 And thanks everyone for joining us. This is the Wednesday, March 20th 2019 meeting of the Amherst Planning Board First item on our agenda is minutes and we have minutes in our packet from Wednesday, March 6th 2019 We can absolutely turn up the volume on the microphones. That's not a problem If members of the board have had a chance to review the minutes that entertain a motion on the minutes of March 6th Moved and seconded any further discussion All in favor Those are approved unanimously The next item on our agenda is the public comment period and this public comment period is for the purpose of public comment Not related to items further down the agenda. Is there any public comments? Not related to other items on our agenda for tonight Yes, the microphone is activated Seeing no public comment. We're going to move on to the next item on our agenda Actually, we have two minutes until that next item So we're going to move down our agenda to item 5a under old business This is SPR 2005-00001 CRES development company big y plaza 175 University Drive review of proposed signs and new awnings for homey oh my Apologies if I don't get the pronunciation on that correct Vietnamese eatery at big y plaza in accordance with condition number two of SPR 2005-00001 We have that material in our packet and if I understand correctly we are In keeping with a condition on the original site planner view which has signs New signs brought back to us for approval whenever a new sign is proposed And if I could ask staff is the sign that's being proposed in accordance with all relevant sections of the zoning by-law Yes, they are Are there any board member comments or questions about these signs? Maria I Should probably recuse myself from the vote because I worked on a brother Thank you for that other comments questions Seeing none. I would entertain a motion Moved and seconded is there any further discussion if not all in favor and That's unanimous With one abstention So shortly we're going to move on to our 705 item All right, we're now going to move on to SPR 2019-04 This is Amherst Community television DBA Amherst media corner of Gray Street and Main Street and in accordance with mass law This public hearing has been posted and no dissent to a butters This is a site plan review is to request site plan review approval to construct a new building and Associated site improvements for Amherst media a 501 C3 educational institution under section 3.3 3.0 0.0 of the zoning by-law in the BN That's the neighborhood business zoning district map 14 B parcels 250 and 251 Are there any board member disclosures on this item? Seeing none will move to the applicants presentation Please introduce us and tell you tell us about your project absolutely. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman board members I'm Jim Lusco the executive director of Amherst media for the past 12 years the Importances we've been searching for a new location that whole period since Like two years after I started we were evicted by our in our current facility is at 246 College Street the old electric plant We've been in since 1991 the Western mass electric company at that time part of Northeast utilities said that they would not renew our lease That was very stunning to us out of the blue, but we started looking immediately Personally have visited over 25 sites both rental building within the towns boundaries Also worked closely with the town at one point where they had South Street School We're better known as the Fort River annex to some was considered where we hired a Metcalf associates from Northampton And actually have plans drawn up But this town was going to do remediation on that building and they lost their community development block grant money that year So that did not move forward. I just want to give you a little historical Background here for you Our role here in the town is for 43 years been training individuals to turn their own power of Communication to cover their own viewpoints and the town's viewpoints on cultural political in arts Anything of events that are happening in town We're very proud to have three channels cable channels 1215 and 17 which tonight's is currently live on 17 and streaming That's what we do for the town. That's part of what we do We're also a community center where a lot of people come in and use our facilities in 2011 we were approached by Jerry Gidera who was the developer of this Larger estate, which was the Hills estate that was cut up into a number of parcels And there's two parcels that were left the two that are in front of you tonight We looked at the parcels. We said that we would like to have that rezoned if we were going to be considering for purchase Resoning occurred at the town meeting with two-thirds vote It also went in front of the planning board at that time with a seven to zero vote I believe with the encouragement that this would and would help the depot center that would help that part of that Commercial center that was struggling down there We eventually paid $340,000 for those pieces of properties the two parcels that immediately was an investment into the historic district And what I mean by that is that the Barbara Gidera trust was able to use that money to buy 14 Gray Street from her son Jerry Gidera Which he then moved up to the Hills house and invested that money into the renovation of what was the former boys and girls club That was had gone into this repair So quite honestly our money was the started that whole renovation of the large house in question right now Without going on too much longer. I would like to turn this over But first of all, I want to say that we have very specific criteria that we looked for We wanted to be as close to downtown as we could to be a vital economic development component within the town To make it easier for people to come in and use our facilities. We never were on the bus route We never had public transportation. This has public transportation in front of it Okay, we also looked for making sure that we had American disability act Compatibility in the location is very important for us a lot of the properties I looked at did not in Amherst We needed something that was rent affordable for us most of the rents that we looked at around the greater downtown We could not meet so building our own was a chance to do sustainability long range That we wanted to be here for another 43 years or beyond to help service this community And we fought the nexus of that location in the what became the cultural district in a historical district Where we're the recorder of the archiving of this town's history and Involvement of people was very important. We want to bring people into the historic district Not just to have it as a drive-by. We're very very much believe in the district and we want to help it flourish The last thing I'd like to say is that with me tonight, I'm about to turn the meeting over to Bucky Who is our sprinkle who's our engineer also present is our legal counsel Michael Pilt Michael has been doing pro bono for us because he not only believes in this project But he believes in the mission of Amherst media I was asked to say that and I'm very proud to say that Also have ed severance behind me who is a treasurer of the board and also Landscaping questions if that should come up and also the president of the board these shabas are sitting right next to me We have a number of other board directors here So I want to thank you very much for hearing us and again. I'm here if there's any questions that come up. Thank you Thank you. Thank you, Jim As Jim indicated my name is bucky sparkle and I am with the engineering company is engineer And I'm going to be presenting the site plan application and the plans as well as Already addressing I hope some of the several issues that have come to light from public comment and the local Historic District Commission meeting that happened last week So tonight's presentation is a little bit longer than I would normally do because I'm going to try and address these things You know preemptively hopefully that'll tighten things up a little bit after The presentation during the public comment period as well as address some things that have been a little bit Perhaps stopped in the record so far So as Jim mentioned Amherst media is a 501c3 nonprofit has been here since 1977 Looking for a new home trying to find permanent home to support its educational goals And has very specific site requirements We've looked at quite a number of sites prior to my ever being involved here and tonight what I'm going to talk about is The formal application request at first go over some of the background Of how we got to where we are and Jim touched on a little bit of that The design process because there have been a lot of questions about why does the site look like it does? Talk about the site plan itself and then move on to the content of the application itself and I'll probably move through that a little more quickly some of the less Interesting stuff that I've got to offer So on the formal side, we are seeking site plan review and approval under the Amherst bylaws section 3.330.0 a non-profit educational institution for a new building At the site in question on the corner of Main and Gray Street We are also formally requesting a waiver from at least the majority of the planning board rules and regulations Article 2 sections 3b Additional item number 6 which discusses a traffic impact statement. I will talk about traffic impact But we're hoping that we don't have to do a full traffic study for a variety of reasons From the historic perspective of what's been going on here in 2006 five new lots were created through the A&R process And they all were approved by this board, of course A&R is fairly by right and the minimum zoning requirements were met so that Took the Hills property and subdivided it for the benefit of the owner at the time as well as ultimately for the benefit of the historic structure itself as Jim mentioned It did ultimately create the funding to Preserve and rehabilitate that property Which I think is everyone's best interest a Couple of years later once it became developable lots on Main Street in front of the house There was movement in the town and actually an approved vote to attempt to buy The property with CPA funds that attempt was unfortunately not successful and then some years later in 2013 The the owner at the time mr. Jerry Gidera went through and petitioned the town to change the zoning at the planning board meeting Which would recommend to the town meeting the the board did vote unanimously to change the zoning and in the report I just want to point out Quote that if embers media purchased the property doing so would quote add a strong cultural and public service element to the Depo center and would strengthen this mixed-use center from the standpoints of design function and economic viability So this has been You know a long time coming here that this property has been opened up for commercial development and While it did not happen immediately upon the lots being created. We are looking at that today in 2013 after the zoning was changed embers media did purchase the property and and has began his process of fact-finding and Design iterations to present a proposal here And 2018 this town also accepted an easement for the sidewalk. This is a minor detail, but the widening of Main Street for turning lane at triangle pushed public infrastructure the sidewalk onto what was Private land Which is all fine and good. We don't have any problems with that. It's just one more thing that has occurred To get us here today One of the things I also want to talk about sort of preemptively is That I know there are letters that have been submitted to the board have been handed around the neighborhood to butters As well as have been in the local newspapers that have some Errors shall we say And there's a lot of opinion in that which is fine I want to talk to some of the points that have been made that I think have stirred some of the emotion and perspectives That we have heard in the last couple of weeks as we've moved the project through the public process One of the things that has been indicated is that Amherst media claimed that the lots were unbuildable This is not true. Of course, they thought they were unbuildable. They would have never gone on to purchase the land There was some confusion about a variance being needed At the time that this can occurred is my understanding predating me But it turns out that no variance was required. So there really was never a question of buildable or not buildable There is some idea that the The current layout of the property Is it's different than a plan proposed by the original the previous owner? There's been a lot of owners of that piece of land Gdera and his contractor did present to the board a plan showing a building on the east side of the site This was not Amherst Amherst media's plan It was for my interpretation an idealized layout of what the site could be if we went on to development It was not from my perspective a vetted plan through an engineering perspective Takes about three seconds standing on that property to realize that the plan proposed that was showing an idealized situation Was in fact not possible Due to reasons I'll talk about later the property can't sustain a building on the east side unfortunately It is true that an offer of Just over a quarter million dollars has been made it is quite a bit of money And that has been made by in a butter at 38 Gray Street the owner of the Henry Hills house and Well that offer is appreciated There has been Some promulgation that is an exceptionally generous offer. Yes, it's a lot of money But the price is based upon From the letter that I read an average of Residential building properties that are strewn across the town a great deal of which are in fairly rural areas They do not reflect the town's assessed value of the property, which is 352 thousand six hundred dollars Nor do they reflect the fair market value, which is in excess of four hundred thousand dollars Further it ignores the rarity of a commercial site at this location with the prerequisite assets that Amherst media has been seeking the bus route being central to downtown location And I think one thing that Jim did I mention is also being a media company There is a requirement to have direct access to a high-power internet bandwidth a trunk line So to speak that is also a very rare thing to find this site has it So even just from a dollars perspective even if that the offer were made to recoup the land value There's been additional investment, and they've been looking for a decade. I've looked at 25 different sites This is the site for them, and it hasn't been lightly selected There's also been a lot of talk about water problems And I think when people say water problems are talking about storm water problem problems and drainage I've heard the site called a virtual wetland amongst other things From articles in the paper, etc. So I want to point out You know having been the person who dug the holes into the earth to take a look at what's going on assess the upland hydraulic characteristics and other tributary flow from the butters there are no unusual water conditions on this site whatsoever This is a normal site in Massachusetts it does have Groundwater that is you know higher than we would like but high groundwater is also extremely common and the plague of thousands of acres of land and Amherst many of which have Buildings on it obviously there are butters that are managing the water situation just fine And there are very normal Mechanisms to address the storm water in the groundwater, and I'll talk about those in more detail later Maybe a bit too much in terms of creating the plan All right, I think I already covered some of these points. We've been looking for a little while Amherst media has been in discussion with both this the planning department at this board per se at the department and staff and local Historic District Commission meeting multiple times with each of these entities since 2013 trying to get a Sense of what they would need to do for a successful application The butters have been informed of the process as information has coalesced there have been meet and greets Plans have been presented. There have been discussions Even prior to my being involved in this project, which was in 2017 is when I was brought in So to talk a little bit to leave the background behind And moving on to to what's there now and eventually what we hope will be there The property is just over 24,000 square feet With parcel IDs that have previously been identified. It is zoned neighborhood business the BN Area designation it is of course in the Emily Dickinson Historic District and The site has very little in terms of features other than being fully grassed sloping from Northwest to Southeast so Looking at the existing condition just briefly to reiterate The big black line roughly a rectangle is the site The squiggly lines those are the contours So the elevation is at the highest and the top left of the drawing at the lowest and the bottom right of the drawing North is roughly is up. So the east side of the site I need to point out now while everybody can see the contours that is the low side of the site This is where all the water drains to and we're going to manage it In