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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20090112 - Planning Board - Meeting MinutesHOPKINTON PLANNING BOARD Monday, January 12, 2009 7:30 PM Hopkinton Senior Center, 28 Mayhew St. MINUTES PRESENT: Mark Abate, Chairman, Joe Markey, Vice Chairman, Sandy K. Altamura, David Auslander, John Coolidge, Carol DeVeuve, Jaime Goncalves, Ken Weismantel, Claire Wright …….Elaine C. Lazarus, Planning Director …….Anna Rogers, Secretary 1. Larry Fowler, property owner and applicant, appeared before the Board. Mr. Fowler stated he is dividing his property almost in half. He stated one half contains his existing single family home and the other is vacant forested land. Mr. Abate asked if the vacant land has any frontage. Mr. Fowler replied no, it will not be a buildable lot. Approval-Not-Required Plan – 5 Deneen Road – Fowler & Liang Mr. Markey arrived at this time. Ms. Altamura asked if Mr. Fowler owns any other adjacent property and Mr. Fowler replied no. Mr. Fowler stated he was granted a variance by the Board of Appeals to build the house because his property has no frontage. Mr. Coolidge stated the property is adjacent to the Deneen/Scarlata Subdivision. In response to a question, Mr. Fowler stated the Town of Upton, Angel’s Nursery and the Deneen/Scarlata Subdivision are property abutters. He stated he is not sure what he wants to do with the property. Mr. Coolidge stated he would like to see Mr. Fowler donate it to the Town of Upton or Hopkinton or to a non-profit entity such as Hopkinton Area Land Trust for conservation land. Mary Pratt, member of the Board of Selectmen speaking as an individual, asked if Mr. Fowler has town water or a private well and Mr. Fowler replied he has a private well. The Board voted unanimously to endorse the plan as not requiring approval under the Subdivision Control Law. 2. Mr. Abate stated the Board has received a request from the applicant to continue the public hearing until February 23, 2009. After a brief discussion, the Board voted unanimously to continue the public hearing to January 26, 2009 at 8:00 PM. Continued Public Hearing – 11 Meserve St. (Walker Realty, LLC) – Site Plan Review 3. Administrative Business Minutes – The Board voted unanimously to approve the Minutes of December 15, 2008 as amended. Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 2 Bills 4. – The Board voted unanimously to approve payment of the outstanding bills. Christian Nealon, property owner, and Timothy Nealon, attorney, appeared before the Board. Mr. T. Nealon stated the Board denied an Open Space and Landscape Preservation Development Concept Plan in November 2008 because the open space wasn’t at the level the Board was looking for. He stated they are here tonight to show the Board a conventional plan for one single family house. He stated originally the Nealons were proposing a new single family house lot, an open space lot, and one additional non-buildable lot at the rear of the property. He stated they have eliminated the lot at the rear of the property and are proposing to add it to the open space lot. He stated they have designed a cul-de-sac to provide the required frontage for the new house lot, but will only construct a driveway. Mr. Abate asked what they are proposing to do with the open space. Mr. T. Nealon stated they are planning to convey it to a land trust. He stated approximately 7 acres will be permanent open space. Ms. Wright stated she remembers the Conservation Commission (ConCom) had some issues with the previous plan that raised the question if a conventional plan could be built, and asked if those had all been resolved. Mr. T. Nealon stated a wetland crossing is still required and the ConCom is aware of the plan and it has been modified to meet the State requirements. He stated the ConCom issued a letter to the Planning Board stating that the plan looked like it could be approved, but without an official submission they couldn’t give them a definitive answer. He stated they are very confident that if they submitted this plan to the ConCom, it would be approved. He stated they moved the sidewalk to the other side of the roadway and redesigned the retaining wall for less wetland buffer zone disturbance. Mr. C. Nealon stated the original plan had more than 5,000 square feet of disturbance and the new plan is under 5,000 square of disturbance. Mr. T. Nealon stated they will still have to file with the ConCom to install the driveway. Mr. C. Nealon stated they will be installing the driveway along the existing cart path. Mrs. Pratt asked if the open space had frontage on South Mill St. It was stated that there is a small strip of land of unknown ownership between the open space and South Mill St. Mr. Weismantel asked if there will be some way to access the open space when it is given to the land trust. He stated he is ok with the waivers the Nealons are requesting with the exception of property boundary markers. Ms. Altamura asked how long the driveway will be. Mr. C. Nealon stated approximately 700 feet. Ms. Altamura asked if there was any way the public could access the open space. Mr. T. Nealon stated they prefer that the public access the land from South Mill St. if possible. He stated there is no real feasible access from North Mill St. except from the Nealon’s driveway. 