Minutes
LYNNFIELD PLANNING BOARD MEETING – OCTOBER 25, 2017
The regular meeting of the Planning Board was held on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in the Joe Maney Meeting Room at Town Hall. Co-Chairman Heather Sievers called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and adjourned just before 8:30pm. Present: Co-Chairman Heather Sievers, Vice Chairman Michael Sheehan, Clerk Charlie Wills and Member Brian Charville. Co-Chairman John Faria was not in attendance.
1.BOARD OF APPEALS CASES
Case #17-08 King Rail Reserve Golf Course, 397 Walnut Street
Withdrawn by petitioner prior to meeting
2.SCENIC ROAD BYLAW UPDATE
Co-Chairman Sievers detailed for the Board the status of the Scenic Road Bylaw. The first five streets subject to the Scenic Road Bylaw were so designated by the 2016 Spring Town Meeting. Since that time, no applications for Scenic Road Bylaw hearings had been submitted and no known violations of the Bylaw had occurred. However, in October, two alleged violations of the Scenic Road Bylaw had been reported: a curb cut on Main Street and the removal of a stone wall at 161 Essex Street. In addition, an inquiry was made at the Planning Office about the process for applying for a hearing for a potential additional curb cut on Essex Street.
This recent activity brought to light the fact that no procedures for applying the Scenic Road Bylaw were ever set up. Former Planning Board Member Alan Dresios had begun this process, but did not complete it because Lynnfield’s DPW Director position was then in transition. To address this issue, Planning Board Co-Chairmen John Faria and Heather Sievers met with DPW Director John Tomasz and Town Engineer Charlie Richter. Mr. Richter agreed to create an application form for those requesting Scenic Bylaw hearings from which he would determine if the situation is applicable to the Scenic Road Bylaw (i.e. Is the proposed action to take place in the public way on a designated Scenic Road?) If so, Mr. Richter would then forward to the Planning Board the application, along with his statement of confirmation that the Scenic Road Bylaw was applicable. The Planning Board would then hold a hearing where it would either approve, disapprove, or modify the proposed project. Applicants could then appeal the Planning Board’s decision to the Board of Selectmen if they so wished.
Town Counsel Tom Mullen was consulted for assistance in developing a protocol for dealing with alleged violations of the Scenic Road Bylaw. According to his recommendation, enforcement proceedings for the Scenic Road Bylaw would again begin with the Town Engineer. A complainant would report an alleged violation to the Town Engineer who would determine if the Scenic Road Bylaw was applicable and if a violation had occurred. In the event a violation had occurred, Mr. Richter would forward the complaint to the Planning Board for a hearing. At the hearing, the Planning board could choose to assess a fine of $300 for such violation. In addition, the property owner or whoever was guilty of the violation could be ordered by the Planning Board to restore any altered stone walls and implement other mitigating measures within 60 days. Failure to comply was a violation punishable by further fines of up to $300 for each 14-day period.
In drawing up the above protocols, Co-Chairmen Faria and Sievers found many flaws in the Scenic Road Bylaw as it is currently written. These issues should be addressed by the Planning Board for attention at the next spring town meeting.
Co-Chairman Sievers then presented the first confirmed complaint alleging that a stone wall Scenic Road Bylaw violation had occurred at 161 Essex Street. Planning Board members discussed scheduling issues for the necessary hearing and settled upon December 13th as the date for the Scenic Road Bylaw violation hearing.
3. PLANNING AND LAND USE ASSISTANT UPDATE
Co-Chairman Sievers updated the Members on the current staffing situation in the Planning Office. Until a permanent staff person was in place in the Planning Office, clerical duties would need to be maintained. An advertisement was drawn up and posted for someone who could perform basic clerical tasks, including trying to catch up on some of the meeting minutes that had not been completed. So far, the town had not had any response to its ad. In the meantime, Ms. Sievers was covering the most critical duties on a volunteer basis.
4. MASTER PLAN UPDATE
The September 13th meeting of the Master Plan Committee was not attended by a quorum of members, so it was adjourned without action taken. Further work on the Master Plan would be unlikely until a clerical person had been found to cover the Planning Office.
5. MINUTES
The Board reviewed the minutes from its July 26, 2017 meeting. These had been reviewed at the Board’s August 30th meeting and were awaiting edits by Co-Chairman Faria. The Board opted to instead write up the edits at this meeting, approve the minutes as amended, and Co-Chairman Sievers agreed to retype the minutes incorporating the Board’s edits. The July 26, 2017 minutes were unanimously approved as amended. No minutes had been prepared for the August 30, 2017 meeting. Co-Chairman Sievers agreed to follow up with Co-Chairman Faria on these minutes. The September 27, 2017 minutes were divided between two Planning Board Members. Co-Chairman Faria had taken minutes for the first half and Co-Chairman Sievers had done the second half. Only the minutes written up by Co-Chairman Sievers were available, so the Board did not review these minutes. Co-Chairman Sievers had written up minutes for the October 5, 2017 meeting, but since only 3 members were present at that meeting, all three of those members were needed to approve the minutes. Since Co-Chairman Faria was one of the three who attended, those minutes could not be approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather T. Sievers