terms of my getting involved in the project. We looked at over actually well over a dozen concepts It doesn't were presented in to various degrees to the Amherst media board And everybody was most interested in putting the building on the east side the right side of the site So just a couple examples of these You can see a couple concepts where the sort of the red-ish area is The building footprint on the east side of the site as far as east east as we could get it right up against the lot line In doing so we discovered several factors one is We had difficulty getting a driveway that met Town requirements behind the prop behind the building and up onto the western side of the site Mainly because we had to build if this site were planned to lay out. We would have to build the parking lot Very very high above existing grade. I'm talking a 10 foot high retaining wall against the pavement against the sidewalk and Even that has a whole bunch of design problems and infeasible Issues regarding stormwater management as well as it being against the bylaw in general You can't put a 10 foot high wall against the sidewalk So even if the building were to the east any building to the east and the parking were to the west This creates a building size retaining wall in the same location As well as coming far short of meeting state required stormwater management standards We tried a few things. I'll show you a couple other options. We tried to stick the detention down on the east side Which is effectively what we're trying to do now So these quiggly lines would be an open detention basin This particular layout with the parking be on the high side created an earthen wall Basically, we would have to build a dam at the corner of Main Street and Gray Street Something about nine or ten feet high also of earth piled up there. We wouldn't need a wall Not not only does this then become a dam in the state's viewpoint, but it wouldn't create an incredibly high mass That would also block views as well as be incredibly unattractive and we decided that this was also not a good idea a couple other not good ideas up here We tried shrinking the building footprint All sorts of inadequacies with how that played out But it does put and in both of these cases we started to realize we have to put the building on the west side We really tried to not do it The detention the low spot is down here. So these are stormwater management Items and on this particular loopy road, which also doesn't meet all sorts of by-law requirements There just wasn't even the physical space necessary because the parking lot and the grading for it would impinge Our ability to manage the stormwater even in an underground situation Talk about a few of the constraints of the site We have requirements For safe distance from intersection. We have to be at least 75 feet away from the intersection at Main Street And we are just over 80 feet away. We had to avoid the new turning and bike lane that was Recently installed prior to Amherst media purchasing the property that services Triangle Street The lot itself is relatively thin to relatively long. So it promotes a wide layout. We can't stack things back further and Stormwater the requirements are our requirements. This is the wetlands protection and the clean waters act that we are addressing here It's not anything that we would or would even want to just ignore And we cannot minimize the requirements as a new commercial development Any commercial development has to go through these same steps and we provide a similar set of mitigation options that We are proposing so I'm gonna repeat that that This is a business owned commercial zone property any and all properties will have to do the same thing that we have to do And this is because water flows downhill And the groundwater while not extreme does elevate the system if the groundwater were 10 12 feet down We could bury things a little bit better. We could wiggle things around a little bit better Maybe not get the site the building to the east side, but slide it we cannot do this Gravity is not our friend in this circumstance There have been a lot of comments about building placement so the building placement has been determined by the the physical characteristics of the property and Also as well as I mentioned the stormwater characteristics So there has been recently an investigation to see you know the wetlands protection act in the state storm water standards They hey, you need to take your stormwater Manage it on your site and you definitely have to take the any water from impervious area and infiltrate at the place of Impervious area. I have to infiltrate at this site In and of itself that that's a very limiting condition But we thought well, maybe we can take some of the volume storage which does take up some bulk of the system Maybe we can take that and put it somewhere else in town, which would be a highly unconventional and fairly untested process so we talked to the town engineer and What we found out After they did a reasonable evaluation was that as far as public land goes town land goes there really isn't anything available It's basically rode right away and Then that would force us then to make use of private property Parties that are downstream Which means that the municipal drain pipes would need to carry the the storm load the shock loading of Intent storm flow during heavy rain events from our site down Main Street through the Aspen Chase apartment complex down Route 9 across Is it South Street and Belcher Town Road? Just past Florence Bank down there. That's where that pipe outlets eventually. It's a six-foot diameter pipe But it's only 12 inches at our site the discharge from our site requires a 10-inch pipe So if we take a 12-inch pipe, that's already relatively full. We're not going to add 10-inch pipe worth of water to it without severely increasing the likelihood of flooding of properties between our site and All the way down to the southeast portion of town That's a lot of properties that could be impacted even even if it were permissible It would require multiple studies hydraulic studies hydrogeologic studies There would have to be private sale of land and easements and access roads built On properties that would have no interest vested interest in supporting our needs and since this would be an unconventional approach The town would have to approve it Virtually every level town council various boards various committees would all be involved We're talking probably a multi-year project in tens and tens of thousands of dollars for the studies and of course for land acquisition rights It would be prohibitively costly if it is all even technically feasible Which means that it would be an unreasonable burden. We do need to manage the stormwater onsite Just like any other cover commercial development Looking at the dimensional regulations then So some of the physical characteristics of the site the zoning has certain requirements We are meeting and exceeding all of them And I'm just going to kind of leave this one at that So this is the sort of the technicolor version of what we are wanting to do from a plan view So it's kind of drawing that makes a lot of sense to a civil engineer But you know the people sitting in the crowd aren't always going to get everything So this is where this magic pointer is going to come in The building itself is in the the reddish shade. So this is the footprint of the building, of course and then we have a tenant sidewalks and ramps out front and Gyroscope that's doing everything we have. Oh boy The parking is in gray So we have a two-way access drive that comes in parking for 14 vehicles one of which would be a handicap space There is also an access drive to the West because the the studio is in this corner of the building and Large equipment comes and goes through there. So we have a chain across here. So normally access isn't provided But that would be accessible to staff into the fire department Down further on the site. This is the stormwater management system. There's a grid of lines We have been successful in doing an underground detention system with a very high filtration rate which is excellent for the environment and Then ultimately it will discharge down a pipe into the municipal drain the catch basin right here We also have a you know Sanitary sewer line very helpful for modern dwellings a water line equally helpful We have an overhead utility line in red here for power and Communications and in yellow is sort of the pipe dream of a gas connection We know that there's a moratorium, but we decided we would add it to the permitting process just in case it was accessible out back In areas that aren't as visible There is a small pad for a generator a facility like this does need some backup power from time to time and the bike rack there is a six or eight unit Bike rack behind the building near one of the rear entrances I do want to mention also One of the features of the site would be a retaining wall So the very end of the parking lot and the turning around at the turnaround for vehicles Is up to a 48 inch high retaining wall It's to be a Goshen stone wall a natural material that would have Been indicative of the period for the historic district. No, you know segmental block wall kind of things We also have a the fire department I should also know one more mention here They asked that we widen the pavement in this area to Provide a custom fit for their largest vehicle So they could get in there and vehicles could exit from the property at the same time So it provides plenty of space for them and plenty of space for vehicles to leave the site in an emergency situation We can of course come back to the site plan to talk about any details if you like But I want to move on for at least a little while to the architecture, which is probably The hottest topic here our prefaces by saying Based on the feedback that we've received in the last ten days. We are going to be working on it So what you see next is the current. Oh, you know, I forgot about this slide. I'm sorry So let me take one step back. So this is getting into The neighborhood imagery. So before we get into the the details We want to kind of show some of the impact that this will have on the neighborhood the site lines of the buildings behind it have been a key point of concern for lots of people so Back here is the Henry Hills house At 38 Gray Street just to the west is the Amherst women's center, which was a believe the Leonard Hills house Which you used to occupy the entirety of This land and eventually a few lots have been divided off and built upon In lovely fashion and these lots were also divided off the two up front so the things that I want to point out from this drawing is On the left is the proposed layout where the building is in orange And this sort of light gray is the paved area just to give a sense of scale and the storm water of course is down here so Presently I have a couple of ray lines drawn out from where you can possibly see at least the center of The Henry Hills house from because it's blocked on the east by the house on Gray Street It's blocked on the west by the fence for the Emily Dickinson properties. So we have a 63 degree arc of Visibility for The center point here. I'm only analyzing one point. That's directly behind the development and Installing a building There are two lots here. We're installing just one building. It does of course break this contiguous arc Into a 28 degree arc and a 13 degree arc Which come together to be a 41 degree viewing arc So we've got about two-thirds of the existing arc is visible from the pedestrian way the right-of-way on Hypothetical situation where the building would be placed on the east which we already know from a technical standpoint is not possible But just to give a sense Because there's been a lot of effort move the building move the building or sentiment to move the building in doing So the arc is still broken. It's a 49 degree arc that is visible to the street. So 41 degrees versus 49 degrees. Yes, it is a contiguous arc We don't review that whatsoever But it's it's a reduction by about 25 percent versus a reduction of about a third so it's It's not like this view isn't going to be impinged upon regardless of where the building is and one of the things that we have Considered is that knowing that the the the view to this this beautiful property Will be impinged upon by whatever development happens here. We hope it's the Amherst media project They have considered Offering at the back of their property Actually a viewing station. So we would provide a public easement access so that anybody who wanted to can come up And actually cut a third of the distance from the public right away. You want to see that building you have to be on the street and you're 200 in some feet away you can cut about a third of that distance away So it actually gives people an opportunity to get closer to the building see the details better take better photos Amherst media is also willing to provide an an audio history Option that would be provided through some technical means or another either a mechanical thing at the viewing station with a bench or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth kind of thing being broadcast from their building so that the public Can get a closer look at both of the buildings You'll be able to a closer frontal Perspective then is currently available in the public right away, and we hope that this would to a degree make up for the break in the continuity of the current Viewscape Getting people a little closer to the action so to speak so alright, so here's what I thought I was going to talk about and that's the architecture and So the the building itself was designed by great country timber frames who unfortunately could not be here tonight. They are Post-in-beam type of company. They're not a prefab, you know mobile home kind of company And they were selected for a variety of reasons one of which was post-in-beam construction has a lot of efficacy in Tall ceilings high buildings which when you have a television studio is important because inside of this structure is a very tall ceiling and That is just part part of the mission of Amherst media There's also an elevator involved to get to second floor storage. There is a fair amount of heavy equipment that needs to get moved around so The the elevator in the studio have a very strong impact on the overall size And mass if you will of the structure so once those Items are sort of predetermined it it led to Sort of a boxier or more barn like as some people have said structure now We have received last week at the local historic district commission very strong advice to Not to abandon the great country temper frames necessarily in their structural design but bring on an Experienced architect who is not just an experienced architect that experience in historic buildings and historic neighborhoods There is an interesting juxtaposition on the north side of the street it is residential the Italian et style and on the south side of the same street are Low brick buildings a different kind of commercial style and this proposed structure sits in between them, so It proposes a few Challenges I would say to whoever is going to be coming along and tidying up the aesthetic of this structure But the the structure itself in terms of size and mass is is relatively fixed to meet the minimum requirements of the owners mission You can see slightly The sign I'm going to zoom in here a little bit on a black-and-white version Phase forward the building sign itself is proposed currently at six by three feet to sit above the main door To be lit from above This current drawing has three lamps above it I think the lighting designer said we are going to be just fine with two So we're going to adjust that when we make adjustments to the architectural design Leaving the building and moving on to the landscape a little bit the landscape was selected For screening purposes the bylaw especially when you have a Commercial district abutting a residential district the bylaw is pretty strong about how to screen Residences from commercial normally people don't want to be you know living in one place and looking to the back of somebody's parking lot The back of most businesses is reasonably unattractive. So strong screening is usually provided and in addition the residential area the screening has been to Conceal to the greatest extent possible the parking lot another thing that is generally not an attractive feature of buildings Though quite a modern necessity So this plan the this plan was developed Well partially in conjunction according to the bylaw and the plants were selected by the Taylor Davis landscape company It's all on my letterhead, but we worked in conjunction on this and in brief basically around the parking lot we have screening of you know Vegetation that will eventually reach nine and fourteen feet tall through here Feathered grasses at the end of the parking area and the turnaround another section of You know nine to fourteen foot tall vegetation this green rectangle is part of the stormwater management system Actually, it requires vegetation as part of the filtering process So we've selected vegetation necessary for that that also has a degree of aesthetic value An island green island is required in the bylaw for parking lots over ten spaces So