Salem Planning Board
Minutes of Meeting
May 1, 2008
A regular meeting of the Salem Planning Board was held on Thursday, May 1, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. in Room 312, Third Floor, at 120 Washington Street, Salem, Massachusetts.
Those present were: John Moustakis (Acting Chair), Pam Lombardini, Nadine Hanscom, Gene Collins, Tim Kavanaugh, Tim Ready, Christine Sullivan. Also present were: Amy Lash, Staff Planner and Stacey Dupuis, Clerk.
Absent: Chuck Puleo (Chair)
A moment of silence was held in memory of Walter Power.
Form A Application for Endorsement of Plan Believed Not to Require Approval- Tri City Sales Inc. and Tri-City Realty, Inc.- 262-272 Highland Avenue (Map 8, Lots 99, 100, 104 & 105)- Attorney Joseph Correnti
Attorney Joseph Correnti said they will be creating two lots, the CVS lot and the Tri-City Sales lot. There are 14 registered lots that they went to land court to de-register. They are essentially wiping out the interior lot lines and splitting the land into two lots. The lot at the corner of Marlborough Rd and Highland Ave will be CVS, and the one next to it will be Tri-City sales. Each lot is about 1.64 acres. Gene Collins asked if the access from Marlborough Road to the second lot will have delineation. Attorney Correnti said not yet, there will be permanent cross easements on both lots, all recorded at the registry, and people will be able to park on either as it will not look like two lots. The Cohen family will still own tri-City Sales building and they’ll own a piece
of the CVS building with another entity.
There being no further questions or comments regarding this matter, a motion was made by Gene Collins approve, seconded by Pam Lombardini and approved (7-0).
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the April 3rd meeting were reviewed.
There being no further questions or comments regarding this matter, a motion was made by Pam Lombardini to accept the minutes, seconded by Gene Collins, and approved (7-0).
The minutes of the April 17th meeting were reviewed. Christine Sullivan asked if there was a different term that should be used rather than insignificant. Tim Kavanaugh suggested on page 1, changing “insignificant” to “insubstantial”.
There being no further questions or comments regarding this matter, a motion was made by Pam Lombardini to accept the minutes with the suggested revision, seconded by Christine Sullivan and approved (7-0).
Continued: Public Hearing- Site Plan Review, Wetlands & Flood Hazard District Special Permit, and North River Canal Corridor Mixed Use District Special Permit –Riverview Place LLC, 72 Flint Street, 67-69 Mason Street, & 71 Mason Street (Map 26, Lots 91, 95 & 97) (formerly Salem Suede) –Attorney Scott Grover –Request for Continuance to June 5, 2008
Amy Lash said that everyone should have a copy of the DRB minutes pertaining to Salem Suede, and said she spoke with their staff person Tom Daniel. At the DRB last meeting, the architect Steve Livermore was asked questions about the design; there was talk about getting a certain number of units on the site and the DRB responded that that’s not what they’re looking for. They want them to look more closely at the Masterplan. Amy said it sounded like a constructive meeting with good recommendations. The DRB wants focus on the neighborhood and canal and they want to see changes to reflect the character of the different streets. They will be revising the plans and returning to the DRB. They will possibly coming back before the Planning Board around June 5th. Amy received a letter
from Scott Grover requesting continuance of the Public Hearing to June 5th and to extend the time for the Planning Board to act on this application to June 19th.
There being no further comments regarding this matter, a motion was made by Pam Lombardini to continue the public hearing on June 5th, seconded by Christine Sullivan and accepted (7-0).
There being no further comments regarding this matter, a motion was made by Pam Lombardini to extend the time for final approval to June 19th, seconded by Christine Sullivan and accepted (7-0).
Old/New Business
· Notice of MEPA Review- Salem Port Expansion –City of Salem- Amy said this requires no action by the Board but if members would like to comment, they can. The project involves dredging a portion of the South river to increase the depth to allow bigger cruise ships to dock. John Moustakis commented that they should fix up that area, as it is currently not appealing.