30 North Mill St. – Nealon Ms. Altamura asked what happens to a property if the owner is untraceable. Mr. Coolidge stated the title would need to be cleared if no one claimed it. Ms. Altamura stated she believes the public shouldn’t be accessing the land from the Nealon’s driveway. Ms. Wright stated the open space has benefits even if there is no public access to it. Mr. Weismantel stated there just needs to be a provision that a conservation or land trust official could access the property to do routine Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 3 inspections. Mr. Abate stated he is comfortable with the plan but would like to see a provision for getting acceptable access to the open space. Mrs. Pratt stated she hopes a stormwater plan will be required so that water runoff will be reduced. Mr. T. Nealon stated the Board’s engineer, Fay, Spofford and Thorndike (FST), has already reviewed previous plans and he would like to avoid designing the roadway since only the driveway will be built. Ms. Lazarus stated FST will only review what the Nealons submit and they will pick up where the last review left off. 5. Steven Zieff, Legacy Farms, LLC, and Robert Nagi and Rich Hollworth, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), appeared before the Board. Mr. Zieff stated that tonight’s topic of discussion is traffic/transportation. He stated they are going to address some of the regional concerns about transportation and let the Board know about some of the work done since the Open Space Mixed Use Development Overlay District (OSMUD) was adopted. He stated they are hoping to file their subdivision plan by the end of January or early February. He stated VHB and FST met in December with a few members of the Planning Board and officials from surrounding towns to discuss methods of gauging offsite mitigation and to make sure VHB and FST were in agreement with the traffic study. He stated they have been collecting the comments and questions from Town Boards and would like to respond to those during the meetings when those topics will be discussed. He stated the Master Plan Special Permit (MPSP) is general and conceptual in nature. Mr. Nagi stated they have expanded the study area since their informational meeting last summer. He stated they met with representatives from Ashland recently and discussed the cut- throughs that people may use. He stated they are going to try their best to eliminate the desirability of Cross St. in Ashland as a cut-through. He stated the Hopkinton Police Chief asked them to study the Chestnut St./Ash St. intersection in addition to the Chestnut St./Hayden Rowe St. intersection. He stated they are working on an addendum to the traffic study and are hoping to submit it to the Board and FST shortly. He stated the original traffic study was performed two years ago and they redid the study one year ago. They found that some of the traffic actually decreased over the course of the year, but they decided to use the higher numbers instead. He stated they are continuing to be conservative with their study. Mr. Nagi stated they looked at existing conditions and safety issues. He stated the only spot with some heightened accident rates is the Grove St./Cedar St./Main St. intersection, but that is to be expected due to the setup of the intersection. He stated Legacy Farms is a long term project with two major phases. He stated phase 1 is the southern portion with an approximate build-out time of 5 years. He stated phase 2 is the northern portion with an approximate build-out time of 10 years. He stated some of the additional traffic they have noted in their study would show up even without Legacy Farms, due to other developments in the area. He stated that Fred Moseley of FST had noted in his memo to the Board that Next Generation Children’s Center is expanding and that wasn’t included in the study. He stated they will include it but aren’t concerned about it and don’t think it will be a major increase in traffic for Legacy Farms. Continued Public Hearing – Master Plan Special Permit – East Main St., Clinton St., Frankland Rd., Wilson St. – Legacy Farms, LLC Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 4 Mr. Nagi stated they have kept their traffic projections on the conservative side. He stated in the different development pods there can be multiple uses and they tried to use the higher vehicle amounts for each use in their projections. He stated there are two MBTA commuter rail stations in adjacent towns near the project. He stated they have met with the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) and have discussed providing service from the development to and from the stations. He stated they haven’t decreased their traffic projections with that possibility, but are hopeful many people will take advantage of it. Mr. Abate stated the last time traffic was discussed, there was a great deal of discussion of the Northeast quadrant with back roads connecting to Route 9 and the Mass Turnpike. Mr. Nagi stated that is covered in the recommendation section. He stated they are planning