Monterey Planning Board
January 25, 2007
Minutes of the Meeting
Members Present: Brian Puntin, Cindy Hoogs, Janet Cathcart, Maggie Leonard, Mike Erkkinen
Minutes from 1/11/07 were read and approved.
Read finding for Kirson Special Permit application.
Update concerning letters to Assesors, Town Counsel, and Building Inspector was made which is no update as of yet.
Common Driveway [CD] discussion begun with Brian introducing his draft by remarking about a conversation he had with a developer. The developer said that speed people drive and how much water the driveways dump onto other people’s land are both common issues for CDs. He recommended getting New Marlborough’s bylaws to see how they deal with CDs.
The section in the West Stockbridge bylaws covering CDs was read. Cindy recommended that 6.8.3.3 and 6.8.3.4 be included in our draft. The former stating no building permit will be issued until the CD is sufficiently constructed and the latter stating that certificates of occupancy will only be given after the Planning Board certifies that the CD has been completed in accordance with the set standards.
Cindy brought some clarity to the conversation asking, “One thing to decide is do we want one set of parameters for two to four lots, another for five to eight and another over eight? Do we want to limit to four? What are our limits?”
Brian pointed out that his drafted proposal defers to Monterey Subdivision Standards after four lots.
Janet weighed in toward allowing for more lots per CD, “It is cheaper and nicer looking to allow common driveways for many houses. As long as quality of road is up to the standard of sub-lots, that’s what matters.”
Maggie referenced Maynard’s CD proposal. “Maynard’s suggestions are two to four one specification, five to eight another, and eight is a subdivision. Perhaps we should go with that.” Decision was then made to go with Maynard’s suggestions.
Janet pointed out that Maynard says maximum road length is 1200 feet. From the subdivision control act it states that dead end roads shall not be any longer than 500 feet.
Many small issues were brought up and some clarified:
Who should be the enforcement officer of common driveway bylaws?
Before someone can get a building permit, you need a curb cut. When someone comes in with a plan with eight lots, the Planning Board doesn’t know they will put in a CD. The CD bylaws being proposed will be the town’s tool to deal with this.
CD access must be from an approved way.
Applicants will need an engineer on a CD project. If they disagree with finding they can appeal to the ZBA.
Who should maintain the CD? Maintenance of the CD could be by owners of all lots. The West Stockbridge bylaws have good coverage of possible responsibilities.
Gravel sub-base of CD, what sort of gravel? Minimum 1.5” processed gravel.
What about staging area for the CD?
Should a cul-de-sac be required for when there are five to eight lots? For example, so that emergency vehicles can turn around.
CD application would require such things as topographical specs including grades, drainage and some level of detail requirement (i.e. two feet).
CD bylaws could go into general section (7) in zoning bylaws after parking.
What should the maximum road length be?
Janet reported on her meeting with Melissa Jette of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commision. “She [Melissa] is interested in how to setup the committee. The core group is the planning board, but who else will be included? She’ll put together some paperwork.”
Cindy proposed a minor change to the bylaws hoping to help situations such as Gould Farm. Currently, if you want to build a house you need a 200’ buffer. If you own the other side of the road, the road still counts as the property line, so therefore you need to set the house back 200 feet. Change would exclude road lines where both sides of the road are owned. Such a case would revert to normal setback amount of 25’ front, side and rear.
Maggie began talking about the kindergarten. It is the first topic to be discussed in the Community Conversation series. This led to talk of how the general store may be closing or going to part time during the winter months.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10.
Jason Dunlop
Planning Board Secretary
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