we have an island here with a tree a wait for here and Then this long green strip on the back of the property as well as on the west side of the building Which is a relatively window-less side. It's the it's the studio side This plan is proposing emerald green arbor vitae And in the feedback that we've received there is concern that our Screen from the neighborhood is also going to be a screen from the street If to decree it feels like we jokingly I say we need to put a two-way mirror back here So the the residents to the north doesn't have to face the The business side of the business at the same time really hoping to allow the streetscape the pedestrian way To have visual access behind the building so To the to the buildings behind it to the Henry Hills house and the emmer's women Center. So the Landscape drawing that you see now. We're also going to be revisiting and seeing if we can find a way to provide adequate screening for this residence that is quite close to the lot line From all the business that's going on here at the same time potentially open up some of these areas on the edges so It's easier to see past the building That or provide lower plantings in which case that we wouldn't be able to screen the business from the residences But that need a may not be a strong concern to the owner Right now. This is still owned by the Gidera family who is the original or at least the previous owners of all the land and did all the lot development So we're gonna work on the landscaping that is to say But we are trying to to meet needs that are currently it seems conflicting And we'll get back to you With a little more information on that The lighting situation We have Excuse me. We're proposing fixtures that would be reasonably appropriate for a period Structures, so we have I don't even know what to call this type of lamp fixture, but my parents had it on their house and It's also found very similarly other historic districts quite close and Those are for so at the top. These are the pole mounted lights They will be mounted about 10 feet high. These are the wall mounted lights will be about eight feet high There are eight of the poles nine of the wall mounted the sign will have these little downcast Gooseneck style lamps Although two of them shown on the strong or white that's just because the catalog shows them white They come in every color we're picking black, which would also be more of a period influence The little blue dots all over the plan Are the location of lights and if we really need to get into the details we can get into that More importantly all these little dots that are way too small at this scale This is the photometric plan that was provided by the light supplier Demonstrating that we're not letting light leak off the property We are down to zero point zero and in just a few cases 0.1 foot candles at the property line and nothing past the property line just past the property line So the light designers done a good job of making sure we don't have light leaving the site All the lights are do have caps over the top So they are downcast And it is amazingly difficult to find period lights that are dark sky compliant It turns out that is a very modern thing not not a surprise, but Historic features Xora light tended to broadcast the light So here again, we're between the modern world requirements of keep your lights pointed down and the historic requirements have let them shine everywhere So I think we've come up with fairly good compromise that bridges these two situations The lights themselves will be on federal electric timers, so they're not going to be burning all night long They're going to go on a few hours before office opens a few hours after it closes There'll be motion detectors for the lights near the building So as pedestrians come and go perhaps late at night for safety reasons the light is going to pop on for a little while Illuminate the path and let them get safely to their destination off-site Continuing down the application process I want to talk a little about the erosion control sediment Precautions we're taking for the property Everything does drain from the northwest corner down here So the green line that goes around the low side of the site This would be a sediment barrier something like a silt fence although we're probably going to be used The sediment logs a little more effective easier to install The yellow area would be a construction entrance which would then be big hunky rock that is designed to help knock off any Sticky earth mud that has accumulated on construction vehicles the shaded area through here Is sort of an option depending on the time of year the construction happens the sediment basin it may be necessary the sediment Sort of fence or the log might be more than more than enough depending on rain and how fast grass is established if We're going to need to control water and large volume will install a sediment basin At the low end of the site before the stormwater management system is installed and then to protect the municipal drain system There are two catch basins one here and one here will be installing Inlet filters should there be some kind of discharge from the site then the catch basins themselves are each individually protected safeguarding the municipal system The town also has a requirement to do some fill calculations earthwork So I want to point out that we did those calculations the site just by happenstance balance is very very well at 66 cubic yards of fill brought in Which means that's about an inch of fill over the entire site This is nothing that anybody would ever notice if you were to lay it out flat And of course we're planning on pushing the earth around a little bit by it's a sloping site buildings require flat pads, so we're going to be cutting and filling through here cutting and filling through here and Filling a little bit through here, which overall balances out to close to zero just 66 cubic yards Another detail of the application is the management plan And I have already talked about parking lighting and some of the sign details The trash and recycling are going to be by bins. They won't be There won't be any dumpsters on site The landscaping will be done by a professional landscape company. We recognize that this is a very visible property and The intention is to keep it in an excellent shape all year round. The snow removal will also be by a professional contract Which is a safety and just you know site access requirement next upon the application requirements is a Traffic impact statement, so what I'm going to offer here tonight And hopefully falls into the realm of intuitive common sense. This is a small professional office there are no more than five staff working there at any time and Usually no more than well no more than four board members there at any given time This is not a commercial development like a restaurant or retail or Dunkin Donuts or a gas station Where you've got trip after trip after trip being generated all day long during business hours It's a few vehicles in and a few vehicles out over the course of the day Which is also Alleviated by many of the interns and volunteers do arrive by bus so with the bus stop being outside They don't even generate vehicle trips. So this is a very low impact No meaningful impact to Main Street Gray Street is is a fairly low volume road It is one of the one of several accesses to the high school in the back Some blocks away So it does get a bit of traffic during those peak times But it is effectively eventually a dead-end road. It's not a through street with Cards coming down from point A to point B that aren't local so because this is very low traffic generating site on a Very busy street a Main Street and a not very busy street on Gray Street, which is the site access We are requesting a waiver from The full extent of article 2 section 3b additional item 6 of the planning board rules and regulations Which talks about a traffic impact statement and the potential for a traffic study? I think it's pretty intuitive that the nine Staff some of them taking buses are not gonna not can make a dent on what's going on a Main Street Just for completeness. I did mention before there will need to be an easement for the sidewalk That has already been worked out in details with the engineer and then already accepted the town meeting last year The applicants happy to provide that and on Monday We received comments from the town engineer Jason skills He and I consulted about a variety of issues of this property before I sunk my teeth into it Particularly the stormwater management. I am very pleased that he has no concerns whatsoever about the storm water management system as proposed It's frankly. I think it's a great system. We knew that we wanted to do a good job on this one There were a few minor technical points Just some of those including rebuilding the entire sidewalk on Gray Street We're gonna be cutting it up partially. He wants the whole thing put back sounds good. It'll be needed when it's done He wants me to connect to the sanitary sewer system slightly differently easy There's a little bit of water coming over the sidewalk that is below our stormwater system he wants us to manage that as well that is totally possible and Things something I never went into before is we need to fortify our site against the sidewalk plow which I found novel and Apparently this is also not a big deal So we're gonna we're gonna handle all of these points and Jason's letter indicated that we're in good shape from a technical standpoint So wrapping up this longer-than-average presentation. Thank you for bearing with me You know, we believe that this project does address all the aspects of the bylaw and that We do know that there are some architectural issues that need to be addressed We will be returning to the local Historic District Commission after upgrading our plans so to speak very minor issues with infrastructure And I will mention I'll say just a little bit here From my notes that you know Amherst media is a community-oriented public service And that the existing studio is definitely inadequate for them Presently and they are about to be evicted anyway The proposed building will support the non-profit educational services and regional stewardship Stewardship that Amherst media provides And we do want to re-emphasize and point out again to the public at large in general and the board specifically and that There there has been a history of this property Creating the lots and rezoning the lots prior to Amherst media's ownership of the property We understand that those choices were not Popular by everyone although there was a lot of economic motivation development motivation in the town to do so What we are trying to do is an extension of that process as it has already trans trans past so We do recognize there's additional work needed and We are also Because we received so much information in the last ten days earlier this week even the last few hours Something I have never done before is is formally request that the board not take a vote tonight Now we hear what the public has to say give us a chance to come back to address some of the issues that have come up in the last last couple of days and get back to you with revised landscape plan and more importantly a revised architectural plan and With that we do welcome the comments of the public the input from the board will be paying close attention Maybe we can answer some questions that haven't been raised so far. I'd be happy to talk again And we thank you very much for your time Thank you so much for that presentation So I want to speak just a little bit about process now So we have a standard process for those of you who may not have attended a site plan review Hearing in the past that we're going to go through we've just heard from the applicant Shortly we're going to talk about the site visits that took place yesterday Then we're going to turn to questions from the board followed by public comments We're going to give the applicant an opportunity to respond Then we'll have final comments and questions from the public applicant in the board in that order and as the applicant Alluded to that might not all happen tonight. It's possible that this hearing could be continued Also want to talk a little bit about voting requirements So this is a site plan review request it requires five out of seven of the planning board members to vote in the affirmative to pass We have five present tonight There's two planning board members who aren't present and they can vote under mass law if they review the material that was presented at this hearing Additionally as many may know the applicant was before the Dickinson local historic district recently That is a parallel process to this the board and the district are not advisory to each other The applicant needs approval from both to proceed with the project We are going to hear for informational purposes from a representative of the Dickinson local historic district commission tonight And finally on process because this project is located in a national historic register district The planning board is allowed to use what's called design review board standards That's section 3.2 of the zoning by-law and it's a just an all criteria that the board can use in reviewing the project So that all being said we're going to move on to the report on the site visits and there were two site visits held yesterday I attended one of them two other board members attended at the other time and much of the material in the written site visit report Which is available to us Has already been stated by the applicants. I want to call attention to a few items that may not have been One being that there are currently encroachments on the property not only from the town but from on a butter with site improvements And those are in the process of being addressed Additionally, I don't believe it was mentioned that Amherst media has made an agreement with the VFW across the street to use the VFW parking lot for overflow parking and During the course of one of the site visits Board members had inquired about the possibility of planting new street trees along main street because several old beach trees have been removed from the site Were there any other comments or questions from board members who are present at the site visit? All right seeing none will move on to general questions and comments from the board Christine This one's pretty easy I'm looking at a report from the Felicity-hardy law practice and they bring into question that the area is 2410 square feet because of the loss of lambs, I think on the street portion And you were using that that same number. Is that the number of the actual site or what is the property size right now? That is the number that the surveyor came up with it does include the sidewalk It does include the easement so that is part of the property But the boundary does include the the 24,000 and 10 square feet. Yes So that's a thin sliver along one side. What is the general number then if you excluded the sidewalk? Commonly this is a bit of a wild guess But the sidewalk impinges something like a hundred feet of the frontage of the property It is about four feet wide and not all of it impinges. So I would say On average two feet wide over a hundred feet long two hundred square feet So we're still well over the 15,000 square foot Number we'd have to lose nine thousand square feet of property to the sidewalk We're good Thank you So I do have a question and it was useful and new information to me to learn that part of the Reason for the architecture as proposed was because of the need for higher ceilings due to the TV studio use So what exactly are the the heights of the? Rooms that are proposed and that are needed for that type of use From from memory and I do have the structural plans and we can we can bring them up But I'm pretty sure that the the studio was 14 feet high And Then there is additional storage space above that so the overall structure to the roofline is 32 feet So that's I think that's the tallest room in that building Thank you, Maria Could you talk a little more about the design process when you were saying that the building placement was determined by the physical site characteristics? And then location was driven by storm water management But yet you studied you know the building being on the east and then it needing a 10-foot retaining wall Could you say more about sure? I guess you know did the building come after all of those study of the site water management Or was it simultaneous or just go a little more into that process So when I was brought into the project embers media had already begun Preliminary work on a building because I don't have much to work with until I have a good idea Well, how big is your building? What's it gonna look like? So they they offered that information so to a degree the building design Came first and then I tried to stick it on the site and where everybody wanted it was the slide on the left there Placing the building on the east side of the site. I had Definite concerns that I would be able to make this work and still meet the the law and as well as just general site feasibility and When I talked about a very tall wall, so if we have so the storm water has to be lower than the parking lot It has to be lower than the impervious area. So in this case, we're