 Okay, it is 732 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11th, 2021 Good evening. My name is Christian Klein. I'm the chair of the Arlington zoning board of appeals like to call this meeting of the board to order Like to confirm all members and anticipated officials are present members of the board of appeals Roger Dupont here Patrick Hanlon here Kevin Mills here Aaron Ford here And Stephen Revlock here Thank you all officials from the town Rick Valerelli the board's administrator here Vincent Lee from the inspection services here and Kelly Lennon with a senior planner from the Department of Planning and Community Development here Good to see you all Just like to verify that there are people here for the three hearings we have scheduled for this evening There's someone here appearing on behalf of 12 Christine road here. Thanks, sir. As there are someone here appearing on behalf of 34 Marathon Street here here and appearing on behalf of 53 Pine Ridge Road. Okay, so this open meeting of the Arlington zoning board of appeals is being conducted conducted remotely consistent with Governor Baker's executive order of March 12 2020 The order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law to have all meetings in a publicly accessible physical location. Further, all members of public bodies are allowed and encouraged to participate remotely. Public bodies may meet remotely so long as reasonable public access is afforded so the public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting. An opportunity for public participation will be provided during the public comment period during each public hearing. For this meeting the Arlington zoning board of appeals has convened a video conference via the zoom application With online and telephone access as listed on the agenda posted to the town's website identifying how the public may join This meeting is being recorded and it will be broadcast by ACMI Please be aware that attendees are participating by a variety of means some attendees are participating by video conference Other participants are participating by computer audio or telephone Accordingly, please be aware that other folks may be able to see you your screen name or another identifier Please take care not to share personal information Anything you broadcast may be captured by the recording. We ask you to please maintain decorum during the meeting including displaying an appropriate background All supporting materials that have been provided members of this body are available on the town's website unless otherwise noted The public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda As chair I reserve the right to take items out of order in the interest of promoting an orderly meeting Whereas the zoning board of appeals discusses and arbitrates the use of land in Arlington formerly known as monotony Nalgonquin word meaning swift waters The board acknowledges that the town of Arlington is located on the ancestral lands of the massachusetts tribe The tribe of indigenous peoples from whom the colony province and commonwealth have taken their names We pay our respects to the ancestral bloodlines of the massachusetts tribe and their descendants who still inhabit historic massassoy territories today Start this evening with several administrative items including the approval of minutes the approval of decisions And possibly discussion of proposed revisions to the rules and regulations of the board These items relate to the operations. The board and as such will not be will be excuse me It will be conducted without input from the general public The board will not take up any new business on prior hearings nor will there be the introduction of any new information on matters previously brought before the board After introducing each item, I'll invite members to provide comment questions or motions Please remember to mute your phone or computer when you're not speaking. Please remember to speak clearly Members wish to engage in discussion with other members. Please do so through the chair taking care not to identify yourself So with that moving over to the agenda Agenda item number two So this is uh the approval of meeting minutes. So, um, Mr. Valerelli had circulated to members of the board the The minutes which have been prepared for the march 11th, april 8th, april 13th, and april 20th meetings those four meetings, um I believe several people have submitted Some edits and corrections to those minutes Are there any further Corrections or input from the board on the those four sets of minutes Steve ravelack, minister chair. Yes, Steve I noticed one One typo that uh, I did not catch earlier Okay, so this would be in the minutes for april 13th and on page 22 Um In the one two three fourth paragraph where i'm speaking Uh, mr. Ravelack states he made a trip over to rider street Uh rider should be spelled with a y Nothing and but I and I have nothing further Got it Steve. Thank you So with that correction to the april 13th minutes um And I have a motion to accept the minutes from march 11th april 8th april 13th. That's just amended into april 20th So moved. Thank you, mr. Hanlon uh second Second thank you mr. Mills I'll do a vote of the board to approve the minutes mr. Dupont I can see your lips moving. I don't hear you but I got you. Uh, mr. Hanlon. Hi, mr. Mills. Hi Your work is not with us this evening mr. Ravelack I Mr. Ford Hi, and the chair votes. I Thank you that moves us to item number three, which is the approval of the decision for 59 mount Vernon street. Um, this is the decision that was Uh, very well prepared by mr. Hanlon from our board. I know that was circulating There were a couple comments that had come back on that to mr. Valerelli. Are there any further? Um comments on the proposed decision for 59 mount Vernon street Seeing none. May I have a motion? to approve the uh decision for 59 mount Vernon street as uh submitted and edited So moved Thank you mr. Hanlon I have a second Second. Thank you mr. Mills Uh A vote of the board mr. Dupont. Hi Mr. Hanlon. Hi mr. Mills. Hi mr. Ravelack. Hi And the chair votes. I said that decision is approved that will now be Um The signature will go out through docu signed to the board and then we will have that filed with the town clerk's office Um Brings us to item four, uh, which is a discussion of proposed revisions to rules and regulations. We'd Discuss this a little bit last time. Um, I don't think there's been any adjustment since that time so Unless anybody has anything they would specifically like to address in regards to that. I was just going to pass on that for this evening We will pass on that Okay, we're now turning to the public hearings on tonight's agenda Here's some ground rules for effective and clear conduct of tonight's business After I announce each agenda item, I will ask the applicant to introduce themselves and make their presentation to the board A request that members of the board ask what questions they have on the proposal and after the board's questions have been answered I will open the meeting for public comment so the First hearing is a agenda item number five docket three six five seven 12 christine road Um, and if I can ask the applicant to identify themself and tell us what they would like to be doing Good evening board. My name is fernando carrero The owner of the land to contractor here in all into and the property that I am Presenting to you for some modifications is 12 pristine road And the proposed on the plot plan um, I want to put a farmer's porch in the front of the house And right now meeting the requirement of the setback. I could get about four feet point one So to keep the setback around 25.1 and my uh My proposal is to bring it to six feet so that the new setback will be uh at 23 feet because Me personally in my own home. I have four feet and it's not something that we can Very much used because it's a little too small So I wanted to give it a little bit more space so that People could sit out there and be a little more comfortable and for the curb appeal. I think the house would look really Presentable with this farmer's porch and usable Especially being in a circle where it's a lot of kids will be able to play outside And it seems like a lot more parents these days are spending more time in their front yards and the kids ride their bikes Especially in the net neighborhood So to me I'm looking for that Additional foot and a half or so to get me to six feet For the front porch to 20.1. So you will remain the same Is that the the only aspect of the project that requires a special permit? That's it okay Mr. Valarelli Yes, just want to confirm so the board may Increase the depth of a front porch into the front setback no farther than I believe it's two feet. Is that correct? by special permit That's correct. So by right he can do a 25 square foot farmer's porch Vestabule anything large in the mat that protrudes into the required setback is allowed by special permit only Thank you Before I ask for questions the board just wanted to make sure that the applicant received the Today the report prepared by the department of planning and community development So let me make sure you had received and reviewed that Yes okay Are there questions from the board mr. Chairman Mr. Hanlon Just to try to clarify what is and isn't before us I gather that I take it that the only thing that is That is the reason why the applicant is here Is the desire to get extra space on the on the porch This is a project in the process of construction It doesn't already exist and I I assume it's true that every with except with respect to to the porch Everything else is Could be done by right And what I'd like to clarify is Whether or not It's within the province of this application for the board to consider anything other than the unique issues that arise from the question whether to approve the porch or not In other words, there are other kinds of things that that may be at issue open space could be an issue who knows But I I gather that those things Except in so far as they relate to the reasons for either extending allowing for this porch or not Wouldn't be relevant to our hearing tonight. Is that correct? That is my understanding Mr. Vellerally nodding in the affirmative as well correct, mr. Hammond are there other Questions or comments on the board mr. Revillac Uh, yeah, just one comment and a couple of questions uh, so the comment regarding the uh, the application these uh form where we Were the six special permit criteria are listed and there's space for the applicant to answer I I do appreciate the the effort to cite specific sections of the the by-law that are applicable It looks like We may have these citations might have been from an earlier version of the by-law Just basically the you know, it was reorganized in the section numbers are different I mean not an issue here, but uh, just for you know, just I mentioned this for So the applicant is aware and if they never ever need to come back before us in the future for a different project so, um regard as far as questions so in terms of what is the Total square footage of total square footage of the projection into the minimum yard I gather the intention is to make the porch 20 feet by six feet 20.1 by six feet. Yes 20.1 by six and it's one So 20 by 1.9 would be the actual projection that is correct Okay, so about 39 square feet correct No further