Planning Board Meeting June 27 2024

001e e e good evening everyone and welcome to the ashin planning board meeting of Thursday June 27th 20124 just a reminder to everyone that the uh meeting is being recorded and broadcast um as always our first well I will call the meeting to order officially at 7:22 p.m. and first on our agenda after that is the clerk's report Kate uh Madam chair we have not received any correspondence to the planning board since the last meeting all right thank you next on our agenda then uh our public hearings we have one public hearing tonight this is 13 Joanne drive it's a site plan approval application um for uh solar panels within the Housing Development there Peter can you give us an update on where we are sure thank you so much so at the last meeting

002we talked about this revie we reviewed this project and I brought to um everyone willan boy's attention that um the fire department requested uh one more Swift uh analysis uh turning radius um which showed um the turn into I believe Building 19 which is can be sh that which is on page I believe uh 14 if I'm not mistaken excuse me it's on page uh p [Music] v-9 um furthermore uh in your packets you'll see a email from uh deputy chief Lynn morahan uh citing that the fire department has reviewed this plan and that it is um it the they believe the fire truck um will be able to make the turn uh and most importantly put the Outriggers out um from the truck and so uh that is the update on the plan uh

003for the remaining issues um I did provide a um draft decision and I did make a couple notes to it uh since I sent this out number one I updated the um the construction drawings um I did had the I had I had 613 as a revision date it's actually 66 and then I also receive I I added into the plan uh that they were received on 624 um and just as last week we will stamp them with the with the planning office uh stamp a second item that I did update on the plan sorry pet can you just repeat um the revision date is is we have it listed as 613 in the column of dates does that does that that's good I edited that to 66 okay that's that should be 66 instead

004of 613 correct okay and I'll just double check so Mark Mark Don who is on the call Mark you're you're co-host so please feel free and un mute yourself uh but that is the date that I had on the submitted plans uh that were sent to us on the 24th Mark do you concur that's the date of the plans yes okay I know they were probably updated since uh but that's these are the ones that I received on the 24th that's correct um and then the second item I did just want to make a note of and I went to the Building Commissioner kind of talk through this um is regarding the uh condition regarding the construction area so obviously this solar array is going to be put up in an existing parking lot and

005there's no way for the applicant to chain off the parking lot uh because the the residents of the 208 units within Joan Drive Apartment Complex need to partk their cars so obviously the applicant is going to have to be vigilant of how they work and and how they manage um their work schedule and they'll have to obviously communicate with the residents of um uh Chestnut Street Apartments however all the building material including the solar arrays and the panels I said that those should be locked up uh in order they should be have a lay down area that is uh secured with a chain L fence with a lock on it that obviously the construction the the construction uh workers entities will be able to lock and secure overnight so nobody's entering into um their lay

006down area to to access their materials um I just think from a from a this is not a site where you're going to be able to put a chain link fence around it so I thought that was probably the best option and and speaking with the Building Commissioner that's what I kind of that's where I landed regarding that uh typical condition which has had to be edited um so other than that uh I I don't have any more updates but you know Mark please step forward as the applicant and and update the board if you have any other items you want to uh speak to but I think at this point I would leave it to the board uh again Mark donaho uh for the landlord uh echos smart Solutions is is the company that

007I work for there's nothing else to add uh beyond that we have a lay down area that we use for the rooftop solar we'll be using that same area we had a chain link fence around it at that time as well well we had no issues uh for several months uh with materials on site and when this when this starts to finish this is a six- week project as soon as it starts very quick thank you any questions from any questions from the board before we start to review the decision um I have a question so um the fire truck is a ladder truck but we're in the process of purchasing a ladder truck in did anyone like is that the same size as the future one or because if it was that tight I

008think we have to at least kind of find out right so the the note you got came from the note that I got yesterday came from Lynn Moran Deputy Chief of the fire department um and so I believe that's going to be adequate you know what they're proposing is going to be adequate for for the new truck uh for the new truck you know um this is the specs that we have these are the specs that we're Prov by the astion fire department from a from a front on angle of the truck I can tell you a fire truck it measures eight feet from side to side um the wheel I mean with the the rear view with the mirrors on each side it's a little bit more obviously those can get folded in um

009when a fire truck um actually we measured this yesterday yester because of this question when a firet truck puts the Outriggers out it's about 5et on each side on top of that so it's about 18t side to side with the Outriggers um we believe this plan drawn to scale will give enough room for the Outriggers in the event uh if a truck has to pull up in front of building 19 and put the Outriggers out typically a drive aisle is about 24 feet when you talk about uh when you go to a a supermarket right where people with you know where people can back out and back in um but it it seems that we will have enough room um and uh I don't see the new truck being any larger than what we currently

010have be any wider it might be longer but won't be wider yeah yeah yeah yeah and I think given that this is a letter as of yesterday from Lyn Mahan I don't see that we need to go back and ask them for their exactly what they were thinking I guess they they're signing off and that would be in their in their court has anyone have any other questions before we just go through the go through the document is this something we want to go through kind of item by item or should we take it section by section and just read through ourselves how do you want to we've been through a lot of the I read I read through and I I just had a couple of like points of like hm did we address

011it I couldn't figure out where we did so for like so I don't know how you want to do it but I didn't think it was complicated that would require like a line by line review as long as we've all read it um I just want to on page two so we changed the date of the drawings but the paragraph C it said issued for review on June 13th is that supposed to change to the 24 so I just change that okay no I just so this made a correction of it obviously I wrote um hold a revision date of June 6th and just talking about item C that refers to June 13th yeah I don't know if that's correct or not if that's supposed to be the Landscaping plan was separate yes yes it

012was I think it is important as as we told last time to have make sure there's a date stamp on these that matches what's in here so yeah res scanned so just um in K you can pass this along uh that is the Landscaping plan that was submitted at the last meeting uh that's where I oh issued for review yeah June 13 2024 in the okay in the stamp so that matches yeah so my question had to do like in looking at our minutes actually from May 23rd Trisha you had suggested moving um you you said the revised plan should include property lines being confirmed ensuring the enlarged area where the Transformers are located does not obstruct the parking Lane I just wanted to make sure we've addressed that or it's in decision in a

013sufficient way so the applicant did address that with these revised plans okay as long as form and we don't need to mention anything because we're referencing the plans yeah you can you can tell on these um plans the pink line no longer goes through the parking spaces so I assume that that's the yep the line of the fence or the park and the only other thing from the minutes that grab my attention is I had made a comment about um the two lighting poles that are being removed where the largest panel section is being installed and the developer had indicated they would be adding lighting lighting underneath the canopy and I didn't see that in the decision is that in so I don't know if we want to make an extra condition that just indicates

014that lights will be added underneath the canopy sure there are plans showing those lights as long as it's in the plans are they can can you direct us to that um oh is it on the sheet right here oh no those are carport details it's it's small printed at this size but if we're referencing a plan that has it I'm good I just wanted to make sure we do do you know Mark where that is in the drawing where it's I don't know where it was it was it was not in the original plan set and added and I don't know exactly and I can't see it on the screen here but I can't remember where it is in the package it was it was a it was like the Landscaping plan it was it