driving the parking lot to the higher side of the site But the storm water also has to be above the storm water management system also has to be above the groundwater table Which basically means that you you couldn't start the storm water management system until basically finish grade As the site is now So if you were to go out there and build a system on the grass on the west side of the site it would be several feet tall and then You'd be building pavements on top of that and having to slope the the earth So what ended up happening is that this face of the parking lot became? Extremely tall might that you can only have 48 inches of a wall of begins a sidewalk And this was in the vicinity of of nine or ten feet. I did do this design quite some time ago now, so I don't remember every detail of it, but It was an enormous edifice that would have been constructed basically would have built a house made out of rocks up against the sidewalk None, it's a fairly opaque structure But that again is it's driven by the site conditions it's driven by the fact that water flows downhill and Site access is Fairly fixed at this location. We have to be a minimum distance of 75 feet from the intersection Putting the building in the corner where we would have loved it requires a driveway to come up as steep And as steep as we possibly could make it and still meet town rules and then the What happens is that creates as you can see from the back of the site. There's a one two three I miscount it with this funny device one two three four four or five feet of fall across here So we jack it up high in the back and then the earth and the sidewalk are much much lower So even though we come up a few feet the earth is falling as we go So the resultant adds up to be quite an enormous structure So even if we built a wall that would bring slopes out this way Quite a bit till we I got back to Existing grade So unfortunately we were stuck And the building footprint was that a design or was that purely square footage given to you by Amherst media? That that was based on their preliminary design. They they did development drawings After I came along and said that it is actually feasible to build on the site Not where you want to build but it's buildable and this footprint will work There's a certain amount of you know Due diligence you have to perform. Can you fit the stormwater? Can you fit the required parking? Can you fit? All your stuff for your business inside a building all on this site And keep everything you know safe for fire access etc, so There it was a little bit of chicken and egg there was some building but it was rough when I got involved It was refined afterward So would you say they weren't really designed together simultaneous you sort of like you're saying chicken and egg you kind of had a little bit Of an idea of a building and then you worked out management of the site and then you came back and Looks like the building footprints not too far different from what it is now So in a way you you were working with this mass and then you try to make it fit on the site Yes, it's true You know they they had a an ideal for what the building would look like After I realized that it It's problematic no matter what we do I tried to create space by shrinking the building which wasn't really great for Amherst media's needs But from a site design it created a little more room But even with this layout we were still You know forced to stick the building on the uphill side of the site and the stormwater on the downhill side of the site But site design is iterative building site building site they go back and forth for a little while till they settle It's still it's still iterative tonight Christine Just with that smaller is did that have an extra story or less storage like it's much smaller Where was the like was that even feasible? Well, I'll tell you this footprint was my imagination Assuming that Amherst media could just arbitrarily add height to the building because it was a 40-foot building allowed They were already anticipating a building of Substantial height and I figured if I'm gonna cut the footprint down by 40 percent or something that we're gonna have to add another story So now we would be talking roughly a 40-foot building Just to get the same volume as well as now We've got one more set of stairs inside of a professional office. It makes accessibility a little more difficult They at the time they were not I think I recall they weren't planning on an elevator at the time So this was kind of bad news. I know they weren't particularly happy that I did this But I was as they say spitballing. I was trying to come up with a way to make this site work In the most reasonable manner possible So I came with all sorts of shapes and ideas and I'll tell you the stuff that I show you here There's there's problems with it. There really are there's a reason we're not doing this Thank you Jack I have some comments, but the they're kind of predicated on the the historic commissions comments and I might wait if they're going to be the first speaker to To speak after that, but I do you're probably aware of the Berkshire design letter that came in The Berkshire design letter the Berkshire design group. I know the group I'm not sure I've seen a letter from that design firm. It's dated today. So probably not unusual. Okay But they have some very good points with regard to the engineering aspects of it storm storm order related which I Agree with some of the points in my cursory review. I'm not an engineer. I'm a hotter geologist, but I Do understand storm water to some extent. So I would love to review Great and you'll have an opportunity of course to comment later Jack David Can you can you speak a little bit more to your request for a waiver of the traffic? Excuse me impact statement. I Believe in your presentation. You said it was intuitive primarily because it's gray streets of residential street But it's it's actually it's confused. It's it's not an easy intersection because of the bus traffic that goes for two schools and then a lot of and then whatever other parent traffic that that is And then also there are a lot of young teen drivers that are entering and exiting from the schools there And so it's not while it may be intuitive. I don't think it's quite Actual and so if you could speak a little bit more as to why Given the Fact that this isn't an important access point to these schools Why I mean, I'm not I'm not fully persuaded that it's intuitive that that there's no need for such a perfect impact study the the intuitive nature of my statement I think has to do with the Low volume of traffic and turning motions generated by this project Relative to the traffic on Main Street Relative to the traffic on Gray Street what Amherst media's staff will be adding to that mix is miniscule so You know, I'm I'm not standing here having done a full traffic count and having done the analysis I've I've seen a variety of projects come and go and you know, I I guess I have an insider's view that intuitively a project of this size that is quite small Would have a negligible impact on on situation like this And I think that's the extent of that like there there are a variety of things that happen on that street like every street I can't account for them all tonight Additional comments questions Jack. Yeah, I think I'm good with the traffic study given that five employees and during the Site visit yesterday. I mean one of the main Traffic events you would have where the auction which is no longer happening would will happen at the facility so I I do believe that You know traffic would be minimal for their plans for this building If this were retail establishment draft Dunkin Donuts something like that, I would not be saying this I I would be insistent. I wouldn't want my stamp on a drawing that I thought had some danger affiliated with it That is not the plan that we're looking at today And I agree with your comments Jack But but on David, but on the other hand though, there's contingency for the overflow parking Across the street and so there are going to be occasions or I mean It's not it's not so clear to me. There was no traffic yesterday. You're right during the site visit, but There are there's there is there are in turn as you say that whether they're using public transportation or not and can be For the guaranteed. I'm concerned really about the traffic coming in and out from the schools knowing from personal experience how Sometimes that's rushed and There are cars and buses that obscured the site lines That's that's where my concern is That sounds like pre-existing natural conditions of the flow of traffic so that that more concerning traffic flow Is isn't being generated caused or impacted by just a few people working in an office And the hours were probably not even necessarily overlap with the natural flow of the school system this that My dropping off my kid picking him up from school as well. It is a chaos mess absolutely all over the place But the addition of just a few more turning motions into the chaos mess even if they overlapped wouldn't be significant and Maybe somebody from Amherst me you could say the overflow parking situation how often would an event like that occur? One of the reasons that this came up when we were first looking at the site that we were doing the road Reaction every year which raised hundreds of thousands hours for the nonprofits in the schools was where would that traffic go with that? Mount of people very seldom do we have a large event But there is a possibility that we would like to know that if indeed, but we don't foresee that as a regular event happening Thank you We're not quite on to public comment yet. We'll get there very shortly. Thank you for that answer Are you oh you're representing? Yes? Did you have more information now? If so, please join at the front Once on who has graduated please introduce yourself. I'm Demetria Shabazz. Thank you. I am the president of the board sorry so to speak to your concern and I don't know if that will allay that but our Hours currently begin at 10 o'clock and so that is after the rush hour in the morning I have children in the school district as well And I understand that problem that can occur anywhere in Amherst But definitely our hours begin at 10 and then we close at 6 so it would be after and Course after the rush hour in the afternoon so to answer that. Thank you so much Any more comments questions from the board before we turn to public comments? All right, so we're going to take public comment now There's three speakers. I'm going to recognize before we turn to the general public the first being Jennifer Taube of the Dickinson local Historic District Commission. Please come to the front. Yes Thank you This is on right yeah, yes I'm Jennifer Taube the chair of the Amherst local Historic District Commission And I was just gonna was asked to make a brief report on our meeting last week And I do want to acknowledge that I appreciate mr. Skinner Sorry, you know What I'm repeating you know has been acknowledged that And that they're you know already moving forward on some of our recommendations So At its March 10 March 11th meeting the local Historic District Commission Did vote unanimously for to zero on a motion not to grant a certificate of appropriateness For the building as it was currently proposed by Amherst media company The Commission was scrupulous in basing this decision on its mandated responsibilities as detailed in article 8.2 of the local Historic District Commission bylaw I'll try and be brief section 8.2 States in the case of new construction or additions to Existing buildings or structures the Commission shall consider the appropriateness of the scale Shape and proportions of the building or structure Both in relation to the land upon which the building or structure is situated and in relation to the buildings and Structures in the vicinity the Commission may in appropriate cases impose Dimensional and setback requirements in addition to those required by applicable statute or bylaw The LHD Commission determined that the quality and design of the building as it was currently proposed At the March 11th meeting Was not compatible with surrounding historic districts We also deem that the scale and revised sighting of the building on the property Were not appropriate in relation to the land upon which the building is proposed to be situated and in relation to the buildings in the vicinity Especially in this case when the neighboring structures affected by the current proposal are such iconic historic Properties as the Amherst women's club and the Henry Hills house Given the location and scale of the project the Commission determined that special care Must and should be taken Therefore the Commission made the following four recommendations to Amherst media company We asked that they explore the possibility of moving the location of the building to the east side of the property That they consider lowering the ridgeline of the building That they examine alternative building forms that reflect the historic, you know pastoral setting on the north side of Main Street and We asked that they retain a professional registered architect To design a building that would be more Suitable for such an important and significant space in town I did want to clarify that the local Historic District Commission is not questioning Amherst media's company's right to construct a building on the property and in fact We did encourage them to come back to the local Historic District Commission with a new application for a redesigned building and perhaps site configuration Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. I'll recognize Felicity hardy now My name is Felicity hardy. I'm an attorney in Springfield, and I represent Harmsway LLC, which is the owner of 38 Gray Street. I know that there are a lot of people here who want to speak this evening So in anticipation of that, I've submitted written comments to the planning board for your consideration And I'd like to just address a couple of points that were made in my letter, which I think Deserve a little bit more time and attention, especially given the board's questions and mr. Sparkle's presentation First, let me speak to the question of the size of the lot Ms. Gray Mullen raised the question of what is the lot size and mr. Sparkle indicated that the lot size is 24,010 square feet as shown on the plan that was submitted to you that is in direct contradiction to a Second amended complaint that Amherst community television Inc. filed in the Hampshire Superior Court against mr. Quiderra Part of that lawsuit has to do with the question of whether or not mr. Quiderra misrepresented the size of the lot or Persuaded Amherst community television not to do a survey and in that lawsuit Amherst community television indicates that there was a taking of land by the town of Amherst for the creation of a bus stop and the complaint alleges that the taking Narrows the Amherst media lots to a depth of only 90 to 95 feet Now your site plan the site plan that was submitted indicates that the width of a lot is 106 feet and Yet this complaint indicates that the lots are actually much narrower If we were to credit what's stated in this complaint It reduces the lot size by about 2,000 square feet The resulting parcel would still probably be large enough To meet with the minimum zoning requirement but the point really is that the that the site plan is not correct at least if You judge it against the complaint that Amherst community television has Filed with the Hampshire Superior Court. You can't it can't be both ways either It's 24,000 10 square feet as represented in the site plan or it's something less as represented in This complaint the second point. I'd like to make has to do with the second story of the building That's very important because if the second story is intended for some use You would have to include the area of the second floor as Part of the gross floor area in computing what the parking requirements are For the site right now the parking requirements for the site have been based upon a The square footage of the first floor, which is 4080 square feet Based on that if you were not to include the area of the second story then the parking that Amherst Media has provided in this Site plan is there enough spaces But in the building plans that were submitted with the application Great country timber represents that in fact There is a plan to utilize the second floor for something else in fact great country timbers plans Conemplate the construction of an elevator. Well, you wouldn't need an elevator for the storage for storage space So if this the second floor is going to be used for something it dramatically increases the requirements for the parking takes the required parking amount from about 14 spaces to something like 28 spaces So it's I think critical for the planning board to Investigate what the plan is for the second floor. Why are they designing the building with an elevator and We've already heard this evening that the parking the parking is going to be insufficient for major events It would certainly be it right now the parking is very tight You have insufficient Radius to maneuver cars in and out of these parking spaces That problem is only going to be worse if the second story is used That's why the zoning