Planning Board minutes for Thursday April 10, 2014
The meeting opened at 7:11 p.m.
Members present: Stephen Enoch, co-chair, Maggie Leonard, co-chair, Tom Sawyer, Larry Klein, Roger Tryon, Alan Salamon, and Barry Karson via phone.
There was no business from the public.
Klein reported on Monterey 2020, a community conversation scheduled for Saturday April 12th at 10 a.m. at the Town Hall. The group met previously March 22nd but no Planning Board members were able to attend the meeting. Klein said that there might be information for the Planning Board at the meeting. Leonard said that she would attend and other members expressed interest.
The minutes from April 3, 2014, were read and approved as written.
The board reviewed an application for a special permit from Ann and John Higgins of 457 Main Rd. The Higgins seek to reconstruct and expand a garage that was damaged over the winter. Their building permit was denied because the property is non-conforming, the existing garage is in the setback area on the easterly side of the property, and they want to raise the height of the building. The proposed expansion will be on the west side of the building, i.e. not further into the setback. The board agreed that the non-conforming nature of the building (in the setback) would not be increased. The board will review a draft of the finding at the next meeting (April 24).
Frontage in the business district. The Building Commissioner, Don Torrico, alerted Leonard that the road frontage requirement for business district was stated as 200 feet in the Zoning Bylaws (revision 2012). Leonard replied that it is a mistake and it should read 100 feet. Leonard reported that, with the opportunity to fix the mistake at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting, she quickly decided to hold a public hearing on Saturday April 26, 2014, in order to bring the correction to the Annual Town Meeting. A legal notice was filed with the Berkshire Record to run in the 4/11/14 issue and the 4/18/14 issue; fulfilling the two-week notice requirement. There will be a Special Town Meeting at 9 a.m. on Saturday May 3rd to correct the mistake. The board approved the warrant article language as follows:
To see if the Town will vote to change the Monterey Zoning Bylaws section 4.2.1 Table of Dimensional Requirements, Business District, frontage, from 200 feet to 100 feet.
Prior to the Zoning Bylaw revision that was approved at the 2012 annual Town Meeting the frontage requirement in the Business District was 100 feet. The 200-foot requirement currently in the zoning bylaws was a typographical error.
Klein stated that the International Space Station would fly overhead at 7:53 p.m. The board went outside briefly to view the event, which was really awesome. Klein noted that the Space Station is traveling at 21,000 M.P.H.
The board discussed the zoning bylaw changes and modifications proposed by the ZBA. The board reviewed the protocol for submitting items to the Planning Board for action. The board agreed that it would be good to meet with the ZBA.
The mail was opened. There was a notice for a public hearing in Otis for a proposed new hardware store on the East Otis Rd.
Salamon made a motion to adjourn and Enoch seconded; unanimously approved at 8:32 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Maggie Leonard, co-chair
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