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2005-04-04 City of Beverly, Massachusetts Public Meeting Minutes BOARD: Joint Public Hearing with the Planning Board and the City Council and Planning Board Special Meeting Immediately Following SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: April 4, 2005 PLACE: 3rd Floor Council Chambers, Beverly City Hall BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson, Richard Dinkin; Vice Chairman, John Thomson; Ellen Flannery; Joanne Dunn; Eve Geller-Duffy; Don Walter; Jason Silva OTHERS PRESENT: Tina Cassidy; Leah Zambernardi; Council President Paul Guanci; Councilor Tim Flaherty; Councilor Pat Grimes; Councilor Don Martin; Councilor Kevin Hobin; Councilor John Burke; Councilor Ron Costa; Councilor Bill Coughlin; and Councilor Maureen Troubetaris RECORDER: Leah Zambernardi The meeting is called to order. City Council President Paul Guanci opens the public hearing of the City Council. Planning Board Richard Dinkin opens the public hearing of the Planning Board. Proposed Zoning Amendment #36 – Robert Goldberg – change 29 Rantoul Street and 8 School Street from RHD to CC – Planning Board Joint Public Hearing with City Council Attorney Mark Glovsky speaks on behalf of the Goldberg's and gives a brief overview of the project. He states that the Goldberg's want to complete a project that has been ongoing for over 20 years. The Goldberg's have been renovating the buildings since 1984. Most recently the Goldberg's acquired these two properties with 8 School Street being acquired in 1985 and 29 Rantoul Street being acquired in 2000. 8 School Street is presently a 2-family residence has a 3-car garage on 6,000 s.f. of land. 29 Rantoul Street currently has three one-bedroom units and approximately 1,200 s.f. of office space on the first floor. The Goldberg brothers have no plans to change the buildings on the lots or the uses of the buildings on the lots. They are trying to continue a project that has been ongoing for 20 years. They discovered that the zoning district property line which runs behind the properties that are subject to this request, creates problems for this project. The CC Zoning District land use provisions are very complex and provides a setback from the Beverly Planning Board (Special Meeting) - Minutes April 4, 2005 Page 2 property line for CC zoned properties abutting residentially zoned properties. Consequently at the moment what we have is a building that goes right up to the property line next to a residential zone and that property couldn't be built that way today under current zoning. In addition to that there is a very small opening on the street about 15 feet wide, which is the sole access to the rear of the property. The Goldberg's would like to construct a building, which straddles the lot line which would enable for the 15 foot opening to be widened to approximately 25 feet, meeting the Planning Board's rules and regulations for 2-way traffic. At the same time we'd like to provide for access over Rantoul Street as a second means of egress and to put a courtyard. Unfortunately we'd need a variance under the current zoning. If the zoning change did not occur, Goldberg would be limited in their access to the rear of the property by a small 15-foot building or if they raised the existing building, they could widen that. What they'd like to do is build a new building. He states the Goldberg's have reviewed the City's Master Plan and have developed a plan that is consistent with the development on Rantoul Street. He notes these are some of the only properties that front on Rantoul Street that are not zoned CC. The Master Plan encourages the location of buildings on the street line. It encourages consistency in the appearance of buildings. It encourages certain mixed uses that the Goldberg's have been introducing to the renovated buildings but uses at the moment are inconsistent. The rezoning would allow them to change to uses that are more conforming. It would improve zoning. It would allow better traffic flow. Above all it would be consistent with the Master Plan and the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance. Architect David Jaquith with offices at 8 Enon Street shows plans for the proposed building should the zoning be allowed. Glovsky states that land would have to be borrowed from 29 Rantoul Street and 8 School Street in order to accommodate this project. The RHD Zoning District requires 6,000 s.f. for a two-family house and 3,000 s.f. for each additional dwelling unit. Currently the School Street property is conforming however the Rantoul Street property is not conforming. CC Zoning allows 1000 s.f. per dwelling unit so we could take some land from those two properties without