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PLANNING BOARD
Meeting Minutes , 1-fr
Tuesday,
March 18, 2014
Town Hall, 120 Main Street
7:00 PM
1 Present: J. Simons, R. Rowen, D. Kellogg, L. Rudnicki, L. McSherry, M. Colantoni
2 Absent:
3 Staff Present: J. Tymon,J. Enright
4
5 Meeting began at 7:05 pm.
6
7 BOND RELEASE
8 26 Main Street, Jeffco, Corp: Request for partial release of a$15,000 performance bond.
9 J. Tymon: The developer intends to rectify the problem with the abutting parking spaces by re-
10 striping them and adding concrete parking blocks in front of them. The engineer is going to re-
11 submit the as-built plan to reflect the changes. Reviewed pictures taken of the parking spaces on
12 the abutting lot. These parking spaces existed prior to the development. They were not as
13 clearly identified with striping.
14 L. Rudnicki: The snow is being plowed to the front of the spaces onto the condo's property.
15 Suggested that the issue be resolved prior to the bond release. The condo association should not
16 own an issue with the neighbor years down the road.
17 Doug Ahearn, Developer: The original plan showed the wall where the front of the car in the
18 picture is. The wall was moved back and the parking blocks will be placed right where the front
19 of the car is shown. The cars will be parking a little further out into the abutter's lot and will not
20 be parked on the parcel owned by the condo association(26 Main Street). There is plenty of
21 room for it. The future parking spaces will be as approved in the original plan.
22 J. Tymon: An estimate of$500 has been submitted for the work that remains to be done. The
23 developer is requesting a partial release of$13,000.
24 MOTION
25 A motion was made by R. Rowen to release$13,000 of the performance bond for 26 Main Street.
26 The motion was seconded by D. Kellogg. The vote was 5-0, in favor. L. Rudnicki abstained.
27
28 DISCUSSION
29 High Street: Discussion with RCG regarding potential bylaw changes for the Downtown
30 Overlay District.
31 J. Tymon: RCG has purchased the complex across the street from the mill complex they already
32 own on High Street.
33 David Steinbergh and Seth Zeren, RCG: The new site has been under a master lease for
34 approximately 30 years. A nine page presentation was reviewed with the Board that provided an
35 overview of the parcel locations, parking locations, age and current use of existing buildings,
36 underlying zoning, Downtown Overlay District boundary, a Planned Development District
37 (PDD) option, conceptual programming, short-term initiatives, and a long-term master plan.
38 This property will not be owned by the same ownership group as the East Mill. The Downtown
39 Overlay District allows for a lot of what we plan to do at this location. The East Mill was
40 permitted as a PDD. The plan is to do a similar project as what was done at the East Mill with
11 mixed uses, diversify the property, bring in small to medium sized commercial Uses, and
42 residences. There may need to be some bylaw language clarifications for the Downtown
1
PLANNING BOARD
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday,
March 18, 2014
Town Hall, 120 Main Street
7:00 PM
43 Overlay District to help determine how to apply it to a parcel like this. Some adjustments may
44 need to be made to the bylaw. Relatively soon there will be a request before the Board to add
45 parking to the u-shaped drive that faces High Street. This would add 30 parking spaces around
46 the park without having to take down any trees, affecting the seating area, or adding to the
47 stormwater runoff. Adding the parking is considered a critical first step in attaining tenants.
48 Hopefully, within a few weeks there will be a good sense of a long-term vision for the property.
49 J. Simons: If there is a vision of where you want to be in the long-term we can line up a flexible
50 approach to the zoning required now.
51 D. Steinbergh: In the short-term, with some clarifications of the Downtown Overlay, we can
52 work towards getting some tenants in the buildings. There is still a long-term vision to create
53 housing units in the neighborhood. Twenty seven apartments were created in the East Mill.
54 There have been discussions with the Public Works as to how to make the intersection of High
55 Street and Water Street better. We have offered our cooperation and will continue to work with
56 them to improve the intersection.
57 J. Simons: What bylaw changes are needed for this year's Town Meeting.
58 D. Steinbergh: The first need is clarification of the language for Uses. Do the Uses allowed in
59 the underlying zoning districts and the Downtown Overlay Uses both apply? If there is some
60 Use not yet thought of will we have to go back to have it added or could there be some flexible
61 language added that allows the Planning Board to add a Use?