015was brought in late but it shows the location of the lights and it gives it has a little graph that talks about uh the light levels under the canopies did that come in with the Landscaping plan yeah I um it's a separate plan from the Landscaping plan I guess if we can't find it easily maybe we can ref reference it in the decision assuming yes if we got a drawing of it then add it as a table of content type a list Peter I can send it to you in three minutes uh yeah can you please send it to me and then we can kind of continue on reference it yeah and then my my only my last point was page five where we talk about paragraph four the existing trees import condition replacing with

016new trees I'm only curious if we want to maybe Define what the new trees are like you know new trees that are comparable to the trees being removed something like that the land the Landscaping on the landies them as red but is it imply that they're going to be similar type or size like how are we're defining them specifically I'm good then I'm that's fine that's perfect that's great so then the only addition I have is the document relative to the Lights Under The Canopy thank you Peter I can send that to you in the next three or four minutes as soon as uh soon as I get off okay you think you might have it if if it was yeah um yeah obviously on our TP all of our typical conditions um we've already

017talked about the screening um were we okay with the um with the location of the panel and the um Transformer where it was shown there was some reasons for doing that um I did catch on this before it before it went out that we changed uh the street names to just say adjacent streets so start that habit of not having to find specific streets for and then there is just the one special condition about if requested by applicants the applicant will provide anti-glare film for the six resident Windows facing the solar panels located in building 19 and forgive me uh are we saying we want to do that proactively or wait for a tenant to have an issue because we're still not sure there's going to be an issue it says if requested by residents

018so yeah I agree if residents may not want to film on their Windows they may like it as it is all right so besides the lighting which we're still looking at I think it must be somewhere I I I don't know I don't know where I can't pull it off easy but it sounds like he's going to send it to yeah Mark will send it to me and I'll add add to the front page as a as a I mean unless there's changes I can make a motion if we're ready it right now Peter okay thank you Mark um so I'll make a motion to approve the what is this called certificate of approval site plan approval Chestnut Place Apartments as drafted with the edit regarding adding the reference to the lighting Under The Canopy

019second that any other comments oh um should we have do we have public we didn't have public we can we can have public can I can I actually okay I'll um withdraw my motion yeah let's have public comment first is there any and there's opening up for public comment that was for you especially mark thank you no problem um okay so um Anna I guess there's notion to approve the site plan approval application for 13 Grand Drive I apologize once again we have to close the public hearing oh then I pull I would draw that once again we can do this today we can we're getting really tired I think so do you want to close this okay so um we need a motion close public I'll make a motion to close the public hearing

020second and a roll C vote an tmanit i cther Jersey got Trish Kendall I we made it through that now now I'll make a motion to to approve the site plan approval application for 13n Drive including the certificate of approval site plan approval as drafted with the addition of the reference to the lights being added Under The Canopy second that and I will call Anna tki I Kath Jersey gu and Trisha Kendall I okay so that is approved um with the lighting obviously edit in Mark if you can send me that I'll add it to the decision and I'll last of PL board to sign the decision tonight and file it with the clerk's office in the morning um understood I sent it so you should have it any any second um thank you very

021much everyone thank you have a good night all right so next on our agenda and it's been there for a while is the planning board reorganization but we're again missing a member this might be well we'll have to talk about this L later in the meeting this is just something we're kind of kicking down the road until we have until we have a full table um is that still good with everybody I just have a question so is this like the reorganization of like positions or are we talking about like our meeting schedule reorganization it's mostly uh well traditionally it's been chair Vice chair clerk um those those positions so we usually do that as shortly after elections as possible though I don't think there's any rule about when we have to do it just

022is how often do I it's not annual it's informal it's usually annual I don't I don't it's usually annual after after after elections and so that's when it typically happens yeah so like I said usually we just wait for a full board for obvious reasons um I think that's fine okay um if anyone wants to practice being chair and take a turn I'm more than willing so just let me know you said very high standards right I you just see what just happened didn't you right so um okay so um item number five on the agenda is the planning Board review of Hest Stein's renewal application to the design Review Committee I think we have um I saw in here um hana's uh Talent Bank form which she she refilled out and submitted so that's

023right after the agenda actually and I see her on live L but she probably wasn't intending to come on this quickly Hana are you are you there just a to to Hana Hana you're now a co-host so please feel free and unmute yourself uh and you can turn your camera on she is there okay hello hello so Hana if you just want to um obviously we've all we all know you um but if you just want to tell us a little bit about you know your experience on the design review committee so far Mo and mostly your continued interest I guess in in reapplying okay um well my to date has been on several different projects and I have um I mean I think I've made some suggestions that were useful I've also been very

024interested in just uh being aware of what's going on in Ashland kind of putting it into a bigger picture um in terms of continuing um similar interest I mean I've been an Ashland resident for a very long time I have worked for numerous architectural firms and studied architecture very interested in the development of our town and obviously you know the future beckons however uh it would be nice that it um is realized in a way that is comfortable and positive and um attractive to the residents and future residents and people who uh have lived here for a long time that it doesn't feel like a foreign place to them so I'm you know I'm just aware of all these different issues that are going on and how sometimes they're um a little you know at

025odds with each other however I do enjoy the process process of looking for the solutions and you know Finding ways maybe to suggest Alternatives or possibilities so I'm just uh very interested in the future of Ashland and would like to continue mainly for that reason does anyone have any specific questions for H um she and I I had called let's see what I must was at the beginning of the week the days are kind of going so fast I think earlier in the week Han and I talked by pH earlier this week was it earlier this week um that we talked by I had called her I reached out to her um and we talked by phone for actually intended to be it went on longer than probably either of us intended right to kind

026of discuss um the design Review Committee and the planning board and um and I think um for me primary IL what came out of that and this is not um in a way in a side um from Hana is about understanding what I'm looking for in um in for candidates for the design Review Committee and one obviously is some experience with design in some component right there's lots of different components of the design and engineering and and we need a lot of different voices but um but also I think um because we we did talk about the struggles a little bit with the planning board and design Review Committee then and like and what came out of that for me is to um is looking for candidates also that have an understanding or or um

027want to have an understanding of the ashin bylaws that I know that we as a planning board are obviously we're into them with everything we do that we're going back to the criteria we're going back to the bylaw on on whatever zoning District we're in and trying to understand what was intended by that bylaw when it was approved by the residents of Ashland at town meeting right and looking for areas where maybe it's outdated and maybe it has to change and that's where the comprehensive plan comes in that we are hoping the comprehensive plan starts to guide us in the future about how these bylaws might change so I'm looking for candidates that have that understanding I guess that that neither the planning board nor the design Review Committee is a free-for-all that none of

028us are the town architect that none of us are the town landscape architect but instead we have the set of guidelines that that we need to go by and then hopefully use our our experience to to enrich enrich those bylaws so that they so that we make the right decision according to the intention of the residents at the time and so we did have we did talk about that we talked about you know as as we go forward trying to really look at the B Hana expressed interest in if there was a committee that started to look more more at bylaws especially as the comprehensive plan um starts to reveal those things to us about where those changes should be but being being more involved in trying to look at those BW to figure out

