Good evening, everybody. It's six o'clock, and we are calling the Tuesday, April 21st planning board meeting to order. First on the agenda is public participation on any matter not subject to a public hearing. Does anybody have anything they want to talk about that is not subject to the public hearing? We want to address the student housing problem. That's subject to the public hearing. Okay. Okay? Well, I can speak- No. No. Next on the agenda is review and approval of previous meeting minutes. We have our four-seven meeting minutes.
I'll just note, there was a slight correction to the ones on the share file. I just noted that there was no public comment at the last hearing. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from April 7th. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Next on the agenda is public hearings. I will read this because we're going to need to read it again at some point. Today we have a zoning special permit site plan approval. After the applicants present their proposal, board members will begin asking their questions. We will then invite the public to ask questions of fact.
We will have a separate time for the public to speak in favor of and speak against the motions. When we recognize you, please come to the microphone, give your name and address, and direct all questions and comments to the board, not the applicant. The purpose of our public hearing is to allow board members to collect evidence and testimony supporting or contradicting the published legal findings we are required to make and to approve or deny an application. We cannot act outside the bounds of the zoning ordinance, nor the stormwater ordinance were also sought.
Please understand public hearings are not a community referendum, not a town or town meeting. We ask you to keep your comments civil and positive, remembering we are all neighbors working to move Westfield forward. While you are free to express your opinion, ultimately and legally, the board can only deliberate on the findings of fact, not on yours or our personal opinions. First on the agenda is a continuation for Praba Corporation for a special permit for zoning ordinance 3-10036 to construct a commercial
building exceeding 1,500 square feet at 288 Elm Street, Zoned Core. We do have a very late request for a continuance from John Tomaszewski of Arlevec and Associates. They want to continue to Tuesday, May 5th. I'd like to make a motion to continue this hearing until May 5th. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Next on the agenda is Off-Campus Housing, LLC for a special permit for zoning ordinance
section 4-20.2 to divide 5 Clark Street, Zoned Residential B, into two building lots by lot size averaging. Again, this is a Arlevec request. They are requesting to continue to May 5th as well, signed John Tomaszewski. I'll make the motion to continue this hearing to May 5th. Second. All those in favor? Aye. If you're here for the student housing, that meeting will occur on Tuesday, May 5th Yeah. Okay. I won't be here. I'll be away. Can I send a letter?
You can send an email, you can send a letter, yes. All right. Thank you. Okay? You can send it through me, and my email address is on the website. All right. Thank you. Okay. We'll make sure that it's entered into, and I'll forward it out to the board. Okay? Yeah. Next on the agenda is review of plans not requiring approval under Subdivision Control Law. We have 10 Ethan Avenue, DL Homes LLC. So this should look familiar. It follows the special permit you recently approved to
create that lot. Was I reading this right, that the proposed use for this property in the future is to put a residential building there? The- You talking about Ethan Ave? Yeah. Yeah, that was what the board approved for the lot size averaging. I'm not sure you were here for that permit. For the Pawtuxet Road? No, Clark Street. Oh, sorry. Clark Street. Sorry, I'm sorry. Ethan Ave. Yep. Any questions, comments? Do
I hear a motion? Does the lower house on the plan, it seems like the... No, I guess it's not in the right of way. Is the parking in the right of way? Obviously, the garage is on the property, but anything in the driveway would be at least partly in the right of way. Okay. I'm looking at the driveway that hooks. Yeah. And it seems like the majority of the driveway is in the right of way, and very little is on the property. Right. So don't you have to have a couple of parking places? Well, they have a two-car garage.
Oh, in the garage only counts. Okay. Yeah. All right. This is the same plan that they included with the special permit application, too. So you've seen this plan before. It just wasn't ripe for recording. The builder was in here for that plan, correct? There was somebody in here- Yeah ... when they came in front of us. Yeah. I'm just making sure this is the same. Yeah, there was a house design and... Yeah. I can dig up the special permit if you want, but this is- No, I just want to make sure it was the same. I've been to that site. I just want to make sure this was the same gentleman.
And it was. I'm just looking at my notes. Do I hear a motion? More questions. Do we need to go through the A and R review process? I'll make a motion to accept the A and R as written.
Need a second. We need a second. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? Okay.Next on the agenda is other business. Notice of an intent to convert/sell land under Chapter 61A, 0 Pocasset Road. I emailed it out. I don't think it's on the shared drive, but I can put it- It's not? I don't see it on the shared drive, but I'll put it on. I had emailed it. So we need to give the, um... City has the right of first refusal for all land coming out of
61A, and we have the ability to give the city council a recommendation to purchase the land or not purchase the land. Any discussion? All right. It's on the shared drive now. Do you have any idea, Jay, what the city would possibly do with that piece of land? No. It's on the obviously small side for any kind of
conservation type of use. Right. Plus it doesn't connect to anything else. It's open- Yeah. It was carved out, I guess, to be a house lot. You could sit there and watch the train go by. So you are required to be notified when someone takes this out of this tax status, but you're not required to do anything else. Typically, you offer a recommendation. Do we want to make a recommendation to city council? Excuse me. I'm not sure if anybody from the city would be able to convey that to you, Jay, but do they want it? Well, I'm going to guess no. But- They won't ... this board will weigh in, Conservation Commission will weigh in.
I'm trying to- So if from a planning perspective, you think this is worth municipal ownership, then you can let that opinion be known. Yeah, I'm sitting here trying to rack my brain, and I was thinking about it before, what they would do with something like that, and I can't see how that would really benefit the city being such a small parcel and not adjacent to anything that the city already owns. That's just my thoughts. Nor will it be used for farming. So. Right. It should just be developed. So
I'm assuming you're a negative vote, not to purchase it. That would be my thought, unless somebody can come up with- And I would follow Jean on that one as well. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Anybody else have any difference of opinion? Just didn't know if anybody else had any better insights than I do. I normally like to see the city buy as much land as possible to keep as much open space as possible. Right. There's nothing you can do with two acres of land guarded by railroad tracks and- Not much there. Not much there. And there's houses on both sides. And it's just- They're fields. They're fields. It's an open field. Yeah. So. That whole area is pretty much fields.
Yeah. Do I hear a motion? I'll make a motion to recommend to the city council that the city not purchase the property. I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? No. So you're the unanimous negative recommendation, Jay. That, believe it or not, is our agenda tonight. Anybody else have any new business, anything else, future agenda items, anything like that they want to talk about? No? A motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. See you all May 5th.
Gotcha.