Minutes of July 25, 2006
Present
were: Louis Calabrese, Chairman; Marilyn Richards, Vice Chair; Donald Anderson,
Clerk, Thomas Morrissette and Michael Przybylowicz.
Public Hearing – Site Plan
Review - Fields at Chestnut
Clerk, Donald Anderson read the
legal notice and correspondence into the record.
After the review of the plan the
following have been addressed. The stormwater
proposed is to be maintained on site with an over flow to a catch basin on
The Selectmen wrote that they reviewed
the plan and together with reports from the Police Department and Fire
Department have voted to recommend approval subject to said departments’
requirements and recommendations.
The Police recommended:
Street lights be installed to improve
the safety of the site for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Illumination will also act as a deterrent to
potential criminal activity in the neighborhood. Sidewalks shown for road “C” need to be
extended to a point at least halfway around the proposed cul-de-sac and all
proposed crosswalks within the site conform to those currently installed in the
town. Street signs need to be installed
as soon as practicable to assist emergency units in locating a specific address. The site sign proposed for
The Fire Department wrote that
hydrants must be placed no further apart as shown on submitted plans dated May
2006.
Mr. Calabrese then asked the
applicant to make his presentation. Dan
Roulier, developer, explained that they met with Ms. Macdonald to discuss the possibility
of building an age restricted community at a time when there were no rules or
regulations relative to it. He said that
they went through the process with the Planning Board of writing regulations
that matched the other communities in the area for active adult housing and
worked through all of the necessary procedures over a period of time, which was
quite lengthy and involved. Mr. Roulier said
he was sure that it would result in the best possible planned community that
Jeff LeBeau, Engineer from
Baystate Environmental, explained that the plan was a conceptual preliminary
plan of the over-all development the way they envisioned it. He said that they designed the project to be
parceled off to be phased and what they would like to get approved that evening
was the zoning layout plan showing 31 units which they would build as the market
demands. Mr. LeBeau said that there
would be a boulevard entrance and 90° intersections that T and wrap around and that the project
would be high-end with landscaping. He
added that the developer will provide 26 foot wide private roadways with street
signs. He said that the site is sand and
gravel so they are able to put infiltration trenches off of all the catch
basins with an emergency overflow to go into the town’s system. He further explained that by doing this, they
would not have to cut down as many trees in order to create a detention basin. He said that traffic counts were performed by
Fuss & O’Neil and the level of service for the new intersections are A’s
& B’s, which is not very high and is an acceptable level for such a
project.
Ms. Richards asked what the
density of the phase was going to be?
Mr. LeBeau said they were subdividing each section out and market sales
would dominate the size of the units. He
also stated that at the present time, he could not give a definitive answer,
but assured the Board that they would be well within the parameters of
allowable density.
Mr. Przybylowicz
asked if all of the units would have 2 car garages and if there would be
additional off street parking? Mr.
LeBeau answered yes to both questions and said that they did a similar project
in
Mr.
Calabrese addressed the audience for any questions.
Grace
Hoff,
Fred McDonald,
Karen McDonald,
each unit and would a club house
or pool, etc be included. Mr. Roulier
said that there was not going to be a pool or club house, but there will be
walking trails. He said the way the
regulations were written someone would have to be 55 years or older to be a permanent
resident to live in the structure. He
added that children would not be able to live with the residents and go to the
Rosanna Wilkins,
Mr. Morrissette said it would be a
deed restriction and there would be a homeowners’ association to keep the
residents on target with the rules. Mr.
Calabrese added that it was also a zoning by-law. Ms. Richards said she would hope that when
someone moved in that they would follow the rules.
Attorney Martin said that there is
an existing zoning by-law and that the homeowners condominium association would
be in charge of enforcing the deed restriction.
He said at the time of the sale verification
needs to be shown that you meet the qualifications in order to purchase a unit,
and that the condominium association would be in charge of monitoring itself. Ms. Wilkins asked if there were any
restrictions regarding pets? Attorney
Martin said in the zoning by-law there was not, however, the condominium
association might create one.