to make the Frankland Rd./Cross St. intersection more safe and will try and reduce traffic there. He stated they will setup a monitoring program to help identify what actions can be taken to improve the area. He stated they might decide to disallow turns from Frankland Rd. onto Legacy Farms Rd. north and vice-versa. He stated they see Legacy Farms Rd. as an additional means to get from one end of town to the other. He stated some safety improvements they are looking into would include clearing vegetation, advance warning signs of the stop sign and speed humps. He noted that Hopkinton safety officials have stated they don’t really want to see speed humps used due to delays in emergency response times. Mr. Nagi stated the traffic study in the MPSP is more focused than at the informational meeting last summer, but is not the final say in traffic. He stated each of the Site Plan Review applications will include a traffic section specific to that area. Mrs. Pratt stated when they speak with the MWRTA they should see if more parking is available at the MBTA stations in Westborough or Southborough as those stations fill up quickly, but Ashland always has parking available. She stated a parking garage at the Southborough station would be very useful. Mavis O’Leary, 11 Curtis Rd., asked about traffic on Wilson St. heading to Howe St. in Ashland. Mr. Nagi stated it is their goal and intent to encourage people to use Legacy Farms Rd. north and they will be looking to disallow turns onto Wilson St. to keep people away from Howe St. Ms. Wright stated putting up signs doesn’t stop people. Mr. Coolidge asked what kind of restrictions there would be and how they would be enforced. Mr. Nagi stated if signs were being ignored, they could install physical restrictions. Chris Barry, 17 Clinton St., asked where the traffic created by the development is going to go. Mr. Nagi stated that 85% of the traffic created by phase 1 will go west on East Main St. Mr. Barry asked why the traffic wouldn’t be using the spine road. Mr. Nagi stated the northern spine road won’t be built until phase 2. Mr. Zieff stated it has always been discussed that the project is in phases and the Legacy Farms Rd. north won’t be in place until phase 2. He stated water, sanitary and the southern spine road are all during phase 1. Mr. Markey asked if the phases are mentioned in the Host Community Agreement (HCA). Mr. Zieff stated he doesn’t believe they are. Mr. Nagi stated that from East Main St., approximately 45% of the traffic will travel north on Route 85, 25% will continue west towards Route 495 and 10% will travel south on Route 85. Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 5 He stated approximately 15% will travel east towards Ashland on Route 135 and the remaining traffic will be scattered on local streets. Mr. Barry stated he thought Legacy Farms Rd. north would be built early on to save the center of town from additional traffic and is surprised to find out that it’s not. Mr. Zieff stated they are planning on fairly significant improvements in the center of town, and that will improve the flow of traffic before Legacy Farms Rd. north is built. Mr. Goncalves asked what level of service (LOS) the intersection at the center of town is currently. Mr. Nagi stated it is at LOS E right now with some approaches operating at LOS F. He stated one of the proposals in the HCA is to upgrade the traffic signals at the intersection. He stated Legacy Farms will remove and replace the old lights and monitor the situation. Mr. Goncalves and Mr. Auslander asked what the LOS will be once all the improvements have been implemented. Mr. Nagi stated he didn’t remember. Mr. Moseley stated once the development is at full build-out the LOS will probably remain the same as it is now. He stated the actual reports haven’t been submitted for review yet. Mr. Nagi stated that although the peak hour LOS will remain close to what they are currently, there will be significant benefits during off peak hours. He stated there will be two sets of improvements to the Main St./Cedar St./Grove St. intersection. He stated the first set of improvements, including the new traffic light, will allow for a 15% increase in traffic. He stated the second set of improvements will be done before phase 2 has been completed and will allow for a 32% increase in traffic. He stated the intersection is very constrained and they are doing the best they can with it. Ms. Wright stated that is VHB’s opinion but FST is saying the LOS will remain the same, which is close to failure. Mr. Nagi stated that VHB is in agreement with FST as to the LOS, but believes the improvements will make it a safer intersection. Mr. Auslander asked how bad the traffic will be before the second set of improvements are implemented. Mr. Nagi stated the improvements will precede the actual need. He stated they will be keeping in touch with the Planning Board and the DPW on the situation. A brief discussion was held regarding the number of extra vehicles per hour that were going to be on the main roads leading out from Legacy Farms at full build-out. Mr. Coolidge stated that Ray Miyares, Town Counsel, sent a letter to the Planning Board on January 6, 2009 laying