by Frank Schroth

At the last meeting of the Planning Board they began a discussion of a bylaw to permit condominium developments in Milton. Chair Whiteside said the board has been approached by developers seeking to do condominium projects and that there are several properties where such a development may be appropriate. One being the St. Pious Property. The developer and his counsel, Ned Corcoran, were present to discuss their ideas.

The project as currently conceived might include about ~30+ units on an 8.5 acre site or about 4 units per acre. An alternative would be a 40B which might put ~70 units on the site. This is not the preferred approach. Mr. Corcoran is hopeful that a bylaw can be prepared for fall town meeting that will allow for condominiums developments.

Issues that came up during the course of the discussion were: should Milton follow Dover’s example and have any given condominium proposal go before Town Meeting for approval, should there be age restrictions, what portion should be affordable.

Daphne Politis from the firm managing the Master Plan process was present and asked, “What are you trying to do? Are you trying to encourage or discourage condominium development and for whom?” Member Kelly said it was about control. Whiteside said it would need to be attractive to developers. “People in Milton do not trust the Planning Board to do the right thing.” he commented. New member Bryan Furze said that requiring town meeting approval would be unappealing to developers because it would introduce a high level of uncertainty. (Editorial aside: Mr. Furze said more in the first 45 minutes of being on the Planning Board than some members have said in the last 45 months).

Member Kelly asked if any zoning was needed given there are only so many 30 acre parcels in town, Furze, pointing to Milton Mews, cited the opportunity of “assembling properties.” Whiteside said that they needed to “avoid doing a piecemeal approach.”

Core to the discussion was whether the bylaw was being developed as a deterent to 40B proposals or as a tool to permit a form of housing in a manner that will address Milton needs while preserving its character. As Politis noted, “What is the purpose of all this? What is your actual need now? [You] have to talk about what you want.”

The Planning Board is meeting this evening at the Blute Conference Room in Town Hall at 6:30. The primary agenda item is a housing workshop. You can find the full agenda here.

At the meeting of the Board of Selectmen last Tuesday Chair Conlon made two recommendations: that the board meet more frequently (i.e. 3x a month) and that they push the meeting time back to 7:00. After discussion both were agreed to and they will take effect in September. Her reasons for starting the meeting at 7:00 were 2: 1) it is more convenient for members and relieves stress of rushing from work and 2) it might allow for more citizens to come forward for citizen speak as they will have more time to get to town hall. The need to meet more frequently is driven by number and complexity of issue before the board. Things are expected to quiet down during the summer but with the budget preparation and other issues anticipated in the fall it was agreed that meeting 3 times a week was sensible. It was noted that previous boards had met as frequently as weekly.

The Board also discussed the issue of airplane noise and the possibility of forming a committee. Hurley noted that there is a pending lawsuit with the FAA and consequently they will not speak to anyone other than members of the CAC. Not all neighboring towns share the concern over airplane noise.However, Member Keohane said the issue was “snowballing” and he is taking a more active interest in it. After some discussion it was agreed that Member Keohane would reach out to contacts in Dorchester to gauge their concern on the issue and Town Administrator Fagan will follow up with the congressional delegation (i.e. Congressmen Capauano and Lynch) that was in town several months back for the public hearing held on the issue.

One item regarding East Milton parking that was not mentioned in a recent post was that of parking meters in East Milton. At the forum held last Monday the issue was briefly mentioned. The status is that it is still an open issue that is being reviewed and no decision has been made. Meters are seen as an effective method of improving parking access and enforcing parking regulations. Some merchants are against them as they may have an adverse effect on business.