 All right, good evening everyone and welcome to the March 6 2023 meeting of the town of Arlington redevelopment board I will call this meeting to order My name is Rachel Zenberry. I'm the chair of the redevelopment board And I'd love the other members of the board to introduce themselves starting with Steve Eugene Benson kid alone and We also have joining us this evening The director of the Department of Planning and Community Development, Claire Ricker and Kelly line of the assistant director of the Department of Planning and Community Development Okay So let's just dive right in so this evening. We have several different items on our agenda We're going to begin with the continued public hearing for docket number three seven two eight 99 Massachusetts Avenue before we move to the first night of our Warren article public hearings for 2023 annual town meeting so let us go ahead and open up the continued public hearing for docket number three seven two eight and First I'd like to turn it over to Claire to see if there's anything from the department's memo that you'd like to highlight for the board There's nothing That's significant With a better Parking plan a plan for bicycle parking Materials related to the residential unit to be built above the attic And a few other modifications which looks like they are reflected in these updated drawings That were submitted Kelly. I don't know if you have anything to add No Great, thank you so much So at this point, I'd love to turn it over to the applicant And I'd love if you could highlight for me any of these specific items that were modified from the from the first meeting Then we'll get into any questions we might have. Thank you LR designs Cambridge, Massachusetts and Based on our our discussion at the last hearing We have adjust the Adjusted and addressed the following We on the front facade we've removed the building identification sign from I believe we had it up on the stair tower and We're still working with the client. They have several businesses in there So we want to do a separate probably a separate Application for the signage So we've pulled the signage off the building for it for this round Understand that we'd have to come back for the signage approval We've adjusted the cornice between the the office use and the residential use It's now 16 inches tall and and that's a result of not knowing what's behind that freeze board Whether the masonry continues we know in the attic the masonry continues to a certain height But if the exterior brick doesn't continue We're prepared to cover that with with Much more diminutive Cap Of the existing structure We've addressed Just at some of the windows on the Lee terrace side we Put a little more wall area and I'd be in the side elevation. I think the last I think it's a two point two or eight two point three There yeah Two to two. Yeah. Yeah, so Those two wider windows correspond with a corner of the living area and then a dining area and then the two minor windows are Located in a bedroom and I think I think my understanding from the conversation was that it Sort of gave a little more privacy to the third floor of the adjacent building on The site plan we've shown the parking layout and found some opportunity for Some landscaping at the rear of the site between 99 Rear or 99 a and our site where we're showing a strip that At the smallest dimension is three feet gets a little bit bigger just because of the shape and the geometry of the site And then it comes along the side The parking surface would remain Bitconk, but then the walking surface from the terrace up to the rear entry of the building would be In pavers so that there's a little change in the the texture in the material And then that's in that paver area is where we would have the Bicycle locker for for two bikes and then we're also providing two bikes Interior of the building for the tenants We prepared a shadow study and we looked at Winter solstice a.m. And noon for you know the longest cast shadows and then we also looked at Summer solstice just just to bracket it and I think you would agree that there We've played a bit with the the massing of the of the residential we pulled it down Two feet in some places a foot and a half and others and and actually articulated a little bit more And I think the impact the shadows it casts are very similar to what's there with the existing hip roof in Penthouse That that's on the existing building And as I just mentioned yes, we reduced the overall height At his landscape area and on the front facade. We've played with that a little bit to simplify it eliminating the Sort of annoying hexagonal window We have a We have a rendition of the entrance that actually matches. What's there now would we intend to keep and then? suggestion of the planting strip at the front of the building the The materials that were we're showing here are Aluminum a painted aluminum panel And then you know the windows and that's in like a graphite color and Yeah, this is the Specifications for that and Then we also would like to show the the white version of the building because We're sort of would prefer to maybe paint the building Updated a little bit modernize it And so that's that's where we're at Thank you very much. I appreciate the update and thanks for forwarding those renderings today. I appreciate it Let's go ahead and start with any questions first with kin I'm gonna give you my opinion only my opinion. Okay, I Prefer the red natural brick natural brick Thank you for listening to us on reducing the stair tower height and Bringing down the parapet and Doing that trim. I think that looks much nicer and it blends in better of the surroundings I do ask Would you consider two more things? I'm gonna ask for it. They're pretty small Along the back where you have the parking. Can we go just go to the site plan? You have some planting ears right around the parking there I'm not sure a while back There used to be two trees there This is how much I cut down. Was those trees on your property or was it on the neighbor's property? I don't know how far back. Yeah, we only own the property for about a year Maybe a year and a half So I don't recall we're cutting any trees. Okay. I looked in Google Okay, and just looking at the area and You know It's a little too busy to walk up there These last couple days so I saw there's two big trees there would you Consider putting some plantings along that edge there run from the The cars on the left We're showing green right now where the arrows Yes Right here. Yes. Yeah, that's intended to be landscaped. No, but you don't have any planting So I'm asking what kind of plants you can put there would you mind putting some bigger shrubs there or something? You know some greenery just besides it's not grass And then is there gonna be a fence along that area there That's something I'm gonna have to ask for because the headlights glare right into the unit. That's not a problem next door Yeah, so not a problem putting a fence along the back there and adding some bushes I never listen to my friends to teach me If you did fencing Here and here And not along here. Okay, but allow you to put plantings along here Because if you put a fence there it creates a canyon nothing is going to work Yeah, and actually it would be better to leave it open because if you take out the landscape Yeah, and the door is actually on this Yes Also the other thing a while back when I noticed is there's a driveling right here That's your neighbor, right? Yeah, they scooch over onto your Onto your property quite a bit. Okay It's like a foot and a half and they've been driving on that you're Like you know, if you put some landscaping there Enhance the landscaping. I mean, otherwise you put any grass there in the other place It's gonna be run over so we're gonna lose our island there, you know and fence you're You know, it's very non-porous right now. Yeah, you don't have too much vegetation. I just want to encourage the vegetation And I have things run over So mainly the fence some vegetation here and here We can match the bushes on the front on the side too. Yeah, so we showed on the renderings some bushings Some shrubbery Yeah, yeah, so you see has sure over there so we can do it the same on the side. Yeah, just call up what it is What we would most likely request is a planting schedule be submitted to the department. Yeah Anything else can