7:00 PM           1150 Main Street (Carousel Academy) Continuation of Public                                                   Hearing Site Plan Review and Special Permit A3

            8:00 PM           South Shore Baptist Church Preliminary Discussion of Proposed                                                           Changes to Site Plan

            Old/New Business

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) Continuation of Public Hearing Site Plan Review and Special Permit A3

Present for the Applicant: Jason Younquist, Outback Engineering; Frank DiLuna, Attorney, and Michael Corey, Applicant.

This is the continuation of a hearing which opened on June 11, and was continued on September 10, 2007 relative to an application for a Special Permit A3 (parking determination) and Site Plan Review relative to a proposal to expand the operations at the Carousel Riding Academy at 1150 Main Street through the addition 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.) The westerly side of the site is currently developed with a dwelling, two horse barns, paddocks, and an existing garage.

Chairman Paul Healey read a letter into the record from abutter Justino Fernandes, expressing concern about the potential impact of site lighting on abutters, and a request that all manure be trucked off of the site.

 Mr. Chessia reported that he had reviewed the plans, and the applicant has re-designed them to remove all work from the Flood Plain and Watershed Protection District. They have done this, in part, by reducing the number of parking spaces to 23 (16 existing and 7 proposed). The seven new parking spaces to be located east of the arena building will be reserved for employees and handicapped individuals only. John Chessia also provided a few technical recommendations that could be handled through conditions to the permit, including the requirement for third party inspections of erosion control measures.

Gary Tondorf-Dick expressed continued concern with the proposed "density" of the development in terms of numbers of stalls and horses, and its ultimate impacts on the Town water supply. He requested that the number of stalls be reduced, or that all manure be trucked off site. Current plans for the site indicate that some of the manure and wet bedding will be trucked off site, and the rest will be composted on site in accordance with an approved manure management plan, but exactly how much is to be treated each way is unclear. The manure management plan indicates that 12 truckloads will be hauled from the site per year.  In his letter to the Board, however, Dr. Fernandes provided a rough calculation based on the amount of manure produced by 30 1000-pound horses, predicting that this would require 25-75 dumpsters to be removed out of the site per year. Ms. Murphy and Ms. Corey noted that whole they were also very concerned about any impacts to the Town water supply, that they felt that the Board of Health and Conservation Commission were on top of these issues, and that it was important for the Planning Board to stay focused on parking, traffic, and other site plan issues.

Sarah Corey asked that the Board and its consultant address the two issues included in Dr. Fernandes' letter. In terms of lighting, John Chessia indicated that according to the lighting plan included in the application there was a significant distance between the lights proposed for the arena and the nearest abutting houses. Gary Tondorf-Dick stated his belief that abutters would be able to see the light source, or filament, through the woods from a distance. Sarah Corey and John Chessia pointed out that the lighting detail showed that the lights would point downwards, and not up or outwards. Gary Tondorf-Dick disagreed.

In terms of manure, Ms. Corey noted that if the manure were to be trucked off site, she wanted to make sure that the number of trucks that would be needed could be handled on area roadways. Mr. Chessia indicated that even if all of the manure were removed from the site, it would not have significant impacts on local traffic. She also expressed concern that trucks should come and go at a reasonable hour of the day, so as not to create disturbances to the residential abutters.

Mr. DeLuna pointed out that best manure management practices suggest that they compost as much manure as possible on site. He also pointed out that stored manure breaks down in size, which would further reduce the amount of manure to be removed from the site. Ms. Murphy suggested that they include a condition in the permit indicating that composting on site can occur to the extent it is approved by the Conservation Commission and Board of Health.

Ms. Murphy asked whether there would be a separate trail or roadway for the horses to access the arena after the wetland crossing. Jason Younquist responded that since they were limiting parking on that side of the site to employees and handicapped individuals only, that he did not feel that the path would be needed. Board members discussed this and concurred that the path  would not be needed.

May Powers, in the audience, asked that a condition be included in the permit prohibiting shows and events be included in the permit. Board members concurred, but noted that they would need to deliberate on what constituted an "event", including camps, birthday parties, etc. This lead to a discussion of how numbers of students, customers, etc. would be limited on the site in general. Earlier in the hearing process Mr. Corey had provided a chart showing maximum numbers of students, etc. on the site at any one time, which were used a basis for the parking calculations.

Board members voted to close the hearing, and proceed with their deliberations on November 5 at 9:00 PM. The applicant concurred with this proposed schedule.

RE:  South Shore Baptist Church Preliminary Discussion of Proposed Changes to Site Plan

Rod Gaskell of SITEC Engineering came before the Board for an informal to discuss a proposed expansion to the church building, as well as various other changes to the approved Site Plan. Mr Gaskell was accompanied by Al Trakimas of SITEC Engineering, and architect, Vcevold Strekalovsky. Several representatives from the church Board of Elders were also present.

