DRAFT
Finance Committee Minutes
Town of Bellingham – Municipal Center
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
1. FinCom Present: Raymond Szczepan, Henri Masson, Roland Lavallee, Joseph Collamati, Toni Picariello, Katie Quinn (9:00)
2. FinCom Absent: Carol Dill
3. Meeting called to order: 7:15 p.m.
4. ARTICLE 12 - REVOLVING FUND (Conservation Commission)
Appearing: Clifford Matthews, Anne Matthews, Brian Norton, Michael O'Herron, Neil Standley.
The revolving fund article is as follows:
To see if the Town will vote to adopt provisions of Chapter 44, Section 53E-1/2, of the General Laws to allow the following:
To allow the Bellingham Conservation Commission to create a special revolving fund from revenues received by applicants under the Town’s local wetlands protection by-law; not to exceed $5,000; and to authorize the Commission to use said funds for potential land purchases, in supplementation of funds in the Town’s Land Acquisition Trust; or act or do anything in relation thereto.
This is a new revolving fund where the Wetlands Protection bylaw fees will go into the Land Acquisition revolving funds. These extra funds are connected to the new wetlands bylaw that was voted at the 2010 ATM. See below:
ARTICLE 19. WETLAND PROTECTION
VOTED: Voted that the Town amend the General Bylaws by adding the following:
Article 3.08. Conservation Commission – Wetland Protection
No person shall remove, fill, dredge or alter any resource areas, or land in or under such areas, within one hundred (100’) feet of any isolated or contiguous freshwater wetland, marsh, wet meadow, floodplain, bog, swamp, lake, river, pond, stream, creek, bank, estuary or vernal pool, without filing a Notice of Intent under this Bylaw and the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and obtaining an Order of Conditions approving such work. The Conservation Commission may adopt regulations to implement this bylaw.
By hand count: Yes – 62 No – 60 Motion Passed.
Roland Lavallee asked and used an example to show what fees will be deposited in the revolving fund. There are two separate fees for the same purpose. Toni Picariello thinks that is double "feeing".
A property owner wants to build a home adjacent to the wetland. They would pay a State fee of $110.00, which 50% +25 goes to the Conservation Commission's Wetlands Protection Fund; as of March 2011, the property owner will have to pay an extra $50.00 for the same permit and these fees would be added to supplement the Conservation Commission's Land Acquisition Fund up to $5,000, any extra would go into the Town's general fund.
There is $171,000 in the Land Acquisition Fund and $77,000 in the Wetlands Protection Fund.
Joseph Collamati/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend the authorization of this revolving fund. VOTE: 4/1 (Toni Picariello voted against because she believes that this is charging a double fee).
ARTICLE 19 - PURCHASE OF LAND
At a previous meeting on April 11, 2011 the FinCom to revise the funding for the purchase of the land as follows: Funding: $100,000 transferred from the Land Acquisition Trust Account and $25,000 from borrowing. VOTE: 4/3 (Raymond Szczepan, Roland Lavallee, Carol Dill voted against this purchase, they do not believe the Town should buy the land)
Joseph Collamati brought up that the Conservation Commission has $171,000 in their Trust Fund and that the Town has greater needs than to buy land and borrow $75,000 for it. Roland Lavallee believes that the Town does not need land locked land. Denis Fraine mentioned that the Board of Selectmen recommended the article as being funded from $50,000 from Land Acquisition Trust and $75,000 from borrowing.
The Conservation Commission disagrees with the recommended funding and did not want to change from $50,000 from Land Acquisition Trust and $75,000 from borrowing.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion to reconsider Article 19 - Purchase of Land FinCom vote on April 11, 2011. VOTE: 5/0.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson motion not to recommend this article. VOTE: 5/0.
5. Planning Board recommendations requested: (invitation extended)
ARTICLE 22 - REVISION TO TOWN ZONING BYLAW, §2130(b). (Planning Bd 4/14/2011)
To see if the Town will amend Section 2130(b) of the Town’s Zoning Bylaws by deleting said Section in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
(b) Lots split by district boundary line. Where a lot is transected by a zoning district boundary line, the regulations of these Zoning By-laws applicable to the lesser restricted district may, at the option of the owner, be deemed to govern in the more restricted district, up to a distance of not more than thirty (30) feet from said district boundary.
Existing By-Law:
2130. Where a district boundary line divides any lot existing at the time such boundary line is adopted, the Zoning regulations shall apply as follows.
(a) In the case of a use allowed in both districts, the lot shall be considered as a whole, and the dimensional regulations of the district in which the majority of the lot frontage lies shall apply to the entire lot.
(b) In the case of a use not allowed in one of the districts in which the lot lies, but allowed in another, the lot shall be considered as if divided into separate portions by either the district boundary line or a line parallel to that line and not more than 30 feet within the less restricted district, with development of each resulting portion of the lot to meet all requirements of the district in which the majority of that portion's frontage is located (including use, lot area, frontage, and yards).
4/15/2011 - Per Email from Stacey: The Board is recommending articles 21 and 22
When a piece of property is zoned with two zoning districts, the owner has the option to choose what zoning district they want in order to develop or improve their property.
