by Frank Schroth
Last week’s meeting of the Planning Board was uncharacteristically brief, clocking in at less than an hour. The board approved the Master Plan RFP for phase 2 and “accepted” the visioning statement that came from phase 1. Chair Whiteside noted that “accept is different than approve but it is progress.”
The major item on the agenda was a discussion of articles to go before the fall Town Meeting. There are several.
Mr. Whiteside suggested that the zoning bylaws be slightly revised in terms of how they are organized. His recommendation is to move development site specific zoning articles (e.g. Unquity House Fuller Village) to an appendix. He said, “Once [those articles are] out, you will see our zoning is not bad – it is manageable.”
Other changes that were discussed included adding dimension tables (Innes) and a glossary (Lynch). Whiteside did not appear to favor the latter, “I don’t know what a glossary is.” In addition to those changes, the board discussed revisiting zoning related to bed & breakfasts and cluster zoning. Cluster zoning has been identified by Pulte Homes as the approach they will take to the Stoughton Town Farm land, a proposal is somewhere in the bowels of the Attorney General’s office. The AG will either recommend the proposal or not. It will then go before the probate court for a decision. Should Pulte received a go ahead, it will be the first time a developer has taken advantage of the cluster zoning bylaw which allows for multiple housing units on a property to be grouped closer together with intent of allowing for a greater expanse of open space. Whiteside thought it would be helpful to dust if off and take a look. Member Lynch suggested polling Joe Prondak, Building Commissioner, and the Board of Appeals to determine if they had any thoughts on possible articles. Members Kelly and Duffy did not have any suggestions for articles.
There was also brief discussion of the Hendries site, which is currently beating out the Town Farm for development that can stagnate the longest. Both are out there somewhere, swirling about in a municipal black hole. A resident group has been meeting with the principal owners of the property to discuss reviving a proposal that was denied a special permit. Modifications have been discussed that would bring the development into compliance with zoning. Whiteside has been a party to that group but has been clear that he was/is not speaking for the board. The owners have indicated that they were pursuing a possible 40B development. The town has not been notified formally of this. The effort of the resident group is to get the developer on board with a mixed use development rather than to continue pursuing the 40B. The developers, the Connellys, have not given any public indication one way or the other of whether they are on board with that suggestion. This is a question Member Kelly pressed on at the last session. Whiteside said that “the developer is on board as much as one could reasonably hope for.”
In the Town Planner’s report, Bill Clark said that Mr. Chan’s is looking to expand into the neighboring space previously occupied by a hair dresser. He has received the necessary approvals from the Board of Appeals and is scheduled to come before the planning board for a site plan review on 7/11.