Town of Lenox
Planning Board
March 21, 2017
Landuse Meeting Room
Members present: Chair Kameron Spaulding, (KS); Tom Delasco, (TD); Kate McNulty-Vaughan, (KMV); Deborah Rimmler, (DR)
Members absent with notification: Pam Kueber, (PK)
Staff present: Gwen Miller, Land Use Director/Town Planner, (GM); Peggy Ammendola, Land Use Clerk, (PA)
The meeting was called to order at 6:06 PM.
Documents presented for this meeting:
- C-1 Exemption and Parking and Loading Clean-Up-14 pages
- C-1 Exemption and Parking and Loading Clean-Up-10 pages
- Lenox Dale Village District First Reading 03-13-2017
- Proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendments for 2017 Annual Town Meeting (Biancolo)
Form A: Lenox Club (Cliffwood Street, Undermountain Road, Yokun Ave) Map 12 Parcel 3. Peter Nikitas of Foresight Land Services presented the Form A. He said that Lot 1 will be retained by Lenox Club, a small part of which has a deed restriction stating that it can’t be developed. The frontage on Yokun is 151.24 feet. Lot 2 consists of about 90 acres and the plan is that it will be transferred to BNRC.
KMV said that there was a guard rail along the Cliffwood/Undermountain frontage which limits access. It was determined that the first 400-500 feet along Cliffwood does not have a guard rail.
KMV made a motion to endorse the Form A and DR seconded the motion. The Board voted to agree 4-0.
Zoning Bylaw Amendment Finalization for Annual Town Meeting
- Lenox Dale zoning recommendations, creating a new zoning district/adjusting district boundaries
- Lenox Dale Village District-First Reading 03-13-2017-This document, created by Judi Barrett of RKG Associates, was reviewed by the Board. TD described it as a re-creation of the schedule of uses to include the new district which took into consideration the notes from the meeting with the residents of the Dale, suggestions of the Board and a conference call he participated in with GM and Ms. Barrett. Creating a new district would bring the residential properties into conformity as they are too small for the R1A zone and give the larger parcels a chance to mimic the existing density which is closer to the village center.
In general the Board had a number of concerns with Ms. Barrett’s proposal. One was that the district proposed is too large. The Board also felt the use permissions in the proposed Schedule of Uses for the Lenox Dale district did not make sense in terms of what they had heard in Lenox Dale. They also felt that the district would create conflict between residential use and industrial use.
The Board felt that it would be difficult to “sell” these changes at the Annual Town Meeting as there wasn’t enough time to digest or to engage with the neighborhood. The Board decided to go back to the plan presented by TD and KMV on March 2, 2017. They also agreed to move forward on the expansion of the R15 zone on Lawton, Patterson, and Brown Streets and others similar streets, and to expand south the Industrial zone across the river. They agreed to continue working on more substantial changes to zoning in Lenox Dale for a future Town Meeting.
- Parking Bylaw amendments, reorganization and village center exemption Two versions were presented.
- Commercial “C” District Exemption and Parking and Loading Clean-Up- Both documents were reviewed. DR, who has been working on parking, said she has been working off multiple drafts. This and an abundance of input from members, some of which involved a great deal of re-organization and remaining questions. She suggested more work is required to get the proposed Bylaw section completely ready for Town Meeting. She suggested adding a new section to the end, numbering it as Section 7.1.20, and this would entail the parking standard exemption in the Commercial “C” district. The Board can continue to work on the total re-write for a future town meeting. Discussion ensued on the exemption and the language and changes in the table related to this. DR will work on this later tonight and
send it to the other members of the Board. DR asked KMV to take what has been done with the last version and re-write.
Note: At 7:18 PM KS left the meeting.
- Housekeeping Changes: removing regulations from definitions, removing foot notes from Table of Dimensional Requirements; replacing in appropriate sections
- Proposed Zoning Bylaw Amendments for 2017 Annual Town Meeting-Jim Biancolo’s document. TD will work on the format. Other than the format, which TD will work on, this is complete and ready for presentation.
Town Meeting Preparation-
GM will prepare a public hearing notice and submit to the Berkshire Eagle tomorrow. The hearing notice will be posted. There will be an informational session on March 28th for residents that will be a review of the proposed amendments. The public hearing will be on April 11th. It hasn’t been yet decided on where the informational session and public hearing will be held, whether here at Town Hall or at the Lenox Dale Fire Department. GM will check on availability. When the warrant is complete, the amendments will be put on the website and available for viewing in the Town Clerk’s office. Handouts will be available at the info session, public hearing and Annual Town Meeting.
Approval of Minutes; March 7, 2017-DR made a motion to approve the minutes and KMV seconded the motion. The Board voted to approve 4-0.
TD made a motion to adjourn and DR seconded the motion. The Board voted to agree and at 7:30 the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Peggy Ammendola
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