7:00 1150 Main Street-Carousel Academy Site Plan Review and Parking Determination For Proposed Riding Arena Facility
8:00 Continuation of Public Hearing-New East School Site Plan Review and Parking Determination
Old/New Business
Minutes/Bills
Town Counsel Evaluation
Central Meeting Room North ______________
Present: Planning Board Members, Paul Healey, Chair, Sarah Corey, Clerk, Susan Murphy,
Judy Sneath and Gary Tondorf-Dick. Also present was Planner Katharine Lacy.
Mr. Healey opened the public meeting at 7:00 P.M. at the Hingham Town Hall.
RE: 1150 Main Street-Carousel Academy Site Plan Review and Parking Determination For Proposed Riding Arena Facility
Present for the Applicant: Michael Corey, owner, and Frank DiLuna, Attorney
Present for the Planning Board: John Chessia, PE, Chessia Consulting
Mr. DiLuna spoke on behalf of the applicant, Michael Corey. Mr. DiLuna stated that the applicant had applied for and received in August, 2006 a Special Permit A1 and A2 from the Zoning Board of Appeals for the operation of a riding academy and horse farm at his 16+ acre property at 1150 Main Street. As a part of this review process, the Planning Board conducted Site Plan Review and issued a recommendation to the ZBA in July, 2005. This permit, which basically allowed for the continuation of existing operations at the Carousel Riding Academy (a breeding barn, pony barn, a six-stall barn and tack room; 7 turn-out areas, riding rink, bridle training trail, and cross-country course) is currently under appeal from the abutters and the Applicant. Both appeals are still unresolved.
At this point, the applicant is proposing the construction of a new 9,680 square foot, 34' high riding arena, parking, paddocks, roadways and manure handling and composting facilities for up to 31 horses. The arena will be located on the eastern portion of the property on a wooded "island" surrounded by extensive wetlands drained by intermittent streams that flow into the public water supply. (The entire property is located in the Aquifer Protection District.)
Traffic will access and egress the site at its existing driveway on 1150 Main Street. The applicant asserted that there is sufficient site distance in both directions on 228 to accommodate the amount of traffic that will be coming from the site. The roadway into the site will be relocated outside the 25' "no-touch zone" and upgraded to a 15' gravel drive providing access to the paddock and arena. There will be a total of 25 parking spaces on the site: nine existing spaces in front of the existing barn (one handicapped); 8 adjacent to the proposed paddock, and 8 behind the proposed horse arena (two handicapped). A three-point hammerhead type of turnaround has been provided for emergency vehicle access. The proposed parking area behind the arena will be paved with asphalt, while the parking area adjacent to the paddock will be gravel.
The site has been graded to capture run-off from the arena roof, parking area, paddock, and access drive. Runoff from the roof, paved parking, and gravel drive areas east of the arena will be directed into an underground infiltration basin with Cultec infiltration chambers and discharged into wetlands to the north. The remaining graveled and paddock areas will be directed into a detention pond located west of the paddock. After treatment, this water will be discharged to the wetlands to the west. Run-off from the composting bins will be directed to a 165' grass swale to retain any particles and filter any nutrients.
Mr. DiLuna stated that their application to the Conservation Commission has been denied, and that they have filed an appeal with DEP and the Supreme Judicial Court. The Conservation Commission denial was based largely on concern with the potential impact of the project on the Town's drinking water supply, as it is estimated that the proposed number of horses will produce 270 tons of manure plus a significant amount of wet bedding each year that will be composted on site. Manure management includes the removal of manure and bedding from the stalls and paddock on a daily basis. Manure will either be stored at one of the two composting locations on site, or stored in a covered trash bin and removed from the site by a commercial waste hauler.
Board members asked Mr. DiLuna about proposed operations at the facility. Mr. Corey responded that they have no "1099 employees." There is a riding instructor, and members of the family also work on site.