regulations require the computation of the second floor in the parking requirements and So my suggestion is that the planning board investigate that and evaluate whether or not the parking is going to be sufficient Again, there are others who want to speak my written remarks have been submitted I noticed I noted mr. Levenstein's Comments and questions about the traffic study. We would encourage that as well. Thank you for your time Thank you so much, and I'll recognize Chris Chamberlain of Berkshire design Chris Chamberlain. I'm a professional engineer with Berkshire design group in Northampton I did submit a letter earlier today, which I apologize for the lateness of that submission I got Involved in this project only late last week and as I'm sure Bucky can attest the civil engineering world is very busy these days So I've been asked by the owners of 38 Gray Street to do an engineering review of the site plan Which I've submitted some comments of some issues that that we've identified that We would ask the board to inquire on some clarification on them I understand Bucky has not read that letter, so I wouldn't expect him to necessarily be ready to address those comments right now The I do also want to say that you know, this is a difficult site as an engineer reviewing these plans It's clear that a great deal of work has gone in to try to make a workable plan but there are some Issues and open questions that I'm left with in reviewing the plan and I just want to highlight a couple of them related to storm water That again are more fleshed out in the letter in looking at the Stormwater calculations that analyze the proposed control system, which consists of a large detention basin There are two inputs of water that are not accounted for in the calculation in the drench report The applicant acknowledges that there is Large tributary area contributing water to the site from uphill They state that it's not this project's responsibility to manage that water, which is true When we develop a site, we need to mitigate the impacts that we create, but we don't need to solve every problem in the world However in the analysis of the detention basin That water is treated as if it were bypassing the system When in fact it is entering the system and then being discharged and that becomes very important because the way these detention systems work Is it's a large volume to store that water? And it's a dynamic system as more water is stored the outflow from that basin increases and so therefore I can design a detention basin for a particular site that replicates the existing Outflows from the site, but if I then load it with additional water coming in from off-site It can change those dynamics such that the system no longer achieves the design goals in the extreme case If there were a tremendously large area of water flowing into that detention basin Even if it's sized correctly for the postage stamp that I am developing It could cause that basin to overflow to the point where it no longer attenuates Stormwater at all. I am not claiming that that is necessarily the case. I haven't analyzed the system accounting for that upstream water But our recommendation to the board is that they ask the applicant to look at how that upstream water flowing into the detention basin affects the dynamics of that system and Similarly, we note that there are a number of drains to remove groundwater from the site Which is an appropriate design everyone out there understands that high groundwater is an issue There is a footing drain surrounding the building. There's also a sub drain Along the north side of the building intended to intercept that groundwater as it's entering the site and prevent it from causing problems All good things to add to the site plan However, those that groundwater is then discharged into the infiltration basin that makes up part of the system and We know from the drainage report that the soils are relatively fine meaning they're very slow to infiltrate Water to groundwater and so if the flow of groundwater from those pipes is high enough Water can actually build up in that Infiltration basin to the point where it could be full when a storm comes which would then reduce the ability of that system to manage storm water So again, the the recommendation that we're making to the board is to ask the applicant to try to quantify What that groundwater contribution is and whether it impacts the functioning of the system and what the results are if that is accounted for and then finally the Stormwater standards that Bucky referenced do require infiltration to be attempted to sort of return that volume of water back into the earth that we've blocked by creating pavement and buildings and An analysis has been done in the stormwater report that shows what that infiltration system will do One of the other requirements in the stormwater standards is to do what's called a mounding analysis Which the exact details of that are technical and we don't need to talk about them right now but the concept is that if you take a volume of water and Intend to soak it into the ground it has a tendency to raise the ground water in an isolated area right underneath that infiltration if That sort of that mound of water Increases enough to the point where it touches the bottom of the infiltration basin. It can actually dramatically reduce the ability of that water to be discharged and Given the separation between the infiltration basin and the groundwater table the stormwater standards do Require that that mounting analysis be done and given the the soils on the site It's my opinion that it would be appropriate to do so Those are again, they're very technical issues. I do understand that that the town engineer reviewed the plan and had no comments on the stormwater system My opinion is I'm surprised that that was the conclusion But I also haven't had any conversations with the town engineer. I haven't read his letter So I don't necessarily have an opinion on that on its own, but I Would I've also copied this letter to the town engineer so he may or may not have Comments to my statements Thank you. I'm Charlene Moran. I'm the president of the Amherst women's club And I'd like to present our perspective on the Amherst media building in 2017 Amherst media came to the Amherst women's club and presented plans for their development of the land bordering Main and Gray Street But this original plan in no way reflects when Amherst media is currently attempting to get past and Build in the Emily Dickinson historic district Not only has the building design been fancied up in an inappropriate style, but the location scope and Height especially of the building has changed significantly placing it in proximity of and in the direct sight line of the Hills Memorial Clubhouse, which is the home of the Amherst women's club as Many of you may know the Amherst women's club is a civic organization that has served the community for a hundred twenty five years We are proud of our commitment and annual contributions to local community service agencies and scholarships to Amherst regional high school seniors And we are proud of being in the National Historic Register and situated in the Emily Dickinson historic district We use those two distinctions in all of our Literature in order to maintain the Hills Memorial Clubhouse We work very hard to fundraise and to open our beautiful mansion to the public for a variety of events Including weddings memorial services conferences lectures musical programs all of this Excuse me allows us to keep the house in good condition and fulfill our legacy of caring for this beautiful property As we have been able to do for a hundred twenty five years Many of the events we have especially large public events are held on the porch and in the gardens on the side of the house According to what we understand from the proposed size height and proximity to our gardens and mansion This three-story building will have a negative impact on our ability to rent our property for revenue to maintain the mansion In addition by any stretch of the imagination a barn would never be created And appear in front of such beautiful historic homes This building seems in no way appropriate for the sliver of land that sits on the road and will obscure the view and value Of the two historic mansions behind it while we support Immensely the work and mission that Amherst media embodies This building will forever change the Emily Dickinson historic district and our place in it Thank you. Thank you Yes back left on the left No, thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Jessica Wilkinson I am my family live at 20 Gray Street. We are one of the butters When these lots proposed were first proposed for rezoning in 2013 Specifically they were proposed specifically to allow for the construction of Amherst media's new home And when they were presented to town meeting when this proposal for the rezoning was presented to town meeting Schematic drawings were shown to that body to town meeting and I noticed that they're on the back there I also have a copy of the schematic drawings that were shown to town meeting at the time Those drawings were of a 22,700 square foot building. It was a two-story building It was located on the lot at the corner of Gray and Maine and the building itself was architecturally consistent with that of other historic structures in the area most importantly The proposal that was put forth before town meeting showed a building on the lots that would have left the view of the Hills House And the Amherst women's club unimpeded from Main Street Tom meeting supported the rezoning petition Largely, I believe because of its dedication to the laudable mission of Amherst media and its trust that the development roommate would remain historically appropriate The project now presented to us Shares nothing in common with that shared with town meeting as now planned it would stand directly in front of the Hills House It'd be three full stories 32 feet tall and would be impede the view of both the Hills House and the women's club from Main Street. I appreciated the Angles that were shown but we also showed shown pictures of three twenty twelve foot high Trees that we're going to block this property also, so I'm not sure how we reconcile those two things The structure itself Is a Dutch colonial with a gambrel roof a barn style building designed not by an architect But by an engineer and it's clearly clearly in Congress with the historical setting Again, originally the 2700 foot square building and what we just learned is that the current building is over 4,000 feet and that just takes me to count the first floor only which is what I what I just heard It's very concerning As you know last week the Dickinson Historic District Commission unanimously denied Amherst media its request for an application for appropriateness The Commission also passed a resolution with four recommendations that were already shared with you But to repeat to move the building to the eastern corner of the site to lower the height of the building considerably To consider alternative forms that reflect the historic setting and to hire an experienced architect to design a building more consistent with the pastoral landscape of the district And as I understand it this body the planning board operates under a set of bylaws and That you must follow a set of criteria when reviewing site plan reviews and we're undertaking a site plan review There are principles and standards set forth in the bylaws Including to Mandating you to ensure that buildings avoid to the extent feasible impacts on scenic views This is clearly a scenic view that we are considering today In addition because the property is owned business neighborhood and which is within the boundaries of a national historic Registered district the bylaws date that if the planning board deems the proposal likely to have a significant impact on its surroundings It is permitted to use the design principles and standards set forth in section 3.2 Zero four zero of the bylaws This project Clearly would have significant impacts on its surroundings and as such I urge the planning board to adhere to those principles and standards and In particular, and this is paraphrase from those bylaws I urge the board to make every reasonable effort to preserve the historical landscape of this area Consider the relationship on the site of this property to surrounding open space And to modify the scale of the project to ensure that it's compatible with the surrounding architecture and historical landscape To be clear, I don't think any development Residential commercial or under ownership of any owner whether it be a non-profit organization Amherst media or someone else would be appropriate on The lot in front of the Hills House that were any any area of that that would impede the sweeping views of the historic home on Main Street I am sympathetic to the challenges that Amherst media faces related to building on the corner lot But I do not think this town should have to compromise an invaluable Historic treasure to compensate for a lack of due diligence on the part of Amherst media it's very clear they're considerable design problems and Site problems with particularly the corner lot that if the Amherst media had done his due diligence from the start It would have easily been able to find that out So inclusion I urge the planning board to utilize its authorities under the bylaws to deny this project and to commit to denying Any project in this location that does not conform to all four recommendations set forth by the historic commission Thank you Additional public comment. Yes, back left Michael hanky 91 Gray Street, and I did serve on the historical commission for nine years And I was on the designer view board for six I was debating whether I was going to speak tonight or run home into a mounting test in my backyard But I've elected to stick around and speak I Do support Amherst media building here. However, I think they should adhere to the To the requirements of the site. It's a difficult site. I think the the linchpin here is parking I think they should really investigate looking across the street to the Spanish Center or across Main Street For some parking alternatives and eliminate most of the parking on the site I think that'll solve a lot of the problems When the lumberyard was there They had to negotiate with the parking lot in the back because they had no parking whatsoever And they had a much greater use than the Amherst media is going to have in terms of traffic So I've prepared a Statement although I completely agree with and I'll go through this quickly Although I completely agree with and wholeheartedly support the mission of Amherst media and their desire to build their new headquarters on the corner of Gray Main Street, I'm concerned about the appropriateness of its proposed building I agree that this is a great location for Amherst media But with this location comes responsibility to create a structure that is in visual harmony with the most important historic neighborhood in Amherst The Emily Dickinson local historic district Amherst media's new headquarters will occupy the gateway to this historic district a barn of this proposed type would never have been built There in the past given the location and history of the property nor would it fit in harmoniously today Type in the term barn logo in your web browser and select the images tab to see the results The proposed structure is a stereotypical red-barred hip roof on the game lens with cupola's course now It's white a design for this location is to play nicely with the three late 19th to 20th century white houses that march up Gray Street from this lot to 19th century mansions that reside behind it and a late 19th century house in brick commercial building That sit across Main Street the one thing I learned tonight that wasn't clear the rendering this context the proposed building will sit at the highest point on that lot and It will it's in the center of the whole block So by virtue of being in the center It's it's gained in prominence and will be the main feature you see for Main Street a Barn like form is not incompatible with this location But it needs to be simpler dispensing with the hip-groove gables and multiple cupolas It could be a modern take on a vernacular bar and this would be a graceful gable group form sheathed and clabbered with its walls Punctuated carefully placed casement windows and doors might be painted white or off-white to relate to its neighbors on gray Street a good architect and I'm stressing that a good architect not just any architect a good architect Could create such a design and should be engaged before moving the project forward that would solve a lot of problem Whatever design was ultimately proposed that had to be reviewed by the local Historic District Commission Which it was I'd hope that Amherst media would have reconsidered the chosen design prior to submitting it to the Commission Submission also included the presentation of construction documents for a completed design and ignored the customary process of first Submitting and presenting a conceptual design followed by a more developed design. It's very difficult for people to understand essentially contract documents Amherst media's presentation materials are very hard for most in attendance