Joseph Collamati/Henri Masson to recommend this Article. VOTE: 4/0/1 (Raymond Szczepan abstained)
ARTICLE 23 - REVISION TO TOWN ZONING BYLAW, §2140 (Planning Bd 4/14/2011, 4/28/2011)
To see if the Town will amend Section 2140 of the Town’s Zoning Bylaws by deleting said Section in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
2140. Lots Split by Town Line. When a lot in one ownership is situated in part in the Town of Bellingham and in part in an adjacent city or town, the regulations and restrictions of this Zoning By-Law shall be applied to an application for a building permit to the extent that the proposed structure will be located in Bellingham. Land located in the adjacent city or town may be used to satisfy Bellingham’s minimum lot area, frontage and yard requirements. If the structure is located in the adjacent city or town, construction shall be governed by the zoning regulations of the adjacent city or town.
Existing By-Law
2140. When a lot in one ownership is situated in part in the Town of Bellingham and in part in an adjacent municipality, the provisions of this Bylaw shall be applied to that portion of the lot lying in the Town of Bellingham in the same manner as if the entire lot were situated therein.
4/15/2011, Per Email from Stacey: The Board is going to continue discussion on article 23 to the next meeting on the 28th.
The FinCom will make their recommendation on 5/2/2011.
6. FinCom to make recommendations.
ARTICLE 16 - AMEND ZONING BY-LAW, §3300 (Lee G. Ambler, Esq., 508-966-1951)(Planning Board hearing, 4/14/2011)
4/15/2011, Email from Stacey: Lee has decided to withdraw both his articles, so the Board will be recommending passing over them
4/15/2011, Email from Lee Ambler: After the Planning Board Hearing I was advised that they have received a Grant to revise the Parking Regulations, so I will be Passing Over my article. Hopefully the entire regulation will be corrected instead of doing it piecemeal.
4/18/2011, Email from Lee Ambler: Just to let you know in advance, I had the meeting with the Planning Board on this article, and they did not like the idea of a piece meal approach to the by law, and then indicated that they have a Grant to review the Parking Bylaw, as a result I told them that I would pass over my article in favor of their coming up with the revised bylaw, but would re-insert it if they did nothing for the October meeting.
Raymond Szczepan/Joseph Collamati motion to pass over this article. VOTE: 5/0.
ARTICLE 17 - ACCEPTANCE OF PUBLIC WAYS - JAMIE DRIVE, TONI DRIVE, SIDNEY LANE (Planning Board 4/14/2011, 4/28/2011)
4/15/2011 - Email from Stacey: The Board will be discussing the street acceptances on the 28th.
4/15/2011: Email from Donald DiMartino to Stacey: History of these street acceptance vote:
These street acceptance articles were all recommended by all ConCom, Planning, DPW, FinCom, and BOS for the town meeting in October of 2005. I think they were passed over only because no one showed at Town Meeting to represent the developer and read the motions. The developer’s counsel Eric Anderberg passed away maybe around this time.
We have the deeds on file with the Town Clerk and ready for the Selectmen to accept once the Town Meeting votes. I am pretty sure all security was released in 2009 or earlier.
I thought they were all accepted until we started to dig into records for State road inventory and realized they were not.
I have scanned the related pages from the TM record from the Town Clerk and the FinCom book that shows everyone’s recommendations. Nothing has changed and I hope the recommendation is a no brainer.
4/1/2011: Email from ConCom: The Conservation Commission recommends the acceptance of these streets.
Joseph Collamati/Raymond Szczepan motion to recommend this Article. VOTE: 5/0.
ARTICLE 21 - REVISION TO TOWN ZONING BYLAW, §4900: WATER RESOURCE DISTRICT MAP - EXPANDED ZONE II - WELL 12. (Planning Board hearing 4/14/2011)
4/15/2011, Email from Stacey: The Board is recommending articles 21.
3/30/2010, Email from Conservation Commission: The Conservation Commission recommends this article.
Raymond Szczepan/Henri Masson motion to recommend this article. VOTE: 5/0.
7. ARTICLE 27 - UNPAID BILLS (FinCom)
There are no unpaid bills at this time.
The FinCom will bring this up again on April 25, 2011.
8. GENERAL DISCUSSION
A. Ethics issues: 4/16/2011 email from Town Counsel - "the conflicted member has to remove him/herself from the table. However, he/she does not have to leave the room. We also recommend that should the member speak from the audience, that they specifically note that they are speaking as a citizen and not as a member of the board or committee." the conflicted member has to remove him/herself from the table.~ However, he/she does not have to leave the room.~ We also recommend that should the member speak from the audience, that they~specifically note that they are speaking as a citizen and not as a member of the board or committee.
B. Draft Local Aid Estimates: Toni Picariello passed out the latest proposed State Aid from the Ways and Means Committee for review.
C. Accept the following Minutes:
FinCom: April 11, 2011
April 4, 2011 (Henri Masson)
March 28, 2011
January 24, 2011 (Joseph Collamati, Henri Masson)
The Minutes will be accepted at the next meeting.
Adjourned:
FinCom: Katie Quinn/Raymond Szczepan motion to adjourn. VOTE: 6/0. 9:00 p.m.
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