029what kind of things we should propose so it's a tricky place to be I I think and that's what about knowing that you might want to change things or you know have a strong opinion about design but being able to hold back and be more neutral based on what the bylaws are are telling us and those are the types of candidates I think I'm looking for that can see that difficult place to be in acknowledge it and kind of be willing to be in that position and willing to um work toward change while still adhering to the current bylaws and I think after our convers ation I I think Hannah that you were that you were in that position that you understood that kind of difficult place and kind of willing to work with it

030like is that is that fair like is that a fair summary of our conversation oh I think you froze was okay was really um very beneficial and that is a very good summary of uh where we ended up so I just wanted to um be transparent and put that out for the board as well all right with that I I'm I'm going to make a motion to approve the appointment of Hannah Stein to the design Review Committee and the approval of her renewal application second that and a roll call vote De Anna tki I Katherine Jersy I and Trisha Kendall I so Hana you are reappointed for I think it's a term of three years thank you thank you for your service for the time right I appreciate it and I appreciate our conversation the

031other night as well so thank you you too I hope there's more to come I'm sure there will be good night all right so we are in a spot in the agenda for general public comment is there any general public comment yes has a yes thank you Mark the son4 Hon Road after Mass follow up on the comprehensive plan which was a good good meeting total a lot of people this show up had a lot of good ideas and had a good table group that I was involved in Mr Peter was the was one of the captains and guided me through and made make sure I made sense to everybody else but I I'm just saying that it was it was a good group and to follow up it was on the guidance of the

032zone and bylaw plans that is looking for the future and it looks to be up needs to be upgraded and it needs follow through for the cof plant and for everything else that goes through this town it was worth the time to be there I gave myself a grade of a sea cuz I I start off slow but came on strong and the table itself was a little bit ahead of me or as with me and I grade the table I go I would say a good a A+ and the whole room that night was worth the time to be there this town in the future 2035 when the Z people the Zen people will be in their 20s and they will have to say yes this town is looking in our future but since

033it's June 27th 2024 now we got to look forward to everything else that comes with it so keep on going with the con a plan verbal from public and everybody involved and I appreciate the time that was given and the time tonight thank you thank you Mark all right moving on to reports from board members and town planner first is comprehensive plan um thank I want to thank Mark because we I do want to report that we were able to have one full additional group rolling up their sleeves and brainstorming and helping because Mark and other members of the public that aren't part of the committee came which I think um we we can make room for even more tables next time just for context this meeting we had that Mark is referencing was was

034it two days ago and it was the first of two sessions that the committee is doing to develop the vision for Ashland so out of all of those public meetings that were happening over the last few months all of that data was collected by the consultant and now it's time to create a vision eventually that Vision uh will be presented obviously to the select board and the planning board in September and Kate can talk more about that meeting but ultimately Mark was one of those people just to give context yeah so there'll be a similar meeting on July 18th at the community center starting at 6 pm and we would love to have as many people as possible the um following that is on here September 4th I don't know if that's it seemed it

035was thrown out as a meeting night and I don't know if that's confirmed I think that's the select board date so yeah so I went back and forth actually after the meeting with the consultant and see my recollection was that we were going to look for a different date however the recollection of the committee um was that that date was going to be we were going to the the JM goson was going to present to the committee right I mean the to the both and invite the planning board and anybody interested from the comprehensive plan committee to be present and so that would take place at the uh September 4th select board meeting which is going to be the Wednesday night um after Labor Day Labor day is going to be Monday State primary is

036Tuesday um and uh from a voting standpoint and then we're going to have this the select board meeting night on the 4th then I think this is where I I think we everyone kind of got a little bit turned around is that there was a proposal to have a comprehensive plan meeting after the select board presentation right the same night the same night that would probably take place say in the the basement here in town hall it sounds like that's not happening and that will not happen because obviously the two select board members would not be able to make that the town manager would not be able to make that they'll be doing their business up here in this room so with that I think the presentation was going to move forward on September 4th

037and then the committee was going to look for a follow-up date to have a follow-up meeting meeting um as a comprehensive planning committee and just to kind of give context for the planning board role in that because the consultant did a really good job kind of explaining what's next which is that out of this comprehensive plan joint presentation that we're going to receive which is sort of like this is what we have in mind for a vision right after that the steering committee gets together and the second meeting and starts to create strategies which which are basically plans to make the vision happen right um and the way that this was explained is obviously the planning board um can participate in this in whatever way that we choose as a board but what was interesting

038to hear from the consultant was that that Vision after you create all the strategies and all the goals you come back to the vision a few months later to see if it's consistent because in theory by listing all the possibilities of I don't know as an example one of the them that came up was trying to find balance between development and um conservation right let's just say that that is a a goal for the town as part of our vision in that you might have 20 different proposals of zoning changes and out of those 20 you might land on 10 but then you're going to come back to that vision and see if the vision changes in light of the 10 strategies that you chose so I think that's really important for the planning board

039to pay attention to because all of these strategies that are going to be thrown at this steering committee are going to have Design Elements zoning elements Etc and the expertise of the planning board will be really important I have a couple questions since we have actually have time to ask them um first of all when you talk about the Visions is that um do you know is that like a one of the first SE sections in the eventual comprehensive plan like visions and then it's some paragraphs or Pages describing that's an actual develop yes exactly so does it that's my understanding does it cover um like all the different um elements transportation and ucation no so the the vision is kind of like the brainstorming of imagining what ashin looks like in the ideal World

04010 years from now if you had no limits on budget or anything like that not divided subdivided not subdivided and but then that vision is going to lead to the sub to subdividing into those little categories so through if you you know I can there was five or six groups and I can read the one that came out of my group if it's helpful I can say I can tell you and I think Kate can confirm that the other vision statements that we drafted two days ago were very similar there seems to be some consistency on the steering committee in how we're starting to visualize the vision but we basically had five tables that drafted the vision two days ago and then the consultant takes those drafts tries to squeeze them into one presents it

041to the steering committee at this next July meeting the steering committee then line changes it and brings it to September 4th so if you're interested I can read you one of one of them from my group I don't know Kate if you have yours just to give you a flavor of it I would be if it's okay just not not to not to have it set in stone yeah just understand what a vision is yeah so this was one that was created in my group my group included Nate from the zoning board of appeals um Janet was there um who else was in my group two more individuals uh you had Nate Janet I'm terrible with names you know what I have the I have the attendant sheet you have the attendant sheet so Peter

042can look up who was in the group just to give you context but it was an interesting group um it was an interesting group um so this is what we ended up together developing through the exercise and like I said what was interesting is the other groups had something very similar uh by 2035 Ashland is an inclusive affordable and sustainable Town built on History walkability integrating with open Green Space and with a small town feel within our vibrant neighborhoods by 2035 Ashlin is known for its flourishing Public School System abundant public spaces and widely accessible Gathering spots Ashlin continues to protect maintain its green spaces historic features and connectivity such as bike paths p pedestrian walkways sidewalks and public transportation understanding the pressures of growth and development ashin seeks to preserve values of connectivity sustainability

