the house I don't know I think most people who sell their big house in town I sell my house and
I'm keeping my money and have money left over Exactly Um okay Well taken Good back and forth Got a lot of information Thank you guys Okay Um 2.6 discussion review relative to DTA
grants for MB2 Okay This is the contract thing that you it was in the um portal I guess 2.6 And any questions regarding this wall this is um
we already curve Beth and Beth you can chime in we've already had um March 12th why are we starting here oh February to April this was the um guidelines I can give a brief update Um
the these are the two DTA grants Yeah One is for MBTA communities compliance and that's one continuing with MRPC Joe Bole's working on that project and the other one is for the economic development and that one is um just starting up
So those are what you have this um I don't know if you guys remember but this was [Music] um when the applications were coming up quick that the they were due in order to get this grant Aaron worked on getting
this in and with a lot of help from Patrick So I consider this his baby and we did get the grant So um looking at it looks it looks fine um to me but do you
have any questions I guess for you on the scope of the grant did anything look like it should be tightened up or should be something else to me it looked like a template
It looked like it was covering what it was supposed to cover and it was something that we got and never even thought we were going to get you know So I think it's a great start for us to finally have something going in that direction for businesses and to attract
businesses Yay So that was justformational Did you have something else to add to what I said nope No that's perfect But we will invite I will send an invite to Patrick when we have that first meeting like we talked
about in April right yeah that that would be great I I'd love it if he would attend if he's in town Um so thank you for doing that Planning board draft site plan approval application
14 Okay Beth want to walk us through your seven yep So just to let you know I did have that's been approved by um Adams as well as the building commissioner So I ran it by those two entities U worked with the
building department creating it and um so I just wanted to know if you had any comments on it or any changes or any or if you're ready to approve it and I can post it We've had a few queries Um we've had a
few um you know uh what's the word I'm looking for folks come in We've had the general public coming in asking about ADUs as well as contractors and they kind of want to know um what the process
is So you know the process is to start with the building department if anybody asks you um that's he's going to be the one to determine whether or not it needs site plan approval Um if it does it'll come to us and this is the process
You'll see the application Um I think the only question is is what do you want to charge for a fee for site plan approval it's a new process So I don't know It's not the same you know it's a fairly simple administrative process I
don't have to notify others So I don't have to you know post and publish in the paper Basically I'm going to bring it I'll review it for completeness and bring it at your next meeting and then I will write up a quick um decision you
know um after the board votes on the uh application So I don't know if you got a chance to read through it and if you think that that's a a easy we wanted to make it as easy as possible That's the whole idea Um just to move it $100 seem
reasonable How much 100 100 200 Do I hear three i I gave you my suggestion but it could be too high I don't know What is a
building permit cost in general for like an addition well it's based on it's based on estimate cost of construction and some towns use a square footage basis Um but any application that I see I mean
um and the point the so some building departments uh collect the fee after the when the permit is issued and some collect it in advance of applying for the permit Yeah
depends on I I would also when you're you're talking to the other planning boards on um you know getting the advice on their you know what they're doing on the multi-sight is that what we're you could ask them this question as well what do
you charge for someone for site plan review okay that's a great idea we're kind of pioneers here we're kind of there when I went to the um the planners conference on Saturday I found out that they were
one of towns is one of 10 communities who um passed their uh ADU bylaw So we're ahead of everybody on this one Okay So this is kind Yeah we're kind of making up our own process but this was
based on what was passed at the um fall town meeting So I took you know think of the process It's introduced in the building department Okay Yeah So if there's no
requirement for site plan review it's just stuck with the permit application itself for a building permit Okay If there is if that particular project needs site plan
review then how much effort do we and our administrative people need to do that so it involves um our staff here processing it our time
publishing it So maybe 200 is too much I don't know But no no she has 300 I would think I would think more like 300 but I don't want to go too high either you know because I will be reviewing the application for completeness Let's say it's not complete I'm going to go back
and you know you know make sure that we get the feed make sure that we get everything we need So you got two or three hours in that right yeah Because after you have your meeting and you approve it let's say you approve it with conditions then I'll be writing up an approval um determination for you for