creating any new nonconformities. Guanci asks for questions from members of the Council or from the Planning Board. Dinkin asks a question about parking. Guanci asks about height limits. Glovsky explains the height limitations of the Zoning Districts. Flaherty and Dinkin ask about the surrounding Zoning. Glovsky states the streetscape is zoned CC. He states that there would need to be site plan review by the Planning Board for the new development. Troubetaris asks how many residential units there will be. Jaquith responds that there will be 15 to 17 units all with 1-bedroom. Beverly Planning Board (Special Meeting) - Minutes April 4, 2005 Page 3 Costa asks if any comment letters have been submitted for the record. Zambernardi states there are none in her file. Costa states that people in his ward are concerned about the building height and he asks if they can put restrictions on the building height. Dinkin states that the City has a design review process and the Planning Board has become good at negotiating to get better-designed developments. Thomson states that the Council could put a restriction on the height through contract zoning if they wanted to go ahead with the Zone change. A member of the Council states that his concern is that the Council may allow the rezoning and then the property gets sold. Troubetaris asks how many stories the building will be. Jaquith states the building will be 4 stories and 38 feet high. Costa states that at the last Civic Association meeting they noted that the Goldberg's have done good things for Ward 2. He will take them on their word that there will be a garden area and that this is a benefit to the public. Burke asks if the neighbors were approached. Goldberg states that he spoke with two neighbors last year. Burke states that more neighbors should be spoken to and they should walk down School Street. Glovsky states that this public hearing also gives the public an opportunity to voice their concerns. Thomson asks if they have support from their immediate abutters. Goldberg states he does not know. Thomson asks why they don't request to rezone the whole block of RHD parcels to CC. Glovsky states that the only way for them to do that would be if the other owners were in support. He adds that the Edwards School was just rezoned without having the neighboring blocks rezoned also. Troubetaris asks if there are any plans for additions to the wood frame building. Goldberg responds there are no plans for this. Flannery asks for the percentage of commercial space. Guanci asks members of the public for their questions and comments. Joan Murphy, 36 Longmeadow Road asks if the 2nd Floor would change in use. State Representative Mary Grant states she has no particular comment on this proposal but notes that the State is currently reviewing the Massachusetts Land Use Reform Act and public hearings have been scheduled for this. Beverly Planning Board (Special Meeting) - Minutes April 4, 2005 Page 4 Jane Reid of Silver Court states that Goldberg has demonstrated its commitment to Beverly and Ward 2 and she is in favor of the project. Rinus Oosthoek of Hale Street and Beverly Main Streets states this project will help improve the waterfront and downtown and it will be a benefit to neighbors. Jeff Rhuda of Symes Development, 50 Dodge Street states that he is developing the Edwards School. He states he is in favor of the rezoning and he thinks that the CC zone should continue down Rantoul Street. He thinks Jaquith's plans are a good change. He states that height is not a major issue. HE states that we have a housing shortage and developers can move sideways into the woods or we can go into the air. He states that putting housing downtown near existing infrastructure and the train is smart growth. Mary Rodrick, 14 Peabody Avenue asks why the zone change is necessary. Goldberg states they need the number of units to make the project economically feasible. She asks how many of the units will be affordable. Don Preston, owner of Casa De Moda on Cabot Street and President of the Beverly Affordable Housing Coalition asks that a minimum of 10 percent of the units be affordable and that the Council implement this policy on any new housing project that comes its way. Duane Anderson, 41 Front Street states that a few individuals are opposed to this. He notes that the general consensus in the neighborhood is favorability. He states he has little concern about the domino effect. He notes the ward is reaching saturation in some areas. He notes it is a mixed use neighborhood but he asks how many more condos the neighborhood can hold. Jim Burns, 8 Summer Street states he is in favor of more housing but that he is not clear on the parking issue. Rosemary Maglio, 30 