2012-12-18Beverly Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
December 18, 2012
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Date:
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Recorder:
CITY OF BEVERLY
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
Planning Board
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Beverly City Hall, City Council Chambers
Chairman Richard Dinkin, Vice Chair John Thomson, Ellen
Flannery, James Matz, David Mack, John Mullady, Michael
O'Brien, Charles Harris
Ellen Hutchinson
Assistant City Planner Leah Zambernardi
Leah Zambernardi/Eileen Sacco
Dinkin calls the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Recess for Public Hearings
Thomson moves to recess for public hearings at this time. Matz seconds the motion. The
motion carries (7 -0).
Continued Concurrent Public Hearings — Special Permit application #131 -12 — Site Plan
Review Application #108 -12 and Inclusionary Housing Application #04 -12 — Construction
of Three Story Building Containing 13 Apartments with Commercial Space on the First
Floor — 130 Cabot Street — Cabot Street LLC c/o The Halloran Companies
Thomson moved to waive the reading of the Legal Notice. Flannery seconded the motion. The
motion carried (9 -0)
Attorney Thomas Alexander with offices at 1 School Street, Beverly, Massachusetts addressed
the Board and reported that he has submitted a letter requesting that the public hearing be
continued to the next meeting of the Board in January. He also stated that he has signed a waiver
from the time requirement in which the Board has to hold a hearing.
Thomson: Moved to continue the public hearing for 130 Cabot Street to January 15, 2013 at
7:30 p.m. assuming the applicant grants the waiver to the Planning Board.
Flannery seconds the motion. The motion carried (7 -0).
The regular meeting of the Planning Board reconvened at this time.
Dinkin asks if there are any SANR's for the Board to consider this evening. Zambernardi replies
that there are no SANR's this evening.
Request to Set Public Hearing Date — Special Permit #133 -12 — Construct Solar Farm
within the Watershed Protection Overlay District — 1 -3 Cailin Road — Cabot Beverly, LLC
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Phil Lake, 17 Hammond St., Ipswich addressed the Board and explained some of the details of
their proposed project for a Solar Farm at 1 -3 Cailin Road in Beverly.
Dinkin suggested that the Planning Board set the date for the public hearing for January 15, 2013
at 7:30 p.m.
Thomson: Moved to setthe date for the public hearing for January 23, 2013 at 8:30 p.m.
Matz seconded the motion. The motion carried (7 -0).
Bass River Estates Definitive Subdivision — (a.k.a. Folger Avenue Extension) — Expiration
of Construction Completion Date (December 31, 2012) — Joseph J. Phelan III, Bass River
LLC
Zambernardi addressed the Board and noted that members will recall that Bass River Estates was
a cluster subdivision approved by the Board in 2005, which extended Folger Avenue and created
10 new building lots. The current construction completion deadline is December 31, 2012. The
project files indicate that the original completion deadline for this subdivision was February 15,
2007. The developer has received five extensions from the Board, with the first being to
February 15, 2008, the second being to December 31, 2009 and the fifth being to December 31,
2010. She explained that in December 2010 the developer received an automatic two -year
extension of the permit to December 31, 2012 as provided for in the 2010 Permit Extension Act.
She stated that the deadline was extended again in 2012 from 2 years to 4 years. The developer's
completion deadline is therefore automatically extended by another two years to December 31,
2014. Zambernardi reported that the developer has submitted a requested that the Board
acknowledges this extension.
Thomson: Moved that the Planning Board acknowledge that the completion deadline for the
Bass River Estates Definitive Subdivision is now December 31, 2014 as provided for in Section
173 of Chapter 240 of the Acts of 2012. Matz seconded the motion. The motion carried (7 -0).
Request for Release of Covenant — Inclusionary Housing Permit #02 -11 for Pleasant Street
Apartments — 62 Pleasant Street — Pleasant Street Apartments LLC
Zambernardi addressed the Board and stated that members will recall that Windover
Development received a Special Permit and Inclusionary Housing approval in September 2011 to
create Veterans Housing at 60 Pleasant Street. She explained that the Inclusionary Housing
Ordinance requires that no building permits be issued until the applicant executes an
affordability preservation agreement and records it at the Registry of Deeds.
Zambernardi further explained that in February 2012, the developer recorded an Interim
Covenant at the Registry of Deeds as a placeholder until it could finalize and record a Tax Credit
Regulatory Agreement and Declaration of Restrictive Covenants between Windover and the
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. The developer has
recently submitted a letter to the Board informing and showing evidence that the Regulatory
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Agreement noted above has been filed at the Registry of Deeds and is requesting that the Board
sign a release of the interim covenant that was filed in March of 2012.