understander We're created as blueprints for contractors as a guide to complete the site work and to actually construct the building They should produce renderings that show the building in context as well as including any landscaping I was a member of the Historical Commission when the Hills mansion property was subdivided by Barry Roberts and ultimately sold to Mr. Gadara at that time either Mr. Roberts or Mr. Gadara could have sold the two main street lots to the town of Amherst what that did not happen I believe that if Amherst media is sincerely committed to building a structure that could meet the standards set forth by the local Historic District Committee This project would move through the process much more smoothly or as smoothly as is possible in Amherst Let's face it. It's never gonna be totally food smooth Many people devoted countless hours to creating the Emily Dickinson Historic District in doing so they created a bulwark against any New structure or modification to existing structures that would negatively negatively impact the landscape As far as I know a certificate appropriate of appropriateness is required prior to moving forward with the project in the district Regardless of any other board commission or town staff might agree to or approve This is one of the reasons the local Historic District was formed and I was a big advocate of it because on the historical Commission We had virtually no power people Residents didn't understand that we were powerless unless the planning board or The zoning board of appeals would ask us for input and then they could enforce it The Emily Dickinson local Historic District Committee was unanimous And not approving this that we already know that to help Amherst media I sent them the name of an architecture firm that's located in Western Mass But has never done any work in Amherst. They have no baggage and are one of the best firms in the state They also have specialized in the kind of architecture that would fit in beautifully at this site and have designed several wonderful and successful contextual commercial buildings in Williamstown, Massachusetts I strongly suggest that Amherst media contacting engaged them or another good architect to design the Exterior of their new building to help move this thing forward that would put them in a much stronger Position to achieve their goals. Thank you. Thank you additional public comments. Yes back row Hi, my name is Nico Gidera. I'm in a butter and I I Have interest in two of the properties nearby First I would like to say that I'm Amherst media. I like what they do. I believe in in the work that they're doing Also that there is a letter an email that was submitted by one of my brothers by Chris Gidera as representative of Barbara Gidera Realty Trust and the Gidera Realty Trust. I Don't speak for them. I speak for myself as a as a neighbor I would like to point out a couple of things the use of the building itself with having a second floor and What may be Commercial media production. I'm not sure but perhaps more than just educational And that educational itself means more than just five staff members. I believe that would be going in and out plus the The I believe it was for them for board members that that was mentioned And the fact that they've asked for overflow parking at the VFW Tells me or you know makes me wonder what the actual eventual use will be of the space especially with that second floor. So As somebody mentioned before I would like to have that looked into a little bit further if possible In terms of the shape of the building itself I did mention in front of the Historic Commission that it is something that's more appropriate to a farm like area And finally I would like to address What was mentioned before about the dynamics of how Amherst media buying the lots actually allowed my mother to buy 14 Gray Street and then for my brother Jerry to Build and fix up the Hills House, you know, that's horribly misstated and I would like to just say that that's completely incorrect And that's it. Thank you so much Additional public comment. Yes, sir in the blue at Wilford 48 Gray Street the hydrological problem of this property is I think by now Evident to you all The question the further question is that it is a dynamic situation the original Holding of the water in in the hill Had the advantage of trees both on the common line between the two Hills properties and on Gray Street and And The moving of the buildings at 14 and then the next building up also impacted changed the situation there But since then we we could expect That the situation the hydrological situation would have have come to a stasis But in fact the last two years in the springtime we have had a I Flood down the main street sidewalk coming out of the hill and This fall we have had Water out on Main Street Flowing down Main Street a good One cars width and ice After it froze out again on Main Street at the corner of Gray Street Is this something that is not going to get any worse or is it something that's going to get worse in which case It might eventually doom the viability For Amherst media on this property and that is my fear that that they should somewhere down the line find that a hydrological problem is insoluble and then if they have to sell the building and Won't find a buyer easily for it we have a Situation that deteriorates further. I have been a supporter of Amherst media. I believe in what they're doing But I'm afraid that they are biting off more than they can chew in this particular site I would encourage them to do something in Corporate cooperation with the town on on a site that doesn't have this problem Thank you. Thank you Additional comments. Yes, sir on the right Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you. My name is Barry Simon and I live on Dickinson Street I've lived there for about 30 years and I just want to talk about the architecture for a moment Dickinson that whole Dickinson area is kind of a funky area and there were some buildings that were built maybe in the 20s and 30s that are kind of odd But they had to the character of the neighborhood and in the 30 years that I've been there I've watched that neighborhood go from really funky to Great character and quite beautiful people have rebuilt houses with you without changing them Myself included I've worked for 30 years on the house on Dickinson Street And even Amherst College when they bought paid Chevrolet building They did a really nice job with that pulling it a heads character to the neighborhood, you know, it's maybe kind of 1930s garage chic or something like that and to see the architecture of a gambrel I don't want to denigrate it but Medical office building Architecture be plot in the middle of really what is one of the most important architectural Spots and Amherst that has been And it's still on its way up. It's it's getting more elegant all the time So I would hate to see it Just I mean as someone said some architecture Lin play At the very least is called for in this. I mean to put this building in that spot is Move backwards. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments additional comments Yes, second row on the aisle. My name is Robert Spicer. I live at 38 Gray Street Also referred to as the Henry Hills house The project that the planning board is being asked to review is not the one that came before town meeting in 2013 The planning board's report to that meeting Stated that one of the benefits of rezoning the two lots on which Amherst media proposes to build was that Rezoning quote would allow more flexibility in terms of preserving the view from mainstream Up to the Hills mansion close quotes Assured that Amherst media could build on the eastern lot Town meeting voted in favor of the rezoning Building on the eastern lot is not Amherst media's plan Instead of preserving the view they're proposing a building from the western lot Directly in front of the Henry Hills house and obscuring the view of the Amherst women's club from the east This makes their presentation of the planning board and 2013 town meeting seemed somewhat just ingenuous like a baited switch Another baited switch is to come the plan that is being presented at tonight's meeting of the planning board is going to be changed again Amherst media announced in a March 18th email blast Then in response to the local historic district commission's rejection of the plan they will quote they will Present a redesign How can the planning board be asked to approve a plan that does not yet exist? After Amherst media bought the two lots It became apparent that they had made a bad deal They said they said so when they sued the seller first in land court and then in superior court the case is Amherst community community television versus Gdera They asserted that they had overpaid for the land which was worth not which they said was worth not more than $290,000 not $400,000 and that it was unbuildable Indeed it might be But they proposed to build anyway This will shift the cost of their bad deal to the town by destroying the character of the surrounding area It will also entail enormous additional construction costs Because of the constraints of a historic district and the drainage requirements that they claim not to have discovered Until years after they bought the property The superior court noted that a higher standard of due diligence is Statutorily required of a not-for-profit which is buying property and then Amherst media did not meet that standard The town of Amherst which provides the great majority of Amherst media's funding Bore the cost of overpayment for unbuildable property We are being asked to continue to pay for their malfeasance through unnecessary construction costs and destruction of the very vistas that their presence was intended to preserve The same March 18th email refers to Amherst media's right quote right to build close quotes All property owners have a right to build but that right is subject to the rules regulations and guidelines Established by the town and the boards that are charged with carrying out its policies It is alarming that Amherst media goes on to say that quote We are interested in reflecting the nature of both the cultural and historic districts However, we are determined to build on our property as would any other owner in the town of Amherst Any other owner in the town of Amherst is also subject to the decisions of our town boards The determinations of the local historic district commission and the planning board are not mere Suggestions their findings govern the way that we run this community And it's time for Amherst community television to recognize the meaning of its middle name It's apparent willingness to run rough shot over community standards is very disappointing for an organization That does so much for the town by way of its program Thank you Additional public comments Yes, right on the back Thanks for this opportunity. I'm not as eloquent of a speaker as everybody else I'll be short and sweet My name is Kaye Gregory. I live on Newell court And while I don't above the site my neighbors do and I feel like I use The site every day I walk the neighborhood. I walk my dog I also own a business on Main Street that faces Dickinson Street And this proposed building or frankly any building on this site Will change the landscape forever and I would argue that the landscape is just as big a part of the historical context as a building And I think that we forget to talk about that sometimes so I really hope that the planning commission and The historic commission will think about this carefully before rubber stamping another Big soulless building in town. What is so wrong with leaving some green space? Thanks. Thank you so much Is there further public comment? Yes, please. My name is Mindy sonner I own a building on Dickinson Street, which I designed and built I'm an architectural designer and an interior designer. I own a design business in downtown Amherst. I've lived in the town since 1993 I've been really shocked tonight by What is the driving factor of this of the design of this building? It seems like the first consideration is We have a lot It's rectangular It's right on Main Street. We don't have very much depth We've got a water problem We Need this many parking spaces We need this much height We need this many square feet and After all of those needs are met This is what we're proposing a Building in an inappropriate spot building of inappropriate height a Building that is architecturally inappropriate built of inappropriate materials We're going to put a parking lot Right on Main Street right in front of architecturally significant Buildings and then we're going to put It's a strip mall building Gussied up as a barn in front of those historically significant buildings in order to make That building less onerous to the Historical buildings surrounding it. We're going to put up a line of Arbor Vitae The low rent solution to provide Sightline privacy We're going to use lighting That would have been used in a 1960s, New Jersey development and we're going to call it historical I just can't believe that this is what's come in front of us tonight. No architect involved In that site the first and foremost consideration should be how do we preserve historical significance of that beautiful space in Amherst and That has to come first Thank you. Thank you so much Any further public comments? Yes, sir. My name is a milk car she buys. I live at 29 Chapel Road What has sometimes been known and presented as the judge Judy house? The question of history is one that moves me to say a word tonight And along with that word of history is the word democracy So as we all know although some speakers felt the need to continue to assert Otherwise that a request to vote a plan has not been requested for tonight And that input and feedback would be heard and utilized In presenting a plan and I think that is the beauty of of democracy of these processes that Amherst was a part of settlements that that advanced this kind of Democratic decision-making and processes but on the aspect of the history I think that's very important to preserve However, some of the notions Low rent and running roughshod and some of the emotive Language that we might be moved to speak about this process of trying to build a site For an important organization like Amherst media Must not cloud your thinking what I think is important for the planning board Relative to its mandate is really to look at the wonderful opportunity That you have to give guidance to a process of the planning of the use of This very very special site in the heart of Amherst I think the democratic nature of Amherst media covering this meeting tonight As it does other meetings and other activities of our town of the culture of our town Speaks to its commitment to being at the heart of the town of Amherst And so I really hope if that this can remain a compatible site for that I on the heart of Amherst could and Voice of the heart of Amherst could be in the heart of Amherst I really hope that your work can lead to a successful outcome. Thank you. Thank you so much Yes background in the red My name is Jacqueline Smith Brooks and I live on 186 Bay Road. I hesitated to come up here and I had not prepared a formal speech as my profession as a clergy person Would indicate I should I Have a background in education I'm an alum of the University of Massachusetts a returning to this area after having been away some close to 20 or 30 years and I came here because of what Amherst offers But it offered my family when we lived here back in the 70s in early 80s And it was access to a wide range of educational opportunities cultural opportunities And and when I came back I came back with a passion for a bit more than I took When I left here after getting my doctorate. I have a passion for both the historical and the future and I felt that when I When I embarked on a journey with Amherst media I had made that connection in more ways than one Because I began to see Not only what I had experienced when I was here from 78 to 85 But I began to see something that allowed me to look to the future. I Have had many Contacts with young people from the area colleges who assisted me in gathering some historical information Because of my passion for history and it rises not just even though I honor the buildings History comes alive in so many other ways and Amherst media has offered me and so many others Access to that rising Futuristic notion of what constitutes history. I would hope that the committee the planning board and Amherst media are able to come to a meeting of the minds because the location of This building is so critical Not just to people who are residents of Amherst, but students in the surrounding colleges And I don't think it could be a better place. I'm not an architect and I can't give you Rationals and reasons for that but as an educator as One who has a passion for history and cultural connections. I strongly support the location of the Amherst media Thank you so much. Thank you Any further public comments? All right seeing none. We're gonna give the applicants some time to respond then turn to questions and comments from the board All right. Thank you. I Promise this will be a good deal shorter than the last time I was here Going through these notes That I've collected. I'll offer some extemporaneous