· The Zoning Ordinance Recodification Committee has been meeting for several months. There will be one more meeting to discuss the new draft ordinance and a strike-through version showing changes. They are cleaning up the ordinance, making it more user-friendly. Chuck and Walter were Planning Board representatives, Amy asked if anyone is interested in being on the committee in place of Walter. There is one committee meeting left and one public meeting, the dates have not been scheduled. Gene Collins and Tim Kavanugh are willing to attend. This will go to the City Council after the meetings.
· Amy received a letter from Beverly Co-Op Bank that offered sincerest apologies for not completing the screening unit. They have identified a company in Florida that can provide it. They will keep the Planning Board posted of their timetable. Christine Sullivan thinks ‘wind issues’ on that roof caused the delay of the screening. John Moustakis said many times developers don’t follow what the Planning Bd. agrees on. For example, the building next to CVS on Highland Ave (has hairdresser, chiropractor, etc) doesn’t have the right curb cut. Cars were supposed to go in to the right of the bldg. and come out the same way,
not go around the building and come out over the curb. Amy will bring those plans to the next meeting.
· Amy announced some upcoming events that some Planning Bd. members may be interested in attending: A tour of an LID development in Ipswich; a Conference at Holy Cross College on “Regionalism in the 21st century”; The Dept of Housing & Community Dev. Spring Workshop Series, Topics include: Downtown Economics, Housing and the Creative Economy, and Business Improvement Districts. Christine Sullivan asked if Salem has a BID. Amy said no, that the Main Street Program is set up differently; the idea of BID is self-assessments and tax money going into improving those areas.
· Living Green & Renewable Energy Fair being hosted at Old Town Hall June 14 by the Renewable Energy Task Force. This group has also been creating a draft wind turbine ordinance and will be coming before the Planning Board in the near future.
· Pam Lombardini recently came back from Louisville, KY and said what struck her about their downtown is that there were beautiful sculptures. She thought with the college here and local artists, maybe it’s something Salem should consider- add sculptures with artists name on it. Also, she spoke with Chuck about the Board doing something special for Walter Power to commemorate what he’s done for the City. Amy spoke with Lynn about this as well. Some ideas that came up: naming a road; approaching a developer to name a road; naming a trail system; Peabody St. park isn’t named yet; Gene suggested naming the small piece of land near
Salem News Building (it will be a plaza) – could put a plaque and make it a ‘square’.
· Tim Ready thinks the Board has had an influence on the DRB because in their minutes they mention the Board in respect to the Masterplan. He feels the Board should let them do their work and then come to us. John Moustakis repeated what he said at the last meeting that the reason for the DRB for the NRCC is to have “another voice”, but the Planning Board has the final say. Pam Lombardini said she felt encouraged by the DRB minutes, she feels they heard what the Board had to say. Amy suggested another angle to look at this- that the Board is seeking the DRB’s assistance because they’re experts in design. John said there’s
a booklet they can refer to, it says what they can and can’t do. John suggested the ZBA caused the problem as there are restrictions on mass and size, and they made it bigger than it was supposed to be. Tim Kavanaugh said as far as he knows, the Board heard a lot of comments during the public hearing, listened and referred them to the DRB. Then, the DRB will consider everything including mass, size, and then refer back to the Planning Board. Christine Sullivan gave an analogy- the SRA to the DRB, which may help explain the jurisdiction of the Board. Gene said Lynn Duncan was here at a prior meeting; maybe she needs to come back. He doesn’t like the idea of someone giving opinions to the DRB from the entire Board, when everyone didn’t agree on them. Amy said there was nothing formal written, though she had said at the last meeting she would communicate the concerns she had heard to their staff person. Pam said her impression was that we wanted
them to take a closer look at things and Nadine said it’s also a way to ask questions. John feels this will work out itself. John M. said this is the only project the DRB (other than the one downtown) is involved in. Tim R. said because this is the first time, maybe the Board is being preemptory; the Board needs to let the DRB do their job. Christine said the issues that Tim R. and Gene bring should be addressed. Tim R. feels it opens the door for future projects. Christine said the meeting between the DRB and a few Board members went very well. Tim K. said the meeting gave the DRB a sense that the Board appreciates their work.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Planning Board this evening, a motion was made by Tim Ready to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Pam Lombardini and approved (7-0).
The meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Stacey Dupuis, Clerk
Salem Planning Board
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