Great, thank you very much. Jean questions Say stop by saying thank you for the shadow study that was very helpful to see Thank you for making all the proposed changes. I think they're very helpful. I like the project a lot my Concern is whether the project is consistent with the zone and bylaw and If it's not whether we as a board have any ability to do anything about that So I want to walk you through Some of these things. So the first one is we have a bylaw that requires solar Anything undergoing environmental designer review with six exemptions and I think there's some disagreement and I'll discuss it with my Colleagues afterward, but I don't think you need any of the exemptions which would require at least 50% Of the roof area to be solar unless it's shaded or tilted in the wrong direction You could take a look at the bylaw and see so Take it something for you look at and see if we put solar and make your money back in a few years Putting solar I think one of your handy one of your parking spaces Will need to be a handicapped space I think that because I'm not an expert on this the building inspector is and what I don't know is whether because you now don't have You're not going to need to put one in After you're done with doing part of the parking area But that will be something that you'll have to work out with the building inspector and you may have to Come back if it substantially changes What you do Let's go. I'm going to stand up also to go to this Or five feet I don't know Six point one point eleven D one Which would We'll discuss it like colleagues, but once you start moving this around So there's another Environment in the bylaw that says you can't arrange parking Where people have to back out on the public road Now so we will have to decide whether Or whether if you don't Do Stairs it's a half-flight of stairs Bylaws pretty specific that You can't have required into a bike parking that requires somebody to lift the bike up or down a set of stairs That's interesting because that it's a basically a split entry I mean the whole building is you know that The right side of the building where you have the ramp going down and in if you put the bicycle parking in there Then they wouldn't be I don't know if it's possible I'm not saying yeah But if you did that then they wouldn't be lifting up like downstairs because they'd be rolling the bicycles in I'd just suggest that as one but they cannot When they open the door is there enough room on the side door on the back Or you could put a second locker for bicycles up back. Yeah, that's the other thing because we have an entrance on the back Then my feet yeah, we can't have it in the stair hall though. Oh, yeah, so or we could put a second locker out back Yeah, that's where we were last time Let me take a look at the page zero dot one So this zoning data tables of dimensions if you take a look at open space minimum landscaped area Allowed or required in this case is 10 Existing is 5 and proposed is 3.6. Is that correct? How'd you get to that? Have you get to those numbers? I 10 is correct. I'm just wondering about how you got to the 5 and the 3.6 It was a it was a reduction It's actually probably closer to five again with the additional Landscape area it was a reduction caused by the ramp so when I was doing this table we had the ramp in Which which at the time was just the terrace bleeding up to the edge of the building But now it's the ramp and so I took that that landscape area out of it And that that was that represent that reduction in the open area. Yeah, so here here's where I am on this one The bylaws pretty clear to me at least We can't allow Something that makes the non-conformity worse So if you're going from five To something under five You're making the non-conformity worse And at least as I read the bylaw Can't do it. So I think For me I would need to see How you calculated these numbers and if there's a way that you can get back to five On that When you calculated the ramp because used to be asphalt so it was not landscape So we didn't reduce Is that am I wrong? No, there was there was some plant wasn't very well planted But there was some strip there that I had calculated Yeah, I think you need to either figure out how to get some more landscape We'll talk about that a little bit more amongst us and whether or not that's going to be required Yeah, and I just just clarification it was an oversight, but the that three point six does not include The proposed I would need to know landscape area that we're presenting tonight I would need to know what the number is The last thing at the last meeting I mentioned about the step backs and that my colleagues are comfortable with the step back so from the property line and I said I believe a step back for some facade and this doesn't need it But it's happened a number of times and so I told my colleagues last time I'm not going to prevent something from going forward since I'm the only one who disagrees About the step backs so as long as the total adds up to seven point five Even though that's not how I Interpret the bylaw Since all of my colleagues interpreted the other way I won't prevent something from happening because of that And that's it Great. Thank you, Jean I just have Thank you I'll just know for my yeah, I'll just know my couple items because they're they're fairly small and again We'll we'll talk about some of these items that Jean just presented Following any public comment that that we might have this evening The only question I have is on the specification of the Material for the the new addition I believe that you described that as standing seen before but it looks like it's a flat Panel that are that are kind of butt together in the in the latest specification. Is that correct? That's correct I was unsuccessful in finding out a material that matched my vision standing seen and This sort of check some of the boxes that my client has you know for cost and and sort of appearance Yep, so My biggest concern here is when I look at the specification it looks like Rather than you know when you have a standing Seam Metal panel you have that nice shadow line obviously from the projecting seam cover This one it looks like you have an unpainted metal thin metal edge that's exposed in the way that the At least the cut sheet that I have been provided I think that's just a flash of that the glare of light because it the paint should continue around But is that what you're reacting to exactly so I think that's their photo It should I'd need to see a sample of that in that case because I would not approve it with that Without knowing for sure whether or not that's That's a finished edge or or not I've I've seen it where it is not and it is not something that that I would feel comfortable approving Just I mean I know this is your time to talk, but they also offer the same system, but with a reveal That would give us a reverse shadow line So I would definitely be much more interested in seeing the reveal I think it's it's feeling a little I I like again the the modern Edition against the you know more traditional brick building below And if we could get a little bit more of a shadow and and they do offer the V I'd be interested in seeing that okay great Steve okay, thank you Minor my comments are probably shorter So let's one One minor thing on sheet zero point one On the table of parking requirements you listed as one and a half for dwelling unit. That's actually an old requirement It's only one But this it doesn't it really affect what you've Submitted it's just an F. I'm just letting you know as an FYI Appreciate that I appreciate your efforts to add the bicycle parking and I Agree with mr. Benson that with respect to the open space There is something we have to work through the portions of the by-law that are relevant are eight one four a And eight one four B These are non-conformities dealing with buildings other than single or two-family homes But basically it says if you the gist of the by-law is if you make an alteration to a non-conforming building That's not a single or two-family home. You can't do it in a way that increases a non-conformity Now when we last met You know I had asked for a hundred twenty-two square feet of Landscaped open space which would be conforming with the respect of to the the residential unit. I had Assumed and apparently wrongly That the amount of landscaping