out the Board’s authority in regards to the MPSP. He stated the Board has the authority to require construction of Legacy Farms Rd. north early on even if Legacy Farms says they don’t need it yet. Mr. Nagi stated they have some conceptual drawings that show the layout of some intersections they will be making changes to. He stated as soon as Legacy Farms Rd. north is built, they will be making immediate upgrades to the Rafferty Rd./Cedar St. (Route 85) intersection. He stated they will be widening Rafferty Rd. to allow for independent right and left turning lanes onto Cedar St. He stated they will be widening Cedar St. to allow for a left turn lane onto Rafferty Rd. He stated they are not proposing a traffic light and the widening of Cedar St. will all be within the existing right of way. He stated they will be making improvements to the entire length of Rafferty Rd. by adding a vegetated swale and a five foot wide walking path to keep pedestrians off the street. Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 6 Mr. Nagi stated they are proposing many changes to the Legacy Farms Rd./East Main St. (Route 135) intersection. He stated they will be lowering the grade of East Main St. just west of the intersection to improve sight lines. Mr. Weismantel asked why they would keep the small section of Frankland Rd. between East Main St. and Legacy Farms Rd. north and not just have all traffic go to the main intersection. Mr. Nagi stated Frankland Rd. allows for excess capacity. He stated they have also been told by some local residents that they use it to reverse direction during busy times when left turns aren’t feasible from their driveways. Mr. Auslander asked if stop signs or traffic lights will be used at the Legacy Farms Rd./East Main St. intersection. Mr. Nagi stated they will install a signal once the traffic warrants, but not right away. He stated some people are opposed to having a signal there but from a safety and operations standpoint, it will be warranted at some point. He stated the signal will be pre-constructed with the conduits, etc. installed before pavement is added so they don’t have to tear up the intersection twice. He stated once the light is needed, they will be widening East Main St. to 2 lanes in each direction at the light. Mr. Goncalves asked how long the double lanes will run along East Main St. Mr. Nagi stated they will run a minimum of 300 feet in each direction. He stated they will evaluate the situation after the 300 feet to see if additional length is needed. He stated it isn’t to add capacity to the roadway, it is to allow turning vehicles to queue at a red light. Ms. DeVeuve asked when the decision will be made that a signal is warranted. Mr. Nagi stated as soon as the traffic justifies it, it will be constructed. He stated most likely it will be built when there are 150 left turns out of Legacy Farms Rd. south. Mr. Goncalves stated they might get that many with the construction of phase 1 before the commercial village center is even constructed. Mr. Abate asked if Mr. Nagi had seen the comments of the Police Chief. He stated it is irresponsible to allow the intersection to be under construction twice and agreed with the Police Chief’s comments that the light could be installed early and just be left blinking. He stated he believes doing it during 2 phases could cause problems. Mr. Nagi stated he agrees with the Chief about doing it in one shot, but there are other safety concerns to think about as well. Mr. Nagi stated that if the signal is installed and is set to blinking, drivers will get used to it blinking and when it gets turned on to red and green, some drivers might go through it expecting it to be blinking. Mr. Weismantel stated he doesn’t want to see the roadway torn up more than once and doesn’t want to create a situation where it is under construction all the time. Mr. Nagi stated they could pave the areas they are planning to widen and just re-stripe when the extra lanes are needed. He stated they are sensitive to the issue that it shouldn’t be disrupted all the time. Mr. Zieff stated that during the adoption of the OSMUD, Mr. Miyares focused on the issue of appropriateness of the proposed infrastructure and that the Town didn’t want things to be over- improved. He stated they are aware that the Town wants to keep as much work as possible in character with the community. Mr. Markey stated the Town wants and needs the mitigation from the project, but that some mitigation requires other further mitigation. He stated he would like to see the signal installed as soon as it is needed. Mr. Weismantel stated that Mr. Miyares is the Board’s legal counsel, but they should also be listening to FST, the Board’s traffic consultants, on when the signal will be necessary. Mrs. Pratt stated that water pipes and utilities should all be installed ahead of time as well. She stated a project in Westborough on Lyman St. took 6 months to a year before everything was in place and she just wants to make sure things like that are thought about ahead of time and are in Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 7 the ground. Mr. Nagi stated all the signal structures will be installed ahead of final construction