043and inclusion including ethnic economic religious and cultural while developing neighborhoods with a common space where people can learn work shop play and retire in order to balance growth in Community Values connection Ashlin will develop a focus on people of all ages being able to afford to stay and enjoy Ashland including C crc's resources for kids opportunities for learning working and retiring adults um so a lot of the other Visions were like that so you can kind of see the flavor of it of what it represents and then whatever the ultimate vision is that you're going to hear about September 4th what happens after is the whole stering committee gets together with all of the consultant experts and sub teams all of the different experts that they have to then take whatever the ultimate vision is

044and start to say Okay if that is your vision for 10 years from now here's your 50 strategies to make it happen and those 50 strategies will break apart into those categories of Transportation housing or whatever to make the vision happen well there's goal so it's yeah it's Vision goals and and strategies and maybe that's because my second question is all that data that was collected all those touch points all those leads to this so did so did you guys review that data and then you wrote the stat exactly got it okay yeah okay exactly so all of those public things that we did led to the data all the data was absorbed by the whole committee then the committee broke up into these groups each group created one of these and then now you

045do another in theory you're doing another public reach out because right now the steering committee has these ideas of what the vision is meets again in July that can be open to the public Mark can show up again as so can other members of the public you should all show up and where did the goals can you explain that a little bit about that will be after September 4th no that will be our next meeting at least starting on them oh starting on them okay I thought similar Workshop this it be a Sim that will be we should get that a week before or maybe even sooner just smooshed up Vision one draft and then the next meeting will be a similar Workshop meeting but goals so a good point so is that trying to

046put the vision into a a working uh into an action item a goal is it what it's I thought it was more about themes it was I would say themes would be a good way to describe the goals yes so the themes for example out of that out of that statement I just read the themes from my group were um what were they inclusiveness green open space VA um planning that is values based or intentional to our values creating livable communities and sustainability policy so those were the five themes so my understanding is the next session you wrap up the vision statement all together you wrap up your themes and then out of those themes you're going to get strategies and all of those strategies end up being the transportation the affordable housing and whatever

047else that's my recollection of it I think strategies come later very specifics if we want to let's use the sustainability bring by zero Net Zero by 2040 how do we get there specific so it might be just like different terminology that you guys are like that's obviously going from General to specific but whether something's labeled a goal or a strategy or a yeah is going to become clear but I think the part that's really important is after September 4th the committee is going to get overwhelmed by all of these strategies from the Consulting team right it's going to be like oh you want sustainability here's 20 potential zoning changes somebody's going to have to start the the steering committee is going to have to start understanding out of those 20 what actually works for Ashland

048and this is where I believe the planning board has a very vital jurisdictional role right that's why it's a planning process so I think we need to be active in that we need to think about that and we need to help the steering committee and Kate and I just two people are not going to be able to bring all the expertise um so I would I would urge the rest of the planning board to be to be at the September 4th meeting but also to pay attention to the ultimate strategies that come late after that yeah I think if you can continue to give us a heads up about those things where you like I said I would I would I would never make a claim that I am in that I have expertise in

049planning however as as a group we've probably read through those bylaws more than that's most people yeah that's that's exactly point we have yeah yeah and and and we may have some experience relative to other projects as to what makes sense for Ashlin or how to do it or what needs to change okay great well that was very helpful thank you so July 18th is the second kind of meeting and then September 4th is the big one um the big one that we should try to try to be there okay there'll be another meeting at the library in August I believe on July on August 15 and so the next meeting will be at the community center which is going to be a four which is going to be a six table six seven eight

050how many tables we need um working session in in that's July 18th then uh just from a conversational standpoint the the comprehensive plan committee will meet again August 15th at the library um and then we'll be then the next then will be September 4th for the presentation from the cite board okay all right great thank you um okay so design Review Committee besides but we just went through in my conversation with Hana I don't have anything to add there um sustainability committee I don't I don't have anything there and a since comprehensive plan you haven't been meeting with them have no not really they haven't really reached out to me unless I've missed something um I mean I'd be happy to do it to find out if we're going to do anything on the tree

051bylaw yeah let's reach out because I think that we should need we need a work plan if we are going to it' be good to know what their plan is I can reach out yeah to see what what they're doing because they haven't reached just keep up to date yeah can you carbon copy me when you do that sure in case they need something okay on CPC um we did re meet recently because we have a new member coming on from um um the Conservation Commission um who also always sends a rep just like we do um so we met but otherwise you know being so far from a town meeting there really there wasn't any proposals um but I will be restarting to look at the um The Corner Spot area the farmers market

052area um which are kind of in limbo a little bit in in CPC but um always kind of trying to gather information but always waiting I think for action for the comprehensive plan like as much as possible right how how much how much effort gets put into those um relative to other things so let's CPC Metro West Regional collaborative that was what you had just attended uh they had a breakfast two weeks ago I did not attend Alvaro was there uh he said it was a good breakfast uh many legislators were there um and that was held at the Marboro Public Library but um I think other than that having a good turnout and it was a good conversation about what's going on from legislative perspective number one housing Bond Bill uh still right now

053with the Senate uh is probably the biggest piece of legislation that could affect uh any matters that we look at so I think it's still time uh TBD but um obviously if any any plany board wants to know plany board's members want to know more information about the housing Bond Bill I'm still trying to learn about it um to see how it would affect us um but I know they're still hashing out a couple things up with the Senate number one um is um by right um accessory unit dwellings which are granny Flats in-law apartments whatever you want to say I know that's a fairly large discussion uh and a piece of that bill um so does that look like it's going to pass so it got through the Senate so it got through the

054house um so it was he proposed that I think it was at 4 billion the Senate excuse me the house attacked on another $2.2 billion and then right now it is in the Senate so how it gets passed I think it's going to probably go through um has a lot of things going on in it um expansion of MW um affordable housing trust gets a bunch of money um huge investment into the existing public housing um is would be talk about the bond bill as a whole this is a huge Bond bill as a whole the accessory dwelling is a little ACC dwelling a little piece of might be good to see that that section I'll try to find yeah it's I would say just stay tuned and you know um I always look at

055MMA website Mass Municipal association website and I kind of glance at um you know any articles but it' be good to figure it out there's been a lot of stuff in the globe about it yeah I'm guessing the communities that have accessory dwellings already are going to benefit with some money so this is where you know waiting for the comprehensive plan to be done may be a disadvantage because if the state starts to regulate whatever they're regulating it could be global warming stuff it could be accessory dwellings we need to kind of be aware so that we don't miss the boat financially yeah so it would be by right so we have we have accessory dwellings they just have to take they have to Zing board of appeals special permit and I'm going to say

056a majority of communities have special permit sessor un dwellings at they're very minimal I probably say on the top of my head I can only name maybe two or three communities one that I know of that has by right and so I think it's just a matter of iry that out um so so is it too soon for us to start looking at that like like what that would I think there'd be a time frame a roll out you know I think from my standpoint I'm just trying to stay plugged in to what's going on it's on my radar and uh when something comes just that we everyone know we learned with like the tree bylaw and the MBTA zoning that it's it's always a heavy lift like especially when you add trying to involve

057the public so if this is highly likely to pass I feel like we should put that on some kind of working group docket to start I think if um if there's any text about that one in particular I have not seen any text if you if you haven't if you see any text grab it just we see kind of what I'm happy you know what what it is but um yeah I'm just uh I agree that's been that's kind of been like on the slot for a while um that's just always like where's the fire to put out right um so but uh but we could get a group together if people are interested in you know have some time and interested in working on it so but um yeah so keep that in mind