questions. Thank you Thank you One last look around the board being none, um At this time I'll open the meeting for public comment public questions and comments will be taken as they relate to the matter at hand And should be directed to the board for the purpose of informing our decision Members of the public will be granted time to ask questions and make comments The chair asked those wishing to address the board a second time during any particular hearing. Please be patient allow Of those wishing to speak for the first time to go ahead of them Members of the public who wish to speak to digitally raise their hand Using the button on the participant tab in the zoom application Those calling in by phone, please dial star nine to indicate you would like to speak You'll be called upon by the meeting host. You'll be asked to give your name and address And you'll be given time for your questions and comments All questions are to be addressed through the chair. Please remember to speak clearly Once all public questions and comments have been addressed or the time allocated by the chair has ended The public comment period will be closed board and staff will do our best to show documents They're relevant to the discussion With that I see There's one gentleman with his hand up Uh, if you could go ahead sir I'm Robert Cacuda from 28 stone road Um, I just have a quick question. If the porch is extended the upper floors in the renovation are extended awesome Mr. Carrero, no, they're not just a point Okay Yeah, it's just it's just a single story porch with a roof over it. Is it correct? Correct If I can quickly find this display it here This is the front elevation of the proposed of the house. This is the That's correct and then This is the side view and that's this is the the portion here on the front Correct. Thank you. Are there further questions from the public on this hearing? Around I see none if we flip to the second zoom page Nobody waiting Okay, so with that the public comment period for this hearing will be closed So as the board to turn to the Um, uh, the Memorandum from the department planning and community development, which I will Quickly just play in a second Whoops, that is not the right document. It's zoning bylaws. Let's see if I can do this better Oh, no, you are seeing it. Okay. Um So this is the the house and then the recommendations from the planning and community development um They recommend that the zoning board of appeals request the following materials from the applicant a completed dimensional and parking information worksheet um a completed open space gross floor area information worksheet And plans identifying dimensional details for the proposed porch um And I believe that some of that Information I may have So this is the plan from the applicant Showing that the extend six feet and the width of 20 feet um, and then as I had I had prior contact with the applicant who had requested To provide some information about the existing conditions, um the current conditions, which you can see currently that The house has no there's nothing on the front of the house as it's under construction and the There have been some adjustments to the the application page in regards to Those items that were identified in the the memorandum the dimensional parking information worksheet in the open space gross floor area worksheet But that was all that was requested in the from the department of planning and community development um Is there further comment on this application from the board? Mr. Chairman yes, mr. Dupont so just by way of clarification and I apologize because I tried to print out the application materials And for some reason the formatting on it and I I couldn't do anything with it was It was a legal sized paper, but it was sideways So I don't know how that happens, but it actually happened to two out of the three matters we're dealing with tonight So I'm not sure exactly what page we're on, but it says the application for special permit is made in accordance with whatever and then it says special permit criteria and it describes it it says renovated front porch with roof to project five feet from the house And then it makes reference and I think that the department of planning Also caught this and it says existing porch is small and uncovered with no roof So I just wanted to clarify You know what that is because it's saying five feet from the house, but I think we're talking about six feet That's my understanding as well. Mr. Carrero That is correct. Yes the existing porch that was there It was literally a set of concrete steps. There is about six feet wide in a projected from the house about four feet so What I'm looking for is six feet for the farmers porch Um, not not five feet. I apologize for that. Okay And this is a plan that the drawing that had been provided. Um this was Don, Mr. Carrero, I think the condition prior to Um the renovation and it shows the existing porch Which was that was the proposed porch with no roof covering on it. Of course as soon as you know, oh, okay Yeah, exactly. So I just wanted to give it some covering. Okay For me to feel like the porch was worth usable space The four feet was just a little tight and again, it's based on experience because my house my my father's porch is four feet My wife don't really sit out there because it's just a little too small Mr chairman. Yes, please. Um, this is pat This sort of is picking up a little bit on mr. Dupont's comment, but Assuming that if the board were to approve this we usually approve We usually have a condition requiring the Requiring the action that we're authorizing to be done in accordance with Uh, certain plans and I want to make clear since there are various Plans asking for various things that are that are somewhere in this application That we understand and everybody understands exactly which is which is the thing that We're there to be that's there to be approved And so I just want to I assume that it's what you just showed that has the word family room prominently put on it and there's a There's a notation here for a six-foot porch And there's also the elevations, but I just I just would like to make sure That we understand which are the documents that are being approved as part of this application and which are documents that relate to Something else and that are not operative at this point I wonder if mr. Valerelli can help with that yes, mr. Hanlon, so the applicant has Started a construction project all the stuff he's doing now is by right and what he wants to do is um Just increase the size of the front entry A farmers porch if you will Uh to project six feet off of the foundation by 20 feet wide and that will um project into the minimum front yard setback Instead of it being 25 feet as required. I think it will be 23 and change But um everything else the applicant is doing is by right I hope I answered your question In just in terms of the papers we have before us We have one thing that has a prominent notation six feet off the house Which is a kind of a plan view Um And we have another one of the elevations that were shown earlier Are those the documents that he's that the applicant is supposed to be core? Observing as as he installs this porch Yes, so unfortunately there was a little bit of confusion with the um The application and the information that's on the application But in fact what the board is Or may consider tonight for approval is in fact the farmers porch that projects No more than six feet off of the foundation line in the front of house and is no wider than 20 feet I have a um question mr chairman The uh and this may be to for you rick is the Is the request six feet off of the foundation or off of the face of the building because it looks like When you look at the left elevation on sheet one that the face of the building projects about two feet in front of the uh basement wall and then the porch projects six feet in front of the the um The the wood frame wall so that would put it about eight feet off foundation So i'm just trying to make sure i understand what the Dimension is supposed to be tied to So mr kararo you can address that and um just keep in mind that the board Is looking to be uh very precise on what you are proposing Yes, so the projection of six feet is off the face of the building Which is the first point of the building and not the section that is can that That is set back as you can see from the side elevation So right now the setback it's is from the face of the building not from the foundations from the face overall face of the building okay Maybe just some language that needs to be clarified in the In the in the request which is I think was said to be six feet off the foundation. Well, that's that probably needs to be fixed Okay, okay, so That will then bring Are there further comments or questions from the board? okay, um actually one uh one mr Steve rubble. I'm Going back to the planning department memo Regarding the dimensional worksheets now. I know we're just considering a porch. Yeah, but and it is a rather Small it is a it is a you know, it's not a big protrusion into the front yard. We're looking at 40 square feet but you know technically, you know, that is removal of open space Or landscaped of some sort of open space from the front yard And I I would be curious if how the board members would uh feel about a condition that the you know that That open space calculations be provided and be confirmed by inspectional services To comport with the dimensional regulations for the district I believe that sounds appropriate. Okay, so the board has Uh, we have sort of three standard conditions that we apply to special permits The first reads the final plans and specifications approved by the board for the permit Shall be the final plans and specifications submitted to the building inspector of the town of arlington In connection with this application for zoning relief If we know deviation during construction from approved plans and specifications without the express written approval of the arlington zoning board of appeals Um, the second is the building inspectors hereby notified that he is to monitor the site Should proceed with appropriate enforcement procedures at any time he determines that violations are present And the inspector of buildings shall proceed under section 3.1 of the zoning bylaw under the provisions of chapter 40 section 21d And institute non-criminal complaints if necessary the inspector of buildings may also approve an institute appropriate criminal action Also in accordance with section 3.1 And number three is the board shall maintain continuing jurisdiction with respect to this special permit grant And then the there are other conditions that we have sometimes applied so the two that Time to me just sort of addressed the questions that have been raised by the board One is the out plan is to provide a site plan indicating and dimensioning the area Where areas of the existing and proposed site that comply with the requirements for usable open space is indicated section 2 of the zoning bylaw the town of arlington and the inspection services department for review and approval And the other would be that the applicant is to provide a revised and signed dimensional And parking information in open space slash gross floor area sheets correcting any deficiencies discuss the hearing to the inspection services department for