as it saves them money as well. Ms. Altamura stated she is glad to hear that Mr. Miyares stressed the community character feel, but sometimes road widening isn’t always appropriate and doesn’t always fit in. Mr. Hollworth stated at the next meeting they will try and have numbers available so following along with the plans is easier. He stated they will fit that into their next presentation. Mr. Goncalves asked if the Board was going to continue transportation at the next hearing, or move onto a different subject and come back to transportation. Mr. Nagi noted that he is still planning to submit supplemental traffic information and it might be better to continue the discussion for a little while until that has been reviewed by FST. The Board discussed the options. The Board voted unanimously to continue the public hearing to February 9, 2009 at 8:00 PM, at which time the transportation topic will continue. 6. Other Business 2009 Planning Board Town Meeting Articles Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC is proposing a Common Driveways Bylaw at the request of the Conservation Commission representative. He stated a similar bylaw was attempted in the past without success. He stated it would allow for a common driveway to serve 2 lots by special – Mr. Weismantel stated the Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC) has made recommendations to the Planning Board on several articles. He stated there are 9 articles for the Board to discuss. He stated ZAC is proposing revisions to the sign bylaw. Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC is proposing an Office Park District that covers the Terry Property and small parcels owned by NSTAR off West Main St., Lumber St., Whalen Rd. and Chamberlain St. He stated the properties are currently zoned Industrial B and Agricultural and the change would make them a new Office Park zone that would allow for assisted living facilities among other things. Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC is proposing a Hotel Overlay District. He stated the areas they are proposing the district for are Elmwood Park, the west side of Lumber St. and the east side of South St. The district would be limited to two hotels, one on each side of Route 495. Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC is proposing a Wind Energy Systems Bylaw. He stated this would allow for wind energy systems by special permit from the Board of Appeals. Mr. Goncalves asked if it was for residential or commercial use. Mr. Weismantel stated it is not for wind farms and it would be an accessory use to the principal use of a lot. He stated he isn’t sure Hopkinton has enough wind for feasible commercial uses. Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC is proposing some Housekeeping changes to the entire Zoning Bylaw. He stated most of it is small word changes, etc. Hopkinton Planning Board – Minutes – January 12, 2009 8 permit to minimize wetland impacts. He stated each lot would need to have the required frontage and this isn’t a back-lot development bylaw. Mr. Weismantel stated there is supposed to be an update to the Floodplain District Bylaw but they haven’t received the final maps from FEMA to date. Mr. Weismantel stated they would like to make changes to the Water Resources Protection Overlay District map to add the Zone 2 for the Alprilla Farm well if it has been approved by DEP before Town Meeting. Mr. Weismantel stated there are a number of streets that are up for discussion for acceptance at Town Meeting. He stated it is tentative until the DPW has a chance to get out to the subdivisions and make inspections. Mrs. Pratt stated the Floodplain District needs to be in place by September 2009. Mr. Goncalves asked about the letter the Board received from the Conservation Commission regarding Overlook Rd. Ms. Lazarus stated the developer is working on those issues and intends to have them completed in time for Town Meeting. Mr. Weismantel stated ZAC consisted of a good group of people this year. He stated everyone worked hard and they received a lot of good input from people. Invitation for Bids (IFB) – Engineering Review Services – Mr. Abate asked Ms. Lazarus when she expected to send out the invitation for bids. Ms. Lazarus stated she was thinking in March or April so the IFB responses could be due on July 1st. Mr. Auslander stated he would like to see proposals requested for both one year and three year contracts. He stated he would like to see some standards as to timeliness for work products, etc. Mr. Weismantel stated they had sent FST a signal that work efforts needed to change, but thinks that Ms. Lazarus and Mr. Abate should contact them again. Ms. Lazarus stated FST is aware of the IFB and discussed it with them. She noted that a recent court case emphasized that this process has to happen. Mr. Weismantel stated FST’s recent comments on traffic are the best he has seen in a long time. Ms. Altamura stated she believes a one year contract is too short, but a three year contract may be too long if the Board is unhappy. She suggested a two year contract with an option for a third year and the Board agreed. Adjourned: 9:55 PM Anna Rogers, Secretary Approved: January 26, 2009