Minutes of Meeting – April 19, 2016
The Hudson Planning Board met at the Town Hall, 78 Main Street, Hudson, Massachusetts.
At 7:00 PM, Bob D’Amelio called the meeting to order.
Present: Bob D’Amelio, Rodney Frias, Dirk Underwood, David Daigneault Kristina Johnson, Assistant Director and Jack Hunter, Director.
161 Broad Street, Forestvale Condominiums, Site Plan Review
Present were: Tom DiPersio, Jr., Engineer
Michael & Mary Ann Rego, Applicants
Kevin Santos, Atty. at Law
Michael Scott, Waterman Design
Mr. D’Amelio convened the public hearing.
Mr. DiPersio stated that the applicants are proposing to demolish an existing home on the lot at 161 Broad Street and construct one town house style condominium building which will consist of 10 units. The site is located in the C-6 zoning district. This lot is 60,000 square feet in area much greater than the required 15,000 square feet. The frontage requirement is 150 feet however this lot is a pre-exiting non-conforming lot with only 124 feet of frontage. Multi-family use is allowed in this district by special permit. The density for this zoning district is one unit per every 6,000 square feet of lot area.
The lot is fairly flat topographically. The soils are made up of clean sand and gravel material and there are no high ground water issues on the lot.
The two-way access ways will be the required thirty feet in width. Each unit will have driveway and a single car garage at the front of the building. The requirement for parking spaces is 25 and they are proposing 40 parking spaces on the site. The dumpster will be at the back of the building. There is a wooded area at the back western part of the site which will remain wooded and undeveloped.
The units will utilize municipal water and sewer which will come off of Broad Street. The utilities were reviewed by the DPW as part of the Internal Traffic Committee’s review. The fire service and domestic water service has also been reviewed and approved as well as the emergency access to the site.
Storm water management will be handled through infiltration as the soils are very amenable on the site to this type of management. The catch basins will be at the back of the site and the storm water will infiltrate into the ground.
Mr. DiPersio stated that he has received comments and questions from the Town’s peer review engineer however he has not yet made any revisions to the plans.
Bill Thompson, 143 Broad Street #8 asked if the utilities that will be coming off of Broad Street will be enlarged or are they sufficient in size to carry the additional load. Mr. DiPersio stated that they are not proposing to change the sewer on Broad Street as it has sufficient capacity. A hydro flow test will be conducted on the existing water main in order to design sprinkler systems for the building.
Mr. Scott, the Town’s peer review engineer, stated that he has reviewed the plans and had only minor comments.
The plans were reviewed by a traffic engineer as well. Ron Mueller suggested that the drive aisles could be reduced to 24 feet from the required 30 feet to reduce the amount of impervious area. This would require a variance from the Zoning Board.
Mr. D’Amelio stated that the Board will be requiring some type of screening. He suggested the applicant bring in some ideas for the next meeting.
The plans will need to be revised for the next meeting to address comments from WDA.
Mike Cataflano, 148 Broad Street #6 asked for more information regarding the actual units in the building. Mr. Rego explained that the units are approximately 1,600 square feet and could reach up to 2,000 with a finished basement. Prices for the units will range from $329,000 to $339,000.
Bob D’Amelio, seconded by Rodney Frias, made a motion to continue the public hearing for 161 Broad Street to Tuesday May 3, 2016 at 7:30 PM.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
C1 Rezoning, Public Hearing
Mr. D’Amelio convened the public hearing.
An article has been added to the annual town meeting warrant to see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Map of the Town of Hudson to redefine the C-1 zoning district and to amend the Town of Hudson Protective Zoning By-Laws by adding a new section, Section 9.0 “C-1 Zoning District” and make necessary changes to the existing zoning text. This proposal would revise the boundary of the C1 Zoning District in the center of Hudson to eliminate parcels with split zoning (more than one zone on the lot), to incorporate several additional parcels that are appropriate for C1 zoning and to remove parcels that are not suited for the district. The secondary purpose of this proposal is to broaden the array of the town’s housing options by permitting multiple dwellings within the C-1 District and to maintain and improve
parking and circulation for vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
Mr. Hunter explained that two public forums were held on April 13, 2016 one in the morning and the other in the evening. Mr. Hunter explained that upon his arrival in Hudson he noticed that the downtown area was going through a revival of sorts and he felt the need to update the zoning to reflect Hudson’s new direction. In May 2015 town meeting allocated $100,000 to redo the zoning in Town. This came about because of the master plan as in the plan there is a clear directive of land use and design goals for the downtown. The first recommendation in the master plan is to change the zoning of the downtown area to allow residences on the upper floors of new construction and in some instances standalone multifamily residences.
