NOTE: The full text of Milton Zoning Bylaws can be found here.
J. Central Avenue Planned Unit Development.
In the Central Avenue Business District on a lot of no less than 20,000 square feet of land, a mixed residential and business use may be permitted by a special permit for planned unit development issued by the Planning Board upon such terms and conditions as the Planning Board shall deem to be reasonable and appropriate. In the event that special permit for a Central Avenue planned unit development shall be issued for a lot of land, no use of the lot may be made except as specifically authorized by the special permit. As used in this subsection J, the “lot” shall be deemed to include a combination of adjacent lots in one ownership. As used in this subsection the Central Avenue Business District shall mean that portion of the Milton Village/Central Avenue Business District which is to the west of a North/South line drawn through the point on Eliot Street which is equally distant from the points where Morton Road and High Street intersect Eliot Street.
1. Purpose
The purpose of this subsection is to permit quality development on moderately sized lots with good access to transit in the Central Avenue Business District combining both business and residential uses and providing significant amenities to the public.
2.Allowable Uses & Base Number of Housing Units
a. Business use otherwise permissible in the Business District shall be required in conjunction with residential use by a special permit for Central Avenue planned unit development except that none of the following uses shall be permitted: drive-through food establishments, used car lots, motor vehicle dealerships, gasoline stations, body shops, motor vehicle repair shops and sexually oriented businesses.
b. Residential use shall be permitted in conjunction with business use by a special permit for Central Avenue planned unit development. Such residential use may be authorized as rental or ownership of housing units.
c. The base number of housing units in a Central Avenue planned unit development shall be one unit per 1,000 square feet of qualifying lot area in the Central Avenue Business District. The base number should be rounded to the nearest whole number. For purposes of this paragraph qualifying lot area shall not include land within 25 feet of Pine Tree Brook and it shall not include land within the Pine Tree Brook.
3. Bonus Housing Units for Streetscape Improvements
a. The base number of housing units so computed on the basis of qualifying lot area may be increased by a bonus of housing units for streetscape improvements. This bonus shall be available for lots with frontage of at least 150 feet. The bonus shall not exceed 30% of the base number of housing units. The bonus shall be awarded in the discretion of the Planning Board for streetscape improvements for public use in the areas adjacent to and in the street. These improvements should significantly improve and enhance the appearance and amenities of the street and its environs. The quality, functionality, appearance and extent of the improvements shall be factors considered by the Planning Board in determining what, if any, percentage bonus should be permitted on account of streetscape improvements.
b. The total number of housing units in a Central Avenue Planned Unit Development shall not exceed the base number of housing units plus any bonus housing units.
4. Use and Dimensional Requirements
a. Business Use. In a Central Avenue planned unit development business use shall be required in that portion of the street level of buildings adjacent to and accessible from a street or adjacent to and accessible from the set-back area by which the building is set back from the street. The minimum depth to which the business use shall be made from the façade of the building shall be 50 feet. Business use shall include entrances to and exits from the building for both pedestrians and motor vehicles and public amenities such as an atrium or meeting hall. Parking as a business use shall not be permissible in this business use area.
If a building or portion of a building does not have such street level areas for business use, the Planning Board shall require equivalent business use areas conveniently accessible for public use. All such business use areas shall be designed so as to be appropriate space for use as either a retail store or as a restaurant. In no event shall the business use area be less than 50% of the area of the principal floor of the building.
b. Floor Area Ratio. Buildings in a Central Avenue planned unit development, exclusive of parking structures and areas used solely for parking, shall not have a floor area ratio (FAR) in excess of one and one-half (1.5) times the area of the lot in the business district. If the Planning Board determines that the area of the lot in the business district is the same as the qualifying lot area and that a development will preserve, if feasible, or replace in-kind, one or more significant natural features on the site and provide significant amenities to the public, the Planning Board may permit a bonus for a higher FAR not to exceed 15% for a higher FAR. With this bonus, the total FAR for a building, exclusive of parking structures and areas used solely for parking, shall not exceed 1.725 times the area of the lot in the business district.
