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Date Approved: April 8, 2009; All Aye; 5-0-0
Brewster Planning Board
2198 Main Street
Brewster, Massachusetts 02631-1898
(508) 896-3701 ext. 133
FAX (508) 896-8089
TOWN OF BREWSTER MINUTES OF PLANNING BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 7:00 P.M.
Brewster Town Office Building
Chairman William Henchy convened the Planning Board meeting at 7:00 pm in the Brewster Town Office
Building with members Taylor, Pierce, McMullen, Tubman, Barnard and Bugle.
Chairman Henchy opened the hearing February 25, 2009 by reading the legal advertisements and making the
applicant and parties in interest aware of their rights to appeal as required under Chapter 40A, Section 17. He
stated that during the hearing any member of the Board or interested party could direct questions through the
Chairman to a speaker relating to the proposal.
PUBLIC LEGAL HEARING: The Public Hearing will be held for consideration of Zoning Bylaw changes to be
submitted as 3 separate Articles on the Town of Brewster's Spring Town Meeting Warrant on May 4, 2009. The
proposed Zoning Bylaw amendments are as follows:
1. Home Occupations:
To see if the Town will vote to amend the Town of Brewster Zoning By-laws Section 179-2 by making the following
changes to the definition of Home Occupation shown in strikethrough for deletion and bold for addition:
HOME OCCUPATION - An accessory use to be carried on entirely within a dwelling
unit, accessory building or buildings, ' by the occupants of the
dwelling unit with no more than two nonresident employees, not in any manner changing the
primary residential character of the ~ property.
And further to amend the Town of Brewster Zoning By-laws Section 179-37 by making the following changes to the
Home Occupation regulations shown in strikethrough for deletion and bold for addition:
§ 179-37. Home occupations.
€ A. The buildings or premises occupied shall not be rendered objectionable or detrimental to the residential
character of the neighborhood due to the exterior appearance, emission of odor, gas, smoke, dust, noise, electrical
disturbance, light trespass or ' other circumstances.
~ B.
Building used for home occupations shall not have any design feature that is not customary for residential
buildings.
A C. No more than #e~ two nonresidents shall be employed therein.
~ D. The use is carried on strictly within the building on the premises or the accessory building or buildings.
G E. °
. The area used for the home occupation shall not exceed 40% of the existing floor area
of the principal building and the accessory building or 499 square feet, whichever is lesser.
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6 F. Items produced elsewhere shall not be brought to the premises for purposes of sale.
# G. Such uses as clinics, barbershops, bakeries, gift or antique shops, beauty parlors, tearooms, tourist
homes, animal hospitals, kennels and others of a similar nature shall not be considered to be home occupations.
Home Occupations: Summary
This would make several changes to the Home Occupation by-law and definition that would clarify the intent of the
by-law and allow home occupations in accessory structures as well as premises.
Henchy: Reviewed the proposed changes outlined above and discussed the changes the Board of Selectman
requested. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that:
1. Paragraph A would remain unchanged -keep as originally written
2. Paragraph B would stay as originally written
3. Paragraph C -keep the Planning Board changes as written above
4. Paragraph D -add the word "principal" before building and add "and/or" the accessory building (s).
5. Paragraph E. -keep the Planning Board changes as written above
6. Paragraph F & G - ok as written
7. The summary section needed some work.
McMullen: Motioned to send the article to Town Meeting as corrected. Seconded by Pierce.
ROLL CALL VOTE:
William Henchy : Aye John McMullen: Aye
Robert Bugle: Aye Elizabeth Taylor: Aye
Marjorie Pierce: Aye Amber Tubman: Aye
Robert Barnard: Aye
McMullen: Motioned to send the Home Occupation definition as corrected to Town Meeting. Seconded by
Taylor.
ROLL CALL VOTE:
William Henchy : Aye John McMullen: Aye
Robert Bugle: Aye Elizabeth Taylor: Aye
Marjorie Pierce: Aye Amber Tubman: Aye
Robert Barnard: Aye
2. Sand 8~ Gravel Operations - "Housekeeping Change"
To see if the Town will vote to amend the Town of Brewster Zoning By-laws Section 179-39 (Sand and Gravel
Operations) by
Deleting the letter "Q" at the end of the sentence in Section 179-39.2 paragraph B3(e) (Procedures; Application
Information) and adding the letter "O,"
And further in Section 179-39.4 (Conditions and Restrictions) paragraph N, delete the words "ab initio" at the end
of the last sentence, and add "from the date of transfer or change in contractual interest" so that the last sentence
reads: "Failure to do so will render the special permit null and void from the date of transfer or change in
contractual interest."
or take any other action relative thereto.
Sand & Gravel Operations - "Housekeeping Change": Summary
The first change corrects a typographical error in the existing text. The second change removes a legal term and
replaces it with language that will be clearer to the general public.
