Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
PB January 18 2012
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TOWN OF CANTON PLANNING BOARD MEETING WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18, 2012 SALAH MEETING ROOM 7:00 P.M. TOWN HALL MINUTES Present: Kristin Mirliani, Chairwoman, Jeremy Comeau, Vice Chairman, Christopher Connolly, George Jenkins Also present: Tom Houston, Professional Services Corporation Winifred Smith, Planning Board Secretary Meeting came to order at 7:10 P.M. Chairwoman Kristin Mirliani Called to order the Planning Board meeting of January 18, 2012 Ms. Mirliani – we are going to change the agenda a little bit this evening we are going to start with the “Comprehensive Land Use Reform and Partnership Act” presentation. Mr. Comeau – if I could quickly say that last Tuesday I went to the Board of Selectman meeting where I heard the presentation from MAPC. I thought it would be good for the Mr. Holden Board to have some first hand knowledge of their presentation so I invited here tonight. Eric HoldenComprehensive Land Use Reform and Partnership Act (CLURPA) – Talks about zoning reform legislation there is a bill before the legislature S1019 He says there are some formatting changes, some substantive changes and there is also a competing plan (LUPA). Mr. Holden – Thank you very much for having me, my name is Eric Holden. Tonight I am here to talk about Legislation. He refers to two handouts which list endorsements from organizations. He talks about the broad based nature of the endorsements, groups from the Planning world to groups from the Health Care field and Environmental groups, most recently I have been talking to cities and towns Planning Boards and Boards of Selectman just talking about the legislation. There is wide spread support from many communities across the Commonwealth. He says they have 38 communities from this region signed on and 55 more statewide who have signed on that really want to see something happen with zoning reform. The Bill has been a long process we have attempted to update our states zoning, master plan, planning statutes. This legislation CLURPA was introduced last session, it is currently a joint committee for municipalities 1
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and regional government, we are anticipating this issue will be taken up starting next month really hoping to see some things emerge from the session this year. The big question is what the final form of that legislation will look like as it goes through the committee process. I think we will have a lot of different groups on all sides of issues weighing in with advice, recommendations and suggestions ultimately it will be up to the legislators in terms of what the final piece of legislation is going to look like. So it may change quite a bit from the current status. MAPC is really hoping to see something happen this year, and really firmly believe after 35 years of the current zoning laws some updates are definitely needed because things have changed in that last generation. So I wanted to spend just a few minutes going through the key points. If you have any questions I can go into more detail if you would like. The first piece of this really addresses chapter 40A. Some changes are more about changing the formatting making them easier to read easier to find things. But there are significant content changes as well, maybe the biggest one is it would allow for the first time development impact fees, this is something communities could assess for projects that are Special Permits or another Review process. It also goes in and authorizes a lot of things communities have tried in the past, things like development rights, inclusionary zoning, includes a portion of affordable housing units and sub-divisions of a certain size. I think one of the other major things is there is a local option to change the vote quantum for zoning changes right now you need a two-thirds majority at town meeting if a community wants to, they can vote to reduce that, it’s completely up to the community. This legislation will affect all 350 communities in both zoning and some sub-division regulations. The Master Plan Statute there is a second tier that’s called OPTIM community which is a local option, if communities take on five actions the states asking them to consider it would help align local zoning with State goals in terms of economic development, housing and open space protection there are additional tools and incentives above and beyond what is offered to communities that chose not to opt in. Turning to the sub-division statute, there are some significant changes here and probably the biggest one is again that local option, communities can remove the ANR process, and replace it with a minor sub-division process, this would basically let communities have an expedited efficient sub-division process, sub-divisions under six units, but also give towns more control over shaping what the final outcome of the sub-division looks like. It allows for things like looking at the drainage, looking at the landscaping which you can’t do today under formal ANR. The other change I wanted to mention regarding sub-division, it also gives Planning Boards the ability to reserve up to 5% of a parcels land area in a sub-divisions for recreational or open space there is no requirement for public access to that space, but it enable communities to make sure there is some open space or recreational space for the residents who move into that sub-division. The last thing I wanted to hit on tonight is the Master Planning statute; right now it is a state requirement law that communities do a Master plan, there is no enforcement, no real incentive other than wanting to do good planning. What this does, it continues that requirement but it simplifies it to only five elements that would be required and then it does have a number of optional elements. One of the optional things is called a partnership plan. That’s the piece for those opting in communities who want to meet those five State standards. The other big change in the Master Planning piece it would require for the first time that zoning and other man use regulations be consistent with the Master Plan. All this effort in producing a really great 2