c. Lot Coverage. In a Central Avenue planned unit development, buildings exclusive of parking structures used solely for parking shall not cover in excess of 50% of the lot in the business district. The total coverage of parking structures, which are used solely for parking, together with other buildings shall not cover in excess of 70% of the lot in the business district. In the event that there shall be contiguous land in a residence zone such land may be used for parking in accordance with subsections F, G and H of Section VII, including an underground parking structure.
d. Building Height. In a Central Avenue planned unit development, buildings shall not contain in excess of four (4) stories, not including any basement level but including any above-grade parking levels, and shall not exceed a height of more than forty-five (45) feet above the average elevation of the building footprint prior to construction without fill, as determined by the Planning Board. The height of the first floor shall be a minimum of eleven (11) feet to encourage and facilitate the use of the space for retail or restaurant use. The Planning Board may permit protrusions of up to eight feet above the roofline, such as elevator shaft housings or chimneys, so long as the appearance of the building remains architecturally coherent, visually attractive and appropriate to its setting. The Planning Board may allow a cupola or clock tower up to fifteen feet above the roofline so long as it has been shown to add significant merit to the building’s design.
e. Set-backs of the Third and Fourth Stories. In a Central Avenue planned unit development the third and fourth stories of any building shall be set back from the second story sufficiently so as to maintain a scale appropriate to nearby residential areas. Set-backs shall meaningfully reduce the appearance of the bulk of a building above the second floor. The Planning Board may in its discretion grant an exception or modification of the set-back requirements in this paragraph
upon finding that the entire building is set back from the lot line so as to meaningfully reduce the appearance of the bulk of the building.
5. Design Standards.
In a Central Avenue planned unit development, each building shall be designed to be architecturally coherent, well sited on its lot, visually attractive, and compatible with its neighborhood and nearby buildings. In addition each building shall meet the following additional design standards:
a. Buildings shall have no blank walls.
b. Building walls shall not rise in an uninterrupted vertical plane more than 25 feet, and step backs of walls above that height shall be employed and shall be visually prominent. In general, the ratio of the street width to building set-back height should lie within the range of 2:1 to 3:1. The Planning Board may in its discretion grant an exception or modification to the set-back height requirement in this paragraph upon a finding that a greater uninterrupted rise is architecturally appropriate and does not cause an unacceptable appearance of bulk in the building.
c. Building walls shall not present unrelieved flat surfaces. Windows, doors, dormers, bays, recesses and other such features shall project or be recessed in order to relieve such flatness.
d. Box-shaped structures without visual interest shall not be used.
e. Architecture of the building shall be coherent in all its elements and compatible with and complementary to its surroundings.
f. Windows and doors shall be surrounded by appropriate architectural elements setting the windows and doors off from the plane of the façade.
g. Each door, doorway, window or window grouping shall be suitably proportioned to the building. Small windows shall not be used if disruptive to architectural continuity. Each residential unit shall have some windows which open.
h. The back and sides of each building shall be given as much architectural care as the front. The building, whether observed from the front, rear or sides shall present an attractive appearance and be an architectural whole.
i. The roof-line shall be visually coherent and architecturally well defined. Mansards, cornices and like architectural elements, when appropriate, should be used.
j. Building materials should be of high quality, and traditional materials such as brick and granite should be favored, as should traditional colors, unless there is a sound basis for different treatment.
k. Ground floor business areas shall be functional spaces and present an attractive, inviting appearance to pedestrians on the sidewalk and shall offer easy and convenient access by such pedestrians.
l. Parking structures shall be unobtrusive and designed to blend with the building and the neighborhood. There shall be convenient access from a parking structure to the business and residential uses which it serves.
m. Interior spaces shall be designed so that individual units are resistant to noise from above and below and from all sides.
n. Interior finishes shall be constructed with high quality materials and shall be reasonably consistent with the style of the exterior.
o. Landscaping shall enhance the design of the building and provide attractive features which help integrate the Central Avenue Business District with nearby residential districts. Landscaping in areas within twenty-five (25) feet of Pine Tree Brook shall provide for pedestrian access.
p. Lighting fixtures shall be appropriate to the architecture and provide suitable lighting without detriment to nearby residences.
q. Every development shall provide usable open space and respect the natural features of the site.