Mr. Corey stated that with the construction of the new facilities the number of horses on site will increase by 10 to 31. Lessons are and will continue to be scheduled 6 days a week from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Lessons last either 30 or 60 minutes in duration. They are anticipating providing between 35-45 lessons a week, including some group lessons with 2-3 students. In addition they board, breed and sell horses. There will be no horse shows on the site.
Mr. Healey asked John Chessia if he had any comments, and he stated that aside from the issue of impact to the water supply, that the grading and drainage proposed for the site appears satisfactory. He noted that he had sent the application to a traffic engineer, John Morgan, to review on and off-site traffic, parking and circulation. He noted, however, that because the plan only showed the new use, and did not include the existing facilities, that it would be nearly impossible for the traffic engineer to provide appropriate review.
Susan Murphy reiterated Mr. Chessia's concern that they needed a complete site plan of the area to properly conduct Site Plan Review. She also stated that the Board needed to address the memo submitted by David Damstra on June 11, 2007 of the Hingham Fire Department requesting a wider (18') site drive for emergency access. Finally, she noted that the description of proposed activities on site did not seem complete.
Judy Sneath noted that there seemed to be discrepancies between some of the information in the application, and the numbers being put forth in the presentation, such as number of lessons, etc, and asked that these be cleared up for the next hearing. She asked if 9:00 PM didn't seem too late for lessons. Gary Tondorf-Dick asked for clarification on how the proposed programmatic uses on site related to the number and location of parking spaces. He noted that without a plan of the entire site it was difficult to determine whether there was sufficient and appropriately located parking. He asked how many horse trailers would be located on the site, and where they would be stored. Mr. Corey stated that there would probably be only one horse trailer on the site full-time, though trailers would occasionally come to the site to transport horses to events, medical appointments, etc. as needed. The trailer would be stored near the proposed arena.
All Board members concurred that in order to proceed with the review, they would need a site plan showing the entire site, so that they could better determine how the various uses worked together.
Mr. Healey asked how many appeals were currently in progress relative to this property. Mr. DiLuna said probably 5 or 6.
Attorney Walter Sullivan introduced himself as representing two sets of abutters in opposition to the proposal. He asserted that his opinion was that a riding academy was not exempt from zoning, in that it is not technically an agricultural use. His client, Tino Fernandes, reiterated the Board's concern that in order to properly review the project they needed to see a plan of the entire site.
Mary Powers, an abutter, noted that she was not opposed to horses or farms, but felt that this proposal represented an inappropriate density of use.
The hearing was continued to July 16 at 7:00 PM.
RE: Continuation of Public Hearing-New East School Site Plan Review and Parking Determination
Susan Murphy did not participate in this hearing at this point.
Present for the Applicant: David Killory, Hingham School Department, Mary Mahoney, Project Manager; Scott Dunlap, Architecture Involution; Richard Cutts and Aaron Alpert, John G. Crowe Associates.
Present for the Board: John Chessia, consulting engineer.
This was a continuation of a public hearing initiated on May 21, 2007 on the construction of a new elementary school. The proposed site plan includes a 90,000 square foot elementary school, 150 parking spaces, and multi-purpose playing field. The school footprint is approximately 43,000 square feet.
Scott Dunlap of Architecture Involutions stated that the Town's peer review engineer had review the plans and application, and prepared a comment letter focusing largely on site grading and drainage. John Crowe Associates had prepared a response to this letter today (June 11) addressing many of Mr. Chessia's questions and concerns.
Mr. Dunlap stated that at the close of the last hearing, Board members requested additional information about on-site circulation and parking, as well as traffic impacts on Route 228. In response to these concerns, the project team had met with Deputy Chief Charles Souther earlier in June, and identified solutions to several of the traffic-related concerns identified by the Board.
Mr. Dunlap presented a site plan showing a queuing lane with capacity for approximately 40 cars approaching the parent pick-up loop. He noted that the bus loop should accommodate eight buses at one time.