Landscaping landscape. I didn't realize that there was landscaped open space being reduced So that's that's where the the imbalance comes from Yeah And it could be again I know that you mentioned that you did not add in the new landscaping it could wind up being a wash But we would need to understand what that what that Especially if you have to widen the one All right, and the last item with respect to the two renderings Um Personally, I think I agree with mr. Lau. I like the brick better, but honestly, I'd be happy with either one Great any other Questions before I open it up for public comment Okay, so if there are any members of the public joining us I wish to ask any questions or speak on this particular item tonight This particular hearing Thank you Great Great It's 90 Great, thank you All right, I'm seeing no other members of the public here. We'll close public comments and Turn it back to the board for discussion Let's see so bless you. Yes, we have a couple items that were raised this evening One so I'll just take these in order. So the first is regarding Solar on the the roof so We would need let me see here. Do we have a note? There was a roof plan provided This was section 642 six six point four and six point four point two of the exemptions so I think from from my perspective if I could say is Your option is either to look at these and say look we think we meet one of the exemptions or more than one Or to come back with the roof plan with solar That's at least my perspective Steve your thoughts Looking through skinning over the exemptions on night None of them are jumping out as one That's applicable You know, which which would bring us back to 50% solar on the roof I I don't think we have a problem with that Okay, and I'm not Entirely by I do believe the new stretch code may be pushing us into that anyway, so although we're not here yet, but yeah in July Okay Ken agreement you don't see With the solar or with the solar not a problem. Okay. Well, they said they're gonna do it, right? Yep So we're set. Okay. The next item is the rear planting area so Gene was bringing up that again Once we touch the parking We have to ensure that we are not creating any new non-conformities correct and Your first point was in reaching the five-foot depth with the fence So do we have any room in the parking area to pull that forward the foot and a half that you need comes Problematic with the bicycle sheds. Yep, because I think I have a dimension of maybe three or four feet or four feet So that would be a dimension I have to pay attention to and or find a different location for the bicycle sheds in order to achieve the five feet I'm a little I Don't want to be the one to propose a fence along the back property line because I'm not sure how 99 rear They have tandem spaces too and is that going to impede them whereas with the landscape at least their car door could Swing towards landscape or something like that? Whereas if it's like a fence then they may be pinned in there It may be I don't yeah I don't know that the bylaw says where the fence has to be on that five five-foot Expands just that it needs to be fence implanted You can take a look at that bylaw to Gene Can it like it? I was viewing this as a non-conforming Parking lot right now. So If you see this existing right now, Gene It's by putting a fence here They park here already, which is the which is your your your neighbor and It it tines up the whole So so I think they've got a couple I agree to I think they've got a couple of things one is We could either decide that even though they're moving the parking lot a little bit That's how I see it right and We could decide that or we could decide that We're okay with moving the parking, but we think that the buffer is appropriate On the front so where no The front the side is an option So we could decide one or the other of those I think and their problem I think too is going to be if The building inspector says oh one of those six spaces needs to be handicapped accessible Then they're going to have a real fit problem if they reduce it to five spaces They could conceivably solve every one of these problems But that's their call Well, can we Let me decouple what you just said, okay? I like to make an argument that this is a Nonconforming parking space parking a lot and we and we're shifting it over a little bit So maintaining the nonconformity maintaining nonconformity by not increasing it But we're making a little better. So I'm suggesting okay that they put fencing of vegetation along plan West that's West. Yes the West side and leave the Plan North self West plan North North. Yes, the North side. What did you propose to put along the North border the one that? That would be our that would be landscaped with what I Guess the request was we do something more substantial shrubs grasses ornamental grasses not just lawn but grasses Other perennials So you're going to cut that the parking lot up At the property line and put stuff in that that's what this is proposing. That's what's in the claim right now, okay which I know that Because that's where they park as well and right now it's kind of like a common I've been back here, it's a free-for-all. I mean, yeah, which which we're fine because you know We're just there and just want to maintain peace But once we cut that and put a bunch of shrubbery. I'm sure we're gonna even though it's our property Even though we have to do it. It's just gonna Start apart a little bit. So adding another fence then it's gonna start apart a lot And I'm just voicing my so we may just if we consider non-conforming then we don't have to worry about them That's how I saw okay, and I'm not saying that's how you guys I'm just giving you my opinion how I saw that For that part there, okay, and then as far as the handicap situation I Just leave that up to the building official And not say not tell them to reduce anything. I mean, that's what I said, okay On that I think is a concern is landscape or permanent permeability For that parking that rear I know that the water needs to go somewhere I'm not concerned. I'm not concerned or either one of those along the side here Make a big suggestion that be Fine that Please please go ahead. So Here okay with the shrubbery and fencing fencing can we Do permeable pavers here is that that that be acceptable? Instead of shrubbery or is that the landscaping here? It's also a must My concern is just the back That's why I'm saying that if I because we're gonna do promote papers here, right? Papers, we should not have water penetration There we got it. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I mean if I have to do it. I'm just trying to maintain They use off the whole common I Of course Lee wouldn't suggest that just because That just gives encouragement to park more cars there Then what's there right now? I can see Parking eight cars back there or another more cars back there is because it's all wide and open and I Rather not do that. I rather you maintain your six and have some sort of nice Plan there, but that's my opinion. I'm gonna see what my other part of this is a betterment, right? We're gonna fit eight cars there no matter what I'll tell that but the neighbors already parked there too So that and I'm not I don't think they can stop parking. It's just gonna make I Don't want them encouraged parking your side. Okay, you see what I'm getting at. I mean we said that last time I know you weren't I don't That right now you can't tell where one property ends We felt it was important to have demarcation between the two But I I would agree with I think the way that Ken is seeing this in that I think it's an existing non conformity which They're actually bettering by adding some of the landscaping Steve yeah My one request would be when you are Working on a landscaping schedule our conservation Commission publish is a list of preferred native plantings Where possible if you could choose from that list? It's nice to have a guidance All right So we talked about solar the rear planting The backing into the public road again. I'm seeing this as an existing non conformity unless there's any Discussion there, okay We talked about the bicycle parking The interior bicycle parking in the stairs and it sounded like you were amenable to adding back in the second exterior bike rack, okay Okay, um, yes, and then the last piece is the resolution on the open space