058who people are interested in doing that speaking of groups the MBTA communities working group yes so Peter had printed out um I don't know how many what copies is this is your copy no I'm sorry this there copies to pass out I just want to note Amanda Amanda um is has joined the meeting okay great um Amanda you are co-host so you're gonna unmute yourself who are you hey there yeah so the hey Amanda yes so the um MBTA working group met last thank you was it Tuesday last Tuesday yes yeah we met and um um I I think on the last p page of this it's kind of going through you can see kind of going through all the numbers of um units and acres and density and um what happens with different things

059are included and um and there's still obviously no um you know there's no uh we're absolutely doing this but what it revealed to us is that it was just a good thing that we kind of are waiting to see what happens like the like 501 you know going forward if that continues to go forward makes us think differently about about that piece of property right um what happens when we find out with um our letters to 10 to 60 and the 40b at Waverly all that kind of plays you know plays into that I think there may be um there maybe that we start to look at a small addition of another property um things that we kind of had considered before but didn't add in that might be appropriate to put in it really

060will be I think it's going to come at some point um to a choice in a we we talked about meeting again the first thing we did last time is to meet with the select board I think we had a meeting there to kind of brief about what um where we were at we're kind of looking I think we talked about the end of August didn't we yeah so um we did have a we kind of sketched out a time FR a time frame is to start having public forums again in the end of August public forum um and that would just be kind of another uh last time we had about two or three on Zoom we probably have the same discussion uh you know getting that process going um the biggest thing is

061obviously a b and I'm talking about the the set the third page here um excuse me the second page um that's kind of the big page to kind of look at um obviously there's item a b c and d we would keep all a b c and d um with A and B which what really the biggest change is uh adding Item B which is 1060 Main Street and we would be adding that in at 10024 units which would be half of that 40b um and then just down here it's the other options but from a from a scheduling standpoint I think um obviously knowing in and kind of doing the time line backwards from a uh Autumn town meeting in November mid November um we would like to have public hearings uh not public

062hearings excuse me public forums uh starting um late August and then rolling those through early September and indoor indoor September and then hosting um a public hearings with the planning board gearing up um in uh October um and then that would probably go to a vote in November so so why was RTD taken out like I don't like those were so AR the ucg property yeah because those were properties that I mean right or wrong are zoning supported and the community it's already DSE and that was sort of a plan that people could kind of get their head around Ashlin has been building housing right and under the plan you were you allowed to take advantage of properties that are built it clearly says that in the law it's not skirting anything by using Parcels

063that are developed yeah no we we we very consciously did that was one of the things we had wanted to do all along because if you remember when we talked about moving this to Spring Town or to fall town meeting um one of the things we were concerned about was the the properties that weren't a sure thing which were 501 and ucg and ucg being in litigation still right and that's a friendly 40b as an over 55 community is that an A or B is that rtda or RT that's that's not in those calculations that's that's Kate's question it was a part of our additional right and please remember this is not a proposal these are experiments we're doing as we as we wait I'm just looking of page one the proposed spring 2024 was

064this a representation of our prior one yes this is a representation only one on there that we weren't short about it was 501 Pond right the rest of them were legally official so the the the 501 Pawn Street um it's area B it's area B that's that's ucg so area B RTD is the one that's in litigation correct so as of this moment that's the only one that's a question mark correct okay yep yeah and again like I said I would say that everything's kind of and what's the deal with that litigation like do we know I don't you know what it is it's um it's hard to it's hard to get a good update on it you know I think the two owners um or the two the two parties are battling it out

065um we the town are not involved you know because it's really a matter um external parties two external parties um litigating over to my understanding is the pns of this the the the land purchase uh the purchase and sale agreement and so um with that said it's kind of gone back and forth but to say you know when's a definitive date what's going to happen I we we just don't know right so it is a risk it's unknown so the risk is that everybody that completely blows up and it's vacant land and now someone else has to sell it to someone else to do something so we have to look at the underlying zoning how many right now could be built there before we kick it out of the calculations in my opinion we're not

066we're not please don't we're not kicking anything out right now we're testing things I know it's not on the piece of paper but we're testing what if we take but it's not written in stone that's why I want to be clearly we take things out we put them in what does this do what is risk does that create is this risk better than that risk right that's why I'm saying like it it's you have to think about it that way because that's way we're thinking about it okay we're testing things out to see op I will look up the zone what would what would be allowed to be built in RTD if it wasn't the um the the thing we're trying to protect if possible yeah and I get what you're saying because we're looking

067at that right what we're trying to protect is that that right now it's a friendly 40b and an over 55 community right so all that is good good good right so the risk is that we pull it out and it's it's not affordable at all and it's more dense you know whatever so we're not it's just one of the things we wanted to keep in I mean it's all in play but it's one of the things we just had an eye on because we don't have a definitive answer on it so I just I'm having a hard time understanding how a bu right at 10 to 60 main versus a buy let's just say it went to again that became bacon property a buy right at e like I I'd love to understand the thinking

068of that because I don't again I mean we're not uh the the thing that may put this right back in is that it's within the radius right that that's an advantage to this property all I can say is that we're you're um the the it seems like you're thinking H there's something else going on here and there's not we're just we're just testing no I just I don't understand because it it seems no matter what you're picking something the worst case risk could be by right only uh 12% affordable versus 25% affordable you're going to get a higher density this is what it comes down to Kate is you're going to have a a higher density by right if you're going to keep add in and so if above and beyond right what you have

069currently proposed within that 40b and so that's what the situation so can we calculate or do you guys have those calculations like the ucg is so if you FP over to the next page so if you flip over to the next page right ucg actually has an acreage about 38 acres because we have a because some of that land has to come back to us typically it was like 20 acres we subtracted that down so you have about 18 Acres up there to our calculations um and so there therefore you have a density of about nine call it 9 9.76 units per acre right and so there four it's lower than the minimum of 15 units per acre and so depending on how it all shakes out and like K excuse me like Trisha was

070saying this is all very theoretical right we're running tests we're riping hypotheticals is that right now looking at it is that the the 180 units within that 40b the density is lower than the 15 unit uh minimum that you have to provide within the MBTA zoning and so if we were going to increase the density right that was always part so it was always part of the factor if you were going to increase the unit density within adte you were going to get a you could get a bigger project if this if this 40b did not move forward with the current permit that it has now and so You' be looking for more units by right on that piece of land that's what the B that's what the take that's what the takeaway is so

071you're it the buy right's minimum 15 correct in AC cross MBTA zoning the by right minimum is going to be 15 units per acre so as you kind of move through this you can say oh okay um you know if you're looking at cus right what's by right is 20 units per acre right what actually the the the bylaws net is about 13.99 right so that's why when we're doing our zoning change we have to increase our our density right that's why we have to increase the density in cus to move that density up to to north of indoor at 15 units per acre can I make a suggest there's a lot of moving pieces can I make a suggestion for this sheet which I think is helpful is there a way for these properties