In terms of off-site traffic, Mr. Dunlap noted that their traffic study had indicated that traffic impacts on 228 would be minimal. In a letter dated June 7, however, Deputy Charles Souther had requested additional study of this intersection, particularly when the Greenbush Train was up and running, and the new traffic light was installed at 3A and Summer Street. Deputy Souther would like the Town to consider the merits of installing a traffic light at 228 and Summer.
In response to concerns about conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles at the rear of the building, Mr. Dunlap noted that they had decided to use bollards and chains during the school day to block off the back portion of the site drive. This would ensure that children could pass safely from the cafeteria over the site drive to the field. The chains would be down during the weekend use of the fields by Hingham Youth Soccer, allowing soccer users to park close to the field.
Board members asked how the chained-off area would work with site circulation. There are two drop off areas into the school: one at the front door for most students, and a special pre-K entrance on the eastern side of the school, outside of the chained-off area. Deliveries, which would be made at the loading dock at the rear of the property, would require school personnel to unlock the chain if they occurred during school hours.
Gary Tondorf-Dick noted that there were two paths leading from the rear of the building to the parking area, but no cross-walks connecting to these paths for pedestrians to walk across the parking area. David Killory responded that this parking area would be chained off during the school day, so that should not be a big safety risk. Mr. Tondorf-Dick asked whether the limited access would pose a risk for emergency vehicles that needed rapid access to the rear of the building. Mr. Killory responded that the Fire Department would have a key to unlock the chain. Judy Sneath asked whether there were programmatic plans in place for recess-how would the parking area and fields be used? Mr. Killory responded that there were not specific plans, but that with the rear parking area chained off it would be possible to utilize the paved area for activities. Mr. Tondorf-Dick noted the absence of a structured play area for students older than kindergarten, and suggested that the applicant and the designer look at a defined playground space (similar to the playground space that existed at the south entry of the old East School) adjacent to the south cafeteria entry of the new school.
The project team presented information about school security. In summary, all access will be limited to a single point (the front door) with the exception of deliveries, which will be signaled by a doorbell.
David Killory described the dismissal process, explaining that walkers are released first, then children to be picked up, and finally busses. Gary Tondorf-Dick asked whether there are many walkers. Dot Gallo responded that there never have been many, in part due to the proximity of 228 and 3A which are both considered too dangerous to cross.
Paul Healey asked John Chessia whether he had concerns relative to grading and drainage. Mr. Chessia noted that his biggest concern was that the applicant provide an Operations and Maintenance plan indicating exactly who was in charge of maintenance. Gary Tondorf-Dick asked whether the applicant had considered the use of "greener" ways to deal with drainage other than a traditional detention basin, or considered the use of pervious pavers in the parking lot. Mr. Cutts explained that because of the site's proximity to the river, DEP would not look favorably upon infiltration through a parking area. They also noticed that they couldn't use the field area for infiltration of stormwater because it would make the fields too wet to play on. Finally, he pointed out that all of the roof drainage from the school was going to be captured for non-potable water, which would significantly reduce stormwater run-off.
Board members revisited the topic of the detention basin proposed for the southwest corner of the site. At the 100-year storm the design engineers anticipate that this basin will hold 4' of water that will take a few days to drain. Mr. Cutts said that in some cases these were fenced, and in others they were not. He noted that the side slopes were only 3:1, which is not very steep and could be walked out of.
Ms. Lacy noted that the ZBA decision included a condition that the final landscape plan would be submitted to the ZBA for approval prior to implementation, and asked whether the Planning Board also though that they should review this plan. Gary Tondorf-Dick noted that he would like to review the proposed planting plan.
Mr. Healey asked whether there were other extracurricular uses planned for the site other than soccer. Mr. Killory said that the gym would be open to the public. He also noted that the gym was designed to be able to be used for high school basketball practice.
Mr. Healey said that the Board needs to wait to hear back from the traffic consultant before approving the site plan. Additionally, John Chessia needs to review the applicants response letter to determine whether all of his issues have been resolved. The hearing was continued to 9:00 PM on June 25.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Katharine Lacy