Chris St. George,
Mrs. Thomas,
Mr. McDonald asked what was the
tentative completion date be for the first phase? Mr. Roulier said that their goal is to try
and build 20 to 25 units a year, so within the next year the first phase should be done. He said that their game plan is once they get
started and get the first phase in, then their goal will be to minimize the
aggravation to the people living in the area.
Ms. McDonald asked if it would
require the raising of the American Saw facility? Attorney Martin said that American Saw was on
the other side of the street and that it would not be affected. Mr. Roulier said that there is an existing
house that is fully depreciated and they have began demolition because it is
part of the landscaping area and the existing 2 white barns on the property are
also being demolished.
Mr. Calbreses addressed the
audience for further questions, there being none addressed the Board.
Mr. Morrissette asked if they went
before the Conservation Commission yet.
Mr. Roulier said that they are outside the 100 foot buffer zone, that he
spoke with George Kingston that day and Mr. Kingston asked them to move unit 18
a little, however it is not a requirement.
Mr. Roulier explained to Mr.
Kingston that he would tell the Planning Board of their conversation at
tonight’s meeting.
Mr. Anderson asked if there were
any concerns about the comments by Police, Fire or Selectmen? Mr. Roulier said as far as street lights they
plan on putting in their own designer street lights that are more lamp post
than street light, they have changed the sidewalk to go around the cul-de-sac
and they are in full agreement with all of the other comments and have no
issues.
Mr. Calabrese asked if the street
lights would be operated by the homeowners’ association? Mr. Roulier yes everything within the whole
project is owned and operated by the association which means that the association
is going to pay to water the lawn, for snow plowing and all lawn
maintenance. He added that the entire
project will be totally private and the town will never have to maintain it.
Mr. Morrissette asked if there was
going to be trash dumpster areas? Mr.
Roulier said no, that it will be private trash pick up for be each individual condo.
Mr. Morrissette asked who would be doing
the landscaping? Mr. Roulier said that
they have a complete landscaping plan provided by David Pane who is a
registered landscape architect and they intend to do a nice job.
Ms. Richards asked when they are
developing their 31 units in phase 1 do they have a plan to start at one end
and work their way around? Mr. Roulier
said he feels it is going to be under construction quickly and yes, they will
work their way to the other phases.
With no further questions or
discussion, the chair called for a motion to close the hearing. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board
voted unanimously (5-0) to close the public hearing. Ms. Richards asked if they need to approve a
waiver to allow the 26 foot roadway?
Upon motion duly made and
seconded, the Board voted unanimously (5-0) to approve the site plan as
presented with street lamps to be installed and maintained by the condominium association
and that the roadway would have 26 feet of pavement.
Public Hearing -
Clerk, Donald Anderson read a
letter into the record dated July 20, 2006 from Theo Kindermans, Geller DeVellis
Inc. which stated that G & L Realty have decided not go forward with
subdivision of the property and requested a withdrawal of Stevens Drive
Definitive Plan. They have decided to build an extension to the existing
nursing home rather than a separate building on a newly created vacant
parcel. They will be starting the design
process shortly and will be contact with the Board to discuss their plans.
ANR –
Clerk, Donald Anderson read a letter from Chester Czupryna
dated July 25, 2006 requesting to withdraw the ANR plan for
Minutes
The
Board reviewed the minutes of June 27th and May 30th, 2006,
and upon motion duly made and seconded, voted unanimously (5-0) to accept them
with edits.
Ms.
Macdoanld said while dealing with July 11th minutes she would like
to discuss the decision to disapprove the preliminary subdivision plan of Edens
& Avant as she was not at the last meeting.