I I You know, I think the trade-off here is for adding an accessible ramp to the building and so To me that seems like making the building accessible seems like a Good trade-off for the open space that it is that it is Taking taking over but that is the way that I'm looking at it and again I know we don't have the final calculations because The left-hand side has not been I think we need the final calculations cost It would be nice if the bylaw allowed that trade-off, but it doesn't and I think the clear intention was not as my opinion at least not to Increase the non conformity so maybe you can work with Planning staff on how to add up the numbers I Was hoping they would work with I was hoping that would work with Dirt that you could dig when I when I calculate this landscape Yeah, I didn't have any other Please can go ahead. I think with with that added square footage, I think we should be fine We'll see what it is and and if it is then I'm okay with it. If you are close Let's talk some more and find a creative way of doing this. Okay. I don't want this To stop the project Okay But This one I agree with Gene. There's no way it would go out of this one here And but I think we can get there. I really do Really read it Steve I think we've nothing nothing to add. Okay, great. So Or I should say I'm I agree with Mr. Lowe. I would prefer I hope we can find a way to make this make this all work So it I think we made a lot of progress. I think that there's a couple of items which We would need to To see for the final approval. So we need that calculation on the on the open space We Also, I'd like I'd like to see the specification on that The metal panel with the with the reveal Like to see the second bike rack on the exterior We'd like to see where a plan a roof plan for how you intend to add solar to 50% of the roof We'll be adding the fencing along plan West exactly and we'll need to see some indication of the Planting, you know with an identification that you'll be using the town of Arlington native planting schedule Think reinforce the buffer zone That's what the west side yeah along the side of the building the neighbor see that green strip right there, yes, they Yeah, what I included with the Fence and then and then we need to add this planting schedule Can I make another suggestion? can we Make an approval for this project so they're not coming back in again and make it subjective to Okay, I just Seeing this is a Really nice project and it's only been one unit. This is there. This will be the third meeting. That's all I'm hoping that we find a way of Not cost it is Encouraging more this kind of stuff I think though that they they have a few things which have not been addressed Again, I don't think it's a significant Request in terms of the amount of time it should take so, you know, hopefully it would be just We have a very specific list of requests and I think that You know if you're able to to come back unfortunately, there's no you need all four People to vote in favor because that we're short one member and we have one member who would like you to come back So that's what we're gonna have to do this one. I appreciate it, but I also appreciate that It's not a it's not insurmountable list. I think we can we can turn around very quickly fabulous great And can we squeeze this in earlier? Let's take a look. I think it at schedule next So Kelly if you want to Yeah, the 27th and you think you need to get things to the department a few days ahead The Wednesday before The 21st Anytime Any other Comments for the applicant. I just have one comment for the board under 8.1.1 I think we're going to have to make a finding and I'd be willing to do this The change is not substantially more detrimental Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Yes, just a non-confirming structure. So yes, we can do that when we vote on this yes I think we're at all agreement. I believe yeah, absolutely So is there a motion to continue excuse me, let me get the docket number docket number 3728 for 99, Massachusetts Avenue To continue the hearing to What did I break down the date March 27th? So motion second. We'll take a vote starting with Steve. Yes, Jean. Yes, Ken. Yes, and I'm yes as well Thank you so much. Look forward to seeing you Sorry Yes Sorry, could I Yes, I think we We can do a white or red Oh I'm neutral either one works I Know but they said it and we should comment on it red You preferred red you said yes, I did you preferred red red. I prefer red as well So who we add that in it doesn't have to paint this a red brick Can I we brought it up? We didn't want to like turn around and do it after we've got a special yes That wouldn't have been happy That would have been very happy here Thank you. Thank you. Thank you All right Let's see. So that concludes agenda item number one No, I appreciate that. Thank you for the reminder much appreciated We'll now move to the second agenda item, which is the first night of Warren article public hearings for 2023 annual town meeting What we will do is open the public hearing tonight, we will have one more night of public hearings next week on the 13th on the 13th at which time we will close the public hearing and We will deliberate and vote on March 27 so at this time what I'd like to do is Open up Public hearing with the first article, which is article 31 A zoning by-law amendment related to industrial district animal daycare use which was inserted at the request of Christian Anderson and 10 registered voters. So if you wouldn't mind I'm going to recuse myself From discussing or voting on this Kristen is the co-chair or co-leader of save the L wife Brooke, and I'm on the steering committee And we work together a lot. So I think it's more appropriate for me to recuse myself from The discussion and vote on this. I thought you were going to say because you had a dog or something. I Know you have a dog. I do have a dog. Yeah, very nice dog, too. So so jean. I appreciate that you are doing that I think People in town work on committees with a with a lot of folks. So like I I appreciate that I don't think it's necessary. I just think it's I may take a vote in a few weeks. Okay Okay, fair enough So if you've all done this Is three votes enough? Okay, but okay, oh, you're not So you I know but you are not used to the whole Okay, just today Okay, I was Okay So please we'd love for you to present your thoughts on the Proposed amendment. All right. Thank you. Um, and I'm sorry if you could please introduce yourself first last day I'm an address. Yeah, thank you. Kristen Anderson 12 up on road west And thanks for having me here To discuss allowing animal daycare use in the industrial zone During the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic many Arlington residents were forced to stay home To remedy intense loneliness many of our neighbors decided to welcome new pets into their homes Now that the pandemic restrictions have lift lifted people are going back into the office leaving their pandemic pets at home Many of these animals are very unhappy being home alone particularly dogs dogs are social animals and suffer greatly when left alone Arlington is in desperate need of animal daycare to the best of my knowledge There exists in town only one animal daycare business, but it is small with very limited capacity. I Was actually fortunate enough to send my pandemic puppy there for the first year of her life just once a week She stayed there and got well socialized with other dogs, and now she loves every single dog that she meets But unfortunately that doggy daycare business only allows very small number of dogs almost all smaller breeds into their program So everyone that I know is sending their dogs to neighboring towns for daycare Most of Arlington's pooches are sent to Crate escape in Belmont Arlington's residents should not have to travel outside of town to access animal daycare Additionally, there's an excellent dog groomer in Arlington Who I've used for many years who wanted to expand her business a few years back to offer doggy daycare It would have required moving into a larger space And she found one in the industrial zone But she was unable to grow her business and offer doggy daycare to residents there because the use was not allowed So this use restriction has had a negative impact on her ability to grow her business And it has negatively impacted the residents of Arlington