6. Affordable Housing Units
In a Central Avenue Planned unit development, ten percent of the total housing units (computed to the nearest whole number) shall be affordable housing, subject to long-term deed restrictions and a regulatory agreement; these units shall be affordable to and occupied exclusively by households whose annual income is less than 80% of the area-wide median as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development adjusted for household size with reasonable asset limits, so that insofar as reasonably possible the housing qualifies for inclusion on the Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) created and maintained by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. Resident preference for such units shall be the maximum permissible for inclusion on the SHI.
7. Business Parking
In a Central Avenue planned unit development, parking for business use shall be dependent on the type of business use. In the absence of specification of the business use in the application for a special permit, four spaces per 1,000 square feet of business floor area shall be required; thereafter, each business use undertaken shall have the number of parking spaces specified in Section VII.C or a lesser number of spaces determined to be adequate for the particular use by the Planning Board considering all relevant circumstances. In the event of a restaurant use (without a bar area) one parking space shall be provided for each two patron seats in the restaurant or such lesser number determined to be adequate for the particular restaurant use by the Planning Board considering all relevant circumstances. If a particular business use is specified in an application, each such use shall have the number of parking spaces specified in Section VII.C or a number of spaces determined to be adequate for the particular use by the Planning Board considering all relevant circumstances. If a business use is changed, a new determination of an adequate number of parking spaces shall be made by the Planning Board in like manner. One circumstance, which may be considered, is any availability of residence parking vacant and available for business use during normal business hours.
8. Residence Parking
In a Central Avenue planned unit development, there shall be a minimum of one parking space for each bedroom in the housing units. Bedrooms shall include rooms which the Planning Board determines are suitable for use as bedrooms.
9. Parking for Off-Site Uses
In a Central Avenue planned unit development, safe and convenient additional parking may be provided for other uses at other properties in the Central Avenue business district.
10. Site Plan
An application for a planned unit development shall include a plan meeting the requirements for site plan specified in Section VIII.D.2 and such other requirements as may be specified by the Planning Board. The plan shall be contained in various sheets, all of which, after approval, shall contain the written approval of the Planning Board and shall be recorded with the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds at the applicant’s expense. The plan on record shall be a part of the special permit for planned unit development. The plan shall show the development in all material detail. Any amendments or modifications to the plan shall be approved by the Planning Board and recorded with the Registry of Deeds at the applicant’s expense. The application shall also include professional studies calculating the impacts of the development on town services, on parking in the Central Avenue business district and adjacent streets, on traffic in the town, on existing nearby businesses, and on future business development. The applicant shall promptly provide to the Planning Board evidence of recording of each approved plan, amendment or modification. When each such recorded document has been returned to the applicant, the applicant shall promptly provide a copy thereof to the Planning Board, which shows the book and page of recording.
11. Application Review Fees
When reviewing an application for a special permit for a Central Avenue planned unit development, the Planning Board may determine that the assistance of outside consultants is warranted due to the size, scale or complexity of the proposed project or because of the project’s potential impacts. The Planning Board may require that an applicant pay a review fee, consisting of the reasonable costs incurred by the Planning Board for employment of outside consultants engaged by the Planning Board to assist in the review of an application. In hiring outside consultants, the Planning Board may engage disinterested engineers, planners, architects, urban designers or other appropriate professionals who can assist the Planning Board in analyzing a project to ensure compliance with this bylaw and with other laws, regulations and requirements. Expenditures may be made at the direction of the Planning Board and shall be made only in connection with the review of the specific project for which the review fee has been collected from the applicant. Failure of an applicant to pay a review fee shall be grounds for denial of the application. At the completion of the Planning Board’s review of a project, any excess amount of the review fee shall be repaid to the applicant. A final report of expenditures shall be provided to the applicant.
12. Notice, Procedures and Standard for Decision
The notice and procedural requirements set out in Section IX.B and C and the standard to be used in rendering a decision set out in Section IX.C shall apply to special permits for planned unit development under this subsection.
History: Added 5/9/2006, Article 51, approved by the Attorney General on 10/5/2006.
History: Amended 5/14/2007, Article 47, approved by the Attorney General on 8/27/2007.
History: Amended 11/05/2007, Article 8, approved by the Attorney General on 1/3/2008
History: Amended 5/12/2009, Article 46, approved by the Attorney General on 9/21/2009