whatever you decide $300 is what I feel like it should be You want to go i was kind of thinking that Okay So well I mean what do we usually What is usual ANR fees at the all said and done what anr fees have
gone up quite a bit Um we have a new fee schedule I can pull it up but yeah the base fee went up Yeah Yeah What is it i mean the last one we brought in uh was $1,200 for the uh Greenville Road ANR
and that was five lots So it's gone up quite a bit but um this is a process that is not as involved again as the site plan re you know review special permit but it's it's
a you know a condensed version of that but I I can anticipate spending at least you know two to three hours on that $300 I like 300 Okay All right All right Um do you need a motion for that i think
you would accept the fee I think accept the fee and to accept the um application Does anybody have any revisions on the application and uh keep in mind I will not be circulating this for any comments from other departments This will just be
planning board Um and of course the building commissioners Beth I would hope that you know we just we haven't done it before so we just try to be a little bit nimble with it And if you know we have it out for a year or six months and then you realize geez I'm not getting the I
keep asking people these questions anyways you know maybe we we just take it back up and adjust it Um the only comment I have is um do you want to get the owner of records email because in the um owner of record you have name D
In the applicant's name you have name but at the applicant provides an email address Why wouldn't the owner provide one as well yeah that's a good idea Thanks I'll add that It makes life easier Everything's by email now You know no one calls
[Music] anything Okay Oh I also had the highway department um and I've also sent it Yeah sent it to the highway superintendent and he put in the question about driveways because if you know they possibly could be putting in a new
driveway So that means they need a driveway permit Um I also asked conservation if they had any anything they wanted and I didn't hear back So I'm assuming that's fine you know Um but I'll put in the um the part
about the email Okay And and I guess I'm confused So from the highway department what would you put i mean did did you put in something yes it's on here The question I asked was yeah will you plan on putting in a new driveway let's say
they're cutting a new driveway for the ADU It's an out building and they're going to create a new driveway Um and that's why I also added the question from water because I had the water super review it and if they need a new water line and a separate meter you know what I mean it's it some of these will be in
out buildingings So we have to think about these things Um and that's why I put those questions in there So they do say they do need a new driveway then I'll just alert highway or I'll just you know you know they'll know that they have to get a driveway Do you want to
add um do you want to add if um there's um any scenic road uh implications [Music] uh h because a lot of cases you know when
there's a driveway being put in is a strong ball or something there Yeah there there usually is So Oh for the stone wall that that will fall under that will fall under highway I think You know what I mean i'm pretty sure that would be highway He usually
flags those So I don't know Like it's right on the um highway permit application Um is this scenic road or Yeah Yeah Oh I think I think we're I wonder should we distinguish between a
driveway and a curb cut does that Well you know it's interesting you asked that because the highway supervisor um also mentioned the DOT permit Is that what you're getting at because he mentioned that I just didn't know how
specific to be because you know anybody on 119 creating a new driveway don't they need the DOT permit or is that just for commercial is that for residential no Okay So no worries Yeah All right Um
yesies I'm sorry about that Okay So I think we're good with that I think the highway if he he'll catch it you know I'll alert him I mean the question there is
so they got to answer the question about the entries or if that's going to change It's on the application It should be on the It is You know I could add I could also add right at the
bottom you know copy two and then circulate it that way There's no reason I can't do that That would just be you know administrative keeping everybody on the same in the highway water
Yeah Oh do you mean all departments i think the the critical land use Yeah You know building commission building Well they would already know Building would know obviously but just you know water would be and highway right that's
it I mean my I have a lot of questions about assessors you know how these addresses are going to be established and and that kind of thing But there you know it's all evolving any well
we're only talking on single family units that have an additional unit with them So it was pretty simple A and B unit A and unit B right yeah I mean I always thought that emergency management didn't like letters Is that correct
Andrew or um I think number houses just having clear numbers is really the big thing that makes a difference but it can get certainly can get tricky when you have three I mean we did mutual aid one day
to a chimney fire and it looks like a single family home but then there's an apartment over the garage and then even behind the house is a third unit and then you kind of like you walk in to check for hot spots and you're like where am I and you're just like this is Yeah So it gets it certainly something