She said that there were some issues that Mr. Morrissette had raised and
Mr. Przybylowicz had responded to and she did not know if they wanted to write
a dissenting vote. Mr. Anderson said he
thought when the by-laws call for reasons for disapproval, in fairness to the dissenting
parties their comments would be in the minutes not in a formal reason for dissenting
because there is nothing in the by-laws that he could see that calls for a minority
opinion. Mr. Przybylowicz said even Attorney
Freyman said herself when a plan is not approved the Board must provide detail
why it was not approved. Ms. Richards
said when she provided the draft information to Ms. Macdonald to insert into
the form B-2 it should go out under Mr. Calabrese’s signature but she did not
know how he felt about it, so she asked Ms. Macdonald to create two signature
pages, one under the chairman and one under the vice chairman in case he had a
problem with it. She said usually the
votes that are taken are not always in the opinion of the chairman but she
wanted him to know that they had the discussion and what he wants to do is fine
with her. Mr. Calabrese said he felt
that he was obligated as the chairman to sign it regardless of whether he
approved it or not and the only thing that he was questioning was should it say who voted for, who voted against? Ms. Macdonald said it is in the minutes but
not in the decision. Mr. Morrissette
said the one other problem that he has with the issue is when something is disapproved,
he feels that it is improper to say when you are asked reasons why we
disapproved that we will put it in writing and get it to you. He said there were some discussions about it
and they were minimal. Ms. Richards said
she feels that it was not minimal, the vote encompassed three nights of rather
intense discussion on the part of the Board between the Board and the applicant,
and between Board members. She said that
the Board took the vote and Ms. Freyman asked if we would please put the
reasons for denial in writing and Ms. Richards said she would put something
together and that there is nothing in the document that is not in the minutes.
The
Board reviewed the minutes of July 11, 2006 and upon motion duly made and
seconded, voted unanimously (4-0) to accept them, with edits.
The
Board reviewed the ANR for
After
discussion and upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously
(5-0) to approve the ANR.
Request for Signage –
After review of the application and upon motion duly made and seconded, the
Board voted unanimously (5-0) to approve the sign, conditioned upon review and approval by
the Building Inspector with the issuance of a permit by the Building
Inspector.
Request for Signage – Maybury Associates
After review of the applications and upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted unanimously (5-0)
to approve the applicant’s request to install the three signs as presented.
The first sign is the main building sign which will measure a total of
96 square feet; The second sign is a building sign over an additional entrance
which will measure a total of 4 square feet which together with the main
building sign will be within the required maximum of 100 square feet. The third sign is a directional sign which will
be placed approximately 200 feet off the road way and measure a total of 8
square feet.
This
approval is conditioned upon obtaining approval and a permit from the Building
Inspector.
Miscellaneous
Mr. Calabrese noticed that Ray LaPlante
is on the August 8th agenda to meet with Board to discuss
Mr. Calabrese said the one thing
that he was looking at is the very well attended meeting that was against other
projects – he believes that the applicant would have a hard time at town
meeting. He reminded the Board that at
the public hearing they tried to tell the applicants it was in their best
interest to go straight residential and go for a special permit for something
that was basically there before such as a doctors office.
Mr. Calabrese said a branch bank
is a commercial use and he thinks the people across the street were saying that
they did not want to extend anything further that way and perhaps there is
someone else that might feel the same way.
Ms. Richards said she thinks that he has the right to go after it.
High
Volume Businesses at
Mr.
Przybylowicz asked Ms. Macdonald for a revised trip generation calculation for
the for Spoleto’s based on lunch and dinner. Ms. Macdonald stated she would ask Mr. Pesce
if he based it on lunch and dinner. Mr.
Przybylowicz also said that the number of trips per day for Starbucks was
omitted.
Spoleto’s
Ms. Macdonald advised the members
that she spoke with the building inspector that day and in reading the Special
Permit for Spoleto’s #5 he explained that the outside area has to be fenced in but
also needs a gate in case of a fire, per code.
Request for Waiver of Site Plan
Review – Ralph Rinaldi
Mr. Anderson read a request for Waiver of Site Plan
Review from Ralph Rinaldi to open a storefront business for gun and ammunition
sales and reviewed
reports from the Police and Fire Departments.
Mr. Rinaldi is not intending to have an actual business, rather simply a
store front at the location, the use does not fall within the parameters of
owning and operating a business in East Longmeadow. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board
unanimously voted (4-0) to deny the request for a Waiver of Site Plan Review to
open a storefront for gun and ammunition sales.
The members stated that if and when Mr. Rinaldi intends to open an
actual business, he could come back before the Board.
Therefore, with no further business and upon motion duly
made and seconded, the Board voted to close the meeting at 9:45 p.m.
Very
truly yours,
Donald
J. Anderson, Clerk