Pleasant Street states she is in opposition. She applauds the Goldberg's work on 7 Rantoul Street and says they did a good job with the rehab. She doesn't think the rezoning is a good idea. She refers to the Edwards School rezoning and she states that 96 people signed a petition against that, which are the same people you'll be affecting with this rezoning. She states she is concerned about allowing commercial uses by right in a residential neighborhood. She states this will create an island of homes surrounded by commercial uses and this would overcrowd the land. She notes the Goldberg's have not revealed all of their phases. The City has demonstrated in the past that it does not want commercial uses in that neighborhood. She states they will be impacting allot of people with this. Flaherty states that we will be impacting allot of people with this rezoning. He believes the buildings look to be in terrible condition on face value. He thinks that improving the area by cleaning it up will increase the property values but to clean it up you have to be able to make money. He states he thinks the Goldberg's are headed in a good direction Beverly Planning Board (Special Meeting) - Minutes April 4, 2005 Page 5 and the domino effect is good. He notes that Rantoul Street was in poor condition some time ago. It's not just helping of the immediate area, it will be a benefit down the line to the whole Ward 2 area. Costa states that if we had letters in opposition he might have a problem with this. Also there is no request from Maryellen Mitchell that she be included in the rezoning. He looks to the positive side and streetscape that will occur in that area. Troubetaris states she concurs with Costa in terms of the design. She thinks brick is appropriate. She states that life has changed in Beverly. Young couples buy condos and take the trains. She states that elderly downsize and sell their homes. She doesn't think the Council should deny this type of housing to them. Guanci closes the City Council Public Hearing. Dinkin closes the Planning Board Public Hearing. Special Meeting of the Beverly Planning Board- Proposed Zoning Amendment #36 – Robert Goldberg – change 29 Rantoul Street and 8 School Street from RHD to CC Dinkin calls the special meeting to order. He explains the process for the Planning Board making a recommendation to the City Council and he states that the Board can choose to do this now or at their next meeting. Geller-Duffy states that CC Zoning in this area is good City Planning. Geller-Duffy: Motion to recommend adoption of the Re-Zoning. Walter seconds the motion. Discussion on the motion: Thomson states that ordinarily he wouldn't be in favor of zoning relief on a parcel by parcel basis. In this case he doesn't think RHD makes sense here. He is not sure the market values of the RHD zoned properties would be negatively affected with this project. He is not concerned about adverse impact. He thinks that as part of the recommendation for the change, the following stipulations should be added: 1. That the height of new buildings on the properties be limited to a maximum of 45 feet. 2. That at least 10 percent of new residential units on the properties be deemed affordable in perpetuity, in accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development requirements for affordable housing. Geller-Duffy: Motion to amend her prior motion to incorporate the changes suggested by Thomson. Seconded by Flannery. All in favor. Motion carries. Resubmission of Open Space Residential Design Ordinance: Planning Board Recommendation to City Council to set a Joint Public Hearing Beverly Planning Board (Special Meeting) - Minutes April 4, 2005 Page 6 Zambernardi states that the Open Space Residential Design Ordinance has been resubmitted to the City Council for consideration. She states the Board has been asked to recommend that the Council set a joint public hearing. Flannery: Motion to recommend to the City Council that a joint public hearing be set between the Planning Board and the City Council. Seconded by Silva. Motion carries 6-1. (Thomson, Flannery, Dunn, Walter, Geller-Duffy, Silva in favor) (Dinkin in opposition). Rezoning of Parcel Owned by the Archdiocese on Brimbal Avenue and Sohier Road: Planning Board Recommendation to City Council to set a Joint Public Hearing Zambernardi states that the Archdiocese has submitted a request to rezone its parcel on Brimbal Avenue and Sohier Road from IR to CC. She states the Board has been asked to recommend that the Council set a joint public hearing. Flannery: Motion to recommend to the City Council that a joint public hearing be set between the Planning Board and the City Council. Seconded by Silva. All in favor. Motion carries.