review Are there any further conditions that the board would ask to consider Mr. Chairman, yes, please. Mr. DuPont I just along the lines of what mr. Ford had mentioned Is it something that we should consider having language that references the fact That that six feet is being measured from the front of the building and not the foundation We can certainly do that and the reason I asked that question is do we have a plan that explicitly shows that I I'm again not sure that I saw that but it may well be there So did we have sufficient if we're saying build according to this particular plan Do we have that particular plan that demonstrates The six feet by 20 feet away from the face of the building So we have this document So it's just going to be in accordance with the plan that's been submitted Yeah, okay, so if I say Uh, the border sticks the front porch to the dimensions presented on 12 underscore Christine underscore front underscore porch underscore size dot pdf As submitted and then that would restrict it to these these dimensions six feet off the house And 20 feet side to side Mr. Chairman. Yes, mr. Hanlon just just so that It's just a means of advice is that Both of the discussion we just had and ultimately in writing the opinion It's helpful to put a title on these documents so that it can be unambiguously referred to without looking at the At the file name from the computer And I would like to ask Mr. Kuro to take note of that and to do that in the future Will do thank you Is there any Further comment or question from the board? May I ask for a motion from the board in regards to this application Mr. Chairman Hanlon I move that the application be approved subject to the conditions that you've just read Thank you. Mr. Hanlon. Do I have a second? Second So in the absence of Mr. O'Rourke, I will ask mr. Revlach to Vote on this application. Um, so we have a full quorum of five Uh, so the motion is to approve Uh, with the conditions, um that were previously indicated, uh, mr. Dupont. I Mr. Hanlon. Hi, mr. Mills Hi, mr. Revlach. Hi And the chair votes I The application is approved, uh with the condition stipulated. Thank you very much. Thank you board Have a good evening. Thank you Okay, this brings us to Agenda item number six, which is docket three six five five 34 marathon road and so if I could ask the Applicants to identify themselves and tell us what they would like to do That's the in frank McGovern Hello Hello Thank you. Mr. Klein and members of the board Uh, we're we own 34 marathon street And uh, we have a daughter who lives there. Uh, she's lived there since we've owned it And we would like to Construct two small dormers within the footprint of the house on the third floor The third floor currently has one bedroom. It has walk up stairs already there One bedroom, but there's no bathroom on the on the third floor And we'd like to construct two small dormers to be able to put a bathroom And uh, and then a work area. So, uh, so somebody working remote could work work within that The the dormers, uh, let's see It's this house will it's in in our family and like I said, we our daughter lives there We're also planning to completely redo the outside of the house if anyone's driven by the shingles are in pretty disrepair And so we're we're planning to completely Reshingle reside the house and as well So that will look much better from the curbside appeal And No, no change the footprint Just briefly Come on Here the set of plants it was provided by the architect So this is the existing house this is the existing upper floor so this These are the two dormers that are being proposed So this the current front elevation and this is the proposed elevation with the addition of the dormer This is the existing side elevation And the proposed side elevation with the two small shed dormers This is a perspective of the current house And the perspective with the addition of the two dormers Are there questions and comments from the board? Mr. Mills Yes, mr. Chair Did we get an accurate estimate on the space under seven foot on the attic with the dormers in place? I thought that was an outstanding question We Have from the applicant as a part of their application and indication That the proposed upper floor Um So the second floor is listed as 1017 square feet and the third floor is listed as being 186 Square feet And it appears from this that they are Well, that they are That the listed Square footage for the third floor of the 705 square feet which would be in excess Of the 50 percent of the floor below But they have not provided a specific plan that Or section that indicates exactly what the The area in the proposed Attic floor would be mr. Veller really do you have any Other information from the applicant that would clarify the actual square footage of the attic floor I do not I notice that the application the numbers are are incorrect Um, but nevertheless The um The board could approve pending the um the attic space doesn't exceed a half story Okay Mr chairman, mr. Hamlin spent, uh, I also noticed that the The version of the open space floor gross floor area Form that was filled out Uh Also Is it was apparently an out of date one and it includes the Seven feet three inches as the ones was. Yeah, uh, which raises a question as to exactly what it is that Is actually being reported there if that if if if they were actually doing that Rather than following the seven feet rule that we now have Those numbers would be would be incorrect in a way that would be hard to tell What they are So for that reason also I would be concerned to make sure that we're We're We're okay with this to make sure that these are That these are right procedurally Basically if if this isn't right And we've got a problem here and we approve this The applicant has to come back to us for an amendment if it's of the special permit Uh, what what i'm trying to I don't see any I'm trying to figure out a way of handling this and being sure that we're with that We're conforming with the bylaw without imposing on the applicant Extra steps that would just delay this far more than is necessary Uh because we don't have this clear right now And I just would like to throw it up to my colleagues If if it's possible to get this to get this resolved in a few days And we could come back and know when we're giving this the permit rather than taking the risk that there'll be a problem later on That will be another month or six weeks of delay that we might be It might be better to do that But I I leave it up to the suggestions of others. I just would like the procedure to be as As smooth and as efficient as possible and not to cause unnecessary hardship Mr. Valarelli If if the board was to approve this with the condition that the that the the applicant provide documentation showing conformance with the half story requirement for an attic and They are unable to to meet that criteria. What would happen at inspectional services Well, the board needs approval I'm sorry the applicant needs approval from the board to increase the non-conformity due to the lack of open space usable And special services still has a whole checklist of things They're going to apply to this job and every job that comes before them So, uh, the only thing that's stopping them That way that the special services has no control over Is the fact they're extending the non-conformity due to lack of usable open space ISD will check make sure that the attic space does not exceed a half story We have had instances where they did exceed it when they were told not to And they have come back before the board Very rarely so to answer your question If the board approves this inspectional services has all the other stuff Too too numerous to mention Mr chairman Yes, mr. Dupont So it's just a matter of it seems to me custom. I mean normally if we do have a question That uh in involves the dimensional Part of an application and we're not clear on what it is In the past. I feel like we've always said To come back to us with more concrete information and without unreasonable delay And I think that that's what mr. Hanlon was also saying, but I'm just concerned that if on the one hand we were to say, yeah, we agree and we'll Approve this subject to making sure that it meets the requirements for seven feet and a half story That somehow if in fact it were way off You might have a situation where that they really couldn't do what it was that they proposed to do And that seems to be sort of the tail wagging the dog to me I'd rather Have somebody come back in and say here we've clarified this And we've confirmed that this meets the seven feet requirement And therefore now you can go ahead and vote and the other question I have Is I'm not entirely sure and I know that these forms are confusing But on one of the pages it says that landscaped open space percentage And it gives a number 3265 And that's repeated four times And so I guess, you know, we're always wondering about whether or not they have any usable open space to begin with And I'm not sure that that's clear And so I'd like to know whether that is clear because most of the time they don't and we don't worry about it But if they did somehow I think then We'd be having to take that into account as well so my preference is Better data And then be able to make the decision okay I wonder mr. Chairman if I mean this I you know Inspectional services is always very helpful and I wonder if the applicant could just work with mr. Valerelli to get this clear Uh and make sure that they're following the rules and do the calculation I'm guessing actually it's going to turn out to be okay But if it isn't mr. Valerelli could help them with with with with what to do about that And if we took I mean we're meeting practically every week between now and So, you know, if you could take a little bit of time Get it right with the help of of the inspectional services department And then come back and we can give a clear approval with that won't have any problems in the future The applicant might be better off with that Mr. Valerelli would you have an opportunity? between now and the 25th of may to Assist the applicant with that. Yes, mr. Chairman absolutely Mr. Revlak Yeah, I mean going back to usable going back to open space. I mean the Um the amounts provided on the worksheet. Um, I don't think could possibly be right I looking at the plot plan There's the surveyors plan I mean the question of whether this lot has usable open space really depends on the dimensions Between the rear the distance between the rear of the two-story porch and the rear lot line And I you know, that's that's kind of a critical piece that we need to know to You know to make a determination that there is in fact no usable open space So I would yeah, I would like to see that clarified for myself Mr. Chairman if I could just one of the things that I think won't necessarily be clear to everybody watching Watching is that actually it's probably a good thing for the applicant not to have usable open space now because we followed a rule Generally that if you have nothing now and you have nothing afterwards Then you haven't made anything worse and so consequently We don't care very much about that unless there's something else egregious with the application which there isn't here Whereas if you actually had open space and was reduced and we're reducing the amount of open space you had