by denying them a local service that they desperately need So I'm here tonight to see how the redevelopment board feels about moving forward with this use change to allow Animal daycare in the industrial zone in the 2023 Springtown meeting So I thank you for your insight great. Thank you so much. I appreciate you bringing this forward Something that the board had actually discussed at one point earlier this year too. So it's certainly something that We have Probably some thoughts on We won't do you know go through a full discussion tonight But what I'll do is I'll ask each members member of the board to give their initial thoughts and any questions They might have for you. Okay. Okay. We'll start with Steve. Yeah, this this seems like a very reasonable Change to change to make and there's clearly demand for it. So I have no further questions That's right, I forgot Ken I'm supported of this. I think it's a good. It's a good warrant article and No questions great. Yeah, and I Completely agree as well. We had this on our on our list that we were contemplating for the spring anyway So I'm glad that you brought it for me. Okay. So I'm sorry. I just have one he's clear And we're just talking about daytime Doggy daycare no overnight. No boarding no long-term. So that's going to be handled by say at that or something like that Yeah, yeah This this is for just daycare During the day. I mean I could see that there could be a need for overnight care but I'd like to get this through easily yeah and perhaps if we allowed animal daycare in the industrial zone, then we could come back and review overnight care Yeah, yeah, but it seems like a if it's allowed in the business district. Why not the industrial? Right Yeah, so I think that the only thing we need we do we have the main motion The why in the use table Great, I don't think we have any other questions. So at this point, I will open it up to the public for anyone who might have come in Please if you could use the microphone First class name and address, please Thank you, Chris Loretty 56 Adams Street. I support this I hope the board will too I had originally thought that the town allowed kennels which would provide for You know overnight and and daycare for pets And looked at the old version of the bylaw to see if they were in there and and it's not it's the way it is now I think that's I hope you know you'll support this But I think you also need to consider overnight care for animals as well And as far as I can tell our zoning bylaw does not provide that unless it's in the care of veterinarian And I don't think Kennels often have vets with them and I don't know enough about them But the very strange thing was when I looked and did a little bit of searching The town bylaws contain extensive regulations for permitting kennels and other types of animal daycare as part of the town bylaws Yet the zoning bylaw does not contemplate The town having kennels or anything like that. So when you look later on, I hope you look more broadly Than just than just daycare provisions and go back and look at the the town bylaws as well Because I think Arlington is really out of step with other communities, but certainly as an interim measure. I hope you'll support this It's really an eminently reasonable Proposition and you know, there's really no reason if we're going to have these things in business districts that you don't have an Industrial district as well. Thanks. Thank you And and I'll just say again I'd mentioned that the board was already looking at speaking about this one of the things that We had talked about for the fall was actually looking at the industrial uses kind of more more more broadly For things like this again that may not have made it in Thank you so much so We will see you back on the 27th when we will Have a discussion and take a vote on On this particular one article Okay, thank you for us to much appreciate it All right, so let's move to article 26, which is a zoning bylaw amendment related to industrial district development standards and for the next three and Zoning bylaw amendment proposed zoning bylaw amendments these were inserted at the request of the redevelopment board So I will turn it over Claire do when you turn it over to you or Kelly to run through the memo Great Sure, absolutely Do you want to join us up here? Court management, yeah Hi Kelly line of my assistant director department on planning and community development So in the memo that we provided just do these in order here And I'm also Taking a look at some of the changes that Jean had suggested to me separately, so we have in 20 What was this in 2020? When did we update the industrial districts? In 2021 it was the spring of 2021 at the town approved Changes to the industrial districts and one of the changes what the key changes to the industrial districts also established a set of standards and criteria by which the Proposals for the industrial district will be reviewed There's a second set of additional criteria that were laid that were laid forth and approved by town meeting That would apply additional standards above and beyond the base criteria For an applicant who had proposed or who was seeking an addition like an exception to the height maximum The third standard in this additional set of standards was to retain and treat 100% of stormwater on site What the board has discovered? through proposals in the last Year is that this is too vague and Doesn't actually set forth the kind of criteria that you would want to consider and it doesn't give us anything measurable to look at Or staff either when we're when we're evaluating proposals so that we can give constructive feedback to applicants in advance of them following a an application so we worked with David Morgan who's the town's environmental planner and conservation agent conservation agent and we also worked with Wayne Shenard and William Copathon from the engineering department to establish a set of criteria We also looked at a number of zoning by-laws from peer communities The most notable thing is that stormwater is typically referred to in a zoning by-law and it there's a separate Most communities refer to the town or municipalities stormwater by-law And and a lot of these it's really because when you're looking at stormwater Some of the criterion change over time and you wouldn't want to establish something in a zoning by-law That's going to be updated over time and then would become out of date And so then you're using a criteria that actually is inappropriate so what we tried to do in and what David and Wayne tried to do is to both refer to current criteria and refer to current Current regulations With the understanding that if an applicant is seeking an exemption to a minimum or to a maximum height There should be an additional threshold So we want that criteria to be above and beyond what would be required for a typical application But we wouldn't want it to be so far above and beyond that it would render the Exemption infeasible or would basically mean that it's exist in the zoning by-law, but it isn't something that actually could be obtained So they came up with really establishing two separate criteria And that's looking at a design storm So really looking at what's the minimum design storm that should be accommodated and then contaminate loading standards And then you know in the memo we really discuss what those what those thresholds should be and overall in the recommended text of the zoning we wanted to refer to exterior Standards that are updated over time to make sure that whatever criterion were available for Doing something that exceeded the that if somebody wanted an exemption from the height minimum or the height maximum There would be these additional criteria, but they would also change and perhaps become more stringent over time as storms change and climate changes so that's really what is Included in the text of the proposed amendment as you see here Direction and takes away some of the ambiguity that we've been Faced with so I'll start with kin any questions for Kelly or comments to the proposed text No Great Jean. I just get Kelly some minor wording Suggestions which we can talk about And I think yeah, I think it's a good way to go about doing it I think from my perspective if this is in place, we're going to need you know, either the town engineer or Conservation agent when these things come