Minutes August 9, 2010
Regular Meeting
Planning Board Agenda for MondayAugust 9, 2010
7:00 Continuation of Hearing 987 Main Street - Sprague Court
Definitive Subdivision Approval is sought for the construction of a
Residential subdivision consisting of two (2) lots on a total of 1.98 acres
7:30 Baker Hill-Update Request for Extension of Time to Complete Subdivision
Old/New Business
Form A – Hingham Shipyard Lennar Property
Minutes of July 22
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Present: Planning Board Members, Paul Healey, Sarah Corey, Clerk, and Gary Tondorf-Dick. Also present was Planner Katharine Lacy.
7:00 Continuation of Hearing -- 987 Main Street “Sprague Court”
Present for the Applicant: Gary James, James Engineering.
This was a continuation of a hearing initiated on July 14, 2010. The Applicants seeks Definitive Subdivision Approval for the construction of a residential subdivision consisting of two (2) lots on a total of 1.98 acres. Lot 1 will be 30,600 square feet in size, and includes an existing historic home. Lot 2, where a new home is proposed, will be 45,738 square feet in size. The existing home is located in a Local Historic District, which means that all proposed renovations will be subject to review and approval of the Historic Districts Commission. The changes proposed to the streetscape will also be subject to review and approval by the HDC.
At the last hearing the Board provided the Applicant’s engineer, Gary James, with a variety of comments and suggested revisions to the proposed subdivision roadway. Significantly, board members asked that Mr. James provided additional detail on the “traditional” subdivision layout in order to prove that it could actually be designed to meet all of the regulations, without waivers. In response, at this hearing Mr. James presented a revised set of subdivision plans which incorporates most of the board’s suggestions. Ms. Lacy reported that she and John Chessia had met with Mr. James to review the plans, and that Mr. Chessia had noted that the revised plans do not include a detailed drainage design with sufficient information to be reviewed by a peer review engineer. Mr. James indicated that he would provide a more detailed drainage plan for the next hearing.
Dave Damstra, the Fire Safety Officer, has reviewed the plans and found that, as designed, emergency access to both the existing and proposed house would be sufficient.
Another outstanding item is Board of Health Approval, which is required before the Planning Board can approve the plan. At issue for the Board of Health is whether the lot is large enough to hold two three-bedroom homes in light of the nitrogen loading restrictions requiring 12,500 square feet of land for each bedroom. As currently laid out, the Board of Health would have to grant a waiver from this requirement to allow the Applicant to count the area taken up by the roadway towards the overall area/bedroom ratio.
Board members expressed concern about the precedent that would be set by dividing a lot on Main Street to allow for new development on the back lot. Many of the properties on Main Street are long and narrow in shape, with sufficient area in back to accommodate a second house. Ms. Lacy noted that in most cases it would be impossible to fit in a subdivision roadway as was being proposed here.
The Applicant is scheduled to meet with the Board of Health on August 26, and will return to the Planning Board after that.
7:30 Baker Hill-Update Request for Extension of Time to Complete Subdivision
Present for the Applicant: Richard Andrukonis, Intoccia Company.
On June 14, 2010, the Planning Board voted to extend the time of completion for this project until August 1, 2010. At that time the Planning Board provided a list of items that needed to be done before the time for completion would be extended again. Since that time many of these tasks have been completed, but several still remain. The biggest sticking point is the street lights, which are now installed, but not yet operational because the wires have not yet been pulled through.
Inspector of Buildings Mark Grylls has signed off one of the three pending building permit applications, with an understanding that he would not sign the next one until the lights were operational.
John Chessia provided a project update indicating what work had been completed, and what still needed to be addressed.
Baker Hill Residents expressed their continued frustration and amazement at the lack of progress and unmet deadlines on the part of the developer, and the ineffectiveness of the Town at forcing the pace of progress, particularly relative to the streetlights. Board members concurred that the situation was far from optimal, and agreed to keep a very short leash on the developer, while still allowing the project to move forward. The Board reminded the residents, however, that it was the preferred course to have the developer complete this roadway and attendant improvements. The Board voted to continue the time of completion for the subdivision to September 15, 2010. The Applicant will come back before the Board on September 13 to report on their progress.
Old/New Business
Form A – Hingham Shipyard Lennar Property
Jed Lowry of Lennar, Inc. came before the Board to discuss a series of Form A land divisions that they are proposing for the Lennar Property. The purpose of the land divisions would be to carve the property into smaller pieces that would facilitate financing and title issues between Lennar and MSR as they proceed with the upcoming phases of construction.
The approach they are planning includes a series of lot line realignments which would be submitted over the course of the next 12-18 months as follows:
2) Lot P19B would be used as an intermediate lot
3) Lot line realignments would be made to Lot P19B to reflect buildings purchased by Lennar
4) As buildings are completed, lot line realignments would be made to annex the buildings to Lot P19A (condo)
Lot numbers would be incremented in order to indicate the revision.
So Lot P19A would become Lot P19A-1, P19A-2, etc.
Minutes of July 22 were approved.
The Meeting was adjourned at 9:30.
Respectfully Submitted,
Katharine T. Lacy, Town Planner