Henchy: Read through the noted changes and opened the floor to the public. No comments were made.
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Bugle: Motioned to send the article to Town Meeting. Seconded by Taylor.
ROLL CALL VOTE:
William Henchy : Aye John McMullen: Aye
Robert Bugle: Aye Elizabeth Taylor: Aye
Marjorie Pierce: Aye Amber Tubman: Aye
Robert Barnard: Aye
3. Accessory Apartment - "Housekeeping Change"
To see if the Town will vote to amend the Town of Brewster Zoning By-laws by deleting Note 14 on Table 2 (Area
Regulations). The current note reads:
An owner-occupied building containing two dwelling units, one of which shall be an accessory apartment with a net
floor living area not exceeding 600 square feet, and including not more than one bedroom, a kitchen, living room
and bath, shall be allowed by a special permit granted by the Board of Appeals. Such dwelling shall be deemed to
be owner-occupied if either dwelling unit is occupied by the property owner of record on a year-round basis, except
for bona fide temporary absences during which the unit is not rented. The apartment shall be restricted to use by
the property owner's immediate family, including in-laws (mother, father, sister, brother), and/or a health care
professional providing a service to the above family and is defined as a "dwelling, one-family, with accessory
apartment.
Or take any other action relative thereto
Accessory Apartment - "Housekeeping Change: Summary
This is a housekeeping item. The text should have been removed when Section 179-42.1 was amended in 2007.
The information in the note is now contained within the text of the by-law.
Henchy: Read through the changes noted.
Leven: Provided an overview on the reasoning for the change. Essentially when the article was originally passed
it did not remove this section so this was only a housekeeping change.
Jackson, chairman for the ZBA: Expressed concern over making this change. Over the past 5 years, the ZBA has
issued over 28 Special Permits for in-law apartments. The Board feels that having the ability to issue a permit for
an in-law apartment is working well for the Town and the citizens. If the Planning Board makes this housekeeping
change then they would be eliminating the ability of the ZBA to issue a special permit for this use.
Leven: Stated that making a change to the use table, of course, could be done. However, it would need to be
done at the Fall Town Meeting. A brief discussion occurred. It was determined that if this article was not
presented at the Spring Town Meeting then it could be corrected in the Fall.
Bugle: Agreed that the in-law use should not be eliminated and it should be added to the table of uses in the Fall.
Pierce: Motioned to delete this article from the Town Warrant if possible. If it was too late to pull from the Warrant
then the Board would indefinitely postpone. Seconded by Bugle.
ROLL CALL VOTE:
William Henchy : Aye
Robert Bugle: Aye
Marjorie Pierce: Aye
Robert Barnard: Aye
John McMullen: Aye
Elizabeth Taylor: Aye
Amber Tubman: Aye
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Other Business:
1. Review Minutes: January 14, 2009
A brief discussion occurred and minor typographical changes were noted.
Taylor motioned to approve the minutes as corrected. Seconded by Bugle. All Aye.
2. Review Sand & Gravel Special Permit Application and fee
A brief discussion occurred. It was noted that in the event that the Planning Board or the WQRC would
Require outside consultants to evaluate the application then the cost would be paid by the applicant. It
was finally agreed that the Sand & Gravel application fee would be $100. A few minor changes were
noted on the application.
Bugle: Motioned to establish a Sand & Gravel application fee of $100 and if a consultant is necessary
that fee would be paid by the applicant. Seconded by Pierce. All Aye. 7-0-0.
3. Henchy: Announced his resignation from the Planning Board effective at noon on February 26, 2009.
Mr. Henchy asked the Board to continue to be thinking of Brewster's future. In particular, the Board
should be thinking of the zoning on Freeman's' Way and Underpass Rd. The Board should continue to
have discussions on rezoning to allow a retail sales section and a possible new Industrial area in Town.
Mr. McMullen thanked Mr. Henchy for his 13 years of service on the Board and said he would be
missed.
Mr. Henchy recommended that Mr. McMullen the current Vice Chairman hold the Chairman position until
the election in May. Mr. McMullen was reluctant to take the role because he would be out of town for 2
of the upcoming meetings. After a brief discussion, it was decided that Mr. Bugle would be a willing to
act as the interim chairman. Tubman motioned to nominate Mr. Bugle to be the acting Planning Board
Chairman. Seconded by Barnard. All Aye.
4. Review and discuss the draft Housing Production Plan prepared by the CPC
Ms. Leven submitted a letter with her comments on the Plan. The Planning Board would like the plan to
be updated with 2010 information.
Pierce: motioned to support Ms. Leven's memo provided the plan is updated with 2010 information.
Seconded by Taylor. All Aye.
Tubman: Motioned to adjourn. Seconded by Bugle. All Aye.
Respectfully submitted,
. ..
Marjorie ~erce Clerk
nn ci/Administrative Clerk
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