through to take a look at them because I don't think Anybody on this board is qualified to make a determination Determination as to whether the stormwater system that's being proposed will actually meet This standard, so I think we're going to have to rely On them which makes sense and and we are now for larger projects that come through We are doing a design review team and the town engineer is part of that So that would be one of the checklist items that we would include was having having him comment on whether the Storm out of materials provided actually met the thresholds that are stated in the zoning by law So Go for it. Ken Stormwater review we've done prior to us doing the project Three works to get for Submitting for our review So that they would at least be somewhat pre-vetted before they come to this board now if in a deeper review after Board is seeing some documents. There's questions really Remaining about stormwater. Those would also be answered by the town engineer at that point the I mean this is really sort of a very small percentage of Cases that would come through where it's in the industrial district and they're also requesting an exemption from the height maximum And so this additional criteria would be Obviously reviewed internally that the design of the development review team also meets but and then so we get that preliminary feedback But this would be like an additional step for somebody who is looking for the exemption. I Mean, I agree with Ken. I think it would be very helpful if when we got the application for review we already knew if DPW Conservation felt that this met the criteria or not As part of the staff memo, yeah Great Steve Two questions. So first if the if an applicant were to have their PE you know Right'll write a memo saying that you know certifying comply saying that they believed this met their requirement Is that something the board would accept? I mean I again if we set the expectation that this will be reviewed by the town engineer Then I think that they would review That they would review that I mean they should That should be part of what they're doing anyway is the PE should be coming in and and telling us How but you know just like an architect tells you they are meeting the building code You still review it to make sure so I would I would still be under the expectation that the town engineer would review Okay. Yeah, and is Noah 14 a different standard than Noah plus and is it more rain or less? No 14 is a little bit less than Noah Okay All right other yeah, but that was one of my questions which I didn't send to Cali Which is why they chose Noah 14 instead of Noah 14 plus because I was told and maybe That the states going to end up using maybe Noah 14 plus so what David told me and I don't know the specific answer to this But what David did tell me is that the text that's in here the language that's in here is where the town is moving toward Okay, so we wanted to make sure that it's in the direction of forward. Yeah, because yeah Yeah, I know that like our conservation Commission used to require Cornell Models and then they you know, they went to a higher model that predicted higher precipitation So if it's where we're going then then I'm happy. Yes, the Cornell is very out of date Any other questions on this item great? So we will open up article 26 for public comment anyone who wishes to Chris Sorry down. Yeah, a little bit lower We'll further right there. Yeah, it's all lines of it. Yeah, so it replaces this It's right. Thanks. Again, Chris already Just a couple of comments questions I guess the first kind of is a comment if if this is a good idea Why is it limited to the industrial zone shouldn't apply to all all zones and all larger developments? Because the industrial zones are relatively small part of the town I would think you'd want it to apply to you know, all the business districts and others as well I guess given the language of the article you probably can't change it at that point at this point But I think it's something to keep in mind. I guess in regard here to Removing specific amounts of TSS and phosphorus I would suggest that you need to be more specific about the Methodologies you're going to use to determine those those reductions You know, we just specifically referencing certain analytical methods or other standards in either the town by law or state law Because otherwise I don't think you want to get into a situation where every applicant's going to come up with a different way of determining Compliance and just get their chosen professional engineer to certify that to you I think you want to have consistency among the applicants and the other recommendation I would make is before you finalize this that like this language that you refer this to the conservation commission Just for comment because I think you know water and storm water and water pollution is really in their purview And they may well have some some good suggestions to address some of these questions Sonya, I'll leave it at that. Thanks. Thank you for the feedback. Appreciate it Sure, I can also add that David Morgan is also the conservation agent so he worked with Pam Hidal Got her feedback on this and she's on the conservation commission as well. So we're definitely trying to make sure that we're like Triangulating I guess yes, you'd say The other one other question just regarding the TSS is that you know, David It kind of walked me through this and there was a there's a point at which There's a lot of like the text that's in here in order to prepare something that complies with this There's a lot of other steps And we don't want to be so prescriptive in the zoning by-law to list out all of the specific steps Because thing recognizing that things do change over time, but basically to get to the standard There's a lot of additional background work that has to get done That's often stated in a town or municipality stormwater by-law But isn't something that you would prescribe in the zoning And there's more than one technology and engineering fix to reach these and I don't think it would be Our job or the town's job to say you must use a When B might be available or in two years C might be available. So this is more a Modern way of doing environmental regulation, which is you set the standard and then how are they going to meet it? And in our case, you know, as I said, I would not solely rely on their engineer I would want the town to take a look at it and to say yep That's a good way to do it The town engineer would have an opinion as to whether or not a specific methodology made sense. Yep So that's why I thought this with some wording changes. I suggested was fine great any other comments on Article 26 All right, so we'll move now on to article 27, which is the zoning by-law amendment for Solar in the industrial districts and Kelly I will turn it back over to you Sure. Um, so these this set of amendments just minor text changes are really The to reflect the fact that the Massachusetts Attorney General Office has approved the solar by-law But the industrial amendments were made prior to the solar by-law. And so there are certain references In sections of the industrial district Section of the by-law that we need just to update to refer back refer over to section 6.4 There's both in the main criteria the main set of development standards There's a few things in here regarding Just instead of saying that all new commercial and mixed-use buildings shall be solar ready We just want to refer that make sure they just comply with section 6.4 because that's really our new standard now and Jean we can talk about your comment when we get to that and then going into the exceptions to the maximum height regulations I think I May actually I think we could pull up that text and then what I put in some suggestions here But I think Jean probably has some specific ideas for how we would want to address this when we're when we're talking about The exceptions to the maximum height regulations Great. Thank you Kelly Jean do you want to start off then if you have specific items that you've I just I gave Kelly a few suggestions But it might make sense for Kelly and me to suggest them to discuss them first Okay, that's fine And that was for the second section right 5.6 point 2d 7 both sections Yeah, I mean the the sort of the gist of it is Right now this required some options you can have