62 J. Tymon: Light manufacturing is not specifically allowed in the Downtown Overlay but it is
63 allowed in the underlying zoning district. In a discussion with the Town Manager and Building
64 Inspector it was stated that either zoning district can be applied. It was also discussed that the
65 Use could be added to the Overlay district by Special Permit. An overlay is an addition to, you
66 still have the underlying zoning district Uses.
67 Seth Zeren: Flexibility of Uses and parking are of concern. The Downtown Overlay language
68 speaks to a different kind of building and parcel structure than what exists here. Also, there is a
69 concern that any issue with building conformance in a dimensional characteristic doesn't create
70 problems in terms of a non-conformity being extended and become a variance issue. One option
71 discussed was a series of amendments to the Downtown Overlay; however, those would extend
72 over the entire overlay.
73 J. Simons: We would prefer not to have a bylaw change that would allow any Use as long as the
74 Planning Board allows it. That is too broad. The discretion would have to be limited to a certain
75 degree.
76 R. Rowen: Is there a pressing need to make a change to the bylaw right now?
77 S. Zeren: The three areas of concern that we want to make sure we don't have any issues with
78 are: clarifying the language on the Uses, the parking design standards are suitable for these
79 parcels, and the dimensional standards. These are existing buildings that we plan to preserve to
80 the maximum extent possible. In order to do that we want to make sure they are compliant. If
81 they are non-conforming with the underlying zoning there is an issue with us changing the Uses
82 in those non-conforming structures. That becomes an extension of a non-conforming Use.
83 J. Simons: Language can probably be put in the bylaw to protect changing a Use in a non-
84 conforming, existing building in the Overlay District. The parking can be handled with a Special
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PLANNING BOARD
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday,
March 18, 2014
Town Hall, 120 Main Street
7:00 PM
85 Permit. Both the Downtown Overlay and the PDD specify Uses and they are reasonably broad.
86 If there is anything reasonable you know of that you want on the specified list we can try to put it
87 in now.
88
89 Zoning Bylaw: Wind Turbines and Registered Marijuana Dispensaries.
90 J. Tymon: Provided an overview of the Board of Selectmen comments related to the draft
91 bylaws for each. Their primary feedback centered on widening the Overlay for the Medical
92 Marijuana Overlay District. The discussion on the Wind Turbine draft bylaw centered on
93 questions related to setbacks.
94 Board: General consensus was to go forward with the drafts the way they are. Changes can be
95 made in the future if needed.
96
97 MEETING MINUTES
98 Approval of March 4, 2014 meeting minutes.
99 MOTION
100 A motion was made by L. Rudnicki to approve the March 4, 2014 meeting minutes. The motion
101 was seconded by D. Kellogg. The vote was unanimous, 6-0 in favor.
102
X03 ADJOURNMENT
_04 MOTION
105 A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by M. Colantoni. The motion was seconded by D.
106 Kellogg. The vote was unanimous, 6-0 in favor.
107
108 The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.
109
110 MEETING MATERIALS: Agenda, 26 Main Street: Email dated 3/17/14 from George Hughes
111 to J. Tymon re: parking; 2 photos of abutting parking lot; Discussion Item, High Street: West
112 Mill North Andover Ma, 01845 presentation dated 3/18/14 from RCG, Article XX Amend
113 Section 18 Downtown Overlay District proposed language; Zoning Bylaw: Medical
114 Marijuana/Wind Turbines, memo summary of the comments and feedback from BOS meeting
115 on 3/10/14, Article XX, Amend Zoning Map—Wind Facilities, Summary of Wind Turbine
116 Bylaws, Article—From Windmills to 7.5-MW Wind Turbines, Oliver: Mass GIS's online
117 mapping tool Wind Speed Map, Wind Speed Map North Andover, Article XX, Amend Zoning
118 Map-Medical Marijuana Overlay District proposed language, Draft Medical Marijuana Bylaw
119 Version 2 February 13, 2014, Article XX,North Andover MIMAP aerial photos MMOD
120 MIMAP & MMOD 3 (2), 1600 Osgood Street Smart Growth Overlay District Zoning Map, ;
121 North Andover Zoning Map, Draft meeting minutes 03/04/14.
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