Which again, I'm not sure would be happening here anyway But the but the ratio would be changing because of the increased gross floor area That actually poses a problem. So paradoxically It might be better from the applicant's point of view actually not to have any usable open space now Then to have some and have the ratio Nominally go off the other way. So when mr. Revillac is making that point It's really a point of helping the applicant if that if that calculation turns out to be wrong So just um worth mcgovernance To I think essentially what we'll be looking to do Is to request some additional information you would need to work with the designer to That they would need to make a calculation on the attic floor of the usable of the actual Space that is seven feet In elevation or greater and if they have a question about how to calculate that mr. Valerelli can help them Make that calculation And all we would need is just You know a single page sheet where they sort of draw out that area and identify it with a with the amount of floor space that that takes up And that's all we would need for that for that that calculation And then the other thing we would need is in the rear is just as mr. Revillac noted in the rear yard We would need a dimension between the garage and the sideline opposite And between the porch and the edge of the real and the rear line May I ask a question please is the attic space seven feet or greater? Is that what's existing now? Or is that what exists with the with the dormer? That would be proposed The proposed okay with the with the With the dormer. Yeah, okay And that that Footprint so to speak should be 50 percent of the floor below That's correct All less or less or less or less. Okay Yeah, I like to follow the rules and I'd rather because that include like closet space and everything So it's everything that the height is seven feet from the finished floor To the underside of the roof structure so if there so if it's if the If there's like a hung ceiling that doesn't count it comes to the structure Okay, and so the the designer should be able to figure out, you know, just sort of lay it out On his computer and give you a number. Okay. Okay. Got it Thank you. Oh, you're very welcome Um, yeah, I mean if I may for a second mr. Valerie Yeah, mr. McGovern I can help you with that if you can just email me to the zba website I can step you through it. We can get this all pretty quick. Oh, thank you very much Yeah, that was something I was I honestly I take that responsibility. I was a little confused as to how to calculate That whether it was the pre or whether it was the post and Well, how much to include because I actually sat down my brother who's a builder And I said pat I can't figure any of this stuff out. I don't know. I was on the website That zoning board stuff is like I don't know how many people are lying any who So I'm gonna give my brother really bad grief because he said include all the states that's on there on your lot That's not being used. They're gonna, you know I'm gonna help with your ratio and I'm like, well apparently not Trust me. We don't have a whole lot of space on there that is a yard if that's what you're referring to We have a we have a big driveway, but I can help yard a little backyard I can help you with that fairly quickly without taking the board's time tonight We okay right away tomorrow Thank you very much. Thank you all. I appreciate your time. Absolutely. Um, before we before we move on I would like to Ask if there's any public comment in relation to um To this application if there's any other Questions or concerns from the general public um Any members of public wish to speak to this are to this um item Should digitally raise our hand using the button on the participants tab in the zoom application Those calling it by phone you can now star 9 to indicate you would like to speak You'll be called upon by the chair. You'll be asked to give your name and address if given time for questions and comments There are any questions and comments from the public in regards to this application Um for 34 marathons street Ms. Weber Yes, I'm at 14 rider street in Arlington. I'm just what I wanted to ask um, mr. Hanlon About the usable space. So I feel like those that don't have usable space Could build a skyscraper and those that do have usable space are are penalized by that and I want to kind of Think not regarding this um property at hand, but just the rule in general. I just don't understand it Mr. Chairman No, that's well, you can do it better than I can I'm not sure I could take a stab at it. Okay. Mr. Revlak So there are two types of open space in our by-law One is called usable. Um, and it's you know primarily for the purpose of You know do of having things like tennis courts and swimming pools and outdoor service activities like laundry and gardening and that sort of thing so the Now it usable open space has to meet a set of conditions It's got to be flat and it has to have a minimum horizontal dimension of 25 feet and now typically in a residential zone 30 A property owner would need Usable open space that's equal to like 30 percent of whatever their gross floor area is so So as you add on to the building the requirement for usable open space increases Now where the non conforming aspect of this comes into play Is if a property doesn't have anything You know, that's 25 feet in diameter That's free of automotive and vehicular traffic and suitably flat then you know the percentage of usable open space is zero if For a non conforming parcel General, you know the way we've the way we treat it by precedent is if you start with zero percent usable open space And you end up with zero percent usable open space You have not increased the degree of non conformity now does this provide an advantage to someone with um With who has no usable open space and yes it does But you have to realize that the Places where you know the parcels that You know are in that condition are generally small and you generally, you know have less room to build There are also a number of other regulations like height You know for example, so you can't You know lack of usable open space might allow you to put on a dormer, but it's not going to let you build a skyscraper Does uh Does uh, does that sort of answer the question? Yes, thank you Thank you, mr. Rev black and thank you for the question Any further questions or comments from the public? Seeing none, I will go ahead and close public comment. Um For this particular hearing So I think the recommendation from the board is that we Ask to continue this hearing So a date certain I would recommend That we keep the applicant two weeks Um person which should be sufficient time to work with mr. Valarelli and with their uh with their design professionals to Come up with the responses to the questions that we have and I would propose that they be Added to the agenda for Tuesday may 25th Uh, which is the the hearing that's scheduled to start at 7 30 p.m We have one residential item on that And so this would be An easy one to add to that date um Is there any further questions from the board? Or the applicant? Thank you. I appreciate all the consideration Oh, you're quite welcome. Um, so with that may I have a motion to continue? Chairman Mr. Hanlon, I move that we continue This This hearing to a date certain of may 25th at 7 30 Thank you. May I have a second? Second Thank you, mr. Dupont So uh vote at the board. Uh, mr. Dupont. Hi Mr. Hanlon. Hi mr. Mills. Hi Uh, mr. Revillac Hi mr. Ford Hi And the chair votes aye. So we are continued on 34 marathon street until Tuesday, May 25th Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. You're very welcome Okay, with that that brings us to item seven on our agenda this evening, which is docket 365 6 53 pine ridds road While I'm uploading documents here in the background if I could ask the applicant to um identify himself and Tell us what they would like to do David Whitney, uh, thank you members of the board for having us tonight. I'm an architect here in town working with Scheherazade and David poter They currently live in a smaller house in Arlington, but have bought this house on pine ridge and uh We seek to expand it and improve it and update it to serve as a family as a house for Growing family long into the future Um, we're proposing a big addition, but everything we're doing is by right. We're compliant with all the zoning by-laws We're here solely because of the size of the for the addition We propose to eliminate an existing freestanding garage that is is not conforming as far too close to the property line Uh, we'll replace it with an attached garage With finished space above Um I hope the drawings are clear Um, we're doing a lot of work on the house. It could be hard because we should dare it down and replace it instead But it's a charming house with a lot of great details and features And we're trying to be respectful of that and make it a bigger better version of itself We're matching those materials. We're matching those details We're trying to taste stay true to the spirit of the house that's there Quickly bring up the drawings to show everyone Mr. Whitney, I know if you want to just walk us quickly through the Yeah, I can talk briefly. Um, if you can Fans, there's the existing site plan. Uh, you see the existing garage That's being highlighted on the right hand side of the page Um, the house is on a corner It really addresses both Hawthorne Avenue and Pine Ridge If you press on please There's the existing basement And the next is the existing first floor plan the shaded Walls or existing walls that will remain the rest of them to get revised and and Replaced we don't change the shape of the house drastically won't change the footprint of the existing house drastically But we're making a lot of changes rearranging the interior of the house There is a One finished space on the attic floor. It's it will be far less than 50 percent of the of the footprint of the house Here's the new site plan showing the proposed addition the Existing non-conforming garage goes away. You see the big black circle at the bottom That's a pretty great tree that we want to maintain. And so the driveway will curve around it Here's the new basement plan the new two-car garage attached to the house and you'll enter through to a mudroom Then to a new flight of stairs that brings you up into house There are existing stairs at the front door that project far far into the yard Halfway to the street and kind of disrupt the front yard We're replacing them the front door stays pretty much where it is But we're reconfiguring the stairs so they'll fit tighter against the house as you see where the cursor is now We're going to use the same stones on the foundation on the on the new stairs as is in the existing foundation on the house new second floor rearrange bedrooms And the existing room on the third floor stays mostly as it is except that the stairs themselves are moving So you can get reconfigured a bit but still far less than 50 percent Because this is the new proposed elevation facing pine rich You see the the gambrel shape of the existing roof stays as is although it it gets expanded over a larger footprint of the existing house And then that shape is matched in the addition Only rotated 90 degrees out over the new space on the right hand side of the screen This is the view from