solar ready You can have green roof well clearly if they're required to do solar on at least 50% they can't have green roof on 100% So we have to do some of those Sort of adjustments and then if they're not if they don't go through EDR review Maybe they do need to have solar and not just solar ready So those are the gist of a couple of suggestions that I gave to Kelly Okay, and the wording I was doing at the last moment. So the word Kim any questions or comments on the proposed text No, this was administrative Aligned with the state It's basically taking the what the attorney general approved which was the addition of section 6.4 Yep, and just making sure they were updating the industrial district zoning by section of the zoning by-law To refer to section 6.4 since that really kind of establishes the criteria Great Steve. Yeah, I do have one comment. This is would be five six two D one Uh-huh Where we strike the text shall be solar ready and replace it with comply with section 6.4 solar energy systems Okay, well six solar energy systems is only applicable for Environmental design review So where we've sort of you know, there's a little bit of a meaning change is if a new building Didn't meet the threshold for EDR Then, you know, you couldn't apply section 6.4 to it. So I And I can send this to you afterwards, but I've written some written something Yeah, something basically to split to split it up to say all new commercial and mixed use buildings subject to environmental design review Shall comply with section 6.4 solar energy systems all new commercial buildings not subject to environmental design review shall be solar ready Yeah, that kind of thing Yeah And perhaps what make make sense is if since it wouldn't be a quorum to have the two of you and me have a Conversation we could maybe have a brief meeting to kind of hat like a brief work session to cash through these and then bring Them back for the 27th. I am in agreement with that. Okay Okay, yep All right, any other questions for Kelly or discussion on this item? All right, so we'll open it up for public comment if anyone wants to Speak about Any comments on article article 27? All right We will now move on to article 28 Which is the zoning bylaw amendment related to building inspector enforcement, which is another administrative Article and I'll turn it back over to you Kelly. Sure so this is administrative because back in 2020 In preparing and reviewing the proposed zoning amendments for special town meeting in the fall of 2020 this There was a change proposed through citizen petition to add No such permit shall be issued until the building inspector finds that the applicant is in compliance with the applicable provisions of Title 6 article 7 of the town bylaws the zone the ARB at the time Voted no action Because the ARB felt that it was not something we the zoning bylaw shouldn't refer to You can't make a building permit contingent on something that's not in the zoning bylaws We can't refer outside to town bylaws in the text of the zoning bylaw as a measure of compliance. So The ARB voted no action and then it was Brought back to special town meeting through a substitute motion and then town meeting voted to approve the amendment When the amendment when the zoning amendments as a package went to the attorney general the attorney general wrote back and submitted a memo Saying that this was unenforceable So really this is administrative in nature because we're basically correcting something that is currently in the zoning bylaw that the ARB was Not in support of originally and is actually as determined by the attorney general unenforceable So really it's just striking the language that was added To to bring it back to its original state I have no comment and completely in support No comment Makes sense that we do this Steve I agree it makes sense great any public comments great So That takes us through our warrant articles for 2023 town meeting for this evening We will Take a vote to continue this public hearing to March 13th At which time we will hear the additional Proposed zoning by law warrant articles for 2023 town meeting I do want to note that our intent will be to deliberate and vote on March 27th With the final report to town meeting Being reviewed and voted on for acceptance the following week So is there a motion to continue this report how many more motions are there Three more free. Yeah, and they are all citizen petitions So we have two petitions from James Fleming and then one petition from Tom Perkins Okay If we have any comments on those doesn't leave them very much time to make changes, right? Give them two weeks. I mean that's more than Some of them have had in the past. You know usually rolled right into the vote, you know the next week So I think that's plenty of time and James. We've already heard Any other comments before we before I take a motion to continue For the warrant articles for 2023 town meeting to March 13th So moved Second take a vote starting with Steve. Yes, gene. Yes, Ken. Yes, and I'm yes as well All right so The next agenda item is to vote to refer the warrant articles that the board initially created for Um The next scheduled special or annual town meeting which most likely will be in the fall So kelly, did you have anything on this one? Yeah, um, so dugheim Suggested some proposed language for the vote tonight was on the agenda Basically It's a it's a little bit different than in 2020 where just only moderately different The articles of the ARB had discussed But had decided at the request of the town manager not to review for town meeting this spring Are not currently on the warrant. They're not on the draft warrant But we have discussed them they've been In agendas we've had meetings and some deliberation and in public session. So We just wanted to have a formal vote tonight to move eight draft articles That were submitted but then withdrawn to officially move them to special town meeting in the fall And I can list out those articles. I just saw the email that you sent to me before the meeting So i'm more than happy to to take that and then craft the motion Unless there are any questions For kelly Okay So we would be looking for a motion for the withdrawal of the draft articles Number one open space in business districts number two rear yard setbacks in business districts Number three step back requirements in business districts Number four reduced height buffer area number five corner lot requirements Number six height and story minimums in business districts Number seven arlington heights business district zoning bylaw and zoning map amendments and number eight ARB the ARB jurisdiction. Thank you over industrial districts And the motion would be that Those articles previously voted on to be placed on the draft town warrant Be referred to the development board for further study Likely to be placed on the warrant for the next special town meeting by the redevelopment board In the interests of an efficient and focused discussion of zoning developments and mbta communities Goals and requirements at the request of the town manager I would so move Second we'll take a vote starting with steve. Yes, gene. Yes, kin. Yes, and i'm a yes as well Thank you dug for your assistance And kelly all right So our next item on the agenda is open forum Would you like to uh, is there anything you'd like to share with us this evening? We ask that you please introduce yourself with first last name and address Hi, everybody. I'm susan stamps 39 grafting street on the tree committee and uh town meeting member precinct three and um I'm actually the With along with Eliza burden We are the The liaisons to their redevelopment board. I used to come to a lot of these meetings, but then when you went live um I I would just didn't feel comfortable, but I feel comfortable coming now and i'm excited to be able to start coming um I don't really have anything to say except that i've tried to be very um in tune with the work that kelly and claire have been doing and Steve and ken on the mbta community's working group I've been attending those meetings um I think they're incredibly well run meetings not all meetings are and um And i'm very excited about the work they're doing and I have uh taken it upon myself to be Trying to be a bridge between housing advocates, which I am And tree slash environmental advocates, which I also am Um, I was on the