Lenox Planning Board
Tuesday, May 26 2015
In attendance: Kameron Spaulding, Kate McNulty Vaughan, Mark Smith, Tom Delasco, Board of Selectmen liaison Ken Fowler, Town Planner Gwen Miller and Clarence Fanto of the Berkshire Eagle.
- ANR: Map 40-Lot 164 Holmes Road
The planning board endorsed the Form A in a 4-0 vote. The endorsing submitted by John Campetti of Foresight Land Services on behalf of DB Realty Corp, who sought to acquire a piece of land from the adjacent property owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The endorsed plan is available in the Clerk’s office.
KMV and MS provided an update on their sign bylaw work. They described collecting different types of sign bylaws and comparing them. They indicated they are heading in the direction of identifying character areas such as village center pedestrian or commercial corridor such as Lenox-Pittsfield Road and basing sign standards on those. Businesses would be allowed to have a primary sign and possibly a secondary sign if they lack a good place to post a primary sign. In the highway area, they would calculate the square footage of lettered areas versus the sign’s total square footage. They wish to provide commentary available in town hall and on the town website in addition to the bylaw language.
TD asked for clarification. KMV explained that they would be backing out of the square footage requirement currently in the bylaw, and instead focusing on the content. TD said he hoped that the board would not be the entity calculating the area of text. MS said that the applicants would have to measure, he and KS described the different tools available to do so. KMV said she knows there will be lots of holes poked in it, and that she and MS hope to have a robust process to get much input into the bylaw.
GM asked if they planned on making sure that the new sign language would be congruent with the existing Historic District Commission guidelines which also offer sign standards. KMV and MS said they intended to do so.
KMV and MS said they would share a draft bylaw with the other board members when they were at a good sharing point.
- Zoning Bylaw Remodification Update
GM stated that she, the consultant and a working group had met in early April, and provided the consultant, Judi Barrett of RKG Associates, redlined versions of the zoning bylaw. She expects a memo from Judi at the end of this week, which will highlight issues of organization, clarity and consistency in the bylaw and policy issues. The working group will walk through those with Judi Barrett and will take her recommendations.
KMV asked who was on the working group. KS explained that it was made up of GM, Town Manager Christopher Ketchen, himself, ZBA Chair Ethan Berg, and both building inspectors, Bill Thornton and Don Fitzgerald, as well as Selectman Ken Fowler.
GM pointed out that they were going to elongate the process to make sure plenty of outreach and education can be conducted, and that the planning board will receive the memo to look at as well. She explained that both she and the consultant felt that for what could be a very big list of recommended revisions, outreach would be an important tool in gathering feedback and support prior to any town meeting.
- New Planning Board Member Appointment
KS stated that the new appointment would be a joint appointment between the planning board and the board of selectmen. He urged planning board members to think of people they know who might be interested in the position in the coming week or two. He suggested the board pick a day to interview and appoint somebody with the board of selectmen. Members agreed that June 9 seemed too soon; MS indicated he would be unable to attend on June 23. They agreed on July 7.
KMV suggested that David Naseman would be a good candidate as he has been interested in recent events and been at several planning board meetings and hearings. KS said they had exchanged e-mails but nothing definitive had culminated from them.
- Open Space and Recreation Plan Update
KS stated that the OSRP had received final approval from the state, and that there would be a kick-off event on Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00 PM in the Town Hall Auditorium. He also noted there were two large grant opportunities now available with final plan approval, and the Land Management Committee had already received a small one to host an estate planning workshop at the library on Wednesday, May 27 @ 6:30.
KMV offered to help share the word regarding the workshop.
TD asked if the board would get a chance to look at the plan. GM said she was working on some smaller edits and getting it ready to be printed, but would share a PDF with everybody. She also stated that at the kick-off meeting there would be large posters of the action plan for guests to prioritize and see if people wanted to participate in implementation.
- Village Center Parking Overlay District
KS stated that it would be good to know if the board wanted to continue working on the parking bylaw language which had been voted down at the May 7 Town Meeting.
TD stated that he was happy with the bylaw in its current form and hoped to pursue it as is.
KMV stated that she had felt it was rushed, and that it had not been ready for town meeting, nor had there been enough outreach to the voters of Lenox.
MS stated that he agreed with KMV in that it felt rushed, but he had felt it was ready for the town meeting vote.
KS said he hadn’t loved the bylaw, but it was better than nothing.
Discussion ensued as to what members felt had contributed to the failure of the amendment at town meeting. Among reasons cited were the low voter turn-out, the flyers distributed by a community member opposed to the bylaw change, and the inadequate amount of time between the final changes and the town meeting itself.
The board decided they would review the bylaw for the June 9 meeting, and come back as a group with each of their comments or concerns.
KMV asked that GM provide more examples of how communities the same size and character of Lenox have addressed parking through their zoning bylaws. GM stated she had started a comparison table and would bring it to the next meeting.
The board discussed the minutes of May 5, 2015. KMV questioned whether the background text provided at the beginning of the document had to be there.
The board discussed a few others minor amendments, and voted to approve the minutes as amended.
The meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Gwen Miller
Land Use Director/Town Planner
| 
