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Planning Board Meeting Minutes: 2 23 2012
Members Present: Maggie Leonard; Chair, Bridget Krans and Stephen Enoch
Meeting to order: 7:10
- Previous meeting minutes: January 26th meeting minutes approved as written. No one attended the February 9th meeting. The February 15th meeting was attended by just Maggie and Bridget. The meeting minutes were approved as written.
- Special permit request Barbara Gauthier: Barbara Gauthier of 522 Main Road has issued a special permit renovate the existing house and construct an addition. According to the application the project will not be making the property any more non-conforming than it already is. Looking at the plans the board felt that they would still be in the setback but the property is grandfathered. As the board was looking over the plans they had a very hard time deciphering them due to extremely small print. Stephen felt that it was an incomplete plan. He would like to see a setback scale. Maggie felt that in general it would be OK. If they were not in the setback they would be able to pull a permit without a special permit. Stephen felt that he could not say in good conscience that the plan was fine because it
was very hard to read the plans. Maggie and Bridget also felt that the plans were poorly done. Stephen proposed that they needed to resubmit the drawings that show all 25 foot setbacks. The drawings are confusing to determine between the existing structure and the proposed structure. Stephen pointed out that the plan was submitted indicating that they would be moving out of the setback but when looking at it, it seemed they would still be in the setback. Maggie suggested that we request they provide us with something new prior to our next meeting so that we can look it over before their hearing with the ZBA. Bridget and Stephen felt that this was a good plan. Maggie will contact Eric Pedersen the contractor and Barbara Gauthier the home owner. She will tell them that we need to see the site plan with all 25 foot setbacks delineated. One for existing and one for proposed.
- Zoning Bylaw Revisions: Compound sizes around cell towers have yet to be discussed. Maggie did a survey of surrounding towns on their compound sizes. Maggie found that the majority of the surrounding towns have them just like ours. Great Barrington does not have any compound size limitation. Stockbridge is also 25 feet. Maggie felt that we don’t want a bylaw where the applicant immediately needs to apply for a variance. Stephen liked the way Great Barrington did it without specifying a number but had some specific requirements that needed to be met. Stephen suggested something along the lines of “size of compound to be determined by the ZBA” Maggie felt that would be hard on the contractors that are drawing up the plans. They need something to go on. If we do decide to keep it at 25
feet we are consistent with other towns. If we decide to change it we need to figure out what the parameters are. Bridget wondered what the plan on Main Road was since they already received a variance. Maggie thought it might be 35 feet. If that is the norm maybe we could just bump our 25 up to 35 feet. Maggie will look into the current applications.
- Airstrips: Currently there is a case going on in Sheffield of a cease and desist order being given to a resident that has his own airstrip on his property. The resident is stating that the Massachusetts Aeronautical Commission governs this area. This commission, according to this article needs to be notified prior to making any regulations on this. Larry has mentioned at a prior meeting that he want us to prohibit commercial airstrips but allow private airstrips. Mr. Bobrowski has it listed under accessory uses. If we add commercial then a helipad and a private strip would be OK. Maggie felt that a helipad at the very least should be a special permit application. Stephen felt that an airstrip needed a special permit also and Maggie agreed. Stephen felt that we needed to have the full board
together to take a vote.
- Open Mail: Great Barrington special hearing on amending zoning bylaws on Thursday March 8th.
- Meeting adjourned: 9:00
Submitted by,
Bridget Krans
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