Sandy Bouchard, 18 Overland Street questioned whether Hudson needs more multifamily homes. Mr. Frias explained that South Street is part of the area being discussed and there are standalone residences along this street. Ms. Johnson stated that idea is to get people to live in the downtown. Mr. Hunter added that it adds to economic vitality of the area.
Mr. Hunter stated that the first thing they did was to attempt to correct any discrepancies in the C-1 boundaries. He cited specific examples in which a single property would lie within two zones.
The article proposes that certain uses be added to the district. The residences (up to 8) on the upper floors of new construction, standalone multifamily residence (up to 8 units), bed and breakfast, 25,000 square foot or less retail space and by special permit a larger retail space which are all currently not allowed. Three uses will be removed from the district; distribution centers, trucking garages with terminals and non-exempt agriculture.
Currently there are no dimensional requirements for area, frontage, side or rear setbacks and height. The article proposes that any new construction setbacks be in harmony with the buildings that are adjacent within 300 feet. The building height limitation will be four stories.
The biggest issue is the parking. There are currently no parking requirements in the downtown. The reason is that if the requirement stood in this area there would not be any area in which to build as it would all be used to fulfill the parking requirements. The article is proposes that if the developer of a proposed new construction building can reasonably demonstrate that his allowed use if ‘off peak’, or if there is public parking within 500 feet or if they can demonstrate a lower demand for parking to the satisfaction of the planning board they would approve the project.
Dorothy Risser, 135 Broad Street #4B stated that if this by-law amendment were to pass she would like the Board to consider an amendment to the administrative code to include associate members on the Planning Board. Mr. Hunter said he would pursue this change with the Boards permission. The Board thought it was a great idea.
Mr. Daigneault stated that he will not support the articles as he does not feel that the residences in the upper floors of new construction is not necessary. He also feels that the parking issue was not adequately addressed.
Dirk Underwood, seconded by Rodney Frias, made a motion to close the public hearing.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous.
Rodney Frias, seconded by Bob D’Amelio, moved to support Article # 24 and Article #25 of the May 2016 Annual Town Meeting Warrant.
Vote: 3-1-0, David Daigneault against.
ANR
Present was: Tom DiPersio, Jr., Thomas DiPersio, Jr., & Associates
Mr. DiPersio stated that this land is owned by Linda Smith and she is proposing to divide her lot into two lots. The requirement is 60,000 square feet and 180 feet of frontage, both lots meet the requirements.
Rodney Frias, seconded by Dirk Underwood, made a motion to approve the plan entitled “Plan of Land in Hudson, MA” as drawn by Thomas DiPersio, Jr. & Associates, Inc. of Marlboro, MA dated March 31, 2016 and authorize the Agent to sign.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
Minutes
Rodney Frias, seconded by David Daigneault, made a motion to accept the minutes of March 15, 2015 as written.
Vote: 3-0-1, Mr. D’Amelio abstained.
Bob D’Amelio, seconded by Rodney Frias, made a motion to approve the minutes of April 5, 2015 as written.
Vote: 3-0-1, Mr. Underwood abstained.
Adjournment
Rodney Frias, seconded by David Daigneault, moved to adjourn at 8:45 PM.
Vote: 4-0-0, Unanimous
Document List April 19, 2016
Documents |
Location |
161 Broad Street Site Plan |
Planning Office |
Form A – Glendale Road |
Planning Office |
Minutes of March 15, 2016 & April 5, 2016 |
Planning Office |
Cc: Town Clerk
Department of Public Works
Jeff Wood, Building Commissioner
| 