rebuttals leave a few things for The future we don't have to get it all wrapped up tonight. I believe so I'm not gonna go up on any tangents We have heard an awful lot as expected about architectural details and as indicated by Our associates I guess at the local historic district commission We are working on that and we'll be back with something that looks different. I can't say how I'm not that guy But this is something that we're acutely aware of in terms of the Comments from the other engineer from Berkshire design a firm that I respect very much whose work I have also reviewed There there are some things that they brought up all of which actually were part of my design and consideration But I would like a little more time to provide technical responses there But none of it was a surprise fortunately because the pit of my stomach drops out when an engineer comes up and says you forgot this So I feel good about the work in terms of the technical side there were a few references to The time that this land was converted in terms of zoning References to plans and schematic drawings. I do happen to have a copy Say a couple of things that these were not promulgated by embers media. I think we've heard tonight that they were that's not the case the plans themselves were by FR Wilson and Not they are also Dedicated for the CCCS offices. I have no idea who they are, but that's not embers media But that's what their plan says The drawing also shows a three-story building not a two-story building Actually, it's three-story plus some kind of basement with Garden windows so Effectively it is Quite quite a tall structure. It is not scaled But it would be at least as tall as the building that is proposed if not taller So there may be some inaccuracies of what was represented And certainly I cannot speak to what previous owners would have said at meetings to the town some years ago But it was an embers media that changed the zoning they benefited from the result there of of course To pave the way for the current application There has been some degree of consideration for parking in other areas that we have been in contact with the VFW for overflow parking The parking is mandated by zoning bylaw Even if there was just one person working in this office We would still need as many parking spaces as we provided just because of the size of the building If there are other options, we would consider them absolutely and maybe we'll look a little further into that One of the options is across this tree is also owned by the Gidera family Who hasn't been particularly friendly to the proposal despite that family selling us the land there have been some issues There's comments about the drawings being construction level documents as far as the civil site drawings go This is just what is needed to get through the permitting process and Amherst to make it as smooth as possible and As far as the building drawings, I think maybe a little more development has gone into those drawings partially to accelerate the timeline of The the construction we were hoping to be building at some time in this year And I've been on this since 2019 so You know and that is certainly the the purview of the client if they want to go ahead and put a little more time and energy Into into the design process. It certainly does not help hurt rather. It does not hurt an application to have more information available at some point the the educational mission of the Facility was challenged to a degree But then later we've also heard that this is very much an educational facility and Hopefully it would be located quite closely to the college areas Amherst College and UMass There were questions about water problems hydrologic problems as they were referred to and regards in regards to flooding and ice That crossed the sidewalk. We are aware of this and actually the One of the things that has been incorporated into the design is the excess of water that is draining quite literally from the Henry Hill's house from the Amherst women's club. There are Actually drainage structures right now that are scheduled to be rerouted as soon as this project is enacted to Stop a great deal of the flow of that water Of course if this project doesn't happen that rerouting will not happen. So that problem will won't be solved immediately Additionally 14 Gray Street has the abutter to the north French drains and other underground water Conveying systems that discharge water to this site. So a great deal of the wetness is Considered in this design and it will be ameliorated by this design I would even go so far as eliminated by this design. It's one of the reasons that we're adding a cut-off drain I normally wouldn't do that because we already have the footing drains and that's enough But even though we're reworking rather than neighbors are reworking their own water discharge situation in conjunction with approved plans by the town To send it directly to Gray Street via a pipe a new pipe We still want to You know be beyond guard against the water so to speak. So we're potentially a little over-designed So but we very much would like to see the the water issue and ice issue Eliminated there was talked about This is this is sort of linear orders. I got it So going back to the zoning that there was assurances given that Amherst media would be building on the east side of the property at the time that the Zoning rezoning occurred It was there were different parties involved in that Amherst media was not the owner. It was not their plan It's not their name on the plan. It's not their name on the building so those those aren't really being true and Then of course we heard a few things in support of the project As well as the process that we are now all engaged in and I fully concur with that I really like to approach these things as Back and forth problem-solving There are always in any project a great number of interests never are they aligned so The board and other entities in the town get to have I guess what was it the opportunity? to help guide the process and I can speak on behalf of my client saying that they are more than willing to take the input from the board take the input from the Community and do the best that they can Meeting the set requirements and their other internal requirements and provide a project that will satisfy the greatest number of people We're certainly not everybody will be satisfied We're doing the best we can So that's the end of my My comments on the comments So next phase, please. Thanks so much So given that the applicant has requested we continue this hearing and that there is additional material that is going to be submitted It seems to me that that is likely the outcome or their board members that think that rather than that a approval or denial is in order for this evening so Given that it seems we're on track to continue the public hearing I think we should do our best to make a list of homework for the applicant Much has been provided already by public comment As far as questions that we'd like to see addressed so we could take this time for the board to Mention any other material they would like to see or concerns they might have Maria I just want to say I so appreciate everything that has been presented tonight I truly believe Amherst Media will do everything that they can to make this project work for this site I do feel like other groups have said and This may sound self-serving because I am an architect But you really need for this sensitive of a site someone who looks at the whole project very holistically For the sensitivity of the adjacent parcels the view sheds everything that's been said tonight Basically, you really need a bigger picture Designer to look at this it's such a great project and opportunity and location That's my biggest sort of first big picture input the second might just be Maybe you get a 3d model built of what you're proposing just to test it yourself and see if it is something you imagine That it would look like I have a feeling that these sort of abstracted Elevations that are very flat and put onto a flat site aren't actually Revealing as much as you think you know you're envisioning that this building is doing to where this this building's being situated on the site That might actually help you I Really look forward to seeing future revisions because I I really want to see this project happen I just think that it's not a matter of just tweaking the barn as everyone's been suggesting I think it's taking a step back and really looking at this site and seeing where other opportunities But the challenges are and make them into opportunities because that's what designers do I Highly suggest finding someone that can help you do this because it is a great site There are very important parcels adjacent I mean everything that's been said tonight over and over it's just you need someone to really look at it from a bigger perspective And Maria I would second all the recommendations you made I was going to suggest that we see To supplement the type of rendering we've seen already Elevations that show the topography and site improvements. I don't believe there's a height mentioned for some of the vegetated screening elements Such as the Arbor Vitey So if we could see some heights for those included on any future landscape plan I would echo Maria's sentiments and encouraging you to consider engaging the services of an architect and perhaps a landscape architect The issue of the second floor gross area and use I'd like to see a little bit more detail on Lot size verification was a registered land surveyor engaged to produce the documents we see before us and their stamp is on it Any further information on the VFW parking arrangement whether that be the formal agreements or just a more elaboration on what you plan Would be appreciated That's the list that I had anything else from other board members Jack so we've heard a lot from People in attendance here and and obviously we We're not I don't feel like the plane board is going to work in a bubble here what I work with the decision by the local Historic District Commission as well and They had those four points and you know one of them one the tough one that you went over Bucky was the inability to put the building on the east side of a lot and I Have some thoughts with regard to control of groundwater there and if you've really looked at the ability to use drains curtain drains per meter drains to lower the water table and and Because I do feel you have a right to remove as much groundwater as you can to the stormwater system and Maybe you can have conversations with with the Jason skills the engineer on that as well, but I did speak with them today and I think it's important that you really take a good look and see what you can do in terms of groundwater control and Be able to put the building Over there, but you know that you the stormwater system Is you're putting groundwater or you're putting water back in the ground, but you know, it's not it's not wastewater. It's just it's stormwater You should be able to lower the groundwater. It's clean water that's being discharged and then I think at some point the groundwater will stabilize and and that'll be a Situation that would be controlled the other thing that I think you really should consider is looking at permeable pavement either blocks or You know just the normal asphalt would which is a little more expensive But my gush that will you know, I think that'll be a huge Savings in terms of the storage volume that you're looking at With regard to that curtain though, you also would be mitigating the problems that are upgraded from The runoff from from from your butters But you're going to do my understanding going to do another design and You know look forward to Seeing that but you definitely I think those four points from the local historic district need to be addressed and Also, I just want to say that It is it is important that the the 2012 Resoning was based on a conceptual and I understand how You know that was approved. It's not it wasn't your building But I think that's was the idea that the community had and so I think that's Obviously has come up several times Today, so I respect that as well How that got rezoned in the first place Thanks, Jack. I also want to point out in our packets. We have a development application report prepared by staff and that Addresses a number of issues points out some issues I should say I believe most are all of them have been addressed either by the presentation by the applicant or by our request for additional information with the exception of a Suggestion that we may wish to require the submission approval of a construction logistics plan And that the board may also wish to consider requiring additional details on the signs that are proposed If I could ask staff as any other issues that they might recommend that the board Ask for additional information on I Can't think of anything right now. Thank you, Jack. I was also intrigued about the Potential for parking off-site parking and and I think there was Michael there that suggested it that for employees Is this a situation where we would grant a waiver for parking? given that situation if a Offside agreement is is in hand and that would also you know again help with the stormwater situation makes a lot of sense to me And the thought that if you're in that east corner the height I think probably is going to be less of an issue You're gonna have an elevator. I Think it open up opens up, you know opportunities for a multi-story building there, so Anyway, I understand Just want to say you guys are doing a good job I understand and I can't believe the number of circumstances you guys are dealing with so Look forward to seeing you back here Chris I Did have one thing that I wanted to say which is to encourage the applicants to look at different planting materials Instead of planting hedges of arbor viety. I know those act to Screen buildings and screen Buildings from each other etc. But it's really kind of a knee-jerk reaction and there are more creative Ways and more creative types of plants and I'm sure mr. Severance can come up with some and if you were to Speak to a landscape architect. I think they could help you with that too. Thank you Thank You Chris additional comments questions from the board If not I'd entertain a motion to continue the public hearing and if I could before that ask Chris if there's a date That would be good for that Chris I believe everyone is here on April 3rd. Is that correct? No? Oh The next choice is April 17th, and then I think a couple of you aren't here on April 17th either I'm likely not here on the 17th. So the next date would be Date and early May which would be the first Wednesday in May. I'll have to figure out what that is So if I could recap for April 3rd so far. There's only one member that will likely be absent Two oh, I'm sorry. Yes If you could please use the mic when you're thank you so much The process in bringing in the design professionals you're seeking Acquiring them takes a little time them getting their teeth into the project and revising plans getting it back to Two months is sort of a minimum. I think that we would need at this point so if we could look if we could look at Lay May that my smooth things over Chris There are three Wednesdays in May. There's the first The 16th and the 29th 29th the 15th excuse me the first the 15th and the 29th given the two months that was requested the 29th would be the earliest I believe is that Workable for all members here. Okay, so that being the case it entertain a motion to continue the Sorry, I'm getting some new information So we're down one or is everyone else available on May 29th, okay? So that being the case entertain a motion to continue the public hearing to May 29th Moved and seconded any further discussion on favor That's unanimous. Thank you to Amherst media. Thank you for the public for joining us. We'll be back here to discuss this further on May 29th I just wanted to be clear about who won't be here. Is that David? I'm not here on the 29th May 29. Okay, but I don't want to miss it You chaired that If folks could please orderly and quietly circulate out of the room, we do have some more business to attend to Thank you. All right, so we're now going to turn to our 720 item This is SPR 2019-03 Emily Dickinson Museum 20 Triangle Street and 280 Main Street. This is continued from March 6th 2019 They're requesting site plan review approval to convert a single-family house to administrative offices for the Emily Dickinson Museum a non-profit museum and educational institution under sections 3.330.0 and 3.334 of the Zoning By-law including site improvements to 20 Triangle Street and 280 Main Street for access and parking at map 14B parcels 20 and 27 Just gonna give staff and the applicant a little time to prepare their materials And we're just gonna take maybe a two-minute break here Welcome back. Thank you introduce yourself and let us The latest update on your project. Okay. My name is Tom Hartman Coleman Hartman architects representing the Dickinson Museum So Since we met two weeks ago There have been a couple of meetings. I can report that the Amherst Disability Access Committee met again after providing an advisory opinion on February 12th and They've voted not to allow the museum accessible parking in lieu of the accessible parking at 20 