072can we like add a little table here that tells us what is currently by right or by special permit as far as density and what we're proposing like so we can see the difference I think it's important to note like that these are sheets that Alro put together we just put these things totally not necessarily for yeah yeah I me for the I mean for the future like for your whether it's for the Public Presentation or for the presentation that we do with the select board I think a lot of these conversations about risk turn on the question of what kind of density is allowed there now versus what could happen and so it seems silly to talk about it without actual numbers we were intending to get in the it's not really on the

073agenda totally but I think this is a good conversation because it highlights what we need to discuss with the public and what we need to discuss with the select board I think it would be really helpful to have a little table for each property whether it's the spring proposal or whatever possible proposal it is what does the Zone the areas in what is the current allowed zoning what is the current like current zoning what is the current proposal that we've permitted there as far as d there's basically three columns exactly three columns and then column three what would be the proposed MBTA what's it called density so you can see you can see I see what you're think we can try to do and we can have an educated conversation without a lot of emotion

074or speculation I think we can try to I I will say it's it's it's it's easier said than done under the point because our different zoning are different zones call for different levels of density so and just for example right um RTD and cus right you have a you have a density per acre which is great pretty easy to talk about right right but if you start adding in add right you have a there's nothing you will not find in add um as downtown overlay District anything any mention of units per acre right now we're jumping into floor area ratio right and so maybe that column is going to kind of show that disconnect but then at least you see the proposed density versus the MBTA density the approved density for the projects already there

075so I think we can work on something like that but I just kind of want to state from this point on is it's not like I said it's easier said than done because there's going to be it's not as clean the cookie is not always going to be you're not always going to break it right well I think that's why we're not all brakes are going to be clean that's why we're having this debate because it's not so clear so it has to be as clear as we can try and the most transparent thing we can do for the public and for each other is to throw it out there and frankly the fact that our zoning is so confusing or so inconsistent is something that we should change and so it may be helpful

076to see it in one place to recognize the disconnects and frankly to present it to the steering committee for the comprehensive plan as one more thing that we could clean up and make a lot more yeah I agree because you're looking at you're you're measuring something you're me you're measure you're you're taking two different measuring approaches right to the same thing which is land right so it's complicated so okay but yeah this is just for a conversation we're working on it and we're going to start the public hearing uh excuse me public forum process probably in late August yeah public forum process and we're also going to get um the meetings on the agenda um joint meetings with the select board so that we can when we have that chart which is a good idea

077um talk to the select board and the planning board at the same time so okay so um reports on planning topics we haven't even looked at that category in many months but I don't think there's anything is Scenic roads is there anything still to do with Scenic roads the only the only thing I keep bringing up every fifth meeting we have you know what I'm going to say that very first like time I started in the plan board there was that there was that tree yeah is that ever going to get planted maybe when I retire from the planning board like it would be great I give you um let me look into that yeah that'd be lovely I'm at a point where I just want to buy one and plant it myself T just

078so that I feel like something I voted for actually happened yep um okay e economic impact tool um so we what we just we were talking we have time tonight from our last point we were talking to Framingham State on that um um The Merc um actually I was at the Merc conference um a couple weeks ago I was a panelist there um and I think I joined the Merc board to tell you the truth um however I haven't been to a meeting yet uh or I was asked to join the meric board but I have not been sworn in yet please don't quote me on that uh and uh but we were trying to work with Framingham State with Merc um and when I say Merc Merc is their economical economic impact um study

079um I would say um group um and so I think uh last we were having conversations and last time I talked to the professors over there we were talking about how to move that forward if there was a way to have a tool to have their students kind of jump into this whole economic impact analysis study um to kind of take a look at it so that's where we kind of left off and obviously things got fairly busy um with zoning and other items but uh it's a great question DEA yeah there uh yeah let's start there really serious what I can Google it yeah but no off the top of my head I I cannot I cannot state so glad this is on camera okay um and then finally the parking memo which was

080really just about looking at the size of parking spaces and again it's a little tweak in the in the bylaws is is our 9 by2 parking space which is on the larger side of parking spaces doesn't really fit the times right um or should it be should it be reduced so it doesn't keep coming up on projects um and yeah and how we feel about that so um we just haven't we haven't gotten around to having that discussion um but something we might start addressing once you know through MBTA and you know once it just people feel like feels like there's an opening I guess um Peter is there any of these updates um administrative updates that are you know I really don't have none I think I I can tell you you know um

081we're still working with whittamore Estates um I was following up with them yesterday today 100 Chestnut Street they are um they're putting siding on the building we were up there I was up there the other day looking at colors everything looks good it's matching everything I think there could be a couple things they're running into they're going to have to shift a couple trees around just from a gr standpoint um however they're going to come in and and and talk to us I I know they email me about kind of getting the right placement for the bus stop I know they want to do that this summer before kids go back to school so but but construction seems to be kind of plugging along and they've kind of hit their stride so I think we'll

082see um we'll see that kind of move forward fairly quickly um windows are in they're starting to kind of put the balcony kind of the kind of the um what's the right word here um kind of the details on yeah kind of the details the exterior balconies um and then obviously the siding will go in so um they're they're working pretty hard up there um yeah I was up with Peter one of those really hot days and I went up there we we didn't even make it all around the building but we took a little look they went to show like the that the siding colors were on site and and that kind of thing but yeah it was pretty it was pretty steamy to be outside but um uh uh yeah no it's a

083good site I've been say I've been I I I can tell you right now um based on development the mcdows Roy and to McDonald have been great to work with um very professional um lines of communication are open um and so I think you know we can feel fairly positive about that project uh 501 Pawn Street I know um hopefully they're going to pull uh ticket I mean excuse me uh Foundation permit uh soon we're still in contact with them um moving forward um Starbucks um still crank you know they're still doing the inside uh they're doing the building the build out on the inside um right now I know our um culture council is working on the mural with our with with folks and so that is moving along how how is that moving

084along um wasn't Starbucks involved in that Starbucks was involved Starbucks is is very much so involved um we are I think the last there was contract going back and forth with an artist uh between the town Starbucks and I think we're iring out a few details okay so Starbucks overall is is okay with doing a mural there yes Starbucks is still okay um and the artist is someone they chose or the town proposed nope it's something to through the culture Council okay that's great I I think the big um problem right now and I I have to go back to it because they got a a memo or something from it from the cultural Council and what that didn't just go to me but I think I went out to others but it was about

085kind of the cost of such things like the cost of paying for the mural and how to you know how do we do those things how do we pay for them like in the future that's the 500 we forward that to the rest of the board yeah I have to I have to I have to I I want to say I got it like 10 days ago or something and I just haven't been able to um one of the takeaways I have had just working you know talking to you know kind of working in town hall is that um it hasn't been as easy it hasn't been to get grants and all that yes yeah um contractually following just Mast day law working from a contractual standpoint um approaching artists getting going getting through the

086minutia really has been um has has presented many hurdles you know so I think uh I'm not equipped to talk about it all tonight um um but um like I said we may want we may want to make time for that discussion because I think I we all have different views of that project I think there's some positive feedback in the community on the concept of amural there's obviously challenges with it I think one of the themes I've picked up on on this board that we haven't really discussed is the challenges of that particular project and so I think we would benefit from a deep dive maybe in a uh Retreat concept conversation um because I for one viewed that as a an exciting shift in our thinking um but I can also see that