hawthorne the proposed addition from this view will lie completely behind the existing house You won't see it at all The back of the house there'll be a small terrace With doors leading out to it again You see that's the existing gambrel shape on the right hand side of the building And then the next page you can see how we're mirroring or matching that shape with the addition So it'll look like a wing of the original house Uh and again the materials will match the shingles and the clavards and the details and the eaves etc Not for share on that. Thank you very much. Mr. Whitney. Thank you. Um other questions or comments from the board Mr. Ravillac Just a brief question and um, I just want to make sure I'm understanding the property. Okay I took her took a bike ride over this weekend and the chain link there's a chain link fence that Runs between the house and the garage And I just want to confirm that that is not the property line. It's confusing, isn't it? Yes. Yes This garage doesn't belong to my clients, but it does but that's that that is their garage the chain link fence Okay, thank you. Uh, that was my question. Okay other questions from the board. Mr. Mills Yes, uh, can I see an existing front elevation of the house, please? If I specifically I believe the photographs of it in the planning department's report. Uh, mr. Kwan. Ah, thank you. Ah, yes, here we go Thank you If I may speak briefly From that top photograph you see the sort of two gammel shapes a larger one and a smaller one And there's an exposed there's an open deck there It's got a full stone foundation and then a railing What I'm proposing to do is to expand the larger gavel pull it closer to the camera So it subsumes that smaller view That the house will still sit on that stone foundation That what's outdoor porch now will be indoor space okay And this is the porch that you had and steps that you had referenced that you were going to be Changing the direction on to make them sorted. Exactly. Okay Excuse me, uh, mr. Chair So we're saying that smaller gavel is going to be extended to the left it become Complete if you will I believe there'll be a separate Gambrel addition l or an l that's going to come off of looking at the lower image off of this side here Yes, I've got that But i'm just saying the front elevation is not going to change substantially beyond the porch Right, I think believe what he's saying is that this shape here Will go away and it will that this this shape here will be Essentially extruded forward to this plane Okay, so the the front facade will be One it won't be two planes. It'll be one plane Mr. Whitney Yes, the pine ridge facade Where you see now two sort of nested gamble shapes. There'll be one large gamble Yeah, thank you. That was my confusion. Okay I'd like to say the architecture looks very nice. You did a nice job. Thank you very much Um, so the question that I have is in regards to this tree here um Which is the second large tree on the lot Which we find a slight plan I can say unfortunately that one will need to go and I honestly don't recall whether it's in the footprint of the addition Or so close that it would clearly be endangered by it. That's this one here this 28 inch tree. Yes, there it is. Okay So this one here the 45 inch is the one that you would said would be maintained by having the driveway shifted to go away from it Yes, but this one here Would be Frankly, it's canopy is so big that that if we were to try and respect the canopy We wouldn't be able to do anything at all. Are there further questions or comments from the board? Being none um So I'll now open the meeting for public comment public questions and comments will be taken as they relate to the matter of hand to be directed to the board for the purposes of informing the decision Members of the public granted time to ask questions to make comments the chair asked those wishing to address the board a second time during any particular hearing to please be patient allow those wishing to speak for the first time to go ahead of them Members of the public who wish to speak should digitally raise their hand using the button on the participants tab of the zoom application Those calling in by phone. Please dial star nine to indicate you would like to speak You will be called upon by the meeting host You'll be asked to give your name and address and you'll be given time for your questions and comments All questions are to be addressed through the chair. Please remember to speak clearly Once all public questions and comments have been addressed The public comment period will be closed. The board and staff will do our best to show documents being discussed So with that Mr. Moore Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair Steve Moore people on the street And I'm a member of the Arlington tree committee Question about the big tree in front it looks I I applaud the The the owner's desire to to maintain the large tree large trees in Arlington are unfortunately a disappearing species as time's going by And um, however, I I believe since it's on the plot line, it's a protected tree anyway as a street tree So it both behooves the owner and the town to maintain making that tree question about the tree behind the house that uh, that Mr. Chairman you pointed out Was pretty close to the addition and I think the developer said was going to be taken Um It's it's it looks also like it's very close to the setback. Have you engaged with the tree warden about this project? Mr. Whitney. No, we haven't we we will You know as that's one of the stab standing project will have to go through for approval Hope we have you have excellent. I thank you Through you mr. Chairman. I want to thank the developer for For pursuing that because we're finding increasingly it's it's important to engage early on before any destruction happens to other trees or the trees that aren't going to be taken are Are appropriately protected during construction um, and the uh, the fee warden also can help with suggestions about how to To handle various issues that often come up during during that inspection. So Um, there are some magnificent trees on this property and uh, we sure appreciate uh care being taken around them So, thank you and thank you. Mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Moore Are there other questions or comments? Yes, sir bouncing around here for one second. Okay. Um Ms. Furman and mr. Wolff Thank you, mr. Chair. Uh, juliet furman and stan wolf from 52 grand view road So we're catty cornered to the property And I was wondering With the plans for the garage whether they'll be considerable lasting and whether it Would in any way affect the foundations for instance of neighboring structures Mr. Whitney, are you aware whether there's whether the excavation is anticipated to be in any ledge? We suspect there may be legend in the in the vicinity the truth is We just don't know and we never really know until we excavate If we when we excavate if we encounter ledge the first step is always to try and break it out without blasting with hammering and steps like that Um, I think it's very unlikely that lasting would be required If it is, you know, all the requisite protective steps would be taken Um, just a quick question for mr. Valarelli. Are there specific requirements And notifications to the abutting neighbors should rock and move will be required Yes, so that's done through the fire department But looking at the plans mr. Whitney that that the first floor of this project's a garage that's underneath So I don't know how far you go down. It doesn't seem to me That it will be too bad But uh, mr. Chairman to answer your question. Yes, and that blasting permit it is issued by the fire department If if the if blasting is not required and the the owner wishes to proceed with chipping. Is there The notification that's required to the public in that regard Not specifically for chipping. However, they do have the the good neighbor agreement will take effect with this one and also the Instruction control measures, but the good neighbor agreement. So everybody within the 300 foot radius Will know that this project is starting and they will have a contact person if they have any issues with it Okay, thank you, uh, miss firman Thank you Okay, you're very welcome um Next up, uh, mr. Schaller Thank you chair My name is terry schaller. I'm the owner of the property directly next door at 49 pine ridge road. It's uh, my property line that that existing garage sits virtually on top of And I I have a number of concerns about the project here Some of them I think are probably not appropriate for the uh, or within the remit of the zoning board But I do have considerable problems Worried about the construction project itself when it begins how long it's going to last um, I imagine this can be quite disruptive to the neighborhood in general and To my backyard in particular Um, so I just want to get that out on the table as a concern That I have I also know that other nearby neighbors have raised concerns about construction the traffic For construction the busy intersection that's out here Without traffic control And so on so there's a series of questions that are sort of all wrapped together there in one And my neighbor across the street mark demorey. I see has his hand up as well And I believe he has written a letter which I saw on the website earlier About concerns about construction So I there's not a particular question buried in there just a series of concerns About the effect particularly of the construction period itself and mitigation of I worry for example that landscaping in our yard that is directly against The existing garage is almost certainly to be Damaged I worry about a retaining wall in our yard. That's only about three feet four feet maybe from That existing garage wall So I just you know, I just Hope that there is some way That that we can come to an agreement about mitigation of the effects Thank you. Mr. Schauer just a question for myself. Um, I believe Hawthorne street is a private way. Is that correct? Yes, Hawthorne and Pine Ridge is also a private way Also, okay Okay, thank you. Other further questions, mr. Schauer Oh, yeah, I'll do it for me. Thank you. Thank you Um, Mr. Demary Thank you. Um, so Sorry, I guess that's a good name and address of the record. Sorry. Uh, name is mark demary 52 pine ridge road As was discussed earlier, we I put together a letter, uh, just to Hopefully minimize my time Our time on this on on the call, but basically, uh, I do have a lot of concerns with regard to The actual construction process as these are private roads with Uh, essentially, you know, not shoulders no sidewalks in a lot of areas And we're also at a pinch point here where this is the access for a lot of the neighborhood not just our street, but All the streets to the north of us and uh, and to the east of Hawthorne Uh, the access robbins farm and the access, uh, bracket school as well So we have a lot of uh, a lot of people that walk Through this corner in order to get access to to that public area The sight lines are not great Uh, and again it's private road We struggle on certainly on pine ridge road with You know, even small projects Because of the width of the road Again, we don't have shoulders. We have some sidewalks here and there a little hodgepodge if you will of sidewalks So when we get A project of this size I start scaling