Planning Board Minutes April 8th 2010
Members present: Alan Salamon, Larry Klein, Stephen Enoch, Maggie Leonard
Public present: Barry Karson
Mr. Karson was present to observe the Planning Board. He is running for a seat on the Planning Board. Other than Mr. Karson there was no public present.
The board had a brief discussion re: the parking bylaw. A recent application for a Special Permit from Kutcher’s Sports Academy involved a review of parking requirements. Board member Larry Klein stated that organizations should “demonstrate the existence of sufficient number of 9’X20’ spaces in a specifically designated area.” Not just athletic or agricultural fields that are used for parking occasionally. Klein also wondered if there were state statutes that set out parking regulations.
The board discussed the Telecommunications Bylaw and beginning the work using the grant from Regional Planning to re-write the bylaw. It was noted that the BRPC person that we will be working with is not available until May. We talked about existing cell towers in adjacent towns, and reviewed/compared the Monterey Telecommunications bylaw with Great Barrington’s. They are almost identical. The one difference being that in GB the special permit granting authority for cell towers is the Select Board, and in Monterey it is the ZBA. We talked about the Wireless Telecommunications Overlay District (WTOD) and Maggie agreed to research the towers in Great Barrington for more information, including: elevation, public vs. private property, access, range of coverage, and height.
The board talked about various sites around town that might be viable including Mount Hunger and the Land Trust property, and the New England Keswick up on Chestnut Hill. We also wondered if the criterion varies from town to town with some towns more flexible than others.
The board opened and reviewed the mail. No minutes were approved because neither Alan nor Maggie was able to open the document that Bridget e-mailed. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:20 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Maggie Leonard
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