087there's complexities to it that maybe cross jurisdictional paths of different entities in town yes that we may want to talk through in a more Retreat fashion um just something open to the public course can we also maybe um like we got just so many applications but we had a practice of we met with coner commission we met the superintendent we met with the fire department um to maybe the cultural Council right because I I think in general we've received positive feedback of having that part of decisions and we know that we aren't the people to implement it so if they say here's some things that could make it better or please never do that again at least we know right and the why because if it is it a capacity to get grants do we

088just lack the experience as a town in getting art grants is it just Logistics of the working between a private developer and the public because that can be difficult as you know with CPC there's limits on how you can use money for a private projects public money for private projects so is it is it a legal constraint like it's not really I think it's everything to tell you the truth I think it's it's a it's it's what you're what you're talking about is hitting on many different topics it's working with a private right it's timing you know it is um legally contractually um applying state law um applying Town funds right um responsibility regarding the mural um what if what if something happens to it in the future um you know from a from a

089if it is defaced from that standpoint yeah you know who owns it I will say when we made the decision we had legal counsel input on the and the conversation was there so it's not like we made it uninformed right so I think it's the kind of thing where again I think we would benefit from a retreat on that project where we can almost like regroup like what did we do how do we make our decision what can we learn from this what are the different challenges and elements for this kind of thing in the future so that we don't just outright say we're never going to do it again let's figure out what the issues are I think like you know Kate mentioned it maybe just a larger as we kind of um go

090through the summer and then and and then you know hit the fall again be talking about you know starting to make it starting to make a list and that we all we have some of these lists you know started already about um you know who do we want to talk to like like you said we've talked to these various entities various committees you know what's our list for this year what are the top five groups that we would really like to talk to this year and some of them are very immediate for our understanding of of those type of things and then also um a list list of potential little bylaws the parking the the Adu you know things that we had intended to get back to but you know they just haven't risen to

091the top again right so to to keep track of those we do that obviously in this list but there there's always another list we can keep um so okay the other thing about Starbucks is I was wondering about the um the screening and stuff that we did approve is that um it's all working you know I've been walking down there they have that there going to follow through with it as okay I haven't I haven't been down there in a couple days I haven't been down there in a couple days but I know they're still working on the site they're still doing a lot of stuff yeah I can tell things are still obviously uh still in action I just and then 12 Pond Street um 12 Pon Street's going well I've I've had kind

092of back and forth with with the developer regarding those sidewalks and the pockets uh the pocket Parks trying to finish up that Landscaping um bringing the DPW in with that convers ation when I went went out there uh with our engineer um there's a brand new light pole excuse me telephone pole kind of right an obvious place where you would put the sidewalk which is was place there so we have an idea to go around it and so I think we're just trying to work through that process but um obviously it's still on the radar and and the developer knows um that you know it's it's his priority to to finish that that that streetscape um any questions or other comments about things under planning office updates for anybody I guess it might go under

093um the 9B but it might be here because I I'm hearing people talking about other 40b projects and I guess it's just sort of if we're on the planning board I'd like to know what the public knows or at least to be able to respond and I right now I would say I don't know but I don't know anything do you I don't I I know two 40b projects one is at 10 to 60 Main Street and one is at 61 wav street so at one point they were we said there was a potential one on Pawn Street so somebody's had conversations right so no one has contacted me I know the piece of a land and uh a company's has contacted our conservation office but no one has contacted me um regarding that piece

094of property um regarding 37 James Road I know the address um I just have not been contacted about that property so there is potential one like if someone asks because it's like there's potential still on Pawn Street and then the fourth potential one we don't know anything about I guess the only 40b that I know of excuse me I know of what 40b it's going to be Habitat for Humanity on Main Street which is that one lot um vacant lot that that that will'll have to go through that will go through a 4 Tob process uh but that is a Habitat for Humanity piece of prop property um which I know they they need to go through that 40b process for that's probably the four people are talking about but I don't know what people

095are I don't know what rumors are being spread I don't know what rumors are out there um but people I mean I'm around people ask so I I'm trying to get the best information that probably that so that would be probably the four then that people are hearing about going to be a it's going to be a one lot 40b um at across Main Street um and that's going to be done by Habitat for Humanity um and uh and that's that it will go through a 40b process because there's there's some legal uh case history on that property regarding the zoning board of appeals and a variance that was uh rejected back in 200 I want to say 2008 2000 2000 excuse me 2006 2008 time frame um that lot was known as the Galan

096lot um and they applied for a variance to make a buildable lot it was denied uh twice and then upheld once um actually was it was denied three times by the zon Bo of appeals it was remanded twice by the superior court and then it was upheld the last time by the superior court so there's a file in my office about this thick about that property so to move forward through that variance in the case law that's on that property um they're going to go through a one LW 40b process all right so um anything else under that otherwise we'll go to that new applications Sal tower project yeah this is Sal tower project that uh 24 Tower Road is a um actually at the end of 24 Tower Road here there is abandoned water

097tank um and it looks like um the town allowed I believe it is um AT&T um back in the early late 990s in 99 or 200 2001 time frame to install a uh monop pole that goes up through the abandoned water tank um and so there is two carriers on this water tank and they are looking to upgrade the uh existing equipment on the monopole um and that will be I believe Verizon um that will be coming in here uh and just looking to do that and didn't you didn't you say they is that the one you told me asked to be on the July 25th of correct they applied and then due to vacation and summer schedules uh they applied to go they they requested to go to the July 25th uh planning board

098meeting any questions on that okay so um then we just wanted to have a up coming to upcoming meetings we wanted to have a discussion about upcoming meetings and when people might be out so for the July 11th meeting correct me if I'm wrong Peter but right now right now we have no applications no public hearings we don't we don't have agenda items for that meeting at this time I think I'm going to be out of town I like very like will be out of town that's when we have to go to Baltimore um so we're wondering I'm also wondering about you guys' schedules is everyone in town so for me both meetings I'm around um I don't get into trouble until maybe end of August when I have to take my kid to college

099um I I appreciate that we have no projects that are kind of big right now to me that's an opportunity I don't I have no problem canceling the 11th meeting but I I would think that we could benefit from a retreat now that we're sort of quieter at a time that works obviously for for our chair and everyone um and like I said I think it's a great opportunity to sort of throw everything on paper and figure out what are the agenda items that we never have time for like planning related agenda items um so that we can do those things or talk through the Starbucks complexity or whatever it is that we want to do maybe think about last year overall like what were the big projects of last year and what did we

100learn including Starbucks what are the planning things we want to do if any as a board um things like that so I'm just suggesting if we cancel the 11th that we find another time for a retreat I'm okay if people want to meet for the 11th I I don't think I'll be here and obviously it's been a we've been kind of rotating having a retreat I think having a retreat we'd want our chair there well what about July 25th does anyone think that they'll be uh anyone have plan now to be gone that day or not saying things won't change but I'm good for the July meetings like who's that oh Amanda's being very quiet there you're good for July you said Amanda both meetings sorry guys yes I'm good for the for both July