up the number of vehicles Especially with the number of trades that are going to be involved And especially in the mornings when we have kids walking to school And they're walking down Hawthorne they're walking up Pine Ridge to this pinch point And we have a lot of you know, very busy contractors trying to get their days started I want to have a better understanding as to what Uh, the town is requiring Or what the owners may even have in place for construction controls And for traffic controls For a project this size. I mean this isn't just putting a new deck on this is 58 percent. I mean, I forget what the square footage is, but this is going to be probably the biggest home in this area by long shot Thank you. Mr. Vallarelli of what What does the special services require from the applicant in regards to Sort of details of the the construction plan That would be included in the good neighbor agreement, but that would also sort of explain how they're intending to Um to manage traffic and other aspects of the the construction process Thank you for that question. Mr. Chairman. So the also the construction control agreement would also be into play here because it's a large addition and um, I don't have that document in front of me, but that covers such issues as the Start time and the end time for uh trades people And a whole uh host of issues that was approved by town meeting I want to say two years ago that addresses the concerns that mr. Demeray just put to the put for to the board Does that document allow for any adjustments for specific neighborhood differences or is it A specific document that covers all of our It's a specific document that that is um the responsibility Of the contracted to uphold And I think it covers most of mr. Demeray's concerns And is it within the the purview of the zoning board of appeals to Make conditions that would impact the construction process or that outside our purview Well, it's part of the process I mean, you can add it as a condition, but it's a standard procedure that a project of this Eyes the good neighbor agreement and the construction control agreement are both in play I haven't been able to figure out how to my raise my hand. I'm john morrison 56 pine ridge road Could you tell us for weeks? I'm sorry Please proceed John morrison 56 pine ridge road Can you tell us where we can find copies of the good neighbor agreement and the construction agreement so that we have them and understand what they are So I'm so This fellow really are they posted at the moment? I know that as a part of the the notification process if should this project go forward those would be provided to Uh butters and a butters to butters within 300 feet of the project But are those documents available for purview now on the inspection services website? They I bleed there They can be found on the town laws not the town zoning bylaws, but the town laws I can make it a little easy for you mr morrison if you if you can send the zba an email with your request Yep, I can forward those documents to you Do we have do I have your email? Yeah, so you'll find that on That's the zba at arlington I'd like to just on this on the legal notice the the zba website isn't w is it says www.arlington.gov.cba It's actually arlington mass If you just type in arlington you get nowhere you gotta can't go there. No I'm sorry. Can you repeat that so we can make that correction says w the at the bottom? It says the zba website is www. www.arlington.gov slash zba It's actually arlington ma .gov.cba Thank you very much Thank you for bringing that to our attention Okay, so then um, we're i'm on here. Where would I find your email, sir? Uh, should be at the bottom of that legal notice Um, please direct my question to zba at town.arlington.mass.us .ma.us Okay Is that correct? Is that what you're saying all right zba dot at zba at town.arlington.ma.us That's correct. Okay, so we can send you questions to that email address. Yes, please. Good. Thank you. Thank you um Mr. Rowling just one more question about the the good neighbor agreement does it require A posting of a copy of the notice at the job site Not to my knowledge mr. Chairman. Okay And one last question my wife wants to know what's the approximate construction schedule? Will we be bringing this into the winter or How long do you think it'll take if you were to get an approval tomorrow? Mr. Whitney give a sense of that it would be several months before it begins I've got a lot more drawn to do and then we have to bid and you may be aware that The construction market is is crazy busy right now It could be late this year or next year before construction begins And do you have a sense as to what the period of construction might be? I suspect the overall duration will probably be six to eight months once it begins, but The the latter half of that will be fairly tame for the neighborhood once once it's framed and the shell is done After that the work will be inside and much quieter and much more contained If you have a lot more drawings to do does that mean that there will be another zba appearance I don't have to do or details that don't don't affect the zba things things like electrical plans and picking outdoor notes Yes, so the additional the additional work on the drawings is is more details and interiors it does not affect the the exterior portion of the building and One of the standard conditions that the board imposes upon its decisions is that the The documents that we receive will Be the documents that the the owner is required to follow through with and any changes any exterior changes have to be approved in writing by the board The uh elevation doesn't show any windows in the new uh extension on the top floor Is that final if there will be no windows in there and there will no not enough headroom to be livable space Yes, there is no space on the third floor in the addition Okay Mr. Chairman Mr. Hanlon One of the advantages of having a hearing where several people from the neighborhood come to speak is that It kind of breaks the ice. There's lots of rules and regulations and notices and so forth that have to be given but possibly the most important thing is this is an opportunity for the applicant and the applicant's architect to hear the concerns and I would hope that That the process is going to just be a matter of exchanging documents and looking at bylaws that a conversation Can ensue that that will help, you know resolve certain concerns and and A line of conversation and sort of refraining intercourse calming is Solving a common problem is often a lot better than having This or that rule that does or doesn't favor you so i'm kind of hoping that afterwards the applicant and the the abutters Share email addresses themselves and and open up some communication so that when somebody has a concern instead of stewing about it There's a conversation and maybe it can get fixed by people just working things out Mr. Chairman may I respond? Mr. Whitney Mr. Hanlon, thank you for that for that observation. I guess I'd like to assure them the abutting neighbors That great steps will be taken to meet their concerns and to Make the process as smooth as possible from their opinion Please don't be thrown off if months pass before you hear from us again Because as I said there's a lot of drawing to do and bidding and permitting and it may be many months before it begins But when it does the builder will reach out to all of you will be available to all of you And we'll do everything we can to be as sensitive as possible Um By every right we could tear the house down and start start again, and we wouldn't even need to be here I hope the fact that we're trying to maintain as much as we can to be respectful of it Is an indication of the respect that we've got for this town. We all live Thank you, mr. Whitney Mr. Sonokar Hi, this is uh pranay Sonokar. Um, I live on the party hot on that So i'm sort of right uh sort of right behind Um this property at 53 fine rich And I just wanted to Say that I think the design looks really good, you know, because we'll be looking at it You know for as long as we live here. So really pleased with how how the design has come out And um, I understand that there will be something especially during the construction And you know, but that's something that Uh, we have faith in uh, you know, we're spoken to the the owners of the property and we've faith that They will ensure that they'll be done properly. So Just want to say it was a great design. We really like it. Um And they have a full support I do agree that There will be traffic issues. Uh, just on my my thoughts is that Then the more cars that are parked on the street to slow the traffic so it might actually be safer walking Uh with the construction but that's That's not the point but great design And you're confident that this will be done in a way that It will be good for the neighborhood Thank you very much. Thank you Are there any further questions or comments from the general public? Um, Mr. Tech, it's figure part if I got that wrong I hope you're on mute though still sir Thank you. Uh, Andy Tackett's I live at 48 Pine Ridge Road. My wife Antonelle's here. Um Yeah, I've chatted with a bunch of folks and I you know, I'm glad we surfaced all these things And want to welcome the new neighbors whenever you get here. Um, and I want to thank you for On behalf of all of us for removing the chain link fence Ha ha ha ha ha ha That's it. Thank you. Um, Mr. Demary uh, yeah, just a couple clarifications and uh I will support Andy's previous comment that we have Bumon for many a year is thank you for moving the chain link fence Um, but going back to the other issue, uh, I'm still a little unsure as to who Where from the town and who from the town is responsible for for traffic control? I understand that the the general contractor will probably be made responsible for this issue Uh, through their their their contract and their and that type of stuff But who from the town and and and what is that the process as far as the traffic goes for these and I again apologize Uh, we we have not had this issue before uh on this street or We're not had to deal with this before so I don't even know if the zoning board is the appropriate commission but Again the the traffic concerns I have um I think are very very real Are your are your concerns more in terms of parking or sort of logistics of moving large Things in and out of the neighborhood or just the the sheer increase in traffic volume Or all the above it's really all of the above again when we start parking cars It's such a narrow street that um It certainly does limit the access Uh, it does limit emergency vehicle access Occasionally, you know because we're kind of we're not a main road We don't see a lot of people come up But there's a lot of times if people park on both sides of the road There's no way you're getting any emergency vehicles up and down Just this morning alone and we had one person Who was having some junk removed and I think we had another one that had a painter The road is blocked for five or ten minutes again when it's something like that not a big deal you wait Okay, it'll be done eventually I'm just concerned with all the trades we're going to have coming through here Uh, and and I know that the architect mentioned that you know once it's it's framed It'll it'll seem a lot well, maybe less noisy But we're still as