The Applicant is the owner of the land located at 578 Main Street, which now consists of a church with classroom wing, separate pastor's home and parking for 175 cars, as well as the property at 20 Free Street, which is used for church offices.  They have also recently purchased the property at 12 Free Street (where Connie Chapin lived).

Mr. Gaskell traced the permitting history of the church since its construction, including a recent expansion proposal approved in 2002 but never built. The new proposal, which involves the addition of a new sanctuary building, and the renovation of the existing church structure for offices, classrooms and meeting space, is being presented as a scaled back alternative to the 2002 proposal, which generated a significant amount of controversy from abutters, and was ultimately never approved by the Board of Health. Mr. Strekolovsky presented several development alternatives, showing the new sanctuary in a variety of different locations.

The concept that they selected is intended to best preserve the appearance of the church "complex" from Main Street, by tucking the new addition to the rear of the building, and creating a more cohesive streetscape along Main Street by moving the antique house currently located at 12 Free Street to the corner of Main and Free. Mr. Gaskell noted that the 12 Free Street structure was nearly 300 years old, and moving it posed significant challenges, placing doubt on whether this could be accomplished. Gary Tondorf-Dick offered technical assistance on this effort, and expressed strong support for preserving the structure.

The new plan would include 306 parking spaces, and a revised pick-up/drop-off driveway providing access to the main sanctuary and the classroom area.

The proposed location of the new septic system is approximately 500 away from the Aquifer and Watershed Protection District. The church also plans to place a conservation restriction on the portion of the site closest to Well # 4 and the Town water supply.

Board members asked how tall the new sanctuary would be, and the applicant responded that it would be no taller than the existing church structure.

Ms. Murphy asked that they encourage traffic leaving the site to use Free Street, to the light at Main/High and Free, and that entrance into the site from Main Street be on-way in only.

Gary Tondorf-Dick and Paul Healey both stated that they thought the proposed plan had a lot of advantaged over past efforts. Board members pointed out that they could not determine at this point what the reaction of the abutters would be, but encouraged the church to proceed with their application.

Old/New Business

By-Pass Road through "Selectmen's Parcel"

Jim O'Brien, Chairman of the Housing Trust came before the Board for an informal discussion of the possibility addressing some of the traffic problems on West Street, and at the intersection of North/West and Beal, by creating a by-pass road through the Housing Trust parcel that would provide an alternative route to Fort Hill Street. Jim Watson of the Housing Authority also joined the discussion.

Ms. Murphy and Ms. Sneath noted that in light of the recent public input from the residents of the West/North/Beal area, that it seemed important to revisit the possibility of a by-pass road through the Housing Trust parcel. Mr. O'Brien responded that whatever is decided, Affirmative (the firm selected to develop the parcel) would need to evaluate the possibility of creating such a road, and its impacts on the number and affordability of the units.

Jim O'Brien presented a sketch alternative which showed a low key, private connector road between the two developments as well as a slightly larger by-pass road that would enter through the Selectmen's parcel and lead out to Fort Hill Street. This could be built as a minor road, with a wider right-of-way to be held in reserve, and only developed in the future if needed after all of the other improvements planned for the Beal Street corridor are completed. The proposed housing would then be located to the northeast of the roadway, perhaps on a smaller road or clustered on cul-de-sacs.

Gary Tondorf-Dick suggested that a preferred design alternative would be a neighborhood layout similar to the surrounding area, with single family homes on either side of the through roadway rather than closed cul-de-sacs.

Jim Watson advocated the idea of a through road leading from 100 Beal Street through the Housing Authority and Housing Trust parcels to Fort Hill. Ms. Lacy pointed out that the wetlands crossing under the existing roadway near where it passes from the Authority parcel to the Selectmen's parcel would preclude making this roadway much wider than it already is, thus taking the option of a by-pass from 100 Beal to Fort Hill off the table. Jim Watson and Gary Tondorf-Dick noted that wetland replication could conceivably address this issue with the Conservation Commission's approval.

Susan Murphy pointed out that it is very important to consult with the residents of Hillside Terrace to find out if they could tolerate a by-pass road going behind them if it resulted in less traffic on West Street

The group discussed whether the alternative prepared by Jim O' Brien would, in fact, take traffic off of the much overburdened West Street.  This would need to be assessed by traffic engineer and, as of yet such funds have not been identified.

Water Levels at Accord Pond

Gary Tondorf-Dick showed some photographs he had taken of Accord Pond indicating how low the water levels are. There was a general discussion of what efforts had taken place to date, and how to get more involved in the water supply issue.

The meeting adjourned at 10:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Katharine Lacy

Town Planner