Thomson: Moved that the Planning Board release the interim covenant for 60 Pleasant Street
as requested. Flannery seconded the motion. The motion carried (7 -0).
Discussion of Potential Future Zoning Amendments - Planning Director Tina Cassidy
City Planner Tina Cassidy addressed the Board and explained that the she and Leah Zambernardi
have been working on some proposed zoning amendments and she is here this evening to discuss
a couple of ordinances that they have been working on. She noted that the first ordinance she
would like to discuss is the Parking ordinance pertaining to the provision that allows developers
to consider municipal lots within 500 feet of the property to satisfy the parking requirements.
She called on Zambernardi to report on the issues they have been working on.
Zambernardi addressed the Board and explained that they looked at models from other
communities to get ideas on how parking is handled. She also noted that they looked at the State
Smart Parking Model Bylaw. She explained that there are models that allow for the opportunity
to share parking between non - competing uses on the same site. She explained that shared
parking could conform to regulations and could be granted by Special Permit. She also noted
that a developer could request a reduction in the parking requirements by up to 50% with the
requirement that the Parking and Traffic Commission review the plan and make a
recommendation. She also noted that the applicant would have to provide a peak demand
analysis to justify the request for reduced parking requirements.
Zambernardi also reported that they have looked at off site parking and the possibility of
allowing 100% off site parking for nonresidential projects, noting that they would rather have
residential parking on site. She also noted that another interesting provision is that on street
parking could be allowed along the front of a property and be included in the parking
requirement for nonresidential developments.
Cassidy stated that they are looking at the inclusion of compact car parking such as
implementing that 25% of parking be designed for use by compact cars.
Dinkin stated that he thought that they could probably go higher than 25% for compact cars
noting that he would rather see compact cars than large SUV's.
Discussion ensues regarding a provision that charging stations be included in the project. It was
noted that there is a charging station at the Cummings Center. Cassidy stated that she would
look further into the use of charging stations and whether or not it would be a financial burden on
the developer to provide one onsite.
Thomson suggested that there should be some type of registry of the parking that is considered in
municipal lots as part of the parking requirements. Cassidy agreed noting that she would give
some thought as to how the Planning Department could track that.
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Dinkin posed the scenario to Cassidy of if a developer owns lot A and B and wants to put a
building on Lot A and provide parking on Lot B if that could be allowed. Cassidy stated that the
city would have to ensure that Lot B would remain parking as long as the use remained.
Thomson addressed Cassidy and suggested that the parking requirement could be looked at as
well to see if there is some room to reduce them, noting that they have heard from some
developers that their projects sometimes do not need the parking that is required by the city.
Cassidy agreed noting that they could look at that as well. Dinkin noted that particularly office
buildings may not need as much parking as they once did since it is common now a days for staff
to work from home.
Cassidy and Zambernardi will continuing researching parking options and prepare a draft.
The Board briefly discussed Adult Entertainment zoning with Cassidy.
Cassidy reported that there was a City Council Order #195 which sought to include the Design
Review Board in every special permit application. She explained that they are trying to think of
a way to do this and still meet the timelines for the approval process.
Thomson asked if the Master Plan, Design Guidelines for Taller Buildings and the Downtown
Design Guidelines have been accepted by the city. Zambernardi reported that the Master Plan
and the Design Guidelines for Taller Buildings have been accepted but she would have to check
on the Downtown Design Guidelines.
Dinkin requested that Cassidy email copies of the draft ordinances to the Planning Board
members.
Dinkin asked how often the DRB meets. Cassidy reported that they meet on the first Thursday
of the month and they have a 30 -day deadline for submission of materials to the Board for
review. Dinkin expressed concern about the time for which the Planning Board has to make a
decision on applications. Cassidy suggested that if needed the DRB could tell the Planning
Board that they need more time if possible. She stated that she would give that some thought
and report back to the Board.
Approval of Minutes
The approval of the minutes of the June 19, 2012, July 17, 2012, Septemberl1, 2012 and
October 16, 2012 Planning Board meetings were presented for approval.
Flannery addressed the Board and noted some inconsistencies in the way that votes are recorded
when there are abstentions and votes in opposition.
Thomson: moved to approve the minutes of the Planning Board meetings with amendments.
Flannery seconded the motion. The motion carried (7 -0).
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Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Planning Board this evening a motion was
made by Matz to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Thomson. The motion carried (7 -0)
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
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