The mission of the Town of Duxbury is to deliver excellent services to the community in the most fiscally responsible and innovative manner while endeavoring to broaden our sense of community and preserve the unique character of our town.
Town of Duxbury
Massachusetts
Planning Board
Minutes 06/12/06
Approved July 24, 2006
The Planning Board met in Town offices, Small Conference Room, on Monday, June 12, 2006.
Present: Amy MacNab, Chair; George Wadsworth, Vice-Chairman; John Bear, Brendan Halligan, Jim Kimball, and Harold Moody.
Absent: Angela Scieszka, Clerk; and Associate Member Douglas Carver.
Staff: Christine Stickney, Planning Director; and Diane Grant, Administrative Assistant.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM.
OPEN FORUM
Hinkley ANR Discussion: Ms. Stickney asked the Board whether Town Counsel should be consulted regarding this ANR approval and whether a special permit is triggered from the creation of five lots or six lots. She also requested Board direction on whether to advise Mr. Hinkley of this potential issue. Ms. Stickney noted that there is no provision in the Zoning Bylaws that prevents an applicant from obtaining consecutive ANR approvals in order to avoid triggering an inclusionary housing component. The Board agreed that Ms. Stickney should consult with Town Counsel.
WORK SESSION
Mainstream Engineering: Mr. Tom Sexton, principal, was asked to attend the Board meeting to discuss two issues: a defined scope of services for the Senior Center administrative site plan review (ASPR) and past billing issues. Ms. MacNab thanked Mr. Sexton for attending, and stated that overall the Board is pleased with Mr. Sexton’s engineering review work. She advised Mr. Sexton that he is next in line for an upcoming ASPR for the Town of Duxbury Senior Center. Mr. Wadsworth added that Mr. Sexton’s expertise in stormwater drainage would be crucial to engineering review for this project. Members explained the current site plan review of the expanded parking lot and their expectations of a review. Ms. Stickney questioned if Mr. Sexton’s review should focus on just drainage calculations or a full
review of zoning as well. Members directed Mr. Sexton to perform a full review.
Ms. MacNab referenced an issue with an applicant regarding an unauthorized site visit under a separate ASPR project, and also review that was made that did not fall under the ASPR guidelines. Mr. Sexton stated that he was only made aware of these issues recently. Ms. MacNab requested that if an issue between an applicant and engineer arises in the future, the engineer should notify staff and the issue should be brought before the Board for follow up. Mr. Sexton expressed concern when applicants execute plans differently than represented to the Board. Mr. Wadsworth noted that the As-Built approval should catch any deviations.
Mr. Sexton stated that, during subdivision approval, one way to keep costs down is to make a surprise visit to the construction site. Mr. Moody advised Mr. Sexton that he needs to obtain permission from the Planning Director prior to any inspection, which may help ease the applicant’s concern with billing. Mr. Bear noted that the ASPR process is different from subdivision review because ASPR is limited in scope.
Mr. Bear questioned Mr. Sexton regarding his billing policy for mileage, pointing out that during his Planned Development engineering interview he stated that he did not charge for mileage, but a recent invoice reflected a mileage charge. Mr. Wadsworth suggested that Mr. Sexton consider eliminating travel time, mileage, copies, telephone calls and from future invoices, stating that those charges could be included in the hourly rate of the principal in order to simplify billing. Mr. Sexton agreed to revise future invoices accordingly. Mr. Moody suggested that Mr. Sexton could charge a flat rate rather than itemizing mileage. Mr. Sexton stated that all of his work is based on an hourly rate, and that travel time represents time he could be spending on another billable project. He also noted that he is still charging 2005
rates on projects that started in 2005. Ms. MacNab thanked Mr. Sexton for making that change at her request under the Board’s direction.
Ms. MacNab emphasized the importance of including back-up with invoices submitted to the Board.
She reminded Mr. Sexton that advance notice to the Planning office is required for ASPR site visits. She thanked Mr. Sexton for attending and expressed that the Board was looking forward to a long term working relationship. Mr. Sexton thanked the Board and requested that he be informed immediately regarding any future issues.
Staff Evaluation: Ms. Stickney departed the meeting so that the Board could discuss her evaluation. Board members discussed her work performance during the past year. Ms. Scieszka had submitted comments to the Chair although she was not present for the discussion. Ms. MacNab collected each Board member’s written comments and offered to compile the results to submit to Town Manager, Mr. Richard MacDonald. Mr. Halligan suggested that Ms. MacNab use a consensus rating score rather than averaging numerical ratings for each category on the evaluation form. Mr. Kimball questioned whether a score was necessary for each category, and Mr. Wadsworth responded that a score would help to guide the Town Manager in considering a merit increase. Ms. MacNab stated that she was pleased that the Board had been included in the
staff evaluation, noting that only elected Town boards are offered the opportunity.
ADJOURNMENT
The Planning Board meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM. The next meeting of the Duxbury Planning Board will be held on Monday, June 19, 2006 at 7:30 PM in the Ellison Room at the Senior Center.
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