thinking It's just clear markings Yeah Yeah Okay I I'll work more with the assessors on that and find out you know how we're going to I mean it's got to be a separate mailbox too I would imagine if it's you know not a I don't know There's a
lot a lot to consider But that's great So I'll take care of um of those edits that you talked about and um finalize that um applications All good points Everybody came up with good points on it
too So thank you And uh so um that there was um is there a motion to approve the application with the edits made by the board and to insert the filing fee of $300 so
move by Andrew second by Carol Any further discussion i think it's a good job Um thank you Vote please Carol yes Lance Spectali yes
Robert yes Andrew Shepard yes And Laura Shepard yes Thank you Beth Good job Welcome Andrew Okay we're going to we got the minutes which were very long and so we'll have no administrative report
written but was there anything you wanted to say i've just been kind of adding along Thank you As you go through the agenda I've been adding comments So thanks Oh well yeah I will actually announce I think I did earlier that uh we have
Karen me and joined us uh as housing and grant administrator and um I think I already mentioned this but you you know Colobby Streer is uh is the um conservation agent and it's great to have them in the office and things are
really going well Um so that's and and I don't I think I mentioned that Erin was Erin uh the land use coordinator has moved on Yes that's what's going on in the office And unfortunately at at this juncture
um basically because of what um happened uh we have a hiring freeze in town So that's we appreciate everything you're doing and I appreciate and the
new um grant writer Um yes fantastic Yeah great team All right [Music] Um Andrew you're up 3.2 We have a
eclectic and long mix of notices So the first one is from the towns and conservation commission This one was for a public hearing that happened last Wednesday uh March 12th at 7:15 PM and it was uh to amend an order
of conditions filed with the Conservation Commission by Jack Richie The property is located at 56 Bayberry Hill Road assessor's map 17 partial six The proposed project is for the demolition of the present house and
foundation and construction of a new foundation and house The project is within 200 feet of a riverfront area Parties wishing to speak in support or opposition of the application may do so at the meeting last week All right The next one is the Grten Historic District
Commission public hearing This is for a public hearing on Tuesday March 18th tomorrow at 7:30 p.m at the Graten Town Hall Uh this is to consider an application submitted by Jason
Gilbert Trustee seeking a certificate of appropriateness for 127 Main Street Assessor's Map 113-41 to install a lowprofile all-weather camera surveillance system around the building
That was in the historic district Yes historic there historic district commission Okay I recognize the verbage Now this is for the town of Ashby planning from the town of Ashby planning board Um this is a notice for a public hearing
for the zoning amendment It's March 26th at 7:15 p.m They they actually have two uh public hearings The 7:15 is for the flood insurance plan um similar to us uh updating their map And then they have a
7:30 and this is for accessory dwelling units Um [Music] see it's on on par with everything that we're doing too So this is another one from the town of Ashby Planning Board This is a notice of public hearing
for a zoning amendment This is for Wednesday April 9th at 7:15 p.m This is for to create an MBTA communities multif family overlay district This will be of five acres approximately five acres to allow multif
family housing as of right in accordance with section 3A of the zoning act The amendment will follow will allow multif family housing two family dwellings and one family as of right up to a maximum of 62 residential units
This is the town of Peral Planning Board Yeah 62 [Music] Ash 62 Um town of Pepper Planning Board They will hold a public hearing on April 7th at 6:30 p.m to consider
proposed amendments This is for the flood plan overlay district will be held at town hall This is a notice of decision from the town of Groten uh for special permit
regarding hammerhead lots and shared driveways driveway at 101 Longley Road Uh the GR planning board voted to grant a special permit pursuant to the code of the town of GRE chapter 218 zoning
section 218-6.4 for Hammerhead Lots and section 218-8.1F share driveways to a Christopher Curtis Property location is 101 Longway Road Another Town of Gren notice of
decision This is a special permit for a wellness studio at 134 Main Street The GR plan board voted to grant a special permit pursuant um to their zoning codes The applicant was Yogesh
Kumar 163 Main Street Westford The land owner is KMPD Capital based in Andover and the property is 134 Main Street the basement unit It's Point Meadows Town of Broton public hearing
notice This is for a special permit of a shared driveway at 10 Worthing Drive Public hearing will be Thursday March 27th at 7 PM to consider an application submitted by Jody M Gillson under the
provisions of the broad zoning bylaw section share driveways The applicant proposes to conduct construct a shared driveway which will serve two lots on Wor Drive Assessor's parcels 221-14.2
2 and 221-14.3 The shared driveway will be constructed of a gra of a compacted gravel and will be located along the center line of the existing gravel access drive at 10 Woreren Drive The
proposed driveway is shown on the planet titled proposed site planet share driveway prepared by Dillis and this is a town of Lunenburgg public hearing uh from their planning