a matter of fact we'll probably have more trades more vehicles once it's framed Um, and we're going to have them at times When people are walking and kids are walking on the street. So, um, again, I I'm just very concerned about the safety issue Um, I know the general contractor may be put in charge of that But every once in a while even if he's really good You know, we want to be able to have somebody that we can go to and say Yeah, you know, we got a couple contractors. We're kind of doing their own thing here Can you kind of take them under your wing and show them how it's supposed to be done? Again having that working conversation whether it be with somebody from the town whether it be with a general contractor um, it probably won't be with the owners themselves because You know, that's not what they do um, but I would it would be good for I think for us to have to know what that process is so that we can work within it And mr. Valarelli is there a specific person in the in town sort of addresses these questions of Of traffic concerns in regards to construction projects so The shoddy answer is the police department, but it's there is no law That says a contractor cannot park on the street and do his work on the project The board can impose a condition if they want to that the contractors can park on the property I'm looking at a front yard here of almost 50 feet in depth With a slope of less than 8 percent So, uh, certainly if it's a condition now, it's enforceable by inspectional services Other than that the only requirement for a police detail is going to be if they have to blast Okay um Obviously with with all the private ways The contractor would be limited to parking on this property They would not be allowed to park on the opposite side of either street or farther down the block in any direction So, you know, if there is the availability of extra parking on the site that would probably be helpful And where the driveway is being the driveway garage are being relocated It might be possible once the existing garage has been taken down to utilize that that slab and the driveway leading to it to move some construction vehicles farther under the site and possibly then the new driveway can be utilized Um As well to try to move vehicles off of the off of the street and away from the property lines Mr. Schauer for second time Yes, thank you, mr. Chair. I just wanted to to voice I when I started off here. I may have seen panicked and and Disconcerted and I probably was a little bit. I welcome very much. Mr. Whitney's suggestion that we begin to Have a real dialogue either with him or with the owners Or both Just looking forward to, you know, how this is going to all come together so that we have an opportunity outside You know, taking up the time of the zba To have conversations that is mr. Hanlon, I believe said earlier might very well be better and more appropriately handled Just sort of person to person or in a group meeting or something like that But uh, I do welcome our new neighbors and like everyone else look very much forward to having that chain link fence disappear Thank you Are there any more questions or comments from the public at this time? We're looking around. I see no raise. Yep. There's weber Yeah, I just like to um, that's our name in the address of the record. Oh, sorry writer street um 14 writer street. I would just like to make a comment about the old growth with the older trees in arlington Climate change is happening and we need to save as many of the old trees as we can so I just want to Put that as a town Need to put that more central Thank you Thank you, miss weaver Anybody further Seeing none. I will go ahead and close public comment for this hearing So going back to the board so we have A lot of comment and a lot of Not entirely sure how to wrap all of this into The decision in a musical way It certainly seems like we should condition on the removal of the chain link fence that seems to be a fairly Conta fairly constant Request from the neighbors and fairly easy to follow through on It it sounds like there are in regards to The new construction the actual physical built building that The application seems very reasonable And should be fairly easily Accommodated in the in the neighborhood Um It's unfortunate about the the 28 inch caliber tree That will need to be removed, but that is not within our purview. That's going to have to go through the The town's tree warden for Discussion and approval There is there was some Discussion from the abutting neighbor about some concern in regards to the demolition of the existing garage and the possible impact On existing landscaping and structures on the neighboring property. And hopefully that is something that The contractor can can work out with that abutting neighbor when they're working at the property long And then in addition to all those really it seems like most of the concerns are in regards to how the construction will be carried out And the impacts that will have on the neighborhood As mr. Whitney said that, you know, that won't be happening immediately. That's something that will probably not be happening for At least four to six months. Um, should this should the zba give approval to the project and then That would then continue for uh, he says six to eight months beyond that Time period would be the actual period of construction. So there's there's a lot of time on the front end still To uh, you know for some of these things to be ironed out I think my question for the board specifically is are there conditions Do we have our three standard conditions which we have read earlier this evening? um, but are there additional conditions that the board feels would be appropriate to add To a possible approval that would address some of the concerns that were have been raised by the neighbors Mr chairman Mr. Dupont So I wasn't entirely clear What the specifics were Regarding the concerns that the immediate abutting neighbor on pine ridge had But I do wonder if it's appropriate to add something Or if we can just stating that the applicant will Uh meet with the abutter to determine what if any Steps ought to be taken to protect You know the abutter's land because it sounded like that was one of the concerns that was raised So if I have that right and so if that's appropriate that might be one thing and then the other item is As you were speaking with mr. Valarelli about Being able to actually permit parking on the property itself during the course of the construction And I'm just wondering if the other members of the board feel that it would be appropriate To put in language saying that the contractors would park on the property Whenever possible. I realize it's kind of vague, but you know, there may be situations where they can't And but I do think that it's something that's worth considering Actually along those lines, um, uh, mr. Moore if you're still on the call, um, I would be curious Your capacity with the tree committee Are there dangers to the other existing trees on the site if we were to Allow parking in the lawn during the construction period Uh, yes, uh, mr. Chairman, uh, excellent point Um, you have to maintain tree protection measures for the critical root zone of the trees Uh, it is roughly, uh, a foot One inch of dba, which is a diameter at breast height Uh has to equate to Uh one foot radio one inch dba for one foot radius So in other words, uh circle that would be two feet wide around the trunk of a tree Centered on the tree trunk itself times whatever the inches are so If it's a four seasons tree The root zone is huge. Yeah That's what 46 feet times two That's a lot of that's a lot of uh, that's half a lot So you're right. It's a good point that the tree, um, could easily be damaged because the vote it is so large in the front yard there Okay Now that being said, uh, if that chain link fence that you're all talking about I think surrounds the edge of the property If they were to bring traffic in via, uh, uh Is it Hawthorne instead of pine ridge? Mm-hmm might work Okay Thank you. Mr. Moore Sense of that, Mr. Chairman. That's that's a very important thing that often is overwork. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you So so mr. Dupont then to your to your point we could um include a condition that would allow parking on the property if we could indicate um, you know outside of A root protection zone consisting of you know one foot for one inch of um Dba diameter breath. Yeah dbh. I I messed that up all I knew caliber wasn't quite the right term, but So could that be then in you know, uh with in with consultation uh with the tree warden? I think that would be that would be a good way of putting it. Yeah rather than having to actually set down the Specific way of measuring. Yep Mr. Chairman that uh, the timeline is it completely appropriate. Yes. He has all and he'll recommend how to do the protection as well Oh, perfect. Thank you. Okay, so so then to mr. Dupont. So then the two conditions you would want one would be that the applicant is to meet with the abutting neighbor To discuss protecting existing property Yes, and then the second would be um The the board would allow parking on the property um in consultation with the during the during the period of construction In consultation with the tree warden. Yes, okay Mr. Chairman Mr. Hanlon, I wonder if I I actually kind of liked a little bit the the flexible language If you don't like it, it's it's weasley language that we initially Started with we haven't really had I mean the chairman has pointed out one potential problem I don't really know what other problems there may be there and I don't want to sort of over prescribe Uh, it may turn out that that there are things that we can't foresee here because nobody has really examined this with any detail That should suggest different solutions or make it undesirable to bring To do things I I would really like to weigh in In terms of encouraging this And in general discouraging having an adverse effect or having an unnecessary adverse effect on the on the streets But I don't want to be more prescriptive than we know how to do given the Posity of information we have on the record before us tonight Okay So with which language would you want to change? I would I would say to the to the extent feasible or I mean initially when mr. Dupont Suggested something there was a qualifier To the extent feasible or something like that and and that sort of is what What I have in mind and and maybe used the word encourage I just I you know I want to sort of point things in the right direction without necessarily saying exactly what has to happen because we don't know enough to do that Okay So you would want us to encourage the applicant to meet with the abutting neighbor To discuss protecting existing property to the greatest extent. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about the I'm sorry I I'm talking about the parking. Oh With as to the abutting neighbor I mean, I think there's an obligation on the part of the landowner to avoid Hurting the property of the and the idea is simply to make sure that that actually That conversation happens and there's adequate planning to do that It's really bringing people bringing construction stuff onto the property and how you solve that problem I I just don't think that bringing we don't know enough to know that bringing it as much as possible on the property is is The panacea there and wouldn't have unintended consequences that would be worse than having So there's where I would like to see encourage and to the extent feasible All right, so instead of allow parking to encourage parking on the property during the period of construction in consultation with To the greatest extent possible in consultation with the group warden Got it. Um in regards to the I see that The documents that will need to be Sent out that mr. Valoralei noted both the the good neighbor agreement But also the the construction notice the construction control agreement So those mr. Valoralei those are both things that Are those sent by the applicant or those sent by the town to the abutting neighbors? No, those are sent by the applicant mr. Chairman and they they send it by a certified mail Okay So I so I think In this case it would make sense for us to Although it is already a requirement of the building permit. I think Unless there's objections from the board. I think it would be appropriate to include it as a condition um that those That those documents be included or be provided By the applicant for the bylaw I guess comply with requirements good neighbor agreement That construction control agreement is required by town bylaws. Um, and I would also want to include Um Applicant we discussed Mr. Hanlon will be good wording for Uh, what we would want the applicant to discuss with the neighbors is the construction procedures construction related procedures I think that I think that would be all right. I you know one of the things when we actually have a written opinion We can work on the precise words word smithing. I think it's important now for us to have made a decision on What we want in substance and then we can try to figure out a good way of of saying it I mean, ultimately we're looking at the whole complex of things that happens in construction and that helps Remove conflict to the to the extent possible In the process of Of building this addition Okay Mr. Chair, I would have I would have said construction schedule process and procedures But as mr. Hanlon says Stated we can we have room to find doing this. Okay Thank you, mr. Avalach so then the Are there any further conditions that the board would like to discuss at this time being none So then the conditions that we have before us Uh, so The first of the three standard conditions Number one the final plans and specifications approved by the board for the permit shall be the final plans and specifications submitted to the building inspector Of the town of Arlington in connection with this application for zoning relief Should be no deviation during construction from proof plans and specifications without the express written approval of the Arlington zoning board of appeals Condition to the building inspector is hereby notified that he is the monitor of the site And should proceed with appropriate enforcement procedures at any time He determines that violations are present in the inspector of buildings shall proceed under section 3.1 of the zoning bylaw Under the provisions of chapter 40 section 21d and institute non-criminal complaints If necessary the inspector of buildings may also approve and institute appropriate criminal action also in accordance to section 3.1 And condition three the boards will maintain continuing jurisdiction with respect to this special permit grant um, then condition number four Will be that the applicant is to meet with the budding neighbors to discuss protection of existing property Number five would be to um the board Encourages parking uh to encourages allowing parking On the property during the construction period in consultation with the tree warden to the Excuse me. The board encourages allowing parking on the property during the construction period to the great extent possible in consultation with the tree warden that was it um and then number six was That the the applicant shall comply with the requirements of the good neighbor agreement and provide construction control provide a copy of Instruction control agreement as required by town bylaws and number seven Would be that the board encourages the applicant to discuss construction schedule processes and procedures with the neighbors prior to the commencement of any construction activities Mr. Chairman. Yes. Um, I would probably say prior to enduring. I mean do we Yeah prior to commencement and during So we have seven conditions And we have the application for us. Is there anything further from the board? Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hanlon. I just wonder whether I mean we've we've now sort of It's always said that it's not a good idea to see sausages or laws being made and We've we're doing a certain amount of seeing laws being made now and I just would like Mr. To give mr. Whitney an opportunity to understanding that we haven't necessarily come up come up with precise wording and everything but If if there's any place where he sees us seriously going astray that we may want to rethink I'd like to give him a chance to Bring that to our attention. Thank you. Mr. Hamlin. Mr. Whitney. Mr. Hamlin. Thank you very much I'll I'll say that everything that's been for discussion here seems utterly reasonable to me It just right me though that a lot of these conditions Are compelling us to comply with laws and rules that we already have to comply with For example, we've got to comply with parking rules about where we could park about how we fox trees and things like that We've got to use the conform with the good neighbor agreement. We've got to put in the construction controls We're also going to comply with with the um employee employee Regulations we're also going to apply with this. You know the building uh code You know, I wonder Do we need the conditions that? Right, you have to just reiterate Rules we have to play by any And mr. Chairman if I could just sort of comment It seems to me that it's true that under in some of these situations where It's really a matter of making it clear in the document so that everybody who sees the document will know that we've sort of singled out a particular thing um I I do believe that going forward and thinking about how we deal with the situation sometimes not having conditions But just stating things as part of our findings may be suitable But we haven't got an experience with doing that yet But obviously we haven't really discussed at this hearing the employment practices and the workers compensation and all of that If somebody wanted to raise it, we probably couldn't lawfully do it anyway, but The important thing here is to is that the people who are here tonight May not be the people that are going to be active on this going forward. A contractor will be involved to Uh and maybe not not mr. Whitney and and so on so it it's useful. I think to to have some procedure or other Even if it duplicates other requirements Uh to make something specific and to draw attention to them because it's an important part of of Maintaining the structure going forward that will minimize the amount of conflict that exists over what will inevitably be disruptive at least for a certain period of time and if if If there's something we're asking somebody to do that is really unwise we shouldn't do it Otherwise, I think we should go forward to In an attempt to do this and maybe the board should be thinking itself about different ways of going about doing that As we deal with similar situations in the future Thank you. Now mr. Whitney Thank you. As I said, I don't think any of the conditions we've brought up Pose any undue constraints on on us. They're all reasonable points. They're all things we'd likely do in any event I appreciate your comments. Thank you. Thank you. Um, then with that in mind Do we have a motion from the board mr. Chairman Mr. Handler I moved that the board approved this application subject to the seven conditions that we've previously discussed Thank you. Mr. Hanlon. Do I have a second from the board? second Thank you, mr. Revillac With that, I'll take the roll call vote of the board mr. Dupont. I Mr. Hanlon. Hi mr. Mills. Hi In the absence of mr. Orwork mr. Revillac I And the chair votes I Which is in approval Of the decision, um, excuse me on the special permit for 53 Pine Ridge road. So we will Have a decision written up and that decision will be voted on by the board Hopefully by the 25th, if not before I hate to See mr. Hanlon smiling the way that I'm Putting pressure on him during town meeting and 40 bees, but we'll get the written decision back in front of the board as quickly as we can Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Wendy. Thank you so much to all the the neighbors and the the applicant for all their Their comment in input this evening. I think it was really very valuable to all of us That brings us That was the last hearing of the evening. I just wanted to Just review for board members and anyone else who would like just upcoming meetings Um, so yesterday monday may 10th. We have received new materials from the applicant for Thorndyke place Um And so we have the continued hearing on Thorndyke place will start at 7 30 p.m on thursday may 13th Tuesday may 18th is the continuance on 1165 r massachusetts avenue And the thursday may 20th is currently the scheduled date for the close of the public hearing on Thorndyke place But we can discuss with the applicant on thursday whether that Is still an appropriate date And then tuesday may 25th We have a new hearing and we also now have a continuance of Of the marathon street hearing so we'll have those both on the 25th And then june tuesday june 1st is uh, so is a continuance date for 1165 r massachusetts avenue Um And that hearing is scheduled to close currently on july 2nd And those are the dates that we have scheduled for ourselves Mr. Chairman. Yes, mr. Moore Oh, yeah, see more people on street Those are all at 7 30. Those are all at 7 30. Thank you. You're very welcome And for those of you who are finding their monday and wednesday night's boring. We have town meetings for the rest of you It's going to take forever in a day um Okay, so that is the That was the so pineridge road was the last item on our agenda for the evening So at this point, um, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their participation in tonight's meeting of the arlington zoning board of appeals Uh, appreciate everyone's patience throughout the meeting. Especially wish to thank uh, rick bellow revolution Instantly in tailandama for their assistance in preparing for and hosting this online meeting Please note the purpose of the board's recording and the meeting is to ensure the creation of an accurate record of the proceedings It is our understanding that reporting made by acmi will be available on demand at acmi dot tv within the coming days If anyone has comments or recommendations, please send them via email to zba at town dot arlington dot ma dot us That email address is also listed on the zba website um And to conclude tonight's meeting I would look for a motion to adjourn So moved Thank you. Mr. Handler. Do I have a second to adjourn? Thank you. Mr. Mills Mr. DuPont Hi, Mr. Handler. Hi, mr. Mills Hi Mr. Revillac. Hi, mr. Ford Hi The chair votes aye the board is adjourned Thank you. Thank you. All right everybody. Thank you. Bye. Thank you everybody Can I? Can I break? You're not at all