101meetings I'm free yeah and I'm I'm good for the for the 25th if we want to put the cell tower obviously first and then going to so there's a couple things one we can keep the meeting on the 11th and without Trisha handle the tower I I think they've already no the applicant the attorney so the attorney representing the applicant is actually on vacation the 11th yeah so he's he's not coming at the 11th yeah yeah and so the only agenda item for the 25th right now is the tower correct and we don't have anything lingering out there being continued either nope this is I mean I I guess my suggestion would be that if we're going to cancel the 11th keep the 25th maybe we can use these couple of weeks I don't know

102if there's interest in creating like a small little working session I I'm happy to try to do it somebody Gathering kind of whatever items that we might want to have a retreat about um and find a way on the 25th to do those things like if the 25th is just the tower issue maybe that's a meeting where publicly we can create some sort of plan or agenda as to what it what it is that we want to do with our time if we have extra time right now for however long we're going to have extra free time why there's no big projects coming up our way in August and September not that we know of that we know of yet um I'm just saying it looks like an opportunity I know I think do other

103things so why don't I mean why don't people send those why don't I send out an email that because I have some of these ideas myself um I just to take so that everything doesn't land on Peter's plate that that um that I'll send out an email requesting I'm going to put it in maybe into categories and people can start to fill in the categories and send stuff back to me okay um which should be not not a violation of open meeting law it's just going to be agendas items agenda items and I'll organize it and then when we get yeah when everyone has a chance to respond or when we get close to that date I'll I'll send it back out and we can start to pick and choose where we want to start

104because obviously it'll I'm sure be or maybe it'll just be a discussion of General where we're where we're going in the meting on the 25th normally our meetings are a couple of hours right so we could have a normal meeting from SE 7:15 to 8:15 that is our Tower Road whatever meeting and then we can have a retreat a separate time frame that's more informal in a retreat session so that we're together for the two and a half hours that we normally are but we actually use our time for the public hearing meeting and for more informal Retreat just get it all done on the 25th okay and use the next few weeks if we're going to take a break use it wisely to create an agenda and maybe do some of our leg work

105for the agenda like if we can create a retreat agenda by the 11th that we can share for the whole group then that gives the whole group until the 25th to do our research on the agenda items to think about the agenda items to come to The Retreat on the 25th with prepared thoughts I'm just kind of throwing that out there so even if we don't have a meeting on the 11th we use the 11th as a agenda organization day wait but not to just wher yeah but like that's our deadline to figure out what our agenda is for the 25th so that we have plenty of time yeah that makes sense to get ready so you're not getting it the night before here's here's might talk about yep got it because in theory let's

106say we put on the agenda accessory dwelling units because Peter is going to find that language from the state and we at The Retreat as an example want to talk about it if we know that on the 11th that gives us two weeks to sort of ponder it think about it research it come prepared okay yeah I think it's a good idea anyone want to add to that or no I uh for me it's like as this comprehensive plan is starting to kind of really start to shape up and we hearing so many of the communities kind of sharing the thoughts to me as a planning board we should once we have some shape and form sounds like we're working towards strategies and goals um everything seems great and this one when you have these

107strategies and fancy words but it's also the implementation that falls shorts many time I would love to see if we can as a group act and work on those special topics that's important to the town coming out of that and it's like take that smaller Milestones versus the 10year plan that comprehensive plan is for me those were will be the topics that I feel like will be worth the time spending as a team versus just coming up with topics at least that's so I can share one idea that happened at my little group the other day that was really interesting to me that stood out which was the idea of like something simple that we can do as a community is picking like five or six locations in town that have a public sphere of

108some kind where you can beautify put some Landscaping put a little bench put a little thing for people on bikes to stop and rest and that idea was so simple and everyone loved it as a concept do you really need a comprehensive plan to make that happen probably not do we as a board have some concept because of our experience as to where in town that might work we probably have more of a design or development or planning experience to deliver on something like that so there's opportunities for the planning board to do things like that that could be really useful as a resource to the steering committee um where the consultant doesn't live in our town and we as a planning board could do those things fairly easily with you mean making those recommendations

109oh so presenting it hey here's an idea I'm I don't think we actually have the power to do that because if the what I'm saying is these are things that are being discussed at the steering committee level for ideas we as a planning board could deliver that without zoning changes there's no zoning change that you need to create to make something so simple happen yeah but so but we can we can wait and discuss that during a absolutely I just wanted to use that as an example to respond to deepest point because is we don't need anything it's not necessarily zoning that we have jurisdictional power over it's planning and so there's things we can do as a planning board to support the steering committee that may not even be zoning related it may be

110more we can tell you Kate and I can share some of the things that are being discussed at the steering committee and the planning board could provide support to the steering committee for those things and okay I guess that's just why I'm not clear but we don't have to discuss it now like I'm not sure what that support is I don't know how what like like an actual like looking at an act don't have money we don't have you know like we could literally look at a map together we the plan board and we could figure out which intersections this could work in because Peter is here he can tell us which areas are public property and we could in theory deliver to the comprehensive plan committee a little thing that says oh you guys

111have been talking about this idea here's where it might work here we go okay okay I understand what you're saying okay yeah thank you that actually helped clarify it all right so I'll send out a list and and it might be ideas of yeah and and we can just a I guess the point I'm trying to make is let's use the retreat to kind of talk through all these things because there's a lot of opportunity for us as a committee as a planning board to support some of these other things that are happening in town yeah and I think the things that go on that list may be as simple as hey we really should meet with the cultural Council I don't really understand what they do it could be this idea it could be

112you know those parking spaces are just driving me crazy we've been on our list forever why don't we just deal with it you know it could be things like that right so at least we'll have it all in one place okay so we have a plan so July 11th we are going to cancel that meeting cancel the meeting then we'll meet on the 25th we'll meet on the 25th we have the cell tower and we will use the other remain all the remaining time for an organized retreat okay and we'll let Marcelo know that obviously and hopefully he will hopefully he'll be able to be there as well MH um okay so that's summer schedule as well so now we're at the meeting minutes I had no changes sorry I just need to look at

113them quick here for I would just say in line 76 um it says Miss Kendall suggested moving to site plan app to site plan approval and the plans to go to the design Review Committee I'm not it seems like I would have just suggested that that it goes to the design Review Committee okay um but I'm not sure what or maybe it was like the draft decision but it's fine just don't remember um the application yeah the application to go to the design Review Committee [Music] just in Reading over the meeting minutes and coming back to the planning board reorganization maybe on the 25th would have a full board again so maybe we would add that to the maybe that we would add that to the agenda or second second agenda item otherwise I have

114no otherwise I have no changes anyone else no I'll make a motion to approve the Maj 23rd 2024 meetings minutes as suggested by Trisha so as modified as modified okay uh is there a second second and roll call vote Anis I Katherine Jersey I and Trisha Kendall I so those are approved I think then we are at the end of our agenda anyone have anything anything to add I'm going to be probably missing for September 4th meeting okay that week okay okay I can make a motion to adjourn the planning board meeting at 8:58 p.m. and a second second that roll call vote de I Anna teski I Katherine Jersy I Amanda Hayes I and Trisha Kendall I all right great thank you everybody e