board A public hearing will be the 24th of March at 6:05 p.m at their town hall an application for special permit uh for a common driveway by Proctor Mass a realy trust
for the construction of a single family dwelling at 1523 Mass A utilizing ex utilizing an existing common driveway which currently services
1491 1523 and 1529 Massav This is a public hearing notice from the planning board of Lunenburgg uh for the 24th of March 6:05 p.m Site plan [Music]
approval by Silo Electric LLC for the installation of a battery electric storage system on an existing industrial concrete batch site The location is at 485 Lr Shirley Road
assessor's map 143 parcel number nine The owner is Lafarge North America based in Dundy Michigan That's close to where I grew up Dundee Oh okay Really you grew up in the
Midwest Oh Uh let's see This one is the Town of Lunberg Planning Board notice of decision for 801 Northfield Road The application purpose was the construction of a 10 space gravel parking area at the Reo Conservation
Area on Northfield Road Planning board voted to approve the site plan approval application Notice of decision from the town of Lunenburgg planning board for 110 Pleasant Street for site plan
approval The purpose was constructing constructing an addition of approximately 1,092 square feet to the garage/equipment repair space of an existing shop building on the property
Map 95 parcel 16 The applicant was Peritus Contractors uh 91 Bill Street at [Music] Lemonster and it was approved Another notice of decision from
the planning board in Lunenburgg See 558 and 560 Goodrich Street A special permit for a common driveway The application purpose is the construction of a single family residence on a new building lot to be served by a pre-existing common driveway
now serving more than two lots Assessor's map parcel map 133 parcel 10 and 11 The applicant was the Easterbrook nominee trust at 560 Goodri Street Lunberg
property owner was the Easterbrook nominee trust and ery trust and it was approved Town of Groten This is a planning board public hearing notice for
the proposed bylaw amendment for accessory dwelling units The Garten planning board will hold their hearing on March 13th Had their hearing on March 13th for their ADU bylaw And that's everything
anytime Good job Thank you Okay Um 3.3 Is there anything from the Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission or any other agencies she's shaking her head now No Okay Um
I'll take that Okay then Uh 5.1 Our next meeting is actually April 14th 2025 And the annual town meeting is scheduled for May 6
2025 at town hall So meeting on I was wondering if I could give a quick recap when you get a second on the um the C the citizen planner training conference It was really good Yes Go ahead
So under 4.1 I did go last Saturday Um it's probably the best session I went to was called Demystifying Development a peak behind the curtain of permitting projects And I thought this one was excellent I've been going to this
conference for years They had um they basically had a founder of a development company they had a planner and they had an engineer and that was the panel and they went through all the points of view
um of all the different players and not I don't want to call them players but contributors to a development project Um I learned a lot I did take some notes so I will share those with the board There were a lot of planning board members
there um basically because it really did give you a great point of view of what the engineer is working towards and the from the planner's perspective how to keep you know the community involved Um they did three case studies on warehouse
Um so you got you know what what the planner is worried about what the developer is worried about which is a lot of times we don't hear Um the the costs of pre-permitting the the study the money that goes into studies So I I
really enjoyed it Um and I will share some of my notes with the board The other one I attended was um what's new with accessory dwelling units I found that one really helpful um because of all the the changes that were going on So a lot of good questions and a lot of
answers Um I think we raised more questions than they answered So but the other one I went to was um regional approaches to historic preservation planning Um and that was that was good too I did get a lot of resources there that I can share with
the board It's not um it wasn't as interesting in my book as the other two because of the dynamic things going on but I got a lot of good information about what the other um planning commissions are doing So good Thank you
Um so as a registrant after the presentations did they happen to share links to the webinar portions or you know no unfortunately it's in person but I I
mean some of the presentations I will be receiving and as soon as I get those I'll I'll pass those along Um sure I did take a lot of pictures of the demystifying development one because it was fantastic Um I just learned a lot
Um it's great to have those different points of view when you're when you're looking at a project because you know you just you know and you know there's the schedule there's the you money there's the community there's so many things involved and it was it was cool
to have them all in one place you know and from my point of view Um but if I can get that presentation I will I request all of them Um I can probably get the ADU one Um so yeah I'll request
everything Um and and I will pass it along Okay Awesome Yeah Now um I can entertain a motion to adjurnn unless somebody has anything else I'll make a motion to adjourn Carol
moves at 880 I'll second Lance seconds What time is it 8 I can't read I think I think it's 8:20 820 is good Um hearing no objections I hear none