Triangle Street so if you recall we talked about not Providing the success accessible space and using the space at the museum so that was voted down In a subsequent meeting so we are going to provide that part accessible parking space And there's no modifications proposed at the museum. I Spoke with my client and as requested a biker act will be provided at the museum the local Historic district commission approved the project as proposed Including the removal of the Goshen stone wall We received some comments from the abutter who met with miss Brestrick and our proposals are as follows The van accessible space and access aisle will be located three feet to the south So that the access aisle is at the bottom of the staircase That'll provide a space of about three feet to the abutters stone wall and should alleviate concerns about door slamming in And we propose that that three-foot space be seated with grass as There are plantings on the on the other side of the butters property line There was a request to remove a spruce tree and two dead dog woods and that will be included in the project at an additional cost to the owner and Rather than modify the curb cut to avoid Conflicting with the abutters stone wall, which does extend into the public way We propose that the portion of the wall extending into the public way simply be removed by the butter Here's the current apron The right way is about here And I think that is the portion of the wall That is being hit by cars turning in or plows or whatever. So given its mirror wall, I Think it should just be eliminated Rather than redoing the curb cut Just in curb cut is fine the shrub be removed as requested and The driveway will be widened to 14 feet and we propose the existing hedges are to remain 12 feet is required for an individual drive and We have proposed parking plan Which we will utilize some of the Goshen stone that's there and create a small retaining wall To provide three individual parking spaces in addition to the accessible parking space Right there designated those three spaces as staff only Any questions Is the indication of the bike rack indicated on a plan somewhere? No, it is not it'll be at the museum Thank you Chris Will there be signage for the handicapped parking space? Yes, it is required David What's the access into the building from that handicapped parking space? Jack I Remember we had discussions on the stone wall, but I honestly don't remember What was What what we Directed you to do or that's you know, what what the status of that the discussion was whether the stone wall would be required to remain by the local Historic District Commission and if so the implications of what that would be on the hedges and The preference is to retain the hedge and remove the wall, which is our proposal Thank you And so if I understand correctly the plan is being proposed as you said has been approved and granted a certificate of Appropriateness by the Historic District Commission. That is my understanding Thank you Other comments questions from the board It seems to me that you've addressed all the concerns we had last time So I don't have a problem with approving this project as proposed And if others don't then I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing and grant Site plan review approval finding that the project meets all the criteria of section 11.24 of the zoning by-law. Oh Someone could move that Oh I move to approve everything you just said I can't remember everything you just said And I'll second that great. That's moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? If not all in favor Yes, Chris There were conditions listed in the previous set of minutes for those conditions acceptable in the set of minutes that you Review today. Yes, I found them acceptable. Did the motion maker and seconder find them acceptable? Could you please read the conditions? Chris do you have them available? All exterior lighting shall be downcast in dark sky compliant That's one Two of the local Historic District Commission recommends substantial changes to this project during its review The applicant shall return to the planning board. I think you could eliminate that one The applicant shall return to the public meeting to discuss with the board the possibility of providing a bike rack Okay, so that you can eliminate that one Landscaping shall be installed in accordance with site landscape plan and once installed shall be continually maintained That's kind of a standard one And then five I guess you could well this has to do with the AAB if the AAB Architectural Access Board determines that no accessible parking space is required at 20 triangle Street The applicant shall return to the planning board for review and approval It sounds like the applicant has already decided based on what they heard from the DA AC that they would keep that accessible parking space So I think you can strike two and Three and five Which just leaves downcast lighting and maintenance of landscaping. Yes, and the bike on the right and the bike rack and the bike rack Which has already been proposed. Yes, great. Okay. Are those? Conditions amenable to mover and seconder great. All right Further discussion All in favor Great. Thank you so much. Thank you Okay, moving on with our agenda We're now on to item four planning and zoning zoning subcommittee reports and the zoning subcommittee met this evening And we decided that we would take We checked in as we often do about town council status and zoning and what their work plan is with zoning We had heard previously the town council might want to hear about zoning from the planning board in the fall And it was expressed to us that perhaps it would be beneficial to the town council to get their feet wet per se with zoning a little bit sooner than that and so the zoning subcommittee has recently discussed Bringing back one or more of articles which recently were proposed by the planning board and endorsed by the planning board but did not pass town meeting and at the zoning subcommittee tonight we Decided that we would engage with the town council's newly formed Community resources group on the topic of zoning in the near future and specifically talk about the potential to bring forth again the supplemental apartment article which did not pass in spring of 2018 in part because There was a sense that our government was in transition and perhaps this was not the correct time to address this article so that article would be one that we'll discuss as will be Potential article to be drafted that would address issues with marijuana cultivation, which may be Currently being unduly restricted There's an issue where a marijuana use cannot be more than x less than x feet from a residential use and Currently there's an interpretation in place that a driveway for a marijuana use is counted as part of the use and so a potential petitioner and staff and the zoning subcommittee will work on language for that and Finally, there's the potential depending on how our discussion goes about planning board rules and regulations and the voting requirements That the planning board would request the zoning by-law be amended to change the voting requirements in line with our discussion so zoning subcommittee plans to be speaking to town council and their subcommittee about those things the zoning subcommittee will Next meet in two weeks prior to the planning board meeting on April 3rd There's no public present. So I imagine there's no public comment. Is there any other issues on planning and zoning? Chris this is not exactly I'm planning and zoning But I just wanted to clear up that miss gray mullin and mr. Jim sick will not be here on April 3rd. Is that correct? Great. Thank you. I'm moving on to old business. We've already addressed item 5a. Is there any old business topics not reasonably anticipated? Jack I would just This was included or a packet. I thought that interest this article Well, we have that for our next Well, that's on the job Is that the apart? Is that the apartment article? Yes. Yes. Yes So it looks like no old business topics not reasonably anticipated new business We do have a topic which I think Jack was mentioning. Do you want to tell us about that? Well, I would just Sort of like we've done in the past maybe just research it a little bit and just discuss it in a future meeting Because I thought it was very curious that it's One of the major complaints of you know downtown development is how they look but it's just And to give some background. Could you just mention what the article is? Yeah, the article It's why America's new apartment buildings all look the same. It's by Justin Fox. It was Published in Bloomberg com and it's and it's pretty extensive, but it looks it puts it in a context in terms of Why buildings are? You know have the size and structure and look That they do and then I guess there's only so much you can do with outside architecture given what they're trying to do inside With regard to I think fire You know prevention wider halls Available materials affordability of construction materials that sort of thing so yeah, so the money drives the look But I just thought it was like oh my gosh Yeah, ours building. Yeah, it's everywhere. So it was very interesting to see that kind of confluence of factors That leads to this very similar form you see all across the country. So I definitely think it's worth taking into consideration Christine and I just know they all are that four or five stories, you know over and over again So thanks for bringing that to our attention. Are there any new business topics not anticipated? Are there any for me in our subdivision applications Chris? We do have a for me and it's very complicated and I actually have it on the Overhead so I'm gonna put it up there, but before I show you the overhead I'm going to pass around a drawing that Pam created Which shows the current configuration of two lots on Bay Road One of them appears to be a flag lot, but it's actually not a flag lot because it has an extended Frontage so it's got kind of a wedge down by the road that gives it the appropriate amount of frontage And the other lot also has the appropriate amount of frontage on Bay Road to the West to the West The frontage being in the RO zoning district, so it only has to be a hundred and fifty feet, but anyway The applicant is coming up with a very Complicated way of subdividing this property, but I think I can explain it to you So you'll understand it and Jason skills did sign off on it. Although he gave the Applicants some advice about better ways to subdivide the property in the future So anyway, here is the plan as it currently exists Use the pointer to describe this so the current plan is this and this This and this And this and then it goes down to this little wedge down here as you can see So this strip here. It looks like it's a narrow strip, but it's really actually 40 feet plus 80 feet So it's actually a hundred and twenty feet wide and then it expands down here at the road so this lot is already built upon and There's a lock back here, which shows up a little bit on that plan that I just circulated and Then there's this lot here, which has Access or frontage on Bay Road in a wide swath over here and a narrower swath over here so what's being proposed is that This slide here with the house on it Which isn't currently a flag lot even though it appears to be is going to become a flag lot And so it's going to have this narrow 40 foot wide strip Going down to Bay Road right here And then the house already exists and the driveway Goes partially in the new 40 foot strip, but then it also goes into the 80 foot strip next door Now this lot back here will become a not to be considered a separate building lot because it doesn't have any frontage But sometime in the future this lot could become a building lot because there's this strip that's been created here parcel E, which is 80 feet wide and Ends right here, so it's not connected to this parcel. These are two separate parcels parcel B1 and parcel E So at a future date if somebody wanted to create a flag lot they could combine these two sections here and go to the Come back to you with an A&R plan and then go to the zoning board of appeals to get a special permit for the flag lot Meanwhile, this which is being created as a flag lot Will be going to the zoning board of appeals for a special permit for the flag lot on May 9th Meanwhile, this piece of land here see these little jiggery marks here and Here that means that these property lines are going away So this is all going to become one lot this whole thing Around like that and that doesn't include This this is separate. So you have any questions? Christine yeah, let's sit Christine Just clarification. So So there's a pre-existing house on that lot and is there a house on this not included little part Like what's this this area? No on the on Bay Road here on Bay Road I think they're then go over even more like the center of the frontage. I think there might be a house here Oh, you think they're not sure. I think there is a house on one of these But I'm not sure actually I think there is a house right here and if we can pick up I could look up to you if you move to your right Yeah, that what's in that junk? Is that a house? I don't think that's being affected at all No, but I'm just what is there a house there is that someone's house? I can find out Let me look up the I'm like that like it looks like there's one or two houses there So I think Jack's question is why is there no structure shown on parcel 26 a-38? Which is the larger of the two proposed There's a and 39 and 30 the driveway towards the center of the maybe I should look at that Yeah Maria Chris, you know the address of one of the houses shown in the map This house is 389 Bay Road And one of these others must be 391 Probably this one right because this has a house this has a house on it There's the driveway to that second house and there is the corner of the second house right there. You see that That's the corner of 391. There is definitely a house on there And so the drawing we were just shown shows what will be achieved by this a and r. Is that right? Of course that this is the existing condition. Okay, and what you're looking at here on the overhead is the a and r and the main intent of this is to create this flag lot and To combine these lots to make them all part of this house lot so that house Their driveway comes down right now. Are you saying that they're gonna put a driveway in that goes out their other frontage? No They don't need to no, they're gonna continue to use this driveway and they'll be having an easement across this property Maria That there is a house on that little square on Bay Road Yeah, the lot behind it looks like there's nothing there. Yeah, there are those are not affected by this a and r So there's a house There's a house on this lot and there's another one on this lot which you can see on these on this plan here and So that the access or the flagpole for parcel b1 is being created, but they remain two separate parcels That's right. Okay All right, and I'm sure staff did an analysis and determined that this is suitable and is approval not required we've had several conversations with Jason skills and also with Tom reedy about this and It will go before the zoning subcommittee and I mean not the zoning subcommittee the zoning board of appeals and they'll They'll look at everything having to do with this new flag lot that's been created. So I think I think we're We understand what's going on here Okay Do you authorize the chair to sign the plans? Any objections to that? Okay, I will sign them then. Thank you All right, moving on. Are there any upcoming ZBA applications? I think there aren't any Upcoming ones that we haven't already told you about Okay upcoming SPP SPR SUV applications Only Amir mcchi and his property on southeast street. We've already told you about that, but we haven't actually received the application yet Okay. Thank you Planning board committee on liaison reports. I think we'll just do this on an opt-in basis Are there any planning board committee in liaison reports? I? Would just mention that the affordable housing trust presented to the town council recently about our requests Regarding the east street school that the town council essentially prove an RFP that's gone out to use the east street school for affordable housing purposes and The proposals seem to be received well, and the town council is going to continue discussion of that David how many proposed units are there for that? The RFP is currently written requires a minimum of 15 affordable units There were some design studies done by Q and riddle which if I recall showed anywhere from about 20 to 40 units possible on the site Chris I think that study is on the housing trust website So if anybody's interested in reading it you can read it It's very interesting because it gives different scenarios about how that property could be developed any other committee in liaison reports All right the report of the chair. We're getting out of here before 10 o'clock, which is not too bad So thanks for that everyone our report of staff. I have no report, but thank you very much for receiving all of the information that you were sent in the last 24 hours and Digesting it. Thank you. All right. Thanks everyone. I will be adjourned till next time