housing authority in carlyle where I used to live Um, I have a good record of being in support of housing. I'm very Much in supportive here in in arlington um Jean and I have had conversations about it steve and I have have had coffee and talked about it And i'm having conversations with many people. I know that housing can't is To a certain extent a device of issue in town as it is everywhere um increasing density so I hope to be a helpful voice in the discussions um so that we can come to to um solutions here for the mbta communities and Any other besoting changes we want to make Um that are that where all parties will feel heard and will be able to get something really good And um, I hope we don't end up with something like they have in downtown malden if anybody's been there recently They they put up all this these new apartment buildings right near the train station And they're these huge square flat walled Not In the least bit in any way shape or form aesthetically nice. They're not When you walk down the street, it doesn't make you feel good to walk by them and um city i've been doing a lot of research and municipalities across the country and um There's a lot happening that is Both increasing density Providing housing that's very needed But doing it in in a way in a way that is very pedestrian friendly and makes for a walkable community And that's what I want us to see us do here in arlington So i'm very supportive of what everybody's doing even though I think they were kind of suspicious of me at first But um Anyway, but so that's really all I had to say. Thank you so much for coming. I know cherry And thank you so much for your involvement. Thank you. Thank you appreciate it I like the restaurant with the flames off front Say that again. I like the restaurant with the flames off front In malden. Yeah I thought that area of malden would get should get an award for most fenestration in a parking garage They have really excellent looking parking garage That's great. Thank you so much for sharing that I appreciate that Um, and I think that will close open form, but that'll take us into new business, which um, Kelly, I know you sent us a reminder. Um, and for those people watching us If you wouldn't mind giving another reminder about the I think it's march 15th So no march. There's so many meetings coming up. There's two upcoming meetings. Okay. Thank you You could give us an update on the upcoming meetings. That was great And the 15th is being posted to the calendar tonight. So so the first one and susan too So the mbta community's working group is inviting everyone to participate in a community visioning session We've done a couple meetings with the working group. What has become very clear is we need to do We need to take a step back before putting things on maps and really understand the broader goals of the community And I also have a lot of faith that this Visioning session and a lot of the questions that we're having are actually going to Help us a lot in these separate business district amendments that were discussed that the arb is Move to the fall as well. So it's going to help us understand what the goals and priorities of the community are Um, we definitely have been sending a ton of emails inviting everybody I know and everybody to invite their friends and family and neighbors To participate in this visiting visiting session on thursday at 7 p.m The other thing that's starting on thursday Is that in in combination with the virtual public meeting, which not everybody can attend We're also going to be opening up a survey With the same questions that are going to be at this this community visioning session And then we're also releasing meeting in a box kits or community visioning kits So anybody who wants to have a separate visioning meeting in their home or invite Some of their friends and neighbors who may not have heard about the meeting on the 9th or want to have a broader discussion We're putting together those materials right now So that people can have their own small group sessions or if somebody wants to invite a member of the working group Or one of the staff to come in and work with them on A similar small group meeting those things can continue to take place into the first week of april So this is really how we're looking at this is just like an open-ended element of the project And after april we'll be moving into starting to actually look at locations So the visioning session is going to inform How we apply these things to maps and then once we understand Several scenarios for where the the location of the district or districts might be We'll get into a little bit more of the the guts of the zoning and what we're talking about with regard to Setbacks and open space and height and units and all of these other details But we really want to understand where first because we do have a very open-ended opportunity here The second meeting is on the 15th Do you want to talk about this one? Sure. So we will be having on the 15th in the town hall auditorium We'll be having a meeting about mass av and appleton street design concepts related to Work that was done temporary interventions related to the bike accident in 2019 But what we're looking at is presentation of close to final concept As well as discussion of parking Different potentially street closures and things like that So I encourage everybody to come and comment and Hopefully we'll finalize the design With your comments. So Thank you so much any questions from the board or any other new business No, there is um Somewhere in a box in the planning department There is a plan There is a plan for Arlington town center that came out of the 1920s And among the pieces of material in that plan is a crash map Which at least based on my last, you know quick glance at it looks remarkably Similar to the crash map in the connect Arlington master park And the thing that I I'm now wondering Is appleton street on that crash map? Um, you know, this is one of I mean with roadways. I think Part of the although vehicles have gotten safer like the environment created by a specific roadway If it lends itself to crashes, it's going to do that until you do something different with the roadway And I'm hoping that we can do that Gene we talked about coming back to this board a lot During the process of the mpga communities So it sounds like the meeting on thursday and the survey Are big steps so When do we schedule you to come in And give us an update those of us not on the committee. I think um Gene last week we had said the 20th of the 27th So the 20th we've canceled the meeting but we do the 27th 27th. Okay, I'd be great And we will have a working group meeting as well in between that so we can start to look at some of the preliminary results of the survey So I think that would be a good time that we could we can start to share some of that Ken any comments? No fun times There's a lot going on All right, um, actually if I could share one other thing, um, this is this is sort of a separate pet project that we received CPA funding for in our project in our department. Um the Planning department has a lot of old old old files And planning maps. Yeah, so last week We had a document preservation Preservationists come in and start to take a look at a lot of our old Plans our old maps our old a or b minutes Starting to look through this and I think one of the key recommendations from that is going to have an archivist come in But what we're really looking at doing is taking a lot of these old documents old plans the crash map from 1920s And get them in digital form and then work with the library so that these these documents and resources are more available to the public I think sometimes knowing the history of the town is so important in understanding the future of the future direction And so i'm really excited that we're able to take the next step in this project As as someone who's spent more than a few hours reading big legal books in In the in the planning office. I I look forward to this They are they really are a very valuable resource If you clear any other updates You don't have to have any those are good No more updates. No not tonight. Thanks. Great Fabulous. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. I'll second. Great. We'll take a vote starting with steve. Yes. Jean. Yes. Ken. Yes, and I'm a yes as well Good evening everyone. Thank you